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.
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Recommended Radical Newsletters:
* CCDSLinks: Radical Ideas for Radical Change (2015-05-15) [archive.is/bJJfr], (2015-05-22) [archive.is/hvcLY]
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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].
REPORT ON THE 'STOP THE WARS AT HOME & ABROAD!' NATIONAL CONFERENCE,
May 8-10, 2015, at Secaucus, N.J. [UNACpeace.org], read all about it here [archive.is/4JPeW], more info here [UNACconference2015.org].
The theme of “Stop the Wars at Home & Abroad” was first used by UNAC at its founding conference in 2010 to oppose attacks on the Muslim community that were part of the phony U.S. “war on terror.” Today this war at home is increasingly impacting Black and Brown communities, working people and their unions and the civil liberties of everyone.
By featuring voices from communities under attack here at home, UNAC and the antiwar movement made an important political turn that solidly places us in the camp of those fighting the militarization of the police, mass incarceration, climate disaster and attacks on civil liberties, while drawing the connections between those struggles and the increasing U.S. wars and U.S. proxy wars abroad.
In keeping with this central theme of the conference, domestic issues were well-represented. Clarence Thomas of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 spoke about how his local shut down San Francisco-area ports this past May Day in support of the urban rebellions against police killings. In the past, the local has gone out on strike against the U.S. war in Iraq, apartheid in South Africa and in support of U.S. political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Other speakers for workers' rights included John Dennie of National Postal Mail Handlers Union Local 300, a founder of the Postal Defenders coalition and an organizer for the “Stop Staples” campaign; Chris Hutchinson of Teamsters Local 671 and the Connecticut Community Committee of “Fight for $15”; Charles Jenkins, President of the New York Chapter of the National Coalition of Black Trade Unionists; Shafeah M’Balia of North Carolina-based Black Workers for Justice; and Rolandah Cleopattrah McMillan of the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality, representing Virginia Raise Up and the “Fight for $15 and a Union” campaign.And attending the conference were several members of United Steelworkers Local 8751, which represents Boston school bus drivers. This union had recently beaten back a vicious company-inspired frame-up of several of its leaders, who then went on to win re-election in a landslide victory. Recently-elected local President Andre Francois addressed the conference, surrounded by union members.
Other speakers addressing important domestic issues were Gerry Condon of Veterans for Peace; Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report; Imani Keith Henry of The Equality for Flatbush (N.Y.) Project (E4F); Cheri Honkala of the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign; climate change author and activist Antonia Juhasz; and John Parker, a leader in the Los Angeles ballot initiative to win a $15 minimum wage.
As in past UNAC conferences, Muslims fighting for social change played important roles. These included Malik Mujahid of the Muslim Peace Coalition and Chairman of the Parliament of World’s Religions; Sharmin Sadequee of the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms; Manzoor Cheema, founder of Muslims for Social Justice; as well as members of Project SALAM, which works on issues of pre-emptive prosecution of Muslims. Joe Iosbaker, a member of the Antiwar Committee-Chicago, himself a target of FBI repression, spoke about the case of Palestinian-American political prisoner Rasmea Odeh.
The “Free Political Prisoners” panel heard about the cases of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui of Pakistan; Simon Trinidad of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia); and Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar Louis Rivera, who for four years was a U.S. prison cellmate of Fernando Gonzalez, one of the Cuban 5.
Other speakers at the conference included former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney; Born King Allah of the Nation of Gods & Earths; “Addicted to War” author Joel Adreas; Palestinian author and activist Susan Abulhawa; Johnny Achi of Arab Americans for Syria; Abayomi Azikiwe of the Pan-African News Wire; William Camacaro of the Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle; Dr. Ghias Moussa of the Syrian American Forum; and U.S-based Honduran activist Lucy Pagoada-Quesada, among others. [end excerpt]
* "United National Antiwar Coalition Action Plan" adopted by UNAC Conference May 8-10, 2015 [archive.is/YvClK] [begin excerpt]: The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) opposes all U.S. wars, whether they be in the form of direct military intervention with troops on the ground, privatized death squad wars, drone wars on every continent, sanctions and embargo wars, U.S.-backed military coups, “humanitarian interventions,” the U.S.-backed and -financed Israeli wars against the Palestinian people and the myriad of other modes of intervention and conquest that deny oppressed peoples the right to freedom and self-determination. We demand an end to it all: the war machine, the weapons of mass destruction, the trillions spent on advancing imperialist interests and the associated devastation perpetrated on poor and working people the world over. We demand: U.S. Hands Off & Out Now – from the Middle East to Africa to Latin America to Iran, Ukraine & Beyond. Bring All the Troops Home Now & Dissemble Weapons of War! Trillions for Human Needs – Not One Penny for War!
UNAC similarly opposes the ongoing and deepening wars against poor and working people at home, including the militarization of the police; the racist mass-incarceration criminal “justice” system; the war-profiteering military-industrial complex; the ever-privatized, for-profit and slave labor prison-industrial complex; the deepening racist attacks and mass deportation of immigrants; racist persecution of Muslim communities; vicious and virtually unpunished racist police murders of African-American, Latino and Native American peoples; massive ever-intensifying austerity – assaults on wages, massive cutbacks of social services, massive student debt, unending tuition hikes, deterioration and re-segregation of public education – union busting; the oppression, exploitation and brutality waged against women; the government-promoted homophobic attacks on the LGBT community; the fossil-fuel, war-induced global warming and associated looming climatic catastrophe; and the wholesale police-state-like surveillance measures that increasingly obliterate civil and democratic rights. The U.S. needs a national urban policy that promotes sustainability of human life, rather than the profits of finance capital.
The U.S. wars abroad and the wars at home are inseparable aspects of a society that requires the subordination of human needs to the private profit interests of the bailed-out and enriched (at public expense) banks, corporations and multibillionaire elite. We hail the emergence of new anti-racist and working-class forces that have demonstrated vibrant leadership capacities, from Black Lives Matter and the myriad of other anti-racist fighters to the ever-resurgent Palestinian community mobilizations against the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians to the recent International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 work stoppage in solidarity with their Black and Brown sisters and brothers who have been the prime victims of rampant police brutality and murder.
Our method of struggle looks to the broad mass of working people and their allies as the primary agency of social change. The history of all social movement victories is a history of the unification of the working masses and oppressed to advance their own needs and interests. UNAC strives to advance the unity of the antiwar and social justice movements in united, independent, inclusive and democratically planned mass actions to demonstrate the power of the working masses and achieve fundamental social and political change. We support a broad range of actions, including nonviolent direct action, lobbying and petitioning and we stand in solidarity with community resistance and rebellion against race and class oppression. [end excerpt]
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* " 'We Are Many': Documentary Depicts Legacy of Global Anti-War Movement; Film premiering this week in the UK details 2003 march against Iraq War—the largest protest in history" (2015-05-20, commondreams.org) [archive.is/caF5a], watch the documentary trailer [youtube.com/watch?v=yOpa8y2TIy8].
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* "Peace Coalition Warns Rightwing Militias Threaten Democracy" (2015-05-20, commondreams.org) [archive.is/dv4ad]. The Ballots not Bullets Coalition is a group of organizations that are concerned by the increasing use of violence—and threats of violence—to affect public policy in the United States. More information is available at [ballotsnotbulletscoalition.org]. Homepage archived 2015-05-21 at [archive.is/zPoNF].
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* "After 2 Years: Megan, Michael and Greg have been Released from Federal Prison" (2015-05-18, SOA Watch, soaw.org): We are also celebrating the release of three of our friends from federal prison this weekend! Former SOA Watch Prisoners of Conscience Megan Rice and Michael Walli, and Greg Boertje-Obed were released on Saturday, after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati last week overturned their 2013 sabotage convictions and ordered re-sentencing on their remaining conviction for injuring government property at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. The Transform Now Plowshares activists had already served 2 years in federal prison for their disarmament action at the Y12 Nuclear Weapons Complex in Oak Ridge, TN to protest plans for a new multibillion dollar nuclear bomb plant there. Megan was originally sentenced to nearly three years and Michael and Greg were each sentenced to just over five years. Welcome home Megan, Michael, and Greg: We are looking forward to continuing the struggle together with you on the outside!
* "SECOND ANNIVERSARY STATEMENT FROM MEGAN, MICHAEL & GREG" (2014-07-28, transformnowplowshares.wordpress.com) [archive.is/dbpzG]
* "Michael Walli reflects in verse from prison" (2014-02-28, transformnowplowshares.wordpress.com) [archive.is/QF4cp]
* "Sixth circuit orders immediate release of Michael, Megan and Greg" (2015-05-15, transformnowplowshares.wordpress.com) [archive.is/tqMSN]
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* "Crossing the Korean DMZ for Peace These brave women are about to make history by marching across the world's most militarized border" (2015-05-19, by Medea Benjamin) [archive.is/z1pxu]
* "Gloria Steinem’s North Korea Peace Walk Draws Ire Despite Lack of Any Better Ideas" (2015-05-22, time.com) [archive.is/EzZQr]
* "Peace activists live-stream press conference from N. Korea" (2015-05-23, AFP newswire) [archive.is/fao1N]
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* "Let the Iranian relief ship pass!" (2015-05-20, workers.org) [archive.is/OL4u7]
* "Call White House! Let Red Crescent ship with humanitarian supplies to Yemen pass! No Blockade!" (iacenter.org) [archive.is/9V1Nl]
* " ‘Let us help the Yemeni people!’ – Message from U.S. solidarity activist in the Persian Gulf" (2015-05-16, workers.org) [archive.is/bz8WK]
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* "William Kristol: We were right to fight in Iraq" (2015-03-20, usatoday.com) [archive.is/I05Tx].
whowhatwhy.org writes: Old Neocons don’t die. Sadly, they don’t seem to fade away, either. To wit, Neocon Number One just tried to convince America—and maybe himself—that the illegal invasion of a nation that didn’t attack it was, in fact, a good thing. The real problem is that Obama “threw it all away” when he refused to “finish the job,” not the fact that the American people were jobbed by his cronies... and the future of the Iraqi people sacrificed on the altar of Neocon vanity.
* "The Neoconservative Counterrevolution; In the anti-sixties backlash, neoconservatives were the most formidable intellectual opponents of social progress" (2015-04-23, jacobinmag.com) [archive.is/9aeus]
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* "Destroying What Remains: How the U.S. Navy Plans to War Game the Arctic" (2015-05-21, by Dahr Jamail, with a Tomgram intro) [archive.is/Pxcr7]
* "The Pentagon’s Strategy for World Domination: Full Spectrum Dominance, from Asia to Africa" (2014-08-20, pipr.co.uk) [archive.is/KulTY]
* "Space Command Moving Quickly to Uphold U.S. Space Supremacy" (2015-05, intelsatgeneral.coma) [archive.is/5vcsu]
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Endless war for endless profits...
whowhatwhy.org writes: The Commander-in-Chief crows about the end of combat operations in Afghanistan. His administration is lobbying Congress to repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) upon which the entire War on Terrorism is built. But his subordinates have taken to the defense policy lecture circuit to reassure the Military-Industrial Complex that the “Forever War” isn’t going anywhere. Ka-ching!
* "Obama’s Lawyers: Let’s Extend the 9/11 Wars Forever" (2015-04-20, thedailybeast.com) [archive.is/2rTXs]
How do you beat a market that—in spite of bad fundamentals and a massive debt to GDP ratio—is outperforming every other market in the world? Bet on the Forever War! Since April of 2013, the S&P 500 has grown at an unprecedented rate—by over 30 percent in 24 months. But that’s chump change to bomb-makers. During that same period the Dow Jones US Aerospace and Defense Total Stock Market Index has doubled the S&P—increasing by a staggering 60 percent. Now that's serious ka-ching.
* "U.S. Defense Industry Outperforms S&P by 100 Percent" (2015-04-20, thefiscaltimes.com) [archive.is/3VLP8]
* "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire—Afghanistan Reconstruction Edition" (2015-04-28, whowhatwhy.org) [archive.is/q81mg]
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* "Veterans frustrated by presidential debate on Iraq war" (2015-05-23, AP newswire) [archive.is/tuSjj] [begin excerpt]: Veterans of the Iraq War have been watching in frustration as Republican presidential contenders distance themselves from the decision their party enthusiastically supported to invade that country. Some veterans say they long ago concluded their sacrifice was in vain, and are annoyed that a party that lobbied so hard for the war is now running from it. Others say they still believe their mission was vital, regardless of what the politicians say. And some find the gotcha question being posed to the politicians — Knowing what we know now, would you have invaded? — an insult in itself. "Do-overs don't happen in real life," said Gregory Diacogiannis, 30, who served as an army sniper in Baghdad trying to spot militants laying roadside bombs and chased high-value targets in the city of Baqouba. "I have trouble with the question itself just because it lends itself to disregarding the sacrifices that have been made." Diacogiannis left the army in 2008, but says even now he feels such a strong attachment to Iraq that he's thought about going back to fight as the country has plunged into chaos since U.S. troops left. The war became a campaign issue when likely presidential contender Jeb Bush was asked about the invasion ordered by his brother, former President George W. Bush. After days of questioning, Jeb Bush said that in light of what's now known — that Saddam Hussein did not have WMD stockpiles — he would not have invaded. "It's a legitimate question to ask and a legitimate answer should be an unequivocal no," he said. Marla Keown, who drove trucks in Iraq for a year during her time in the Army Reserve, said it's taken too long for politicians to admit the mistake of a war that killed 4,491 U.S. troops and left countless Iraqis dead. [end excerpt]
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* "The Biological Weapons Convention Turns 40 — Are we any safer?" (2015-05-24, journal-neo.org) [archive.is/l8s7r]. Secret Biological Weapons Program in the U.S.? PATRIOT Act Allows Violations of Bioweapons Law.
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* "Oakland works to keep protests from becoming destructive" (2015-05-22, sfgate.com) [archive.is/7bb70]
* "Oakland protesters defy mayor by marching at night without permit" (2015-05-24, sfgate.com) [archive.is/EiwJY]
* "Is Oakland’s new crowd control measure workable?" (2015-05-27, sfgate.com) [archive.is/vIwQX]
* "FUck The police March. BreakTheCurfew" facebook event page [https://www.facebook.com/events/356659371197630/]:
May 25 at 9:00pm to May 26 at 12:00am
Show Map
14th and Broadway Street
Oakland, California 94612
Join · Maybe · Decline
Invited by Sierra Minchaca
FUCK THE POLICE MARCH 5/25/15
[@[null:@[null:#Breakthecurfew]]]]]– FUCK THE POLICE March. Time Take our pigs for a walk. They need the exercise. And it only costs the city $50K a week! Let's break the curfew together.
*** This event is being called by the Oakland fuck the police Committee. It might continue weekly.
The fuck the police Committee was approved by Oakland to perform autonomous actions at their discretion. In that sense it is not an “official” Oakland event, in the sense that it was not directly, but indirectly, approved through the people of Oakland.
IMPORTANT NOTE: NV folks are welcome, this is a peaceful protest — whatever that means.
FTP March, Iteration 2.0 May/25/2015 – Tactical Parameters
Due to the fact that most of our internal issues on each march and action to date have come from a lack of information on what the tactical parameters of a particular action are expected to be, FTPC will be calling for tactical parameters on this and all future FTP marches that may change as we learn and practice our skills in the streets.
Note that these are the wishes by the callers of the march. In the interests of solidarity please respect these parameters. These are being called for this march only. This goes both ways — please be respectful enough of the event to not pursue certain actions at this time if they are being put on the “please don’t” list; likewise, if you are uncomfortable with someone performing an action that is acceptable within the march parameters DO NOT INTERFERE with them. This is respect for diversity of tactics, and also proper solidarity in the face of our common enemy. There will come a day that this practice, discipline and restraint will serve us well as a unit.
If you cannot follow the parameters DO NOT ATTEND. They will be read before the march during the rally. People will be given the opportunity to back out if they feel they cannot respect the tactics, with no loss of face.
So, for this march, FTPC is asking for the following:
SHIELDS: If you have the capability and the will to march in the front line, make a shield to carry for this Saturday’s action.
NO DAMAGE TO PRIVATE PROPERTY of any kind — people’s cars, any Oakland businesses
PROPERTY THAT IS FAIR GAME IF YOU ARE SO INCLINED – police vehicles and equipment. The police are not our friends, never have been, and never will be.
NO FRONTAL ASSAULTS ON THE POLICE – i.e., no bottle throwing. Defensive actions are fully accepted and encouraged. Shields, unarresting, disarming cops that are beating comrades, etc. MAKE THE POLICE STRIKE THE FIRST BLOW.
SPLIT-OFF MARCHES AND AUTONOMOUS ACTIONS ARE NOT DISCOURAGED. If you do decide to go your own route, please respect the above parameters. Large banks, huge international corporations that run this city with their money, political organization HQ such as the the chamber of commerce are not considered private property for the purposes of the parameters. If you decide to split off, do your autonomous actions away from the main march, not right next to it.
We are not encouraging anyone to attack any property whatsoever, but some property is more acceptable than others if you really must risk your freedom by doing something of that nature.
FIRE CAN BE FUN – if you want to burn a usa flag in the street (that isn’t somebody’s car) then more power to you. If someone is burning a flag in the street then DO NOT INTERFERE.
BLOC UP: If you hear the shout, “Bloc up!” Or “Tighten up!” It is in your best interest to clump together with the main group in tight formation. Be aware of distance and do not string out along the march route. Do not give the police an opportunity to snatch you and plant evidence on you to conflate charges with.
And to repeat:
NO INTERFERING IN OTHER PEOPLE’S ACTIONS EVEN IF YOU DO NOT PERSONALLY AGREE WITH THEM. Do not yell stop. Do not grab your comrades. If you feel unsafe, move away. The parameters listed above are for our own use so that we can hold one another accountable afterwards for things that may not have gone according to plan. But in the face of the enemy WE SHOW FULL SOLIDARITY. Afterwards we can argue about stuff. Not during the action.
We are all adults. We are all comrades. We have a common enemy and we will have to learn to work as a unit. Following the action parameters on each FTP march should mitigate the fighting and problems we have consistently had after every action to date.
Thank you for your cooperation.
***
The Oakland Police Department has harassed and brutalized Oaklanders and people around the city. Camps and liberated foreclosed buildings have been raided and shut down.
With dozens of our comrades having been arrested in the past couple of days, and the city’s curfew is still in affect we will break it tonight and the time has come to rise up and let them know what we think of them and that we will no longer meekly accept their violations of our civil and human rights.
Spread the word, send the invite, join us as we march in solidarity against police repression.
Wear black Bring shields if you are able and willing
Rally at 9:00 pmMarch on OPD HQ at undisclosed time
THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING OAKLAND
Update: ABC7 News just reported about our marches with the slant of ...POOR Mayor Libby Schaaf, whatever can she do?? Kept showing old footage from May Day and the car damage at the dealerships in such a way that it made it look like that happened this weekend. Urgh. Corporate media doing what corporate media does.
Sharing a report from last night by Bay Area Intifada:
"OPD made multiple strong-arm arrests while enforcing what appeared to be laws against crossing the street on a red light, or lingering too long in a crosswalk, even when the pedestrian light was still green. The police also arrested demonstrators who were standing on the sidewalks. Police did not say why those persons were arrested.
"While documenting one arrest and attempting to obtain the name of the person being arrested, I was warned by Officer Eriberto Perez-Angeles that I would be arrested unless I complied with his order to stand on the sidewalk. I informed Officer Perez-Angeles that I was a member of the media documenting an arrest and not interfering with the police. 'Get on the sidewalk,' he responded. 'This is your last warning.'”
#FuckTheCurfew or Don't Worry, No One Broke a Window [http://bit.ly/1GyRr5P]
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* "SIGN to Drop All Charges on Shalana Little, Xaime Casillas and All Los Angeles Police Brutality Protesters; Shalana Little’s arrest for “Lynching” is an outrage. She stands trial in June – Take action now!" [http://peoplespowerassemblies.org/signshalanapetition/], [https://archive.is/jov3x].
November 26, 2014, Mass protest in Los Angeles in response to no indictment verdict of police officer Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown
On December 19, 2014, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested Shalana Little, an activist in the Ferguson solidarity movement in LA, on the outrageous charge of felony “lynching”, following the aggressive tactics of the police to disrupt a march in Hollywood. She was severely mistreated during her arrest, was held on $30,000 bail for four days, and finally released on Christmas eve. Although the lynching charge has been dropped against her, she faces the possibility of years in prison on the remaining charges.
Shalana is not the only Californian activist facing charges that paint protesters as violent agitators. Over 400 people have been arrested in recent months during mass protests against police brutality in Los Angeles, but Shalana and a few others are facing some of the most serious charges.
Using California’s lynching law against protesters is an outrage. First passed in 1933, the law was passed to prevent mobs from forcibly taking people from police custody in the name of vigilante justice. Yet, today, a law once won in large part by anti-racist activists is now being used to perpetuate police repression against those anti-racist activists fighting against police terror. These arrests and prosecutions are part of a national trend to target Black activists with more serious charges like “lynching,” while doing nothing to stop the true lynchers: the killer cops.
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Students Occupying Cal Hall for #RespectRichmond
If you're near Berkeley, come TURN UP SUPPORT for the Students OCCUPYING California Hall RIGHT NOW to demand that Chancellor Dirks#RESPECTRICHMOND
[https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/respectrichmond?source=feed_text&story_id=850346431707071]
and sign a community benefits agreement for the new campus moving into this low-income community of color. As students who have all been fighting against the extractive UC system that exploits people and community wealth for commercial profit, let's send our support to our neighbors, and link arms against the UC's privatization scheme. A message from folks inside:
"Right now I'm occupying California Hall with 20 other students to demand that Chancellor Dirks RESPECT RICHMOND. For over a year, students and community have been calling on the UC to sign a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) that will provide living wage jobs and displacement protections for Richmond residents. Richmond is a community of color where 1 in 3 children live in poverty, and one of the last places in the Bay Area where low-income families can afford to live. It's time to ask Chancellor Dirks which side he is on-- is he is on the side of students, workers, and
community, or on the side of profit and displacement?"
Video link: [https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10155546003540515&id=717945514].
Come to California Hall starting at 2pm to show your support, and bring all your friends to the RALLY FOR RICHMOND today at 4:30pm outside of California Hall--- and share this picture to spread the word!!
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* " 'Populist' conference calls for investing in 'green economy' " (2015-04-22, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/hsBv3] [begin excerpt]: Progressive activists from across the United States met here Apr. 18 to convene the Populism 2015 Conference around the theme of "Building a Movement for People and the Planet."
The three-day gathering, organized by the Alliance for a Just Society, Campaign for America's Future, National People's Action and U.S. Action, focused on rebuilding America for the 21st century, creating jobs for all, raising wages, empowering workers and reversing inequality, eliminating institutionalized racism, guaranteeing women's economic equality, providing a high-quality education to every child, enforcing fair taxes on corporations and the wealthy, fighting for democracy and curbing the power of "big money."
This year's conference also took on the priority of a "green economy." As stated by the organizers: "In the upcoming fights around state clean power plans, we want to limit nuclear and fracked natural gas, increase renewable energy sources and energy efficiency in a way that builds opportunity and community wealth for low-income communities and communities of color, as well as win public and community control over the cost of energy, where it's purchased and how it's used - in short, what we call 'energy democracy." [end excerpt]
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* "Kayakers paddling in Seattle Port chant, 'Shell No' " (2015-05-18, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/4Aj9I]
* "Seattle to Shell: ‘If you build it, we will block it’ " (2015-05-18, liberationnews.org) [archive.is/Ypm6C] [begin excerpt]: Over the course of a few days, mass numbers of climate activists gathered in Seattle to say no to Shell’s Arctic drilling rig, which is currently sitting at Terminal 5 of the Port of Seattle. The Shell No Action Council organized a mass kayak flotilla, the “Paddle in Seattle” on May 16, and a day of mass nonviolent direct action to stop Arctic drilling and take a stand against companies like Shell who profit from climate chaos. On May 16, about 1,000 “kayaktivists” paddled out into the Sound, lead by Duwamish longboats, to confront Shell’s Arctic drilling rig. Hundreds of concerned people flocked the upper platforms of Jack Block Park to view the flotilla as the kayaktivists paddled their way to the drilling rig. [end excerpt]
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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!
* "Left, Independent Political Action Conference: Unprecedented Cooperation" (2015-05-05, newpol.org) [archive.is/SCw8u] [begin excerpt]: Some 200 political activists from a variety of independent political organizations, as well as individual activists, carried out a rich discussion and an amicable debate about how to collaborate in the work of building a large political alternative to the left of the Democratic Party. Participating in the Future of the Left/Independent Politics Conference, in an unprecedented spirit of cooperation, national, state, and local candidates and activists, as well as elected officials from the Green Party, the Peace and Freedom Party, the Richmond Progressive Alliance, Socialist Alternative, and the Vermont Progressive Party discussed the challenges of campaigning and the difficulties of actually holding office while trying to both build movements and push progressive policies. Also at the conference were members of Progressive Democrats of America and the Justice Party. [end excerpt]
* "Third Party Builders Meet in Chicago - Two Reports" (2015-05-14, portside.org) [archive.is/BSdWa]
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TOWARDS REVOLUTIONARY SOLUTIONS
SOLIDARITY WITH THE NEW AFRICAN NATION!
* "Rise of the New Black Radicals" (2015-04-26, truthdig.com) [archive.is/zuK6t] [begin excerpt]: The almost daily murders of young black men and women by police in the United States—a crisis undiminished by the protests of groups such as Black Lives Matter and by the empty rhetoric of black political elites—have given birth to a new young black militant.
This militant, rising off the bloody streets of cities such as Ferguson, Mo., understands that the beast is not simply white supremacy, chronic poverty and the many faces of racism but the destructive energy of corporate capitalism. This militant has given up on electoral politics, the courts and legislative reform, loathes the corporate press and rejects established black leaders such as Barack Obama, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Michael Eric Dyson. This militant believes it is only in the streets and in acts of civil disobedience that change is possible. And given the refusal of the corporate state to address the mounting suffering of the poor and working poor, draconian state repression and indiscriminate use of lethal state violence against unarmed people of color, I think the new black radical is right. It will be a long, hot and violent summer. [end excerpt]
* "CLEVELAND COP NOT GUILTY OVER DEATHS OF 2 PEOPLE SHOT AT 137 TIMES BY POLICE" (2015-05-23, voiceofdetroit.net) [archive.is/yZSg9].
* "Cleveland Streets Are Calm, but Anger Lingers Day After Officer’s Acquittal" (2015-05-24, nytimes.com) [archive.is/eZieq] [begin excerpt]: Officer Michael Brelo, the patrolman acquitted on Saturday, was one of several officers who fired a combined 137 shots at Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams in a car chase on Nov. 29, 2012. Police said they believed gunfire was coming from Mr. Russell’s car during the pursuit, but he and Ms. Williams were later found to be unarmed. Officer Brelo was singled out for the manslaughter charges because he climbed onto the hood after the pursuit ended and fired at least 15 rounds into the car, which prosecutors claimed was unjustified. In his acquittal, a judge ruled that Officer Brelo had feared for his life and that his actions were protected by law.
Though Cleveland’s population has a black majority, and though the mayor and the police chief are black, many African-Americans here say racial tensions and mistrust of law enforcement are common. Some speak of “two Clevelands” — a mostly white city with a bustling downtown and increased commercial development, and a mostly black one where schools are struggling and crime rates are high, and the police are not trusted.
That dichotomy was on display Saturday night as more than 100 protesters, many of them black, blocked traffic and chanted downtown about the verdict and broader perceived injustices. As the police followed the march, the protesters passed group after group of patrons dining outside at fashionable restaurants. Most of the diners were white, and many had come downtown for a Cleveland Indians baseball game. The protesters walked past many such places without incident, but at one point, the police said, a protester threw a sign at a restaurant patron. At other times, baseball fans loudly suggested that the protesters go home. [end excerpt]
Photo: Liberation and Justice activists confronting the Pigs outside the Cuyahoga County Justice Center in Cleveland
---
Nothing stops anyone from printing some facts on a flier to pass them out at a farmer's market, concert, or any other community event. Add some contact information for organizing, and a community forum, and you got yourself a campaign!
===*===*===
information collected by the Worker's Defense Committee
WORKER'S POWER!
* "NELP on Worker Protest at McDs Shareholder Meeting: 'Workers Are Winning' " (2015-05-20) [archive.is/WPtY7]
---
Victory to Edgewood Workers in San Francisco!
Congratulations to the workers at Edgewood Center for Children and Families who voted to join Teamsters Local 856 last night! For more, visit [archive.is/ngCOR], and [teamsters856.org].
From their Unionize Edgewood Facebook page [facebook.com/pages/Unionize-Edgewood/1438641223115950]:
Tonight we stood together and showed confidence in each other. With every YES vote we cast we affirmed that we can achieve more by standing together than by going it alone.
We voted for us, for our coworkers and for a better Edgewood for our clients. And we won the vote!
Read their press release at [archive.is/oUJYg].
---
* "Fight for $15 Demands a Raise for Low-Wage Workers" (2015-04-25, socialistorganizer.org) [archive.is/wZctG] [begin excerpt]: On April 15, there were mobilizations in more than 200 cities calling for an increase in the minimum wage involving as many as 60,000 workers. This year’s actions represent a step forward for the movement of low-wage workers. The Service Employees International Union-initiated Fight for $15 led a combination of job actions and mass mobilizations, with broad labor and community participation.
The demonstrations demanding “$15 and a Union” began in 2012 with strikes of fast-food workers in New York City. This year, the scope of the movement widened beyond the fast-food sector to include laundry workers, Brinks guards, home-care assistants, Walmart workers, child-care aides, airport workers, adjunct professors and other low-wage workers. In New York City and Portland, OR members of the building trades unions joined in the demonstrations. The militancy of these actions shows the potential for a general fightback against austerity and economic inequality by the working class and its allies. [end excerpt]
---
* "Thousands Demand Teachers Union End Partnership with Coca-Cola' " (2015-04-24, rootsaction.org) [archive.is/VUmpN] [begin excerpt]: American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten and AFT staff have been sent this petition, signed thus far by over 14,000 people: "Teaching Does NOT Go Better with Coke [act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=11178].
As strong supporters of teachers and teachers' unions, RootsAction.org and its members are distressed that the AFT is partnering with Coca-Cola.
Four months ago, AFT members caused their union to begin a boycott of Coca-Cola over its reliance on child labor. But now the union leadership has caved.
With terms of the agreement undisclosed, AFT ended the boycott -- and has begun a partnership to do things like "advocating for increased educational opportunities for children."
Labor activist Ray Rogers, director of Corporate Campaign Inc., says: "The most effective way for Coca-Cola to help end illegal child labor in places like the Philippines and El Salvador is not through pointless additional studies, audits and meaningless rhetoric, but to pay sugar processors enough money to pay fair wages to sugar cane harvesters." [end excerpt]
---
* "Anti-union groups target California teachers" (2015-05-18, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/wiYAs]
---
* "'Right to Work' Debunked: Economists Find Anti-Worker Laws Lead to Lower Wages; Workers in Right to Work states earn an average of $1,558 less per year than their counterparts in states without anti-labor laws" (2015-04-22, commondreams.org) [archive.is/LyAc0]
===*===*===
BAY AREA SOLIDARITY
Updates on campaigns for for Peace, Justice, & Freedom across the greater Bay Area, Norcal, and Socal
* "Oakland works to keep protests from becoming destructive" (2015-05-22, sfgate.com) [archive.is/7bb70]
* "Oakland protesters defy mayor by marching at night without permit" (2015-05-24, sfgate.com) [archive.is/EiwJY]
* "Is Oakland’s new crowd control measure workable?" (2015-05-27, sfgate.com) [archive.is/vIwQX]
* "FUck The police March. BreakTheCurfew" facebook event page [https://www.facebook.com/events/356659371197630/]:
May 25 at 9:00pm to May 26 at 12:00am
Show Map
14th and Broadway Street
Oakland, California 94612
Join · Maybe · Decline
Invited by Sierra Minchaca
FUCK THE POLICE MARCH 5/25/15
[@[null:@[null:#Breakthecurfew]]]]]– FUCK THE POLICE March. Time Take our pigs for a walk. They need the exercise. And it only costs the city $50K a week! Let's break the curfew together.
*** This event is being called by the Oakland fuck the police Committee. It might continue weekly.
The fuck the police Committee was approved by Oakland to perform autonomous actions at their discretion. In that sense it is not an “official” Oakland event, in the sense that it was not directly, but indirectly, approved through the people of Oakland.
IMPORTANT NOTE: NV folks are welcome, this is a peaceful protest — whatever that means.
FTP March, Iteration 2.0 May/25/2015 – Tactical Parameters
Due to the fact that most of our internal issues on each march and action to date have come from a lack of information on what the tactical parameters of a particular action are expected to be, FTPC will be calling for tactical parameters on this and all future FTP marches that may change as we learn and practice our skills in the streets.
Note that these are the wishes by the callers of the march. In the interests of solidarity please respect these parameters. These are being called for this march only. This goes both ways — please be respectful enough of the event to not pursue certain actions at this time if they are being put on the “please don’t” list; likewise, if you are uncomfortable with someone performing an action that is acceptable within the march parameters DO NOT INTERFERE with them. This is respect for diversity of tactics, and also proper solidarity in the face of our common enemy. There will come a day that this practice, discipline and restraint will serve us well as a unit.
If you cannot follow the parameters DO NOT ATTEND. They will be read before the march during the rally. People will be given the opportunity to back out if they feel they cannot respect the tactics, with no loss of face.
So, for this march, FTPC is asking for the following:
SHIELDS: If you have the capability and the will to march in the front line, make a shield to carry for this Saturday’s action.
NO DAMAGE TO PRIVATE PROPERTY of any kind — people’s cars, any Oakland businesses
PROPERTY THAT IS FAIR GAME IF YOU ARE SO INCLINED – police vehicles and equipment. The police are not our friends, never have been, and never will be.
NO FRONTAL ASSAULTS ON THE POLICE – i.e., no bottle throwing. Defensive actions are fully accepted and encouraged. Shields, unarresting, disarming cops that are beating comrades, etc. MAKE THE POLICE STRIKE THE FIRST BLOW.
SPLIT-OFF MARCHES AND AUTONOMOUS ACTIONS ARE NOT DISCOURAGED. If you do decide to go your own route, please respect the above parameters. Large banks, huge international corporations that run this city with their money, political organization HQ such as the the chamber of commerce are not considered private property for the purposes of the parameters. If you decide to split off, do your autonomous actions away from the main march, not right next to it.
We are not encouraging anyone to attack any property whatsoever, but some property is more acceptable than others if you really must risk your freedom by doing something of that nature.
FIRE CAN BE FUN – if you want to burn a usa flag in the street (that isn’t somebody’s car) then more power to you. If someone is burning a flag in the street then DO NOT INTERFERE.
BLOC UP: If you hear the shout, “Bloc up!” Or “Tighten up!” It is in your best interest to clump together with the main group in tight formation. Be aware of distance and do not string out along the march route. Do not give the police an opportunity to snatch you and plant evidence on you to conflate charges with.
And to repeat:
NO INTERFERING IN OTHER PEOPLE’S ACTIONS EVEN IF YOU DO NOT PERSONALLY AGREE WITH THEM. Do not yell stop. Do not grab your comrades. If you feel unsafe, move away. The parameters listed above are for our own use so that we can hold one another accountable afterwards for things that may not have gone according to plan. But in the face of the enemy WE SHOW FULL SOLIDARITY. Afterwards we can argue about stuff. Not during the action.
We are all adults. We are all comrades. We have a common enemy and we will have to learn to work as a unit. Following the action parameters on each FTP march should mitigate the fighting and problems we have consistently had after every action to date.
Thank you for your cooperation.
***
The Oakland Police Department has harassed and brutalized Oaklanders and people around the city. Camps and liberated foreclosed buildings have been raided and shut down.
With dozens of our comrades having been arrested in the past couple of days, and the city’s curfew is still in affect we will break it tonight and the time has come to rise up and let them know what we think of them and that we will no longer meekly accept their violations of our civil and human rights.
Spread the word, send the invite, join us as we march in solidarity against police repression.
Wear black Bring shields if you are able and willing
Rally at 9:00 pmMarch on OPD HQ at undisclosed time
THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING OAKLAND
Update: ABC7 News just reported about our marches with the slant of ...POOR Mayor Libby Schaaf, whatever can she do?? Kept showing old footage from May Day and the car damage at the dealerships in such a way that it made it look like that happened this weekend. Urgh. Corporate media doing what corporate media does.
Sharing a report from last night by Bay Area Intifada:
"OPD made multiple strong-arm arrests while enforcing what appeared to be laws against crossing the street on a red light, or lingering too long in a crosswalk, even when the pedestrian light was still green. The police also arrested demonstrators who were standing on the sidewalks. Police did not say why those persons were arrested.
"While documenting one arrest and attempting to obtain the name of the person being arrested, I was warned by Officer Eriberto Perez-Angeles that I would be arrested unless I complied with his order to stand on the sidewalk. I informed Officer Perez-Angeles that I was a member of the media documenting an arrest and not interfering with the police. 'Get on the sidewalk,' he responded. 'This is your last warning.'”
#FuckTheCurfew or Don't Worry, No One Broke a Window [http://bit.ly/1GyRr5P]
---
* "SIGN to Drop All Charges on Shalana Little, Xaime Casillas and All Los Angeles Police Brutality Protesters; Shalana Little’s arrest for “Lynching” is an outrage. She stands trial in June – Take action now!" [http://peoplespowerassemblies.org/signshalanapetition/], [https://archive.is/jov3x].
November 26, 2014, Mass protest in Los Angeles in response to no indictment verdict of police officer Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown
On December 19, 2014, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested Shalana Little, an activist in the Ferguson solidarity movement in LA, on the outrageous charge of felony “lynching”, following the aggressive tactics of the police to disrupt a march in Hollywood. She was severely mistreated during her arrest, was held on $30,000 bail for four days, and finally released on Christmas eve. Although the lynching charge has been dropped against her, she faces the possibility of years in prison on the remaining charges.
Shalana is not the only Californian activist facing charges that paint protesters as violent agitators. Over 400 people have been arrested in recent months during mass protests against police brutality in Los Angeles, but Shalana and a few others are facing some of the most serious charges.
Using California’s lynching law against protesters is an outrage. First passed in 1933, the law was passed to prevent mobs from forcibly taking people from police custody in the name of vigilante justice. Yet, today, a law once won in large part by anti-racist activists is now being used to perpetuate police repression against those anti-racist activists fighting against police terror. These arrests and prosecutions are part of a national trend to target Black activists with more serious charges like “lynching,” while doing nothing to stop the true lynchers: the killer cops.
---
Students Occupying Cal Hall for #RespectRichmond
If you're near Berkeley, come TURN UP SUPPORT for the Students OCCUPYING California Hall RIGHT NOW to demand that Chancellor Dirks#RESPECTRICHMOND
[https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/respectrichmond?source=feed_text&story_id=850346431707071]
and sign a community benefits agreement for the new campus moving into this low-income community of color. As students who have all been fighting against the extractive UC system that exploits people and community wealth for commercial profit, let's send our support to our neighbors, and link arms against the UC's privatization scheme. A message from folks inside:
"Right now I'm occupying California Hall with 20 other students to demand that Chancellor Dirks RESPECT RICHMOND. For over a year, students and community have been calling on the UC to sign a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) that will provide living wage jobs and displacement protections for Richmond residents. Richmond is a community of color where 1 in 3 children live in poverty, and one of the last places in the Bay Area where low-income families can afford to live. It's time to ask Chancellor Dirks which side he is on-- is he is on the side of students, workers, and
community, or on the side of profit and displacement?"
Video link: [https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10155546003540515&id=717945514].
Come to California Hall starting at 2pm to show your support, and bring all your friends to the RALLY FOR RICHMOND today at 4:30pm outside of California Hall--- and share this picture to spread the word!!
---
* " 'Populist' conference calls for investing in 'green economy' " (2015-04-22, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/hsBv3] [begin excerpt]: Progressive activists from across the United States met here Apr. 18 to convene the Populism 2015 Conference around the theme of "Building a Movement for People and the Planet."
The three-day gathering, organized by the Alliance for a Just Society, Campaign for America's Future, National People's Action and U.S. Action, focused on rebuilding America for the 21st century, creating jobs for all, raising wages, empowering workers and reversing inequality, eliminating institutionalized racism, guaranteeing women's economic equality, providing a high-quality education to every child, enforcing fair taxes on corporations and the wealthy, fighting for democracy and curbing the power of "big money."This year's conference also took on the priority of a "green economy." As stated by the organizers: "In the upcoming fights around state clean power plans, we want to limit nuclear and fracked natural gas, increase renewable energy sources and energy efficiency in a way that builds opportunity and community wealth for low-income communities and communities of color, as well as win public and community control over the cost of energy, where it's purchased and how it's used - in short, what we call 'energy democracy." [end excerpt]
---
* "Kayakers paddling in Seattle Port chant, 'Shell No' " (2015-05-18, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/4Aj9I]* "Seattle to Shell: ‘If you build it, we will block it’ " (2015-05-18, liberationnews.org) [archive.is/Ypm6C] [begin excerpt]: Over the course of a few days, mass numbers of climate activists gathered in Seattle to say no to Shell’s Arctic drilling rig, which is currently sitting at Terminal 5 of the Port of Seattle. The Shell No Action Council organized a mass kayak flotilla, the “Paddle in Seattle” on May 16, and a day of mass nonviolent direct action to stop Arctic drilling and take a stand against companies like Shell who profit from climate chaos. On May 16, about 1,000 “kayaktivists” paddled out into the Sound, lead by Duwamish longboats, to confront Shell’s Arctic drilling rig. Hundreds of concerned people flocked the upper platforms of Jack Block Park to view the flotilla as the kayaktivists paddled their way to the drilling rig. [end excerpt]
===*===*===
SOLANO PEACE & FREEDOM PARTY
[SolanoPFP.blogspot.com] Use the ballot for our own People's candidates and legislation, campaign for the future!
* "Left, Independent Political Action Conference: Unprecedented Cooperation" (2015-05-05, newpol.org) [archive.is/SCw8u] [begin excerpt]: Some 200 political activists from a variety of independent political organizations, as well as individual activists, carried out a rich discussion and an amicable debate about how to collaborate in the work of building a large political alternative to the left of the Democratic Party. Participating in the Future of the Left/Independent Politics Conference, in an unprecedented spirit of cooperation, national, state, and local candidates and activists, as well as elected officials from the Green Party, the Peace and Freedom Party, the Richmond Progressive Alliance, Socialist Alternative, and the Vermont Progressive Party discussed the challenges of campaigning and the difficulties of actually holding office while trying to both build movements and push progressive policies. Also at the conference were members of Progressive Democrats of America and the Justice Party. [end excerpt]* "Third Party Builders Meet in Chicago - Two Reports" (2015-05-14, portside.org) [archive.is/BSdWa]
===*===*===
TOWARDS REVOLUTIONARY SOLUTIONS
* "Why We Need to Ditch Austerity and Take on the Global 1% ; Inequality is not a symptom of the ills of global capitalism, it is its fuel" (2015-04-23, commondreams.org) [archive.is/ulXfM]
* An Anarchist writes: "It’s Time To Learn From History, Direct Action and Disobedience Is What Brings Governments Down" (2015-05-19) [archive.is/nybpY]
* "Decentralization vs. Survival" [archive.is/xQjlq] [begin excerpt]:
For a people’s revolution to survive, it must seize state power and use it to (a) break the stranglehold exercised by the owning class over the society’s institutions and resources, and (b) withstand the reactionary counterattack that is sure to come. The internal and external dangers a revolution faces necessitate a centralized state power that is not particularly to anyone’s liking, not in Soviet Russia in 1917, nor in Sandinista Nicaragua in 1980.
Engels offers an apposite account of an uprising in Spain in 1872-73 in which anarchists seized power in municipalities across the country. At first, the situation looked promising. The king had abdicated and the bourgeois government could muster but a few thousand ill-trained troops. Yet this ragtag force prevailed because it faced a thoroughly parochialized rebellion. “Each town proclaimed itself as a sovereign canton and set up a revolutionary committee (junta),” Engels writes. “[E]ach town acted on its own, declaring that the important thing was not cooperation with other towns but separation from them, thus precluding any possibility of a combined attack [against bourgeois forces].” It was “the fragmentation and isolation of the revolutionary forces which enabled the government troops to smash one revolt after the other.”
Decentralized parochial autonomy is the graveyard of insurgency–which may be one reason why there has never been a successful anarcho-syndicalist revolution. Ideally, it would be a fine thing to have only local, self-directed, worker participation, with minimal bureaucracy, police, and military. This probably would be the development of socialism, were socialism ever allowed to develop unhindered by counterrevolutionary subversion and attack. One might recall how, in 1918-20, fourteen capitalist nations, including the United States, invaded Soviet Russia in a bloody but unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the revolutionary Bolshevik government. The years of foreign invasion and civil war did much to intensify the Bolsheviks’ siege psychology with its commitment to lockstep party unity and a repressive security apparatus. Thus, in May 1921, the same Lenin who had encouraged the practice of internal party democracy and struggled against Trotsky in order to give the trade unions a greater measure of autonomy, now called for an end to the Workers’ Opposition and other factional groups within the party. “The time has come,” he told an enthusiastically concurring Tenth Party Congress, “to put an end to opposition, to put a lid on it: we have had enough opposition.” Open disputes and conflicting tendencies within and without the party, the communists concluded, created an appearance of division and weakness that invited attack by formidable foes.
Only a month earlier, in April 1921, Lenin had called for more worker representation on the party’s Central Committee. In short, he had become not anti-worker but anti-opposition. Here was a social revolution–like every other–that was not allowed to develop its political and material life in an unhindered way.
By the late 1920s, the Soviets faced the choice of (a) moving in a still more centralized direction with a command economy and forced agrarian collectivization and full-speed industrialization under a commandist, autocratic party leadership, the road taken by Stalin, or (b) moving in a liberalized direction, allowing more political diversity, more autonomy for labor unions and other organizations, more open debate and criticism, greater autonomy among the various Soviet republics, a sector of privately owned small businesses, independent agricultural development by the peasantry, greater emphasis on consumer goods, and less effort given to the kind of capital accumulation needed to build a strong military-industrial base.
The latter course, I believe, would have produced a more comfortable, more humane and serviceable society. Siege socialism would have given way to worker-consumer socialism. The only problem is that the country would have risked being incapable of withstanding the Nazi onslaught. Instead, the Soviet Union embarked upon a rigorous, forced industrialization. This policy has often been mentioned as one of the wrongs perpetrated by Stalin upon his people. It consisted mostly of building, within a decade, an entirely new, huge industrial base east of the Urals in the middle of the barren steppes, the biggest steel complex in Europe, in anticipation of an invasion from the West. “Money was spent like water, men froze, hungered and suffered but the construction went on with a disregard for individuals and a mass heroism seldom paralleled in history.”
Stalin’s prophecy that the Soviet Union had only ten years to do what the British had done in a century proved correct. When the Nazis invaded in 1941, that same industrial base, safely ensconced thousands of miles from the front, produced the weapons of war that eventually turned the tide. The cost of this survival included 22 million Soviets who perished in the war and immeasurable devastation and suffering, the effects of which would distort Soviet society for decades afterward.
All this is not to say that everything Stalin did was of historical necessity. The exigencies of revolutionary survival did not “make inevitable” the heartless execution of hundreds of Old Bolshevik leaders, the personality cult of a supreme leader who claimed every revolutionary gain as his own achievement, the suppression of party political life through terror, the eventual silencing of debate regarding the pace of industrialization and collectivization, the ideological regulation of all intellectual and cultural life, and the mass deportations of “suspect” nationalities.
The transforming effects of counterrevolutionary attack have been felt in other countries. A Sandinista military officer I met in Vienna in 1986 noted that Nicaraguans were “not a warrior people” but they had to learn to fight because they faced a destructive, U.S.-sponsored mercenary war. She bemoaned the fact that war and embargo forced her country to postpone much of its socio-economic agenda. As with Nicaragua, so with Mozambique, Angola and numerous other countries in which U.S.-financed mercenary forces destroyed farmlands, villages, health centers, and power stations, while killing or starving hundreds of thousands–the revolutionary baby was strangled in its crib or mercilessly bled beyond recognition. This reality ought to earn at least as much recognition as the suppression of dissidents in this or that revolutionary society. [end excerpt]
* An Anarchist writes: "It’s Time To Learn From History, Direct Action and Disobedience Is What Brings Governments Down" (2015-05-19) [archive.is/nybpY]
* "Decentralization vs. Survival" [archive.is/xQjlq] [begin excerpt]:
For a people’s revolution to survive, it must seize state power and use it to (a) break the stranglehold exercised by the owning class over the society’s institutions and resources, and (b) withstand the reactionary counterattack that is sure to come. The internal and external dangers a revolution faces necessitate a centralized state power that is not particularly to anyone’s liking, not in Soviet Russia in 1917, nor in Sandinista Nicaragua in 1980.
Engels offers an apposite account of an uprising in Spain in 1872-73 in which anarchists seized power in municipalities across the country. At first, the situation looked promising. The king had abdicated and the bourgeois government could muster but a few thousand ill-trained troops. Yet this ragtag force prevailed because it faced a thoroughly parochialized rebellion. “Each town proclaimed itself as a sovereign canton and set up a revolutionary committee (junta),” Engels writes. “[E]ach town acted on its own, declaring that the important thing was not cooperation with other towns but separation from them, thus precluding any possibility of a combined attack [against bourgeois forces].” It was “the fragmentation and isolation of the revolutionary forces which enabled the government troops to smash one revolt after the other.”
Decentralized parochial autonomy is the graveyard of insurgency–which may be one reason why there has never been a successful anarcho-syndicalist revolution. Ideally, it would be a fine thing to have only local, self-directed, worker participation, with minimal bureaucracy, police, and military. This probably would be the development of socialism, were socialism ever allowed to develop unhindered by counterrevolutionary subversion and attack. One might recall how, in 1918-20, fourteen capitalist nations, including the United States, invaded Soviet Russia in a bloody but unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the revolutionary Bolshevik government. The years of foreign invasion and civil war did much to intensify the Bolsheviks’ siege psychology with its commitment to lockstep party unity and a repressive security apparatus. Thus, in May 1921, the same Lenin who had encouraged the practice of internal party democracy and struggled against Trotsky in order to give the trade unions a greater measure of autonomy, now called for an end to the Workers’ Opposition and other factional groups within the party. “The time has come,” he told an enthusiastically concurring Tenth Party Congress, “to put an end to opposition, to put a lid on it: we have had enough opposition.” Open disputes and conflicting tendencies within and without the party, the communists concluded, created an appearance of division and weakness that invited attack by formidable foes.
Only a month earlier, in April 1921, Lenin had called for more worker representation on the party’s Central Committee. In short, he had become not anti-worker but anti-opposition. Here was a social revolution–like every other–that was not allowed to develop its political and material life in an unhindered way.
By the late 1920s, the Soviets faced the choice of (a) moving in a still more centralized direction with a command economy and forced agrarian collectivization and full-speed industrialization under a commandist, autocratic party leadership, the road taken by Stalin, or (b) moving in a liberalized direction, allowing more political diversity, more autonomy for labor unions and other organizations, more open debate and criticism, greater autonomy among the various Soviet republics, a sector of privately owned small businesses, independent agricultural development by the peasantry, greater emphasis on consumer goods, and less effort given to the kind of capital accumulation needed to build a strong military-industrial base.
The latter course, I believe, would have produced a more comfortable, more humane and serviceable society. Siege socialism would have given way to worker-consumer socialism. The only problem is that the country would have risked being incapable of withstanding the Nazi onslaught. Instead, the Soviet Union embarked upon a rigorous, forced industrialization. This policy has often been mentioned as one of the wrongs perpetrated by Stalin upon his people. It consisted mostly of building, within a decade, an entirely new, huge industrial base east of the Urals in the middle of the barren steppes, the biggest steel complex in Europe, in anticipation of an invasion from the West. “Money was spent like water, men froze, hungered and suffered but the construction went on with a disregard for individuals and a mass heroism seldom paralleled in history.”
Stalin’s prophecy that the Soviet Union had only ten years to do what the British had done in a century proved correct. When the Nazis invaded in 1941, that same industrial base, safely ensconced thousands of miles from the front, produced the weapons of war that eventually turned the tide. The cost of this survival included 22 million Soviets who perished in the war and immeasurable devastation and suffering, the effects of which would distort Soviet society for decades afterward.
All this is not to say that everything Stalin did was of historical necessity. The exigencies of revolutionary survival did not “make inevitable” the heartless execution of hundreds of Old Bolshevik leaders, the personality cult of a supreme leader who claimed every revolutionary gain as his own achievement, the suppression of party political life through terror, the eventual silencing of debate regarding the pace of industrialization and collectivization, the ideological regulation of all intellectual and cultural life, and the mass deportations of “suspect” nationalities.
The transforming effects of counterrevolutionary attack have been felt in other countries. A Sandinista military officer I met in Vienna in 1986 noted that Nicaraguans were “not a warrior people” but they had to learn to fight because they faced a destructive, U.S.-sponsored mercenary war. She bemoaned the fact that war and embargo forced her country to postpone much of its socio-economic agenda. As with Nicaragua, so with Mozambique, Angola and numerous other countries in which U.S.-financed mercenary forces destroyed farmlands, villages, health centers, and power stations, while killing or starving hundreds of thousands–the revolutionary baby was strangled in its crib or mercilessly bled beyond recognition. This reality ought to earn at least as much recognition as the suppression of dissidents in this or that revolutionary society. [end excerpt]
===*===*===
SOLIDARITY WITH THE NEW AFRICAN NATION!
Black Power! Revive the Community! Defend the Nation!
* "Rise of the New Black Radicals" (2015-04-26, truthdig.com) [archive.is/zuK6t] [begin excerpt]: The almost daily murders of young black men and women by police in the United States—a crisis undiminished by the protests of groups such as Black Lives Matter and by the empty rhetoric of black political elites—have given birth to a new young black militant.
This militant, rising off the bloody streets of cities such as Ferguson, Mo., understands that the beast is not simply white supremacy, chronic poverty and the many faces of racism but the destructive energy of corporate capitalism. This militant has given up on electoral politics, the courts and legislative reform, loathes the corporate press and rejects established black leaders such as Barack Obama, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Michael Eric Dyson. This militant believes it is only in the streets and in acts of civil disobedience that change is possible. And given the refusal of the corporate state to address the mounting suffering of the poor and working poor, draconian state repression and indiscriminate use of lethal state violence against unarmed people of color, I think the new black radical is right. It will be a long, hot and violent summer. [end excerpt]
* "CLEVELAND COP NOT GUILTY OVER DEATHS OF 2 PEOPLE SHOT AT 137 TIMES BY POLICE" (2015-05-23, voiceofdetroit.net) [archive.is/yZSg9].
* "Cleveland Streets Are Calm, but Anger Lingers Day After Officer’s Acquittal" (2015-05-24, nytimes.com) [archive.is/eZieq] [begin excerpt]: Officer Michael Brelo, the patrolman acquitted on Saturday, was one of several officers who fired a combined 137 shots at Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams in a car chase on Nov. 29, 2012. Police said they believed gunfire was coming from Mr. Russell’s car during the pursuit, but he and Ms. Williams were later found to be unarmed. Officer Brelo was singled out for the manslaughter charges because he climbed onto the hood after the pursuit ended and fired at least 15 rounds into the car, which prosecutors claimed was unjustified. In his acquittal, a judge ruled that Officer Brelo had feared for his life and that his actions were protected by law.
Though Cleveland’s population has a black majority, and though the mayor and the police chief are black, many African-Americans here say racial tensions and mistrust of law enforcement are common. Some speak of “two Clevelands” — a mostly white city with a bustling downtown and increased commercial development, and a mostly black one where schools are struggling and crime rates are high, and the police are not trusted.
That dichotomy was on display Saturday night as more than 100 protesters, many of them black, blocked traffic and chanted downtown about the verdict and broader perceived injustices. As the police followed the march, the protesters passed group after group of patrons dining outside at fashionable restaurants. Most of the diners were white, and many had come downtown for a Cleveland Indians baseball game. The protesters walked past many such places without incident, but at one point, the police said, a protester threw a sign at a restaurant patron. At other times, baseball fans loudly suggested that the protesters go home. [end excerpt]
Photo: Liberation and Justice activists confronting the Pigs outside the Cuyahoga County Justice Center in Cleveland
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Nothing stops anyone from printing some facts on a flier to pass them out at a farmer's market, concert, or any other community event. Add some contact information for organizing, and a community forum, and you got yourself a campaign!
information collected by the Worker's Defense Committee
WORKER'S POWER!
* "NELP on Worker Protest at McDs Shareholder Meeting: 'Workers Are Winning' " (2015-05-20) [archive.is/WPtY7]
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Victory to Edgewood Workers in San Francisco!Congratulations to the workers at Edgewood Center for Children and Families who voted to join Teamsters Local 856 last night! For more, visit [archive.is/ngCOR], and [teamsters856.org].
From their Unionize Edgewood Facebook page [facebook.com/pages/Unionize-Edgewood/1438641223115950]:
Tonight we stood together and showed confidence in each other. With every YES vote we cast we affirmed that we can achieve more by standing together than by going it alone.
We voted for us, for our coworkers and for a better Edgewood for our clients. And we won the vote!
Read their press release at [archive.is/oUJYg].
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* "Fight for $15 Demands a Raise for Low-Wage Workers" (2015-04-25, socialistorganizer.org) [archive.is/wZctG] [begin excerpt]: On April 15, there were mobilizations in more than 200 cities calling for an increase in the minimum wage involving as many as 60,000 workers. This year’s actions represent a step forward for the movement of low-wage workers. The Service Employees International Union-initiated Fight for $15 led a combination of job actions and mass mobilizations, with broad labor and community participation.The demonstrations demanding “$15 and a Union” began in 2012 with strikes of fast-food workers in New York City. This year, the scope of the movement widened beyond the fast-food sector to include laundry workers, Brinks guards, home-care assistants, Walmart workers, child-care aides, airport workers, adjunct professors and other low-wage workers. In New York City and Portland, OR members of the building trades unions joined in the demonstrations. The militancy of these actions shows the potential for a general fightback against austerity and economic inequality by the working class and its allies. [end excerpt]
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* "Thousands Demand Teachers Union End Partnership with Coca-Cola' " (2015-04-24, rootsaction.org) [archive.is/VUmpN] [begin excerpt]: American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten and AFT staff have been sent this petition, signed thus far by over 14,000 people: "Teaching Does NOT Go Better with Coke [act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=11178].
As strong supporters of teachers and teachers' unions, RootsAction.org and its members are distressed that the AFT is partnering with Coca-Cola.
Four months ago, AFT members caused their union to begin a boycott of Coca-Cola over its reliance on child labor. But now the union leadership has caved.
With terms of the agreement undisclosed, AFT ended the boycott -- and has begun a partnership to do things like "advocating for increased educational opportunities for children."
Labor activist Ray Rogers, director of Corporate Campaign Inc., says: "The most effective way for Coca-Cola to help end illegal child labor in places like the Philippines and El Salvador is not through pointless additional studies, audits and meaningless rhetoric, but to pay sugar processors enough money to pay fair wages to sugar cane harvesters." [end excerpt]
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* "Anti-union groups target California teachers" (2015-05-18, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/wiYAs]
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* "'Right to Work' Debunked: Economists Find Anti-Worker Laws Lead to Lower Wages; Workers in Right to Work states earn an average of $1,558 less per year than their counterparts in states without anti-labor laws" (2015-04-22, commondreams.org) [archive.is/LyAc0]
COMMUNITY FASCISM WATCH
The following letter is referring to the "New Aspostolic Reformation Movement", a theocratic political party organized locally with real-estate agents to take public property for private gain, among many other corrupt and criminal activities. Vallejo's current Mayor (photo at right) is from among these real-estate agents.
* "Sound familiar?" (2015-05-22, by Paula McConnell of Vallejo) [archive.is/v1pcG]:
The following are recent quotes from the Associated Press:
• “It is a city that struggles daily with pervasive poverty, and widespread joblessness, homelessness, failing schools, drug addiction, a crumbling infrastructure, nepotism and corruption.” — Baltimore
• “(It is a state) with a quasi-religious group that controlled politics and commerce and preached a code of ethics around devotion to God and family, even as it plundered monies and victimized its residents.” — Mexico’s western state of Michoacan.
Think long and hard about these two statements. Do they sound familiar? If not, then you have not been paying attention.
"Overnight the potholes on my block were stenciled in lost marijuana tax revenue." The marijuana leaves that represents a revenue that could pay for the repairs, and is being refused.
===*===*===
NORTHBAY COPWATCH
* "Obama, Master of Diversion, Proposes Bogus Reforms of Militarized Police" (2015-05-20, blackagendareport.com) [archive.is/cUBJn]
* "How Did a 26-Year-Old Iraq War Veteran Die Serving a 2-Day Jail Sentence? Sgt. James Brown left his family in 2012 to report to El Paso County Detention Facility in Texas for a two-day stay on a DWI. So how did he end up dead?" (2015-05-18, theroot.com) [archive.is/fT7fX]
* "The Wars Come Home: Counterinsurgency Policing" (2015-05-08, tomdispatch.com) [archive.is/TrdRe]
* "ACLU Comment on President Obama’s Ban on Militarization Pipeline to Police" (2015-05-18) [archive.is/N7aDG]
* "Obama Signs Bill Creating “Amber Alert” System for Violence Against Police Officers" (2015-05-20, theantimedia.org) [archive.is/bzzcb] [begin excerpt]: Perhaps most concerning is the component of the bill that will keep tabs on “imminent and credible threats” made against law enforcement. As with many laws, the language of this bill is exceptionally vague. Left up to interpretation, this could result in increased monitoring and control of freedom of expression beyond what already occurs. As if local police departments and the federal government did not have enough leeway to monitor speech, further authorization is now codified and implicitly criminalized. Most ironically, the law establishes “standards that specifically provide for the protection of the civil liberties of law enforcement officers and their families.” The bill predictably makes no mention of the variety of civil liberties violations that police commit, from spying to ignoring due process to killing unarmed and non-violent individuals.
* "Iris scanner can ID a person from 40 feet away" (2015-05-22, UPI newswire) [archive.is/r4JVr]
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===*===*===
Community Fascism inVallejo, "the City of God":
The following letter is referring to the "New Aspostolic Reformation Movement", a theocratic political party organized locally with real-estate agents to take public property for private gain, among many other corrupt and criminal activities. Vallejo's current Mayor (photo at right) is from among these real-estate agents.* "Sound familiar?" (2015-05-22, by Paula McConnell of Vallejo) [archive.is/v1pcG]:
The following are recent quotes from the Associated Press:
• “It is a city that struggles daily with pervasive poverty, and widespread joblessness, homelessness, failing schools, drug addiction, a crumbling infrastructure, nepotism and corruption.” — Baltimore
• “(It is a state) with a quasi-religious group that controlled politics and commerce and preached a code of ethics around devotion to God and family, even as it plundered monies and victimized its residents.” — Mexico’s western state of Michoacan.
Think long and hard about these two statements. Do they sound familiar? If not, then you have not been paying attention.
"Overnight the potholes on my block were stenciled in lost marijuana tax revenue." The marijuana leaves that represents a revenue that could pay for the repairs, and is being refused.
NORTHBAY COPWATCH
* "Obama, Master of Diversion, Proposes Bogus Reforms of Militarized Police" (2015-05-20, blackagendareport.com) [archive.is/cUBJn]
* "How Did a 26-Year-Old Iraq War Veteran Die Serving a 2-Day Jail Sentence? Sgt. James Brown left his family in 2012 to report to El Paso County Detention Facility in Texas for a two-day stay on a DWI. So how did he end up dead?" (2015-05-18, theroot.com) [archive.is/fT7fX]
* "The Wars Come Home: Counterinsurgency Policing" (2015-05-08, tomdispatch.com) [archive.is/TrdRe]
* "ACLU Comment on President Obama’s Ban on Militarization Pipeline to Police" (2015-05-18) [archive.is/N7aDG]
* "Obama Signs Bill Creating “Amber Alert” System for Violence Against Police Officers" (2015-05-20, theantimedia.org) [archive.is/bzzcb] [begin excerpt]: Perhaps most concerning is the component of the bill that will keep tabs on “imminent and credible threats” made against law enforcement. As with many laws, the language of this bill is exceptionally vague. Left up to interpretation, this could result in increased monitoring and control of freedom of expression beyond what already occurs. As if local police departments and the federal government did not have enough leeway to monitor speech, further authorization is now codified and implicitly criminalized. Most ironically, the law establishes “standards that specifically provide for the protection of the civil liberties of law enforcement officers and their families.” The bill predictably makes no mention of the variety of civil liberties violations that police commit, from spying to ignoring due process to killing unarmed and non-violent individuals.
* "Iris scanner can ID a person from 40 feet away" (2015-05-22, UPI newswire) [archive.is/r4JVr]
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Domestic Security Agencies and private-sector partners
* Oakland: "See no evil: inside one city's quest to kill its surveillance program" (2014-03-06, theverge.com) [archive.is/ZzTsr]
A PLAN FOR CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN THE UNITED STATES?
The article [archive.is/ZaT47] says that FEMA camps is not a conspiracy theory and it appears that the governmental organizations FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and DHS (Department of Homeland Security) relationship has devised plans to enact martial law, set up concentration camps, and facilitate the supply of military weapons to local police. Joshua Stanton, a famous North Korea ‘freedom fighter’ and rights activist, is a lawyer at the DHS and is prominently mentioned in the operational support section of what appears to be a McCarthyist FEMA plan. Thoughts?
It really does take a very specific type of individual to be the DHS - FEMA Associate Chief Counsel mission support, considering the legal waters they tread with their far-right agenda.
* "Hidden Data Transmission by Controlling Electromagnetic Emanations of Computers" (lambda-diode.com) [archive.is/94Vis] [begin intro]: If recovering unintended compromising emanations usually requires special receiving equipment, it is nevertheless possible to control the operation of a computer in order to affect the emanations in such a way that they can be received and decoded using standard equipment. Basically, this is programming a computer so that it acts as a radio transmitter. Of course computers were not intended to be used that way. But small amounts of data can be transmitted this way at low rates. This transmission can be made invisible to the unsuspecting user. Thus, with the aid of trojan horses or viruses, it would be possible to steal data from otherwise well-isolated sites. This can be done with receiving equipment as simple and widely available as a standard AM or FM tuner. [end intro]
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Five-Eyes, and other transnational partners
* Oakland: "See no evil: inside one city's quest to kill its surveillance program" (2014-03-06, theverge.com) [archive.is/ZzTsr]
A PLAN FOR CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN THE UNITED STATES?
The article [archive.is/ZaT47] says that FEMA camps is not a conspiracy theory and it appears that the governmental organizations FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and DHS (Department of Homeland Security) relationship has devised plans to enact martial law, set up concentration camps, and facilitate the supply of military weapons to local police. Joshua Stanton, a famous North Korea ‘freedom fighter’ and rights activist, is a lawyer at the DHS and is prominently mentioned in the operational support section of what appears to be a McCarthyist FEMA plan. Thoughts?
It really does take a very specific type of individual to be the DHS - FEMA Associate Chief Counsel mission support, considering the legal waters they tread with their far-right agenda.
* "Hidden Data Transmission by Controlling Electromagnetic Emanations of Computers" (lambda-diode.com) [archive.is/94Vis] [begin intro]: If recovering unintended compromising emanations usually requires special receiving equipment, it is nevertheless possible to control the operation of a computer in order to affect the emanations in such a way that they can be received and decoded using standard equipment. Basically, this is programming a computer so that it acts as a radio transmitter. Of course computers were not intended to be used that way. But small amounts of data can be transmitted this way at low rates. This transmission can be made invisible to the unsuspecting user. Thus, with the aid of trojan horses or viruses, it would be possible to steal data from otherwise well-isolated sites. This can be done with receiving equipment as simple and widely available as a standard AM or FM tuner. [end intro]
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Five-Eyes, and other transnational partners
* "NSA spied on EU politicians and companies with help from German intelligence" (2015-04-24, arstechnica.com) [archive.is/AyonK]
* "Former MI6 boss picked as BP director" (2015-05-14, UPI newswire) [archive.is/Lynmg]
* "Former MI6 boss picked as BP director" (2015-05-14, UPI newswire) [archive.is/Lynmg]
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]
* Petition campaign: "Amnesty for ALL those arrested demanding justice for Freddie Gray!" (2015-05-04, answercoalition.org) [archive.is/piYGv], print out a petition to pass around [link], or sign here [answercoalition.org/amnesty_for_all_those_arrested_demanding_justice_for_freddie_gray]
* "Mumia Speaks We Listen, Act and Work to Keep Him Alive and Recovering" (2015-05-22, from friends and family of Mumia abu-Jamal) [archive.is/9Ngjm]. Please sign the open letter for Mumia [bit.ly/OpenLetterForMumia]
* "Waco" (2:10) by Mumia Abu-Jamal (recorded 2015-05-20) [prisonradio.org/media/audio/mumia/waco-210-mumia-abu-jamal-recorded-5-20-2015]
* "Execution by Medical Neglect: Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Health Crisis" (2015-04-25, by Jay Cannon) [archive.is/y4wu4]
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* "We cannot live by bread alone: Texas abuses prisoners with denied food and bread-and-water diets" (2015-05-26, by Kevin “Rashid” Johnson) [archive.is/CJFFM]
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* "Medical Justice Campaign for Political Prisoner Robert Seth Hayes #74-A-2280"
(2015-05-17, jerichony.org):
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.
Read Seth's May 17, 2015 Sick Call Request here [https://web.archive.org/web/20150528035806/http://www.jerichony.org/images24/05-17-15_Seth_Sick_Call_Request.pdf].
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.
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* "Moving forward with our fight to end solitary confinement" (2015-05-20, by Todd Ashker) [archive.is/xcu7C]
* "At Ohio’s Supermax Prison, a Hunger Strike Ends But Extreme Isolation Remains" (2015-04-21, solitarywatch.com) [archive.is/KZUq8]
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* "New York City allowed Rikers Island corrections officers to commit widespread assault" (2015-05-22, aol.com) [archive.is/BmZAT] [begin excerpt]: Two inmates from one of America's most famous jails say New York City allowed Rikers Island corrections officers to commit widespread sexual assault.
The women filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against one of the jail's corrections officers and the city saying the officer repeatedly raped them. The women say when they tried to report the assaults, they were told nothing could be done.
Part of the suit reads the officer threatened to allow other inmates to beat the women up if they reported assault. The women's attorneys also allege when Rikers officers get reported, "retaliation includes threats and other verbal abuse, deprivation of food for extended periods of time, refusing to permit women to bathe, and placing them in punitive segregation based on false disciplinary charges." [end excerpt]
* JANE DOE 1 and JANE DOE 2, on behalf of themselves and all similarly situated women, Plaintiffs, -against- THE CITY OF NEW YORK and BENNY SANTIAGO, Defendants. [archive.is/1Db4c]
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* " 'Expose the Slaveholders': Activists Disrupt For-Profit Prison Corp. Meeting" (2015-04-29, commondreams.org) [archive.is/lzhRj]
* "DOJ Report Slams For-Profit Texas Immigrant Prison" (2015-04-24, commondreams.org) [archive.is/TO2op]
* "Prison Labor Company Features Promo Video Touting 'Best-Kept Secret in Outsourcing' " (2015-04-17, firstlook.org) [archive.is/6SVs4]
whowhatwhy.org writes: It stands to reason that Unicor—also known as Federal Prison Industries—doesn’t mind a few wrongful convictions. More convictions are good for their business model. They are a government-owned corporation paying its “federal workers”—a.k.a. “prisoners”—as little as 23 cents an hour to manufacture military uniforms, furniture, electronics and staff call centers. Forget India and the Philippines… Unicor’s promotional video touts their workforce as “the best kept secret in outsourcing!”. (note: as of 2015-04-22, the video has been removed from UNICOR's website)
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FREE KWADIR FELTON (New Jersey)
Mother and activist Renee Felton speaks to Liberation Radio about the case of her son. Kwadir Felton was shot by Jersey City, N.J. police, blinded and thrown in prison for 16 years on trumped-up charges. Hear about his appeal for justice, the organizing of families of the incarcerated and the ongoing fight against police harassment targeting his family. [http://www.liberationradio.org/episodes/2015-05-22-appeal-for-justice-free-kwadir-felton-plus-seattle-blocks-shell-from-arctic-drilling.html?seg=1&start_time=01:20.5&end_time=11:19]
===*===*===
articles recommended by the
SAN PABLO BAY ECOLOGICAL PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION
Campaigns, info, and more [SanPabloBayEPA.blogspot.com]
* "Ruptured Pipeline Along California Coast Dumps Crude Oil into Pacific Ocean" (2015-05-20, commondreams.org) [archive.is/3PnZC]
* "Notorious Repeat Offender Behind Oil Spill 'Nightmare' in California; State of Emergency declared as oil-soaked pelicans die on shore" (2015-05-21, commondreams.org) [archive.is/SZF1E]
* "BP oil spill caused dolphins' lung disease, deaths: study" (2015-05-20, AFP newswire) [archive.is/LJxfq]
* "Deepwater Horizon oil spill contributed to high number of Gulf dolphin deaths" (2015-05-20, noaanews.noaa.gov) [archive.is/bwhZ7]
* "Remember Mayflower? Exxon Slapped with Paltry Fine for Tar Sands Pipeline Spill; Arkansas suit against oil giant ends with $5 million agreement" (2015-04-22, commondreams.org) [archive.is/gpdFP]
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* "After Decades, Fake Tire Reefs 'Killing and Smothering' Real Coral" (2015-05-22, commondreams.org) [archive.is/iuWII]
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* "Explosion Rips Through Torrance Refinery, Shakes South Bay; Residents near the oil refinery said the ground shook and ash rained from above after the blast" (2015-02-19, nbclosangeles.com) [archive.is/pcChG]
* "ExxonMobil Refinery incidents over years include fires, explosions" (2015-03-01, dailybreeze.com) [archive.is/vA39t]
* "The ExxonMobil Explosion that Nobody is Talking About" (2015-04-15, by Sacha Feinman) [archive.is/5UTTD] [begin excerpt]: In the preliminary opinions of some experts and observers, the mistakes made in the aftermath of the refinery’s explosion are modest yet numerous, reflecting an imperfect reaction to a dangerous scenario with potentially wide-ranging health and safety implications. “While its true California often does better than most regarding environmental protections, we still fail miserably in several respects,” lamented Julia May, senior scientist at Communities for a Better Environment (CBE). “Regulators often take the word of the oil industry that substances blown over the community during explosions pose no hazards, and consequently they fail to give people fair warning about how to protect themselves, or how to prevent the same thing happening again. This is entirely preventable.”
Two days after the explosion, ExxonMobil hosted a town hall meeting for concerned Torrance residents [https://youtu.be/WDk1iC3MXvk?t=1s]. According to May, the information offered that day woefully undersold the chemical composition of the fallout. “There should have been a more concerted effort to provide a more detailed evaluation by health experts regarding the overall risk from exposure to the ash,” she told ThinkProgress. “Rather than being told during the town hall meeting by ExxonMobil that the material was similar to dust that you find at home.”
Roughly 33 minutes into the meeting, a staff physician for the refinery fielded one of the evening’s countless questions on the chemical composition of the fallout. Mid-sentence, she is interrupted by an angry gentleman in the back of the room.
“Are there any rare earth elements… that’s what we’re asking,” he demanded. “Do you have any lanthanum? Do you have any other chemicals to increase the capacity of your catalyst? Because if it’s just aluminum and silicon, I can live with that. But if you’re adding [other rare earth elements] to that, it massively increases the toxicity, and we wanna know about it.”
“This is spent catalyst,” responded the physician, in a slightly exasperated tone, “It contains aluminum oxide, it contains amorphous silica, and it contains kaolin. That’s what FCC spent catalyst contains.”
But in the samples taken by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), aluminum, lanthanum, and cerium were each discovered to exist at excessive levels. According to Lenntech, a company that provides water and air purification systems for industrial facilities worldwide, these three elements can cause a host of health problems when people are exposed to them over prolonged periods.
The work done that day by SCAQMD offers the best public record of the fallout’s chemical composition. As outlined in Governor Jerry Brown’s Interagency Working Group on Refinery Safety, SCAQMD is the local agency responsible for monitoring and regulating air pollution. If arsenic or asbestos is suddenly spilled into the surrounding environment, it’s within their specific purview to identify it. The SCAQMD report on this [web.archive.org/web/20150316222747/http://www.aqmd.gov/docs/default-source/compliance/exxonmobil-02182015.pdf] makes a curious decision to benchmark their chemical findings against the mean concentrations of those same elements found in average U.S. soil samples. However, these powdered metals fell from the air, making it much easier for them to be carried by the wind, swept into sewers, and breathed into lungs. Regardless of that fact, according to SCAQMD, the level of aluminum found in the fallout was 245 percent above its norm, while the mean lanthanum and cerium readings were 32,667 percent and 8,277 percent of their respective benchmarks. Nothing in the report highlights or explains these findings. The conclusion that the accident didn’t significantly impact the city’s health is offered in spite of them.
[end excerpt]
* "Exxon Mobil Explosion? Complete Media Black Out" (2015-05-22, by Christina Sarich) [archive.is/yFVWQ], video [youtube.com/watch?v=7i0fmnrWITs], [begin excerpt]: With the exception of a few mentions in the mainstream press when the incident originally occurred, Exxon is getting away with murder concerning their most recent snafu. I’m talking about the huge explosion at a gasoline refinery in Torrance, California that rained toxic ash on playgrounds and homes. Exxon assured their employees, and local citizens that “all was well,” though.
So what did happen at the Exxon plant, and why hasn’t it been talked about more since its occurrence? Employees who were present said there was a huge sonic boom, a fire, and loads of ash raining down on them.
Furthermore, a structure at the refinery was visibly damaged, with smoke smoldering from twisted metal, and with the air near the blast site smelling of sulfur and chemicals. Is Exxon trying to hide the true toxic fall-out from Torrance residents? Inspectors were supposed to take air samples “as quickly as possible,” but no follow up reports have been released since the incident happened in February.
There are videos of the fire, but what is more important is the evidence of toxic damage to the environment.
Gasoline processing is a very toxic endeavor. The byproducts created are numerous. Petroleum contains more than 150 chemicals, including benzene, toluene and sometimes lead. What happened to all those chemicals when the plant exploded? They didn’t just float away.
There is no way a plume of fire and smoke that large were contained within just the confines of the plant itself.
A resident described what he observed: “At about 11:30 that morning, an officer called and said ‘I talked to them; it’s okay, just wash it away.’ And no tests were done at 11:30 in the morning,” Commiso said. “A shelter in place was still active, but the fire department was telling me I could wash it down the storm drain.”
Others who live a full three miles away from the site also experienced ash falling on them. Their patio furniture was even sprinkled with toxic, chemical ash. [end excerpt]
* "RIP Earth Day: Voices Decry National Day of Corporate Greenwash" (2015-04-22, commondreams.org) [archive.is/Miv9l]
* "Obama Plans New Rule to Limit Water Pollution" (2015-05-22, nytimes.com) [archive.is/wbiVy] [begin excerpt]: The Obama administration is expected in the coming days to announce a major clean water regulation that would restore the federal government’s authority to limit pollution in the nation’s rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands. Environmentalists have praised the new rule, calling it an important step that would lead to significantly cleaner natural bodies of water and healthier drinking water. But it has attracted fierce opposition from several business interests, including farmers, property developers, fertilizer and pesticide makers, oil and gas producers and a national association of golf course owners. Opponents contend that the rule would stifle economic growth and intrude on property owners’ rights. [end excerpt]
Health and the Human Ecology
Monopolists enforce a regime that does not recognize the natural right to health and life
* "Major Monsanto Lawsuit Completely Blacked out by Media" (2015-05-25, by Christina Sarich) [archive.is/WRhnu]
* "Netherlands Bans Monsanto’s Roundup to Protect Citizens from Carcinogenic Glyphosate" (2015-05-24, by Jennifer Lilley) [archive.is/sB53n]
* "Under Shadow of Trade Deal, US Pesticide Lobby Pressured EU to Dump Toxic Pesticide Rules" (2015-05-22, commondreams.org) [archive.is/sVyPE]
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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.
* "New Study: Common Pesticides Pose Significant Risk to Wild Bees" (2015-04-22, Center for Biological Diversity) [archive.is/Dv1bO]
* "New Studies Add to Growing Evidence That Notorious Pesticides Harm Bees; At this point in time it is no longer credible to argue that agricultural use of neonicotinoids does not harm wild bees" (2015-04-23, commondreams.org) [archive.is/JfWtQ]
Take a look at this amazing time-lapse footage of beautiful bees coming into being… before it’s too late. [thisiscolossal.com/2015/05/an-extraordinary-glimpse-into-the-first-21-days-of-a-bees-life-in-60-seconds] [youtube.com/watch?t=17&v=lMtFYt7ko_o] [youtube.com/watch?v=6-tqiaPoS2U]
===*===*===
articles recommended by the
NO NUKES! campaign
[StopNuclearDeath.blogspot.com]
* "An Act of Protest, Not Sabotage, at the Birthplace of the Bomb" (2015-05-22, democracynow.org) [archive.is/LyZev]
--
* "Federal Ruling Calls Future of Diablo Canyon Reactors into Question" (2015-05-21, Friends of the Earth) [archive.is/UB1HX]
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* "Did We Almost Lose New York?" (2015-05-15, by Harvey Wasserman) [archive.is/Cbso3]
* "Nuclear Power Plant Near New York City Shut Down After Fire" (2015-05-10, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/bjaFv]
* "NY nuclear plant spills oil into Hudson" (2015-05-11, UPI newswire) [archive.is/vJvPq]
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* "DEQ: Decision on Great Lakes Nuclear Waste Site 'Out of Our Hands' " (2015-05-21, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/pIsiN]
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* "Drone likely landed on prime minister’s office this week; cesium may be from Fukushima No. 1" (2015-04-23, japantimes.co.jp) [archive.is/uo1GP]
* "Drone 'containing radiation' lands on roof of Japanese PM's office" (2015-04-22, theguardian.com) [archive.is/zIJgN]
===*===*===
articles recommended by the Committee for
ANIMAL RIGHTS
Protect Earth's Sentient Life!
* "Fisherman risks own life to save baby fox from being kicked to death by thugs" (2015-04-24) [archive.is/HQ1sB]
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* "Does the Octopus Have a Soul? They’re slippery, clever, and adaptable, and a fascinating new book showcases evidence that these eight-legged terrors of the deep may even be able to think and feel" (2015-05-22, thedailybeast.com) [archive.is/Il6OD]
whowhatwhy.org writes: According to a new book—The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness—the slippery invertebrate comes as close as any other animal on Earth to exhibit the type of playful consciousness that humans believe separates them from the rest of the animal kingdom. Octopuses have been known to paint, play with balls and use their suckers like opposable thumbs. They can even “see” with their highly-adaptable skin. And its demonstrable adaptability in the face of predators, according to the book’s author, demonstrates an ability to postulate the thinking of its opponent. And that’s a clue to the extent of its consciousness.
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Save the Whales!
===*===*===
UNITED STATES FASCISM WATCH
[UnitedStatesFascism.blogspot.com] Current trends among fascists, monopolists, and their vanguards.
* "U.S. military and civilians are increasingly divided" (2015-05-25, latimes.com) [archive.is/dalFS].
whowhatwhy.org writes: This Los Angeles Times special report explores the deepening demographic divide between the less than 1% of Americans who serve in the armed services and the rest of the American people. One of the most vexing problems of the Vietnam War was the intersection of the draft with an unpopular war. The solution is reflected in the professionalization of military service, which has created a separate fighting class within American society. This fighting class is then often segregated from the general population and, increasingly, an inter-generational vocation that remains “in the family.”
* "Kansas has found the ultimate way to punish the poor" (2015-05-21, washingtonpost.com) [archive.is/qWntX] [begin excerpt]: A dollar bill is a special kind of thing. You can keep it as long as you like. You can pay for things with it. No one will ever charge you a fee. No one will ask any questions about your credit history. And other people won't try to tell you that they know how to spend that dollar better than you do.
For these reasons, cash is one of the most valuable resources a poor person in the United States can possess. Yet legislators in Kansas, not trusting the poor to use their money wisely, have voted to limit how much cash that welfare beneficiaries can receive, effectively reducing their overall benefits, as well.
The legislature placed a daily cap of $25 on cash withdrawals beginning July 1, which will force beneficiaries to make more frequent trips to the ATM to withdraw money from the debit cards used to pay public assistance benefits.
Since there's a fee for every withdrawal, the limit means that some families will get substantially less money. A single mother with two children seeking to withdraw just $200 in cash could incur $30 or more in fees, which is a big chunk of the roughly $400 such a family would receive under the program in Kansas.
"The complexity of functioning in that cash economy as a very poor family is just not a reality that most of us experience day to day,” said Shannon Cotsoradis, the president of Kansas Action for Children in Topeka. “I pay my bills online."
Since most banking machines are stocked only with $20 bills, the $25 limit is effectively a $20 limit. A family seeking to withdraw even $200 in cash would have to visit an ATM 10 times a month, a real burden for a parent who might not have a car and might not live in a neighborhood where ATMs are easy to find. [end excerpt]
* "Entitlements are Bankrupting America. But the Rich Keep Taking Them" (2015-04-27, commondreams.org) [archive.is/o1eL4]
The suprise of Silicon Valley's "Big Fat Lie", as described in the following article, is that there even was a lie masquerading the crypto-fascist state-within-state in the southern San Francisco Bay Area.
* "Silicon Valley Is a Big Fat Lie" (2015-06, gq.com) [archive.is/B9FGF]
whowhatwhy.org writes: This must-read piece in GQ punctures the bulging tech bubble around Silicon Valley and dispels the myths that shroud it in a money-making mystique. News Flash: Silicon Valley is not a meritocracy, it isn’t bringing us together, it isn’t saving the world and youth isn’t everything. Instead, it’s just another capitalist creation and, like Wall Street, it just wants to make money. And keeping that in mind is the start of keeping its self-serving aspirations in check.
-Pentagon Attempts to Circumvent Terrorism through New Technology, researched by Timothy Woods II: http://www.projectcensored.org/pentagon-attempts-to-circumvent-terrorism-through-new-technology/
-Corporate and Financial Sectors Dominate the Boards of Public TV Stations, researched by Michelle Schultz: http://www.projectcensored.org/corporate-financial-sectors-dominate-boards-public-tv-stations/
* "TTP, TTIP, TISA “Trade” Deals: “Fast Track” Violates the U.S. Constitution" (2015-05-23, by Eric Zuesse) [archive.is/IN6Lv]
* "How the Media Deceive the Public about “Fast Track” and the “Trade Bills” (TTP and TTIP)" (2015-05-22, by Eric Zuesse) [archive.is/iK3bb]
* "Obama and Republicans Agree on the Trans-Pacific Partnership … Unfortunately" (2015-04-22, nytimes.com) [archive.is/RbkFm]
* "Someone Finally Read Obama's Secret Trade Deal And Admits The TPP 'Will Damage This Nation' " (2015-05-22, zerohedge.com) [archive.is/6Fy3m].
TPP allows for 'free flow of workers' between countries to create cheap labor pool for corporations!
Monday on Newmax TV’s “America’s Forum,” political commentator Dick Morris said the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPA) fast track being supported by many Republicans has a provision that allows for the “free flow of workers” between countries, essentially creating a backdoor to “unrestricted immigration.” Morris said, “This is huge. I hope everybody listening takes action call your senator about it. If he is a Republican he is voting wrong. “I dont think that people understand that in this deal which is a trade agreement among Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru, and Chile, there’s a provision for free flow of workers, just like in the European Union. What It means is unrestricted immigration. It means literally that congress would not have the authority to restrict immigration because a treaty supersedes a statute under our constitution.”
* "Secret Koch memo outlines plans for 2016; Documents detail plans to beef up the network’s state-of-the-art data system and pay hundreds of staff embedded in local communities across the country" (2015-04-23, politico.com) [archive.is/iYVXx]
* "Our Democracy Is Doomed: Match the Plutocrat to the GOP Candidate He Owns; The 2016 GOP race is expected to bring out billionaires bankrolling their candidates" (2015-05-14, alternet.org) [archive.is/n9nwq]
* "The Super Rich Have a New Way to Buy Elections" (2015-04-23, thedailybeast.com) [archive.is/ZAiod]
whowhatwhy.org writes: Until recently, SuperPACs were driven by “bundlers”—heavy-hitting political players who “bundled” contributions from a bevy of contributors into big piles of political cash. But that was before influence peddling got super-charged by Citizens United. Now the “in” thing is the single-donor SuperPAC. It’s basically a political front group for one mega-donor, who can then reshape elections to suit specific whims, needs or a political ideology. Can you say “oligarchy?”
* "Rapid rise in super PACs dominated by single donors" (2015-05-23, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/WiEdP]
* "GOP seeks to repeal law requiring origin labels on beef" (2015-05-19, sfgate.com) [archive.is/uzvVY]
* "Iowa Spent $50 Million to Lure IBM. Then the Firings Started" (2015-05-19, bloomberg.com) [archive.is/lzYW1].
whowhatwhy.org writes: Five years ago the cities of Dubuque, Iowa and Columbia, Missouri showered a combined $84 million in tax breaks and other incentives on IBM to bring much-needed jobs to their lagging economies. Big Blue ate up the incentives. But earlier this year it began spitting out workers as they cut labor costs and left for greener pastures. It's a now-familiar process that, in this increasingly hyper-capitalist system, happens more quickly and more often than ever before.
* "Manufacturing America’s Dreams" (2015-05, monthlyreview.org) [archive.is/VweEQ] [begin excerpt]: Auto companies shield their low-tech exploitation of workers behind high-tech displays of mechanical prowess. The less a consumer knows about the blood and guts of manufacturing, the easier it is to buy the dream. So how does America think all this crap gets built?
Last summer, in a desperate attempt to entice young viewers to buy grandpa’s dream car, General Motors (GM) ran a TV ad that featured a chorus line of robot arms dancing to techno music around a series of Cadillacs strutting like runway models on chrome-plated wheels.
Advertisers can’t hope to fulfill our dreams if we’re troubled with the comfort of workers. Therefore, automation, not brawn and bravado, is the vaunted paramour. Don’t let yourself be seduced and deluded. The auto industry’s master talent isn’t robotics, it’s the ability to automatize humans—including drivers.
For the masters of neoliberalism, it’s not just about the money, it’s about control: a monopoly not only of the market—where consumers serve the investing class—but of the mind, where class is demolished by trivial choices under a blank mask of individuality.
Slaves didn’t drive pickups to the pyramids, but the law of rulers hasn’t changed: to maximize power, dehumanize labor. For the master class servants should be invisible and workers should be subhuman—or better yet, inhuman.
Behind every portrayal of vehicular luxury is a factory where profit is measured on a ticker tape of minutes, not stock prices. When engineers set a picnic table full of free snacks in a work area, it’s not an amenity, it’s a bait pile, a time study contrived to reveal how many extra minutes are available to cram with tasks. Every idle minute ticks a profit lost or a nick of time for the boss to wring another bead of sweat. [end excerpt]
* "Eric Holder Exits Without Bringing Libor or Foreign Exchange Charges Against Citigroup or JPMorgan" (2015-05-24, wallstreetonparade.com) [archive.is/pE5ZW]* "Why The $5.7 Billion Dollar Fine On Big Banks Is Actually A Joke" (2015-05-21, theantimedia.org) [archive.is/5chY5]
* "Big Banks Busted Massively Manipulating Foreign Exchange … And Every Other Market" (2015-05-20, washingtonsblog.com) [archive.is/jm9BW]
* "Big Bank 'Crime of the Century' Results in Guess What? No Jail Time for Anyone" (2015-04-24, commondreams.org) [archive.is/r6nXF]
* "Latest Guilty Pleas Prove Big Bank Criminality 'Rampant,' But Jail Time Non-Existent" (2015-05-20, commondreams.org) [archive.is/THuW2]
* "DOJ Calls Out UBS Rap Sheet; Ignores Homegrown Citigroup’s Rap Sheet" (2015-05-22, wallstreetonparade.com) [archive.is/nkOqX]
* "JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon Deals With His Bank’s Felony Charge – Badly" (2015-05-21, wallstreetonparade.com) [archive.is/kZh3E]
* "Banking Fraternity Felons" (2015-05-20, wallstreetonparade.com) [archive.is/nt3tV] [begin excerpt]: The U.S. Department of Justice held a press conference in Washington, D.C. this morning at 10 a.m. to announce that two of the largest banks in the United States, Citicorp, a unit of Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase & Co., would plead guilty to felony charges in connection with the rigging of foreign currency trading. Two foreign banks, Barclays PLC and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), also pleaded guilty to felony charges in the same matter. A fifth bank, UBS, pled guilty to rigging the interest rate benchmark known as Libor. Today’s felony charges fall just short of the 19th anniversary of the U.S. Justice Department charging almost every major firm on Wall Street, including JPMorgan, the predecessors of Citigroup, and UBS with fixing prices on the Nasdaq stock market. No criminal charges were brought. That now looks like a serious mistake. Barclays was found to have violated its June 2012 non-prosecution agreement involving Libor and required to pay an additional $60 million criminal penalty. UBS was also found to have violated its December 2012 non-prosecution agreement and was required to plead guilty to a one-count felony charge of wire fraud in that matter and required to pay a criminal penalty of $203 million. All five banks were put on a 3-year probation which will be overseen by a Federal Court and ordered to cease all criminal activity. [end excerpt]
Related Documents Released by the Justice Department:
* Barclays Final Plea Agreement [web.archive.org/web/20150522052252/http://www.justice.gov/file/440481/download]
* Citi Plea Agreement [web.archive.org/web/20150522052254/http://www.justice.gov/file/440486/download]
* JPM Plea Agreement [web.archive.org/web/20150522052255/http://www.justice.gov/file/440491/download]
* RBS Plea Agreement [web.archive.org/web/20150522052259/http://www.justice.gov/file/440496/download]
* UBS Plea Agreement [web.archive.org/web/20150522052259/http://www.justice.gov/file/440521/download]
* "Paul Volcker Invests in Foreign Banks as He Lectures on U.S. Bank Reform" (2015-04-27, wallstreetonparade.com) [archive.is/lqYuC]
* "Calculating the Costs of Patent Monopolies and Mismarketing in the Pharmaceutical Industry" (2015-04-23, Center for Economic and Policy Research) [archive.is/D2Dqn]
* "By Banning Fracking Bans, Texas Picks Gas Drillers over Local Democracy" (2015-05-19, commondreams.org) [archive.is/T9H2M]
* "Texas ban on fracking bans criticized" (2015-05-19, UPI newswire) [archive.is/pebR9]
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* " 'The Challenge of Journalism… Is to Survive in the Pressure Cooker of Plutocracy' " (2015-05-27, by Bill Moyers) [archive.is/vwk0d]
* "War Propaganda. 'Planting Stories' in the News Chain" (2003-01-16, by Prof Michel Chossudovsky) [archive.is/Lb9Rf]
* "Fox News Viewers Least Informed Among Media Consumers, Says New Study By Former Reagan Adviser" (2015-05-20, inquisitr.com) [archive.is/lECGp]. whowhatwhy.org writes: Bruce Bartlett, a former official under President George H.W. Bush and President Ronald Reagan, published a “controversial” study showing that Fox News viewers are less informed than people who don’t watch any news at all. In fact, by restricting their information source to Fox they engage in “self-brainwashing.” However, it is still unclear why this conclusion is “controversial.”
* "Noam Chomsky: 'The Idea Of A Media Which Does Not Repeat US Propaganda Is Intolerable To American Leaders' " (2015-04-20, zerohedge.com) [archive.is/8m1Wj]
RT: During a congressional hearing [on April 15, officially titled ‘Confronting Russia’s Weaponization of Information’], House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Ed Royce said, “The Russian media is now dividing societies abroad and, in fact, weaponizing information.” Where is that coming from? Is it a genuine fear or fear of alternative opinions?
Noam Chomsky: He’s talking about the Russian media but if there were any imaginable possibility of honesty, he could be talking about the American media, for which that is correct. Take the New York Times -- the greatest newspaper in the world. Take one example, at the first article that appeared today, that the tentative [nuclear] agreement with Iran was reached. It’s a thinkpiece, by Peter Baker, one of their main analysts. He discusses in it the main reasons to distrust Iran, the crimes of Iran. It’s very interesting to look at. The most interesting one is the charge that Iran is destabilizing the Middle East because it’s supporting militias which have killed American soldiers in Iraq. That’s kind of as if, in 1943, the Nazi press had criticized England because it was destabilizing Europe for supporting partisans who were killing German soldiers. In other words, the assumption is, when the United States invades, it kills a couple hundred thousand people, destroys the country, elicits sectarian conflicts that are now tearing Iraq and the region apart, that’s stabilization. If someone resists that tact, that’s destabilization.
That’s characteristic. The Summit of the Americas is meeting now in Panama. Take a look at the commentary on it here [in the US]. The big question is how much credit Obama will get for his move towards helping Cuba escape from its isolation in the hemisphere. It’s exactly the opposite. The United States is isolated in the hemisphere. You look back at the last hemisphere meeting in Colombia, a US ally. The United States was totally isolated. There were two big issues. One was admitting Cuba into the hemisphere. Everyone wanted it. The US refused, along with Canada. The other was the drug war, which the US insists on, and the Latin American countries who are being seriously harmed by it, they want it significantly modified, decriminalized and so on. And, again, the US was totally isolated. Those were the two main issues.
But you can’t discuss that [in the US]. It’s all public information, nothing secret, all available in public documents, but undiscussable. Like the idea -- and you can’t contemplate the idea -- that when the US invades another country and the other resists, it’s not the resistors who are committing the crime, it’s the invaders. And we, of course, understand that very well when, say, Russia invaded Afghanistan. If somebody resisted it, we don’t say they’re criminals, they are destabilizing Afghanistan. Maybe Pravda said that, I doubt it. But here, it’s normal.
So if the House wants to study the weaponization of the media, they can look right at the front pages of the newspapers that they get every day.
RT: Our network has come repeatedly under attack, even from State secretary John Kerry. Recently, he said, “RT’s influence is growing,” while his very own deputy, Victoria Nuland, said that nobody watches RT in America, which is probably not true. Do you think this is about money? Because we know that the BBG -- the Broadcasting Board of Governors -- has a budget of $750 million as opposed to RT’s $250 million, which has never been a secret. Or is it something else?
NC: I think it’s something else. I don’t think they care about the money. The idea that there should be a network reaching people which does not repeat the US propaganda system is intolerable.
[end excerpt]
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* "Monsanto Wants to Move to Switzerland. Why Is Obama Doing It Favors?" (2015-05-21, commondreams.org) [archive.is/p4nlK]
===*===*===
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
The unelected economic bureaucrats governing the world are themselves prone to coups, assassinations, and other violent acts of power!
* "Astonishing List of 71 Top Bankers Dead and No Natural Causes!" (2014-12) [archive.is/OlT4i]
* "Murray Abbott, Missing Morgan Stanley Trader, Dies at 36" (2015-05-12, bloomberg.com) [archive.is/kxVCa]
* "Editor In Chief Of World’s Best Known Medical Journal: Half Of All The Literature Is False; 'Science has taken a turn towards Darkness' " (2015-05-23, by Arjun Walia) [archive.is/0P41E] [begin excerpt]: In the past few years more professionals have come forward to share a truth that, for many people, proves difficult to swallow. One such authority is Dr. Richard Horton, the current editor-in-chief of the Lancet – considered to be one of the most well respected peer-reviewed medical journals in the world. Dr. Horton recently published a statement [archive.is/9ZV6W] declaring that a lot of published research is in fact unreliable at best, if not completely false.
“The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness.”
This is quite disturbing, given the fact that all of these studies (which are industry sponsored) are used to develop drugs/vaccines to supposedly help people, train medical staff, educate medical students and more. It’s common for many to dismiss a lot of great work by experts and researchers at various institutions around the globe which isn’t “peer-reviewed” and doesn’t appear in a “credible” medical journal, but as we can see, “peer-reviewed” doesn’t really mean much anymore. “Credible” medical journals continue to lose their tenability in the eyes of experts and employees of the journals themselves, like Dr. Horton. He also went on to call himself out in a sense, stating that journal editors aid and abet the worst behaviours, that the amount of bad research is alarming, that data is sculpted to fit a preferred theory. He goes on to observe that important confirmations are often rejected and little is done to correct bad practices. What’s worse, much of what goes on could even be considered borderline misconduct.
Dr. Marcia Angell, a physician and longtime Editor in Chief of the New England Medical Journal (NEMJ), which is considered to another one of the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals in the world, makes her view of the subject quite plain [archive.is/tgezK]: “It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of the New England Journal of Medicine” [end excerpt]
* Lancet's Dr. Horton Says Science Has Taken A Turn Towards Darkness (2015-05, .pdf file) [archive.is/9ZV6W]
* "Editors, Publishers, Impact Factors, and Reprint Income" (2010-10-26, Harvey Marcovitch, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) [archive.is/tgezK]
* "Should Aid Money be Used as a Tool for Expanding Free Markets?" (2015-04-27, commondreams.org) [archive.is/aRbul]
* "Only one in four workers worldwide has a stable job" (2015-05-20, wsws.org) [archive.is/GelAp]
* "WTO Ruling on Meat Labels Exemplifies Corporate Profits Trumping Democracy" (2015-05-18, commondreams.org) [archive.is/1xhY4]
-Half of Global Wealth Owned by the 1%, Oxfam Report Finds, researched by Inna Tounkel: http://www.projectcensored.org/half-of-global-wealth-owned-by-the-1-oxfam-report-finds/
-Millions in Poverty Get Less Media Coverage than 482 Billionaires, researched by Feather Flores: http://www.projectcensored.org/millions-poverty-get-less-media-coverage-482-billionaires/
* "The “War on Cash” in 10 Spine-Chilling Quotes" (2015-04-25, wolfstreet.com) [archive.is/bWi3Q]
* "Largest Bank In America Joins War On Cash" (2015-04-23, zerohedge.com) [archive.is/SPo8J]
whowhatwhy.org writes: A “War on Cash?” Really? Who hates cash? Doesn’t everybody love cold, hard cash? This is America, after all. But some of the world’s biggest bankers are bearish on greenbacks. And they are not alone in expressing disdain for hard currency. Add Robert Reich, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the founder of Square—a mobile payments company—to the list of cashless society enthusiasts.
The USA operates as the "World's Policeman" for the global economic regime, establishing, aiding and protecting fascist and theocratic dictatorships.
* "Blum to Sputnik: World Should Deliver Strong Military Blow to US" (2015-05-27, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/fpQwe] [begin excerpt]: The United States’ foreign policy is all about "world domination" and not the spread of democracy as US leaders claim, according to American author and foreign policy analyst William Blum. "Whatever the actual effect of an American intervention, the intention is never the spreading of democracy," Blum told Sputnik’s Spanish service. He contends Washington has in fact not only played a part in supporting brutal dictatorships abroad, but additionally played an active role in ensuring their survival. Giving the examples of key US allies such as Saudi Arabia, Honduras, Egypt, and Qatar, the author notes "it would be difficult to name a single brutal dictatorship…that was not supported by the United States." More specifically, according to Blum, the US’ foreign policy which ostensibly seeks to promote democracy has in fact resulted in the birth of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS). "IS would not exist if not for the US," he said. Washington has successfully eliminated the secular governments needed by the people in the Middle East that are currently suffering the most from Islamic extremism, Blum argued. Afghanistan, he noted, was ruled under a "relatively progressive" secular government in the 1970s and much of the 1980s. That was until the "United States overthrew it, allowing the Taliban to come to power." [end excerpt]
---
Weapons for a New World Order
* "HELLADS laser weapon to undergo field testing" (2015-05-25, UPI newswire) [archive.is/5vuki]
* "The man who wants to control the weather with lasers" (2015-04-24, cnn.com) [archive.is/ToIo2] [begin excerpt]: How does laser actually affect the weather? Just like cloud seeding, it can create new clouds where there are none, by inducing condensation: naturally occurring water vapor is condensed into droplets, and ice crystals form, mimicking the natural process that creates clouds.That way, rainfall can be triggered to "empty" the atmosphere and increase the potential of dry weather later on: "We did it on a laboratory scale, we can already create clouds, but not on a macroscopic scale, so you don't see a big cloud coming out because the laser is not powerful enough and because of a lot of technical parameters that we can't yet control," Professor Wolf told CNN's Nick Glass. [end excerpt]
The TV and your computer monitor can be used to manipulate your nervous system.
* "Nervous system manipulation by electromagnetic fields from monitors US Patent #6,506,148" [archive.is/gi7Tw] [begin summary]: Computer monitors and TV monitors can be made to emit weak low-frequency electromagnetic fields merely by pulsing the intensity of displayed images. Experiments have shown that the 1/2 Hz sensory resonance can be excited in this manner in a subject near the monitor. The 2.4 Hz sensory resonance can also be excited in this fashion. Hence, a TV monitor or computer monitor can be used to manipulate the nervous system of nearby people. It is thus apparent that the human nervous system can be manipulated by screen emissions from subliminal TV image pulses. [end summary]
The human nervous system controls everything from breathing and producing digestive enzymes, to memory and intelligence. Physiological effects have been observed in a human subject in response to stimulation of the skin with weak electromagnetic fields that are pulsed with certain frequencies near 1/2 Hz or 2.4 Hz, such as to excite a sensory resonance. Many computer monitors and TV tubes, when displaying pulsed images, emit pulsed electromagnetic fields of sufficient amplitudes to cause such excitation. It is therefore possible to manipulate the nervous system of a subject by pulsing images displayed on a nearby computer monitor or TV set. For the latter, the image pulsing may be imbedded in the program material, or it may be overlaid by modulating a video stream, either as an RF signal or as a video signal. The image displayed on a computer monitor may be pulsed effectively by a simple computer program. For certain monitors, pulsed electromagnetic fields capable of exciting sensory resonances in nearby subjects may be generated even as the displayed images are pulsed with subliminal intensity.
#OPDeathEaters [WorldFascists.blogspot.com]
* "U.N. officials under fire over handling of child sex abuse case" (2015-05-26, AP Newswire) [archive.is/mbKpe]
===*===*===
Canada, Quebec, & the federation of First Nations
* " 'Not For Sale': Foregoing $1 Billion Payout, First Nations Tribe Rejects LNG Project" (2015-05-18, commondreams.org) [archive.is/grhc8]
* "Canada bars Russian delegation from international meeting in Ottawa discussing weapons of mass destruction proliferation" (2015-05-23, newcoldwar.org) [archive.is/Vpk0Z]
* "Canadians' opposition to anti-communist monument grows" (2015-04-22, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/QMB50] [begin excerpt]: Plans to construct an anti-communist monument in Ottawa, honoring the alleged "victims" of communism, are encountering opposition. A project that looked like it might have smooth sailing is facing a rough time.
The project was first launched by the Conservative Party-linked Tribute to Liberty Society (TL) in 2009. It makes the dubious and unsupported claim that communist governments killed more than 100 million people during the 20th century.
TL plans to build a large grey stoned monument in downtown Ottawa in front of the Supreme Court building. The local planning body, the National Capital Commission, has already approved the project.
Judging from TL's Facebook page, which only has 872 likes, the project honoring the victims of communism enjoys little public support. After the group failed to raise the $ 5.5 million it needed to build the monument, the right-wing Conservative government of Stephen Harper jumped in and became one of the main promoters and financiers of the project.
"The reality is that they have had difficulty getting individuals or Canadian organizations to contribute financially to the project," remarked Kimball Cariou, editor of the Peoples Voice, newspaper of the Communist Party of Canada, in an interview. The government will contribute $3 million and land valued at $30 million to the project.
The Conservatives are following the lead of the European right in an effort to whip up anti-communism, equating fascism with communism. It is also an attempt, no doubt, to increase it's electoral support among the eastern European immigrant population in Canada.
The Harper government also allowed TL to violate federal rules that forbid charities to engage in political activity. When the group first applied for charitable status in 2009, it told the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) that it would be engaging in political activity by contacting Members of Parliament (MPs) and Senators.
Charitable status allows a contributor to obtain a partial tax refund for a donation. In the five years that followed, the group answered "no" each time it was asked by the CRA whether it engaged in political activity.
During this time, Conservative MPs and Senators have taken part in the group's fundraising events and last year Harper spoke at a TL fundraising dinner. Conservative MP Wladyslaw Lizon was one of the group's founders and is a member of the organization's Board of Directors, which consists mostly of business people of eastern European origin.
In contrast, the Conservatives have singled out left-leaning groups with charitable status that engage in raising awareness about environmental issues and social and economic inequality for intrusive and expensive audits to determine whether they are engaging in political activity. In some cases, charitable tax status has been denied or scaled back to these groups. [end excerpt]
===*===*===
Regional insights for the lands of
Anahuac, Carib, and Abya Ayla ("Latin" America)
[upsidedownworld.org] [narconews.com] [narcosphere.narconews.com] [cepr.net] [cedema.org]
The "Churches and Mining" network produced a documentary on communities affected by mining in Latin America. [youtube.com/watch?v=uEKLw3x41qY]
* "BRICS trample US in South America" (2015-05-22, by Pepe Escobar) [archive.is/NXSSM]
===*===*===The "Churches and Mining" network produced a documentary on communities affected by mining in Latin America. [youtube.com/watch?v=uEKLw3x41qY]
* "BRICS trample US in South America" (2015-05-22, by Pepe Escobar) [archive.is/NXSSM]
Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA)
[HandsOffBolivarianVenezuela.blogspot.com]
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
* "Venezuela Calls for Third World Alliance" (2015-04-27, venezuelanalysis.com) [archive.is/a0mnG] [begin excerpt]: Third world countries need to unite and fight against first world injustices, disrespect for international law, discrimination and wars. The third world countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America should form an alliance in order to “end imperialist domination,” according to the Venezuelan vice-president, Jorge Arreaza.
Arreaza made the proposal for a third world alliance during a speech at the Asia-Africa Summit in Indonesia Saturday. Speaking as a special Latin American representative, Arreasa told the audience that the alliance was necessary to overthrow imperialism and end the unipolar system imposed on southern nations throughout the years.
“The alliance between Asia, Africa and Latin America today is not only necessary, it is indispensable,” said Arreaza. “From the South, we will determine, freely, the future of the world for the people.” [end excerpt]
---
Republic of Cuba
* Letter from Oscar López Rivera (2015-05-08) [archive.is/hcd8W], an anti-terrorist security agent and former prisoner of the USA, incarcerated for stopping terrorist attacks against the People of Cuba. [begin excerpt]: For those of us who love justice and freedom, want a better and more just world free of colonialism and imperialism, Revolutionary Cuba has been and will continue to be a beacon of hope and an example to emulate. It is admirable that Cuba has achieved so many accomplishments in spite of the many attacks the u.s. government has carried out against its government and what it represents, including an invasion, terrorism, the killing over 3,000 of Cuban citizens, and a criminal economic embargo. Revolutionary Cuba has been able to set an example of the importance of the development of the human resource, of solidarity, and of the need to defend just and noble causes. It started with a nation in shambles, with an economy in chaos and responding primarily to the economic interests of the u.s.a., a poor educational system, and a deficit in many important professions. But today Cuba can send doctors and other medical professionals, engineers, teachers and military personnel to help other countries all over the world. And its literacy program is being used in many parts of the world in order to eradicate illiteracy. It is the most literate country in all the Caribbean and Latin America. Its praxis in solidarity is unique in the world. One act of solidarity that really reflects the generosity and commitment of Cuba and its government is what it did in Angola in order to stop the invasion of the racist army of South Africa. As many as 50,000 Cuban soldiers participated in that military operation. And thanks to the Cubans, the South African army was defeated and the back of the apartheid regime broken. This was the reason why Nelson Mandela let the world know that the Cuban people and its government were the best friends he and his people had. And for us Puerto Ricans, Cuba has always been the other wing of the same bird, and the greatest supporter helping us defeat and eradicate colonialism. Cuba is the place where so many of us feel like if we were home. [end excerpt]
---
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
* "Venezuela Calls for Third World Alliance" (2015-04-27, venezuelanalysis.com) [archive.is/a0mnG] [begin excerpt]: Third world countries need to unite and fight against first world injustices, disrespect for international law, discrimination and wars. The third world countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America should form an alliance in order to “end imperialist domination,” according to the Venezuelan vice-president, Jorge Arreaza.
Arreaza made the proposal for a third world alliance during a speech at the Asia-Africa Summit in Indonesia Saturday. Speaking as a special Latin American representative, Arreasa told the audience that the alliance was necessary to overthrow imperialism and end the unipolar system imposed on southern nations throughout the years.
“The alliance between Asia, Africa and Latin America today is not only necessary, it is indispensable,” said Arreaza. “From the South, we will determine, freely, the future of the world for the people.” [end excerpt]
---
Republic of Cuba
* Letter from Oscar López Rivera (2015-05-08) [archive.is/hcd8W], an anti-terrorist security agent and former prisoner of the USA, incarcerated for stopping terrorist attacks against the People of Cuba. [begin excerpt]: For those of us who love justice and freedom, want a better and more just world free of colonialism and imperialism, Revolutionary Cuba has been and will continue to be a beacon of hope and an example to emulate. It is admirable that Cuba has achieved so many accomplishments in spite of the many attacks the u.s. government has carried out against its government and what it represents, including an invasion, terrorism, the killing over 3,000 of Cuban citizens, and a criminal economic embargo. Revolutionary Cuba has been able to set an example of the importance of the development of the human resource, of solidarity, and of the need to defend just and noble causes. It started with a nation in shambles, with an economy in chaos and responding primarily to the economic interests of the u.s.a., a poor educational system, and a deficit in many important professions. But today Cuba can send doctors and other medical professionals, engineers, teachers and military personnel to help other countries all over the world. And its literacy program is being used in many parts of the world in order to eradicate illiteracy. It is the most literate country in all the Caribbean and Latin America. Its praxis in solidarity is unique in the world. One act of solidarity that really reflects the generosity and commitment of Cuba and its government is what it did in Angola in order to stop the invasion of the racist army of South Africa. As many as 50,000 Cuban soldiers participated in that military operation. And thanks to the Cubans, the South African army was defeated and the back of the apartheid regime broken. This was the reason why Nelson Mandela let the world know that the Cuban people and its government were the best friends he and his people had. And for us Puerto Ricans, Cuba has always been the other wing of the same bird, and the greatest supporter helping us defeat and eradicate colonialism. Cuba is the place where so many of us feel like if we were home. [end excerpt]
---
Republic of Nicaragua
* "Tears and Hugs at Mass Baptism in Nicaragua" (2015-05-01, adventistworld.org) [archive.is/qcUqC]
===*===*===
United States of Mexico
* "Nestora Salgado on hunger strike" (2015-05-20) [freenestora.org], fundraiser message [archive.is/h3lvd]: Nestora Salgado, courageous champion of her indigenous community and a political prisoner in Mexico, is on a hunger strike. She began refusing food on May 5th and intends “to take this to the bitter end,” according to her attorney Leonel Rivero Rodriguez.
The Freedom for Nestora Committee is contacting you because we need your financial support to help win Nestora’s freedom at this critical juncture.We will be sending a delegation to Mexico City as soon as possible to publicize Nestora’s cause and show that she has widespread support in the U.S. While in Mexico, we will meet with other free Nestora activists and attorney Rivero Rodriguez as well as lead a protest on the steps of the Secretariat of the Interior (Secretaria de Gobernación) building. If it can be arranged, we will also talk with the media, Mexican government representatives and visit the U.S. embassy. Your generous donation will help make this emergency trip possible.
This last week has seen a flurry of support actions inside Mexico, including solidarity hunger strikes begun May 13 by Nestora’s fellow community police leaders Arturo Campos and Gonzalo Molina, who were illegally jailed shortly after she was. Our delegation will join their families in calling for the release of all political prisoners.
We are also raising money toward Nestora’s legal defense. Right now she is in prison in Nayarit, Tepic, a 12 hour journey from her attorney in Mexico City. The Mexican legal system is designed to thwart prisoners’ rights to confer with their lawyers and to have speedy trials. This means a 45 minute meeting with her attorney can take days to arrange, plus travel time--and that equals spiraling legal costs.
If you are ready to act now, you can make your online contribution here [tinyurl.com/l8w2ltt]. Or make out your check to the “RW-Nestora Fund” and mail it c/o New Freeway Hall, 5018 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle WA 98118.
With Nestora on a hunger strike to the “bitter end,” time is of the essence.
Pressure needed on U.S. State Department. Yesterday, May 19, the Freedom for Nestora Committee held an action at the entrance to the Boeing plant in Renton, Wash. where Secretary of State John Kerry held a press conference, calling on him to intervene on Nestora's behalf. The State Department has yet to issue any statement about Nestora's imprisonment. You can help keep the pressure on by sending a letter today to: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, 2201 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20520
(May 19, 2015 at Boeing plant in Renton, Wash. during John Kerry's visit. Photo by Venice Buhain/Seattle Globalist)After almost two years in prison awaiting trial, Nestora’s health is deteriorating rapidly. During this time, all federal charges related to her role as commander of a perfectly legal community police force were dropped and she was ordered released. However, the Guerrero state prosecutor has refused to free her and instead manufactured new charges that carry a 1000-year sentence!
In the meantime, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ordered the Mexican government to take immediate steps to address Nestora’s serious health problems, which could include Nestora being transferred from the prison in Nayrit to one in Mexico City where the needed medical care is available. The National Human Rights Commission of the Mexican federal Chamber of Deputies also made this request—more than once.
Finally, yesterday the Secretary of the Interior, in light of the measures outlined by these two bodies, announced that Nestora will be moved to a prison with fewer restrictions and where she will have more rights. This is welcome news, but we’ve heard it all before and nothing happened. Instead the politicians, state prosecutor and court system in Guerrero have proven to be very effective at blocking her transfer--so far.
This is why Nestora is on hunger strike. She was illegally sent to a federal prison, falsely charged along with her co-leaders, and held for almost two years on the insistence of a corrupt Guerrero political and court system.
Her crime? Being elected to lead a community police force, authorized under the Guerrero and Mexican constitutions, in her hometown of Olinála—and doing her job so well she threatened the “traditional political fiefdoms,” as her lawyer puts it. A brave, independent, indigenous woman leader, Nestora is fighting for her life and her community. And she is only one of hundreds of political prisoners in Mexico!
---
TRUTH COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF GUERRERO. FINAL ACTIVITY (II) REPORT (2014-10-15) [https://web.archive.org/web/20150521162240/http://www.cedema.org/uploads/Comverdad_2.pdf]
Among the sections are: Background of the dirty war ; Results of the investigation into the violation of human rights during the dirty war ; Registration of individuals and communities affected by the violation of rights ; Status of relatives and survivors of enforced disappearance and social fabric.
===*===*===
Central America, an "Economic Sacrifice Zone"
InSight Crime tells a story of El Salvador's military, arms trafficking and a Mexican cartel converging in Honduras.
http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/el-salvador-military-arms-trafficking-mexico-drug-cartel-honduras
* "Maquiladora Industry Wages in Central America Are Not Living Wages" (2015-05-20, cepr.net) [web.archive.org/web/20150523181057/http://www.cepr.net/blogs/the-americas-blog/maquiladora-industry-wages-in-central-america-are-not-living-wages] [begin excerpt]: While the maquiladora export industry is sometimes touted as a symbol of progress and development in underdeveloped countries, the reality for many workers implies otherwise. In Central America, maquilas act as multinational levers to gain profit, but are not a guarantee of a sufficient income for workers.
According to a 2014 report [web.archive.org/web/20150524063008/http://en.maquilasolidarity.org/sites/maquilasolidarity.org/files/2014-Agenda.pdf] published by labor and social organizations, in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras – the Northern Triangle countries of Central America – approximately 350,000 workers are employed in the maquiladora industry: 80,000 in El Salvador, 150,729 in Guatemala and 120,000 in Honduras. On average, 54 percent of these countries’ total exports to the U.S. are produced in the maquiladora industry (42 percent for El Salvador, 55 percent for Guatemala and 65 percent for Honduras) [web.archive.org/web/20150524062132/http://www10.iadb.org/intal/intalcdi/PE/2014/13567.pdf].
Data from the U.S. Office of Textiles and Apparel shows that Central America and the Dominican Republic produce around 10 percent of all apparel goods purchased in the U.S., of which 70 percent is produced in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. This means that Central America is behind only China (which produces 36 percent) and Vietnam (which produces 11 percent) in clothing exports to the U.S. Among the largest sectors that Central America exports to the U.S. are cotton knitted T-shirts (23.1 percent of these U.S. imports in dollars) and cotton underwear (24.7 percent of these U.S. imports in dollars).
The apparel export industry in Central America is concentrated in the hands of a few multinationals. Fruit of the Loom, Hanes, and Gildan Activewear are three of the biggest North American corporations operating in Honduras, employing around 25 percent of maquiladora workers in the country. Fruit of the Loom alone employs approximately 24,000 workers in Honduras and El Salvador. Nike and Adidas also subcontract production to maquiladoras; together they have about 30 outsourcing companies in Honduras alone.
The daily minimum wage for workers in maquilas in the Northern Triangle countries represents, on average, 13 percent of the federal minimum wage in the U.S.
Minimum wage levels in the maquiladora industry of the Northern Triangle countries are especially low considering the cost of a basket of basic consumer goods. A report [PDF] published by the Maquila Solidarity Network demonstrates the low purchasing power of the minimum wages earned by workers in maquiladoras. On average, these wages are equivalent to only 37 percent of the cost of the basic basket of consumer goods (including services).
Of the three countries, Honduras shows the greatest difference between maquiladora and non-maquiladora minimum wages. In 2008, the Honduran government approved a 60 percent wage increase for all workers except those in the maquila industry. Since then, the minimum wage in the Honduran maquiladora industry has fallen well below the minimum wages for non-maquila industries.
In El Salvador, the difference between maquila and non-maquila minimum wages has deepened, from a 10 percent difference in 2007, to a 16.3 percent difference in 2014. If this trend continues -- with an average yearly growth rate of 4.2 percent for non-maquila workers and 3.1 percent for maquila workers -- the latter will be more than 21 percent lower in 2020.
In Guatemala, there was actually no difference between the minimum wage for EPZ maquila workers and for those in other jobs, but as new wage policies were applied in 2008, this relationship changed; minimum wages in the maquiladora sector are now below the minimum wages in the non-maquila manufacturing sector. The Guatemalan case is the least dramatic, but if the average growth rate of minimum wages in different sectors does not change, minimum wages in maquilas will be 16.5 percent lower than in non-maquila and service sectors.
This suggests that cheap labor may be the greatest competitive advantage for Northern Triangle economies. Such an advantage comes at a cost. The lowering of workers’ wages in the maquiladora industry has become a useful tool by which multinationals can respond to a more sluggish U.S. economy.
There have been various demands for higher minimum wages in the maquiladoras in Central America; even the United Nations has expressed concern. However, governments in Central America have insisted on limiting wage growth in response to demands from manufacturers such as Fruit of the Loom, Gildan, Hanes, Adidas, Nike, and others, despite the costs to workers. [end excerpt]
The Spanish princess Letizia will start her first visit to El Salvador and Honduras tomorrow.
* [http://www.radiohrn.hn/l/noticias/viaje-de-reina-letizia-honduras-ser%C3%A1-para-defender-derechos-de-la-mujer]
---
Republic of Guatemala
There are also protests in Guatemala demanding the resignation of its president Otto P?rez Molina.
http://www.ellibertador.hn/?q=article/setenta-mil-guatemaltecos-exigen-la-renuncia-del-presidente-otto-p%C3%A9rez-molina
---
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.
* "From Reagan to Obama: Forced Disappearances in Honduras" (2015-05-21, telesurtv.net) [archive.is/ot0aJ] [begin excerpt]: The 1980s saw widespread political violence and countless forced disappearances in many countries in Latin America, and Honduras was no exception. Bertha Oliva, founder and director of COFADEH whose husband was disappeared by Battalion 316, stand in front of a banner of the disappeared. Hundreds of political opponents of the 1980s U.S.-backed regime were kidnapped, tortured, and assassinated by the CIA-trained secret army unit Battalion 316, while at the same time Honduras served as a military base and training ground for U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in the region, especially in neighboring El Salvador and Nicaragua. In the wake of the 2009 U.S.-backed coup ousting democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya, forced disappearance, torture, and targeted assassinations re-emerged as state terror tactics to intimidate and repress a broad-based resistance. Conspicuous and even conscious links to 1980s tactics since the 2009 coup, as well as ongoing U.S. complicity, show a continuity of state sponsored terror, with new elements for the post-coup context. [end excerpt]
* "RESISTANCE: Battle in the Aguán" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkI9n1yVVKM]:
A short video about the struggle for the land of Honduran farmers, who face powerful landowners and murderers, by Jesse Freestone of Canada.
* "Violent eviction La Paz" (2015-05-23, by Vicki Cervantes): Writing from Honduras- I arrived yesterday. Just got off the phone with the General Secretary of the campesino org the CNTC. Yesterday evening heavily armed elements of the Military Police, FULSINA, and Preventative Police violently evicted 34 campesino families from their land in Tutule, La Paz.
(Addition from Karen Spring, with the cross border networks delegation on the north coast of Honduras): I think the military force is called FUSINA and they are being trained right now by US forces including the FBI. FUSINA also participated in raids in Olancho (eastern Honduras) a few days ago on the properties of the Sarmiento family, a very pro-LIBRE and wealthy family in Olancho that has suffered a lot of state repression and exactly two days after one of their family members (Rafael Sarmiento) announced that he would be joining the LIBRE party as a congressional candidate.
(reply by Vicki Cervantes): Interesting that they were involved in the Sarmiento raids. Also a lot of military power against 35 campesino families working coffee production.
Leader of land recuperation supported by COPINH murdered today.
A key leader of a COPINH land recuperation in San Juan, Ceguaca, Santa Barbara was murdered this afternoon. His last names are Dur?n Sanchez and apparently he was shot, 60 years old.
It is still being investigated by COPINH and local folks in Santa Barbara so details are not clear.
COPINH will send out a communique shortly with more details including actions for those in solidarity. Below is a summary of the land conflict in San Juan posted by COPINH on their facebook a few weeks ago.
* "SAN JUAN, CEGUACA, SANTA BÁRBARA OTRA COMUNIDAD LIBRANDO LA LUCHA POR SU TIERRA" original in Spanish [https://archive.is/YuFvU], machine translation [https://archive.is/X3sDV]
* "Honduras to build land title registry using bitcoin technology" (2015-05-15, reuters.com) [archive.is/nozhJ]
According to JOH, Honduras will be the logistics hub of Central America.
* [http://www.elheraldo.hn/inicio/841803-331/hern%C3%A1ndez-honduras-ser%C3%A1-centro-log%C3%ADstico-de-centroam%C3%A9rica]
Honduras declares 18 zones as "mining reserves" in parts of Santa Barbara, Olancho, Colon, El Paraiso, Francisco Morazan, Choluteca amongst other areas. The mining projects will supposedly be used to finance social programs.
* [http://www.elheraldo.hn/inicio/840835-331/declaran-en-reserva-18-zonas-mineras-de-honduras]
For once it is not drugs coming from Colombia.
* [http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/colombian-loan-sharks-fill-void-in-honduras-informal-economy]
* "Scandal - Social Security Institute: Key Witness Shot This Afternoon in San Pedro Sula" (2015-05-14 and 15, by various researchers with the Presente Digest):
A fugitive in the Social Security (IHSS) scandal was shot 14 times and fatally injured today in San Pedro Sula, but it has not been confirmed that he was actually killed. At least one man was taken to the hospital. It is rumored that he was attacked b/c of his knowledge that would implicate high level officials in the IHSS scandal. He is accused of being the owner of a travel agency that sold overpriced airline tickets to IHSS officials to help siphon funds. A judge issued an arrest warrant for him in December 2014 for money laundering and Interpol issued a Red Notice [http://www.interpol.int/notice/search/wanted/2014-55780]
The scandal involves the robbery of $350 million dollars from the Social Security Institute and according to new evidence that has emerged in the last few days, used to finance the National Party political campaign in the 2013 elections. Here is a short summary of the scandal (that should technically be enough to have JOH removed from office), the new evidence, and its link to the recent privatization of the Social Security institute. [http://desdeaquiabajoabajo.blogspot.com]
Update: Gilda Sivestrucci, the Honduran correspondent for TeleSur confirmed that John Charles Bogr?n the man tied to the IHSS scandal died this afternoon from the gunshots that he received [http://multimedia.telesurtv.net/web/telesur/#!es/video/honduras-confirman-la-muerte-de-john-charles-bogran]. He had been an Administrator at the IHSS and was in charge of booking travel arraignments for other Administrators and officials. He also owned a Travel Agency, JJ Travel & Tours where he overcharged the IHSS $1.5 million for airline tickets. In the Fall of 2014 he had an INTERPOL arrest warrant out on him stemming from the embezzlement. It appears that he was also one of those who had been involved in the false medical supply businesses where the stolen IHSS money was laundered and sent to the National Party. Several news outlets have labeled him as a "testigo o tesitigo protegido" witness or protected witness, but there is nothing to substantiate that. Somebody wanted to silenced him and apparently succeeded.
As always, Radio Progreso offers a good overview of the case. Apparently, John Charles Bogr?n Velasquez hasn't died, even though receiving several bullets.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2073-caso-ihss-el-poder-detr%C3%A1s-del-mayor-acto-de-corrupci%C3%B3n-en-honduras]
* [http://www.laprensa.hn/sucesos/840871-417/detenci%C3%B3n-judicial-dicta-juez-a-john-charles-bogr%C3%A1n]
The Public Ministry just officially confirmed that the checks that David Romero of TV Globo has, showing that hundreds of thousands were transferred from the IHSS to the National Party election fund, are real. [http://www.radiohrn.hn/l/noticias/mp-confirma-emisi%C3%B3n-de-cheques-con-fondos-del-ihss-al-partido-nacional]
With the corruption scandal unwinding, voices calling for the resignation of JOH get louder. The National Party reacts by organizing a march for JOH. Of course, Congress then had to close down yesterday, so that National congresswo/men could participate in the march... Cholusat Sur collected some material showing how some participants of the march received money from the National Party.
* "Juan Orlando Hernandez Resignation Scandal: Honduras President Targeted By Protesters, Political Rivals Amid Bid For Second Term" (2015-05-14, ibtimes.com) [archive.is/4it3H]
* [http://news.kgnu.org/2015/05/honduran-president-called-to-resign-after-election-finance-theft-exposed/]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/05/honduras-por-marcha-nacionalista.html]
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/nacionalistas-pagan-personas-para-que-participen-en-la-marcha-de-apoyo-joh/]
* [http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/honduras-investigating-financing-ruling-national-party-31059757]
Javier Suazo offers a general analysis of corruption in Honduras and also links it to the vice-president of Guatemala who recently felt forced to resign after revelations of corruption.
* [http://www.alainet.org/es/articulo/169620]
Instead of going after the IHSS fraud, the MP cited former president Manuel Zelaya and some of his then cabinet members to investigate the so-called fourth ballot box. Libre reacted with a press release.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/70-honduras-ministerio-publico-cita-funcionarios-del-gobierno-liberal-de-manuel-zelaya]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/05/hondurasdenuncia-violacion-flagrante.html]
Several news outlets inform about the arrival of 180 US marines to Honduras.
The US embassy confirmed the news.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/90-unos-180-marines-de-eeuu-llegaran-en-las-proximas-semanas-a-honduras]
* [http://lanoticia.hn/nacionales/embajada-americana-anuncia-la-llegada-a-honduras-de-infantes-de-la-marina/]
* [http://www.ellibertador.hn/?q=article/infantes-de-marina-de-eeuu-desembarcar%C3%A1n-en-honduras]
Radio Progreso presents the characteristics of the militarization in Honduras.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/nuestra-palabra/item/2070-militarizaci%C3%B3n-otro-signo-de-la-honduras-actual-14-mayo-2015]
Several Honduran media outlets spoke yesterday of a possible coup d'?tat against JOH. The government itself later denied the rumors.
* [http://www.latribuna.hn/2015/05/20/denuncian-plan-de-golpe-de-estado-en-contra-de-juan-orlando-hernandez/]
* [http://www.elheraldo.hn/pais/842040-331/romeo-v%C3%A1squez-patra%C3%B1as-del-gobierno-son-rumores-de-golpe-de-estado]
* [http://www.laprensa.hn/inicio/842077-417/gobierno-de-honduras-desvirt%C3%BAa-rumores-sobre-golpe-de-estado]
ConexiHon, meanwhile, offers an analysis of the coup d'?tat rumors of
two days ago
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/transparencia-y-corrupci%C3%B3n/%E2%80%9Cgolpe-de-estado%E2%80%9D-y-%E2%80%9Catentado-fallido%E2%80%9D-contra-presidente-de]
Gustavo Zelaya writes in El Libertador about the situation of journalists in Honduras.
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/05/honduras-mandelo-matar-o-el-amor-entre.html]
C-Libre denounces the death threats against journalist David Romero Ellner.
* [http://www.clibrehonduras.com/alerta/amenazas-muerte-para-periodista-que-denunci%C3%B3-corrupci%C3%B3n-del-ihss]
* [http://voselsoberano.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17141:periodista-david-romero-de-radio-globo-denuncia-plan-para-asesinarlo&catid=1:noticias-generales]
ConexiHon thinks that the recent murder of Erick Geovany Arriaga Casco, radio operator at Globo, could be a message for journalist Julio Ernesto Alvarado.
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/libertad-de-expresi%C3%B3n/asesinato-de-erick-arriaga-podr%C3%ADa-ser-mensaje-para-periodista-julio]
The Red de Defensoras denounces the criminalization of Berta C?ceres by Nationalist congressman Mario P?rez.
* [http://redefensorashn.blogspot.ch/2015/05/comunicado.html]
The inhabitants of Azacualpa, Cop?n, denounce that the mining company Minerales de Occidente S. A. (a subsidiary of the Canadian transnational Aura Minerals) didn't comply with an agreement signed with the community.
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/derechos-humanos/conflicto-agrario-y-minero/pobladores-de-azacualpa-denuncian-incumplimiento]
* [http://movimientom4.org/2015/05/honduras-nuestra-solidaridad-con-la-comunidad-de-azacualpa-en-su-lucha-contra-la-empresa-minerals-de-occidente-s-a/]
Copinh denounces the murder of Dur?n Sanchez, a key leader in the land recuperation in San Juan, Ceguaca, Santa Barbara.
* [http://www.copinh.org/article/asesinan-al-companero-moises-duron-sanchez-lider-c/]
Maybe this is not the case of former president Lobo. Various media outlets inform that his son was just captured in an anti-drug operation (with the DEA) in Haiti.
* [http://www.proceso.hn/component/k2/item/102870-dea-captura-en-hait%C3%AD-a-fabio-lobo-hijo-del-expresidente-hondure%C3%B1o-lobo.html]
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/64-arrestan-a-hijo-de-expresidente-lobo-en-operacion-antidrogas]
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/capturan-fabio-lobo-hijo-de-ex-presidente-de-honduras/]
The former president's son, Fabio Lobo, may face a life sentence for drug trafficking.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/73-a-carcel-de-por-vida-se-enfrenta-hijo-de-expresidente-de-honduras]
COFADEH held a press conference yesterday on the grave situation of human rights defenders. Taking the cases of Gladys Lanza, Anselmo Romero, Rafael Alegr?a, Santos Torres and Luis M?ndez common strategies of threats and attacks were outlined.
[http://www.defensoresenlinea.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3545:iguales-patrones-sistematicidad-y-selectividad-en-ataques-a-defensoresas-de-ddhh-&catid=71:def&Itemid=166]
After journalists, CONADEH now presented a report on the situation of lawyers - 94 of them have been murdered since 2010.
* [http://www.tiempo.hn/nacion/item/31032-registran-140-muertes-de-abogados-en-9-anos-en-honduras]
Honduras celebrates the day of the journalist, but as Proceso Digital (for once) rightly says, there is not much to celebrate with high numbers of journalists still losing their lives and their murders being unpunished.
* [http://www.proceso.hn/component/k2/item/103054-impunidad-el-lastre-que-ronda-asesinatos-de-periodistas.html]
Reporters without Borders published a report on the situation of journalists in Honduras, focusing especially on Radio and TV Globo.
Meanwhile, the government threatens to take Channel 36 of the air if it isn't to "abstain from emitting news which harm national security and the public interest."
The Honduran civil society and various reporters agreed last week on the importance of creating an open space to debate and analyze corruption cases in Honduras.
And of course, JOH saw no better opportunity than the Day of the Honduran Journalist to to talk of "pseudo-journalists" trying to destabilize the country.
* [https://fr.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/rsf_-_reporte_radio_globo_-_mayo_2015.pdf]
* [http://www.clibrehonduras.com/alerta/presidente-de-honduras-amenaza-con-cerrar-canal-36-denuncia-periodista]
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/denuncias/item/807-conatel-advierte-cierre-de-canal-36-invocando-seguridad-nacional-e-interes-publico]
* [http://www.defensoresenlinea.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3549:periodistas-apoyan-idea-de-crear-un-espacio-de-monitoreo-de-investigacion-en-casos-de-corrupcion&catid=42:seg-y-jus&Itemid=159]
Libre denounces three cases of political persecution in just one month.
[http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/05/honduras-persecucion-politica-contra.html]
Killing season for enviros: Death threats still coming to Goldman Prize winner" (2015-05-24, ) [http://newsletters.environmentalhealthnews.org/t/187265/1406/141473/0/].
Winning an international environmental award highlighted Berta C?ceres? efforts to block a dam in her people?s homeland in Honduras, but it has not stopped the death threats. ?There have been many?they have intensified since December,? said C?ceres, a Lenca leader and co-founder of the National Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH).
The Red Nacional de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos denounces a new attack against Tolupan human rights defender Vilma Consuelo Soto in Locomapa.
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/05/honduras-alerta-nuevamente-atentan.html]
Locomapa: new attack against Consuelo Soto
COMUNICADO
La Red Nacional de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos en Honduras condena en?rgicamente un nuevo atentado contra la vida de la compa?era Defensora *Vilma Consuelo Soto*, a quien le fue tiroteada su casa de habitaci?n el d?a Viernes 22 de mayo reci?n pasado.
Consuelo Soto es una luchadora ind?gena de la Tribu Tolupana de San Francisco Campo en el Sector Locomapa, Yoro y desde el 2013 ha venido sufriendo una serie de actos de persecuci?n e intimidaciones, sobrevivi? al episodio violento en el que sicarios asesinaron a dos compa?eros y una
compa?era en su misma tribu, situaci?n por la que junto a dos familias m?s tuvieron que salir de su territorio y al que desafiando el asedio que no termina, decidieron regresar, en febrero de 2014.
Consuelo a su retorno se reincorpor? a la lucha para que de su territorio salgan las empresas que talan bosques y explotan minerales, as? como al trabajo organizativo que desde el Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y la Justicia, MADJ, del que ella es parte, se emprende, para que a trav?s de acciones de reconocimiento territorial y demandas judiciales y otras acciones comunitarias se respete el t?tulo ancestral que les reconoce como los guardianes de su territorio ind?gena que siempre han sido.
El 4 de Abril de 2015 asesinaron al esposo de Consuelo Soto, el compa?ero Luis Mac?as, un hombre luchador como Consuelo con quien criaba a cuatro de sus nietos y nietas, con quien caminaba los caminos del trabajo organizativo y liberador en Locomapa. A pesar del dolor, Consuelo Soto, valiente como es, decidi? permanecer en su comunidad, seguir la vida que el Viernes, una vez m?s intentaron truncarle.
Los sicarios, se asegura, son los mismos en cada incidente, la Polic?a lo sabe, las instancias que deber?an impartir justicia han sido notificadas en diferentes denuncias y demandas, de nada sirven las medidas cautelares de que goza Consuelo otorgadas por la Comisi?n Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH), porque como antes, en los hechos del Viernes, el argumento de no tener recursos asignados para llegar e investigar para llegar y reubicarla fueron los mismos, no solo de la Polic?a en Yoro, sino de la misma Coordinaci?n de Derechos Humanos de la Secretar?a de Justicia supuestos garantes de esas medidas cautelares.
Exigimos al gobierno de Honduras que se investige y sansione con debida diligencia a los responsables de estos actos y hacemos del conocimiento de la comunidad Nacional e Internacional que:
La Red Nacional de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos en Honduras reconoce orgullosamente a Consuelo Soto como una miembra m?s de nuestra organizaci?n, al mismo tiempo que estrecha lazos solidarios con el Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y la Justicia del que Consuelo es parte y construimos y articulamos agenda porque esta lucha contra el colonialismo patriarcal nos une en los espacios articulados como la Plataforma de Movimientos Sociales y Populares en Honduras, PMSH con la claridad de que solo la propuesta unificada en consensos podr? adversar la voracidad de este sistema de muerte y despojo.
Celebramos la fuerza de Consuelo Soto, desde la admiraci?n que le guardamos reiteramos nuestro compromiso por redoblar la denuncia y contribuir desde all? para que se respete su derecho a defender Derechos, el m?s fundamental, el derecho a vivir en paz y dignidad.
Porque la sabidur?a de nuestras ancestras la vemos en el rostro y las manos laboriosas de Consuelo Soto defendemos el derecho a defender.
Tegucigalpa, 24 de Mayo de 2015.
Yessica Trinidad [twitter.com: @yetri04] [yetri_04@)yahoo.com.mx] [504-96620439]
Human rights defender Gladys Lanza denounces being followed by two motorbikes and a car without a license plate.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/contexto/item/798-gladys-lanza-perseguida-por-motocilistas-y-vehiculo-sin-placas]
On the International Day Against Homophobia, LGBTI activist Rub? Alexandra Ferreira was brutally beaten. Proceso Digital reports on the march itself.
* [http://www.tiempo.hn/nacion/item/31570-casi-matan-gay-en-el-dia-contra-homofobia-en-honduras]
* [http://www.proceso.hn/component/k2/item/102687-la-comunidad-lgbti-exige-respeto-a-sus-derechos-y-el-cese-de-la-violencia-en-honduras.html]
Lawyer and social comunicator Juan Carlos Zelaya denounces that the regional head of the police in Tocoa is intimidating and harrasing him.
* [http://www.clibrehonduras.com/alerta/periodista-del-bajo-agu%C3%A1n-denuncia-intimidaci%C3%B3n]
Just 24 hours after launching his candidature as Libre congressman, lawyer Rafael Sarmiento had his properties raided by state security forces.
* [http://www.ellibertador.hn/?q=article/denuncian-allanamiento-de-propiedades-de-candidato-diputado-del-partido-libre-en-honduras]
From the Right of Center website Panampost, comes this gleeful announcement from Bel?n Marty who calls herself the "Libertarian Latina" (uhm uhm) about the first ZEDE being established this June in Honduras. She first states, "The initial crop of zones will be developed on the Pacific coast of Honduras, covering the municipalities of Alianza, Nacaome, Amapala, and the adjacent Isla del Tigre," and then she states, "Initial plans have indicated that each ZEDE will be granted 10 square kilometers of territory with no existing population", as if no one lives in a 10 square km of any of those municipalities.
* "Honduras Presses Ahead for ZEDE Liftoff in June" (2015-05-13, panampost.com) [archive.is/117oz]
* "Honduras to Unveil First ZEDE in March Korean Development Partner to Reveal Blueprints For Pacific Port, Logistics Hub" (2015-01-20, panampost.com) [archive.is/JoGZI]
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The indigenous Tolupanes continue to demand justice for the murder of their companions Mar?a Enriqueta Matute, Ricardo Soto Funez and Armando Funez Medina - all three murdered in August 2013.
* "WITH SIT-DEATH DEMANDING JUSTICE FOR INDIGENOUS TOLUPANES OF YORO" (2015-05-15, radioprogresohn.net) machine translated [archive.is/a3uGe]
---
Garifuna nation within the Republic of Honduras
OFRANEH criticizes the actions of the privatizing body COALIANZA in their territories, as it completely ignores the special protective measures granted by the IACHR.
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/derechos-humanos/pueblos-indigenas/comunidad-gar%C3%ADfuna-de-triunfo-de-la-cruz-rechaza-]
Riverwest Radio aired a great interview on the Gar?funas and their community radio in Honduras.
[https://soundcloud.com/riverwestradio/20-00-00-the-grasse-is-17]
Karen Spring and Alfredo Lopez on Riverwest Radio tonight
Join us on "The Grass is Greener" tonight Sat. May 23rd, 8pm CST, 9pm EST on Riverwestradio.com when our guests will be Karen Spring Honduras Solidarity Network Coordinator and Alfredo Lopez organizer and broadcaster for the Garifuna station Radio Faluma Bimetu in Honduras. The station has faced much repression including threats, has been burnt down, and their license is now in jeopardy. Lopez is also part of a group of land defenders in Triunfo de la Cruz trying to save the Garifuna lands from developers and the tourist industry. It should be a very interesting hour. Riverwest Radio
Radio Progreso reports on the struggle by the Gar?funas in Barra Vieja to protect their land. PROAH was accompanying the court case, when the judge suspended it until June, 3rd, to give time to the Attorney General to "find" his 3 witnesses who didn't show up at the hearings.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2076-barra-vieja-una-comunidad-gar%C3%ADfuna-en-juicio-por-defender-su-territorio]
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/contexto/item/797-estado-de-honduras-dispuesto-a-expulsar-a-garifunas-para-favorecer-a-proyecto-turistico]
===*===*===
Republic of Haiti
[icihaiti.com/en] [haitilibre.com/en] [cepr.net]
* "CEP Releases Final List of Candidates for Legislative Elections" (2015-05-19, cepr.net) [archive.is/9Cnqz]
* "Haiti - News : Electoral Zapping..." (2015-05-18, haitilibre.com) [archive.is/OoDVB]
* "Haiti elections commission gives green light to candidates" (2015-05-15, miamiherald.com) [archive.is/lSwCk] [begin excerpt]: Among those who will be vying for one of those empty Senate seats is Guy Philippe, a former Haitian police officer who led the 2004 coup that toppled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Over the years, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents have tried — and failed — on at least three occasions to arrest Philippe, who has been wanted in the United States since 2005. This will be Philippe’s third try at elected office in Haiti. [end excerpt] The article, from a monopolist media source, censors any mention of Fanmi Lavalas, a political party with candidates banned from the electoral list, though it is among the most popular parties of the Republic of Haiti.
* "Haiti-Elections: Various protests following the publication of the list of approved candidates" (2015-05-15, hpnhaiti.com) [archive.is/YmhHs]
* "The Platform PHTK strongly challenges the rejection of some of its candidates" (2015-05-15, PHTK) [archive.is/4r0uT]
===*===*===
Republic of France Overseas Department of Guadeloupe
* " 'Colonial Justice' is Harassing Trade Unionists" (2015-04-17) [archive.is/wNy1x]:
Anti-union repression in Guadeloupe is still going on. Elie Domota, General Secretary of the General Union of Workers of Guadeloupe (UIGTG), has just informed us that Jocelyn Leborgne, UGTG leader is summoned to appear in the Basse Terre Appeal court on Tuesday 9 June 2015 at 8.30 a.m.
This follows the Prosecution appealing against the acquittal of Jocelyn Leborgne, who had quite rightly refused to submit to DNA tests.
On 2 May 2013, Jocelyn Leborgne appeared in court charged with refusing this test.
At his trial, trade union leaders from Guadeloupe; Raymond Gama; Gérard Bauvert, Secretary, of the International Committee against Repression (Cicr), testified in defence of of Jocelyn Leborgne, indicating that this iniquitous procedure constituted a major step towards criminalising union activities. In the follow-up to this, the judges then pronounced the acquittal of Jocelyn Leborgne.
After the acquittal of the former joint General Secretary of the UGTG, Charly Lendo, following a very important international campaign, the Prosecution Appeal summoning Jocelyn Leborgne is a real provocation. As Elie Domota indicated in his message to the Cicr: “They are not dropping the case. But we aren't either;” The Cicr appeals to all those who mobilised for the acquittal of trade unionist Charly Lendo, (among whom, were in the front line, hundreds of unions from continental France) asking them to do the same, addressing the Minister for Justice, for the trade unionist Leborgne. Trade unionists are not criminals! Drop the proceedings against Jocelyne Leborgne.
* "Class Struggle in Martinique: Three ongoing conflicts are particularly representative of the present social unrest on the island, one of the last colonies of France" (2015-04-17, Inter-Union Council) [archive.is/z31Rf]
===*===*===
Republic of Colombia
[colombiasupport.net]
---
Towards a Bolivarian Republic of Colombia
* "Keys to speed up the peace process" (2015-05-21, Delegation of Peace, FARC-EP) [archive.is/0JnFe]
* "Suspension of unilateral ceasefire" (2015-05-22, Central Secretariat of the FARC-EP) machine translation [archive.is/K5suP]: It was not in our perspective the suspension of the determination of unilateral and indefinite cease-fire proclaimed on December 20, 2014 as a humanitarian gesture and de-escalation of the conflict, but the inconsistency of the Santos government has succeeded, after five months of offensive ground and air against our structures throughout the country.
We deplore the joint Air Force attack, the army and police executed at dawn on Thursday against a camp of the 29 Front of the FARC in Guapi (Cauca), which, according to official sources, 26 rebels were killed.
We equally painful deaths of guerrillas and soldiers, children of the same village and from poor families. We must stop this bleeding.
Against our will we have to continue the dialogue in the midst of the confrontation. Although Santos announces that keep the offensive, we insist on the need to agree as soon as possible to the health of the peace process and prevent further victimization, bilateral cease-fires that have claimed so insistently national majorities.
We appreciate the work of monitoring and verification of unilateral termination that for five months made the Broad Front for Peace and the social and political movement of Colombia.
* "NEWS that move and news outraged" (2015-05-19, FARC-EP) [archive.is/XiFyN] [begin excerpt]: News that move and arouse no disagreement. The tragedy of the miners in Riosucio, Caldas, caught by a sudden intrusion of the waters of the Cauca River to the mines where they worked for gold, has something in common with the misfortune of families in the rural area of Salgar in Antioquia, affected to midnight by a flood of the stream Liboriana. The victims of both are humble people, who survive in harsh conditions.
Poor miners and peasants who die at the hands of an apparent misfortune, and maybe serve for the names of entities and public officials to provide relief wet press, they are actually products of the dominant inequality and injustice. Rebuscarse human beings condemned to weather their support and that of their families, they are the product of the prevailing social order, without defenders victims of savage capitalism.
Supply kits that supply and basic sanitation to his mourners, or allocations by the State to pay the funeral of loved ones lost forever, until the announced inclusion in the program of free housing, fail to represent even warm wet cloth to the serious problems that reveals the noticiada adversity. The problem lies elsewhere, the economic model, expectations of large corporate mining. [end excerpt]
---
* ELN Military Poster (2015-05-20) machine translation [archive.is/h1pY2]:
In late April of this year, they were captured six officers in the army and a professional soldier to pass on weapons of the military garrison to the paramilitaries, some of Ptolemais, Tolima. The same happened to the San Mateo Battalion of Perira, Risaralda with 300 weapons went to the paramilitaries.
Just a month ago, a crisis occurs with 80 including 60 military officers who presented voluntary resignation and 20 colonels to qualify Services.
Less than a month ago 70 soldiers who 25 billion pesos, money for health is stolen, that they called the sign of the health of national army is the last embezzlement detected in military health.
Historically, we must also refer the alliance between General Mario Montoya and bonnet Don Berna. Model that was replicated in all Colombian cities.
From prisons in the United States some capos denounce how the alliance between the armed forces and drug traffickers work.
Microtrafficking, widespread extortion, murder and cruel practices such as the dismemberment of the victims, the cities were taken, to which the regime sought to hide its origin, attributing such criminality "criminal gangs" (bacrim) as if They were a different perpetrators, their traditional allies, the narco paramilitaries.
On behalf of the Democratic Security Policy, paid rewards to soldiers who presented bodies of guerrillas killed in combat, by greed of money, the military began to kill innocent civilians and place them even after death, to collect these rewards , crimes that have been investigated so far, 2,500 pass, known in Colombia as the scandal of false positives.
The development of drug trafficking in Colombia, led the organization of powerful mafia cartels, which multiplied their armed squads, to resolve conflicts with farmers and all who oppose them.
Other evidence that reiterates the anchor in the order of the mafia clans, the weight is still the narco paramilitaries, who is entrenched as the main electoral machinery in Colombia, which crushes everything and everyone in its metallic Act "silver or Lead ", who can not be bribed dies. "I sell now, or after you bought the widow."
The poor, those who do not have access to these brand-new institutions, offer us is prison, while for theirs is the voluntary retirement and named as consuls or advisers to be the best police in the world, the finest military heroes homeland, finally is the policy of the capitalist system who has impregnated between the bones corruption, theft, individualism and degenerated society.
This poster of the military, which is not far cartels diapers, toilet paper poster, which also appear large employers including Tecnoquímicas, Tecnosur, Kuimberly, Family and drytres. Also the brand Winny ultratrin, pequeìn, Huggies and Beybysec. The owners, Francisco José Barviery manager Tecnoquímicas and Tecnosur. Dario Rey Mora, manager of Productos Familia. Felipe Alvira, manager of Colombian Kimberly Colpapel SA Preliminary investigations should pay 60 billion pesos and 44 other characters, can expect to pay 1,200 million pesos. If this is what you can expect to pay, how much would be what was stolen?
Sooner or later there will come a day when the cake turn, will this year 283 protests, 3 protests a day. Participation in seedlings, demonstrations, rallies, etc. They are expressions that are adding to reject the corrupt practices of the old and new rich.
Remove those signs lead us on track towards the new nation of peace and equity.
The ELN is bound by those changes that are required for a new society where everyone fits.
COLOMBIA FOR WORKERS
NOT ONE STEP BACK, RELEASE OR DEATH
===*===*===
Towards a People's Republic of the Andes (Peru, Ecuador)
[movadef.net]
* "Peru suspends civil liberties after fourth demonstrator dies" (2015-05-23, International Business Times) [archive.is/c3POe]: Peru's government announced Friday night that it has suspended civil liberties in a southern coastal valley in the country after a fourth person died during protests against a Mexican-owned copper mining project, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Cabinet chief Pedro Cateriano said that the 60-day emergency will be applicable from Saturday. Freedom of assembly and movement, and protection against warrantless searches fall under the ambit of the suspended rights, the AP reported, citing Cateriano. The decision follows the death of a 55-year-old man in Friday's clashes, where four others were also injured. So far, over 200 have been injured in the protests that have been going on since March. Farmers in Tambo Valley, where rice is cultivated, are protesting against Southern Copper Corp.’s $1.4 million project to build a copper mine in the region. The project is aimed at doubling the Mexican firm’s output to 1.2 million tons. Protests against the Tia Maria project, controlled by Southern Copper, an affiliate of Grupo Mexico, started after communities near the Arequipa region, expressed concerns about the natural resources in the region getting polluted, Forbes reported. The company is the world’s third-largest copper producer. Julio Morriberon, the company’s director of institutional relations who supervises the project, had called the protesters “terrorists,” Bloomberg reported in March. Morriberon had announced the cancelation of the project in March, and said, according to Bloomberg: “I’m here to announce the cancelation of Tia Maria project and the complete withdrawal of our investment,” from the area. However, protests still continued with farmers demanding a total annulment of the mining project. The Peruvian government has sent 2,000 police to the area while the country’s army has deployed 1,000 soldiers to back them up. [end article]
===*===*===
Republic of Argentina
General Strike!
* “This 31st of March, the Argentinian working class mobilised massively” (2015-04-17, Informations Ouvrières newspaper) [archive.is/itgs5]
===*===*===
Republic of Chile
* "Fierce class struggles in Chile" seven photos (2015-05-22, signalfire.org) [archive.is/7a0Vm]
Photos show scenes of street battle; two wounded student militants who had been gunned down by drug dealing son of shop owner in Valparaiso and retaliatory mobilizations; and a highway blocked in Til-Til, Batuco and Lampa area with the anti-toll struggle. Also, Fishery workers clash with police in Valparaiso earlier this week, video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIS2h8-0rBw].
* FER Student Revolutionary Front position paper in solidarity with the students murdered by police in Valparaiso (2015-05-24) [archive.is/WMNZj]
===*===*===
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.
* "From Reagan to Obama: Forced Disappearances in Honduras" (2015-05-21, telesurtv.net) [archive.is/ot0aJ] [begin excerpt]: The 1980s saw widespread political violence and countless forced disappearances in many countries in Latin America, and Honduras was no exception. Bertha Oliva, founder and director of COFADEH whose husband was disappeared by Battalion 316, stand in front of a banner of the disappeared. Hundreds of political opponents of the 1980s U.S.-backed regime were kidnapped, tortured, and assassinated by the CIA-trained secret army unit Battalion 316, while at the same time Honduras served as a military base and training ground for U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in the region, especially in neighboring El Salvador and Nicaragua. In the wake of the 2009 U.S.-backed coup ousting democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya, forced disappearance, torture, and targeted assassinations re-emerged as state terror tactics to intimidate and repress a broad-based resistance. Conspicuous and even conscious links to 1980s tactics since the 2009 coup, as well as ongoing U.S. complicity, show a continuity of state sponsored terror, with new elements for the post-coup context. [end excerpt]
* "RESISTANCE: Battle in the Aguán" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkI9n1yVVKM]:
A short video about the struggle for the land of Honduran farmers, who face powerful landowners and murderers, by Jesse Freestone of Canada.
* "Violent eviction La Paz" (2015-05-23, by Vicki Cervantes): Writing from Honduras- I arrived yesterday. Just got off the phone with the General Secretary of the campesino org the CNTC. Yesterday evening heavily armed elements of the Military Police, FULSINA, and Preventative Police violently evicted 34 campesino families from their land in Tutule, La Paz.
(Addition from Karen Spring, with the cross border networks delegation on the north coast of Honduras): I think the military force is called FUSINA and they are being trained right now by US forces including the FBI. FUSINA also participated in raids in Olancho (eastern Honduras) a few days ago on the properties of the Sarmiento family, a very pro-LIBRE and wealthy family in Olancho that has suffered a lot of state repression and exactly two days after one of their family members (Rafael Sarmiento) announced that he would be joining the LIBRE party as a congressional candidate.
(reply by Vicki Cervantes): Interesting that they were involved in the Sarmiento raids. Also a lot of military power against 35 campesino families working coffee production.
Leader of land recuperation supported by COPINH murdered today.
A key leader of a COPINH land recuperation in San Juan, Ceguaca, Santa Barbara was murdered this afternoon. His last names are Dur?n Sanchez and apparently he was shot, 60 years old.
It is still being investigated by COPINH and local folks in Santa Barbara so details are not clear.
COPINH will send out a communique shortly with more details including actions for those in solidarity. Below is a summary of the land conflict in San Juan posted by COPINH on their facebook a few weeks ago.
* "SAN JUAN, CEGUACA, SANTA BÁRBARA OTRA COMUNIDAD LIBRANDO LA LUCHA POR SU TIERRA" original in Spanish [https://archive.is/YuFvU], machine translation [https://archive.is/X3sDV]
* "Honduras to build land title registry using bitcoin technology" (2015-05-15, reuters.com) [archive.is/nozhJ]
According to JOH, Honduras will be the logistics hub of Central America.
* [http://www.elheraldo.hn/inicio/841803-331/hern%C3%A1ndez-honduras-ser%C3%A1-centro-log%C3%ADstico-de-centroam%C3%A9rica]
Honduras declares 18 zones as "mining reserves" in parts of Santa Barbara, Olancho, Colon, El Paraiso, Francisco Morazan, Choluteca amongst other areas. The mining projects will supposedly be used to finance social programs.
* [http://www.elheraldo.hn/inicio/840835-331/declaran-en-reserva-18-zonas-mineras-de-honduras]
For once it is not drugs coming from Colombia.
* [http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/colombian-loan-sharks-fill-void-in-honduras-informal-economy]
* "Scandal - Social Security Institute: Key Witness Shot This Afternoon in San Pedro Sula" (2015-05-14 and 15, by various researchers with the Presente Digest):
A fugitive in the Social Security (IHSS) scandal was shot 14 times and fatally injured today in San Pedro Sula, but it has not been confirmed that he was actually killed. At least one man was taken to the hospital. It is rumored that he was attacked b/c of his knowledge that would implicate high level officials in the IHSS scandal. He is accused of being the owner of a travel agency that sold overpriced airline tickets to IHSS officials to help siphon funds. A judge issued an arrest warrant for him in December 2014 for money laundering and Interpol issued a Red Notice [http://www.interpol.int/notice/search/wanted/2014-55780]
The scandal involves the robbery of $350 million dollars from the Social Security Institute and according to new evidence that has emerged in the last few days, used to finance the National Party political campaign in the 2013 elections. Here is a short summary of the scandal (that should technically be enough to have JOH removed from office), the new evidence, and its link to the recent privatization of the Social Security institute. [http://desdeaquiabajoabajo.blogspot.com]
Update: Gilda Sivestrucci, the Honduran correspondent for TeleSur confirmed that John Charles Bogr?n the man tied to the IHSS scandal died this afternoon from the gunshots that he received [http://multimedia.telesurtv.net/web/telesur/#!es/video/honduras-confirman-la-muerte-de-john-charles-bogran]. He had been an Administrator at the IHSS and was in charge of booking travel arraignments for other Administrators and officials. He also owned a Travel Agency, JJ Travel & Tours where he overcharged the IHSS $1.5 million for airline tickets. In the Fall of 2014 he had an INTERPOL arrest warrant out on him stemming from the embezzlement. It appears that he was also one of those who had been involved in the false medical supply businesses where the stolen IHSS money was laundered and sent to the National Party. Several news outlets have labeled him as a "testigo o tesitigo protegido" witness or protected witness, but there is nothing to substantiate that. Somebody wanted to silenced him and apparently succeeded.
As always, Radio Progreso offers a good overview of the case. Apparently, John Charles Bogr?n Velasquez hasn't died, even though receiving several bullets.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2073-caso-ihss-el-poder-detr%C3%A1s-del-mayor-acto-de-corrupci%C3%B3n-en-honduras]
* [http://www.laprensa.hn/sucesos/840871-417/detenci%C3%B3n-judicial-dicta-juez-a-john-charles-bogr%C3%A1n]
The Public Ministry just officially confirmed that the checks that David Romero of TV Globo has, showing that hundreds of thousands were transferred from the IHSS to the National Party election fund, are real. [http://www.radiohrn.hn/l/noticias/mp-confirma-emisi%C3%B3n-de-cheques-con-fondos-del-ihss-al-partido-nacional]
With the corruption scandal unwinding, voices calling for the resignation of JOH get louder. The National Party reacts by organizing a march for JOH. Of course, Congress then had to close down yesterday, so that National congresswo/men could participate in the march... Cholusat Sur collected some material showing how some participants of the march received money from the National Party.
* "Juan Orlando Hernandez Resignation Scandal: Honduras President Targeted By Protesters, Political Rivals Amid Bid For Second Term" (2015-05-14, ibtimes.com) [archive.is/4it3H]
* [http://news.kgnu.org/2015/05/honduran-president-called-to-resign-after-election-finance-theft-exposed/]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/05/honduras-por-marcha-nacionalista.html]
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/nacionalistas-pagan-personas-para-que-participen-en-la-marcha-de-apoyo-joh/]
* [http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/honduras-investigating-financing-ruling-national-party-31059757]
Javier Suazo offers a general analysis of corruption in Honduras and also links it to the vice-president of Guatemala who recently felt forced to resign after revelations of corruption.
* [http://www.alainet.org/es/articulo/169620]
Instead of going after the IHSS fraud, the MP cited former president Manuel Zelaya and some of his then cabinet members to investigate the so-called fourth ballot box. Libre reacted with a press release.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/70-honduras-ministerio-publico-cita-funcionarios-del-gobierno-liberal-de-manuel-zelaya]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/05/hondurasdenuncia-violacion-flagrante.html]
Several news outlets inform about the arrival of 180 US marines to Honduras.
The US embassy confirmed the news.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/90-unos-180-marines-de-eeuu-llegaran-en-las-proximas-semanas-a-honduras]
* [http://lanoticia.hn/nacionales/embajada-americana-anuncia-la-llegada-a-honduras-de-infantes-de-la-marina/]
* [http://www.ellibertador.hn/?q=article/infantes-de-marina-de-eeuu-desembarcar%C3%A1n-en-honduras]
Radio Progreso presents the characteristics of the militarization in Honduras.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/nuestra-palabra/item/2070-militarizaci%C3%B3n-otro-signo-de-la-honduras-actual-14-mayo-2015]
Several Honduran media outlets spoke yesterday of a possible coup d'?tat against JOH. The government itself later denied the rumors.
* [http://www.latribuna.hn/2015/05/20/denuncian-plan-de-golpe-de-estado-en-contra-de-juan-orlando-hernandez/]
* [http://www.elheraldo.hn/pais/842040-331/romeo-v%C3%A1squez-patra%C3%B1as-del-gobierno-son-rumores-de-golpe-de-estado]
* [http://www.laprensa.hn/inicio/842077-417/gobierno-de-honduras-desvirt%C3%BAa-rumores-sobre-golpe-de-estado]
ConexiHon, meanwhile, offers an analysis of the coup d'?tat rumors of
two days ago
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/transparencia-y-corrupci%C3%B3n/%E2%80%9Cgolpe-de-estado%E2%80%9D-y-%E2%80%9Catentado-fallido%E2%80%9D-contra-presidente-de]
Gustavo Zelaya writes in El Libertador about the situation of journalists in Honduras.
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/05/honduras-mandelo-matar-o-el-amor-entre.html]
C-Libre denounces the death threats against journalist David Romero Ellner.
* [http://www.clibrehonduras.com/alerta/amenazas-muerte-para-periodista-que-denunci%C3%B3-corrupci%C3%B3n-del-ihss]
* [http://voselsoberano.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17141:periodista-david-romero-de-radio-globo-denuncia-plan-para-asesinarlo&catid=1:noticias-generales]
ConexiHon thinks that the recent murder of Erick Geovany Arriaga Casco, radio operator at Globo, could be a message for journalist Julio Ernesto Alvarado.
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/libertad-de-expresi%C3%B3n/asesinato-de-erick-arriaga-podr%C3%ADa-ser-mensaje-para-periodista-julio]
The Red de Defensoras denounces the criminalization of Berta C?ceres by Nationalist congressman Mario P?rez.
* [http://redefensorashn.blogspot.ch/2015/05/comunicado.html]
The inhabitants of Azacualpa, Cop?n, denounce that the mining company Minerales de Occidente S. A. (a subsidiary of the Canadian transnational Aura Minerals) didn't comply with an agreement signed with the community.
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/derechos-humanos/conflicto-agrario-y-minero/pobladores-de-azacualpa-denuncian-incumplimiento]
* [http://movimientom4.org/2015/05/honduras-nuestra-solidaridad-con-la-comunidad-de-azacualpa-en-su-lucha-contra-la-empresa-minerals-de-occidente-s-a/]
Copinh denounces the murder of Dur?n Sanchez, a key leader in the land recuperation in San Juan, Ceguaca, Santa Barbara.
* [http://www.copinh.org/article/asesinan-al-companero-moises-duron-sanchez-lider-c/]
Maybe this is not the case of former president Lobo. Various media outlets inform that his son was just captured in an anti-drug operation (with the DEA) in Haiti.
* [http://www.proceso.hn/component/k2/item/102870-dea-captura-en-hait%C3%AD-a-fabio-lobo-hijo-del-expresidente-hondure%C3%B1o-lobo.html]
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/64-arrestan-a-hijo-de-expresidente-lobo-en-operacion-antidrogas]
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/capturan-fabio-lobo-hijo-de-ex-presidente-de-honduras/]
The former president's son, Fabio Lobo, may face a life sentence for drug trafficking.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/73-a-carcel-de-por-vida-se-enfrenta-hijo-de-expresidente-de-honduras]
COFADEH held a press conference yesterday on the grave situation of human rights defenders. Taking the cases of Gladys Lanza, Anselmo Romero, Rafael Alegr?a, Santos Torres and Luis M?ndez common strategies of threats and attacks were outlined.
[http://www.defensoresenlinea.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3545:iguales-patrones-sistematicidad-y-selectividad-en-ataques-a-defensoresas-de-ddhh-&catid=71:def&Itemid=166]
After journalists, CONADEH now presented a report on the situation of lawyers - 94 of them have been murdered since 2010.
* [http://www.tiempo.hn/nacion/item/31032-registran-140-muertes-de-abogados-en-9-anos-en-honduras]
Honduras celebrates the day of the journalist, but as Proceso Digital (for once) rightly says, there is not much to celebrate with high numbers of journalists still losing their lives and their murders being unpunished.
* [http://www.proceso.hn/component/k2/item/103054-impunidad-el-lastre-que-ronda-asesinatos-de-periodistas.html]
Reporters without Borders published a report on the situation of journalists in Honduras, focusing especially on Radio and TV Globo.
Meanwhile, the government threatens to take Channel 36 of the air if it isn't to "abstain from emitting news which harm national security and the public interest."
The Honduran civil society and various reporters agreed last week on the importance of creating an open space to debate and analyze corruption cases in Honduras.
And of course, JOH saw no better opportunity than the Day of the Honduran Journalist to to talk of "pseudo-journalists" trying to destabilize the country.
* [https://fr.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/rsf_-_reporte_radio_globo_-_mayo_2015.pdf]
* [http://www.clibrehonduras.com/alerta/presidente-de-honduras-amenaza-con-cerrar-canal-36-denuncia-periodista]
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/denuncias/item/807-conatel-advierte-cierre-de-canal-36-invocando-seguridad-nacional-e-interes-publico]
* [http://www.defensoresenlinea.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3549:periodistas-apoyan-idea-de-crear-un-espacio-de-monitoreo-de-investigacion-en-casos-de-corrupcion&catid=42:seg-y-jus&Itemid=159]
Libre denounces three cases of political persecution in just one month.
[http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/05/honduras-persecucion-politica-contra.html]
Winning an international environmental award highlighted Berta C?ceres? efforts to block a dam in her people?s homeland in Honduras, but it has not stopped the death threats. ?There have been many?they have intensified since December,? said C?ceres, a Lenca leader and co-founder of the National Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH).
The Red Nacional de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos denounces a new attack against Tolupan human rights defender Vilma Consuelo Soto in Locomapa.
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/05/honduras-alerta-nuevamente-atentan.html]
Locomapa: new attack against Consuelo Soto
COMUNICADO
La Red Nacional de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos en Honduras condena en?rgicamente un nuevo atentado contra la vida de la compa?era Defensora *Vilma Consuelo Soto*, a quien le fue tiroteada su casa de habitaci?n el d?a Viernes 22 de mayo reci?n pasado.
Consuelo Soto es una luchadora ind?gena de la Tribu Tolupana de San Francisco Campo en el Sector Locomapa, Yoro y desde el 2013 ha venido sufriendo una serie de actos de persecuci?n e intimidaciones, sobrevivi? al episodio violento en el que sicarios asesinaron a dos compa?eros y una
compa?era en su misma tribu, situaci?n por la que junto a dos familias m?s tuvieron que salir de su territorio y al que desafiando el asedio que no termina, decidieron regresar, en febrero de 2014.
Consuelo a su retorno se reincorpor? a la lucha para que de su territorio salgan las empresas que talan bosques y explotan minerales, as? como al trabajo organizativo que desde el Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y la Justicia, MADJ, del que ella es parte, se emprende, para que a trav?s de acciones de reconocimiento territorial y demandas judiciales y otras acciones comunitarias se respete el t?tulo ancestral que les reconoce como los guardianes de su territorio ind?gena que siempre han sido.
El 4 de Abril de 2015 asesinaron al esposo de Consuelo Soto, el compa?ero Luis Mac?as, un hombre luchador como Consuelo con quien criaba a cuatro de sus nietos y nietas, con quien caminaba los caminos del trabajo organizativo y liberador en Locomapa. A pesar del dolor, Consuelo Soto, valiente como es, decidi? permanecer en su comunidad, seguir la vida que el Viernes, una vez m?s intentaron truncarle.
Los sicarios, se asegura, son los mismos en cada incidente, la Polic?a lo sabe, las instancias que deber?an impartir justicia han sido notificadas en diferentes denuncias y demandas, de nada sirven las medidas cautelares de que goza Consuelo otorgadas por la Comisi?n Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH), porque como antes, en los hechos del Viernes, el argumento de no tener recursos asignados para llegar e investigar para llegar y reubicarla fueron los mismos, no solo de la Polic?a en Yoro, sino de la misma Coordinaci?n de Derechos Humanos de la Secretar?a de Justicia supuestos garantes de esas medidas cautelares.
Exigimos al gobierno de Honduras que se investige y sansione con debida diligencia a los responsables de estos actos y hacemos del conocimiento de la comunidad Nacional e Internacional que:
La Red Nacional de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos en Honduras reconoce orgullosamente a Consuelo Soto como una miembra m?s de nuestra organizaci?n, al mismo tiempo que estrecha lazos solidarios con el Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y la Justicia del que Consuelo es parte y construimos y articulamos agenda porque esta lucha contra el colonialismo patriarcal nos une en los espacios articulados como la Plataforma de Movimientos Sociales y Populares en Honduras, PMSH con la claridad de que solo la propuesta unificada en consensos podr? adversar la voracidad de este sistema de muerte y despojo.
Celebramos la fuerza de Consuelo Soto, desde la admiraci?n que le guardamos reiteramos nuestro compromiso por redoblar la denuncia y contribuir desde all? para que se respete su derecho a defender Derechos, el m?s fundamental, el derecho a vivir en paz y dignidad.
Porque la sabidur?a de nuestras ancestras la vemos en el rostro y las manos laboriosas de Consuelo Soto defendemos el derecho a defender.
Tegucigalpa, 24 de Mayo de 2015.
Yessica Trinidad [twitter.com: @yetri04] [yetri_04@)yahoo.com.mx] [504-96620439]
Human rights defender Gladys Lanza denounces being followed by two motorbikes and a car without a license plate.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/contexto/item/798-gladys-lanza-perseguida-por-motocilistas-y-vehiculo-sin-placas]
On the International Day Against Homophobia, LGBTI activist Rub? Alexandra Ferreira was brutally beaten. Proceso Digital reports on the march itself.
* [http://www.tiempo.hn/nacion/item/31570-casi-matan-gay-en-el-dia-contra-homofobia-en-honduras]
* [http://www.proceso.hn/component/k2/item/102687-la-comunidad-lgbti-exige-respeto-a-sus-derechos-y-el-cese-de-la-violencia-en-honduras.html]
Lawyer and social comunicator Juan Carlos Zelaya denounces that the regional head of the police in Tocoa is intimidating and harrasing him.
* [http://www.clibrehonduras.com/alerta/periodista-del-bajo-agu%C3%A1n-denuncia-intimidaci%C3%B3n]
Just 24 hours after launching his candidature as Libre congressman, lawyer Rafael Sarmiento had his properties raided by state security forces.
* [http://www.ellibertador.hn/?q=article/denuncian-allanamiento-de-propiedades-de-candidato-diputado-del-partido-libre-en-honduras]
From the Right of Center website Panampost, comes this gleeful announcement from Bel?n Marty who calls herself the "Libertarian Latina" (uhm uhm) about the first ZEDE being established this June in Honduras. She first states, "The initial crop of zones will be developed on the Pacific coast of Honduras, covering the municipalities of Alianza, Nacaome, Amapala, and the adjacent Isla del Tigre," and then she states, "Initial plans have indicated that each ZEDE will be granted 10 square kilometers of territory with no existing population", as if no one lives in a 10 square km of any of those municipalities.
* "Honduras Presses Ahead for ZEDE Liftoff in June" (2015-05-13, panampost.com) [archive.is/117oz]
* "Honduras to Unveil First ZEDE in March Korean Development Partner to Reveal Blueprints For Pacific Port, Logistics Hub" (2015-01-20, panampost.com) [archive.is/JoGZI]
---
The indigenous Tolupanes continue to demand justice for the murder of their companions Mar?a Enriqueta Matute, Ricardo Soto Funez and Armando Funez Medina - all three murdered in August 2013.
* "WITH SIT-DEATH DEMANDING JUSTICE FOR INDIGENOUS TOLUPANES OF YORO" (2015-05-15, radioprogresohn.net) machine translated [archive.is/a3uGe]
---
Garifuna nation within the Republic of Honduras
OFRANEH criticizes the actions of the privatizing body COALIANZA in their territories, as it completely ignores the special protective measures granted by the IACHR.
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/derechos-humanos/pueblos-indigenas/comunidad-gar%C3%ADfuna-de-triunfo-de-la-cruz-rechaza-]
Riverwest Radio aired a great interview on the Gar?funas and their community radio in Honduras.
[https://soundcloud.com/riverwestradio/20-00-00-the-grasse-is-17]
Karen Spring and Alfredo Lopez on Riverwest Radio tonight
Join us on "The Grass is Greener" tonight Sat. May 23rd, 8pm CST, 9pm EST on Riverwestradio.com when our guests will be Karen Spring Honduras Solidarity Network Coordinator and Alfredo Lopez organizer and broadcaster for the Garifuna station Radio Faluma Bimetu in Honduras. The station has faced much repression including threats, has been burnt down, and their license is now in jeopardy. Lopez is also part of a group of land defenders in Triunfo de la Cruz trying to save the Garifuna lands from developers and the tourist industry. It should be a very interesting hour. Riverwest Radio
Radio Progreso reports on the struggle by the Gar?funas in Barra Vieja to protect their land. PROAH was accompanying the court case, when the judge suspended it until June, 3rd, to give time to the Attorney General to "find" his 3 witnesses who didn't show up at the hearings.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2076-barra-vieja-una-comunidad-gar%C3%ADfuna-en-juicio-por-defender-su-territorio]
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/contexto/item/797-estado-de-honduras-dispuesto-a-expulsar-a-garifunas-para-favorecer-a-proyecto-turistico]
===*===*===
Republic of Haiti
[icihaiti.com/en] [haitilibre.com/en] [cepr.net]
* "CEP Releases Final List of Candidates for Legislative Elections" (2015-05-19, cepr.net) [archive.is/9Cnqz]
* "Haiti - News : Electoral Zapping..." (2015-05-18, haitilibre.com) [archive.is/OoDVB]
* "Haiti elections commission gives green light to candidates" (2015-05-15, miamiherald.com) [archive.is/lSwCk] [begin excerpt]: Among those who will be vying for one of those empty Senate seats is Guy Philippe, a former Haitian police officer who led the 2004 coup that toppled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Over the years, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents have tried — and failed — on at least three occasions to arrest Philippe, who has been wanted in the United States since 2005. This will be Philippe’s third try at elected office in Haiti. [end excerpt] The article, from a monopolist media source, censors any mention of Fanmi Lavalas, a political party with candidates banned from the electoral list, though it is among the most popular parties of the Republic of Haiti.
* "Haiti-Elections: Various protests following the publication of the list of approved candidates" (2015-05-15, hpnhaiti.com) [archive.is/YmhHs]
* "The Platform PHTK strongly challenges the rejection of some of its candidates" (2015-05-15, PHTK) [archive.is/4r0uT]
===*===*===
Republic of France Overseas Department of Guadeloupe
* " 'Colonial Justice' is Harassing Trade Unionists" (2015-04-17) [archive.is/wNy1x]:
Anti-union repression in Guadeloupe is still going on. Elie Domota, General Secretary of the General Union of Workers of Guadeloupe (UIGTG), has just informed us that Jocelyn Leborgne, UGTG leader is summoned to appear in the Basse Terre Appeal court on Tuesday 9 June 2015 at 8.30 a.m.
This follows the Prosecution appealing against the acquittal of Jocelyn Leborgne, who had quite rightly refused to submit to DNA tests.
On 2 May 2013, Jocelyn Leborgne appeared in court charged with refusing this test.
At his trial, trade union leaders from Guadeloupe; Raymond Gama; Gérard Bauvert, Secretary, of the International Committee against Repression (Cicr), testified in defence of of Jocelyn Leborgne, indicating that this iniquitous procedure constituted a major step towards criminalising union activities. In the follow-up to this, the judges then pronounced the acquittal of Jocelyn Leborgne.
After the acquittal of the former joint General Secretary of the UGTG, Charly Lendo, following a very important international campaign, the Prosecution Appeal summoning Jocelyn Leborgne is a real provocation. As Elie Domota indicated in his message to the Cicr: “They are not dropping the case. But we aren't either;” The Cicr appeals to all those who mobilised for the acquittal of trade unionist Charly Lendo, (among whom, were in the front line, hundreds of unions from continental France) asking them to do the same, addressing the Minister for Justice, for the trade unionist Leborgne. Trade unionists are not criminals! Drop the proceedings against Jocelyne Leborgne.
* "Class Struggle in Martinique: Three ongoing conflicts are particularly representative of the present social unrest on the island, one of the last colonies of France" (2015-04-17, Inter-Union Council) [archive.is/z31Rf]
===*===*===
Republic of Colombia
[colombiasupport.net]
---
Towards a Bolivarian Republic of Colombia* "Keys to speed up the peace process" (2015-05-21, Delegation of Peace, FARC-EP) [archive.is/0JnFe]
* "Suspension of unilateral ceasefire" (2015-05-22, Central Secretariat of the FARC-EP) machine translation [archive.is/K5suP]: It was not in our perspective the suspension of the determination of unilateral and indefinite cease-fire proclaimed on December 20, 2014 as a humanitarian gesture and de-escalation of the conflict, but the inconsistency of the Santos government has succeeded, after five months of offensive ground and air against our structures throughout the country.
We deplore the joint Air Force attack, the army and police executed at dawn on Thursday against a camp of the 29 Front of the FARC in Guapi (Cauca), which, according to official sources, 26 rebels were killed.
We equally painful deaths of guerrillas and soldiers, children of the same village and from poor families. We must stop this bleeding.
Against our will we have to continue the dialogue in the midst of the confrontation. Although Santos announces that keep the offensive, we insist on the need to agree as soon as possible to the health of the peace process and prevent further victimization, bilateral cease-fires that have claimed so insistently national majorities.
We appreciate the work of monitoring and verification of unilateral termination that for five months made the Broad Front for Peace and the social and political movement of Colombia.
* "NEWS that move and news outraged" (2015-05-19, FARC-EP) [archive.is/XiFyN] [begin excerpt]: News that move and arouse no disagreement. The tragedy of the miners in Riosucio, Caldas, caught by a sudden intrusion of the waters of the Cauca River to the mines where they worked for gold, has something in common with the misfortune of families in the rural area of Salgar in Antioquia, affected to midnight by a flood of the stream Liboriana. The victims of both are humble people, who survive in harsh conditions.
Poor miners and peasants who die at the hands of an apparent misfortune, and maybe serve for the names of entities and public officials to provide relief wet press, they are actually products of the dominant inequality and injustice. Rebuscarse human beings condemned to weather their support and that of their families, they are the product of the prevailing social order, without defenders victims of savage capitalism.
Supply kits that supply and basic sanitation to his mourners, or allocations by the State to pay the funeral of loved ones lost forever, until the announced inclusion in the program of free housing, fail to represent even warm wet cloth to the serious problems that reveals the noticiada adversity. The problem lies elsewhere, the economic model, expectations of large corporate mining. [end excerpt]
---
* ELN Military Poster (2015-05-20) machine translation [archive.is/h1pY2]:
In late April of this year, they were captured six officers in the army and a professional soldier to pass on weapons of the military garrison to the paramilitaries, some of Ptolemais, Tolima. The same happened to the San Mateo Battalion of Perira, Risaralda with 300 weapons went to the paramilitaries.
Just a month ago, a crisis occurs with 80 including 60 military officers who presented voluntary resignation and 20 colonels to qualify Services.
Less than a month ago 70 soldiers who 25 billion pesos, money for health is stolen, that they called the sign of the health of national army is the last embezzlement detected in military health.
Historically, we must also refer the alliance between General Mario Montoya and bonnet Don Berna. Model that was replicated in all Colombian cities.
From prisons in the United States some capos denounce how the alliance between the armed forces and drug traffickers work.
Microtrafficking, widespread extortion, murder and cruel practices such as the dismemberment of the victims, the cities were taken, to which the regime sought to hide its origin, attributing such criminality "criminal gangs" (bacrim) as if They were a different perpetrators, their traditional allies, the narco paramilitaries.
On behalf of the Democratic Security Policy, paid rewards to soldiers who presented bodies of guerrillas killed in combat, by greed of money, the military began to kill innocent civilians and place them even after death, to collect these rewards , crimes that have been investigated so far, 2,500 pass, known in Colombia as the scandal of false positives.
The development of drug trafficking in Colombia, led the organization of powerful mafia cartels, which multiplied their armed squads, to resolve conflicts with farmers and all who oppose them.
Other evidence that reiterates the anchor in the order of the mafia clans, the weight is still the narco paramilitaries, who is entrenched as the main electoral machinery in Colombia, which crushes everything and everyone in its metallic Act "silver or Lead ", who can not be bribed dies. "I sell now, or after you bought the widow."
The poor, those who do not have access to these brand-new institutions, offer us is prison, while for theirs is the voluntary retirement and named as consuls or advisers to be the best police in the world, the finest military heroes homeland, finally is the policy of the capitalist system who has impregnated between the bones corruption, theft, individualism and degenerated society.
This poster of the military, which is not far cartels diapers, toilet paper poster, which also appear large employers including Tecnoquímicas, Tecnosur, Kuimberly, Family and drytres. Also the brand Winny ultratrin, pequeìn, Huggies and Beybysec. The owners, Francisco José Barviery manager Tecnoquímicas and Tecnosur. Dario Rey Mora, manager of Productos Familia. Felipe Alvira, manager of Colombian Kimberly Colpapel SA Preliminary investigations should pay 60 billion pesos and 44 other characters, can expect to pay 1,200 million pesos. If this is what you can expect to pay, how much would be what was stolen?
Sooner or later there will come a day when the cake turn, will this year 283 protests, 3 protests a day. Participation in seedlings, demonstrations, rallies, etc. They are expressions that are adding to reject the corrupt practices of the old and new rich.
Remove those signs lead us on track towards the new nation of peace and equity.
The ELN is bound by those changes that are required for a new society where everyone fits.
COLOMBIA FOR WORKERS
NOT ONE STEP BACK, RELEASE OR DEATH
===*===*===
Towards a People's Republic of the Andes (Peru, Ecuador)
[movadef.net]
* "Peru suspends civil liberties after fourth demonstrator dies" (2015-05-23, International Business Times) [archive.is/c3POe]: Peru's government announced Friday night that it has suspended civil liberties in a southern coastal valley in the country after a fourth person died during protests against a Mexican-owned copper mining project, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Cabinet chief Pedro Cateriano said that the 60-day emergency will be applicable from Saturday. Freedom of assembly and movement, and protection against warrantless searches fall under the ambit of the suspended rights, the AP reported, citing Cateriano. The decision follows the death of a 55-year-old man in Friday's clashes, where four others were also injured. So far, over 200 have been injured in the protests that have been going on since March. Farmers in Tambo Valley, where rice is cultivated, are protesting against Southern Copper Corp.’s $1.4 million project to build a copper mine in the region. The project is aimed at doubling the Mexican firm’s output to 1.2 million tons. Protests against the Tia Maria project, controlled by Southern Copper, an affiliate of Grupo Mexico, started after communities near the Arequipa region, expressed concerns about the natural resources in the region getting polluted, Forbes reported. The company is the world’s third-largest copper producer. Julio Morriberon, the company’s director of institutional relations who supervises the project, had called the protesters “terrorists,” Bloomberg reported in March. Morriberon had announced the cancelation of the project in March, and said, according to Bloomberg: “I’m here to announce the cancelation of Tia Maria project and the complete withdrawal of our investment,” from the area. However, protests still continued with farmers demanding a total annulment of the mining project. The Peruvian government has sent 2,000 police to the area while the country’s army has deployed 1,000 soldiers to back them up. [end article]
===*===*===
Republic of Argentina
General Strike!
* “This 31st of March, the Argentinian working class mobilised massively” (2015-04-17, Informations Ouvrières newspaper) [archive.is/itgs5]
===*===*===
Republic of Chile
* "Fierce class struggles in Chile" seven photos (2015-05-22, signalfire.org) [archive.is/7a0Vm]
Photos show scenes of street battle; two wounded student militants who had been gunned down by drug dealing son of shop owner in Valparaiso and retaliatory mobilizations; and a highway blocked in Til-Til, Batuco and Lampa area with the anti-toll struggle. Also, Fishery workers clash with police in Valparaiso earlier this week, video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIS2h8-0rBw].
* FER Student Revolutionary Front position paper in solidarity with the students murdered by police in Valparaiso (2015-05-24) [archive.is/WMNZj]
===*===*===
[NewAfricaPeace.blogspot.com], with the Green Charter Committee, for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity and Liberation!
[libyaagainstsuperpowermedia.org] [http://panafricannews.blogspot.com]
* "Africa’s “Second Liberation” against Today’s Neo-Colonialism" (2015-05-25, globalresearch.ca) [archive.is/ZdyZ8]
* "The Kids Aren't All Right: The Child Soldiers of an American-Made Army in Africa" (2015-05-18, by Nick Turse) [archive.is/8YoRy]
* "MAP: The U.S. military currently has troops in these African countries" (2014-05-21, washingtonpost.com) article [archive.is/d9NWg]
* "Dragon Diplomacy Based on Economics: Chinese Pressure on Sudan and North Sudan to Keep the Oil Flowing" (2012-01-08, OE Watch, fmso.leavenworth.army.mil) [archive.is/MgUeN]:
FMSO Commentary: Perhaps the situation between oil-rich but landlocked South Sudan and oil-poor but contains-a-pipeline-to-a-port Sudan can be boiled down to a simple economics question, “What is the optimal price for Sudan to charge South Sudan for use of its pipeline?” Set the price too low and Sudan would lose a large amount of revenue. However, set the price too high and South Sudan will balk at using the Sudanese pipeline and might even consider developing an alternate pipeline, in conjunction with foreign investors, which would go through Kenya.
Of course, this economics question can be turned around. What is the price South Sudan is willing to pay to use the pipeline? If it is too low, Sudan will simply refuse and South Sudan will be unable to sell its oil. If it is quite high, South Sudan will lose significant revenue.
In its opening move Sudan set the price to use the pipeline exorbitantly high. South Sudan called it “daylight robbery.” This is where the third party in this economics problem comes in, one which very much looks at the economics as opposed to other issues, such as human rights records or good governance, unless they impact the bottom lines of its companies. That third party is China, and it wants South Sudan’s oil. In fact, since South Sudan provides 5% of China’s oil needs in a globally tight oil market, one could say China needs that oil. Besides being a major consumer of the oil, China has helped develop the oil infrastructure in South Sudan and is a 40% stakeholder in the Sudanese pipeline. These, plus other investments, give China tremendous influence over both countries. Though it is China’s nature not to play out its diplomacy too much in public, it is certainly applying enormous pressure on Sudan and South Sudan behind the scenes.
Having eclipsed American investment in Africa over a year ago, China’s growing African portfolio is a cause of concern because of its willingness to work with the most corrupt and violent governments, including selling them arms, in order to pursue profits. This turn-a-blind-eye-to-poor-governance approach has provided China with significant leverage in certain countries, especially where little or no American investment exists. Thus, Chinese pressure will possibly lead to Sudan and South Sudan agreeing on a price to use the pipeline, and perhaps additional steps to remove tensions between the two countries, not necessarily because China wants peace throughout Africa as something inherently good for the continent, but because peace between these two nations - one with the oil, the other with the pipeline - is good for China’s economic interests. End FMSO Commentary (Feldman)
* "Born Broken, Needing Unity: South Sudan" (2012-02-08, OE Watch, fmso.leavenworth.army.mil) [archive.is/PYzWu]: FMSO Commentary:
As the celebrations die down following South Sudan’s independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011, the world’s newest nation is confronted, perhaps overwhelmingly, with governing a nation composed of many ethnic groups whose main unifying factor was they did not want to be part of Sudan. Unfortunately, ongoing intertribal fighting continues to weaken this fledgling country, threatening the world with the possibility of yet another failed state in Africa.
Much of the trouble can be attributed to a lack of homogeneity among the South Sudanese. From a religious standpoint, they are mainly animists and Christians, though an unknown number of Muslims are also present. Most of the fighting, however, does not appear to be religious in nature, but rather based on longstanding tribal differences, of which there are many. Some of the worst violence has occurred in Jonglei State, where thousands have died, frequently from cattle raids which escalate into tribal border confrontations.
Unfortunately South Sudan was a nation born into very difficult circumstances. Its health indicators are horrendous, with the world’s worst maternal mortality rate and one of the world’s worst infant mortality rates. Corruption is rampant. Barring any new finds, oil reserves, upon which the country is economically heavily dependent, will halve by 2020. The list of economic, health, and other problems goes on, calling for a national consensus to help tackle these challenges, but, with the country fractured into so many ethnic pieces, it is difficult to imagine any sense of unity in the immediate future. Surely any progress that does occur towards cultivating shared values, common ideals, and a national identity, as the below article states, will be a long, slow process.
Prior to independence South Sudan was in an untenable situation. The northern part of Sudan was overwhelmingly Muslim and was regularly intent on imposing its political will, as well as periodically intent on imposing Sharia, on its lesser populated, overwhelmingly non-Muslim southern part. Out of this a new nation was founded, but it is unstable. Over time it might move towards becoming a fully functioning state; meanwhile, South Sudan partly reflects the continent’s precolonial era, when there were no nations in Africa but tribal kingdoms instead. End FMSO Commentary (Feldman)
The Myth of South Sudan -
South Sudan was conceived on the myth that we are one people with one common destiny. We are now discovering that regional and tribal differences are not dissolving and that South Sudanese think and act very differently from one another.
The simple fact is that people who are raised thinking of their tribe/nationality as Pojulu, Dinka, Shuluk, Zande, Bari, Murle, Nuer, or what have you will probably always think of themselves in that way. It may take several generations for the concept of being Pojulu, Dinka, Shuluk, Zande, Bari, Murle, Nuer, or what have you to become the equivalent of being a New Yorker or Californian to an American, and those generations will be longer than generations were in the USA in the 1800s.
It is very important that we highlight the possible challenges and the inconsolable pains to face South Sudan beyond the passionate emotions for independence and try to stimulate the start of thinking rationally for all our future’s sakes. Our new country will face many challenges, despite simplistic categorizations of our war of independence as being between Africans and Arabs/Christians versus Muslims. South Sudanese are not a unified group; this is a profoundly and proudly multi-ethnic, multi-racial and multi-religious lot/land.
Any sense of a common national identity that does exist was forged in the struggle against the Mundukuru (north Sudan), something that we are all acutely aware of.
The point is that South Sudanese must ask themselves if a ‘South Sudan Nation’ is, in fact, truly what they want. A true nation of South Sudanese will require the majority of its citizens to share common values, common ideals, common mores and most likely a common language. If these do not exist naturally, they must be cultivated and that leads to some very difficult ground for debate and discussion (and the potential for many, many problems). As part of this, South Sudanese must ask themselves why they want a nation. Is it to compete economically with the Mundukuru (north Sudan), East Africa and other large population economies (a really bad reason to build a nation)? To prevent any possibility of another grand South Sudanese civil war (South Sudan imploding)? Or why?
This lack of unity is South Sudan’s most profound crisis, one that underlies the country’s economic and political woes. Most South Sudanese have little idea what the country stands for, what binds its people together, where it has come from in the past and where it is going to in the future. After decades of war and a hefty (and still growing) death toll, we have succeeded in attaining independence without gaining a nation.
Yes, but what is a South Sudanese?
Values matter because they are the glue that binds countries and peoples together. They help define what a society stands for and against. There is no consensus within South Sudan or among South Sudanese, not even the beginning of a consensus, about what South Sudanese values are.
Diversity does not equal tolerance and the existence of differences does not mean acceptance of them. A fact that has come glaringly to the fore as South Sudan has slipped deeper into crisis and relationships have strained among its people and tribes.
One can of course have multiple identities. Some Europeans are Catalan and Spanish, as well as European. But identities cannot be artificially created; they are forged early on and never go away. We must construct common institutions, laws and create all the symbols of a nation-state. Prosperity for a war-torn country, freedom from tyranny and peace among our people and tribes after decades if not centuries of bloodletting should be some of the ideals we should aspire too.
This is not to say that a united South Sudan will never happen, but it must be understood that it will be a long, slow process and will likely be longer and slower than the process was in the US for example, due to a longer legacy of conflict between our tribes and people and of all things longer life-spans of those generations today that think of themselves as coming from specific tribes rather than being South Sudanese.
Over the long term though, people need the solace and sense of community and shared culture, history and custom that nationhood provides.
---
* "Clinton E-Mails Reveal State Dept Obsessed With Toppling Foreign Leader" (2015-05-23, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/7JbXJ] [begin excerpt]: On March 27, 2011, Clinton's longtime close adviser Sidney Blumenthal briefed her about allied special forces activities to undermine then Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. "An extremely sensitive source added that the rebels are receiving direct assistance and training from a small number of Egyptian Special Forces units, while French and British Special Operations troops are working out of bases in Egypt, along the Libyan border," Blumenthal wrote to Clinton. Blumenthal was never hired by the State Department in any office capacity, but he was one of Clinton's closest and most influential advisers, the published e-mails reveal. "These troops are overseeing the transfer of weapons and supplies to the rebels," he added. Blumenthal has no specialized expertise or experience covering the Middle East, but he sent Clinton numerous, long-detailed reports on Libya, combining intelligence assessments, political analysis and rumours. [end excerpt]
* "Dead Broke Libya Hires Million-Dollar American Lobbyist" (2015-04-29, thedailybeast.com) [archive.is/Bat8w]. whowhatwhy.org writes: Just about everyone in Libya is a big loser after America used NATO to topple Gaddafi. By one estimate some 50,000 Libyans died. The country is embroiled in civil war. ISIS rushed into the failing nation. And Libyans are dying in the Mediterranean Sea as they flee the hunger, death and chaos caused by yet-another American engineered regime change. So, what to do? Hire heavy-hitting DC lobbying firm Qorvis, of course! Hey, at least someone is “winning” something.
---
Burundi:
* "To Resolve the Crisis" (2015-04-17, Workers Free Tribune newspaper, Democracy and Workers Party) [archive.is/bL5wW] [begin excerpt]: This crisis is linked to the fact that none of them has any perspective of getting the masses out of the conditions of extreme poverty and dislocation of the country since they all support the destructive policies of capital and its institutions (World Bank, IMF and European Union), policies of privatisation and paying off Sovereign debt.
These elections in themselves unite all anti-democratic characteristics: power being shared out along ethnic, regional, gender lines …. cautioning, in order to pursue the counter reforms contained in the Arusha Agreement, the very ones that are ruining the country and the population.
It is in the name of these policies that the representatives of private oil groups (Engen, Kobil, Interpetrol, Delat …) come rain or shine, regulate on their own the oil prices at the pump and create shortages as it suits them, in the face of government.
There can be no solution to the burning issues (unemployment, price increases, poverty, destruction of schools, health, infrastructures, absence of democracy …) that the workers and young people are confronted with without making a break with injunctions from international financial institutions, which deprive us of our riches and resources; without setting up real democracy by electing a sovereign Constituent Assembly in charge of satisfying the aspirations of the population to peace, to a life of dignity and to the sovereignty of the country. [end excerpt]
[libyaagainstsuperpowermedia.org] [http://panafricannews.blogspot.com]
* "Africa’s “Second Liberation” against Today’s Neo-Colonialism" (2015-05-25, globalresearch.ca) [archive.is/ZdyZ8]
* "The Kids Aren't All Right: The Child Soldiers of an American-Made Army in Africa" (2015-05-18, by Nick Turse) [archive.is/8YoRy]
* "MAP: The U.S. military currently has troops in these African countries" (2014-05-21, washingtonpost.com) article [archive.is/d9NWg]
* "Dragon Diplomacy Based on Economics: Chinese Pressure on Sudan and North Sudan to Keep the Oil Flowing" (2012-01-08, OE Watch, fmso.leavenworth.army.mil) [archive.is/MgUeN]:
FMSO Commentary: Perhaps the situation between oil-rich but landlocked South Sudan and oil-poor but contains-a-pipeline-to-a-port Sudan can be boiled down to a simple economics question, “What is the optimal price for Sudan to charge South Sudan for use of its pipeline?” Set the price too low and Sudan would lose a large amount of revenue. However, set the price too high and South Sudan will balk at using the Sudanese pipeline and might even consider developing an alternate pipeline, in conjunction with foreign investors, which would go through Kenya.Of course, this economics question can be turned around. What is the price South Sudan is willing to pay to use the pipeline? If it is too low, Sudan will simply refuse and South Sudan will be unable to sell its oil. If it is quite high, South Sudan will lose significant revenue.
In its opening move Sudan set the price to use the pipeline exorbitantly high. South Sudan called it “daylight robbery.” This is where the third party in this economics problem comes in, one which very much looks at the economics as opposed to other issues, such as human rights records or good governance, unless they impact the bottom lines of its companies. That third party is China, and it wants South Sudan’s oil. In fact, since South Sudan provides 5% of China’s oil needs in a globally tight oil market, one could say China needs that oil. Besides being a major consumer of the oil, China has helped develop the oil infrastructure in South Sudan and is a 40% stakeholder in the Sudanese pipeline. These, plus other investments, give China tremendous influence over both countries. Though it is China’s nature not to play out its diplomacy too much in public, it is certainly applying enormous pressure on Sudan and South Sudan behind the scenes.
Having eclipsed American investment in Africa over a year ago, China’s growing African portfolio is a cause of concern because of its willingness to work with the most corrupt and violent governments, including selling them arms, in order to pursue profits. This turn-a-blind-eye-to-poor-governance approach has provided China with significant leverage in certain countries, especially where little or no American investment exists. Thus, Chinese pressure will possibly lead to Sudan and South Sudan agreeing on a price to use the pipeline, and perhaps additional steps to remove tensions between the two countries, not necessarily because China wants peace throughout Africa as something inherently good for the continent, but because peace between these two nations - one with the oil, the other with the pipeline - is good for China’s economic interests. End FMSO Commentary (Feldman)
* "Born Broken, Needing Unity: South Sudan" (2012-02-08, OE Watch, fmso.leavenworth.army.mil) [archive.is/PYzWu]: FMSO Commentary:
As the celebrations die down following South Sudan’s independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011, the world’s newest nation is confronted, perhaps overwhelmingly, with governing a nation composed of many ethnic groups whose main unifying factor was they did not want to be part of Sudan. Unfortunately, ongoing intertribal fighting continues to weaken this fledgling country, threatening the world with the possibility of yet another failed state in Africa.Much of the trouble can be attributed to a lack of homogeneity among the South Sudanese. From a religious standpoint, they are mainly animists and Christians, though an unknown number of Muslims are also present. Most of the fighting, however, does not appear to be religious in nature, but rather based on longstanding tribal differences, of which there are many. Some of the worst violence has occurred in Jonglei State, where thousands have died, frequently from cattle raids which escalate into tribal border confrontations.
Unfortunately South Sudan was a nation born into very difficult circumstances. Its health indicators are horrendous, with the world’s worst maternal mortality rate and one of the world’s worst infant mortality rates. Corruption is rampant. Barring any new finds, oil reserves, upon which the country is economically heavily dependent, will halve by 2020. The list of economic, health, and other problems goes on, calling for a national consensus to help tackle these challenges, but, with the country fractured into so many ethnic pieces, it is difficult to imagine any sense of unity in the immediate future. Surely any progress that does occur towards cultivating shared values, common ideals, and a national identity, as the below article states, will be a long, slow process.
Prior to independence South Sudan was in an untenable situation. The northern part of Sudan was overwhelmingly Muslim and was regularly intent on imposing its political will, as well as periodically intent on imposing Sharia, on its lesser populated, overwhelmingly non-Muslim southern part. Out of this a new nation was founded, but it is unstable. Over time it might move towards becoming a fully functioning state; meanwhile, South Sudan partly reflects the continent’s precolonial era, when there were no nations in Africa but tribal kingdoms instead. End FMSO Commentary (Feldman)The Myth of South Sudan -
South Sudan was conceived on the myth that we are one people with one common destiny. We are now discovering that regional and tribal differences are not dissolving and that South Sudanese think and act very differently from one another.
The simple fact is that people who are raised thinking of their tribe/nationality as Pojulu, Dinka, Shuluk, Zande, Bari, Murle, Nuer, or what have you will probably always think of themselves in that way. It may take several generations for the concept of being Pojulu, Dinka, Shuluk, Zande, Bari, Murle, Nuer, or what have you to become the equivalent of being a New Yorker or Californian to an American, and those generations will be longer than generations were in the USA in the 1800s.
It is very important that we highlight the possible challenges and the inconsolable pains to face South Sudan beyond the passionate emotions for independence and try to stimulate the start of thinking rationally for all our future’s sakes. Our new country will face many challenges, despite simplistic categorizations of our war of independence as being between Africans and Arabs/Christians versus Muslims. South Sudanese are not a unified group; this is a profoundly and proudly multi-ethnic, multi-racial and multi-religious lot/land.
Any sense of a common national identity that does exist was forged in the struggle against the Mundukuru (north Sudan), something that we are all acutely aware of.
The point is that South Sudanese must ask themselves if a ‘South Sudan Nation’ is, in fact, truly what they want. A true nation of South Sudanese will require the majority of its citizens to share common values, common ideals, common mores and most likely a common language. If these do not exist naturally, they must be cultivated and that leads to some very difficult ground for debate and discussion (and the potential for many, many problems). As part of this, South Sudanese must ask themselves why they want a nation. Is it to compete economically with the Mundukuru (north Sudan), East Africa and other large population economies (a really bad reason to build a nation)? To prevent any possibility of another grand South Sudanese civil war (South Sudan imploding)? Or why?
This lack of unity is South Sudan’s most profound crisis, one that underlies the country’s economic and political woes. Most South Sudanese have little idea what the country stands for, what binds its people together, where it has come from in the past and where it is going to in the future. After decades of war and a hefty (and still growing) death toll, we have succeeded in attaining independence without gaining a nation.
Yes, but what is a South Sudanese?
Values matter because they are the glue that binds countries and peoples together. They help define what a society stands for and against. There is no consensus within South Sudan or among South Sudanese, not even the beginning of a consensus, about what South Sudanese values are.
Diversity does not equal tolerance and the existence of differences does not mean acceptance of them. A fact that has come glaringly to the fore as South Sudan has slipped deeper into crisis and relationships have strained among its people and tribes.
One can of course have multiple identities. Some Europeans are Catalan and Spanish, as well as European. But identities cannot be artificially created; they are forged early on and never go away. We must construct common institutions, laws and create all the symbols of a nation-state. Prosperity for a war-torn country, freedom from tyranny and peace among our people and tribes after decades if not centuries of bloodletting should be some of the ideals we should aspire too.
This is not to say that a united South Sudan will never happen, but it must be understood that it will be a long, slow process and will likely be longer and slower than the process was in the US for example, due to a longer legacy of conflict between our tribes and people and of all things longer life-spans of those generations today that think of themselves as coming from specific tribes rather than being South Sudanese.
Over the long term though, people need the solace and sense of community and shared culture, history and custom that nationhood provides.
---
* "Clinton E-Mails Reveal State Dept Obsessed With Toppling Foreign Leader" (2015-05-23, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/7JbXJ] [begin excerpt]: On March 27, 2011, Clinton's longtime close adviser Sidney Blumenthal briefed her about allied special forces activities to undermine then Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. "An extremely sensitive source added that the rebels are receiving direct assistance and training from a small number of Egyptian Special Forces units, while French and British Special Operations troops are working out of bases in Egypt, along the Libyan border," Blumenthal wrote to Clinton. Blumenthal was never hired by the State Department in any office capacity, but he was one of Clinton's closest and most influential advisers, the published e-mails reveal. "These troops are overseeing the transfer of weapons and supplies to the rebels," he added. Blumenthal has no specialized expertise or experience covering the Middle East, but he sent Clinton numerous, long-detailed reports on Libya, combining intelligence assessments, political analysis and rumours. [end excerpt]
* "Dead Broke Libya Hires Million-Dollar American Lobbyist" (2015-04-29, thedailybeast.com) [archive.is/Bat8w]. whowhatwhy.org writes: Just about everyone in Libya is a big loser after America used NATO to topple Gaddafi. By one estimate some 50,000 Libyans died. The country is embroiled in civil war. ISIS rushed into the failing nation. And Libyans are dying in the Mediterranean Sea as they flee the hunger, death and chaos caused by yet-another American engineered regime change. So, what to do? Hire heavy-hitting DC lobbying firm Qorvis, of course! Hey, at least someone is “winning” something.
---
Burundi:
* "To Resolve the Crisis" (2015-04-17, Workers Free Tribune newspaper, Democracy and Workers Party) [archive.is/bL5wW] [begin excerpt]: This crisis is linked to the fact that none of them has any perspective of getting the masses out of the conditions of extreme poverty and dislocation of the country since they all support the destructive policies of capital and its institutions (World Bank, IMF and European Union), policies of privatisation and paying off Sovereign debt.
These elections in themselves unite all anti-democratic characteristics: power being shared out along ethnic, regional, gender lines …. cautioning, in order to pursue the counter reforms contained in the Arusha Agreement, the very ones that are ruining the country and the population.
It is in the name of these policies that the representatives of private oil groups (Engen, Kobil, Interpetrol, Delat …) come rain or shine, regulate on their own the oil prices at the pump and create shortages as it suits them, in the face of government.
There can be no solution to the burning issues (unemployment, price increases, poverty, destruction of schools, health, infrastructures, absence of democracy …) that the workers and young people are confronted with without making a break with injunctions from international financial institutions, which deprive us of our riches and resources; without setting up real democracy by electing a sovereign Constituent Assembly in charge of satisfying the aspirations of the population to peace, to a life of dignity and to the sovereignty of the country. [end excerpt]
===*===*===
* "Understanding the UK Election Defeat" (2015-05-14, socialistnetwork.org) [archive.is/XyIPK] [begin excerpt]: As soon as it became clear that the big business Conservative Party was going to win the UK elections outright, the pound sterling rose and the stock market jumped for joy. And not surprisingly with the bankers Party continuing in power, bank stocks showed a particularly large rise. [end excerpt]
----
Republic of France
For the defence of freedoms and the right to strike
For the repeal of the gag law
For the cancellation of the legal proceedings against more than 300 trade unionists
For the repeal of Article 315.3 of the Criminal Code
In recent years there has been a gradual erosion of fundamental rights, with the aim of calling into question the right to freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate as enshrined in the Constitution.
Currently more than 300 trade unionists have been charged and are facing prison sentences under Article 315.3 of the Criminal Code, which allows public prosecutors and judges to charge and jail workers for organising and participating in strikes that are legal.
Article 315.3, which is solely used against the working class since a company head has never been charged under it, stipulates that: “[the higher degree penalties of punishment by imprisonment of six months to three years and a fine from six to twelve months] . . . shall be imposed on those who, acting in a group or individually, although in collusion with another, coerce other persons to begin or continue a strike”.
The aim of the prosecutions brought against the trade unionists, and of the reform of the Citizen Security Law, the Criminal Code and the Intellectual Property law, is precisely to limit the citizens’ freedom of assembly, their right to demonstrate and their right to freedom of expression.
The new Citizen Security Law, widely referred to as the ‘‘gag law’’, which was promoted by the Interior Minister and passed by Parliament with the help of the [neo-Francoist] Popular Party, constitutes a clear step backwards for society, a constitutional anachronism and a clear attack on democratic rights.
Not only does it maintain the existing penalties for participation in demonstrations without prior notice, it raises the maximum fine to 600 euros and creates a new and much more serious offence that carries a fine of up to 600,000 euros for whoever demonstrates without prior notice in public buildings or in any facility providing basic services to the community. Similarly, this legal mechanism regards the organisers or conveners of a protest as liable for any damages or offences committed.
Most of the offences listed in the Bill to reform the Citizen Security Law are aimed at restricting the right of assembly and the right to demonstrate.
Under this Law, many of the mobilisations carried out by various associations, collectives, trade union organisations etc., would be illegal and therefore liable to suppression and fines.
In practice this involves suppressing any participation in actions against evictions, or holding spontaneous assemblies like those organised by the workers during a work dispute or to call for the release of people arrested during a general strike, the 15M movement setting up protest-camps, someone placing a banner on a public building, and so on. [end excerpt]
----
[youtube.com/watch?v=_FQHTeLmVMc]
===*===*===
* "Leaked memo shows Soros NGOs payed Macedonian students $1,500 to come up with regime change ideas" (2015-05-20, redpilltimes.com) [archive.is/ImtIs] [begin excerpt]: George Soros NOGs commissioned Serbian regime change specialist group, Canvas, to recruit Macedonian students (three weeks prior to protests) to push for protest ideas. Best two ideas won $1,500.
While shocking to have these types of memos out in the open, it also should come as no surprise to anyone to see George Soros NGOs up to no good, and doing the bidding of their CIA backers.
Remember, Macedonia is a critical link into getting Gaxprom Turk Stream gas into Europe market…something the US government is 100% opposed too.
The fact that Soros is partnering up again with the Serbian based Canvas group is telling of a greater plan to instigate a Ukraine Maidan style of overthrow, and possible wider conflict in the heart of Europe.
The United Arab Emirates has listed Canvas in the same ranks as Al-Qaeda, and their handy work in organising and implementing color revolutions includes bringing down Milosevic, Ukraine Euromaidan, Mubarak’s Egypt downfall, and some experts even believe Canvas may have been a part of the murder of Russian opposition leader Nemtsov. [end excerpt]
* " How CIA and Soros Openly Finance Destabilization of Macedonia" (2015-05-19, macedoniaonline.eu) [archive.is/md7bg]
* "Color Revolution in Macedonia?" (2015-05-21, southfront.info) [archive.is/8em1L]
* "The Destabilization of Macedonia? Greater Albania and the Process of 'Kosovization' " (2015-05-21, globalresearch.ca) [archive.is/gzE7j]
* "Macedonia: Fight for European values or maybe something else?" (2015-05-20) [archive.is/bIDOd]: In the past few weeks we are witnessing the largest protests in the history of the relatively new country Macedonia. What for the Western media seemed to be sudden protests for democracy, European values and against the corruption in the government, is definitely far from it.
First, we cannot talk about sudden organization and rise up of the people when in the town Kumanovo we saw how members of the National Liberation Army, which is an Albanian armed organization operating in Macedonia, were firing against policemen. In just days, more than 25 people were killed from which at least 8 were policemen.
So, if it wasn’t sudden, is it about the corruption schemes in the government?
The answer is both yes and no.
I say both yes and no because most of the people protesting really believe that it’s about the corruption, and just like a year ago in Ukraine, they are misled.
The real deal is that NATO, in particular the US State Department, is creating the tensions. The US has no interests in having stability on the Balkans. Stability means that “Turkish Stream” which has to go through Macedonia is going to be turned into reality. The US has no interest in having another pipeline from which Russia and the EU are going to benefit.
Just a fact check, a year ago when there progress was made to finalize the deal on the “South Stream” project which had to run through Bulgaria, suddenly thousands of Bulgarians started to protest against the government. After a new pro-US government came into power the project was canceled. You can make your own conclusions.
What is going to happen?
Who knows, after a series of anti-government protests, the last few days more than 50 000 Macedonians marched in support of the current government. One thing we can be sure of, the US is not going back off and we can expect only more tensions not only in Macedonia but on the whole Balkan peninsula.
* "The Balkans Want to Do Business with Russia; Here Come the Regime Changers!" (2015-05-24, antiwar.com) [archive.is/Xgg9C]
===*===*===
===*===*===
===*===*===
Latgale People's Republic
* "Latvian Region Has Distinct Identity, and Allure for Russia" (2015-05-20, nytimes.com) [archive.is/lE6k7]
* "People's Republic of Latgale?" (2015-01-29, postsovietstates.com) [archive.is/RdUhb]
* "Latvian Security Police investigate "Latgale People's Republic" internet pictures" (2015-01-29, baltictimes.com) [archive.is/bDVC4]
* "DP launched a review of the 'People's Republic of Latgale' " (2015-01-29, nra.lv) machine translated [archive.is/mnZDT]
* DP check is carried out on the Internet promoted 'Latgale's Republic' ideas" (2015-01-28, tvnet.lv) [archive.is/FCwDB]
* "Pro-Russian activists causing potential of Latgale's Republic logo" (2015-01-28, la.lv) machine translated [archive.is/opMI5]
* "Pro-Russian activists establishing a 'People's Republic of Latgale' flag" (2015-01-28, delfi.lv) machine translation [archive.is/inWpH]
* "Peace can be insidious in Latgale" (2015-01-19, nra.lv) machine translated [archive.is/vzV0j]
===*===*===
Vilnius People's Republic
* "Lithuanian MP about 'Vilnius people's republic' " (2015-02-17, belsat.eu/en) [archive.is/WGpsO]
===*===*===
* "Ukraine Makes Amnesia the Law of the Land; Poroshenko wants his nation to forget its role in Nazi atrocities" (2015-05, newrepublic.com) [archive.is/foTGo]
European Union (EU) / NATO
Documenting economic and political trends across the EU jurisdictions, and international operations, map [archive.is/iqAFG]
* "David Cohen, architect of sanctions on Iran and Russia, picked as CIA deputy director" (2015-01-09, washingtonpost.com) [archive.is/5xcjK]
NATO and the Nazis, an historical example.
He was a member of The "Schnez-Truppe", according to wikipedia. It was an illegal clandestine army put together in Germany from 1949 by veterans of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS under the leadership of Albert Schnez, that intended to fight against the Soviet Union It has been reported as having had around 2,000 officers, with a total strength of up to 40,000 members.
In June 1944, General Zeitzler became ill, and on June 10, Heusinger temporarily assumed his office as Chief of the General Staff of the Army. In this capacity, he attended the meeting at Adolf Hitler's "Wolf's Lair" on July 20, 1944 and was standing next to Hitler when the bomb planted by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg exploded.
Heusinger was hospitalized for his injuries in the explosion, and was arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo to determine his role, if any, in the July Plot. Although there was evidence that Heusinger had contact with many of the conspirators, there was insufficient evidence to directly connect him to the plot, and he was freed in October 1944. However, he was placed into the "Führer-Reserve" and was not assigned to another position until March 25, 1945 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Heusinger
---
* "Russia and West hold war games over Arctic" (2015-05-26, AFP newswire) [archive.is/1Vto7]
----
The absolute war by NATO against the Serbian people and self-identified Yugoslavians was censored thanks to centralized control over the news media of the USA and EU, and the attacked nationalities are blamed for a questionably described "genocide" (of 8000 people), and this blame is used to justify further attacks during the mid to late 1990s. This tactic of propaganda is also used against the People of Novorossiya, Serbia and Macedonia today, all allies of the Federation of Russia, whom NATO identifies as the enemy.
* "The Srebrenica Massacre as Paradigmatic Media Spin" (2015-05-25, by Stephen Karganovic) [archive.is/Sl8Ng]
---
* EU member state Finland breaks official neutrality policy, is preparing alongside NATO for war with the Federation of Russia, attempts to censor the news about the preperation [https://archive.is/3ioWX]
---
* "I only promote reading, writer tells sabotage trial" (2015-05-20, AFP newswire) [archive.is/IQgXY] [begin excerpt]: Erri de Luca, the Italian writer on trial for inciting criminal damage to a controversial high-speed rail link through the Alps, told a court Wednesday he was only capable of inciting people to read or write.De Luca, who was spending his 65th birthday before a judge, faces a possible five-year prison term in a case that has become a cause celebre for the anti-globalisation movement. He has framed his prosecution as an assault on the right to free expression and has insisted he will go to jail rather than appeal if convicted. He told AFP on Wednesday that he was not worried about giving evidence, despite the possibility of ending up behind bars."I have done so many interviews over the course of my life that I consider this hearing as just another one," he said.At the heart of the case are statements made by De Luca in interviews in which he described as legitimate attempts to sabotage a project that has become a focus for anti-globalisation protesters. His defence is essentially that sabotage has several possible meanings, not all of them amounting to criminal action." If you look in the Italian dictionary, sabotage has several meanings," he told a courtroom packed with his supporters and journalists."Certainly it can mean to cause significant damage, but it can also mean to stop, to disturb, to obstruct," he said in a steady and clear voice."I can incite (people) to read, at a push to write, but not sabotage," he said.
De Luca was prosecuted at the instigation of LTF, the Franco-Italian consortium building the multi-billion-euro link from Lyon in France to Turin in northwestern Italy.
Italian authorities later joined the prosecution of the writer over the content of two 2013 interviews in which he was quoted as saying the rail link "should be sabotaged" and that he thought "it is just to sabotage it". In court he claimed to have been misquoted on another occasion when Italian daily La Repubblica reported him as having said he had taken part in sabotage actions. Prosecutors in the case have argued that De Luca's freedom of expression arguments are invalid since incitement to commit a crime is well-established as an example of the law placing limits on the principle. [end excerpt]
---
* "Horror in the Mediterranean: Who Is Responsible?" (2015-04-22, Independent Workers Party of France) [archive.is/QyzyH]:
Eight hundred people dead at a stroke, thousands dead every year, 300,000 poor souls who pile onto makeshift tubs to cross the Mediterranean in an attempt to escape the barbarism and massacres. Prompted by whom? In Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Mali, Libya and elsewhere, they are prompted by the big imperialist powers which are responsible for dismembering those countries and pillaging their natural wealth, and which for more than a quarter of a century have been engaged in wars of widespread intervention based on the widest possible range of pretexts.
Faced with the horror of the “slaughter” (the term used by one UN representative), the European Union is debating the fate of the refugees and the comparative merits of the Triton and Mare Nostrum systems, the first having the advantage of costing less than the second.
But how much profit are the multinationals involved in weapons, oil, uranium and other raw materials making from the wars of occupation and destruction in the Middle East and in Africa?
Under the military and political command of the United States, France is at the forefront of the aerial bombardments and land-based interventions. No money to welcome refugees . . . but floods of money for war, which is driving millions upon millions of people to flee their cities and villages as part of a torrent of barbarism not seen since the end of the Second World War.
But war pays. On 20 April, the very day when 800 victims of the imperialist wars were losing their lives in a desperate attempt to cross the Mediterranean, The New York Times was welcoming a veritable “boom for American defence contractors looking for foreign business”. A cause for great satisfaction for US imperialism: “a de facto alliance” between the State of Israel and Saudi Arabia is lifting the restrictions on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the Arab states allied to it in the region, restrictions which until now were applied in the name of defending the State of Israel. Another “piece of good news”: the outbreak of war in Yemen which is prompting “Arab allies fighting the Islamic State (…) to buy thousands of American-made missiles, bombs and other weapons, replenishing an arsenal that has been depleted over the past year.” The New York Times was rubbing its hands: Saudi Arabia spent more than US$80 billion on weaponry last year (more than either France or Britain), the Emirates nearly US$23 billion, and the whole situation can only ”lead to a surge in new orders” (Just like the foul trade in human beings, which yields massive amounts of cash for various mafias).
As warmongers and planners of pillage, devastation and misery, the European Union, UN, IMF and NATO are in the worst position to talk about “humanitarian” questions! The fact remains that, as long as there are refugees resulting from these wars, nothing should get in the way of welcoming them. Let the warmongering governments and multinationals pay for their relocation; confiscate the huge profits of the arms economy!
Those same institutions of the European Union and the IMF, serving the interests of the capitalist class, are waging war on the peoples of the whole world and hitting hard at the working classes of the capitalist countries.
The workers in France and the peoples of the whole world have a common interest: to put an end to the Hollande-Valls government’s policy of misery and destruction, of devastation and war, serving the interests of the multinationals, the speculators and the arms industry.
---
United Kingdom of Great Britain (UKGB) Documenting economic and political trends across the EU jurisdictions, and international operations, map [archive.is/iqAFG]
* "David Cohen, architect of sanctions on Iran and Russia, picked as CIA deputy director" (2015-01-09, washingtonpost.com) [archive.is/5xcjK]
NATO and the Nazis, an historical example.
He was a member of The "Schnez-Truppe", according to wikipedia. It was an illegal clandestine army put together in Germany from 1949 by veterans of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS under the leadership of Albert Schnez, that intended to fight against the Soviet Union It has been reported as having had around 2,000 officers, with a total strength of up to 40,000 members.In June 1944, General Zeitzler became ill, and on June 10, Heusinger temporarily assumed his office as Chief of the General Staff of the Army. In this capacity, he attended the meeting at Adolf Hitler's "Wolf's Lair" on July 20, 1944 and was standing next to Hitler when the bomb planted by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg exploded.
Heusinger was hospitalized for his injuries in the explosion, and was arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo to determine his role, if any, in the July Plot. Although there was evidence that Heusinger had contact with many of the conspirators, there was insufficient evidence to directly connect him to the plot, and he was freed in October 1944. However, he was placed into the "Führer-Reserve" and was not assigned to another position until March 25, 1945 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Heusinger
---
* "Russia and West hold war games over Arctic" (2015-05-26, AFP newswire) [archive.is/1Vto7]
----
The absolute war by NATO against the Serbian people and self-identified Yugoslavians was censored thanks to centralized control over the news media of the USA and EU, and the attacked nationalities are blamed for a questionably described "genocide" (of 8000 people), and this blame is used to justify further attacks during the mid to late 1990s. This tactic of propaganda is also used against the People of Novorossiya, Serbia and Macedonia today, all allies of the Federation of Russia, whom NATO identifies as the enemy.
* "The Srebrenica Massacre as Paradigmatic Media Spin" (2015-05-25, by Stephen Karganovic) [archive.is/Sl8Ng]
---
* EU member state Finland breaks official neutrality policy, is preparing alongside NATO for war with the Federation of Russia, attempts to censor the news about the preperation [https://archive.is/3ioWX]
---
* "I only promote reading, writer tells sabotage trial" (2015-05-20, AFP newswire) [archive.is/IQgXY] [begin excerpt]: Erri de Luca, the Italian writer on trial for inciting criminal damage to a controversial high-speed rail link through the Alps, told a court Wednesday he was only capable of inciting people to read or write.De Luca, who was spending his 65th birthday before a judge, faces a possible five-year prison term in a case that has become a cause celebre for the anti-globalisation movement. He has framed his prosecution as an assault on the right to free expression and has insisted he will go to jail rather than appeal if convicted. He told AFP on Wednesday that he was not worried about giving evidence, despite the possibility of ending up behind bars."I have done so many interviews over the course of my life that I consider this hearing as just another one," he said.At the heart of the case are statements made by De Luca in interviews in which he described as legitimate attempts to sabotage a project that has become a focus for anti-globalisation protesters. His defence is essentially that sabotage has several possible meanings, not all of them amounting to criminal action." If you look in the Italian dictionary, sabotage has several meanings," he told a courtroom packed with his supporters and journalists."Certainly it can mean to cause significant damage, but it can also mean to stop, to disturb, to obstruct," he said in a steady and clear voice."I can incite (people) to read, at a push to write, but not sabotage," he said.
De Luca was prosecuted at the instigation of LTF, the Franco-Italian consortium building the multi-billion-euro link from Lyon in France to Turin in northwestern Italy.
Italian authorities later joined the prosecution of the writer over the content of two 2013 interviews in which he was quoted as saying the rail link "should be sabotaged" and that he thought "it is just to sabotage it". In court he claimed to have been misquoted on another occasion when Italian daily La Repubblica reported him as having said he had taken part in sabotage actions. Prosecutors in the case have argued that De Luca's freedom of expression arguments are invalid since incitement to commit a crime is well-established as an example of the law placing limits on the principle. [end excerpt]
---
* "Horror in the Mediterranean: Who Is Responsible?" (2015-04-22, Independent Workers Party of France) [archive.is/QyzyH]:
Eight hundred people dead at a stroke, thousands dead every year, 300,000 poor souls who pile onto makeshift tubs to cross the Mediterranean in an attempt to escape the barbarism and massacres. Prompted by whom? In Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Mali, Libya and elsewhere, they are prompted by the big imperialist powers which are responsible for dismembering those countries and pillaging their natural wealth, and which for more than a quarter of a century have been engaged in wars of widespread intervention based on the widest possible range of pretexts.
Faced with the horror of the “slaughter” (the term used by one UN representative), the European Union is debating the fate of the refugees and the comparative merits of the Triton and Mare Nostrum systems, the first having the advantage of costing less than the second.
But how much profit are the multinationals involved in weapons, oil, uranium and other raw materials making from the wars of occupation and destruction in the Middle East and in Africa?
Under the military and political command of the United States, France is at the forefront of the aerial bombardments and land-based interventions. No money to welcome refugees . . . but floods of money for war, which is driving millions upon millions of people to flee their cities and villages as part of a torrent of barbarism not seen since the end of the Second World War.
But war pays. On 20 April, the very day when 800 victims of the imperialist wars were losing their lives in a desperate attempt to cross the Mediterranean, The New York Times was welcoming a veritable “boom for American defence contractors looking for foreign business”. A cause for great satisfaction for US imperialism: “a de facto alliance” between the State of Israel and Saudi Arabia is lifting the restrictions on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the Arab states allied to it in the region, restrictions which until now were applied in the name of defending the State of Israel. Another “piece of good news”: the outbreak of war in Yemen which is prompting “Arab allies fighting the Islamic State (…) to buy thousands of American-made missiles, bombs and other weapons, replenishing an arsenal that has been depleted over the past year.” The New York Times was rubbing its hands: Saudi Arabia spent more than US$80 billion on weaponry last year (more than either France or Britain), the Emirates nearly US$23 billion, and the whole situation can only ”lead to a surge in new orders” (Just like the foul trade in human beings, which yields massive amounts of cash for various mafias).
As warmongers and planners of pillage, devastation and misery, the European Union, UN, IMF and NATO are in the worst position to talk about “humanitarian” questions! The fact remains that, as long as there are refugees resulting from these wars, nothing should get in the way of welcoming them. Let the warmongering governments and multinationals pay for their relocation; confiscate the huge profits of the arms economy!
Those same institutions of the European Union and the IMF, serving the interests of the capitalist class, are waging war on the peoples of the whole world and hitting hard at the working classes of the capitalist countries.
The workers in France and the peoples of the whole world have a common interest: to put an end to the Hollande-Valls government’s policy of misery and destruction, of devastation and war, serving the interests of the multinationals, the speculators and the arms industry.
---
* "Understanding the UK Election Defeat" (2015-05-14, socialistnetwork.org) [archive.is/XyIPK] [begin excerpt]: As soon as it became clear that the big business Conservative Party was going to win the UK elections outright, the pound sterling rose and the stock market jumped for joy. And not surprisingly with the bankers Party continuing in power, bank stocks showed a particularly large rise. [end excerpt]
----
Republic of France
* Statement by the National Bureau of the Independent Workers Party (POI) (2015-04-17) [archive.is/o1XBB] [begin excerpt]: The Valls-Hollande government is more than ever determined to stick to the path it has set for itself. They want to speed up the rate of anti-worker counter-reforms and measures to implement the EU treaties. Batch after batch of anti-worker measures are being passed: the Responsibility Pact and the Macron Law are two of the best known. But it also wants to force through the Touraine Law against healthcare, the “reform” of comprehensive education, the “reform” of regions and measures against democratic liberties. It is achieving this with the direct support of Socialist Party leaders and taking advantage of the French CP and Left Front leaders' support. Defending the interests of the working class and of democracy is radically opposed to the institutions of the Fifth Republic and of the European Union. Greece offers a crystal clear example of this. Defending the interests of the working class and of democracy requires dismantling those institutions – both the Fifth Republic and the European Union – and replacing them with a government that would be in the sole service of the working class, of the oppressed, of the exploited and of democracy. [end excerpt]
---
Kingdom of Spain
* Appeal to the organisations of the international labour movement (2015-04-17) [archive.is/zulbD] [begin excerpt]: For the defence of freedoms and the right to strike
For the repeal of the gag law
For the cancellation of the legal proceedings against more than 300 trade unionists
For the repeal of Article 315.3 of the Criminal Code
In recent years there has been a gradual erosion of fundamental rights, with the aim of calling into question the right to freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate as enshrined in the Constitution.
Currently more than 300 trade unionists have been charged and are facing prison sentences under Article 315.3 of the Criminal Code, which allows public prosecutors and judges to charge and jail workers for organising and participating in strikes that are legal.
Article 315.3, which is solely used against the working class since a company head has never been charged under it, stipulates that: “[the higher degree penalties of punishment by imprisonment of six months to three years and a fine from six to twelve months] . . . shall be imposed on those who, acting in a group or individually, although in collusion with another, coerce other persons to begin or continue a strike”.
The aim of the prosecutions brought against the trade unionists, and of the reform of the Citizen Security Law, the Criminal Code and the Intellectual Property law, is precisely to limit the citizens’ freedom of assembly, their right to demonstrate and their right to freedom of expression.
The new Citizen Security Law, widely referred to as the ‘‘gag law’’, which was promoted by the Interior Minister and passed by Parliament with the help of the [neo-Francoist] Popular Party, constitutes a clear step backwards for society, a constitutional anachronism and a clear attack on democratic rights.
Not only does it maintain the existing penalties for participation in demonstrations without prior notice, it raises the maximum fine to 600 euros and creates a new and much more serious offence that carries a fine of up to 600,000 euros for whoever demonstrates without prior notice in public buildings or in any facility providing basic services to the community. Similarly, this legal mechanism regards the organisers or conveners of a protest as liable for any damages or offences committed.
Most of the offences listed in the Bill to reform the Citizen Security Law are aimed at restricting the right of assembly and the right to demonstrate.
Under this Law, many of the mobilisations carried out by various associations, collectives, trade union organisations etc., would be illegal and therefore liable to suppression and fines.
In practice this involves suppressing any participation in actions against evictions, or holding spontaneous assemblies like those organised by the workers during a work dispute or to call for the release of people arrested during a general strike, the 15M movement setting up protest-camps, someone placing a banner on a public building, and so on. [end excerpt]
----
Federal Republic of Germany
* "Dangerous Territory: Neo-Nazis slowly taking over villages in Germany"[youtube.com/watch?v=_FQHTeLmVMc]
===*===*===
Republic of Macedonia (EU associate state)
* "A Color Revolution for Macedonia" (2015-05-22, paulcraigroberts.org) [archive.is/nETmE]* "Leaked memo shows Soros NGOs payed Macedonian students $1,500 to come up with regime change ideas" (2015-05-20, redpilltimes.com) [archive.is/ImtIs] [begin excerpt]: George Soros NOGs commissioned Serbian regime change specialist group, Canvas, to recruit Macedonian students (three weeks prior to protests) to push for protest ideas. Best two ideas won $1,500.
While shocking to have these types of memos out in the open, it also should come as no surprise to anyone to see George Soros NGOs up to no good, and doing the bidding of their CIA backers.
Remember, Macedonia is a critical link into getting Gaxprom Turk Stream gas into Europe market…something the US government is 100% opposed too.
The fact that Soros is partnering up again with the Serbian based Canvas group is telling of a greater plan to instigate a Ukraine Maidan style of overthrow, and possible wider conflict in the heart of Europe.
The United Arab Emirates has listed Canvas in the same ranks as Al-Qaeda, and their handy work in organising and implementing color revolutions includes bringing down Milosevic, Ukraine Euromaidan, Mubarak’s Egypt downfall, and some experts even believe Canvas may have been a part of the murder of Russian opposition leader Nemtsov. [end excerpt]
* " How CIA and Soros Openly Finance Destabilization of Macedonia" (2015-05-19, macedoniaonline.eu) [archive.is/md7bg]
* "Color Revolution in Macedonia?" (2015-05-21, southfront.info) [archive.is/8em1L]
* "The Destabilization of Macedonia? Greater Albania and the Process of 'Kosovization' " (2015-05-21, globalresearch.ca) [archive.is/gzE7j]
* "Macedonia: Fight for European values or maybe something else?" (2015-05-20) [archive.is/bIDOd]: In the past few weeks we are witnessing the largest protests in the history of the relatively new country Macedonia. What for the Western media seemed to be sudden protests for democracy, European values and against the corruption in the government, is definitely far from it.First, we cannot talk about sudden organization and rise up of the people when in the town Kumanovo we saw how members of the National Liberation Army, which is an Albanian armed organization operating in Macedonia, were firing against policemen. In just days, more than 25 people were killed from which at least 8 were policemen.
So, if it wasn’t sudden, is it about the corruption schemes in the government?
The answer is both yes and no.
I say both yes and no because most of the people protesting really believe that it’s about the corruption, and just like a year ago in Ukraine, they are misled.
The real deal is that NATO, in particular the US State Department, is creating the tensions. The US has no interests in having stability on the Balkans. Stability means that “Turkish Stream” which has to go through Macedonia is going to be turned into reality. The US has no interest in having another pipeline from which Russia and the EU are going to benefit.
Just a fact check, a year ago when there progress was made to finalize the deal on the “South Stream” project which had to run through Bulgaria, suddenly thousands of Bulgarians started to protest against the government. After a new pro-US government came into power the project was canceled. You can make your own conclusions.
What is going to happen?
Who knows, after a series of anti-government protests, the last few days more than 50 000 Macedonians marched in support of the current government. One thing we can be sure of, the US is not going back off and we can expect only more tensions not only in Macedonia but on the whole Balkan peninsula.
* "The Balkans Want to Do Business with Russia; Here Come the Regime Changers!" (2015-05-24, antiwar.com) [archive.is/Xgg9C]
===*===*===
Republic of Serbia
* "Serbia backs Russian gas pipeline interests" (2015-05-15, UPI newswire) [archive.is/Zh8or]===*===*===
Republic of Albania / Republic of Kosovo
* "The US and EU are about to put the Greater Albania project into motion. Their targets…Greece, Macedonia and Serbia" (2015-05-21, redpilltimes.com) [archive.is/VkG59]===*===*===
Latgale People's Republic
* "Latvian Region Has Distinct Identity, and Allure for Russia" (2015-05-20, nytimes.com) [archive.is/lE6k7]* "People's Republic of Latgale?" (2015-01-29, postsovietstates.com) [archive.is/RdUhb]
* "Latvian Security Police investigate "Latgale People's Republic" internet pictures" (2015-01-29, baltictimes.com) [archive.is/bDVC4]
* "DP launched a review of the 'People's Republic of Latgale' " (2015-01-29, nra.lv) machine translated [archive.is/mnZDT]
* DP check is carried out on the Internet promoted 'Latgale's Republic' ideas" (2015-01-28, tvnet.lv) [archive.is/FCwDB]* "Pro-Russian activists causing potential of Latgale's Republic logo" (2015-01-28, la.lv) machine translated [archive.is/opMI5]
* "Pro-Russian activists establishing a 'People's Republic of Latgale' flag" (2015-01-28, delfi.lv) machine translation [archive.is/inWpH]
* "Peace can be insidious in Latgale" (2015-01-19, nra.lv) machine translated [archive.is/vzV0j]
===*===*===
Vilnius People's Republic
* "Lithuanian MP about 'Vilnius people's republic' " (2015-02-17, belsat.eu/en) [archive.is/WGpsO]
===*===*===
Republic of Ukraine (EU / NATO associate state)
* "Ukraine to honor groups that killed Jews in World War II" (2015-05-21, haaretz.com) [archive.is/sRVB9]
* "Ukraine bans Soviet symbols and criminalises sympathy for communism; New laws also honour controversialist nationalist groups that committed ethnic cleansing or allied with the Nazis for part of second world war" (2015-05-21, theguardian.com) [archive.is/Milv0]
* "Nazis Triumph Over Communists in Ukraine" (2015-05-19, bloombergview.com) [archive.is/ue0kG] [begin excerpt]: It's goodbye Lenin, hello Nazi collaborators in Ukraine these days. Laws signed into effect by President Petro Poroshenko require the renaming of dozens of towns and hundreds of streets throughout the country to eliminate Soviet-era names. At the same time, Ukraine will begin to honor groups that helped Hitler exterminate Ukrainian Jews during World War II. To make matters worse, having banned all kinds of foreign totalitarian symbols, Poroshenko also signed a law prescribing that Ukrainians honor a number of nationalist organizations that operated before and during World War II. The law calls them "20th century fighters for Ukraine's independence," but some of these groups, such as the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) fought alongside the Nazis, and followed the German occupier's orders. [end excerpt]
* "Heading Towards “Financial Maidan” in Ukraine? Inflation, Rampant Unemployment, Human Misery" (2015-05-22, by Stephen Lendman) [archive.is/FOjKY]
* "Today, residents of Kiev picketed the US embassy calling for an end to the US interference in Ukraine" twelve photos (2015-05-21) [archive.is/EHJsz]
* "Mass riots in front of the Parliament building in Kiev: tyres are burning once again" (2015-05-21, novorossia.today) [archive.is/Pmtkh]
* "Clashes, tires on fire outside Ukrainian parliament in Kiev" (2015-05-21, rt.com) [archive.is/apu3n]
* "Ukraine: 'Molotov cocktails' outside the Rada as law 1558-1 talks postponed" [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jelm9yrH5yA]
Involvement of US Government in Ukraine gets more obvious by the day
* [share.america.gov/unitedforukraine]
* "Nancy Perreault: by International Law, American boots on the ground in Ukraine, which is not a member of NATO nor the EU is completely illegal" (2015-05-24, novorossia.today) [archive.is/tExrC]
* John Kerry admits defeat: The Ukraine story the media won’t tell, and why U.S. retreat is a good thing; The U.S. seems to admit it overplayed its hand over Ukraine. Caving to reality is actually the best possible policy" (2015-05-19, salon.com) [archive.is/mla3E]
* "U.S. sends forces to train Ukraine National Guard, communists repressed" (2015-05-23, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/MBX3e]
* "Ukraine and USA to lay burden of Donbass on Russia's shoulders" (2015-05-18, english.pravda.ru) [archive.is/OS3P1]
* "Foreign mercenaries spotted in Donbass - DPR" (2015-05-22, rusvesna.su) [archive.is/Lcx62] [begin excerpt]: More than 40 mercenaries arrived in Mariupol. Some of them explicitly wearing USA chevrons according to Eduard Basurin, deputy head of DPR Defence Ministry. — A group of more than 40 persons arrived in Mariupol. Some of them wearing USA patches on their uniforms. At first we assumed they were just military instructors but then tthey turned out to be private military company mercenaries which did not hide the fact, Basurin told. According to intelligence data three black people spotted among them. Basurin also tells that the foreign private military companies' involvement in Ukrainian conflict is not a secret for a long time. [end excerpt]
* "Militia claim spotting up to 70 mercenaries of US military company Academi in east Ukraine; US military company Academi was earlier known as Blackwater" (2015-04-21, tass.ru) [archive.is/05gtP]
* "US Army gone wild? 173rd Infantry Brigade parties in Lviv… binge drinking, hookers and public urination" (2015-05-02) [archive.is/dyLNa], [https://archive.is/4tU2X]
NATO soldiers have already a place for having sex in Ukraine
* "Another evidence about planned fascist coup and occupation of Ukraine by NATO" (2015-05-24) [archive.is/T0ODo] [begin excerpt]: NATO occupation of Ukraine after fascist coup was pre-planned. In the small depressive town Novoyavorivsk of Lviv region was built big modern entertainment center "Iceberg" for planned large NATO base near military training field in same area. This entertainment center in addition to a nightclub, includes a karaoke room, a restaurant, a fitness center, a gym, a sauna and ice rink. The entertainment center "Iceberg" was open at 14th June 2013, 5 months before fascist coup in Kiev. [end excerpt]
* Video about opening of "Iceberg", there mentioned date 14.06.2013
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJvn1TEtjzk]
* Video about "Iceberg", there in description text you can read about its facilities
[http://www.ps3youtube.com/v/28-06-2013-GM-U0nLEOyw]
* 2 videos about "Iceberg" there you can see night club of this center
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4GKYp0vZNw]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfMOR9yk-bo]
* "Poroshenko, a Person of Several Layers" (2015-05-19) [archive.is/Qgdoa] [begin excerpt]:
Poroshenko has got several layers. The outer layer is visible when he communicates with the leaders of the West, in the presence of Putin, as it was in Minsk, where Merkel and Hollande were also present. In such companies Poroshenko is a simple-hearted guy. Sighs, is ready to do a lot for Moscow, is about to say “take away this inimical Donbas”. In any case, there aren’t any statements about "the heroism of the Ukrainian army" in the battle against the alleged "regular Russian army" in the east of Ukraine, no words about the "occupation" of Donbas, and even about the alleged "annexation of the Crimea". He does not say this in the presence of Putin. On the contrary, he demonstrates the negotiability and vows to stop killing – to withdraw guns and "Grad"’s, to give a special status to Novorossia, to change the Constitution of Ukraine for the sake of Donbas, and even to help it financially. Recently, we have seen this all in Minsk. Such is Poroshenko’s outer layer. It is not real, it is fake, but it works well. [end excerpt]
* "BLOOMBERG CLAIMS RUSSIA IS BURNING DEAD SOLDIERS IN UKRAINE" (2015-05-26, southfront.org) [archive.is/ErjLn]
* "Russia Is Using Mobile Crematoriums to Hide Ukraine Dead" (2015-05-26, bloombergview.com) [archive.is/GKhiz] [begin excerpt]: “The Russians are trying to hide their casualties by taking mobile crematoriums with them,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry told me. “They are trying to hide not only from the world but from the Russian people their involvement.”
Thornberry said he had seen evidence of the crematoriums from both U.S. and Ukrainian sources. He said he could not disclose details of classified information, but insisted that he believed the reports. “What we have heard from the Ukrainians, they are largely supported by U.S. intelligence and others,” he said. [end excerpt]
* "100% Truth!" (2015-04-24, southfront.info) [archive.is/qbjc0]: US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt has claimed that Russia’s military is continuing to expand its presence in eastern Ukraine. Furthermore, Pyatt posted irrefutable proof of this fact. “This is the highest concentration of Russia air defense systems in eastern Ukraine since August,” the ambassador tweeted, attaching a photo of a BUK-M2 missile defense system taken at the International Aviation and Space Show MAKS-2013, which actually took place just outside Moscow. Ouch.
* "European cash to support Ukraine's energy reforms" (2015-05-22, UPI newswire) [archive.is/pbebZ]
* Desperate civilians in UAF kitchen staff attempt to steal food for starving families, get caught" (2015-05-21) [archive.is/mOeZ3], video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=10&v=8Ae7ZkToNw4]
* "Ukrainian side widely uses tortures towards captured warriors of Lugansk Peoples Republic" (2015-05-21) [archive.is/H1nGC]
* UAF and USA soldiers participate in torturing NAF soldier by chopping off fingers, intro (2015-05-23, Novorossia News) [archive.is/ttWC2], original posting detailing USA participation in offensive attacks, machine translated [archive.is/0Nevb]
* " 'Right Sector' fighter posted pictures of Novorossia soldier with chopped fingers and thanked Americans for helping in the attack" (2015-05-23) translated by Kristina Russ [archive.is/t8XrL]
* "Ukraine has officially deviated from its obligations to respect human rights in Donbass" (2015-05-21, novorossia.today) [archive.is/luCn6] [begin excerpt]: The Parliament of Ukraine has adopted a Statement in regard to Kiev’s right to derogate from a series of international obligations in the sphere of human rights protection in separate regions of Donbass. The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine will inform the UN General Secretary and the General Secretary of the Council of Europe about the Statement adopted. [end excerpt]
* " 'Humanitarian suicide': Kiev backtracks on human rights pledge in Eastern Ukraine" (2015-05-21, rt.com) [archive.is/3D8SZ]
* "Georgian special forces involved in detention of Russian nationals in east Ukraine" (2015-05-21, novorossia.today) [archive.is/me9OP]
Another double standard- when 2 US CIA 'spies' were caught recently in the DPR, their release was quickly and quietly arranged to spare the US any negative international attention. But now that 2 Russian 'spies' have allegedly been caught by Kiev, it's all over the news!
* "Kerry Helped Free U.S. 'Spies' Trapped in Ukraine" (2015-05-19, bloombergview.com) [archive.is/6U16a]
* "Car with Russian officers from JCCC comes under fire in Donbass" (2015-05-24, tass.ru) [archive.is/8vH0q]
* "Ukraine: almost 6,000 participants of punitive operations against #Donbass returned from the front with mental disorders" (2015-05-23) [archive.is/xj9B0]
* "Wars and displaced persons camps, in Ukraine and in Haiti" (2015-05-20, newcoldwar.org) [archive.is/8o7Tq]
* Foreign investors demand $8.2bn from Ukraine in intl courts - deputy justice minister" (2015-05-22, rt.com) [archive.is/xjN39]
* "Yatsenyuk Not Going to Account for Int’l Donors’ Money – Media" (2015-05-21, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/ycdIo]
* "Ukraine Doubles Down, Uses Money Owed to Creditors to Fund War; Sensing weakening Western support, Ukraine, under the cover of a debt moratorium, diverts money it owes its creditors to fund more war" (2015-05-20, russia-insider.com) [archive.is/olL8b]
In order to raise money, the Republic of Ukraine is sending notice of charges of genocide against the Republic of Mongolia!
* "Ukraine’s leadership continues to entertain the world community" (2015-05-18) [https://archive.is/7Tdd9]: Verkhovna Rada adopted a resolution “On genocide of Ukrainian people in 13th century, by Mongol Empire criminal regime” and sent a formal request to the authorities of Mongolia to pay compensation for the destruction of Kiev by Batu Khan troops. In case Mongolia denies these requirements, Verkhovna Rada urges international community to impose sanctions against Mongolia as an aggressor state, says in conclusion of the document. Mongolians took the note calmly: “The world had never heard of any Ukrainian nation, especially in the era of Genhis Khan heirs. Millions of Ukrainians killed in 13th century is the fruit of unhealthy imagination among Ukrainian deputies.” The head of Mongolian Khural couldn't suppress his sarcasm when saying that Mongolia is ready to repair the damage, but only to the victims and their families. “We are looking forward to the announcement of the full list of victims!"
* "MONGOLIA GAVE A MOCKING RESPONSE TO THE DEMAND OF UKRAINE TO PAY COMPENSATION FOR THE INVASION OF BATU KHAN" (2015-05-18, news-front.info) machine translation [archive.is/fuznm]
* "Dozens of priests leave Ukraine, 19 churches of Moscow Patriarchate seized - Russian Orthodox Church representative" (2015-05-18, interfax-religion.com) [archive.is/Z5BgY]
* "Kiev junta regime continues the economic blockade of Novorossia" (2015-05-19, NOVOROSS.info) [archive.is/IQRYM]
* "Ukraine PM Yats will use US/EU taxpayer money to build “The Wall”, not to keep Russians out, but to keep Ukrainians in" (2015-05-19, redpilltimes.com) [archive.is/HaZmh] [begin excerpt]:
The project was called the “Wall”, but then Yats renamed it to the “European bulwark”.
Make no mistake about it, the “Wall” is not about keeping Russians out. It all about keeping Ukrainians in.
We all know if Russia wanted they could plough through a bunch of barbed wire fences in seconds, and steamroll Ukraine in days.The fact is Russia does not want this. The Kremlin has no desire in owning a broken, corrupt, (and for the moment) fascist Ukraine.
What Russia wants is a friendly, stable, and neutral trading partner. What the US and EU wants is another land to plunder on the cheap.
And because Ukraine is such a freakin mess in every which way (economically, politically, socially), men and women are scratching and clawing to get as far away from the train wreck as possible…and where do most go? Russia of course.
Yats’ only option to stop the flow of Ukrainian citizens to Russia is to build a wall. Keep the sheep locked in, and then slaughter the sheep for the feast at the master’s table.
And just in case you do not believe the fact that Ukrainians seek refuge, in what the western main stream like to portray as the aggressor nation, here is this from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) report [web.archive.org/web/20150521155552/http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/ocha_ukraine_situation_report_36_-_17_april_2015.pdf]: "800,961 Ukrainians have sought asylum, residence permits or other forms of legal stay in neighboring countries; 659,143 have sought asylum in Russia and an additional 81,023 have done so in Belarus."
The “Wall” is in fact a big Ukrainian prison.
No western main stream media outlet will ever present this as such, because even mentioning the fact that Ukrainians go to Russia for refuge destroys the entire “Russia has invaded Ukraine” meme that US and EU leaders have invested so heavily in.
Not to mention that fact that the entire “Wall” project is funded by US and EU taxpayer money. I guess if their is something America excels at its building prisons.
Construction work will now require 4 billion hryvnas (almost $200 million) and will run for three years. At the end of 2014, the government had claimed it would need four years and an estimated 8 billion hryvnas (at that time, the equivalent of $500 mln).
According to the project, more than 2,000 kilometers of the country’s actual border with Russia will be protected with anti-tank (anti-transport) trenches measuring four meters wide and two meters deep as well as 17-meter tall metal watchtowers, observation posts, alarms, retaliatory weaponry and special border check-points.
The construction work along the border as well as in territories adjacent to the zone of the so-called anti-terrorist operation and Russia’s Republic of Crimea will be supervised by the state border guard service. [end excerpt]
* "Ukraine's Right Sector Kidnaps People, Demands Ransom - Amnesty Int'l" (2015-05-22, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/D2Kto]
* Ukraine nationalists stopped from marching by fascist Right Sector militants backed by police, two photos (2015-05-01) [archive.is/vt1C3], video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5-c6NvovIQ]
* "The face of Ukrainian Patriots: militants of the pro-Kiev battalion 'Azov' " four photos (2015-05-21) [archive.is/cTMCx]
* "Teenage girl soldier hailed as Ukraine's 'Joan of Arc' by Elle magazine is revealed as neo-Nazi and is arrested over cop killing" (2015-05-08, dailymail.co.uk) [archive.is/0pky5]
In the 19th century, most of Galicia was part of the Austrian Empire (later, the Austro-Hungarian Empire), which acquired it through the partitions of Poland, and was its poorest province.[12] Neither the mostly Polish large landowners, nor the Austrian imperial government, showed much interest in reform, such as industrialization, which would upset the system in which Galicia was a provider of agricultural products for the rest of the Empire, and a market for inferior industrial goods, a situation profitable for both the governments and the landowners. Sources: "Oil empire" book pg.47 (2005, by Alison Fleig Frank, Harvard University Pres) ; "The ethnic experience in Pennsylvania" book pg.45 (1973, by John E. Bodnar, Bucknell University Press) ; "The Ukrainians in Galicia Under Austrian Rule" (1982, article by Ivan L. Rudnytsky, for "National building and the politics of nationalism: essays on Austrian Galicia", Harvard University Press)
Interview with writer Halyna Mokrushyna, intro [archive.is/sjCrY], her list of articles for newcoldwar.org [archive.is/muRfN], listen to the interview here [web.archive.org/web/20150522165043/http://www.gorilla-radio.com/audio/Gorilla_Radio_2015-2015-05-21-22863.mp3]. Halyna Mokrushyna is a Canadian ex-pat Ukrainian whose articles during the past year about the war in eastern Ukraine can be found at: Counterpunch, Truthout, Truthdig, and New Cold War.org. She is a former vice-president of the Ottawa branch of the Ukrainian National Federation, and as well as freelancing for the now-defunct Ukrainian service of Radio Canada International, was a regular contributor to Ukrainian radio programming in Ottawa. She holds a Doctorate in Modern Languages from Ukraine, and a Master's degree in communication from Ottawa University, where she is currently working towards a PhD in Sociology. Halyna was in Donetsk as part of a media tour of the eastern part of the country this past April.
===*===*===
Union of People's Republics of NovorossiyaFor more info, with maps, and link, visit [NovorossiyaSolidarity.blogspot.com].
* "Donbass: the revolution of conscience; Dmitriy Rodionov on the perspectives of Novorossian statehood" (2015-05-20, ,novorossia.today) [archive.is/BiMPe]
* "Novorossiya: A Project with a Future; The Project 'New Russia' is not frozen" (2015-05-23, quemadoinstitute.wordpress.com) [archive.is/SnDx7]
* "Tsarev and Novorossiya" commentary on the 'closure' of the Parliment of Novorossiya" (2015-05-21) [archive.is/td6M5]
* Comments by Pavel Gubarev on the closure of the Parliament of Novorossia (2015-05-21, novorossia.today) [archive.is/ZiBzz]
* " 'Impossible to establish Novorossiya without a big war, project has been shelved', Nikolayev anti-junta leader" [https://youtu.be/2jwSAoh1lV0]
* Strelkov's May 19th Speech: "Passive policy will lead to defeat", translated [archive.is/CACjZ], original [archive.is/BVhHe]
Fights in Donbass
* (2015-05-22) [archive.is/YVIqx]
* (2015-05-23) [archive.is/AV9CJ]
* (2015-05-24) [archive.is/vp7uU]
Donetsk & Lugansk News (Novorossiya Daily Sun, a Quemado Institute publication)
* (2015-05-08) [archive.is/GJLBU]
* (2015-05-12) [archive.is/bAo4J]
* (2015-05-14) [archive.is/P7IH9]
* (2015-05-15 to 17) [archive.is/Gq2xy]
* (2015-05-18 to 19) [archive.is/xM1nE]
* (2015-05-20 to 21) [archive.is/zSlo2]
* (2015-05-22 to 24) [archive.is/sgZfP]
Latest Combat Reports from Donbass
* (2015-05-22) [archive.is/TtAwA]
* (2015-05-23) [archive.is/3Y9uX]
Ukraine Crisis News
* (2015-05-19) [youtube.com/watch?v=jq0M3-E13WA]
* (2015-05-21) [facebook.com/video.php?v=714091868695321]
* "ATTENTION: SOUTH FRONT YOUTUBE CHANNEL WAS DELETED" (2015-04-24, southfront.info) [archive.is/97fx0] [begin excerpt]: YouTube has deleted South Front channel [youtube.com/c/southfronttoday]. The official reason is for copyright violating in the our old video "Stand with Ukraine" because of the claim of Nordic Films LTD. This company makes video propaganda for NATO. But a few months ago Youtube already deleted the "Stand with Ukraine" video, and we have never re-uploaded it. Thus, Youtube have given our channel 2 copyright strikes for 1 reason. Youtube has violated its own rules! Meanwhile, you can watch our videos on the our second channel [youtube.com/user/crimeanfront]. You can watch "Stand with Ukraine" video here [liveleak.com/view?i=8d3_1421072736]
* Novorossia News in brief (2015-05-22) [archive.is/6HDEv]:
- Since May 25, citizens of the Donetsk People’s Republic will be authorized to own small arms of a caliber less than 11,43 mm after registration in the police.
- A round work table of 19 national communities took part in Donetsk, including Greeks, Germans, Poles, Gipsy, Vietnameses, and other national groups living in Donbas.
- A beauty contest was held in the Lughansk city.
* "27th Russian Emergencies Ministry’s convoy with humanitarian have arrived in Makeevka and Lughansk" photo (2015-05-21, Novorossia News) [archive.is/KPzgX]
* "Another Russian convoy delivers humanitarian aid to Donetsk, Luhansk" (2015-05-21, tass.ru) [archive.is/PBjUA]
“Humans live here” – the name of a film directed by a young Russian Ilia Novodvorskiy. He did the film at his own expense and took it to Cannes where the film was demonstrated in Russian pavilion of film festival.
“Professional directors don’t believe that the film was done not by a company with an army of producers and directors”, - said Ilia.
“The main characters of the film are teachers and artists, militaries and ballet dancers, retired officials, children and ordinary people. They didn’t leave their homes, despite the incessant shelling. They remained on their land in order to build peace during the war ", - says the description of the trailer to the film, posted on video hosting services youtube.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npSnZ7exdeg] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzzDDILH6u0]
* In Canada, conferences and public forums upcoming on the political situation in Ukraine and Donbas, May 28th, 40th, June 5th, 12th [archive.is/wpskq]
* "International Forum 'Donetsk: yesterday, today, tomorrow' " (2015-05-18, manuelochsenreiter.com) [archive.is/d29XL] [begin excerpt]: While preparing and organizing this congress, a lot of friends and colleagues told us it is crazy to do such a thing – of all places in Donbass - in Donetsk. It is risky, they said. It might be dangerous, they warned. It is a “war zone”, they analyzed. But where to meet, where to discuss and debate about a peaceful solution for Donbass, if not here - in Donbass itself? It is important to be here, it is important to be exactly there, where the European scar is bleeding. Europe must receive non-biased, true information about the war in Donbass. Unfortunately European citizens get very little or even no information about sufferings of civil population, human losses, destruction of villages, residential buildings, schools and hospital due to shelling and bombardment by the Ukrainian armed forces in this region. This lack of information is very dangerous. Instead of real information we witness media war mongering against Russia, russophobia and confessions of the so-called “community of Western values”. By the way: In that context we should discuss the meaning of the term “values” in Europe as well. The crisis of Donbass means also a crisis of one of the most important collective human rights – the right of self-determination. Unfortunately we can say: The more Western politicians and media talk about self-determination, the less they practice it. The self-determination of the people in the Donbass region and their right of self-governance doesn´t play any role in the official political landscape in Brussels. This lack of understanding is exactly the reason how we can explain the horrible mistakes that the EU establishment committed in Ukraine. It is the reason as well for the aggressive and hostile attitude towards Russia. It is one of the main reasons for the sanction regime. All these things didn´t and don´t happen in the interest of Europe; they happen in the interest of Washington. Especially the sanctions are not just anti-Russian sanctions; they are anti-European sanctions as well. Both economies (Russian and European) are suffering under that pressure. [end excerpt]
---
People's Republic of Donetsk (DPR, or DNR)* "Sunday Life in Donetsk" by Graham William Phillips [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yXxXkx0_-E]: The truth about life in Donetsk -a lot of people are here, there's order, rebuilding. When the Ukrainians aren't shelling, things are fine. Sunday life in Donetsk - there's no 'Russian terrorists', no 'separatists', just normal, decent people.
* "Trade fair" (2015-05-19, novorossia.today) [archive.is/NJ12E]: The trade-fair was arranged yesterday near the market Mayak in the Kievskiy district of Donetsk. All people who wanted could buy provisions at the low prices. There were grains, vegetables, and even strawberry. [youtube.com/watch?v=N_xITW9JC2I]
* 'Republican' brand bread, a socialist worker owned bakery network, will ration the sale of its bread (2015-05-22) [archive.is/ww0xv], original (dan-news.info) machine translated [archive.is/NWt1n]
* "SIM-cards of the DPR mobile operator “Phoenix” will be on sale in the end of summer" (2015-05-22, novorossia.today) [archive.is/Yjdyx]
* "The DPR People’s Council has posthumously awarded the DPR fighter Ivantsov Sergei Vladimirovich who died at the front in the winter of 2015" photo (2015-05-21) [archive.is/O8lzv], original (dnr-sovet.su) machine translated [https://archive.is/MvtDh]
* "An alley of angels. Commemorating killed children of Donbas" (2015-05-22, in Donetsk) photo [archive.is/mW0XC]
--
Attacks against the People's Republic of Donetsk (a daily calender)
* "DNR militia under attack since yesterday in village Spartak (Donetsk region)" (2015-05-18) [youtube.com/watch?v=k1NoUkg37-8]
* "The DPR military have registered 29 shellings by Ukrainian troopers over the last day, one civilian is killed, one is injured" (2015-05-19, Novorossia News) [archive.is/a51GN]
* "A reconnaissance of the Donetsk People’s Republic registers on the Ukrainian positions some missile rocket launch systems targeted at the Kiev-held town of Volnovakha" (2015-05-19, Novorossia News) [archive.is/5zZyY]
* "Ukrainian troopers violated a cease-fire regime 33 time over the past 24 hours, ten persons are injured" (2015-05-20, Novorossia News) [archive.is/9KDBK]
* "Over the last day, sappers of the DPR Emergencies Ministry have detected and defused near 30 unexploded items" (2015-05-20, Novorossia News) [archive.is/peo6K]
* "The territory of the Michurino prison of the town of Gorlovka twice came under Ukrainian artillery fire in the evening" (2015-05-20, Novorossia News) [archive.is/cfuDl]
* "Ukrainian Army shelled the DPR territory almost 40 times in the last 24 hours" (2015-05-21, novorossia.today) [archive.is/1O8sW]
* "Ukrainian troopers have shelled the territory of the DPR 39 times over the previous 24 hours" (2015-05-21, Novorossia News) [archive.is/4cVB9]
* "Shelling of the Yasinovataya district by Ukrainian troopers caused a fire in the railway depot" (2015-05-21, Novorossia News) [archive.is/uAbXQ]
* "A car with workers of the Donetsk Railway was blown up by the land mine near Illovaysk " (2015-05-21, Novorossia News) [archive.is/wmMUS]
* "Pro-Kiev forces continue to actively use landmines and IEDs in Novorossia" four photos (2015-05-21) [archive.is/SMuk0]: According to multiple sources, over 30% of the farm fields in Novorossia have either IEDs or land mines placed in them.
* "Three prisoners were injured as the Ukrainian forces shelled the Michurinskaya penal colony" (2015-05-21) [archive.is/zuqo6]
* "Four people have been injured in shellings by the Ukrainian forces in the last 24 hours" (2015-05-21) [archive.is/asx8s]
* "Ukra troops shelled a passenger train in Jasinovataya, 23 carriages burned down" three photos (2015-05-21) [archive.is/4hbnS]
* "Ukrainian Army shells #Sakhanka# village with #URAGAN# rockets. People put up icons on poles as their only protection" four photos (2015-05-21) [archive.is/A8b0E]
* "BREAKING: Battle near Maryinka, Donetsk under Ukrainain fire" (2015-05-22, rusvesna.su) [archive.is/ZPTDB]
* "Ukrainian troopers have shelled the territory of the DPR 52 times over the last day, using also rocket missiles" (2015-05-22, Novorossia News) [archive.is/EQvp8]
* "Overnight the Ukrainian armed forces shelled the Lughansk town, the first time since the February when a cease-fire regime was settled" (2015-05-22, Novorossia News) [archive.is/Cssko]
* A house in Donetsk, Chekhoslovatskaya street, was destroyed by Ukrainian shelling" two photos (2015-05-22, Novorossia News) [archive.is/LYTeg]
* "Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian troopers have shelled the territory of the Donetsk Republic 27 times" (2015-05-23, Novorossia News) [archive.is/hSbHM]
* Ukrainian army violated the ceasefire regime 52 times in the last 24 hours" (2015-05-23, novorossia.today) [archive.is/hgpK2]
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People's Republic of Lunghask (LPR, or LNR; Luhansk, Lugansk)* "Russian orders help Lugansk to increase the number of jobs" (2015-05-19) seven photos [archive.is/zLDWT], original (lug-info.com) machine translated [archive.is/z8YkP]
* Report on 10 April 2015 Aid Delivery of Medications, photos [archive.is/JhOZX]
* "The campaign “Become a donor of Donbass!” took place in Lugansk" four photos (2015-05-20) [archive.is/JD4UM]
* "The militia reconnaissance of the DPR finds out foreign mercenaries" (2015-05-21, novorossia.today) [archive.is/ojrcE], two photos [archive.is/oYvSS]
* "On May 21, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Lughansk People’s Republic reported about a Ukrainian raiding party which was detected in the vicinity of the town of Lughansk" (2015-05-21, Novorossia News) [archive.is/YPnhX]: The party could come back to a Kiev-held territory except one its fighters who was killed in a clash with the militia. In his cell phone, a video was found of supposedly hanging of a militiaman and his pregnant wife. The video (18+): [https://youtu.be/uBKmcQLGYGk]
* Report by the General Prosecutor Office of the Lugansk Republic, three photos (2015-05-21) [archive.is/b3Rbc]: During a special op, the LPR law enforcement officers found the sabotage-reconnaissance group of the Ukrainian forces, the head of the investigative Department of the LPR Prosecutor General Leonid Tkachenko told a briefing today. According to him, the operation was carried out in the vicinity of Lugansk on the 20th of May. As a result of the firefight, one of the Ukrainian saboteurs was eliminated, two more managed to run away. “During the detention of the Ukrainian sabotage-reconnaissance group, one of the bandits was killed. He had a mobile phone, which we seized and found a video of the murder of the militiaman and his pregnant wife. Ukrainian soldiers had hung them. According to the preliminary findings of the investigation, we can say that those Ukrainian soldiers in the video are members of the Ukrainian “Donbass” battalion,” – Leonid Tkachenko said.
* "This morning, the Ukrainian army has completely blocked the only entrance to Stanitsa Luganskaya from the Lugansk People’s Republic" four photos (2015-05-22) [archive.is/j04pb], original (lug-info.com) machine translated [archive.is/Gojgv]
* "Ukrainian troopers have set up a roadblock at the pedestrian bridge in the town of Stanitsa Lughanskaya" two photos (2015-05-22, Novorossia News) [archive.is/aq4Pi]
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occupied People's Republic of Kharkov (KPR, or KNR)* International solidarity: "Odessa doesn't forget, Donbass resists" photo (2015-05-22) [archive.is/luX1G]
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occupied People's Republic of Odessa (OPR, or ONR) / People's Republic of Bessarabia
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occupied People's Republic of Transcarpathia---
Moldovan Republic of Pridnestrovie (Transnistria, Trans-Dniestr, Transdniestria, or Transdnieper)
* "Transnistria: Secret police vs. NGOs; Moldova can't find peace. Forces in the separatist Transnistria region are trying to weaken the already shaky stability in the region. Their main targets: members of pro-democratic NGOs" (2015-05-19, dw.de) [archive.is/q2oIM]
* "Transnistria Blockaded: Ukraine Cancels Five Military Accords With Russia The Ukrainian Parliament on Thursday voted to unilaterally scrap five agreements with Russia on military cooperation" (2015-05-22, xinhuanet.com) [archive.is/LJKzK]
* "Moldova Eyes Russia’s Embrace as Flirtation With Europe Fades" (2015-05-21, nytimes.com) [archive.is/mwxi1], photo caption: A parliamentary election sign in Chisinau, Moldova, in November for the anti-European Socialist Party showing some of its representatives with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia
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Novorossiya Armed Forces (NAF) Operations
* "The Don Cossacks of the Rebel Army" (2015-04-07, aredrover.com) [archive.is/4EsnT]
* "LPR briefing on Alexei Mozgovoi assassination" [youtube.com/watch?v=1U1Th1PUrPE]* "Commander of “Ghost” brigade (LPR Army) Aleksey Mozgovoy was assassinated" (2015-05-23, novorossia.today) [archive.is/P77lN]
* "Hero of Novorossia" (2015-05-24, novorossia.today) [archive.is/71BOj]
* "Biryukov: The Ghost Brigade will continue to carry out its mission" (2015-05-24, novorossia.today) [archive.is/Ewmqx]
* "The prophetic verse by Alexei Mozgovoy" (2015-05-24, novorossia.today) [archive.is/WykGG] [archive.is/HoPwq]
* "My Little Daughter" [youtube.com/watch?v=sKwBuCTn0z4]: Words and music by Alexey Mozgovoy, and he is performing. That's his pre-war song.
"The greatest victory will be if we create a government that thinks of the people. Not victory in the war, but victory over ourselves, over our own minds," Alexey Mozgovoi, photo [archive.is/T67Wq].
* "Prominent Lugansk Militia Leader Mozgovoi Assassinated" (2015-05-23, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/zgCx5]
* "Who is next? Do try to "rodents" in the near future to remove Zakharchenko?" (2015-05-23, anna-news.info) machine translation [archive.is/YiuOJ] [begin excerpt]: In conclusion s quote from his recent appeal to the RUSSIAN FEDERATION from May 19, 2015 year: "time has shown that only when there is a national project and the consolidation of the Russian people can respond to today's threats. Neither the party nor the project on the basis of denominational Cathedral such tasks impossible ... That's why the genocide of Russians in Ukraine did not leave anyone indifferent, and in our ranks are representatives of many Nations and peoples." [end excerpt]
* Memorial posting (2015-05-24) [https://archive.is/YLOHF]
* Press Secretary of Alexei Mozgovoy, Aseeva Anna, mother of three children. SHe died today. Poor children, have to grow without Mothetr [https://archive.is/tPUzn]
* "LNR USING ALL TYPES WEAPONS DURING TACTICAL TRAINING" [youtube.com/watch?v=d-DmkcMWFPM]
* "Donbass, LNR: Interview with Commander Plastun, who joined the NAF in May 2014" [youtube.com/watch?t=35&v=7oojUnOgLes]
* "Russian activists say find fresh graves of soldiers killed in Ukraine" (2015-05-20, AFP newswire) [archive.is/9yveE]. All the proof describing a literal invasion by active duty uniformed divisions of the Russian Federation military has all been proven to be false. 100% of the time. Literally. Yet, this does not stop USA agents from continuing to dig up more "proof".
* "International Volunteers Arrive in Eastern Ukraine" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YVrgMpE5Z4&feature=em-uploademail]
* "A member of honor of the movement became American volunteer and friend of Novorossia, Zak Novak" two photos 9(2015-05-23, novorossia.today) [archive.is/Vbews]: The chairman of the movement Andrey Miroshnichenko gave the sign-symbol of the movement to “the green”, and young members of the movements greeted their friend. The friendship will be!
===*===*===
Federation of Russia
* "Russia Bucks Trend of Soviet States Outlawing Communist Symbols" (2015-05-20, themoscowtimes.com) [archive.is/4gfjK]
* "Germany to Pay $11 Million WWII Compensation to Soviet Prisoners" (2015-05-20, themoscowtimes.com) [archive.is/WETax]
* "Japanese – Russian Dispute about South Kuril Islands: The Enemy State Clause" (2015-05-22, nsnbc.me) [archive.is/kBuYa]
* Families Describe Fleeing War-Torn Ukraine for Russian Camps" (2015-05-24, truth-out.org) [archive.is/VRhou]
* "Raising a 'Russian Rebel Army' to Overthrow Putin" (2015-05-20, newsweek.com) [archive.is/TEh0k] [begin excerpt]: Kuznetsov, who has been living in Kiev for more than nine months, has set out to create what he calls a “Russian rebel army.” He hopes to sidestep the Kremlin’s seemingly invulnerable crackdown on domestic dissent by uniting Russian dissidents living in Ukraine and across Eastern Europe, ultimately paving the way for a legitimate opposition movement to return one day to overthrow Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We want to unite with opposition movements in other countries to create something like a Russian government in exile,” he says. “But we can’t organize inside of Russia. It is way too dangerous to organize inside of Russia. We have no choice but to radicalize.”
Despite most Russians’ reluctance to openly criticize their government, Kuznetsov’s VK page resonated. Within weeks he had more than 80,000 likes. Kuznetsov claims the Russian FSB (the successor agency of the KGB) began to harass him after his VK page became popular; he says agents interrogated him and his neighbors, and permanently parked a car outside his apartment. Kuznetsov’s VK page was eventually blocked (under Kremlin orders, he claims). But a replacement page on Facebook quickly acquired 40,000 likes. In August 2014, the Kremlin adopted a law regulating social media and bloggers. The law included a requirement for bloggers with more 3,000 daily readers to adhere to the same regulations as mass media, including registering with the state media regulator, Roskomnadzor. The law also forbids social media users from remaining anonymous and requires social media sites to collect and store data on users.
The FSB’s harassment finally spurred Kuznetsov to flee to Ukraine in August 2014—a decision that created a rift with his family and many of his friends. He hasn’t spoken to his mother since he left and many of his friends have labeled him a traitor and a “puppet of the CIA.”
Putin enjoys an approval rating above 80 percent in Russia, but Kuznetsov claims there is an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the Russian president that is kept in check by the government crackdowns on both traditional and social media, and Soviet-style fear and intimidation tactics.
“Russians are not saying what they are thinking,” Kuznetsov says. “Most people feel the same way I do. And if someone were to unite them, we could change things.”
Kuznetsov pointed to Putin’s ability to spin Western sanctions in his favor as proof of his cunning propaganda strategy. “Putin does everything to get thrown out of the international community, because when he is isolated he can do whatever he wants inside of Russia,” Kuznetsov says. “The isolation caused by the sanctions helps Putin consolidate power. He can convince Russians that everyone is the enemy.”
While his overall intent is political, Kuznetsov’s first objective is military. He wants to unite under one flag Russians who are fighting for Ukraine against the combined Russian-separatist forces.
“Obeying the Russian constitution is our No. 1 objective,” he says. “Our second goal is to return control of Russia to the people. We want our motherland back.”
While there are no reliable estimates of the number of Russians who have defected to and now fight for Ukraine, a spokesman for the Ukrainian National Guard Azov Regiment claimed that more than 30 of its approximately 1,400 troops are Russian defectors, comprising the largest foreign fighter contingent within Azov’s ranks, which include fighters from about 19 different countries.
The number of pro-Ukraine foreign fighters is relatively small compared with the total number of soldiers involved in the conflict. Kacper Rękawek, a Polish expert on the Ukrainian conflict, put the number at between 100 and 300 in a March 2015 report.
Kuznetsov declined to estimate how many members he had so far recruited, but he said his group was “growing quickly” and included a recruiter stationed in Moscow. He also said the popularity of the VK page provoked a groundswell response from Russians who quietly support his mission from the online shadows.
“This army is the result of something that is in the air in Russia,” he says. “Everyone in Russia might think like me, but they are too afraid to do anything.” Also with Kuznetsov is another friend named Maksim Masur, a 25-year-old Ukrainian soldier with the Aydar Battalion. Masur, a combat veteran from battles near Luhansk and the Donetsk airport, says Ukrainian soldiers welcome Russian defectors like Kuznetsov into their ranks.
One of the unifying ideas among the Russian defectors fighting in Ukraine is the hope that the post-Soviet generation in Russia, increasingly exposed to the West through social media, will finally shed Russia’s Communist past and demand political and economic reform.
Kuznetsov says he has not yet been approached by the CIA or any other Western intelligence agency, but claims to be in contact with Ukraine’s SBU (the Ukrainian equivalent of the FBI). While accepting any CIA or U.S. support would play into the propaganda attacks by Kuznetsov’s detractors, he says international support is critical to his mission’s success.
“We are called CIA puppets anyway, so why not live up to our reputation?” he says. “And the truth is, we are dead without international support.” [end excerpt]
This is the type of Soros funded journalism that has Russia's population questioning the sanity of the US citizens in their choice of yet another warmongering president, in a complete conglomerate of corporatocracy of Wall Street and media outlets. The piece is a foreign policy PR stunt to push the US public into believing that a 140mln +, the highest rating of educated people electorate of Russia can in any terms be led by one single guy. And against this guy, the West has its own Russian guy, a new 32 year old "opposition" leader. Except the label of "opposition" hasn't been granted by the 140mln+, highly educated Russian electorate but by the White House puppet master owned media and PR industry. All in the name of last ditch to push for a sworn-enemy- outside agenda in a country, where police brutality, prison population have hit a global high amidst the fallout of individual rights, freedoms and privacy.
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Russian Repression Report: Actual incidents and false stories explained
* "Putin signs “undesirable NGOs” Bill into Law" (2015-05-25, nsnbc.me) [archive.is/cGYG9] [begin excerpt]: The bill authorizes the designation of foreign and foreign funded non-profit as well as for profit NGOs as “undesirables” on grounds of “national security. The bill has been heavily criticized by foreign, particularly western media, western politicians and primarily western-based or funded NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, among many others. One of the NGOs that is certain to fall under the provisions of the bill is USAID.
Amnesty International issued a statement, saying that the bill was “the last chapter in the unprecedented repression against non-governmental organisations.”
The new law follows up on a law that was adopted in 2012 that obliged foreign-funded non-governmental organizations to register as “foreign agents”.
The law provides for declaring foreigners and foreign-funded NGOs as“undesirable”. Persons who are violating the newly adopted law could face a fine up to 10,000 dollar to be paid in local currency and up to six years imprisonment.
While the wording and the use of “undesirable” is ambiguous and does pose legal problems as much as it opens the floodgates for the abuse of the legislation, there may be a good reason for keeping the wording ambiguous.
Internationally acting NGOs have increasingly become “weaponized”; That is, that they have increasingly been utilized as tool for everything from supporting legitimate dissent to the organization of political violence and coup d’état. Another disturbing fact is that this pattern includes UN organizations such as the UN Interagency Framework Team for Preventive Action (Framework Team).
Examples? Doctors Without Borders (MSF) played a key role in accusing the Syrian government for the use of chemical weapons, stating MSF sources. Later on the NGO had to admit that it had no staff in Damascus and exclusively relied on statements by “partners” in “rebel-held territories”.
In 2014 Doctors Without Borders has also been sharply criticized for strongly biased statements with regards to its activities in Myanmar after the Burmese government refused to prolong the NGOs permit due to “unethical conduct“.
While Human Right Watch does, indeed, engage in justified human rights advocacy, it has also been engaged in issuing strongly biased reports, in politicizing that “representatives are denied entry to e.g. Egypt”, while failing to mention that proper visa procedures had not been followed, and so forth.
The most disturbing NGO may, however, be the UN Interagency Framework Team for Preventive Action. The Framework Team is largely privately funded with George Soros as one of the primary sponsors. The NGO under UN cover is “coordinating UN, governmental and non-governmental initiatives”. [end excerpt]
===*===*===
* "Kyrgyzstan Becomes Fifth Member of Eurasian Economic Union" (2015-05-18, russia-insider.com) [archive.is/12nk6]
* "Russian Prime Minister Signs Deal on Free Trade Zone Between EEU, Vietnam" (2015-05-25, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/a8ycP]
* "Support for NATO and EU high in Georgia while approval of Eurosian Economic Union doubles" (20105-05-12, Business New Europe) [archive.is/xbJSh]
===*===*===
Arab Republic of Syria
[joshualandis.com/blog] [syriasolidaritymovement.org]
* "Syria’s Nightmarish Narrative" (2015-04-27, consortiumnews.com) [archive.is/J47lP] [begin excerpt]: With military and political help from Saudi Arabia and Israel, the nightmare scenario of an Al-Qaeda and/or Islamic State victory in Syria may be coming true, as the army of the more secular Syrian government retreats and as President Obama seems frozen by indecision. The Saudi-Israeli alliance, in league with other hard-line Sunni countries, is helping Al-Qaeda affiliates advance toward gaining either victory or at least safe havens in Syria and Yemen, highlighting unresolved contradictions in President Barack Obama’s policies in the Middle East. Fueled by a surge of support from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey – and with Israel striking at Syrian government allies – Al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front and Al-Qaeda’s hyper-brutal spinoff, the Islamic State, are making major advances in Syria with some analysts now predicting the likely collapse of the relatively secular government of President Bashar al-Assad. [end excerpt]
* "US special forces stage raid into Syria" (2015-05-18, wsws.org) [archive.is/XZeNt]
* "Turkey detains soldiers over seizure of Syria-bound arms case" (2015-05-16, middleeasteye.net) [archive.is/L8s3n]
* "The Political Geography of Syria’s War: An Interview With Fabrice Balanche" (2015-01-15, carnegieendowment.org) [archive.is/FSNrh] [begin excerpt]:
Question: Was the Syrian conflict influenced by sectarianism from the beginning or did the sectarian issues emerge later?
Answer: From the beginning, the Syrian conflict was sectarian, social, and political. These three factors were interrelated, because sectarian divides are everywhere in Syria. The revolt started in an attempt to get rid of Assad, the state bureaucracy, the Baath Party, the intelligence services, and the general staff of the Syrian Arab Army. But all of these bodies are packed with Alawites, over 90 percent of whom work for the state.
You could follow the sectarian patterns across the map. In mixed Alawite-Sunni areas, the protests only took place in the Sunni areas. In Latakia, Banias, and Homs, the demonstrators clashed with Alawite counterdemonstrators. This pro-Assad mobilization was not simply organized by the government. Rather, it was part of the phenomenon of urban asabiyya (communal solidarity) that has been so well described by Michel Seurat in the case of Tripoli. In the Daraa Province, the population is almost exclusively Sunni and the demonstrations naturally spread—but they stopped right at the border of the Druze-populated Sweida Province, which did not sympathize with them at all. In Aleppo, the divisions were mainly social, between the well-to-do and poorer people, and between indigenous city dwellers and new arrivals from the countryside who lived in the slums. But the sectarian factor was present in Aleppo too, with Christians remaining staunchly pro-regime and the Kurds playing their own game, as we have seen with the autonomous cantons in Afrin, Ein al-Arab (Kobane), and Qamishli.
In the end, sectarianism began to overshadow the other parameters of the Syrian crisis. [end excerpt]
===*===*===
Global Islamic Caliphate / Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL ; ISIS)
* The Achtiname (Testament) of Muhammad – the Founder of Islam – Specifically CONDEMNED AS SINNERS Anyone Who Failed to Protect Christians or Interfered with Christians’ Ability to Practice their Own Faith [archive.is/o8sc0]
* "The Head of the GRU accuses US and allies of creating the transnational “Islamist” terrorist network" (2015-05-22, thesaker.is) [archive.is/FrJJZ] [begin excerpt]: It is no secret that it was at the instigation of Western ‘partners’ that since the 1980s, Islamic extremism was rapidly gaining momentum. To counter the Soviet troops in Afghanistan, there was heavy arming – with the funds from the United Stated of America and other NATO states – of scattered groups of Jihadists and Mujahideen who subsequently merged into major terrorist groups and movements. With financial and military assistance from Washington and its allies, rendered in order to eliminate the regime in Syria, unwanted by the West, the ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ and ‘Jabhat al-Nusra’ were created. Military intervention in Libya by the Alliance entailed similar results. Availability of the stable sources of financing for the extremists is the reason for a serious concern. The most reliable cash-flow channels include various non-governmental organizations and foundations. For example, in the states of the Arabian Peninsula there are about 200 such organizations. A major source of income is the control over drugs production and trafficking. This activity brings the Islamists of the Middle East and Central Asia up to US $500 million a year. It happens quite often that actions of Washington and the West in general in various regions of the world contribute to creation of serious problems, including drug trafficking, religious extremism and terrorism, after which Washington heroically mobilizes the international community to neutralize the problems. [end excerpt]
* "ISIS claims it is 'infinitely' closer to buying a nuclear weapon from Pakistan and smuggling it into the US" (2015-05-22, dailymail.co.uk) [archive.is/MqPjD]
* "Merchants of Death: Raytheon and Boeing Supply “The Islamic State” (ISIS)" (2015-05-25, STOP-Imperialism.com) intro [archive.is/JQBqZ], video [youtube.com/watch?v=y1PeHuTNXP8]
* "War is Peace: US Needs External Enemy to Ensure Internal Unity" (2015-05-24, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/ge4RR] [begin excerpt]: Since the end of the Cold War the US has fabricated two enemies for itself – Radical Islam and Russia – but now it has to choose only one, and the best candidate is Radical Islam. The US needs an external enemy to ensure community cohesion, Jean-Christophe Rufin said in an interview with the French Le Figaro newspaper. “American society, similar to the Roman Empire is in need of an external uniting enemy. Since 1991, in its striving not to miss out on one, the US has made up two,” he said. On the one hand, he says, by overthrowing Arabic-Muslim secular regimes, “rightfully labelled as dictatorships destined for public reproof,” the US and its European allies have contributed to the emergence of a considerable number of Islamist enemies (starting with Bin Laden and continuing up to the Islamic State) financed by some oil monarchies of the Persian Gulf region. On the other – the US has pursued its systematic policy of besieging post-Soviet Russia. From Georgia to Mongolia and through the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) the US has laid the ground for a new cold war. Now, the historian says, the US faces a choice of keeping only one enemy. The best candidate is Radical Islam, he says. “However we should not forget the prophecy of Alexis de Tocqueville, who saw Russia as the only continental power capable of competing with the US,” Rufin stated. [end excerpt]
Coordinated by the USA DIA and the State of Israel, a purpose for their proxy ISIS is to systematically execute all men of the villages and cities who most supported the Socialist Arab Renaissance Party and secular government.
* "Q&A: Probing Islamic State’s sex atrocities with the United Nations" (2015-05-18, middleeasteye.net) [archive.is/yKrsH] [begin excerpt]: During my recent five-country Middle East visit, I met officials, frontline workers and survivors. My focus was IS’s war on women, including from Yazidi, Christian and Turkmen Shia minorities. After attacking a village, IS splits women from men and executes boys and men aged 14 and over. [end excerpt]
* "Islamic State burned a woman alive for not engaging in an ‘extreme’ sex act, U.N. official says" (2015-05-22, washingtonpost.com) [archive.is/AjBKF]
* "Iranian general says US did 'nothing' to save Ramadi" (2015-05-25, AFP newswire) [archive.is/rhQdd]
* "Defense chief: Iraqis showed no will to fight at Ramadi" (2015-05-25, AP newswire) [archive.is/Jetyx] [begin excerpt]: The Islamic State group's takeover of the provincial capital Ramadi is stark evidence that Iraqi forces lack the "will to fight," Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a TV interview that aired Sunday. Although Iraqi soldiers "vastly outnumbered" their opposition in the capital of Anbar province, they quickly withdrew last Sunday without putting up much resistance from the city in Iraq's Sunni heartland, Carter said on CNN's "State of the Union." The Iraqis left behind large numbers of U.S.-supplied vehicles, including several tanks, now presumed to be in Islamic State hands. "What apparently happened is the Iraqi forces just showed no will to fight," Carter said. "They were not outnumbered; in fact, they vastly outnumbered the opposing force. That says to me, and I think to most of us, that we have an issue with the will of the Iraqis to fight ISIL and defend themselves."
Iraqi lawmaker Hakim al-Zamili, the head of the parliamentary defense and security committee, called Carter's comments "unrealistic and baseless," in an interview with The Associated Press."The Iraqi army and police did have the will to fight IS group in Ramadi, but these forces lack good equipment, weapons and aerial support," said al-Zamili, a member of the political party headed by radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who is stridently anti-American.American officials say they are sending anti-tank weapons to the Iraqi military. But they also noted that Iraqi forces were not routed from Ramadi— they left of their own accord, frightened in part by a powerful wave of Islamic State group suicide truck bombs, some the size of the one that destroyed the federal building in Oklahoma City two decades ago, said a senior State Department official who spoke to reporters last week under ground rules he not be named."The ISF was not driven out of Ramadi," Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week. "They drove out of Ramadi."A senior defense official noted that the troops who fled Ramadi had not been trained by the U.S. or its coalition partners. The official was not authorized to address the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. [end excerpt]
* "Newly-Declassified U.S. Government Documents: The West Supported the Creation of ISIS" (2015-05-24, washingtonsblog.com) [archive.is/0BaXH].
* "Top U.S. Generals: American Allies Support ISIS" (2015-05-18) videos in context at [washingtonsblog.com/2015/02/top-u-s-generals-american-allies-support-isis.html], article [archive.is/1qcyj]
* "Mainstream U.S. Writers Call for Supporting Al Qaeda and ISIS" (2015-05-23, washingtonsblog.com) [archive.is/VLGCR]
* "DIA Docs: West Wants a “Salafist Principality in Eastern Syria”?" (2015-05-23, washingtonsblog.com) [archive.is/5TzFr]
* "How the US Aided ISIS and the Fall of Mosul and Ramadi" (2015-05-23, undergroundreports.blogspot.de) [archive.is/1yYkq].A declassified USA Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report [archive.is/8uvd3], formerly classified “SECRET//NOFORN” and dated August 12, 2012, states that for “THE WEST, GULF COUNTRIES, AND TURKEY [WHO] SUPPORT THE [SYRIAN] OPPOSITION… THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A DECLARED OR UNDECLARED SALAFIST PRINCIPALITY IN EASTERN SYRIA (HASAKA AND DER ZOR), AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SUPPORTING POWERS TO THE OPPOSITION WANT, IN ORDER TO ISOLATE THE SYRIAN REGIME…”.
November 29, 2012 (LD) - "War on Syria: Gateway to WWIII" (118 pages) attempts to cover the intricacies of the West's methods of unconventional warfare and how they've manifested themselves over the last several years, finally miring Syria in a state of war. The book also looks at how the violence in Syria is just one part of a much larger geopolitical strategy, and where it may lead next.
War on Syria: Gateway to WWIII
Free e-Book by Tony Cartalucci & Nile Bowie, Now Available Online via Scribd & Google Docs.
[http://www.scribd.com/doc/114889281/War-on-Syria-Cartalucci-Bowie2] [https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bzf5hXPESLSdbTd0V2dIY3hvVGM]
* "Top U.S. Official Meets With Rebels Inside Syria" (2013-05-09, npr.org) [archive.is/5RGLt]
* "Free Syrian Commander publicly thanks the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in Minagh airbase in Syria" (2013-08-06) [archive.is/5A6rT], video [youtube.com/watch?v=qCDTuGvljpY]: On August 8, 2013, The New York Times notes that FSA and ISIS are celebrating together after the takeover of the Syrian airbase in Minagh [archive.is/5qRba] [begin excerpt]: After the battle, Col. Abdul Jabbar al-Okaidi, the head of the United States-backed opposition’s Aleppo military council, appeared in a video alongside Abu Jandal, a leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. In camouflage, Colonel Okaidi offered thanks to “our brothers al-Muhajireen wal Ansar and others,” adding: “We’re here to kiss every hand pressed on the trigger.” He then ceded the floor to Abu Jandal and a mix of jihadist and Free Syrian Army leaders, who stood together, each praising his men, like members of a victorious basketball team. [end excerpt]
* "First Syria rebels armed and trained by CIA 'on way to battlefield'; The first cell of Syrian rebels trained and armed by the CIA is making its way to the battlefield, President Barack Obama has reportedly told senators" (2013-09-03, telegraph.co.uk) [archive.is/K5reA]
* "US Key Man in Syria Worked Closely with ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusra" (2014-08-17) [youtube.com/watch?v=piN_MNSis1E]. One of the key US men in Syria, the "Free Syrian Army" (FSA) Col. Abdel Jabbar al-Okaidi, who operated mostly in the Greater Aleppo area, was open about his daily communication and collaboration with extremist jihadists from the "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) and al-Qaeda's official branch in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra. He refers to their fighters as brothers. In one footage after the rebel capture of Menagh military airbase, he even appeared standing next to an Egyptian jihadist from ISIL, Abu Jandal, while thanking him and his group for their contributions. The US is known to have funneled military aid to al-Okaidi and others in the FSA throughout the last couple of years.
* "ISIS as U.S. Creation: The Clearest Authenticated Video Evidence to Date" (2014-09-13, levantreport.com) [archive.is/MT7m1] [begin excerpt]: The video, documenting (now former) U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford’s visit to FSA Col. Abdel Jabbar al-Okaidi in Northern Syria, also shows the same Col. Okaidi celebrating with and praising a well-known ISIS commander, Emir Abu Jandal, after conducting a successful joint operation against Syrian Army forces at Menagh Airbase in early August 2013. Abu Jandal’s identity can be further established in an interview he did with Al-Jazeera (Arabic), immediately after the capture of the airbase. In interview footage from the Eretz Zen video, the U.S. “key man” Okaidi, through which U.S. assistance flowed, also praises ISIS and Al-Qaeda as the FSA’s “brothers”. The video further shows Okaidi proudly declaring that al-Nusra (Al-Qaeda in Syria) makes up ten percent of the FSA. In truth the “Free Syrian Army” was from the beginning but a “branding” construct created by western and Gulf governments. Men like Okaidi were marketed to the world as the “face” of the Syrian opposition, but in reality served as conduits of covert support for more effective fighting forces like ISIS and al-Nusra Front. [end excerpt]
* "A list of ISIS Emirs and commanders in Syria" (2013-08-15, iraqsham.wordpress.com) [archive.is/Jvctv]
* "Legion of foreign fighters battles for Islamic State" (20150-5-21, sfgate.com) [archive.is/zGe3T] [begin excerpt]: One day this April, instead of coming home from school, two teenagers left their valley high in the Caucasus, and went off to war. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, a 20-year-old stole her friend's passport to make the same hazardous journey. From New Zealand, came a former security guard; from Canada, a hockey fan who loved to fish and hunt. And there have been many, many more: between 16,000 and 17,000, according to one independent Western estimate, men and a small number of women from 90 countries or more who have streamed to Syria and Iraq to wage Muslim holy war for the Islamic State. [end excerpt]
* "A Georgian region is fertile ground for Islamic State" (2015-05-20, AP newswire) [archive.is/4PBA4]
* "2012 Defense Intelligence Agency document: West will facilitate rise of Islamic State 'in order to isolate the Syrian regime' " (2015-05-19, levantreport.com) [archive.is/khuue] [begin excerpt]:
The DIA report was circulated widely among various government agencies, including CENTCOM, the CIA, FBI, DHS, NGA, State Dept., and many others.
The document shows that as early as 2012, U.S. intelligence predicted the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), but instead of clearly delineating the group as an enemy, the report envisions the terror group as a U.S. strategic asset.
While a number of analysts and journalists have documented long ago the role of western intelligence agencies in the formation and training of the armed opposition in Syria, this is the highest level internal U.S. intelligence confirmation of the theory that western governments fundamentally see ISIS as their own tool for regime change in Syria. The document matter-of-factly states just that scenario.
Forensic evidence [archive.is/MT7m1], video evidence "US Key Man in Syria Worked Closely with ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusra" [youtube.com/watch?v=piN_MNSis1E], as well as recent admissions of high-level officials involved (see former Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford’s admissions here [archive.is/8Ub3Y] and here [archive.is/6qmB6]), have since proven the State Department and CIA’s material support of ISIS terrorists on the Syrian battlefield going back to at least 2012 and 2013 (for a clear example of “forensic evidence”: see UK-based Conflict Armament Research’s report [web.archive.org/web/20150204061518/http://www.conflictarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Dispatch_IS_Iraq_Syria_Weapons.pdf] which traced the origins of Croatian anti-tank rockets recovered from ISIS fighters back to a Saudi/CIA joint program via identifiable serial numbers [archive.is/S51mD].
The newly released DIA report makes the following summary points concerning “ISI” (in 2012 “Islamic State in Iraq,”) and the soon to emerge ISIS:
- Al-Qaeda drives the opposition in Syria
- The West identifies with the opposition
- The establishment of a nascent Islamic State became a reality only with the rise of the Syrian insurgency (there is no mention of U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq as a catalyst for Islamic State’s rise, which is the contention of innumerable politicians and pundits; see section 4.D. below)
- The establishment of a “Salafist Principality” in Eastern Syria is “exactly” what the external powers supporting the opposition want (identified as “the West, Gulf Countries, and Turkey”) in order to weaken the Assad government
- “Safe havens” are suggested in areas conquered by Islamic insurgents along the lines of the Libyan model (which translates to so-called no-fly zones as a first act of ‘humanitarian war'; see 7.B.)
Iraq is identified with “Shia expansion” (8.C)
- A Sunni “Islamic State” could be devastating to “unifying Iraq” and could lead to “the renewing facilitation of terrorist elements from all over the Arab world entering into Iraqi Arena.” (see last non-redacted line in full PDF view.)
The following is excerpted from the seven page DIA declassified report (bold-facing is my own):
R 050839Z AUG 12
…
THE GENERAL SITUATION:
A. INTERNALLY, EVENTS ARE TAKING A CLEAR SECTARIAN DIRECTION.
B. THE SALAFIST [sic], THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD, AND AQI ARE THE MAJOR FORCES DRIVING THE INSURGENCY IN SYRIA.
C. THE WEST, GULF COUNTRIES, AND TURKEY SUPPORT THE OPPOSITION; WHILE RUSSIA, CHINA AND IRAN SUPPORT THE REGIME.
…
3. (C) Al QAEDA – IRAQ (AQI):… B. AQI SUPPORTED THE SYRIAN OPPOSITION FROM THE BEGINNING, BOTH IDEOLOGICALLY AND THROUGH THE MEDIA…
…
4.D. THERE WAS A REGRESSION OF AQI IN THE WESTERN PROVINCES OF IRAQ DURING THE YEARS OF 2009 AND 2010; HOWEVER, AFTER THE RISE OF THE INSURGENCY IN SYRIA, THE RELIGIOUS AND TRIBAL POWERS IN THE REGIONS BEGAN TO SYMPATHIZE WITH THE SECTARIAN UPRISING. THIS (SYMPATHY) APPEARED IN FRIDAY PRAYER SERMONS, WHICH CALLED FOR VOLUNTEERS TO SUPPORT THE SUNNI’S [sic] IN SYRIA.
…
7. (C) THE FUTURE ASSUMPTIONS OF THE CRISIS:
A. THE REGIME WILL SURVIVE AND HAVE CONTROL OVER SYRIAN TERRITORY.
B. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CURRENT EVENTS INTO PROXY WAR: …OPPOSITION FORCES ARE TRYING TO CONTROL THE EASTERN AREAS (HASAKA AND DER ZOR), ADJACENT TO THE WESTERN IRAQI PROVINCES (MOSUL AND ANBAR), IN ADDITION TO NEIGHBORING TURKISH BORDERS. WESTERN COUNTRIES, THE GULF STATES AND TURKEY ARE SUPPORTING THESE EFFORTS. THIS HYPOTHESIS IS MOST LIKELY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE DATA FROM RECENT EVENTS, WHICH WILL HELP PREPARE SAFE HAVENS UNDER INTERNATIONAL SHELTERING, SIMILAR TO WHAT TRANSPIRED IN LIBYA WHEN BENGHAZI WAS CHOSEN AS THE COMMAND CENTER OF THE TEMPORARY GOVERNMENT [archive.is/37uTB].
…
(screen shot of the following [archive.is/37uTB])
8.C. IF THE SITUATION UNRAVELS THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A DECLARED OR UNDECLARED SALAFIST PRINCIPALITY IN EASTERN SYRIA (HASAKA AND DER ZOR), AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SUPPORTING POWERS TO THE OPPOSITION WANT, IN ORDER TO ISOLATE THE SYRIAN REGIME, WHICH IS CONSIDERED THE STRATEGIC DEPTH OF THE SHIA EXPANSION (IRAQ AND IRAN)
8.D.1. …ISI COULD ALSO DECLARE AN ISLAMIC STATE THROUGH ITS UNION WITH OTHER TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS IN IRAQ AND SYRIA, WHICH WILL CREATE GRAVE DANGER IN REGARDS TO UNIFYING IRAQ AND THE PROTECTION OF ITS TERRITORY.
===*===*===
State of Israel and international operations
[dukium.org] [icahd.org]
* "U.S. and Israel have worst inequality in the developed world" (2015-05-21, money.cnn.com) [archive.is/IsG72]. whowhatwhy.org writes: It’s said that the US and Israel have a “special relationship” built on “shared values” and together they stand alone as a bulwark of democracy in the Middle East. According to a new report from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) they also stand alone among member countries for wealth inequality. America’s richest 10% earns 16.5 times its poorest 10%, and Israel’s the richest 10% earn 15 times the poorest Israelis.
---
Secular law, on which the world system of legal frameworks exist, is incompatible with religious law which mirrors the pathology of its adherents. The Bible is not considered a legal foundation for property rights, and JHWH (G-D) cannot be brought to court. The next legal step would be is to ask to see the land deeds signed by G-D.
* "Hotoveli hearing Torah diplomats: the whole earth was given to us by the Creator" (2015-05-21, haaretz.co.il), original [https://archive.is/WXQkV], machine translated [archive.is/Hy7iG] [begin excerpt]: Vice Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said this morning (Thursday), employees Ministry of Foreign Affairs That Israeli diplomats around the world who work with various governments "to be right and not just smart." Hotoveli noted that for many years the Israeli diplomacy was based on trying to be smarter than right in front of the world. "We asked the arguments they make diplomatic screen embryos," said Hotoveli. "But these days it is important to be right. Must return to the fundamental truth of our right to this land."Hotoveli quoted an article by the late right-wing Uri Elitzur spoke to claimed that since 1967 Israel its security interests and the rightness of the way, and therefore did not convince the world that the land should remain under its sovereignty. "It is important to say - this country is all ours. We did not come here to apologize," said Hotoveli.
To illustrate her words, she told diplomats at the auditorium of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs "Torah" Rashi's interpretation of the Creation story in Genesis. “Rashi says the Torah opens with the story of the creation of the world so that if the nations of the world come and tell you that you are occupiers, you must respond that all of the land belonged to the creator of the world and when he wanted to, he took from them and gave to us.”
Diplomats who were present said that many of those present in the hall raised an eyebrow at her. "People were shocked," said one diplomat. "The first time they asked us to use the Torah for information purposes around the world." [end excerpt]
* "Senior Israeli diplomat: 'This land is ours' " (2015-05-21, AP newswire) [archive.is/0ZDio], an article, from a monopolist newswire considered as source material for television and newspapers across the world, whose author (or editor) censored the explicit references to religious books as legally binding law according to the new regime, to be recognized by world authorities. [begin excerpt]: In an inaugural address to Israeli diplomats, Hotovely said Israel has tried too hard to appease the world and must stand up for itself. "We need to return to the basic truth of our rights to this country," she said. "This land is ours. All of it is ours. We did not come here to apologize for that." Hotovely, an Orthodox Jew, laced her speech with biblical commentaries in which God promised the Land of Israel to the Jews. Speaking later in English, she signaled that she would try to rally global recognition for West Bank settlements, which are widely opposed. [end excerpt]
* " 'This land is ours,' says Israel’s top diplomat, citing religious texts" (2015-0523, by Patrick Strickland) [archive.is/5GKSC]
* "Hotovely laments Likud 'schizophrenia' on two states; Existence of Jordan is a compromise, deputy minister says, speaking out against conceding land" (2013-08-28, ) [https://archive.is/8yFDF] [begin excerpt]: A long-standing rift within the Likud party on the subject of a two-state solution was readily apparent Wednesday evening, as Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely and Likud activist Eli Hazan debated the subject as part of an event for young party members.
“The Bar-Ilan Speech [in which Netanyahu first expressed support for Palestinian statehood] was never authorized by the Likud. Members of our movement never agreed to found a Palestinian state. Certainly [Likud ideological forebear Ze’ev Jabotinsky] never agreed that another country would exist in the Land of Israel,” Hotovely said. She emphasized her ideology that the Greater Land of Israel must remain part of Israel, pointing out that Jabotinsky advocated a Jewish state on both sides of the Jordan River and that “the existence of Jordan is a historic compromise.”“Whoever believes in the Greater Land of Israel has never been prepared to give parts of our homeland away for any purpose, not even for peace,” she said.
According to Hotovely, Israel should annex Judea and Samaria and give Palestinians Israeli citizenship. She said she was unafraid of Israel becoming a binational state, rather than a Jewish state, as the government would also declare Jewish immigration as a national goal. Hotovely advocates having the government launch an intensive campaign for a million Jews from around the world to make aliya. If the two parts of her plan are implemented, she says, Israeli Arabs will be 25 percent of the population, 5% more than they are now.
Hazan, the deputy directorgeneral of the Jerusalem Institute for Justice, took issue with Hotovely’s proposal, arguing that Israel could not successfully bring a million Jews to Israel, because of what he called souring relations with non-Orthodox Jewry. In addition, he said he did not want to give Palestinians citizenship. “Look at Lod; relations between Jews and Arabs are catastrophic. Look at French Hill, Pisgat Ze’ev [in Jerusalem]; Jewish girls are afraid to go out in the street,” he said. “I’m a Jewish racist, and I’m not embarrassed to say I want a Jewish state with a Jewish majority.”
According to Hazan, “Netanyahu gave the Bar-Ilan Speech because he realized we can’t continue the current situation.” He argued that “the prime minister presented terms for statehood that would be difficult for the Palestinians. Like Jabotinsky, he said the Arabs need to accept the fact that we’re here and we’re not leaving.”
Hotovely and Hazan spoke at the Jabotinsky Institute – which occupies the lower floors of the Likud’s headquarters in Tel Aviv – addressing a crowd consisting mostly of enthusiastic party members in their early 20s, including groups from Bar- Ilan University and the Hebrew University.
The deputy transportation minister said she was “amazed” to learn that 50,000 Likud members are under 35 – like Hotovely herself – and asked those at the conference for ideas on how to revive young activism in the party.
“Young people are responsible for forming our party’s ideological vision,” she stated. [end excerpt]
To reward Abdullah Hussein with an emirate, Britain cut away 77 percent of its League of Nations mandate over Palestine earmarked for Jewish settlement and gave it to Abdullah in 1922, creating the new country of Trans-Jordan or Jordan, as it was later named.
1931 propaganda poster of the Irgun for distribution in central Europe – the map shows Israel defined in the borders of both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan.
* "New Israeli Administrator for the Occupied Territories Says Palestinians Are Sub-Human" (2015-05-08, portside.org) [archive.is/DyBXc]
* " 'Jim Crow' segregated bus system made official by Israel" (2015-05-20, imemc.org) [archive.is/QQO34]
* "False claims of anti-Semitism climb on US campuses" (2015-05-19, electronicintifada.net) [archive.is/D81y1] [begin excerpt]: Sixty false allegations of anti-Semitism have been recorded against students or faculty in the US since January “based solely on speech critical of Israeli policy,” according to a study by lawyers. Twenty-four of the documented cases were incidents “involving accusations of support for terrorism made against students or faculty, based solely on speech critical of Israeli policy.” [end excerpt]
* "New York Times Coverage Follows Narrative of Israeli State Power" (2015-05-20, by Matt Peppe) [archive.is/2sJmq]
* "Did Money Seal Israeli-Saudi Alliance?" (2015-04-15, consortiumnews.com) [archive.is/McFhD] [begin excerpt]: In September 2013, in one of the most explicit expressions of Israel’s views, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren, then a close adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told the Jerusalem Post that Israel favored the Sunni extremists over Assad.
“The greatest danger to Israel is by the strategic arc that extends from Tehran, to Damascus to Beirut. And we saw the Assad regime as the keystone in that arc,” Oren told the Jerusalem Post in an interview. “We always wanted Bashar Assad to go, we always preferred the bad guys who weren’t backed by Iran to the bad guys who were backed by Iran.” He said this was the case even if the “bad guys” were affiliated with Al-Qaeda.
Oren expanded on his position in June 2014 at an Aspen Institute conference. Then, speaking as a former ambassador, Oren said Israel would even prefer a victory by the Islamic State, which was massacring captured Iraqi soldiers and beheading Westerners, than the continuation of the Iranian-backed Assad in Syria.
“From Israel’s perspective, if there’s got to be an evil that’s got to prevail, let the Sunni evil prevail,” Oren said.
On Oct. 1, 2013, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu hinted at the new Israeli-Saudi relationship in his United Nations General Assembly speech, which was largely devoted to excoriating Iran over its nuclear program and threatening a unilateral Israeli military strike.
Amid the bellicosity, Netanyahu dropped in a largely missed clue about the evolving power relationships in the Middle East, saying: “The dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran and the emergence of other threats in our region have led many of our Arab neighbors to recognize, finally recognize, that Israel is not their enemy. And this affords us the opportunity to overcome the historic animosities and build new relationships, new friendships, new hopes.”
The next day, Israel’s Channel 2 TV news reported that senior Israeli security officials had met with a high-level Gulf state counterpart in Jerusalem, believed to be Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi ambassador to the United States who was then head of Saudi intelligence. [end excerpt]
* " 'Israel wanted Assad gone since start of Syria civil war' " (2013-09-17, jpost.com) [archive.is/DuaVT]
---
* "US press blacks out Israeli defense minister’s citation of ‘Nagasaki and Hiroshima’ as model for dealing with Iran" (2015-05-20, mondoweiss.net) [archive.is/IHKWW]
* "Dimona: Israel’s 'Little Hiroshima' " (2015-05-21, counterpunch.org) [archive.is/HCLoz]
* "Dayan Called for Using Nukes During 1973 War" (2013-10-03, richardsilverstein.com) [archive.is/HOu71]
* "The Dimona Plutonium Nuclear Reactor" (armagedon.org.il) [archive.is/DdHN]
* "Israel’s Lethal History with Polonium" (2012-07-07, richardsilverstein.com) [archive.is/mg4KK] [begin excerpt]: Now that the PA has agreed to exhume Arafat’s body in Ramallah, further testing has at least a 50% chance of determining whether polonium killed him [https://archive.is/ayqn2]. Testing of his body tissues could also isolate the nuclear facility from which the polonium was produced. If Israel killed him, it would’ve been far smarter to have procured Russian polonium than to have used material from Israel’s Dimona reactor. But if the material is from Dimona, the killers would then be exposed.
Though we can’t know for sure whether Israel did it, we can see who is creeping out of the mire to debunk Al Jazeera. Josh Block and Lenny Ben David, both paid pro-Israel operatives (one formerly with Aipac and the second, the Israeli embassy) are circulating discredited claims that Arafat was a “sexual deviant” [https://archive.is/76998] (Elie Leshem happily published this nonsense in The Times of Israel and justified it by falsely associating the term “pederast” with Arafat) who engaged in gay sex with his bodyguards and died of AIDS. The AIDS claims was convincingly debunked within the Al Jazeera documentary by a specialist who tested him (as did the French hospital where he died) and found him HIV negative. The gay sex smear was peddled in a smutty book by the Romanian ex-secret police chief under Ceausescu, who defected to the west. That was good enough for the “quality journalism” represented by the Times of Israel and its crusading, truth-seeking editor, Elie Leshem. ‘Nuf said. The Jerusalem Post quotes an “expert” [https://archive.is/7AOkC] falsely claiming that polonium deteriorates so quickly that no traces of it could remain after eight years. This expert has no scientific training, and in fact has a PhD in political science and is a colonel in the IDF [https://archive.is/g3f6g]. Hussein Ibish, DC neocons’ favorite Arab, writes in Foreign Policy [https://archive.is/vXx4B] that the Al Jazeera story is bogus because the symptoms Arafat presented at death were inconsistent with polonium poisoning. Ibish offers no scientific support for his claims. [end excerpt]
===*===*===
State of Palestine, and occupied territories
* "Strangled By War and Siege, Gaza's Economy 'On Verge of Collapse': World Bank" (2015-05-22, commondreams.org) [archive.is/0dqMy]
===*===*===
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia & GCC Council member states
* "Headhunting: Saudi Arabia hiring 8 new executioners after 2015 beheadings hit 85" (2015-05-19, rt.com) [archive.is/6xvVk]
* "UAE eyes "first Arab unmanned probe" to Mars by 2021" (2015-05-25, news.xinhuanet.com) [archive.is/fWlNv]
* "Wahhabis go nuclear — literally" (2015-05-22, by Pepe Escobar) [archive.is/RyJGv]
* "Israel thanks US for opposing nuke-free Mideast plan" (2015-05-24, AFP newswire) [archive.is/sWqPS]
* "US blocks nuclear disarmament document over Israel, Moscow fumes" (2015-0523, rt.com) [archive.is/PMYwi]
* "Non-proliferation talks fail over Mideast nuclear-weapons free zone plan; United States, Canada and Britain opposed a plan to set up a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East" (2015-05-23, middleeasteye.net) [archive.is/usLXl]
===*===*===
Ansar Allah Revolutionary Government of Yemen* "War Leaves Two-Thirds of Yemen without Water Access: Oxfam; 'This is equivalent to the populations of Berlin, London, Paris and Rome combined, all rotting under heaps of garbage in the streets, broken sewage pipes and without clean water for the seventh consecutive week.' " (2015-05-26, commondreams.org) [archive.is/GUjIy]
* " 'I have witnessed a crime against humanity!', a message from Caleb Maupin in the Port of Djiboutui" (2015-05-23, fightimperialism.org) [archive.is/ZMCrx] [begin excerpt]: From the Port of Djibouti in North Africa, it is with great sadness and burning outrage that I announce that the voyage of the Iran Shahed Rescue Ship has concluded. We will not reach our destination at the Port of Hodiedah in Yemen to deliver humanitarian aid.
The unsuccessful conclusion of our mission is the result of only one thing: US-backed Saudi Terrorism.
Yesterday, as it appeared our arrival was imminent, the Saudi forces bombed the port of Hodiedah. They didn’t just bomb the port once, or even twice. The Saudi forces bombed the port of Hodiedah a total of eight times in a single day!
The total number of innocent dock workers, sailors, longshoremen, and bystanders killed by these eight airstrikes is still being calculated. [end except]
* WHO medical aid arrives in Sana'a" (2015-05-24, sabanews.net/en) [archive.is/sJKmj]
* "9 people wounded due to Saudi bombardment on Amarn" (2015-05-24, sabanews.net/en) [archive.is/NTHEx]
* "Army and People's Committees are clearing the last hideouts of al-Qaeda province of Lahij" (2015-05-24, ansar-allah.net) machine translated [archive.is/bZDe1]
* (2015-05-23, ansar-allah.net) machine translated: A delegation from Ansar Allah leaves to Oman on board the plane belonging to the Sultanate after the kind invitation of the Sultan Qaboos
===*===*===
Islamic Republic of Iran, and international operations
* "Iran sees Bulgaria as a gas bridge to Europe" (2015-05-13, UPI newswire) [archive.is/Xgu4c]
* "Iran sets oil sights on Asia" (2015-05-21, UPI newswire) [archive.is/voXjN]
* "Exxon reviewing U.S.-Iranian ties" (2015-05-22, UPI newswire) [archive.is/D2YtH]
* "Iranians fire warning shots at commercial ship in Gulf" (2015-05-14, AFP newswire) [archive.is/Q6TMI]
===*===*===
Republic of Afghanistan / Islamic Republic Of Pashtunistan / Waziristan
* "The Spoils of War: Afghanistan’s Multibillion Dollar Heroin Trade ; Washington's Hidden Agenda: Restore the Drug Trade" (2005-06-15, by Prof Michel Chossudovsky, globalresearch.ca) [archive.is/t4csX]
* "Afghan forces struggle as Taliban seeks northern stronghold" (2015-05-26, AP Newswire) [archive.is/IyBYS] [begin excerpt]: As Afghanistan's U.S.-trained and equipped forces have struggled to fend off the insurgents -- who at one point came within 3 kilometers (less than 2 miles) of Kunduz -- authorities have increasingly turned to local militias and former warlords, a further indictment of the costly, decade-long U.S. effort to build an effective Afghan military. [end excerpt]
* "Security forces battle militants in Kabul diplomatic quarter" (2015-05-27, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/pY334]
* "4 Taliban militants die in attack in Afghan capital" (2015-05-26, AP Newswire) [archive.is/2Sgx5]
* "Afghan insurgents launch late-night attack on Kabul guesthouse" (2015-05-24, Reuters newswire) [archive.is/hDLYw]
===*===*===
Republic of Pakistan
* "Pakistani Workers Reject Government Plan to Privatize State-Owned Companies" (2015-05-01):
Red salute and Revolutionary May Day greetings from the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation (APTUF)!
The working class all over the world is commemorating May 1st -- International Labor Day -- and paying great tribute to the Chicago martyrs who sacrificed their lives for better living and working conditions in 1886, for the eight-hour working day. Their struggle has become the strong movement against imperialist capitalism; it is also a day of International solidarity to continue our struggle to end war and exploitative policies of Imperialist forces against the working class and poor masses.
May 1st is a day to commemorate the historic struggle of the workers throughout the world against Imperialism, capitalism, exploitation and for safe working conditions and respect for the dignity of workers. It is also a day of special significance for the labor movement and a day of worldwide solidarity, a time to remember past struggles and demonstrate our hope for a better future. It is a day of long history as a day of united actions and struggles of working people for their pressing demands.
It is a day to analyze the struggle of workers and trade unions for emancipation and what they gain and what they lose – to think over how to move forward against imperialist and capitalist oppression.
The Pakistani working class are celebrating May 1st in a very crucial situation. It is the day of all workers around the world collectively with one voice to oppose the capitalist system and demand equal share and equal rights “No to the IMF/World Bank, “No to Privatization”.
The Pakistani government decided and signed an agreement with the IMF/World Bank which requires the government of Pakistan to sell off public entities by December 15, 2015. We all know very well about the consequences of privatization and the accompanying mass retrenchment; they have shown clearly that this is not human development-oriented. It will cut costs – making things worse. The ruling classes is selling this country to US Imperialism and the capitalists piece by piece through privatization. They are ready to sell Pakistan Railway, WAPDA, Pakistan International Airlines, OGDC and also state-owned banks. Because of the strong resistance by the workers, the government hs been unable to privatize state-owned companies.
To strengthen our struggle against privatization, contract labour, bonded labour system, unemployment, bad law and order and extremism, APTUF appeals to trade unions all around the world to strengthen the struggle for peace, prosperity and workers progress and to raise their voices against the imperialist plan to privatize all our state-owned companies by saying, “No to IMF/World Bank” -- “No to Privatization”.
To pay tribute to Chicago Martyrs, who sacrificed their lives for workers’ rights and to extend the solidarity with the workers’ movement around the world, the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation and its hundred thousands of workers from the public and private sector, including women workers, will celebrate May Day with great fervor and zeal, holding rallies all across Pakistan. In Lahore on May 1st, the rally will start at 9:00 A.M from Gulberg Industrial area and march towards Assembly Hall and join All Pakistan Workers Confederation Rally
To extend solidarity with the Pakistani working class, please send message of solidarity to: [struggle0881@) yahoo.com] and to [nasirgulzar161@) gmail.com].
Long live May Day!
Long Live working class
Long live International solidarity!
[signed] Rubina Jamil, General Secretary ; Anwer Gujjar, President ; Nasir Gulzar, Chairman
of the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation ; Working Women Organization of Pakistan
===*===*===
Towards a People's Republic of India
[signalfire.org/category/maoists-india] [icspwindia.wordpress.com] [liberationbase.wordpress.com]
* "Hail the successful completion of the Politico-Military campaign in the Western Ghates Tri-junction" from "People's March: Voice of the Indian Revolution" magazine, Vol. 13, No. 3 [web.archive.org/web/20150430041544/https://icspwindia.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/pm-vol13no3-janmar2015.pdf]:
Overcoming innumerable obstacles and snatching initiative, PLGA fighters and urban action team combatants led by the Western Ghats Special Zonal Committee (WGSZC) of the CPI (Maoist) have opened up a new warfront in the State of Keralam, situated along the South Western coast of India. Their armed propaganda actions targetting the state, corporate and local exploiters, have broken the veil of lies and counterpropaganda of the reactionaries and revisionists and forcefully brought out the politics and rational of the people's war.
Some of these actions were done in broad day light through bold and rapid moves in urban centres, stunning the enemy and enthusing the people. The necessity of taking up arms and advancing the revolutionary war as the true means to seize and secure the rights of the adivasis and other masses over the 'Land, water and forests' has been widely propagated through these actions. This has attracted wide attention among the oppressed masses, particularly the youth. These actions were carried out as part of a PoliticoMilitary Campaign (PMC) carried out over a three month period, from November 2014 till January 2015. The aim of the campaign was to prepare the masses for the revolutionary war, defeat the initiative and aggressiveness of the enemy armed forces and advance the revolutionary movement. In the course of this campaign fighters of the PLGA engaged a section of the Thunderbolts in a firefight and successfully retreated without loss or injury, while throwing the adversary into panicked flight. It is notable that the Thunderbolts are a highly trained and heavily armed force specifically raised by the government of Keralam to suppress the Maoist led armed struggle.
The successful completion of the PMC marks a qualitative turn in the expansion of the people's war led by the CPI (Maoist) in the country as well as an overcoming of the stagnation faced in the armed struggle initiated in theWestern Ghats more than a decade ago in the Malnad region of Karnataka. Facing heavy repression, the party lost 16 of its valiant leaders and fighters, including comrades Saketh Rajan and Rajamouli (Secretaries of Karnataka State Committee) during this period, while striving to sink firm roots and advance the new democratic revolution by rallying the masses. Meanwhile, efforts to initiate the armed struggle in Tamil Nadu and Keralam too failed to get off, suffering grievous losses of comrades who were martyred in enemy attacks. Reviewing these experiences the party decided to pool all its capacities in the three Southern States and formed theWGSZC. This committee resolved to concentrate its major force at the Trijunction (TJ) of the three States in the Sahyadri mountain range (Western Ghats), while continuing work in Malnad.
Accordingly, plans and preparations were made to deploy. The deployment from Malnad to the TJ which began in May 2012 was completed successfully in May 2013 after overcoming many hurdles and enemy encirclement and suppression campaigns. Another beloved comrade and heroic guerilla comrade Yellappa was lost in one attack by the enemy. After reaching the TJ, the interlinking of all squad areas was further delayed due to inclement weather. It could be completed only by the end of 2013.
Soon after the PLGA squads reached the northern tip of TJ in Keralam in February 2013, their presence was exposed. The enemy launched a big military and propaganda offensive. They were aided in this dirty work by turncoats (aptly named 'exalites' by the late poet Kunjunnimash, in a play on the 'naxalite' tag given to Maoists) who have since long deserted the revolutionary movement.
While the enemy spread 'terror' stories, the 'exalites' complemented them with pontifications on the “improbability of a Maoist led armed struggle in 'advanced' Keralam”. Large scale combing and deployment of forces was done by the Kerala government. Simultaneous combing by Kerala-Karnataka-Tamil-Nadu forces was done in TJ area forests spanning the three States. These developments created some hurdles in carrying out the deployment plans and movement of the PLGA squads. However, it also brought about a new political atmosphere in Kerala. The Maoist movement, particularly the people's war, became a central topic of discussion, keenly followed by the revolutionary masses. Defeating the moves of the enemy and the antipropaganda of the turncoats, the party and PLGA were able to counter the enemy offensive politically, successfully complete military tasks and sustain work in the Trijunction.
The PLGA squads went to the toiling masses, practically witnessed the pathetic living conditions of the adivasis, propagated revolutionary politics and necessity of armed struggle and studied the socioeconomic condition to some extent. They were shocked to see the utter poverty and backwardness of the adivasi masses in Keralam, which the ruling classes and their trumpeter media boast as the most developed State in the country in terms of human development index. The assessment of theWGSZC was proved to be correct on the objective condition in TJ and the response from the toiling masses. Both are very conducive to build revolutionary movement, wage armed struggle and build revolutionary army. The enemy’s slanderous propaganda against the revolutionaries really helped them in a sense — the squads were not strangers to the people when they went to their villages as the enemy had already informed them about the Maoists! Relying on the masses, the squads successfully established themselves in the designated areas, built up their networks, carried out reconnaissance and prepared for action against the enemy. The successful preparation and carrying out of the PMC was the outcome of this solid work, carried out in exhaustingly difficult terrain full of steep inclines and braving inhospitable conditions.
During this period one more comrade, Sinoj, was martyred.
The area selected by theWGSZC as its main zone of work was, historically, mostly inhabited by fifty odd adivasi tribes engaged in agriculture and herding. Many of them like Paniyar, Adiyer, Kattunayakkas, Kurichyar, Todar, Kotha, Irular, Kurumbas, Sholigar, Jenu Kurubas, Betta Kurubas, and many others are living there for centuries. Being original inhabitants of the forests they enjoyed free use of its land and resources. Many of them were either huntergatherer or practised shifting cultivation. Some were pastoral. The feudal kings/British colonialists/nontribal people from plains invaded this territory, grabbed the land of the adivasis, overturned their tribal way of life and brought them under their rule. In Wayanad (Keralam), taking its name from 'Vayal nadu' (land of paddy fields), they were expelled from their habitats by British colonialism in the process of establishing plantations. A large section among them were forced into bonded labour in the plantations along with dalits brought from other parts of the southern peninsula. Under colonial forest rules and regulations the adivasis were denied rights in the forests. Similarly, in Attappady (Keralam), the indigenous Kurumbar, Mudugar and Irular were reduced to wage labourers, some working for the ganja mafia, due to alienation of lands and restrictions enforced by the forest department. In Nilgiri Tamil Nadu), the Todar, Kotha, Irular, Kurumbar were the original inhabitants. British colonialists occupied there lands in 19th century to set up military establishments, plantations and summer residences. The tribal
communities became labourers in their own land.
Nagarahole (Karnataka) was the land of Jenu Kurubas and Betta Kurubas for centuries. By the end of 19th century the British colonialists brought this area under their ownership forcibly evicting the indigenous communities for timber logging. The colonialists enforced many restrictions on the movement of adivasis and banned them from shifting cultivation, collection of forest produce and hunting for their livelihood. After the British, the Indian rulers followed the same policy. A large part of adivasi land has been alienated from them. Acts were adopted to restore these lands, but they remain unimplemented. Due to the encroachment of their traditional lands, oppression and exploitation by the nontribal exploiters, and eviction from their traditional habitat by the state authorities in the name of various projects, National parks,Wildlife Sanctuaries, Reserve Forests and other Protected Areas (PA), the adivasis in all three States are living in miserable conditions. The tribal people not only lost the land and the sources of their livelihood but also their rights, their dignity and their way of life.
Today they work as wage labourers in the estates and in lands owned by nontribals. More than 80 per cent adivasis are landless labourers, 35 per cent are poor peasants having less than two acres. The share of income from cultivation is less than 20 per cent of the total income. More than 70 per cent comes from wage labour and nearly 10 per cent from minor forest produce collection.
Even in a State like Keralam, comparatively enjoying better health facilities, death of new born among adivasis is a distressingly regular affair. On an average 40 to 50 adivasis, mainly women, are murdered in Attapadi alone every year. Their young are forced to work in far off places as household helps. The women are often made a target of sexual depredation. In the Kodagu region, adivasis and dalit landless continue to labour under bondage to feudal landlords.Though an Act has been recently adopted to grant land rights to forest dwellers, its implementation is nominal.
Apart from adivasis, dalits are the other major community working in large numbers as labourers. Their condition is not better than that of adivasis. The whole TJ area has a large rural proletariat, agricultural workers and plantation workers. Plantation workers mainly work in big and medium plantations owned by comprador bureaucrat capitalists or the government. Globalization policies has seriously affected both sections. In plantations, job security was badly affected.
Casualisation — the tendency of engaging workers on temporary, badali and contract terms is increasing drastically.Work load has also increased manifold while real wages have decreased. Their housing and other basic amenities remain the same as it was several decades earlier. Agricultural workers, mainly engaged in the small and medium holdings owned by rich and medium peasants, are becoming more and more unemployed or underemployed. The real wage rate is also going down due to continuous inflation.
The peasantry consists of three types in the whole area the landless and poor peasants, middle peasants and rich peasants. More and more poor and middle peasants are falling into debt trap; thousands have already committed suicide. The Sahyadri, particularly in Keralam, was also host to large scale inmigration of peasants. This has changed the demography of the whole TJ area.The adivasis were reduced to a minority. Over 80 per cent of the migrant peasants are poor and middle peasants. They worked hard to transform the hills and forest into fertile land in an unfamiliar territory and hard living condition. Today, their population is over a million. They are mainly engaged in cultivation of commercial crops such as coffee, tea, cardamom, rubber, pepper, banana, fruits and vegetables etc..They are often forced into distress sale of products since their economic conditions prevent them from holding on for better prices.They are squeezed dry by atrocious terms imposed by private and public creditors. Moreover, the prices of these commodities keep swinging wildly since they are ultimately governed by global markets. A series of free trade treaties signed by the Indian government in the past few decades have made matters worse. As a result of all such factors, all sections of the people living in this region – adivasis, dalits, plantation workers, agricultural workers and peasants – face heavy exploitation and oppression at the hands of the state machinery and various exploiters. Thus, there is every reason for the masses to be joyful over the successful deployment and activities of the PLGA in their surroundings.
The Sahyadri range, all the way from its northern end in Gujarat and Maharashtra till its southern tip in Keralam, has been the site of many a popular struggle, both armed and unarmed. In particular, one area of operation of the PLGA in Keralam at present, NorthWayanad, has the proud history of fierce resistance to British colonialism during the late 18th and early 19th century. The Kurichya adivasis were major participants in these struggles. Coming closer to the present period, Wayanad was one of the main areas of revolutionary struggles in Keralam inspired by the armed peasant rebellion of Naxalbari. It is also the only district where revolutionary activities have surged ahead again and again overcoming either setbacks due to repression or deviations.
Here special mention must be made of comrade Verghese, martyred in 1970, who played a leading role in organising the adivasi bonded peasants against feudal exploitation and went on to lead them in the armed struggle for the seizure of political power. His memory continues to inspire the oppressed masses throughout Keralam.Keralam has a long history of communist activity and valiant armed struggles led by the communists.When the CPI leadership deviated into revisionism, rank and file comrades in different parts of the State started seeking a way forward. They were attracted to the fierce ideological struggle being waged against Khrushchev revisionism under the leadership of Mao Tsetung. The peals of spring thunder from Naxalbari thus resounded in favourable conditions, and hundreds rallied to the path of protracted people's war. Ever since then Maoist led revolutionary activities has been a regular feature of the political scene. A number of heroic armed actions were carried out successfully. Many militant mass struggles were organised. At different periods, youth and students came forward in large numbers to join the revolutionary movement and serve the people. Yet all these efforts did not lead to building a sustained and developing Maoist movement. All throughout these decades, the revolutionary movement was repeatedly derailed by wrong tendencies and rightist deviations.
This was ruptured with in the early 1990s. On the one hand, a section of comrades rebelled against the revisionist line of K. Venu, rejected the theses that conditions in Keralam are not conducive for people's war and went forward. This initiative would be one of the components forming the Maoist Unity Centre, CPI (ML), along with comrades in Maharashtra, and then later, the CPI (ML) NAXALBARI, uniting with revolutionaries led by the late comrade SA Rawoof. A group of comrades, who had formed a new centre, rebelling against CPI(ML) Jana Shakthi rightist leadership, later merged with this. Meanwhile, sections who were disgusted with the right opportunism of the various ML parties present in Keralam rebelled and joined the CPI (ML) People'sWar in the early 1990s, which later merged with the Maoist Communist Centre, India in 2004 to form the CPI (Maoist). They too set out to rubbish the revisionist theses of Keralam's exclusivity. Both of these initiatives had been working independently towards initiating armed struggle. Now, following the merger of the CPI (Maoist) and the CPI (ML) NAXALBARI, they have become one. This has played an important role in the successful opening of a new front of the people's war in Keralam.
For the people of Keralam, this is a decisive step towards realising the revolutionary road long blockaded by revisionism. For the Maoist movement in India as a whole, it is the promise of firmly repudiating opportunist theses that deny the validity of the new democratic revolution and the people's war in regions that are relatively advanced. As such, it is already a rebuttal, in deeds, of the Indian state's claim to have isolated and restricted the revolutionary movement to Central and Eastern India. [end article]
* A fascist's view on the preceding article: "Maoists open new war front in Western Ghats tri-junction" (2015-03-27, dnaindia.com) [archive.is/uKXqI]
* "Protecting the Sahydari", from "People's March: Voice of the Indian Revolution" magazine, Vol. 13, No. 3 [web.archive.org/web/20150430041544/https://icspwindia.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/pm-vol13no3-janmar2015.pdf]:
Ever since colonial times, the resources of the Sahyadri mountain range and its dense forests have been targets of plunder. This has caused huge ecological devastation. Its northern end is almost denuded of tree cover. Recently this region has also become a major centre of 'environmental controversy'. This involves the issue of two government committee recommendations, namely the Madhav Gadgil and Kasturi Rangan committee reports. Among them, the former gained support from a large section of environmental groups and people keen to protect the Western Ghats from the depredations of various lobbies.
It also became the cause for an unprecedented unity among all the reactionary forces in Keralam, from Catholic church to the revisionist CPM. The UPA 2, then in power, was not very happy with the Gadgil report seen to be in full favour of 'conservation'. So it conveniently used the ruckus kicked up against it to appoint another committee. This committee, headed by Kasturi Rangan, dutifully produced another report reversing most of the Gadgil committee recommendations. Smelling blood, the human predators of Sahyadri – timber dealers, quarry owners, tourist resort operators, big estates and others – became even more aggressive. Relying on the networks of the Church and parliamentary parties they whipped up mass frenzy, already coked up through a wholesale campaign of lies on the content of the Gadgil report, and pushed them into the streets. Implementation of the Kasturi Rangan committee recommendations were also put on hold. During this entire course of events the Sangh Parivar and its various tentacles like the BJP were vociferous in demanding implementation of the Gadgil report itself. The calculation was that the whole issue could be used to promote communalisation since the Catholic Church was a prominent adversary.
It's almost a year now that the Parivar has full control of the Central apparatus through the Modi government. By extension, the Gadgil report should have been immediately resuciated, if not implemented. But what has come out is a 'High Level Committee of Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change' and its recommendations which are directed at cancelling or diluting existing environmental protection measures under the plea of removing impediments to 'development'. The Modi government had already made it clear on a number of occassions that it considers environmental protection concerns as one of such major obstacles. An indication of its resolve in this matter is seen in the 10 battalions deployed in the Raoghat hill range region of Chhattisgarh, specifically tasked with the supression of all opposition to the expansion of mining. One can well imagine the fate of the Gadgil report. The moral of the whole story is well put in these slogans of the WGSZC — “Neither Gadgil nor any other government report can save the Western Ghats.””United people's struggle to establish people's power is the only solution.” “Unite and fight for rights over the forest, land, and waters.” With the PLGA and the CPI (Maoist) leading it, through the expansion of the people’s war, the masses now have the opportunity to ensure the protection of the Sahyadri.
* "Counter-Revolutionary militerisation in the Sahyadri", from "People's March: Voice of the Indian Revolution" magazine, Vol. 13, No. 3 [web.archive.org/web/20150430041544/https://icspwindia.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/pm-vol13no3-janmar2015.pdf]:
The Congress led United Democratic Front (UDF) government in Keralam accuses the Maoists of upsetting the 'peaceful atmosphere' by taking up arms. To set the record straight, successive governments in Keralam, led by the Congress or the CPM, have been willing accomplices with the Central government's in systematically building up the deployment of its counterrevolutionary forces over the years. This is on top of the existent army, naval, air force and CRPF camps. As a result, from north to south, more than a dozen paramilitary camps have been set up. The fact that they include camps for the Border Security Forces (BSF) and the IndoTibetan Border Force (ITBP), well exposes that the real target of these Central armed bodies is not some foreign intruder but the people of this country. The Indian state is extending its 'war on the people'. Following the Low Intensity Conflict strategy put out by the US, this is accompanied by measures aimed at 'pitting the people against the people'. Adivasi youth are recruited into the Homeguards and pressed to act as informants and guides within the forest for combing parties. Reformist measures have also been speeded up. Remote adivasi villages which have rarely seen government officials are now regularly visited by high ranking officers with promises of largesse. Roads are being built at express haste. Houses are repaired and rations granted. An agitation of the Adivasi Gotra Mahasabha, ignored for months by the government, was quickly settled. Much propaganda is being done on how issues faced by the adivasis can be tackled and resolved through 'peaceful agitation'. Meanwhile, the iron, fascist hand of the state hammers down heavily on all who oppose it. This ranges from the arrest of mass activists involved in organising a public meeting that had already been given legal sanction to the recent arrest of human rights activists busy in exposing the violation of rights by the state. Earlier the Kerala Police had brought out a poster filled with photos, declaring all of them absconders. This caused much outrage since it included many well known public figures active in mass organisations or human rights forums and had to be hastily withdrawn. It has now come out with another poster with photos of Maoist leaders and activists martyred long ago. These are not ham handed blunders. They are consciously put out to terrorise and subdue opposition, while simultaneously conditioning the masses into the fascicisation of society.
A massive operation termed as a ‘megacampaign for area domination’, involving the paramilitary, special commando troops and State forces from Chhattisgarh, Andhra, Telangana and Odhisha, was carried out in Sukuma, Bijapur and Dantewada districts of Chhattisgarh (falling in the Dandakaranya war zone) starting from November 2014. It was launched as part of the 3rd Phase of Operation Green Hunt, the Indian state’s war on the people. Replete with all the fare of the OGH – loot, burning down of houses, torture of adivasi and nonadivasi peasants, illegal arrests, fake encounters and fake surrenders – this encirclement and suppression campaign had the added viciousness of targeting the peasantry right at the time of the harvests. This caused great disruption in the lives of the adivasi peasants of Kunta, Jagerkunta and Kisataram. Yet, other than this havoc and destruction imposed on the masses, the campaign was a megafailure.
The Indian state’s troops failed to locate and engage with the PLGA. Meanwhile, the PLGA not only succeeded in evading the enemy, it kept a constant track of their movement, probing for weak points, with the support of the masses. And the result came in the form of the Kasalbad attack of December 1st on the CRPF. 14 enemy troops were wiped out and 15 injured. The PLGA fighters seized a number of automatic weapons, including grenade launchers.
This daring action, carried out not far from a very large force, was a big blow to the morale of the Indian state’s troops. In a desperate attempt to cover up their abject failure, the Central and State governments’ initially put out a story of Maoists using villagers as ‘human shields’ which prevented the CRPF from firing at will, thus forcing it to suffer losses. Home Minister Rajnath Singh accused the Maoists of being cowards. All of this was dutifully reported by the media. But the truth was out soon. CRPF survivors revealed how they had let down their guard since the area was supposed to be ‘cleared’, how they were encircled and attacked, and how the PLGA combatants came close and made sure that each one of their bullets counted. There was not a word about any ‘human shield’. In fact a few days later reports came of villagers being caught and beaten up by the CRPF who accused them of aiding the Maoists. So much for the honesty of the Indian rulers and the concern of their troops for the people!
The lies of the government are very much part of the Low Intensity Counterrevolutionary strategy it follows. Reports about surrenders of Maoist cadres and PLGA combatants, regularly put out by the reactionary state and duly echoed by the media, is another leg of this strategy. In many instances these have been staged managed. Persons who had backed out of the revolutionary movement years before are picked up and forced to act out a ‘surrender script’ under threat of arrest and imprisonment. This is part of the psychological war component of the Indian state's 'war on the people'. As pointed out by Gudsa Usendi, spokesperson of the CPI (Maoist) Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee, it has an ugly monetary side too –– the loot of public money through embezzlement of the ‘head price’ of the ‘surrendered. Most probably as a fall out of the disgust this has generated, some sections of the media have started to expose ‘fake surrenders’. Thus the Indian Express reports, “Between June 1 and November 28, a total of 377 alleged Maoists are reported to have surrendered in the Maoist dominated Bastar division, 155 in November alone. A scrutiny of police records and meetings with these “surrendered” Maoists show that at least 270 of the 377 are actually ordinary villagers or routine criminals not eligible to be termed “surrendered Maoists”. The police is hoisting cases on hundreds of villagers without their knowledge, declaring them 'absconders' and then threatening them with arrest unless they carry out tasks imposed on them. This formed the context for a massive protest by the masses in end February, lasting for days and including blockading of an important highway.
* “Kabani is not just a river…”, from "People's March: Voice of the Indian Revolution" magazine, Vol. 13, No. 3 [web.archive.org/web/20150430041544/https://icspwindia.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/pm-vol13no3-janmar2015.pdf]:
Kabani is one of the main tributaries of the Kaveri, which has sources in both Karnataka and Keralam. Originating from the highelevated grasslands of Brahmagiri and Talakkaveri, it flows East through the Deccan plateau and cascades down the Hoganakal falls to flow on over the plains of Salem, Erode and Karur in Tamil Nadu. It then enters the deltas of Thanjavur before joining the Bay of Bengal.
The Kabani gives water to the tribes in the mountains, peasants in the plains and dwellers in the cities and towns, irrigates tens of thousands of hectares of crops of various types and supports thousands of square kilometers of multifarious forests teeming with wildlife. It connects several tribal peoples and nationalities, such as the Malayali, Kannada, Tamil, Kodava and Tulu. The banks of Kabani have been witness to several historical tribal revolts, peasant upsurges and anticolonial wars. The valiant Pazhassi Rajah and his Kurichya tribal commander Thalakkal Chandu and the Mysore Lion Tippu Sultan waged their wars against British colonialists here. The historical Kuruma, Kurichya revolts against the colonialists and their lackeys took place along its banks. Kabani is not just a river, the life line of so many species; it is the life blood of history itself.
During the historical armed upsurge of Naxalbari, the waters of Kabani once again turned red. Intellectuals and revolutionary youths responded to the call of Naxalbari's spring thunder. The banks of Kabani reverberated with the slogans of Naxalbari. Thirunelli inWayanad District (Keralam) was the epicenter of the struggle. Comrade Varghese, fondly known as the peruman (elder/leader) of adivasis led this historic movement. The sufferings of toiling adivasis the Adiyas and Paniyas and that of the migrant peasants fuelled it. Revolutionary intellectuals in the cities dreamed of the PLA marching down along the banks of Kabani to liberate the country. A radical film maker P.A. Bakkar, later made a film titled “When Kabani Turned Red”dealing with the lives of the revolutionaries of those days. The flow of the Kabani never stopped though the revolutionary movement faced a setback.
Even though reorganising against leftadventurism ended up in right opportunism, the social condition of lakhs of adivasis and peasants remained the same, if not worse. The land question of adivasis and the landless and poor peasants, the agrarian crisis of the middle peasants, rocked the banks of Kabani
repeatedly. Starvation deaths of adivasis and suicides of peasants continued. Adivasis and peasants were forcibly pushed out of their habitats in the name of national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, reserve forests and other infrastructural and developmental projects. More are on the verge of displacement. The plight of adivasi women in the treacherous ginger fields of Kodagu, the cries of those forced to become domestic helps in urban households, the sobbing of the unwedded mothers and their hungry children… the tears of the toiling masses mixed with and flowed on with the waters of the Kabani.
Spontaneous militant struggles of adivasis and peasantry broke out up in the 1990s. The land question of adivasis resulted in militant struggles like Panavally and Ambukuthi, and finally culminated in the Muthanga land struggle, where hundreds of armed reserve police unleashed a reign of terror. Com. Jogi was martyred in police firing and several adivasis were brutally beatenup and tortured. An 'adivasihunt' was launched all overWayanad. They were pulled of buses, hounded, arrested and tortured. Their lifelong earned assets were put on fire. Even suckling babies and older women were not spared. The banks of the Noolpuzha, one of the main tributaries of Kabani bore witness to these police atrocities.
Severe price crash of coffee, ginger and pepper resulted in a serious agrarian crisis which pushed the small and medium peasants into the debt traps of private finance companies (popularly branded as ‘blade’ companies for their ruthless style of operation and exorbitant rates of interest) and cooperative societies. Reformist organisations like Farmer’s Relief Forum tried to organise these peasants. A revolutionary mass organisation, Porattam, led militant struggle against the moneylenders.
The LDF, and later UDF, governments tried to stem this unrest with suppression and a few lollipops of debt relief. Coupled with a pickup in agrarian crop prices, this exerted a negative influence on struggles for some time. But the basic issues remained and the yearning of the masses continued. The movement of armed squads of CPI (Maoist), doing organisational work in the forest areas ofWestern Ghats, at the trijunction of the three States of Keralam, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu (KKTN), has now catalysed a new stirring up. When the squads were noticed and hit the headlines of the mainstream media, the Kerala State immediately carried out massive deployment of special commando forces (Thunderbolt, Scorpio) and launched a combing operation throughout the forest areas adjacent to the Kabani, its rivulets and tributaries. At the same time their counter parts in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu responded quickly by engaging the AntiNaxal Force (ANF) and Special Task Force (STF formed by Tamil Nadu to hunt down Veerappan). They started combing on their side of Kabani and the adjoining forest areas. This joint combing operation, ‘Operation Brahmagiri’, was aimed at destroying the new Maoist movement in the KKTN trijunction in its budding stage itself.
Hundreds of crores of rupees have been spent and several battalions of forces, including special commando forces, have been mobilised. Arms and ammunition in the police stations in the area were shifted to more secure places. In areas situated on and around the banks of Kabani, security of police stations was strengthened and commando forces deployed for their protection. The appearance of police stations have changed — bunkers, highbeam lights, fortification with sand bags and closed circuit cameras are now the norm. Media reports on the squads have been more sensational than factual. When this became a regular affair, police supplied more masala by specifying dates like February 18 (Com. Varghese martyr day), and then July 28 (Com. CM martyr day) as the dates for possible police station raids. The Northern Inspector General of Police declared a 15 days plan to eliminate the 'Maoist threat'. It was extended for a period of two months and further repeated. As of now it stands converted into a two year plan.
A section of petitebourgeois intellectuals, especially exnaxalites (appropriately termed 'exalites' by the late poet Kunjunnimash) questioned the reemergence of Maoist activities in Keralam. They claimed that the relevance of Maoist movement in Keralam was over by the period of mid 1980s. They reminisced over their involvement in building the movement in those days and claimed that they had later abandoned it after 'realising' that a revolutionary movement is an impossibility in an “advanced democratic society like Keralam which would frown at the Marxist concept of proletarian dictatorship”. Another section, representing capitalist production theorists, declared that Maoism and armed struggle are not relevant in Keralam since it is 'advanced' unlike backward areas like Chhattisgarh or Bihar where classical type of feudalism remains. This section also attacks Maoists as 'anarchists'. A growing influence of newleft ideas in the early 1980s among some leading intellectuals and activists associated with the erstwhile CRC, CPI (ML) in Keralam and the Janakeeya Samskarika Vedi (People’s Cultural Forum) related to it, later merged with postmodernist trends in the 1990s. They became the front runners of NGOs and the movements of the marginalised. Meanwhile, the main ideologue of that time, K. Venu, then the Secretary of CRC CPI (ML), launched a disguised attack on Marxism with a so called new concept of proletarian democracy, and soon went on to openly reject Marxism altogether. All of this dominated the intellectual sphere of Keralam over the years. Its leading lights have vehemently opposed the Maoists. Naturally, the rebirth of an armed Maoist movement has provoked them and their hardcore started a counter campaign which is used by the state against the revolutionary movement. That of course is not the whole picture. A section of intellectuals have been critical, of both the state and the revolutionary movement. Another section, after initial scepticism, later extended support. The squad moving along the Wayanad Kodugu area is named after the Kabani due to its historical significance in tribal and peasant struggles and the early phase of Maoist movement. The high elevation mountain ranges of Banasura, Brahmagiri, and Vattappana hill tracts and the evergreen forest cover and rocky hillocks makes for tough movement but it gives enough space for maneuvering. Even while the six months long rainy season makes everyday life of the squad difficult, it helps to mould the guerrillas to be strong enough to face any difficulty.
When the Kabani squad went to the adivasi, peasant and the plantation workers, their initial doubts were soon overcome. People were excited after seeing the women comrades of Kabani squad in their olive green outfit and with their long rifles. After coming close, their main query was about the life inside the forest, particularly in the rainy season, in an area full of blood thirsty leeches, locally known as “attas”, and elephants. Through interacting with the people in different areas, the question of landlessness, lack of valid pattas, right over the forest, the under development in that area, marginalisation, contradiction with forest department, the price crash of agriculture produces and the displacement caused by one sided conservation policies have been identified as the main issues faced by them. Through the activities of the squad, people's awareness on these issues has also developed. 'Kattu Thee' (Prairie fire), the guerrilla bulletin of the squad, has become very popular in this area. It is distributed and read clandestinely. It covers the burning problems of the people in simple language. Kattu Thee has created its own space in revolutionary propaganda. News of the visit of squads in different villages was repeatedly flashed in the media. The armed propaganda action against an illegal granite quarry in Kozhikode District and destruction of its machinery, coming in the midst of the hot debate over the GadgilKasturirangan
Reports and the subsequent polarisation, brought in a new dimension on the issue of protection of Western Ghats which has become a burning issue all along the high range areas of Keralam. Com. Mandakini, the spokesperson of CPI (Maoist) Border Area Committee, which is leading the Kabani squad, owned responsibility for the action against the giant granite quarry. She gave a call to reject Kasturirangan Report and expose the limitations of Gadgil Report. She went on to point out that the protection of Western Ghats can be materialised and the problems of the toiling masses can be resolved only through the development of class struggle and the establishment of their political power through Revolutionary People’s Committees. This action and subsequent statement thoroughly exposed the pragmatic and opportunistic anti-people approach of CPI (M) in this issue.
The state is not a silent spectator. Its armed forces conduct combing with huge formations, including simultaneous combing in different places combining special commando forces, armed reserve forces, forest department and civil police. It is trying to secretly build up a vast network of informers. Home guards are recruited from the tribes who have good grip over the forest tracts for building auxiliary forces with the idea of building another Salwa Judum. Several reforms are also adopted in order to attract people to their side.
The state is trying its best to eliminate the PLGA squads moving in the KKTN trijunction. But through their consistent work among the people the squads are becoming more and more popular. In the Kabini area, in paddy fields, tea gardens, coffee plantations, bittergourd gardens, banana plantations, in teashops and bus shelters, discussions mainly center on the Maoists and their activities. Though people are under the fold of different organisations and parties even at the grass root level, a polarisation is steadily emerging. The Kabini squad has initiated action to check the informer network of the police. It went to the house of one the police personal working in the Quick Response Team (QRT) who took initiative for recruiting adivasis into the informer network, warned him and burned his vehicle as a punitive action. It has caried out a number of actions as part of the recently conducted Politico-Military Campaign.
Once armed struggle starts, everything will be decided mainly through its development. The key question is who is going to take and maintain the political and military initiative. Along with the Bhavani and Nadukani, the other two squads in the Western Ghats trijunction, the Kabani squad is striving to win over the oppressed masses and to consolidate them into people's militia and mass organisations. It is trying to build basic party structures and carryout recruitment to the PLGA.
The pressing task is to take the movement into the next higher level in order to advance towards putting an end to the sufferings of the adivasis, landless and poor peasants, other peasant sections, plantation workers and other toiling masses, dalits, women and minorities, by destroying the existing state and building a new one which will establish the right of adivasis and people over Jal, Jameen, Jungle (water, land and forest), distribute land to the tiller, take over big plantations and hand them over to workerpeasant collectives, and put an end to the social oppression of dalits, women and minorities.
This task is not an easy one. But as rain droplets from the trees drip down to make streams, rivulets, and tributaries to form a big river like Kabani, which in turn sustains the life of all the species on its banks, the combined efforts of all the exploited masses along with Kabani and the other squads can surely achieve this goal. Now Kabani is no longer a mere river. Like the Son, Mechan, Godavari, Indravati, Tungabhadra, Bhavani and so many others, it flows, throbbing with the liberation aspirations of the oppressed masses.
* "Unite in struggle against the Indian state!", from "People's March: Voice of the Indian Revolution" magazine, Vol. 13, No. 3 [web.archive.org/web/20150430041544/https://icspwindia.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/pm-vol13no3-janmar2015.pdf]:
Under the signboard of globalisation, structural adjustment and open market economy world
imperialism has announced its global agenda to further intensify the domination, exploitation and
oppression of the people. The current global crisis of world imperialism has further sharpened its attacks, bringing about the inevitability of even more misery, horror, devastation and war, on a world scale. The proletariat and the oppressed people of the world continue to resist this agenda by raising revolutionary struggles, against imperialism and the subservient reactionary ruling classes of different countries, generating a new wave of people struggles all over the world, particularly in the oppressed countries. As Mao had formulated, the oppressed countries constitute the storm centres of world revolution and revolution is the main trend in the world today. The region of South Asia continues to provide a concentrated expression of this truth. South Asia, with more than 1/5th of the world population, is a simmering volcano, as recognised by the imperialists themselves. All the major contradictions in the region are intensifying and call for revolutionary solutions. In India, national liberation movements are continuing in Kashmir, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. The protracted people’s war continues to rage in Central and Eastern India and is now opening up a new front in the South West. Various people’s struggles against imperialism and the reactionary ruling classes are also surging forward. India forcibly maintains the oppressed nationalities under its hegemony. Not only does the Indian army of occupation crush their just demands with utmost brutality, they have been pitting one section of the people against the other to drown their just struggles in oceans of blood. This is to be seen in Nagaland, Manipur, Assam, Kashmir and Central and Eastern India. Naga
regiments are deployed in the latter against the people’s war and Indian Army is deployed in Nagaland, Manipur, Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya to suppress the national liberation movements. The Indian state is more and more functioning as the regional gendarme of US imperialism and thus fulfilling its expansionist ambitions, suppressing people’s movements in the subcontinent.
Indian rulers have been even more crudely intervening in the internal affairs of neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives. The recent visits of the Indian Prime Minister to various countries in Asia and hobnobbing with US and other imperialists are new steps to preserve and consolidate its political and economic hegemony in South Asia region, contending with China. Barack Obama, the US President, comes as chief guest for the Indian expansionists’ show off parade of the 26th to promote this and tighten US control. The Indian expansionist state backed by world imperialism, particularly US imperialism, constitutes the common enemy of the peoples of South Asia. The Modi regime of the BJP is transforming the state into a fascist apparatus to
crush all types of democratic movements in India, surpassing all its predecessors. It is attacking worker’s rights and going all out to deepen imperialist penetration of the economy. It is imposing Brahmanic fascist values in all spheres of society. The main thrust of this offensive is a new phase of the ‘war on people’ (Operation Green Hunt) aimed at destroying the ongoing protracted people’s war and intensification of suppression of various national movements. This means more fake encounters (of both revolutionaries and common people), more loot, destruction, mayhem, tortures and atrocities on people, more attacks, political and physical, on any kind of opposition, more trampling of civil rights, and more severe repression in various forms on political prisoners incarcerated in prisons all over the country.State violence in India is institutionalised through constitutional immunity to the police, the paramilitary and the army. The most notorious form of this is the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (1958). The AFSPA has its roots in British colonial legislation dating back to the mid19th century. More directly, it was based on a British colonial ordinance, called the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Ordinance promulgated in 1942 to assist in suppressing the “Quit India Movement”, part of the struggle against British colonialism. The AFSPA has been operative for years together in large parts of the Northeast region of India and in Jammu Kashmir. The AFSPA empowers security forces to arrest and enter property without warrant, to shoot to kill, even in circumstances where they are not at imminent risk. It’s a license to kill and rape when they want. It has facilitated grave human rights abuses, including extrajudicial execution, “disappearance”, rape and torture.
Declaring an area a “disturbed area” and granting the military extensive powers is in practice imposing an undeclared emergency regime. The AFSPA has allowed members of the armed forces to perpetrate abuses with impunity. They have been shielded by clauses in the AFSPA that prohibit prosecutions from being initiated without permission from the Central government. Such permission is rarely granted. If the AFSPA allows the most heinous suppression to be legitimised by the constitutional standards of the Indian state, all of this and worse is being done as part of ‘Operation Green Hunt’ in the battle zones of the people’s war led by the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in Central and Eastern India, without any pretence of legality and even in open violation of judicial sanctions. Here the victims are mainly the adivasis and dalits at the bottommost layers of society. In a span of ten years nearly two thousand have been killed and countless more brutally tortured, and jailed. This brutal multipronged countrywide offensive on people’s various resistances, particularly targeting the Maoist movement, has been raging unabated, since its launch in mid2009 by the UPA2 government till date. Preparations for its Third Phase are going on at a rapid pace under the fascist NDA Government. The peoples of Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Jammu Kashmir have been for long victims of the Indian state’s counter insurgency operations. Thousands have been killed by the heartless Indian armed forces. In Manipur alone, according to rough estimates, eight thousand nine hundred and eighty three beloved people have been killed, under the AFSPA. The sixteen lakh indigenous population in Manipur live under the jackboots of one lakh Indian armed forces killers equipped with sophisticated weapons. This is the real face of Indian ‘democracy’. This is the reality of the Indian Republic. It is a prison house of nations. It is a sweathouse for imperialism and its comprador lackeys. It is a torture chamber for the oppressed and exploited. We appeal to the people, to the oppressed nationalities and the exploited, all over India,
Let us all unite to overthrow the Indian state and destroy this monstrosity!
Let us support each other in our struggles!
Let us advance along the path of protracted people’s war guided by MarxismLeninismMaoism!
Let us fan the flames of new democratic revolution and thus serve the cause of the world socialist revolution!
January 26, 2015
Maoist Communist Party of Manipur / Communist Party of India (Maoist)
* "Modi’s fascist hindutva regime unleashes another wave of state repression and war on people" (2015-05-20, International Committee to Support the People’s War in India) [archive.is/KYoCr]
* "THE PROLETARIAT AND PEOPLE OF ECUADOR solidarity with the proletariat and people of India" (2015-05-24, DFLP) [archive.is/zF0tk]
People’s War in India Clippings
* (2015-05-21) [archive.is/OgCVf]
* (2015-05-22) [archive.is/tGmiD]
* (2015-05-24) [archive.is/A291t]
* "India: LWE Conflict Map 2014 (based on 2013 data from official sources"
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People's Republic of China
History & the Current Context [historyandcurrentcontext.blogspot.com/1979/10/peoples-republic-of-china.html]
* "Playing With Fire: US Unleashes Hybrid 'Proto-War' Against China" (2015-05-21, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/KQwcw]
* "Learned Statecraft; XI Jinping: The five major battles at Home, and the three major battles internationally" (2015-05-27) [archive.is/aQFG0]:
Introduction:
Xi Jinping came to power as Chairman, and afterwards, started a series of drastic reforms, namely in the the five campaigns of internal affairs, and the three international campaign. Here we take a closer look.
"Internal affairs" -
- The first big battle: for complete control of the military. By December 2014 there arrived to the Beijing military region a new Chief and a new Chief of the armed police headquarters, completely new executives, first phase of full control over the military. Upon completion of this phase, you can ensure the smooth development of political and economic reforms, as well as social stability. The second stage, is a clear step by step removal of army corruption, with real war generals promoted to the corresponding post; to direct the troops to the war, to battle and win, to protect the interests of national security and a growing number of overseas security.
- The second big battle: for ideological controls on media and opinion. For more than 10 years, opportunities in online media in China have been completely lost, while the United States and Japan have organizations of writers to fully discredit the Chinese cultural, political and social systems, Chinese leaders and community role models. Meanwhile, the Masonic forces invaded a number of Chinese traditional media; including the so-called south line, and even CCTV, are to some extent infiltrated by western forces. Now, the battle to regain the public discourse has begun; local propaganda Department transfers will rise, with massive anti-corruption drives in the media. Expect in a year or so that this process will be basically complete.
- The third main battle: on education and occupations in the field of education. Now, regardless of colleges and universities, or schools, many teachers lost all teaching of ethics. Especially in the universities, we see a Communist Party of eating Westernized meals, provided by the Communist platform, breaking the pot of the Communist Party. The CCP should be unsparing, against corrupt teachers, moral corruption, smashing the Communists in the westernization pot, clean out the teachers. The battle will commence in late 2015.
- The fourth big battle: Clear the economic field of traitor elements. The United States provides the "culture" for many of China's economists, are receiving hefty subsidies from the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Endowment Fund, LUX Fund, to maximize the benefits for the United States of requirements for the Chinese Government to provide economic "reform" programme; China becomes a United States financial colony, creating a United States "seigniorage" over China, the largest country. The Campaign will clear out economic traitors, will close the "Institute of economics" as a symbol, and related "economist" traitors will separately be disposed of to this end.
- The fifth-biggest battle: For the reconstruction of Chinese culture, and to reshape the beliefs of China. Accommodating for a future as an industrial society, Chinese culture is neither a traditional culture, nor a Western culture; it is rooted in traditional Chinese culture, the integration of the Marxist, as well as a new culture of Western-style industrialism. Only by establishing a new Chinese culture, Chinese people will have cultural self-confidence, will have their own beliefs. Mao Zedong thought is the typical representative of China's new culture: "Past serve the present" is to produce a modern interpretation of traditional Chinese culture. "Make foreign things serve China" is to achieve a Marxist and Western-style industrial culture, localized for China.
"International"
- The first big battle: the international economic layout, breaking the United States containment on China's geopolitical, political and economic systems.
Central Asia, and the broader Middle East, are the chest and abdomen of China's economy, for the "China goose" international economic layout.
South-East Asia is the right-wing for the "China goose" economic layout.
Africa is the left-wing for the "China goose" economic layout.
Latin America is the distribution point for the "China goose" right wing.
Eastern Europe, and southern Europe, is the distribution point for the "China goose" left wing.
High speed rail is the trump card of China; the popularity of high-speed rail will change the past 500 years of sea power yielding an era of world dominance, returning the world to land.
Completing the above layout, China doesn't have to worry about the TTIP and TPP.
- The second big battle: For RMB (Yuan) to become the world's third-largest reserve currency.
The Yuan becoming the world's third-largest reserve currency is the true completion of the internationalization of Chinese economy. Not even a political and financially single European Union currency can stand against the dollar, nor a politically independent Japan's Yen can stand against the dollar. Only the totally independent political, economic, military, cultural Chinese yuan may compete with the dollar. Only when the renminbi (RMB) has become a world currency, will China be able to obtain financial independence from the United States colonizer to exploit real assets against the dollar.
- The third main battle: the international dissemination of Chinese culture. In the form of wars between nations, there are many, we usually think of war is this: a military war. Besides that, there are: economic warfare, financial warfare, diplomacy war, trade war, currency war, psychological warfare, political warfare, food war, energy war, ideological warfare, weather war and other geological disasters... But...
In fact, the highest form of war is: culture wars.
Culture war, what is it? It is to brainwash you, to follow the opponents needed way of thinking; in accordance with the required behavior of opponents to act. The war opponents instill in you a power of suggestion for thought and behavior, so, you'd be his servant slaves.
No doubt in this war, the United States cultural invasion has been quite successful; mainly focused on two points:
- First, economically, with their theory of liberal economics. If you believe that, you would be willing to accept United States financial exploitation and colonization. Look at how this finance phony economic theory has become a Bible-like course of nearly ten million Chinese college students each year; our economists are too incompetent, or is this traitor's plot is too deep?
- Second, the ideology, mainly the packaging for capital baptised under the name of "universal values", with naked capitalism packaged as an ultimate human society. Nothing wrong with the American electoral democracy, capitalism replaced feudalism in the process, and has played an active and progressive role; however, as revealed by Marx in Das Kapital, in every pore of capital there flows dirty blood. There is increasingly an emphasis on an equitable human society, so that the "universal values" of capitalism are no longer suitable for this world, and there must be change. United States no ability to head this change. The United States can not afford this change while in charge. Generally, those who want to change, even the President of the United States of America, is always killed, regardless if it is Lincoln or the Kennedy brothers.
Chinese people have two benefits; Chinese culture will replace the rampant jungle world culture of the last 300 years; it is China that has become the world leader in the national and cultural output of what needs to be done, for this campaign must be completed.
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* "China ranked 4th among world space powers" (2015-05-22, news.xinhuanet.com) [archive.is/7i1Jj]
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* Canada: "Who is the 'Trojan horse' of China in North America to boost the yuan?" (2015-05-06, rt.com) [archive.is/dxv0J]
* "Renminbi Triumphant March: Canada Succumbs to Temptation of 'Yuanization' " (2015-05-26, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/SckFI]
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I love reading anti-China propaganda and comparing it to the reality of the USA. Too often, just replacing the word "China" with "USA" is enough to make an article describe the USA for what it is. This quote from an NPR article reflects this: "Yes, Baidu is the biggest, most powerful search engine in China. But the government is so vastly bigger and more powerful than Baidu or any other company or group of companies in the country. The government owns all the land, all the banks, all the TV stations, all the major newspapers. And it controls the army and the police. It does what it wants. And it doesn't have to care what anyone thinks." The quote shows the author's rejection of a civilian government in power over the military, police, and corporations. the opposite would be a militarized police state controlled by private corporations (preferably foreign)... fascism
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USA News has experts who say China oppresses Christians, but, the 7th Day Adventist Church, centered in the Napa Valley of California, published information about their operations in Shanghai, contrary to what we expect of an oppressive place!
* "Feeding the 5,000 Times 500,000 Serving the four largest unreached population groups" (2015-05-01, adventistworld.org) [archive.is/HascY] [begin excerpt]: Reaching Chinese Shanghai: The Year of the Horse Bible Studies: This is a bound book of Bible studies developed and printed by the wife of a principal of a Seventh day Adventist music school in Shanghai, China. The studies are based on the year of the horse and are wonderfully illustrated and printed locally. [end excerpt]
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* "Chinese Bike Light Strikers Occupy Factory, Face Firings and Arrests" (2015-05-20, labornotes.org) [archive.is/zcVEx]
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* "China: Rise, Fall and Re-Emergence as a Global Power" (2012-03-07, by Prof. James Petras) [archive.is/hmIAu] [begin excerpt]:
The study of world power has been blighted by Eurocentric historians who have distorted and ignored the dominant role China played in the world economy between 1100 and 1800. John Hobson’s brilliant historical survey of the world economy during this period provides an abundance of empirical data making the case for China ’s economic and technological superiority over Western civilization for the better part of a millennium prior to its conquest and decline in the 19th century. First we will outline the main contours of historical China ’s rise to global economic superiority over West before the 19th century, following closely John Hobson’s account in The Eastern Origins of Western Civilization. Since the majority of western economic historians (liberal, conservative and Marxist) have presented historical China as a stagnant, backward, parochial society, an “oriental despotism”, some detailed correctives will be necessary. It is especially important to emphasize how China , the world technological power between 1100 and 1800, made the West’s emergence possible. It was only by borrowing and assimilating Chinese innovations that the West was able to make the transition to modern capitalist and imperialist economies. [end excerpt]
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Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and Russia-China relations
* "Three ‘Yeses’, Three ‘Noes’: China’s Post-Cold War International Policy" (2015-05-11, chinadaily.com.cn) [archive.is/7HZtu]
* "China, Russia Plan Joint Landing on the Moon" (2015-05-26, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/3q6KT] [begin excerpt]: Moscow and Beijing are planning to enhance their cooperation in space research and conduct joint manned space missions, particularly, to the moon. The US does not trust these plans, fearing that China and Russia could work on an anti-satellite weapon. [end excerpt]
* "Freedom Rider: Russia Wins" (2015-05-20, blackagendareport.com) [archive.is/qm3Cr] [begin excerpt]: The leaders of the greatest land and people masses in Eurasia are forging a military, economic and political alliance that will fundamentally alter the world in both the near and long term. The United States behaved like the schoolyard bully accustomed to stealing lunch money from the weaker kids. The sanctions and the removal of Russia from the G8 were meant to neuter the gas producing giant. Russia not only stood in the way of American energy producing supremacy but also speaks out against Washington’s mischief carried out around the world. The Chinese haven’t been passive either while Washington tries to make the whole world bend to its will. They have forged ahead with their Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to compete with the World Bank and IMF. Washington has to watch as allies such as France and the United Kingdom are among the 57 founding members. Xi Jingping and Putin were literally cheek to cheek during the Victory Day parade. While American media made fun of the paucity of people they considered important, Russia and China strengthen their alliance. The two nations are holding war games in the Mediterranean Sea and have announced energy partnerships while the United States props up the failed state of Ukraine with billions of dollars. [end excerpt]
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Republic of Mongolia
* "Goldman Prizewinner Gets 21 Years for Resistance to Genocide Foreign Mining, State Corruption, and Genocide in Mongolia" (2014-03-06, by Keith Harmon Snow, dissidentvoice.org) [archive.is/XOU4Z] [begin excerpt]: Packed with distortions and outright lies, Mongolia’s privatized former state media called them the ‘enemies of Mongolia’. On 16 September 2013, the leaders of Mongolia’s Fire Nation (Gal Undesten in Mongolian), an environment and human rights coalition, organized a mass protest in front of the Mongolian Parliament. Decades of grassroots organizing to establish environmental protections were at risk: on September 16 the Great State Khural (State Parliament) gathered with intentions to dismantle the so-called ‘Law With A Long Name’ (LLN) [archive.is/pjqXk].
Adopted by parliament in 2009, after more than a decade of grassroots organizing and public pressure, the ‘Law to Prohibit Mineral Exploration and Mining Operations at the Headwaters of Rivers, Protected Zones of Water Reservoirs and Forested Areas‘ is the only significant Mongolian law protecting nomadic herders’ traditional lands and watersheds from further radioactive and chemical contamination, diversions of rivers and land-grabbing. With mining companies ignoring the law, destroying pastureland and watersheds, and no government enforcement, the livelihoods and culture of indigenous Mongolian herders are rapidly disappearing. These are the same mining corporations responsible for genocide and crimes against humanity in Africa and Latin America and everywhere we find them.
Symbolically armed with hunting rifles and antiquated weapons, the most courageous leaders of the grassroots Fire Nation sought to draw attention to corruption and collusion between government and foreign mining corporations. They are fighting to save their culture and people and their very way of life.
Corruption prevails in proportion to the obscene profits that have accompanied the flood of foreign currency, unbridled urban development, and rapacious mining, since Mongolia’s transition from a ‘communist’ to ‘democratic’ country in the early 1990s. Corrupt Mongolian elites, Western currency speculators, hedge fund and investment banks, and foreign NGOs have all profited from the largesse. [end excerpt]
The article received a comment by a representative named Terry Bates of one of the mining companies being criticized, [begin excerpt]:
I believe Mongolia is governed by a democratically elected government that is responsible for the policies relating to the way the country develops. It would thus appear that the views presented by the respondents are far from being the majority view in Mongolia. If views of the sort expressed are held by a majority of Mongolians one would expect to see those reflected in government policies. Quite clearly your government wishes to attract foreign investors and having done so it has an obligation to see that their investments, in whatever sector of the economy they invest in, are reasonably well protected
In widespread travel through Mongolia I note that many if not most herders have solar panels, sometimes TVs, and invariably motorbikes and vehicles at their gers.It therefore seems that most are quite prepared to take advantage of the products of mining. [end excerpt] Terry bates goes on to criticize the facts in the article as pertains to his company, which is then rebutted by the author of the article, showing insights into the ethics of the companies profiting from the exploitation of public resources of the Republic of Mongolia.
keith harmon snow | February 11, 2014 9:41 AM
Terry Bates began his exchange with me complaining about my story, and me, stating: "Its is [sic] surprising that so much space is given to the incoherent rants of some obscure eco freak." This is not the way to begin a dialog. Now that he has jumped into the fire (being confrontational, aggressive and name-calling from the beginning) it seems he can't take the heat. As far as the "facts" and statistics (e.g. the number 3928 hectares) that I used in my first reply to him -- ALL OF THE INFO AND THE MAP COME FROM HIS OWN COMPANY'S WEB SITE! (I never said that all the places shown on the map from his company's web pages are locations where Meritus operates, only that it is their map and shows the star where they are operating in Northern Mongolia.) But the report (from his web site) says they have a subsidiary operating in Southern Mongolia too. The report gives the concession size, 3928 hectares, etc. If Meritus Minerals are unable to even keep their public relations in order, well, watch out Mongolia: expect the usual toxic pollution and land grabbing and sorry ass excuses (as above). And, if you Mongolian people get in the way, Mr. Bates will undoubtedly call in the paramilitary (mercenaries) through the "government".
Here is the link to Mr. Bates info that I used above (which he disputes):
[web.archive.org/web/20131021002402/http://meritusminerals.com/_resources/presentation.pdf]. It is from his own corporate report! Of course, we can expect that it will disappear now...
Also, I wonder why the Toronto Stock Exchange issued a "cease trading" order against Meritus... Not that the exchange itself is anything other than profit based shock-doctrine capitalism. (this is alsop eported on their web site...)
Finally, clearly Mr. Bates is used to dealing with complicit complacent corrupt United Nations "officials" and I am proud to say I am not one of them (any longer). My history with the UN is easily discoverable on line, and on my own web pages. See [archive.is/G6zqN]. After I blew the whistle on UNICEF for supporting and condoning genocide in Ethiopia, well, that was the end of any career in the misery industry. I'd much rather be poor and honest and on the side of the people of Mongolia than rich and cowardly and screwing the people over.
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Republic of Korea (RoK) in southern Korea
90% OF THE FOOD COMES FROM ABROAD! North Korea? No, South Korea!
* "South Korea's food security alarm" (2011-04-29, farmlandgrab.org) [archive.is/vWXQs]
* "Korea Policing the Net. Twist? It’s South Korea" (2012-08-12, nytimes.com) [archive.is/MgEoW]
* "South Korean activist arrested over pro-North comments" (2015-01-14, ft.com) [archive.is/CSHiH]
===*===*===
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in northern Korea
Info collected by Juche-Buddhism Friendship Society, for Peace through Knowledge! [Juchebuddhism.blogspot.com]
* "Interview: A Capitalist in North Korea (Yes, They Do Exist...)" (2013-01-15, minyanville.com) [archive.is/SljcQ]. Though far from becoming a beacon of freedom anytime soon, entrepreneur Felix Abt says that, "by North Korean standards, there has been quite a practical change in society and the economy."
* " ‘Automatons, Slaves or Members of the 1% in N. Korea’ " (2015-03-23, koreaobserver.com) [archive.is/emROb]
WOMEN HAVE SICK LEAVE IN NORTH KOREA making them better off than U.S. women, says this Washington Post article [https://archive.is/IHlxA]
* "People with Disabilities in a Changing North Korea" audio report, with Katharina Zellweger [web.archive.org/web/20150522020413/http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/a/4/d/a4dc06aad2ace825/2015-04-30_PeopleWithDisabilitiesInAChangingNorthKorea.mp3?c_id=8903470&expiration=1432261916&hwt=ef790638252fa09e221c63e11dbec5cb]
* Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) [facebook.com/pustkp]: The first year all of our students MAJOR in English. All classes thereafter are taught in English. English teachers play a valuable role at PUST. Are you an English teacher seeking a place to make a difference in the world? We welcome all applications for summer and fall positions. Master degree preferred.
* PUST photo showing the new co-ed class for 2015 [archive.is/qSNWv]
* "My Experience at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, North Korea" (2014-10-12) [youtube.com/watch?v=KE9UH6dBLf0]
* "My Experience at PUST (North Korea)" (2014-02-06) [youtube.com/watch?v=KnBuzVOaMIw]: I've taught English at PyongYang University of Science and Technology for the past 3 summers. This is my experience teaching English and soccer in the DPRK (North Korea). If you would like to volunteer to teach there please contact [hr.pust@) gmail.com]. The official school website is [pust.co].
THE U.N. GENERAL SECRETARY IS A SUPPORTER OF NORTH KOREA’S INDUSTRIAL PARK IN KAESONG, WHERE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF NORTH KOREAN WORKERS ARE EMPLOYED BY SOUTH KOREAN COMPANIES.
Before his visit to Kaesong, General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, a South Korean, stated: “The Kaesong project is a win-win model for both Koreas. It symbolises a good aim to tap the advantage of South and North Korea in a complementary manner. I hope my visit will provide positive impetus to further develop it and expand to other areas.” Too bad that the visit was cancelled.
* "North Korea reverses decision to allow visit by UN's Ban Ki-moon" (2015-05-19, upi.com) [archive.is/ovaf7]
* "Ban Ki-moon to visit North Korea in effort to improve ties with South" (2015-05-19, theguardian.com) [archive.is/nJsQG]
INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR A NON-EVENT FOR INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Today begins the 18th Pyongyang Spring International Trade Fair in Pyongyang. The mainstream media love to write about (unconfirmed) executions while largely ignoring this event.
* "Pyongyang vies for FDI" video (2015-05-13) [dw.de/pyongyang-vies-for-fdi/av-18447182]: North Korea continues to flex its military muscles, test-firing ballistic missiles. But at the same time the Pyongyang government is trying to boost its economy and attract some much-needed foreign investment. Its Spring Trade fair is a case in question.
* "North Korea’s growing economy — and America’s misconceptions about it" (2015-05-13, washingtonpost.com) [archive.is/iLh3S].
Felix Abt (@felixabt) tweets (2015-03-13): MNC (multinational corpororations) are afraid of Uncle Sam's North Korea embargo, Chinese SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) are not. This is one important reason why North Korea's economy is growing.
Reply to Felix Abt by Joshua Stanton, a leading sanctions advocate in Washington D.C.
Response to Joshua Stanton by Felix Abt: THE BATTLE FOR MORE SANCTIONS HURTING THE WEAK CONTINUES. It's absurd. While the U.S. administration came to the conclusion that sanctions against Cuba did not achieve the U.S. policy objectives, the same coercive means are still believed by many to achieve Uncle Sam's goals in North Korea.
* "5 Reasons Why You Should Play Golf in North Korea" (2015-05-04, uritours.com) [archive.is/YNVe2]
* " 'If the cap fits' - Golf in North Korea" two photos (2015-05-15) [https://archive.is/CizRL]: Felix Abt proudly displays his new PYONGYANG GOLF CLUB caps (with additional logos…) recently bought at the Pyongyang Golf Course. As businessmen the world over know, deals are just as likely to be clinched on the golf course as in the boardroom. And North Korea is no exception. As a foreign business person in North Korea be prepared to wheel and deal on the golf course, or in a restaurant or karaoke room, rather than in a stuffy meeting room. So don’t forget to pack your clubs and brush up on the lyrics of “My Way” or “It’s Raining Men” before your business trip. And if you pass Felix on the fairway, give him a wave!
* "N.Korea Gives Up on Big Collective Farms" (2015-04-28, english.chosun.com) [archive.is/AC2M7]
SUFFERING FROM THE ‘PYONGYANG ILLUSION’ OR THE ‘COUNTRYSIDE ILLUSION’?
In his interesting book review Dr. Stephan M. Haggard mentions what he calls the “Pyongyang illusion”. I'm not sure if I suffer from it since I also traveled to and worked in places far from the capital where I spent my nights during cold winters in guesthouses without power but with candlelight – how romantic! – and without running water but with buckets filled with ice-cold water for my showers – how refreshing! Why not call me a victim of the “countryside illusion”? (•‿•)
* "Felix Abt’s 'A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom' " book review (2015-05-19, by Stephan Haggard, blogs.piie.com) [archive.is/EAiiv]
* "GERMANY WITHDRAWS ITS NORTH KOREA TRAVEL WARNING" photo (2015-03-12, by Felix Abt) [archive.is/qX6lN]: Germany's foreign ministry has just publicly deleted a safety note advising against travels to North Korea. Regardless of any health threat in North Korea, the U.S. State Department, however, will ALWAYS warn against traveling to North Korea. After all, they seem to have no interest in ending the unfinished Korean war any time soon...
CRAIG URQUHART – A MYSTERIOUS JOURNALIST AND KOREA ‘EXPERT’
Mike Bassett writes about a bizarre encounter on his FB-page
Quote
Ah, a day in the life...
Journalist: "Your academic background and experience on the peninsula does not lend you special credibility on Korean issues."
Me: "Okay, and your background as a journalist does? Why are you wasting my time?"
Journalist: "I heard you were volatile."
Me: "Only when people waste my time to insult me. Go fuck yourself. Put that in your stupid article."
Unquote
Mike was approached by journalist Craig Ullman. Incidentally, Ullman was the name of a Nazi chief of security in the BBC TV series 'Colditz'.
In the following discussion on his page Mike explains how he found out that the real name of this “investigative” journalist is Craig Urquhart who is notorious for systematically trolling people like Mike and myself when he does not agree with them.
For the first time I saw an op-ed published by the same Craig Urquhart in NKNews - North Korea News where he gives a long-winded explanation why American troops should be withdrawn from South Korea.
It’s a no-brainer that it’s an absurdity that the world’s 13th largest economy needs another country to take care of its defense. Or are the U.S. troops in South Korea part of a bigger plan, namely of what the U.S. calls ‘containment’ of rival China?
Nevertheless, it’s for the first time I read something from Craig Urquhart that’s more sensible and a far cry from what I had to read when he relentlessly trolled me on Facebook, blogs, other social media and Amazon.
On a single day, on November 10, 2014, for example, Craig Urquhart (who was never in North Korea and whom I never met) trolled me with over 50 (in words: fifty) posts in a Facebook group. It was certainly the longest series of abuses I have ever been exposed to. In his endless tirades he called me, among other things, "a criminal, a parasite transmitting diseases, a profiteer on misery using slave labor, unprincipled prick, so unutterably wretched, inhuman monster, package of lies and distortions." And like any other good jihadi in a holy war he wrote that "tens of thousands should get into Stone-throwing moods" against me.
If this op-ed piece is a sign that the man starts reasoning then it would certainly be a positive development.
* "American soldiers need to leave South Korea" (2015-04-22, nknews.org) [archive.is/T4hCm]
[Mike Basset adds]:
Once he deceptively mentioned that he'd read the entire book written by "that Swiss businessman" I realized it was him. What other expert or journalist would say something like that but pretend to forget your name? Instant red flag.
I immediately called him out, and he denied that he was Uruqhart and started insulting me for my war trauma saying is "takes credibility away" from my arguments.
Uruqhart also for a month straight bombast-ed me with hundreds on hundreds of hateful comments on every corner of the internet. I even had some journalists emailing me telling me I "should probably report him, cuz he seems dangerous and unstable."
And he's not an expert... Most of the information that informed his analysis came from myself and Josh Stanton. Which is interesting since we are both veterans who were stationed in Korea,m yet have polar opposite world-views...
Craig and I exchanged dozens of emails which he used to inform his Op-Ed. Again, I'm actually a fan of it. I respect strong views and vitriolic semantics.
I get so sick of this field sometimes because everybody writes like they've got a grad school stick up their asses. Hey, I've been to grad school twice and I feel no need for that shit, but to each their own.
* "Aid groups to suffer if EU sanctions North Korean bank" (2013-04-09, reuters.com) [archive.is/z49Ih]
* "ARMCHAIR STRATEGISTS AND THE TRIVIALITY OF NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS" (2015-05-21, by Felix Abt) [https://archive.is/kzIlv]:
Dr. Jeffrey Lewis is the Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and an affiliate with the Center for Security and International Cooperation at Stanford University.
He made the following tweet to which I replied in order to give some nuance to a totally one-sided view. Check it out!
Jeffrey Lewis @ArmsControlWonk May 20: Maybe someone should ask @GloriaSteinem how lifting sanctions on luxury goods and missile components will help the North Korean people.
Felix Abt @felixabt May 21: Did you know the U.S. banned beauty & makeup including lipsticks, called 'luxury', for #NorthKorea's women? Components for the production of food, pharmaceuticals, car & motorbikes etc. etc. r banned too. Did u know that Google, Yahoo & Microsoft are banned in #NorthKorea - by the US gov?! [http://www.minyanville.com/sectors/global-markets/articles/A-Capitalist-in-North-Korea253A-An/1/15/2013/id/47409]
@ArmsControlWonk gets paid by bank transfer. A trader in #NorthKorea has to collect sales proceeds abroad with a suitcase
IMPERIAL CENSORSHIP? U.S. ambassador to United Nations (U.N.) Samantha Power(ful) orders U.N. to cut off North Korea microphone and the U.N. obeys!
* "After US Power Says Cut North Korea's Mic & UN Does, UN Won't Say Why" [youtube.com/watch?v=V1CY1LXdssI]
Felix Abt writes: TORTURE BY THE USA. Instead of investigating wrongdoings and sentencing criminals by courts as usually done in law-based states the U.S. used to outsource incarceration and torture to secret prisons around the globe, from Egypt to Romania. The former Romanian president has just admitted the existence of secret CIA-run torture prisons. Don't expect that there will be ever a U.N. commission investigating such human rights abuses - this is not North Korea!
* "Torture in Romania: Ex-President Iliescu is existence of CIA prison" (2015-04-22, spiegel.de) machine translation [archive.is/pH2pR]
THE GLOBAL MISSILE THREAT
On the one hand: South Korea downplays North Korea’s submarine missile capability (as it’s in a very early development stage)
* "South Korea Downplays North Korea’s Submarine Missile Capability" (2015-05-11, bloomberg.com) [archive.is/6jYYX]
On the other hand: the U.S. plays up the North Korea missile threat to allow THAAD deployment to 'contain' China
* "US plays up N Korean sub threat to allow THAAD deployment" (2015-05-08, wantchinatimes.com) [archive.is/olXe6]
And here’s a detailed list shedding some light on the global missile threat
* (archived 2015-05-21, missilethreat.com) [archive.is/2TgSw]
WAR PROFITEERING: The growing "North Korea industry" outside North Korea will only thrive if tensions and misery can be maintained. A North Korea, changing through engagement, which could be furthered by ending the Korean War, now entering its 8th decade, is clearly not in their interest. On the contrary, they call for an intensified economic and propaganda war, which seems to be the industry's best marketing tool. More:
* "The Human Rights Activist ‘Anti-Peace Plot’ to Maintain the Korean Status Quo" (2015-05-11, thepeacewager.org) [archive.is/DPC8M]
ACTIVISTS WANT NORTH KOREA TO 'HACK THEM BACK'
The American NSA has been hacking North Korea since 2010, starting 4 years before the Sony hack!
* "US spy agency hacked North Korea before the Sony attack; US knew Pyongyang was behind the Sony hack because it had hacked into North Korea's cyberwar unit since 2010, but was unable to detect the plot ahead of time" (2015-01-19, telegraph.co.uk) [archive.is/WBxlg]
HAWKISH POLITICIANS TEAMING UP WITH PROMINENT DEFECTORS
Instead of promoting the end of the Korean war, a normalization of bilateral relations like Nixon did with Mao's China and Obama is doing with Cuba at long last, they prefer throttling, cornering and isolating North Korea to engagement, incremental change and transformation into a 'normal' member of the world community. We know the politicians, but who are their prominent allies?
☆ Park Yeon-mi (here with Hillary Clinton) is the defector who claimed to have crossed the Gobi desert as a malnourished young teenager at 40 degrees below zero in a single night. More from her here: "Yeonmi Park: The Defector Who Fooled the World" [archive.is/v7S9Z]
☆ The New York Times wrote about Shin Dong-hyuk (here with George W. Bush) that he "is retracting central facts of his life story, memorialized in a 2012 book, 'Escape from Camp 14,' by a former Washington Post reporter that has been published in 27 languages."
The Times continued: "Mr. Shin’s latest account has raised its own questions. He now says he escaped Camp 18 twice, in 1999 and 2001, was caught both times, and eventually handed to the infamous Camp 14. - 'He is still lying,' said a North Korean defector who said he was in Camp 18, speaking on condition of anonymity because he has family in the North. 'You just cannot escape a North Korean prison camp twice, as he said he did, and is still alive and manages to escape a third time, this time from the total-control zone.' "
* "Prominent North Korean Defector Recants Parts of His Story of Captivity" (2015-01-19, nytimes.com) [archive.is/DttiQ]
* " 'Kim Jong Un doesn’t like me at all', says 21-year-old defector from North Korea" (2015-04-23, nytlive.nytimes.com) [archive.is/vFhpF]
Felix Abt writes: DID A YOUNG MALNOURISHED UNDERWEIGHT NORTH KOREAN TEENAGE GIRL TREK THROUGH THE GOBI DESERT AT 40 BELOW ZERO?
After Yeon-mi Park claimed in an Irish newspaper that there is a holocaust going on in North Korea with "bodies piling up in the streets and floating in the rivers" - a claim I challenged which induced demagogues like Stanton, Potter and Urquhart to troll me - she told another newspaper she was misquoted. I then contacted the Irish journalist who confirmed to me by email that Yeon-mi was correctly quoted as the journalist taped her statements.
The media have never challenged Yeon-mi Park's conflicting narratives (with the exception of one single courageous journalist in a newspaper of marginal importance). Here is a list of contradictory claims:
* "Yeonmi Park: The Defector Who Fooled the World" (2014-12-22, jooparkblog.blogspot.de) [archive.is/NYdg4]
* "Woman, 23, reveals how she trekked for two months across mountains and crocodile-infested river to flee North Korea after being forced to work for 15 hours a day down a coal mine for 50p a day" (2015-05-20, dailymail.co.uk) [archive.is/jKyPu]
" my mom telling me not to even whisper, because the birds and mice can hear my whisper,” - sounds like more to do with Confucian cultural moors of the role of children than on what DPRK leaders say.
She also says she crossed the Gobi desert in a night (one whole night to cross a whole desert at -40C). Maybe it was a poor English translation?
Maybe she is saying that a car dropped them off near the border in the Gobi Desert and they crossed the border at night. They couldn't have crossed the whole desert?
* Charles Park, in "North Korea Study Group":
I don't know. Jiaming Piao (if I remember his name correctly) said that he is leaving the North Korea Study Group because it was full of apologists for North Korea. It turns out he has. As for me, I do not know too many apologists. I'm certainly not one of them. As one of the persons who debated with him, however, I think maybe he was referring to me too.
It seems to me that Jiaming Piao, who describes himself as a defector and reports that his family suffered in DPRK, is understandably very anti-DPRK - to the point of emotionalism. By "emotionalism" I mean that he, like some defectors (ok. throw in there NGOs and "experts" too), fails to consider all the facts and look at the North Korea problem from a holistic systems perspective, beyond their narrow experience or agendas.
For him, specifically and as an example, DPRK was a country run by incorrigible Nazis, which it seems to me to be a form of blatant false equivalency. This is especially so since the Nazis in terms of acts of brutality and in terms of scale were arguably much more inhumane than the North Koreans. How many countries did the Nazis invade vs. DPRK? How many people did the Nazis incinerate vs. the DPRK? It is not only hard to compare but also logically difficult. If you want to conjure up images of gas chambers, South Korean president Rhee's atrocities related to the Bodo League Incident in which about 200,000 Koreans were systematically killed is not too far unrelated.
Then if you try to explain to Piao how DPRK might work from the world systems (geopolitics) and game theory (personality cult) perspectives - that is, to try to understand and explain North Korea rationally and objectively using the available known facts and reasonable suppositions, then you are an apologist - in his eyes. The only reason he condemns you is because you won't uncritically join him in the condemnation of the DPRK.
Oh well... Is this a Korean thing?
[Philip Dorsay Iglauer comments] "It is the epitome of ad hominem to name call someone who advocates engagement with the enemy (e.g. engagement with North Korea as opposed to war with it ). It's underhanded to call people an "apologist," a "sympathizer" or, indeed, even an "agent" of North Korea. It shuts down debate. Red baiting like that is the stuff of 1950s era McCathyism"
THE EXECUTION OF THE HYONS
HYON, a North Korea celebrity, executed & later back from the dead.
* "Back from the dead: ‘Executed’ N. Korean singer makes live appearance on State TV" (2014-05-20, rt.com) [archive.is/k8FNJ]
HYON, another celebrity and defense chief, now reported executed. Will he be back too?
* "Kim Kyong Hui Still Alive, NK Sources Confirm" (2015-05-12, dailynk.com) [archive.is/oHRHN]
NORTH KOREA'S EXECUTED DEFENSE CHIEF IS NOW BACK FROM THE DEAD.
Based on 'information' by South Korea's spy agency claiming General Hyon Yong Chol was executed by antiaircraft gun for insubordination (falling asleep during an event organized by leader Kim Jong Un) and treason the global media were quick at spreading the news of the execution.
But now South Korea is retracting the claim saying he was purged, not executed.
* "North Korea defense chief was purged, maybe not executed, says Seoul's spy agency The National Intelligence Service revised its statement hours after claiming Hyon was believed to be dead" (2015-05-13, upi.com) [archive.is/IuFrS]
* "Questions over N. Korea defence chief execution" (2015-05-14, AFP newswire) [archive.is/U5w5F]
WHY PEOPLE BELIEVE GORY FALSEHOODS ABOUT NORTH KOREA
* "Don't Believe the North Korea Horror Stories" (2015-05-14, bloombergview.com) [archive.is/BM8XS] [begin excerpt]: People are more likely to share a news story when it chimes with their worldview, or with that of popular network users they follow. Selective exposure, as the phenomenon is known in academic circles, is a source of joy for propagandists and intelligence services that seek not so much to convert people to their views as to reinforce the core beliefs of their respective audiences. [end excerpt]
THE AGENDA BEHIND THE PERMANENT NORTH KOREAN 'THREATS'
* " ‘A lot of money rides on constant promotion of North Korean threat’ " (2015-05-14, rt.com) [archive.is/uLO18] [begin excerpt]: The South Korean government relies on this steady stream of information showing that North Korea may be on the verge of collapse or may be an imminent threat. Obviously the Korean Peninsula is still at a state of war, and in-fact just three weeks ago, just before this incident was announced, the South Korean government has indicated its going to be spending, increasing its defense budget by over $200 billion over the next five years, that’s an annual increase of over 7 percent of their current budget. That’s an incredible expenditure and of course the reason that they cited for this increase in expenditure is the threat from North Korea, so there’s a lot of money that rides on the constant promotion of this threat. [end excerpt]
* "Dangerous, isolated and primed for war? North Korean clichés debunked The cartoon caricature of the country glosses over recent developments in society" (2015-04-27, theguardian.com) [archive.is/JuP9W]
* "Building the perfect leader: North Korean propaganda’s secret sauce" (2015-04-23, reuters.com) [archive.is/GHlFj] [begin excerpt]: The second kind of myth exists almost exclusively in international media and often consist of truly unbelievable tales. The best example is, of course, the “Kim Jong Il got 18 holes-in-one the first time he golfed” story. This appears to have been generated during an in-country conversation with a visiting journalist, according to friends of mine present. It has since become cannon. You can read varying versions of it, always attributing it to “North Korean media” or “North Korean propaganda,” but invariably linking to some other Western media, if there is a citation at all. Kim Jong Il scoring a perfect 300 the first time he bowled is another such tale.
North Koreans have never, ever heard of these stories, unless they’ve been told them by a foreigner. They exist purely in a fantasy version of North Korea we too often indulge in. We let this version take hold for several reasons. [end excerpt]
* "North Korea Is Intent on Provocations, U.S. Defense Secretary Says U.S. will deploy its best equipment to the region, Ash Carter declares" (2015-04-10, wsj.com) [archive.is/cPQgZ].
Felix Abt writes: SURPRISED? NOT AT ALL! A predictable U.S. defense chief states: "Since North Korea is intent on provocations, the U.S. will deploy its best equipment in Asia". A free investment tip from me: Buy shares from the U.S. military-industrial complex...
* "Incredible photos of the military drill that's freaking out North Korea" (2015-04-01, businessinsider.com) [archive.is/5ity7]
* "SURPRISED? NORTH KOREA 'HAS 20 NUCLEAR WARHEADS'!" (by Felix Abt) [archive.is/feeUA]: Since I represented ABB in North Korea, the company that was to deliver the 2 new light water reactors under the Framework Agreement, I'm quite familiar with this story.
In fact, the 1994 Framework Agreement required North Korea to freeze its small 5 MW graphite-moderated reactor and halt construction of two bigger reactors (which it did). It also required North Korea to store the spent fuel from its operating reactor under International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) supervision.
In exchange, the U.S agreed to coordinate the building of 2 new light water reactors (which were difficult to use for the production of bomb grade material) to be supplied by 2003. Before the supplied reactors were fully operational, North Korea would have to allow full IAEA inspections of all its nuclear facilities. During the period of construction, the U.S. agreed to provide the North with shipments of heavy oil for heating and electricity production.
What media and pundits usually forget to mention is that the agreement also called for the United States to “move toward full normalization of political and economic relations” with North Korea and “provide formal assurances to the DPRK against the threat or use of nuclear weapons by the United States.”
What pundits and media also don’t like to mention is that the U.S. government did not keep its contractual obligations. It delayed the delivery of the promised oil and didn’t begin lifting sanctions until June 2000. Even more telling, the concrete for the first light water reactor wasn’t poured until August 2002. Years later, U.S. government documents revealed that the United States made no attempt to complete the reactors because officials were convinced that the North Korean regime would collapse. The North Koreans told me in 2002 that "the U.S. is cheating on us". Since the George W. Bush Administration was against the Framework Agreement it unilaterally terminated it in late 2002, after charging the North with violating its terms by pursuing nuclear weapons through a secret uranium enrichment program. Prior to that, in January 2002, President Bush branded North Korea a member of the “axis of evil" and to be overthrown. It was clear that from then on North Korea would go full steam ahead with its nuclear weapons development program.
* "Google Chairman Eric Schmidt describes what the Internet is like in North Korea" (2015-04-22, businessinsider.com) [archive.is/aSZ3e]
Felix Abt writes: GOOGLE CHAIRMAN: I'D GO TO PRISON IF I SOLD ANYTHING TO NORTH KOREA! He explains: 'North Korea is totally illegal for American companies to sell to'
JOSHUA STANTON, A SENIOR OFFICIAL OF THE U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY DEPARTMENT, WANTS NORTH KOREA TO BE LISTED AS 'STATE SPONSOR OF TERROR'. Of course, he doesn't mention states (and U.S. allies) sponsoring terror groups like ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Shabaab etc. which are kidnapping girls and mass-slaughtering civilians each and every day.
* "Josh Stanton on North Korea as a State Sponsor of Terror" (2015-04-27, piie.com) [archive.is/W99Du].
The blog's author presents as fact the widely discredited claim that NK was behind the Sony attacks. Even w/o researching his other sources, that right there is cause for skepticism.
The claim stems from the same FBI that produced 96% wrong hair analyses, based on which courts sent scores of presumably innocent defendants to prison or to the electric chair
* "Junk Science at the F.B.I." (2015-04-27, nytimes.com) [archive.is/UaEo2].
Long before North Korea allegedly hacked Sony, a Japanese corporation, the U.S. had hacked the country of North Korea. Did anybody call that an act of terrorism?
* "N.S.A. Breached North Korean Networks Before Sony Attack, Officials Say" (2015-01-18, nytimes.com) [archive.is/TJrw3]
* "North Korea Web Outage Response to Sony Hack, Lawmaker Says; Representative Michael McCaul becomes the first U.S. official to publicly say the Web outage was retaliation" (2015-03-17, bloomberg.com) [archive.is/yMS94]
HACKING AND HACKING IS NOT THE SAME.
It depends on who does it. When North Korea was accused of hacking Sony, a Japanese company, the U.S. government was quick at condemning the alleged crime (even though it had itself hacked the country of North Korea long before that) and it announced retaliation.
So the world's biggest hacker and data thief likes to condemn and 'punish' smaller hackers. It seems the Europeans are now getting tired of systematically being hacked by the U.S. government. Boeing competitor Airbus wants to stop it and is filing a complaint.
* "BND affair: Airbus plans criminal charges of industrial espionage" (2015-04-30, spiegel.de) [archive.is/3wP2b]
A CHARACTERIZATION OF KIM JONG IL BY FORMER SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT KIM DAE-JUNG'S HEAD ADVISOR - CONTRADICTING POPULAR STEREOTYPES
SEVEN POINTS ON KIM JONG-IL:
Lim Dong-ok, south Korean President Kim Dae-jung's head advisor for the Workers' Party United Front Department (a South Korean government branch tasked with building North-South summits), made a list of seven points he observed on Kim Jong-il's behavior when he visited the DPRK Supreme Leader in June 2000 for the 2nd Pyongyang Summit...
------------
1. He is a "strong leader, stronger than his father perhaps," whom Lim had also met on two occasions in the early 1990's;
2. He is the "only open-minded person in the North Korean system, and is openly pragmatic";
3. He is a "good listener. He "took notes on the meeting" with Lim, "like a student with a professor";
4. When Kim is "persuaded to another's point of view, he is decisive";
5. Kim is "gentle and polite to older people around him," as he was to Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung;
6. Kim Jong-il "has a sense of humour";
7. And, he is a "master statesman, and is more than capable of fulfilling his role in the system."
WAR INSIGHTS
From 1951 Pyongyang, DPRK brought to light by the ROK's Korea Truth Commission Report of June 23, 2001 [archive.org/details/pdfy-1KgDlKSWqRifyuBa]. Quotes from the report:
a) By the systematic destruction of food, food-stores and food-factories. Forests and ripe harvests are systematically burned by incendiary bombs; fruh trees are destroyed and peasants working in their fields with their animals are killed by machine-gun fire from low-flying planes. By these means the whole people of Korea is doomed to starvation.
b) By the systematic destruction of town after town, of village after village, many of which by no stretch of imagination could be considered to be military objectives or even industrial centres. The aim of systematic destruction is clearly, in the first place, to break the moral of the Korean population and, secondly, to wear them out physically. In these never-ceasing raids, dwellings, hospitals, schools, etc., are destroyed deliberately. Even towns which have already been turned into heaps ashes and in which the surviving inhabitants are reduced to living in dug-outs, continue to be bombed,
c) By systematically employing against the peaceful inhabitants weapons banned by international convention i.e., incendiaries, petrol bombs, napalm bombs, time-bombs, and by constantly machine- gunning civilians from low-flying planes.
d) By atrociously exterminating the Korean population, in the district temporarily occupied by American and Syngman Rhee forces, in the period of occupation hundreds of thousands of civilians, entire families from old men to little children, have been tortured, beaten to death, burned and buried alive. Thousands of others have perished from hunger and cold in overcrowded prisons in which they were thrown without charges being leveled against them, without investigation, trial or sentence.
===*===*===* "Interview: A Capitalist in North Korea (Yes, They Do Exist...)" (2013-01-15, minyanville.com) [archive.is/SljcQ]. Though far from becoming a beacon of freedom anytime soon, entrepreneur Felix Abt says that, "by North Korean standards, there has been quite a practical change in society and the economy."
* " ‘Automatons, Slaves or Members of the 1% in N. Korea’ " (2015-03-23, koreaobserver.com) [archive.is/emROb]
WOMEN HAVE SICK LEAVE IN NORTH KOREA making them better off than U.S. women, says this Washington Post article [https://archive.is/IHlxA]
* "People with Disabilities in a Changing North Korea" audio report, with Katharina Zellweger [web.archive.org/web/20150522020413/http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/a/4/d/a4dc06aad2ace825/2015-04-30_PeopleWithDisabilitiesInAChangingNorthKorea.mp3?c_id=8903470&expiration=1432261916&hwt=ef790638252fa09e221c63e11dbec5cb]
* Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) [facebook.com/pustkp]: The first year all of our students MAJOR in English. All classes thereafter are taught in English. English teachers play a valuable role at PUST. Are you an English teacher seeking a place to make a difference in the world? We welcome all applications for summer and fall positions. Master degree preferred.
* PUST photo showing the new co-ed class for 2015 [archive.is/qSNWv]
* "My Experience at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, North Korea" (2014-10-12) [youtube.com/watch?v=KE9UH6dBLf0]
* "My Experience at PUST (North Korea)" (2014-02-06) [youtube.com/watch?v=KnBuzVOaMIw]: I've taught English at PyongYang University of Science and Technology for the past 3 summers. This is my experience teaching English and soccer in the DPRK (North Korea). If you would like to volunteer to teach there please contact [hr.pust@) gmail.com]. The official school website is [pust.co].
THE U.N. GENERAL SECRETARY IS A SUPPORTER OF NORTH KOREA’S INDUSTRIAL PARK IN KAESONG, WHERE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF NORTH KOREAN WORKERS ARE EMPLOYED BY SOUTH KOREAN COMPANIES.
Before his visit to Kaesong, General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, a South Korean, stated: “The Kaesong project is a win-win model for both Koreas. It symbolises a good aim to tap the advantage of South and North Korea in a complementary manner. I hope my visit will provide positive impetus to further develop it and expand to other areas.” Too bad that the visit was cancelled.
* "North Korea reverses decision to allow visit by UN's Ban Ki-moon" (2015-05-19, upi.com) [archive.is/ovaf7]
* "Ban Ki-moon to visit North Korea in effort to improve ties with South" (2015-05-19, theguardian.com) [archive.is/nJsQG]
INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR A NON-EVENT FOR INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Today begins the 18th Pyongyang Spring International Trade Fair in Pyongyang. The mainstream media love to write about (unconfirmed) executions while largely ignoring this event.
* "Pyongyang vies for FDI" video (2015-05-13) [dw.de/pyongyang-vies-for-fdi/av-18447182]: North Korea continues to flex its military muscles, test-firing ballistic missiles. But at the same time the Pyongyang government is trying to boost its economy and attract some much-needed foreign investment. Its Spring Trade fair is a case in question.
* "North Korea’s growing economy — and America’s misconceptions about it" (2015-05-13, washingtonpost.com) [archive.is/iLh3S].
Felix Abt (@felixabt) tweets (2015-03-13): MNC (multinational corpororations) are afraid of Uncle Sam's North Korea embargo, Chinese SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) are not. This is one important reason why North Korea's economy is growing.
Reply to Felix Abt by Joshua Stanton, a leading sanctions advocate in Washington D.C.
Response to Joshua Stanton by Felix Abt: THE BATTLE FOR MORE SANCTIONS HURTING THE WEAK CONTINUES. It's absurd. While the U.S. administration came to the conclusion that sanctions against Cuba did not achieve the U.S. policy objectives, the same coercive means are still believed by many to achieve Uncle Sam's goals in North Korea.
* "5 Reasons Why You Should Play Golf in North Korea" (2015-05-04, uritours.com) [archive.is/YNVe2]* " 'If the cap fits' - Golf in North Korea" two photos (2015-05-15) [https://archive.is/CizRL]: Felix Abt proudly displays his new PYONGYANG GOLF CLUB caps (with additional logos…) recently bought at the Pyongyang Golf Course. As businessmen the world over know, deals are just as likely to be clinched on the golf course as in the boardroom. And North Korea is no exception. As a foreign business person in North Korea be prepared to wheel and deal on the golf course, or in a restaurant or karaoke room, rather than in a stuffy meeting room. So don’t forget to pack your clubs and brush up on the lyrics of “My Way” or “It’s Raining Men” before your business trip. And if you pass Felix on the fairway, give him a wave!
* "N.Korea Gives Up on Big Collective Farms" (2015-04-28, english.chosun.com) [archive.is/AC2M7]
SUFFERING FROM THE ‘PYONGYANG ILLUSION’ OR THE ‘COUNTRYSIDE ILLUSION’?
In his interesting book review Dr. Stephan M. Haggard mentions what he calls the “Pyongyang illusion”. I'm not sure if I suffer from it since I also traveled to and worked in places far from the capital where I spent my nights during cold winters in guesthouses without power but with candlelight – how romantic! – and without running water but with buckets filled with ice-cold water for my showers – how refreshing! Why not call me a victim of the “countryside illusion”? (•‿•)
* "Felix Abt’s 'A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom' " book review (2015-05-19, by Stephan Haggard, blogs.piie.com) [archive.is/EAiiv]
* "GERMANY WITHDRAWS ITS NORTH KOREA TRAVEL WARNING" photo (2015-03-12, by Felix Abt) [archive.is/qX6lN]: Germany's foreign ministry has just publicly deleted a safety note advising against travels to North Korea. Regardless of any health threat in North Korea, the U.S. State Department, however, will ALWAYS warn against traveling to North Korea. After all, they seem to have no interest in ending the unfinished Korean war any time soon...
CRAIG URQUHART – A MYSTERIOUS JOURNALIST AND KOREA ‘EXPERT’
Mike Bassett writes about a bizarre encounter on his FB-page
Quote
Ah, a day in the life...
Journalist: "Your academic background and experience on the peninsula does not lend you special credibility on Korean issues."
Me: "Okay, and your background as a journalist does? Why are you wasting my time?"
Journalist: "I heard you were volatile."
Me: "Only when people waste my time to insult me. Go fuck yourself. Put that in your stupid article."
Unquote
Mike was approached by journalist Craig Ullman. Incidentally, Ullman was the name of a Nazi chief of security in the BBC TV series 'Colditz'.
In the following discussion on his page Mike explains how he found out that the real name of this “investigative” journalist is Craig Urquhart who is notorious for systematically trolling people like Mike and myself when he does not agree with them.
For the first time I saw an op-ed published by the same Craig Urquhart in NKNews - North Korea News where he gives a long-winded explanation why American troops should be withdrawn from South Korea.
It’s a no-brainer that it’s an absurdity that the world’s 13th largest economy needs another country to take care of its defense. Or are the U.S. troops in South Korea part of a bigger plan, namely of what the U.S. calls ‘containment’ of rival China?
Nevertheless, it’s for the first time I read something from Craig Urquhart that’s more sensible and a far cry from what I had to read when he relentlessly trolled me on Facebook, blogs, other social media and Amazon.
On a single day, on November 10, 2014, for example, Craig Urquhart (who was never in North Korea and whom I never met) trolled me with over 50 (in words: fifty) posts in a Facebook group. It was certainly the longest series of abuses I have ever been exposed to. In his endless tirades he called me, among other things, "a criminal, a parasite transmitting diseases, a profiteer on misery using slave labor, unprincipled prick, so unutterably wretched, inhuman monster, package of lies and distortions." And like any other good jihadi in a holy war he wrote that "tens of thousands should get into Stone-throwing moods" against me.
If this op-ed piece is a sign that the man starts reasoning then it would certainly be a positive development.
* "American soldiers need to leave South Korea" (2015-04-22, nknews.org) [archive.is/T4hCm]
[Mike Basset adds]:
Once he deceptively mentioned that he'd read the entire book written by "that Swiss businessman" I realized it was him. What other expert or journalist would say something like that but pretend to forget your name? Instant red flag.
I immediately called him out, and he denied that he was Uruqhart and started insulting me for my war trauma saying is "takes credibility away" from my arguments.
Uruqhart also for a month straight bombast-ed me with hundreds on hundreds of hateful comments on every corner of the internet. I even had some journalists emailing me telling me I "should probably report him, cuz he seems dangerous and unstable."
And he's not an expert... Most of the information that informed his analysis came from myself and Josh Stanton. Which is interesting since we are both veterans who were stationed in Korea,m yet have polar opposite world-views...
Craig and I exchanged dozens of emails which he used to inform his Op-Ed. Again, I'm actually a fan of it. I respect strong views and vitriolic semantics.
I get so sick of this field sometimes because everybody writes like they've got a grad school stick up their asses. Hey, I've been to grad school twice and I feel no need for that shit, but to each their own.
* "Aid groups to suffer if EU sanctions North Korean bank" (2013-04-09, reuters.com) [archive.is/z49Ih]
* "ARMCHAIR STRATEGISTS AND THE TRIVIALITY OF NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS" (2015-05-21, by Felix Abt) [https://archive.is/kzIlv]:
Dr. Jeffrey Lewis is the Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and an affiliate with the Center for Security and International Cooperation at Stanford University.
He made the following tweet to which I replied in order to give some nuance to a totally one-sided view. Check it out!
Jeffrey Lewis @ArmsControlWonk May 20: Maybe someone should ask @GloriaSteinem how lifting sanctions on luxury goods and missile components will help the North Korean people.
Felix Abt @felixabt May 21: Did you know the U.S. banned beauty & makeup including lipsticks, called 'luxury', for #NorthKorea's women? Components for the production of food, pharmaceuticals, car & motorbikes etc. etc. r banned too. Did u know that Google, Yahoo & Microsoft are banned in #NorthKorea - by the US gov?! [http://www.minyanville.com/sectors/global-markets/articles/A-Capitalist-in-North-Korea253A-An/1/15/2013/id/47409]
@ArmsControlWonk gets paid by bank transfer. A trader in #NorthKorea has to collect sales proceeds abroad with a suitcase
IMPERIAL CENSORSHIP? U.S. ambassador to United Nations (U.N.) Samantha Power(ful) orders U.N. to cut off North Korea microphone and the U.N. obeys!
* "After US Power Says Cut North Korea's Mic & UN Does, UN Won't Say Why" [youtube.com/watch?v=V1CY1LXdssI]
Felix Abt writes: TORTURE BY THE USA. Instead of investigating wrongdoings and sentencing criminals by courts as usually done in law-based states the U.S. used to outsource incarceration and torture to secret prisons around the globe, from Egypt to Romania. The former Romanian president has just admitted the existence of secret CIA-run torture prisons. Don't expect that there will be ever a U.N. commission investigating such human rights abuses - this is not North Korea!
* "Torture in Romania: Ex-President Iliescu is existence of CIA prison" (2015-04-22, spiegel.de) machine translation [archive.is/pH2pR]
THE GLOBAL MISSILE THREATOn the one hand: South Korea downplays North Korea’s submarine missile capability (as it’s in a very early development stage)
* "South Korea Downplays North Korea’s Submarine Missile Capability" (2015-05-11, bloomberg.com) [archive.is/6jYYX]
On the other hand: the U.S. plays up the North Korea missile threat to allow THAAD deployment to 'contain' China
* "US plays up N Korean sub threat to allow THAAD deployment" (2015-05-08, wantchinatimes.com) [archive.is/olXe6]
And here’s a detailed list shedding some light on the global missile threat
* (archived 2015-05-21, missilethreat.com) [archive.is/2TgSw]
WAR PROFITEERING: The growing "North Korea industry" outside North Korea will only thrive if tensions and misery can be maintained. A North Korea, changing through engagement, which could be furthered by ending the Korean War, now entering its 8th decade, is clearly not in their interest. On the contrary, they call for an intensified economic and propaganda war, which seems to be the industry's best marketing tool. More:
* "The Human Rights Activist ‘Anti-Peace Plot’ to Maintain the Korean Status Quo" (2015-05-11, thepeacewager.org) [archive.is/DPC8M]
ACTIVISTS WANT NORTH KOREA TO 'HACK THEM BACK'The American NSA has been hacking North Korea since 2010, starting 4 years before the Sony hack!
* "US spy agency hacked North Korea before the Sony attack; US knew Pyongyang was behind the Sony hack because it had hacked into North Korea's cyberwar unit since 2010, but was unable to detect the plot ahead of time" (2015-01-19, telegraph.co.uk) [archive.is/WBxlg]
HAWKISH POLITICIANS TEAMING UP WITH PROMINENT DEFECTORS
Instead of promoting the end of the Korean war, a normalization of bilateral relations like Nixon did with Mao's China and Obama is doing with Cuba at long last, they prefer throttling, cornering and isolating North Korea to engagement, incremental change and transformation into a 'normal' member of the world community. We know the politicians, but who are their prominent allies?
☆ Park Yeon-mi (here with Hillary Clinton) is the defector who claimed to have crossed the Gobi desert as a malnourished young teenager at 40 degrees below zero in a single night. More from her here: "Yeonmi Park: The Defector Who Fooled the World" [archive.is/v7S9Z]☆ The New York Times wrote about Shin Dong-hyuk (here with George W. Bush) that he "is retracting central facts of his life story, memorialized in a 2012 book, 'Escape from Camp 14,' by a former Washington Post reporter that has been published in 27 languages."
The Times continued: "Mr. Shin’s latest account has raised its own questions. He now says he escaped Camp 18 twice, in 1999 and 2001, was caught both times, and eventually handed to the infamous Camp 14. - 'He is still lying,' said a North Korean defector who said he was in Camp 18, speaking on condition of anonymity because he has family in the North. 'You just cannot escape a North Korean prison camp twice, as he said he did, and is still alive and manages to escape a third time, this time from the total-control zone.' "
* "Prominent North Korean Defector Recants Parts of His Story of Captivity" (2015-01-19, nytimes.com) [archive.is/DttiQ]
* " 'Kim Jong Un doesn’t like me at all', says 21-year-old defector from North Korea" (2015-04-23, nytlive.nytimes.com) [archive.is/vFhpF]
Felix Abt writes: DID A YOUNG MALNOURISHED UNDERWEIGHT NORTH KOREAN TEENAGE GIRL TREK THROUGH THE GOBI DESERT AT 40 BELOW ZERO?
After Yeon-mi Park claimed in an Irish newspaper that there is a holocaust going on in North Korea with "bodies piling up in the streets and floating in the rivers" - a claim I challenged which induced demagogues like Stanton, Potter and Urquhart to troll me - she told another newspaper she was misquoted. I then contacted the Irish journalist who confirmed to me by email that Yeon-mi was correctly quoted as the journalist taped her statements.
The media have never challenged Yeon-mi Park's conflicting narratives (with the exception of one single courageous journalist in a newspaper of marginal importance). Here is a list of contradictory claims:
* "Yeonmi Park: The Defector Who Fooled the World" (2014-12-22, jooparkblog.blogspot.de) [archive.is/NYdg4]
* "Woman, 23, reveals how she trekked for two months across mountains and crocodile-infested river to flee North Korea after being forced to work for 15 hours a day down a coal mine for 50p a day" (2015-05-20, dailymail.co.uk) [archive.is/jKyPu]
" my mom telling me not to even whisper, because the birds and mice can hear my whisper,” - sounds like more to do with Confucian cultural moors of the role of children than on what DPRK leaders say.
She also says she crossed the Gobi desert in a night (one whole night to cross a whole desert at -40C). Maybe it was a poor English translation?
Maybe she is saying that a car dropped them off near the border in the Gobi Desert and they crossed the border at night. They couldn't have crossed the whole desert?
* Charles Park, in "North Korea Study Group":
I don't know. Jiaming Piao (if I remember his name correctly) said that he is leaving the North Korea Study Group because it was full of apologists for North Korea. It turns out he has. As for me, I do not know too many apologists. I'm certainly not one of them. As one of the persons who debated with him, however, I think maybe he was referring to me too.
It seems to me that Jiaming Piao, who describes himself as a defector and reports that his family suffered in DPRK, is understandably very anti-DPRK - to the point of emotionalism. By "emotionalism" I mean that he, like some defectors (ok. throw in there NGOs and "experts" too), fails to consider all the facts and look at the North Korea problem from a holistic systems perspective, beyond their narrow experience or agendas.
For him, specifically and as an example, DPRK was a country run by incorrigible Nazis, which it seems to me to be a form of blatant false equivalency. This is especially so since the Nazis in terms of acts of brutality and in terms of scale were arguably much more inhumane than the North Koreans. How many countries did the Nazis invade vs. DPRK? How many people did the Nazis incinerate vs. the DPRK? It is not only hard to compare but also logically difficult. If you want to conjure up images of gas chambers, South Korean president Rhee's atrocities related to the Bodo League Incident in which about 200,000 Koreans were systematically killed is not too far unrelated.
Then if you try to explain to Piao how DPRK might work from the world systems (geopolitics) and game theory (personality cult) perspectives - that is, to try to understand and explain North Korea rationally and objectively using the available known facts and reasonable suppositions, then you are an apologist - in his eyes. The only reason he condemns you is because you won't uncritically join him in the condemnation of the DPRK.
Oh well... Is this a Korean thing?
[Philip Dorsay Iglauer comments] "It is the epitome of ad hominem to name call someone who advocates engagement with the enemy (e.g. engagement with North Korea as opposed to war with it ). It's underhanded to call people an "apologist," a "sympathizer" or, indeed, even an "agent" of North Korea. It shuts down debate. Red baiting like that is the stuff of 1950s era McCathyism"
THE EXECUTION OF THE HYONS
HYON, a North Korea celebrity, executed & later back from the dead.
* "Back from the dead: ‘Executed’ N. Korean singer makes live appearance on State TV" (2014-05-20, rt.com) [archive.is/k8FNJ]
HYON, another celebrity and defense chief, now reported executed. Will he be back too?
* "Kim Kyong Hui Still Alive, NK Sources Confirm" (2015-05-12, dailynk.com) [archive.is/oHRHN]
NORTH KOREA'S EXECUTED DEFENSE CHIEF IS NOW BACK FROM THE DEAD.
Based on 'information' by South Korea's spy agency claiming General Hyon Yong Chol was executed by antiaircraft gun for insubordination (falling asleep during an event organized by leader Kim Jong Un) and treason the global media were quick at spreading the news of the execution.
But now South Korea is retracting the claim saying he was purged, not executed.
* "North Korea defense chief was purged, maybe not executed, says Seoul's spy agency The National Intelligence Service revised its statement hours after claiming Hyon was believed to be dead" (2015-05-13, upi.com) [archive.is/IuFrS]
* "Questions over N. Korea defence chief execution" (2015-05-14, AFP newswire) [archive.is/U5w5F]
WHY PEOPLE BELIEVE GORY FALSEHOODS ABOUT NORTH KOREA
* "Don't Believe the North Korea Horror Stories" (2015-05-14, bloombergview.com) [archive.is/BM8XS] [begin excerpt]: People are more likely to share a news story when it chimes with their worldview, or with that of popular network users they follow. Selective exposure, as the phenomenon is known in academic circles, is a source of joy for propagandists and intelligence services that seek not so much to convert people to their views as to reinforce the core beliefs of their respective audiences. [end excerpt]
THE AGENDA BEHIND THE PERMANENT NORTH KOREAN 'THREATS'
* " ‘A lot of money rides on constant promotion of North Korean threat’ " (2015-05-14, rt.com) [archive.is/uLO18] [begin excerpt]: The South Korean government relies on this steady stream of information showing that North Korea may be on the verge of collapse or may be an imminent threat. Obviously the Korean Peninsula is still at a state of war, and in-fact just three weeks ago, just before this incident was announced, the South Korean government has indicated its going to be spending, increasing its defense budget by over $200 billion over the next five years, that’s an annual increase of over 7 percent of their current budget. That’s an incredible expenditure and of course the reason that they cited for this increase in expenditure is the threat from North Korea, so there’s a lot of money that rides on the constant promotion of this threat. [end excerpt]
* "Dangerous, isolated and primed for war? North Korean clichés debunked The cartoon caricature of the country glosses over recent developments in society" (2015-04-27, theguardian.com) [archive.is/JuP9W]
* "Building the perfect leader: North Korean propaganda’s secret sauce" (2015-04-23, reuters.com) [archive.is/GHlFj] [begin excerpt]: The second kind of myth exists almost exclusively in international media and often consist of truly unbelievable tales. The best example is, of course, the “Kim Jong Il got 18 holes-in-one the first time he golfed” story. This appears to have been generated during an in-country conversation with a visiting journalist, according to friends of mine present. It has since become cannon. You can read varying versions of it, always attributing it to “North Korean media” or “North Korean propaganda,” but invariably linking to some other Western media, if there is a citation at all. Kim Jong Il scoring a perfect 300 the first time he bowled is another such tale.
North Koreans have never, ever heard of these stories, unless they’ve been told them by a foreigner. They exist purely in a fantasy version of North Korea we too often indulge in. We let this version take hold for several reasons. [end excerpt]
* "North Korea Is Intent on Provocations, U.S. Defense Secretary Says U.S. will deploy its best equipment to the region, Ash Carter declares" (2015-04-10, wsj.com) [archive.is/cPQgZ].
Felix Abt writes: SURPRISED? NOT AT ALL! A predictable U.S. defense chief states: "Since North Korea is intent on provocations, the U.S. will deploy its best equipment in Asia". A free investment tip from me: Buy shares from the U.S. military-industrial complex...
* "Incredible photos of the military drill that's freaking out North Korea" (2015-04-01, businessinsider.com) [archive.is/5ity7]
* "SURPRISED? NORTH KOREA 'HAS 20 NUCLEAR WARHEADS'!" (by Felix Abt) [archive.is/feeUA]: Since I represented ABB in North Korea, the company that was to deliver the 2 new light water reactors under the Framework Agreement, I'm quite familiar with this story.
In fact, the 1994 Framework Agreement required North Korea to freeze its small 5 MW graphite-moderated reactor and halt construction of two bigger reactors (which it did). It also required North Korea to store the spent fuel from its operating reactor under International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) supervision.
In exchange, the U.S agreed to coordinate the building of 2 new light water reactors (which were difficult to use for the production of bomb grade material) to be supplied by 2003. Before the supplied reactors were fully operational, North Korea would have to allow full IAEA inspections of all its nuclear facilities. During the period of construction, the U.S. agreed to provide the North with shipments of heavy oil for heating and electricity production.
What media and pundits usually forget to mention is that the agreement also called for the United States to “move toward full normalization of political and economic relations” with North Korea and “provide formal assurances to the DPRK against the threat or use of nuclear weapons by the United States.”
What pundits and media also don’t like to mention is that the U.S. government did not keep its contractual obligations. It delayed the delivery of the promised oil and didn’t begin lifting sanctions until June 2000. Even more telling, the concrete for the first light water reactor wasn’t poured until August 2002. Years later, U.S. government documents revealed that the United States made no attempt to complete the reactors because officials were convinced that the North Korean regime would collapse. The North Koreans told me in 2002 that "the U.S. is cheating on us". Since the George W. Bush Administration was against the Framework Agreement it unilaterally terminated it in late 2002, after charging the North with violating its terms by pursuing nuclear weapons through a secret uranium enrichment program. Prior to that, in January 2002, President Bush branded North Korea a member of the “axis of evil" and to be overthrown. It was clear that from then on North Korea would go full steam ahead with its nuclear weapons development program.
* "Google Chairman Eric Schmidt describes what the Internet is like in North Korea" (2015-04-22, businessinsider.com) [archive.is/aSZ3e]
Felix Abt writes: GOOGLE CHAIRMAN: I'D GO TO PRISON IF I SOLD ANYTHING TO NORTH KOREA! He explains: 'North Korea is totally illegal for American companies to sell to'
JOSHUA STANTON, A SENIOR OFFICIAL OF THE U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY DEPARTMENT, WANTS NORTH KOREA TO BE LISTED AS 'STATE SPONSOR OF TERROR'. Of course, he doesn't mention states (and U.S. allies) sponsoring terror groups like ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Shabaab etc. which are kidnapping girls and mass-slaughtering civilians each and every day.
* "Josh Stanton on North Korea as a State Sponsor of Terror" (2015-04-27, piie.com) [archive.is/W99Du].
The blog's author presents as fact the widely discredited claim that NK was behind the Sony attacks. Even w/o researching his other sources, that right there is cause for skepticism.
The claim stems from the same FBI that produced 96% wrong hair analyses, based on which courts sent scores of presumably innocent defendants to prison or to the electric chair
* "Junk Science at the F.B.I." (2015-04-27, nytimes.com) [archive.is/UaEo2].
Long before North Korea allegedly hacked Sony, a Japanese corporation, the U.S. had hacked the country of North Korea. Did anybody call that an act of terrorism?
* "N.S.A. Breached North Korean Networks Before Sony Attack, Officials Say" (2015-01-18, nytimes.com) [archive.is/TJrw3]
* "North Korea Web Outage Response to Sony Hack, Lawmaker Says; Representative Michael McCaul becomes the first U.S. official to publicly say the Web outage was retaliation" (2015-03-17, bloomberg.com) [archive.is/yMS94]
HACKING AND HACKING IS NOT THE SAME.
It depends on who does it. When North Korea was accused of hacking Sony, a Japanese company, the U.S. government was quick at condemning the alleged crime (even though it had itself hacked the country of North Korea long before that) and it announced retaliation.
So the world's biggest hacker and data thief likes to condemn and 'punish' smaller hackers. It seems the Europeans are now getting tired of systematically being hacked by the U.S. government. Boeing competitor Airbus wants to stop it and is filing a complaint.
* "BND affair: Airbus plans criminal charges of industrial espionage" (2015-04-30, spiegel.de) [archive.is/3wP2b]
A CHARACTERIZATION OF KIM JONG IL BY FORMER SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT KIM DAE-JUNG'S HEAD ADVISOR - CONTRADICTING POPULAR STEREOTYPES
SEVEN POINTS ON KIM JONG-IL:
Lim Dong-ok, south Korean President Kim Dae-jung's head advisor for the Workers' Party United Front Department (a South Korean government branch tasked with building North-South summits), made a list of seven points he observed on Kim Jong-il's behavior when he visited the DPRK Supreme Leader in June 2000 for the 2nd Pyongyang Summit...
------------
1. He is a "strong leader, stronger than his father perhaps," whom Lim had also met on two occasions in the early 1990's;
2. He is the "only open-minded person in the North Korean system, and is openly pragmatic";
3. He is a "good listener. He "took notes on the meeting" with Lim, "like a student with a professor";
4. When Kim is "persuaded to another's point of view, he is decisive";
5. Kim is "gentle and polite to older people around him," as he was to Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung;
6. Kim Jong-il "has a sense of humour";
7. And, he is a "master statesman, and is more than capable of fulfilling his role in the system."
WAR INSIGHTS
From 1951 Pyongyang, DPRK brought to light by the ROK's Korea Truth Commission Report of June 23, 2001 [archive.org/details/pdfy-1KgDlKSWqRifyuBa]. Quotes from the report:
a) By the systematic destruction of food, food-stores and food-factories. Forests and ripe harvests are systematically burned by incendiary bombs; fruh trees are destroyed and peasants working in their fields with their animals are killed by machine-gun fire from low-flying planes. By these means the whole people of Korea is doomed to starvation.
b) By the systematic destruction of town after town, of village after village, many of which by no stretch of imagination could be considered to be military objectives or even industrial centres. The aim of systematic destruction is clearly, in the first place, to break the moral of the Korean population and, secondly, to wear them out physically. In these never-ceasing raids, dwellings, hospitals, schools, etc., are destroyed deliberately. Even towns which have already been turned into heaps ashes and in which the surviving inhabitants are reduced to living in dug-outs, continue to be bombed,
c) By systematically employing against the peaceful inhabitants weapons banned by international convention i.e., incendiaries, petrol bombs, napalm bombs, time-bombs, and by constantly machine- gunning civilians from low-flying planes.
d) By atrociously exterminating the Korean population, in the district temporarily occupied by American and Syngman Rhee forces, in the period of occupation hundreds of thousands of civilians, entire families from old men to little children, have been tortured, beaten to death, burned and buried alive. Thousands of others have perished from hunger and cold in overcrowded prisons in which they were thrown without charges being leveled against them, without investigation, trial or sentence.
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
ANOTHER ‘FORGOTTEN WAR’
Today, April 30th, is the 40th anniversary of the official end of the Vietnam war which the Vietnamese call the American war.
☆ Millions of victims of U.S. chemical warfare are still grappling with its ill effects in Vietnam
☆ The U.S. acknowledged Agent Orange to cause serious illness & birth defects & paid $2bn compensation – but only to its own veterans!
☆ In peace talks in Paris, the U.S. agreed to pay $3.5bn in reconstruction aid to mend Vietnam's shattered infrastructure. It never paid a cent.
* "Millions still suffering from Vietnam War's aftermath, 40 years on" (2014-04-29, channelnewsasia.com) [archive.is/00i8O]
* "Vietnamese war victims speak of sexual violence by S. Korean troops for the first time" (2015-04-25, english.hani.co.kr) [archive.is/HbJVD]
===*===*===
Commonwealth of Australia
* "Tough anti-terrorism measures could strip suspects of welfare, vote" (2015-05-22, heraldsun.com.au) [archive.is/uavAx]
* "A chilling step closer to Australian secret police" (2015-04-22, theage.com.au) [archive.is/Zirwu]
===*===*===
Occupied State of West Papua ===*===*===
research from the Committee for the Study of
HISTORY AND THE CURRENT CONTEXT
* "Left Anticommunism: the unkindest cut" (2015-05-23, greanvillepost.com) [archive.is/xQjlq] [begin excerpt]: Pure Socialism vs. Siege Socialism
The upheavals in Eastern Europe did not constitute a defeat for socialism because socialism never existed in those countries, according to some U.S. leftists. They say that the communist states offered nothing more than bureaucratic, one-party “state capitalism” or some such thing. Whether we call the former communist countries “socialist” is a matter of definition. Suffice it to say, they constituted something different from what existed in the profit-driven capitalist world–as the capitalists themselves were not slow to recognize.
First, in communist countries there was less economic inequality than under capitalism. The perks enjoyed by party and government elites were modest by corporate CEO standards in the West [even more so when compared with today’s grotesque compensation packages to the executive and financial elites], as were their personal incomes and life styles. Soviet leaders like Yuri Andropov and Leonid Brezhnev lived not in lavishly appointed mansions like the White House, but in relatively large apartments in a housing project near the Kremlin set aside for government leaders. They had limousines at their disposal (like most other heads of state) and access to large dachas where they entertained visiting dignitaries. But they had none of the immense personal wealth that most U.S. leaders possess. {Nor could they transfer such “wealth” by inheritance or gift to friends and kin, as is often the case with Western magnates and enriched political leaders. Just view Tony Blair.]
The “lavish life” enjoyed by East Germany’s party leaders, as widely publicized in the U.S. press, included a $725 yearly allowance in hard currency, and housing in an exclusive settlement on the outskirts of Berlin that sported a sauna, an indoor pool, and a fitness center shared by all the residents. They also could shop in stores that carried Western goods such as bananas, jeans, and Japanese electronics. The U.S. press never pointed out that ordinary East Germans had access to public pools and gyms and could buy jeans and electronics (though usually not of the imported variety). Nor was the “lavish” consumption enjoyed by East German leaders contrasted to the truly opulent life style enjoyed by the Western plutocracy.
Second, in communist countries, productive forces were not organized for capital gain and private enrichment; public ownership of the means of production supplanted private ownership. Individuals could not hire other people and accumulate great personal wealth from their labor. Again, compared to Western standards, differences in earnings and savings among the populace were generally modest. The income spread between highest and lowest earners in the Soviet Union was about five to one. In the United States, the spread in yearly income between the top multibillionaires and the working poor is more like 10,000 to 1.
Third, priority was placed on human services. Though life under communism left a lot to be desired and the services themselves were rarely the best, communist countries did guarantee their citizens some minimal standard of economic survival and security, including guaranteed education, employment, housing, and medical assistance.
Fourth, communist countries did not pursue the capital penetration of other countries. Lacking a profit motive as their motor force and therefore having no need to constantly find new investment opportunities, they did not expropriate the lands, labor, markets, and natural resources of weaker nations, that is, they did not practice economic imperialism. The Soviet Union conducted trade and aid relations on terms that generally were favorable to the Eastern European nations and Mongolia, Cuba, and India.
All of the above were organizing principles for every communist system to one degree or another. None of the above apply to free market countries like Honduras, Guatemala, Thailand, South Korea, Chile, Indonesia, Zaire, Germany, or the United States.
But a real socialism, it is argued, would be controlled by the workers themselves through direct participation instead of being run by Leninists, Stalinists, Castroites, or other ill-willed, power-hungry, bureaucratic, cabals of evil men who betray revolutions. Unfortunately, this “pure socialism” view is ahistorical and nonfalsifiable; it cannot be tested against the actualities of history. It compares an ideal against an imperfect reality, and the reality comes off a poor second. It imagines what socialism would be like in a world far better than this one, where no strong state structure or security force is required, where none of the value produced by workers needs to be expropriated to rebuild society and defend it from invasion and internal sabotage.
The pure socialists’ ideological anticipations remain untainted by existing practice. They do not explain how the manifold functions of a revolutionary society would be organized, how external attack and internal sabotage would be thwarted, how bureaucracy would be avoided, scarce resources allocated, policy differences settled, priorities set, and production and distribution conducted. Instead, they offer vague statements about how the workers themselves will directly own and control the means of production and will arrive at their own solutions through creative struggle. No surprise then that the pure socialists support every revolution except the ones that succeed.
The pure socialists had a vision of a new society that would create and be created by new people, a society so transformed in its fundamentals as to leave little room for wrongful acts, corruption, and criminal abuses of state power. There would be no bureaucracy or self-interested coteries, no ruthless conflicts or hurtful decisions. When the reality proves different and more difficult, some on the Left proceed to condemn the real thing and announce that they “feel betrayed” by this or that revolution.
The pure socialists see socialism as an ideal that was tarnished by communist venality, duplicity, and power cravings. The pure socialists oppose the Soviet model but offer little evidence to demonstrate that other paths could have been taken, that other models of socialism–not created from one’s imagination but developed through actual historical experience–could have taken hold and worked better. Was an open, pluralistic, democratic socialism actually possible at this historic juncture? The historical evidence would suggest it was not. As the political philosopher Carl Shames argued:
How do [the left critics] know that the fundamental problem was the “nature” of the ruling [revolutionary] parties rather than, say, the global concentration of capital that is destroying all independent economies and putting an end to national sovereignty everywhere? And to the extent that it was, where did this “nature” come from? Was this “nature” disembodied, disconnected from the fabric of the society itself, from the social relations impacting on it? . . . Thousands of examples could be found in which the centralization of power was a necessary choice in securing and protecting socialist relations. In my observation [of existing communist societies], the positive of “socialism” and the negative of “bureaucracy, authoritarianism and tyranny” interpenetrated in virtually every sphere of life. (Carl Shames, correspondence to me, 1/15/92.)
The pure socialists regularly blame the Left itself for every defeat it suffers. Their second-guessing is endless. So we hear that revolutionary struggles fail because their leaders wait too long or act too soon, are too timid or too impulsive, too stubborn or too easily swayed. We hear that revolutionary leaders are compromising or adventuristic, bureaucratic or opportunistic, rigidly organized or insufficiently organized, undemocratic or failing to provide strong leadership. But always the leaders fail because they do not put their trust in the “direct actions” of the workers, who apparently would withstand and overcome every adversity if only given the kind of leadership available from the left critic’s own groupuscule. Unfortunately, the critics seem unable to apply their own leadership genius to producing a successful revolutionary movement in their own country.
Tony Febbo questioned this blame-the-leadership syndrome of the pure socialists:
It occurs to me that when people as smart, different, dedicated and heroic as Lenin, Mao, Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega, Ho Chi Minh and Robert Mugabe–and the millions of heroic people who followed and fought with them–all end up more or less in the same place, then something bigger is at work than who made what decision at what meeting. Or even what size houses they went home to after the meeting. . . .
These leaders weren’t in a vacuum. They were in a whirlwind. And the suction, the force, the power that was twirling them around has spun and left this globe mangled for more than 900 years. And to blame this or that theory or this or that leader is a simple-minded substitute for the kind of analysis that Marxists [should make]. (Guardian, 11/13/91)
To be sure, the pure socialists are not entirely without specific agendas for building the revolution. After the Sandinistas overthrew the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua, an ultra-left group in that country called for direct worker ownership of the factories. The armed workers would take control of production without benefit of managers, state planners, bureaucrats, or a formal military. While undeniably appealing, this worker syndicalism denies the necessities of state power. Under such an arrangement, the Nicaraguan revolution would not have lasted two months against the U.S.-sponsored counterrevolution that savaged the country. It would have been unable to mobilize enough resources to field an army, take security measures, or build and coordinate economic programs and human services on a national scale. [end excerpt]
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* "Yosemite Indians, white ally fell victim to white vigilantes" (2015-05-22, sfchronicle.com) [archive.is/xp19I] [begin excerpt]: In December 1850, hostilities broke out between the Indians who inhabited the foothills near Yosemite and the white miners and settlers who had encroached on their lands. To pacify the Indians and force them onto reservations, a military unit called the Mariposa Battalion was mustered. Its commander was a remarkable man named James Savage. Savage, who was about 33 years old, was a trader who knew the Indians of the area better than any other white man. He spoke several Indian languages and had no fewer than five Indian wives, a practice he justified by citing the Bible. Although Savage was not free from the paternalistic prejudices of his time, he was much more enlightened and well-meaning than many contemporary whites, who regarded the indigenous people as subhuman irritants to be slaughtered if they acted up. Before the outbreak of hostilities, Savage learned that some tribes were planning to attack. In an attempt to forestall what he knew would be a catastrophic war, he took a tribal chief to San Francisco, hoping the sight of the bustling Gold Rush city would convince him that it would be folly to attack such a rich and numerous people. [end excerpt]
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* Anarchism: "In search of early Italy's "lost" Bakuninist organisations" (2015-05-22) [archive.is/DJ1MT]
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* "ALL WARS ARE BANKERS' WARS!" (by Michael Rivero) [archive.is/uRKWO], spoken word video [www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfEBupAeo4]
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* "Even More Admitted False Flag Terror Incidents Come to Light" (2015-05-19, zerohedge.com) [archive.is/x0sU6]
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* "Textbook of Americanism" (1946, by Ayn Rand, for THE VIGIL, a publication of The Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, Beverly Hills, California) [archive.is/8zhWG]
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* " 'The Vietnam Syndrome': Fascists Flipping Burgers in Saigon or Stalingrad" (2015-05-23, by Dr. T. P. Wilkinson) [archive.is/lPM29] [begin excerpt]: For the vast majority of Westerners, that is to say both US Americans and their relatives (imagined or real) in Europe, the war against Vietnam was a brutal military conflict waged by the United States against a small Southeast Asian country by deploying up to some 500,000 combat personnel and more ordnance than dropped on Germany in WWII. The virtues of this endeavour are still disputed. After having destroyed much of Indochina with high explosives or carcinogenic toxins, massive military force withdrew from the territory of Vietnam in 1975, having delayed independence and unification of the country under a popular government by some thirty years. Until 1965, the war in Vietnam was almost entirely covert. That does not mean it was secret, in the sense of invisible, but that it was kept largely unknown. The war was waged by the covert action arms of the French accompanied by US “advisors” followed by a transition to CIA. US strategy was to frustrate the consolidation of the Vietnamese nationalist state—the PRVN—in Hanoi by isolating it politically, economically, and demographically. Having adopted the French shell company, the État du Vietnam, created by the retreating French in 1949, they needed to prevent the elections agreed in the 1954 Geneva Accords and build a nation capable of sustaining the shell, which the US then baptised the Republic of Vietnam. The problem was that they had created a country but this country had no citizenry beyond the officials, functionaries and economic beneficiaries of the shell in Saigon. In order to create a Republic of Vietnam, the shell bought by the Company to offer a foothold for US corporate expansion in Southeast Asia, it was not enough to inject a few billion dollars and run it like the French had run the État. To prevail in the election agreed under the 1954 Geneva Accords, the CIA found it needed a population—one that would vote to remain citizens of a state that did not exist in the minds of the majority of Vietnamese. The CIA and its subsidiaries, affiliates, and joint venture partners invested enormous energy and sums of money to rally population from Tonkin to help fill the South with more people and thus increase the number of votes available. Under no conditions were Vietnamese to be allowed to choose their own form of political organisation. A strong cohesive shareholder minority below the 18th parallel was positioned with CIA assistance to exert a controlling interest and eject the hostile shareholders, rejecting their share certificates as somehow fraudulent in what would become an extremely violent “proxy fight”.
Pre-existing Vietnam was rejected just as General Hodges rejected the People’s Committees in Korea and Admiral Dewey rejected the Philippine Republic in 1899. In order to build the nation most favourable for US corporate exploitation, it was necessary to destroy any semblance of the existing one.
From the standpoint of the US regime the fates of Vietnam and Korea were integrally linked in the vision of a US Asia-Pacific empire. The empire’s covert warriors certainly felt they had learned from Korea and hoped to dispense with the kind of war that had been fought there. The introduction of massive military force was certainly not planned or intended before 1964. The corporate lawyers at Langley and the corporations they represent were convinced that the experience in Iran, throughout Latin America, especially in Guatemala, and in manipulating Western European politics had allow them to capitalise their new Indochina shell in Vietnam. By 1964 they had discovered they were wrong. A thousand years of Vietnamese identity could not be erased with ad campaigns displaying burger-flippers like McDonald’s serving in Vietnamese. The shell company was threatened with bankruptcy if something was not done to create a sustainable market—to manufacture a population that would demand “RVN product”.
The French and US civic action programs were always decoration for intelligence and counter-insurgency operations. The principal counter-insurgency strategy pursued until 1964 was the so-called “strategic hamlet system”. Since the armed Vietnamese resistance to the French État du Vietnam and the US Republic of Vietnam was defined as an alien force which relied upon the local population for support, attempts were made to resettle rural populations in fortified camps and thus isolate them from the supposed foreign invaders. This policy was not fundamentally different from the British concentration camps in South Africa. For one obvious reason, this strategy could not succeed on its own—the supposed “foreign” invaders were not foreign at all. Since there was no identifiable distinction between pro-American and anti-American Vietnamese, the expensive and ultimately half-hearted strategic hamlets program was deemed a failure.
More intensive and diverse marketing instruments were required if the competition for political loyalty in Vietnam was to be curbed and eliminated. The Catholic-dominated burger joint in Saigon could neither make an edible hamburger nor smile convincingly to the Buddhist majority at the counter. None of the customers were impressed and even worse they exhibited no particular interest in hamburgers and fries under the stars and stripes (if not the golden arches). Corporate management was faced with its last alternative to create a stable market by a) destroying the competition and b) destroying the competitor’s customer base. Corporate empires are established and maintained not by talent but by deploying business talent in the respective theatres of economic warfare. Creating a US vassal state with a captive population follows the same principles applied by Exxon, Microsoft or McDonald’s. Like the US itself, these corporate brands are ubiquitous because of conquest and the ideology of business (especially entrepreneurialism) that equates their success with progress and freedom. The impending failure of the Saigon label only intensified demands for proper elections as agreed in Geneva and threatened the entire business venture. More time was needed and covert action was simply not working fast enough.
The USS Maddox incident in the Gulf of Tonkin provided the pretext for creating open hostilities between the US and the PRV. With a quasi-state of war now extant between the US and the government in Hanoi, elections could be indefinitely postponed and more cover could be given for intensified covert operations—the marketing campaign to create an RVN population that could be permanently isolated from the PRV. The Southeast Asia Resolution was also adopted to deceive the US public about the nature of US policy in Vietnam. The ideology of business is sufficiently strong among US Americans to sustain a policy of ordinary economic exploitation. However, exploitation of Indochina was part of an Asia-Pacific strategy that had already cost billions (for Korea) and would cost even more. Therefore it was deemed necessary to package the billions in future subsidies to US corporations in terms of national defence and protection of Vietnamese from communism. The Tonkin Gulf show was needed to justify despatching combat forces actually needed to support the covert war already under way. From that point onward, the only Vietnamese in the eyes of the US television viewers were those in the US-occupied South. The Vietnamese in the PRV were simply communists without any nationality (just as communists had been defined as foreigners in the US).
Corporate propaganda—advertising—is an accepted part of life in the US and much of the West. People pay exorbitant amounts of money to function as billboards for corporations—that is to wear branded clothing, eat branded food, and imitate the behaviour of branded celebrities. It may be argued that it is harmless as long as people can choose not to wear Nike clothing, eat McDonald’s hamburgers, and can walk or cycle instead of driving cars. The domination of the burger, software and fuel markets by a handful of megalomaniacs and their corporate instruments may be tolerable if ultimately indigestible. The same cannot be said about a country where the majority of the population are faced with swallowing the corporate product or being destroyed. The US essentially dissolved Vietnam—as they had other Asian republics they targeted—and declared the territory open for exploitation (development). The overall mission, the strategy and tactics applied in the attempt to fulfil this mission were essentially identical to those for which highest-ranking Nazi officials and functionaries were tried in Nuremberg after 1945.
Leaving aside the dubious legality of the US invasion by regular troops in 1965, CIA action defied any pretence to legality. US officials were under no statutory authority to conduct surveillance againstVietnamese citizens, pursue them through police or military measures, interrogate, sentence, detain, imprison—or kill them—not to mention torture. Hence all CIA operations whether conducted directly by US civilian or military organisations had to be dressed in the bureaucratic clothing of the Vietnamese state the US had created. The original legal system of the Republic of Vietnam was deemed inadequate so CIA had the constitution amended to make communism and being a communist a crime. The effect of this and other emergency legislation and executive decrees was to create a veneer of statutory legality for the actions CIA wanted to conduct in Vietnam through its hired surrogates. The laws might constitute bills of attainder, incompatible with US law, but because this was Vietnam, the CIA could argue that Vietnamese law permitted the actions whose execution it was merely advising. Formal legality (as opposed to substantive justice) is not only endemic to bureaucracies like the CIA but also characteristic of corporate law practice—the legal culture that prevails in the agency.
The second line of defence for extra-legal CIA practices was that they were not policy. William Colby testified that while torture and assassinations were no doubt performed by people associated with Phoenix, Phoenix was not an assassination program. US Congressman Pete McCloskey charged that the planned assassinations under Phoenix violated “several treaties and laws”—in particular Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions which prohibits “the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognised as indispensable by civilized peoples.” Torture, mutilation and cruel treatment are also forbidden. Colby claimed—based on a legal opinion prepared in-house—that Vietnamese citizens were not “protected persons” in terms of the Geneva Conventions. Several contortions were used to exclude civilians from protection of ordinary laws as well as international law. In practice the Phoenix program defined anyone whose loyalty to the Saigon regime was not absolutely demonstrated and certified to be an enemy—essentially non-Vietnamese, a foreigner and stateless person afforded no legal protections whatsoever.
So-called Vietnamisation—following the withdrawal of US combat troops in 1973—was intended to transfer as much of CIA pacification technology and organisation to ostensibly Republic of Vietnam institutions. However this failed in the end for two reasons. First of all VCI was never accepted as a legitimate or workable pacification target. It was understood by all Vietnamese (even those who exploited it opportunistically) as an entirely US idea. Secondly as long as the CIA had funds to finance Phoenix there were people willing to take the money. When funds dried up, Vietnamese Phoenix units were unable to operate and degenerated into private criminal organisations beyond political control.
The Phoenix program collapsed in Vietnam with the withdrawal of military cover, evaporation of covert funding and the defeat of the Saigon burger-flippers. But by that time a whole generation of US military, foreign civil service and CIA officers had been through the Phoenix “political and psychological warfare” school in Vietnam. The bird may have been incinerated in Saigon after 30 April 1975 but it has been reborn in thousands of places around the world ever since. [end excerpt]
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* "Lee Cain: he kept his eyes on the prize" (2015-04-23, by Tim Wheeler) [archive.is/xpfKO]:
I have been a delegate to every national convention of the Communist Party USA since I joined in 1958. My first was the 18th Convention at Webster Hall on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1967. It opened with a mass rally. I was one of about a dozen youth asked to sit on the stage, proof that the Party, hounded by the FBI, its leaders imprisoned for years, was on the comeback trail. My parents came down from New Hampshire to attend the rally in the jam-packed hall.
Yet even more memorable for me personally was the 19th Convention in Brooklyn in the spring of 1969. There is a story behind that convention that explains why it meant so much to me.
Joyce and I were living in Arlington, Virginia with our three children. The Daily World editors asked me on short notice to travel down to Charleston, South Carolina, to cover a rally by Hospital Workers Local 1199, who had been on strike for months fighting to win union recognition and decent wages and living conditions. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated a few months earlier but the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was a full partner in that strike battle. Dr. Ralph David Abernathy, King's successor, was in Charleston helping mobilize support for the strikers.I took the train down to Charleston arriving at about midnight, checking into a cheap hotel. Next morning I walked to the church where the rally would be held that evening. The Governor had declared a state of emergency, ordered a curfew and mobilized 500 National Guardsmen who were patrolling Charleston, brandishing rifles with fixed bayonets. It was as if the City were under siege.
I learned that the rally site, an African Methodist Episcopal Church was hallowed ground: Denmark Vesey, who founded the church, had met with his comrades to carry out a slave revolt in 1822. He and his brethren were tried and executed.
The church that evening was packed with the strikers, mostly African American women. The rally combined the passion and joy of a Black church service and the militant, fighting spirit of a union rally. The crowd lifted the roof with their singing.
Abernathy and Dr. King's widow, Corretta Scott King, and King's son were there to help fire up the crowd.
I remember strike leader, Mary Moultrie. She was a gentle, soft-spoken person, salt of the earth, not at all a fiery orator. Yet her words stirred the crowd to strong applause.
I had my story. I traveled home. I wrote up the story and a day later took the train up to attend the CPUSA 19th National Convention at the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn. Daily World co-editors, Carl Winter and John Pittmann, greeted me warmly. Carl leaned close and said in my ear, "You must speak to the convention about the rally in Charleston."
At that time, some in the Party were arguing that we were too conservative and should embrace the Maoist slogan that "All power springs from the barrel of a gun." They were under the influence of ultra-leftists who were driven into a blind fury by the repression orchestrated by J. Edgar Hoover and the rightwing ruling class. These racists were so blood-thirsty they would assassinate Dr. King and Malcolm X to smash the movement.
One speaker delivered a sharp speech calling on the Party to align itself with the Black Panther Party and their strategy of confrontation with the FBI, not to shrink, even, from armed confrontation with the enemy.
Lee Cain, African American auto worker from Detroit took the floor and answered. He had toiled for years at the Dodge Main plant and was a leader of the Black Caucus of the United Auto Workers. A stooped, thin, dark-complexioned man, he wore spectacles and spoke in a high-pitched voice. He was a powerful orator.
Cain spoke of the suicidal error of embracing ultra-left adventurism. Many working class people, African Americans included, keep a loaded firearm hidden in their closet to defend themselves, Cain said. They don't deliver loud speeches about it. What is needed to defend the Black community from FBI terrorism and police repression is a broad-based, non-violent, mass movement that embraces organized labor, the organizations of the African American people including the NAACP and the SCLC. We must never allow ourselves to be diverted down the narrow path of ultra-leftism, a sure recipe that plays into the hands of the enemy, he said.
The crowd stood applauding, cheering. It was the high point of that convention, the defense of a mass line by a rank and file auto worker and a decisive rejection of adventurist strategy and tactics.
I don't remember just when, but at some point I was called on to give my five minute speech. I spoke about Charleston, the struggle of the Black women hospital workers to organize a union in the City where the first shot of the Civil War was fired. Open shop Charleston, still segregated, still saturated with white supremacy. I was stunned by the strong ovation my speech received.
When it came time to elect the in-coming National Committee, I was not on the list of those recommended by the Presiding Committee. But someone from the floor nominated me. And when the votes were counted, I had been elected to the National Committee of the Communist Party.
On the long train ride home, I thought back over that convention, the many eloquent speeches given by comrades in so many areas of intense struggle. That convention more than any other taught me the crucial importance of developing a correct Party line to guide our work, of having the courage to stand up and defend that line. Monopoly capitalism knows full well the danger to their profit interests of a strong united Party deeply immersed in the mass movements. Their aim is to weaken and isolate the Party and destroy those mass movements. No one understood this more clearly than Lee Cain. He kept his "eyes on the prize."
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* "The Radical Paradox of Martin Luther King’s Devotion to Nonviolence" (2015-05, smithsonianmag.com) [archive.is/keHkJ] [begin excerpt]: During a meeting of King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a man rose up from the audience, leapt onto the stage and smashed King in the face. Punched him hard. And then punched him again.
After the first punch, Branch recounts, King just dropped his hands and stood there, allowed the assailant (who turned out to be a member of the American Nazi Party) to punch him again. And when King’s associates tried to step in King stopped them:
“Don’t touch him!” King shouted. “Don’t touch him. We have to pray for him.”
“Yes,” Branch remembers. “It was in September 1962 in Birmingham, which was still segregated. I mean very segregated. They were having their convention, which was a gutsy thing to do because they’re inviting an integrated group to have a convention explicitly promoting civil rights in a fiercely segregated town.”
When the assailant started slugging King, most people thought, Branch says, that “it was a surprise part of the program. He walked up and slugged him and people still thought that this might be some sort of nonviolent demonstration or something. And then he hit him again!”
“Hit him hard?”
“Hit him hard! In fact, he couldn’t continue the rest of the convention. Knocked him around and finally people realized this was not a demonstration, that this was an emergency and went and dragged him out...and swarmed around this Nazi, and King is already saying, “‘Don’t touch him, don’t hurt him.’”
It was an important revelation, even for some of those who had been close to him for years. Even for Rosa Parks, the heroine of King’s first struggle, the Montgomery bus boycott. “Rosa Parks was quite taken by that,” Branch says, “because she always thought that nonviolence was an abstraction to King. She told him that she had never really seen it in him until that moment. And a number of other people did too.”People still don’t quite believe in nonviolence in the radical way King did, though Branch thinks it’s the most important aspect of his legacy.
“You call nonviolence ‘an orphan,’” I say to him. “What do you mean by that?”
“The force behind the idea of nonviolence was given its most powerful run in the civil rights era. [Which showed] that it could have an effect in the world. But it became passé pretty quickly toward the end of Dr. King’s career.”
Passé?
“Everybody was jettisoning nonviolence, black and white. White radicals sneered at it. Black Power people sneered at it. ‘Power comes out of the mouth of a gun,’ so on and so forth. And so it became passé pretty quickly even as a matter of intellectual investigation.”
Ironically, Branch says, “The only place I found that studied it in classrooms was in our war colleges, the Naval War College and West Point.”
And as a result there are a number of things people misunderstand about King and nonviolence. For one thing it’s not the same as Mahatma Gandhi’s “passive resistance.”
“King had a little trouble with the Gandhians” and their incessant fasting, says Branch, who decided to edit out several hundred pages of his manuscript dealing with the Gandhians. “He was over there in India and he said for them the test of your commitment was whether you could fast. He used to joke, ‘Gandhi obviously never tasted barbecue.’”
Passive resistance, Branch points out, was easier in a country where 95 percent of the people were your natural supporters, as in India, versus America, where you’re only 10 percent—and a good portion of the rest were actively hostile. Instead King’s nonviolence depended on being active, using demonstrations, direct actions, to “amplify the message” of the protest they were making, even if it meant sacrificing their own lives and limbs to do it. [end excerpt]
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* Charter for the "May 14th Movement" (1959-05-04) machine translated [archive.is/Psh0u], a revolutionary vanguard within the jurisdiction of the Republic of Uruguay
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* "Armed Workers Can be Free" (1966-10, CP-USA M-L) [archive.is/bCvB6] [begin excerpt]:
People of Watts, organize for defense against police brutality. The police, agents of the rich, are paid to keep the poor under direct Oppression. They are paid to beat and murder workers. The workers must arm to defend themselves against this reactionary violence. The People’s Armed Defense Group is organizing for the protection of workers from police brutality.It is the right of everyone to arm for defense against attack. The workers of Watts must use this right. The people can curb the brutality of the police in only one way – by defending themselves.
The rich are a small minority; they fear the anger of the poor. They must hire “legalized” murderers (police) to protect their weak, selfish interests. The poor are kept “in their place” by constant abuse and attack. “Their place”, according to the capitalist, is in the welfare offices or on jobs that barely pay enough to keep a person alive. The capitalist system, based on the exploitation of the many by the few cannot resolve the problems of the poor. The rich grow and remain wealthy on your poverty. In order to keep you poor, hungry, jobless and without the basic necessities of modern life which are rightfully yours, the rich must use violence. They depend on the police to use brutality against the workers. You need not take this abuse. Police brutality can be checked if the people are armed in their own defense.
Mayor Yorty and Police Chief Parker are representatives of the rich and administers of police brutality. They are not concerned with the democratic rights of the people. They will not protect or help you. They are paid to keep you oppressed and exploited. You cannot depend on these officials of the bourgeois state for help. The working class can only depend on themselves. Organized into self-defense groups, the people can begin to protect their rights and interests. The People’s Armed Defense Group can help you organize self-defense groups.
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* "Why We Are Youth For Stalin" (1968-04) [archive.is/xLAYP] [begin excerpt]:
J.V. Stalin represents the invaluable and heroic leadership of Marxism-Leninism in the struggle to smash world capitalism.
Under Stalin’s leadership internationally, the dictatorship of the proletariat of the first socialist country was consolidated, the Fascist imperialist axis was smashed and the Chinese Revolution of 1949 was accomplished. Stalin’s heroic leadership of the Soviet Union, the CPSU(Bolshevik) the Third International and the peoples’ forces in World War II brought the imperialist system that much closer to its final total destruction.
Comrade Stalin led the peoples’ forces and the Marxist-Leninists of the world from the strategic period in which the main contradiction facing world capitalism was the contradiction between the imperialists themselves to the present strategic period in which the main contradiction is between the oppressed nations and imperialism.
Because of the massive victories which the peoples of the world accomplished over imperialism and the irreparable damage done to world capitalism under his leadership, Stalin, fifteen years after his death, is still the man most feared, hated and slandered by US imperialism. [end excerpt]
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Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) within the jurisdiction of the fascist Republic of Bolivia
* "The MIR is constructing a vanguard" (1972-05-01) in Spanish [web.archive.org/web/20150521162455/http://www.cedema.org/uploads/MIR-B_1972-05.pdf]
- LA CONSTRUCCIÓN DE LA VANGUARDIA POLÍTICO-MILITAR ES LA TAREA REVOLUCIONARIA DEL MOMENTO- EL FRENTE REVOLUCIONARIO ANTIFASCISTA (FRA)
- ¿QUÉ ES EL MIR EN BOLIVIA?
- TAREAS DEL MIR EN LA ACTUAL ETAPA
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* "Conceptual Manifesto" (1972-05-24) intro machine translated [archive.is/gKcxY], document in Spanish [web.archive.org/web/20150525035047/http://www.cedema.org/uploads/MIR_1972-05-24.pdf], from the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR) of Chile.
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Revolutionary Workers Group (GOR) within the jurisdiction of the fascist Republic of Argentina.
* "MASS SELF-DEFENSE AND THE REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE" (1974-05-01) [archive.is/di1sO] [begin excerpt]
It is necessary that the revolutionary vanguard organized is the carrier of ideological, political and material elements that allow workers to overcome the frames of their trade union struggles and the limits of violence spontaneously applied according to a specific conflict.Thus, the proletarian vanguard at first and then increasingly wider sectors, the pair that enhance their political awareness adapt their methods of struggle with new features that assumes daily confrontation with the class enemy.
In the specific case of self-defense, the workers' vanguard, nucleated within a revolutionary organization, organized the group of peers. That forefront, leading the struggles, apply violence and educate the people moving down all the knowledge and practical experience accumulated by his own experience, enriched and bolstered by its link with the revolutionary organization.
In Bolivia, when in 1971 the military coup against the populist government of Juan Jose Torres breaks, workers require the latter to give them weapons. When he refused, is a revolutionary organization, the Revolutionary Workers Party, who heads a group of workers by an armed detachment, assaulting a barracks and expropriated 1,300 rifles then used against the military coup.
In March 1971, about 2,000 metalworkers of St. Mary in Buenos Aires province decided to move en masse to the union to occupy and displace the bureaucracy led by Mario Barrientos. The workers marched unarmed and disorganized, without an address to plan for action and providing for a reaction of the bureaucracy, which was pertrechada and armed within the union. The result was that workers were attacked and killed by the thugs, the workers losing their lives Francisco Garri, and causing the dispersion of workers and further demoralization and defeat. While the workers were disarmed and disorganized bureaucracy was ready for the attack, with strong arms and also with the complicity of the police, who despite being only 2 blocks away, took half an hour to arrive, and instead to attack the bureaucrats, he ordered the dispersal of the workers.
In February 1974, the Córdoba police chief, Lieutenant Colonel Navarro, with a small police force, took the governor and the governor and vice stops, spreading terror in the city supported by gangs of armed civilians. [end excerpt]
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* "Bin Laden's assassination: A volcano of lies" (2015-05-13, by Alexander Cockburn) [archive.is/khXWx]
* "Who Was Killed in Abbottabad in May 2011? Osama bin Laden or Someone Else? Pentagon Ordered Purge of Osama “Death Files” from Data Bank" (2011-05, by Prof Michel Chossudovsky) [archive.is/r6PSy]
Is criticism of Saudi Arabia considered "anti-Arab"? The evidence shows that Saudi Arabia officials facilitated and sent money to the Saudi Arabian citizens who conducted the attacks of 9-11, alongside the State of Israel and the USA clandestine agencies (CIA, DIA). This collaboration is reflected by the respective government's support for the Global Islamic Caliphate ("ISIS"). The following is an example of a "9-11 Truth" meme which is used by detractors to show that the "9-11 Truth" movement is "anti-Semitic" because it criticises Israel's role in the 9-11 attacks
To launch a campaign of hatred against criticism of a government, especially if that government is involved in foreign affairs, is to enable a campaign of censorship of history itself. The USA government itself conducts a campaign of demonization of "9-11 Truth" while issuing false reports concerning the facts of what occurred that day, September 11th, 2001, so that anyone who discovers the falsehoods are targets of the demonization campaign.
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ACTION CALENDER
A list of gatherings, workshops, and educational events in the greater Bay Area region
Dorothy Day Working Group of Occupy Santa Rosa
Monday, June 1, 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
Tuesday, June 2, 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.
Sonoma County Courthouse, 575 Administration Drive, Santa Rosa
Dorothy Day Working Group of Occupy Santa Rosa
Monday, June 8, 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
Tuesday, June 9, 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.
Sonoma County Courthouse, 575 Administration Drive, Santa Rosa
Juneteenth Remembrance 2015 - The Heru Network
Tuesday, June 9, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Details coming soon. Information: ourlosthistory@yahoo.com
Peace & Justice Center of Sonoma County, 467 Sebastopol Ave., Santa Rosa
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
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