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.
===*===*===
ACTION HEADLINES!
Stories are reviewed and provided by Northbay MDS Committees and Affiliates
In Honduras, land belonging to the people and to indegenous are being confiscated and sold to private corporations
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].
* "America’s Endless Air Wars" (2015-07-06, consortiumnews.com) [archive.is/wk2gm]
* Christy Thornton WBAI interview with Dana Frank (from Honduras) [soundcloud.com/christy-thornton-3/frankhonduras070615]
* "Samantha Power Lies to Congress About Civilian Shelling in Ukraine, Commits Felony; The US Ambassador to the UN, she claims she believes majority of civilian shelling casualties are victims of the separatists; The penalty for lying to Congress is up to 8 years of imprisonment" [archive.is/Yy9kO], video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWnMv9qiaKM]
* "Secret Document Shows CIA Reaction to Finding No WMD in Iraq" (2015-07-08, by David Swanson, telesurtv.net) [archive.is/zNt54]
* "Ghost Students, Ghost Teachers, Ghost Schools" (2015-07-09, buzzfeed.com) [archive.is/mqcBa]. Buzzfeed’s exposé of Afghanistan’s “ghost schools” details the fraud and waste behind the educational mission supposedly underpinning US nation-building efforts in the war-torn country. Approximately $1 billion has been spent on this much-ballyhooed, but almost completely fictional, “success.”
* "The Pentagon Wants To Train 15,000 Syrian Fighters. So Far It’s Got 60" (2015-07-07, defenseone.com) [archive.is/PbauK]
* "Activists use court hearing to continue drone protest" (2015-06-30, lasvegassun.com) [archive.is/U7g9W]
* "DRONE STRIKE - United States TERRORISM" [youtube.com/watch?v=enRbp51pVSI]. Intro from [nodronesnetwork.blogspot.com]: Powerful documentary interviewing anti-drone activists that participated in SHUT DOWN CREECH, A week long protest last March at Creech AFB near Las Vegas, Nevada. Nearly 150 people came from over 20 different states, from Alaska to Arizona and Maine to Tennessee. Over 50 veterans now working for peace also participated. The week culminated in a day of peaceful civil resistance where over 34 activists were arrested while blocking the gates of Creech AFB, where U.S. Air Force personnel murder people on the other side of the planet for the CIA. Hundreds of children have been killed by drone strikes in Yemen, Pakistan and Somalia alone. Hope you will watch this and be inspired to join us soon, in ongoing drone protests at Creech or other drone bases, to help stop the barbarism of drone assassination. [shutdowncreech.blogspot.com]
---
* "The hidden battle to build the Air Force's new stealth bomber" (2015-04-14, politico.com) [archive.is/CQspd]
* "Defense Contractors Spend Big to Win Stealth Bomber Contract" (2015-05-12) [maplight.org/content/defense-contractors-spend-big-to-win-stealth-bomber-contract] [begin excerpt]: The PACs of Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin, contributed, on average, 2.1 times more money ($27,000) to members of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee compared to the average given to all members of the House ($12,838) during the 2014 election cycle.
* "Evil Cover Up: Have Millions of Deaths from America’s ‘War on Terror’ Been Concealed?" (2015-06-30, counterpunch.org) [archive.is/e30EQ]
* "If Terrorist Attacks are on the Rise, What Does that Say about the 13-Year-Old “War on Terror”?" (2015-06-29, allgov.com) [archive.is/WRrz7]
* "Former Bush officials teaching course on Iraq War 'decision-making' " (2015-06-27, thehill.com) [archive.is/JjbYX]. whowhatwhy.org writes: Yes, Paul Wolfowitz and Scooter Libby are teaching a course this fall titled "The War in Iraq: A Study in Decision-Making", course description here [archive.is/HXNTU]. That’s right folks… the Hertog Foundation wants “individuals who seek to influence the intellectual, civic, and political life of the United States” to apply for the course and learn key lessons about “strategery” from the very best.
* "Russia poses 'greatest threat' to US national security: Dunford" (2015-07-09, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/bsjhD]
---
Dear Anti-War Friends, Please Help Support the Final Production of: "PAYING THE PRICE FOR PEACE: The Story of S. Brian Willson & The Peace Movement" Via Indiegogo Campaign
Saturday was Brian's 74th birthday. He was born in 1941. Like his good friend Ron Kovic, Brian was born on the 4th of July. If you would like to honor Brian, you can give him a present by supporting
the Final Production of a film in progress titled: "PAYING THE PRICE FOR PEACE: The Story of S. Brian Willson & The Peace Movement" - via The Indiegogo Campaign below.
If You Would Like to Make a DONATION to Help Bo Boudart Finish This Important Film, Please Click: [www.indiegogo.com/projects/final-production-for-paying-the-price-for-peace#/story]
If you donate $25 or more, you will be sent a copy of the film when it is finished.
So basically, you are buying the film in advance & helping to pay the final production costs to finish it at the same time.
* New 4-Minute Trailer for: "PAYING THE PRICE FOR PEACE:
www.indiegogo.com/projects/final-production-for-paying-the-price-for-peace#/
story
* The Older 9-Minute Trailer is at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKIjfUAnPvY&feature=player_embedded#
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKIjfUAnPvY&feature=player_embedded>
* New 1-Minute: 30-Second Interview with Ron Kovic:
www.indiegogo.com/projects/final-production-for-paying-the-price-for-peace#/
updates
* 4-Minute Interview with President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega:
www.indiegogo.com/projects/final-production-for-paying-the-price-for-peace#/
updates
* Brian's Interview on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman on October 28th, 2011:
www.democracynow.org/2011/10/28/blood_on_the_tracks_brian_willsons
* Brian's 8-minute segment from my film: "What I've Learned About U.S. Foreign
Policy": www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6ljl3q9nT0
* Going AWOL from the American Way of Life - A Talk by S. Brian Wilson:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSNyes6ob08
* All of Brian's essays on his website are well worth reading at:
www.brianwillson.com
* Short Autobiography of S. Brian Willson: www.brianwillson.com/autobiography
---
JOIN US THIS NOVEMBER 20-22 FOR OUR 25TH ANNIVERSARY VIGIL
This November 20-22, 2015, we will return to the gates of Fort Benning to take a stand for justice and accountability. Torture survivors, union workers, religious communities, musicians, puppetistas, students, migrants, veterans and others from across the country will speak out against violence and militarization. We will commemorate the martyrs, march to Stewart Detention Center,teach and learn from each other in the Columbus Convention Center, and celebrate resistance at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia.
Visit the 2015 November Vigil website:
http://soaw.org/november/en/
Twenty-five years ago, a handful of human rights activists staged a hunger strike at the gates of Fort Benning, one year after the November 16,1989 massacre at the University of Central America (UCA) in El Salvador. It was on that date that Elba Ramos, her daughter Celina Maricet Ramos, and Fathers Ignacio Ellacur?a , Ignacio Mart?n-Bar?, Segundo Montes, Amando L?pez, Joaqu?n L?pez y L?pez, and Juan Ram?n Moreno were murdered by Salvadoran soldiers trained at the School of the Americas (SOA).
Fort Benning - one of the largest military bases in the world - is named after Georgia politician and Confederate general Henry L. Benning, who helped Georgia secede, and who was an outspoken proponent of slavery. Fort Benning is home to the notorious School of the Americas, renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (SOA/WHINSEC). Over the years, SOA/WHINSEC has become a focal point of people power resistance to empire and militarization.
Download 2015 Vigil flyers & spread the word in your community:
soaw.org/news/organizing-updates/4311-2015-november-vigil-flyers
Through research efforts, it became clear that the SOA was the site of the most horrific training school for Latin American soldiers and police - over 70,000 to date. Little by little, the small but dedicated and yes - tenacious - group of activists began to sift through layers upon layers of unspeakable truths about the US involvement in the dirty wars throughout Latin America. They returned to Ft. Benning every year to hold a vigil on the anniversary of the UCA massacre and a movement - School of the Americas Watch - was born.
Twenty-five years later, SOA violence continues. We have seen how the US has consistently backed and trained corrupt and violent military leadership in Honduras, where SOA graduates led a military coup on June 28, 2009. We continue to learn of systematic human rights violations committed by high-ranking army commanders in Colombia trained at the SOA.
Read more about Colombian army commanders:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-lindsaypoland/on-washingtons-watch_b_7705958.html
The 2014 disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa rural teaching school in Guerrero, Mexico by police underscores the plight of countless others throughout Mexico and Central America that have fallen victim to the US-sponsored "Drug War". If continued unabated, we can expect to see more violence, more deaths, more displacement, more migration, more impunity, more injustice - made possible through US tax dollars and failed policies.
Over the years, our work has expanded to look at the root causes of migration as a symptom of SOA-sponsored violence an oppressive US foreign policy in Latin America, as there is a direct link between militarization and migration. As we continue to connect our struggles, we will also return to Stewart Detention Center - one of the largest private for-profit immigrant prisons - to call for the closure of all immigrant detention centers, an end to mandatory bed quotas and deportations. Twenty-five years later, our resolve to close the SOA and continue resisting a racist culture of militarism is stronger than ever.
After 25 years of resistance, we will converge once more to create a space of mourning and remembrance. We will also come together as a community to create a space of transformational learning and continued solidarity with communities across the entire hemisphere - Honduras, Ferguson, Mexico, Baltimore, Colombia and Charleston - who are standing up for dignity and their lives in the face of racist and militarized state-sponsored violence.
As more and more people continue to learn about the SOA/WHINSEC, our grassroots solidarity movement remains one of the largest anti-militarism convergences in the US. Today, our movement is dynamic, multi-generational and committed to organizing and mobilizing for a world that is possible.We are counting on your presence. It's never too early to begin making travel plans or mobilizing your community!
We will come together to let our voices be heard and our actions in solidarity with our sisters and brothers across the hemisphere felt through our long-standing tradition of non-violent direct action. We must continue connecting our struggles and resisting US militarism in all of its manifestations. We must push back.
Join us this November!
in solidarity, SOA Watch
---
* "Wars for Wall Street" (2015-06-06, by Kevin Rashid Johnson) [rashidmod.com] [archive.is/Zlz92]:
===*===*===
* "Five principles for the anti-police brutality movement" (2015-05-01, Can’t Touch This NYC anti-police repression committee, intro by kasamaproject.org) [archive.is/wSEe6]
* Join the (P.S.C) POLITICAL PRISONER SOLIDARITY COMMITEE addresses THREE principal issues:
1. Building the freedom Campaign: working in the community and locating political prisoners, compiling information on them and their cases, and building the case for freedom. WE DO THE POLITICAL PRISONER HIP-HOP CONCERT, AND POLITICAL PRISONER FILM SERIES.
2. Continuing the political Education Campaign: Reading AND WRITING About the Existence of Political Prisoners inside the U.S. and international, and writting letters to political prisoners, WE PUBLISH THE UNDERGROUND NEWSLETTER.
3. The P.S.C Legal Defense Fund. Raising money for lawyers and law students etc. to provide legal defense for political prisoners. WE SET UP A TABLE AT ASHBY FLEA MARKET ON SUNDAYS.
How Can You Help?
1.Volunteer FOR THE FREEDOM CAMPAIGN to Help Organize POLITICAL PRISONER EVENTS (TWICE A MONTH ON 1ST & 3RD TUESDAY EVENING)
2.Volunteer to work on THE UNDERGROUND NEWSLETTER
Read about and write to political prisoners..be a journalist, illustrator, photographers, or editor for the UNDERGROUND NEWSLETTER.. (TWICE A MONTH ON 2ND & 4TH TUESDAY EVENING)
3.Volunteer to raise money for the P.S.C DEFENSE FUND.
WORK THE TABLE AT ASHBY FLEA MARKET ON SUNDAYS.. (ONCE A WEEK ON SUNDAY)
---
Organizers riding the wave of interest in Liberation movements have to combat some of the apathy of those who are interested but misguided by personal-oriented philosophies... perhaps it can be compared to someone who believes that "true peace comes from within" when told about the peace movement against war, or who believes that "freedom can only be found with faith" when confronted with knowledge of fascism.
* “ 'Positive Attitude' Bullshit: On the dangers of 'radical self-love' ” (2015-07-08, millennialposse.wordpress.com) [archive.is/YNHQU]
===*===*===
TOWARDS REVOLUTIONARY SOLUTIONS
SOLIDARITY WITH THE NEW AFRICAN NATION!
* "Black Liberation in the 21st Century: A Revolutionary Reassessment of Black Nationalism" (2010-03-13, by Rashid Johnson, NABPP) [archive.is/e3pyj]
* "African American people: Survival, creation, self-determination and liberation" (2012-04-20, by Mike Ely, kasamaproject.org) [archive.is/xbnjs]
* "Panther Vision" (2015-02-10, by Kevin 'Rashid' Johnson, Minister of Defense for the New Afrikan Black Panther Party - Prison Chapter) [rashidmod.com] [archive.is/Y2Q5G]
===*===*===
information collected by the Worker's Defense Committee
WORKER'S POWER!
* "How Migrant Farmworkers Are Cross-Pollinating Strategies and Winning" (2015-07-06, labornotes.org) [archive.is/4ZGtJ]
---
* "Boycott El Super: Company Cited With More than $180K in Wage Theft Violations" (2015-07-10, California Labor Federation):
On Tuesday, hundreds of El Super workers and their allies rallied in front of an El Super store in Arleta to highlight their struggle for basic protections on the job, fair wages, guaranteed hours and sick leave.
They also bravely marched on their boss, delivering a letter addressed to El Super President and CEO, Carlos A. Smith. Their demand? For El Super to come back to the bargaining table and address workers' concerns.
Workers also rallied in front of a dozen El Super stores in the LA area. Solidarity actions took place in Nevada and Arizona, as well.
---
Could you survive on $107/week? Neither can anyone else and yet millions of us are forced to try. #FightFor15
In my opinion, not tipping on purpose is anti worker. $15 helps, but workers are still in poverty. Workers and still getting exploited
===*===*===
BAY AREA SOLIDARITY
Updates on campaigns for for Peace, Justice, & Freedom across the greater Bay Area, Norcal, and Socal
* "Five principles for the anti-police brutality movement" (2015-05-01, Can’t Touch This NYC anti-police repression committee, intro by kasamaproject.org) [archive.is/wSEe6]
* Join the (P.S.C) POLITICAL PRISONER SOLIDARITY COMMITEE addresses THREE principal issues:
1. Building the freedom Campaign: working in the community and locating political prisoners, compiling information on them and their cases, and building the case for freedom. WE DO THE POLITICAL PRISONER HIP-HOP CONCERT, AND POLITICAL PRISONER FILM SERIES.
2. Continuing the political Education Campaign: Reading AND WRITING About the Existence of Political Prisoners inside the U.S. and international, and writting letters to political prisoners, WE PUBLISH THE UNDERGROUND NEWSLETTER.
3. The P.S.C Legal Defense Fund. Raising money for lawyers and law students etc. to provide legal defense for political prisoners. WE SET UP A TABLE AT ASHBY FLEA MARKET ON SUNDAYS.
How Can You Help?
1.Volunteer FOR THE FREEDOM CAMPAIGN to Help Organize POLITICAL PRISONER EVENTS (TWICE A MONTH ON 1ST & 3RD TUESDAY EVENING)
2.Volunteer to work on THE UNDERGROUND NEWSLETTER
Read about and write to political prisoners..be a journalist, illustrator, photographers, or editor for the UNDERGROUND NEWSLETTER.. (TWICE A MONTH ON 2ND & 4TH TUESDAY EVENING)
3.Volunteer to raise money for the P.S.C DEFENSE FUND.
WORK THE TABLE AT ASHBY FLEA MARKET ON SUNDAYS.. (ONCE A WEEK ON SUNDAY)
---
Organizers riding the wave of interest in Liberation movements have to combat some of the apathy of those who are interested but misguided by personal-oriented philosophies... perhaps it can be compared to someone who believes that "true peace comes from within" when told about the peace movement against war, or who believes that "freedom can only be found with faith" when confronted with knowledge of fascism.
* “ 'Positive Attitude' Bullshit: On the dangers of 'radical self-love' ” (2015-07-08, millennialposse.wordpress.com) [archive.is/YNHQU]
===*===*===
* "Precariously employed brothers & sisters in our revolutionary strategy" (2012-05-23, kasamaproject.org) [archive.is/fRU4p]
What did we learn from the old Occupy movement?
* American Spring May Day, 2012, [archive.is/g9648], from OccupiedStories.com [archive.is/j4Fr9], click on the monthly archives in the right-side column towards bottom of link.
* "Infiltration to Disrupt, Divide and Misdirect Is Widespread in Occupy" (2012-02-24, truthdig.com) [archive.is/l9inP]
* "Panther Dual Power Strategy By the United Panther Movement" (2012-04-11, NABPP) [archive.is/R1bB5]
* "Blockading the port is only the first of many last resorts" (2011-12-07, Oakland Commune) [archive.is/lbWsp]
Collected material from the United Panther Movement. The UPM is based in the United States and includes the New Afrikan Black Panther Party, Red Heart Warrior Society, White Panther Organization, Brown Panther Organizing Committee, New Afrikan Service Organization (formerly The Black Brigade) and Old South Organizing Committee.
* Rising Sun Press Vol. 1 2005-2008 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/PqDGWg]. Rising Sun Press publishes material from the revolutionary organizations New Afrikan Black Panther Party, Red Heart Warrior Society, the Black Brigade and the White Panthers.
* From Kevin “Rashid” Johnson (NABPP-PC):
- Prison writings "From the Belly of the Beast" (.pdf) [http://is.gd/iAYBOS]
- Kill Yourself or Liberate Yourself (.pdf) [http://is.gd/dQbp1y]
- Rashid art – Black Women (.pdf) [http://is.gd/q4Pe4K]
- Rashid art – dreamers arise (.pdf) [http://is.gd/uUrSjz]
- Rashid art – NABBP George Jackson (.pdf) [http://is.gd/sq40QN]
* From the New Afrikan Black Panther Party – Prison Chapter (NABPP-PC):
- NABPP-PC 10 PP pamphlet [http://is.gd/g5A91e]
- Right On 19 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/Jvhq1t]
- Right On 20 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/totK2d]
- Right On 21 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/l7iCZ2]
- Right On 22 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/NoIX4x]
- Wanted Poster (.pdf) [http://is.gd/UoFPPx]
* From the New Afrikan Service Organization (formerly The Black Brigade):
- NASO 10 PP pamphlet (.pdf) [http://is.gd/6JtH24]
- NASO Charter Application (.pdf) [http://is.gd/3zlfe9]
- NASO pamphlet (.pdf) [http://is.gd/fxNJSi]
- Serve The People 09 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/oQtuUf]
- Serve The People 10 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/ocVWQT]
- Serve The People 11 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/RE5q3h]
- The _O_ – Vol.1 No.5 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/DLptas]
- The _O_ – Vol.1 No.6 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/B7vX8U]
- The _O_ – Vol.2 No.1 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/S9UVLB]
- The _O_ – Vol.3 No.2 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/ZnNIeG]
* From the Red Heart Warrior
- Winter, 2010 - 2011 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/YTGHGt]
* From the White Panther Organization:
- The Liberator 14 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/zsTKwA]
- The Liberator 15 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/jFm1rh]
- The Liberator 16 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/jNWvW1]
- The Liberator 17 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/7QYAgc]
* From the Brown Panthers Organizing Committee:
- Libertad 03 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/0JVsUY]
* From the Old South Organizing Committee:
- Old South Organizing Committee (.pdf) [http://is.gd/qiYuPV]
What did we learn from the old Occupy movement?
* American Spring May Day, 2012, [archive.is/g9648], from OccupiedStories.com [archive.is/j4Fr9], click on the monthly archives in the right-side column towards bottom of link.
* "Infiltration to Disrupt, Divide and Misdirect Is Widespread in Occupy" (2012-02-24, truthdig.com) [archive.is/l9inP]
* "Panther Dual Power Strategy By the United Panther Movement" (2012-04-11, NABPP) [archive.is/R1bB5]
* "Blockading the port is only the first of many last resorts" (2011-12-07, Oakland Commune) [archive.is/lbWsp]
Collected material from the United Panther Movement. The UPM is based in the United States and includes the New Afrikan Black Panther Party, Red Heart Warrior Society, White Panther Organization, Brown Panther Organizing Committee, New Afrikan Service Organization (formerly The Black Brigade) and Old South Organizing Committee.
* Rising Sun Press Vol. 1 2005-2008 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/PqDGWg]. Rising Sun Press publishes material from the revolutionary organizations New Afrikan Black Panther Party, Red Heart Warrior Society, the Black Brigade and the White Panthers.
* From Kevin “Rashid” Johnson (NABPP-PC):
- Prison writings "From the Belly of the Beast" (.pdf) [http://is.gd/iAYBOS]
- Kill Yourself or Liberate Yourself (.pdf) [http://is.gd/dQbp1y]
- Rashid art – Black Women (.pdf) [http://is.gd/q4Pe4K]
- Rashid art – dreamers arise (.pdf) [http://is.gd/uUrSjz]
- Rashid art – NABBP George Jackson (.pdf) [http://is.gd/sq40QN]
* From the New Afrikan Black Panther Party – Prison Chapter (NABPP-PC):- NABPP-PC 10 PP pamphlet [http://is.gd/g5A91e]
- Right On 19 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/Jvhq1t]
- Right On 20 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/totK2d]
- Right On 21 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/l7iCZ2]
- Right On 22 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/NoIX4x]
- Wanted Poster (.pdf) [http://is.gd/UoFPPx]
* From the New Afrikan Service Organization (formerly The Black Brigade):
- NASO 10 PP pamphlet (.pdf) [http://is.gd/6JtH24]
- NASO Charter Application (.pdf) [http://is.gd/3zlfe9]
- NASO pamphlet (.pdf) [http://is.gd/fxNJSi]
- Serve The People 09 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/oQtuUf]
- Serve The People 10 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/ocVWQT]
- Serve The People 11 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/RE5q3h]
- The _O_ – Vol.1 No.5 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/DLptas]
- The _O_ – Vol.1 No.6 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/B7vX8U]
- The _O_ – Vol.2 No.1 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/S9UVLB]
- The _O_ – Vol.3 No.2 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/ZnNIeG]
* From the Red Heart Warrior
- Winter, 2010 - 2011 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/YTGHGt]
* From the White Panther Organization:
- The Liberator 14 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/zsTKwA]
- The Liberator 15 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/jFm1rh]
- The Liberator 16 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/jNWvW1]
- The Liberator 17 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/7QYAgc]
* From the Brown Panthers Organizing Committee:
- Libertad 03 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/0JVsUY]
* From the Old South Organizing Committee:
- Old South Organizing Committee (.pdf) [http://is.gd/qiYuPV]
===*===*===
SOLIDARITY WITH THE NEW AFRICAN NATION!
Black Power! Revive the Community! Defend the Nation!
* "Black Liberation in the 21st Century: A Revolutionary Reassessment of Black Nationalism" (2010-03-13, by Rashid Johnson, NABPP) [archive.is/e3pyj]
* "African American people: Survival, creation, self-determination and liberation" (2012-04-20, by Mike Ely, kasamaproject.org) [archive.is/xbnjs]
* "Panther Vision" (2015-02-10, by Kevin 'Rashid' Johnson, Minister of Defense for the New Afrikan Black Panther Party - Prison Chapter) [rashidmod.com] [archive.is/Y2Q5G]
information collected by the Worker's Defense Committee
WORKER'S POWER!
* "How Migrant Farmworkers Are Cross-Pollinating Strategies and Winning" (2015-07-06, labornotes.org) [archive.is/4ZGtJ]
---
* "Boycott El Super: Company Cited With More than $180K in Wage Theft Violations" (2015-07-10, California Labor Federation):
On Tuesday, hundreds of El Super workers and their allies rallied in front of an El Super store in Arleta to highlight their struggle for basic protections on the job, fair wages, guaranteed hours and sick leave.
They also bravely marched on their boss, delivering a letter addressed to El Super President and CEO, Carlos A. Smith. Their demand? For El Super to come back to the bargaining table and address workers' concerns.
Workers also rallied in front of a dozen El Super stores in the LA area. Solidarity actions took place in Nevada and Arizona, as well.
---
Could you survive on $107/week? Neither can anyone else and yet millions of us are forced to try. #FightFor15
In my opinion, not tipping on purpose is anti worker. $15 helps, but workers are still in poverty. Workers and still getting exploited
Documenting human-rights abuse by domestic security agencies
Response to yesterday's Andy Lopez decision from Arnoldo Casillas, attorney for the Lopez familyFrom Arnoldo Casillas, Attorney for the Andy Lopez family July 2, 2015:
Rodrigo and I met today with the feds in LA today... the US Attorney from SF, the US Civil Rights Prosecutor from Washington DC, and the FBI agent in charge. They all expressed concern over the shooting and told Rodrigo that the statute that they have to rely on to prosecute Gelhaus is almost insurmountable in terms of the level of proof that they need to convict a cop. Although I tried to prepare him for the decision not to prosecute that I expected, he was still crushed. Sujey was unable to attend the meeting because of the unbearable pain related to the decision we all anticipated. To both of them, it was as if Andy had been killed again. The Feds admitted that their evidence was limited to what the SRPD put together. As you remember from Ravitch's decision, the quality of the SRPD investigation is dubious at best. For example, the lead investigator who took Gelhaus's statement had to admit on the record that he had a personal relationship with Gelhaus. Give me a break! How unbiased do you think that investigation was? Unfortunately, the Feds relied on the SRPD investigation. Garbage in, Garbage out. Bottom line, like Ravitch, they had a tough row to hoe given the one-sided version that the SRPD put together.
Simply, they decided that they will not prosecute Gelhaus under the federal statute for violating Andy's civil rights. The SCSO is spinning the decision as an endorsement of their position that there was no violation of Andy's and the family's civil rights. The Feds today confirmed that this not the case, and that their decision is simply that they will not prosecute Gelhaus under the federal statute. Ultimately, this decision is not evidence in the civil case. The case will be decided by a jury in federal court in Oakland in April of next year. The Fed's decision is similar to the hundreds of police prosecutions that are rejected by state and federal prosecutors every year that eventually end up as verdicts for the effected families in civil cases. The bottom line is that the Fed's decision not to prosecute is a repeat of Ravitch's decision. It was expected and it will not deter us.
Our evidence is different and we will not rely on the biased investigation of the SRPD. For example, we recently deposed an eye-witness who saw the shooting and directly contradicts Gelhaus's and Shemell's version of the shooting and sequence of events. He confirms that Shemel, the driver, was the first one out of the car and that he didn't shoot. As you might recall, the SCSO has taken the position that Gelhaus was the first one out of the car and that by the time Shemell exited the car, the shooting was over. They have to take this position, otherwise, they would have to explain why Shemell didn't shoot if there was truly a risk/threat of danger to the officers. Obviously, the reason Shemell didn't shoot is because he recognized that they were confronting a kid with a toy gun. The eyewitness we deposed contradicts the SCSO's version. He confirms that Shemell got out first and didn't shoot. Shemell's refusal to shoot a kid with a toy gun impeaches Gelhaus's actions. Likewise, at their depositions, Gelhaus and Shemell both changed their testimony about their description of who it was that they encountered. To the SRPD, they cried crocodile tears during their interview about confronting a "man" who pointed a gun at them as he turned. Unlike the "man" that they claimed to have encountered on the street when they spoke to their buddies at the SRCP after the shooting, at their deposition Gelhaus and Shemell tried to back off from that position and had to admit that he was a kid. Of course they did! Nobody is going to believe the baloney version that Andy looked like a man. Again, another lie... and there are countless others as well as Gelhaus's admissions about his extremist views. Unlike Ravitch and the Feds, we get to do our own investigation. It is continuing, and we don't have to rely on the version of the shooting that the eager lapdogs at the SRPD put together.
Here's the text of the US Attorney's press release as to their decision [begin]:
U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag and officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, met today with representatives of the Lopez family to inform them of this determination. The decision to close the file without bringing charges was based upon the conclusion that there is insufficient evidence to prove that the deputy willfully used excessive force resulting in Andy’s death.
Under the applicable federal criminal civil rights law, 18 U.S.C. Section 242, prosecutors must establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that an official “willfully” deprived an individual of a Constitutional right, meaning that the official acted with the deliberate and specific intent to do something the law forbids. This is the highest standard of intent imposed by the law. Neither accident, mistake, fear, negligence, nor bad judgment is sufficient to establish a willful federal criminal civil rights violation.
After careful review, and in light of this legal standard, a team of experienced federal prosecutors and FBI agents determined that there is insufficient evidence to prove the deputy willfully violated 18 U.S.C. Section 242 and therefore the case has been closed. [end]
* "Local Police Surveillance Deployed on 'Unprecedented Scale' " (2015-04-24, postnewsgroup.com) [archive.is/wEyd9]* "More than a Dozen Cops Charged With Rape of Children and Child Pornography Still Working on Force" (filmingcops.com) [archive.is/Ve2qa], video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbfVdNjMCQk]
* "US police killed more people in 3 months than Egyptian police killed in the past year" (2015-06-30, globalpost.com) [archive.is/8FyM3]. whowhatwhy.org writes: Egypt is run by a repressive military regime that is notorious for human rights abuses. It also receives a tidy sum of US military aid, which it often uses on “its own people.” Remember those tear-gas canisters stamped with Made in USA? Well, speaking of using weapons on your “own people”… the scorecard so far: first full year of Sisi’s regime = 272 police-caused deaths vs. first three months of 2015 in America = 288 deaths. And, if you go by The Guardian’s count, the US total is 545 as of June 29.
* "NYPD: Captain Told Officers To 'Treat Black People Like Animals' " (2012-04-16, loop21.com) [archive.is/OIOCa]
* "RE: MY HARASSMENT BY FBI IN OAKLAND CA" (2015-07-03, by Ras Ceylon):
I write this so the record can reflect the reality that those of us who truly resist injustice are subject to heightened intimidation by the state in the here and now.
On July 2nd, 2015 at around 1130am I got a text from a coworker saying two FBI agents showed up to the office of the organization I work for asking for me. I was away at the time and they asked my coworker for my cell number and she gave it to them. They did not leave a card or name but added that I "wasn't in trouble." After receiving the text I immediately contacted some of my close people and spoke to a few lawyers one of whom called the local FBI office on my behalf who they said they had no information on me. Then around 12:30pm I got a call from an fbi agent asking to meet up with me so could "talk" I asked him why and what it was about and he was hesitant to say but then asked me if I had a "rap persona" to which I replied that I was involved in music. He then said there was an anonymous tip made about me claiming they were concerned that I worked with youth while having "a sheikh named Imran Hosein on my youtube page who is considered a radical cleric & with Isis going on this is something they have to look in to."
Let me pause here to point out a few things, one I neither denied or affirmed that I had a "rap persona" I replied that I was "involved with music." Secondly anyone claiming that someone is a threat for having Imran Hosein [www.imranhosein.org] on their youtube page (which I don't) is ridiculous. Imran Hosein is a known scholar who writes books available for anyone to read and gives lectures on eschatology in which he says the so-called Islamic state is a "bogus jihad" so to tie him to Isis is ludicrous. Finally for them to be investigating me under the premise that I am an "educator with a rap persona with radical youtube connections" sounds like a huge waste of my tax money and I was upset by the whole thing but remained calm.
The agent then said he didn't think the tip was true but they "had to look into it" and next asked me "who in the community would try to say that about me" and who do "I have problems with."
I was flabbergasted at the audacity that he thought i would bite at that bait and immediately asked if we met, "could I have a lawyer present with me." The agent replied that "I really didn't need to" and at that point I asked for his name and he hesitated but then gave it to me and then I got his number and told him I'd call back.
Next I spoke to lawyers, close comrades and also representatives from CAIR & NLG and it was advised that I not meet with this agent as I am under no obligation to speak to them. Also it was pointed out that there is a precedent for and high probability that they fabricated the alleged "anonymous tip" in order to attempt to get information from me, which would never happen. To be a man of principle in this corrupt world is no easy task and we are constantly tested..but I digress. After an hour or so I finally called the FBI agent back and I told him that if they wanted to talk to me they would have to contact my attorney and I gave him the number. He responded by saying that they really wanted to "help me figure out "who was targeting me" to which I thanked him politely and we both hung up.
As of today July 3rd there has not been a call from the FBI to my lawyer or further contact and I don't anticipate there will be. Needless to say this clear case of activist intimidation, real life Islamophobia and state sanctioned harassment (coming to my place of employment, insisting on meeting face to face with no lawyer etc) of a known Hiphop artist that the agent acknowledged "does a lot of work with at-risk youth." This has been very disturbing and even the whole idea that someone confidentially informed on me as some kind of terror suspect is hella crazy.
I am no stranger to oppression as I have been outspoken for human rights and actively involved with social justice and education work for more than half of my life. I have had movements that I was a part of get repressed many times before, yet in still this whole episode is extremely upsetting. As Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. has said, "being oppressed is embarrassing" and I certainly feel that now as well.
We will stay vigilant and I have organizational structures, legal council and street smarts enough to know that talking to agents of the state is not a good idea as there are many innocent citizens who have suffered from thinking that they these govt.officials have sincere intentions. I don't think it's a coincidence that I was recently interviewed about Malcolm X's slain grandson on a major news outlet just two days ago and the positive work i do in my communities locally and globally must have got some wicked forces angry. No matter how intense the struggle gets I remain thankful to know that the truth will forever prevail over falsehood and I am confident in the victory of good over evil. What's the call? Free'em All!
---
Domestic Security Agencies and private-sector partners
* "XKEYSCORE: NSA’S GOOGLE FOR THE WORLD’S PRIVATE COMMUNICATIONS" (2015-07-01, firstlook.org) part 1 [archive.is/8y9Yq], part 2 [archive.is/R7LVu]. Here's the latest bombshell from the treasure trove of Snowden documents. This time, The Intercept has fully explained and diagramed XKEYSCORE, which is a wide-reaching catch-all for internet traffic, a sharply-refined data mining tool, a powerful bulk data collector and a uniquely effective way to engage in the surveillance of entire populations.
The hacker network known as Anonymous® is regarded as a "kindergarten" (or "high school club") for talented hackers who will then go on to be tapped for employment in USA security agencies (or in private security companies). For example, the publicity hype they receive adds to their notoriety, but, even with the following example of their danger to national security, has this network ever done anything actually harmful to fascism in the USA?
* "Anonymous: 'We have access to every classified database in the US' " (2012-05-14, rt.com) [archive.is/rpEOv]
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has a GMAIL account, as shown at the bottom of their homepage [archive.is/u8MWY], though the English-language version of their homepage does not have the email address listed [archive.is/owySg]!
* CloudFlare Watch (crimeflare.com) [archive.is/oYsPX], with an extensive list of articles, [begin excerpt]: CloudFlare is a venture-funded startup that routes around Internet abuse by acting as a reverse proxy. They also encourage illegality by allowing hackers, DDoSers, cyberbullies, and copyright pirates to hide behind their servers. By 2015, CloudFlare was even protecting websites that recruited for ISIS.
* Cloudflare Watch: ISIS [archive.is/mpOVD]: "When we asked Cloudflare why it was 'protecting' ISIS websites, CEO Matthew Prince told Mirror Online it was not actually accepting money from terrorists, because the ISIS sites listed by Anonymous relied on its free service." - Mirror Online, 2015-05-22 [http://is.gd/JtCUZ7].
This is not true, Mr. Prince!
We looked at 22 ISIS-related domains that use CloudFlare nameservers, and discovered that half of them are on our list of standard SSL certificates. As any CloudFlare employee could have told CEO Prince, the "standard" certificate requires a Pro account ($20/month) or better. These are not "free" accounts with "universal" certificates.
* "This is a record of terrorism websites protected by CloudFlare!" (2015-06) [archive.is/bLqBM]
* "CloudFlare's half-baked SSL: suspicious sockets layer" (2015-06-14, crimeflare.com) [archive.is/yCOtP]
The case of Daniel Brandt:
* "Scroogle, Privacy-First Search Engine, Shuts Down for Good" (2012-02-21, betabeat.com) [archive.is/l0zl] [begin excerpt]: Scroogle, the search engine operated by privacy militant and self-appointed Wikipedia watchdog Daniel Brandt, has folded for real. After enduring DDOS attacks “around the clock” that sent a flood of unsustainable traffic to his servers, Mr. Brandt took down the search engine along with his other four domains, namebase.org, google-watch.org, cia-on-campus.org, and book-grab.com. His theory is that he was being attacked by hackers with a personal vendetta. “These four domains had also been on the web for a long time — NameBase first went online in 1997, and before that had been available on telnet since 1995. I spent 27 years developing NameBase”. [end excerpt]
* "Scroogle Says Google Is Blocking Their Privacy Search Engine" (2012-02-14, searchengineland.com) [archive.is/YGtWi]
* "Wikipedia Watch" [archive.is/H1Rm], a website that has been absolutely erased from the world wide web, even in USA-based online archives. This archived version (on a server in Iceland) is incomplete but contains enough information to warrant a reason why it was erased with such hostility. [begin excerpt]: This site examines the phenomenon of Wikipedia. We are interested in them because they have a massive, unearned influence on what passes for reliable information. Search engines rank their pages near the top. While Wikipedia itself does not run ads, they are the most-scraped site on the web. Scrapers need content — any content will do — in order to carry ads from Google and other advertisers. This entire effect is turning Wikipedia into a generator of spam. It is primarily Google's fault, since Wikipedia might find it difficult to address the issue of scraping even if they wanted to. Google doesn't care; their ad money comes right off the top. For example, it did not take long, using the Google and Yahoo engines, to find 52 different domains that scraped Wikipedia's page on rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. Another problem is that most of the administrators at Wikipedia prefer to exercise their police functions anonymously. The process itself is open, but the identities of the administrators are usually cloaked behind a username and a Gmail address. (Gmail does not show an originating IP address in the email headers, which means that you cannot geolocate the originator, or even know whether one administrator is really a different person than another administrator.) If an admin has a political or personal agenda, he can do a fair amount of damage with the special editing tools available to him. The victim may not even find out that this is happening until it's too late. From Wikipedia, the material is spread like a virus by search engines and other scrapers, and the damage is amplified by orders of magnitude. There is no recourse for the victim, and no one can be held accountable. Once it's all over the web, no one has the power to put it back into the bottle. [end excerpt]
* "Spies in Wikipedia" (2007-09-26, wikipedia-watch.org) [archive.is/20130109071623/http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/russmag.html]
* "Wikipedia and the Intelligence Services Is the Net's popular encyclopedia marred by disinformation?" (2007-07-26, by Ludwig De Braeckeleer) [archive.is/20130109093937/http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp]
* An unrelated website that offers similer criticisms of Wikipedia [wikipediocracy.com]
* "How Jimmy Wales rode Tony Blair’s coattails" (2015-06-01, wikipediocracy.com) [archive.is/G86CO]
* "The Wikipedia Fundraising Banner: Sad but Untrue" (2014-12-11, wikipediocracy.com) [archive.is/OT7mU]
* "Wikimedia Fundraising: Where Is Your Money Going?" (2015-05-10, wikipediocracy.com) [archive.is/9zp0D]
* "A Compendium of Wikipedia Criticism" (2015-06-25, wikipediocracy.com) [archive.is/n0no1]
* "CIA on Campus" [archive.is/sRbR], archived articles from the 1960s through the 1990s.
* "Two CIA Agents Arrested by Minutemen While Crossing Mexican Border With 1300 Pounds of Cocaine" (2015-04-30, realitieswatch.com) [archive.is/bgDwm]
* "Reports: CIA Working with Mexican Drug Cartels" (2011-08-15, thenewamerican.com) [archive.is/EaVuQ]
* "CIA Plane in Big Aussie-American Heroin Bust" (2014-09-12, by Daniel Hopsicker) [archive.is/9OaAO]
* Daniel Hopsicker's Cocaine Archive [archive.is/TU3if]
* "The CIA Double-Dip: Drugs, Fraud, & the JFK Assassination" (2014-08-19, by Daniel Hopsicker) [archive.is/bbj8X], Video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN75izqx7VY]
* "Is that Porter Goss sitting next to Barry Seal? CIA Nominee in pic of Agency's 60's assassination squad" (2004-08-24, by Daniel Hopsicker) [archive.is/9Vetc]
* “Barry and ‘the Boys’ ” book information [archive.is/adBZH]
* Support Danile Hopsicker's work, buy his books and videos at [www.madcowprod.com/the-return-of-barry-the-boys/]
* "A Muckrakers Life, Interrupted" (2015-02-04, by Daniel Hopsicker) [archive.is/V65Ea]
* "CIA Torture Jet Wrecks with 4 Tons of Cocaine" (2007-06-12, hightimes.com) [archive.is/7BMG2]
* "What Will Congress Do About New CIA-Drug Revelations?" (2000-06-19, by Peter Dale Scott) [archive.is/B1dhS]
* "Tracking The CIA Through Snowdrifts Of Drugs" (2000-06-29, hightimes.com) [archive.is/yTefN]
* "You are sheep, So don't believe anything – even this" (2000-06-26, sfbayguardian.com) [archive.is/zLDZL]
* "Life during wartime: The War on (Some) Drugs is as un-American as King George III" (2000-07-10, sfbayguardian.com) [archive.is/QKXfd]
* "CIA-drugs symposium reveals huge cover-up" (2000-06-15, cannabisculture.com) [archive.is/HmZ8Y]
* "CIA-Drugs Symposium: A Glimpse Behind The Veil" (2000-06-19) [archive.is/ZzdFQ]
* CIA-Drugs Symposium (2000-06-10) [archive.is/O6P5O] [begin excerpt]:
Cele Castillio III - (http://www.copvcia.com/contra1.htm) With the recent media explosion regarding the link between the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and the crack cocaine supplied to the black / Latino barrios throughout the United States, there is one man who is willing to disclose information about how those drugs were flown out of Ilopango Airport in El Salvador and into the United States with CIA and White House approval. Celerino "Cele" Castillo III, was a twelve year veteran of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration). Castillo was the lead agent in El Salvador when he was assigned to Central America from 1985 to 1990.
Celerino Castillo III was born in 1949 in South Texas. He came from a family of a long tradition, tracing his heritage back to the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. His father, a decorated disable veteran of World War II, was his role model and hero. Because of his father's influence, throughout his life, Castillo strove to live the life of a hero, fighting for causes in the interest of the US and its citizens. In 1970, as the only son in the family, he served in the US Army and was sent to Vietnam where he was awarded The Bronze Star for bravery. While in Vietnam he repeatedly saw fellow soldiers lay low from heroin overdoses. This powerful experience convinced him to devote his life to combating the illegal drug trade and its devastating effects on Americans. In 1976, after returning to the US, Castillo earned a Criminal Justice degree (BS) from Pan American University, now University of Texas at Pan Am.
On New Years Eve, 1979, he joined the DEA as one of the few Latino agents. In 1980 he was assigned to New York City as the first Mexican-Americana agent. There he was a key figure in deep undercover investigation that led to the incarceration of drug traffickers connected to major organized crime families.
Cele's career history clearly shows his dedication to his work, his patriotism and his love of the United States, his tireless attempts to fight a true war on drugs and his unwillingness to compromise his beliefs despite pressure from his superiors. While his government shouted "Just Say No!" entire Central and South American nations fell into what are now known as cocaine democracies.
In August 1984, Castillo was assigned to Peru where he engaged in conducting search and destroy mission on clandestine air strips and cocaine laboratories. In the summer of 1985 he helped conduct "Operation Condor", the biggest seizure of a South American cocaine labs valued at 500 million dollars and involving the confiscation of four tons of coca paste.
In October of 1985, Castillo was assigned to Guatemala in Central America. At that time, two (2) agents covered 4 countries in that region. In El Salvador he trained anti-narco terrorist units, working alongside the infamous death-squad leader, torturer and dentist, Dr. Hector Antonio Regalado (the alleged murderer of Archbishop Oscar Romero.)
In Guatemala, Castillo was ordered to conduct his drug raids with the Guatemalan Military Intelligence (G-2), better known as "La Dos", despite the fact that the G-2 runs the death squads that have murdered thousands of people including Americans in that country. In the course of his investigations Castillo discovered that almost every top official in the Guatemalan government (under President Cerezo) was a documented drug trafficker.
Cele was next assigned to represent the DEA in El Salvador at the height of the Contra war. It was there that he began to record intelligence on how known drug traffickers, with multiple DEA files, used hangars four and five at Ilopango airfield to ferry cocaine north and weapons and money south. Hangars four and five were owned and operated by the CIA and the National Security Council. He found out that the traffickers were also being given US visas by the CIA, in spite of their well known activities. Castillo also documented and spoke out about CIA and National Security Agency abuses in a manner utterly consistent with his heritage and the reats of his life.
Then Cele discovered that the Contra flights were under the direct supervision of US Lt. Col. Oliver North (DEA case file GFGD-91-9139) and had the additional protection of Felix Rodriguez (a retired CIA agent) who ran hanger 4 at Ilopango. Castillo was repeatedly warned that the drug profits were being utilized to support the Reagan-Bush backed right-wing "Contras" in Nicaragua and surrounding countries and that he should stop his investigations. Nevertheless, he continued to file DEA 6 reports and telex/cables on these operations. Castillo's reports contain not only the names of traffickers, but their destination, tail numbers, cargo and the date and time of each flight. Some Contra files were reported on DEA case file # TG-87-0003, under the name of Walter "Wally" Grashiem. The other Contra files were reported on GFTG-86-9999, Air Intelligence (El Salvador) and GFTG-86-9145 El Salvador.
Castillo's detailed reports on the cocaine laden planes went unheeded by DEA officials in Washington. Castillo was warned by his boss, Bob Stia and the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, not to interfere with the covert operation because it was protected by the White House.
On September 01, 1986, Castillo's Salvadoran anti-drug unit raided a house in San Salvador and found a huge shipment of US-issued munitions and weapons. Records and equipment belonging to the US embassy were found at the residence. The residence belonged to a US Contra pilot by the name of Wally Grasheim. He was mentioned in DEA, FBI, and US Customs files. The raid was executed after every department in the US Embassy denied that Mr. Grashiem was in no way shape or form associated with them.
In April, 1987, one month before the Iran-Contra hearings, DEA Latin American foreign office chief, John Martch, traveled to Guatemala to investigate Castillo and warned him not to reveal his information about the Contra drug operations. At one point, the DEA ordered Castillo not to close some of the Contra files so that the records would not be unavailable to Senator John Kerry's committee under the Freedom of Information Act. In 1988, Senator John Kerry's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations finished its investigations, having never called Castillo to testify.
In September, 1987, Castillo, along with CIA agent, Randy Capister, and 100 elements from the Guatemala Military G-2, conducted a drug raid in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. In one of the largest drug busts ever, more than 2 1/2 tons of cocaine were seized. Just after the bust, the G-2 agents raped and murdered the two daughters of a Mexican trafficker and killed their father and others they apprehended in the raid. Their bodies were dismembered, stuffed into 55 gallon drums and disposed of by being dropped into the ocean. This was reported on DEA case file # TG-86-0005, Garcia de Paz, Carlos Ramiro (Guatemalan Congressman).
After denial of a US visa (drug trafficking) to Guatemalan Military Lt. Col. Hugo Moran Carranza, head of Interpol, Moran retaliated by ordering Castillo's assassination. The elaborate plot involved ambushing Castillo in El Salvador to divert suspicion from the Guatemalan Colonel. Luckily for Castillo, the plan was taped recorded by an informant and placed into evidence in a Houston DEA file M3-90-0053. Col. Moran was attempting to attend a War College in the US invited by the CIA. Despite the danger, the DEA continued to order Castillo to travel to El Salvador. Because Col. Moran was an asset of the CIA, he was never prosecuted in the US on the attempted capital murder of a US drug agent.
In 1990, Castillo was finally transferred out of Central America because of the assassination plot. He was assigned to the DEA San Francisco office, as the only latino agent generating excessive undercover work.
In 1991, Castillo secretly met with a representative of the Office of Independent Council of Iran Contra where he reported his intelligenceís gathering reference to CIA and NSC's cocaine-contra operations. Castillo's remarks never appeared in Walsh's final report but Castillo's interview notes were found at the National Archives.
In 1992 Castillo received an early retirement from the DEA due to stress and damaged nerves to his arms and hands. Since his retirement he has had numerous TV, radio and newspaper interviews in order to expose what he knows about the CIA and DEA collaboration with drug traffickers and murderers in Central America. His TV appearance include "Current Affair" (1994); a one hour documentary aired in 1994 by the Australian Broadcasting Company exposing Oliver North's drug trafficking activities; ABC's "Prime Time Live" on December 27, 1995 (on the US protection of criminal military officers in Guatemala) and Date-Line (NBC) June 13, 1997.
Foreign news stories aired on both Univision and the CBS-owned Telemundo in 1996 on Guatemala and El Salvador. In April 1997, Cele was interview for a special series on The Discovery Channel "Secret Warriors of the CIA". Castillo has also begun to lecture at universities all over the country and held a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington DC In July, 1996 an Associated Press wire story quoted his comments about a recent US government report on Guatemala and the CIA (The Intelligence Oversight Board) an investigation ordered by President Clinton to ascertain if US agents were involved in atrocities in Central America.
In 1994, Castillo was able to co-author his book "Powderburns" Cocaine, Contras and the Drug War . Which included journal entries with case file numbers and other direct information from his investigation.
In September 23, 1996, Castillo joined Southern Christian Leadership Conference President , Joseph E. Lowery and Activist Dick Gregory with Joe Madison, at a press conference in Washington DC. Also jointing Castillo at the conference was Prof. John Newman, author of the books "Oswald and the CIA" and "JFK and Vietnam". The University of Maryland history professor has been helping to draft the Records Act legislation that would declassify all documents related to the CIA's possible involvement in cocaine trafficking.
Also in September 1996, Castillo joint DEA G/S Rick Horn in his Class Action Complaint against the CIA for violation of 4th Amend. rights.
In 1995, after the lessons he learned in Central America, Castillo made a pilgrimage to the Vietnam Wall where he renounced his Bronze Star pinned to his last combat boots that he wore in Vietnam, Peru, Guatemala and EL Salvador. Attached to the Bronze Star was a letter to President Clinton requesting that he take actions on the atrocities. He did this in protest of the atrocities his government had committed and the massive cover ups.
In March 1998, The US House of Representatives Permanent Select
Committee On Intelligence held a one hour hearing in regards to CIA/Contras involvement in drug trafficking.
During the hearing CIA Special Agent Nitz, of the CIA Inspector General Office, advised the committee that Mr. Celerino Castillo III refused to be interviewed by his office. What Mr. Nitz failed to advise the committee was the reason Castillo rejected the offer. Nitz strongly refused for Castillo to record the interview citing National Security. This would had been the only evidence Castillo would have to proof what statement he did or did not make. Castillo offered to testify before any committee as long that it was an open door hearing.
On March 12, 1998, Castillo received a certified letter from the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. This time it was from Norm Dicks, Ranking Democratic Member and CIA Porter J. Goss, Chairman of said committee. Again they requested for Castillo to be interview for the up coming hearings in late June. Castillo contacted Mr. Calvin R. Humphrey at 202-225-7690 and advised him that he would be available for the interview. He advised Castillo that he would get back to him at the end of May. On September 11, 1998, another letter arrived from the committee advising him that the time had come for him to be interview and that someone would contact him for the interview. On January 15, 1999, Castillo was finally interviewed by members of the committee.
Some people have asked Cele why he is coming foreword with his story. Castillo replies that a long time ago he took an oath to protect The Constitution of the United States and its citizens. He has thought about quitting but there was no time limit on that oath. In reality it has cost him so much to become a complete human being, that he lost his family and that there is a possibility that he might be incarcerated for telling the truth.
For all of his work, even a direct protest to the Vice President George Bush about CIA involvement in drug trafficking, Cele Castillo was ignored, nearly assassinated and then forced out of DEA into early and very lean retirement.
Celerino Castillo III has now become a veteran of his third and perhaps most dangerous war - the war against the criminals in his own government.
* "XKEYSCORE: NSA’S GOOGLE FOR THE WORLD’S PRIVATE COMMUNICATIONS" (2015-07-01, firstlook.org) part 1 [archive.is/8y9Yq], part 2 [archive.is/R7LVu]. Here's the latest bombshell from the treasure trove of Snowden documents. This time, The Intercept has fully explained and diagramed XKEYSCORE, which is a wide-reaching catch-all for internet traffic, a sharply-refined data mining tool, a powerful bulk data collector and a uniquely effective way to engage in the surveillance of entire populations.
The hacker network known as Anonymous® is regarded as a "kindergarten" (or "high school club") for talented hackers who will then go on to be tapped for employment in USA security agencies (or in private security companies). For example, the publicity hype they receive adds to their notoriety, but, even with the following example of their danger to national security, has this network ever done anything actually harmful to fascism in the USA?
* "Anonymous: 'We have access to every classified database in the US' " (2012-05-14, rt.com) [archive.is/rpEOv]
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has a GMAIL account, as shown at the bottom of their homepage [archive.is/u8MWY], though the English-language version of their homepage does not have the email address listed [archive.is/owySg]!
* CloudFlare Watch (crimeflare.com) [archive.is/oYsPX], with an extensive list of articles, [begin excerpt]: CloudFlare is a venture-funded startup that routes around Internet abuse by acting as a reverse proxy. They also encourage illegality by allowing hackers, DDoSers, cyberbullies, and copyright pirates to hide behind their servers. By 2015, CloudFlare was even protecting websites that recruited for ISIS.
* Cloudflare Watch: ISIS [archive.is/mpOVD]: "When we asked Cloudflare why it was 'protecting' ISIS websites, CEO Matthew Prince told Mirror Online it was not actually accepting money from terrorists, because the ISIS sites listed by Anonymous relied on its free service." - Mirror Online, 2015-05-22 [http://is.gd/JtCUZ7].This is not true, Mr. Prince!
We looked at 22 ISIS-related domains that use CloudFlare nameservers, and discovered that half of them are on our list of standard SSL certificates. As any CloudFlare employee could have told CEO Prince, the "standard" certificate requires a Pro account ($20/month) or better. These are not "free" accounts with "universal" certificates.
* "This is a record of terrorism websites protected by CloudFlare!" (2015-06) [archive.is/bLqBM]
* "CloudFlare's half-baked SSL: suspicious sockets layer" (2015-06-14, crimeflare.com) [archive.is/yCOtP]
The case of Daniel Brandt:
* "Scroogle, Privacy-First Search Engine, Shuts Down for Good" (2012-02-21, betabeat.com) [archive.is/l0zl] [begin excerpt]: Scroogle, the search engine operated by privacy militant and self-appointed Wikipedia watchdog Daniel Brandt, has folded for real. After enduring DDOS attacks “around the clock” that sent a flood of unsustainable traffic to his servers, Mr. Brandt took down the search engine along with his other four domains, namebase.org, google-watch.org, cia-on-campus.org, and book-grab.com. His theory is that he was being attacked by hackers with a personal vendetta. “These four domains had also been on the web for a long time — NameBase first went online in 1997, and before that had been available on telnet since 1995. I spent 27 years developing NameBase”. [end excerpt]* "Scroogle Says Google Is Blocking Their Privacy Search Engine" (2012-02-14, searchengineland.com) [archive.is/YGtWi]
* "Wikipedia Watch" [archive.is/H1Rm], a website that has been absolutely erased from the world wide web, even in USA-based online archives. This archived version (on a server in Iceland) is incomplete but contains enough information to warrant a reason why it was erased with such hostility. [begin excerpt]: This site examines the phenomenon of Wikipedia. We are interested in them because they have a massive, unearned influence on what passes for reliable information. Search engines rank their pages near the top. While Wikipedia itself does not run ads, they are the most-scraped site on the web. Scrapers need content — any content will do — in order to carry ads from Google and other advertisers. This entire effect is turning Wikipedia into a generator of spam. It is primarily Google's fault, since Wikipedia might find it difficult to address the issue of scraping even if they wanted to. Google doesn't care; their ad money comes right off the top. For example, it did not take long, using the Google and Yahoo engines, to find 52 different domains that scraped Wikipedia's page on rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. Another problem is that most of the administrators at Wikipedia prefer to exercise their police functions anonymously. The process itself is open, but the identities of the administrators are usually cloaked behind a username and a Gmail address. (Gmail does not show an originating IP address in the email headers, which means that you cannot geolocate the originator, or even know whether one administrator is really a different person than another administrator.) If an admin has a political or personal agenda, he can do a fair amount of damage with the special editing tools available to him. The victim may not even find out that this is happening until it's too late. From Wikipedia, the material is spread like a virus by search engines and other scrapers, and the damage is amplified by orders of magnitude. There is no recourse for the victim, and no one can be held accountable. Once it's all over the web, no one has the power to put it back into the bottle. [end excerpt]
* "Spies in Wikipedia" (2007-09-26, wikipedia-watch.org) [archive.is/20130109071623/http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/russmag.html]
* "Wikipedia and the Intelligence Services Is the Net's popular encyclopedia marred by disinformation?" (2007-07-26, by Ludwig De Braeckeleer) [archive.is/20130109093937/http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp]
* An unrelated website that offers similer criticisms of Wikipedia [wikipediocracy.com]
* "How Jimmy Wales rode Tony Blair’s coattails" (2015-06-01, wikipediocracy.com) [archive.is/G86CO]
* "The Wikipedia Fundraising Banner: Sad but Untrue" (2014-12-11, wikipediocracy.com) [archive.is/OT7mU]
* "Wikimedia Fundraising: Where Is Your Money Going?" (2015-05-10, wikipediocracy.com) [archive.is/9zp0D]
* "A Compendium of Wikipedia Criticism" (2015-06-25, wikipediocracy.com) [archive.is/n0no1]
* "CIA on Campus" [archive.is/sRbR], archived articles from the 1960s through the 1990s.
* "Two CIA Agents Arrested by Minutemen While Crossing Mexican Border With 1300 Pounds of Cocaine" (2015-04-30, realitieswatch.com) [archive.is/bgDwm]
* "Reports: CIA Working with Mexican Drug Cartels" (2011-08-15, thenewamerican.com) [archive.is/EaVuQ]
* "CIA Plane in Big Aussie-American Heroin Bust" (2014-09-12, by Daniel Hopsicker) [archive.is/9OaAO]
* Daniel Hopsicker's Cocaine Archive [archive.is/TU3if]
* "The CIA Double-Dip: Drugs, Fraud, & the JFK Assassination" (2014-08-19, by Daniel Hopsicker) [archive.is/bbj8X], Video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN75izqx7VY]
* "Is that Porter Goss sitting next to Barry Seal? CIA Nominee in pic of Agency's 60's assassination squad" (2004-08-24, by Daniel Hopsicker) [archive.is/9Vetc]
* “Barry and ‘the Boys’ ” book information [archive.is/adBZH]
* Support Danile Hopsicker's work, buy his books and videos at [www.madcowprod.com/the-return-of-barry-the-boys/]
* "A Muckrakers Life, Interrupted" (2015-02-04, by Daniel Hopsicker) [archive.is/V65Ea]
* "CIA Torture Jet Wrecks with 4 Tons of Cocaine" (2007-06-12, hightimes.com) [archive.is/7BMG2]
* "What Will Congress Do About New CIA-Drug Revelations?" (2000-06-19, by Peter Dale Scott) [archive.is/B1dhS]
* "Tracking The CIA Through Snowdrifts Of Drugs" (2000-06-29, hightimes.com) [archive.is/yTefN]
* "You are sheep, So don't believe anything – even this" (2000-06-26, sfbayguardian.com) [archive.is/zLDZL]
* "Life during wartime: The War on (Some) Drugs is as un-American as King George III" (2000-07-10, sfbayguardian.com) [archive.is/QKXfd]
* "CIA-drugs symposium reveals huge cover-up" (2000-06-15, cannabisculture.com) [archive.is/HmZ8Y]
* "CIA-Drugs Symposium: A Glimpse Behind The Veil" (2000-06-19) [archive.is/ZzdFQ]
* CIA-Drugs Symposium (2000-06-10) [archive.is/O6P5O] [begin excerpt]:
Cele Castillio III - (http://www.copvcia.com/contra1.htm) With the recent media explosion regarding the link between the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and the crack cocaine supplied to the black / Latino barrios throughout the United States, there is one man who is willing to disclose information about how those drugs were flown out of Ilopango Airport in El Salvador and into the United States with CIA and White House approval. Celerino "Cele" Castillo III, was a twelve year veteran of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration). Castillo was the lead agent in El Salvador when he was assigned to Central America from 1985 to 1990.Celerino Castillo III was born in 1949 in South Texas. He came from a family of a long tradition, tracing his heritage back to the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. His father, a decorated disable veteran of World War II, was his role model and hero. Because of his father's influence, throughout his life, Castillo strove to live the life of a hero, fighting for causes in the interest of the US and its citizens. In 1970, as the only son in the family, he served in the US Army and was sent to Vietnam where he was awarded The Bronze Star for bravery. While in Vietnam he repeatedly saw fellow soldiers lay low from heroin overdoses. This powerful experience convinced him to devote his life to combating the illegal drug trade and its devastating effects on Americans. In 1976, after returning to the US, Castillo earned a Criminal Justice degree (BS) from Pan American University, now University of Texas at Pan Am.
On New Years Eve, 1979, he joined the DEA as one of the few Latino agents. In 1980 he was assigned to New York City as the first Mexican-Americana agent. There he was a key figure in deep undercover investigation that led to the incarceration of drug traffickers connected to major organized crime families.
Cele's career history clearly shows his dedication to his work, his patriotism and his love of the United States, his tireless attempts to fight a true war on drugs and his unwillingness to compromise his beliefs despite pressure from his superiors. While his government shouted "Just Say No!" entire Central and South American nations fell into what are now known as cocaine democracies.
In August 1984, Castillo was assigned to Peru where he engaged in conducting search and destroy mission on clandestine air strips and cocaine laboratories. In the summer of 1985 he helped conduct "Operation Condor", the biggest seizure of a South American cocaine labs valued at 500 million dollars and involving the confiscation of four tons of coca paste.
In October of 1985, Castillo was assigned to Guatemala in Central America. At that time, two (2) agents covered 4 countries in that region. In El Salvador he trained anti-narco terrorist units, working alongside the infamous death-squad leader, torturer and dentist, Dr. Hector Antonio Regalado (the alleged murderer of Archbishop Oscar Romero.)
In Guatemala, Castillo was ordered to conduct his drug raids with the Guatemalan Military Intelligence (G-2), better known as "La Dos", despite the fact that the G-2 runs the death squads that have murdered thousands of people including Americans in that country. In the course of his investigations Castillo discovered that almost every top official in the Guatemalan government (under President Cerezo) was a documented drug trafficker.
Cele was next assigned to represent the DEA in El Salvador at the height of the Contra war. It was there that he began to record intelligence on how known drug traffickers, with multiple DEA files, used hangars four and five at Ilopango airfield to ferry cocaine north and weapons and money south. Hangars four and five were owned and operated by the CIA and the National Security Council. He found out that the traffickers were also being given US visas by the CIA, in spite of their well known activities. Castillo also documented and spoke out about CIA and National Security Agency abuses in a manner utterly consistent with his heritage and the reats of his life.
Then Cele discovered that the Contra flights were under the direct supervision of US Lt. Col. Oliver North (DEA case file GFGD-91-9139) and had the additional protection of Felix Rodriguez (a retired CIA agent) who ran hanger 4 at Ilopango. Castillo was repeatedly warned that the drug profits were being utilized to support the Reagan-Bush backed right-wing "Contras" in Nicaragua and surrounding countries and that he should stop his investigations. Nevertheless, he continued to file DEA 6 reports and telex/cables on these operations. Castillo's reports contain not only the names of traffickers, but their destination, tail numbers, cargo and the date and time of each flight. Some Contra files were reported on DEA case file # TG-87-0003, under the name of Walter "Wally" Grashiem. The other Contra files were reported on GFTG-86-9999, Air Intelligence (El Salvador) and GFTG-86-9145 El Salvador.
Castillo's detailed reports on the cocaine laden planes went unheeded by DEA officials in Washington. Castillo was warned by his boss, Bob Stia and the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, not to interfere with the covert operation because it was protected by the White House.
On September 01, 1986, Castillo's Salvadoran anti-drug unit raided a house in San Salvador and found a huge shipment of US-issued munitions and weapons. Records and equipment belonging to the US embassy were found at the residence. The residence belonged to a US Contra pilot by the name of Wally Grasheim. He was mentioned in DEA, FBI, and US Customs files. The raid was executed after every department in the US Embassy denied that Mr. Grashiem was in no way shape or form associated with them.
In April, 1987, one month before the Iran-Contra hearings, DEA Latin American foreign office chief, John Martch, traveled to Guatemala to investigate Castillo and warned him not to reveal his information about the Contra drug operations. At one point, the DEA ordered Castillo not to close some of the Contra files so that the records would not be unavailable to Senator John Kerry's committee under the Freedom of Information Act. In 1988, Senator John Kerry's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations finished its investigations, having never called Castillo to testify.
In September, 1987, Castillo, along with CIA agent, Randy Capister, and 100 elements from the Guatemala Military G-2, conducted a drug raid in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. In one of the largest drug busts ever, more than 2 1/2 tons of cocaine were seized. Just after the bust, the G-2 agents raped and murdered the two daughters of a Mexican trafficker and killed their father and others they apprehended in the raid. Their bodies were dismembered, stuffed into 55 gallon drums and disposed of by being dropped into the ocean. This was reported on DEA case file # TG-86-0005, Garcia de Paz, Carlos Ramiro (Guatemalan Congressman).
After denial of a US visa (drug trafficking) to Guatemalan Military Lt. Col. Hugo Moran Carranza, head of Interpol, Moran retaliated by ordering Castillo's assassination. The elaborate plot involved ambushing Castillo in El Salvador to divert suspicion from the Guatemalan Colonel. Luckily for Castillo, the plan was taped recorded by an informant and placed into evidence in a Houston DEA file M3-90-0053. Col. Moran was attempting to attend a War College in the US invited by the CIA. Despite the danger, the DEA continued to order Castillo to travel to El Salvador. Because Col. Moran was an asset of the CIA, he was never prosecuted in the US on the attempted capital murder of a US drug agent.
In 1990, Castillo was finally transferred out of Central America because of the assassination plot. He was assigned to the DEA San Francisco office, as the only latino agent generating excessive undercover work.
In 1991, Castillo secretly met with a representative of the Office of Independent Council of Iran Contra where he reported his intelligenceís gathering reference to CIA and NSC's cocaine-contra operations. Castillo's remarks never appeared in Walsh's final report but Castillo's interview notes were found at the National Archives.
In 1992 Castillo received an early retirement from the DEA due to stress and damaged nerves to his arms and hands. Since his retirement he has had numerous TV, radio and newspaper interviews in order to expose what he knows about the CIA and DEA collaboration with drug traffickers and murderers in Central America. His TV appearance include "Current Affair" (1994); a one hour documentary aired in 1994 by the Australian Broadcasting Company exposing Oliver North's drug trafficking activities; ABC's "Prime Time Live" on December 27, 1995 (on the US protection of criminal military officers in Guatemala) and Date-Line (NBC) June 13, 1997.
Foreign news stories aired on both Univision and the CBS-owned Telemundo in 1996 on Guatemala and El Salvador. In April 1997, Cele was interview for a special series on The Discovery Channel "Secret Warriors of the CIA". Castillo has also begun to lecture at universities all over the country and held a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington DC In July, 1996 an Associated Press wire story quoted his comments about a recent US government report on Guatemala and the CIA (The Intelligence Oversight Board) an investigation ordered by President Clinton to ascertain if US agents were involved in atrocities in Central America.
In 1994, Castillo was able to co-author his book "Powderburns" Cocaine, Contras and the Drug War . Which included journal entries with case file numbers and other direct information from his investigation.
In September 23, 1996, Castillo joined Southern Christian Leadership Conference President , Joseph E. Lowery and Activist Dick Gregory with Joe Madison, at a press conference in Washington DC. Also jointing Castillo at the conference was Prof. John Newman, author of the books "Oswald and the CIA" and "JFK and Vietnam". The University of Maryland history professor has been helping to draft the Records Act legislation that would declassify all documents related to the CIA's possible involvement in cocaine trafficking.
Also in September 1996, Castillo joint DEA G/S Rick Horn in his Class Action Complaint against the CIA for violation of 4th Amend. rights.
In 1995, after the lessons he learned in Central America, Castillo made a pilgrimage to the Vietnam Wall where he renounced his Bronze Star pinned to his last combat boots that he wore in Vietnam, Peru, Guatemala and EL Salvador. Attached to the Bronze Star was a letter to President Clinton requesting that he take actions on the atrocities. He did this in protest of the atrocities his government had committed and the massive cover ups.
In March 1998, The US House of Representatives Permanent Select
Committee On Intelligence held a one hour hearing in regards to CIA/Contras involvement in drug trafficking.
During the hearing CIA Special Agent Nitz, of the CIA Inspector General Office, advised the committee that Mr. Celerino Castillo III refused to be interviewed by his office. What Mr. Nitz failed to advise the committee was the reason Castillo rejected the offer. Nitz strongly refused for Castillo to record the interview citing National Security. This would had been the only evidence Castillo would have to proof what statement he did or did not make. Castillo offered to testify before any committee as long that it was an open door hearing.
On March 12, 1998, Castillo received a certified letter from the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. This time it was from Norm Dicks, Ranking Democratic Member and CIA Porter J. Goss, Chairman of said committee. Again they requested for Castillo to be interview for the up coming hearings in late June. Castillo contacted Mr. Calvin R. Humphrey at 202-225-7690 and advised him that he would be available for the interview. He advised Castillo that he would get back to him at the end of May. On September 11, 1998, another letter arrived from the committee advising him that the time had come for him to be interview and that someone would contact him for the interview. On January 15, 1999, Castillo was finally interviewed by members of the committee.
Some people have asked Cele why he is coming foreword with his story. Castillo replies that a long time ago he took an oath to protect The Constitution of the United States and its citizens. He has thought about quitting but there was no time limit on that oath. In reality it has cost him so much to become a complete human being, that he lost his family and that there is a possibility that he might be incarcerated for telling the truth.
For all of his work, even a direct protest to the Vice President George Bush about CIA involvement in drug trafficking, Cele Castillo was ignored, nearly assassinated and then forced out of DEA into early and very lean retirement.
Celerino Castillo III has now become a veteran of his third and perhaps most dangerous war - the war against the criminals in his own government.
from the Committee to
FREE 'EM ALL!
[PoliticalPrisonersUSA.blogspot.com] End the Drug War! Stop Jim Crow! Close the Torture Chambers!
Become a Human Rights Pen Pal! [link]. [solitarywatch.com] [facebook.com/incarceratedworkers] [supportprisonerresistance.noblogs.org] [denverabc.wordpress.com] [prisonlegalnews.org] [prisonbooks.info][nycabc.wordpress.com] [powmedicaljustice.com] [sacprisonersupport.wordpress.com]
* "Pelican Bay Hunger Strike: Four Years and Still Fighting" (2015-07-09, counterpunch.org) [archive.is/7bIPE]
* "Two Years After Pelican Bay Hunger Strike, What's Changed for People Inside the Prison?" (2015-07-08, truth-out.org) [archive.is/iPfd0]
---
* "Youth jailed at age 16 for years with no trial, kills self—who’s responsible?" (2015-07-07, whowhatwhy.org) [archive.is/HDC3O] [begin excerpt]: When Kalief Browder was wrongly arrested at the age of 16 for allegedly stealing a backpack, he had not yet begun to shave. By the time he was released from Riker’s Island in New York three years later—convicted of nothing and never having gone to trial—he felt like a very old man indeed.
After his arrest, Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson and the court set a bail which Browder’s family could not meet. Browder was brought to court from Riker’s Island at least 30 times over three years, ready to assert his innocence. Each time, D.A. Johnson’s office stated that it was not yet ready to try the case. The D.A.’s office continuously requested, and was granted, a continuance.
In June 2013, after three years, with no explanation, all charges were dropped and Browder was released.
Though he had no previous history of mental illness, Kalief Browder is now known as the young man who, damaged beyond recovery by his incarceration, took his own life at 22.
Browder’s attorney told The Los Angeles Times:
“I think what caused the suicide was his incarceration and those hundreds and hundreds of nights in solitary confinement, where there were mice crawling up his sheets in that little cell… Being starved, and not being taken to the shower for two weeks at a time… those were direct contributing factors. … That was the pain and sadness that he had to deal with every day, and I think it was too much for him.”
Supporters and friends of Browder have begun demanding justice and accountability from the decision-makers. There are questions to be answered by D.A. Johnson: How is 15 years an “appropriate” punishment to threaten a teenager with for the theft of a forty dollar backpack? The legal definition of prosecutorial misconduct includes attempting to “impose a harsher than appropriate punishment.”
A Future Down the Drain
A criminal record can alter the entire course of a person’s life. Job and college applications routinely ask if one has ever been convicted of a crime. Better jobs and better schools can suddenly become out of reach for someone with a criminal record. Future job and educational choices are based on earlier ones, and futures are diminished by the baggage of being a convicted felon.
In an interview after his release, Browder told Rosie O’Donnell that if he did not fight the charges of which he knew he was innocent, he would go into young adulthood as “just another criminal.” This was apparently too much for Browder to bear. But what happened instead was, in the end, unbearable too.
And so it was that Browder spent three years on Riker’s Island, the notorious jail already cited in a report by the US Department of Justice, in August 2014, for failing to “protect adolescent inmates from harm in violation of the Eighth Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.”
Riker’s Island is technically not a prison, but a jail. The vast majority of detainees are people awaiting trial who cannot afford to post bail. Except for one facility which harbors convicts serving sentences of a year or less, it is a holding pen for poor people charged with crimes but still presumed innocent. At least in theory.
In Browder’s case, bail was set first at $3,000—then later at $10,000—for the charge of stealing a backpack, far beyond the means of a poor family from the Bronx. Many families seem to face the same problem. According to research last year by the online New York journal Gothamist, at any given time there are between 400 to 800 minors incarcerated on Riker’s awaiting trial.
[end excerpt]
Left: Frame from prison surveillance video obtained by The New Yorker of Browder being slammed to floor by prison guard. Right: Video frame of Browder being attacked by gang members in prison. Photo credits: New Yorker (screen capture) / YouTube
---
* "Locked Up for Surviving: The Untold Story of the Sexual-Abuse-to-Prison Pipeline; New study concludes that a history of abuse is not just a predictor of future incarceration—it is a cause" (2015-07-09, commondreams.org) [archive.is/hlnlk]
articles recommended by the
SAN PABLO BAY ECOLOGICAL PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION
Campaigns, info, and more [SanPabloBayEPA.blogspot.com]
* "Tennessee Train Derails; 5,000 Evacuated Because of Toxic Gas As Storms Approach Area" (2015-07-02, weather.com) [archive.is/IvP3I]
Health and the Human Ecology
Monopolists enforce a regime that does not recognize the natural right to health and life
* "Scientists Discover Fracking Chemicals In Pennsylvania Drinking Water" (2015-05-05, thinkprogress.org) [archive.is/wlDW9]
* "US Supreme Court rejects EPA mercury emissions limits" (2015-06-29, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/b4izE]
articles recommended by the
NO NUKES! campaign
[StopNuclearDeath.blogspot.com]
* "This dome in the Pacific houses tons of radioactive waste – and it's leaking" (2015-07-03, theguardian.com) [archive.is/0syIe] [begin excerpt]: Below the 18-inch concrete cap rests the United States’ cold war legacy to this remote corner of the Pacific Ocean: 111,000 cubic yards of radioactive debris left behind after 12 years of nuclear tests.Brackish water pools around the edge of the dome, where sections of concrete have started to crack away. Underground, radioactive waste has already started to leach out of the crater: according to a 2013 report by the US Department of Energy, soil around the dome is already more contaminated than its contents.
Now locals, scientists and environmental activists fear that a storm surge, typhoon or other cataclysmic event brought on by climate change could tear the concrete mantel wide open, releasing its contents into the Pacific Ocean.
“Runit Dome represents a tragic confluence of nuclear testing and climate change,” said Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, who visited the dome in 2010.
“It resulted from US nuclear testing and the leaving behind of large quantities of plutonium,” he said. “Now it has been gradually submerged as result of sea level rise from greenhouse gas emissions by industrial countries led by the United States.”' [end excerpt]
===*===*===
NORTHBAY ENTHEOGENIC FREEDOM
[NorthbayEntheogen.blogspot.com]
* "Up In Smoke, The Weedman Resigns" (2012-01-19, philly.com) [archive.is/VAJ7Q]
[NorthbayEntheogen.blogspot.com]
* "Up In Smoke, The Weedman Resigns" (2012-01-19, philly.com) [archive.is/VAJ7Q]
===*===*===
articles recommended by the Committee for
ANIMAL RIGHTS
Protect Earth's Sentient Life!
* "Bonobos use a range of tools like stone-age humans" (2015-07-10, newscientist.com) [archive.is/FuPR0]
* "Whales and dolphins are so intelligent they deserve same rights as humans, say experts" (2012-02-21, independent.co.uk) [archive.is/sxidZ]
===*===*===
UNITED STATES FASCISM WATCH
[UnitedStatesFascism.blogspot.com] Current trends among fascists, monopolists, and their vanguards.
Expose Bohemian Grove (exposebohemiangrove.org) [archive.is/vJDBi].
Members of the exclusive Bohemian Grove will begin their annual encampment in Monte Rio on Friday, July 10 and it will end on Sunday, July 26. Protests at the closed gates began thirty five years ago in July of 1980 against this longtime gathering of Corporate, Financial, Governmental and Military elite. In 2014 the Bohemian Grove Action Network published a revealing piece of research on the Koch brothers who are both members. This year we are passing on a new research piece tying in members of the Grove to the issue of fracking. Also available are other interesting pieces on many subjects including the Highlights of the Lakeside Talks beginning in 1980, See below. There will be no organized protests this year but more information about Bohemian Grove can be obtained contacting [justice3@) sonic.net].
* BOHEMIAN GROVE ENCAMPMENT HIGHLIGHTS OF LAKESIDE TALKS from 1980 to 2002, (collected by Mary Moore of Bohemian Grove Action Network):
The LAKESIDE TALKS at BOHEMIAN GROVE are conducted twice daily during the July encampment. They feature prominent men representing CORPORATE, FINANCIAL, MILITARY and POLITICAL elite circles. They provide a way to float ideas that often lead to public policy but are done without public scrutiny. Do "Weaving Spiders" indeed come to the Grove? YOU BE THE JUDGE!!!
* 2002
July 16, FRED STARR (Policy Institute Chairman), Topic: "Any Good News from Afghanastan & Central Asia?"
* 2001
July 15, DANIEL KAMMEN (Prof. of Energy Unv. of Calif. Berkeley), Topic: "The Coming Energy Transition"
July 19, RICHARD MULLER (Prof. Physics Unv. of Calif. Berkeley), Topic: "Military Secrets of the Ocean, Atmosphere & UFOs
* 2000
July 18, JAMES R. LILLEY, Former Ambassador to China & Korea: "China, Taiwan & the U.S. in the 21st Century"
July 21, MARTIN ANDERSON, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution: "Status of Missile Defense"
July 22, JOHN MAJOR, Former Prime Minister of England: "World View"
July 29, HENRY KISSINGER, Former Secretary of State in Reagan Administration: "Do We Need a Foreign Policy?"
* 1999
July 16, DAVID BRODER, Author & Syndicated Columnist: "Direct Democracy--Curse or Blessing?"
July 20, JOHN SPENCER: "Africa--Are We Wasting Our Time?"
July 21, FRANK POPOFF, Chairman of the Board of DOW Corporation: "Environmental Journey" (ed. note: the irony the irony)
* 1998
July 17, WILLIAM PERRY, former Secretary of Defense: "Preventive Defense & American Security...21st Century"
July 18, LOU GERSTNER, Chairman & CEO of IBM Corporation: "The Networked World: Are We Ready For It?"
August 1, JAMES A. BAKER lll, Former Secretary of State in Reagan Administration: "The Imperative of American Leadership"
* 1997
July 11, AMB. JAMES WOOLSEY, former CIA Director: "Rogues, Terrorists..: National Security in the Next Century"
July 15, CHRISTOPHER DeMUTH: "The Triumph of the Market & the Politics of Affluence"
July 25, ANTONIN SCALIA, Sitting Justice-U.S. Supreme Court: "CHURCH, STATE & THE CONSTITUTION"!!!!!
* 1996
July 13, GOV. PETE WILSON, Governor of California: "Keeping Faith With Leland Stanford"
July 16, DAVID M. KENNEDY, Author & U.S. History Professor: "Can the U.S. Still Afford to be a Nation of Immigrants?"
July 25, GEORGE P. SHULTZ, Bechtel Exec. & Secretary of State-Reagan administration
* 1995
July 20, ROBERT NOVAK, Conservative Columnist: "Behind the Beltway-How the GOP is transforming Washington's Tribal Society"
July 21, ALEX J. MANDL (Executive V.P. AT&T), Topic: "Communications & Weaving Spiders -- the Complex Web of Futuristic communications"
July 22, NEWT GINGRICH, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives: Topic Unknown (surprise speaker)
July 29, GEORGE BUSH SR., Former President of the U.S.A.: "Reflections: Past, Present and Future"
* 1993
July 17, CASPAR W. WEINBERGER, Secretary of Defense--Reagan Administration: "The World and Mr. Clinton"
July 28, CHARLES W. HOSTLER: "Desert Storms Aftermath"
* 1992
July 18, RICHARD NIXON, Past President of U.S.A.: Topic Unknown
July 22, GEN. VERNON WALTERS, involved in CIA coup in Chile: "Integration of the European Economic Community"
July 24, PRINCE BANDAR BIN SULTAN: "Middle East Peace Process"
* 1991
July 20, JOHN LEHMAN, Secretary of the Navy in Reagan Administration, Topic: "Smart Weapons"
July 20, HELMUT SCHMIDT, Former Chancellor of Germany: "The Enormous Problems of the 21st Century"
July 22, ELLLIOT RICHARDSON, Secretary of Defense/Attorney General in Nixon Administration: "Defining a New World Order"
July 26, RICHARD CHENEY, Secretary of Defense in Bush Sr. Administration: "Major Defense Problems of the 21st Century"
July 17, GEORGE SHULTZ, Secretary of State in Reagan administration, Topic: "Agenda for America"
* 1989
July 14, FRANK BORMAN (Astronaut): "The Future of the U.S. in Manned Space Flight"
July 22, MICHEL ROCARD, Prime Minister of France: "Europe: 1992......"
July 28, MALCOLM FORBES, Industrialist, "Who's On First?"
* 1986
July 17, SIDNEY D. DRELL, Topic: "Arms Control and Star Wars"
July 19, WILLIAM H. WEBSTER, Director of the F.B.I.: "Spies and Terrorists: Confronting the Enemies Within"
July 21, ALEX HALEY, Author of Roots: "Why Am I Here?" (good question)
July 25, DAVID PACKARD, Co-founder of Hewlitt Packard: "A Presidential Commission"
* 1983
July 17, EDMUND W. LITTLEFIELD (C.E.O. General Electric/Utah Mining): "Enjoying the Corporate Climb"
July 21, A.W. CLAUSEN (C.E.O. Bank of America/President: World Bank): "The Global Economy--Time to Get Out of the Woods"
July 22, FRED HENDERSON lll, Topic: "Commercial Opportunities in Space: the Next Decade"
July 25, ADM. ROBERT FOLEY: "World Naval Power"
* 1981
July 16, MARVIN L. GOLDBERGER: Topic: "Space War-Fact vs. Fancy"
July 17, JOHN SWEARINGEN, Chair of the Bd. Standard Oil of Indiana: "Energy 1981"
July 17, CASPER WEINBERGER, Secretary of Defense: Reagan Administration: "Rearming America"
* 1980
July 24, GEORGE LENCZOWSKI: "The Persian Gulf Crisis"
July 25, FRED HARTLEY, C.E.O. Union Oil: "Oil"
July 26, EDWARD TELLER, Scientist & Father of the H bomb: "Nuclear Energy"
August 1, FERDINAND GRAF VON GALEN: "World Bank and International Monetary Systems"
* "Corporate Capitalism Is the Foundation of Police Brutality and the Prison State" (2015-07-05, truthdig.com) [archive.is/3SrTh]
* "TISA Exposed: 'Holy Grail' of Leaks Reveals Detailed Plot for Corporate Takeover; Fifty-two-nation Trade in Services Agreement uses trade regulations 'as a smokescreen to limit citizen rights,' says labor leader" (2015-07-01, commondreams.org) [archive.is/vFXup]
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In the managed market of the USA Homeland, the S&P private ratings bureaucracy was found to be artificially inflating the value of mortgage-backed securities, for the benefit of their financial allies.
* "S&P reaches $1.5 billion deal with U.S., states over crisis-era ratings" (2015-02-03, Reuters Newswire) [archive.is/CjzGH]
* "S&P Ends Legal Woes Paying $1.5 Billion Fine to U.S., States" (2015-02-03, bloomberg.com) [archive.is/ZRPCo]
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* "After 6-Year Tenure Not Prosecuting Banks, Eric Holder Returns 'Home' to Defend; Them Critics say new position of former attorney general, known for protecting big banks, is a dramatic example of the revolving door" (2015-07-07, commondreams.org) [archive.is/lofEi]
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* "The Billionaire Governor Goes After Workers" (2015-02-16, by Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., rainbowpush.org) [archive.is/GnGXy]
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The propaganda issued by Dept. of Defense allies against "Liberals" is including outright lies...
* "REVEALED! Secret Obama Memo To Legalize ’12 New Perversions’ Like Pedophilia And Bestiality" (2015-07-01) [www.addictinginfo.org/2015/07/01/revealed-secret-obama-memo-to-legalize-12-new-perversions-like-pedophilia-and-bestiality/]:
Okay, it’s time to fess up. We liberals have been busted! All along, gay-hating right wingers have been saying that we’re just using marriage equality as a Trojan Horse to legalize bestiality and pedophilia. Well, it looks like the jig is up!
Tom Delay, the pious yet scandal-ridden former Republican House Majority Leader, has somehow gotten his hands on a, I kid you not, “secret memo” that details our nefarious liberal agenda:
“We’ve already found a secret memo coming out of the Justice Department,” DeLay claimed. “They’re now going to go after 12 new perversions, things like bestiality, polygamy, having sex with little boys and making that legal. Not only that, but they have a whole list of strategies to go after the churches, the pastors, and any businesses that tries to assert their religious liberty. This is coming and it’s coming like a tidal wave.”
Here’s the video proof that the memo is totally real [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUhoTzJ5Rvc] Dammit! We have to find the leak and silence them!
Now, a cynical person might wonder how Tom Delay got a hold of this “secret memo” or why it hasn’t made the front pages of every newspaper in the country, but we simply must take his word for it. After all, Tom Delay certainly knows about perversion. This is a man who once killed legislation that would have ended forced prostitution and forced abortions in sweatshops in the Northern Mariana Islands for his good friend and fellow convicted felon Jack Abramoff [archive.is/ta6sO], so you can trust that he has the word of Jesus in his heart.
But in all seriousness, it’s amazing to watch how far the right-wing has gone into the tinfoil hat fringe. Tom Delay is not some random schmuck off the street. He used to be one of the most powerful Republicans in the country. He’s lost a great deal of his stature since then, but he’s far from inconsequential. Yet, here he is, peddling in loony conspiracy nonsense.
And “peddling” is the perfect word. Tom Delay is selling crazy talk to the borderline insane people that make up a great deal of the Republican Party’s base. Feeding the fear, rage and paranoia of bitter white people who feel that they’re being “persecuted” is a very lucrative business. That it regularly incites violence is unimportant to people like Tom Delay. As long as he can cash his fat paycheck, who cares if hate crimes against gay men and women spike across the country? So what if a young white supremacist massacres 9 black people in a church? Tom Delay is gettin’ paid! [end excerpt]
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* "In the Arms of Dictators: America the Great… Global Arms Dealer" (2013-03-26, by Andrew Gavin Marshall) [archive.is/mYoIk]
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* "'One of the largest human experiments in history' was conducted on unsuspecting residents of San Francisco" (2015-07-09, finance.yahoo.com) [archive.is/kqDud]
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Because of many policies in GOP-controlled states, minority communities have been isolated and basically segregated within the law.
* "Bobby Jindal Blames Racial Inequality On Minorities Being Too Proud Of Their Heritages" (2013-08-25, thinkprogress.org) [archive.is/EbLgN]
* "For All the Hereafter: On the 14th Amendment and Clarence Thomas' Ridiculous Dissent" (2015-07-06, commondreams.org) [archive.is/iMq7l] [begin excerpt]: June 26 was a pretty good day for civil rights: the Supreme Court guaranteed the right for same-sex couples to marry by a 5-4 majority in Obergefell v. Hodges.
True to form, the conservatives dissented, drawing upon arguments from strict construction and original intent. Clarence Thomas served up one particular flavor: “Since well before 1787, liberty has been understood as freedom from government action, not entitlement to government benefits.” The presumption being that the benefits of marriage are somehow a government give-away, like those apocryphal Obama cell phones.
This is the same strange logic that led Andrew Johnson to veto the Civil Rights Act of 1866 on the grounds that guaranteeing equal rights for all Americans, regardless of race or former status as slaves, constituted granting African Americans “special” rights. In protecting the rights of the freedpeople, Johnson argued, the bill established “safeguards which go infinitely beyond any that the General Government has ever provided for the white race. In fact, the distinction of race and color is by the bill made to operate in favor of the colored and against the white race.”
Of course this is not the case. Freedom is not a government give-way, it’s a government guarantee.
It may indeed be right that, as Thomas writes, “government cannot bestow dignity, and it cannot take it away.” But it sure can mess with your ability to enjoy the basic benefits of the society around you, as Thomas’s own examples (slavery, Japanese internment) deftly illustrate. (Great example of reactionary mentality masquerading as race pride.)
Oppressive policies such as segregation and internment may or may not degrade their victims in their own minds, but that is not the point. The point is that these are state-sponsored efforts to try to make that degradation succeed. By Thomas’s warped interpretation of African American history, slavery was just fine, for even if the state practiced and championed the institution, the slaves’ sense of self could never be obliterated. It is not the consequence on the psyche of the oppressed that matters, it is the states’ intention and practice of oppression that requires remedy. [end excerpt]
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Two Party Dictatorship
* "Rahm insults tens of thousands, calls protests against turnarounds, closings and phase outs 'noise'..." (2012-02-24, substancenews.net) [archive.is/dN0ih]
* "LA Gov. Bobby Jindal 'The Confederate flag is a symbol of my heritage' " (2015-07-08, conservativefrontline.com) [archive.is/6Zcpa]
* Bobby Jindal has been quoted [archive.is/s1ddw] saying that racism wouldn't exist if minorities would just act more like White people, which is in deed a racist thing to say, since it implies inferior races should act more like the perceived superior one.
* "This Is An Actual Portrait Of Bobby Jindal That Hangs In His Office; It’s not his official portrait, but people have a lot to say about it" (2015-02-03, buzzfeed.com) [archive.is/9OsmT], see the full painting [archive.is/41jxQ]:
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Conservatives, misguided in their hatred for supposed "Leftist" politicians in the Democrat Party, have uncovered facts concerning Presidential candidate Hilary Clinton that show how she was used to spy on the Left, and, being a good agent, was given opportunities for political advancement... if she really were a "communist", would she be given so much support by the monopolist corporations funding her Presidential campaign? During the eight years her husband was President (1993 to 2001), did he initiate a single threat to the capitalist establishment?
* "The Real Hillary Rodham Clinton Exposed..From Conservative Volunteer Barry Goldwater, to Radical Leftist and College Thesis on Saul Alinsky, to interning with Communist Law Firm, to Aiding in the Defense of Bobby Seale and Black Panthers" (2015-04-09, sodahead.com) [archive.is/IteoZ]
Photo on right shows Hillary and Bill Clinton at Yale University when she was spying on the Black Panther Party:
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* "Mount Kellett’s Book of Revelations-Chapter One" (2012-04-21, by JB Tucker) [archive.is/x0sXY] [begin excerpt]: As noted in my past postings on Mount Kellett, COO Jonathan Fiorello contributed to Rep. Michelle Bachmann on the very day that she accused then candidate for President Barack Obama of being a socialist, while CEO Mark McGoldrick gave $50,000 to John McCain while McGoldrick was living in London. So some might think it unlikely that a company with extreme right wing leanings (like Bachmann supporters at the helm) would get into bed for a real estate deal with a company headed by a liberal Democrat….but amongst the 1%, as Bob Dylan once sang, “Money doesn’t talk, it swears.”
Rising Realty Partners bought the PacMutual (Pacific Mutual) building at 6th & Olive with financing from Mount Kellett. CEO Nelson Rising is a big and regular contributor to liberal Democrats, who one might think would be appalled at jumping into a financial bed with a company that is alleged to have discriminated against women, minorities, immigrants, and Gay people, but that seems to be precisely what happened here.
Campaign ContributionsIn 2011 alone, Nelson and Sharon Rising gave $35,800 each to the Obama Victory Fund 2012. They also gave $30,800 each to both the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic National Committee in 2011. The Risings have also contributed to Representatives Adam Schiff, Howard Berman, Janice Hahn, Xavier Becerra, Jane Harman, and Nancy Pelosi; Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California and Senator Jon Tester (Montana), and even my friend Assembly Member Anthony Portantino.
Saul Alinsky once said that “Power goes to two poles: to those who’ve got the money and to those who’ve got the people.” [end excerpt]
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What kind of moral culture exists in the USA Department of Defense that allows for the following?
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State Media Watch
* "Ann Coulter: Donald Trump 'is speaking for working-class Americans, for African-Americans!' " (2015-07-07, salon.com) [archive.is/bwPh1]
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"10th Amendment Movement", "Constitutionalist Militias", & "Sovereign Citizens"
[tenthamendmentcenter.com]
* "Sovereignty" (freedomradio.us) [archive.is/6Ylyv]
* "Want to Meet America’s Worst Racists? Come to the Northwest" (2015-07-07, politico.com) [archive.is/LThJN] [begin excerpt]: From its earliest American outset, the Pacific Northwest was long meant to be a land for the white caste. “Whites Only” writ large.
Look at Oregon, for instance. As Walidah Imarisha of Portland State University’s Black Studies Department told me, “Oregon was founded as a state, as a territory, as a white homeland. Folks who answered that call wanted to build their perfect white society.” And not in the same vein of a three-fifths-clause South, where black Americans would be tolerated, if in servitude. Oregon would be different. While the state remained in the Union—and actually proved pivotal to Abraham Lincoln’s nomination on the Republican ticket—Oregon’s founders mentioned racial unity in the state's original documents. To wit, the 1850 Oregon Donation Land Act allowed free land to whites alone. And during an 1857 vote on the constitution’s formulation, some 83 percent of participants voted to prohibit “free negroes” from living or working in the state. Chief Justice George Williams, who later served as attorney general for President Ulysses Grant, summed the sentiment, lobbying voters to “consecrate Oregon to the use of the white man, and exclude the negro, Chinaman, and every race of that character.” According to one researcher, Oregon was “the only state ever admitted with a black exclusion clause in its constitution.” There’s a reason, growing up in Portland, that my seventh-grade teacher informed us Oregon was often considered the most racist state west of the Mississippi.
Remarkably, such laws remained in force in Oregon until 1926, allowing a white population to steer a demographic legacy apart from other parts of the country. At one point, Oregon boasted the highest per-capita membership in the Ku Klux Klan. For good measure, Oregon failed to ratify the 15th Amendment, allowing African-Americans the right to vote, until 1959; the state also didn’t formally ratify the 14th Amendment, allowing equal protection under the law, until 1973. “Oregon was a Klan state—it was as prejudiced as South Carolina, so there was very little difference other than geographic difference,” Otto Rutherford, one of the state’s leading civil rights activists, said. [end excerpt]
* "Christian churches urged to fly U.S. flag below another" (2015-07-06, wnd.com) [archive.is/S7SbN] [begin excerpt]: First it was one church. Then a second joined. Now there’s an online presence and a campaign for people of faith across the nation to recognize that God comes first, ahead of nation, and that means the Stars and Stripes will be accorded second place, behind the Christian flag. According to a report from WBTV in Charlotte, North Carolina, pastor Rit Varriale is placing the Christian flag at the top, with the American flag below it, on the flagpole at Elizabeth Baptist Church in the town of Shelby. He admits he got the idea from pastor Walter Wilson, down to road, at Focus Missionary Baptist Church. And Wilson said the idea just came to him. “As I was changing the rope one day, the Lord just laid on me that He is first and when He told me that, I switched the flags around.”
Now Varriale has launched the God Before Government website, through which other pastors are encouraged to join the movement. He said churches need to “start flying the flags in such a manner that it is clear we will serve God before government. If your church is willing to join ours, please take a picture of the flag pole at your church, post it on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter using the hashtag #GodBeforeGovernment, and join the conversation about religious freedom and the role of government in modern society.” On the site [archive.is/kzWiX], he advises readers that silence is “no longer an option.” Varriale acknowledges that some claim the move is disrespectful. And unpatriotic. But the former Army Ranger brushes it off. “I really don’t need a lecture on patriotism. I’m willing to give my life for my country. When you think of military mottoes, for example, God and country, God first and then country,” he told WBTV. Varriale he said the position of the flag is a symbol that congregations will serve God first. [end excerpt]
* "Alabama Mayor Loses It After Being Told He Can’t Break Law By Flying Christian Flag At City Hall" (2015-07-08, addictinginfo.org) [http://is.gd/L0rQZ1]
* "KKK Leader Disputes Hate Group Label: 'We're A Christian Organization' " (2014-03-21, huffingtonpost.com) [archive.is/eI2D6]
New Generation of an old hate speech stereotype:
* identifying the foreign enemy and its lackeys [archive.is/GvisP]
* commenting on the reason for war in northern Arabia [archive.is/QsWeG]
* documenting the religious insanity of a mainstream "conservative" propaganda source [archive.is/G1scf]
* "Racism: Another jewish-inspired insult to shut white people up" [archive.is/LVE48], and, from the the same source:
Many self-described "conservatives" believe that any politician who supported or implemented plans to use government to aid the people in general is a "Communist", as shown in the following examples:
* "Sarah Palin is right: Eisenhower a communist agent" (2010-02-17, landoverbaptist.net) [archive.is/Vol6l]
* "Files link JFK to 'Communist Sympathizer' " (2011-03-18, wnd.com) [archive.is/BfilI]
Many self-styled "christians" believe government programs are part of their religion as representative of their spiritual adversary "Satan/Lucifer".
* "Is Your Social Security Card The Mark Of The Beast?" (2011, usa-the-republic.com) [archive.is/wvZAU], 33 pages of Biblically-based & constitutionally-based arguments against the entire Social Security program that can be summed up in the following excerpt from the article: "The application form for a Social Security Number is a Department of the Treasury form, not a form from the Social Security Administration. They are your Lord. If you applied for a number, you agreed that the Secretary of the Treasury is your Lord."
* "Tea Party historian says Bible commands humans to work until death: ‘God did not design us for retirement’ " (2015-07-07, rawstory.com) [archive.is/5i3sh]. Mark Mason writes: So, Social Security is against Barton's religion. Have you noticed that Barton and others are silent about warfare? Doesn't the Bible say something about, Thou Shalt Not Kill, or something like that? Why doesn't Barton argue that the US Pentagon is against his religion, and advocate cutting off funding to the US war institutions? Have you noticed that the religious people allowed on TV are attacking the poor, gays, racists flying the Confederate flag, and immigrants, while silent about the rich? Have you noticed the ideological skewness? The Bible we're told, hates the poor and the weak, while silence about the war machinery killing millions of people?
* "Genuine Christian Scholars Smack Down an Unruly Colleague; The phony evangelical "historian" David Barton meets his match at last" (2012-08-10, theatlantic.com) [archive.is/0tn1n]
How is it, then, that "conservatives", especially in the rural areas of the USA, are easily swayed by the monopolist media? An insight is that there is a digital divide, that many counties across the USA do not have information technology infrastructure, so "conservatives" are a captive audience who cannot look online for media alternatives to the monopolist media holdings in broadcast radio and television news. Oftentimes, rural areas can only access the internet through restricted satellite internet data plans.
* "The Perils of Satellite Internet Data Limits" advertisement (2014-01-14, freedomnet.com) [archive.is/0nshi]
* ViaSat, Inc. advertisement for satellite internet data rates (2015-06) [archive.is/DR6T1]
===*===*===
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
* "Capitalism the culprit in the Sixth Extinction" (2015-07-08, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/X6uNL]
* "U.S. Chamber of Commerce Works Globally to Fight Antismoking Measures" (2015-06-30, nytimes.com) [archive.is/UYgHx]
* "CVS Quits US Chamber of Commerce Over 'Craven' Ties to Tobacco Industry" (2015-07-08, commondreams.org) [archive.is/IjKhS]
* "Are Human Rights Violations Already Being Trumped By Corporate Trade Deal?" (2015-07-09, commondreams.org) [archive.is/PCIUA]
* "VP Biden, PM Davutoğlu on energy security issues" (2014-11-25, naturalgaseurope.com) [archive.is/39IIj] [begin excerpt]: At the Atlantic Council Energy & Economic Summit, Mr. Biden said that Russia must not continue to use its vast energy resources as a weapon. "From now on, Russia must come to terms in the energy game," Mr. Biden said at the event which took place in Istanbul on November 20-21st. [ ... ] Prime Minister Davutoğlu also said that Turkey would take all the necessary preconditions during Ankara's G20 presidency in order to secure the fair distribution of energy resources in the world. "Turkey is aware that energy security is the foundation of democratic societies." [end excerpt]
* "Biden's Son, Kerry Family Friend Join Ukrainian Gas Producer's Board; Ukraine's Burisma Holdings Is Controlled by Former Energy Official Under Yanukovych" (2014-05-13, wsj.com) [archive.is/uDlQG]
Throughout the "Cold War", the USA-backed dictatorships were labeled as "democracies", and USA propaganda mirrored this falsehood in order to bolster support for the "good" dictatorships. An example of this practice being continued well after the supposed end to the "Cold War" is the following article, which uses such language as when referring to capitalist dictatorships, as a way to influence USA State Department employees in the belief that the foreign governments (Taiwan, South Korea) they protected were simply "deformed" democracies, but still a democracy!
* "Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory" (2004-05-13) [archive.is/2nbrk]
The article was published in the RAND Center for Asia-Pacific Policy newsletter (2004-06) [archive.is/L7N8d].
* "Global Banks Tank: What Part of Financial Stability Doesn’t Germany Understand?" (2015-07-06, wallstreetonparade.com) [archive.is/GLEni]
* "Goldman Sachs Doesn’t Have Clean Hands in Greece Crisis" (2015-06-30, wallstreetonparade.com) [archive.is/X4Hpo]
* "Greece: Why Is a Nation of 11 Million Causing Stock Market Losses Around the World Today?" (2015-06-29, wallstreetonparade.com) [archive.is/jk1ui]
* "Exxon knew of climate change in 1981, email says – but it funded deniers for 27 more years" (2015-07-08, theguardian.com) [archive.is/XnvTF] [begin excerpt]: ExxonMobil, the world’s biggest oil company, knew as early as 1981 of climate change – seven years before it became a public issue, according to a newly discovered email from one of the firm’s own scientists. Despite this the firm spent millions over the next 27 years to promote climate denial.
The email from Exxon’s in-house climate expert provides evidence the company was aware of the connection between fossil fuels and climate change, and the potential for carbon-cutting regulations that could hurt its bottom line, over a generation ago – factoring that knowledge into its decision about an enormous gas field in south-east Asia. The field, off the coast of Indonesia, would have been the single largest source of global warming pollution at the time.
“Exxon first got interested in climate change in 1981 because it was seeking to develop the Natuna gas field off Indonesia,” Lenny Bernstein, a 30-year industry veteran and Exxon’s former in-house climate expert, wrote in the email. “This is an immense reserve of natural gas, but it is 70% CO2,” or carbon dioxide, the main driver of climate change. [end excerpt]
* "Nobel Prize-Winning Scientist Says Obama Is ‘Dead Wrong’ On Global Warming" (2015-07-07, dailycaller.com) [archive.is/urXbv]
* "The Myth of the Climate Change '97%': What is the origin of the false belief—constantly repeated—that almost all scientists agree about global warming?" (2014-05, 26, wsj.com) [archive.is/ap3J6]
World Fascism is protected through the use of "revolutionary" organizations alongside the integrated clandestine services of the fascist regimes ("Five Eyes", NATO, etc.). The organizations present a populist message for public-consumption as it masks a post-revolutionary plan to impose fascism and austerity against the People. Often, the organizations act as death-squads targeting leftists determined to be hostile to the goal of the USA State Department.
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Weapons for a New World Order
* "Pentagon Plans Space-War Center to Defend Against Adversaries Russia, China" (2015-06-25, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/h6Knq]
* "NASA Wants to Nuke Asteroids That Threaten to Destroy Earth" (2015-06-24, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/1fu7r]
* "Fiberglass armor with printed electronic antenna tested" (2015-07-08, UPI Newswire) [archive.is/6YWav]
* "New method of quantum entanglement vastly increases how much information can be carried in a photon; Led by UCLA researchers, research could have applications in finance, health care, government and military communications" (2015-06-29, newsroom.ucla.edu) [archive.is/TlpTS]
* "Self-powered macroscopic Brownian motion of spontaneously running liquid metal motors" (2015-06-21, link.springer.com) [archive.is/SgB8p], press release [archive.is/So5V2], video [www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUIYL8yL4bY] caption: This video shows hydrogen bubble tails generated from a swarm of self-powered liquid metal tiny motors which were distinguished through high contrast optical images. It indicates that these tiny motors kept swiftly traveling here and there, just like a fairy.
Information as an ultimate weapon -
The science`of Psychological Operations is to distract and/or demoralize a target population, in this case, with stories of absolute fantasy that can never be proven. Jesse N. writes (2015-07-08):
"We used to live in a house whose previous resident left behind a vast "treasure trove" of David Icke books and similarly bizarre documents "proving" that the world's "sheeple" are slaves to the mind control techniques of the Global Secret Cabal of Rothschild Bilderberg Illuminati New World Order Reptilian Shape Shifter Lizard People who control the media and global finance...and only when We the Earth People submit to Commander Ashtar's Galactic Fleet will we achieve emancipation.
This person was so committed to this philosophy that she even coordinated book club meetings to discuss this predicament and the way forward... Goddamn, anything to keep your eyes off the real enemy: PARASITIC CAPITALISM! Say it with me now! Leave the lizards alone, creepy white man! Fight imperialism!"
---* "NASA Wants to Nuke Asteroids That Threaten to Destroy Earth" (2015-06-24, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/1fu7r]
* "Fiberglass armor with printed electronic antenna tested" (2015-07-08, UPI Newswire) [archive.is/6YWav]
* "New method of quantum entanglement vastly increases how much information can be carried in a photon; Led by UCLA researchers, research could have applications in finance, health care, government and military communications" (2015-06-29, newsroom.ucla.edu) [archive.is/TlpTS]
* "Self-powered macroscopic Brownian motion of spontaneously running liquid metal motors" (2015-06-21, link.springer.com) [archive.is/SgB8p], press release [archive.is/So5V2], video [www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUIYL8yL4bY] caption: This video shows hydrogen bubble tails generated from a swarm of self-powered liquid metal tiny motors which were distinguished through high contrast optical images. It indicates that these tiny motors kept swiftly traveling here and there, just like a fairy.
Information as an ultimate weapon -
The science`of Psychological Operations is to distract and/or demoralize a target population, in this case, with stories of absolute fantasy that can never be proven. Jesse N. writes (2015-07-08):
"We used to live in a house whose previous resident left behind a vast "treasure trove" of David Icke books and similarly bizarre documents "proving" that the world's "sheeple" are slaves to the mind control techniques of the Global Secret Cabal of Rothschild Bilderberg Illuminati New World Order Reptilian Shape Shifter Lizard People who control the media and global finance...and only when We the Earth People submit to Commander Ashtar's Galactic Fleet will we achieve emancipation.
This person was so committed to this philosophy that she even coordinated book club meetings to discuss this predicament and the way forward... Goddamn, anything to keep your eyes off the real enemy: PARASITIC CAPITALISM! Say it with me now! Leave the lizards alone, creepy white man! Fight imperialism!"
#OPDeathEaters [WorldFascists.blogspot.com]
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Global Anarchist vanguards & autonomous zones[anarchistnews.org] [ainfos.ca] [libcom.org] [anarchiststudies.org] [a-revolt.org]
===*===*===
World Anti-Imperialist Alliance for People's Democracy (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist)[signalfire.org] [maoistcommunistgroup.com]
International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS)[www.ilps.info/index.php/en]
* ILPS Philippines Chapter [ilps-phils.com]
* "International League of Peoples' Struggle calls for solidarity with Donetsk & Lugansk" (2015-02-27) [archive.is/EuppO]
* "U.S. chapter of Int’l League of Peoples’ Struggle launched" (2012-05-24, workers.org) [archive.is/3O0KO]
* "Public Split in the International League of Peoples’ Struggles (ILPS)" (2011-07-08) [archive.is/OU1wK]
* Uprising: The Theoretical Journal of Revolutionary Initiative [ri-ir.org]:
- Volume 1: 2006 to 2009 Ideological Writings (.pdf) [http://is.gd/seaoba]
- Volume 2: 2012, Building ‘Dual Power’in the City, reflections on revolutionary strategy for urban capitalist centers (.pdf) [http://is.gd/zt91qJ]
- Volume 3: 2013, Together, or Not at All Indigenous Liberation & the Struggle for Communism (.pdf) [http://is.gd/Eb05Dh]
- Volume 4: 2014 (.pdf) [http://is.gd/O9wbkm]
- Volume 5: 2015, Towards Women’s Leadership in Revolutionary Struggle (.pdf) [http://is.gd/KAYMBE]
===*===*===
European racial vanguards* "Nazi flags near Carrickfergus bonfire site taken down by "outraged" residents" (2015-07-08, bbc.com) [archive.is/p8sJp]
* "Neo-Nazis rallying in London outnumbered by counterprotest; About 20 far-right activists protested in central London against Shomrim, a Jewish neighborhood watch group" (2015-07-04, haaretz.com) [archive.is/P4wc7]
===*===*===
Regional insights for the lands of
Anahuac, Carib, and Abya Ayla ("Latin" America)
English language news [upsidedownworld.org] [narconews.com] [narcosphere.narconews.com] [cepr.net] [cedema.org], Spanish language news [contrainjerencia.com]
* "U.S. Military Presence in Latin America Increasing" (2015-07-01, coha.org) [archive.is/kdJRM]
===*===*===
Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA)
[HandsOffBolivarianVenezuela.blogspot.com]
---
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
* "Government calls for installing People’s Councils of Supply and Production" (2015-05-04, rnv.gob.ve) [archive.is/b6o54]
* "The Communal State: Communal Councils, Communes, and Workplace Democracy" (2013-06, nacla.org) [archive.is/roa1H]
* "Communal Councils - Venezuela" (2011, wikipedia.org) [archive.is/wO9wj]
* "Power to the People: Communal Councils in Venezuela" (2006-04-26, venezuelanalysis.com) [archive.is/u1wwQ]
---
Republic of Cuba
* "Fidel recognizes outstanding workers" (2015-07-11, en.granma.cu) [archive.is/s4b8Y]
* "Our right to be Marxist-Leninists" (2015-05-08, by Fidel Castro, en.granma.cu) [archive.is/7rgvF]. In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War, the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution expresses his profound admiration for the heroic soviet people who provided an enormous service to humanity.
* "United States still trying to undermine Cuba’s government" (2015-07-09, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/ytaop]
---
Pluri-National State of Bolivia
Catholics are NOT being repressed in Bolivia or any Socialist state in Latin America, however, Communists are being killed daily by "Christian" dictatorships in Honduras, Mexico, and Colombia.---
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
* "Government calls for installing People’s Councils of Supply and Production" (2015-05-04, rnv.gob.ve) [archive.is/b6o54]
* "The Communal State: Communal Councils, Communes, and Workplace Democracy" (2013-06, nacla.org) [archive.is/roa1H]
* "Communal Councils - Venezuela" (2011, wikipedia.org) [archive.is/wO9wj]
* "Power to the People: Communal Councils in Venezuela" (2006-04-26, venezuelanalysis.com) [archive.is/u1wwQ]
---
Republic of Cuba
* "Fidel recognizes outstanding workers" (2015-07-11, en.granma.cu) [archive.is/s4b8Y]
* "Our right to be Marxist-Leninists" (2015-05-08, by Fidel Castro, en.granma.cu) [archive.is/7rgvF]. In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War, the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution expresses his profound admiration for the heroic soviet people who provided an enormous service to humanity.
* "United States still trying to undermine Cuba’s government" (2015-07-09, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/ytaop]
---
Pluri-National State of Bolivia
* "Pope receives controversial gift from Bolivian president" (2015-07-09) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxMfqWkFblc]: Just moments after the Pope arrived in Bolivia, the country's president, Evo Morales, gave the Pope a crucifix on a hand-carved hammer and sickle, the Communist symbol of uniting labor and peasants for economic democracy and freedom.
The necklace worn by Pope Francis in the photo also appears to have the hammer & sickle crucifix, photo [archive.is/MBJTo]. The controversial image is apparently a replica of a cross own by a martyred Jesuit priest. Holy See press officer Fr. Frederico Lombardi, according to the Catholic News Agency [http://tinyurl.com/onv2jdh], commented on the encounter by opining that "Pope Francis' remark ( 'Non está bien eso' ) likely expressed a sentiment of 'I didn't know', rather than 'This is not right'."
* "Pope to Bolivia: We Have a Role to Play" (2015-07-08, AP Newswire) [archive.is/xY3Or]
* "Pope Francis: Concern for poor is sign of Gospel, not red flag of communism" (2015-06-16, ncronline.org) [archive.is/MS22v]
* Liberation Theology [archive.is/zKNKi] is finding Communism through the New Testament, and this theological persuasion helped to defeat fascism in some places in Latin America... the relevance with this "crucifix" is seen by many millions in Latin America...
* " 'Christ was the first communist' – Communist Party leader (Russia)" (2010-02-01, rt.com) [archive.is/h2pzG], video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IatoF2H-pnQ].
* Jesus says, regarding capital:
- “For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:25)
- “If thou wilt be perfect, go [and] sell that thou hast, and give to the poor” (Matthew, 19:21)
- “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!" (Mark 10:23)
- “How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!" (Mark 10:24)
- “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:25)
- “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (capitalism).” (Luke 16:13)
===*===*===
Central America, an "Economic Sacrifice Zone"
* "Popular Protests Are Spreading Across Central America, and Washington Is Getting Nervous; As mass mobilizations sweep Guatemala and Honduras, the US prepares its usual response: Send in the military" (2015-07-07, thenation.com) [archive.is/x7cPV]
* "US Policy Driving Militarization in Guatemala" (2015-07-05, truth-out.org) [http://is.gd/a0uMDZ]
InSight Crime tries to answer "Why CentAm Social Security Agencies Generate Corruption, Crime."
OFRANEH presents various irregularities at the Property Institute.
* [http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/why-central-american-social-security-agencies-generate-corruption]
* [https://ofraneh.wordpress.com/2015/07/06/corrupcion-en-el-instituto-de-la-propiedad-y-el-futuro-uso-de-bitcoin-para-el-registro/]
---
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.
* Honduras Solidarity Network report (2015-07-09): Every Friday the Entorchas demonstration by the “indignados” bring thousands into the streets. Many are Liberals and PAC who don’t consider themselves part of the Resistance. The politics are “complicated.” The FNRP June 28 march had fewer than the indignados’ marches. The hunger strike has gone on for two weeks with 11-12 people, not all of whom are the same people who started it. Infiltrators have been trying to cause strife. Hunger strikers say the indignados do not speak for them. The UN has sent a delegation to facilitate a “dialogue” with JOH and the indignados. Some call it a “monologue. Five hundred turned out in the Aguan for the anniversary memorial for Gregorio Chavez. Three journalists have been assassinated in the past few days including a tv station owner. US Ambassador said relations with Honduras were never better.
Radio KGNU spoke with international human rights activist Karen Spring on the current situation in Honduras.
* [http://news.kgnu.org/2015/07/six-years-post-coup-a-human-rights-activist-reflects-on-a-country-in-crisis/]
* "Hillary Clinton Implicated in Honduras Coup, Emails Reveal" (2015-07-07, telesurtv.net) [archive.is/45dLI]
With Hilary Clinton's emails published, the Intercept looks at her role during the Honduran coup d'tat.
America Otherwise also spoke with Dana Frank, professor of History at the University of California at Santa, on the topic and the current protests in Honduras. CEPR's Dan Beeton also wrote about it.
* [https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/06/clinton-honduras-coup/]
* [https://soundcloud.com/christy-thornton-3/frankhonduras070615]
* [http://www.cepr.net/blogs/the-americas-blog/newly-released-clinton-emails-reveal-state-department-s-celebration-over-honduras-flawed-elections-following-military-coup]
* "The Hidden Script of U.S. Militarization in Honduras" (2015-07-02, coha.org) [archive.is/Kv3l2]
* "Disaster Capitalism and Outrage in Post-Coup Honduras" (2015-06-28, telesurtv.net) [archive.is/Y3tV2]
InSight Crime takes up the topic of the Honduran Military Police again.
* [http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/using-military-as-police-honduras-abuse]
The recent hack at the spy software company Hacking Team brought to light some interesting things. Honduras apparently also bought software for $355'000.
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/libertad-de-expresi%C3%B3n/honduras-gobierno-paga-l8-millones-en-software-de-espionaje-telef%C3%B3nico]
Great article by Radio Progreso on four major lies by JOH.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/nuestra-palabra/item/2211-desmontando-las-mentiras-del-presidente-07-julio-2015]
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/coberturaespecial/indignados-e-indignadas/item/2215-el-fraudulento-caiga-quien-caiga]
Englis Translation / Declaracion de LIBRE ante convocatoria hecha por ONU 7 de julio 2015
July 7, 2015 -- Declaration by Manuel Zelaya following meeting at the UN Headquarters in Tegucigalpa:
The Liberty and Refoundation Party - LIBRE - in response to the call made by the United Nations, reiterates that there is no reconciliation or justice in Honduras, conditions that are necessary to advance democracy and governance.
1. The State of Honduras must recognize and honor the international agreements and resolutions issued by the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of American States (OAS) regarding the elective investigation of human rights violations and the recognition of the coup.
2) Dialogue must have a mediator. It is not negotiable for the mediator to be President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who is identified as jointly responsible for the Social Security corruption scandal.
3) The installation of the International Commission against Impunity in Honduras CICIH, must be requested prior to the start of the dialogue, since there are ongoing cases of corruption of which IHSS (Honduran Social Security Institute) is just the tip of the iceberg.
4) Given the imminent expiry of the following constitutional terms of office, a new form of selecting and appointing these offices must be established: justices of the Supreme Court; Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General; Superior Court of Auditors; Supreme Electoral Tribunal and the National Registry of Persons; and a new electoral law must be approved.
5) The judgment delivered by the Constitutional Court regarding re-election should be annulled and secrecy laws that deny the possibility of transparency and to protect impunity must be overturned.
Tegucigalpa, MDC - July 7, 2015
Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales
Coordinator General LIBRE Party
---
Vamos pueblo por la Constituyente, El Socialismo y La Refundacion de Honduras! (Let us all go for The Constitutional Assembly, Socialism and the Re-foundation of Honduras!)
On Sunday, the FNRP held a big protest in Tegucigalpa, remembering the 6th anniversary of the coup. Activist of the National Party marched on the same day in support of JOH.
* [http://criterio.hn/nacionalista-y-fnrp-se-enfrentan-en-las-calles/]
* [http://www.proceso.hn/politica/item/105076-nacionalistas-y-zelayistas-marchan-este-domingo-en-la-capital.html]
Criterio reports that public employees are obliged to defend the image of the JOH administration on social media.
* [http://criterio.hn/empleados-publicos-obligados-a-defender-imagen-de-joh-en-redes-sociales/]
Members of COPINH protested on the highway in the west of Honduras.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/232-honduras-indigenas-toman-carretera-exigiendo-juicio-politico-al-presidente]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/honduras-protesta-sube-de-tonotoma-de.html]
Pasos de Animal Grande writes about the difficult situation of the LGTBI movement in Honduras as came apparent again with the recent murder of Angy Ferreria Midence.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/denuncias/item/875-otro-crimen-de-odio-impacta-a-la-comunidad-de-la-diversidad-sexual]
LGTBI organizations denounce the ineffectiveness of the MP's Violent Crimes Task Force.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/contexto/item/880-unidad-de-delitos-contra-la-vida-no-avanza-en-investigaciones-de-crimenes-de-odio]
Alfredo Lopez, correspondent for Radio Progreso and member of OFRANEH, was attacked by an employee of Hisopo Resort.
* "Radio Progreso correspondent denounces aggression by staff Hyssop Resort" (2015-06-29, radioprogresohn.net) [archive.is/Xj4nl]
The cameraman Deibi Adalid Rodriguez was murdered on Sunday.
* [http://www.proceso.hn/component/k2/item/105089-asesinan-a-joven-camar%C3%B3grafo-en-la-entrada-cop%C3%A1n.html]
There was an attack against the former head of the National Agrarian Institute (INA), Cesar Ham, on Saturday during which his bodyguards were murdered. The Honduran press is now full of articles about him having received constantly death threats, JOH promising to solve the case and more.
* [http://www.proceso.hn/component/k2/item/105084-ham-recib%C3%ADa-constantemente-amenazas-a-muerte-revela-marco-ramiro-lobo.html]
* [http://www.proceso.hn/caliente/item/105075-ataque-iba-dirigido-a-ex-ministro-c%C3%A9sar-ham-pero-polic%C3%ADa-investiga-otros-escenarios.html]
Protection International and CEJIL published an analysis of the Honduran bill for the protection of human rights defenders.
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/derechos-humanos/derechos-humanos/an%C3%A1lisis-de-la-ley-de-protecci%C3%B3n-defensores-y-periodistas]
MADJ public communique on Tolupanes hunger strike Communique was just published on MADJ facebook page. At the moment, the police are still threatening to evict the hunger strikers, although the tents have been relocated two hours ago.
COMUNICADO: RESPONSABILIZAMOS AL ESTADO Y AL GOBIERNO DE HONDURAS POR LO QUE SUCEDA A LOS TOLUPANES Y LOS OTROS HUELGUISTA DE HAMBRE
El Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y la Justicia (MADJ) a raiz de la huelga de hambre que por muchos dias mantienen varios j?venes e ind?genas TOLUPANES que demandan el cese a la corrupcion y mecanismos efectivos para combatir la impunidad, al pueblo hondureno y a los pueblos y gobiernos del mundo expresa lo siguiente:
Primero: Las peticiones de los TOLUPANES y dem?s huelguistas son del
conocimiento de las autoridades del Estado hondure?o mucho antes de que
se declarara la huelga de hambre y representan un directo
cuestionamiento a las estructuras de gobierno a nivel nacional y
regional, mismas que en el caso del pueblo tolup?n est?n vinculadas a la
corrupci?n, saqueo y muertes violentas.
Segundo: Las demandas de los huelguistas son tan urgentes que la
Comisi?n Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH), desde diciembre de
2013, dispuso que el Estado de Honduras protegiera a varios l?deres y
lideresas tolupanas cuyas vidas est?n en riesgo por oponerse a la
corrupci?n y despojo de sus bienes naturales. A pesar de esa disposici?n
de la CIDH, varias familias tolupanas han sido expulsadas violentamente
de sus territorios y otros l?deres m?s fueron asesinados. Toda esta
barbarie se mantiene en total impunidad a pesar que se conoce la
identidad de quienes ejecutan estos cr?menes.
Tercero: Rechazamos el supuesto di?logo propuesto por el gobierno con
personas, sectores y grupos que se benefician directamente de su
corrupci?n y muchos otros beneficios ileg?timos que provienen del mismo
Estado. Dialogar en la perspectiva del gobierno es negociar para
generarse impunidad. La demanda de castigo a quienes han asesinado a
varios miembros del pueblo TOLUPAN y les despojan de su territorio, el
castigo a la c?pula gubernamental que financi? la campa?a electoral de
su partido con fondos del saqueo del IHSS, la instalaci?n de la CICIH
para que juzgue a los criminales de las c?pulas pol?ticas, econ?micas y
del crimen organizado no son objeto de negociaci?n, son una demanda
ciudadana que amerita ejecuci?n inmediata.
Cuarto: Tras varios d?as sin ingerir alimentos por parte de los
huelguistas y la huelguista TOLUPANA, responsabilizamos al gobierno de
Honduras por cualquier afectaci?n a su salud, su seguridad y sus vidas.
Lamentamos que el gobierno y sus funcionarios apelen al cansancio de los
huelguistas y que recurran al vano intento de desprestigiar la lucha de
los indignados e indignadas, a discriminar a los ind?genas en huelga
pretendiendo negar su condici?n de miembros del pueblo TOLUPAN, a los
hostigamientos en la huelga, al desalojo inicial de los huelguistas para
dar una falsa impresi?n de normalidad a la misi?n de la ONU que se
encuentra en el pa?s.
Quinto: Llamamos a todas las organizaciones, a las vocer?as visibles de
los y las indignadas, al pueblo hondure?o en general, especialmente al
pueblo indignado y honesto a profundizar la lucha y no caer en las
trampas y divisionismos montados por el gobierno. La c?pula
gubernamental y todas sus estructuras corruptas est?n golpeadas y m?s
temprano que tarde las derrotaremos y deben pagar por su corrupci?n
escandalosa, por todos sus cr?menes y tambi?n por lo que hoy pueda
suceder a nuestros hermanos y hermana en huelga de hambre.
TENEMOS SED Y HAMBRE DE JUSTICIA/ CONTRA LA CORRUPCI?N SIEMPRE
7 de julio del 2015.
C-Libre denounces the ongoing atmosphere of intimidation against protesters and human rights defenders. Pasos de Animal Grande also denounces the tactics by the state security forces.
One example is Ariel Varela; he left the hunger strike after seven days, but has been persecuted by the police ever since. Radio Progreso looks back on one month of protests and also observes an
increase in repression. Nevertheless, four people still remain in hunger strike.
* [http://www.clibrehonduras.com/alerta/sigue-hostigamiento-militar-contra-huelguistas-y-defensores]
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/contexto/item/876-cuerpos-de-seguridad-aplican-el-manual-de-la-cia-a-movimiento-de-los-indignados-en-huelga-de-hambre]
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/denuncias/item/878-persecusion-policial-despues-de-haber-salido-de-huelga-de-hambre-denuncia-lider-de-oposicion-indignada]
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2191-j%C3%B3venes-que-contin%C3%BAan-en-huelga-de-hambre-est%C3%A1n-aun-m%C3%A1s-vulnerables]
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/229-cuatro-indignados-siguen-en-huelga-de-hambre-frente-a-casa-presidencial]
* [http://www.defensoresenlinea.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3601:indignados-en-huelga-exigen-juicios-politicos-para-destitucion-de-jueces-magistrados-y-fiscales&catid=42:seg-y-jus&Itemid=159]
Pasos de Animal Grand denounces the murder of three people working in media in just two weeks.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/monitoreo-de-compromisos-internacionales/item/888-en-menos-de-15-dias-asesinan-a-tres-comunicadores-sociales]
The journalist Nery Gerem?as Orellana has been murdered four years ago and his case still rests in impunity.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2229-a-4-a%C3%B1os-impunidad-sigue-latente-en-asesinato-de-nery-gerem%C3%ADas-orellana]
The Inter-American Press Society (SIP), meanwhile, urges Honduras to thoroughly investigate the recent murders of journalists.
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/libertad-de-expresi%C3%B3n/sip-indagaciones-expeditas-por-asesinatos-de-periodistas-en-m%C3%A9xico-y]
Reporters without Borders denounces three recent murders in Honduras.
* [http://es.rsf.org/honduras-honduras-otros-tres-asesinatos-en-08-07-2015,48084.html]
A young gang member, accused of being involved in the murder of two public prosecutors last October, was murdered while in custody at the COBRAS headquarter.
* [http://www.latribuna.hn/2015/07/08/dentro-de-sede-de-cobras-matan-a-marero-de-18/]
---
The Honduran human rights organizations met in Siguatepeque to discuss the current situation. They published a press release voicing their support for the nation-wide protests.
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/07/declaracion-de-organizaciones-de.html]
* "Declaracion de organizaciones de derechos humanos frente a la lucha contra la impunidad y corrupcion" [archive.is/6I1cO], machine translated [archive.is/MybY5]
---
Article about Chabelo in El Tiempo today. I hope it to be a good sign that even the main Honduran press now seems to be worried about the Honduran political prisoner Jose Isabel "Chabelo" Morales Lopez, innocently imprisoned for almost seven years now.
* [http://www.tiempo.hn/amobi/Items/view/39025]
COFADEH is still accompanying the hunger strike and reports on its 19th day.
* [http://www.defensoresenlinea.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3620:aumenta-manifestacion-de-indignados-por-la-impunidad-y-corrupcion-&catid=37:mem-y-imp&Itemid=150]
The seventh Friday in a row, Hondurans took to the streets voicing their demands for the resignation of JOH and the installation of a CICIH.
Apparently, human rights defender and director of CIPRODEH, Wilfredo Mundez, will on Monday take part of the hunger strike.
An interesting concept grew out of the protests, so-called "Mesas de la Indignacion" which try to canalize initiatives and articulate common demands.
Radio Progreso spoke with Hugo Noe Pino about his view of the current situation.
* [http://criterio.hn/indignados-hondurenos-piden-comision-antimafias-y-dimision-del-presidente/]
* [http://criterio.hn/wilfredo-mendez-se-une-a-huelga-de-hambre-a-partir-del-lunes/]
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2230-mesas-de-la-indignaci%C3%B3n-una-v%C3%ADa-para-canalizar-iniciativas-y-articular-demandas]
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2228-j%C3%B3venes-siguen-con-demandas-claras-mientras-grupos-de-poder-temen-ser-castigados]
On the 15th day of the hunger strike, state security forces violently "relocated" the protest site. C-Libre published a detailed account on the events.
Amable de Jes?s Hern?ndez, the mayor of San Jose de Colinas currently in hunger strike, told the press how the JOH administration is marginalizing mayors of the political opposition.
* [http://www.defensoresenlinea.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3614:indignados-reafirman-instalacion-de-la-cicih-y-no-al-dialogo-gubernamental&catid=42:seg-y-jus&Itemid=159]
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/255-honduras-15-dias-cumplen-indignados-en-huelga-de-hambre]
* [http://www.clibrehonduras.com/alerta/en-medio-de-amenazas-e-intimidaciones-militares-reubican-huelguistas]
* [http://criterio.hn/alcalde-de-colinas-denuncia-ser-victima-del-sectarismo-irracional-2/]
The protesters asked this Monday the UN delegation for their help in the installation of a CICIH.
The government still insists on a dialogue according to their terms, which the protesters deny.
* [http://criterio.hn/jovenes-indignados-piden-la-cicih-a-mision-de-la-onu/]
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/259-funcionarios-de-la-onu-en-honduras-dialogan-con-gobierno-y-oposicion]
* [http://criterio.hn/gobierno-hondureno-afina-reunion-con-los-indignados-y-estos-dicen-no-a-la-invitacion/]
* [http://criterio.hn/dialogo-seguira-con-o-sin-la-oposicion-hernandez/]
The governments plan to divide the opposition seemed to have failed as young protest leaders met yesterday with the political opposition to stand together behind the demand for a CICIH.
A El Libertador report spend one night at the camp of the hunger strike.
Meanwhile, family members of Tolupan protesters are receiving death threats. One of them, Sergio Avila, describes the difficult situation they are in.
V?ctor Meza published his thoughts on the current protests.
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/todos-favor-de-la-cicih/]
* [http://criterio.hn/partidos-de-oposicion-exigen-cici-en-honduras/]
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/libertad-de-expresi%C3%B3n/amenazas-de-muerte-reciben-familias-de-ind%C3%ADgenas-tolupanes-en-huelga]
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/263-una-noche-en-huelga-de-hambre]
* [http://redefensorashn.blogspot.ch/2015/07/declaracion-de-sergio-avila-companero.html]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/07/honduras-tesis-sobre-la-oposicion.html]
Protests at the Sula Valley University continue.
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/07/honduras-universitarios-del-valle-de.html]
---
Given the constant reports on protests, it's easy to forget what moved a lot of Hondurans to take to the streets. The corruption at the IHSS helped to deteriorate the Honduran public health system. As El Tiempo writes, this situation hasn't improved a bit as the hospitals are still without much needed drugs.
* [http://www.tiempo.hn/nacion/item/38821-hospitales-siguen-sin-medicamentos]
UNAH suspended the semester for dentistry students in San Pedro Sula as a response to their protest against missing equipment.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/268-unah-cancela-periodo-academico-a-estudiantes-de-odontologia-en-huelga]
* [https://presencia.unah.edu.hn/centros-regionales/articulo/unah-publica-acuerdo-sobre-la-suspension-del-segundo-periodo-academico-para-odontologia-en-unah-vs]
---
OFRANEH analyzes the role of the indigenous people in the current protests and the government-promoted divisions in their organizations.
* [https://ofraneh.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/de-la-huelga-de-hambre-de-los-tolupanes-a-la-sumision-de-la-derecha-indigena-y-afrodescendiente/]
---
Honduras: FIRMANDO EN FAVOR DE LA CICIH
El esc?ndalo de corrupci?n en el Seguro Social ilumin? a honduras con antorchas de indignaci?n, pero tambi?n de esperanza. Los hondure?os aseguran que solamente una investigaci?n independiente podr? llegar al fondo de los hechos. Une tu voz para exigir la creaci?n de una Comisi?n Internacional contra la Impunidad en Honduras:
> FIRMA AQU?
> Queridos amigos y amigas,
> El gobierno de Honduras fue descubierto con las manos en la masa. El Seguro Social, le ha estado dando medicamentos adulterados y cobrando 400 veces m?s el verdadero costo de sus servicios a los ciudadanos. Muchas muertes pudieron evitarse. Todo esto para poder embolsar cientos de millones de d?lares a la campa?a del presidente. Pero ahora todo est? por cambiar.
> Como nunca antes, decenas de miles nos hemos movilizado en todo el pa?s. Yo, junto con otros 6 compa?eros, hemos hecho huelgas de hambre - literalmente estamos dispuestos a morir por la democracia.
> El gobierno de Honduras cree que puede esconder este esc?ndalo. Con la ayuda de Avaaz, podremos hacer que el mundo se entere poniendo anuncios de facebook y llamando a los medios de comunicaci?n internacionales.
> Estamos convencidos de que solamente una investigaci?n independiente podr? llegar al fondo de los hechos, pero necesitamos la presi?n internacional. Esta semana nos reuniremos con la ONU para pedirle la creaci?n inmediata de una Comisi?n Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Honduras. Ap?yanos con tu voz: [https://secure.avaaz.org/es/honduras_cicih2/?bqnosbb&v=61541]
> Con los millones de d?lares manchados de corrupci?n, adem?s de financiar la campa?a de Hern?ndez, se compraron docenas de viviendas y veh?culos de lujo en Estados Unidos, Honduras y Chile, y se pagaron viajes de placer y fiestas. Mientras el 64.5% de la poblaci?n vive en la pobreza. ?Ya basta!
> No daremos un paso atr?s, seguiremos en las calles hasta que la voz del pueblo sea escuchada en las instituciones internacionales y tengamos justicia. Suma tu voz:
> [https://secure.avaaz.org/es/honduras_cicih2/?bqnosbb&v=61541]
> Hoy el pueblo de Honduras est? m?s fuerte que nunca. Este es en un momento decisivo; juntos podemos marcar una diferencia.
El Heraldo reports that only some 38% of cases are even investigated in Honduras.
* [http://www.elheraldo.hn/inicio/854191-331/solo-el-377-de-las-denuncias-se-investigan-en-honduras]
A new CONADEH report shows the difficult situation of inmates, only 45% of which have even been sentenced.
* [http://www.elheraldo.hn/pais/854166-331/mayor%C3%ADa-de-reos-en-c%C3%A1rceles-solo-est%C3%A1n-procesados]
Some 93'000 cases are awaiting trial in Honduras.
This week, the election process for the Supreme Court begins.
* [http://www.elheraldo.hn/alfrente/853806-331/m%C3%A1s-de-93-mil-casos-esperan-sentencia-del-poder-judicial]
* [http://www.laprensa.hn/honduras/853826-417/esta-semana-inicia-proceso-para-elecci%C3%B3n-de-nueva-corte]
---
Criterio reports on widespread nepotism in JOH's government.
* [http://criterio.hn/nepotismo-impera-en-gobierno-de-juan-hernandez/]
Hilda Hernandez, JOH's sister, is building a big house in Comayagua and everyone wonders where she has the money from.
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/hilda-hernandez-debe-explicar-con-que-fondos-construyo-su-palacio-en-comayagua/]
The Nationalist congressman Hector Hugo Pinto Aguilar had more of his properties seized in a new operative in Cop?n. It is said that the he and his family members have ties to drug traffickers.
Meanwhile, the situation of Congress' vice-president Lena Gutierrez darkens.
Then there is the mayor of Comayagua, who feels obliged to defend Hilda Hernandez for building a big house in his city.
And finally, Transparency International Honduras wants some more details on the sale of the mansion in the US by First Lady Ana Garcia de Hernandez.
* [http://criterio.hn/aseguran-mas-bienes-a-diputado-nacionalista/]
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/ministerio-publico-pide-carcel-para-lena/]
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/carlos-miranda-nuevo-vocero-de-hilda-hernandez-sale-defenderla/]
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/transparencia-internacional-exige-que-primera-dama-aclare-con-que-fondos-compro-su-casa-en-miami/]
---
COPINH website [copinh.org], updates [copinhonduras.blogspot.com], radio [guarajambala1.caster.fm]
* Llamamiento del COPINH ante el I Congreso Internacional de Minerea a realizarse la proxima semana en Tegucigalpa... A movilizarnos! [http://copinhonduras.blogspot.it/2015/07/llamamiento-del-copinh-ante-el-i.html#more]
* Planton en San Isidro [http://copinhonduras.blogspot.it/2015/07/planton-en-san-isidro.html]
* COPINH DENUNCIA: CASO ASESINATO DEL COMPA??ERO MOIS??S DURON- LAS AUTORIDADES JUDICIALES, FISCALES Y POLICIALES NO CUMPLEN UNA VEZ MAS CON SUS OBLIGACIONES [http://copinhonduras.blogspot.it/2015/07/copinh-denuncia-caso-asesinato-del.html]
* COPINH: CONDENAMOS el Congreso Internacional de Minerea en Honduras. Fuera mineras!! (2015-07-07):
COPINH: WE CONDEMN the International Congress of Mining in Honduras. No to mines!!
We, members of the Lenca People and the Civic Council of Grassroots and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), who come from communities in the provinces of Intibuc?, La Paz, Lempira, Santa Barbara and Cortes, Lenca territories of age-old resistance, and have arrived to this capital city since July 6 of this year to once again join and support the process of outrage and protest, along with sister organizations of the Platform of Social and Popular Movements of Honduras, to which we belong, to condemn the so-called First International Conference on Mining in Honduras, which is being held from 7 to 11 July in Tegucigalpa. This event reflects the continuing policy of the Government of Honduras to continue handing over territory, sovereignty, common goods and nature, as it moves forward in the establishment of a transnational dictatorship.
We denounce the government, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (SERNA), and other drivers of the so-called congress who propose the cynical idea that there is concern and interest in the environment, in extractive methods that are less harmful, in a "mining culture that is responsible and ecological." We reject this campaign of farce that has been unmasked again and again with the crushing reality of death that mining leaves, with science, with the experience of the people, with the defense of the various forms of life, and with the ancestral cultures and worldviews. We have seen their true intentions with the 30% of the Honduran territory that has been handed over to mining and the more than 870 land grants in the approval process. We know the looting and brutality this means.
To President Juan Orlando Hernandez, his government, the national congress and the mining companies we demand a stop to the expansion of death, pollution and violation of the rights of indigenous people, black people, campesinos and all the Honduran people. We demand an end to their corrupt, illegal and illegitimate actions.
Our honorable people and organizations are in a state of rebelliousness and watchfulness, and we are actively defending our territory, which is part of our historical rights. We are engaged in the continuous construction of our future life without giving up deep, structural changes, rethinking a Honduras with justice and equity, re-founding it in its diversity.
With the ancestral force of Iselaca, Lempira, Mota and Etempica we raise our voices full of life, justice, dignity, freedom and peace!
--
Dinant Corporation profits from the expulsion of indigenous nations from their land under the fascist regime over the Republic of Honduras. Human rights advocates are documenting the many brand names of consumer products produced by Dinant, such as these, found for sale in Detroit (USA)...
* "Dinant Corporation’s well-known record of violence and human rights abuse" (Honduras Solidarity Network):
International human rights organizations and a World Bank audit have associated Dinant with egregious human rights violations including multiple murders (some by death squad), torture, and illegal land seizures. These human rights violations are outlined below. The nature of these atrocities is such that any reasonable standard of corporate responsibility dictates that it is irresponsible and unethical to continue in a business relationship with a company of this nature. While Dinant is taking steps to repair its international image, no amount of reform justifies a continued business relationship with Dinant.
Dinant Corporation (footnote 1) is an integrated palm oil and food company. Dinant holds the regional distribution license for Mazola products and claims (footnote 2) that Mazola cooking oils are one of its leading brands. Dinant owns the Mazola trademark in Central America and is the only company that can manufacture, market and distribute Mazola products in the region.
Miguel Facussé, the Executive President (footnote 3) of Dinant in Honduras, is a controversial figure (footnote 4) and one of the wealthiest and most powerful men (footnote 5) in Honduras. Mr. Facussé’s leadership has been characterized by the most egregious violence and impunity imaginable, and a demonstrated inability to operate Dinant in a responsible manner. Mr. Facussé cannot be separated from the company due to his ownership interest.
Dinant is involved in several land conflicts in the Aguan Valley in Honduras. The conflicts are centered on legal ownership of land that came under the control of large landowners in the 1990s. Prior to the land transfers, the plantations were owned and farmed by thousands of campesinos (small farmers) in cooperatives that sold the palm fruit to sustain their families and grew basic grains for local consumption. The majority of land in the Aguan Valley today is under the control of companies owned by Facussé and two other families of Honduras’ small oligarchy.
The African palm fruit produced on these lands is used and processed by Dinant to manufacture the food products including the Mazola brand (footnote 6), it markets and sells across Central America.
Dinant’s Human Rights Record in Honduras
Dinant Corporation in Honduras has been associated with extensive human rights abuses in the Aguan Valley region including the killing, kidnapping, and forced evictions of campesinos. According to US-based non-government organization (NGO), Rights Action (footnote 7), over 109 people have been killed in the land disputes from 2010 to early 2013. This high number was confirmed by the National Human Rights Commissioner of Honduras (footnote 8) who claims that 92 people, mostly active members of small farmer organizations, have been killed as a result of the land conflict in the Aguan Valley.
The discrepancy across NGOs and institutions of the actual number of killings, kidnappings, and other human rights abuses attributed to Dinant and/or Honduran security forces, is largely due to the high impunity rate and almost complete lack of investigation of these violations. According to Human Rights Watch (footnote 9), investigations of killings linked to land disputes in the Aguan have been “inadequate or nonexistent.” This is the environment in which Dinant continues to operate and enjoy international support from Mazola despite dozens of deaths linked to its Aguan operations. These include the discovery of tortured bodies of two campesinos found in shallow graves (footnote 10) inside an African Palm plantation claimed and operated by Dinant Corporation. No investigation has occurred and no charges have been filed.
The deteriorating political and social situation since the June 28, 2009 overthrow of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has led to a dramatic increase of homicides, corruption, and high levels of impunity in Honduras. According to the United Nations (footnote 11), Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s lending arm to corporations, halted the second half of its $30 million loan to Dinant following human rights complaints. An internal audit of the loan given to Dinant was initiated by the Office of the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) (footnote 12) of the World Bank of allegations regarding the project that note that Dinant “conducted, facilitated, or supported forced evictions of farmers”; that “violence against farmers on and around Dinant plantations in the Bajo Aguan [Lower Aguan] occurred because of inappropriate use of private and public security forces under Dinant’s control or influence.”
The CAO investigation found that the IFC loan was given to Dinant even though Dinant was in “apparent non-compliance with its [environmental and social] undertakings in a risk environment that had deteriorated significantly since appraisal a year earlier.”
Since the audit was published in early 2014, Dinant alleges that it is taking the necessary steps (footnote 13) to bring its performance into compliance with the IFC’s environmental and social procedures. These measures include implementing Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, providing use of force training of its in-house and outsourced guards, and developing a complaints mechanism.
Despite these efforts, evictions, killings, and beatings of campesinos continue in the Aguan Valley. On July 3, 2014 (footnote 14), members of La Panama community were evicted, tear gassed inside their homes, and beaten. One person was killed, two people suffered bullet wounds, and seven people were arrested in their homes. After years of unsolved cases of harassment, rape, and abuse allegedly by Dinant’s security guards, La Panama no longer permits the presence of Dinant’s workers and guards in their community. On August 15, 2014 (footnote 15) while international human rights observers were taking testimonies inside La Panama community, observers heard live shots fired in close proximity to the community.
Although the results of the IFC internal audit have slightly changed Dinant’s behavior, abuses continue to occur. These violations call into question the environment in which a company like Dinant is profiting. While we also recognize that job creation is beneficial to the Honduran people, it does not outweigh the need for Mazola to exercise corporate responsibility and to discontinue support for a corporation associated with such outrageous human rights abuses.
In the case of La Panama in July and August 2014, the evictions, beatings and killings were carried out by persons in Honduran military uniforms. However, as the United Nations Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries (footnote 16) has noted, private security guards in the Aguan often act “in concert with the police and the military.” The role of the Honduran military, police, and private security guards in the Aguan is blurred. According to Rights Action (footnote 17), “multiple on-the-ground reports [in Honduras, note] that private security guards on several occasions have been given military uniforms and military issue weapons to participate in operations alongside the 15th Battalion [Honduran military].” It is just as unacceptable for Honduran military and police forces to serve as proxies in committing forced evictions and violent acts that directly benefit Dinant.
Footnotes:
(1) "About Us - Dinant." About Us - Dinant. Web. [http://www.dinant.com/index.php/en/quienes-somos]
(2) Ibid.
(3) “Miguel Facusse Biography - Dinant." MIguel Facusse Biography - Dinant. N.p., n.d. Web. [http://www.dinant.com/index.php/en/biografia-don-miguel-facusse ]
(4) Wilkinson, Tracy. "In Honduras, a Controversial Tycoon Responds to Critics. "Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 21 Dec. 2012. Web [http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/21/world/la-fg-honduras-facusse-20121221]
(5) this footnote is missing from original report
(6) "Mazola - Dinant." Mazola – Dinant Corporation. Web [http://www.dinant.com/index.php/en/division-de-grasas-y-aceites/mazola]
(7) Bird, Annie. "Human Rights Violations Attributed to Military Forces in the Bajo Aguan Valley in Honduras." Human Rights Violations Attributed to Military Forces in the Bajo Aguan Valley in Honduras Rights Action, 20 Feb. 2013. Web. [http://rightsaction.org/sites/default/files/Rpt_130220_Aguan_Final.pdf]
(8) “RESUMEN DEL INFORME ANUAL DEL BANCO DE MÉXICO, S. A." El Trimestre Económico 45.179(3) (1978): 767-72. CONADEH, 2012. Web [http://app.conadeh.hn/Anual2013/informes/CONADEH_2012.pdf]
(9) “There Are No Investigations Here." “There Are No Investigations Here”(2014): n. pag. Human Rights Watch, Feb. 2014. Web. [http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/honduras0214web.pdf]
(10) Heine, Gretchen. "Honduran Killing Fields: Repression Continues Against Campesinos in Bajo Aguán Valley." Council on Hemispheric Affairs. COH, 06 June 2013. Web. [http://www.coha.org/honduran-killing-fields-repression-continues-against-campesinos-in-bajo-aguan-valley]
(11) "Global Study on Homicide." UNODC: Global Study on Homicide. UNODC, 2014. Web.[http://www.unodc.org/gsh]
Garifuna nation within the Republic of Honduras
The Garifuna community of Barra Vieja awaits a new trial which could have them expelled from their ancestral land.
* [https://ofraneh.wordpress.com/2015/06/29/nuevo-juicio-para-expulsar-a-la-comunidad-garifuna-de-barra-vieja-de-su-territorio-ancestral/]
===*===*===
Republic of Haiti
* "Are Foreign NGOs Rebuilding Haiti Or Just Cashing In? Haiti plays host to over 10,000 NGOs, whose foreign workers make up an affluent class of their own" (2015-07-10, fpif.org) [archive.is/G3EB7]
===*===*===
Republic of Colombia
[colombiasupport.net]
* "Colombian Army killed innocent civilians to boost rebel body count" (2015-07-02, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/QN9jx]
---
Towards a Bolivarian Republic of Colombia
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army (FARC-EP)
* "FARC negotiator demands strong gestures from Colombia president" (2015-07-16, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/fF9MA]
---
* "ELN Commander Manrique Dies: What Is Next?" (2015-06-16, coha.org) [archive.is/twJ6A]
===*===*===
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.
* Honduras Solidarity Network report (2015-07-09): Every Friday the Entorchas demonstration by the “indignados” bring thousands into the streets. Many are Liberals and PAC who don’t consider themselves part of the Resistance. The politics are “complicated.” The FNRP June 28 march had fewer than the indignados’ marches. The hunger strike has gone on for two weeks with 11-12 people, not all of whom are the same people who started it. Infiltrators have been trying to cause strife. Hunger strikers say the indignados do not speak for them. The UN has sent a delegation to facilitate a “dialogue” with JOH and the indignados. Some call it a “monologue. Five hundred turned out in the Aguan for the anniversary memorial for Gregorio Chavez. Three journalists have been assassinated in the past few days including a tv station owner. US Ambassador said relations with Honduras were never better.
Radio KGNU spoke with international human rights activist Karen Spring on the current situation in Honduras.
* [http://news.kgnu.org/2015/07/six-years-post-coup-a-human-rights-activist-reflects-on-a-country-in-crisis/]
* "Hillary Clinton Implicated in Honduras Coup, Emails Reveal" (2015-07-07, telesurtv.net) [archive.is/45dLI]
With Hilary Clinton's emails published, the Intercept looks at her role during the Honduran coup d'tat.
America Otherwise also spoke with Dana Frank, professor of History at the University of California at Santa, on the topic and the current protests in Honduras. CEPR's Dan Beeton also wrote about it.
* [https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/06/clinton-honduras-coup/]
* [https://soundcloud.com/christy-thornton-3/frankhonduras070615]
* [http://www.cepr.net/blogs/the-americas-blog/newly-released-clinton-emails-reveal-state-department-s-celebration-over-honduras-flawed-elections-following-military-coup]
* "The Hidden Script of U.S. Militarization in Honduras" (2015-07-02, coha.org) [archive.is/Kv3l2]
* "Disaster Capitalism and Outrage in Post-Coup Honduras" (2015-06-28, telesurtv.net) [archive.is/Y3tV2]
InSight Crime takes up the topic of the Honduran Military Police again.
* [http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/using-military-as-police-honduras-abuse]
The recent hack at the spy software company Hacking Team brought to light some interesting things. Honduras apparently also bought software for $355'000.
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/libertad-de-expresi%C3%B3n/honduras-gobierno-paga-l8-millones-en-software-de-espionaje-telef%C3%B3nico]
Great article by Radio Progreso on four major lies by JOH.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/nuestra-palabra/item/2211-desmontando-las-mentiras-del-presidente-07-julio-2015]
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/coberturaespecial/indignados-e-indignadas/item/2215-el-fraudulento-caiga-quien-caiga]
Englis Translation / Declaracion de LIBRE ante convocatoria hecha por ONU 7 de julio 2015
July 7, 2015 -- Declaration by Manuel Zelaya following meeting at the UN Headquarters in Tegucigalpa:
The Liberty and Refoundation Party - LIBRE - in response to the call made by the United Nations, reiterates that there is no reconciliation or justice in Honduras, conditions that are necessary to advance democracy and governance.
1. The State of Honduras must recognize and honor the international agreements and resolutions issued by the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of American States (OAS) regarding the elective investigation of human rights violations and the recognition of the coup.
2) Dialogue must have a mediator. It is not negotiable for the mediator to be President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who is identified as jointly responsible for the Social Security corruption scandal.
3) The installation of the International Commission against Impunity in Honduras CICIH, must be requested prior to the start of the dialogue, since there are ongoing cases of corruption of which IHSS (Honduran Social Security Institute) is just the tip of the iceberg.
4) Given the imminent expiry of the following constitutional terms of office, a new form of selecting and appointing these offices must be established: justices of the Supreme Court; Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General; Superior Court of Auditors; Supreme Electoral Tribunal and the National Registry of Persons; and a new electoral law must be approved.
5) The judgment delivered by the Constitutional Court regarding re-election should be annulled and secrecy laws that deny the possibility of transparency and to protect impunity must be overturned.
Tegucigalpa, MDC - July 7, 2015
Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales
Coordinator General LIBRE Party
---
Vamos pueblo por la Constituyente, El Socialismo y La Refundacion de Honduras! (Let us all go for The Constitutional Assembly, Socialism and the Re-foundation of Honduras!)
On Sunday, the FNRP held a big protest in Tegucigalpa, remembering the 6th anniversary of the coup. Activist of the National Party marched on the same day in support of JOH.
* [http://criterio.hn/nacionalista-y-fnrp-se-enfrentan-en-las-calles/]
* [http://www.proceso.hn/politica/item/105076-nacionalistas-y-zelayistas-marchan-este-domingo-en-la-capital.html]
Criterio reports that public employees are obliged to defend the image of the JOH administration on social media.
* [http://criterio.hn/empleados-publicos-obligados-a-defender-imagen-de-joh-en-redes-sociales/]
Members of COPINH protested on the highway in the west of Honduras.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/232-honduras-indigenas-toman-carretera-exigiendo-juicio-politico-al-presidente]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/06/honduras-protesta-sube-de-tonotoma-de.html]
Pasos de Animal Grande writes about the difficult situation of the LGTBI movement in Honduras as came apparent again with the recent murder of Angy Ferreria Midence.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/denuncias/item/875-otro-crimen-de-odio-impacta-a-la-comunidad-de-la-diversidad-sexual]
LGTBI organizations denounce the ineffectiveness of the MP's Violent Crimes Task Force.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/contexto/item/880-unidad-de-delitos-contra-la-vida-no-avanza-en-investigaciones-de-crimenes-de-odio]
Alfredo Lopez, correspondent for Radio Progreso and member of OFRANEH, was attacked by an employee of Hisopo Resort.
* "Radio Progreso correspondent denounces aggression by staff Hyssop Resort" (2015-06-29, radioprogresohn.net) [archive.is/Xj4nl]
* [http://www.proceso.hn/component/k2/item/105089-asesinan-a-joven-camar%C3%B3grafo-en-la-entrada-cop%C3%A1n.html]
There was an attack against the former head of the National Agrarian Institute (INA), Cesar Ham, on Saturday during which his bodyguards were murdered. The Honduran press is now full of articles about him having received constantly death threats, JOH promising to solve the case and more.
* [http://www.proceso.hn/component/k2/item/105084-ham-recib%C3%ADa-constantemente-amenazas-a-muerte-revela-marco-ramiro-lobo.html]
* [http://www.proceso.hn/caliente/item/105075-ataque-iba-dirigido-a-ex-ministro-c%C3%A9sar-ham-pero-polic%C3%ADa-investiga-otros-escenarios.html]
Protection International and CEJIL published an analysis of the Honduran bill for the protection of human rights defenders.
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/derechos-humanos/derechos-humanos/an%C3%A1lisis-de-la-ley-de-protecci%C3%B3n-defensores-y-periodistas]
MADJ public communique on Tolupanes hunger strike Communique was just published on MADJ facebook page. At the moment, the police are still threatening to evict the hunger strikers, although the tents have been relocated two hours ago.
COMUNICADO: RESPONSABILIZAMOS AL ESTADO Y AL GOBIERNO DE HONDURAS POR LO QUE SUCEDA A LOS TOLUPANES Y LOS OTROS HUELGUISTA DE HAMBRE
El Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y la Justicia (MADJ) a raiz de la huelga de hambre que por muchos dias mantienen varios j?venes e ind?genas TOLUPANES que demandan el cese a la corrupcion y mecanismos efectivos para combatir la impunidad, al pueblo hondureno y a los pueblos y gobiernos del mundo expresa lo siguiente:
Primero: Las peticiones de los TOLUPANES y dem?s huelguistas son del
conocimiento de las autoridades del Estado hondure?o mucho antes de que
se declarara la huelga de hambre y representan un directo
cuestionamiento a las estructuras de gobierno a nivel nacional y
regional, mismas que en el caso del pueblo tolup?n est?n vinculadas a la
corrupci?n, saqueo y muertes violentas.
Segundo: Las demandas de los huelguistas son tan urgentes que la
Comisi?n Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH), desde diciembre de
2013, dispuso que el Estado de Honduras protegiera a varios l?deres y
lideresas tolupanas cuyas vidas est?n en riesgo por oponerse a la
corrupci?n y despojo de sus bienes naturales. A pesar de esa disposici?n
de la CIDH, varias familias tolupanas han sido expulsadas violentamente
de sus territorios y otros l?deres m?s fueron asesinados. Toda esta
barbarie se mantiene en total impunidad a pesar que se conoce la
identidad de quienes ejecutan estos cr?menes.
Tercero: Rechazamos el supuesto di?logo propuesto por el gobierno con
personas, sectores y grupos que se benefician directamente de su
corrupci?n y muchos otros beneficios ileg?timos que provienen del mismo
Estado. Dialogar en la perspectiva del gobierno es negociar para
generarse impunidad. La demanda de castigo a quienes han asesinado a
varios miembros del pueblo TOLUPAN y les despojan de su territorio, el
castigo a la c?pula gubernamental que financi? la campa?a electoral de
su partido con fondos del saqueo del IHSS, la instalaci?n de la CICIH
para que juzgue a los criminales de las c?pulas pol?ticas, econ?micas y
del crimen organizado no son objeto de negociaci?n, son una demanda
ciudadana que amerita ejecuci?n inmediata.
Cuarto: Tras varios d?as sin ingerir alimentos por parte de los
huelguistas y la huelguista TOLUPANA, responsabilizamos al gobierno de
Honduras por cualquier afectaci?n a su salud, su seguridad y sus vidas.
Lamentamos que el gobierno y sus funcionarios apelen al cansancio de los
huelguistas y que recurran al vano intento de desprestigiar la lucha de
los indignados e indignadas, a discriminar a los ind?genas en huelga
pretendiendo negar su condici?n de miembros del pueblo TOLUPAN, a los
hostigamientos en la huelga, al desalojo inicial de los huelguistas para
dar una falsa impresi?n de normalidad a la misi?n de la ONU que se
encuentra en el pa?s.
Quinto: Llamamos a todas las organizaciones, a las vocer?as visibles de
los y las indignadas, al pueblo hondure?o en general, especialmente al
pueblo indignado y honesto a profundizar la lucha y no caer en las
trampas y divisionismos montados por el gobierno. La c?pula
gubernamental y todas sus estructuras corruptas est?n golpeadas y m?s
temprano que tarde las derrotaremos y deben pagar por su corrupci?n
escandalosa, por todos sus cr?menes y tambi?n por lo que hoy pueda
suceder a nuestros hermanos y hermana en huelga de hambre.
TENEMOS SED Y HAMBRE DE JUSTICIA/ CONTRA LA CORRUPCI?N SIEMPRE
7 de julio del 2015.
* "EVICTION! Attempt to evict the hunger strike" (2015-07-07):
This morning at 5 am the police and military showed up at the fences where the hunger strikers have their base and began making noise. At approximately 5:30-6:00 am, the police and military began taking the temporary police fences away that the tents of the hunger strikers were attached to. The police and military moved the tents.
Folks are still gathered at the site of the eviction and approximately 100 COPINHers showed up this morning. There is still a strong police and military presence there but its expected that the hunger strikers will reestablish their camp at the same site.
---
---
One example is Ariel Varela; he left the hunger strike after seven days, but has been persecuted by the police ever since. Radio Progreso looks back on one month of protests and also observes an
increase in repression. Nevertheless, four people still remain in hunger strike.
* [http://www.clibrehonduras.com/alerta/sigue-hostigamiento-militar-contra-huelguistas-y-defensores]
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/contexto/item/876-cuerpos-de-seguridad-aplican-el-manual-de-la-cia-a-movimiento-de-los-indignados-en-huelga-de-hambre]
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/denuncias/item/878-persecusion-policial-despues-de-haber-salido-de-huelga-de-hambre-denuncia-lider-de-oposicion-indignada]
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2191-j%C3%B3venes-que-contin%C3%BAan-en-huelga-de-hambre-est%C3%A1n-aun-m%C3%A1s-vulnerables]
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/229-cuatro-indignados-siguen-en-huelga-de-hambre-frente-a-casa-presidencial]
* [http://www.defensoresenlinea.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3601:indignados-en-huelga-exigen-juicios-politicos-para-destitucion-de-jueces-magistrados-y-fiscales&catid=42:seg-y-jus&Itemid=159]
Pasos de Animal Grand denounces the murder of three people working in media in just two weeks.
* [http://www.pasosdeanimalgrande.com/index.php/en/monitoreo-de-compromisos-internacionales/item/888-en-menos-de-15-dias-asesinan-a-tres-comunicadores-sociales]
The journalist Nery Gerem?as Orellana has been murdered four years ago and his case still rests in impunity.
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2229-a-4-a%C3%B1os-impunidad-sigue-latente-en-asesinato-de-nery-gerem%C3%ADas-orellana]
The Inter-American Press Society (SIP), meanwhile, urges Honduras to thoroughly investigate the recent murders of journalists.
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/libertad-de-expresi%C3%B3n/sip-indagaciones-expeditas-por-asesinatos-de-periodistas-en-m%C3%A9xico-y]
Reporters without Borders denounces three recent murders in Honduras.
* [http://es.rsf.org/honduras-honduras-otros-tres-asesinatos-en-08-07-2015,48084.html]
A young gang member, accused of being involved in the murder of two public prosecutors last October, was murdered while in custody at the COBRAS headquarter.
* [http://www.latribuna.hn/2015/07/08/dentro-de-sede-de-cobras-matan-a-marero-de-18/]
---
The Honduran human rights organizations met in Siguatepeque to discuss the current situation. They published a press release voicing their support for the nation-wide protests.
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/07/declaracion-de-organizaciones-de.html]
* "Declaracion de organizaciones de derechos humanos frente a la lucha contra la impunidad y corrupcion" [archive.is/6I1cO], machine translated [archive.is/MybY5]
---
Article about Chabelo in El Tiempo today. I hope it to be a good sign that even the main Honduran press now seems to be worried about the Honduran political prisoner Jose Isabel "Chabelo" Morales Lopez, innocently imprisoned for almost seven years now.
* [http://www.tiempo.hn/amobi/Items/view/39025]
---
COFADEH is still accompanying the hunger strike and reports on its 19th day.
* [http://www.defensoresenlinea.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3620:aumenta-manifestacion-de-indignados-por-la-impunidad-y-corrupcion-&catid=37:mem-y-imp&Itemid=150]
The seventh Friday in a row, Hondurans took to the streets voicing their demands for the resignation of JOH and the installation of a CICIH.
Apparently, human rights defender and director of CIPRODEH, Wilfredo Mundez, will on Monday take part of the hunger strike.
An interesting concept grew out of the protests, so-called "Mesas de la Indignacion" which try to canalize initiatives and articulate common demands.
Radio Progreso spoke with Hugo Noe Pino about his view of the current situation.
* [http://criterio.hn/indignados-hondurenos-piden-comision-antimafias-y-dimision-del-presidente/]
* [http://criterio.hn/wilfredo-mendez-se-une-a-huelga-de-hambre-a-partir-del-lunes/]
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2230-mesas-de-la-indignaci%C3%B3n-una-v%C3%ADa-para-canalizar-iniciativas-y-articular-demandas]
* [http://radioprogresohn.net/index.php/comunicaciones/noticias/item/2228-j%C3%B3venes-siguen-con-demandas-claras-mientras-grupos-de-poder-temen-ser-castigados]
On the 15th day of the hunger strike, state security forces violently "relocated" the protest site. C-Libre published a detailed account on the events.
Amable de Jes?s Hern?ndez, the mayor of San Jose de Colinas currently in hunger strike, told the press how the JOH administration is marginalizing mayors of the political opposition.
* [http://www.defensoresenlinea.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3614:indignados-reafirman-instalacion-de-la-cicih-y-no-al-dialogo-gubernamental&catid=42:seg-y-jus&Itemid=159]
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/255-honduras-15-dias-cumplen-indignados-en-huelga-de-hambre]
* [http://www.clibrehonduras.com/alerta/en-medio-de-amenazas-e-intimidaciones-militares-reubican-huelguistas]
* [http://criterio.hn/alcalde-de-colinas-denuncia-ser-victima-del-sectarismo-irracional-2/]
The protesters asked this Monday the UN delegation for their help in the installation of a CICIH.
The government still insists on a dialogue according to their terms, which the protesters deny.
* [http://criterio.hn/jovenes-indignados-piden-la-cicih-a-mision-de-la-onu/]
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/259-funcionarios-de-la-onu-en-honduras-dialogan-con-gobierno-y-oposicion]
* [http://criterio.hn/gobierno-hondureno-afina-reunion-con-los-indignados-y-estos-dicen-no-a-la-invitacion/]
* [http://criterio.hn/dialogo-seguira-con-o-sin-la-oposicion-hernandez/]
The governments plan to divide the opposition seemed to have failed as young protest leaders met yesterday with the political opposition to stand together behind the demand for a CICIH.
A El Libertador report spend one night at the camp of the hunger strike.
Meanwhile, family members of Tolupan protesters are receiving death threats. One of them, Sergio Avila, describes the difficult situation they are in.
V?ctor Meza published his thoughts on the current protests.
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/todos-favor-de-la-cicih/]
* [http://criterio.hn/partidos-de-oposicion-exigen-cici-en-honduras/]
* [http://conexihon.hn/site/noticia/libertad-de-expresi%C3%B3n/amenazas-de-muerte-reciben-familias-de-ind%C3%ADgenas-tolupanes-en-huelga]
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/263-una-noche-en-huelga-de-hambre]
* [http://redefensorashn.blogspot.ch/2015/07/declaracion-de-sergio-avila-companero.html]
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/07/honduras-tesis-sobre-la-oposicion.html]
Protests at the Sula Valley University continue.
* [http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2015/07/honduras-universitarios-del-valle-de.html]
---
Given the constant reports on protests, it's easy to forget what moved a lot of Hondurans to take to the streets. The corruption at the IHSS helped to deteriorate the Honduran public health system. As El Tiempo writes, this situation hasn't improved a bit as the hospitals are still without much needed drugs.
* [http://www.tiempo.hn/nacion/item/38821-hospitales-siguen-sin-medicamentos]
UNAH suspended the semester for dentistry students in San Pedro Sula as a response to their protest against missing equipment.
* [http://www.web.ellibertador.hn/index.php/noticias/nacionales/268-unah-cancela-periodo-academico-a-estudiantes-de-odontologia-en-huelga]
* [https://presencia.unah.edu.hn/centros-regionales/articulo/unah-publica-acuerdo-sobre-la-suspension-del-segundo-periodo-academico-para-odontologia-en-unah-vs]
---
OFRANEH analyzes the role of the indigenous people in the current protests and the government-promoted divisions in their organizations.
* [https://ofraneh.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/de-la-huelga-de-hambre-de-los-tolupanes-a-la-sumision-de-la-derecha-indigena-y-afrodescendiente/]
---
Honduras: FIRMANDO EN FAVOR DE LA CICIH
El esc?ndalo de corrupci?n en el Seguro Social ilumin? a honduras con antorchas de indignaci?n, pero tambi?n de esperanza. Los hondure?os aseguran que solamente una investigaci?n independiente podr? llegar al fondo de los hechos. Une tu voz para exigir la creaci?n de una Comisi?n Internacional contra la Impunidad en Honduras:
> FIRMA AQU?
> Queridos amigos y amigas,
> El gobierno de Honduras fue descubierto con las manos en la masa. El Seguro Social, le ha estado dando medicamentos adulterados y cobrando 400 veces m?s el verdadero costo de sus servicios a los ciudadanos. Muchas muertes pudieron evitarse. Todo esto para poder embolsar cientos de millones de d?lares a la campa?a del presidente. Pero ahora todo est? por cambiar.
> Como nunca antes, decenas de miles nos hemos movilizado en todo el pa?s. Yo, junto con otros 6 compa?eros, hemos hecho huelgas de hambre - literalmente estamos dispuestos a morir por la democracia.
> El gobierno de Honduras cree que puede esconder este esc?ndalo. Con la ayuda de Avaaz, podremos hacer que el mundo se entere poniendo anuncios de facebook y llamando a los medios de comunicaci?n internacionales.
> Estamos convencidos de que solamente una investigaci?n independiente podr? llegar al fondo de los hechos, pero necesitamos la presi?n internacional. Esta semana nos reuniremos con la ONU para pedirle la creaci?n inmediata de una Comisi?n Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Honduras. Ap?yanos con tu voz: [https://secure.avaaz.org/es/honduras_cicih2/?bqnosbb&v=61541]
> Con los millones de d?lares manchados de corrupci?n, adem?s de financiar la campa?a de Hern?ndez, se compraron docenas de viviendas y veh?culos de lujo en Estados Unidos, Honduras y Chile, y se pagaron viajes de placer y fiestas. Mientras el 64.5% de la poblaci?n vive en la pobreza. ?Ya basta!
> No daremos un paso atr?s, seguiremos en las calles hasta que la voz del pueblo sea escuchada en las instituciones internacionales y tengamos justicia. Suma tu voz:
> [https://secure.avaaz.org/es/honduras_cicih2/?bqnosbb&v=61541]
> Hoy el pueblo de Honduras est? m?s fuerte que nunca. Este es en un momento decisivo; juntos podemos marcar una diferencia.
El Heraldo reports that only some 38% of cases are even investigated in Honduras.
* [http://www.elheraldo.hn/inicio/854191-331/solo-el-377-de-las-denuncias-se-investigan-en-honduras]
A new CONADEH report shows the difficult situation of inmates, only 45% of which have even been sentenced.
* [http://www.elheraldo.hn/pais/854166-331/mayor%C3%ADa-de-reos-en-c%C3%A1rceles-solo-est%C3%A1n-procesados]
Some 93'000 cases are awaiting trial in Honduras.
This week, the election process for the Supreme Court begins.
* [http://www.elheraldo.hn/alfrente/853806-331/m%C3%A1s-de-93-mil-casos-esperan-sentencia-del-poder-judicial]
* [http://www.laprensa.hn/honduras/853826-417/esta-semana-inicia-proceso-para-elecci%C3%B3n-de-nueva-corte]
---
Criterio reports on widespread nepotism in JOH's government.
* [http://criterio.hn/nepotismo-impera-en-gobierno-de-juan-hernandez/]
Hilda Hernandez, JOH's sister, is building a big house in Comayagua and everyone wonders where she has the money from.
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/hilda-hernandez-debe-explicar-con-que-fondos-construyo-su-palacio-en-comayagua/]
The Nationalist congressman Hector Hugo Pinto Aguilar had more of his properties seized in a new operative in Cop?n. It is said that the he and his family members have ties to drug traffickers.
Meanwhile, the situation of Congress' vice-president Lena Gutierrez darkens.
Then there is the mayor of Comayagua, who feels obliged to defend Hilda Hernandez for building a big house in his city.
And finally, Transparency International Honduras wants some more details on the sale of the mansion in the US by First Lady Ana Garcia de Hernandez.
* [http://criterio.hn/aseguran-mas-bienes-a-diputado-nacionalista/]
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/ministerio-publico-pide-carcel-para-lena/]
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/carlos-miranda-nuevo-vocero-de-hilda-hernandez-sale-defenderla/]
* [http://cholusatsur.com/noticias/transparencia-internacional-exige-que-primera-dama-aclare-con-que-fondos-compro-su-casa-en-miami/]
---
COPINH website [copinh.org], updates [copinhonduras.blogspot.com], radio [guarajambala1.caster.fm]
* Llamamiento del COPINH ante el I Congreso Internacional de Minerea a realizarse la proxima semana en Tegucigalpa... A movilizarnos! [http://copinhonduras.blogspot.it/2015/07/llamamiento-del-copinh-ante-el-i.html#more]
* Planton en San Isidro [http://copinhonduras.blogspot.it/2015/07/planton-en-san-isidro.html]
* COPINH DENUNCIA: CASO ASESINATO DEL COMPA??ERO MOIS??S DURON- LAS AUTORIDADES JUDICIALES, FISCALES Y POLICIALES NO CUMPLEN UNA VEZ MAS CON SUS OBLIGACIONES [http://copinhonduras.blogspot.it/2015/07/copinh-denuncia-caso-asesinato-del.html]
* COPINH: CONDENAMOS el Congreso Internacional de Minerea en Honduras. Fuera mineras!! (2015-07-07):
COPINH: WE CONDEMN the International Congress of Mining in Honduras. No to mines!!
We, members of the Lenca People and the Civic Council of Grassroots and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), who come from communities in the provinces of Intibuc?, La Paz, Lempira, Santa Barbara and Cortes, Lenca territories of age-old resistance, and have arrived to this capital city since July 6 of this year to once again join and support the process of outrage and protest, along with sister organizations of the Platform of Social and Popular Movements of Honduras, to which we belong, to condemn the so-called First International Conference on Mining in Honduras, which is being held from 7 to 11 July in Tegucigalpa. This event reflects the continuing policy of the Government of Honduras to continue handing over territory, sovereignty, common goods and nature, as it moves forward in the establishment of a transnational dictatorship.
We denounce the government, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (SERNA), and other drivers of the so-called congress who propose the cynical idea that there is concern and interest in the environment, in extractive methods that are less harmful, in a "mining culture that is responsible and ecological." We reject this campaign of farce that has been unmasked again and again with the crushing reality of death that mining leaves, with science, with the experience of the people, with the defense of the various forms of life, and with the ancestral cultures and worldviews. We have seen their true intentions with the 30% of the Honduran territory that has been handed over to mining and the more than 870 land grants in the approval process. We know the looting and brutality this means.
To President Juan Orlando Hernandez, his government, the national congress and the mining companies we demand a stop to the expansion of death, pollution and violation of the rights of indigenous people, black people, campesinos and all the Honduran people. We demand an end to their corrupt, illegal and illegitimate actions.
Our honorable people and organizations are in a state of rebelliousness and watchfulness, and we are actively defending our territory, which is part of our historical rights. We are engaged in the continuous construction of our future life without giving up deep, structural changes, rethinking a Honduras with justice and equity, re-founding it in its diversity.
With the ancestral force of Iselaca, Lempira, Mota and Etempica we raise our voices full of life, justice, dignity, freedom and peace!
--
Dinant Corporation profits from the expulsion of indigenous nations from their land under the fascist regime over the Republic of Honduras. Human rights advocates are documenting the many brand names of consumer products produced by Dinant, such as these, found for sale in Detroit (USA)...
* "Dinant Corporation’s well-known record of violence and human rights abuse" (Honduras Solidarity Network):International human rights organizations and a World Bank audit have associated Dinant with egregious human rights violations including multiple murders (some by death squad), torture, and illegal land seizures. These human rights violations are outlined below. The nature of these atrocities is such that any reasonable standard of corporate responsibility dictates that it is irresponsible and unethical to continue in a business relationship with a company of this nature. While Dinant is taking steps to repair its international image, no amount of reform justifies a continued business relationship with Dinant.
Dinant Corporation (footnote 1) is an integrated palm oil and food company. Dinant holds the regional distribution license for Mazola products and claims (footnote 2) that Mazola cooking oils are one of its leading brands. Dinant owns the Mazola trademark in Central America and is the only company that can manufacture, market and distribute Mazola products in the region.
Miguel Facussé, the Executive President (footnote 3) of Dinant in Honduras, is a controversial figure (footnote 4) and one of the wealthiest and most powerful men (footnote 5) in Honduras. Mr. Facussé’s leadership has been characterized by the most egregious violence and impunity imaginable, and a demonstrated inability to operate Dinant in a responsible manner. Mr. Facussé cannot be separated from the company due to his ownership interest.
Dinant is involved in several land conflicts in the Aguan Valley in Honduras. The conflicts are centered on legal ownership of land that came under the control of large landowners in the 1990s. Prior to the land transfers, the plantations were owned and farmed by thousands of campesinos (small farmers) in cooperatives that sold the palm fruit to sustain their families and grew basic grains for local consumption. The majority of land in the Aguan Valley today is under the control of companies owned by Facussé and two other families of Honduras’ small oligarchy.
The African palm fruit produced on these lands is used and processed by Dinant to manufacture the food products including the Mazola brand (footnote 6), it markets and sells across Central America.
Dinant’s Human Rights Record in Honduras
Dinant Corporation in Honduras has been associated with extensive human rights abuses in the Aguan Valley region including the killing, kidnapping, and forced evictions of campesinos. According to US-based non-government organization (NGO), Rights Action (footnote 7), over 109 people have been killed in the land disputes from 2010 to early 2013. This high number was confirmed by the National Human Rights Commissioner of Honduras (footnote 8) who claims that 92 people, mostly active members of small farmer organizations, have been killed as a result of the land conflict in the Aguan Valley.
The discrepancy across NGOs and institutions of the actual number of killings, kidnappings, and other human rights abuses attributed to Dinant and/or Honduran security forces, is largely due to the high impunity rate and almost complete lack of investigation of these violations. According to Human Rights Watch (footnote 9), investigations of killings linked to land disputes in the Aguan have been “inadequate or nonexistent.” This is the environment in which Dinant continues to operate and enjoy international support from Mazola despite dozens of deaths linked to its Aguan operations. These include the discovery of tortured bodies of two campesinos found in shallow graves (footnote 10) inside an African Palm plantation claimed and operated by Dinant Corporation. No investigation has occurred and no charges have been filed.
The deteriorating political and social situation since the June 28, 2009 overthrow of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has led to a dramatic increase of homicides, corruption, and high levels of impunity in Honduras. According to the United Nations (footnote 11), Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s lending arm to corporations, halted the second half of its $30 million loan to Dinant following human rights complaints. An internal audit of the loan given to Dinant was initiated by the Office of the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) (footnote 12) of the World Bank of allegations regarding the project that note that Dinant “conducted, facilitated, or supported forced evictions of farmers”; that “violence against farmers on and around Dinant plantations in the Bajo Aguan [Lower Aguan] occurred because of inappropriate use of private and public security forces under Dinant’s control or influence.”
The CAO investigation found that the IFC loan was given to Dinant even though Dinant was in “apparent non-compliance with its [environmental and social] undertakings in a risk environment that had deteriorated significantly since appraisal a year earlier.”
Since the audit was published in early 2014, Dinant alleges that it is taking the necessary steps (footnote 13) to bring its performance into compliance with the IFC’s environmental and social procedures. These measures include implementing Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, providing use of force training of its in-house and outsourced guards, and developing a complaints mechanism.
Despite these efforts, evictions, killings, and beatings of campesinos continue in the Aguan Valley. On July 3, 2014 (footnote 14), members of La Panama community were evicted, tear gassed inside their homes, and beaten. One person was killed, two people suffered bullet wounds, and seven people were arrested in their homes. After years of unsolved cases of harassment, rape, and abuse allegedly by Dinant’s security guards, La Panama no longer permits the presence of Dinant’s workers and guards in their community. On August 15, 2014 (footnote 15) while international human rights observers were taking testimonies inside La Panama community, observers heard live shots fired in close proximity to the community.
Although the results of the IFC internal audit have slightly changed Dinant’s behavior, abuses continue to occur. These violations call into question the environment in which a company like Dinant is profiting. While we also recognize that job creation is beneficial to the Honduran people, it does not outweigh the need for Mazola to exercise corporate responsibility and to discontinue support for a corporation associated with such outrageous human rights abuses.
In the case of La Panama in July and August 2014, the evictions, beatings and killings were carried out by persons in Honduran military uniforms. However, as the United Nations Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries (footnote 16) has noted, private security guards in the Aguan often act “in concert with the police and the military.” The role of the Honduran military, police, and private security guards in the Aguan is blurred. According to Rights Action (footnote 17), “multiple on-the-ground reports [in Honduras, note] that private security guards on several occasions have been given military uniforms and military issue weapons to participate in operations alongside the 15th Battalion [Honduran military].” It is just as unacceptable for Honduran military and police forces to serve as proxies in committing forced evictions and violent acts that directly benefit Dinant.
Footnotes:
(1) "About Us - Dinant." About Us - Dinant. Web. [http://www.dinant.com/index.php/en/quienes-somos]
(2) Ibid.
(3) “Miguel Facusse Biography - Dinant." MIguel Facusse Biography - Dinant. N.p., n.d. Web. [http://www.dinant.com/index.php/en/biografia-don-miguel-facusse ]
(4) Wilkinson, Tracy. "In Honduras, a Controversial Tycoon Responds to Critics. "Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 21 Dec. 2012. Web [http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/21/world/la-fg-honduras-facusse-20121221]
(5) this footnote is missing from original report
(6) "Mazola - Dinant." Mazola – Dinant Corporation. Web [http://www.dinant.com/index.php/en/division-de-grasas-y-aceites/mazola]
(7) Bird, Annie. "Human Rights Violations Attributed to Military Forces in the Bajo Aguan Valley in Honduras." Human Rights Violations Attributed to Military Forces in the Bajo Aguan Valley in Honduras Rights Action, 20 Feb. 2013. Web. [http://rightsaction.org/sites/default/files/Rpt_130220_Aguan_Final.pdf]
(8) “RESUMEN DEL INFORME ANUAL DEL BANCO DE MÉXICO, S. A." El Trimestre Económico 45.179(3) (1978): 767-72. CONADEH, 2012. Web [http://app.conadeh.hn/Anual2013/informes/CONADEH_2012.pdf]
(9) “There Are No Investigations Here." “There Are No Investigations Here”(2014): n. pag. Human Rights Watch, Feb. 2014. Web. [http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/honduras0214web.pdf]
(10) Heine, Gretchen. "Honduran Killing Fields: Repression Continues Against Campesinos in Bajo Aguán Valley." Council on Hemispheric Affairs. COH, 06 June 2013. Web. [http://www.coha.org/honduran-killing-fields-repression-continues-against-campesinos-in-bajo-aguan-valley]
(11) "Global Study on Homicide." UNODC: Global Study on Homicide. UNODC, 2014. Web.[http://www.unodc.org/gsh]
(12) "Honduras / Dinant-01/CAO Vice President Request." Office of the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman:. The World Bank, 17 Apr. 2012. Web. <http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/cases/document-links/links-188.aspx >
(13) Dinant Continues to Strengthen Its Staff on Human Rights Affairs - Dinant."Dinant: Worldwide Reach. Dinant Corporation, n.d. Web. <http://www.dinant.com/index.php/en/sala-de-prensa/boletin-informativo/207-dinant-continues-to-strengthen-its-staff-on-human-rights-affairs >
(14) Report of the Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries as a Means of Violating Human Rights and Impeding the Exercise of the Right of Peoples to Self-determination." Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 7.2 (2007): 331-33. United Nations General Assembly. Human Rights Council, 05 Aug. 2013. Web [http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session24/Documents/A-HRC-24-45-Add1_en.pdf]
(15) Ibid.
(16) Ibid.
(17) Bird, Annie. "Human Rights Violations Attributed to Military Forces in the Bajo Aguan Valley in Honduras." Human Rights Violations Attributed to Military Forces in the Bajo Aguan Valley in Honduras Rights Action, 20 Feb. 2013. Web. [http://rightsaction.org/sites/default/files/Rpt_130220_Aguan_Final.pdf]
---Garifuna nation within the Republic of Honduras
The Garifuna community of Barra Vieja awaits a new trial which could have them expelled from their ancestral land.
* [https://ofraneh.wordpress.com/2015/06/29/nuevo-juicio-para-expulsar-a-la-comunidad-garifuna-de-barra-vieja-de-su-territorio-ancestral/]
===*===*===
Republic of Haiti
* "Are Foreign NGOs Rebuilding Haiti Or Just Cashing In? Haiti plays host to over 10,000 NGOs, whose foreign workers make up an affluent class of their own" (2015-07-10, fpif.org) [archive.is/G3EB7]
===*===*===
Republic of Colombia
[colombiasupport.net]
* "Colombian Army killed innocent civilians to boost rebel body count" (2015-07-02, peoplesworld.org) [archive.is/QN9jx]
---
Towards a Bolivarian Republic of ColombiaRevolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army (FARC-EP)
* "FARC negotiator demands strong gestures from Colombia president" (2015-07-16, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/fF9MA]
---
* "ELN Commander Manrique Dies: What Is Next?" (2015-06-16, coha.org) [archive.is/twJ6A]
===*===*===
[NewAfricaPeace.blogspot.com], with the Green Charter Committee, for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity and Liberation!
* "JOSEPH KONY, AMERICA’S PRETEXT TO INVADE AFRICA: US Marines Dispatched to Five African Countries" (2012-03-16, by Prof Michel Chossudovsky, globalresearch.ca) [archive.is/dfzMX] [begin excerpt]: The hidden agenda in Uganda, Central Africa and the Horn of Africa is the conquest of oil and strategic mineral resources. Going after Joseph Kony and protecting Ugandan children is a cynical smokescreen, a pretext for a “humanitarian intervention” in a region where US sponsored “civil wars” (Sudan, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Ethiopia) have in the course of the last 20 years resulted in more than eight million deaths. [end excerpt]
* "Libya's unrecognised govt announces army restructuring" (2015-07-06, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/DKFrP]
* "JOSEPH KONY, AMERICA’S PRETEXT TO INVADE AFRICA: US Marines Dispatched to Five African Countries" (2012-03-16, by Prof Michel Chossudovsky, globalresearch.ca) [archive.is/dfzMX] [begin excerpt]: The hidden agenda in Uganda, Central Africa and the Horn of Africa is the conquest of oil and strategic mineral resources. Going after Joseph Kony and protecting Ugandan children is a cynical smokescreen, a pretext for a “humanitarian intervention” in a region where US sponsored “civil wars” (Sudan, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Ethiopia) have in the course of the last 20 years resulted in more than eight million deaths. [end excerpt]
* "Libya's unrecognised govt announces army restructuring" (2015-07-06, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/DKFrP]
===*===*===
* "Caught Between 'Grexit' and 'Hell No' — Greece Submits To Austerity's Knife" (2015-07-10, commondreams.org) [archive.is/HMaDd]
* "Tsipras Capitulated, We Owe it to Greece to Speak Out" (2015-07-10, telesurtv.net) [archive.is/o7FQY]
* "Syriza’s betrayal of the Greek working class" (2015-07-11, wsws.org) [archive.is/VjHoQ]
* "The Problem of Greece is Not Only a Tragedy: It is a Lie" (2015-07-13, by John Pilger, counterpunch.org) [archive.is/b6aTm].
John Pilger: “Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has pushed through parliament a proposal to cut at least 13 billion euros from the public purse – 4 billion euros more than the “austerity” figure rejected overwhelmingly by the majority of the Greek population in a referendum on 5 July.
These reportedly include a 50 per cent increase in the cost of healthcare for pensioners, almost 40 per cent of whom live in poverty; deep cuts in public sector wages; the complete privatization of public facilities such as airports and ports; a rise in value added tax to 23 per cent, now applied to the Greek islands where people struggle to eke out a living. There is more to come.
“Anti-austerity party sweeps to stunning victory”, declared a Guardian headline on January 25. “Radical leftists” the paper called Tsipras and his impressively-educated comrades. They wore open neck shirts, and the finance minister rode a motorbike and was described as a “rock star of economics”. It was a façade. They were not radical in any sense of that cliched label, neither were they “anti austerity”.
* "Greek bailout deal 'a new Versailles Treaty', says Yanis Varoufakis in first post-resignation interview" (2015-07-13, abc.net.au) [archive.is/DKh99]
* "Yanis Varoufakis full transcript: our battle to save Greece" (2015-07-13, newstatesman.com) [archive.is/1T4uR]
* "VAROUFAKIS: This is all about Germany wanting 'to put the fear of God into the French' " (2015-07-10, businessinsider.com) [archive.is/DzhD5]
* "VAROUFAKIS: A 'Grexit' was always part of Germany's plan" (2015-07-12, businessinsider.com) [archive.is/5eo8D]
* "Greece's Tsipras set to expel Syriza rebels as bailout votes loom" (2015-07-12, Reuters Newswire) [archive.is/JagDl]
===*===*===
===*===*===
Republic of Ukraine (EU / NATO associate state)
* "Is Ukraine a Modern Day Colony?" (2015-07-11, slavyangrad.org) [archive.is/QKkMI]
European Union (EU) / NATO
Documenting economic and political trends across the EU jurisdictions, and international operations, map [archive.is/iqAFG]
* "EU leaders 'unlikely' to attend China military parade: ambassador" (2015-07-03, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/FIeu7] [begin excerpt]: China's huge military parade to mark the World War II victory over Japan risks stirring resentment, the European Union's ambassador to Beijing said Friday, adding it was "unlikely" top EU institution leaders would attend. [end excerpt]
* "Report for the International Anti-EU Forum, Athens, 26-28 June 2015" (borotba.su) [archive.is/lWBUg] [begin excerpt]: Ukrainian fascism, whose existence is hard for even the most ardent supporters of the Kiev regime to deny today, did not emerge in 2014. Ukrainian fascism did not arise suddenly. Its development, first slowly and then rapidly, can be traced to the turn of the 1980s-90s and reached its culmination during the so-called "revolution of dignity" last winter.
This gradual fascization of Ukrainian society, the peak of which naturally came at a time of economic crisis, has long been the subject of analysis by the Ukrainian left. In 2012, two years before the Maidan, our organization, Borotba, published a report entitled “Ukrainian oligarchy prepares a creeping fascist coup.” The report predicted the events of last winter with remarkable accuracy.
Here are some quotes from the document:
“Under cover of security agencies, and with funding from oligarchic groups, nationalist militias will be formed which will constitute the power for a future fascist coup. These units will carry out attacks on leftist and anti-nationalist forces and their headquarters, and carry out terror against individual politicians and social activists.
“As the power of ethnocratic Ukrainian nationalists will inevitably lead to the growth of separatist movements in the southeast of the country, as well as in the Carpathians, the establishment of a dictatorship of the fascist type will be supported by international players who are interested in the disintegration of Ukraine and the destruction of the Ukrainian state.
“Leftist political organizations and social organizations opposed to nationalism, chauvinism and xenophobia will be banned. Criminal cases will be opened against their leaders. In parallel with persecution under the law, attacks will be carried out by the radical nationalists against left and progressive movements, ethnic and linguistic minorities.”
Dear listeners, you may think that this was written after the 2014 coup. But no, it was written two years earlier, when the government of President Yanukovych seemed unshakable, and our forecast was met with sneers from mainstream political figures. However, not only in 2012 but even earlier, a Marxist analysis allowed us to predict the dire threats associated with the rise of the extreme right and the possibility of big business betting on them in time of crisis. [end excerpt]
* "OSCE annual assembly excludes Russia then votes an anti-Russia resolution" (2015-07-09, newcoldwar.org) [archive.is/bn8lw]
* "NATO Exercises Ongoing Near Russia Since 2014" (2015-07-08, southfront.org) [archive.is/dCEpO]: How does the west paint president Putin as the instigator, when clearly NATO has been advancing on Russia since 89?
* Video from 2013 of the 'Russian invasion' you never knew about!! [youtube.com/watch?v=gvR5WFWr8eE]
* "Ukraine: Who Is Pushing for a Generalized War?" (2015-07-03, socialistorganizer.org) [archive.is/O9198]
("Moskal" is a hate-term for all ethnic-Russians, "Slava Ukraini" is fascist for "Glory to Ukraine")
----Documenting economic and political trends across the EU jurisdictions, and international operations, map [archive.is/iqAFG]
* "EU leaders 'unlikely' to attend China military parade: ambassador" (2015-07-03, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/FIeu7] [begin excerpt]: China's huge military parade to mark the World War II victory over Japan risks stirring resentment, the European Union's ambassador to Beijing said Friday, adding it was "unlikely" top EU institution leaders would attend. [end excerpt]
* "Report for the International Anti-EU Forum, Athens, 26-28 June 2015" (borotba.su) [archive.is/lWBUg] [begin excerpt]: Ukrainian fascism, whose existence is hard for even the most ardent supporters of the Kiev regime to deny today, did not emerge in 2014. Ukrainian fascism did not arise suddenly. Its development, first slowly and then rapidly, can be traced to the turn of the 1980s-90s and reached its culmination during the so-called "revolution of dignity" last winter.
This gradual fascization of Ukrainian society, the peak of which naturally came at a time of economic crisis, has long been the subject of analysis by the Ukrainian left. In 2012, two years before the Maidan, our organization, Borotba, published a report entitled “Ukrainian oligarchy prepares a creeping fascist coup.” The report predicted the events of last winter with remarkable accuracy.
Here are some quotes from the document:
“Under cover of security agencies, and with funding from oligarchic groups, nationalist militias will be formed which will constitute the power for a future fascist coup. These units will carry out attacks on leftist and anti-nationalist forces and their headquarters, and carry out terror against individual politicians and social activists.
“As the power of ethnocratic Ukrainian nationalists will inevitably lead to the growth of separatist movements in the southeast of the country, as well as in the Carpathians, the establishment of a dictatorship of the fascist type will be supported by international players who are interested in the disintegration of Ukraine and the destruction of the Ukrainian state.
“Leftist political organizations and social organizations opposed to nationalism, chauvinism and xenophobia will be banned. Criminal cases will be opened against their leaders. In parallel with persecution under the law, attacks will be carried out by the radical nationalists against left and progressive movements, ethnic and linguistic minorities.”
Dear listeners, you may think that this was written after the 2014 coup. But no, it was written two years earlier, when the government of President Yanukovych seemed unshakable, and our forecast was met with sneers from mainstream political figures. However, not only in 2012 but even earlier, a Marxist analysis allowed us to predict the dire threats associated with the rise of the extreme right and the possibility of big business betting on them in time of crisis. [end excerpt]
* "OSCE annual assembly excludes Russia then votes an anti-Russia resolution" (2015-07-09, newcoldwar.org) [archive.is/bn8lw]
* "NATO Exercises Ongoing Near Russia Since 2014" (2015-07-08, southfront.org) [archive.is/dCEpO]: How does the west paint president Putin as the instigator, when clearly NATO has been advancing on Russia since 89?
* Video from 2013 of the 'Russian invasion' you never knew about!! [youtube.com/watch?v=gvR5WFWr8eE]
* "Ukraine: Who Is Pushing for a Generalized War?" (2015-07-03, socialistorganizer.org) [archive.is/O9198]
("Moskal" is a hate-term for all ethnic-Russians, "Slava Ukraini" is fascist for "Glory to Ukraine")
Republic of Greece
* "Caught Between 'Grexit' and 'Hell No' — Greece Submits To Austerity's Knife" (2015-07-10, commondreams.org) [archive.is/HMaDd]* "Tsipras Capitulated, We Owe it to Greece to Speak Out" (2015-07-10, telesurtv.net) [archive.is/o7FQY]
* "Syriza’s betrayal of the Greek working class" (2015-07-11, wsws.org) [archive.is/VjHoQ]
* "The Problem of Greece is Not Only a Tragedy: It is a Lie" (2015-07-13, by John Pilger, counterpunch.org) [archive.is/b6aTm].
John Pilger: “Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has pushed through parliament a proposal to cut at least 13 billion euros from the public purse – 4 billion euros more than the “austerity” figure rejected overwhelmingly by the majority of the Greek population in a referendum on 5 July.
These reportedly include a 50 per cent increase in the cost of healthcare for pensioners, almost 40 per cent of whom live in poverty; deep cuts in public sector wages; the complete privatization of public facilities such as airports and ports; a rise in value added tax to 23 per cent, now applied to the Greek islands where people struggle to eke out a living. There is more to come.
“Anti-austerity party sweeps to stunning victory”, declared a Guardian headline on January 25. “Radical leftists” the paper called Tsipras and his impressively-educated comrades. They wore open neck shirts, and the finance minister rode a motorbike and was described as a “rock star of economics”. It was a façade. They were not radical in any sense of that cliched label, neither were they “anti austerity”.
* "Greek bailout deal 'a new Versailles Treaty', says Yanis Varoufakis in first post-resignation interview" (2015-07-13, abc.net.au) [archive.is/DKh99]
* "Yanis Varoufakis full transcript: our battle to save Greece" (2015-07-13, newstatesman.com) [archive.is/1T4uR]
* "VAROUFAKIS: This is all about Germany wanting 'to put the fear of God into the French' " (2015-07-10, businessinsider.com) [archive.is/DzhD5]
* "VAROUFAKIS: A 'Grexit' was always part of Germany's plan" (2015-07-12, businessinsider.com) [archive.is/5eo8D]
* "Greece's Tsipras set to expel Syriza rebels as bailout votes loom" (2015-07-12, Reuters Newswire) [archive.is/JagDl]
===*===*===
Republic of Serbia
* (2015-07-10), placard reads "Thanks to Mother Russia" (reason is Russian veto in the Security Council , United Nations to England declaration on Srebrenica ... Declaration referred that Serb i s genocidal nation...fucking Brits. Thank you Russia on behalf of the families of Serbian killed soldiers and civilians! From the Republic of Srpska with love!)
===*===*===
Republic of Ukraine (EU / NATO associate state)* "Fire Sale, Everything Must Go! Ukraine Puts 345 State Firms Up For Sale" (2015-07-10, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/vnDU8]
* "Kiev 'Brainwashing' Ukrainian People as Economy Collapses – Former PM" (2015-07-12, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/uXOWr]
* "The Ukrainian Conflict: A Ukrainian Nationalist View" (2014-06-06, theoccidentalobserver.net) part 1 [archive.is/t4pu8]. Yes, despite the display of fascist symbols and ideas in the article, the author states that is all entirely Ukrainian and not "nazi"... as if there were never any non-nazi fascists.
* "Poroshenko dismisses Ukraine’s ambassador to Armenia" (2015-07-14, tass.ru) [archive.is/VB9Wp]
* "Ukraine’s honorary consul in Turkey dismissed for wearing T-shirt with Putin’s photo" (2015-07-14, tass.ru) [archive.is/qLwtA]
* "Do you qualify to be a Ukrainian? New loyalty test" (2015-07-10, novorossia.today) [archive.is/wp1Dk]
---
* Police reform in Ukraine. Also head of the new force is a 28-year-old former commander of a pro-government volunteer battalion, who spent time on the frontline in the east. 28-year-old, Karl !!
* " ‘Police Academy’ moves to Ukraine? New patrol in Kiev takes oath in stylish uniforms" (2015-04-04, rt.com) [archive.is/Xs1k9]
* "U.S.-trained police to be “rolled out” across Ukraine" (2015-07-07, newcoldwar.org) [archive.is/DAPuJ]
* "New Kiev junta police officers follow US instructions and savagery act against homeless people" (2015-07-11) [archive.is/2ywe0], video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkcAlext6yQ]: New Americanized Kiev junta police at daylight hunt for the homeless and hit him by batons. In this shameless action took part from 4 to 5 policemen at once. Homeless had his spoon in right hand, he effectively protect himself a several minutes against cowardly idiots in police uniforms. Looks like it happened yesterday near railway station of city Kiev. Kiev junta police officers promised to beat by batons people, who tried to stop the beating.
* "New Kiev junta police, trained by US police officers, act brutal as we had to achieve" six photos (2015-07-11) [archive.is/0GYqx]: New patrol police of fascist Ukraine was created by participation of regime from USA. US police officers training them, you see some US police officers with Yatsenyuk prime-minister of Kiev junta and Sguladse, deputy of minister of MIA in first photo. Geoffrey R. Pyatt, US ambassador in Ukraine, as representative of masters of Kiev junta took part at solemn oath ceremony; you can see him in left side of second photo along with Kiev junta members.
So, new police of Ukraine follow instructions of their teachers and act brutal against citizen. In 4th photos below you can see their action against poor disabled old man. Soon new Kiev junta police will be shoot them, no doubts.
* "HORROR! New police work as the old! 'I said shut your mouth, I'm a representative of the authorities' " [youtube.com/watch?v=lJ-vMcMiwHo]
* "New "Kiev police" in action" four photos [archive.is/q6Kwy]: That old man only crime was that he doesn't agree with Kiev gubbermint and he's not afraid to speak up
---
* "Expulsions and barrings of Russian journalists from Ukraine" (2015-07-03, newcoldwar.org) [archive.is/l7QOu]
* "The daily count of Ukrainian army war crimes in Donbas, eastern Ukraine" [archive.is/6atKc], Excerpt from OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) report of July 8, 2015 [archive.is/Xraa0]
* "OSCE ignores violations by Ukrainian Army at block-post #31?" [http://youtu.be/DuB-KifDPlA?a]
* "Ukrainian officer defected from Ukraine (Dnepropetrovsk) to join fight againt Kiev regime" [https://youtu.be/4-dXBOMkgKY]
* "1,000 people in Kyiv protest war in eastern Ukraine" (2015-07-01, newcoldwar.org) [archive.is/cgPF7]
* Locals in Mukachevo shouting "Shame on you" to arriving Ukrainian "National Guard" [https://youtu.be/Eii78ks5Sw0]
* "Ukraine Gets New 'Crimea': First All-Muslim Volunteer Battalion in Pipeline" (2015-07-11, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/Hfpu8]
---
* "Ukrainian Government Acknowledges that Some of Its Leaders Are Nazis" (2015-07-06, by Eric Zuesse, globalresearch.ca) [archive.is/Ag4TE]
* "Azov, Right Sector Scare Poroshenko With Collapse if Minsk Deal Stays" (2015-06-30, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/YFq6q]
* "The Hand That Feeds: Kiev Now Unable to Survive Without Extremist Support" (2015-07-01, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/V2iPO]
* "Fascists from Aidar Battalion and Right Sector demand end to ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFOLBAYv4hc]
* "Poroshenko orders all illegal arms group disarmed in Ukraine amid standoff with Right Sector" (2015-07-13, rt.com) [archive.is/PpIOr]
* What’s going on with these delinquent but well-equipped Nazi militias: [youtube.com/watch?v=hexRskhproc]
* "Show of power: Right Sector nationalists ready to send ‘19 battalions’ to Kiev" (2015-07-13, rt.com) [archive.is/OXgmq]
* " ‘Right Sector on combat alert’: Ukraine Neo-Nazis refuse to lay down arms after shootout" (2015-07-12, rt.com) [archive.is/92kWQ]
* "Avakov: Bandits in Mukachevo surrounded, they delivered an ultimatum" (2015-07-12, korrespondent.net) machine translation [archive.is/xmGnj]. Video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1KG_hPQ6ac]. Ivan Katchanovski writes: A Right Sector paramilitary battalion clashed using AKs, RPGs, and machine guns with guards of a deputy of the Ukrainian parliament, police, and security forces in Transcarpathia in Western Ukraine near borders with Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary. There are at least several wounded local residents and police and unconfirmed reports of fatalities.
* "Turchynov calls for drastic reshuffle of Zakarpattia authorities" (2015-07-14, novorossia.today) [archive.is/DIPO6]
* "Fighting breaks out in Mukachevo (Transcarpathian region)" (2015-07-11) [archive.is/Mz6w9]
* Video of the very beginning of an armed conflict in the Western town Mukachevo, on July 11: [https://youtu.be/hexRskhproc]
* "Ukrainian military relocate heavy weapons to western Mukachevo — Right Sector" (2015-07-12, tass.ru) [archive.is/7ubnd]
* "Planes search for missing Right Sector fighters — media" (2015-07-13, tass.ru) [archive.is/B9QJM]
* "Developments in Mukachevo prove Kiev’s inability to control extremists — LPR speaker" (2015-07-13, tass.ru) [archive.is/NsSAG]
* "Hungary enhances security measures at border with Ukraine after Mukachevo developments" (2015-07-12, tass.ru) [archive.is/W9Ui8]
* "EU flag replaced with flag of Right Sector nationalist group in Ukraine's Lviv" (2015-07-13, tass.ru) [archive.is/4WVEj]
* "Expert: Ultra-right forces trying to use Mukachevo conflict as basis for election campaign" (2015-07-13, tass.ru) [archive.is/yRCqY]
* "Ukraine’s ultranationalist Right Sector gets into Kiev authorities’ way - experts" (2015-07-13, tass.ru) [archive.is/NzAVd]
* "Ukraine parliament: Nazis get violent when MP calls Right Sector an 'armed gang' " [https://youtu.be/yFRXBv-2iVM]
* "Ukraine opposition concerned over upsurge of extremism in Transcarpathian region" (2015-07-13, tass.ru) [archive.is/Zo73o]
(2015-07-08) [archive.is/Ff4YK]: Azov Battalion magazine makes war and bitter hatred look like 'bliss'. The symbol is not historically of the Ukraine nation and is particular to neo-Nazis, and is used only by fascist vanguards.* "The symbol of the Schwarze Sonne (Black Sun) installed by the SS in Wewelsburg castle" photo [archive.is/Pj5xh]
* Black Sun used by a neo-Nazi organization in UKGB called the British People's Party [archive.is/mf21u], image at [archive.is/QvelB].
* "Ukraine's "hero" buried with full Nazi honors" (2015-07-08, fortruss.blogspot.de) [archive.is/Vsl6Z]
* " 'Hero of Ukraine' buried with full Nazi honours" six photos [archive.is/aGMoR]. Yes, they are dressed in full uniform, as these are men who participated in re-enactments of key battles of World War 2 portraying the fascist pro-Hitler Ukraine military of 1941 to 45... but beyond being a hobby, the participants believed in fascism!
* "Euromaidan activists stage disturbances in Odessa court examining last May’s massacre" (2015-07-13, tass.ru) [archive.is/cNtVG]
* "Right Sector members admit killing police on Maidan Square" (2015-07-09, Ivan Katchanovski) [archive.is/aneNV]
* "New York Times reports on Chechen extremists aiding Ukraine government’s civil war" (2015-07-10, newcoldwar.org) [archive.is/8hUMx]
* "Gargantuan Appetite? Slovak Media Accuse 'Deceitful' Kiev of Gas Scheming" (2015-06-30, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/4xQb5]
* "Land grab in Ukraine is Monsanto’s backdoor to the EU" (2015-04-06, orientalreview.org) [archive.is/eh7yd]
* "Ukraine Proposes 12-Year Prison Sentence for Use of Word ‘Russia’ " (2015-07-07, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/3acuH]
* "Media attack: Manipulation of reality" (2015-07-02, by Nahia Sanzo) [archive.is/we2Lm] [begin excerpt] On June 30, 2015, The Daily Beast published an article in which it claimed to have discovered a Russian base around Volnovakha, south of the city of Donetsk, which, if confirmed, would be the first real proof of a Russian military presence and its offensive intentions. So far, the only military presence of the Russian army in Donbass (beyond Russian volunteers, whose presence has never been denied) is the team led by Alexander Lentsov, working since November 2014, at the invitation of President Poroshenko, monitoring compliance with the truce together with the OSCE and the Ukrainian army. The Daily Beast report has aerial images that show, over several days, a military base that increases in size. "Drones show a Russian military base in Ukraine," said the report, which did not provide any evidence that it is a Russian base rather than a base of the Donetsk People's Republic or the Ukrainian army, which all use similar weaponry. "More war is inevitable," it proclaims. The report is based on a series of images captured by reconnaissance drones of the Ukrainian volunteer battalion Dnepr-1. These indeed show a military base, although there is no evidence of a Russian presence in them. The images show the usual elements of a military position: tanks, support vehicles, a kitchen, tents for soldiers – but nothing to identify the Russian army. And despite the idea transmitted by the report, which openly suggests a Russian offensive, the video does not prove the offensive nature of the position. At any given time, signs point to a few concrete blocks "to build defensive structures."
In November 2014, a Ukrainian delegation touring the United States, whose sole purpose was to get U.S. weapons for the Ukrainian army, met with Senator Jim Inhofe. Primarily made up of parliamentarians, Bereza and Semenchenko among them, the delegation tried to prove Russian intervention by showing a series of photographs of columns of Russian tanks, to the embarassment of the senator, as they were to be denied by the media later. In fact, those pictures did not show Russian tanks in Ukraine, but on the road to South Ossetia in 2008.
It is striking that the information published in The Interpreter in turn becomes a source for other media such as The Daily Beast. "On June 17, our team at The Interpreter reported evidence taken from social networks on the presence of a training camp in Razdolnoye, equipped with tanks, infantry, combat vehicles and Grad rocket launchers," says the report. Information from The Interpreter reports a training camp with tanks and anti-aircraft systems, "surely" supplied by Russia, and moves on to speculate on the militiamen who, without any evidence, are accused of being part of the Russian secret service. That speculation is enough to be considered a reliable source by The Daily Beast, so obsessed with presenting the conflict as a war between Russia and Ukraine that it ran an article on May 2, 2015, the first anniversary of the Odessa massacre, presenting it as “clashes between Russians and Ukrainians." Throughout the day, it was modified to describe clashes between "pro-Russians and pro-Ukrainians," which, although not exact, is closer to reality. [end excerpt]
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* "US to pay salaries of Governor Saakashvili’s team in Odessa, Ukraine" (2015-07-06, rt.com) [archive.is/OkouS]
* "Who’s That Girl? Saakashvili Appoints 25-Year-Old Brunette as His Deputy; Fugitive former Georgian president and current Odessa Governor Mikheil Saakashvili seems hungry for media attention, shocking observers by appointing 25-year-old activist and aspiring actress Yulia Marushevska as one of his deputies" (2015-07-10, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/zp9H8].
* "The girl from "I am Ukrainian" video made Deputy Governor of Odessa" (2015-07-11, fortruss.blogspot.de) [archive.is/eRi0L] [begin excerpt]: The girl from "I am Ukrainian" video, Yulia Marushevskaya, has been appointed 3rd in command for Saakashvili's team in Odessa, at just 25 years old. Saakashvili claimed that she has been "educated" in Harvard and Stanford, but Standford University states no one by that name studied there. She has no other qualifications and no experience. [end excerpt].
Of course, war-criminal Mikheil Saakashvili couldn't resist his carnal yearnings while in Office as President of the fascist Republic of Georgia...
* "A President, His Masseuse and Her Blog" (2009-04-08, thelede.blogs.nytimes.com) [archive.is/9AOyX]
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* "DEDICATED A MEMORIAL AT THE SITE KILLED DURING 'VOLYN TRAGEDY' " (2015-07-11, volynnews.com) [archive.is/5Bb55]. Ivan Katchanovski writes: Another example of open falsification of the historical conflict in Ukraine by government and the media in Ukraine. The Volyn media reports that memorial sign has been opened today in presence of regional and local officials near Gaiove village (former Przebraze) in the Volynia Region in honor of a mass execution of 2,000 thousand Ukrainians. My archival and field research and interviews with local residents in this and neighboring villages show that this is another falsification. Around 100 UPA fighters and local villagers, who were mobilized for this task by the SB OUN and the UPA, were killed there by Polish Self-Defence and Soviet partisans in a counter-attack in summer of 1943 after the UPA attempted to attack and massacre residents of this Polish colony. The Polish Self-Defence along with Polish-dominated local police later attacked Ukrainian villages and committed under German command several massacres of local Ukrainian residents in this region. This sign was initiated by regional organizations of Svoboda and the OUN and UPA veterans. [end]
Hundreds of Poles marched through the streets of Warsaw to commemorate those killed by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) between 1943-44 when the group killed around 35,000-60,000 Polish nationals in Volhynia as part of an ethnic cleansing programme instigated in Nazi occupied Poland. On April 9 Ukraine's parliament passed a “Law on the Status and Memory of the Participants in the Struggle for Independence in the 20th Century”, recognizing UPA as freedom fighters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve7Q-TIqCvo
* "Polish soccer fans seize UPA flag" (2015-07-10) [archive.is/tVBKU]
Some facts from history of Ukraine: in 1920 Poland army occupied Kiev and USA army was bombing Kiev. In 1922 Soviets free Kiev from Poland and US army and gave that part of place on Earth name Ukraine, and Lenin with communist's party signed more land to Ukraine. So real birth of Ukraine is 1922! Up to 1940 in Ukraine was peace, electrification and industrialization , that time born real ukrainian culture. Almost all industry of Ukrane was build in Soviet time. After WWII it was peace up to 1991 when Ukraine separated from Soviet and got divided by ukrainian oligarchs with all criminal rules. Now Ukraine is occupied by USA. There are more then 130 nationalities live in Ukraine, mostly it is russians and ukrainians ( with russian's or polish roots) : [https://youtu.be/3kvVGpG726A]
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* (2015-07-11) [facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1452246938412561&id=100008818061617]:
Good evening Alexey. I had to eliminate you from my friend list. Because i've been waiting for a visit of the secret service guards. I would like to communicate an important thing, Pravij Sector organizes traps for all the witnesses of the Odessa Massacre. Last Tuesday 30 June i was guided by a girl with a kitten (i am a volunteer in abandoned animals assistance) to a place where i was surrounded by a a crowd which bitten me, i got 6 stub wounds...
If you have relationships with anyone participated to those events worn them. Radical groups make this kind of traps. Beside this last Saturday a friend of mine went to the SBU office after a call and i never heard anything from him from that moment. I realized i had to escape, so now i am at my parents place in Kuban. I have parents where i can stay for 2 days.
===*===*===
Union of People's Republics of NovorossiyaFor more info, with maps, and link, visit [NovorossiyaSolidarity.blogspot.com].
* " 'Novorossiya will be created soon' - Zakharchenko" [youtube.com/watch?v=svbZUrCzyLc]. “Novorossiya will be created for sure. Our opponents and enemies don’t expect how soon it will happen. We all will see it very soon,” – Zakharchenko said during his Q&A session on June 24.
* "Zakharchenko to people of enemy occupied areas: 'Sooner or later we will be together' " [https://youtu.be/R0SP4OCv22I]
* "On Novorossiya as Sonderbereiche: Or how special do you think the DPR and LPR will be in the sovereign hands of Nazis, Banderas?" (2015-07-08) [archive.is/lfSjq]
* "Another High-Ranking Ukraine Official Switches to Donetsk Republic" (2015-07-13, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/NJQbW]
* (2015-07-13) [archive.is/JLAaF]. First deputy head of the Ukrainian Department of Justice in the Donetsk region Sergey Kucheruk has announced his resignation due to disagreement with Kiev’s military policy and came down to the side of the Donetsk Republic.
* "Human stories. Laurent Brayard, a French journalist" [youtube.com/watch?v=sM9fIEGnXc4]: On the occasion of the Third Antifascist Congress held in Donetsk on the 14th of May 2015, Laurent Brayard, a French journalist, had been invited in Donbass.* An interesting report about Ukrainians defecting to Novorussia [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49oiWfU3kDM]
Novorossia news delivered to you by Zak Novak, an American volunteer in Donbass. WORTH LISTENING TO! [http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the-common-law-court-of-wales/2015/07/11/novorossia-news-delivered-to-you-by-zak-novak-11715]
* "Novorossiya.Novosti" [youtube.com/watch?v=vtqrwILkXII]: The war waged by Ukraine at the Donbass, brings a lot of suffering.
* "War in Donbass. Human Tragedies - Anna Tuv from town of Korolenko, DPR" [http://youtu.be/dKM-vqcI-LQ?a]
* (2015-07-07, southfront.org) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvR_dDHQ6uE]: American volunteer "Texas" meets with Anna Tuv, who lost her husband, her eleven year old daughter, and her arm to shells fired by the fascist Ukrainian Armed Forces. XAH (Han) battalion is raising money for Anna Tuv and her family, helping them rebuild the lives that the fascists tore apart
* Your donations mean we can give regular aid to Luba, 22-year-old victim of Ukrainian shelling with no other support- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgZd1ftK-Bc]
* Prizrak brigade delivering aid for Alchevsk children's anti-tuberculosis sanatorium [https://youtu.be/kFvhUNcFnzs]
* "Slovakian humanitarian aid arrives in Donetsk" (2015-07-10, novorossia.today) [archive.is/ya2eb]: Our friends from Slovakia have again arrived in the Donetsk People’s Republic with humanitarian aid. This time they brought food products, household chemicals, clothing, medicines, and medical equipment. We want to express our sincere gratitude to the “Honorary embassy of Novorossiya in the Slovak Republic”, residents of Slovakia and Czech Republic, and all those who assist Novorossiya during these hard times!
* "UK freezes bank account of Russian news agency, gives no reason" (2015-07-13, rt.com) [archive.is/oBfAL]
* "Several major pro-Donbass Facebook pages were removed by FB administration" (2015-07-10, novorossia.today) [archive.is/Liqvd], also at [archive.is/4gRqj]
On July, 8 several major Facebook pages in English supporting Donbass in the current civil conflict in Ukraine were removed at the same time without any warning or explanation of the reasons. These pages are:
- [https://www.facebook.com/TruthfromUkraine] (22000 likes)
- [https://www.facebook.com/DonbassRevolution2] (18000 likes)
- [https://www.facebook.com/pages/Novorossija] (10000 likes)
- [https://www.facebook.com/stopukrainianarmy] (14000 likes)
Banning procedure used for pages was probably mass cheat complaints to content of pages by bots or mass attraction of so-called Internet Army of Ukraine. Thus, directly deceiving Facebook Team, destructive forces managed to remove resources, bringing an alternative view on the events in the South-East of Ukraine. Censorship is not acceptable in the free world!
Tip: Internet Army of Ukraine is users, trolls and bloggers coordinated and paid by Kiev that spread “truthful information” on the situation in Donbass or in other words: spread Ukrainian propaganda.
Here is what a British user had to say on the issue:
Ian McCulloch
FaceSpook has removed YES REMOVED Save Donbass People From the Ukrainian Army because it was getting so popular. It was a humanitarian page, with 14,000 likes, wanting nothing more than PEACE and a STOP to shelling of civilian areas. We are winning this war for the truth. There is now a huge attack on all anti-fascist sites. PLEASE complain to Facebook admin and demand this page in particular is reinstated immediately. We are winning because of the fantastic people in Donbass.
* (2015-07-08): Facebook deleted Donbass Revolution, the last page that still had a complete chronicle of the situation from the beginning of the uprising in the east. All the others had gone down and had to be restarted. This is a huge loss [facebook.com/DonbassRevolution2]
* (2015-07-14, Donbass Revolution): The insane Leaders of the NATO madhouse started a online-war against free speech on facebook, so there is a possibility that our page may be blocked again, in this case you will find us at our blog with links to our facebook pages and updates:
[narodnieurasia.wordpress.com]
* (2015-07-09, Donbass Revolution) [archive.is/Nk463]: The AZOV main page was deleted one day after we published special (you know what we mean) AZOV photos on our Facebook page "Donbass Revolution" and photos of Ukrainian Nazis and Western politicans like Frank-Walter Steinmeier, John McCain, Vitali Klitschko and Catherine Ashton. At the same time our page has been unfortunately deleted by facebook (R.I.P.) without a reason, we don't violated the facebook community standards!
Was that a coincidence?
If not, the kamikaze attack was worth, of course it is speculation, but if we have caused this, we are now very proud. Yesterday 3 or 4 pages, related to the civil war in #Ukraine, was deleted on Facebook, without which the admin accounts have been touched by FB or the facebook support has given out information about the blocking (Community standards have not been violated!).
Our two pages (Donbass Revolution 18,300 followers and Novorossiya 10,000 followers) widespread a link to politically very revealing and particularly very ugly #AZOV photos ( https://narodnieurasia.wordpress.com/documentation-of-the-eu-nazi-connection-in-ukraine/ ) , of course, only to tell the truth to the world about the "Freedom-loving Ukrainians" of the "peaceful" EUromaidan. One day later, exactly at the same time which our pages disappeared from facebook, another page was destroyed: the main page of the Ukrainian AZOV regiment on facebook with 50000 followers!
* (2015-07-10, Truth about situation in Ukraine) [archive.is/kxi6O] : Our page was deleted again, because truth about fascist state Ukraine doesn't follow Facebook Community Standards. We worked just few days and didn't receive any warning, none from our publications wasn't deleted by Facebook. But this didn't stop Facebook moderators and they removed our page again. Facebook team clearly violated own rules. This is clear evidence that Israel support fascism in Ukraine and persecuted anti-fascist activists.
WE ARE ON VK! [https://vk.com/truthfromukraine] Follow us! VK is available in many languages. Anyway, you can read our publications on VK without signing up.
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People's Republic of Donetsk (DPR, or DNR)* "Donetsk People's Republic Special Forces Training" video (2015-06-20)
[goo.gl/N2ESwj]
* "Roses Have Thorns (Part 17): The Attempted Siege of Donetsk II" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McAt0qk0LN8]
* "Donetsk: A defiant and Besieged City" (2015-06-22, Taylor Report) [http://is.gd/KjMcMr], listen to the interview here [archive.org/details/DonetskDefiantCity]:
Joshua Tartakovsky discusses the reality of the Western siege against the People of Ukraine, especially in the independent Donetsk, which he visited via a trip organized by Europa Objektiv, a Russian-German NGO.
Tartakovsky's great grandparents died in the 1941 massacre at Babi Yar --largest single massacre during WWII, killing at least 30,000 Jews, who were accused of being Bolsheviks. Also murdered were Russians and Polish.
Tartakovsky points to double problem: (1) Mainstream media does not report the shelling that is happening in violations of the Minsk agreement and (2) EU and US are largely supporting a regime in Kiev that is killing its own citizens. It is a collective punishment that also cuts off medical services, pensions, and access to banks.
Tartakovsky lists the three major demands of the Donetsk People: (1) Justice for the People (2) Cultural rights, esp. allowing Russian to speak Russian (3) Removal of the current regime in Kiev
Tartakovsky fears that the escalating hatred resulting from atrocities and the difficult economic times will lead to war, extremism and incitement.
Washington has been using very irresponsible methods and supports the most extreme elements in Ukrainian politics, especially since February of 2014, the Maidan Massacre. DC has to stop supporting and inflaming situation by trying to sabotage Minsk II. Washington is seeking to have a much wider conflict, probably because of financial, strategic and other interests.
* "Media: Mined Range Rover Secretary of the head of DNR exploded in Donetsk" (2015-07-13, news.rin.ru) [archive.is/jT6gI]
* " Elena Filippova, a secretary of a head of the DPR Alexander Zakharchenko, was blown up in her car in Donetsk" photo (2015-07-14) [archive.is/ObqlB]. The woman is alive, she is hospitalized.
* "Politician Yuriy Sivokonenko was shot by unknowns from an automatic weapon" photo (2015-07-14) [archive.is/XxBYK]. He sustained injury in his arm, his assistant was wounded in his neck.
* "Former Kremlin critic changes tack to launch television station in Donetsk" (2015-07-10, theguardian.com) [archive.is/pjC69]
* "After death of Mozgovoi, ‘Donbass communists need solidarity more than ever’ " (2015-05-26, workers.org) [archive.is/KT7xC]
* Special report from the city of Donetsk, with the people of Donetsk (2015-06-27, SouthFront) [youtube.com/watch?v=hpNT5JNYNFk], and at the Marinka fronlines [youtube.com/watch?v=Q_A5MswFWTQ]
* A recent freestyle fest in Donetsk, featuring the talents of Donetsk youngsters-pretty cool! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p59fAgJT_2A]
* "Memorial Event in Donetsk Dedicated to the Day of Mourning and Sorrow for Volyn Massacres of 1943-45" four photos (2015-07-12) [archive.is/exW53]
* (2015-07-11) four photos [archive.is/nEWA2]: A photo exhibition “The U.S. Funeral Home” focusing on the tragic consequences of American foreign policy has opened in the Central Park of Culture and Leisure named after Shcherbakov in Donetsk. The exhibition was held by the non-governmental organization “Young Republic”.
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People's Republic of Lunghask (LPR, or LNR; Luhansk, Lugansk)* "105 school children of the Lugansk People’s Republic have gone on holiday to the Republic of Crimea" seven photos (2015-07-11) [archive.is/cuoxL]
* "Meanwhile in LPR" two photos [archive.is/itHsJ]: ANNA News host and NAF Militia member is among the best known public faces of Novorossiya!
* "Grain harvest campaign has started in Krasnodonsky of Lugansk People's Republic" four photos (2015-07-08, southfront.org) [archive.is/u1o39]
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occupied People's Republic of Kharkov (KPR, or KNR)---
occupied People's Republic of Odessa (OPR, or ONR) / People's Republic of Bessarabia
* "Right Sector Muscles OSCE Monitors Out of Occupied Communist Headquarters" (2015-06-17, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/6JV1E]
* "Ukrainian Radicals Seize Communist Party Office in Odessa" (2015-06-13, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/nxXmO]
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Attacks against the People's Republics of Novorossiya (a daily calender)
"The harsh battles around Donetsk airport area are on ...I ask all peaceful civilians not to trespass Veseloe and the bridge in Kievskoe region..I got an impression that Ukrainian armed forces PURPOSEFULLY shell residential areas to get people angry on us !"(c)-Givi The Lion Heart
* "Donbass Under Fire: Greetings From Gorlovka" [https://youtu.be/5mgvAwLHdE0]
* "Russia’s investigators have enough proof of use of barbaric methods by Ukrainian military" (2015-07-13, tass.ru) [archive.is/U50cZ], [archive.is/poxgE]
* A message about Junta's looters from a Donbass refugee currently living in the West of Ukraine (2015-06-27) [archive.is/aRwjm]: "Today I was told about an ATO fighter, who brought a several large bags full of laptops from Donbass to his home village in Polesye. He brought them from the place, where I left my house as well as the houses of other refugees... Unfortunately this is not a fake story. This is true. I hope this is an exception, not a rule..."
* "Ukrainian Armed Forces opened fire on the village of Grigoryevka of the Telmanovo district to the south of Donetsk" (2015-06-29, Donetsk News Agency) [archive.is/HiySt]
* "Crimes of Ukraine in Novorossia" (2015-06-29) [http://youtu.be/DpMDIPx43RM]: A resident of Novoekaterinovka village, who lost her leg and arm, related the atrociries of Ukrainian soldiers. She lost her arm. Children were damaged by booby traps. Shocking statement of the victim of Ukrainian occupants
* "Kiev purposefully provokes the Republics for re-launching of the war – Plotnitsky" (2015-06-30, novorossia.today) [archive.is/uWK3A]
* "LPR - Aftermath of a tank round hitting a house in Pervomaisk" [https://youtu.be/dIfThs6Zzs0]
* (2015-06-30) Pervomaysk , LNR: Grandmother killed by Ukroterror shells while getting hay for her goats [http://www.ridus.ru/news/189447]
* "Chronicle of Donbass: DNI and LC under massive fire - Gorlovka hell" (2015-06-30, Kharkov News Agency NAHnews.org): Fighting in certain areas of the so-called anti-terror operation have been-fighting has raged for a Širokino, residents of Horlivka spend the night in the basement. In addition, the Ukrainian artillery covers territory of Luhansk people's Republic of China.
Gorlovka is under heavy fire - According to the information of the Joint monitoring and Coordination Center of the cease-fire, the armed forces of Ukraine resumed massive shelling from artillery and mortars of Gorlovka. The shelling started around 19:00. In SCKK also added that the firing is carried out with the dispatch of Majorska. According to the militia, there are injured-civilian received shrapnel wounds in the leg and abdomen. Also under Gorlovkoj is a fierce combat rifle using mortar, AGS, anti-aircraft guns, machine guns. It is noted that the intensity of fighting in the area has increased considerably.
OSCE: civilians left Širokino - The OSCE has finally confirmed the information that civilians deserted Resort Village Širokino. In the report, the OSCE reported that fired patrolling the locality, which revealed that at present there is no Širokino civilians. There has been an increase in the number of destruction since the last visit. This, of course, it is not surprising, given the information from the militia. On them with ovam, the Ukrainian army unleashes some unreal number of shells in Unfortunatly. Currently, damaged or completely resolved about 80% of residential homes and buildings.
APU fire on Petrovsky district of Donetsk - According to the head of Petrovsky district of Donetsk national Republic Maksym Zhukovsky, night Petrovsky district of Donetsk suffered massive bombardment by the armed forces of Ukraine. The fire was conducted by the Ukrainian position in Marinka from heavy artillery.
Artillery Salvo with Ukrainian positions - In General, the security situation remains stable heavy. The Ukrainian army, not wishing to perform the agreement, continues in Minsk killing civilians, level with the ground of the city of Donetsk region.
* "Ukraine: Massive blaze lights up Donetsk skyline" (2015-06-30) [https://youtu.be/aMJDfatWWPM]: A large blaze lit up Donetsk’s skyline early on Tuesday morning, as shelling and gunfire continue to dog the conflict-stricken city.
* Crisis News (2015-06-30) [www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dqwrvYH0NA]:
Kiev has a grouping of 75,000 servicemen in the conflict zone in Donbass, head of Lugansk People’s Republic Igor Plotnitsky told a briefing at LuganskInformCenter on Monday. Yesterday, the defence ministry of the Donetsk People’s Republic reported that it registered the redeployment of tanks and Ukrainian troops to the town of Maryinka from Kurahovo. Ukrainian artillery positions of eight self-propelled artillery weapons found in the outskirt of the town of Ostroye. In Maryinka, protected artillery positions of these weapons were registered too.
* "Ukrainian security forces fired mortar shells at the village and Lugansk" video (2015-06-30) [youtube.com/watch?v=pC9ey_Qia2g]
* "LPR - Aftermath of a tank round hitting a house in Pervomaisk" [https://youtu.be/dIfThs6Zzs0]
* "Pervomaisk is now living without light" video (2015-07-01) [youtube.com/watch?v=r2A2b9hQV08]
* "Phosphorus shell hit the house" video (2015-07-06) [youtube.com/watch?v=iki7UkDp4uA]: Poroshenko regime continues to use illegal munitions against the civilian population and the militia of Novorossiya. Another phosphorus shell landed in a private home.
* "Ukrainian forces violated ceasefire regime 34 times in the last 24 hours – MoD DPR" (2015-07-09, novorossia.today) [archive.is/puT3k]
* "The DPR militia have registered 54 violations of the cease-fire on the part of Ulrainie’s forces" (2015-07-09, southfront.org) [archive.is/3Sri1]
* "Ukrainian army shelled Kiyevskiy district of Donetsk and Spartak settlement: two residential houses destroyed – City Hall" (2015-07-10, Donetsk News Agency) [archive.is/APHnk]
* "Water filtering station in Donetsk damaged as a result of UAF shelling – city administration" (2015-07-10, Donetsk News Agency) [archive.is/pmqfH]
* "The battalion commander "Somalia" Givi urged residents not to appear near the DNI Donetsk Airport" [http://lifenews.ru/news/157084]
* "Ukrainian forces have violated the ceasefire regime 35 times in the last 24 hours" (2015-07-11) [archive.is/7Bz1K]
* "DNR drones discovered heavy equipment MAT" [youtube.com/watch?v=Kd5CB6jhP0U]
* "Hostilities escalated in Donbass in the night from July 11 to July 12" (2015-07-12, novorossia.today) [archive.is/t5GAH]
* "According to informal data, intense clashes occurs at the contact line over the last days" (2015-07-12, Novorossia News) [archive.is/KeT3B]
* "Overnight Ukrainian troops committed heavy shelling of Donetsk’s Kievsky distriсt" (2015-07-12, novorossia.today) [archive.is/kHJus]
* "Head of “Tor” missile was discovered at the railway station in Donetsk after Ukrainian shelling – DPR Ministry of Transport" (2015-07-13, novorossia.today) [archive.is/ibcA5]
* "UAF committed massive shelling of the Donetsk airport – MoD DPR" (2015-07-13, novorossia.today) [archive.is/bCvsz]
* "One civilian and one DPR trooper were killed as Ukrainian forces shelled the territory of the Republic – Basurin" (2015-07-13, novorossia.today) [archive.is/l27zv]
* "Kiev forces violate ceasefire regime 38 times over last 24 hours — DPR defenсe ministry" (2015-07-13, tass.ru) [archive.is/qIk5f]
* "Ukraine's self-proclaimed republic reports massive shelling of Donetsk airport" (2015-07-13, tass.ru) [archive.is/IPBKG]
* "The Ukrainian forces have violated the ceasefire regime 51 times over the last 24 hours" (2015-07-14) [archive.is/de35l]
* "Militia claim Luhansk republic was shelled four times over 24 hours" (2015-07-14, tass.ru) [archive.is/pS6JC]
* "Source says Ukrainian army shelling Gorlovka" (2015-07-14, tass.ru) [archive.is/SEqa3]
* "Ukrainian troops start massive shelling of Spartak village in DPR" (2015-07-14, tass.ru) [archive.is/7gKH9]
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Novorossiya Armed Forces (NAF) Operations
Banner to the "Donbass revolution" page, 1st version [archive.is/7vyMV], 2nd version [archive.is/qBXwR]
Fights in Donbass news reports
* (2015-06-29) [archive.is/PxXmt]
* (2015-06-30) [archive.is/csJ8D]
* (2015-07-01) [archive.is/Wngyo]
* (2015-07-07) [archive.is/eKhDU]
* (2015-07-08) [archive.is/CMGic]
The war in Novorossia Online Chronicle
* (2015-06-29) [archive.is/S9oYB]
* (2015-07-07) [archive.is/oQPGA]
* (2015-07-08) [archive.is/EkvAg]
* (2015-07-09) [archive.is/HsuCl]
* (2015-07-10) [archive.is/Fp0rr]
* (2015-07-11) [archive.is/xvVdS]
Military Report of Novorossiya
* (2015-07-02) [youtube.com/watch?v=Yii4x4PKNV8]
* (2015-07-06) [youtube.com/watch?v=vCGVK7mswdg]
* (2015-07-07) [youtube.com/watch?v=TuVvI0tdb00]
* (2015-07-09) [youtube.com/watch?v=R8KxGSOaX-w] [archive.is/rZ8mB]
* (2015-07-10) [archive.is/X1ArR]
* (2015-07-12) [youtube.com/watch?v=3LQFKmVQKho]
* (2015-07-13) [youtube.com/watch?v=dVPEaiS77mw]
* (2015-07-14) [youtube.com/watch?v=Rk8e9uZvw9s]
Donbass Information
* (2015-07-07) part 2 [archive.is/I9Lqg]
* (2015-07-11) [archive.is/wH43F]
Roundup of the day (en.voicesevas.ru)
* (2015-07-07 & 08) [archive.is/sResD]
* (2015-07-08, southfront.org) [archive.is/zLJMx]: Let's imagine Reuters' caption for the picture: A big bad rebel threatens the woman with a child. Putin is aggressor!!
* "Novorossiya Armed Forces defend Donetsk against the Aggression of the Ukrainian NATO-Junta". Full Video: [https://youtu.be/NyCD3LqfbJ8]
* "Communist commander Alexei Markov: 'We are part of an anti-fascist front' " (2015-02-25, by Sergey Artemov in Junge Welt) [archive.is/hfl6v] [begin excerpt] Formed in November 2014, the Ghost Brigade's Communist unit had 18 volunteers. Since then, the unit has grown to more than 100 volunteers. It has also been part of the forces of the Lugansk People's Republic that have recently managed to capture the strategic town of Debaltsevo. Junge Welt interviewed its commander, Alexei Markov.
Sergey Artemov: Many communists fight in the armed forces of the Lugansk People's Republic. They have established a separate unit. How did this happen?
Alexei Markov: We had hoped for a time that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), the Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU) or another similar force would create a unit of this type. We waited until October 2014 and then we realized we had to act ourselves. Other people were also interested in this idea.
Our unit is part of the Ghost (Prizrak) Brigade of Alexei Mozgovoi. We have joined it because it represents a fully independent position. At the beginning, no one would accept us, as many volunteers come and go very quickly. Step by step, our reputation improved: a unit of fighters formed, in which no one drinks and there is good discipline -- this is something special. More people joined us from other units.With the beginning of the active phase of the war, the number of fighters in our unit doubled, despite supply problems. Without these we would have even more people. We now have almost a battalion.
There are some things we make clear to all who want to join us. We do not pay any salary, there are no military ranks among us, we are not integrated into the formal structures of the Lugansk People's Republic and it does not offer us any official aid or safety.
The strength of our unit is that we are not organized according to allegiance to one or another communist party. No particular ideological control is enforced. We explain our position thusly: We fight against fascism, for the power of the people. And anyone who accepts can join us. Accepting the discipline of the troops is important: strict prohibition of alcohol, military discipline and proper behavior. Inside the unit we have ideological education. It turns out that there is a wider audience interested in our educational programs. Since then we have also included other units. When working with others, we also engage in political propaganda. But no ideological disputes occur.
[end excerpt]
* "Arkadich: 'We’ll free Lvov from the fascist vermin together with its residents’ " (2015-06-20, vsetut.ru, translated by Greg Butterfield) [archive.is/ZGrBj]
* The Ideological principles of Ghost Brigade (Prizrak) of A.B. Mozgovoi [archive.is/8ksLd] [begin excerpt]:
5) Democracy. This is why Donbass rebelled in Spring 2014. We are against the seizure of power by oligarchic clans. The oligarchic clans are guilty of unleashing the current war in the Donbass. The people must have maximum power. While fighting, we are at the same time building the foundations of a new society -- within the Brigade and within the liberated territories. We also support close contact between military forces and civilians. The first social canteens in Novorossiya appeared thanks to the Ghost Brigade. Humanitarian aid to the population, organizing various public events – these are also part of the Brigade’s activities.
6) People's Militia. We are not trying to build a regular army modeled on other states (regular state armies, no matter how they are officially described, carry out the orders of the government, not the people). Our goal is to create a new type of armed forces, taking into account the unique characteristics of the Donbass. The militia -- that is, the armed people -- can always resist state and corporate dictatorship. Unarmed people are defenseless before governments and large corporations, which are protected by their own armed groups. History shows that most often they are treated like cattle. Therefore, the militia is necessary not only in war, but also in peacetime. [end excerpt]
* "The Sacred War against the fascists for Novorossiya" [youtube.com/watch?v=7dZL6eBtpUs]
* "The Story of Motorola: A hero of Novorossiya" [youtube.com/watch?v=nOrXi3gp7mc]
* Happy Anniversary to Arsen & Lena Pavlov (the Motorola's) [youtube.com/watch?v=uRAEVxx4jUg]
* Motorola's miners' battalion in action last summer [youtube.com/watch?v=6O8TRyO5Zac]
* "Commander Motorola saluting the Heroes of the NAF,' You Are the beginning of an Anti-Fascist Anti-Imperialist Europe' " [http://fb.me/2lDOaIT3w]
* "Ukraine? This isn’t Ukraine, this is SPARTA!" photo (2015-07-10) [archive.is/rTOFI]
* "GIVI MAKES UKIES EAT THERE OWN FLAG: UAF storm Donetsk Airport and get their asses handed to them by NAF" [youtube.com/watch?v=3TZ9Q18HKlQ]
* "Givi talks about skirmishes on July 10th and "skills" of Ukr. forces" [https://youtu.be/Ox5-oeisRHo]
* "The commander of the brigade units 'Ghost', ;Arkadich' Nazis are trying to do 'little Stalingrad' " [youtube.com/watch?v=zLYj3hRxoJc]
* "Deputy commander of the combat training company teams 'Ghost', 'Sarmat' on the preparation of fighters" [youtube.com/watch?v=-3gDZCtJxZM]
* "Fighter 'Nevzorov', team 'Ghost': In its native land - the Donbas, we will stand up to the end"[youtube.com/watch?v=mB2DdCVbOXU]
* "The volunteer 'Terek' - a former engineer, who took up arms, and many defenders of the Donbass" [youtube.com/watch?v=advz5IUevvs]
* "The unit commander 'Shield': 'I am a patriot of his land, I am a patriot of Donetsk, I will not leave' " [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqA1rScXpC4]
* "Statements of the Ukrainian side on their readiness to exchange the DPR prisoners of war are false – Kononov" (2015-07-10, novorossia.today) [archive.is/sQPJg]
* "Two UAF units made an attempt of a breakthrough to Donetsk – Kononov" (2015-07-10, novorossia.today) [archive.is/ATNtP]
* "1st Slavyansk brigade “Vikings” Combate Footage" video (2015-07-01)
[goo.gl/KRBHrh] [youtube.com/watch?v=lMPWDRwKHKs]
* "Donbass Militia: 'My open hand now turned into a fist' " [goo.gl/041oFV]
* "Novorossiya rebuilding some tracked armor with more firepower" [youtube.com/watch?v=oWBckt5ndS4]
* A fascinating interview with Eric, a Ukrainian Talent Show finalist, now NAF fighter - [youtube.com/watch?v=gOY7bu6Lb_A]
* "Donetsk Live №98: Fighter Toja, Brigade 'tag' " [youtube.com/watch?v=NpchuvnyYaM]
* " 'Don't fear for your hide, care for your honor' - Ghost" brigade motto" [youtube.com/watch?v=NhLMAvMIMhM]
* "The region today: More than 300 Cossacks came to the regiment Paul Dremova" [youtube.com/watch?t=30&v=vqxpJulC3VM]
* NAF member spits the Donbass rap [youtube.com/watch?v=yXgABDzkPKM]
* "A volunteer from Russia: Defending the Motherland" (2015-06-17) [youtube.com/watch?v=0L7T4MauEmw]
* NAF Legion of Saint Istvan [facebook.com/pages/Legion-of-Saint-Istvan/752238441485296]
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Federation of Russia
* "Putin proposed to return to the economy of the elements of Soviet planning; Such a statement he made at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg" (2015-06-18) [http://is.gd/7nOMNV], machine translated: Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, said that it is possible to recreate the elements of Soviet planning. "In the current conditions create the old model, still Soviet, it is impossible, but the elements of planning, especially in infrastructure development, that is, we should talk about what should the government do, the elements of the strategy associated with some targeting of areas, and we have there are areas of priority development with the appropriate set of preferences. Here, offer everything connected with the free economic zones "- he said. St. Petersburg hosts the International Economic Forum in 2015. It brought together participants from over 100 countries - including business and political elite.
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* "Russia's Lower House Passes Law on Roscosmos Space Corporation" (2015-07-01, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/M92tj]
* "Siberia Home to New Russian Space Monitoring Complex" (2015-06-30, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/J2oY5]
* "Russia to Launch First Satellite for New Space Defense Network in November" (2015-06-29, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/rSFKQ]
* "Ad Astra: Russian Tu-160 and PAK DA Strategic Bombers to Use Star Power" (2015-06-30, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/6IIsC]
* The rake on the right reads "Afghanistan", "Iraq", "Libya", and the one on the left is "Russia"
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Russian Repression Report: Actual incidents and false stories explained
So far, stories of assassinated LGBT campaign organizers have not been found, nor have stories of lynchings (or mob executions) been sent to us. Any repression of LGBT folk in Russia will be included in this section, but for background info, read the following:
This is his speech In Russian dubbed to English [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8xSZ9Fr4c0].
Putin is a Christian in the Moscow Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church, who regard anti-Orthodox LGBT protests as a hate-speech attack against their culture. Photographs of the protests here, with nude protesters on crosses [archive.is/M5K4r], and open display of sexual acts [archive.is/9A6rI]. Many Russians regard the foreign funded LGBT organizations to be anti-ethical to their culture, as well.
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* "Russia, India Cooperate on Space Exploration, Glonass Satellite System" (2015-06-30, sputniknews.com) [archive.is/5kuw5]
EEU member states are given the worst reputation by USA and related monopolist media outlets. For example, the following article about prison abuse in the Republic of Uzbekistan shows that the worst reported is comparable as what regularly happens in hundreds of incarceration centers across the USA.
* "Uzbekistan: So Now Prisoners are Frozen Instead of Boiled?" (2011-11-04, eurasianet.org) [archive.is/Jx5We]
* "US Befriends Kazakhstan Dictator, Now World's Largest Producer of Uranium" (2014-10-03, therealnews.com) [archive.is/LNFel], and interview with Alan Ruff [allenruff.blogspot.com] [begin excerpt]
JAY: So I guess the big thing here is—amongst other things, is the sort of double standard or hypocrisy of U.S. position towards Kazakhstan.
RUFF: Well, right now, as I mentioned, Kazakhstan is the world's largest producer of uranium. But it's not just the—it goes from every step of the nuclear chain, from the mining and processing to the building of nuclear reactors. Kazakhstan currently owns about 7.7 percent of Westinghouse. Westinghouse is currently actually—the major shareholder of Westinghouse at this point is Toshiba, and there's a relationship even, again, with Japan and Toshiba and the Nazarbayev regime. In exchange for uranium, Toshiba's arranged for the continuation of uranium shipments to Japan in the post-Fukushima era. So [crosstalk]
JAY: And Westinghouse builds nuclear reactors.
RUFF: Right. It's not this kind of Westinghouse—the kitchen appliance folks, but again, the major builder—just like GE, the two major significant builders of nuclear reactors.
[ ... ] R.J. Reynolds has had a concession in southeastern Kazakhstan, in the tobacco-growing region, a region that's been long cited for its abuse of child labor. Whole families migrate out of Uzbekistan into southeastern Kazakhstan during the growing season to cultivate and then to harvest tobacco. And there's a huge number of—a large child labor workforce that has drawn the ire—rightly so—of numbers of human rights international human rights organizations. And again, that tobacco concession has been held by R.J. Reynolds. [end excerpt]
Seems that the excessive evil of child labor on a tobacco plantation is an import from the USA...
* "Kids deal with vomiting, burning eyes working on tobacco farms" (2014-05-08, edition.cnn.com) [archive.is/blsti]
* "US: Child Workers in Danger on Tobacco Farms" (2014-05-14, hrw.org) [archive.is/OJ2XO]
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Republic of Turkey (NATO member state)
* "Erdoğan's war plans, the people's resistance and the fight against ISIS---What the US media isn't saying" (2015-07-04, turkeyharvest.blogspot.de) [archive.is/0Tdhl]
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Arab Republic of Syria
[sana-syria.org] [joshualandis.com/blog] [syriasolidaritymovement.org] [syrianfreepress.wordpress.com] [syrianews.cc]
* "International Military Review - Syria, July 1, 2015"
[http://southfront.org/international-military-review-syria-july-1-2015]
* "There is the difference between 'Assad regime' and US-backed moderate rebels" (2015-07-08, southfront.org) [archive.is/jZkOv]
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Global Islamic Caliphate / Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL ; ISIS)
* "IS threat grows as 'caliphate' enters second year" (2015-06-29, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/xrchY]
* "US and Israeli Military Advisors Arrested In Iraq For AIDING ISIS" (2015-03-08, wearechange.org) [archive.is/FA7fL]
* "Ivy Ziedrich, College Student, Warms to Role as Jeb Bush Critic on ISIS" (2015-05-14, nytimes.com) [archive.is/IUW92]
* "Videos of executions disclosed by the AEs, McCain splashed" (2015-07-11, fr.sputniknews.com) machine translated [archive.is/zNXE3], video [youtube.com/watch?v=NrsH9m8skro], original in French [archive.is/U7NCj]
* "Staged ISIS Beheading Video Hacked from McCain Staffer" (2015-07-11, veteranstoday.com) [archive.is/YrNod], article contains both the CyberBerkut video and the "ISIS blames Obama for Sotloff beheading" video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umkh3WvCJ8s]
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Kurdistan in Turkey
* "PKK announces end of Turkish cease-fire, mobilizes guerillas" (2015-07-13, systemiccapital.com) [archive.is/tRbyf]
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Rojava (Western Kurdistan)
[rojavareport.wordpress.com]
* "New Leftist 'Freedom Brigade' to Join Kurdish Forces in Rojava" (2015-06-13, telesurtv.net) [archive.is/8DX14]
* "Are Leftist, Feminist Kurds About to Deliver the Coup de Grâce to ISIL in Syria?" (2015-06-25, thenation.com) [archive.is/Oe8pF]
* "Ecologist, vegetarian anarchist warriors struggling in Kobane" (2015-06-29, jiyan.org) translated [archive.is/V7EkT]
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State of Israel and international operations
[dukium.org] [icahd.org]
* "Israel and World Bank sign water tech deal; Together with the international financial institution, Israeli expertise will help countries face growing water challenges" (2015-06-19, timesofisrael.com) [archive.is/WAqvd]
* "Israeli teenagers: Racist and proud of it; Ethnic hatred has become a basic element in the everyday life of Israeli youth, a forthcoming book finds" (2014-08-23, haaretz.com) [archive.is/1ybSF]
* "AntiFa means solidarity with Israel!" photo [archive.is/8XSPU]
* "Why a top Israeli cop killed himself; A corrupt rabbi caught red–handed; a vicious campaign against his accuser; and a clean cop with a fatal flaw: The anatomy of a tragic suicide" (2015-07-06, haaretz.com) [archive.is/sr9L7]
John Kerry and US Noble Energy
* "Israelis protest controversial gas deal, march on Tel Aviv govt complex" (2015-06-28, rt.com) [archive.is/0m59b] [begin excerpt]: US Noble Energy and Israeli conglomerate Delek Group develop Israel’s Tamar and Leviathan offshore gas reserves which were discovered in the Eastern Mediterranean in 2009 and 2010 [ ... ] both companies are owned by the Israeli tycoon Isaac Tshuva. Organizers argue that, once approved, the deal could establish a monopoly over natural gas without any sufficient oversight and would result in increased prices for Israeli consumers. [ ... ] Israeli media reported that prices for natural gas would rise at the demand of the Tshuva’s conglomerate, higher than those proposed by the finance ministry. It was also reported that the government agreed not to regulate gas prices. [end excerpt]
* "US Secy of State John Kerry is Helpful Shareholder in Noble Energy; US Secy John Kerry turns out to be a helpful shareholder in Israeli natural gas exploration group partner Noble Energy"
(2015-06-25, jewishpress.com) [http://is.gd/M8wMTG] [begin excerpt]: The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is one of the shareholders in Noble Energy. In a 2013 declaration of assets published on opensecrets.org, Kerry’s shares in Noble Energy totaled an estimated $500,000 to $1 million. Last December (2014), Kerry spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an effort to help resolve the issue. At the time, State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said in a statement, “We continue to engage and we support all parties to move forward with the natural gas deal signed between Noble Energy and entities in Jordan and Egypt. We strongly believe that these deals would enhance energy security in the region.”
* "Noble Energy's $2 billion Rosetta deal reopens U.S. shale oil M&A" (2015-05-11, Reuters Newswire), original [http://is.gd/zo7bJU], revised [archive.is/K1IqI]
* Map of Noble Energy - Delek Ltd. Group gas reservoirs being developed in the Eastern Mediterranean. Photo Credit: Noble Energy Inc. website
* "VP Biden, PM Davutoğlu on energy security issues" (2014-11-25, naturalgaseurope.com) [archive.is/39IIj] [begin excerpt]: In late September, an energy consortium which led by Italy’s ENI and South Korea’s Kogas has begun exploratory deep-sea drilling off Cyprus for gas deposits. It’s the second block to exploratory drilling after discovery in 2011. US firm Noble Energy made the first find off the southeast coast in 2011 in the Aphrodite field (block 12), which is estimated to contain between 3.6 trillion and 6 trillion cubic feet of gas. [end excerpt]
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World Jewish Diaspora and history
a section dedicated to the culture and stories of a global nation
* "The Chabadnik who became czarist Russia's chief censor for Jewish writings" (2013-05-31, haaretz.com) [archive.is/1amFv]
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Ansar Allah Revolutionary Government of Yemen ("Houthis")
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People's Republic of China
History & the Current Context [historyandcurrentcontext.blogspot.com/1979/10/peoples-republic-of-china.html]
* "A Quarter of Chinese Stocks Aren’t Trading: Shades of 1929 and 1987 Markets" (2015-06-07, wallstreetonparade.com) [archive.is/gt1YK]
* "China Stocks and the New York Stock Exchange Shutdown: The Untold Story" (2015-07-09, wallstreetonparade.com) [archive.is/TuDS0].
The truth about the Chinese stock market collapse: It affects only those committed to capitalist speculation, maybe 1/13 of Chinese population. The state controlled economy is intact, growing,
"The Chinese stock exchange is disconnected from the real economy. The Shanghai/Shenzen stock exchange is simply a gambling casino with 100,000 million private individual investors. Chinese pension funds are fiorbidden from trading their assets. Chinese with surplus money have limited ways of investing: they can buy real estate, they can buy luxuries, or they can gamble in the Chinese stock exchange. Thus, the hysterics (or triumphalism) in the Western MSM over a crash of the Chinese economy was propaganda, stupidity, or ignorance. Comparing a centrally planned economy to the madhouse that is the capitalist stock exchange,on which our lives are invested--pensions, student loans, housing--etc is like comparing, well, a regulated economy to a slot machine...." from the article in French [http://is.gd/NKAOsR].
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Heads of State compared:
"Hong Kong democracy protesters don't want to be recolonized, they just want freedoms and not be controlled by the evil mainland commie government!!" Does this look like people who want freedom and not longing for the return of their British imperialist chains? This "democracy movement" is backed by global economic agencies (banks) in order to divide PR China from the trillion dollar city of Hong Kong... plus the illicit criminal cartels who use those banks to launder their illicit profits from prostitution and drugs are feeling threatened by "big government bureaucracies" seeking an end to the economic power of the criminals and their banks...
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Since 1989, the USA State Department has been guiding thousands of protests towards the goal of either open rebellion against the Communist Party of China, or to publicize the "vicious crackdown" that they believed would occur... neither of which has happened. The following are examples of support for the scenarios provided by a private-sector partner of the USA State Department, from the RAND Center for Asia-Pacific Policy newsletter (2004-06) [archive.is/L7N8d]:
* "Protests now flourish in China" (2004-06-02, iht.com) [archive.is/zBRZT]
* "China Rethinks Unrest" (2004-04, twq.com) [archive.is/iCyKr]
* "Self-immolation Truth: Tibetan Buddhism Kidnapped by Politics" (2013-01-04, China.org.cn) [archive.is/UJugR]
* "The Truth About Tibet and Dalai Lama" (2013-02-28, Eirik Granqvist) [archive.is/I1RtS] [begin excerpt]: The Dalai Lama is neither the spiritual leader of Tibet nor does he represent the region. He is the leader of just the Yellow Hat (Gelug) sect of Tibetan Buddhism, which is dominant in Lhasa. Tibet has been an autonomous region ruled by local kings serving Chinese emperors since the 8th century.
The duties of the Dalai Lama, as well as the Panchen Lama, were prescribed relatively late by the Chinese rulers for helping them with the administration of the faraway and difficult-to-access region.
The Chinese rulers made it clear that the Lama had to pass on these duties to the next incarnation, to be found following strict historical and religious rules. But even after the new incarnation was found, the Chinese emperor had the right to veto the choice.
The incarnation of the 14th Dalai Lama, who is now based in Dharamsala, India, was approved by the then national government of China. In short, a living Dalai Lama cannot choose his follower all by himself.
When the British invaded Lhasa in 1903 to snatch Tibet away from China, the 13th Dalai Lama disastrously declared that Tibetans were invulnerable, causing much bloodshed.
To escape the attack, the 13th Dalai Lama fled Tibet and took shelter in Inner Mongolia. The destitute Dalai Lama was soon found by the emperor and put under house arrest in a Tibetan prefecture of Qinghai province, where Baron Gustaf Mannerheim, then marshal of Finland, visited him in 1907.
The Russian czar, too, was interested in Tibet in order to expand his empire. But that stopped after the October Revolution.
The first decade of the 20th century was marked by political upheavals in China, and in chaos that followed the Boxer Rebellion, the Dalai Lama returned to Lhasa, which the British had left because they found it impossible to control the region for lack of transport facilities.
Tibet’s peaceful liberation was achieved in 1951. When the People’s Liberation Army entered Tibet in 1951, Chairman Mao Zedong was hailed as the liberator by the Tibetans and the Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lama got back part of his former powers and was made the vice-chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee in 1954.
But these facts have been brushed under the carpet. What took place in 1951 was an internal change in China, and not the invasion of an ”independent” country. In 1957, the Chinese leaders decided to end slavery in Tibet.
Then, only about 5 percent of the Tibetans were monks or nuns, or belonged to the small noble class or free nomadic hunting tribes. The rest were slaves who had to toil to feed the non-productive elite of the population. That’s why the monasteries, the house of the elites, saw the abolition of slavery as a catastrophe.
Since he wanted slavery to continue to maintain his status as a god, the Dalai Lama began spreading rumors that he could be jailed and even executed, which led to an uprising in 1959.
But security forces soon brought it under control. It was then that the Dalai Lama fled the country and was “installed” in Dharamsala by the British and Americans, who used him as a weapon against Mao.
And the CIA created the myth of the “father of the nation” fighting for the “freedom” of Tibet. The Dalai Lama may have ceased to be politically important, but the myth created around him survives.
Up to 1959, Tibet could be reached only through some horse-trails. The local economy was in tatters and education was the privilege of the elite.
Normal schools were forbidden. Only schools in monasteries that taught religious scriptures were allowed. Worse, the slaves were called “talking cattle” and treated no better than cattle.
Now Tibet has a modern railway and airports. Today, there are schools and colleges for everybody in Tibet, and Lhasa even has a modern university.
Besides, schools are free for ethnic Tibetans, who comprise 90.48 percent of Tibet’s 3 million population, whereas Han Chinese have to pay for education.
Tibet is China’s autonomous region like the Aland Islands are Finland’s (or Scotland is to the United Kingdom). The region has an autonomous government, local laws and regulations, and a governor that is necessarily an ethnic Tibetan.
But the local government is subordinate to the central government, not the Dalai Lama.
In 2008, the Dalai Lama/CIA tried again to fuel an uprising in Tibet with the intention of prompting an international boycott of the Beijing Olympic Games. [end excerpt]
* "Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth" (2007-01, michaelparenti.org) [archive.is/9HQTV] [begin excerpt]: In old Tibet there were small numbers of farmers who subsisted as a kind of free peasantry, and perhaps an additional 10,000 people who composed the “middle-class” families of merchants, shopkeepers, and small traders. Thousands of others were beggars. There also were slaves, usually domestic servants, who owned nothing. Their offspring were born into slavery. 15 The majority of the rural population were serfs. Treated little better than slaves, the serfs went without schooling or medical care, They were under a lifetime bond to work the lord's land--or the monastery’s land--without pay, to repair the lord's houses, transport his crops, and collect his firewood. They were also expected to provide carrying animals and transportation on demand.16 Their masters told them what crops to grow and what animals to raise. They could not get married without the consent of their lord or lama. And they might easily be separated from their families should their owners lease them out to work in a distant location.
As in a free labor system and unlike slavery, the overlords had no responsibility for the serf’s maintenance and no direct interest in his or her survival as an expensive piece of property. The serfs had to support themselves. Yet as in a slave system, they were bound to their masters, guaranteeing a fixed and permanent workforce that could neither organize nor strike nor freely depart as might laborers in a market context. The overlords had the best of both worlds.
The theocracy’s religious teachings buttressed its class order. The poor and afflicted were taught that they had brought their troubles upon themselves because of their wicked ways in previous lives. Hence they had to accept the misery of their present existence as a karmic atonement and in anticipation that their lot would improve in their next lifetime. The rich and powerful treated their good fortune as a reward for, and tangible evidence of, virtue in past and present lives.
What happened to Tibet after the Chinese Communists moved into the country in 1951? The treaty of that year provided for ostensible self-governance under the Dalai Lama’s rule but gave China military control and exclusive right to conduct foreign relations. The Chinese were also granted a direct role in internal administration “to promote social reforms.” Among the earliest changes they wrought was to reduce usurious interest rates, and build a few hospitals and roads. At first, they moved slowly, relying mostly on persuasion in an attempt to effect reconstruction. No aristocratic or monastic property was confiscated, and feudal lords continued to reign over their hereditarily bound peasants. “Contrary to popular belief in the West,” claims one observer, the Chinese “took care to show respect for Tibetan culture and religion."
What upset the Tibetan lords and lamas in the early 1950s was that these latest Chinese were Communists. It would be only a matter of time, they feared, before the Communists started imposing their collectivist egalitarian schemes upon Tibet.
The issue was joined in 1956-57, when armed Tibetan bands ambushed convoys of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army. The uprising received extensive assistance from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), including military training, support camps in Nepal, and numerous airlifts. Meanwhile in the United States, the American Society for a Free Asia, a CIA-financed front, energetically publicized the cause of Tibetan resistance, with the Dalai Lama’s eldest brother, Thubtan Norbu, playing an active role in that organization.
The Dalai Lama's second-eldest brother, Gyalo Thondup, established an intelligence operation with the CIA as early as 1951. He later upgraded it into a CIA-trained guerrilla unit whose recruits parachuted back into Tibet.
Many Tibetan commandos and agents whom the CIA dropped into the country were chiefs of aristocratic clans or the sons of chiefs. Ninety percent of them were never heard from again, according to a report from the CIA itself, meaning they were most likely captured and killed. “Many lamas and lay members of the elite and much of the Tibetan army joined the uprising, but in the main the populace did not, assuring its failure,” writes Hugh Deane. In their book on Tibet, Ginsburg and Mathos reach a similar conclusion: “As far as can be ascertained, the great bulk of the common people of Lhasa and of the adjoining countryside failed to join in the fighting against the Chinese both when it first began and as it progressed.” Eventually the resistance crumbled.
Whatever wrongs and new oppressions introduced by the Chinese after 1959, they did abolish slavery and the Tibetan serfdom system of unpaid labor. They eliminated the many crushing taxes, started work projects, and greatly reduced unemployment and beggary. They established secular schools, thereby breaking the educational monopoly of the monasteries. And they constructed running water and electrical systems in Lhasa. [end excerpt]
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Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and Russia-China relations
* "China's influence grows as Russian crisis rocks Central Asia" (2015-07-05, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/vhCob]
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* "IS in Afghanistan on Xi, Putin's summit agenda: China" (2015-07-06, AFP Newswire) [archive.is/RaMNd]
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* "Russia to Launch Large-Scale Space Projects With China and other SCO members - Space Corporation" (2015-06-30, in.sputniknews.com) [archive.is/y8Ow4]
* "A Cold Fact –the Shanghai Pact SCO would completely destroy NATO, USA and EU in World War III!" (2015-07-11, by Peter Iiskola) [archive.is/nextV]
Wait and see what Russia and China have prepared for you!
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Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in northern Korea
Info collected by Juche-Buddhism Friendship Society, for Peace through Knowledge! [Juchebuddhism.blogspot.com]
* "Anti-DPRK Propaganda War – a Cavalcade of Comedy" (2014-08-01, redyouthuk.wordpress.com) [archive.is/oetVr]
* "How I unintentionally ended up spending 15 years of my life in North Korea" (2014-02-21, nknews.org) [archive.is/gMiP5]
===*===*===* "Anti-DPRK Propaganda War – a Cavalcade of Comedy" (2014-08-01, redyouthuk.wordpress.com) [archive.is/oetVr]
* "How I unintentionally ended up spending 15 years of my life in North Korea" (2014-02-21, nknews.org) [archive.is/gMiP5]
Republic of the Philippines
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Towards a People's Republic of the Philippines
[ndfp.net] [philippinerevolution.net]
* "Over 10,000 joined the funeral march for slain New People's Army (NPA) commander Leonardo Pitao alias Kumander Parago; Massive funeral procession of Comrade Ka Parago" 3 photos [archive.is/Lq7rI]
* "Funeral March" 4 photos (2015-07-10, Manila Times) [archive.is/ynptY]: About 10,000 mourners, mostly farmers and members of non-government organizations, joined the funeral march in Davao City for slain New People’s Army leader Leoncio Pitao also known as Ka Parago. He was also known to many as “Tatay.”
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research from the Committee for the Study of
HISTORY AND THE CURRENT CONTEXT
The purpose of the Committee is to provide historical materials that are otherwise rare, or expensive enough to not be in the public domain. History is not only no longer taught in high schools, but critical studies of history is downplayed in college as most institutes for higher learning are re-programmed for vocational training and not for studies in humanities (history and art).
An example is the following two links to the same web address. The first [archive.is/YZPP9] is for a website, now defunct, that offered historical journals for free to the public that otherwise would cost hundreds of dollars... the second website [archive.is/XKepm], with the same address (still current) only offers very simplified history articles that conform to trending topics, without critical analysis. Thus, history (and especially deep political information) is locked-up in exclusive institutions and out of the hands of independent researchers.
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On the orders of George Washington the Continental Army burned the village of Coreorgonel in what is now Ithaca in September 1779. The town was occupied by Tutelo people, who had fled the British and were taken in by the Cayugas of the Six Nations. Washington’s orders to lay waste and devastation to the tribes of the Six Nations, burn their villages and destroy their crops with the objective being “their total destruction and devastation and the capture of as many persons of every age and sex as possible.” Painting by Glenn Norris; image provided by the History Center of Tompkins County.* "An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States" (beacon.org) [archive.is/NTeqy]: Today in the United States, there are more than five hundred federally recognized Indigenous nations comprising nearly three million people, descendants of the fifteen million Native people who once inhabited this land. The centuries-long genocidal program of the US settler-colonial regimen has largely been omitted from history. Now, for the first time, acclaimed historian and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz offers a history of the United States told from the perspective of Indigenous peoples and reveals how Native Americans, for centuries, actively resisted expansion of the US empire.
In An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, Dunbar-Ortiz adroitly challenges the founding myth of the United States and shows how policy against the Indigenous peoples was colonialist and designed to seize the territories of the original inhabitants, displacing or eliminating them. And as Dunbar-Ortiz reveals, this policy was praised in popular culture, through writers like James Fenimore Cooper and Walt Whitman, and in the highest offices of government and the military. Shockingly, as the genocidal policy reached its zenith under President Andrew Jackson, its ruthlessness was best articulated by US Army general Thomas S. Jesup, who, in 1836, wrote of the Seminoles: “The country can be rid of them only by exterminating them.”
Spanning more than four hundred years, this classic bottom-up peoples’ history radically reframes US history and explodes the silences that have haunted our national narrative.
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The following articles are from [archive.is/WUvOL], an incomplete archive from a Illinois historical journal:
* "Lincoln's First Freed Slave: A Review of Bailey v. Cromwell, 1841" (2008, by Carl Adams) [archive.is/pV31V]
* "Murder at a Methodist Camp Meeting: The Origins of Abraham Lincoln's Most Famous Trial" (2008, by Daniel W. Stowell) [archive.is/Q3gjX]
* "Lincoln at Lincoln: Abraham Lincoln Rallies Logan County, Illinois, in His First Namesake Town on October 16, 1858" (2008) [archive.is/bUuxP]
* "Abraham Lincoln and the Mormons: Another Legacy of Limited Freedom" (2008, by Gary Vitale) [archive.is/qFZYg]
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* "The history of British slave ownership has been buried: now its scale can be revealed; A new BBC documentary tells how a trove of documents lays bare the names of Britain’s 46,000 slave owners, including relatives of Gladstone and Orwell" (2015-07-12, theguardian.com) [archive.is/MlMdL]
* "Why this black defender of the Confederate flag says slavery was ‘a choice’ " (2015-06-30, washingtonpost.com) [archive.is/orARg]
* "It Turns Out White Support For Confederate Flag Really IS About Racism, Not Heritage" (2015-07-01, addictinginfo.org) [http://is.gd/dHwiFi]
* "WHY DO PEOPLE BELIEVE MYTHS ABOUT THE CONFEDERACY? BECAUSE OUR TEXTBOOKS AND MONUMENTS ARE WRONG" (2015-07-01, historynewsnetwork.org) [archive.is/pwHKM]
* "Cornerstone" speech (1861-03-21, Confederate States of America Vice President Alexander Stephens) [http://is.gd/qQVgnu] [begin excerpt]: Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth. This truth has been slow in the process of its development, like all other truths in the various departments of science. [ ... ] As I have stated, the truth of this principle may be slow in development, as all truths are and ever have been, in the various branches of science. It was so with the principles announced by Galileo it was so with Adam Smith and his principles of political economy. It was so with Harvey, and his theory of the circulation of the blood. It is stated that not a single one of the medical profession, living at the time of the announcement of the truths made by him, admitted them. Now, they are universally acknowledged. May we not, therefore, look with confidence to the ultimate universal acknowledgment of the truths upon which our system rests? It is the first government ever instituted upon the principles in strict conformity to nature, and the ordination of Providence, in furnishing the materials of human society. Many governments have been founded upon the principle of the subordination and serfdom of certain classes of the same race; such were and are in violation of the laws of nature. Our system commits no such violation of nature’s laws. With us, all of the white race, however high or low, rich or poor, are equal in the eye of the law. Not so with the negro. Subordination is his place. He, by nature, or by the curse against Canaan, is fitted for that condition which he occupies in our system. The architect, in the construction of buildings, lays the foundation with the proper material-the granite; then comes the brick or the marble. The substratum of our society is made of the material fitted by nature for it, and by experience we know that it is best, not only for the superior, but for the inferior race, that it should be so. It is, indeed, in conformity with the ordinance of the Creator. It is not for us to inquire into the wisdom of His ordinances, or to question them. For His own purposes, He has made one race to differ from another, as He has made “one star to differ from another star in glory.” The great objects of humanity are best attained when there is conformity to His laws and decrees, in the formation of governments as well as in all things else. Our confederacy is founded upon principles in strict conformity with these laws. This stone which was rejected by the first builders “is become the chief of the corner” the real “corner-stone” in our new edifice. I have been asked, what of the future? It has been apprehended by some that we would have arrayed against us the civilized world. I care not who or how many they may be against us, when we stand upon the eternal principles of truth, if we are true to ourselves and the principles for which we contend, we are obliged to, and must triumph.Thousands of people who begin to understand these truths are not yet completely out of the shell; they do not see them in their length and breadth. We hear much of the civilization and Christianization of the barbarous tribes of Africa. In my judgment, those ends will never be attained, but by first teaching them the lesson taught to Adam, that “in the sweat of his brow he should eat his bread,” and teaching them to work, and feed, and clothe themselves. [end excerpt]
In the following excerpt, the basis for state-socialism is abolished, and shows that today's "conservative" ideology is rooted in the currents of political thought in 1861, [begin excerpt]
Seven States have within the last three months thrown off an old government and formed a new. This revolution has been signally marked, up to this time, by the fact of its having been accomplished without the loss of a single drop of blood.
This new constitution. or form of government, constitutes the subject to which your attention will be partly invited. In reference to it, I make this first general remark: it amply secures all our ancient rights, franchises, and liberties. All the great principles of Magna Charta are retained in it. No citizen is deprived of life, liberty, or property, but by the judgment of his peers under the laws of the land. The great principle of religious liberty, which was the honor and pride of the old constitution, is still maintained and secured. All the essentials of the old constitution, which have endeared it to the hearts of the American people, have been preserved and perpetuated. Some changes have been made. Some of these I should have preferred not to have seen made; but other important changes do meet my cordial approbation. They form great improvements upon the old constitution. So, taking the whole new constitution, I have no hesitancy in giving it as my judgment that it is decidedly better than the old.
Allow me briefly to allude to some of these improvements. The question of building up class interests, or fostering one branch of industry to the prejudice of another under the exercise of the revenue power, which gave us so much trouble under the old constitution, is put at rest forever under the new. We allow the imposition of no duty with a view of giving advantage to one class of persons, in any trade or business, over those of another. All, under our system, stand upon the same broad principles of perfect equality. Honest labor and enterprise are left free and unrestricted in whatever pursuit they may be engaged. This old thorn of the tariff, which was the cause of so much irritation in the old body politic, is removed forever from the new.
Again, the subject of internal improvements, under the power of Congress to regulate commerce, is put at rest under our system. The power, claimed by construction under the old constitution, was at least a doubtful one; it rested solely upon construction. We of the South, generally apart from considerations of constitutional principles, opposed its exercise upon grounds of its inexpediency and injustice. Notwithstanding this opposition, millions of money, from the common treasury had been drawn for such purposes. Our opposition sprang from no hostility to commerce, or to all necessary aids for facilitating it. With us it was simply a question upon whom the burden should fall. In Georgia, for instance, we have done as much for the cause of internal improvements as any other portion of the country, according to population and means. We have stretched out lines of railroads from the seaboard to the mountains; dug down the hills, and filled up the valleys at a cost of not less than $25,000,000. All this was done to open an outlet for our products of the interior, and those to the west of us, to reach the marts of the world. No State was in greater need of such facilities than Georgia, but we did not ask that these works should be made by appropriations out of the common treasury. The cost of the grading, the superstructure, and the equipment of our roads was borne by those who had entered into the enterprise. Nay, more not only the cost of the iron no small item in the aggregate cost was borne in the same way, but we were compelled to pay into the common treasury several millions of dollars for the privilege of importing the iron, after the price was paid for it abroad. What justice was there in taking this money, which our people paid into the common treasury on the importation of our iron, and applying it to the improvement of rivers and harbors elsewhere? The true principle is to subject the commerce of every locality, to whatever burdens may be necessary to facilitate it. If Charleston harbor needs improvement, let the commerce of Charleston bear the burden. If the mouth of the Savannah river has to be cleared out, let the sea-going navigation which is benefited by it, bear the burden. So with the mouths of the Alabama and Mississippi river. Just as the products of the interior, our cotton, wheat, corn, and other articles, have to bear the necessary rates of freight over our railroads to reach the seas. This is again the broad principle of perfect equality and justice, and it is especially set forth and established in our new constitution. [end excerpt]
The Confederate States of America was among the most technologically advanced areas on the planet, with extensive trade with the British Empire (England).
* "Early Stationary Steam Engines in America" (1969, Carroll W. Pursell, Jr.) [archive.is/cHYot] [begin excerpt]: By 1838 the role of the stationary steam engine in the United States was largely stabilized The types of engines best suited for steamboats and locomotives were known and applied Steam was used in every conceivable type of manufacture from printing presses to gunpowder mills. The gradual exhaustion of new waterpower sites in the East, the movement of manufacturing to the West, and the outgrowing of local water resources by individual mills, all had led to the general acceptance of stationary steam engines They were found in every part of the country The question was no longer whether they would work, but whether they were the most satisfactory solution to a particular problem
The effect on American manufactures was profound. Once scattered by the geographical imperatives of waterpower, industry, now relatively free, was inclined to concentrate in towns Mills, once limited in size by the waterpower of their streams, were now as large as the engines that ran them. Of the 3,010 steam engines reported in operation in the United States in 1838, over half were stationary.2 New England accounted for 317 of these engines The Middle Atlantic States had 502 and the South Atlantic 295 There were 115 in the north‑central section of the country and 370 in the south‑central section. By states, the leaders were Pennsylvania with 383, Louisiana with 274, Massachusetts with 165, and Virginia (including the present state of West Virginia) with 124.
Perhaps the most rural site of steam engine use was in the Deep South. Engines had been used there since the turn of the century, and by 1838 Louisiana alone had more engines than any other state except Pennsylvania. Their main use was in the various extractive industries. As was true in the cities, engines in the South aided but did not seem to create industries. They were generally applied to predominant manufactures: salt in the Kanawah country of Virginia, rice in Georgia, sugar in Louisiana, and sawmills and cotton gins scattered over the whole section. More often than in any other part of the nation, these engines were sometimes of English manufacture. [end excerpt]
* "Free Trade, The Confederacy, and the Political Economy of Slavery" (1991 by Frederic W. Henderson) [archive.is/P7Agj] [begin excerpt]: The southern economy was totally dependent on outside markets for the sale of its two major export commodities, raw, unfinished cotton and to a lesser degree rice; it was similarly totally dependent on outside markets for the bulk of its foodstuffs, almost all consumer goods, and virtually all capital goods. Almost no other of the extensive mineral and natural resources in these southern states were developed or harnessed. As Thaddeus Stevens, a close ally of Henry Carey, would argue in 1850, comparing Virginia, as an example of the all the southern states, the disparities between north and south were striking.
"At the time of the adoption of the Constitution, she was the most populous state--her population was double that of New York. It was the boast of her statesmen that she was prima inter pares, first among equals. What is she now? The population of New York is more than double--I think the next census will show nearly treble hers. Her land, cultivated by unwilling hands, is unproductive. Travel through the adjoining states of Ohio and Pennsylvania, and you will see that the land produces more than double as much as the same kind of land in Virginia. In the free states new towns are everywhere springing up and thriving; the land is becoming more productive; smiling habitations are within hail of each other; the whole country is dotted with school-houses and churches almost within sight of each other; and except under peculiar circumstances, their manufactures and mechanic arts furnishing lucrative employment to all their people; and their population is steadily and rapidly increasing. Turn again to Virginia. There is scarcely a new town within her whole borders. Her ancient villages wear the appearance of mournful decay. Her minerals and timber are unwrought. Her noble water-power is but partially occupied. Her fine harbors are without ships except from other ports; and her seaport towns are without commerce and falling to decay. Ask yourself the cause, sir, and I will abide the answer."
[ ... ]
In a outrageous perversion of those principles that are the core of Christianity, the southern population was organized around the irrationalist belief that the creation of the Confederacy and it's so-called "war for independence", the defense of this Spartan society, was divinely ordained. The motto "De Vandyke" or "God's vengeance" inscribed on the great seal of the Confederate States of America was not accidental. The Confederate Congress selected this epigram "to express the religious sentiments of the nation."
What were those sentiments? In effect they were the American equivalent of the jihad or holy war fundamentalist insanity of Khomeni's Iran of a hundred years later. In the same fashion as Islamic fundamentalism, this religious justification for state action became during the war a central aspect of southern life. In both dozens of national days of fasting, humiliation and prayer declared by Jefferson Davis, and in officially sponsored "revival" meetings within the Confederate army these notions were cultivated and spread. A sampling of the views espoused by both southern political and religious leaders gives one a sense of this.
"To shed such blood, as we have spilled in this contest, for the mere name of independence, for the vanity or the pride of having a separate national existence would be unjustifiable before God and man. We must have higher aims than these.... All nations have their assigned missions. A nation should not be a dead abstraction, signifying only the aggregation of individuals, instead it possesses a unity of life...analogous to the powers of will in a single mind. It stands in definite moral relations."
This sentiment voiced in a 1861 Fast Day sermon was wide spread throughout the south, as was the belief in what that mission was. As the Christian Observer noted in 1862,
"The Confederacy will be the Lord's peculiar people. It will be the nation to do his work upon earth."
A similar view was expressed by a Greensboro, S.C. minister,
"A pure Christianity is wrapped up in this revolution, and Providence is using the South for the grand work of its preservation and extension."
And as Alexander Sinclair, a Methodist leader from South Carolina, asserted,
"I have heard men in their ignorance attribute our national disorders to the influence of Puritan doctrines. Egregious error! The doctrines of the original Puritans were, and are, the doctrines of the Bible.....But the descendants of the Puritans have gone astray from the creed of their forefathers. [sic] Confederate independence will establish the South 'like a city set upon a hill' to fulfill her God given mission to exalt in civilization and christianity the nations of the earth.....The time has arrived when the claims of moral and political duty are so indissolubly connected, that they cannot be considered apart."
Given the nature of southern society, particularly its reliance on human slavery, and the principles against which it was in revolt, religious justifications for this "holy mission" would inevitably be directed against a "unholy" North. The biblical imagery used in the following sermon from a Southern minister, was one with widespread use throughout the Confederacy.
"David broke off from the first Israel under the reign of the house of Saul....Davis broke off from the second Kingdom of Israel under the reign of her first King, A. Lincoln, and established the second Kingdom of Jerusalem."
Similarly, the following section from the 1st chapter of Jeremiah was quoted frequently, oft times with a sense of the biblical prophecy implied by the war and its outcome.
"Then the Lord said unto me, out of the North an evil shall break forth upon the inhabitants of the land, and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee."
This was more than a people, naturally seeking a higher justification for their actions. Some historians or social historians have attempted to dismiss it in this fashion; along with arguing that in other ways the South's view of itself and its "mission" similarly sprang from a common tradition that existed, both geographically and historically, throughout all of the American nation. As one historian has put it "National politics were intimately tied to religion in what one scholar of the revolutionary era has called a 'convergence of millennial and republican thought.' The Confederacy self consciously portrayed itself as the fulfillment of this legacy." [end excerpt]
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Those eyes, the straight-up posture, the pained scowl. A MISSOURI HORROR.
Frank Embree, in Fayette, Missouri was accused of assaulting a white girl named Miss Willie Dougherty. A mob of over a thousand people captured him, and he was taken to the scene of the crime, where he was asked to make a statement. His persistent refusal to admit his involvement angered the mob, and he was stripped of his clothing, and half-a-dozen, well muscled men whipped him over and over using buggy whips. Each lash opened the skin, and the BLOOD TRICKLED DOWN
Emhree's body. He never winced. He gazed abstractedly into the faces of the crowd, and never uttered a word. Twice he fell, either from exhaustion, or in the hope of ending his agony by breaking his neck. He was given 103 fearful lashes, and then allowed to sit down. Again he was questioned, but he MAINTAINED HIS INNOCENCE. He was made to stand up again, and he was whipped once more. Embree's sense of feeling had returned, and he SCREAMED FOR MERCY.Promising to tell all, he told the crowd that if they would not torture him any more, and would not burn him, but instead would either shoot or hang him, he would make a confession. Embree then acknowledged that he had assaulted Miss Dougherty. Without further delay, he was hanged and his lifeless, battered and bleeding body was left on display for hours....No Trial...No Evidence...No Justice... Never Forget.
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The National Socialist German Worker's Party (Nazi-Sozi, or simply The Nazis) first-and-foremost put forward a program of absolute expropriation of "foreign owned" properties owned by Jewish folks (excluding the up to 500,000 "assimilated Jews" who served the government), and the expulsion of non-German people out of the Realm (Reich) of Germany to their own National Homelands. The Nazi program specifically targeted non-assimilated Jews for expropriation and expulsion (900,000 people) and worked with the Jewish agency responsible for the creation of a homeland...
“GOEBBELS HAS A SPECIAL COIN MINTED TO CELEBRATE ZIONISM”
In 1933 and 1934, Untersturmführer SS Leopold Itz von Mildenstein, (photo), from the SS Office for Jewish Affairs, traveled to Palestine on fact finding missions accompanied by a number of Zionist officials. He became a welcome guest for six months.SS von Mildenstein’s pro-Zionist report, later printed in the Reich’s propaganda Ministry Official magazine “ANGRIF” with the title “A Nazi travels to Palestine” (Ein Nazi fährt nach Palästina) was so filled with praise and compliments about the work being done by the German Jewish settlers in Palestine that Josef Goebbels had a special coin minted in honor of the co-operation. The coin had a Star of David on one side and a Swastika on the other side. In recognition of this coin, Palestine’s largest fruit growing firm decorated its placard advertising signs for Jaffa Oranges with a huge portrait of King David flanked by Swastika flags.
According to convicted and executed war criminal Obersturmbannführer SS Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi-SS nobles, Untersturmfuehrer SS von Mildenstein and Baron von Bolschwing, were the major operatives-originators behind the Ha’avara Agreement.
In Palestine, Baron von Bolschwing stayed behind to establish a clandestine paramilitary group of Zionist-Nazi Jews and Arabs to conduct counterintelligence operations against the British. Baron von Bolschwing hoped that the Arabs would stage a diversion of their own to coincide with the Jewish revolt against the British Authority.
The Zionist group Baron von Bolschwing helped establish in Palestine was the Haganah, the Underground Zionist-Nazi Paramilitary in Palestine during the British Mandate (1920-1948). Immediately after the establishment of the Israel, the Haganah paramilitary members transferred over to the ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES (IDF).
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The quote "A Single Death is a Tragedy; a Million Deaths is a Statistic" is falsely attributed to Stalin (quoteinvestigator.com) [archive.is/r481G].
Stalin's 20 million killed during the 'Great Purge', an investigation (2015-07-12):
[Report begins]: So, discovered the origin of the "Stalin killed 20 million people during the great purge" figure. Not the propaganda, but the actual origin of the numbers. The CIA cited a copy of Pravda from January 28, 1934, which claimed that the Soviet Union had a population at the time of 168 million. Now, the CIA used a Time magazine population estimate for 1927 of 131 million to calculate out growth. In reality, 1927 had a population of 147 million, and the 1937 census produced a population of 162 million.
Now, two days later, Pravda had a retraction, they'd meant to put 158 million as the estimate. But, the CIA had their starting, and ending numbers to calculate growth, and an end number. They calculated a growth rate of ~5 million per year, then stretched it out to 1937 to find the deviation.
The total listed as killed by the CIA then becomes 21,142,857.
There's your 20 million figure, the result of using a random magazine article and a typo.
All from the archives of the House Un-American Activities Committee, in a 1948 deposition, they listed an internal CIA report on the Soviet Union listing the numbers, with footnotes listing where they got them. The time magazine article [archive.is/IB46r] they did not provide a date for, but the Pravda one they did. The whole piece was just a single page in a pile of evidence. I was more amused at how quickly I could check against other numbers to find it was rubbish. they had over 50,000 pieces of "evidence" like this collected in under 3 years of forming.
[Comment]: "Stalin really did kill a lot of Russian people.Please don't excuse him now by blaming it all on US propaganda."
[Report continues]: Nobody is denying that. This is on the origin of a number only. On official Soviet records, we can easily find 700,000 dead directly attributed to policies he signed into law, and can blame 1.3-1.8 million indirectly. All on the record. Now, add in other areas which are grey, perhaps 2-4 million more, but it becomes more difficult to blame him directly. Still, a dramatically lower number than the often quoted 20-140 million.
Interesting bit, by the way. By daring to cite any number lower than the current CIA estimate of 83 million (out of a nation of 147 million) is punishable by up to 7 years in prison. How can we trust any number when failing to use the "official" number is punishable by prison time, for not only you, but your lawyer?
During Stalin's time they had 4 different coup attempts, six foreign military invasions (two from the US alone), and several rogue governmental offices. The entire situation was incredible not in the number of people who died, but that the nation survived at all.
[Comment]: "All these stories cannot be made up by the CIA. Russian people have backed them up [archive.is/e4Fd4]."
[Report continues]: You are aware that the Kulaks were monarchists who had stolen land from the peasantry, yes? And when the government went to collectivise it, the Kulaks purposefully destroyed farming equipment, killed animals, burned their crops, and salted the earth. They were not innocent bystanders. I may not agree with the Soviet program, but the Kulaks did some nasty things.
By 1933, the Kulaks had destroyed all but 3 tractors in all of the Ukraine, for example.
The whole death of millions is a statistic is not by Stalin, but a guy who played him in a video game.
I've looked into these deaths extensively and found no evidence of wrongdoing. When you look over the records of what people he had prosecuted, like the kulaks, had done, I'm more amazed at his humility and restraint than anything. There were 1.7 million Kulaks at their peak.
The kulaks were responsible for millions of starving people during a time of war with the most unabashedly evil force the world had seen yet... Stalin gave them an average sentence of ten years in prison.
The famine was a result of the Russian Civil War and was largely concentrated in Southern Russia near the Caucuses and Kazakhstan. Collectivization, combined with rapid industrialization, helped end bring about the of the famine, however; there were many Kulaks, especially in Ukraine, who tried to resist the process by burning their own crops and slaughtering their own livestock. They would often resort to promoting superstition among poorer peasants to try and carry out their goals. This of course, aggravated the famine in Ukraine and became a major propaganda platform for Nazi Germay's invasion several years later.
For more information on what's commonly referred to as, "Holodomor", since putting "Holo" in front of anything makes it more evil and ominous sounding, I suggest checking out this resource [archive.is/AyNfI] [http://is.gd/bw42Uw].
while people died in the revolutionary period in the Soviet Union, it was actually much less than other revolutions.
From 'Capitalist Holocaust' [archive.is/eY20K]: [begin excerpt] 'For several reasons (see below) a famine occurred in the Soviet Union around 1932. In The Years of Hunger: Soviet Agriculture, 1931-1933 (2004), R. W. Davies and Stephen G. Wheatcroft estimate the number of premature deaths – “registered excess mortality” – at 2.25 million. Combining their figures with Getty and Naumov’s gives an approximate total of 4.25 million premature deaths in the USSR as a result of repression and famine. In 1930 the population of the Soviet Union was approximately 160 million. The fatalities in the USSR thus correspond to 3% of the population, or roughly one-quarter of the rate during the English Revolution.' [end excerpt] (not to mention of course the famine, admitted by Davies and Wheatcroft, and even now by Conquest, was not a deliberate policy and in fact was a recurring problem solved by collectivization.)
Nonetheless, even if you count the deaths from the famine, which double the mortality, it is still less than the French Revolution & it's revolutionary wars (1,400,000 dead from 1789-1801, out of a 1792 population of 28,000,000 -- 5% of the population), and is more comparable to the white mortality rate of 2.8% from the American Revolution (70,000 died in the american revolutionary war out of a population of 2,500,000).
From The Triumph of Evil by Austin Murphy (.pdf) [http://is.gd/NSzAzv]:
[begin excerpt] It should also be noted that the annual death rate for the Soviet interned population was about 4%, which incorporates the effect of prisoner executions (Getty, Ritterspom, and Zemskov, 1993). Excluding the desperate World War II years, the death rate in the Soviet prisons, gulags, and labor camps was only 2.5% (Getty, Ritterspom, and Zemskov, 1993), which is even below that of the average "free" citizen in capitalist Russia under the czar in peacetime in 1913 (Wheatcroft, 1993). This finding is not very surprising, given that about 1/3 of the confined people were not even required to work (Bacon, 1994), and given that the maximum work week was 84 hours in even the harshest Soviet labor camps during the most desperate wartime years (Rummel, 1990). The latter maximum (and unusual) work week actually compares favorably to the 100-hour work weeks that existed even for "free" 6-year old children during peacetime in the capitalist industrial revolution (Marx and Engels, 1988b ), although it may seem high compared to the 7-hour day worked by the typical Soviet citizen under Stalin (Davies, 1997). [end excerpt]
AND
[begin excerpt] In fact, demographic data alone are sufficient to disprove the conjecture of Rummel (1990) and others that Stalin and his successor murdered millions of people in the 1940s and 1950s. In particular, Chalk and Jonassohn (1990) census data indicating that the population of the Soviet Union had risen to 209 million by 1959, of which 75 million had been born since 1940, implying 209 - 75 million = 134 million of these living in 1959 having been in existence before 1940. Combining the early 1939 Soviet population of 168 million with 24 million new Soviet citizens (who were added as a result of Soviet re-annexations of formerly Russian territory later in 1939) implies a population of 192 million at the end of 1939. Given Rummel's (1990) own estimates of 20 million Soviets killed by the Nazis in World War II, there are a total of 192 - 20 - 134 = 38 million people left who could have died from deaths not related to the Nazis. That number of deaths represents only 38 / 20 = 1.9 million per year over the 1940-1959 interval, or under 1.0% of the population annually. Such an annual death rate is far less than the over 3% Russian death rate under the czar even in peacetime in 1913 (Wheatcroft, 1990), is less than the 1.9% Soviet death rate in 1928 before Stalin took full control (Buck, 1937), is even below the 1.1% death rate in the final year of communism in 1990, and is significantly less than the 1.6% death rate under Yeltsin's capitalist Russia (Becker, 1997a) [end excerpt]
So, according to the historical data, the Soviets not only drastically improved the quality of life of all its citizens, but also drastically reduced the death rate from the pre-revolutionary 'peaceful' Tsarist Russia.
Hitler killed at least more than 30 million people and had Stalin not collectivized agriculture and promoted rapid industrialization in the USSR, especially by building factories East of the Urals, then the Red Army wouldn't have been able to resist and eventually defeat Nazi Germany. Many more millions would've died.
As the matter of fact, Mario Sousa wrote about this in the article "Lies about the history of USSR". If I remember correctly, it was Robert Conquest that used this "method" which basically blames all deaths outside of the estimated death rate as victims of communism. Conquest who published his works via CIA publishing house and who only got disputed in the 90s when Yeltsin opened the archives looking for a chance to confirm Conquest's numbers. That obviously backfired.
A lot of bullshit came out during the Yeltsin years. Former employees of his confirmed that they would buy old type writers and record keeping technology to forge various documents then present them as official Soviet archives in order to try and discredit their Soviet past. The, "evidence" regarding Katyn massacre supposedly signed by Stalin, Molotov, Beria, Voroshilov and Beria has been exposed as a fake since they use certain rubber stamps that hadn't even been invented since after the 1940s.
Still many reactionaries, especially Polish bourgeoisie nationalists, repeat the, "Soviets did it" narrative regarding Katyn hoping it becomes so ingrained into people's psyches that they don't even bother questioning the sources. In the context of WW2, considering how many Polish officers were killed by Nazi Germany, what difference does it make that some might've been killed by the Red Army? Regardless, all the evidence points to Nazi Germany carrying out the massacre then using it as propaganda against the USSR. There are dozens of monuments in Poland specifically dedicated to Katyn and it's even the subject of a Polish TV show. It simply feeds into the Anti-Soviet narrative and has been even used opportunistically against the Russian Federation today.
For that reason, much like Mario Sousa, what I always found very valuable Western were bourgeois sources which pointed out positive aspects of USSR contrary to the mainstream opinion in their respective countries. One such author was Joseph E. Davies, US ambassador in USSR. Also, the new generation of historians which published the actual numbers of stalinist purges, J. Arch Getty and Rittersporn fall into the same category.
J. Arch Getty is a fairly objective historian. His investigation into the Soviet archives and the Trotsky archives have debunked many blatantly Anti-Communist lies, but also many of the commonly held assertions that are made by opportunists who often call themselves, "Marxists".
What I found interesting is the story behind J. Arch Getty and Grover Furr. Namely, the two historians were friends and were sharing the information they would find regarding the Stalin's period. Yet, given that the academic atmosphere is very repressive when it comes to "denying the crimes of Stalin" that could cost one's job and academic career altogether, J. Arch Getty had to be extremely careful about what he writes and says. (This is probably the reason why you have less then subtle anti-communist comment in his works.) At the same time, Grover Furr did not have such risk given that research of Stalin is not his field of work.
It happened that they spoke over telephone and Furr mentioned that he believes that Moscow Trials were not staged as show trials, as it's commonly believed. J. Arch Getty commented that he had the same feeling about it. After that, Furr did something irresponsible and that's commenting it publicly mentioning Getty's name. They cut all contacts ever since. Grover Furr wasn't kidding when he said to be a published author and academic on Soviet history, you have to be Anti-Stalin. Anything that doesn't conform to that get's viciously attacked. That actually makes you appreciate the work of J. Arch Getty a lot more. A man who managed to fight Conquest and win under not very favourable circumstances.
Just like the Contras, in Nicaragua in the '80s, told villagers that the public health campaign was going to inject their kids with Fidel Castro's urine to turn them into communists.
The Kulaks were the rich peasants who benefited under Tsarism and opposed collectivization, which most poor peasants joined voluntarily because they received a better standard of living than before. The Kulaks, and the religious institutions that backed them, claimed Stalin was the anti-Christ and by joining a collective farm, one would accept the mark of the beast and be eternally damned to hell. That is why many peasants duped by Kulak propaganda slaughtered their own livestock and burned their own crops in resistance of collectivization because they lived in fear of eternal damnation. Poor peasants probably didn't know much better, having grown up in a religiously-dogmatic society. But hence the importance of revolutionary education. Nazi Germany, and their American propagandist William Randolf Hearst, were able to capitalize on what was later known as, "Holodomor", while grossly inflating the death toll and manipulating the narrative, to attempt to justify Operation Barbarossa and the Holocaust, since the, "Judeo-Bolsheviks" were to blame for collectivization.
Sill the kulaks themselves did 90% of the cattle slaughtering. A third of the peasants didn't have any cattle. The majority had only a cow or a horse or two. The kulaks owned the majority of the cattle and were responsible for raising it. One of the reasons why the number of animals fell so much during the cattle slaughtering was that it took the collective farmers some time to organize cattle raising to replace the kulaks.
Look at the stats from the first five year plan vs the second one. They focused on grain during the first plan. During the second five year plan they focused a lot on animal raising. The statistics agree.
>burns food
>kills livestock
>starves to death
>blames Stalin
>joins Nazis
>is defeated by Red Army and Ukrainian Partisans
>forms terrorist group after the war
>testifies to HUAC and invents a genocide
>commits ethnic cleansing against people in Donbass
>blames Russian, "invasion"
[False claim] "After the Russian Civil War there was widespread famine throughout Russia. This was partly due to the war and partly due to the inefficiencies of collectivization"
[Response] Except there was no large scale collectivization until the 30s
[False claim] "Because not enough grain was collected he blamed the Kulaks and ordered not only that the Kulaks be deprived of grain themselves, but also any seed grain. He declared "Merciless war against the Kulaks! Death to them."4 This, of course, only had the effect of making the shortage more severe.
[Response] The kulaks were a reactionary class of exploiters, any communist would wish death upon them anyway. No, expropriating the kulaks did in no way aggravate the famine, this doesn't even make sense
[False claim] "After Lenin's death, Stalin took power in the Soviet Union. He continued the policy of collectivization."
[Response] More like he started it, in 1928 that is, 4 years after Lenin died...
"The Kulaks were blamed for recalcitrance and a campaign of deportation was begun that amounted to wholesale slaughter.
[Response] I like how it doesn't mention that the kulaks sabotaged farm equipment, slaughtered livestock and destroyed crops by the millions, which was the main factor in the big famine of the early thirties, because they didn't want to lose their bourgeois exploiter privileges
[False claim] "Kulaks were transported to Siberia, which was bad enough. However, they were simply dumped off in the middle of nowhere, without food, supplies, or resources of any kind."
[Response] This isn't how Gulags worked at all, they were simply displaced and forced to work on the state's industrialization projects, it wasn't necessarily in the freezing cold of Siberia and they weren't deliberately starved to death, in fact there were Gulags pretty much everywhere. It's a work camp, not a death camp
[False claim] "Many more were forced to work their farms but not allowed to keep any of the their production - even for sustenance. Literally millions of Kulaks died. The exact number is not known, but estimates range from 4 to 8,000,000"
[Response] Those not sent to Gulags were obviously expropriated. All food went to the state and was redistributed, what's so unfair? they just didn't have their undeserved bourgeois privileges anymore. Those unsourced death figures are incredibly over inflated and likley complete BS, there weren't close to 4 million kulaks in the first place
Stalin didn't micromanage the military like Hitler did with the army of the fascist European Union, but he certainly had a lot of input. Stalin read immense amounts on a broad range of subjects, but especially warfare, and was quite capable, himself.
* Vasilevskii, Aleksandr M. A Lifelong Cause. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1981, p. 447-451 [begin excerpt]: I would like additionally to say a few words about Stalin as Supreme High Commander. I would hope that my service position during the war, my constant, almost daily contact with Stalin and, finally, my participation in sessions of the Politburo and the State Defense Committee which examined all the fundamental issues concerning the war, give me the right to say a few words on this topic. In doing so I shall not discuss his Party, political and state activity in wartime, inasmuch as I do not consider myself sufficiently competent to do so....
Was it right for Stalin to be in charge of the Supreme High Command? After all he was not a professional military man?
There can be no doubt that it was right.
At that terribly difficult time the best solution, bearing in mind the enormous Leninist experience from the Civil War period, was to combine in one person the functions of Party, state, economic and military leadership. We had only one way out: to turn the country immediately into a military camp, to make the rear and the front an integral whole, to harness all our efforts to the task of defeating the Nazi invaders. And when Stalin as Party General Secretary, Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars and Chairman of the State Defense Committee also became the Supreme High Commander and the People’s Defense Commissar, there opened up more favorable opportunities for a successful fight for victory.
This combining of Party, state. and military leadership functions in the figure of Stalin did not mean that he alone decided every issue during the war....
It is my profound conviction that Stalin, especially in the latter part of the war, was the strongest and most remarkable figure of the strategic command. He successfully supervised the fronts and all the war efforts of the country on the basis of the Party line and he was able to have considerable influence on the leading political and military figures of the Allies in the war. It was interesting to work with him, but at the same time extremely taxing, particularly in the initial period of the war. He has remained in my memory as a stern and resolute war leader, but not without a certain personal charm....
Stalin possessed not only an immense natural intelligence,but also amazingly wide knowledge. I was able to observe his ability to think analytically during these sessions of the Party Politburo, the State Defense Committee and during my permanent work in the GHQ. He would attentively listen to speakers, unhurriedly pacing up and down with hunched shoulders, sometimes asking questions and making comments. And when the discussion was over he would formulate his conclusions precisely and sum things up. His conclusions would be brief, but profound in content .
I have already noted that during the first few months of the war Stalin’s inadequate operational and strategic training was apparent. He rarely asked the advice of the General Staff officers or front commanders. Even the top Operations Department men in the General Staff were not always invited to work on the most important GHQ operations directives. At that time decisions were normally taken by him alone and not always with complete success....
The big turning point for Stalin as Supreme High Commander came in September 1942 when the situation became very grave and there was a special need for flexible and skilled leadership in regard to military operations. It was at that time that he began to change his attitude to the General Staff personnel and front commanders, being obliged constantly to rely on the collective experience of his generals. “Why the devil didn’t you say so!
From then on, before he took a decision on any important war issue, Stalin would take advice and discuss it together with his deputy, the top General Staff personnel, heads of chief departments of the People’s Defense Commissariat and front commanders, as well as people’s commissars in charge of the defense industry....
The process of Stalin’s growth as a general came to maturity. I have already written that in the first few months of the war he sometimes tended to use Soviet troops in a direct frontal attack on the enemy. After the Stalingrad and especially the Kursk battles he rose to the heights of strategic leadership. From then on Stalin would think in terms of modern warfare, had a good grasp of all questions relating to the preparation for and execution of operations. He would now demand that military action be carried out in a creative way, with full account of military science, so that all actions were decisive and flexible, designed to split up and encircle the enemy. In his military thinking he markedly displayed a tendency to concentrate men and material, to diversified deployment of all possible ways of commencing operations and their conduct. Stalin began to show an excellent grasp of military strategy, which came fairly easily to him since he was a past master at the art of political strategy, and of operational art as well....
I think that Stalin displayed all the basic qualities of a Soviet general during the strategic offensive of the Soviet Armed Forces. He skillfully supervised actions of the Fronts .
Stalin paid a great deal of attention to creating an efficient style of work in the GHQ. If we look at the style from autumn 1942, we see it as distinguished by reliance on collective experience in drawing up operational and strategic plans, a high degree of exactingness, resourcefulness, constant contact with the troops, and a precise knowledge of the situation at the Fronts....
Stalin as Supreme High Commander was extremely exacting to all and sundry; a quality that was justified, especially in wartime. He never forgave carelessness in work or failure to finish the job properly, even if this happened with a highly indispensable worker without a previous blemish on his record....
As Supreme High Commander, Stalin was in most cases extremely demanding but just. His directives and commands showed front commanders their mistakes and shortcomings, taught them how to deal with all manner of military operations skillfully....
I deliberately leave untouched the expressions used by Stalin so as to give the reader the usual flavor of Stalin’s talk. He normally spoke succinctly, pithily, and bluntly.... [end excerpt]
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* "Molotov on the Death of Stalin’s Wife" (Molotov Remembers, pp. 172-73) [archive.is/JdcFp]
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* "The Gandhi None of Us Knew" (2011-04-01, huffingtonpost.com) [archive.is/JolH3]
* "Not All Peaceful: 13 Racist Quotes Gandhi Said About Black People" (2015-03-31, atlantablackstar.com) page 1 [archive.is/O2dN7], page 2 [archive.is/LQmhZ], page 3 [archive.is/fEkJ7], page 4 [archive.is/AOh2l], page 5 [archive.is/sBtKq], page 6 [archive.is/MIL1X], page 7 [archive.is/tlpGL].
* " 'Dear Friend': Gandhi's letters to Hitler" (2015-04-05, csmonitor.com) [archive.is/xWcT6]
Letter to Adolf Hitler, July 23, 1939 [archive.is/dzTLP], Letter to Adolf Hitler, July 23, 1939 [archive.is/GCHGF]
They won't teach you about Bhagat Singh in British schools.
There were so many Communist Revolutionaries in India fighting agaisnt the British occupation. It is such a shame their memory has all but been wiped away. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsqU0mskHmQ]
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In 1941, the fascist European Union was founded under the dictatorship of Adolph Hitler, who immediately prepared for a two-front war with the plan for a "Festung Europa" (Fortress Europe), whose main objective was for the invasion of the Soviet Union, using a multi-national army, including volunteer legions from fascist France, Spain, and Holland...
More propaganda posters showing the fascist European Union during their "Crusade against Bolshevism": [archive.is/Bn1Zc] [archive.is/26GpW] [archive.is/uPkQG] [archive.is/yZYTs][archive.is/CzaNw] [archive.is/Rs91A]
The Crusade against the "Imperial Democracies", propaganda poster for the weekly SS Storm magazine [archive.is/yowKK]
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The Japanese People's Democratic Republic, to be established in 1946, would have broke the blockade of what would eventually become the People's Republic of China in 1949, and would have forestalled the USA-led war against the People of northern Korea which murdered 3 million civilians...
* "Russian plan for the occupation. Hokkaido and projects postwar land of the rising sun" (machine translated by survincity.com) [archive.is/LkKzj]
* "Truman Told Stalin Not to Invade Japan" (1995-02-02 letter to nytimes.com) [archive.is/ZLLsi]
* "The Bomb Didn’t Beat Japan… Stalin Did! Have 70 years of nuclear policy been based on a lie?" (2013-05-30, foreignpolicy.com) [archive.is/3If0t]
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* "Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya" (by Caroline Elkins) [http://is.gd/HjDnr1]
the Briggs Plan—a massive resettlement of thousands of people from jungle areas where they were vulnerable to guerrilla intimidation.
* "Briggs' Plan in Malaya" (malay--history.blogspot.de) [archive.is/1bz18] [begin excerpt]: The Malayan Emergency in British-rules Malaya was declared in June 1948 in response to attempts by the mainly Chinese-dominated Malayan Communist Party to overthrow British colonial rule. However British did not at first respond seriously to the threat posed by the communists until October 1951, upon the assassination of Sir Henry Gurney High Commissioner to Malaya. With the implementation of the Briggs Plan, or to give it is full name the ‘Federation Plan for the Elimination of the Communist Organization and Armed Forces in Malaya’, the scene was set to enter a new phase that marked the beginning of the end of the Emergency and the defeat of the communist uprising. Within this plan, Briggs stated his belief that the British government needed to demonstrate ‘effective administration and control of all populated areas.’ Lieutenant General Sir Harold Briggs a retired regular Indian Army officer arrived in Kuala Lumpur in 3 April 1950, to take up a new post as Director of Operations. He had served throughout with the Indian Army, and with his thirty-four years’ experience of warfare in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, he was extremely well qualified for the position. One of the major features of Briggs Plan, which had already been implemented before Briggs arrived, was the resettlement of thousands of Chinese squatters who lived near the jungle fringes and were thought to provide the communist insurgents with their primary source of food, assistance, and information. Briggs Plan recognized that because of food could only be cultivated in jungle clearing, the insurgent’s primary source of both food and intelligence was ethnic Chinese squatters ringing the impenetrable jungles. Briggs restructured the plan, more thoroughly by coordinating the civil, army and police authority. The Briggs Plan took over three years to implement and encountered several obstacles along the way. At one point in late 1950, Briggs believed the situation has so deteriorated he flew to London to plead his case directly with the prime minister. After Briggs retired owing to poor health and after the death of Sir Henry, it fell to General Sir Gerald Templer to implement the Briggs Plan.
* "Location Scouting in archive footage of the immediate events following the Japanese surrender in 1945" part 1 [archive.is/fwusP], part 2 [archive.is/biE1I]
* "The Clandestine Cold War in Asia, 1945-65: Western Intelligence, Propaganda and Special Operations" (2000, Cass Series--Studies in Intelligence; ISBN-10: 0714650455)
* "The Communist insurgency in Malaysia, 1948-90: contesting the nation-state and social change" (.pdf) [http://is.gd/0Rb2VE]
* "Securing the Population from Insurgency and Subversion in the Second Emergency (1968-1981)" (.pdf) [http://is.gd/HMlR1J]
* "Not by Bombs Alone - Lessons from Malaya" (.pdf) [http://is.gd/zhYxGb]
* "Malaysia’s Experience In War Against Communist Insurgency And Its Relevance To The
Present Situation In Iraq" (2005) (.pdf) [http://is.gd/5HP1fo]
* "Suppressing Insurgency: An Analysis of the Malayan Emergency, 1948-1954" (1992, by John Coates, Westview Press): Based on previously classified materials, this study traces the political policies and operational practices that enabled the British to defeat the communist insurgency known as the Malayan Emergency between 1948 and 1960. The author shows how the colonial authorities overcame initial failures and went on to isolate the insurgency politically, while simultaneously conducting a lengthy and systematic military campaign. He points to key roles played by the Briggs Plan and General Sir Gerald Templer in bringing the long and difficult military effort to a successful conclusion.
* "The Malayan Emergency, 1948-60: The Domino that Stood" (1997, by Donald Mackay, Evan Donald Ruthven Mackay): This book analyses the British success in defeating Communism in Malaya - an almost unique feat. It looks at all the factors in combination - military, political, cultural and economic - rather than isolating just one subject. The Malayan Emergency starts with an overview of the state of Malaya in 1948 and reviews the troubles and problems during and after the Second World War that had made the country such a ripe target for insurrection. It goes on to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the two sides in 1948 before describing the history of the long-running Emergency, and looking at the impact on the campaign of the personalities involved: Chin Peng, the Communist Secretary General; Gent and Gurney, the two High Commissioners who died tragically and violently in office; and, of course, Templer, famed as the 'Tiger of Malaya', who effectively brought victory to Malaya.
* "Malaya's Secret Police 1945-60: The Role of the Special Branch in the Malayan Emergency" (2008, by Leon Comber): Following soon after the Japanese surrender in World War II, the whole country of Malaya was once more turned upside down and the lives of the people changed during the tumultuous years of the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960). The war against the Malayan Communist Party, which was determined to overthrow the Malayan government, involved the whole population in one form or another. This book analyzes the pivotal role of the Malayan Police's Special Branch, the government's supreme intelligence agency, in defeating the communist uprising and safeguarding the security of the country. The book shows for the first time how the Special Branch was organized and how it worked to provide the security forces with political and operational intelligence. The book represents a major contribution to the understanding of the Malayan Emergency. It will be of interest to students of Malay(si)a's recent history, as well as to those interested in counterinsurgency operations in other parts of the world.
* "Dialogues with Chin Peng: New Light on the Malayan Communist Party" (2004, edited by C. C. Chin, Karl Hack, Singapore University Press): Chin Peng, who became Secretary General of the Malayan Communist Party in 1947 at the age of 23, is a key figure in the recent history of Malaysia. Long vilified for his political activities, he is working toward a reassessment of his role and importance in Southeast Asian history. In 1947 Chin Peng was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his services in the fight against Japan during the Pacific War. In 1948 his communist party launched a campaign of violence against the colonial government, which responded with military action under the name of the 'Malayan Emergency'. The Emergency ended in 1969, but sporadic violence continued, and nearly four decades would pass before the Malayan Communist Party signed a peace agreement with Malaysia and Thailand. Chin Peng then began a new struggle, seeking to tell his side of the story of the Emergency. His grasp of events-seen from deep inside the jungle, from the Thai border, and from Beijing-was incomplete, and he began gathering from sources from around the world. As part of his quest, he agreed to meet a group of historians and former military personnel in Australia for an exchange of views. Dialogues with Chin Peng: New Light on the Malayan Communist Party is the record of these exciting and intense sessions. It includes background papers, previously unseen Communist Party documents, propaganda posters, and other data. These materials, from both sides of the conflict, shed new light on the Malayan Communist Party, and present history as dialogue and debate.
[another review] Chin Peng, decorated as a resistance fighter against the Japanese in Malaya and condemned for his later role in leading the Communist guerilla assault on, first, British, and, then, Malayan Government rule, obviously had a mixed reputation. This book is a record of the fascinating encounter in 1999 between Chin Peng and a group of prominent academics who had studied the party and police and military personnel who had confronted Chin Peng and his followers in the jungle. The aim of the two day workshop was to try and improve the objectivity in writing this important part of Malaysian history.
* "The Communist Party of Malaya: The inside story" (1994, by Aloysius Chin; ISBN-10: 9678101920) Review By Kenneth Ngiau: I can say for a fact that this is probably the best book on the subject. Aloysius Chin, who also happens to be my grandfather, has been actively fighting the communist for a great part of his life. He rose to the rank of Senior Assistant Commissioner 1 (SAC 1) in the Special Branch Division, a division that dealt with the Communist Party of Malay (CPM) threat. So he definitely knows the "inside story" Although he could not disclose his operations while serving in the police, he was often away from the family for many days in the jungles of Malaysia, fighting the communist. He came close to death in one such operation when he was shot at. He even had his name written on a $5 bill, indicating that he was an assassination target by the CPM When he was writing his book, he used to explain the strategies of the communists and we used to have in-depth discussions on the topic. He could point out exactly where the communists were on maps and what they were doing there. If you're looking for a book with a novel-like tone, this is not one you would pick up. It's very factual and provides insights into the workings and the intricate operations of the Communist.
* "The Clandestine Cold War in Asia, 1945-65: Western Intelligence, Propaganda, and Special Operations" book review by John Kenneth Knaus, Harvard University:
Richard J. Aldrich, Gary Rawnsley, and Ming-Yeh T. Rawnsley, eds., The Clandestine Cold War in Asia, 1945-65: Western Intelligence, Propaganda, and Special Operations. London: Frank Cass, 2000. 298 pp. $57.00.
As an intelligence operations officer who began his career with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) at the height of the Cold War, I have frequently wondered how succeeding generations would view the activities we conducted during that era. In 1999 the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the University of Nottingham organized a conference that revealed how a group of contemporary academics, mostly British, judge the performance of the intelligence services of both the United Kingdom and the United States on missions in Asia during the first twenty years of the Cold War. All but one of the participants were professional scholars rather than participants in these covert operations; hence no issues of self-defense were involved. Their overall scorecard on the objectives and accomplishments of these operations was mixed but generally negative. Although this verdict was in some ways discomforting to the veterans of those days, their conclusions provide useful insights into the limitations inherent in covert activities and the problems that may be encountered when they are implemented.
The book begins with an analysis by Matthew Aid of the failure of U.S. intelligence organizations to predict the North Korean invasion of June 1950, a seminal event in bringing the Cold War to Asia. The outbreak of the Korean War set the context for most of the covert operations described by the other authors. Aid is an American intelligence scholar who has drawn skillfully on U.S. archives to help explain the reason for this failure. His description of the disorganized state of the U.S. intelligence community both in Washington and in the field is detailed and well documented. He properly sets this disorganization and its costly effects in the context of the general state of unpreparedness of the U.S. military and the various intelligence agencies. The national security organizations had been under severe budgetary and political pressures in a country that was anxious to return to peacetime life. Aid's account of the intense but petty rivalry between MacArthur's intelligence chief, Major General Charles Willoughby, and the CIA--a rivalry bred by Willoughby's defense of his turf, with unfortunate consequences for all concerned--is equally accurate and damning.
Aid's analysis covers only the invasion and the events of the following four months. He therefore does not deal with the second unpleasant intelligence jolt of 1950, the entry of the Chinese Communist armed forces into the conflict in late October of that year. The two shocks produced major changes in both the wider distribution of communications intelligence within CIA's Intelligence Directorate and a more formal structure for analyzing and reporting indications of hostile Communist intentions. My first assignment in the CIA, in late 1951, was to the Directorate's Indications Staff. Even though it was a year after Chinese troops had crossed the Yalu River to join the Korean conflict, there was still a fierce debate (which continues even today among the veterans of that bitter experience) over whether the Directorate had missed [End Page 92] signals that could have forecast the Chinese entry. By this time the Staff was producing the weekly Situation Summary (Sitsum), which reported indications based on exhaustive analysis of political, economic, and military items gleaned from all sources, especially communications intelligence. Analysts compared their findings with a checklist of indicators of potential hostile actions by members of the Soviet bloc. By the standards of today's intelligence publications, the Sitsum was primitive. It was a seven- to eight-page document, typed and retyped (no erasures were permitted) by the Staff secretary each Thursday evening and hand carried to President Harry Truman early the following morning. By noon it arrived back with the president's comments, frequently handwritten in the margin asking for further information or follow-up action. The process was not fancy, but it was a direct way of ensuring that all available bits of intelligence were considered, filed (on 5 3 8 cards) for future reference, and reported to Washington's top consumer.
There was a great sense of satisfaction in working on the Sitsum. The document had been born in crisis, and many officials were concerned that another cataclysm would erupt. Good intelligence delivered in a timely manner was intended to alert those who could act on it to avert World War III. This sense of immediate peril motivated those who designed and carried out the U.S. and British covert actions that are described in the other chapters of The Clandestine Cold War in Asia. This is an important factor that should be taken into account in judging these operations, a perspective difficult for those who have no personal memories of the acute tensions in the late 1950s.
For the most part the authors have done a creditable job of trying to place the covert operations in context by scrutinizing the historical records available to them. More complete assessments of the motivations of U.S. officials who were responsible for initiating and implementing these activities can be expected as the U.S. official archives declassify increasing amounts of documents from this era. In the interim it might have been useful if the conference had included some of the real-life participants in these events. The final essay in the book, by Brian Stewart, describes both the problems and the successes that he encountered as a Chinese affairs officer in the Malayan government's successful battle against Communist guerrillas in the early 1950s. His chapter confirms the value of such first-hand accounts. Stewart's observations are reinforced by Karl Hack's meticulous analysis of the eventual success of British policies and tactics in Malaya. Hack's study is based on extensive research in government archives and personal histories fleshed out by an exceptional workshop that the Malayan Communist Party leader, Chin Peng, held with historians in Canberra in 1991. A companion study by Kumar Ramakrishna provides a useful history of the Malayan government's efforts to quell the insurgency.
In the 1950s the prevailing philosophy was to win hearts and minds in current and potential client states. Eva-Lotta Hedman's critique of the relationship between the Philippine political hero Ramon Magsaysay and the ugly/quiet American prototype, Edward Lansdale, concludes that the legend that grew out of their collaboration was an extension of the "Frontier Myth"--in which "Asians became figurative Apaches and the Philippines became a symbolic equivalent of Daniel Boone's Kentucky or [End Page 93] Sam's Houston's Texas" (p. 191). This is an imaginative analysis, but it seems to neglect the pragmatic aspects of the Magsaysay program, which was built around some very down-to-earth electoral reforms and anticorruption measures coupled with land grants to win over poor farmers. Hedman might well argue that these were also measures adopted from the days of "winning the West" in America, but surely she would not write off the efforts of these two men as merely those of two romantics who saw themselves as latter-day cowboy "white hats" fighting the "black hats." There may have been elements of the Frontier Myth in the legend they produced, but it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between political myths and political vision. Isaiah's pronouncement--that when leaders have no vision the nation perishes--seemed unusually prophetic when Magsaysay's plane crashed into a mountainside in 1957, leaving a vacuum in Filipino politics that has since rarely been filled.
Gary Rawnsley presents an interesting critique of the use of propaganda by the Chinese Nationalist government built around the theme of the inevitability of its return to power on the Chinese mainland. Chiang Kaishek and his family were masters of playing the American press and the Congress to support their cause. Whether they believed their own propaganda is unknown. They probably took some encouragement from the guerrilla raids on the islands off the Chinese coast supported by the CIA in the early 1950s and hoped to continue to enlist this kind of aid. As late as September 1963 Chiang's son, Chiang Ching-kuo, was unsuccessfully trying to persuade a skeptical John F. Kennedy to lend support to his plans to conduct airdrop operations of 100 to 300 men and seaborne landings of 300 to 500 men on the mainland. Although Chiang admitted that past raids of this sort had sustained a casualty rate of 85 percent, he argued that the deepening Sino-Soviet dispute offered a unique opportunity to weaken the Chinese Communists, and prevented them from launching a successful counterattack. (See the memorandum of conversation in Record Group 59, Central Policy File 1963, National Archives.) Chiang's son and his family and colleagues were realists with keen political instincts, but it took many years for them to give up the notion that their identity could be defined as anything but the rulers of China. Rawnsley argues that the Nationalists could have found "easier and more profitable ways to win friends and influence people" (p. 98) than to continue their increasingly threadbare propaganda, but it did serve to sustain their pretenses for a surprisingly long time.
Richard Aldrich's colorful account of the support given by renegade elements of the Special Operations Executive (SOE)--the British wartime counterpart to the Office of Strategic Services (the predecessor of the CIA)--to the Karens in their struggle for autonomy in postwar Burma is particularly fascinating. Aldrich very properly and objectively begins by noting the debate and problems generated by the arming of insurgent groups who were fighting a common enemy during World War II: "Clandestine struggle might help to evict an occupying enemy, but only at the risk of rendering the territory ungovernable" (p. 131)--a lesson that the United States was to find painfully relevant some decades later in Afghanistan. Aldrich goes on to recount a tale that reflects a grudging admiration for the SOE officers who decided to act in [End Page 94] 1948 when they felt that their government had betrayed people who had served them well in their common cause of evicting the Japanese from Burma. Having felt a similar resentment when the U.S. government walked away from the Tibetans whom we had been supporting in their resistance of the Chinese occupation, I could identify with these earlier British rebels who had committed the intelligence taboo of "falling in love with your agents." It is painful when loyalties come into conflict with policy. In this case, if any of the SOE renegades are still alive they must feel some sense of vindication following British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook's visit with groups of Karens refugees during a trip to Thailand in 2000.
In the spirit of Santayana's oft-quoted admonition that "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," this book can well serve as a valuable guidebook for policy makers when they weigh the potential benefits of using covert intelligence operations and as a manual for those who may be ordered to carry them out.
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* "The ULTRASENSITIVE Bay of Pigs: Newly Released Portions of Taylor Commission Report Provide Critical New Details on Operation Zapata" [archive.is/XFPWw]: Shortly after the CIA's botched paramilitary invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, President John F. Kennedy established a commission to investigate the failure and to consider whether the United States should conduct similar covert operations in the future. The commission -- chaired by General Maxwell Taylor, but also including the president's brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, Admiral Arleigh Burke and DCI Allen Dulles -- produced a highly critical series of narratives and memoranda, concluding, in part, that "the impossibility of running Zapata as a covert operation under CIA should have been recognized" as early as November 1960, five months before the invasion.
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* "Insomniac drunk Richard Nixon told his FBI director to be as ruthless as the Nazis in hunt for Deep Throat, declassified Watergate documents reveal" (2015-07-03, dailymail.co.uk) [archive.is/0Meki]* "How Nixon Actually Got Into Power" (1972-08, by Mae Brussell) [archive.is/Q8n0b] [begin excerpt]: The rise of Richard Nixon in the United States was carefully planned. A study of our State department and espionage establishment reveals that we had clandestine, secret armies functioning both abroad and in the United States. Hundreds of political assassinations related to minority races, labor leaders, spokesman against Fascism have taken place in the U.S. since World War II. In 1963 the political assassination of President John Kennedy in Dallas became necessary for our own hidden, clandestine government to maintain control. The candidate for President in 1968, Robert Kennedy, was murdered by the same people on the night of his victory in election primaries. Richard Nixon, front man and leader of this illegal government, mistaken for comical by the intellectuals, was administered the oath of president of the United States on January 20, 1969.
Nixon's kind of power -- over other people's lives -- is elusive, and vanishes rapidly at the proper moment. The human family has new weapons in the war against secrecy. Information is power. Speed of communications is power. Ability is power. Sheer numbers of intelligent and concerned citizens becomes power. Facts are power. Available facts and documentation of past political assassinations must be exposed today, before the next election in 1972. The coup d'etat in 1963, and again in 1968, did not represent the power or the interests of the majority. It is time to call a halt against the cold war, the hot war, and the war against ourselves. By examining the evidence of political assassinations, it is possible to understand how the country was misled down the line by a select, elite minority. [end excerpt]
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* "Planting Seeds in poisoned soil: a history of Weather Underground", part 1 [archive.is/39CVx], part 2 [archive.is/dxz1M], part 3 [archive.is/EdzrP]
* "Truth, not myths, serve our cause: Why do comrades on the left insist on repeating evident falsehoods about Lenin and the Bolsheviks, not least when it comes to 1917?" (2015-07-02, weeklyworker.co.uk) [archive.is/y07U0]
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“Comrades, there is no true social revolution without the liberation of women. May my eyes never see and my feet never take me to a society where half the people are held in silence. I hear the roar of women’s silence. I sense the rumble of their storm and feel the fury of their revolt.”
― Thomas Sankara
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* "Plan Andropov-Putin" (2014-12-18, expert.ru) machine translated [archive.is/2MVih].
Based on interviews with insider veterans, this article argues that the overthrow of the communist regime in the USSR originated or was mainly harbored within the KGB and that's the phase of the transition already started at least under Andropov already. The first off-shore, shell companies were found back in 1981, 1984. The early form of the plan (one of its key teams was led by Chubais) foresaw a Pinochet-like dictatorship for the transition (counter-revolution). From the very beginning, it was neo-liberalism (in its Russian form) which was adopted the model to pursue to the exclusion of all the other alternatives, including the "Swedish model," which for the KGB was for some reason not interesting (too sensible?). Andropov's original template was also strictly oriented against the communist party as an organization. The KGB believed that the party outlived itself. Thus to change the system, the original expectation was that the communist party would be banned and dissolved and, in case the trade union would resist, they too would be abolished.
The only thing, which, in the article, indicates any of the possible reasons of why the KGB became attached to neo-liberalism within the communist system is that, as people with exclusive access to Western ideas and schools at that time, they came to believe that ne-liberalism was the most modern of available systems and that all the others were in that regard outdated.
In the face of the tremendous scope of the task, in the end, the KGB decided to strike a compromise with the other factions of the elites or nomeklatura provided that they agreed to embrace the new liberal order
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Among the many contradicting official studies about what occured during and after 9/11 are the following:
* "9/11 victims’ remains were incinerated, mixed with medical waste and put in landfill, says Pentagon panel" (2012-02-28, news.yahoo.com) [archive.is/1ANej]
* "Pentagon Contradicts Findings on Dover" (2012-02-29, nytimes.com) [archive.is/79umP]
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* "What's Changed, and What Hasn't, in the Town That Inspired 'To Kill a Mockingbird' " (2015-07, smithsonianmag.com) [archive.is/PcLO2]
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ACTION CALENDER
A list of gatherings, workshops, and educational events in the greater Bay Area region
Wednesday, July 8, 6:30 - 8:00 PM
Laborfest: Screening of Wisconsin Rising
Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland
Wisconsin Rising (60 min) (2014) by Sam Mayfield documents the days, weeks and months when Wisconsinites fought back against power, authority and injustice. They were fighting back against newly elected Republican Governor Scott Walker's action stripping collective bargaining rights from public employees. This fight took place in the same period as the Arab spring, and workers in both struggles saw their common fight.
Discussion to follow.
Sponsored by Speak Out Now and PM Press.
See also: http://www.laborfest.net/2015/2015schedule.htm
http://www.pmpress.org/content/index.php?topic=about
http://www.speakoutnow.org/
Friday, July 10, 6:00 - 8:30 PM
Capitalism, Policing & the Role of State Violence
Alan Blueford Center for Justice, 2434 Telegraph Ave., Oakland
Join the discussion as Lamont Lilly, of Workers World Party, Durham Branch, talks about the fight against police terror and capitalism's need to have a police state. Lilly was recently in Baltimore during the rebellion there, in response to the police murder of Freddie Grey. He has been active in the struggle to win liberty and justice for Carlos Riley Jr. Lilly is an activist and an author, writing frequently for workers.org newspaper, a contributing editor for Triangle Free Press, and also published in truth-out.org. You can find him on Twitter @LamontLilly .
Contact: bayarea [at] workers.org, 510-600-5800
JOIN A PROTEST MARCH AGAINST THE MADNESS OF NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION!
70th Anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima
Tuesday, August 4th to Thursday, August 6th,
FROM: Mt. Diablo Peace & Justice Center, Walnut Creek
TO: Livermore Labs, Livermore
Center Board members Bob Hanson and Rick Sterling will lead the march from Walnut Creek to Livermore.
Leaving at 9 am from the parking lot of MDUUC at 55 Eckley Lane, the group will hike to Peace Lutheran Church in Danville where they will spend the night.
On Wednesday the group will complete the hike, ending the day in Livermore where they will join with other protesters from around the bay area and spend that night at the Peace Camp at Del Valle Reservoir. Total distance is approximately 25 miles.
Join us for all or any part of the march!
Thursday morning at 8 AM protest demonstration takes place at the gates of Livermore Labs.
LET'S GET A LARGE GROUP OUT TO THIS NON-VIOLENT PROTEST!
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
BOB HANSON: doctoroutdoors@comcast.net OR (925)934-1071
RICK STERLING: rsterling1@gmail.com OR (925) 478-8343
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