Poet's Page
music and opinion from Wales' wandering poet.
genuine leftwing Mass events Page
'WE CAN' is the first song by Efran Kaye and Poet,
to become popular across the world. We hope this new video inspires you.
Solidarity and action is not only possible --- it's the best way!!!
700,000 Cubans rally at US embassy
in Havana -- against trade embargo
December 21st, 11:28am
(PressTV)
Thousands of Cubans ---- led by President Miguel Diaz-
Canel and ex-leader Raul Castro, have staged a mass
protest ---- in front of the US embassy in the capital
Havana ---- to voice their outrage against the US’s
decades long blockade on the Caribbean nation.
Local media said around 700,000 people marched
outside the US embassy in Havana on Friday,
demanding an end to Washington’s trade
blockade and calling for the removal of
Cuba from the US State Department’s
so-called list of state sponsors
of terrorism.
Diaz-Canel censured the US for maintaining a terrorist
label on Cuba ------- calling it both “false and immoral.”
The Cuban president also accused the US of training
paramilitary groups to target the island country’s
infrastructure and slashed the administration of
US President Joe Biden for continuing harsh
economic measures from the era of his
predecessor, Donald Trump.
“We are marching now to tell the US government ---- to let
the Cuban people live in peace. Down with interference!”
Diaz-Canel told the crowd ----- denouncing the US for intensifying the “ruthless” blockade.
Cubans hold no hostility toward the US people, he
said, vowing to stand firm -- against any attempts
to undermine its sovereignty, or socialist system.
“If the United States persists in its efforts to break our
resolve, they will only find rebellion and unwavering
determination,” Diaz-Canel said.
The mass protest comes a month before Trump’s return
to the White House ....amid speculations of Washington
intensifying the long-standing sanctions and blockade
against Havana.
The US imposed the embargo in 1960, after the Cuban
revolution led by Fidel Castro. The sanctions were
expanded in scope in the subsequent years.
Former US president Barack Obama took steps to ease
tensions with Cuba during his time in office, including
formally restoring US-Cuba relations and making an
“historic” visit to Havana in 2016.
Republican Trump, however, abandoned such efforts
and took a more aggressive approach, intensifying
the sanctions.. and rolling back the steps toward any normalization.
Current President Joe Biden’s administration has not
substantially distanced itself from Trump’s policies
but has adopted a handful of steps - to relax
restrictions on remittances and flights
to Cuba.
Amazon workers on strike in New York,
U.S., Dec. 19, 2024. X/ @ProudSocialist
Amazon Workers on Strike
in U.S. Warehouses
December 19th, 2:29pm
(teleSUR)
The strike takes place in NYC, Atlanta, San
Francisco, Skokie, Illinois, and hundreds
of fulfillment centres, nationwide.
United Amazon workers from many warehouses in the
US have announced a strike starting Thursday after
they failed to reach an agreement on labour
negotiations with the online retail giant.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union
representing 10,000 workers, said that the decision
was made as the company refused to recognize
their union - and would not negotiate a
fair contract.
The strikes will impact Amazon warehouses in New York
City, Atlanta, San Francisco, Skokie, Illinois, and three
other facilities in Southern California. Thousands of
workers are estimated to be on strike. Moreover,
teamsters local unions will also put up picket
lines at hundreds of Amazon Fulfillment
Centres, nationwide.
Amazon warehouse workers, and drivers without
collective bargaining agreements have the legal
right to honour these picket lines by
withholding their labour, said the
Teamsters’ statement.
The Teamsters, representing 1 percent of the 1 million
full and part-time workers employed by the company
in the US, said Amazon was given a “clear deadline”
to come to the negotiating table to discuss “better
working conditions and wages” for the unionized
workers, but the company “ignored it.”
Amazon’s spokeswoman Eileen Hards said that company
employees had “always” had the choice whether to join
a union or not & the company had offered what many
unions requested, including competitive pay, health
benefits on Day 1... and opportunities for career
growth. Business insiders predicted that the
strike likely impacted the e-commerce
operations during a key part of the
holiday shopping season.
“What we learned from the pandemic is... that any
potential disruption can cause ripple effects up
and down the supply chain,” University of
Southern California associate professor
Juan De Lara, who studies warehouse
jobs, labour and unions, told CBS
News, on Wednesday night.
Students protest in Turin, Italy,
Dec. 13, 2024. X/ @PComuzzi
Students protest in Turin, Italy
December 13th, 9:42am
(teleSUR)
They reject --- ‘the war economy’ imposed by Giorgia
Meloni’s ‘reactionary and militaristic’ administration.
On Friday, police clashed with Italian students
protesting in Turin during a general strike
against the policies of far-right Prime
Minister Giorgia Meloni.
“We are against the government --- which does not care
about young people. We are against imperialist wars,”
said one protester, as reported by ANSA.
“A genocide is taking place - and whoever does not go
out on the streets with us, is an accomplice. We are
teaching our teachers what it means to be human,”
said one high school student.
Hundreds of people participated in the protests and
gathered near the Polytechnic University of Turin,
where the most intense confrontations occurred,
leading to the arrest of one protester.
The violence escalated when demonstrators attempted
to enter the Polytechnic, prompting additional police
''action'' - to repel them. Violent clashes also broke out when students tried to march toward the HQ of the Industrial Union.
The Young Communist Organization and the Alternative
Student Opposition (OSA) organized the demonstration
under the slogan “Stop Imperialism, Win the Future,”
are protesting against job insecurity and the war
economy ---- imposed by what they described
as Meloni’s “reactionary and militaristic”
administration.
The Turin demonstration coincided with a general strike
called by the Base Union Confederation (USB) against
Meloni’s policies. Similar tensions had already
occurred in recent weeks in the city.
During another general strike --- on November 29th,
there were also intense clashes between police
and mainly peaceful demonstrators.
________________________________________
Colombianairport workers
continue protests
December 5th, 8:04am
(Prensa Latina)
Immigration worker's protests at Colombian airports,
which have caused delays in service and long lines
since Tuesday, continue due to union demands for
better working conditions.
Several complaints from users are reported mainly at the
El Dorado airport in Bogotá and the José María Córdova
airport in Medellín, where Immigration employees are
involved in what has been called the “turtle plan” in
the country, which consists of delaying service.
The union alleges a staff shortage, estimated at 70%,
a work overload, and a governance crisis, that,
according to them, harms their mental and
physical health.
According to director of Immigration, Martha Hernández,
the lack of labour in the sector is a problem that has
been dragging on for more than a decade.
“We barely saw the study of workloads and began to
make up for it. 123 new personnel have already
joined the company and 544 more officials are
still pending to join. This represents a
significant fiscal effort,” she said in
an interview with local media
outlet Blu Radio.
Hernández explained that the employee increase addresses
a growing migratory flow, and tourism. She acknowledged
that, regarding this matter, negotiations are still ongoing.
The first day of negotiations took place on Wednesday
between government officials and unions, but it ended
without agreements, so the protest continues.
Given the inability to reach an arrangement, the
parties will resume talks in the afternoon.
Due to the situation, the Colombian Civil Aeronautics
recommended on social media that passengers
arrive at the airports four or five hours
in advance.
_____________________________________
XR Justice Now! Protests
Against Genocide in Gaza
November 26th, 7:34 am
(teleSUR)
The Dutch broadcaster NOS has one-sided coverage
of the situation involving the Palestinian people,
they denounced.
On Tuesday members of a faction of the environmental
organization Extinction Rebellion ------ known as “XR
Justice Now!” staged a protest against genocide in Gaza - outside the Dutch public broadcaster NOS in the Hilversum municipality, the Netherlands.
To protest against NOS’s one-sided coverage of the
situation involving the Palestinian people, they
chained themselves in front of the building’s
main entrance, where they displayed
banners demanding an end to
“legitimizing genocide.”
Other XR Justice Now activists climbed onto the roof
and placed banners with messages such as
“NOS, stop legitimizing genocide” and
“Language is not neutral.”
“We demand - that NOS take journalistic responsibility and critically reflect on its bias. NOS legitimizes violence and genocide ------ by adopting the Israeli narratives without questioning them. This severely downplays the
situation in Gaza, where at least 43,972 Palestinians have already died,”
explained XR Justice Now.
The Dutch human rights defenders --- also
aim to “highlight the systematic attacks
on journalists by Israel, which should
be considered war crimes.”
They further demand that the public broadcaster
“fulfill its duty to provide impartial and truthful
coverage,” warning that “the choice of words
and camera framing, directly influence how
reality is understood and how people act
in response to it.”
Police are present at the scene but have not
intervened. A spokesperson for NOS stated
that, for now, the protest is not affecting
the broadcaster’s programming.
________________________________
Paris march in support of
Palestine women
November 24th, 2:42am
by Peter Humi
Press TV, Paris
Human rights associations say that Israeli aggression
against Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip
alone has left more than 15,000 women dead and at
least 35,000 others injured ever since October
last year.
To mark next week’s ‘International Day for the
Elimination of Violence against Women and
Girls,’ pro-Palestinian activists have
staged a march in northern Paris
to commemorate the victims.
__________________________________
Chilean Workers’ Federation
calls for a national strike
November 23rd, 1:04pm
(Prensa Latina)
The Chilean Central Unitary Workers' Union (CUT) is preparing today a national strike for November 28 aimed at demanding labour and salary stability
and more benefits for State workers.
Another purpose of the protest is to reject the decision
of the new Comptroller General, Dorothy Perez -------- to
prevent contract workers, if they are dismissed, from
being able to complain to the Comptroller General
and force them to resort to the courts.
''Today there is a latent instability towards State
workers, since they lost the only tool provided
by the Comptroller General’s Office to be able
to file a complaint against an unjustified
dismissal’, the CUT president, David
Acuña said.
Acuña called on the government ------- to listen to their
claims and for the parliamentarians to respect public
labour, and warned that - “we will never again back
down in our rights.”
The leader of the workers’ federation also criticized
the position of..... ''some opposition legislators'' who anticipated their rejection of a salary
readjustment of 7.5 percent nominal
and 3 percent real, when it has
not even been presented.
The call for a strike includes all wage earners in the
country, but above all State employees, and further
mobilizations are not ruled out if there are no
answers to their demands.
______________________________________________
Colombians Mobilize in Tribute
to the 2019 Social Uprising
November 21st, 1:14pm
(teleSUR)
At that time, the repression unleashed by President
Duque left 87 deaths, 1,905 injured people, and
1,365 arrests.
On Thursday, Colombian labour unions and social
organizations held massive demonstrations to
commemorate the fifth anniversary of the
“Social Uprising.”
They organized large-scale marches --- in the cities
of Bogota, Tunja, Monteria, Riohacha, Florencia,
Bucaramanga, and Cucuta, also highlighting
their support for President Gustavo Petro,
and his proposals for social reform and
the promotion of peace.
Citizens raised their voices against Colombia’s
economic and political elites, who are trying
to carry out a soft coup against the Petro
administration.
The marches also marked the anniversary of the 2016
Peace Agreement, with 70 productive ventures led by
former guerrilla members, participating in the event.
The demonstrations will culminate in Bolivar Square,
where a special concert will be held -- featuring the
Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonic
Youth Choir, and the Children of Peace Choir.
In 2019, citizens initiated an uprising against then-
President Ivan Duque, a far-right politician whose
economic policies severely impacted Colombia's
economy and population. The following year,
social conditions worsened significantly
due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Faced with this situation, workers, students, youth,
and Indigenous communities took to the streets,
demanding improvements in healthcare and
education, as well as equal opportunities
and social equity.
However, due to the violence unleashed by Duque, the
social uprising left a toll of 87 deaths, 1,905 injuries,
and 1,365 arrests, assert human rights defenders.
The protests that began in 2019, allowed citizens to
advance toward popular unity and adopt an agenda
aimed at transforming their country.
This effort culminated in the electoral victory of
Gustavo Petro, who became the first leftist
president in Colombia’s history.
_______________________________________
Million-man march - held in
Yemen in support of Gaza,
Lebanon
November 15th, 6:4pm
(PressTV)
Yemenis have staged rallies in support of the Gaza
Strip and Lebanon which are subjected to brutal
Israeli aggression.
On Friday 15th, Yemeni people took to the streets of
the capital Sana’a and other provinces across the
country, including Sa’ada, Ta’izz, Ibb, al-Bayda,
and Hajjah.
Carrying the Yemeni, Palestinian and Lebanese flags,
the protesters reiterated their solidarity with the
Gazans and the people in Lebanon.
They chanted slogans such as “Oh Gaza (Oh Lebanon),
we are with you. You are not alone.” and “Swearing by
the blood of the martyrs, we will not fear the
deception of the enemies.”
They slammed the US support for Israel - hailing
the Yemeni retaliatory operations against Israel
and the US.
A statement ---- issued by the organizers of the protest
praised “the courageous and historic” decision of the
leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement,
Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, to conduct an operation
against a US aircraft carrier, and a number of
US warships in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea
--- which thwarted a planned US attack
on Yemen.
The statement also condemned the Western-backed
Israeli war on Gaza that extends ----- to the occupied
West Bank and Lebanon.
On an almost weekly basis, Yemenis have been staging mass protests across the country --- to condemn the Israeli atrocities in Gaza and Lebanon ---- and to reiterate their support for their country’s retaliatory operations.
Since the onset of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, Yemeni forces have carried out scores of operations in support of war-hit Gazans, striking targets throughout the occupied Palestinian territories ------ in addition to targeting Israeli ships or vessels heading towards ports in the occupied territories.
Demonstrators carry signs and flags during a protest
in support of Lebanon and Gaza, in Amman, Jordan,
on November 15, 2024. (Photo by Roya News)
Jordan rage ---- Protesters blast Israel’s
genocide in Gaza, carnage in Lebanon
November 15th, 6:31pm
(PressTV)
Jordanian protesters have taken to the streets of the
capital Amman to denounce the ongoing Israeli campaign of death and destruction against Gaza and Lebanon.
The protesters marched through the streets of Amman
and other cities after Friday prayers, to express their
support for the people of Gaza and Lebanon.
They chanted ----- against the US's unconditional support
for Israel’s crimes and slammed the Arab governments'
inaction on the regime’s continuous massacres and
the targeting of civilians in the region.
The protesters condemned the blockade preventing
the delivery of humanitarian and medical aid to
northern Gaza where Israel launched a new
brutal offensive last month.
Secretary General of The Islamic Action Front Party,
Murad Al-Adaileh at the massive rally in Amman
denounced Israel's banning of the UN agency
for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
"Today, truthfully, America and the entity (Israel) are
waging a war of extermination and famine against
our people in Gaza, and on Jabalia specifically,"
Al-Adaileh told the demonstrators.
"UNRWA is the only international institution present
in the Gaza Strip today. This project wants to end
the Palestinian cause and liquidate it," he added.
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of UNRWA
on Wednesday warned that a recent Israeli law, which
aims to dismantle UNRWA activities across the
occupied Palestinian territory, could lead to
"catastrophic consequences" and
threaten the stability of
the region.
The Israeli ban could impact millions of Palestinians
who rely on the agency's services for education,
healthcare, and basic needs.
Israel has repeatedly accused UNRWA staff of
cooperating with members of the Palestinian
Hamas resistance group, without providing
any proof of the claims.
The UNRWA head warns - the recent Israeli
law banning the agency, could lead to
"catastrophic consequences."
In recent weeks, the Israeli siege on Palestinians
in Gaza’s Jabaliya refugee camp, along with the
regime’s human rights violations in Palestine
& Lebanon, has sparked protests in Jordan,
with protesters voicing their support
for resistance.
The crowds frequently gathered in the Jordanian
capital near the Israeli embassy - over the past
months. The protesters have been demanding
that Jordan ends its peace treaty with Israel.
Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed more than 43,700
Palestinians, wounded 103,258 others and displaced
almost 2.2 million people since October 7, 2023.
The Israeli strikes and ground offensive ------- have also
brought the Lebanese death toll since last October to
over 3,370. Over 14,300 people have been injured.
__________________________________
Outraged over Gaza genocide,
Iraqi protesters burn Israel,
US and UK flags
November 15th, 6:08pm
(PressTV)
Iraqi protesters have burned the US, UK, and Israel
flags during massive rallies after Friday prayers, to
denounce the ongoing Israeli aggression against
Gaza and Lebanon.
Iraqis took to the streets of Baghdad to protest against
Israel and its Western allies over the Israeli campaign
of death and destruction in West Asia
The protesters burned flags of the US, the UK and
Israel during the demonstration. Footage showed
the flags being torn apart and set on fire by
demonstrators -- in Baghdad's Sadr City
and the southern holy city of Najaf.
They also waved Palestinian and Lebanese flags
and chanted anti-Israel slogans --- such as
“No, no for Israel. Yes, yes for Islam.”
Attending the rally in the Iraqi capital -- Hakim al-Zamili,
a member of the Iraqi Parliament, strongly denounced
the Israeli crimes against women and children.
"We have decided to speak against the Zionist and
American crimes - of killing children, women, and elderly people,” he said.
He censured - the Arab governments' inaction on the
regime’s continuous massacres and the targeting
of civilians in the region.
“This ongoing killing --- which is taking place with silence
from Arab, Islamic, and the international communities,
towards these crimes - that kill children, women,
and elderly people.”
Similar protests were also held in Kufa, Kut, Khan Bani
Saad in Diyala Governorate and Samawah, which is
located midway between Baghdad and Basra.
The participants at the rallies --- slammed the US-led
Western governments for being complicit in Israel’s
criminal acts, including genocide and war crimes.
The demonstrators also pledged - to stand with Iraq’s
prominent Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
who recently, called on benefactors across the
world -- to show solidarity with the Lebanese
people and rush to their assistance -- with
all available means.
Grand Ayatollah Sistani has expressed regret - over the
international community’s inability to stop the ongoing
tragedies in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
The protesters also showed their support and solidarity
with regional resistance groups which continued their
operations against the Israeli regime and its Western
allies over the past months
The Islamic Resistance has been engaged in hundreds
of operations since last October when the Israeli
regime began bringing the Gaza Strip under a
genocidal war and ramped up its deadly
aggression towards Lebanon.
The Iraqi resistance fighters have also stepped up their
attacks on the United States military bases in Iraq and
Syria --------- as a means of protesting Washington's full-fledged political, military, intelligence, and
diplomatic support for the regime - amid
the atrocities.
Protestsin Morocco------ as US-flagged ship
carrying arms to Tel Aviv docks at Tangier
November 12th 12:25am
(PressTV)
Hundreds protest at the port of Tangiers in
northwestern Morocco on November 11th,
2024 against docking there of a weapons-
laden US-flagged ship that is destined to
sail towards the occupied Palestinian
territories.
Hundreds of people have protested in the northwestern
Moroccan port of Tangier against the docking there of
a US-flagged ship carrying weapons for the Israeli
regime, which is engaged in a genocidal war
on the Gaza Strip.
“Whoever welcomes Israel’s ships --- is not one of us,”
the protesters chanted during the rally on Monday,
two days after the vessel, Maersk Denver,
docked at the port.
The ship headed towards the port after Spain refused
to let it dock at any of its ports, with the country’s
foreign ministry asserting that Madrid has not
and would not grant docking permits to
the vessel.
Maersk, the shipping company that sails the vessel,
however, denied that its cargo includes “any
military weapons or ammunition.”
The National Secretariat of Moroccan Front in Support
of Palestine, a pro-Palestinian group, said that the
Moroccan authorities ------ had ignored all calls
from various parties not to accept the ship.
“This ship --- loaded with weapons shipments - will unload
its cargo onto another ship, which will then continue its
journey towards the port of the occupied city of Haifa,”
added the secretariat.
‘Shameful decision’
It reminded that this was the second time that Rabat
had opened up its ports to such vessels ---- after
welcoming the military ship INS Komemiyut
that belongs to the Israeli army.
The secretariat called the country’s continued
contribution to provision of weapons to the
Israeli military “a shameful decision.”
“The Moroccan authorities --- have colluded with the US,
which is the source of these weapons, and with the
Zionist enemy army --- which is committing the
genocide against the Palestinian people
and the brutal aggression
against Lebanon.”
The comments came on the 402nd day of the war on
Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 43,600
Palestinians, mostly women and children - since its
onset on October 7, 2023, following a retaliatory
operation staged by the coastal sliver’s
resistance groups.
They also concerned the Israeli regime’s escalated
aggression against Lebanon --- that has killed at
least 3,136 Lebanese people.
Such actions --- “encourage the occupation entity to
commit its genocide and aggression, disregard the
position of the Moroccan people, and is a flagrant
violation of the relevant UN resolutions, as well
as being considered participation in the crime
of genocide against the Palestinian people.”
The remarks echoed warnings by various human
rights and civil defense groups that have said
Rabat’s decision amounted to violation of a
United Nations Human Rights Commission
resolution and another resolution issued
by the world body’s General Assembly.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) and numerous
rights bodies have called for a military embargo on
the Israeli regime - due to its ongoing atrocities.
By contributing to provision of weapons for the regime,
Rabat -- might have also acted in violation of the ICJ
ruling and the Genocide Convention, UN Special
Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, said
earlier this year.
The country’s decision comes while it joined more than
50 other countries earlier this year in signing a letter
addressed to the UN General Assembly ---- that
demanded “immediate steps to be taken to
halt the provision of arms, munitions, and related equipment to Israel, the occupying power.”
____________________________________
Paris march in support of Palestine
November 4th, 2:04pm
by Peter Humi
Press TV, Paris
A march and protest in central Paris on Sunday -- called
for an end to the war on Gaza, bringing together people
from diverse backgrounds.
They united in a shared plea ------ not only for peace and
justice but also for the international community to urge
Israel to stop its year-long onslaught on the besieged
strip ------ which has claimed countless civilian lives.
"Some countries think they are above the law --- and that
should be changed. That's why we taught our children
to feel humanity. Muslim, Christians, from all kinds
and countries. Black, white and yellow, from all
around the world. They are seeing what is
going on, so they tried to make this
demonstration," said Abu
Mohammad ---- a pro-
Palestine activist.
"Try to see yourself as a father there in Gaza, how are
you going to feel? [...] You see your children turn to
pieces, with all your dreams that they grow up in
a normal life and have their dreams come true.
The only dream the children have there
is to stay alive," he added.
The event marked the first children's protest in the
Netherlands, attracting considerable attention
from onlookers. According to local media
reports, ice cream was distributed.....
to cheer up the young participants.
(Source: AFP)
____________________________________
Jordanians rally in Amman in
support of Resistance Axis
June 29th, 3:31pm
(PressTV)
Jordanians have held... yet another Palestine solidarity demonstration in Amman, calling for ending the Israeli genocide in the Gaza strip. Press TV’s Raad
Thousands of Indonesians demonstrate in front of the US
embassy in Jakarta --- in support of Palestinians and to
criticize the US for its role in the Israeli war on Gaza.
Traffic was halted along the way as protesters, organized
by several Muslim groups, marched to a major street
outside the embassy, chanting “Allahu Akbar,”
or “God is Great,” and “Save Palestinians.”
Hundreds of police were deployed to secure the
embassy, the nearby presidential palace
and the United Nations mission.
(Source: Agencies)
Thousands protest Rafah massacre in London.
(Photo by AFP)
Thousands protest Rafah
massacre in London
May 30th, 7:23am
(PressTV)
As the Israeli genocide against the people of Palestine
continues unabated, the regime's military forces are
waging an increasingly violent killing spree against
displaced Gazans seeking refuge in Rafah in the
south of the blockaded territory.
In the latest massacre, dozens of men, women and
children were murdered in their tents by Israeli
occupation forces while they were asleep.
That has sparked renewed outrage at Israel
with protests once more engulfing the
British capital, London.
Protesters gathered outside Downing Street, the seat
of power of the UK, to protest the latest Israeli
war crime.
For the protesters, the British government is fully
culpable in this genocide, providing military,
financial, and, political, support to the
Zionist regime, a stance that the
demonstrators are adamant
must be abandoned ---
immediately.
I just can't believe, how our country is so complicit
in funding this genocide and in denying the terrible
suffering of and starvation on purpose, of people.
I've never seen such evil in all my lifetime.
Protester 01
Support for Palestine grows across the world amid
an uproar over the Israeli regime’s crimes in Gaza.
The government should know that we'll always be
here, every single day, every single night, for our
Palestinian friends and families.
And that's why we're here. We are not
going to give up.
We are not going to ignore this genocide
government and we're here to take
them down as well.
We're not going to vote on the fourth
of July for a conservative.
Protester 02
The US says Israel’s deadly strikes on a tent camp in
Rafah did not cross a “red line” and would not lead
to a change in Washington’s policy towards Tel Aviv.
I'm half Palestinian myself. My dad's from Nazareth,
he's Bedouin, but I've always stood against racism,
prejudice of any kind, utterly consistent with that,
to stand for Palestine, and to support the
Palestinian resistance.
Protester 03
This latest Israeli massacre, has earned the criticism
of even the staunchest allies of the occupying entity.
In an overnight airstrike on a tent camp, in a designated
safe zone in Rafah, the military killed at least 45 people.
The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said he was
horrified while French President Emmanuel Macron
described it as an outrage. And even pro-Israeli
media personality Piers Morgan described it
as indefensible and horrific.
Of course, some governments are institutionally
Zionist and the likelihood policy change
remains slim.
But for others, the tide has turned, and the recent
recognition of a Palestinian state by a series of
European countries could portend the start of
a new chapter in the Palestinian struggle
for freedom.
Mass rally against Israeli strikes
on Rafah ------ held in Paris
May 28th, 3:32am
(RT.ru)
A mass rally against Israeli strikes on Rafah in
the southern Gaza Strip was held in Paris.
About 10 thousand people took part.
As reported by RIA Novosti with reference to the France
Press agency, the protesters gathered at a distance of
several hundred metres from the Israeli Embassy in
the French capital.
Columbia University protesters
resume demonstrations
despite crackdown
May 25th, 1:19pm
(Al Mayadeen English)
Pro-Palestinian student protesters at Columbia University
have reignited their demonstrations ---- showcasing a
resilient spirit in the face of escalating challenges.
Pro-Palestinian student protesters resumed demonstrations at Columbia University,
affirming that their determination has
grown stronger despite widespread
suspensions and arrests.
Concurrently, students and activists demonstrated
outside the residence of Columbia University's
president, Minouche Shafik, who incited
against the students, prompted the
police to enter the campus,
suppressed the protests,
shut the encampments,
and arrested students.
It is worth noting that students at the University
of California resumed their sit-in protest on
campus on Friday.
Columbia faculty members ----- pass a
no-confidence vote against president
Faculty members of Columbia University's School of Arts
and Sciences --- passed a motion of "no confidence"
against President Minouche Shafik last Thursday
over her response to the student protesters
demanding an end to the bloodshed
in Gaza.
Of the 709 faculty members who participated in the vote,
65% supported the no-confidence motion. The motion
was put forward by faculty members on the board of
Columbia’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors. According to The
Washington Post, 29% voted against
the motion, while 6% abstained.
The faculty's dissatisfaction is over Shafik’s decision to
involve the New York Police Department (NYPD) in
dismantling a pro-Palestine protest encampment
on university grounds through violent means
without prior consultation with the
university senate.
"The President’s choices --- to ignore our statutes and our
norms of academic freedom and shared governance, to
have our students arrested, and to impose a lock-
down of our campus with its continuing police
presence, have gravely undermined our
confidence in her," the motion stated.
"A vote of no confidence in the President is the first step
towards rebuilding our community and reestablishing
the University’s core values of free speech, the right
to peaceful assembly, and shared governance."
It should be noted that the Arts and Sciences faculty
represents just 20% of Columbia's 4,600 full-time
faculty members. As university spokesman Ben
Chang highlighted, the no-confidence vote is
symbolic and holds no legal authority,
though it shows the growing
dissatisfaction... with the
erosion of the students'
rights to assembly.
Amy Hungerford, dean of Arts and Sciences,
acknowledged the vote as a reflection of
the frustration and disappointment felt
by many faculty members.
The issue peaked on April 18 when NYPD officers,
summoned by Shafik, arrested 108 pro-Palestine
protesters at the Gaza Solidarity Encampment.
Universities across the United States have witnessed in
the past few weeks a historic surge in student protests
in support of Palestine and Gaza, calling for ending all
agreements with "Israel" and divesting from the
occupation entity. Students also demanded an
end to the US support to "Israel" and
involvement in the genocidal war.
On April 25th, Columbia University went back on an
overnight deadline set for pro-Palestine protesters
to leave their encampment, amid more college
campuses in the United States attempting to
stop such protests from taking place.
US police made large-scale arrests in universities all over
the country, and even used chemical irritants and tasers
to stop the protesters who are expressing solidarity
for Palestine.
Source: Agencies
_______________________________________
Chilean students demonstrate in
support of Palestinian people
Saturday, 25 May 2024 6:16am
(PressTV)
University students held a banner reading "The Media
Remain Silent, Students Rise Up" during a protest in
support of the Palestinian cause in Santiago on
May 24, 2024.
Hundreds of university students in Chile's capital city
Santiago protest in support of the Palestinian cause,
urging the government to cut diplomatic, political,
and economic relations with Israel.
(Source: AFP)
____________________________________
Argentine Teachers and
Professors Begin
National Strike
May 24th
(teleSUR)
On Thursday, Argentine teachers and professors began a
nationwide strike to demand better salaries and working
conditions from President Javier Milei.
"The conflict is far from being resolved as the central
budgetary issue of Argentina, which is the salaries of
teachers and administrative staff of the universities,
is still pending," said Federico Montero, secretary
of the National Federation of University Teachers
(CONADU).
"We have lost purchasing power due to inflation. We are
the most affected sector among Argentine public
employees. This is not coincidental but rather a
result of Milei’s ideological & political hostility
towards public universities, which have been
generators of critical narratives," he added.
Teachers have not stopped protesting since Milei took
office as president in December 2023. In recent days,
their dissatisfaction became evident in
demonstrations in Misiones and
other provinces.
Teachers and professors denounce that Milei has led
Argentines to a situation similar to the crisis of the
1990s ------ when then President Carlos Menem
implemented neoliberal measures.
"It’s déjà vu of what we already lived through, that is,
educational disinvestment, persecution of popular
leaders, and budget cuts for education. This is
very sad -- and a great setback," said Sonia
Alesso, secretary of the Confederation of
Education Workers of the Argentine
Republic (CTERA).
"We had achieved many rights. This is a great setback for
both Argentina and Latin America. That’s why we are
standing and fighting. The strike is total ---- as it
encompasses the entire educational system,"
she added, specifying that this is the first
unified strike against Milei.
Teachers are demanding a meeting of the parties to
discuss an increase in the minimum salary and the
reinstatement of the National Teaching Incentive
Fund (FONID), which was eliminated by the far-
right president in early March.
"We demand educational funding for universities and
other institutions in the mandatory system. We
demand the reinstatement of FONID and an
increase in the compensation amount for
inequalities," said Angelica Graciano,
a CTERA leader.
_____________________________________
ArgentineTransport Workers
Announce indefinite Strike
Against Milei
April 29th (teleSUR)
Juan Carlos Schmid, the secretary of the Union of Dock
and Beacon Workers (DRAGYBAL), announced that on
May 6th, Argentine workers will carry out a strike
affecting all air, land, port, and maritime
transportation activities, in protest
against Milei's fiscal policies.
This action will take place just three days before the call
for the second general strike.... made by the General
Confederation of Labour (CGT) to demonstrate
deep opposition --- to the severe austerity
policies implemented by the far-right
President Javier Milei.
Additionally, the Union of Oil and Soybean Workers (SOEA)
in San Lorenzo... where one of Argentina's largest agro-
export ports is located, will begin an indefinite strike
on Monday against Milei's income tax and
labour reforms.
"The indefinite strike will affect 80 percent of the oil mills.
It will begin --- after the opening of the Parliamentary
session that will address income tax and labour
reform," SOEA said.
This mobilization --- adds to the strike also announced for
the same day nationwide by state workers responsible
for food sanitary quality (SENASA), which could
impact the shipments of flour and soybean
oil, essential products in the
nation's exports.
These upheavals condemn one of the most controversial points of the fiscal package, which foresees the reinstatement of the fourth category of income tax.
The new fiscal procedures will affect single workers with
an annual gross salary of about US$2,000 and married
Pro-Palestinian protesters march on US, Israeli embassies ------ in Seoul
April 27th, 6:37pm
(PressTV)
Supporters of Palestine march past the US and Israeli
embassies in Seoul, on Saturday, as Israel's attacks
on Rafah expand..... with reports suggesting an
Israeli ground offensive within days.
The Seoul protest comes amid a police investigation
of an Israeli professor for defacing posters at
the prestigious Seoul National University..
advertising pro-Palestine social action.
Joumana, a Palestinian-Saudi student at SNU attends
the protest on Saturday and says the professor's
harassment --- represents an opportunity to
share the truth about Israel's genocide,
Zionism, and the occupation.
Thousands ofpro-Palestinian
protesters march through
London
Saturday, April 27th, 4:37pm
(PressTV)
Protesters march through the streets of London
to demand a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and
an end to Israel's ground offensive in the
besieged Palestinian territory.
(Source: AFP)
University Students Protest in
Australia ---Supporting Gaza
April 26th, 12:22am
(teleSUR)
Students from the University of Melbourne, Australia,
continue this Friday’s sit-in at the Gaza solidarity
camp in the garden of the school’s main campus.
The organizers of the sit-in encouraged protesters to bring
tents, sleeping bags and blankets to the south lawn of the
main campus.... for the protest that began on Thursday
morning and as part of the demands have said they
will not move "until the university ceases to be
complicit in the devastation of Gaza".
They also request -- that the institution cut ties with arms
manufacturers with ties to Israel - and demand an end to
the Israeli aggression underway against the Gaza Strip.
The Green MP for Brunswick, Tim Read, said that "any
of the companies may have something to do with the
bombing, the massacre -- and the genocide that is
taking place in Gaza right now is indescribable,
it is unacceptable and the university has a
responsibility to sever all ties with the
arms manufacturers.''
For its part, the University of Melbourne previously issued
a statement - stating that the university has no ties to the
Israel Defense Forces and that "a small group of students
is exercising their right to protest on our Parkville
campus this Anzac Day".
There are also reports that the movement of student
protests and sit-ins at prestigious universities in the
United States continues, including the University
of Texas, where clashes with police forces were
recorded and about 34 students were deprived
of their liberty.
As well as at the University of California, he reported
the closure of the campus after clashes between
police forces and the student demonstrators of
93 of them were arrested and told they could
be suspended or expelled.
ArgentinesTake to the Streets
to Defend Public Education
April 24th, 11:38am
(teleSUR)
On Tuesday, millions of citizens took to the streets of
several Argentine cities to protest against far-right
President Javier Milei and his policies against
public education.
The city of Cordoba was the scene of the beginning of
the marches of students, teachers, professionals,
and workers rejecting budget cuts. Throughout
the day, millions more Argentines joined the
protests, especially in Buenos Aires.
Mariela Marchisio, the vice-rector of the National
University of Cordoba, explained that the
university is always audited and joined
the University Federal March that
marched through the streets of
the provincial capital.
The march in defense of public universities in Cordoba
was massive. It crossed much of the city centre, from
the Monument to the University Reform of '19 to the
Patio Olmos.
In Buenos Aires, protesters arrived at the Congress, where
the Federal Police placed barriers to prevent the passage
of citizens. The gathering of students, teachers, and non-
teachers was at 3:30 PM and around 6:00 PM, the
central speech was read in May Square.
During the mobilization, participants expressed their
rejection of Milei's policies ---- and reiterated their
commitment to the fight ---- in defense of
public education.
"The Buenos Aires University has always had problems
but education was never questioned. The government
aims to defund not only the university, but also the
state and boasts about it. We have to take to the
streets -- against a state that devalues every-
thing that has been a social construction
and the educational community," said
Patricio Torres, a man who works in
a brewery.
After Milei's statements that "There is no money" for
universities, Argentines reacted strongly by seeking
to defend education ----- and demand budgets for
educational institutions.
"The importance of sustaining, defending, and rethinking
public universities is starting to be questioned. Before
Milei, you could study. Our university worked, had an
adequate budget, and our teachers received their
salaries. Now, however.... everything is getting
difficult," said Julián Araoz, a young student
who traveled from Tucuman to Buenos Aires - to join the protest.
A large-scale demonstration in support
of Palestine took place in the centre of Berlin
April 13th, 5:15pm
(Izvestia.ru)
Several thousand people --- took part in a pro-
Palestinian demonstration in central Berlin.
This was reported on April 13 by the
correspondent of Izvestia.
Demonstrators walked along the main Unter den
Linden Street, which was blocked from traffic.
Hundreds of police officers and dozens
of police cars were on the scene.
The protest action took place against the backdrop
of a major Palestinian conference being held in Berlinon April 12-14, which was organized by the banned Samidun group, declared illegal by the German government.
The protesters oppose the genocide of the Palestinians
and accuse the German government of financing it.
According to correspondent Margarita Kostiv, the police
quickly ------ held the first arrests of protesters.
In response to the actions of law enforcement officers, demonstrators broke out shouting:
"You should be ashamed of yourself!"
Yale University graduate students participate in a press
conference concerning the Graduate Students for
Palestine hunger strike at Yale University’s Cross
Campus in New Haven on April 12, 2024.
(Photo by AP)
Yale students stage hunger strike
to demand divestment from
Israel’s war on Gaza
April 13th, 11:35am
(PressTV)
A group of graduate students at Yale University have
launched a hunger strike in protest against the
institution’s investments..... in companies
providing Israel with arms and military
equipment ----- amid the occupying
regime’s months-long genocidal
war against Palestinians in
the besieged Gaza Strip.
The hunger strike was staged, after students with the
group, Hunger Strikers for Palestine, sent a letter to
Yale president, Peter Salovey, and called on the
university to divest from its investments in
companies providing the Israeli regime
with military technology.
“We demand that by the morning of this Friday, 4/12/2024,
you make a public statement committing to divest from
all weapons manufacturing companies contributing to
Israel’s assault on Palestine,” said the letter, which
was shared with the UK-based news website
Middle East Eye.
“We demand that -- at next Saturday’s Yale Corporation
board meeting, you and the rest of the board discuss
plans for divestment and release a public statement
acknowledging that the board has done so.”
In their letter, the students said that Yale has put
more than $640,000 in investments in weapons
manufacturers like Lockheed Martin,
Raytheon, Boeing, and Northrop
Grumman, “which produce the
bombs, planes, and weapons
used to carry out Israel’s
indiscriminate attacks
on Gaza.”
Hunger Strikers for Palestine said they had sent multiple
letters to Yale and called on the university to divest
from companies providing Israel with weaponry
......since the regime launched its brutal
aggression on Gaza last October.
“Students have exhausted their means of communicating
with the Yale administration about divesting from arms
manufacturing,” the group said in a press release.
Yale University’s Graduate Students for Palestine (GSP),
which helped organize the latest letter and the hunger
strike, said this protest was the result of the
administration ignoring their protests
and demands for months.
“This is the last thing folks are able to give, their bodies,”
a member of GSP, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
told MEE.
“In the total nonresponse of any kind from the institution
we are speaking to, the final thing we can put on the
line, really, is our health and well-being.”
“Our demand is divestment, and this is the most intense,
and also a final way.... for us to ask Yale to hear our
demands,” the studentS said.
A coalition of students at Brown University in Rhode Island
has staged a hunger strike - demanding that the university
divest from companies profiting from Israel’s war on Gaza.
Another GSP member said that as a result of a months-long
silence by the university, the hunger strike was a last-
ditch effort to get their voices heard.
Other universities across the United States have also been
the scene of similar acts of protests in condemnation of
Israel’s war on Gaza and Washington’s untrammeled
support for the illegal regime.
Last month, a student at McGill University was
hospitalized after launching an indefinite
hunger strike in protest - against the
school’s investments in similar
companies.
A Youth Demand activist sprays red paint on the wall of the Labour Party headquarters in London on April 8, 2024. (Photo by The Telegraph)
Pro-Palestine activists paint
UK Labour Party office red
April 9th, 3:36pm
(PressTV)
Pro-Palestine activists in London protesting against Israel’s
savagery in the besieged Gaza Strip have painted the
Labour Party office red.
Video footage and photos showed red paint on both the
interior and exterior of the Labour headquarters in
Southwark London.
“Labour has blood on their hands,” Youth Demand activists
said. “They are complicit in the murder of Palestinians,
and millions of people around the world, as they
continue to drive genocide.”
One protester said Labour leader Keir Starmer is
an accomplice in the “mass murder” in Gaza.
“Young people will not stand by - and watch Keir Starmer
allow mass murder - by selling weapons to Israel and
allowing the development of new oil and gas,” said
Chris Faulkner, 21, an earth sciences student
from Oxford.
“Over 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza ------- and the
breakdown of our climate will kill hundreds of millions
more in the coming decades.”
Another demonstrator said the Conservative and
Labour parties are both “complicit in genocide.”
Ella Taylor, 19, a student from Southampton,
said, “Our politicians are out of control.”
“They are complicit in genocide ---- and we cannot wait
patiently till the election to have our say. If we want
change we must take matters into our own hands.”
Police reported at least 12 people had been arrested.
“They are complicit in the murder of Palestinians... and
millions of people around the world, as they continue
to drive genocide,” the group posted on X.
The Youth Demand group, which describes itself as
“a new youth resistance campaign fighting for
an end to genocide,” has links with the
environmental group Just Stop Oil.
The activist group is calling on the British government
to ban arms sales to the Israeli regime.
Before painting the Labour office red, 60 members of
the group had marched around central London from
the Embankment, through Trafalgar Square and
Piccadilly Circus to Downing Street and on
to Parliament Square.
The protesters waived Palestinian flags and held placards
reading “Youth demand better,” “Profit Kills” and
“Labour, Tory --- genocide enablers.”
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
“Stop the UK war machine.”
Those were slogans the protesters chanted.
Israel launched the campaign in Gaza, on October 7, 2023
after Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm
against the regime in response to its decades-long
suppression of the Palestinians.
The regime has killed more than 33,000
Palestinians, most of them women
and children.
[Rhondda Records salutes these youngsters' enthusiasm... and let's face it -- the current Labour & Tory leaders deserve contempt. But Rhondda Records shares ''concerns'' over their affiliations and darker forces ...who might try to discredit them... and the causes they espouse.]
0000000000000000000000000000
Toronto commemorates
International Quds Day
April 8th, 4:58am
Camila Escalante,
Press TV, Toronto
Quds Day rallies and marches are being held in cities
across Canada. Participants in the rallies are calling - for an immediate end to Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip.
London protesters call for end to
Israel's genocidal war in Gaza
March 30th, 6:50pm
(PressTV)
Thousands of protesters have once again taken to the
streets in London ---- to condemn Israel’s ongoing
atrocities in the Gaza Strip and to demand an
immediate halt to the regime’s genocidal
war in the besieged territory.
The demonstrators marched from Russell Square to
Trafalgar Square, on Saturday, as they slammed
the UK’s support for Israel amid the regime’s
ongoing genocide in Gaza --- urging the
government --- to ban arms sales
to Tel Aviv.
The participants in the rally, organized by the Palestine
Solidarity Campaign (PSC), also called for a ceasefire
in Gaza and more aid for the blockaded territory.
Ben Jamal, one of the organizers said "We will keep
marching," ....adding that the attendees wanted
"a permanent ceasefire" --- and more aid to
be delivered to Palestinians in Gaza.
"We already know that 70 percent of the British public
according to opinion polls support the demands
that we're making," he said.
A 65-year-old retired social worker who participated in
the rally also told AFP --- "I think it's important for the
Palestinian people to know that people do support
them, that they're not just on their own.”
Saturday’s rally, the 11th demonstration since Israel
launched its bloody campaign in Gaza, coincided
with the anniversary of Land Day, an occasion
which has been commemorated every March
30 since 1976, when six Palestinians were
killed by Israeli forces during protests
against the seizure of their land.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been regularly
massing on the streets of the British capital to call
for an end to Israel’s genocidal war --- since early
October last year.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was also at the
march, said the demonstration was "enormous and we're
here because we're appalled at the bombing that's still
going on in Gaza.”
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after
the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out
Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the usurping entity, in
retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities
against the Palestinian people.
The Israeli aggression has so far killed some 32,623
Palestinians, most of them women and children,
and wounded more than 75,092 others.
The Tel Aviv regime has also imposed a “complete siege”
on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and
water to the more than two million Palestinians
living there.
'Void peace treaty with Israel' -------
Moroccans join Jordanian protests
March 29th, 7:42am
(PressTV)
Thousands of protesters have rallied in Jordan and
Morocco in solidarity with the Palestinians, who
have been subjected to a genocidal Israeli war
for nearly six months, calling for severing ties
with the occupying regime.
Protesters rallied near the Israeli embassy in the Jordanian
capital Amman on Thursday for the fifth consecutive day,
carrying Palestinian flags and placards reading
“Amman-Gaza ----- one destiny.”
Chanting - “No Zionist embassy on Jordanian land,” the
demonstrators called on their government to close the
Israeli embassy and cancel the 1994 so-called peace
treaty that normalized ties with Tel Aviv.
They also expressed their support for the Palestinian
resistance and chanted slogans against Israel
and the US.
The protest took place amid a high-security presence
that was aimed at curbing the number of protesters.
Dozens of Jordanians were arrested in previous days,
trying to reach the Israeli embassy...... as others
were beaten.
While the embassy is currently without a diplomatic
mission after Israel’s ambassador left Amman in
October and Jordan recalled its ambassador in
November in protest at the war on Gaza,
protesters have said that the embassy
has partially resumed operations.
“Our demands include the complete closure of the Israeli
embassy. We have heard that the embassy has partially
resumed operations. Additionally, we call for the
cessation of the land bridge,” Mohammed
al-Abssi told Middle East Eye.
He was referring to reports that the Persian Gulf Arab
countries are trucking products to Israel via Jordan
to avoid Yemen’s pro-Palestine attacks that target
Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea.
Mohammed was one of thousands of Jordanians who
have been surrounding the Israeli embassy in
Amman ---- for the past few days.
A member of the Ataharrak movement against
normalization with Israel, he said the siege of the embassy - is part of angry protests
that erupted after the onset of the war
in October.
“The siege of the embassy has intensified
- in response to the blockade of the Shifa
complex and al-Aqsa Mosque,” he added.
Israel has been attacking and laying siege to al-Shifa
medical complex since March 18, and has imposed
tightened restrictions on Palestinian worshipers’
access to al-Aqsa Mosque, during the holy
fasting month of Ramadan.
Khaled al-Juhani, a member of the National Forum
Supporting Resistance, said that even though the
Israeli embassy was closed, “this movement
still sees it as a symbol of normalization -
despite the ongoing genocide".
"The Jordanian people categorically reject
normalization and embrace resistance
as an option,” he said.
“Today, it is the duty of the Jordanian authorities to
begin thinking and acting in a manner that aligns
with the aspirations of its people -------- and
reconciles with their will.”
In Morocco, people took to the streets of Casablanca,
Meknes, and other cities on Thursday, waving
Palestinian flags and decrying Israel’s
genocide against Palestinians.
They urged an immediate ceasefire as per the UN
Security Council resolution adopted earlier this
week, and reiterated the demand - to cut ties
with the Israeli regime.
Morocco, along with the UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan, signed
US-brokered normalization agreements with the Israeli
regime in 2020, drawing condemnations from
Palestinians who slammed the deals as
“a stab in the back of the Palestinian
cause and the Palestinian people.”
Tunisia also saw similar protests in solidarity with
Palestinians, with hundreds marching in Sfax ----
and calling for an end to the Israeli genocide
in Gaza.
Protesters ------- shut down UK arms
factories over Gaza war complicity
March 20th, 6:58pm
(PressTV)
In a display of solidarity with Palestinians, hundreds of
workers and protesters have shut down arms factories
across England and Scotland to condemn the UK's
complicity in the Israeli regime's war of
aggression in Gaza.
The factories, which produce components for F-35 fighter
jets, are accused of shoring up the Israeli regime's
military offensive in Gaza.
Under the banner "Workers for a Free Palestine," a diverse
coalition of individuals - from various unions and sectors
including health, education, hospitality, academia, and
the arts, launched the protests on Wednesday.
Activists ---- aimed to disrupt the supply chain of arms to
Israel and denounce the UK's complicity in the ongoing
genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza.
GE Aviation Systems in Cheltenham and Leonardo UK
in Edinburgh were among the targeted sites where
components for the F-35 jets are manufactured.
The protesters vowed to continue their protest actions
for a month, demanding an immediate cessation of
arms sales to Israel and advocating for a
permanent ceasefire.
The decision to blockade the arms factories was prompted
by Israel's impending invasion of Rafah, which the United
Nations and other international organizations -- have
warned would have catastrophic consequences
for Gaza's population.
Unionists have called on workers across the UK ---- to
challenge their government's military support for
the Israeli regime.
"We’re demanding --- our government immediately halt arms
supplies to Israel before it launches this offensive in Rafah
using British-made bombs. But we are not waiting for this
genocide-appeasing prime minister to act," Zad, a union
member, said in a press release.
This isn't the first time such protests have occurred.
In December, similar blockades targeted four other arms
factories across the UK. Despite assurances from the
UK government that it hasn't supplied lethal military
equipment to Israel since October, evidence
suggests otherwise.
Affidavits filed at the High Court revealed ongoing export
licenses and pending applications for equipment likely
to be used in offensive operations in Gaza.
Furthermore, the UK Ministry of Defence --- disclosed that
Israeli warplanes have been permitted to take off from
and land in the UK during the Gaza war, raising
concerns about Britain's involvement in
facilitating Israeli atrocities.
0000000000000000000000
EU Parliament president’s trip to Vienna
overshadowed by pro-Palestine protest
March 20th, 5:06pm (PressTV)
President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola
has travelled to the Austrian capital, less than three
months before the EU elections.
She delivered a speech at the University of Vienna. But
students there interrupted her speech - by protesting
against the EU support for the US-Israeli genocide
in Gaza.
Outcry in Italy over arms exports
to Israel amid genocide in Gaza
March 19th, 10:33 am
(PressTV)
Stop the Genocide
Thousands of people joined a 'Stop the Genocide' rally in
the Italian capital on Saturday organized, among others,
by the movement of the Palestinian students and the
Association of the Palestinians in Italy.
The initiative dubbed 'Stop the Genocide' --- also saw the
participation of high school students and their families.
People at the rally strongly condemned Italy's
unwavering support ---- for the Israeli regime.
''Italy that claims to be a democratic nation is a country
where the government goes against the people's will.
''Profits always come first - even
when genocide is taking place.
''I am teaching my kids to never give up the fight
and to never accept being submitted.''
Italian Protestor
Hundreds gathered at Piazza San Babila in Milan
on Saturday to display their solidarity with the
Palestinian people in Gaza and to call for a
ceasefire in the besieged territory.
The Italian Minister of Defence, Guido Grosseto, has
recently stated that Rome has continued to export
arms to Israel despite assurances last year that
the government was blocking such sales
following Tel Aviv's invasion of the
Gaza Strip.
''Western governments have been systematically supporting
Zionism and Israel's criminal regime, notwithstanding the
protest against Israeli crimes that have been taking
place across the globe. Italy's support to Tel Aviv
must stop ---- once and for all.''
Bruno Papale, Solidarity for Palestinians Committee
Arms transfer to Israel must stop
immediately: UN experts
UN experts say any transfer of weapons to Israel is
likely to violate international humanitarian law.
Some Italian media reports recently revealed that, despite
the Italian government's denials, the value of arms sales
to Israel more than tripled in December 2023 compared
with the same month in 2022, and December last year
------ was the peak of Israeli bombardments on the
Gaza. Strip.
''A solution to the onslaught in Gaza could be found if the
international community stopped militarily supporting
Israel. Italy -- on its side -- has been actively arming
Israel through companies such as Leonardo
and others.
''If we don't make sure that the Palestinians right to
self determination is protected, then nothing
will ever change.''
Luisa Morgantina, Former EU Parliament Vice-President
Earlier this week, more protests and initiatives
in solidarity with the besieged Palestinians
were held in several Italian cities,
including Milan and Naples.
_________________________________________________
Protesters block San Francisco airport,
demand permanent ceasefire in Gaza
March 13th, 10:14pm
(PressTV)
Protestors demanding a cease-fire in Gaza blocked
the international terminal at San Francisco on
March 13th, 2024.
Hundreds of anti-war protesters demanding a ceasefire
in Gaza and calling for an end to the United States'
military assistance for Israel --- block the
international terminal ---- at the San
Francisco International Airport.
Major London protest near
US Embassy calls for
Gaza ceasefire
March 10th, 12:21am
(Saeed Pourreza
Press TV, London)
Thousands of demonstrators have rallied across
the world, including London, to show support
for the Palestinians and condemn the
Israeli genocide in Gaza.
_______________________________
''Violence Reported'' as Israeli
Protesters Take to Streets
in Tel Aviv
March 9th, 8:11pm
(al Manar)
Many Israeli anti-government protesters
are once more taking to the streets of
Tel Aviv --- in weekly demonstrations
calling for the release of captives
in Gaza --- and early elections.
Video online and reports show protesters blocking
traffic in central Tel Aviv and chanting slogans
against the government, led by PM Benjamin
Netanyahu -- demanding that more be done
by the occupation authorities on releasing
Israelis still held in the besieged enclave.
Israeli media reported that the protests resulted
in pushing, arrests, and even a protester
throwing a smoke grenade.
The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli occupation police as
saying that an earlier demonstration was approved, but
protesters arrived and moved towards the so-called
Kaplan area without coordination with police, and
began blocking traffic ....and moving barriers.
Source: Agencies
_________________________________
Hundreds rally ---------- in solidarityfor
Palestinians in Malaysia's city centre
March 2nd, 1:57pm
(PressTV)
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian Malaysians on Saturday
(March 2) rallied in the city centre of Kuala Lumpur
to show solidarity with the Palestinians in the
Gaza Strip.
Protesters were seen carrying Palestinian flags and
posters written with words urging a ceasefire in
Gaza --- as well as a picture of Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, depicted
as the leader of Nazis...... with
Swastika symbol.
Among the crowds, the daughter of Malaysian Prime
Minister, Nurul Izzah Anwar, urged people to join
the rally against the genocide.
(Source: Reuters)
Polish Farmers Protest ---
Against EU'sGreen Deal and Ukraine's low priced imports
February 27th (teleSUR)
On Tuesday --- about 10,000 Polish farmers took to the
streets of Warsaw to protest against the agricultural
and environmental policies of the EU and ---- cheap imports from Ukraine.
"Although the official start of the march was set for 11:00,
groups of protesters began to block streets from early in
the morning," local media report. ''The protest caused
several public transport routes to be diverted or cut
off, as well as traffic jams at the city's entrances
and on major highways," RT reported.
The slogans "A wall for the farmer,""I am a farmer, not a
slave," and "Green Deal = hunger" were displayed on a
tractor --- pulling an imitation of a US Abrams tank
made of hay.
After marching through several streets in central Warsaw,
the protesters headed to the Lower House of Parliament
and the office of Prime Minister Donald Tusk --- to
present their demands.
"The farmers lit bonfires and fireworks in Defilad Square, in
front of the Culture and Science Palace, where the police
arrested a man who tried to set fire to a garbage
container and then attacked an officer,"
RT reported.
While the farmers managed to be received by the
President of the Lower House Szymon Holownia,
they left disappointed with a meeting they
described as "just a conversation."
"Nothing was agreed upon, other than the promise to
create a roundtable with representatives of farmers
and authorities. Just words," one of the protest
leaders, Szczepan Wojcik, said, emphasizing
that "we expect real and concrete actions.
For now, there is nothing."
"No agreement... Now we wait for Parliament and those in
power to make a move. What we could do, we have done.
Our voice has been heard," he added, as reported by RT.
The Polish farmers oppose the entry of Ukrainian
agricultural products and criticize the EU's
''Green Deal'' - which is a policy package
dressed in words about sustainability
- aimed at avoiding helping farmers
with subsidies.
_____________________________________
Police ''detain'' protesters
at Rockefeller Centre -----
as Biden visits New York
February 27th, 6:19am
(PressTV)
New York police officers detained protesters at Rockefeller
Centre as US President Joe Biden attended an interview in midtown Manhattan, in New York.
Holding banners and chanting --- "not in our name" and
"Biden, you can't hide - we charge you with genocide,"
the protesters on Monday, asked the president..... for a ceasefire in Gaza.
If supporting peace and stopping yet another rape of a resource-rich country isn't for you, because YOU read the Guardian - remember Libya, Iraq, etc...
Same game - lies, economic sanctions, demonisation --- then the call for a coup - to save the poor people!
Mainstream Media's Go-To Syria Monitor
Revealed to Be Funded by UK Gov't -- Nobody Bats an Eyelid
The mainstream media, which has been uncritically citing the pro-opposition SOHR for years, has failed to report it has come to be known - the outfit has taken money from the Foreign Office (Sources - Media Lens/Russia Insider) Wednesday June 6th, 2018
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, journalist Peter Hitchens commented last month on the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR):
'Talking of war, and Syria, many of you may have noticed frequent references in the media to a body called the "Syrian Observatory for Human Rights", often quoted as if it's an impartial source of information about that complicated conflict, in which the British government clearly takes sides. The "Observatory" says on its website that it is "not associated or linked to any political body."
'To which I reply: Is Boris Johnson's Foreign Office not a political body? Because the FO just confirmed to me that "the UK funded a project worth £194,769.60 to provide the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights with communications equipment and cameras." That's quite a lot, isn't it? I love the precision of that 60p. Your taxes, impartially, at work.'
This figure was confirmed in communication with the Foreign Office by independent political journalist Ian Sinclair. (Email to Media Lens, May 17, 2018)
In 2011, Reuters reported that Rami Abdulrahman is 'the fast-talking director of arguably Syria's most high-profile human rights group', SOHR:
'When he isn't fielding calls from international media, Abdulrahman is a few minutes down the road at his clothes shop, which he runs with his wife.'
Given the tinpot nature of the organisation, SOHR's influence is astonishing:
'Cited by virtually every major news outlet since an uprising against the iron rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began in March, the observatory has been a key source of news on the events in Syria.'
Described by Reuters as an 'opposition group', SOHR is openly pro-regime change:
'After three short spells in prison in Syria for pro-democracy activism, Abdulrahman came to Britain in 2000 fearing a longer, fourth jail term.
'"I came to Britain the day Hafez al-Assad died, and I'll return when Bashar al-Assad goes".'
In December 2011, Stratfor, an influential research institute formed of former US security officials, cautioned:
'Most of the [Syrian] opposition's more serious claims have turned out to be grossly exaggerated or simply untrue ... revealing more about the opposition's weaknesses than the level of instability inside the Syrian regime.'
Reports from SOHR and other opposition groups, 'like those from the regime, should be viewed with skepticism', Stratfor argued: 'the opposition understands that it needs external support, specifically financial support, if it is to be a more robust movement than it is now. To that end, it has every reason to present the facts on the ground in a way that makes the case for foreign backing.'
The Los Angeles Times described SOHR as 'a pro-opposition watchdog'. And yet, as Reuters reported, Abdulrahman... claims neutrality:
'"I'm between two fires. But it shows I'm being neutral if both sides complain," he said, insisting he accepts no funding and runs the observatory on a voluntary basis.'
Two years later, the New York Times described a modified funding model:
'Money from two dress shops covers his minimal needs for reporting on the conflict, along with small subsidies from the European Union and one European country, that he declines to identify.'
Thanks to Hitchens, we now know the country in question is Britain --- and the funding in 2012 was £194,769.60.
In 2013, we compared the reflexive respect afforded SOHR with the earlier casual rejection of reports on the death toll in Iraq published in 2004 and 2006 by the Lancet, the world's leading medical journal:
'Figures supplied by SOHR, an organisation openly biased in favour of the Syrian "rebels" and Western intervention, is presented as sober fact by... the world's leading news agencies. No concerns here about methodology, sample sizes, "main street bias" and other alleged concerns thrown at the Lancet studies by critics.'
In 2004, one of the Lancet co-authors, Gilbert Burnham of the prestigious Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, told us:
'Our data have been back and forth between many reviewers at the Lancet and here in the school (chair of Biostatistics Dept), so we have the scientific strength to say what we have said with great certainty. I doubt any Lancet paper has gotten as much close inspection in recent years as this one has!' (Dr. Gilbert Burnham, email to Media Lens, October 30, 2004)
Despite this, the Lancet reports were subjected to ceaseless attacks from the US and UK governments, and dismissal by corporate journalists. David Aaronovitch wrote in The Times:
'And Harold Pinter invents a statistic. "At least 100,000 Iraqis were killed by American bombs and missiles before the Iraqi insurgency began." This is probably some mangling of a controversial estimate of Iraqi civilian fatalities published in The Lancet in 2004 and based, it was claimed, on standard epidemiological methods.' (Aaronovitch, 'The great war of words,' The Times, March 18, 2006)
An op-ed in the Washington Times commented in December 2004:
'Or how about the constantly cited figure of 100,000 Iraqis killed by Americans since the war began, a statistic that is thrown about with total and irresponsible abandon by opponents of the war.' (Helle Dale, 'Biased coverage in Iraq,' Washington Times, December 1, 2004)
As we described at the time, the 'mainstream' hosted all manner of confused and baseless criticisms of this kind.
By contrast, a recent BBC article noted of the Syrian war:
'Over seven years of war, more than 400,000 people have been killed or reported missing, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.'
No-one, it seems, would dream of challenging such a high figure supplied by a clothes shop owner supporting regime change in Syria from Coventry. Nobody challenges the SOHR's methodology, or complains of statistics being thrown about with irresponsible abandon.
Why? Because the 2004 and 2006 Lancet reports seriously undermined the US-UK case for conquering Iraq, whereas a high Syria death toll is used to damn the Assad government and to make the case for Western 'intervention'.
In a 2015 interview with RT, Abdulrahman was asked how he could trust the hundreds of 'activists' supplying information from Syria. Claiming that 'I know all of the activists working for the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights', Abdulrahman said that he had last visited Syria in 2000. He added: 'But I know some of the Observatory activists through common friends.'
Innumerable 'mainstream' reports of atrocities blamed on Syrian government and Russian forces have used SOHR as a key source. One of the highest profile claims concerned an alleged massacre of 108 people, including 49 children, in Houla, Syria on May 27, 2012. The claim dominated the Independent on Sunday's front cover, which read:
'SYRIA: THE WORLD LOOKS THE OTHER WAY. WILL YOU?'
The text beneath read:
'There is, of course, supposed to be a ceasefire, which the brutal Assad regime simply ignores. And the international community? It just averts its gaze. Will you do the same? Or will the sickening fate of these innocent children make you very, very angry?'
As so often, SOHR loomed large in these accusations.
The BBC reported:
'The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 90 people had died in the 24 hours since midday on Friday.'
The Guardian described how SOHR was condemning Western 'silence':
'The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights issued an unusually harsh statement in the wake of the deaths --- accusing Arab nations and the international community of being "partners" in the killing --- "because of their silence about the massacres that the Syrian regime has committed".'
But the picture was not quite so clear cut. Two weeks later, the BBC reported the head of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria, Major General Robert Mood, as saying of Houla:
'the circumstances that led to these tragic killings are still unclear'. Mood commented significantly:
'Whatever I learned on the ground in Syria... is that I should not jump to conclusions.'
On June 27, a UN Commission of Inquiry said that in apportioning blame, it 'could not rule out any of these possibilities': a local militia, possibly operating together with, or with the acquiescence of, government security forces; anti-government forces seeking to escalate the conflict; or foreign groups with unknown affiliation. In August of the same year, UN investigators released a further report, which stated that they had 'a reasonable basis to believe that the perpetrators... were aligned to the Government'. (Our emphasis)
SOHR is omnipresent in the great Syrian atrocity claims that have gripped our media for years. On April 14th, Donald Trump bombed Syria, in response to an alleged Syrian government chemical weapons attack on Douma one week earlier. Reuters reported:
'Heavy air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held town of Douma killed 27 people including five children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.'
On April 7, 2017, Trump launched a missile assault on Syria just 72 hours after an alleged chemical weapons attack on Khan Sheikhoun. Reuters reported:
'The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack killed at least 58 people and was believed to have been carried out by Syrian government jets. It caused many people to choke and some to foam at the mouth.
'Director Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters, the assessment that Syrian government warplanes were to blame, was based on several factors such as the type of aircraft, including Sukhoi 22 jets, that carried out the raid.'
In August 2013, Barack Obama came close to launching a massive attack on Syria in response to an alleged Syrian government chemical weapons attack on Ghouta. The BBC reported:
'The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK- based group that gets its information from a network of activists across Syria, later said it had confirmed at least 502 deaths.'
The Los Angeles Times reported:
'The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, generally regarded as one of the most reliable sources of information on casualty figures in Syria, says ithas confirmed 502 deaths, including 80 children and 137 women.'
Last February, the BBC reported:
'The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said at least 250 people had been killed in [Syrian government and Russian] air strikes and artillery fire, since then.
'It said it was the highest 48-hour death toll since a 2013 chemical attack on the besieged enclave.'
The power of these claims lies in the fact that Western journalists have been unable to report from 'rebel'-held areas in Syria. Veteran Middle East correspondent Patrick Cockburn, made the point:
'All wars always produce phony atrocity stories – along with real atrocities. But in the Syrian case, fabricated news and one-sided reporting have taken over the news agenda to a degree probably not seen since World War One... The real reason that reporting of the Syrian conflict has been so inadequate is that Western news organisations have almost entirely outsourced their coverage, to the rebel side.'
'Rebel' claims relayed by SOHR and others have been uncontested, because they originated from 'areas controlled by people so dangerous, no foreign journalist dare set foot among them'.
Many atrocity claims relayed by SOHR and others have been sourced from the White Helmets group in Syria.
Former Guardian journalist Jonathan Cook comments:
'In the western corporate media narrative, the White Helmets are a group of dedicated and selfless rescue workers. They are supposedly the humanitarians on whose behalf a western intervention in Syria would have been justified – before, that is, Syrian leader Bashar Assad queered their pitch - by inviting in Russia.
'However, there are problems with the White Helmets. They operate only in rebel – read: mainly al-Qaeda and ISIS-held – areas of Syria, and plenty of evidence shows that they are funded by the UK & US to advance both countries' far-from-humanitarian policy objectives in Syria.'
In 2016, political analyst Max Blumenthal wrote:
'The White Helmets were founded in collaboration with USAID's Office of Transitional Initiatives — the wing that has promoted regime change around the world — and have been provided with $23 million in funding from the department.'
Liberal corporate journalists and politicians have been impressed by the fact that SOHR and White Helmets claims have been supported by ostensibly forensic analysis supplied by the Bellingcat website, which publishes 'citizen journalist' investigations. As we noted in a recent alert, Bellingcat is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which is funded by the US government and is 'a notorious vehicle for US soft power'.
We could link to thousands of corporate media articles citing SOHR as a source. As in the above examples, the vast majority of these claims are directed at the same targets – the Syrian government and its Russian ally. To monitor the BBC website in 2013, for example, was to witness what appeared to be a relentless propaganda campaign promoting (yet one more) Western 'humanitarian intervention'.
This would seem to be an extraordinary scandal, not just for the BBC, not just for British corporate media and democracy, but for media & democracy globally.
And yet, our media database search finds exactly one national UK newspaper article containing the terms 'Peter Hitchens' and 'Syrian Observatory'. That, of course, was the original May 13 piece in the Mail on Sunday in which Hitchens reported the UK government's £194,769.60 funding of SOHR.
His report has been ignored.
______________________________________________
US support of violent neo-Nazis in Ukraine: and how NGOs Pretend to be on "the Left" Watch this video before you attend any of the events.
CARDIFF Every day of the week Free Food available for the vulnerable and homeless. See below for details. Pass this on to anyone who might find it helpful: ....................................
FREE FOOD AND SUPPORT AVAILABLE TO THE HOMELESS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR Here's a list of where free food is available for homeless and vulnerable within Cardiff. Please feel free to comment on any incorrect information, add details or point out any omissions. Thank you.
EVERY DAY 8.30 till 7.30pm - The Huggard Centre - Provides free soup (home-made) and bread to anyone who calls in 7 days a week, 365 days of the year. Huggard offers free meals on many days of the week (including weekends) which are cooked by volunteers and served late afternoon. Huggard also provides home cooked meals and hot/cold drinks at greatly subsidised (a typical meal is £1.50) prices and ‘give-aways’ on a (first come first served) regular basis through food stuffs nearing their sell-by-date. If a homeless person has no income we may be able to provide free food vouchers. A visit to our centre and a chat to our kitchen staff will keep you in touch with what’s on offer. The morning breakfast run - provided by The Wallich, 7.30am – Central Station, car park behind Burger King, 8am – Top (where it meets Queens Street) of St. Johns Street, the Hayes, 8.30am – Museum steps. 8pm till 9pm - Paradise Run behind M & S.
WEEKLY
MONDAYS 10am till 12noon - Conway Road Methodist church in Canton. 6.30pm till 8pm - Salvation Army, Purple Bus opposite Museum. 5.30pm till 7.30 pm - The Tavs Centre, Tavistock Road, Roath. 11pm till 12 Midnight - Private run by Hamish, who drives around.
TUESDAYS 6.30pm till 8pm - Salvation Army, Purple Bus opposite Museum. 9pm till 10pm - Private run by Coffee4Craig, Museum steps.
WEDNESDAYS 6.30pm till 8pm - Salvation Army, Purple Bus opposite Museum. 11pm - Private run by Margaret Ashford, Cyncoed Methodist Church, who drives around.
THURSDAYS 11am - Calvary Baptist Church, Cowbridge Rd East. 6.30pm till 8.30pm - Salvation Army, Purple Bus opposite Museum. 12 Midnight - Private run by Andy Webb, who drives around.
FRIDAY 11am - Brunch - The Tavs Centre, Tavistock Road, Roath. 12 Noon till 3.30pm - Food not Bombs, Vegan food outside Central Market. 6.30 till 8.30pm - Salvation Army, Purple Bus opposite Museum.
SATURDAY 12 Noon - Rainbow of Hope, Broadway, off Newport Road. 12 Noon - St Peters Youth Hall, Bedford St, off City Road. 3pm - Amerpreet Singh Khalsa, Langer Seva society, the Queen Street end of Newport Road, outside Greggs and Coffee#1. Any leftovers are then taken around those who sleep rough on the streets, but are reluctant to give up their spots. 6.30pm - The City Temple, Cowbridge Rd East.
SUNDAYS 3pm till 4pm - The City Tabernacle on the Hayes. 5.30pm till 7pm - The Tavs Centre, Tavistock Road, Roath. 6.30pm till 8.30pm – Salvation Army, Purple Bus opposite Museum.
SPECIFIC DAYS 11am - 1st, 3rd and 4th Saturday of every month, The Saturday service, ‘Christian worship with a hot meal’, Dewi Sant, St Andrews Crescent.
12 till 2.00pm, meal served at 12:30pm – 2nd and 4th Saturday of every month, Quaker House, Charles Street
10.00am till 3.00pm, Mon to Friday - The Real Junk Food Project, Embassy Cafe, Cathays Youth & Community Centre – Pay what you can afford.
Cuadrilla have no social licence to frack here or anywhere in Lancashire. We need to let them know this!
Doyle Vic posts: Cheeky publicly funded profiteers cuadrilla are bypassing environmental laws - make sure the environment agency know that tax payers and citizens will not allow such filthy shabbiness - https://act.foe.co.uk/act/stop-cuadrilla-breaking-rules- fracking?utm_campaign=dbc6b7e756-LM1702026& utm_medium=email&utm_source=Friends+of+the +Earth+Communications&utm_term=0_383af65c 6b-dbc6b7e756-21725873 Stop Cuadrilla from breaking the rules on fracking
Faslane peace camp always welcomes visitors... you can come, any day. We are located at Shandon near Helensburgh the postcode is G84 8HL Jump on the 316 bus to Coulport ...hope to see you soon.
Everywhere It's Our NHS There's a lot of anger about the chaos in the NHS. A great letter in the Peterborough Telegraph comes up with a very practical solution. Shall we have a referendum? SIGN UP bit.ly/2kWyuW8
LONDON forward planning and action to take in... http://www.makewarshistory.co.uk/?p=3688 Keep up to date with CAAT’s campaigns – Sign up to our email bulletin and follow latest developments on Twitter.
Beit Sahour - Palestine! Hosted by To Be There and Singer cafe CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION. SEE YOU IN PALESTINE! www.tobe-there.com info@tobe-there.com
Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance Community An alliance of people spied on by Britain's political secret police.
Follow us on Twitter @copscampaign
**DID YOU WITNESS AN ARREST OR POLICE VIOLENCE AT THE STOP THE ARMS FAIR PROTESTS?** WE NEED YOUR WITNESS STATEMENTS!
The sooner you can send in an account and any photos/video of arrests to Green and Black Cross (GBC), the better. Key information to include for a witness statement is:
- When, where, who - What else was happening on site? E.g. was the road closed bypolice, were other people/actions blocking the road? - Any photos or videos of arrests or immediately before/after
You can find a witness statement template and some advice on drafting statements on the GBC website here: https://greenandblackcross.org/guides/witness/
Please send all materials togbclegal@riseup.net.
gwlad !
Land Ownership in Britain is one of the most unequal in the world. 0.3% of the population owns 69% of the land. More than a third is still owned by the aristocracy whose ancestors seized it during the Norman Conquest. During the enclosures our ancestors were violently thrown off the land and much of our current common land is being privatised. This affects us all, making our lives unaffordable and limiting our choices. As a contribution to the week of action for land rights called by the Land Justice Network we organised a peaceful stroll in the countryside around Stroud, Gloucestershire.
Remember that access to the land in the UK has been won by mass trespass in the past and this peaceful and symbolically powerful tool can work for us again. #RisingUp
Learn more about the issue here: https://youtu.be/WlIxCDK94ds
Our demands for change centre around:
1 – Distributed Ownership and Control 2– Long Term Stewardship, Not Short Term Profit 3 –Increases in Land Value should be Given to Society 4 – Proactive Community-centred Planning 5 – Transparency
For more details: https://www.landjustice.uk/our-common-ground-statement/
1932 and 1992 – Kinder Scout Trespass UK
Workers in cities and towns were not allowed access to walk on land around their homes and areas of natural beauty nearby. The land was privately held and often used as hunting grounds for the wealthy. In 1932 over 400 people from Manchester and Sheffield participated in a mass trespass on Kinder Scout in the Peak District. They notified the local press and as a result were met & had scuffles with game keepers & then the police; five men were subsequently jailed. The movement that was kick started by this action led to the creation of our National Parks after World War II. The 60th anniversary of this event in 1992 was celebrated with another mass trespass. This started a new movement that lead to the 'Right To Roam' Countryside and Rights of Way Act of 2000. This act gave a new right of access to most areas of open country in England and Wales.
JOIN THE VALLEY's PEACE MOVEMENT NOW!
The news most see is massaged by an elite which feeds off death & destruction (the BBC's Deputy Head, for example, is the ex head of BAE, the UK's near monopoly arms exporting company).
We need a strong committed Peace Movement in Wales, which is not afraid to challenge the Guardian-reading middle-class "leaders" --- who keep backing the elite's wars in the name of a fake "humanitarianism".
Please contact us here(01443) 732705 and we can hold a meeting to found a valleys led Peace Movement, that walks the walk.
In the meantime, paste this link into your browser if you'd like to see the pictures the BBC and UK's boss media did not want you to see -- it explodes the lies of an "evil Syrian regime" -- by showing Aleppo people after Syria's army liberated them.
Since 2011, the Syrian armed forces have been fighting terrorists. It's time for the world to recognize them all, as our brothers in arms against terrorism. Time to stand withSyria and not against it.
Unreliability, spinelessness of the western 'left' by: Andre Vltchek
It is tough to fight any real war. And it takes true guts, discipline & determination to win it. For years and decades, the so-called 'left' in the West has been moderately critical of North American (and sometimes even of European) imperialism and neo- colonialism. But whenever an individual or country rose up and began openly challenging the Empire, most of the Western left-wing intellectuals simply closed their eyes, and refused to offer their full, unconditional support to those putting their lives (and often even the existence of their countries) on the line.
I will never forget all those derogatory punches directed at Hugo Chavez, punches coming from members of the 'anti-Communist left', after he dared to insult George W. Bush at the United Nations in 2006, calling him a "devil" and choking, theatrically, from the sulfur that was still 'hanging in the air' after the US President's appearance at the General Assembly.
I will not be dropping names here, but readers would be surprised if they knew how many of those iconic leaders of the US left described Chavez and his speech as --- 'impolite', 'counter-productive', and even 'insulting'.
Western Imperialism killed tens of millions
Tens of millions of people have died because of Western imperialism, after WWII. Under the horrid leadership of George W Bush, Afghanistan and Iraq have been reduced to ruins... But one has to remain 'polite', 'objective' and cool headed?
Well, that is not how real revolutions have been ignited. This is not how the successful anti- colonialist wars are fought. When the real battle begins, 'politeness' is actually mostly unacceptable, simply because the oppressed masses are endlessly pissed off, and they want their feelings to be registered and expressed by the leaders.
Even the search for 'objectivity' is often out of place, when still fragile revolutions have to face the entire monumental hostile propaganda of the regime - of the Empire.
But the question is: do most of the Western leftists really support revolutions and anti-colonialist struggles of the oppressed world?
I believe they don't. And this is clearly visible from reading most of the so-called alternative media in both North America and Europe.
Whoever stands up, whoever leads his nation into battle against the Western global dictatorship, is almost immediately defined as a demagogue. He or she is most likely christened 'undemocratic', and not just by the mass and 'liberal' media, but also on the pages of the so-called 'alternative' and 'progressive' Western press. Not all, but some, and frankly: most of it!
Chavez actually received very little support from Western 'left-wing' intellectuals. And now when Venezuela is bleeding, the 'Bolivarian Republic' can only count on a handful of revolutionary Latin American nations, as well as on China, Iran and Russia; definitely not on the robust, organized and militant solidarity from Western countries.
Cuba received even less support than Venezuela. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, no attempt was actually made by Western leftists to bail the heroic nation out. It was China, in the end, which ran to its rescue and saved Cuban socialism.
(When I wrote about it, I got hundreds of Western leftists at my throat, and in the end it took Fidel to confirm, in his 'Reflections', what I was saying, to get them off my back). Then, when the Obama administration began making dangerous advances on Havana, almost everyone in the West began screwing those cynical grimaces: 'you see; now everything will collapse! They will buy Cuba!'
They didn't. I travelled to the beloved green island, and it was so clear from the first moment there, that the 'revolution is not for sale'. But you will not read it often in the Western 'progressive' media. * It is of course not just Latin America that is 'disliked' by the progressives in the West. Actually, Latin America is still at least getting some nominal support there.
Western Left despises China and Russia
China and Russia, two powerful nations, which are now standing openly against Western imperialism, are despised by virtually all 'liberals' and by most of the Western 'left'. In those circles, there is total ignorance about the Chinese type of democracy, about its ancient culture, and about it's complex but extremely successful form of Communism (or 'socialism with Chinese characteristics').
Like parrots, the Western leftists repeat 'liberal' propaganda that 'China is being capitalist', or that it is being ruled by 'state capitalism'. The internationalism of Chinese foreign policy is constantly played down, even mocked.
The hostility of the Western 'left' towards China has disgusted many Chinese leaders and intellectuals. I only realized the extent of this revulsion, when I spoke last year at the First World Cultural Forum in Beijing, and mingled with the thinkers at the China Academy of Social Sciences, the right (intellectual) arm of the government and the Party.
China can count on its allies in Russia, Latin America, Africa and elsewhere, but definitely not in the West.
It is pointless to even mention Russia or South Africa.
Russia, 'the victim' during the horrid Yeltsin years was 'embraced' by the Western left. Russia the warrior, Russia the adversary to Western imperialism, is, once again, loathed.
It appears that the 'progressives' in the United States and Europe really prefer 'victims'. They can, somehow, feel pity and even write a few lines about the 'suffering of defenseless women and children' in the countries that the West is plundering and raping. That does not extend to all countries that are being brutalized, but at least to some...
What they don't like at all, are strong men and women that have decided to fight: to defend their rights, to face the Empire.
And now...Syria and DPRK
The Syrian government is hated. The N. Korean government is despised. The President of the Philippines is judged by Western liberal media measures: as a vulgar freak who is killing thousands of 'innocent' drug pushers and consumers (definitely not as a possibly new Sukarno, who is willing to send the entire West to hell).
Whatever the Western 'left' thinks about North Korea and its government (and in fact, I think, it cannot really think very much, as it is fully ignorant about it), the main reason why the DPRK is hated so much by the West regime, is because it, together with Cuba, basically liberated Africa. It fought for the freedom of Angola and Namibia, it flew Egyptian MIGs at Israel, it struggled in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) -- as well as in many other countries, and it sent aid, teachers and doctors to that continent: devastated by the Western colonialist barbarity.
Much good it received in return! At best, indifference, at worse, total spite! * Some say that the Western 'left' doesn't want to take power, anymore. It lost all of its important battles. It became toothless, impotent, and angry about the world and itself.
When in January 2016 I spoke at the Italian Parliament (ending up insulting the West for its global plunder, hypocrisy), I mingled a lot with the 5 Star Movement, which had actually invited me to Rome. I spent time with its radical left wing. There are some great people there, but overall, it soon became clear that this, potentially, biggest political movement in the country, is actually horrified of coming to power! It does not really want to govern.
But then, why call those weak bizarre selfish Western entities - the 'left wing'? Why confuse terms, and by that, why discredit those true revolutionaries, those true fighters, who are risking, sacrificing their lives, right now, all over the world? * Wars are all extremely ugly. I have covered many of them, and I know.. But some of them, those that are fought for the survival of humanity, or for survival of particular countries, are inevitable. One either fights, or the whole Planet ends up colonized and oppressed, in shackles.
If one decides to fight, then there has to be discipline and single-mindedness; total determination. Or the battle is lost from the very beginning!
When the freedom and survival of one's motherland is at stake, things get very serious, 'dead-serious'. Battle is not a discussion club. It is not some chat.
If we, as 'leftists', have already once decided that imperialism and colonialism (or 'neo-colonialism') are the greatest evils destroying our humanity, then we have to show discipline and join ranks, and support those who are at the frontline.
Otherwise we will become an irrelevant laughingstock, and history will and should, judge us harshly! * Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. His latest books are: "Exposing Lies Of The Empire" and "Fighting Against Western Imperialism". Discussion with Noam Chomsky: On Western Terrorism. Point of No Return is his critically acclaimed political novel. Oceania - a book on Western imperialism in the South Pacific. His provocative book about Indonesia: "Indonesia - The Archipelago of Fear". Andre is making films for teleSUR and Press TV. After living for many years in Latin America and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides and works in East Asia and the Middle East. He can be reached through his website or his Twitter.
Dear friends, HP is the technology behind Israel's regime of occupation and segregation. With our week of action we showed them that no matter where they operate across the world, we will be there to say that profiting from apartheid and human rights abuses is not acceptable.
Why are people all over the world taking action against HP?
HP (Hewlett Packard) plays a key role in the occupation and violation of Palestinian rights. HP profits from oppression, by providing the Israeli naval forces the technology to enforce the siege of Gaza. HP also enables Israel's mass detention and imprisonment of Palestinians, through biometric ID systems that segregate Palestinians from Jewish Israelis, and much more.
Israel harvesting slain Palestinians' organs: Palestine’s UN envoy
The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations says the Tel Aviv regime is harvesting the organs of Palestinians killed in clashes with Israeli forces in the occupied territories.
Riyad Mansour says in a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, that the bodies of those Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, are being “returned with missing corneas and other organs --- further confirming past reports about organ harvesting by the occupying power.”
“A medical examination conducted on bodies of Palestinians returned after they were killed by the occupying power, found that they were missing organs,” Mansour wrote in the letter.
The Palestinian envoy further protests Israel’s “persistent aggression against the Palestinian people” over the past month and the regime’s “insistence on the use of violent force and oppressive measures.”
The issue of organ theft by Israel was first exposed in a report published by Sweden’s most popular daily, Aftonbladet, in 2009.
The New York Times also said, in an August 2014 report that transplant brokers in Israel have pocketed enormous sums of money.
Based on the Times analysis of major organ trafficking cases since 2000, Israelis have played a ‘disproportionate role’ in organ trafficking.
The Palestinians Mansour was referring to were killed in the occupied territories, where tensions have dramatically risen in recent weeks.
The Israeli regime’s imposition of new restrictions in August on the entry of Palestinian worshipers to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) has become a lightning rod for the surge in confrontations.
According to the latest figures by the Palestinian Health Ministry, at least 74 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces since the beginning of October. At least 11 Israelis have also been killed during that period.
The bodies of Palestinian victims, are most often held in Israeli custody for long periods of time, before they're returned to relatives.
William Spring, a human rights activist from London, says that this revelation will “deal a terrible blow” to Israel, and particularly among its US supporters.
Referring to the supporters of Israel in the US, as “Christian-Zionists,” the commentator says that, despite all their enthusiasm for the Israeli regime, they are against such measures as: experiments on fetuses, abortion, or harvesting organs.
“I can see a great defection and a great falling away of Christian-Zionists, who've supported Israel - up until now,” he says.
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Corporations Are Running The World by Aisha Dodwell
Of the 100 wealthiest economic entities in the world, 69 are now corporations and only 31 are countries. This is up from 63 to 37 a year ago. At this rate, within a generation we will be living in a world entirely dominated by giant corporations.
As multinationals increasingly dominate areas traditionally considered the primary domain of the state --- we should be afraid. While they privatise everything from education & health to border controls and prisons, they stash their profits away in secret offshore accounts.
And while they have unrivalled access to decision makers they avoid democratic processes by setting up secret courts enabling them to bypass all judicial systems applicable to people.
Meanwhile their raison d’etre of perpetual growth in a finite world is causing environmental destruction and driving climate change.
From Sports Direct’s slave-like working conditions to BP’s oil spill devastating people’s homes, stories of corporations violating rights are all too often seen in our daily papers.
Yet the power of corporations is so great within our society, that they have undermined the idea that there is any other way to run things. We're all too familiar with hearing about the threat of “losing corporate investment” or companies “taking their business somewhere else” as if the government’s number one task is to attract corporate investment.
It is this corporate agenda that permeates the governing institutions of the global economy -- like the World Trade Organisation and the International Monetary Fund - whose policies and operations have given more importance to the “rights” of big business than the rights and needs of people and the environment.
The problem of unrestrained corporate power is massive, and it requires a massive solution. That is why Global Justice Now has launched a petition to the UK government --- demanding that it backs the new UN initiative for a legally binding global treaty on transnational corporations and human rights.
This UN treaty is the result of campaigning by countries from across the Global South --- for international laws to regulate the activities of transnational corporations. In June 2014 they successfully got a resolution passed in the UN Human Rights Council, establishing the need for such a treaty.
A working group of member states has been set up to take the treaty forward, chaired by Ecuador, they have met once already in 2015, and have the next meeting scheduled for October 2016, to discuss the scope and content of the treaty.
Meanwhile, civil society groups from across the world have come together and formed the Treaty Alliance movement --- which aims to make sure the treaty comes into being with truly meaningful content.
Although it may sound like a boring technical process, this treaty is something we should be excited about because it provides a huge opportunity in the fight to restrain corporate power. It has massive potential to withdraw the privileges that corporations have gained over recent decades --- and force them to comply with international human rights law, international labour law, and environmental standards.
It would oblige governments to take the power of corporations seriously, and hold them to account for the power they wield.
This would standardise how different governments relate to multinationals --- which means that rather than allowing them to play countries off against one another in a race to the bottom, it would force minimum standards.
But the UK government, well known for its cosy relationship with corporations, has so far refused to take part in this UN treaty. And the UK are not alone: most other EU countries are also opposed to the treaty.
We need to make sure our government does not pass up this rare opportunity: to provide genuine protection for the victims of human rights abuses committed by multinational corporations & place binding obligations on all governments, to hold their corporations to account for their impact(s) on people and the planet.
That’s why groups across the continent are joining forces to make sure their leaders participate in the Geneva talks this October.
The petition urges governments across Europe to participate in the Geneva talks --- and will be delivered to national & EU leaders on October 12.
Of course, the battle against corporate power has many fronts and the UN treaty is only one part of it. At the same time, we need to continue to develop alternative ways to produce and distribute the goods and services we need.
We need to undermine the notion that only massive corporations can make the economy and society “work.”
Food sovereignty and energy democracy are just two examples of how it is possible to build an economy without corporations.
But as long as corporations do play a role in our economy, we need to find ways to control their activity and prevent abuses.
This is why we need to fight for this UN treaty.
The alternative is that we continue to rush towards the dystopian vision of unchallenged corporate power. We cannot allow this to happen. We must fight back.
Aisha Dodwell is campaigns and policy officer at Global Justice Now.
New email leaks show Jack Straw was very grateful for Brexit -- for the most vile reason.
The Canary - New email leaks reveal that Straw, the Foreign Secretary in Blair’s government, was very grateful for Brexit. Not because it gave the UK public a say in the direction of their country, but because it created a distraction from the publication of the Chilcot Report !
Brexit’s “silver lining”, according to Blair’s co-architect of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, was that it buried the Chilcot Report, alongside the millions who died as a result of the war.
Straw tells Powell: ‘We’ve got to spin this right’
According to the leaks, on 4th July (2 days before publication of the Chilcot Report), Straw emailed former US Secretary of State Powell, his accomplice in the Iraq invasion.
He wanted to discuss an ''appropriate response'' to the upcoming release of the inquiry.
Straw had drafted a statement which he thought Powell “should see”, as it referenced him. After welcoming Powell’s feedback on the statement, Straw turned his attention to the current political climate in the UK, and the effect it might have on the reception of the Chilcot Report:
"Meanwhile, as you will have seen, British politics is in the most extraordinary phase I’ve ever known. The only silver lining of the Brexit vote is that it will reduce medium term attention on Chilcot – though it will not stop the day of publication being uncomfortable."
For Straw, who had campaigned for the ‘Remain’ camp in the EU referendum, there was a bright side to Brexit. He believed that it would take the heat off the report into his government’s actions in Iraq.
Was Straw right? Did the report on Blair’s invasion fall flat?
6 July, the day the Chilcot Report was published, there was wall-to-wall coverage. The Guardian alone published over 40 articles that day. But by 8th July, that number had shrunk to 11. And within one week, the coverage had whittled down to almost nothing.
The BBC also published dozens of news articles on the report the day it was released. But its top-listed “Editor’s choice” section on the Chilcot Report, points its readers to very little coverage after that date.
Of course, there was an avalanche of other news to cover: the Brexit fallout; the Labour coup; the Conservative Party’s own leadership battle after David Cameron resigned. But it does appear that -- after an initial flurry of reporting on the Chilcot findings, interest in it quickly dispersed.
Phew, we made it!
Straw and Powell communicated again about a month later, musing on their countries’ reaction to the report. On 3rd August, Powell emailed the previous Foreign Secretary to tell him the Chilcot Report “didn’t amount to anything over here”. He explained that, in the US, Blair “was mentioned a lot for a short period of time”, but all was quiet on the western front now.
Straw responded:
"Yes, the Chilcot story has faded altogether here too. It was unpleasant on the day but almost all the focus was on Tony [Blair]. But even for him it seems to have gone."
He added:
"There is some stuff about some relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq trying to get a legal action against Tony on its feet buy [sic] it’s hard to see how that could work."
Families of British soldiers killed in Iraq have launched an appeal to fund a prosecution of Tony Blair & other state officials “who might have acted unlawfully, or in excess of their powers”. If they succeed, which Straw obviously doubts, Blair’s defence will be paid for by the taxpayer, despite the former PM being a millionaire.
Scorched on our souls
Straw’s relief that the “unpleasant” attention surrounding the Iraq War report had “faded” reveals an unsettling attitude towards one of the UK’s most disastrous decisions.
The invasion of Iraq was an absolute catastrophe. Countless lives were lost, an entire region was thrown into chaos, terrorism blossomed, and the UK's reputation around the world, was ruined.
But seemingly, all Straw can focus on is saving his own skin.
UK citizens, and all those around the world affected by the decisions made here in the UK, deserve better architects than this.
The fact that we are all now acutely aware of that -- is the only true ‘silver lining’ of this disgusting episode in UK history.
Get Involved, please:
– Donate to the crowdfunding appeal seeking to hold those responsible for the war to account.
https://www.crowdjustice.co.uk/case/chilcot/
(they've now raised about £170,000)
– Take action with the Stop the War Coalition against the militarisation of our world.
Plaid Cymru's Adam Price has started a petition aimed at securing a House of Commons debate on the motion that Tony Blair acted in contempt of Parliament when taking Britain to war in Iraq.
The petition reads:
“The Chilcot Report has presented a range of evidence that demonstrates that Parliament and the country were misled by Tony Blair in the run up to the war in Iraq.
"Parliament should now agree a process by which it can hold the former Prime Minister to account.”
To get this Parliamentary debate considered, needs 100,000 signatures by Jan. 20th, 2017.
To sign the petition, please go here:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/159996
Here's John McDonnell, in a speech congratulating DPAC and explaining how solidarity can defeat these cuts.
What's disability got to do with peace? Try being disabled, or a woman, or elderly, or of a different race, or gay, or vulnerable, in a land where "dog eats dog" !!!
Protestors block Westminster Bridge over government disability cuts
A group from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) blocked Westminster bridge for several hours last Wednesday, in protest against government cuts to disability benefits.
Protesters held large banners reading “No more deaths from benefit cuts.” The protest was met with a heavy police presence, which eventually broke it up and at least 2 people were arrested.
DPAC said over 150 people, many in wheelchairs, attended the protest -- to call for better financial support. The protest also drew attention to the treatment of disabled athletes at the Paralympics’ games in Rio.
On its website, DPAC claimed, in 2015, that the UK became the first country in the world to be investigated by the United Nations for grave, systematic violations of disabled people’s rights.
"This is a direct result of the disproportionate impact of austerity on disabled people, and the ideological attacks, waged by the Tory government, which have seen disabled people and the poorest members of society hit by cut after cut after cut.”
Another DPAC official said the protest was part of a week of action to highlight changes to the Personal Independence Payments (PIP) to help people aged 16 to 64 cope with extra costs, as well as the significant cuts of up to £30 a week for some, who claim the Employment Support Allowance (ESA).
"It's the opening of the Paralympics tonight & we're celebrating all the athletes, but the cuts that they're bringing through, mean that other peoples' lives, are going dramatically backwards," Ellen Clifford said, at the event.
There are almost half a million sick and disabled people receiving the ESA benefit; these people are likely to be unemployed for longer than other jobseekers - who are not struggling with disabilities or health difficulties.
Last year, the United Nations held an inquiry into whether the UK government welfare cuts led to rights abuses and the death of over 2,000 disabled Britons.
This came after the Department of Work and Pensions, revealed that 2,380 people have died within six weeks of being declared "fit to work" by the government between 2011 and 2014.
For more information see:
www.dpac.uk.net.
For access needs please contact
mail@dpac.uk.net
or07505144371 (text only)
Donations:
All donations however small to help are extremely valuable. To donate you can go via the paypal button on the DPAC website...
http://dpac.uk.net/2
or to make a direct transfer contact:
mail@dpac.uk.net
SUPPORT THE WORLD PEACE COUNCIL (& request the dissolution of NATO.)
The secretariat of the World Peace Council, chaired by Brazilian activist Socorro Gomes, met in Brussels, to assess the latest events in the world, recent challenges in the struggle for peace, and to assess the NATO summit.
The meeting also addressed the question of US bases around the world, and especially their recent installation on Colombian territory.
Socorro Gomes states, "we must examine the latest events in the world, the new targets of US policy in Afghanistan, Pakistan and recently, in Yemen."
"Peace today is threatened more than at the end of the Cold War, because imperialism is following its plans with a new concept of NATO, which contends that the military pact is essential to the defense of Europe. It has militarized the European continent and now seeks to achieve greater unity between the US and EU," says Socorro.
According to the Brazilian activist, NATO is an instrument of US imperialism, as the US holds the key command & several important positions in the hierarchy of the military pact.
NATO was created in 1949 as a military instrument to respond to the threat of the Soviet Union.
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union and its allies in Europe, NATO no longer has an excuse to stay in existence. "NATO is a weapon of war used to harm people and nations. Its policy is to remain as an armed wing in favor of looting the natural wealth of the countries attacked, to ensure American hegemony," says Socorro.
"The organization's summit.. further discusses its role as "world policeman," adds Socorro. "The World Peace Council, besides discussing broad issues for world peace, proposes the dismantling of the North Atlantic military pact, something that is essential for peace".
Read below the "Appeal against NATO and the realization of their summit in Portugal," made by the World Peace Council (WPC) and its counterpart organization in Portugal:
The World Peace Council (WPC) & the Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation (CPPC), welcome peace-loving people around the world and the peace movements that fight & continue to denounce imperialist wars, illegal occupations and social injustice, and urge them to continue, & to strengthen their efforts & common struggles against imperialism and its apparatus, especially NATO, the greatest war machine in the world.
The WPC denounces before the people of the world the crimes committed by NATO, and continues to commit against humanity under the guise of protecting "human rights" & fighting "terrorism," according to their own interpretation.
Since its founding in 1949, NATO has been an offensive organization. After 1991, with its new military doctrine, it became the "sheriff" of imperialist interests in the world.
It was often linked to bloody & dictatorial regimes, reactionary forces and military juntas. It actively participated in the dismemberment of Yugoslavia in the barbaric bombing of Serbia for 78 days, in the overthrow of governments by "orange revolutions" and in the Afghan occupation.
NATO is continuing its plans for a "Greater Middle East," broadening its scope of action through the "Partnership for Peace" and "special co-operation" in Asia and Latin America, the Middle East, North Africa & the "European Army."
All governments of the member countries share responsibilities in NATO, regardless of the leading role of the US administration.
Any different approaches on some issues hardly reflect points of view and rivalries of their own, but they always lead to a joint aggressive confrontation set against the people.
We condemn the policy of the European Union, which coincides with NATO and the Lisbon Treaty, which goes hand in hand in political & military aspects. The military spending of EU missions abroad between 2002 and 2009, increased from 30 million to 300 million euros.
The people and the peace loving forces around the world will not accept NATO and its role of "sheriff" of the world.
They reject any attempt to incorporate NATO into the UN system. They demand the dissolution of this offensive war machine. Even the false pretext of the Warsaw Treaty no longer exists today.
The World Peace Council & its members & friends will host dozens of countries in various national and international initiatives against NATO and its new strategic concept.
We will organize, jointly with the Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation (CPPC), initiatives and conferences in Portugal, and mass action before and during the days of the NATO summit.
Under the motto:
DISSOLVE NATO, Enemy of the People. Peace!!!
WPC calls on all organizations in member countries of NATO and around the world, to support this, stressing the following aspects: NATO has been an aggressive and reactionary force since its founding in 1949. The Warsaw Treaty was created and then dissolved, earlier.
NATO has its hands stained with the blood of many people from over 60 years & can't constitute "a force for peace" in the UN framework.
Despite US dominance, aggression is carried out in conjunction with other imperialist powers, which does not change the character of NATO.
NATO is directly linked to the EU & vice versa, since a large number of EU countries are also NATO members, as well as through the militaristic tendencies and obligations contained in the "Lisbon Treaty."
All governments of NATO member states are responsible for their actions; they support NATO's imperialistic plans.
The NATO war against Yugoslavia in 1999, was a milestone for a new dogma during the summit in Washington in 1999. It then became clear that the EU isn't a "democratic counterweight" to the US.
NATO acts as a global policeman with employees on all continents, executing its plan for a "Greater Middle East" and it actively intervened in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and elsewhere.
We fully support & endorse the campaign in Portugal "Peace yes, NATO no" which brings together dozens of social movements and organizations.
We call upon all peace-loving organizations to join with their voices and forces.
You can find the World Peace Council at:
http://www.wpc-in.org/
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NATO READY TO CRUSH EUROPEAN DISSENT
(Is THIS why our so-called "Peace Movement" in the UK refuses to oppose NATO's aggression?)
On May 16th, the leader of the political party Zmiana (“Change”), Mateusz Piskorski, in Poland, issued a prescient warning on his blog that NATO’s newly deployed Very High Readiness Joint Task Force is going to “pacify” protests and opposition groups according to the North Atlantic Treaty’s Article 4 on the pretext of fighting a “Russian hybrid war.”
Piskorski warned that NATO’s repressive plans, admitted by the Multinational Corps Northeast’s General Krol himself, would ultimately render any forms of protest in the country, whether on the streets or on the internet, subject to suppression, by order of US-NATO advisors.
Two days later, on May 18th, armed agents of the Internal Security Agency raided Zmiana’s office and its activists’ homes, & arrested & imprisoned Piskorski as a media campaign hurled the ridiculous charge that he was a “Russian, Chinese, and/or Iraqi spy.”
In a telling and foreboding instance, officers even confiscated ordinary Polish flags from Zmiana activists, a move which in Poland's history, has usually accompanied a war on Polish soil.
With no official charges brought against him, Poland’s main anti-NATO figure who in 2015 declared that “a Poland without NATO is a Poland without wars”, to this day, remains in isolation in prison, from where he has stressed in 2 urgent letters, that Poland is being converted into a launch pad and target for WWIII.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
French people gather signatures - Petition to get France out of NATO
Headline:
At Warsaw they got set for war. Let's get out of NATO!
"The last NATO summit in Warsaw, was just one more provocation against Russia.
With this appeal, the signatories mean to say "STOP" to this nuclear escalation ---- before something un-do-able gets done."
Text:
The hour is grave. A new missile crisis is brewing against Russia, a mirror image of the 1962 missile crisis when the Soviet Union deployed missiles in Cuba, at the very portals of the United States. The situation has gone upside down: then, NATO was struggling against the Warsaw Pact; this time, it met in Warsaw!
Therefore, we the undersigned, find that we are faced with a provocative policy of encirclement:
1. continuous expansion of NATO to Russia's borders, despite the guarantees given by the West to Gorbachev, in 1989, that this would not happen;
2. deployment of the Aegis missile defense shield in Romania, Poland, Turkey, and Spain. Featuring MK41 launch systems, these weapons can be used for defense missions (anti-aircraft, anti-submarine, anti-ship), but also for attack missions against ground targets;
3. deployment in the Baltic countries, Poland, and Romania, by rotation, of four regiments of a thousand men each, with permanent military equipment;
4. constitution of a "northern" front against Russia, bringing together NATO members (Denmark, Iceland and Norway) --- or its Partnership for Peace (Sweden & Finland).
To end this menace we demand:
That it announce its decision to leave the organization, which no longer has any raison d’être.
We call on France to create the conditions for a return to a peaceful order in the world based on "win-win" cooperation proposed by the BRICS, which Europe and the US have an interest in joining.
Let us mobilize today, all those means that we committed in the twentieth century, for war, to peace through mutual development!
Talking To the Common People (in the end... kick out the NGOs)
Still believe we are the Free good, loving, honest West?
Watch Australia and Canada's leaders joining the war on Iraq.
Did one copy the other, or were they sent the same CIA speech?
Either way, it's a scream!
THIS IS YOUR WARNING !!!
If you want to avoid all life disintegrating and your children and grandchildren slowly... sliding... into a World War
take action now - join a Peace movement.
Replace the ego-centric individuals now pretending they are good people because they pose at truly opposing the militarists and venal political class.
Then act- now, today - or this week!
Join a peace movement near you - and if you're looking to find a saintly person there, with hardly any faults...
it'll have to be you!
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THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY NO LONGER EXISTS
And an orchestrated war with Russia has all of us marked for extinction
by Paul Craig Roberts
The Democratic Party that once was concerned with workers’ rights, the elderly, civil rights, and the constitutional protections of America liberty no longer exists. As the completed Democrat's presidential primaries & Democrat presidential convention have clearly demonstrated, the US now has two Republican parties in service to the One Percent.
The organized Democrats - the Democrat National Committee - show themselves as even more venal and corrupt than the Republicans. Leaked emails document that the Democrat National Committee conspired with the Hillary campaign to steal the nomination from Bernie Sanders. It is clear that Sanders was THE choice of Democrat Party voters for president, but the nomination was stolen from him by vote fraud and dirty tricks.
The DNC and the media whores have tried to discredit the incriminating emails by alleging that the leaked emails resulted from a plot by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on behalf of “Putin’s American agent,” Donald Trump. “A vote for Trump is a vote for Putin,” as the presstitute scum put it.
This diversionary tactic has not worked. Not even Americans are stupid enough to fall for it.
Consequently, the corrupt “leader” of the DNC had to resign, and was unable to deliver her speech at the nominating convention, for fear of being booed off the stage.
Sanders’ supporters have abandoned Hillary & the fake “Democrat Party.”
Organized Republicans - the Republican National Committee–and zionist neoconservatives wanted to block Donald Trump from the nomination, just as the DNC blocked Sanders, but could not. The neoconservatives are organizing for Hillary as she is their warmonger & Trump says he is not, but as the Presidential contest is really a contest between the two Republican parties about which gets to be the whore for the 1 Percent, the RNC, impressed with Hillary’s lack of voter support, seems to be sticking with Trump. Better to be a well-paid whore, than to be out in the cold.
Donald Trump is the American people’s choice, because he opposes the offshoring of American jobs–a corporate practice that has enriched the 1% at the expense of the American middle class.
Donald Trump is the American people’s choice, because he opposes the fabricated, gratuitous conflict with Russia. Even Americans understand that taking war to a major nuclear power will not end well.
Donald Trump is the American people’s choice because he realizes that NATO–an organization whose purpose disappeared 25 years ago when the Soviet Union collapsed as a result of a coup against Gorbachev, by extreme elements of the Soviet Communist Party–now serves as a vehicle and cover for Washington’s aggressions, which are war crimes under the international statutes which Washington created. Washington’s wars benefit some of the One Percent at the expense of both the 99 Percent and millions of innocent people, in many countries.
What will happen now is the presstitutes will demonize Donald Trump ---- even more than they have demonized Vladimir Putin. These Scum presstitutes will do everything they can do, to make supporting Trump into an act of treason against America.
Now the presstitutes have learned they can tell the most blatant lies–Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, Iranian nukes, Assad’s use of chemical weapons, Russian invasions–without being held accountable, they know that they can lie about Trump.
And they will. To the hilt.
But the presstitutes have lost credibility. A person has to be an imbecile to believe a word that they say.
“Progressives” will wander off the track. They will be turned off by Trump’s stand on immigration, which is where the American people stand. “Progressives” will be worried about whether the ‘fascist” Trump will persecute transgender & homosexual people or revoke the right of women to abort the unborn. To “progressives” this will seem all important, as Washington and its NATO vassals hurl the world into nuclear war.
Neither can any intelligence be expected from the defunct American left-wing. The American left-wing supports the official story of 9/11, the excuse for the last 15 years of illegal wars and the American Police State. To find the American left-wing totally allied with the official explanation of what is in reality a false flag event, committed so neoconservatives would have their new Pearl Harbor -- in order to invade the Middle East, is demonstrable proof that the American left-wing is irrelevant.
The American left interprets 9/11 and subsequent false flag events as oppressed people hitting back at their oppressors. The emotional satisfaction of this takes the impotent American left-wing out not only of action but out of relevance in commentary. The American left-wing has become an asset of the enemy–the neoconservatives who control policy in Washington.
So, where do we stand? The answer is that we are closer to nuclear annihilation than ever before. I know of what I speak. I held the highest security clearances. I was a member of a secret committee that enabled President Reagan to end the Cold War.
The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, is doing everything he can possibly do to avoid a nuclear war that the crazed American neoconservatives are bringing to humanity. For his efforts on behalf of planet Earth he is demonized 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year after year. For simply stating facts, I'm described by the presstitutes as “an apologist for Putin.”
The endless lies about Russia have convinced the Russian media, that Washington is mobilizing its NATO vassals for an attack on Russia.
If you aren’t scared, you are stupid beyond belief. The message is clear: the West has declared war on Russia, but is trying to keep Russia off guard by denying it.
Russian news shows the dismissive way the Russian media was treated at a recent NATO conference in Poland. Non-entity delegates of the non-entity countries of Latvia, which the West ruthlessly looted, plus Estonia, Poland, Lithuania, & Ukraine delegates, refused to speak to the Russian media or used interviews to echo the US’s false accusations against Russia.
These imbeciles insulting Russia are represent- atives of countries that Russia could destroy in a few minutes. If these idiots think Washington can save them, they're as stupid as the Polish colonels who thought the British guarantee in March 1939 meant anything --- and could save Poland from the rash action of sticking Poland’s fingers in Hitler’s eye. This Polish stupidity provoked by the stupid British set off World War II with the British and French declaration of war against Germany, thus consigning Poland to Soviet rule for a half century. Some guarantee! The imbecile Chamberlain -- who wanted peace -- started WWII, with Britain’s worthless “guarantee.”
Does it make you feel safe that the arrogant warmongering imbeciles in Washington have convinced a nuclear power the equal of the United States that America is going to attack?
Moreover, Russia is a nuclear power allied with another nuclear power, China, which has had enough of the US’s imbecilic provocations.
Are you willing for “your” government to lead your future into nuclear war, with two nuclear powers?
Here we Americans went into the presidential election and the overpowering fact of our time– that Washington is threatening humanity with nuclear war–wasn't a subject for discussion!
What is the matter with us Americans? Are we stupid beyond all belief? We sit, thinking that issues of no importance are the most important issues of our time while “our” insane government provokes nuclear war. Have any people in history failed their obligation to this extent? If so, who?
My case rests. There is no countervailing evidence against the fact that unadulterated evil rules the West ----- and is driving the world to extinction. Western democracy is a total failure. Democracy could not prevent the crazed warmonger Hillary from presidential nomination, despite the opposition of the American people.
How long can Russia, & China, wait before they conclude that they have to pre-empt the coming attack from Washington? Does anyone, even stupid Americans, think that once Russia and China are convinced that they are targets for attack, that they will just sit there and await the attack?
Do people as guilty of dereliction of duty as Western people are, have any right to survive?
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, & Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West, How America Was Lost, and The Neoconservative Threat to World Order.
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What was the 'Cuban missile crisis'... really all about?
The US spun it then and spins it now as "Russian aggression beaten by the US". Yet Russians say the US put missiles in Turkey, so they put theirs in Cuba.
Russia removed their missiles from Cuba -- on the condition that the US took their Pershing nuke missiles out from Turkey.
There are now fifty US nuclear warheads in Turkey -- but Russia is the aggressor?
Again???
FIRST IRAQ --- NOW SYRIA
If you think - like Blair - that launching wars in pursuit of 'Democracy and Human Rights' is "a good thing" - then you will believe the latest lies and support the current US/UK bombing of civilians and infrastructure in Syria...
as the liberals who dominate Wales' peace movement do.. apparently.... Damascus denounces US-led ‘massacre’ in Syria ---- and calls on UN to intervene
Syria has called on the United Nations to take immediate action against the so-called US-led coalition: to stop it conducting more airstrikes in the country, after the US/UK coalition’s latest airborne assault claimed the lives of over 40 civilians.
In two separate letters sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Security Council President Koro Bessho,, the Syrian Foreign Ministry strongly denounced the coalitions new “atrocities committed against civilians” and called to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The letters were written after US-led warplanes launched airstrikes on Ghandour town, which is over 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) away from the violence-ridden city of Manbij, in Syria’s strategic northern province of Aleppo.
At least “45 civilians were brutally killed and 50 others were injured” --- in the deadly airstrikes.
The development came, after at least 15 people were killed/injured in US-led airstrikes against al-Nawajah village east of Manbij, on July 23rd, a few days after another deadly US-led raid left 120 civilians dead, near Manbij.
On July 22nd, the military coalition also killed at least 20 civilians in Manbij and claimed the lives of at least 30 more, including 11 children, in the same city, on June the 9th, in aerial attacks purportedly conducted against the Daesh positions in the area.
Syria's Foreign Ministry also censures the endless support of France, the US, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar for so- called “moderate opposition” groups: - calling it overt support for terrorists who are wreaking havoc across the world --- and, specifically, in Syria.
The letters also say that any anti-terror campaign in Syria is doomed to fail --- unless done in cooperation with Syria's government --- and in accordance with international law and the UN Charter.
The ministry cites the remarkable similarity between the “massacres” perpetrated by the US-led coalition - and terrorist groups operating in Syria, saying both sides are trying to exacerbate the situation over the country... since the Syrian army’s recent victories in Aleppo city.
It also calls on "the UN Security Council to enforce its anti-terrorism resolutions against those states backing terrorism.”
The letters state in conclusion:Syria will not give up its fight against terrorism and pursuing a political solution to the crisis "without foreign interference."
The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes.... on what are said to be Daesh terrorists in Syria since September 2014 --- without authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate. They have repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians.
The so-called Coalition has also been largely incapable of fulfilling its declared aim ----- of destroying Daesh.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy, since March 2011. UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, now estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
The UN has stopped its official casualty count in Syria --- citing its "inability" to verify the figures that it receives... from various sources.
WALES PEACE MOVEMENT?
Activists urged protest rallies over the deadly US-led airstrikes in Syria --- for Sunday, July 24th. NO-ONE showed up in Wales at all ! __________________________
Working-class socialists Needed! Once I had the unfortunate experience to visit Cardiff as the illegal Iraq war broke, and the "peace" activists there spent an hour... just bitching at each other - in front of a young lady from Iraq who'd travelled all over the UK, asking for help.
I caught her smiling, as I chewed them out for their lack of sincerity and their childish egos - although their only response was... "Well! If you're going to be unpleasant..."
It seems that MOMENTUM is needed within the peace movement in Wales...
Phone NOW to complain about so-called organisers' inactivity!
Blairites' illegal war --- in Syria!
The Syrian government has written to the United Nations, asking the world body to condemn the US / UK airstrikes which are carried out without authorization from Damascus, or a UN mandate.
The US-led coalition has been backing the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish & Arab forces, to capture Manbij since last May.
The Syrian government has criticized the unauthorized aerial campaign, saying it has damaged Syria's infrastructure instead of making a dent in the terrorists' capabilities.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PATRIARCHS YAZIGI, LAHAM, APHREM II APPEAL TO THE WORLD TO LIFT THE ANTI-SYRIAN SANCTIONS
Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch & All East, John X Yazigi, Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and All the East Gregorios III Laham, and Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch & All East, Mar Ignatius Aphrem II, issued an appeal on Tuesday, calling on the world and relevant states, to lift the siege and sanctions imposed on the Syrian people.
In the appeal, the Patriarchs say, if the goals for imposing sanctions are political ones, the sanctions affect the Syrian people, & mainly the impoverished and the working class in a drastic manner, particularly in their daily lives and ability to buy food and receive medical services.
The appeal notes that, although Syria's people remain steadfast in the face of this ordeal, the social condition is deteriorating and poverty and suffering are increasing, which is what prompted the Damascus-based Patriarchs to issue this humanitarian appeal, given that they are in touch with the suffering of the Syrians.
The Patriarchs call for the taking of unusual steps and brave, wise, and responsible decisions -- that take into account humanitarianism, human rights, and international accords, and lift the economic sanctions imposed on Syria --- adding that this would restore unity among Syrians and curb the exploitation of the Syrians’ ordeal, by sides that have no good intentions for Syria --- in addition to helping clerical establishments perform their humanitarian work.
The Patriarchs stress the appeal is in line with the desire of several states and humanitarian organizations who want to help Syria's people, & they hope the international community will react to this appeal & end the sanctions that constitute another aspect of the crisis, and which seek to pressure individuals, establishments, and companies -- thereby pressuring the entire Syrian population.
They point out that the lack of new investments, blocking of international flights to Syria, cutting exports to it, and blacklisting some of its firms, isolate Syria from the international community, as does closing most Western embassies in it, and they add that stopping bank transactions with Syria further exasperates the economic conditions and threatens the Syrian people's livelihood and dignity.
Please start a support group --- contact your local and national representatives - os gwelwch yn dda!
With 640,000 members - and growing - Labour was the largest left-wing party in Europe.
With the overwhelming majority joining to say #CorbynStays, the #ChickenCoup was not called off.
join.peoplesmomentum.com
YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO BE A LABOUR PARTY MEMBER? - so join the Anti-Austerity Movement!
‘How Can I Deselect My Labour MP?’ A Short Guide to Reselection and Democratic Accountability by Eric Sim
Unlike local councillors and those who sit on internal party committees, Labour MPs are not expected to renew their party mandate through regular candidate reselections. However, there is one means by which MPs are held democratically accountable to the party: the trigger mechanism.
The process.
Step 1: At some point in the run up to a general election the national executive committee (NEC) sets a timetable for re-selections. The NEC also sets the guidelines for this process, within the very broad parameters set out in the Labour rule book.
Step 2: If the sitting MP wishes to re-stand for election the ‘trigger ballot’ process begins. This is organised by a nominated officer of the constituency Labour party (CLP), normally the secretary, and overseen by the regional office (appointed staff members).
Step 3: All the constituency’s branches and its affiliates (trade unions, socialist societies, co- operative organisations) are entitled to vote ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to re-selecting the sitting MP.
Branches will meet in person to vote. Affiliates will decide their own process for deciding this matter.
Step 4: Each branch and affiliate is counted equally, irrespective of the number of members. If a majority of branches/affiliates vote ‘No’ then a full selection procedure takes place. The sitting MP has the right to appeal this decision to the NEC.
Step 5: In the event of a ‘No’ vote a selection procedure takes place. The sitting MP is eligible to stand in this selection and is guaranteed a space on the final shortlist.
The obstacles(and their solutions).
The process above is not simple, and any campaign to open a selection procedure in a constituency will face a series of obstacles.
Obstacle 1: The NEC has the right to set the guidelines for the trigger procedure. An NEC that is sympathetic to the need for greater accountability could set guidelines that empower party members. An NEC which is keen to minimise the risk of challenges to sitting MPs, could set guidelines that make this difficult: for instance, a short timeframe close to the general election.
Solution: Be sure to elect to the NEC supporters of member-led party democracy.
Obstacle 2: Each constituency will have the trigger procedure managed by a CLP officer. Like the above point concerning the NEC, the person overseeing this process will have some discretion over how it is done. If this person is not sympathetic to reselections, it will be possible for them to make it difficult to call one.
Solution: Make sure CLP committees and officers are supporters of member-led party democracy.
Obstacle 3a: Branches are weighted equally, regardless of membership, so it is possible for a majority of members to support reselection but for a majority of branches to vote against it (the opposite is, of course, also possible).
Solution: Work hard to build an active membership across all branches. This will support the goal of reselection but more importantly will develop our party into an activist force that can transform society.
Obstacle 3b: Trade unions and other affiliates decide their own processes for the trigger ballot, and this might be decided nationally not locally.
Solution: Be active in your affiliate and trade union branches and submit motions for greater accountability for Labour MPs to their national decision-making bodies (conference or executive normally).
Obstacle 4: A deselected MP can appeal to the NEC.
Solution: Appeals to the NEC should only be on the grounds that proper procedures weren't carried out. It is important to elect NEC members who comply with this ruling, and do not use this power to their factional advantage.
Obstacle 5: The MP defects and stands against the official Labour candidate. Even where they have no hope of winning, this could split the Labour vote and allow another party to win the seat.
Solution: This might be the biggest obstacle. And the only solution, is for the local party to be mobilised in support of the party’s decisions. If a defecting MP takes a large chunk of the local activists with them then that will hit the party’s organising capacity in a big way. But if an atmosphere of inclusivity and democracy is developed in the party then this will not be possible. This requires years of hard work in branches and constituencies across the country.
Should you deselect?
It is worth thinking long and hard about whether you want the sitting MP to be deselected (of course, you might argue that as a democratic principle, there should be a selection ballot either way). In addition to consideration of the MP’s politics, their attitude towards party democracy and their demographic identity (are they from an underrepresented group?), it is also worth considering the following:
How popular is the MP?
If the MP has a big ‘personal vote’ in the electorate then deselection might have a big effect on Labour’s vote share and hand the seat to a rival party. It might also encourage the deselected MP to defect and stand against the party.
How long have they been there?
There is lots of data to suggest that first-term MPs find it much easier to win re-election. Some suggest that this is because they are keen and work harder, but whatever it is, it’s an argument against deselecting a recently-elected MP.
How safe is the seat?
Deselecting a Labour MP in a Labour safe seat will likely end in the subsequent Labour candidate being elected. Deselecting a Labour MP in a marginal seat will likely end in the seat going to a rival party. This is more likely if the sitting MP has a personal vote, and more likely still if they then stand against the party.
Action plan.
If you decide to open a reselection procedure in your local party it is not enough to begin planning the week before. It requires years of work.
You need to:
Work to get pro-democracy candidates elected to the NEC. See here for more information about such candidates: http://grassrootslabour.net/
Win the argument for democratic accountability and reselection, in trade unions and affiliates. This means winning the argument in branches across the country, now, so that they can be fed up to the national level.
Develop local parties in every branch and constituency in the party that are a) committed to party member-led democracy and accountability, and b) able to campaign hard against not only other parties, but also against a defecting MP, even if some members follow said MP.
Again, this is hard work that needs to start right now: knocking on doors in our communities and winning arguments in our CLPs.
Where is the Peace Movement?
In prior articles I have argued that Putin has little choice but to launch nuclear strikes ----- should a war between Russia and NATO occur. That is so, precisely because Russia cannot win a protracted, conventional war of attrition. The anaconda would simply keep squeezing and squeezing with all its combined military and economic muscle, in the event of a WWII-style war.
The march toward a showdown between NATO and Russia -- due to conflicts in Syria and the Ukraine -- is therefore a march toward nuclear holocaust.
Atomic scientists have the Doomsday Clock set at 3 minutes until midnight. Where is the international peace movement?
We are on the verge of extinction, yet seem incapable of responding as an intelligent, organized collective, to stop this insanity.
Are we thinking that our leaders, and I mean all of them, are going to have an epiphany and suddenly put on the brakes and reverse course?
That is a fantasy. The end of the Cold War was supposed to produce a peace dividend & end any chance of future hostilities between the combatants. That never materialized. In fact, we are in a far more dangerous situation now than at any time in the past.
But the mass media is not reporting the truth of it now, and the population, east and west, is half asleep in blissful ignorance.
We are running out of time and the clock may strike midnight, and then we shall all wake up to witness our own demise. Yet too late, then, to demand peace...
The War Masters see this as an elaborate chess game --------- but it is no game for the rest of us.
When aggressors illegally invaded last time, the League of Nations refused to act with honour - leading us straight to World War 2.
I bet if we had been alive then, we'd have done SOMETHING, even if it was simply to write urgently to the League of Nations.
Please read the article below -- and then contact the UN Secretary General to demand a more principled stand....
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Yemen Echoes of 1930s Aggression and Descent into Barbarism
by Finian CUNNINGHAM
Both the Arab League and the United Nations have fully transformed themselves into the ill-fated League of Nations that more than 70 years ago disgraced itself into oblivion when it failed to condemn foreign aggressions that eventually led to the cataclysm of World War 2.
As delegates gathered in Egypt’s resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh for the Arab League last week-end, nearly half of its member states were at the same time openly engaged in an aerial blitz on one of the League’s weakest countries – Yemen.
Far from issuing any misgiving, or appeal for restraint, the League fully endorsed the on- slaught on Yemen and even went on to call for a new "unified military force" to repeat the action in other countries where a "security risk" is deemed. This is a cart blanche for further foreign military inter- ventions bypassing the United Nations Security Council. In other words, it is open season for lawless aggression.
With a population of only 24 million, and half of them living in poverty, Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the Arab region. It is also a founding member of the Arab League, which was formed in 1945 at the end of World War 2.
Since last week, scores of Yemeni civilians, including children, have been killed in a massive bombing campaign led by Saudi Arabia & co-ordinated by the United States.
The bombing coalition of 10 countries includes Egypt, North Sudan, Morocco and the Persian Gulf Arab states of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain.
Over 200 fighter jets from those countries have been reported carrying out air strikes on the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, as well as on the southern port city of Aden and its surrounding countryside.
Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab countries claim that the Houthi-led uprising in Yemen is being orchestrated by Iran. But the claims are far from substantiated and most likely trumped-up self-serving reasons -- providing justification for what is otherwise simply criminal aggression toward Yemen.
The Washington Post reported: "The Saudis and their allies think [sic] that the Shiite rebels are backed by Iran and that Tehran is trying to exert control over a country [regime] that has been an an ally of Riyadh and Washington."
The latter factual detail about the erstwhile Yemeni regime being an ally of Riyadh and Washington, is the real key to the latest Saudi-led offensive, not the speculative hearsay about Iran.
So, Yemen is being bombed and civilians are being massacred merely because the Saudis and their allies "think" that Iran is somehow involved. No proof, no legal case, just bombs away.
The Houthis are a Shia sect and reportedly keep friendly political, diplomatic relations with Shia Iran. But both categorically deny any military involvement.
Rather, the Houthis, (Ansarullah), appear to be the vanguard of popular rebellion against the ousted Yemeni regime, long-supported by Saudi Arabia and the US.
Last week, the deposed president Abdel Rabbo Mansour Hadi fled the country to take refuge in Saudi Arabia.
Even if Iran was supporting the Houthis, it still does not legitimise an all-out bombing of Yemen -- led by a consortium of Arab monarchies armed and guided by the US.
In Sanaa over the past week family homes, shops and offices have been demolished during hundreds of sorties by warplanes as the Saudi-led coalition pounded the city on nightly raids. Yemen’s international airport was so badly hit it is no longer functioning, thus cutting off the country.
A naval blockade by Saudi, Egyptian and US warships has also severed Yemen’s access to the Red Sea to its west.
While in on the southern coast, in Aden, bodies of civilians were reportedly strewn on streets as hospitals filled up with the wounded, and as US warships patrolled the Gulf of Aden.
Against this background of slaughter, the Arab League endorsed the Saudi-led military attacks. Saudi King Salman told the summit that the bombing campaign would continue until Houthi rebels are defeated.
Meaning there is no end in sight to the onslaught. Indeed, it is now anticipated that the extensive aerial bombardment and naval siege is paving the way for a massive ground invasion of 150,000 Saudi troops that were mobilised last week along the north Yemeni border.
Attending the Arab League convocation, & royally received, was the discredited president of Yemen, Mansour Hadi.
He called on the Saudi military coalition to not relent in its strikes against his own country until the Houthi 'Iranian stooges' are crushed. The irony is, that Mansour Hadi is widely excoriated within Yemen, and not just by the Houthis, as a stooge of Saudi Arabia and Washington.
His steadfast refusal to deliver on popular demands for a democratic transition in Yemen over the past three years, led to the Houthis seizing the capital and government institutions, as 2014 ended.
The latest Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen - overseen by Washington - has been condemned by Iran, Russia & China.
But the United Nations has shown lamentable passivity in the face of this foreign aggression on Yemen. Speaking at the Arab League summit, UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon failed to make any condemnation of the aerial bombardment of that country.
"It is my fervent hope that at this Arab League summit leaders will lay down clear guidelines to peacefully resolve the crisis in Yemen," said Ban Ki-Moon, with a complacency bordering on cynicism.
He urged Arab members to engage in peace talks supposedly brokered by his special envoy, Jamal Benomar. This was said as Saudi Arabia and others were openly vowing to continue their blitzkrieg.
The naked aggression on Yemen, with the complicity of the US & European capitals, is perhaps the nadir for the Arab League and the United Nations.
The descent of these organisations into disgraceful irrelevance has been decades in the making. Their despicable transform- ation into tools of aggression, is now clear in the eyes of the world.
The UN and Arab League have remained silent while the US & its allies launched war after war on countries over the past 2 decades, most notably on Iraq during the 1990s and 2000s, which resulted in over one million dead, mainly civilians.
Worse, the UN and the Arab League stand accused of complicity by giving Washington a de facto green light - & on some occasions logistical support - to wage its wars across the Middle East.
In 2011, the Arab League expelled Libya & Syria, even though these countries were being subjected to US-NATO aggression, along with the collusion of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states, including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was murdered by NATO-aided and Gulf-financed extremists in 2011, denounced the Arab League, before his death, as "finished".
Syria, like Yemen, was a founding member of the Arab League, yet the government of President Bashar al Assad remains to this day, suspended from the 22-member organisation.
The Syrian government’s seat has been given over to the Western-backed Syrian National Council, which is comprised of non-entity exiles who have no popular mandate in Syria.
The League is thus nothing more than a self- serving talking shop, dominated by Saudi Arabia and the other oil-rich Gulf Arab kingdoms. As client regimes of Washington, that, in turn, makes the League a tool of the US: to give a thin cover for its imperial predations in the Middle East & N. Africa.
Ironically, one of the founding principles of the Arab League is to protect the 'sovereignty and independence' of its members.
Ominously, the lawlessness and outright aggression that has gripped international affairs – with the latest manifestation in the collective bombing of Yemen – is reminiscent of the 1930s.
That perilous period saw a series of inter- national aggressions carried out by fascist powers with impunity. The League of Nations – a forerunner of the UN – facilitated these aggressions through its shameful silence and connivance.
When Japan annexed large swathes of China’s Manchuria in 1931, the League of Nations, including the US, Britain and France, largely turned a blind eye.
As they did when fascist Italy bombed its way into Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935-36, Franco’s Spain subjugated Catalonia in 1938, and Hitler’s Nazi Germany annexed Austria & Czech Sudetenland, also in 1938.
The complete breakdown in any semblance of international law during the 1930s & the rise of state-sponsored gangsterism paved the way for the Second World War.
A similar process of degeneration is also well underway in the present day, led largely by the US and its coterie of allies among the NATO alliance -- plus oil-rich Arab dictatorships.
Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen are but some of the evil fruit from the poison that is coursing through international relations. And yet, ludicrously, Washington accuses Putin and Moscow of behaving like Hitler with a malign 20th Century atavism.
That a defenceless, impoverished country such as Yemen can be openly bombed by hundreds of US-supplied F-15 fighter jets – & for that criminality to be widely endorsed – is a sure sign that the world is once again sliding into the abyss of rampant criminality and the possibility of a more catastrophic all-out war.
Doyle Vic 25 January at 21:51
The worst form of fracking, which was previously licensed for exploration in South East Wales, has been banned.
Underground coal gasification will not go ahead in UK
______________________________________________
May's Bribe For Frack Site Locals by Peter Lazenby
The PM’s fracking free-for-all slush fund ‘will set neighbours against each other’ in a nightmare dash for gas.
Theresa May stands accused of offering “blatant bribes” to householders to accept fracking near their homes, using millions of pounds of public money.
The PM proposes offering “incentives” of £10,000 to £20,000 from the public purse to locals to allow shale gas fracking operations to be carried out by profiteering companies.
Ex-chancellor George Osborne had previously suggested handing 10% of taxes from fracking companies to communities blighted by fracking.
Ms May has gone further, by suggesting that the bribes be offered to individuals.
But Greenpeace chief scientist Doug Parr warns that “public opposition has soared and support for shale has tanked,” and “people’s concerns over climate change & their local environment cannot be silenced with a wad of cash.”
The proposals have also been condemned by Labour and the Green Party.
Anti-fracking campaigners in North Yorkshire - where one small area alone, Ryedale, is now threatened by 4,000 fracking wells - urges all communities to stay solid in their opposition to fracking.
The practice is banned in Scotland, France and Germany.
Frack Free Ryedale activist Sue Gough, who lives near a proposed fracking site:
“This is a cynical attempt by the Tories, to bribe local people to accept fracking by offering them hard cash.
“People need to know that by accepting this money they are selling their communities down the river and condemning them to industrialisation and ruination by the frackers, who have no respect for our environment, our livelihoods or health.”
The site will be operated by the company 'Third Energy'.
“If Third Energy is allowed to frack in Ryedale it will open up the floodgates to all the other companies who are waiting in the wings to move into North Yorkshire and will bring about the widespread industrialisation of the county — we need to continue to oppose the industry and persuade people to see through this blatant bribe,” she said.
Shadow energy and climate change secretary Barry Gardiner said: “An incentive to do the wrong thing is properly called a bribe and Theresa May is using this bribe to set neighbour against neighbour.
“It is not right for communities and it is not right for the country.”
Green Party MEP Molly Scott Cato said: “By calling the EU referendum, Cameron showed the Tories’ talent for dividing communities. Prime Minister Theresa May is now taking this forward -- by offering individual payments, little more than bribes, to households in areas affected by fracking.”
Fracking works by pumping a toxic sludge into the ground under high pressure to smash layers of shale and release trapped gas.
Opponents say it threatens water supplies, health and the environment, at a time when the government should be lining up behind Britain’s fledgling renewables industry.
Doyle Vic in Wales writes:
Apply pressure --- maintain pressure we have a Welsh moratorium, for now.
The 10k deal is also designed to be the end of the NHS, as they will never treat the radiation & water toxicity victims fairly: this fracking is long term war on humanity.
Petition
implement a Law that would ban all hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for 20 years
fracking is still in the early stages of development compared with other mining methods, but seems to already be implicated in various environmental problems... a Law that would ban all hydraulic fracturing for a minimum of 20 years will give time to show the long term implications for the environment
Go here to sign this Petition:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/156191
‘Declaration of war’: North Yorkshire fracking approval sparks outrage
Anti-fracking campaigners are lambasting North Yorkshire council for unleashing an assault on citizens’ rights to fresh air and clean water, after the local authority approved the UK’s first fracking operation since 2011.
Doyle Vic posted in Llanwynno and Rhondda Cynon Taff oppose inland gas and oil drilling.. https://www.facebook.com/vic.doyle.9 Doyle Vic 4 July at 20:18 "While still concerned about the development of fracking in Northallerton, Yorkshire, I am proud to announce that on top of the "moratorium" in Wales, (which excludes test drilling) today 3 site licenses have been withdrawn":
Good News for Wrexham, Vale of Glamorgan and Rhondda Cynon Taf
The latest review of Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences (PEDLs) by the Oil ajnd Gas Authority has resulted in 3 licence areas in Wales being withdrawn; a further 5 have been given extended terms.
The withdrawn licences are:
PEDL 187 (IGas) – covering the site at Borras and Holt near Wrexham
PEDL 219 (Coastal Oil & Gas) – covering the sites at Dyffryn and Llantrithyd in the Vale of Glamorgan
PEDL 220 (Coastal Oil and Gas) – covering the site at Llantrisant in Rhondda Cynon Taf
Donal Whelan
ACTION ON ‘Yemen war crimes’:
BAE evicts shareholders from AGM over human rights criticisms
BAE Systems evicts a number of shareholders from its AGM on Wednesday who criticised the firm’s sale of deadly arms to Saudi Arabia that may have been used to commit war crimes against innocent Yemeni civilians.
Two shareholders-come-activists, who are affiliated with Campaign Against the Arms Trade, staged an intervention just after the arms giant’s chair, Roger Carr, took to the stage.
Just 5 minutes into his address, they stealthily walked to the front -- carrying placards -- and denounced BAE’s complicity in Saudi Arabia’s brutal military campaign against Yemen.
The posters, visible for all present to see, had the caption: “900 children killed in Yemen. Stop arming Saudi Arabia!”
'Blood money'
Hannah Brock, 30, dragged out of the AGM by security staff soon after the political act of protest, told RT the actions of herself & her fellow campaigner, were justified:
“BAE Systems is one of the biggest arms dealers in the world. The firm doesn’t just profit from war, it incentivizes it,” she said.
“The only time that BAE are legally obliged to face public scrutiny is at their AGM. It is our only chance to question the firm.”
Brock, who is a Right to Refuse to Kill program officer at global antimilitarist network, War Resisters’ International, went on to explain she felt compelled to draw attention to BAE’s complicity in grave violations of international law.
“It’s particularly vital BAE is challenged on Saudi Arabia’s horrendous human rights abuses --- as it continues to bombard Yemen, causing an enormous death toll,” she said.
The peace activist accuses the UK’s conservative government of protecting & supporting the arms giant. She calls on MPs to place an “outright embargo” on UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia and to begin an inquiry into the UK’s role in facilitating possible Saudi war crimes against Yemeni civilians.
BAE’s AGM kicked off at 1100 BST at a conference centre in Farnborough, Hants.
Roughly 30 activists linked to CAAT bought shares in BAE to gain access to the annual affair.
They reportedly brought in a range of banners with quotes from people who'd experienced airstrikes in Yemen, which they displayed to other shareholders.
As the day progressed, more activists were reportedly removed from the venue.
'Serious breaches of international law'
The UK cross-party international development committee says on Wednesday that it seeks an independent international inquiry into the serious human rights breaches committed by 'all sides' in the Yemen conflict.
BAE's stake in Saudi arms market
Saudi Arabia is BAE's third biggest market, according to CAAT. Large-scale arms sales go back decades & include BAE’s Tornado & Typhoon combat planes now being used in Yemen.
BAE employees 5,300 staff in Saudi Arabia, to support the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) and the Royal Saudi Naval Force (RSNF).
A spokesperson for the arms giant initially declined to confirm or deny the activist incident had even occurred.
A second spokesperson for the firm later said: “There were a number of protesters removed from the meeting today. The AGM is the one time in the year that shareholders have the opportunity to hear from the board and ask questions about the business and we welcome all those who want to do that in a way that is courteous to other shareholders.”
BAE Systems CEO, Ian King, stated at the meeting, “In 2016 and beyond, we are well placed to continue to generate attractive returns for shareholders.”
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Mick Antoniw AM underlines the Welsh Government's strong position;
“The Welsh Assembly is overwhelmingly opposed to the Trade Union Bill as an uneasy and vindictive law that will undermine decades of partnership building between employers and trade unions in wales.”
“It is also a direct attack on the devolution settlement. The Welsh Government will over- turn any attempt to apply this ridiculous law to Wales”
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If we fight together - we win together!
"I’ve been a member of Unite Community for the last 2 and a half years. In that time we have had, in conjunction with Unite, & the unhesitating support of other unions, like PCS, who're hugeCommunity supporters of organisations like the Cardiff People’s Assembly ------ with many successes in campaigning against social injustice."
"We’ve had councils in South East Wales sign Unite’s pledge not to make use of Workfare labour, a massive achievement! And one readily agreed to by the councils, with one exception, who shall remain nameless, but they know who they are… and we’re not done with that particular meal yet."
"On a national scale, Victorian work practices Sports Direct staff have to endure, have been laid out by Unite Community, for all the world to see. It’s also shown the work force that we care deeply about what they have to do to earn a living, and we are not about to see their dignity or right’s stripped away.
It also sent a message in the clearest terms to the millionaire owner Mike Ashley. Last month share prices for the company dropped by over 50%, following an extraordinary meeting of share holders, who say they knew little about their draconian treatment of manufacturing and retail staff.
Ashley has been urged to make the company private again: we’ll be watching to see what he does and the way the workforce is treated - whatever the outcome now - as a lot of the factory staff joined Unite the Union. Score!"
"The sanctioning of social security claiments because they don’t meet ever changing criteria, is of great concern to us.
That’s an understatement; we’re outraged by the sanctioning of claimants under any circumstances. It’s immoral, wicked, evil, unprincipled, unscrupulous dishonorable, dishonest, unconscionable, iniquitous, corrupt, depraved, vile, villainous, foul, and just plain wrong!
We want action to stop this, like, yesterday."
"To starve families already facing hardship is criminal. Our Unite Community members find themselves at the sharp end of the austerity measures, along with the workers trapped in zero hour contracts and minimum wage jobs.
What a legacy this government will leave. Ricketts - there’s one to be especially proud of. Dysentery is another. Scurvy another. Deaths caused by terminal despair at being cornered marginalised and cut out of society, pushed to the edge to spectate and not participate."
"They've left no working class stone unturned. They were cavalier with the economy first --- what are hundreds of thousand of jobs between banker friends or billion upon billions, between us the tax payers and the bankers? Need to save your business? Shed your work staff, they are expendable. Be lean and mean, cut corners, rob their pension funds. Keep wages so low, people can’t keep up their mortgage repayments.
Then it was our council & housing association homes, with the bedroom tax, driving many to a private renters market. How many Tory MP’s are private sector landlords? 128! That’s 39% of Conservative MP’s currently in the commons and includes George Osborne, & the PM David Cameron, who in 2009, wasn’t sure how many houses he owned. What a wanker!
The NHS is being made to look bad, starved of cash and managed so badly, it can’t help but fail, ready to be scooped up at a snip by the Conservative party’s rich friends, or any company with strings of law suits out- standing in other countries.
It will be like Royal Mail all over again… unless we stand up and say no. There are other horror’s awaiting us, Universal Credit being another fubar in the making. Now they are coming for the unions, again. The Trade Union Bill is a cancer that needs zapping with extreme prejudice."
"These are just some of the reasons I joined a union. Strength in numbers. For too long we have been divided, weakened & manipulated by the opinions printed in right wing rags I wouldn’t wipe my cat’s arse with, let alone mine, and a biased tv corporation WE own."
"Luckily we live in Wales and have devolution, so up yours Dave, you can take the trade union bill and, um, yeah."
Sue Leader
4th International Anti-Fascist Conference In Novorossia !
All progressive forces who fight against fascism, Nazism, capitalism and imperialism, to take part in the 4th International Anti-Fascist Conference in Novorossiya.
In recent years the world has witnessed once again the rise of fascism and fascist groups all over the world. Western states’ military attack on Libya, the arming of the pseudo-Islamic clerical fascist rebels in Syria, and the fascist takeover in Ukraine, were a series of events, which unleashed fascism all over the world.
NATO and EU imperialists use these fascist movements to impose their neo-liberal agenda over the peoples of sovereign nations. Growing economic pressure within the European Union is able to lead to the same events that happened already in Ukraine, Syria and Libya.
The attacks on these states were only the beginning. The greater goal, is to destroy and split up all remaining countries, which are not yet completely bowing to the neo- liberal agenda --- like Russia, Iran, North Korea and China.
The parallels between historical & contemporary fascism are undeniable. While the German Nazis disbanded trade unions on the 2nd of May 1933, Ukrainian nationalists burned the Trade Unions House of Odessa 81 years later on the same date, killing dozens of people in the flames.
However, there's been growing resistance against this global spread of fascism. The people of Eastern Ukraine, in the Donbass region took up arms to fight fascism in Ukraine. They founded the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, and are able to defend them;- while in Syria, the Syrian Arab Army was able to inflict heavy casualties on the fascist groups trying to destroy the Syrian state.
But the global struggle against fascism & imperialism, does not end in these states, as fascism will also not stop there.
We have to organize and coordinate the international antifascist movement, in order to protect the world against these threats.
That is why we appeal to all progressive forces who fight against fascism, Nazism, capitalism & imperialism, to take part in the 4th International Anti-Fascist Conference, in Novorossiya.
**** The schedule for date, times & location will be announced on their web site ~
Please visit the site for updates and all other information as well as photos of past events .
‘Stop arming Israel!’ Campaign --- ahead of London arms fair
Anti-arms campaigners are set to once again disrupt one of the world’s largest arms fairs and highlight the UK’s role in arming repressive regimes around the globe.
One of the largest arms fairs in the world, it's expected to attract over 1,000 global arms firms and 30,000 attendees.
Campaigners say the DSEI arms fair provides a platform for Israeli & international arms firms, to profit from oppression and destruction.
Sarah Waldron of Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), condemns the UK government’s sale of arms to Israel.
“In one week one of the world’s biggest arms fairs will be taking place just across the road and the UK government has consistently facilitated weapon sales to the Israeli government, who will have a massive pavilion at this fair --- where their biggest arms companies will be displaying their battle- tested weapons,” she says to RT.
“The UK government has a very confused attitude to democracy and human rights. On the one hand, it talks of wanting to promote democracy in the Middle East and, on the other, it’s inviting the companies - and the governments - which are causing violence & conflict in these regions.”
Simon Morris of Occupy Democracy:
“The occupy method is to take a space & hold it. We hold it to either facilitate discussions or have a meeting point where people can come down & talk about the issues,” he says.
“Part of our list of demands, part of what we wish to change in the world, is a shift away from the huge amount of military spending and war, that causes misery and mayhem around the world,” he added...
“If our country had a more democratic system, like direct democracy, we would see a lot less conflict, a lot less spending on military hard- ware, and a lot more peace in the world.”
Hilary, a Pro-Palestine campaigner who has spent time in the Occupied Territories, says she is angry with the UK government:
“We don’t want Israeli arms companies here. We don’t want Britain to be selling arms to Israel, or components for weapons, and we don’t want to be buying arms and drones -- to fuel more conflicts in countries around the world,”she says.
Stop the Arms Fair is set to feature a mixture of creative activities and direct action all week ----- to raise awareness about the destructive impact of the global arms trade.
Activists will argue that the UK must redirect spending from arms to renewables, and from warfare, to welfare.
They will also highlight the link between the global arms trade and the global refugee crisis, and host a 'mass day of action', of opposition to the DSEI fair.
Freedom for Germany!
COMPACT has the “Courage to Truth” to state loud and clear: Germany is still an occupied country. We are a military protectorate and an economic colony of the United States. TTIP is the Versailles treaty of the 21st century. The new NS-dictatorship is NSA's dictatorship. Our mission: Freedom for Germany!
Edward Snowden proved with documents what many have previously only suspected: The US has built on every continent a colonial dictatorship. We're being spied on, overheard, monitored. The Empire's censors dominate our media. Google, Facebook and Apple control our secret thoughts. Virtual footprints that we leave behind are like traces of blood, which the NAS sleuths eagerly snoop after.
This campaign of Anglo-Saxon predator capitalists started a hundred years ago. With the founding of the Federal Reserve, by the most powerful private financial sharks, a paper money juggernaut arose that survives solely through constant destruction of material resources. Any country that refuses to hand over these goods voluntarily is covered with war.
Germany is an irreplaceable cornerstone in this strategy. From Ramstein air base, heavy US military equipment is sent off to supply the new eastern front & from Stuttgart, the killer drones' targets are programmed.
But the elite of “God's Own Country”, who want to rule the entire planet, also understand very clearly: We are the people of “Putin-understanders”. Even German business people, do not believe in the demonization of the Kremlin chief. If we get rid of the US occupation, Uncle Sam can 'close shop'. That is why they deny us our sovereignty, democracy and constitution.
Shall we tolerate this any longer? COMPACT says no to the dictatorship by NSA, CIA and US-Army & presented at the 4th Conference for Sovereignty strategies for peace and freedom in Germany, and all of Europe!
Translation by Jurij Kofner, COMPACT correspondent.
Oleksiy Zhuravko is a former Ukraine MP. He was ombudsman for the disabled in Ukraine, and started several foundations employing over 3,500 disabled people all across Ukraine.
He was kicked out of Ukraine last year for his politics - he did not agree with the Maidan overthrow.
Albeit a disabled man with no legs & only one arm, he is charged with terrorism in Ukraine --- for speaking out against the Ukrainian government killing & maiming its own citizens - and making countless more, disabled.
Good and horrible pictures.
First we see a young mother playing with her baby daughter, and then we see the mother and the daughter walking together towards the sun – a metaphor for moving together towards a bright future.
The last photo is beyond horrible: war has taken the lives of both the mother and her young child.
It's 8,494 km from Donetsk to Washington, DC. The distance between Lugansk & Brussels, is 2,880 km. The distance between Gorlovka & Berlin, is 2,059 km. It is easy to live in those wonderful cities so far from this war, and talk about how horrible the Donbass people are, without seeing the horror Kiev's government (with the support of the above capitals) inflicts on women & children on a daily basis.
Dear friends, I, a citizen of Ukraine, do not want to see horrible pictures like these ones. I do not want to hear the word “war”. I don’t want to see blood: & my biggest dream today, is for this war to end, as soon as possible.
I want see love and happiness. I want to hear children laughing. I want to see young mothers playing with their kids in parks - smiling parents and happy children. That's what I wish all of you.
I know that the vast majority of Ukrainians don’t want this war – we are a peaceful people. People with a long history of creating things, and not destroying them. So why do we let our government send young Ukrainian men to kill other Ukrainians in this civil war?
I know that people of the world, of the US & Europe are peaceful people, who hate war. However, I also know that most in the West are misled about this war & don’t see the pictures of innocents suffering at the hands of the Ukrainian army. A Ukrainian army and government that have unconditional support from the West.
Dear friends! War is a very profitable business. Vast riches can be made on human suffering (President Poroshenko, for example, made 7 times more money last year, than he had made the previous year). We can't wait until the people profiting from the deaths of Ukrainians get tired of this war --- they won’t.
They will never stop this war until people speak up - both Ukrainians at home, and people in the West - against their governments’ support of Kiev’s war.
When thousands of people have already died, staying quiet & doing nothing is unacceptable.
Ukrainians! People of the world! We want peace! But only together can we stop this war! Stop being quiet while thousands perish, and hundreds of thousands suffer! Stop quietly waiting for all of this to stop by itself. Speak up! Write to your politicians! Come out to protest! Demand an end to this war!
Only together can we make sure that a road to the future for other mothers and kids, is not tragically cut short --- like it was in these pictures!
Another Heart-breaking Catalog of Kiev War Crimes WESTERN Media Will Ignore
These War Crimes will be reported in the Chinese, Latin American, Asian, African, and, of course, Russian Media !
Russia's government publishes their second white book: an account of the continuing & unabated warcrimes being committed by the Ukraine army and by neo-nazi paramilitaries.
The first one -- published 10 months ago -- was roundly ignored by the west's media. Eventually they are going to have to address these charges.
The Russians insist that they will not let the matter drop, and will relent only when the guilty are brought to justice. The media's ignoring of war crimes is a crime in itself.
The article below appeared originally in Russia Today
Russia’s Major Crimes agency presents a major report on war crimes committed by Kiev military and volunteers in the south- eastern regions of Ukraine that seek self- determination, after the 2014 Kiev coup. The head of the Investigation Committee, Aleksandr Bastrykin, says in the Monday press release, that the main objective of the project is to attract the attention of the world community and international Human Rights Groups, and tell the truth about a “terrible fratricidal war, started by the nationalist regime of Ukraine.”
He adds that the Investigative Committee is looking into 54 criminal cases connected with the civil war in Ukraine --- and that the combined material fills 2,500 volumes, and includes the testimonies of over 100,000 witnesses.
The White Book of Crimes is based on evidence collected in cases where Ukrainian authorities, and volunteers, are suspected of using banned methods of warfare. The evidence includes the testimony of eyewitnesses and participants at these events, and photos and various material presented by international organizations.
The document also states that the agency continues to investigate suspected crimes committed on Ukrainian territory, and that a special department has been created for it within the Investigative Committee.
Bastrykin writes that the ultimate goal of the project is to ensure that all those involved in crimes, are justly punished.
In December 2014, the Russian Foreign Minister's plenipotentiary for Human Rights, Konstantin Dolgov, said that international organizations have confirmed the human rights violations by Kiev's troops in eastern Ukraine, that are detailed in the White Book.
Dolgov also noted then, that Russia expects rights activists to pressure the West and the Kiev authorities -- to prevent further crimes.
please let me know if there are any events - for the next 4 or 5 months or further ahead - you would like to see publicised in 'heddwch'.
They can be peace, social justice / human rights, anti-nuclear or anti-austerity events (talks / protests / marches) - if you are unsure, send it anyway.
Just to encourage you:
I need:
Date & Time Venue Short description or not - any particular details or requests.
Contact details: email and /or phone / mobile no. and if applicable - website.
If you are uncertain if I may already know, err on the side of doubt and re-send it me anyway! As an aside, John M., I do have the Newport Chris Barber gig already!
Many thanks, Looking forward to hearing from you, Jill
Jill Gough Ysgrifennyddes Genedlaethol National Secretary CND Cymru heddwch@cndcymru.org www.cndcymru.org www.facebook.com/cndcymru
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Michael Mariotte 23 June at 07:30
There are lots of petitions for lots of issues out there, we know. But we ask you to take just a moment to sign this one to support the campaign to build a nuclear-free, carbon-free future at December's COP21 climate summit in Paris.
Nuclear power is not a solution to the climate crisis-- in fact, its use is counterproductive and pre...
org2.salsalabs.com
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Jill Gough
Stop Hinkley Newsletter.
Download printable version here:
http://stophinkley.org/Newsletter/N-LJune2015.pdf
Jill Gough shared Jane Davies's post.
The building of 2 new reactors at Wylfa on Ynys Mon (Anglesey) would destroy most of this beauty (and maybe irradiate the rest).
Our values - to 'need' more electricity to create more junk and stuff for the population who are 'told' it is what they must have & what they 'need' - are up the spout.
This is a photo of cestyll gardens on the proposed new wylfa site.
It was started in the 1920's by violet vivian; & princess victoria, daughter of edward vii, designed part of the garden. Violet & her uncle's ashes are scattered in the gardens.
See welsh historic garden trusts bulletin 66 about it and read horizons glossy brochures, because they do tell you the whole scale of what they are going to do.
Footpaths gone, roads gone, wildlife - like chough, red squirrels - gone, terns... gone.
TheyWorkForYou
www.theyworkforyou.com
TheyWorkForYou is a website which makes it easy to keep track of your local MP's activities.
Bilingual Leaflets for Street Leafletting.
Available from CND Cymru:
Contact jon@thefreeflyer.com
GET INVOLVED --- ACT NOW
Keep arms companies out of the BBC
The Chair of BAE Systems, Roger Carr, has just been appointed as Vice-Chair of the BBC Trust. It's a position that comes with a lot of prestige, and puts him at the heart of the organisation.
Please add your name and demand that Roger Carr step down as Vice Chair of the BBC.
The BBC is supposed to be run in the public interest. Arms companies don't care about culture or broadcasting, they just care about gaining legitimacy as they line their pockets.
BAE Systems is Europe's biggest arms company and has armed dictatorships and human rights abusers across the world, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Israel. Its chair should not be paid £70,610 a year to 'represent license fee payers views'.
The BBC needs to cut its ties with Carr and the arms trade.
Jill Gough posted in South Wales Anti-Nuclear Alliance 8 January 04:13
Welsh Reviews Policy on Radioactive Waste - Say NO to Geological Disposal and New Build!
For the Attention of: RADIOACTIVITY AND POLLUTION PREVENTION WELSH GOVERNMENT This is a Response to ...
mariannewildart.wordpress.com
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Jill Gough posted inSouth Wales Anti-Nuclear Alliance 18 December 04:47
PLANS to begin reprocessing nuclear waste at Hinkley point, just 14 miles across the sea from Barry Island, pose "a direct threat" of increasing levels of radioactivity in Barry a marine consultant has warned.
When plans were approved for Britain's first new nuclear reactor in 18 years to be built at Hinkley Point, Somerset - which can be seen from Barry Island on a clear day - environmental groups reacted with concern. However, expert Tim Deere-Jones says that equally concerning are plans to reprocess nuclear waste from Hinkley's decommissioned reactors. The liquid waste would be discharged into the Bristol Channel delivering what Mr Deere-Jones calls "significant quantities of radioactivity" to Barry & south Wales.
Causes, 548 4th St, San Francisco, CA 94107 United States · Privacy Policy
World War II: The unknown war By Paul Craig Roberts
In my column, “The Lies Grow More Audacious,” I mentioned that Obama and the British prime minister, who Obama has as a lap dog, just as George Bush had Tony Blair as lap dog, had managed to celebrate the defeat of Nazi Germany at the 70th anniversary of the Normandy invasion without mentioning the Russians.
I pointed out the fact, well known to historians and educated people, that the Red Army defeated Nazi Germany long before the US was able to get geared up to participate in the war.
The Normandy invasion most certainly did not defeat Nazi Germany. What the Normandy invasion did was to prevent the Red Army from overrunning all Europe.
As I have reported in a number of columns, many, if not most, Americans have beliefs that are not fact-based, but instead are emotion-based. So I knew that at least one person would go berserk, and he did.
JD from Texas wrote to set me straight. No one but “our American boys” won that war. JD didn’t know that the Russians were even in the war. JD had the option of consulting an encyclopedia or a history book or going online and consulting Wikipedia prior to making a fool of himself. But he chose instead to unload on me. JD epitomizes US foreign policy: rush into every fight that you know nothing about and start new ones hand over fist that someone else will win.
It occurred to me that World War II was so long ago that few are alive who remember it, and by now even these few probably remember the propaganda version that they have heard at every Memorial Day and July 4th occasion since 1945.
Little wonder that neither Obama nor Cameron or their pitiful speech writers knew nothing about the war that they were commemorating.
Propaganda has always been with us. The difference is that in the 21st century Americans have nothing but propaganda. Nothing else at all. Just lies. Lies are the American experience. The actual world as it exists is foreign to most Americans.
In 1973 a British television documentary series was released that chronicled WW II. Of the 28 episodes, only 3 and part of a 4th acknowledge Russian participation in the war. From the British standpoint, victory was an Anglo- American victory.
This did not sit well with the Soviet government. The Soviets offered their film archives to the West. In 1978 a 20 part series of 48 minutes per episode was released in an American documentary television series narrated by Burt Lancaster.
The documentary was titled: “The Unknown War.” Certainly, it was a war unknown to most Americans, raised as they are on propaganda. The Unknown War was a revelation to Americans because it demonstrated beyond all doubt that Nazi Germany lost World War II on the Russian front.
Of the 20 episodes, “The Allies,” that is, the Anglo-Americans and free French, feature only in number 17. One out of twenty is about a correct proportion of the West’s participation in the defeat of Nazi Germany.
If you google The Unknown War you will find an entry on Wikipedia. The series might still be available on YouTube. It was taken off the air when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, a folly repeated by dumbshit Washington.
It was more important to Washington that Russia be demonized than any truths should be presented, so the truth revealed in The Unknown War was removed from US TV. Later the documentary reappeared on the History Chanel.
In my June 6 article, I said, following the consensus of historians, that Nazi Germany lost the war at Stalingrad. In this article: http://www.globalresearch.ca/70-years -ago-december-1941-turning-point-of- world-war-ii/28059 historian Dr. Jacques R. Pauwels says that Germany lost the war 14 months earlier at the Battle of Moscow in December 1941.
He makes a good case. Whether one agrees or not, the facts he presents are eye openers for the “exceptional, indispensable Americans” who believe nothing happens without them.
Normandy, June 1944, is 2.5 years after Germany lost the war in the Battle of Moscow. As historians have made clear, by June 1944 Germany had little left with which to fight. Whatever was left of the German military was on the Eastern Front.
At the 70th annual Normandy landing celebration in France, Obama informed his French vassal, President Hollande, that he, Obama, the ruler of the Exceptional Country, would not sit down to dinner with the Russian Putin.
Americans are too good to eat dinner with Russians. So Hollande had to have two dinners. One for Obama, and then one for Putin. As food is still good in France thanks to the banning of GMOs, probably Holland didn’t mind. I myself would have enjoyed being at both dinners for the food alone.
Like all news that's important, the dinner for Putin, and its meaning, escaped the attention of the American presstitute media, the world’s greatest collection of whores.
If memory serves, normally the Russians are left out of Normandy commemoration celebrations. If the war was won in the West, what did the Russians have to do with it? Nothing, of course. “Our boys” did it all, just as JD informed me. Russians? What Russians?
But this time France invited Putin to the Normandy celebration, and Putin was not too proud to come. Putin spoke with European politicians in the off moments, and these politicians saw a real person, unlike Obama, a total fake.
The superiority of Russian diplomacy over Washington’s is clear to all. Putin’s position is: “we are here for you, we can work things out.” Washington’s position is: “do as we say or we will bomb you into the Stone Age.”
Russia is accommodating to its client states. Washington is not. Putin says that he is willing to work things out with the billionaire corrupt Oligarch imposed on Ukraine by Washington, but Washington has forced the Bulgarians to stop work on the South Stream Pipeline.
This natural gas pipeline bypasses Ukraine by going under the Black Sea to Bulgaria. As Washington’s new puppet state in Ukraine has not paid its multi-billion dollar natural gas bill to Russia and threatens to disrupt the pipe- line to Europe and to steal gas from it, Russia, despite Western sanctions, made preparations for a new pipeline route in order that Europeans do not suffer from winter cold and have their industries shut down and economies collapse from lack of energy.
Washington sees Putin’s commitment to Europe as a threat and has gone to work to prevent any Russian energy flows to Europe.
In contrast with Putin’s position, Washington’s position is: We don’t give a hoot what happens to our European puppets. Like the rest of humanity, European puppets don’t count and are dispensable, mere collateral damage, in the Indispensable Country’s war for world hegemony.
All that is important to Washington is that Russia is damaged regardless of the damage done to the puppet regimes in Western and Eastern Europe, including the moronic Polish government, possibly the only government on earth more foolish than Obama’s.
Washington is trying to break off Europe’s economic relations with Russia. Washington is promising to supply Europe with US natural gas obtained by fracking. This promise is a lie, like everything else Washington says.
On May 20 the Los Angeles Times reported that “federal energy authorities have slashed by 96% the recoverable oil buried in California’s vast Monterey Shale deposits.” The Monterey Shale formation contains about two-thirds of the nation’s shale oil reserves, and only 4% are recoverable.
William Engdahl has reported that at best the US has 20 years of natural gas from fracking, and that the price of the gas will be the despoiling of US surface and ground waters.
Experts have pointed out that the infrastructure for transporting US natural gas to Europe does not exist and that it would take three years to build the infrastructure.
What will Europe do for three years while it waits for US energy to replace the cut-off Russian energy? Will Europe still be there?
Washington’s European vassals should take note: Washington is prepared to destroy the economies of its vassals in order to score a one up on Russia.
How is it possible that by now Europe doesn’t understand how Washington thinks? Those bags full of money must be very large.
As I have reported several times, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security affairs told me years ago, that Washington purchases European politicians with bags full of money.
It remains to be seen if European “leaders” are willing to sacrifice their peoples and their own reputations in order to be complicit in the war that Washington is planning with Russia, a war that could mean the end of life on earth.
It is Europe’s call. If leaders emerge who tell Washington, “no dice,” the world is saved. If instead European politicians want the money, the world is doomed.
Europe would be the first to go.
YOU COULD HELP STOP A MASSACRE
Please try to help !
contact your representative now.
Russia's Lower House of Parliament (Duma) calls on all the world's parliaments, to stop a humanitarian disaster in Ukraine.
Russian MPs suggest a new international contact group on the basis of PACE, in order to help stop the armed standoff in Ukraine and prevent the looming humanitarian disaster in the country.
The address to the parliaments of the world and international parliamentary organizations, has been prepared jointly by all four parliamentary parties, and signed by their leaders.
"The State Duma MPs are outraged by the fact that the current Kiev authorities are supporting escalation of a civil war and the cruel murders of civilians, by raging nationalist radicals", the letter says.
"Today, the precise number and names of those burned alive in Odessa, remain undisclosed."
"The numbers range from several dozen to several hundred - and this is proof of the authorities’ unwillingness to tell the truth and put those responsible on trial,” the letter reads.
The MPs also write that it is important to let all their colleagues around the world know, that dozens of people have been killed in the towns of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, as well as other places in Ukraine, under the pretext of a counter-terrorist operation, which is, in reality, a punitive raid.
“Millions of Ukrainian citizens have become hostages of the Kiev junta and the potential victims of mass Human Rights violations,” the MPs say.
The Russian politicians state in the address that it is necessary to hold consultations between parliaments, to develop approaches that could contribute to the defusing of tensions and the restoration of security for all Ukraine's citizens.
Their document also mentions the road map drafted by the Swiss chair of the OSCE on May 7th this year, as “worthy of attention.”
Russia's Foreign minister Lavrov today, says that it is a civil war in Ukraine... "right now".
Break the Silence A World War is Beckoning by JOHN PILGER
Why do we tolerate the threat of another world war in our name? Why do we allow lies that justify this risk? The scale of our indoctrination, wrote Harold Pinter, is a “brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis”, as if the truth “never happened even while it was happening”.
Every year the American historian William Blum publishes his “updated summary of the record of US foreign policy” which shows that, since 1945, the US has tried to overthrow over 50 governments, many democratically elected; grossly interfered in elections in 30 countries; bombed the civilian populations of 30 countries; used chemical and biological weapons; and attempted to assassinate foreign leaders.
In many cases Britain has been a collaborator. The degree of human suffering, let alone criminality, is little acknowledged in the west, despite the presence of the world’s most advanced communications and nominally freest journalism. That the most numerous victims of terrorism – “our” terrorism – are Muslims, is unsayable.
That extreme jihadism, which led to 9/11, was nurtured as a weapon of Anglo-American policy (Operation Cyclone in Afghanistan) is suppressed. In April the US state department noted that, after Nato’s campaign in 2011, “Libya has become a terrorist safe haven”.
The name of “our” enemy has changed over the years, from communism to Islamism, but generally it is any society independent of western power and occupying strategically useful or resource-rich territory.
The leaders of these obstructive nations are usually violently shoved aside, such as the democrats Muhammad Mossedeq in Iran and Salvador Allende in Chile, or they are murdered like Patrice Lumumba in the Congo. All are subjected to a western media campaign of caricature and vilification – think Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez, now Vladimir Putin.
Washington’s role in Ukraine is different only in its implications for the rest of us. For the first time since the Reagan years, the US is threatening to take the world to war. With eastern Europe and the Balkans now military outposts of Nato, the last “buffer state” bordering Russia is being torn apart. We in the west are backing neo-Nazis in a country where Ukrainian Nazis backed Hitler.
Having masterminded the coup in February against the democratically elected government in Kiev, Washington’s planned seizure of Russia’s historic, legitimate warm-water naval base in Crimea failed. The Russians defended themselves, as they have done against every threat and invasion from the west for almost a century.
But Nato’s military encirclement has accelerated, along with US-orchestrated attacks on ethnic Russians in Ukraine. If Putin can be provoked into coming to their aid, his pre-ordained “pariah” role will justify a Nato-run guerrilla war that is likely to spill into Russia itself.
Instead, Putin has confounded the war party by seeking an accommodation with Washington and the EU, by withdrawing troops from the Ukrainian border and urging ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine to abandon the weekend’s provocative referendum.
These Russian-speaking and bilingual people – a third of Ukraine’s population – have long sought a democratic federation that reflects the country’s ethnic diversity and is both autonomous and independent of Moscow. Most are neither “separatists” nor “rebels” but citizens who want to live securely in their homeland.
Like the ruins of Iraq and Afghanistan, Ukraine has been turned into a CIA theme park – run by CIA director John Brennan in Kiev, with “special units” from the CIA and FBI setting up a “security structure” that oversees savage attacks on those who opposed the February coup.
Watch the videos, read the eye-witness reports from the massacre in Odessa this month. Bussed fascist thugs burned the trade union headquarters, killing 41 people trapped inside. Watch the police standing by.
A doctor described trying to rescue people, “but I was stopped by pro-Ukrainian Nazi radicals. One of them pushed me away rudely, promising that soon me and other Jews of Odessa are going to meet the same fate … I wonder, why the whole world is keeping silent.”
Russian-speaking Ukrainians are fighting for survival. When Putin announced the withdrawal of Russian troops from the border, the Kiev junta’s defence secretary – a founding member of the fascist Svoboda party – boasted that the attacks on “insurgents” would continue.
In Orwellian style, propaganda in the west has inverted this to Moscow “trying to orchestrate conflict and provocation”, according to William Hague. His cynicism is matched by Obama’s grotesque congratulations to the coup junta on its “remarkable restraint” following the Odessa massacre.
Illegal and fascist-dominated, the junta is described by Obama as “duly elected”. What matters is not truth, Henry Kissinger once said, but “but what is perceived to be true.”
In US media the Odessa atrocity has been played down as “murky” and a “tragedy” in which “nationalists” (neo-Nazis) attacked “separatists” (people collecting signatures for a referendum on a federal Ukraine). Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal damned the victims – “Deadly Ukraine Fire Likely Sparked by Rebels, Government Says”.
Propaganda in Germany has been pure cold war, with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung warning its readers of Russia’s “undeclared war”. For Germans, it is an invidious irony that Putin is the only leader to condemn the rise of fascism in 21st-century Europe.
A popular truism is that “the world changed” after 9/11. But what has changed? According to the great whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, a silent coup has taken place in Washington and rampant militarism now rules.
The Pentagon currently runs “special operations” – secret wars – in 124 countries. At home, rising poverty and hemorrhaging liberty are the historic corollary of a perpetual war state. Add the risk of nuclear war, and the question begs: why do we tolerate this?
John Pilger is the author of Freedom Next Time. He can be reached through his website: www.johnpilger.com
Whole Article appeared in 'Counterpunch'
A Russophobic, Failed State Ruled by Fascists Obama’s New Ukraine
by MIKE WHITNEY
“While Russia has been making efforts to de-escalate and resolve the crisis, the Kiev regime has chosen to launch airstrikes on peaceful residential areas, literally destroying the last hope for preserving the Geneva accords.” Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman
“The crisis in Ukraine is not the result of ‘Russian aggression,’ but of a criminal strategy by the US and its European allies to install a hostile regime on Russia’s borders in Ukraine and, ultimately, dismember Russia itself.” Johannes Stern, NATO boosts military build-up against Russia as protests spread in east Ukraine, World Socialist Web Site
Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov:
“We are calling on the European capitals, the United States of America to give an assessment of the current events and are of course calling on those carrying out airstrikes on residential areas to…immediately end the punitive operation and any violence against its own people…”
So far, there has been no response from Washington although it’s clear that the Obama administration had a hand in organizing the crackdown. Not only were the State Department & CIA directly involved in the putsch that removed democratically-elected president Viktor Yanukovych from office, but Washington has also been implicated in punitive operations directed against ethnic Russian protestors in east Ukraine.
Both CIA Director John Brennan and Vice President Joe Biden visited Kiev just hours before two previous crackdowns were ordered by former-Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. As Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov blandly noted, It’s clear that Washington is “calling the shots”.
The coup-President Oleksandr Turchynov:
“It is hard to accept but it’s the truth, the majority of law enforcers in the east are incapable of performing their duties.”
Turchynov was referring to the fact that Ukrainian troops refused to attack their own countrymen. The mutiny spread from elite airborne units to local police sympathizing with the protestors.
The only group willing to carry out Washington’s proxy war are Right Sector neo-Nazis who helped topple the Yanukovych government. Members of this openly fascist party, commemorated “the perpetrators of the massacre of Yanova Dolina,” where “600 Poles were murdered by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in what is now Bazaltovoye.
The massacre marked the beginning of ethnic cleansing in what is now western Ukraine, where tens of thousands of Poles were killed in a few months.” (World Socialist Web Site)
These are Obama’s new allies in America’s war against Russia. Now check this out from Reuters:
“The International Monetary Fund warned that if Ukraine lost territory in the east it would have to redesign a $17 billion bailout of the country, probably requiring additional financing.”
Tell me, dear reader, when was the last time you heard of the IMF threatening to withhold funds if a political leader didn’t wage war on his own people?
Anyone with half a brain can see that the IMF is just acting on orders from the White House. It's Obama’s war. His fingerprints are all over the policy. Obama is determined to draw Russia into a bloody guerilla war that leaves Ukraine in the same condition as Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and now Syria.
Here’s a clip from the New York Times:
“Through stealth and misdirection, and in defiance of Western sanctions, Russia managed to achieve its immediate goal of what Western and Ukrainian officials believe, is rendering Ukraine so chaotic that it cannot guarantee order, mend its teetering economy or elect new leaders to replace Turchynov.” (Not Getting Through to Mr. Putin, New York Times)
Putin wants a “chaotic” failed state on Russia’s border? Have you ever read such nonsense in your life?
Putin didn’t topple the Ukrainian government. The US State Department did. (Victoria Nuland’s hacked phone calls prove it.) And Putin didn’t violate the Geneva agreement under 24 hours after the deal was signed by launching a crackdown on civilian protestors in the east. That was US-puppet Yatsenyuk. Nor did Putin deploy the military to surround cities, cut off their water supplies and deploy helicopter gunships to fire missiles at civilian infrastructure and terrorize the local population.
That was the work of Obama’s fascist junta in Kiev. Putin had nothing to do with any of the trouble in Ukraine. It’s all part of the US “pivot to Asia” strategy to encircle and (eventually) dismember Russia in order to seize vital resources and control the flow of energy to China.
Washington wants to reduce Ukraine to Mad Max-type pandemonium to justify establishing NATO bases on Russia’s perimeter. It’s all part of the plan to control Central Asia and rule the world.
Putin has acted as peacemaker throughout the crisis, but Obama is determined to provoke the Russian president by attacking and killing ethnic Russians. Consider the statement by Russia’s Foreign Ministry:
“As we have warned many times before, the use of the army against its own people is a crime and is leading Ukraine to catastrophe…
By supporting the organizers of the Kiev coup in their strategy of violently putting down protests, the US and EU are taking on a huge responsibility, essentially closing the door to a peaceful solution to the crisis.” (Putin says Geneva agreement no longer viable after Ukrainian military action, Guardian)
It’s clear now that Obama merely used the Geneva agreement to buy time to move troops and military hardware to Poland and the Balkans. It’s also clear that Obama invited German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Washington so that it would appear that Europe is united behind the US in its proxy war on Russia.
But what does Obama hope to achieve by stirring up this hornet’s nest? He knows that Putin cannot afford to back down on Crimea, so what’s the point? And, more importantly, what is Ukraine going to look like when Washington is finished using it as a staging- ground for its geopolitical landgrab?
Here’s an insightful piece by Russian academic, Andrei Fursov, who thinks he knows what Obama wants and explains the impact the policy is going to have on Ukraine for years to come.
“The Americans need controlled chaos and civil war. Moreover, it is clear that this country (post-coup Ukraine) is intended to be absolutely anti-Russian, nationalist, Banderite and neo-Nazi. So the dual goal of establishing this anti-Russian state is to constantly apply pressure on the Russian Federation.
As Bismarck (said) ‘We must cultivate among the Ukrainians, a people whose consciousness is altered to such an extent, that they begin to hate everything Russian.’
Thus we are talking about a historical psy-op, an information-psychological sabotage, whose purpose is to establish Russophobic Slavs.
They are the means to separate Ukraine from Russia and to oppose Russia as a kind of totalitarian empire.
This was all devised under the Galician Project, on which the intelligence services of Austro-Germany & Kaiser German worked, followed by the intelligence service of the Third Reich, later – the CIA and BND.
Banderastan, if that’s what Ukraine is fated to become, as designed by the puppet-masters across the ocean, is to be an oligarchic, terroristic, Russophobic state.
An oligarchic Banderite oligarchy is the ideal vehicle for external control. Clearly, this will suit both the oligarchs and the West.” (Battleground Ukraine: A Comprehensive Summary, Zero Hedge)
So, there it is: Divide and rule. We saw the Bush administration pull it off with the Shia & Sunnis in Iraq, and now Obama wants to do the same with the Ukrainians and Russians. Same strategy, different continent.
This is Obama’s plan for the “New Ukraine” a fascist-ruled failed state that follows Washington’s directives and puts pressure on Russia through endless provocations, belligerence, and war.
Ukraine will be Washington’s pit bull in the East, separating Moscow from crucial sources of revenue and thwarting efforts at greater EU-Russia economic integration. This is how Washington hopes to insert itself into Eurasia, to improve its prospects in the Great Game, and to establish global hegemony into the next century.
(Note: “Banderite” refers to Stepan Bandera, who was a Ukrainian nationalist leader who collaborated with the Nazis. Bandera headed the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) According to the World Socialist Web Site: “The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) carried out numerous massacres of the Polish population in western Ukraine.
The UPA served as a military executive organ of the OUN. It was founded in the spring of 1943 & recruited primarily from Nazi collaborators, previously active in the SS.”)
MIKE WHITNEY lives in Washington state. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK Press). Hopeless is also available in a Kindle edition. He can be reached at
fergiewhitney@msn.com.
Carl Spiby posted in South Wales Anti-Nuclear Alliance
Unbelievable...
Nuclear waste plans make 'mockery' of localism, MP says
Government plans to stop councils from being able to veto construction of underground radioactive wa...
www.localgov.co.uk
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Jill Gough South Wales Anti-Nuclear Alliance
The new street leaflet below is available for distribution from info@cndcymru.org.
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Paula Luqa shared a link.
The Truth About War - Who Are The Real Terrorists? www.youtube.com
Since being in Iraq and Afghanistan over 1 million civilians have been killed and thousands of soldiers have lost their lives to empire, to the bankers and e...
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facebook Wayne Jones posted in South Wales Anti-Nuclear Alliance 29 November 16:36
The basis of the legality for the Hinkley Newbuild is the EU Nuclear Waste Directive signed by ministers this August gone, without debate or publicity.
The Tories have sidestepped the provisions of the Flowers report, a major setback the last time they tried to build a program, by using Fascist measures from Europe.
The lies are now told at Council of Ministers level, away from prying eyes, that nuclear waste burial is declared safe - without the science or experience to back it up - technically, we're still in the same position we were in 1983, as far as N-Waste is concerned, when the Government declared that they were building N-Plants one at a time, not as a program, in order to try and sidestep the findings of the Royal Commission, which, of course, failed.
Hinkley C was abandoned and the reason put down to cost. That was because the economics didn't hold up without all ten stations which they would never get, because of the Royal Commission !
The head of NIREX admitted to me on Day 100 of the Sizewell Inquiry that, in the case of Nuclear Waste repositories, the movement of groundwater would be unpredictable even in the case of relatively small tremors, similar to the one that occurred near Anglesea around that time.
These are quite regular occurances. It led Hugh Richards to comment to me later that the Nuclear Industry were looking for stable, dry, rock formations in the middle of continents for waste disposal .... no doubt Hugh would have been hammer and tongs on this Directive had he still been alive, whereas I couldn't get anyone to listen, all my parliamentary questions being sidestepped here in Ireland by Minister Hogan, who signed the Directive.
So there you have it... it's too late to wave your arms, they have altered the legal position... only political will can stop the Newbuild and you'll seriously have to consider ridding us of ALL the parties in order to do that - they are ALL cheats.
Which of them have told on this Directive ? NONE of them ! I got my questions in through Independants who have become strong in Ireland.
Start a real party and tell that witch on the throne to bugger off ....
Protest Against US School of The Americas The website Anonymous reports an online protest against the military academy known as the School of the Americas, in the US, where so many thousands of the soldiers involved in Latin American dictatorships studied.
Anonymous, associated with a network of activists, says the protest operation aims to destroy the academy -- now called the 'Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation' -- and "the entire barbaric US foreign policy agenda", in which it is involved.
Military officers who graduated from that academy "established Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile, operated torture centres and assassinated political activists," the site says.
In Honduras, graduates of that school are now involved in a brutal repression campaign against the social movements that fight the regime taken to power by graduates of that centre, who, in 2009, overthrew the democratically elected government, the group says in a video posted on the Internet.
The School of the Americas was established in Panama in 1964... and transferred to Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1984, with its new name.
A group of US activists, School of Americas Watch, is carrying out peaceful protests every November to mark the assassination of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter, in 1989, in El Salvador.
A committee of UN experts concluded that some of those responsible for the crime were trained in that school.
A protest gathering has been held in Wales at the entrance to Parc Aberporth, where the UK’s army is developing its ‘remote killing machines’ or drones.
The gathering organized by ‘Drones Network Cymru’ and several other campaigns groups was held as a wake-up call for the UK government to live up to its international obligations and lower its contribution to these war machines, which kill indiscriminately.
The impact drones have on the civilian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territories were highlighted by representatives of Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Movingly, some read out the names of some of the hundreds of children already deliberately killed by drone attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Libya and now in Syria.
The (then Labour!) London government established Parc Aberporth in 2003-4, as a drone testing site, at a cost to the taxpayer of over £21 million.
They promised to create at least 1,000 jobs, but the site now employs just 50 people, with three quarters of the business units left empty.
Military drone manufacturers are seeking to find civilian uses for remote sensing drones, in a bid to make more profits. This includes using the drones for domestic surveillance.
Drones are aircraft remotely controlled by ‘pilots’ from the ground, often at great distance from war zones. They are a new mode of remote control wars in contrast to launching massive on the ground offensives at the risk of losing troops and have become the latest weapon of choice in the ‘war on terror’.
Drones are indiscriminate weapons of war that have been responsible for thousands of civilian deaths. Drones should be banned, just as landmines and cluster munitions were banned. Now is the time to stop the rise of drone warfare – before it is too late.
Sign the Ground the Drones petition
In spring 2013, the UK doubled its number of armed Reaper drones in Afghanistan, and the Ministry of Defense confirmed that it has begun operating drones over Afghanistan from a new facility at RAF Waddington near Lincoln.
Drones make it much easier for politicians to launch military intervention and assassinate people anywhere in the world. Drones are making the world a much more dangerous place - please sign the petition.
Sent by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Privacy Policy
STOP THE ARMS TRADE SHOWS UP GUNRUNNERS
UK anti-war campaigners organized a high -profile six-day protest action in London, as the government welcomed “the world’s worst human rights abusing regimes to shop for weapons”.
Protests were organized by Stop the Arms Fair, a campaign group opposed to all of the DSEi biennial arms exhibitions, which boast they're "the largest fully integrated defense & security shows in the world".
http://www.caat.org.uk/press/
This year’s arms fair, on September 10-13, brought together 28,000 international weapons traders and their clients from more than 50 countries, invited by the UK government.
In 2011, the UK invited a number of governments which the Foreign Office describes as having human rights records “of concern”, including pre-revolution Egypt, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Stop the Arms Fair campaigners say they wanted to make it “as difficultas possible” for the weapon traders and their clients to do business.
The group organized many protests from September the 7th, to September the 12th.
The climax of the demonstrations was on September the 8th, when huge numbers gathered in London as the arms dealers arrived to try to set up at the fair.
The week-long action included a silent vigil against drone wars, in reaction to the decision to extend the fair by a day to include a conference on drones. A wreath-laying ceremony was held by the peace campaigners, for victims of the arms trade.
The action ended with a concerted effort: “Don’t let them dine in peace” which saw campaigners target arms dealers wherever they went “to celebrate their week of deadly business with an expensive dinner”, that effectively disrupted elite districts in London.
UK PM David Cameron has described the arms trade as a key part of the UK economy.
Since May 2010, when Cameron took office as PM, he has made foreign visits to 11 different countries, including Egypt, India, the United Arab Emirates, Japan and Myanmar, to promote armament sales.
The latest arms sales trip has taken Cameron to India, in the UK’s "largest trade mission ever".
Wales’ First Minister, Carwyn Jones, has said that the British Nuclear Fleet (Trident) would be more than welcome to come to Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire.
Wales should not be home to WMDs. We say that the Welsh Government should state uncategorically that there is no place for Trident in Wales.
Dear Friends,
We need a good show of signatures on this petition to the National Assembly. It's your opportunity to do something else for the cause of nuclear disarmament - and to stop anyone thinking that we would allow nuclear weapons to be based in Wales.
Coalition makes U-turn on nuclear energy subsidieswww.guardian.co.uk
Leaked document seen by Guardian reveals plans to subsidise nuclear through electricity bills, despi...
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Nikki Clark posted in South Wales Anti-Nuclear Alliance
Nikki Clark 19 April 13:11
please read this & share, this is EXTREMELY important update regarding the situation in Japan, the figures in there are likely to be underestimates (which is almost irrelevant given that the analysis for such conservative figures is still very very bad...) Fukushima Daiichi Site: Cesium-137 is 85 times greater than at Chernobyl Accidentakiomatsumura.com
Japan’s former Ambassador to Switzerland, Mr. Mitsuhei Murata, was invited to speak at the Public He...
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Tim Richards posted in South Wales Anti-Nuclear Alliance
Tim Richards 29 March 08:12
Let's hope this is true............ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk -wales-north-west-wales-17546703
Firms 'pull out of nuclear plant 'www.bbc.co.uk' Two German power firms are reportedly shelving plans to build a new nuclear power station on Anglesea.
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Southwest AgainstNuclear posted in South Wales Anti-Nuclear Alliance
Southwest AgainstNuclear 21 February 21:41
Please come and support the occupation
Hinkley C ~ Site Occupationwww.youtube.com
This film gives an account of the first few days of the occupation of Langborough Farm on the site o... http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature =player_embedded&v=PfW-Kv6IWEI
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Andreas Speck 14 February 18:55
Activists needed to defend squatted farmhouse at nuclear power plant http://stopnuclearpoweruk.net/content/activists-needed -defend-squatted-farmhouse-nuclear-power-plant
Activists are needed urgently to help defend a farmhouse that has been squatted to stop EDF Energy t...
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jill Gough posted in South Wales Anti-Nuclear Alliance
Jill Gough 7 February 19:00
Message from the band - SEIZE THE DAY
The contractors hired by EDF to clear
the old woodland at Hinkley Point are
D W Greenslade, of Lampark, Watchet, Somerset, TA23 0LB.
If you want to tell them that you are not happy
with them for taking EDF's contract to clear
this beautiful site BEFORE EDF EVEN HAVE
PLANNING PERMISSION, you should phone them
and ask them to desist:
Phone: 01984 640389
You might want to share this number with
local people who want Greenslade to know
that they will not be hiring them in future
if they continue with this work.
That number again:
Greenslades Tree Surgeons,
01984 640389
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Campaign to ban Military Recruiters from Schools
On June the 1st 2012 the UN Association Cardiff
hosted the launch of a new petition and
campaign calling on the Welsh government to ban
military recruiters from schools.
The UK is the only country
amongst the 27 EU member states
to permit military recruiters into schools.
Following last year's successful referendum of
greater legislative powers, the petition calls
upon the Assembly government to take an ethical
lead and ban such practices as unacceptable in
the Welsh education system. At present, such
decisions are left to the discretion of Headteachers.
Supporters of the campaign include:
Plaid Cymru leader, Leanne Wood AM
Member of Parliament, Jonathan Edwards
(available for interview)
Assembly Member, Rhodri Glyn Thomas
(also available for interview)
Member of the European Parliament, Jill Evans
The Poet, Patrick Jones.
Welsh screenwriter and actor, Boyd Clack.
The singer, Dafydd Iwan
Supporter Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM says:
"Far from being an extreme or outlandish position,
the prohibition of MoD recruitment in schools
would simply bring Wales up to speed with
prevailing international standards."
Jonathan Edwards MP adds:
"Many young people would like to join the armed
forces and everyone respects the right to choose
that career path. However, I'm supporting this
campaign in anticipation that the Welsh Government
will lead the way in bringing Wales and the UK
in line with our European neighbours."
The report of the UN Committee on the Rights of
the Child: Concluding Observations on the UK
(October 2008) asks that the UK "reconsider its
active policy of recruitment of children into
the armed forces and ensure that it does not
occur in a manner which specifically targets
ethnic minorities and children of low-income
families." Freedom of Information evidence shows
that MOD recruiters disproportionately target
poorer communities. Long-term poverty means
Wales sends a disproportionate number into the
military, relative to its size of the UK population.
Launch of campaign was held at 7pm, Friday June 1st at the Temple of Peace, Cathays Park, Cardiff, home of the United Nations Association and Welsh Centre for International Affairs (WCIA).
For additional information on the campaign, contact: Leon Russell OR Sara Hawys Roberts
In the US, people organised mass demonstrations in over ONE HUNDRED cities to protest over the US government’s surveillance programs leaked by a former contractor at the National Security Agency.
A group called “Restore the Fourth” demands an end to all spying programs that violate the Fourth Amendment.
Ben Doernberg a co-organizer of the protest action in New York City says that their group was in action before the leaks by Edward Snowden, adding that there are more worries now over the growing trend of violating civil liberties.
In a letter to the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, a group of 26 senators is now demanding more transparency on government surveillance programs. They accuse Obama's administration of using a “secret body of law” to justify the spying.
Snowden recently revealed that the NSA collects massive amounts of data on millions of US citizens and foreigners by accessing their 'phones and Internet. He is wanted in the US for espionage.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a federal lawsuit charging that the NSA’s bulk collection of American’s data violates their constitutional rights of free speech and privacy.
Der Spiegel says its journalists have seen a September 2010 top secret NSA document Snowden has with him, showing that the US bugged European Union offices and gained access to EU internal computer networks.
The White House defends the NSA's surveillance, saying "their" data helps to avert terrorist activities.
and in the UK or Wales?
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Please read and share!
Dear CND Cymru members, supporters, friends, affiliates and groups,
As you must know, nothing can happen without you and we hope you will be able to get involved in the following. If you are unable to go, perhaps you could write to your local or national papers and/or your elected representatives about it.
A printed mailing is sent to CND Cymru members. If you or your group have any diary dates you would like included, please get in touch.
_________________________
Regular events:
Bangor & Ynys Mon Peace and Justice
Discussion and action for justice and peace,
locally, nationally and internationally.
Meetings every Monday night (except most Bank Holidays and school holidays) 6.30-c.8pm,
(normally upstairs),
at the Friends' Meeting House,
Dean Street, Bangor, Gwynedd
This independent group was founded in 2001
and welcomes one and all. Campaigns policy
is bilingual; meetings in English.
Every Tuesday 2pm - 4pm
CARDIFF
Cardiff Anarchist Black Cross Prisoner Support
Red and Black Umbrella social centre, Clifton Street.
Write letters to prisoners and learn
about political prisoners.
www.theredandblackumbrella.wordpress.com/
Every Tuesday 6pm - 9pm
People's Kitchen
CARDIFF
Red and Black Umbrella Social Centre,
Clifton Street
Come along to the local Anarchist social centre
for a vegan meal, free or donations which go
towards a different cause every week.
www.theredandblackumbrella.wordpress.com/
DIRECT ACTION GROWS IN UK ANTI-CUTS STRUGGLE
The British campaign group NHS Direct Action has picketed the private health firm Care UK's offices in London over NHS reforms that could force even more private involvement in the NHS.
NHS Direct Action activists say that many private health care companies will benefit from the "reforms" to the health service and throughout social care services.
"Having been involved in the student movement over the last five or six months, and as a medical student, it seemed logical to funnel some of that energy toward challenging the health and social care bill. We're taking UK Uncut's idea of a simple message linked with a viable alternative,” says Toby Simmons, who's a medical student representing the campaigners.
"UK Uncut changed the rules by showing that spaces - even inside shops - are legitimate places to protest. It's harder to use the same methods with the private health firms that are circling the NHS - they don't have the same high- profile public image as Topshop or Vodafone - but we're attempting to show that the NHS is for everyone, rather than for the elite few to make a profit from."
NHS Direct Action say they chose Care UK as their target, as that company is a candidate to make a huge fortune out of the NHS shake-up.
Campaigners say the family of the former chair of Care UK, John Nash, granted £21,000 to the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, to help fund his office when he was in the shadow cabinet.
John Nash has also been advising Chancellor Osborne, as a member of the Independent Challenge Group set up last June, on areas of cuts in the NHS, as well as social care cuts.
Another campaigner, who prefers to be unnamed, says the voluntary sector organization he works for has been “already hit hard by the cuts.":
“If we don't act, then we're going to see everything we care about in this country destroyed," the campaigner states.
NHS Direct Action's website: http://www.nhsdirectaction.co.uk/
The webspace is being updated.
Follow them on twitter: @NHSdirectaction
CND Cymru
The blockade of Devonport Dock's nuclear base was a tremendous success. The Welsh contingent joined hundreds of activists to stop the flow of traffic through both the port's gates.
As an experienced Trident Ploughshares peace activist, I was asked to join a Swiss group who wanted help in their action.
We spent Sunday evening planning our tactics, and then crawled into our sleeping bags for a restless night's sleep.
Up at 4:15, we hurriedly ate muesli and made up our packed lunches at the same time. We boarded the minibus at 5 a.m. and dodged the police, as we linked our heavy duty cables to each other. As one group created a diversion we threw ourselves to the ground and locked on to the dockyard gates.
The police, thinking they were dealing with soft Europeans, started to manhandle our protesters, but I gave them a tongue lashing. "Stop that violence this minute!" I said. "This is a peaceful nonviolent direct action against nuclear weapons. If anyone gets injured, you will be reported to the Police Complaints commission; so leave us alone!"
Hesitating, they fell back in line. "You shouldn't be here", the Inspector said. "Nukes are obscene" the crowd shouted back. "It's your planet we want to save".
A carnival atmosphere prevailed, with music from harmonicas, jaws harps, singing; and peace songs from all over Europe - Wales, Germany, France, Switzerland.
After four hours of solid blockade, with not a single vehicle coming through the gates, the police arrived with their bolt cutters. They warned us several times to move, but we all refused. They took our names and personal details. The police photographer took our photos, and we were dragged and carried away from the roadway. The police inspector told me and another protester that we would be charged with aggravated trespass, which is a criminal offence.
As they pulled the last young person away from the road, we chanted with our international friends:
"We were at the last blockade, we'll be at the next blockade, we'll be at the last blockade when all the world's evil nuclear weapons are thrown into the dustbin and the planet is given back to our children".
Multinational corporations like Monsanto are rushing to carve up the continent’s resources. With the help of the UK government they are manoeuvring themselves to control seeds markets and push agricultural chemicals on small-scale farmers.
World Development Movement 66 Offley Road London SW9 0LS Phone: 020 7820 4900
Latest podcasts from Reality Radio
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for updates when new shows become available.
http://www.realityradio.org.uk/
Please consider going to this website http://palsolidarity.org/donate
to donate whatever you can to the International Solidarity Movement. This is the Palestinian based organization for which Rachel Corrie was working when she was deliberately crushed and killed by an Israeli bulldozer (provided by the U.S. Caterpillar Corporation) while standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their nonviolent resistance to Israel's colonial aggression in Palestine.
Go to this link http://palsolidarity.org/2009/06/7647/
to read a sobering list of the unarmed demonstrators murdered by the Israel Occupation Forces.
This is only the tip of the iceberg of death and destruction which is meted out to the Palestinian people every day by the colonial forces of Israel which are supported with huge military subsidies provided by the U.S. using our tax dollars.
This is the direction that the entire world must take in its opposition to Empire and Corporatism. Governments no longer serve the people they are supposed to represent. It is up to civil society to join together in nonviolent resistance. ISM provides an inspiring model for the rest of us.
Thanks!
Joe Mowrey Palestine Truth Coalition http://www.palestinetruthcoalition.com/
http://palsolidarity.org/2011/01/16291/
Go here to order your boycott Israeli goods t-shirt. £10 from the PSC shop.
