[ The Street Parliament ] • Chomsky: Do We Have the Makings of a Real Revolution?
The Occupy movement has been an extremely exciting development. Unprecedented, in fact. There’s never been anything like it that I can think of. If the bonds and associations it has established can be sustained through a long, dark period ahead -- because victory won’t come quickly -- it could prove a significant moment in American history.

The fact that the Occupy movement is unprecedented is quite appropriate. After all, it’s an unprecedented era and has been so since the 1970s, which marked a major turning point in American history. For centuries, since the country began, it had been a developing society, and not always in very pretty ways. That’s another story, but the general progress was toward wealth, industrialization, development, and hope. There was a pretty constant expectation that it was going to go on like this. That was true even in very dark times.

I’m just old enough to remember the Great Depression. After the first few years, by the mid-1930s -- although the situation was objectively much harsher than it is today -- nevertheless, the spirit was quite different. There was a sense that “we’re gonna get out of it,” even among unemployed people, including a lot of my relatives, a sense that “it will get better.”

read more

Statistics: Posted by Guest — Wed May 16, 2012 12:02 pm

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[ the N.E.W.S ] directive • Eurovision Overshadowed by Abuses
Flush with oil revenues, Azerbaijan is trying to polish its image abroad, transforming its capital, Baku, into a glittering Dubai-style city. At the same time, it’s gearing up to host Eurovision, a popular song contest with acts from 56 countries, expected to draw more than 100 million television viewers this May.

However, a new report says that the Eurovision event is overshadowed by human rights abuses in Baku – illegal evictions and demolitions of people’s homes as part of a government-sponsored beautification project.

In one neighborhood, dozens of families have been forcibly evicted to make way for a modern, glass-encased arena. Some have been forced out without warning, others evicted in the middle of the night. Homes have been torn down while the owners’ possessions – furniture, photos – were still inside. The Eurovision Song Contest will be the first major event in the arena.

When residents refused to leave their apartments, authorities forced them out by cutting off electricity and water or removing the building’s windows, letting in the rain, wind, and snow.

Some evicted residents said the government offered them nominal payments. But the offers didn’t begin to cover the value of their homes – some in highly desirable areas overlooking the Caspian Sea.

http://www.hrw.org/node/105276?tr=y&auid=10379894

Statistics: Posted by Guest — Sun Mar 04, 2012 3:14 am

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[ The Street Parliament ] • Betrayals and Outbursts in Barcelona
The Developing Social War in one Mediterranean City, February 2012
Everybody concerned with the growing social conflict manifesting ever more visibly in the streets of Barcelona had their eyes on the last week of February. Both the custodians of order and those who are increasingly realizing themselves to be a class diametrically opposed to the former knew that the stakes were high: it was the week of perhaps the economically most important convention the city is host to, the Mobile World Congress, which brings together cellphone and other tech companies to show off their latest gadgets. The Congress is a high status event, bringing millions of euros in commerce to the city and thousands of low paying temp jobs to those who make the city run.

It was also the target of the metro and bus workers who decided to call a 4 day strike for the days of the Congress, from the 27th of February to the 1st of March. The workers of TMB (Barcelona Metropolitan Transit) were on the war path now that the pervasive austerity measures had come to the transportation sector. Since the end of 2011, the users of public transport were already in an uproar against the price hike to 2 euros a ride. The only cities with more expensive metro or bus fares have median incomes two or three times higher, making Barcelona city transit the most unaffordable in Europe or North America. On an almost weekly basis in January, there were popular actions sabotaging the metro or opening it up for free riding.
[Don't think this means I don't hate you though]

In February, TMB workers joined the fray, adding two new demands to the users' rejection of the price hike: a rejection of the reduction of services and the cutting of several bus lines; and the upholding of TMB's prior agreements with its workers, particularly the payment of overdue wages and the honoring of an agreement made with bus workers after an important series of strikes in 2008. The bus workers and metro workers agreed in assembly to go on strike for as long as 4 days, to support all protests and solidarity actions called in those four days even if the strike had been discontinued, and to not accept any separate deals with TMB but to continue until the demands of both the metro and bus workers had been met.

Although the history of anarchist struggles in Catalunya is a warning against faith in labor unions, and the most consistently solidaristic sector of the anarcho-syndicalists--the CNT desfederada--has no presence in transport or any other industry (as the joke goes, they are a "syndicate of insurrectionaries"), there was good reason to believe that this conflict would be an important one.

*The major union among the bus workers, and an important one in metro, is the CGT, a 1979 split from the CNT and the largest anarcho-syndicalist organization in the world, even though most of its members do not consider themselves anarchists.
*In 2008, the CGT-organized bus workers went on strike and won their demands after seeking support from a broad swath of society, including anarchists and squatters, organizing blockades, propaganda, talks, and other actions together. A high level of sabotage put around 90 buses out of commission during the days of the strike, and the CGT offered legal support to anyone prosecuted for solidarity actions, worker or no.
*There is a growing outrage against the rich and powerful taking root in Barcelona, and growing grassroots support for increasingly forceful tactics. The pacifism of 15M and the 2009 student movement have largely been marginalized or at least counterbalanced, and many organizers of the transport strike have also been proponents of a general strike.
*At the beginning of the month, the new conservative government in Madrid announced its Labor Reform, which basically makes all work precarious, decreases severance pay, and makes collective agreements with workers voluntary for employers. At the same time the details of the Reform were filtering out, the revolt in Greece against austerity measures erupted across television screens and newspaper front pages and people in Catalunya largely approved. A new graffito quickly went viral: "If you're going to be Swiss [an expression that means: to take part in a fraud or a cover-up], we're going to be Greeks."
*Conflict and sabotage were on the rise in the previous month, and a four day strike in transport, timed to disrupt an event of great importance for the city's rich and the image-managers in their pay, could be an important stepping stone to a combative general strike.
http://www.anarchistnews.org/node/21391
http://libcom.org/news/crisis-conflict- ... y-01022012

Anarchists had already been involved in the wave of resistance to the price hikes, particularly in building solidarity within the neighborhood assemblies and organizing open (non-clandestine) sabotages. They stepped into this new phase of the struggle in transport not as allies but as people directly affected. Meanwhile, the anarcho-syndicalists among the transport workers called for a total shutdown of the city in the workers' asssemblies and were met with strong applause.

To add fuel to the fire, students and workers called for a strike in the universities to take place in all of Catalunya on Wednesday, 29 February. Given recent history, a call-out by the students generated little confidence among anarchists. During the 15 October megamarch, when other columns went on to take over the metro system or occupy an entire apartment block for evicted families, the student column carried out a tame, Sunday-only occupation of one university, and in the 2008 struggle against the privatizing Plan Bologna, student leaders enforced a strict pacifism, even kicking out those who tried to mask up in protests, and quickly smothered the movement; nonetheless the announcement added enthusiasm to the build-up for the transport strike.

What's more, a week earlier, police in Valencia brutalized a protest by school students opposing the cutbacks and complaining about the sorrowful situation that had seen entire classes huddle under blankets throughout the winter because the schools could not pay for heating. Spontaneous solidarity protests took the streets of Madrid and Barcelona, and in the latter city demonstrators, many of them students or Valencians, scuffled with police, overturned dumpsters, and damaged some banks.

In the two weeks before the transport strike, bus shelters and metro entrances were covered with posters calling for solidarity and support, urging people to ride for free if they had to ride. From the other side of the line, the TV and radio mobilized selfishness and alienation to portray the Mobile World Congress as the best thing to happen to the people of Barcelona, and the strike as an irresponsible threat to their jobs, their image, and their mobility. Major protests and blockades were prepared for the days of the strike, but the media propaganda gradually wore away at the workers' resolve. What began as a triumphant, daring decision to attack the owners of the city where it was thought they would be hurt the most, the call for a multiple day, disruptive strike backed by protest and sabotage, was quickly drowned in an illusion of realism.

A couple days before the strike was to begin, the metro workers (the most important in any transit disruption, as the metro moves many more people than the bus) held a meeting with a blind ballot and accepted a deal with TMB that did not include the users' demands against price hikes and violated their agreement with the bus workers to negotiate jointly. Late Sunday evening, hours before the strike was to begin, bus workers voted in assembly to call off the strike for strategic reasons. In the following days, as recriminations were hurled between unions and between the different groups of workers, a number of sordid allegations emerged regarding backdoor dealing by bus workers, including the CGT, that balanced out the more visible betrayal by the metro workers. What became apparent is that the social practice of solidarity has been much diminished by the decades of democracy and television, and that even the workers who remained solidaristic vastly underestimated the importance of social support by calling off the strike.

What these workers did not seem to realize is that with the new labor reform, any tame form of syndicalism is pointless, as employers will no longer be held to their agreements. Any deal they reach with TMB can only be backed up by the social force or threat of disruption they are able to constitute. Now the rich and powerful know exactly how cheaply they'll sell themselves, how susceptible to media pressure they are, whereas people in the streets will not back them up so enthusiastically the next time.

The Monday that should have been heralded by the beginning of the strike was instead greeted by the city's rulers with newspaper headlines announcing, "Mobility Assured". As one anarchist text commented, the mobility referred to was less a question of the punctuality of trains and buses and more an announcement of the prevailing logic of precarity. With the failure of the social movements to withstand even the moralizing of the media, the city elite could bask in the triumph of the new social contract, in which workers can be moved into the unemployment lines, neighbors kicked out of their houses, and tourists circulated through the city to the exact degree demanded by employers, owners, and profiteers.

A number of planned road blockades along with the mass assembly to be held in Plaça Espanya, the site of the cellphone congress, failed to materialize; however in other parts of town there were a number of buses sabotaged or metro stations opened. In the very center, a group of people suddenly stopped a double bus as it was crossing Av. Paral·lel, spraypainting and breaking its windows, puncturing its tires, and leaving it sprawled across four lanes of traffic. Others distributed texts in the metro, criticizing the workers and the lack of solidarity. Then people settled in to contemplate a week of bitter lessons and another victory for Capital.

But Wednesday morning did not begin so depressingly. Gran Via, one of the main arteries of the city, was blocked in the early hours by a group of masked people setting tires alight. Around the same time, another group heavily sabotaged the Congres metro station, destroying ticket purchasing and validation machines along with cameras and advertisements. Just before noon there was a demo outside the Italian consulate, which apparently had been paint-bombed the night before, in solidarity with the resisters in Val di Susa and particularly with comrade Luca, almost killed by police two days earlier. As the demo wrapped up, people marched to Plaça Universitat to join with the students, blocking roads the whole way down.

City traffic was already snarled up by other feeder marches joining up at Universitat. By early afternoon, the crowd had reached 70,000, including professors, university students, and high school students. The question remained: would they act as they had in the past, as a self-isolating and self-policing single-issue movement or expand to embrace the needs of the day? The apathetic confusion with which they greeted the Italian solidarity protestors who joined them seemed to indicate the former. Most anarchists, sure of the day's outcome, stayed at home or left early.

At 1:34 in the afternoon, the march reached the Barcelona stock exchange, which was protected by a line of riot vans. Students began to throw a prodigious quantity of eggs, trash, and paint bombs, covering the building and the police vehicles. Shortly thereafter, they smashed and broke into a couple banks nearby. Further on in the march, another group of students responded to a police advance with a major sit-in, slowing the responses of law and order. When the head of the march returned to Pl. Universitat, the riot police charged, making several arrests, but students responded with rocks and burning barricades. In addition to dumpsters, a luxury car was also burned. Police upped the ante, driving their vans at full speed through the crowd, which incited more people to join in throwing rocks. Students kicked in the doors of the rectorate at Plaça Universitat, occupying yet another building (the central university and the Autonomous University outside of town had already been occupied just previous to the strike).

Student politicians attempted to take control of the situation by calling a meeting and asking everyone to sit down. The trap of democracy. This trick must be included in an internal guide circulated by future politicians, because the exact same tactic was used in the past, with devastating effect in a building occupied just before the January 2011 general strike, preventing a riot and allowing the police to arrest the 500 seated occupiers without resistance. This time, much unlike the movement of 2009, students were not so trusting of their leaders. Anarchist students snatched away the microphone and ended the meeting. What started as a small group marching on Plaça Espanya turned into a column of thousands. Police quickly repositioned their forces to protect the congress.

In short time, the students had filled Pl. Espanya. Police had to block the entrance to the Congress and evacuate the mega-mall next door. Anarchist workers inside the congress reported an atmosphere of panic, with the rumour circulating that the city was burning. Students pelted the police with stones, who responded with targeted arrests, generally picking easy targets not involved in the fighting. Subsequent media coverage had to be satisfied with dramatic footage of heroic cops trying out judo moves on frail, geeky students who had been filming events with their cellphones. The media, for their part, also got their comeuppance, with several pesky reporters beaten by cops and others assaulted by protestors. More than one TV camera was smashed, and one journalist was reportedly hospitalized. Protestors chanted: "the press aim, the cops shoot!", an anarchist chant that had generalized after over 20 people were arrested on the basis of media footage for assaulting politicians during a siege on the Catalan parliament the previous June.

At several times throughout the day's fighting, the police had appeared overwhelmed. They were hamstrung not only by the number, unpredictability and disunity of the protestors, but presumably also be higher orders to keep things peaceful and not use a heavy hand, due both to the cellphone congress and the damage caused to the Spanish international image by the brutality in Valencia a week earlier (it was this loss of image that was most bemoaned by those politicians who had criticized police).

Around 5:30, the cops took control of Pl. Espanya and the protestors marched to the police commissary to hold a solidarity demo with the 12 detainees. Just two hours later, a rowdy demonstration pre-organized to travel through the metro system, chanting, vandalizing, and handing out flyers, surfaced at Pl. Espanya. The crowd of several hundred, exultant in the atmosphere of streets that had recently been liberated, marched back to Pl. Universitat, filling the air with brand new chants, each one more combative and radical than the last. On that note, a new chant that was greeted by anarchists with skepticism earlier in the day proved to be more than just hot air: "Contra les tisores, pedra pedra pedra! Contra el rectorado, guerra guerra guerra!" (Rock against scissors [representing the cutbacks], war against the rectorate!)

When the march reached the university, another pair of journalists were attacked, another TV camera smashed. This time, only a solitary voice could be heard chanting, "Freedom of expression, no to violence!" Word circulated that the student assemblies had decided to continue the occupations for a couple more days at least. A few groups of World Mobile Congress delegates cavorting through the city that night were harrassed, spat upon, and had bottles thrown at them. People went home with smiles on their faces. Subsequently, the main platform behind the protests refused to condemn the violence.

In the days after the riot the media succeeded in shaming a large part of society for this outburst, creating the impression, even among some of the same people who were delighted to see the events in person, to believe that something horrible had happened, or that the student protest had been hijacked by professional thugs. A smaller yet perhaps more important group of people overcame their docility, or participated in their first riot, or realized that something vital had been accomplished.

As a possible general strike approaches, important lessons have been learned about the power of the media and the erosion of the practice of solidarity in society. But the faith in movement leaders, be they unions or student politicians, has also been eroded, and in at least some cases people have turned not to apathy and cynicism but to direct action. The future, fortunately, remains unwritten.

http://anarchistnews.org/content/betrayals-and-outbursts-barcelona

Statistics: Posted by Guest — Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:53 pm

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[ The Street Parliament ] • Black bloc: 'Only actions count now'
Two participants in the black bloc protest at Saturday's anti-cuts rally tell Stephen Moss why they're the true face of protest
Stephen Moss

"Meet us outside the British Library. That seems appropriate." I'm due to interview two men in their late 20s who were part of the "black bloc" direct action wing of last Saturday's anti-cuts protest. We'd originally agreed to meet at a bar in King's Cross, but they tell me later it was "too media" for their security concerns.

I conduct an interview of sorts, but they are reluctant to tell me much about themselves other than that one is a "low-paid public sector worker". In any case, they have come armed with handwritten answers to questions they have posed to themselves. Anarchists like to be in control. I agree to edit those answers for length, then show them the edited version. Their "self-interview" appears below. I never do learn their names.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/31/black-bloc-anti-cuts-protest?fb=native&CMP=FBCNETTXT9038

Statistics: Posted by Guest — Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:39 pm

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Green Anarchy & Anarcho Primitivism • Another eco activist turns informant
by Zoe Williams

Tough luck does not begin to describe Marie Mason’s story.



A llong-time environmental and labor activist, Mason worked with Earth First, the Industrial Workers of the World and volunteered for a free herbal health clinic. In 2007, Mason’s husband Frank Ambrose began working for the FBI and provided information that led to charges that she had participated in Earth Liberation Front actions. The day she was arrested, Ambrose filed for divorce. Mason is currently serving 22 years—one of the longest sentences for a Green Scare activist—and was forced to accept a federal Terrorism Enhancement charge.

Last week, former activist David Agranoff agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and provide further information against Mason in cases with which she had not been charged. With news of Agranoff’s cooperation, the Marie Mason Support Group is awaiting the results.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen with him,” Matthew Spence, an organizer for Mason’s support effort, said. Not all information provided by cooperating defendants assists in creating cases. However, with Mason’s history and the fact that Agranoff did not inform Marie's team of his plans, there is potential for Mason to be harmed.

“Nobody was informed about this. He didn’t contact Marie’s lawyer before. He’s claiming nothing he is going to do will affect Marie, but nobody knows this is the case,” Spence said.

Mason decided to accept a plea agreement rather than take her case to trial because she lacked legal resources and there was substantial evidence against her.

“When Frank turned against her, Marie was totally screwed. His cooperation was catastrophic to her and her family” Spence said. “She needed a million dollar defense team.”

Mason was not given a non-cooperating plea agreement for her case. In fact, in order to avoid a life sentence, she was required to confirm statements made by her former partner. However, Mason managed to do so without giving any new information and only confirming that her ex-husband’s involvement that he had previously admitted.

Many of Mason’s supporters believe her lengthy sentence is a result of her refusal to cooperate with the prosecution of other activists.

“Marie was involved in a lot of actions with a lot of people, but she has been stalwart about not talking to authorities, which is probably protecting a lot of people and probably why she got handed such a long sentence.” Spence said.

In light of Agranoff’s cooperation, Mason is in need of support. Spence spends much of his time committed to providing a lifeline between Mason, her family and her legal support. Spence and his team run a website, communicate messages between Mason and loved ones, deposit money in Mason’s commissary and even work to display her paintings in art shows.


“We are sort of your standard, full service prison support team,” Spence joked.

Currently housed in a special isolation unit, Mason gets a great deal of encouragement from letters.

“Marie really wants to be in contact with people,” Spence said. “She wants people to write her and tell her about their lives and politics, so she can feel connected to the larger community. She asks me all of the time about the Occupy Movement.”

He also emphasized a need for funds to help cover Mason’s monthly expenses.

Spence also believes that creating support for activists in advance is the best way to prevent them from becoming informants in the future.

“These aren’t paid informants, they are activists that don’t want to roll over. They have resisted grand juries in the past. At some point it seems like they just crumble…I think that the best we can do is let people know if they do get arrested, they will be supported. That way no one is like, ‘Well, I am on my own. Time to think of me.”
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Source : http://www.theprecarious.com/content/another-eco-activist-turns-informant

Statistics: Posted by madhatterz — Tue Feb 28, 2012 7:05 pm

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[ the N.E.W.S ] directive • Cops Hurt by OWS Protesters at ‘Pro-White’ Rally in Sacramen

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – At least two law enforcement officers were injured Monday during a clash with members of the Occupy movement who were at the state Capitol to counter a rally by a group protesting violence by blacks against whites in South Africa.

The clash erupted in the afternoon as California Highway Patrol and Sacramento police officers were escorting about 35 members of the South Africa Project to a parking garage following their protest outside the Capitol building.

About 50 members of Occupy Oakland began throwing cans and bottles at the South Africa group and at the officers. The Occupy members then clashed with the officers as people with the pro-whites group hurried into the parking garage.



Ryan Stark, 26, who said he is part of Occupy Sacramento, said he joined the protesters challenging the South Africa Project protesters because there needed to be a showdown.

“I didn’t throw anything … but these sorts of demonstrations need to happen,” he said, referring to the counter protest. “They do have the right to say what they want, but we’re not going to let it fly.”

The public was being kept away from the scene of the confrontation by police officers, who were not commenting to reporters. The city’s light rail system was stopped through the section of downtown where the clash occurred, and commuters were not allowed to leave the area.

Earlier in the day, a 17-year-old girl with Occupy Oakland was taken to Juvenile Hall after she became combative and assaulted an officer who asked her to pick up litter, Kennedy said.

source : http://www.theblaze.com/stories/occupy-violence-cops-hurt-by-ows-protesters-at-pro-white-rally-in-sacramento/
also more at News10 : http://www.news10.net/news/article/181071/2/2-CHP-officers-injured-in-downtown-Sacramento-clash

Statistics: Posted by madhatterz — Tue Feb 28, 2012 6:35 pm

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[ the N.E.W.S ] directive • US, Denver, Protestors throw urine bombs at Denver police
Several protesters were arrested Saturday evening February 25, during a disruptive anti-police protest in downtown Denver.
According to Lt. Matt Murray of the Denver Police Department, at 7:30 p.m. close to 60-70 anarchist protesters started marching on 16th Street Mall.
The Mall Ride was forced to shut down as protesters allegedly threw urine-filled balloons, set off fireworks and sprayed painted several vehicles including an RTD bus.
Murray said a police car and several other vehicles were also tagged.
Five protesters were arrested and face charges including criminal mischief.
The group was allegedly protesting police brutality and not directly associated with the Occupy Denver movement.

Source : http://www.ainfos.ca/en/ainfos26046.html

Statistics: Posted by Guest — Tue Feb 28, 2012 5:39 pm

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[ the N.E.W.S ] directive • 30,000 drones in American skies, civil liberties in jeopardy
Washington - A bill passed last week allocating more than $63 billion to the Federal Aviation Administration would increase the existence of drones in civilian airspace across America and is expected to be signed into law by President Barack Obama.


As America’s drone war begins a new surge in Pakistan, the U.S. House and Senate have both approved the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act bill, a bill which would pressure the FAA to weaken rules currently in place on domestic drone authority, and allow American skies to be filled with tens of thousands of drones.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/3 ... z1ncdYLcmH

Statistics: Posted by Guest — Mon Feb 27, 2012 11:03 pm

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[ The Street Parliament ] • Ten myths about capitalism
Capitalism in the neo-liberal version has exhausted itself. Financial sharks do not want to lose profits, and shift the main burden of debt to the retirees and the poor. A ghost of the "European Spring" is haunting the Old World and the opponents of capitalism explain people how their lives are being destroyed. This is the topic of the article of a Portuguese economist Guilherme Alves Coelho.

There is a well-known expression that every nation has the government it deserves. This is not entirely true. People can be fooled by aggressive propaganda that shapes thought patterns, and then are easily manipulated. Lies and manipulations are a contemporary weapon of mass destruction and oppression of peoples. It is as effective as the traditional means of warfare. In many cases, they complement each other. Both methods are used to achieve victory in the election and destroy unruly countries.

There are many ways to handle public opinion, in which the ideology of capitalism has been grounded and brought to the level of myths. It is combination of false truths that are being repeated a million times, over the generations, and therefore become indisputable for many. They were designed to represent capitalism as credible and enlist the support and confidence of the masses. These myths are distributed and promoted via media tools, educational institutions, family traditions, church memberships, etc. Here are the most common of these myths.

Myth 1. Under capitalism, anyone who works hard can become rich


The capitalist system will automatically provide wealth to hard-working individuals. Workers unconsciously formed an illusory hope, but if it does not come to fruition, they will be blaming themselves only. In fact, under capitalism, the probability of success, regardless how much you may have worked, is the same as in a lottery. Wealth, with rare exceptions, is not created by hard work, but is a result of fraud and lack of remorse for those who have greater influence and power. It is a myth that success is the result of hard work and, combined with luck and a good dose of faith, depends on the ability to engage in entrepreneurial activity and level of competitiveness. This myth creates the followers of the system who support it. Religion, especially Protestant, works to support this myth as well.

Myth 2. Capitalism creates wealth and prosperity for all

Wealth, accumulated in the hands of a minority, sooner or later will be redistributed among all. The goal is to enable the employer to accumulate wealth without asking questions. At the same time the hope is maintained that sooner or later workers will be rewarded for their work and dedication. In fact, even Marx concluded that the ultimate goal of capitalism is not the distribution of wealth but its accumulation and concentration. The widening gap between the rich and the poor in recent decades, especially after the establishment of the rule of neo-liberalism, has proven the opposite. This myth has been one of the most common during the phase of "social welfare" of the postwar period, and its main task was the destruction of the socialist countries.

Myth 3. We are all in the same boat

Capitalist society has no classes, therefore the responsibility for the failures and crises also lies on all and everyone has to pay. The goal is to create a guilt complex for workers, allowing capitalists to increase revenues and pass expenditures onto the people. In fact, the responsibility lies entirely on the elite consisting of billionaires who support the government and are supported by it, and have always enjoyed great privileges in taxation, tenders, financial speculation, offshore, nepotism, etc. This myth is implanted by the elites to avoid responsibility for the plight of the people and oblige them to pay for the elite's mistakes.

Myth 4. Capitalism means freedom

True freedom is only achieved under capitalism with the help of the so-called "market self-regulation." The goal is to create something similar to a religion of capitalism, where everything is taken as is, and deny people the right to participate in making macroeconomic decisions. Indeed, the freedom in decision-making is the ultimate freedom, but it is only enjoyed by a narrow circle of powerful individuals, not the people, and not even the government agencies. During summits and forums, in the narrow circles behind closed doors, the heads of large companies, banks and multinational corporations make major financial and economic decisions of strategic nature. The markets, therefore, are not self-regulating, they are being manipulated. This myth has been used to justify interference in the internal affairs of non-capitalist countries, based on the assumption that they have no freedom, but have rules.

Myth 5. Capitalism means democracy

Democracy can only exist under capitalism. This myth, which smoothly follows from the previous one, was created in order to prevent the discussion of other models of social order. It is argued that they are all dictatorships. Capitalism is assigned such concepts as freedom and democracy, while their meaning is distorted. In fact, society is divided into classes and the rich, being ultra-minority, dominate over all others. This capitalist "democracy" is nothing but a disguised dictatorship, and "democratic reforms" are processes opposite to progress. As the previous myth, this one also serves as an excuse to criticize and attack non-capitalist countries.

Myth 6. Election is a synonym of democracy

Election is synonymous with democracy. The goal is to denigrate or demonize other systems and prevent a discussion of political and electoral systems where leaders are determined through non-bourgeois elections, for example, on the virtue of age, experience, or popularity of candidates. In fact, it is the capitalist system that manipulates and bribes, where a vote is a conditional term, and election is only a formal act. The mere fact that the elections are always won by representatives of the bourgeois minority makes them unrepresentative. The myth that bourgeois elections guarantee presence of democracy is one of the most entrenched, and even some left-wing parties and forces believe it.

Myth 7. Alternating parties in office is the same as having an alternative

Bourgeois parties that periodically alternate in power have alternative platforms. The goal is to perpetuate the capitalist system within the dominant class, feeding the myth that democracy is reduced to the election. In fact, it is obvious that two-party or multiparty parliamentary system is a one-party system. These are two or more factions of one political force, they alternate, mimicking the party with an alternative policy. People always choose an agent of the system, being sure that this is not what they are doing. The myth that bourgeois parties have different platforms and are even oppositional, is one of the most important, it is constantly discussed to make the capitalist system work.

Myth 8. The elected politician represents the people and can therefore decide for them

The politician was granted authority by the people, and can rule at will. The purpose of this myth is to feed the people with empty promises and hide the real measures that will be implemented in practice. In fact, the elected leader does not fulfill that promise, or, worse, starts to implement undeclared measures, often conflicting and even contradicting the original Constitution. Often such politicians elected by an active minority in the middle of the mandate reach their minimum popularity. In these cases, the loss of representation does not lead to a change of the politician through constitutional means, but by contrast, leads to the degeneration of capitalist democracy in the real or disguised dictatorship. The systematic practice of falsification of democracy under capitalism is one of the reasons for the increasing number of people who do not go to the elections.

Myth 9. There is no alternative to capitalism

Capitalism is not perfect, but it is the only possible economic and political system, and therefore the most appropriate one. The goal is to eliminate the study and promotion of other systems and eliminate competition using all possible means, including force. In reality, there are other political and economic systems, and the most known is scientific socialism. Even within the framework of capitalism, there are versions of the South American "democratic socialism" or European "socialist capitalism". This myth is intended to intimidate people, to prevent the discussion of alternatives to capitalism and ensure unanimity.

Myth 10. Savings generate wealth

The economic crisis is caused by the excess of employee benefits. If they are removed, the government will save and the country will become rich. The goal is to shift the liability for capitalist debt payment onto the public sector, including the retirees. Another goal is to make people accept poverty, arguing that it is temporary. It is also intended to facilitate the privatization of the public sector. People are being convinced that savings are the "salvation" without mentioning that it achieved through the privatization of the most profitable sectors whose future earnings will be lost. This policy leads to a decrease in state revenue and reduction of benefits, pensions and benefits.

Lubov Lulko http://english.pravda.ru/business/companies/15-02-2012/120518-ten_myths_capitalism-0/

Statistics: Posted by Guest — Sun Feb 26, 2012 1:29 pm

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[ Collectivist anarchism ] and [ Anarchist Communism ] • The Fall of the Argentine Assembly Movement
Why Did the Neighborhood Assembly Movement in Argentina Disappear?


New social movements based on open assemblies is emerging in ever more places in Europe and North America as a response to bank bailouts, unemployment, austerity measures and growing economic inequalities. This is not the first time in history that assembly movements have appeared, and there is a great deal to be learned from the gains and mistakes of such past experiences.

One of the most recent instances appeared in Argentina in what has been called the first rebellion against neoliberalism in the 21st century. The people’s assemblies in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires and other cities have been described in earlier articles on New Compass, including Popular Assemblies in Revolts and Revolutions, From Argentina to Wall Street and Is Power Always bad?.

However, there is a lack of literature in English that evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the assembly movement in Argentina. Most of the publications in English were published during the Argentinian rebellion, and attempted to convey the spirit of the activists in Buenos Aires or muster solidarity for the movement in Europe or the U.S, rather than approach them with at critical look.

Even fewer publications have dealt with why the movement failed and eventually disappeared. One rare exception from this is – surprisingly enough – a bachelor thesis written by Mariah Thompson at the University of Oregon in 2010. This thesis, called The Disappearance of the Neighborhood Assembly Movement in Buenos Aires – Argentina 2001-2004: A Phase of Demobilization?, is based on secondary literature written by Spanish speaking scholars and activists, as well as interviews conducted by Thompson with people who participated in the assembly movement.

I have chosen to write a short review of Thompson’s thesis, because I think the lessons learned in Argentina may be valueable for the assembly movements emerging around the world. If we are going to succeed in our struggle for "real democracy," we have to learn from the success’ and failures of past movements with similar ambitions.

Brief Introduction to the Argentine Assembly Movement

For people who are not familiar with the assembly movement in Argentina, here is a short summary. As Thompson writes the assembly movement was born in a power vacuum that occurred following a nation-wide economic crisis that struck Argentina in 2001:

Following days of protest, members of the middle class that had lost their savings, jobs, and livelihoods came together in an attempt to organize a movement out of the chaos in the streets. The neighborhood assembly movement was their attempt to meet the immediate needs in their communities, while also forming an alternative method of public participation that was truly democratic and responsive to the people.

Just a few months after the beginning of the rebellion there were close to 120 popular assemblies in Buenos Aires alone, and more assemblies were being established in other cities around the country. The assemblies became very popular among the citizens of the capital. At one moment in the uprising, a poll by a local newspaper showed that one third of the residents had participated in a popular assembly or an activity organized by them.

There were even attempts to gather all the local assemblies into a city-wide assembly. This Asamblea Interbarrial, as it was called, met for a few times with several thousands of people, and passed resolutions on questions of national importance. The local assemblies also took on some communal activities. As Thompson explains:

The assemblies were active in the development of their communities. Members met daily or weekly to discuss the economic crisis and to plan weekly mobilizations against the State. After realizing the negative impacts that the crisis was having on their neighborhoods, they began to organize free community kitchens, classes, nurseries and other needs-based services in their communities. The assemblies also participated in the protest actions of other social movements such as participation in the human rights movement, the factory takeover movement, and the unemployed workers movement. Eventually, some assemblies began to establish their own spaces within buildings, some of which were taken through illegal occupation of vacated spaces. With this, the assemblies took on more ambitious projects including productive enterprises such as community bakeries.

Most of the assemblies in Buenos Aires sprung up in December 2001 and the first few months of 2002, but by the end of 2002 and early 2003 most of the assemblies had already disappeared and the movement had lost its momentum. Thompson offers two main explanations of why the assembly movement so rapidly vanished. The first is the exhaustion of its members due to the involvement and actions of political parties. The second is the concessions made by the government to the demands of the assembly movement, and the subsequent return of their trust in the state political system.


Political Parties – Division and Exhaustion

The involvement of left-wing political parties had a twofold effect on the members of the assemblies. On the one hand people who did not belong to any (left-wing) party grew tired of the intra-party discussions that were brought into the assemblies. On the other hand people who had joined the assemblies because they hoped it would lead to a new type of direct democratic politics, got disillusioned as the assemblies increasingly divided along party lines or were used as tools to secure votes in the national elections.

In some neighborhoods one of the result of the involvement of political parties, was that the assembly was divided into many small assemblies with special party affiliations:

Some assemblies formed with an overtly political agenda when party loyalists capitalized on citizens’ desire for organized action and successfully channeled their energy into party-affiliated assemblies. In both the neighborhoods of San Telmo and Villa Crespo, what began as one large assembly of several hundred neighbors quickly split into three separate assemblies, each with a different level of party affiliation. [...] This meant that some of the energy that could have been aimed against the state institutions was redirected into reform politics as these assemblies pushed for the election of particular parties instead of a whole new political system.

Especially the city-wide assembly – the Asamblea Interbarrial – was ridden with debates over ideology and strategies that weren’t very much related to the issues and challenges facing the assembly movement:

The political parties did not just try to institutionalize individual assemblies but rather attempted to co-opt the entire movement through the Interbarrial assembly. This occurred soon after the creation of the Interbarrial, with local newspapers noting the heightened presence of parties at the Interbarrial only one month after its creation. [...] The parties saw the assemblies as a blossoming middle class movement of high potential and each of the left wing parties had their own vision of how the energy of the assemblies could be used most effectively.

Thompson mentions several amusing examples of how the political parties viewed the assembly movement, and one of the more telling was "the Socialist Workers Party – who held the assemblies in high regard for their practice of direct democracy (which was similar to the Soviets during the Russian revolution) the assemblies and the Interbarrial were a method of entering into the ‘scene of the principle battalions of the working class’ and gaining the ‘support of the proletariat’."

There were attempts to resist the influence of the parties. Voting rules at the city-wide assembly were for example changed from one vote per-person to one-vote-per-assembly, so that the parties could not take over the city-wide assembly by crowding it with its own members. But in the end these attempts did not save the movement:

The parties were successful despite this resistance and had strong influence on the movement as a whole. The same month that independents successfully changed voting rules at the Interbarrial, left-wing parties pressured the movement to create a new coordinating body at a level higher than the Interbarrial. Openly partisan, this organization, known as the Coloumbres Group, was an attempt "to create a supreme decision making body for the entire assembly movement, despite the complaint of other groups and of independents."

The influence of the parties eventually undermined the movement. Three months after the creation of the Interbarrial, members of the Workers Party and MST broke the peace when talks over mobilization strategies for an upcoming May Day ended in physical violence. It was following this dispute and the internal chaos it caused that the Interbarrial gradually fell apart. With the increasing intervention of party hardliners in the Interbarrial “many independent [assembly members] felt infiltrated and decided to leave... some assemblies ended up dividing themselves over it.” Eventually, the assemblies could not even come to agreement over collective action plans or the movement’s objectives, and by the end of 2002 the Interbarrial ceased functioning.

Thompson also treats another important division in the movement that quite early occured in between what can be called "neighborhood" and "popular" assemblies. The neighborhood assemblies were more moderate in their political orientation. They saw the economic crisis of 2001 as a result of a corrupt political system, and thought that this system could be modified. The neighborhood assemblies also focused their energy on activities that could satisfy some the immediate needs in their neighborhood, such as community kitchens, classes, nurseries etc. The popular assemblies, on the other side, were revolutionary in character and rejected the entire representative political system. They also saw themselves as part of a broader anti-capitalist movement, and focused their forces on organizing actions together with other anti-capitalist organizations such as the radical unemployed worker’s assocations.

In my mind, one of the shortcomings of Thompsons thesis is that she view this division as a result of the involvement of political parties. Although these parties – and other ideological forces such as anarchists and autonomists – might have augumented this division, I think it is a logical contradiction that might be expected to rise in any movement of this type. It both reflects the tension in between short-term goals (immediate community needs) and long-term vision (an alternative society), as well as the fact that any assembly movement will consist of both moderate and radical forces that will have to co-exist in the same organization. Regretably, the assembly movement in Buenos Aires didn’t manage to handle these tensions and this subverted the movement at an early stage.

Concessions by the Government

There were attempts by the government to both repress and co-opt the movement: "In February of 2003, the government instituted a campaign against various social movements in Buenos Aires with the intent of clearing out occupied buildings and factories. The police began a series of forced evictions of the assemblies which often turned violent." The government also tried to co-opt assembly members by involving them in state-sponsored offices called Centers for Management and Participation.

But in general these attempts were rather ineffective. What had a greater impact, were the concessions made by the government at a time when the movement was already breaking up due to political divisions:

State-sponsored repression of the assemblies was paired with attempts to satisfy the most moderate demands of the movement, which led to the re-legitimization of traditional political institutions and the end of the movement. Following the large anti-state mobilizations that occurred after the deaths of the two MTD activists, the government began handing out six-month work plans to leaders in the MTD movement, and also to the assemblies. [...] Even more influential in quieting anti-state sentiment was the process of partial unfreezing and repayment of middle-class bank accounts. This strategy helped to begin the process of power consolidation at the national level and drove a wedge between the assemblies (which were receiving some of their main demands through the end of the corralito) and the MTD and Piquetero movements (which were still disenfranchised and begging for concessions in the form of work plans).

Then, in 2003, came the national elections. In stark contrast to the anti-state sentiments that lead to the creation of the assembly movement, many of the activists in the assembly movement threw themselves into election campaigns for left-wing parties. This furthered the divisions that already existed within the assemblies. "The assembly of Colegiales, for example, suffered an irreparable fracture in the lead up to the elections. Party-affiliated members organized a street festival in support of various leftist political parties while the independent members, as a protest, coordinated their own festival to denounce 'the farce of the elections'."

But as a fact, even more radical proponents of direct democracy and anti-capitalism within the assembly movement, involved themselves in the elections in order to prevent Carlos Menem – the president that led Argentine into the crisis with his extreme neoliberal policies – from being re-elected: "According to Martín Krymkirwicz, long-time member of the Colombres assembly, participation in the elections was not a representation of hope but rather an action motivated by fear of what could happen if the extreme right took power once again. Krymkiriwicz explained ‘we were against the elections, but if Menem won it could have been much worse for all of the social movements’."

Néstor Kirchner from the populist Perionist party won the presidential elections in 2003, on a campain to – among other things – "purge corruption from the national Congress and Supreme Court (two of the assembly movements’ key demands)":

Kirchner’s policies successfully tranquilized the majority of protests and recuperated state legitimacy in the eyes of the middle-class. As the assembly members slowly gained access to their savings and were able to return to a lifestyle more similar to that which with they were accustomed, the reasons to continue resistance to the state declined. As one assembly member explained, "The assemblies existed to confront the politicians, but also to act as a response to basic needs, like the community kitchens...the things that people didn’t have...to provide a response with basic solidarity and to look for solutions to concrete problems. This was the motive of the assemblies." Therefore, while the assemblies emerged with an anti-political message, the state was capable of changing the minds of the middle-class with the strategic implementation of key reforms.

Despite having only received about one quarter of the vote during elections, after two years Kirchner’s approval rating was close to seventy percent. As basic needs were met once again, the reasons to continue participation in the assemblies declined until the movement lost its pertinence as a relevant societal and political actor.

Some Lessons

Thompson herself does not write what she thinks are the lessons for other assembly movement from the experiences in Argentina, but if I´m going to give it a shot I would say the following:


[*] Political parties are a big threat to assembly movements. They are not interested in building up popular assemblies as an alternative to the present political system, but rather to use the assemblies to recurit members to their own organizations or to mobilize votes in and through assemblies during elections.

[*] Assemblies – or rather tendencies within the assemblies who wish to strengthen the assemblies vis-a-vis the conventional political system – have to find ways to minimize the influence of political parties over the assemblies. This does not mean to expel members with party affiliations (popular assemblies have to be open to all citizens within a certain area) but rather to device strategies to prevent them from taking over the assemblies and divide them along party lines. Such strategies could be voting systems that gives preferences to local assemblies (like what was done in the Asamblea Interbarrial in Buenos Aires), or banning party symbols from assembly meetings and manifestations (like what is done in the current assembly movement in Spain).

[*] Activist within the assembly movements need to acknowledge that assemblies will be populated of people of both moderate and radical convictions. To gain mass support, these moderate and radical forces will have to cooperate – at least for a certain period of time. This puts a huge responsibility on people who wish to construct an alternative politics through the assemblies, because this means that they have strike a balance on what proposals and demands to put forth to ensure that the assemblies both retain popular support and advances forward.

[*] If the assemblies are not only going to be a mayfly phenomenon, they will have to avoid that too many assembly members fall off once the government concedes to its minimum demands. This is especially true of assemblies that are born in periods of social and economic crisis, like the ones in Argentina or the current assemblies in Greece or Spain. The assemblies will need a long-term politics and to be able to radicalize their demands and actions in their communities and on a national level. Such a long-term "assembleist" politics will not be developed by the political parties or moderates within the movement, but rather by people with a vision of a participatory democratic society.

I'll end this review of Mariah Thompson's thesis by saying that it contains more stuff than what I have summed up above. What I find less interesting is her use of Sidney Tarrow's "social movement theory," even though this serves as an analytical tool to bring up many of the findings I have listed above. Nevertheless, her thesis contains a fascinating account of the emergence and fall of the assembly movement in Buenos Aires (which is much more detailed than what I have been able to convey here), and I strongly encourage readers of New Compass – and especially those who are involved in assembly movements – to read it to get the full wealth of Thompson's story.

Source : http://new-compass.net/news/fall-argentine-assembly-movement

Statistics: Posted by madhatterz — Thu Feb 23, 2012 1:11 pm

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Movies and Documentaries • Anti-fascist attitude
Anti-fascist attitude is first ever document on emerging Russian anti-fascist movement which made by the activist themselves. Movie features both moderate NGO activists and radical grassroots activists and anarchists from three cities - Moscow, St. Petersburg and Irkutsk.
It also features Stanislav Markelov, murdered in Moscow 19th of January.

The documentary is in Russian with English subtitles and is available under a
Creative Commons Licence.

Torrents:
http://onebigtorrent.org/torrents/4583/Antifascist-Voice
Please seed them and pass this message on!

Statistics: Posted by madhatterz — Thu Feb 23, 2012 12:09 pm

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Movies and Documentaries • Manufacturing Consent
Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992) is a documentary film that explores the political life and ideas of Noam Chomsky, a linguist, intellectual, and political activist. Created by two Canadian filmmakers, Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick, it expands on the ideas of Chomsky's earlier book, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, which he co-wrote with Edward S. Herman.

The film presents and illustrates Chomsky's and Herman's thesis that corporate media, as profit-driven institutions, tend to serve and further the agendas of the interests of dominant, elite groups in the society. A centerpiece of the film is a long examination of the history of The New York Times' coverage of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, which Chomsky says exemplifies the media's unwillingness to criticize an ally of the elite.

Statistics: Posted by madhatterz — Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:40 pm

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Movies and Documentaries • The Wikileaks Documentary
A well made high budget documentary full of information.

Statistics: Posted by madhatterz — Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:34 pm

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Movies and Documentaries • THE CORPORATION (2003)
1. The Corporation is today's dominant institution, creating great wealth but also great harm. This 26 award-winning documentary examines the nature, evolution, impacts and future of the modern business corporation and the increasing role it plays in society and our everyday lives.

Statistics: Posted by madhatterz — Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:23 pm

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Movies and Documentaries • Surplus: Terrorized into Being Consumers (2003)
Surplus: Terrorized Into Being Consumers is an award winning Swedish documentary film on consumerism and globalization, created by director Erik Gandini and editor Johan Söderberg.

It looks at the arguments for capitalism and technology, such as greater efficiency, more time and less work, and argues that these are not being fulfilled, and they never will be.

The film is about our world, the modern civilization that eats more than needed. It's not very much information that is physically showed, its the pictures in symbiosis with music that is the real strength in this flick.

The film leans towards anarcho-primitivist ideology and argues for a simple and fulfilling life.

Statistics: Posted by madhatterz — Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:51 pm

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[ the N.E.W.S ] directive • Anonymous Hacks Greek Ministry Website, Demands IMF Withdraw
If there is one war that Greece could not afford to join, that is with the global computer hacking collective known as Anonymous. Yet as of minutes ago, that is precisley what happened, after Anonymous, as part of what it now calls Operation Greece, took down the Greek Ministry of Justice (http://www.ministryofjustice.gr/). While the pretext for the hacking appears to have been an arrest of the wrong people, is seems to have angered Anonymous to the point where they have left an extended message of demands on the Greek website, warning that unless the IMF withdraws from the country and the government resigns, all debts of Greek citizens will be wiped clean.

Souce

Statistics: Posted by madhatterz — Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:46 pm

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[ DIY and howtos ] • Moss Graffiti, how-to
A great Ecological Graffiti that will take people's breath away, and deliver the message here is how to :

Statistics: Posted by madhatterz — Wed Feb 22, 2012 12:24 pm

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[ The Kitchen ] • Bearnaise Sauce vegetarian version
4 ripe yellow tomatoes
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
salt, to taste
pinch, pepper
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon tarragon, minced or 1 teaspoon dried
1 cup dry white wine
2 teaspoon arrowroot powder or cornstarch
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons vegan margarine

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Place tomatoes onto baking sheet and drizzle each with olive oil, turning to coat. Place in oven and roast for 30 minutes. Turn and roast an additional 10 minutes.

2. Transfer tomatoes to a blender and blend until smooth.

3. While motor is running slowly add 1/4 cup olive oil until emulsified, taking turns with adding vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper. Pour sauce through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl and set aside.

4. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, saute shallot for about 2 minutes. Add tarragon and saute stirring often so shallots don't pass golden brown. Add wine and cook until liquid is reduced by half, about 5 minutes.

5. Add the tomato mixture; bring to a simmer then turn off heat. If sauce is too thin, add a mixture of arrowroot powder mixed with 1/4 cup water. Whisk in vegan margarine, 1 tablespoon at a time. Use immediately or cover to keep warm.

Source of recipe: A compilation of a couple put together.

Makes: 2 cups, Preparation time: 45 minutes

Statistics: Posted by Guest — Sun Feb 19, 2012 7:42 pm

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[ The Guerrilla Camp ] Anarchism : General Discussion • Re: Revolt like an Egyptian
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7a7FQLRGms

Statistics: Posted by Guest — Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:23 pm

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[ The Guerrilla Camp ] Anarchism : General Discussion • Revolt like an Egyptian
object

Statistics: Posted by Guest — Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:20 pm

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[ NEWS ] directive [新聞]指令 • Indian police kill leading Maoist guerrilla
KOLKATA, India —Police on Thursday killed one of India’s most wanted Maoist guerrillas in a major blow to the armed leftwing insurgency which has spread across a wide swathe of the South Asian country.

Police in the eastern state of West Bengal said the 58-year-old guerrilla commander was shot dead in a gunbattle with policemen in a forest of West Midnapore district.

Koteswar Rao, better known as Kishenji, was wanted for the massacre of 24 paramilitary soldiers last year in Pashimbanga and several other attacks on government targets in the region.

Kishenji’s killing is a “huge setback for the Maoists as he was number three in the hierarchy,” Indian Home Secretary R.K. Singh said in New Delhi.

The slain rebel, who never showed his face to journalists during various media events, came under massive pressure after New Delhi launched a security operation to flush out Maoist guerrillas from their strongholds in 2009.

http://feartosleep.blogspot.com/2011/11/indian-police-kill-leading-maoist.html

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gXj3JNev7v1cOzHGY0VPEcaRzTXA?docId=CNG.7164c91379d92ecee53cfd7297707752.5d1

Statistics: Posted by Guest — Fri Nov 25, 2011 8:16 am

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[ NEWS ] directive [新聞]指令 • China:Villagers set fire to factories and fight police
Chinese authorities called in 3,000 riot police at the weekend to quell a mass protest by villagers who attacked an industrial park in southern Guangdong province over a longstanding land dispute, according to police and news reports.

The attack by several thousand villagers, armed with petrol bombs, clubs,and stones, was sparked by reports that an official had illegally sold their rice paddy land for conversion to an industrial zone in Zhongshan city without compensating them.

Zhongshan police said in a statement that residents of Yilong Village “attacked” the park on Saturday by “smashing, looting, and setting fire to” the facility.

The Oriental Daily, a Hong Kong newspaper, reported that 3,000 riot police were dispatched to quell the riot. Some blog posts said an equal number of villagers were involved in the protest.

The newspaper also said that villagers threw petrol bombs, and that some buildings were in flames.

Yilong residents accused the former secretary of their village of selling their land on his own and withholding the compensation from them, it said.

Burning factories

Photographs uploaded on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblog, and other websites showed unconfirmed images of burning factories emitting plumes of black smoke, columns of black-clad riot police trooping through the village, and crowds of residents engaging in standoffs with the police and a nighttime sit-down protest, according to the South China Morning Post.

Blog posts also showed protest banners complaining about “weak and inept” officials, and claimed the protest came after government officials sold off village land for their own personal gain, the Hong Kong newspaper said.

The dispute had been simmering since August, leading to factories in the industrial zone halting production, Zhongshan police said, dismissing reports that some villagers had died in the riot.

Caixin Magazine, an online journal, reported that the Yilong residents had been standing watch in a basketball court near the industrial park for months, blocking factory workers from going to work.

RFA’s calls to the Zhongshan Municipal Public Security Bureau and the Dongsheng and Xiaolan branches went unanswered Sunday.

Increasing unrest

Yang Lili of the D.C.-based China Information Center said that land disputes have caused increasing unrest in China in recent years.

“Although the land was sold, the peasants did not receive appropriate compensation,” she said. “Local officials and village officials often take the bulk of the land sales to line their own pockets.”

“The peasants not only lose their land that they rely on for survival, but they also don’t receive the appropriate compensation, so it’s from this that social conflicts have become more serious in recent years.”

In September, thousands of villagers in Lufeng, another part of Guangdong province, rioted by ransacking government offices and overturning police vehicles in protest against land

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/r ... 84225.html

http://socialrupture.tumblr.com/

Statistics: Posted by Guest — Fri Nov 25, 2011 7:58 am

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[ NEWS ] directive [新聞]指令 • Beijing, China - Dozens of workers injured in massive strike
BEIJING -- More than 7,000 workers went on strike at a southern Chinese factory making New Balance, Adidas and Nike shoes, clashing with police in a protest over layoffs and wage cuts, a rights group said.

Dozens of workers were injured on Thursday as police tried to break the strikers' blockade of the main road in the factory town near Dongguan in Guangdong province, China Labor Watch said in a statement late Friday.
The strike at the Yucheng factory in Huangjiang township took place in the wake of layoffs last month of 18 managers, a move seen by workers as a preparation for the factory's relocation, the New York-based group said.
One of the fired managers told the China Business News his departure was part of a plan to shift production north to Jiangxi province to save on rising costs in the Pearl River Delta around Dongguan, a key manufacturing center.
The strike was the latest in a series of incidents involving labor disputes and perceived social injustices in Guangdong, known as the workshop of the world for the tens of millions of migrant workers who toil in factories there.
Workers at the Yucheng factory were also angered by the recent elimination of performance bonuses and a ban on the overtime they said they need to meet the cost of living.

http://sysiphus-angrynewsfromaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/11/beijing-china-dozens-of-workers-injured.html

Statistics: Posted by Guest — Fri Nov 25, 2011 7:53 am

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[El anarco-sindicalismo] • CNT : Crónica de la manifestación del 29S en Guadalajara
Como en diversas ciudades y poblaciones de España, el Sindicato de Oficios Varios de Guadalajara convocó a la jornada de lucha el pasado 29 de septiembre. Tras reuniones previas con la Confederación General del Trabajo-Henares, se decidió trasladar la protesta convocada en toda España a la Plaza de Santo Domingo de la ciudad. Igualmente, dicha convocatoria venía respaldada también por el Sindicato Autónomo de Trabajadores Independientes Forestales (SATIF), por el Centro Social Octubre y por la Asamblea del 15M de Guadalajara.



A las 18:30 unas 40 personas nos dimos cita en la plaza de Santo Domingo de Guadalajara con una pancarta bajo el lema “La lucha está en la calle. Hacia la Huelga General”. Se repartió un manifiesto explicativo del por qué del acto. Tras corear consigna contra las políticas neoliberales, contra los adláteres que ayudan a la consecución de estas políticas (gobierno, patronal, sindicatos “mayoritarios”, etc.) se procedió a la lectura del manifiesto.

Tras el mismo se decidió acudir a la manifestación que ese mismo día tenía convocada la Asamblea de Docentes de Guadalajara, en la Plaza del Infantado, por la política de recortes que el gobierno regional del PP ha impuesto y que ha dejado cesantes a casi 1000 profesores de la platilla de interinos de Castilla-La Mancha.

Con nuestra pancarta, nuestras banderas y nuestra propaganda nos unimos a dicha protesta, de la que la CNT también era parte, pues desde la asamblea local de nuestro SOV hemos mostrado el apoyo a todas las movilizaciones que el personal docente está realizando en la ciudad. Junto a mas de 1000 personas discurrimos por las calles alcarreñas para mostrar nuestro rechazo a estas políticas y nuestra solidaridad de clase con los trabajadores en el día de nuestra jornada de lucha.

source: CNT

Estadísticas: Publicado por a-revolt.org — Mar Oct 11, 2011 10:07 pm

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[El anarco-sindicalismo] • CGT contra la represión y persecución sindical en Roca-Marru
Los trabajadores compañeros de Roca-Maroc están sufriendo una persecución y acoso desde que han decidido organizarse como sección sindical de la CDT (Confederación Democrática del Trabajo), que ya cuenta con más de 300 trabajadores afiliados. Ha habido despidos, sanciones, amenazas y una gravísima agresión contra el secretario de la sección sindical de la CDT en Roca, para que cesara su actividad sindical.
La dirección de Roca-Maroc les niega el derecho a constituir el sindicato, a pesar que el propio gobierno de Marruecos si lo haya hecho ya. Roca está vulnerando un derecho básico de los trabajadores para además privarles del derecho democrático de convocar elecciones sindicales y constituir el Comité de empresa al cual tienen pleno derecho.



En la visita de los compañeros de CGT-ROCA a Settat, pudieron ver y escuchar de los propios trabajadores, actitudes y hechos por parte de la dirección de ROCA-Maroc como :

Que los despidos se producen sin preaviso, ni indemnización alguna aun cuando la ley de Marruecos así lo reconoce, suelen también tender trampas a trabajadores para argumentar un despido objetivo, como así hicieron con un miembro del de la Sección Sindical.

En el caso de que el trabajador que entra en el siguiente turno no asista, obligan al trabajador del primer turno a trabajar 8 horas más y a seguir al día siguiente su turno habitual trabajando 16h seguidas, si el trabajador se niega, la sanción o el despido es el siguiente paso por parte de la empresa.

Es el médico de la empresa el que decide los días de baja, que en la mayoría de los casos es ninguno, sancionándose la falta al trabajo con falta muy grave o despido. Hace aproximadamente 5 meses murió un compañero que al sentirse muy mal en el trabajo fue trasladado al dispensario en una carretilla de carga y ante la gravedad llevado al Hospital, dejándolo allí sin acompañamiento, el hospital le dio alta el mismo día a casa donde murió, la empresa no se hace cargo de nada y no reconoce responsabilidad alguna. Si un trabajador se indispone lo apartan a un rincón de la fábrica, en un carro de trasladar wc, para que se le pase y sin ninguna asistencia médica (se tienen fotos que lo demuestran).



Desde la CGT junto con otras organizaciones y asociaciones vamos a seguir denunciando públicamente a nivel internacional estas agresiones contra los trabajadores Marroquíes en ROCA-Maroc

¡NO A LOS ABUSOS EMPRESARIALES !
¡NO A LA REPRESIÓN SINDICAL!

SECRETARÍA RELACIONES INTERNACIONALES
CONFEDERACIÓN GENERAL DEL TRABAJO

Verwandter Link: http://www.cgt-roca.com/

Estadísticas: Publicado por a-revolt.org — Mar Oct 11, 2011 9:54 pm

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[Nachrichten] Richtlinie • ALEx-Programm fÃr Oktober 2011 im Baiz
ALEx-TerminÃbersicht aller geplanten Veranstaltungen hier: http://venyoo.de/user/events/1627/fkaev?m Dort gibts auch Illustrationen und links dazu.

Text: ALEx-Oktober 2011-Termine unten!

Die auf den plÃtzlichen Tod unseres Freundes und webadmin Uli Melcher (+ 12/2007) zurÃckzufÃhrenden, leider noch anhaltenden UnzulÃnglichkeiten der website www.a-laden.org bitten wir zu entschuldigen! Der relaunch war im Sommer 2011 geplant, wird aber wohl noch warten mÃssen... Auch eine neue Termin@tor site is under construction: http://terminatorberlin.wordpress.com/

Es dauert ehren@mtlich halt seine Zeit ... Person_A_lmangel ... G.E.L.D. ...

SEID REALISTISCH: FÃRDERT DAS UNMÃGLICHE!

Investiert in Anarchie! Die einzig sichere @nlage! (Die monatlichen nackten Fixkosten des A-Ladens betragen z.Zt. 300 â !!! - ZusÃtzlich brauchen wir dringend Technik/Material und einen Aktions-Fonds um fÃr libertÃre Ideen werben zu kÃnnen.)

Freunde der direkten Aktion (FddA), KontoNr. 489 767 107,
BLZ 100 100 10, Postbank Berlin
Tipp: Zuwendungen sind als Kulturspenden von der Steuer absetzbar. Zweck:
"Freie Kultur Aktion e.V. - UnterstÃtzung Kulturarbeit"

Unsere Termine findet ihr neben dem Stressi -
http://www.squat.net/stressfaktor auch auf mySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/aladenberlin und unter
http://venyoo.de/user/events/1627/fkaev?m sowie in Programmzeitschriften
und Zeitungen.
Und natÃrlich auf der BAIZ-site http://www.baiz.info/

sowie NEU:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id= ... ile&v=info


"A-Laden Experience" = ALEx

Der A-Laden hat seit 11/2006 in Mitte mit Sichtverbindung zum
Alex(anderplatz) angedockt. Unser alter Standort Moabit (1988-2006) liegt
uns zwar immer noch am Herzen aber rund 20 Radminuten weiter.
"Experience" weil wir damit an die Zeiten des Aufbruchs vor etwa 50 Jahren
anknÃpfen und erinnern wollen und weil der A-Laden Euch die "experiences",
die Erfahrungen, die wir in gut einem Vierteljahrhundert und mehr gemacht
und zusammengetragen haben, Allen zur VerfÃgung stellen will und mit Euch
neue Erfahrungen er-leben will und wird.

Das System macht keine Fehler - es IST der Fehler!

Der Fehler ist SYSTEMisch:
Das kapitalistische System war und ist von Anfang an gegen uns unten
gerichtet und a priori anti-emanzipativ. YA-YA! AnarchieYA! YETZT!!
Acracia real YA! Beratet Euch und bildet RÃte-Kommitees.
EmpÃrung alleine reicht nicht. Sie muss konstruktiv werden.




Oktober klingt nach Revoluzzen...
und weiter fleissig Lampen putzen
Berlin soz-rot â wie Apfelsine
verzieht vor Freude keene Miene


ALEx-Oktober-PROGRAMM 2011 im BAIZ

Alle ALEx-Veranstaltungen in der Kulturschankwirtschaft BAIZ
(Ecke Tor/Christinenstr., NÃhe U Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz â http://www.baiz.info)
Eintritt frei - Spenden schwer erwÃnscht.

Statistik: Verfasst von Gast — Di Sep 27, 2011 9:29 am

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