Posted on May 25, 2012 | Theme: Prisoner Resistance!Human Needs Over Profit. With Molly Porzig. An interview with Diana Block (California Coalition for Women Prisoners) and Manuel La Fontaine (All of Us or None) about the Occupy Prisons Movement and the Occupy National Day of Support of Prisoners. View full article »
In Woodland, the occupation of a foreclosed home by members of Occupy groups and others have caused the bank to grant a 45 day grace period. According to a report by News 10 on why the home went into foreclosure:
The Ponce Family bought their home on Paradise Valley Drive in 2008, but began struggling to hang on to it after Heriberto Ponce lost his job in construction. …
- Woman with cerebral palsy arrested in foreclosure fight with Wells Fargo (activistpost.com)
- Tell Wells Fargo to Stop Evicting Innocent Renters! by Tenants Together (socialactions.net)
- Californian Commits Suicide Two Days Before Foreclosure (revolutioninmedia.com)
What happened to the Occupy movement? |
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Although media coverage has dwindled, Occupy cells are alive and well all over the United S tates – and beyond. |
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Occupy Wall Street was at the pinnacle of its power in October 2011, when thousands of people converged at Zuccotti Park and successfully foiled the plans of billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg to sweep away the occupation on grounds of public health. From that vantage point, the Occupy movement appears to have tumbled off a cliff, having failed to organise anything like a general strike on May Day – despite months of rumblings of mass walkouts, blockades and shutdowns…………
Others note that protests did take place in more than 110 cities on May Day in One can debate whether or not Occupy is still effective, but there is no way to deny income and wealth inequalities have reached historical extremes or that two-thirds of all in the US – and 55 per cent of Republicans – say “there are ‘very strong’ or ‘strong’ conflicts between the rich and the poor,” according to the Pew Research Center.
The media indifference extends to downplaying state repression. Ironically, force is a measure of success because it’s recognition that the movement is a threat:
The repression is aimed at preventing Occupy from reclaiming a space, which novelist Arundhati Roy predicted months ago: “Holding territory may not be something the [Occupy] “Cinematic” is the only way to convey the image of public sidewalks and streets blanketed with thousands of riot police, surveillance units, snatch squads, detectives, beat cops, community police, white-shirted commanders, phalanxes of scooter police, four police helicopters overhead and cars, SUVs, buses, trucks and command vehicles flashing emergency lights. All to clear out a few thousand people, mainly youths, who gathered for a democratic assembly and the faint hope they could recreate the magic of Occupy Wall Street. read full article HEREhttp://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/05/2012521151225452634.ht |
Related articles| “You can cut down all of the flowers but you cannot stop the spring.” - poster circulating around the strikeTHE LAWS On Friday, May 18, 2012, two new laws came into effect in montréal. Their purpose is to stifle the anti-capitalist revolt that has emerged from the student strike that began in this province fifteen weeks ago, to restore order and clear the way for the implementation of austerity measures in this territory.The first is a municipal by-law. It aims to discourage people from wearing masks at demonstrations by threatening them with fines from $1000 to $5000. It comes as the federal government is contemplating a law, to be implemented across the whole territory of the canadian state, that would punish those who conceal their identities “while participating in a riot” with a maximum of ten years in prison. |
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The second is the provincial government’s Special Law which demands that all public manifestations of popular dissent submit themselves to fastidious control by the state. Any demonstration, anywhere in québec, must submit a start time and a complete route to the local police at least eight hours in advance; if it does not, it is illegal. The route can also be changed at any time by the police. There can be no demonstrations on the grounds of academic institutions, nor even within fifty metres of them. View full article »
Marie Mason is a loving mother of two and a long-time activist in the environmental and labor movements. In March 2008, she was arrested by federal authorities for charges related to two acts of property destruction that occurred in 1999 and 2000; no one was injured in either o
f them. She accepted a plea bargain and was sentenced on February 5, 2009 to just under 22 years. She is now serving the longest sentence of any “Green Scare” prisoner.
“A friend of mine sent me a really lovely photo of this desert lizard as she let me know that she was heading out for her Pacific Trail hike. I hope she has an easier time than the author Cheryl Strayed did doing the same hike. It seems like a grueling but amazing adventure. I will just be grateful to be able to walk in a straight line for a few blocks, feel grass (and not cement) under my feet, see the moon without a fence in between… and I am patient and content to wait for that day.”
-Marie Mason
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Federal Medical Center
P.O. Box 27137
Fort Worth, TX 76127 View full article »
The eight prisoners are added to the 18 held on the first day and two of yesterday, all of them for disobedience and attack on Authority. in total, these three days, the National Police have arrested 28 people during evictions these days in Madrid.
La Policía ha desalojado por tercera noche consecutiva a los ‘indignados’ que han decidido View full article »
JESÚS BA
STANTE MADRID 09/05/2011 06:00 Actualizado: 09/05/2011 06:03
Desde las 6:45h de la mañana dos unidades de la Brigada Móvil de los Mossos d’Esquadra (catorce furgonetas) están desalojando el edificio de la Universitat Lliure La Rimaia, en la ronda de Sant Pau 12, en Barcelona. Los agentes han entrado con escaleras por los balcones y han reventado la puerta del edificio ante la sorpresa de la gente que vive allí, ya que el juzgado de instrucción 22 de Barcelona ordenó el archivo de la causa penal hace dos años entendiendo que se trataba de un edificio abandonado desde hace dos décadas y, por tanto, no estaba cometiendo ningún delito penal contra la promotora inmobiliaria Camat, titular de la finca. View full article »Published: May 8th 2012 – at 2:36 pm
”this is typical BBC double think. Their mask of fairness slips every time they support the criminal British State”
by Tim Fenton No matter how cautiously the words are phrased, and in spite of a range of caveats, when a former minister mentions the subject of shale gas live on the BBC, the hacks’ antennae twitch to attention and those words are instantly spun.
And the Beeb’s own report hasn’t helped matters, as it has relayed the sentiments of Chris Smith, who is now head of the Environment Agency.
Smith, recently elevated to the Peerage, has given cautious support to the extraction of gas from shale, but is by no means cheerleading: View full article »
now also with ENGLISH subtitles
NOSALTRES (ENGLISH). MANIFESTO AGAINST REPRESSION IN BARCELONA (15Mbcn.tv)
Spain tightens borders to stem ECB protests |
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Visa-free travel suspended ahead of European Central Bank meeting, overriding Schengen Protocol.
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Spain has suspended visa-free travel and re-instituted border checks ahead of a meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Barcelona next week.It is an unprecedented move that overrides the Schengen Protocol that was first instituted in 1985. The agreement means there are no int
 Community police remove a dangerous terrorist ernal border controls for the 26 European countries and their combined population of more than 400 million people. Spain says it needs to regulate its borders to prevent foreign protesters disrupting the ECB meeting . It is not the first time Schengen Protocol has been called into question. Germany and France also want new rules to make it easier to suspend passport-free travel. Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego reports from Madrid. |
Chernobyl legacy to linger long after most humans have gonePosted by feww on April 26, 2012
The explosion at Chernobyl nuclear power plant 26 years ago has so far claimed at least a million lives, and counting. The core meltdown, which occurred on Saturday, April 26, 1986 at reactor No. 4 of the V.I. Lenin Nuclear Power Station, as it was then called, left entire regions in three countries—Ukraine, Russia and Belarus—unlivable.
The long-term consequences of the Chernobyl disaster are still disputed.
Birth defects and cancer were the norm for many years following the Chernobyl disaster. By the time residents of Pripyat, a town located near the plant, were ordered to evacuate, about two days after the Chernobyl core meltdown had occurred, many had already been exposed to varying doses of radiation poisoning.
Consequences of the Catastrophe. Authors Alexey Yablokov (Center for Russian Environmental Policy in Moscow), Vassily Nesterenko and Alexey Nesterenko ( Institute of Radiation Safety, Minsk, Belarus) studied about 5,000 reports and scientific papers mostly published in Slavic languages and compiled their finding in the book “Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment,” which was published last year on the 24th anniversary of the Chernobyl reactor core meltdown.
“For the past 23 years, it has been clear that there is a danger greater than nuclear weapons concealed within nuclear power. Emissions from this one reactor exceeded a hundred-fold the radioactive contamination of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” They wrote.
“No citizen of any country can be assured that he or she can be protected from radioactive contamination. One nuclear reactor can pollute half the globe,” the authors said. “Chernobyl fallout covers the entire Northern Hemisphere.”
FASH, BANG, WALLOP
Yesterday’s counter-protest against the March for England exceeded all expectations. Although the fascists did march they did so inside a mobile police kettle continuously surrounded and occasionally bombarded by counter-protestors. Their march route was cut short and for once the chant “Police protect the fascists” was 100% accurate.
Last year the police successfully kettled most of the anti-fascists, allowing the MfE free rein through the city. They took full advantage of the opportunity to hand out racist abuse and attack alternative looking types. Brighton anti-fascists were determined to avoid a repeat.
Aware that the cops plan was to push the march straight down the road 
from the railway station to the sea front, the anti-crowd was encouraged to spread themselves thinly along the route. This prevented a pre-emptive kettle.
For a while it looked as if the cops were going to throw the towel in and refuse to allow the MfE out of the station. At half-twelve jogging lines of cops and the arrival of horses let everyone know that the fash were on the move.
It didn’t take long after the march set off before the first few antis were in the road behind a banner. From then on the march became a rugby scrum as the cops used horses, truncheons and pepper spray to force the MfE through. Every time the cops broke through an anti-fascist line, another would form ten or twenty metres down the road.
BATTLE OF CHURCH ST
The pressure only intensified as the police decided to abandon the planned high-profile route and try to smuggle the nationalists down the back-streets. Anti-fascists got ahead of the game and running around the side got in front of the march on Church St to build barricades. Fascists and police came under attack with bottles. It was at this point that some-one set a bin on fire, irritating everyone, right and left, with the acrid smoke.
What was totally remarkable was the level of solidarity for the counter-demo by folk 
from all walks of life in Brighton. There was no support for the MfE. Pensioners and kids shouted abuse at the fash. The UAF stood shoulder to shoulder with Antifa punks.
Final word to Brighton Anti-fascists “Brighton showed the racists today that their brand of hatred isn’t welcome in our city. Brighton has always historically seen off the fascists, in the the thirties , the seventies and now today. Big thanks to all who turned out! – Up the punks!”
As far as SchNEWS knows no-one on our team got nicked- If you were arrested and require support then please contact stopmfe@ymail.com
For more http://brightonantifascists.wordpress.com/
and check out..http://www.schnews.org.uk/stories/FASH%2c-BANG%2c-WALLOP/
Detenida Laura Gomez de la CGT por su presunta participación en los disturbios del 29M en Barcelona. Se trata de una detención más con cara a la toma policial por la Cumbre del BCE el 2 de mayo..
Arrested a leader of the CGT for alleged involvement in riots in Barcelona General Strike 29M. This is one of many arrests leading up to the police takeover for the European bank Summit on 2nd May. There are now daily demonstrations.
A Laura Gómez, secretaria de Organización de la Federación Local de Barcelona del sindicato anarquista, se le imputan los delitos de desórdenes públicos, incendio, coacciones y un delito
relativo al ejercicio de los derechos fundamentales y las libertades públicas.
Laura Gomez, Secretary of Organization of Local Federation of Anarchist union Barcelona, is charged with public disorder offenses, arson, extortion or an offense concerning the exercise of fundamental rights and civil liberties.
Demonstration in support of the CGT leader Barcelona Laura Gomez held on Tuesday at the police station in the Catalan police in Les Corts (photo: CGT).
Manifestación de apoyo a la dirigente de la CGT de Barcelona Laura Gómez celebrada este martes ante la comisaría de los Mossos d’Esquadra de Les Corts (foto: CGT).
The Police have arrested Tuesday at the Organizing Secretary of the Barcelona Local Federation of the CGT, Laura Gomez, for his alleged involvement in the burning and destruction caused to the building of the Barcelona Stock Exchange during the day general strike on March 29. Wednesday is scheduled to go to court.
Los Mossos d’Esquadra han detenido este martes a la secretaria de Organización de la Federación Local de Barcelona de la CGT, Laura Gómez, por su presunta participación en la quema y los destrozos causados en el edificio de la Bolsa de Barcelona durante la jornada de huelga general del pasado 29 de marzo. Está previsto que este miércoles pase a disposición judicial.
Carlos Navarro, a spokesman for the CGT, explained that the action took place before the stock was to burn a box containing money and papers that had symbolized a 
message against capital, and is unrelated to the union of the destruction occurred. In his opinion, the detention serves the objective of “clear that people can protest through organizations and unions not officially controlled.”
Demonstration in defense of the arrested
Carlos Navarro, portavoz de la CGT, ha explicado que la acción que se llevó a cabo ante la Bolsa consistió en quemar una caja que contenía papeles que simbolizaban dinero y que llevaba un mensaje contra el capital, y ha desvinculado al sindicato de los destrozos que se produjeron. En su opinión, la detención responde al objetivo de “desactivar que la gente pueda protestar a través de organizaciones y sindicatos no controlados oficialmente”.
Manifestación en defensa de la detenida
Un grupo de militantes y simpatizantes de la CGT se han manifestado durante este martes por la tarde ante la comisaría de los Mossos d’Esquadra de Les Corts, en Barcelona, para exigir la puesta en libertad de Gómez.
A group of militants and sympathizers of the CGT have emerged during this Tuesday afternoon at the police station of the Autonomous Police of Les Corts in Barcelona, to demand the release of Gomez.
mès informaciò akì..http://www.kaosenlared.net/compone….
Un projecte mafiós immobiliaria especulatiu amenaça convertir les darreres àrees agrícoles del Delta del Llobregat en un gran casino anomenat 
Eurovegas.
A real estate project mobster speculative threat became the latest agricultural areas of the Llobregat Delta in a large casino called Eurovegas.
El govern català està disposat a rebaixar al mínim les exigències legals , vulnerant drets laborals i la legislació ambiental per atraure un projecte que suposadament crearia llocs de treball.
The Catalan government is willing to lower the minimum legal requirements, violating labor rights and environmental laws to attract a project that allegedly would create jobs.
Però.. què pensen els pobles afectats pel projecte? i què en diu la gent de Barcelona? Els ho preguntem en el sí d’una marxa ciclista, realitzada el passat 21 d’abril des de Barcelona fins al cor del Delta del Llobregat. La defensa de la sobirania alimentària quedà visibilitzada
But .. what do people affected by the project think? and what do people say in Barcelona?
EuroVegaS.. nOT HERE..OR aNYWHERE
En total, unes 800 bicicletes, precedides per tractors, han fet la marxa pel Parc Agrari, mentre un altre bloc, d’unes 400 persones, sortia caminant des de Viladecans.
Al lloc d’arribada s’ha realitzat col·lectivament una plantada d’hortalisses al terra formant les lletres del lema reivindicatiu “Aturem €vegas”,
EuroVegaS .. NOT HERE OR ANYWHERE ..
In total, about 800 bikes, preceded by tractors, made up by the Agricultural Park, while another block, some 400 people came walking from Viladecans.
At the place of arrival vegetables were collectively planted in the ground forming the letters of protest slogan “Stop € vegas”
From Riseup.net:https://riseup.net/
On Wednesday, April 18, at approximately 16:00 Eastern Time, U.S. Federal authorities removed a server from a colocation facility shared by Riseup Networks and May First/People Link in New York City. The seized server was operated by the European Counter Network (“ECN”), the oldest independent internet service provider in Europe, who, among many other things, provided an anonymous remailer service, Mixmaster, that was the target of an FBI investigation into the bomb threats against the University of Pittsburgh.
“The company running the facility has confirmed that the server was removed in conjunction with a search warrant issued by the FBI,” said May First/People Link director Jamie McClelland. “The server seizure is not only an attack against us, but an attack against all users of the Internet who depend on anonymous communication.”
Thousands of rural workers in Honduras have occupied land as part of a dispute with large landowners and the government.
The coordinated invasions took place in several locations across the country, activists and officials say.
Farmers groups say the areas taken over are public lands where poor farmers have the right to grow food under Honduran law.
The government said the seizures were illegal and targeted private holdings.
The director of the National Agrarian Institute, Pedro Ham, said the coordinated occupations were politically motivated and aimed at destabilising the government of President Porfirio Lobo.
Violent disputes over farmland are common in Honduras, with dozens of rural workers killed in recent years.Organisations representing rural workers say successive governments have failed to fulfil promises to distribute farmland using agrarian reform legislation.
They also accuse the authorities of acting in the interests of large landowners.Thousands of Honduran farm 
workers Wednesday launched a coordinated land occupation, squatting on 12,000 hectares nationwide and fueling new tensions over land rights, authorities said.More than 3,500 families started squatting on 29,652 acres of farmland in the departments of Yoro, Cortes, Santa Barbara, Intibuca, Comayagua, Francisco Morazan, El Paraiso and Choluteca on Tuesday — the International Peasant Day of Struggle.
Leaders of the farmers in the impoverished Central American nation say they are worried authorities will violently kick them off the land they are occupying.National Agrarian Institute chief Cesar Ham blamed leftist lawmaker Juan Barahona at least in part for the land use tensions.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Elefante Enfurecido
Según apuntan algunos medios, como ElPaís.com , el rey podría haber sufrido el percance mientras se encontraba “cazando elefantes”. Si bien este aspecto no ha sido confirmado por la Casa Real, las fuentes consultadas reconocieron que “en esos sitios suelen realizarse esas prácticas”.
Además, es conocido el interés del monarca por la caza. En 2005, se supo que Juan Carlos de Borbón estuvo de caza en Botsuana unos días después de que 17 militares españoles fallecieran en Afganistan tras estrellarse el helicóptero en el que viajaban.
Esta mañana, los términos ‘Botswana’ (nombre en inglés del país), ‘el rey’, ‘borbones’ y ‘Casa Real’ ya son Trending Topic en Twitter . Se da la circunstancia de que el nieto mayor del Rey, Felipe Juan Froilán, se encuentra también ingresado en otra clínica a consecuencia de un accidente con una escopeta.
Gran aficionado a la vela y la caza
Otros fuentes señalan que las heridas no eran del todo ‘accidental’, dado que el rey se cayó al huirse de su victima. Otros comentarios en Twitter señalaron que la caida fue causado por un elefante blanco que casi se alcanzó ea ‘Rey matador’ al agonizarse,
El elefante es un especie amanezado y en principio protegido contra la caza ilegal en Botswana.
La vela y la caza son las dos grandes aficiones de don Juan Carlos tras abandonar el esquí después sufrir una aparatosa caída. El Monarca está considerado como un excelente cazador y posee varios récords. Durante años ha acudido a los cotos de Alberto Alcocer, Samuel Flores, Isidoro Álva
rez y Florentino Azuaya. En los últimos tiempos es habitual que acuda a La Encomienda de Mudela, en Ciudad Real, donde la especialidad es la perdiz roja.
Tras su últimas lesiones y para poder soportar las largas jornada de caza, se ha hecho fabricar un silla especial ergonómica con respaldo y brazos para que pueda descansar.
El ‘accidente’ occurió en el anivertsario de la Repúblic Española
El rey tiene una espléndida colección de escopetas. Su marca preferida es Kemen.
Desde hace varios meses el rey acumula varios contratiempos por sus problemas de salud, que han provocado todo tipo de comentarios sobre su continuidad .
En las próximas horas, se hará público un parte médico más detallado”.
Se da la circunstancia de que el nieto mayor del Rey, Felipe Juan Froilán, se encuentra también ingresado en otra clínica a consecuencia de un accidente con una escopeta.
Iceland ”partly forgives Mortgage Debt ”
”This is awesome. It shows when the people DO STAND UP they have more power and win against the corrupt bankers and politicians of a country. Iceland is forgiving and erasing the mortgage debt of the population. They are putting the bankers and politicians on the “Bench of the Accused.” Which means I assume they are putting them on trial for corruption.
Now the rest of people of the world need to start doing the same thing. We all need to stand up and against all the corruption and fraud of the banks and politicians that are puppets of the banks and corporations.” Sherrie
The country’s banks forgave loans equivalent to 13% of gross domestic product, according to a Bloomberg article Richard cites. The equivalent in the United States would be about $1.95 trillion of mortgage debt writedowns. Icelandic banks agreed to forgive all mortgage debt over 110% of a home’s value. “I think I may have been one of the first commentators with a wide audience to point out how relatively well Iceland was doing.” What he didn’t mention, though his commentator “iInfoliner” did, is that the credit rating agency Fitch upgraded Iceland’s debt to investment grade last week. Moreover, according to the Business Week story, the country can now borrow in U.S. dollars at a mere 4.77%. Compare this to Greece at 35.98% and Portugal at 12.77%; even Spain and Italy are a little over 5% (the FT link has no rates listed for Ireland, which has no 10-year bond).The moral of the story is that a different approach to dealing with the banks is necessary. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/24/1067831/-Iceland-Solves-Banking-Crisis-by-Indicting-Bankers-Forcing-Mortgage-Relief
There is one misunderstanding apparent when Iceland and Ireland are compared. People seem to sometimes think that Icelandic people said “Oh, hell no! We’re not going to save your arses, you just have to go bankrupt and that’s the end of it” to the banks. Some people make a gesture to Icesave referendum to justify that point of view. Furthermore, the “splendid” 110% debt write-off that was passed by the parliament is considered to a fantastic success and shows on top of that the will of the people to simply get the banks to understand that debts that cannot or should not be repaid, won’t be repaid.
Sorry, there is a bit of romanticism in this story.
First, the Icelandic government tried absolutely everything it could possibly do in 2008 to save the banks. It was Iceland’s “fool’s luck” to have allowed the banks to grow up to 1,000% of GDP that made the government rescue impossible. There was no other choice than to let the banks go bankrupt, even though it has been painted in the foreign media as “Iceland chose to let the banks go bankrupt instead of shoring up their broken pieces.”
Second, the Icesave agreement was forcibly passed through the parliament by the government. It was the president that stopped the bill to become a law after the world of bloggers had been on fire for months while the public anger against the government ascended day by day. More importantly, the Icesave dispute had nothing to do with Icelandic “banksters” as they were called by that time. It was and is an international quarrel regarding how to interpret the EU/EEA treaty concerning deposit insurance schemes and passport-banking within the EU. Icesave wasn’t and isn’t a question of bailing out the banks.
Third, the 110% debt write-off that was introduced by the government hasn’t been that successful and certainly not very influencing in the overall scheme of things.
Hanged-Man-Project! :-summary of the Icelandic revolution: -resignation of the whole government -nationalization of the bank. -referendum so that the people can decide over the economic decisions. -incarcerating the responsible parties -rewriting of the constitution by its people Have we been informed of this through the media? Has any political program in radio or TV commented on this? No! The Icelandic people have been able to show that there is a way to beat the system and has given a democracy lesson to the world ...See MoreWall Photos ICELAND. No news from Iceland?… why? How come we hear everything that happens in.. By: RePeace
In Iceland, the people has made the government resign, the primary banks have been nationalized, it was decided to not pay the debt that these created with Great Britain and Holland due to their bad financial politics and a public assembly has been created to rewrite the constitution.
And all of this in a peaceful way. A whole revolution against the powers that have created the current global crisis. This is why there hasn’t been any publicity during the last two years: What would happen if the rest of the EU citizens took this as an example? What would happen if the US citizens took this as an example.
This is a summary of the facts:
2008. The main bank of the country is nationalized.
The Krona, the currency of Iceland devaluates and the stock market stops. The country is in bankruptcy
2008. The citizens protest in front of parliament and manage to get new elections that make the resignation of the prime minister and his whole government.
The country is in bad economic situation.
A law proposes paying back the debt to Great Britain and Holland through the payment of 3,500 million euros, which will be paid by the people of Iceland monthly during the next 15 years, with a 5.5% interest.
2010. The people go out in the streets and demand a referendum. In January 2010 the president denies the approval and announces a popular meeting.
In March the referendum and the denial of payment is voted in by 93%. Meanwhile the government has initiated an investigation to bring to justice those responsible for the crisis, and many high level executives and bankers are arrested. The Interpol dictates an order that make all the implicated parties leave the country.
In this crisis an assembly is elected to rewrite a new Constitution which can include the lessons learned from this, and which will substitute the current one (a copy of the Danish Constitution).
25 citizens are chosen, with no political affiliation, out of the 522 candidates. For candidacy all that was needed was to be an adult and have the support of 30 people. The constitutional assembly starts in February of 2011 to present the ‘carta magna’ from the recommendations given by the different assemblies happening throughout the country. It must be approved by the current Parliament and by the one constituted through the next legislative elections.
Debt write off was only partialThe 110% debt write-off was simply a measure that was offered to over-indebted households. It was very simple on the surface: if your mortgage was higher than 110% of the estimated market value of the property, you could have the debt written off down to the 110% mark.
The total debt that was written off based on this jubilee was 43.6 billion krona. On top of that came 6.2 billion due to “special measures”. In comparison, the debt that was written off due to illegal foreign-exchange-linked loans was 146.5 billion krona. In September 2008 (the last point in time where it is known how high the face value of household debt was) the debt of households was 1,890 billion krona (128% of GDP). The government induced debt write-off has been roughly 2.5% of the total debt of households. Is that meant to be a huge turning point? Give me a break! The indexed debt of households has in the meanwhile risen by a rough estimation of 200 billion ISK due to rise in consumer prices since 2008. This is not a typo.
Longer term view
The debt dynamics in the Icelandic economy are scary! The mortgage and financial system is built to collapse, it is an unmissable feature of the organisation of the system.
Shit on the system! Tögg: english When Elections took place in Iceland one voter decided to use his rights to vote. Showed up at the voting station and literally took a dump on the political party system, the power abuse and the general democracy distortion, wiped his ass on the ballot, neatly folded it and slipped into the ballot box. HEHEHE The video is here http://aftaka.rusl.org/tag/english/
Agnes Torres, a transsexual psychologist and gay rights activist, left her home in the central Mexican state of Puebla on her way to a party. The next day, her body was found in a gully, naked from the waist down. Her throat had been slit.
“Agnes’s case had major repercussions because she was an activist involved deeply in the struggle for our rights. But there are many other cases that no one has ever heard about,”
Torres was 28 years old and in the process of changing her identity in Mexico City, the only part of Mexico that has passed progressive laws such as the decriminalisation of abortion, same-sex marriage and a gender identity law http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51861 allowing transgender people to change their gender and sex, under the left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), which governs the capital.
…….The protesters, who according to news reports numbered between two hundred and one thousand, filled the central square with pictures of 
Torres, art, candles, and signs that read “La homosexualidad no es una enfermedad, la homofobia sí,” (Homosexuality is not a disease, homophobia is.) Members of the crowd also taped signs to the walls of the buildings that border the central square: “Exigimos justicia,” (We demand justice) “¿Cuántas más?” (How many more?) “No somos todas; faltan nuestras muertas,” (This isn’t all of us; our dead are missing.)
The crowd chanted “va caer, va caer, la homofobía va caer.” (It will fall, it will fall, homophobia will fall.) Instead of a minute of silence, the demonstrators had a minute of applause to remember and celebrate Torres’ life. After filling the square for two hours, the group marched to the state government offices in downtown Puebla.
Word of Torres’ death spread quickly through social media, allowing the protest to be organized within about 24 hours. On Monday night Twitter users were writing about plans for protests and memorials in other Mexican cities such as Xalapa and Guadalajara.
“People should know about her. #AgnesTorres she was a daughter, she was a friend, she was a professional, she was human being. She is no longer with us. She was murdered”
-@mtorch on Twitter
Messages were directed at politicians such as state governor Rafael Moreno Valle asking him to take action to prevent hate crimes in the state. Tweets expressed a range of emotions from grief to anger and indignation.
Angry comments on Twitter also centered around a user who tweeted that Torres had deserved to die. The account purported to belong to Juan Pablo Castro, a young man who had earlier in the week been forced to apologize for using a derogatory slang word for homosexuals at a political event for young people in the congress building in Mexico City. However the account tweeting about Agnes Torres contained a slight variation in spelling from the real Juan Pablo Castro’s account name (substituting a capital i for an l) leading many to believe that it was a case of stolen identity. The fake Castro account continued to tweet negative comments about Torres throughout the evening. Perhaps in response to the backlash against “Castro,” other politicians took to Twitter on Monday evening to condemn Torres’ murder.
Image
“Femicide is an act of fear, of hate, of incompetence, omission, of cowardice and abuse. Not one more.” Photo via @feminicidios on Twitter.
People attending the protest also tweeted that the body of César González Martínez, a gay man, had just been found in Momoxpan, Puebla, at 2 PM that afternoon. Some news outlets reported that including Agnes Torres, there had been three murders attributed to homophobia in Puebla so far in 2012; activist groups, some represented by Ibrahim Zamora and the organization “De Ser” (To Be), claimed that there have been six homicides of members of the gay community in Puebla so far this year.
According to the autopsy performed by the coroner, the cause of Torres’ death was hypovolemic shock caused by beheading with a sharp weapon. The autopsy was performed as part of the preliminary investigation into case number AP/406/2012/Atlixco. News reports also stated that part of the body had been burned.
In addition to working as an activist, Torres was a psychologist specializing in gender identity. She was 28 years old.
All the pain in Spain… Millions refuse to lie down and see their lives smashed for the benefit of a few bankers, says Escobar.
Zaragoza, Spain – Make no mistake; the future of the euro is being played in Spain. The euro may win – but at a price; millions of Spaniards as “collateral damage”.
It took less than 100 days in power for the right-wing Popular Party (PP) government led by Mariano Rajoy to face its first general strike, on March 29.
The strike was mostly called by minority unions; the major ones, the opportunistic and bureaucratic CCOO and UGT, have been in bed with the
powers that be for years.
The strike was a response to Rajoy’s EU-imposed labour market reforms that, according to Antonio Carretero from the CGT union, are “a counter-reformation that erases with a single stroke many labour and union rights acquired by the working class in decades and generations”. That includes extremely harsh cuts in health, education and social services.
Predictably, the spin war was relentless. Madrid insisted “only” 800,000 workers took part in over 100 demonstrations nationally. According to unions, 900,000 people marched in Madrid, 800,000 in Barcelona and hundreds of thousands more in 111 cities, especially Valencia and in the Basque country (the unionist vanguard in Spain). In Zaragoza, a city of 700,000, at least 150,000 people may have been in the streets; it certainly looked like it by late afternoon.
The country virtually stopped – at a 77 per cent overall rate (much higher than the 18 per cent predicted by corporate media). In the manufacturing sector, it was 80 per cent; in mining and construction, a whopping 97 per cent. Only 30 per cent of the national transportation system was active. And even though scores of cities kept the streetlights on all day – or used other tricks to bump up the numbers – consumption of electricity in Catalunya, for instance, fell by 24 per cent.
Austerity ergo sum
The catalogue of Spain’s “austerity” is the usual catalogue of neoliberalism in trouble. A previous, nominally socialist and now an ultra-conservative government have furiously decimated unemployment, retirement and severance benefits; turned virtually all labour contracts into precariousness hell; steeply raised fees for education and transportation; vastly militarised the police; and spent fortunes to bail out banks.
Spain inevitably follows the post-modernist mantra that democracy controls protest and rebellion by managing it – sort of. That’s where the cooption of those unions, CCOO and UGT, fits in; as they had already tamed rebellion in exchange for funds from Madrid, they called the strike virtually at the last minute.
Corporate media – and Spain is a small market run by monopolies – also fit in with the usual script. There will be violence by “anarchists”. The strike will be bad for tourists. Everyone has the right to work. No one will show up for this strike.
In Zaragoza, repression was harsher in the dead of the night and in suburbs, with no cameras watching. Morning pickets concentrated on banks across its mini Wall Street, driven by Brazilian-style samba drums and demonstrators dressed up as bankers. That sparked an internal debate among the protesters; with many shouting that this was not a party, in the end the samba drums were sent packing.
By late afternoon, during the massive main demonstration that crisscrossed the city centre, everyone and his neighbour seemed to be there – immigrants, whole middle-class families, the unemployed, the precariously employed, anarchists, socialists, progressives, and every indignado in town.
In powerhouse Barcelona, there were riots but mainly sparked by people’s rage against infiltrated cops [SP], some of them chased down and 
beaten up.
Significantly, more people in Barcelona took part in a spontaneous protest in landmark Catalunya square than in the official union protest. In Barcelona, and to some extent in Zaragoza as well, it was clear that the strike was not a union thing, but a collective effort of a loose network; neighbourhood assemblies; workers’ assemblies; smaller anti-authoritarian unions like the CNT and CGT; groups that sprang up out of the indignados movement – the precursor of Occupy Wall Street.
In Zaragoza and Barcelona, there were flyers, posters and stickers all over town. Neighbourhood assemblies and average workers went door to door – and shop to shop – to talk about the strike; and crucially, there was as much criticism of the major unions as criticism of the government………
“Your debt – we won’t pay it.” The mood during the March 29 Spanish general strike [Al Jazeera/Pepe Escobar]
The Harpies are coming to get you
The destruction of Greece may eventually be seen as an Aristophanes comedy compared to the Sophocles tragedy in store for Spain. Spain is the fourth largest economy in the eurozone. If it goes down, the EU goes down.
The infernal mechanism is the same; more “austerity” is followed by steeper Wall Street-engineered interests rates on Spain’s debt so every single euro in budget cutting is diverted to higher interest payments – and then some.
Of course Madrid will never have the guts to tell Spaniards that this budget-cut hysteria has less than zero chances of improving their lives. For 2012, Madrid has budgeted a whopping 29 billion euros for interest payments alone; that’s 30 
per cent more than in 2011.
On top of it Rajoy offered an “amnesty” for major tax cheaters – thus encouraging future tax cheating.
And this in a country with a staggering 6 million unemployed. The official unemployment rate is 24 per cent – higher than Greece and the highest in Europe. In reality it’s more like 30 per cent. Among young people, it’s between 45 per cent and 50 per cent. An extra 600,000 Spaniards will definitely lose their jobs in 2012.
…..
The US has a budget deficit of 10 per cent of GDP. Its colossal $4 trillion-plus national debt is already 100 per cent of GDP. Compare it with Spain a few points above the EU’s debt ceiling of 3 per cent of GDP, and a national debt of 79.8 per cent of GDP. Of course, if you are Washington/Wall Street you can get away with anything.
But even if Spain is now a barely disguised protectorate, still elections, strikes and a powerful concept of citizenship are kept alive. There’s serious talk of organising a European general strike. After all, the indignados started their movement in Spain, in May 2011 – the inspiration for Occupy Wall Street, a new, self-organised push for a global solidarity culture, way beyond the old, tired institutions of the organised Left, and the washed-up categories of Left and Right, East and West, North and South.
The future may be grim, but a global ola of rebellion may still be at hand. As I left Barcelona’s airport back to Asia I couldn’t help erase the verse of a classic Echo and the Bunnymen song ringing in my head: “See you in the barricades, 
babe.”
Pepe Escobar is the roving correspondent for Asia Times. His latest book is Obama Does Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009).
per (A) Berlin 1st May 2012 – 25 years of hope for a different life On the 1st of May in 1987 the district Kreuzberg in Berlin exploded because of 
rage against the state and the cops, who defend violently the capitalist system.
Since then there are every year demonstrations and clashes against the metropolis of the rich and oppressor, against Germany, war and fascism.
In the last 25 years these violent clashes have become a ritual. Sometimes the cops get the upper hand, but very often also we achieved to be out of control.
Street battles are risky at the 1st of May in Berlin, because the cops here are one of the most effective ones in Europe. But there is a big amount of stones everywhere.
To the 25th time this year´s 1st of May symbolises the hope of going one step further to the end of the ruling form of society.
Everybody has to come to Berlin – between 30th April and 2. May it´s getting hot!!!
Against state and capital, against the state of the murderous pigs!!!
A very hot riot happened 1st May 1989: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqeOferbqcs
this was 1st May 1999: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhzICpPhLBk
also very good was 1st May 2001: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toyaQOCUPd4
and 1st May 2002 with more looting:
one of the best years 1st May 2003: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO592dCoh3M
or this 1st May 2009 with again lots of injured cops: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMD7OPMVcgc
more information about this year: http://erstermai.nostate.net/web/
Dont miss it! See you in Berlin 1st May 2012!
Following Wednesday’s National Day of Action for Public Transit that saw Occupiers and unions take part in coordinated actions across dozens of cities, Occupiers in Boston flooded the state capitol and have now set up an encampment outside in protest of fare hikes and service cuts to mass transit. Occupy Boston says they will occupy the area for 10 days, or until the state government agrees to revise the budget for transit.
from Occupy Boston: This evening, Occupy the MBTA, a working group of Occupy Boston, launched Camp Charlie, a ten day occupation of the State House steps to protest fare-hikes and service cutbacks on the MBTA. Having survived the depths of the recession, the 99% now faces additional taxes in the
State House yesterday
form of escalating T fares and the loss of essential transport routes. This is a further transfer of public wealth to the banks. These are the same institutions that were bailed out by the American taxpayer after being rendered insolvent by their own, criminal recklessness. The only debt in need of servicing is their debt to us.
Camp Charlie will be a place for public debate, conversation, and outreach – a living testament to the refusal of the people to be further abused by a clutch of corporate interests, multinational banking cartels and consolidated oil interests.
All those in Boston are encouraged to join or stop by Camp Charlie! Follow @Occupy_Bostonhttps://twitter.com/#!/Occupy_Boston and @OccupyMBTAhttps://twitter.com/#!/OccupyMBTA for updates.
No service cuts!
No fare hikes!
No layoffs!
No privatization of our treasured public transit system!
A comprehensive plan for affordable and sustainable transportation that works for the 99%!
http://occupywallst.org/article/occupy-boston-builds-camp-charlie-state-house-step/
Athens, Greece. Angry protests erupted after a 77 year old man committed suicide outside Parliament in Syntagma Square.
From the Greek Streets reports that the suicide note left by Dimitris Christoulas said: “The Tsolakoglou* [Quisling] occupation government literally nullified my ability to survive on a decent pension, for which I had already paid (without government aid) for 35 years.
“I am of an age that prevents me from offering a decent individual response (without of course ruling out the possibility of being the second person to take arms, should one person decide to do so), I find no solution other than a dignified end, before resorting to going through garbage in order to cover my nutritional needs. “One day, I believe, the youth with no future will take up arms and hang the national traitors at Syntagma Square, just like the Italians did with Mussolini in 1945 (at Milan’s Piazzale Loreto)”
Montreal, Canda: Police arrested about 60 students opposed to planned university tuition hikes as they roved through downtown Montreal on Wednesday morning, at one point setting off a “pyrotechnic device,” reports the National Post.
California, USA: About 100 students protesting a plan to offer high-priced courses at Santa Monica College this summer tried to storm into a meeting of the college’s Board of Trustees on Tuesday evening.
Police attacked protesters with pepper srapy for chanting, “Let us in, let us in” and “No cuts, no fees, education should be free,” reports the LA Times.
Village Voice A group calling itself the “Rank and File Initiative” claimed credit yesterday for opening up more than 20 subway stations throughout the city for free entry.
Chaining open emergency gates at stations on the F, L, R, Q, 3, and 6 lines during rush hour yesterday morning, the anonymous activists posted signs designed to resemble MTA service-change announcements that read “Free Entry, No Fare. Please Enter Through The Service Gate.”
This morning before rush hour, teams of activists, many from Occupy Wall Street, in conjunction with rank and file workers from the Transport Workers Union Local 100 and the Amalgamated Transit Union, opened up more than 20 stations across the city for free entry. As of 10:30 AM, the majority remain open. No property was damaged. Teams have chained open service gates and taped up turnstiles in a coordinated response to escalating service cuts, fare hikes, racist policing, assaults on transit workers’ working conditions and livelihoods — and the profiteering of the super-rich by way of a system they’ve rigged in their favor.
The release cites Albany’s chronic underfunding of public transit, which has led the MTA to borrow heavily just to maintain its operating budget — debt which must be serviced in part with transit fares that have gone up 50 percent over the last decade.
“This means Wall Street bondholders receive a huge share of what we put into the system through the Metrocards we buy and the 
taxes we pay,” the press statement reads. “More than $2 billion a year goes to debt service, and this number is expected to rise every year. If trends continue, by 2018 more than one out of every five dollars of MTA revenue will head to a banker’s pockets.”
Last night we spoke with a representative of the Rank And File Initiative, who wished to remain anonymous. He told us that teams set out in the early hours of yesterday morning, disguising their identities, to lock open gates at roughly 25 stations.
“It was three or four people to each station, so you can do the math of how many people were directly involved,” he said. Not every team was successful — one dispatched to a Bronx subway station had to abort their mission — “But everyone came safely back without getting caught, which was our first priority.”
A press release claiming credit for the action said it was carried out by activists affiliated with Occupy Wall Street, as well as by rank-and-file members of Transit Workers Union Local 100, which is currently in negotiations with the Metropolitan Transit Authority.
Occupy’s public face is beginning to show itself more and more as spring carries on. The lack of a physical occupation site made it difficult for the movement to wage a public relations campaign, but it was never hibernating. Occupiers were hard at work, canvassing in low-income outer-borough neighborhoods, organizing Town Squares, preparing for their spring offensive, dealing with internal trauma and organizational difficulties, and waging policy reform initiatives like Occupy the SEC. These signs point to growing, not waning movement, and suggest that the American Autumn may become an entire year of consistent critique and political action.
In a sane world, a 2011 filled with spectacularly bizarre weather followed by a winter and spring that are record-shatteringly hot – out of control hot; Biblical hot – would have everyone in the U.S. freaking the f*ck out about climate change.
We never quite get there, though. We don’t seem to be grappling with the fact that this kind of volatility is rapidly becoming the new normal — or that we are totally unprepared.
If the public does tune in to what little media coverage there is of the climate-weather connection, they end up wading through technical discussions about attribution…………
What the public needs to know is that volatility like we’ve seen recently is on the rise because of climate change. Even if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases tomorrow, global average temperature would continue rising for a good half-century just in response to past GHG emissions. Rising temperature will drive more and more extreme 
weather. This will create all sorts of health, agricultural, energy, and economic issues for which we are grossly unprepared.
That’s it. Why can’t that simple message seem to capture the popular imagination? How much freaky weather does it take?
Read more: Article, Climate Change, media
Some Related Links,, of 1000′s
3 million Filipinos affected by 2 typhoons http://feww.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/3-million-filipinos-affected-by-2-typhoons/
Up to 10 Million People Affected in Pakistan Floods http://feww.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/pakistan-flood-death-toll-tops-1000/
Mega Heatwaves Could Kill Tens of Thousands in the U.S. (FIRE-EARTH Forecast) http://feww.wordpress.com/2011/07/11/mega-heatwaves-could-kill-thousands-in-the-u-s/
Back to the Primordial Future http://thefreeonline.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=post
Mass Die-offs (FIRE-EARTH Forecast) http://feww.wordpress.com/mass-extinction/
The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities (EDRO Forecast) http://edro.wordpress.com/collapsing-cities
2011 Disaster Calendar http://feww.
wordpress.com/2011-disaster-calendar/
Cada vez somos más las personas que exigimos compaginar la Huelga General del 29 de marzo con una HUELGA 
DE CONSUMO. La Reforma Laboral del desPPido ha supuesto el mayor atentado a los derechos laborales de la historia reciente, a lo que debemos sumar el retraso en la edad de jubilación a los 67 años, la subida de impuestos a los que menos tenemos y los recortes a la sanidad y la enseñanza, mientras que bancos, multinacionales, políticos y especuladores en general, los mismos que han causado esta crisis, siguen enriqueciéndose a nuestra costa y para ello no les importa llevar al planeta al borde del desastre ecológico.
Huelga de Consumo Vs Huelga General
El derecho a la huelga es algo legítimo que ejerce libremente la clase trabajadora para demostrar al empresariado que se está en desacuerdo con su gestión. Lo cierto es que la idea principal de la huelga es conseguir que el empresario pierda dinero. La huelga es el mejor mecanismo de presión en procesos productivos industriales y algunos servicios. Si no se produce o no se vende el empresario deja de ganar un dinero.
Sin embargo en parte del sector de servicios y empleados públicos, una huelga no tiene tanto efecto sobre el empresario, ya que si el trabajo hoy no se hace, no sucederá nada especialmente grave, en ocasiones por los abusivos servicios mínimos o el miedo al despido. El retraso que se acumule se irá recuperando poco a poco.
En definitiva en una sociedad industrial la huelga general es la mejor medida de presión. Pero ese escenario ha ido cambiado con el tiempo, pasando a una sociedad basada en el consumo, donde lo que de verdad hace daño a todas las empresas es no consumir.
Imagina un día de huelga general y de consumo, de paro absoluto. Sin apenas consumo, sin compra de alimentos, prensa, tabaco, sin uso del transporte privado ni colectivo, sin movimientos bancarios, sin llamadas, sin gestiones con la administración, un día de total retiro del mundanal ruido. Bancos, centros comerciales, supermercados, gasolineras, comercios, centros de atención al cliente, todos ellos sin clientela. Si algún trabajador no secunda la huelga general por miedo al despido estaría cruzado de brazos.
29 de marzo de 2012: HUELGA GENERAL Y DE CONSUMO
29M: No trabajes, No consumas
Publicado por TINTA NEGRA, anARTchist blog
The conflict in Afghanistan is at a decisive juncture, and the West is facing defeat on a scale not seen since Vietnam. Few want to face facts, and the result is a gap between rhetoric and reality of a kind that only wars gone badly 
wrong produce.
Lost in the rolling crisis that began with the Quran burning is an important upcoming date. At the end of this month, some say the 20th March, the Karzai regime will see through its threat to force out the private security companies who guard the contractors that carry out development projects across Afghanistan.
It never made any sense, a knee jerk reaction, to take over and punish a whole country because the US believed the twin tower bombers had a base there. 10 years of hellish war for an idiotic immoral revenge attack by the US war machine.
Humanitarian NGOs that operate without security will be unaffected. But the contractors who carry out projects funded by Western governments face the prospect of operating under the protection of a hastily raised “Afghan Public Protection Force”.
Would you put your business and your life in the hands of such a force?
According to the New York Times, some companies are wrapping up their projects in Afghanistan and leaving; others allow their employees to illegally keep personal weapons; and all are scrambling to make new arrangements.
In the kind of corporate buffoonery that neoliberal privatisation creates, and which has damaged the Western 
war effort in both Iraq and Afghanistan, one US company is considering suing the US government. The contractors had been assured that they would have a secure environment in which to operate.
As one frightened US employee of an aid company commented, “We’re easy pickings” for insurgents and angry Afghans.
| |
And there are a lot of angry Afghans. Abdul Samad is one of them. He lost 11 relatives to the ‘rogue’ sergeant (and friends) in Panjwai. Along with those who have demonstrated against the Quran burnings, the Taliban, and the silent majority of Afghans.
Mr. Samad has one demand: It is time for the Americans to leave, all of them.
summary..Read full article HERE http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/03/201231593938401477.html
According to the BBC foreign trade with Iran will be stopped from this Saturday, cutting all exports and imports to 80 million people.
This is because SWIFT, the monopoly banking agency will no longer permit money exchange, due to US and UK sanction pressure. The unilateral US moves are totally illegal under international law.
No country can be self sufficient, food, industry, medicines,.. almost everything we use has imported components.
This is barbaric trade war with no UN approval. The US is 1000′s of times stronger than Iran, militarily, and only interested in controlling their oil, not their hypothetical nuclear bomb, indeed the US has helped sell Israel, India and Pakistan the bomb, and all these countries have a history of attacking their neighbours.
The BBC says the SWIFT sanctions will stop trade, but of course they are financed by the neo imperialist UK regime. Both the Chinese and the Russians want to continue trading, if they can find a way.
Nobody with any sense can support national/religious states like Iran or Israel, but vicious and violent economic attacks on Iran will only strengthen the government, as happened many times before.
Iran as a nation has existed for 4000 years, and will continue when these insane capitalist and religious bullies have disappeared.
BBC story here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17390456
by Phil Dickens The CNT rejects any kind of negotiation over the rights conquered by the working class through years of struggle. We call for this strike with the primary objective of immediately repealing the the labor reform that was approved yesterday by the Parliament, which we consider a head-on assault against the working class. This reform continues the measures started by the previous government, such as the labor reform of 2010 and the cuts to public employee salaries, to pensions, and to public services, cuts which are being deepened by the current government.
bloggers note..This article misleads a little. The big unions finally and reluctantly confirmed the General Strike for March 29th 3 days ago and the CNT is joining in.
The CNT demands the end of an economic policy designed to make the workers pay for the crisis of the banks and the employers. This policy has led to an unacceptable number of unemployed workers, a number which does not stop growing, as well as to an impoverishment and worsening of the working class’s living conditions.
The CNT also calls this strike against the cuts. The strike will happen the day before the setting of the General State Budget which will incorporate a brutal attack against public services and social rights.
The CNT rejects the agreement reached in February between the CCOO and UGT unions and the employers’ confederation, the CEOE, as well as the amendments that those unions have presented to the parliamentary process of the labor reform. Th
e CNT rejects these amendments as a valid alternative, since they share the spirit of the reform and assume the logic of the employers and the government, who suppose that the only escape from their crisis must come through the workers surrendering their rights, placing the working class into a position of weakness from the start. The same logic has already led these unions to accept the raising of the retirement age to 67, even after the general strike of September 29, 2010.
For the CNT, the strike on March 29 must be only the beginning of a growing and sustained process of mobilization, one which includes the entire working class and the sectors that are most disadvantaged and affected by the capitalist crisis. This mobilization must put the brakes on the dynamic of constant assaults on our rights, while laying the bases for the recovery and conquest of new social rights with the goal of a deep social transformation.
All of these reasons have led the CNT to make this call for March 29 on its own account. With this call the CNT wants to give coverage to everyone who is taking up positions for a real and continued confrontation that will pay back the assaults on the working class with the same force with which we are receiving them, together with all workers’ organizations that share these objectives and reject the policies of agreement and social peace……
….,It’s time for all workers – unemployed or employed, retired, on the black market, students, and the precarious – to say “Enough!” We must seize the streets rather than abandon them in order to impose our strength and our demands.
March 29 – everyone in the street, everyone on the strike.
http://cnt.es/en/news/cnt-calls-general-strike-march-29
VIDEO,A pharaonic real estate, known as Plan Caufec, evicted families a few years ago, destroyed houses and urbanized part of the mountain Collserola , Barcelona…
VIDEO, Un muntatge immobiliari faraònic, conegut com el Pla Caufec, desallotjà fa uns anys famílies, destruí masies i va urbanitzar una part de la muntanya de Collserola d’Esplugues de LLobregat .
Encara avui, varis joves s’enfronten a la judicialització de les accions de protesta que van realitzar per defensar els espais.
Avui, Sacresa, l’empresa promotora està en fallida.
Un centenar d’indignades d’Hospitalet i Esplugues van decidir, el 25 de febrer de 2012, recuperar el solar per obrir horts comunitaris.
Even today, several young people face the judicialization of the protests that were made to defend the space. Today, Sacresa, the sponsoring company is bankrupt. One hundred outraged people from Esplugues decided on 25 February 2012, to OCCUPY the lands for community vegetable gardens.
Dediquem aquest video als companys de la dilatada campanya contra el Pla Caufec, que encara enfronten la criminalització de la protesta.ç
We dedicate this video to friends of the long campaign against the plan Caufec, still facing the criminalization of protest.
VEURE VIDEO:“Recuperem el solar!”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCq-w4imFGU
Most Important Video of the Year? Asahi TV: “Unbelievable”
View the video and transcript here Published: March 10th, 2012 at 3:47 am ET By ENENews
— If Unit 4 pool gets a crack from quake and leaks, it would be end for Tokyo -Expert — Doesn’t have to be large tremor, already shaken many times
Most discussion of the No. 4 spent fuel pool has focused on an earthquake causing the pool to collapse. This video is different because it 
reveals: A crack, rather than the collapse of the pool itself, can be the end of Tokyo The quake that could put a crack in the pool and be the end of Tokyo does not have to be a large one….
They are talking about resuming the operation of nuclear plants. [...] But is the accident over? Is it really over? For example, Unit 4. In fact, Dr. Koide of Kyoto University is worried about it most. The present conditions of Unit 4 are like this. You see, almost no walls. They were blown off, and honestly speaking, the Unit 4 is a wreck. A wreck. [...]
Now, what if an earthquake occurred right now and the water in the pool started to leak? I asked this question to Dr. Koide. Please watch this video. [...] If a large aftershock occurred and the wall here collapsed, the water in the pool would leak out and the spent fuel would not be cooled any more. Then, they would start to melt, probably completely. And huge amount of radiation contained in the spend fuel would be released outside, with no walls to block it. We’ll never know when an earthquake comes. [...] the fuel rods, which are probably damaged to some degree [...]
What if a destructive earthquake occurred during those years? That would be the end. The end? Yes. You see, that would be the end. Unbelievable…unbelievable. This is a serious problem. TEPCO knows dealing with this problem is most important for now. [...]
So if a large earthquake should occur from now until that January… No, it doesn’t have to be large. Unit 4 has been shaken many times already. If the pool got cracks after another earthquake and the water started to leak out, Dr. Koide said that would be the end. The end for a wide area including Tokyo. Oh my, and they are talking about resuming nuclear plant operation.
I think resuming the operation is out of the question at least until the results from the investigation by NAIIC come out. [...] I want them to let us vote again. They talk about resuming the operation after gaining understanding from local communities. But for this issue, I think the whole country of Japan, or the whole area including the neighboring countries, is a “local community” that would be affected. We should keep in mind that it’s not only the sites of the plants that should be considered as “local communities.” We should recognize the accident is far from over and the crisis is still ongoing. Yes.
And excuse me, I have a correction to make. Retrieving the fuel rods is 
planned to start not from January, but from…when? December next year? (Yes.) December next year? No kidding! Sorry, I took a too-favorable view. The members of the Diet who want to resume, I want them to resign. We need to reconsider this issue.
I want to know the exact names of the members of the Diet who want to resume, and ask them for their opinions. [...]
The eviction of the Occupy Dame Street campA large force of Garda and council workers were deployed at 3.30am today, International Women’s Day, to clear Occupy Dame Street (ODS) camp. The camp was completely demolished in the course of the eviction, campers intimidated and their personal property stolen.
This was a level of force way out of proportion with the numbers in the camp (about 15 people) and stands in contrast with the lack of resources put into investigating what happened at Anglo, the collapse of which has left a debt of 26,000 Euro on every single person in the country.
The small Garda team ‘investigating’ what happened at Anglo only includes one forensic accountant. As far as anyone can tell they have yet to get into the computers that were encrypted and which the bank has refused to hand over the passwords for. This certainly tells us whose interests those in power protect and that the Garda will ‘just follow orders’ even if they are individually included amongst the 99% of us who 
have been screwed over.
Media coverage of the eviction suggests that it was a fairly low key affair with an overwhelming number of Garda (around 100) compared to campers (about 15) but commentary from the campers and a video interview published by the Irish Times suggests that a significant level of physical intimidation & force was used by Garda. Campers talked of pick axes being used to break into structures while they were still inside and of the seizure of mobile phones, lap tops, clothes, minutes & contact books and even bicycles that were chained on the square. This happened without warning, while people were sleeping. One of the campers said of the police that “they came like volatile bullies & terrorists .. they behaved like animals”
Updated 14.30: In a second video interview from this morning two women from ODS talked about how the Garda had arrived wearing balaclava’s, didn’t poduce the court order until they had dragged everyone off the site and had twisted their arms and stamped on their hands when they attempted to sit on the street. Just before lunch a small group were forcibly prevented from putting up tents. A number of witnesses have said that last night 
some of the Garda appeared to be carrying guns.
Latest UPDATE GARDAÍ IN DUBLIN city centre are preventing the protest group who had camped outside the Central Bank’s headquarters from 8 October until this morning from erecting any more tents at the property.
The camp was dismantled by dozens of gardaí at around 3.30am today and the area was subsequently cleaned by Dublin City Council workers.
março 8, 2012
por Rachel Duarte, Sob sol intenso, mais de mil mulheres do campo e da cidade marcharam por mais amor à vida e à terra, nesta terça-feira (6), em Porto Alegre. O grupo ocupou a frente da sede do Incra (Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária) para sensibilizar as autoridades locais sobre os danos da estiagem aos pequenos produtores e a falta de políticas públicas preventivas à seca.
Mulheres marcham por direitos e contra o Novo Código Florestal
O CEA esteve presente com a militante Cintia Barenho que contribuiu com a formação das mulheres discutindo o que está em jogo no Código Florestal agora que tramita novamente no Congresso Nacional.
Após uma hora e meia de caminhada – em meio a alguns gritos masculinos pedindo para que elas “fossem para casa trabalhar” -, as mulheres se dividiram em grupos temáticos na Praça da Matriz e organizaram a pauta reivindicatória da Jornada Nacional de Lutas das Mulheres do Campo e da Cidade, organizada pela Via Campesina por ocasião do Dia Internacional da Mulher, 8 de março. Este ano, as mulheres cobram fundamentalmente o veto da presidenta Dilma Rousseff ao Novo Código Florestal.
Mais de mil mulheres camponesas marcharam contra o Novo Código Florestal e outras lutas./Foto: Leandro Silva.
“Começamos e não vamos parar mais. Este papel de luta e esforço está na história das mulheres”, disse a representante do Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), Silvia Marques. Ela explica que tradicionalmente as mulheres dos principais movimentos sociais de trabalhadores aproveitam a proximidade com o Dia Internacional da Mulher para sensibilizar a sociedade e autoridades sobre as políticas de gênero necessárias nas intervenções do estado. “Somos nós que cuidamos do alimento e nos preocupamos com aquilo que está indo para a mesa. Temos pesquisas que apontam que são utilizados 5,2 litros de veneno por ser humano nos alimentos. Nós estamos querendo produzir alimentos saudáveis, mas, precisamos de condições para isso”, cobra Silvia.
Além do uso de agrotóxicos, as trabalhadoras cobram ações preventivas para evitar os danos aos pequenos produtores que sofrem há oito anos com a estiagem no RS. “Se tivéssemos um plano de irrigação não teríamos este problema. Mas, só tem nas grandes lavouras. Nestas não falta água. Nós já perdemos a segunda safra. Perdemos tudo”, lamenta a trabalhadora Adriana Pereira, do MST. Ela afirma que uma pauta específica do MST, referente ao assentamento de mil famílias prometido pelo governo gaúcho seria entregue nesta terça.
“Esperamos que a Dilma se sensibilize”
Via Campesina ocupa por uma hora e meia a Praça de Pedágios da empresa Univias, na BR 290…
PODE LEER MAIS…http://centrodeestudosambientais.wordpress.com/category/codigo-florestal/
Hoy domingo 4 de Marzo a las 11 de la mañana unos 500 miembros del Sindicato de Obreros del Campo – Sindicato Andaluz de Trabajadores hemos ocupado la finca Somonte en el término municipal de Palma del Río. Esta finca propiedad de la Junta de Andalucía sale mañana a subasta. Privatizan la tierra mientras la gente del pueblo sufre un paro extremo de 1.700 personas en Palma del Río y más de 4.000 personas paradas en los pueblos de alrededor. Están vendiendo más de 20000 hectáreas en Andalucía quedando aún unas 8.000 sin subastar. Ante este atropello el SOC-SAT se va movilizar durante estos días y el próximo jueves a las 11 de la mañana hará una manifestación en la Consejería de Agricultura de Sevilla pidiendo que se paralice esta venta de tierras y que en lugar de pasar a banqueros y terratenientes sean trabajadas por cooperativas de jornaler@s en paro.
Sunday March 4 at 11 am about 500 members of the Laborers Union City – Union Workers Andalusian Somonte have occupied the farm in the town of Palma del Río. This property owned by the Junta de Andalucía leaves tomorrow for auction. Privatize the land while the common people suffer extreme arrest 1,700 people in Palma del Rio and more than 4,000 people standing in the surrounding villages. They are selling more than 20000 hectares in Andalusia leaving about 8,000 still without offers. Before this attack the SOC-SAT will mobilize these days and on Thursday at 11 am will be a demonstration at the Ministry of Agriculture asking Sevilla to a standstill this sale of land and instead of going to bankers and landowners are farmed by cooperatives of agricultural laborers s unemployed.
A partir de esta ocupación unas 30 personas de Posadas, Palma del Río y otros pueblos se han quedado en esta finca con el objetivo de permanecer en ella y comenzar a trabajarla. Pensamos que esta es la única forma de llevar a cabo nuestras ideas consecuentemente ya que la tierra tiene que ser autogestionada por los propios trabajadores y trabajadoras para crear el máximo número de empleo y 
favorecer el desarrollo de la economía local y comarcal. El terreno de Somonte tiene 359 has. de secano y 41 has. de regadío. La parte de regadío podría dar en una primera etapa unos 50 puestos de trabajo mediante el cultivo de espárragos, cebollas y otras hortalizas. A medio plazo se podría generar mucho más empleo a través del cultivo social de todo el terreno, de agroindustrias y comercialización de los productos por medio de las inversiones necesarias
From this occupation about 30 people from Posadas, Palma del Rio and other peoples have been on this farm in order to stay there and begin to work it. We think this is the only way to carry out our ideas accordingly as the land has to be self-managed by workers themselves to create the maximum number of jobs and helping to develop local and regional economy. The field has 359 Somonte you. rainfed and 41 hectares. irrigated. The share of irrigation could result in an early stage about 50 jobs through the cultivation of asparagus, onions and other vegetables. In the medium term it could generate more employment through the social culture of the whole land, agribusiness and marketing of products through the necessary investments.
Desde el SOC-SAT hacemos un llamamiento urgente a la solidaridad de Palma del Río y los pueblos de alrededor y a todos los compañer@s de la provincia de Córdoba y de Andalucía para que apoyen estacausa viniendo a sumarse a la lucha y el trabajo en la finca de Somonte presionando a los órganos de poder, difundiendo la noticia y apoyándonos materialmente: comida, semillas, plantas, materiales, dinero y lo que se vea posible.
Esta acción debe ser el comienzo de la revolución agraria que en este momento de paro, penurias y estafa neoliberal tanta falta nos hace. Hoy en día cualquier alternativa para sobrevivir con dignidad debe pasar por la lucha por la tierra, la agricultura campesina, la soberanía alimentaria y el desarrollo que 
genera como ha pasado y vemos cada día en Marinaleda y otros pueblos de Andalucía.
Animamos a tod@s los trabajadores y parad@s de Andalucía a que luchen por la tierra pública o privada para su colectivización por parte del pueblo.
SI EL PRESENTE ES LUCHA, EL FUTURO ES NUESTRO
¡VIVA ANDALUCÍA LIBRE!
From the SOC-SAT we urgently appeal to the solidarity of Palma del Rio and the surrounding villages and all the comrades’ s the province of Cordoba and Andalusia to support this cause coming to join the fight and work in the estate of Somonte pressing the organs of power, spreading the word and supporting us materially food, seeds, plants, materials, money and see what is possible.
This action must be the beginning of the agrarian revolution in this time of unemployment, hardship and neoliberal scam we need so badly. Today any alternative to survive with dignity must go through the struggle for land, farming, food sovereignty and development that generates as has happened and see every day in Marinaleda and other towns of Andalusia.
We encourage tod @ s workers and parad Andalusia ‘s fight for public or private land for collectivisation by the people.
IF THIS IS FIGHT, THE FUTURE IS OURS
ANDALUSIA LIVE FREE!
The vache (that’s the French cops to you and me) scored a hilarious own goal last week at la ZAD protest site near Nantes: They tear-gassed themselves.
Around 100-150 cops had turned up to police a protest on Tuesday (14th) of around 40 ZAD occupiers and some local farmers whose fields were being valued. As the state and corporation Vinci press ahead with the long-awaited, and much-opposed, plan for a new international airport to be built on over 6km2 of the southern France countryside, the valuing of land for compensation agreements is one of the last remaining steps before imminent destruction.
Deciding the presence of the site riff raff (who may or may not have been planning on blocking the land valuers access to the fields…) justified riot control policing, one butterfingered cop pulled out a tear gas canister which, seconds later, inexplicably exploded behind the police line. Activists proceeded to piss themselves laughing at the sight of floundering, crying robocops while the bosses behind hogged the eye-drops. Their faces were even redder later as they struggled through muddy fields as nimble protesters gave them the run around.
The episode was the latest in the saga of the Notre-Dame des Landes airport. The airport is just one part of the meglomaniac ‘Grand Ouest’ project incorporating a new road system and the expansion of the 
Saint Nazaire port (“What’s climate change?”). Most land-owners have already sold their land to the government but a handful still resist, either wholeheartedly rejecting the devastating plans or just holding out for more dolla: the current offers stand at a meagre 16cents per square meter, while Vinci stands to siphon millions in public money to concrete the lot.
Some of the land expropriated by the state, meanwhile, has been re-appropriated by squatters occupying empty farm buildings and treehouses. Although a couple of squats, including the hub Les Planchettes, have been on eviction alert for several weeks ZAD inhabitants are busy with a timetable of workshops, building, riding the airwaves with the ZAD’s Radio Klaxton and planning for the upcoming True Substances week of demonstration, skill shares and action (5th – 10th March).
See zad.nadir.org, or get yer ass down to France for March 5th.
by Kim Murphy,—After one of the biggest environmental fights in decades, exploratory drilling is expected to begin in July off the state’s north coast. The company has plans in case of a spill; opponents say normal operations will still release damaging chemicals.
Shell Oil's Kulluk rig set to leave Seattle for the north coast of Alaska to drill in the Arctic at the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas with no spill plan, also releasing thousands of tons of industrial carbon, methane, nitrogen dioxide, adding toxic chemicals to the pristine environment
Shell Oil’s Kulluk oil drilling rig, with downtown Seattle in the background. By July it’s expected to be at work off the north coast of Alaska. (Elaine Thompson, Associated Press) View full article »
Illegal evictions aren’t unusual and happen all the time, but it is rare for a building to cease to exist so fast afterwards!
Complete with redacted text, Kenneth Clarke MP signed the warrant of possession for the Occupy London School of Ideas building, that Master Bragg issued two weeks ago and around midnight – at the same time as the eviction of Occupy London Stock Exchange by St Paul’s – high court enforcement officers backed by the Met Police, stormed the building without notice from the court and evicted 25 people. [1]
Very little was saved and very few people were allowed back in to collect what was inside. Usually there would be a day given when people could return and collect what was inside, but this day won’t come because at 6am bulldozers arrived and began the demolition at 8am.
Amongst the rubble of the old Moorfield Primary School, you’ll find children’s clothes and toys, as well as passports and medication of Occupy London protesters who had been working with the local community to use the building to house workshops focusing on social, economic, environmental and cultural issues.
Only last week the local community asked the council to buy back the school and keep it as either a primary school or community space.
Occupy London condemns the demolition of the building without regard to the needs of the community.
BRITISH authorities moved in to evict the Occupy London tent city outside St Paul’s Cathedral over Monday night.
There were reports of people being arrested and dragged off by riot police, shouting: “Long live #occupy !”
Christian protesters praying on the steps of the cathedral were apparently violently pulled away and thrown to the ground – at the request of the church authorities.
Police blocked off the area to stop supporters getting to the scene to express their solidarity.
The move was expected by activists, following the end of legal attempts to gain extra time on the site.
Corporate media are, inevitably, keen to represent the physical removal of the camp as a defeat for the movement against neoliberalism.
And Occupylsx itself declared on Tuesday morning: “Globalspring is coming this may. Still united for #globalchange and #globaldemocracy. This is just the beginning.”
Financed by capitalist slush funds the rightwing press has fanned a wave of race hate against southern Europeans, blaming our lazy love of fiesta for their economic woes.
BUT OECD FIGURES PROVE THAT SPANISH, PORTUGUESE, ITALIAN AND GREEK WORKERS DO LONGER HOURS FOR LESS PAY, WORK IS MORE PRECARIOUS, HARDER WITH LESS MECANIZATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT IS HIGHER.The eurozone crisis has sown divisions in the European family, and Greece in particular has often been singled out for criticism. Has Greece been living beyond its means? Are Greeks lazy? On this second point, the statistics tell a surprising story.
This week Greece is facing more spending cuts after agreeing to a deal of 130bn euros (£110bn, $175bn) to help it avoid bankruptcy.
But the statistics suggest the country has not lost its way due to laziness. If you look at the 
average annual hours worked by each worker, the Greeks seem very hard-working.
Figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show that the average Greek worker toils away for 2,017 hours per year which is more than any other European country.
Out of the 34 members of the OECD, that is just two places behind the board leaders, South Korea.
On the other hand, the average German worker – normally thought of as the very epitome of industriousness – only manages 1,408 hours a year. source: BBC NEWS
Next solidarity protest on Saturday 25 February at the Greek Embassy
Φεβρουαρίου 19, 2012
After the success of the day of action on 18/2 in London and around Europe, we decided to continue our actions of solidarity! 13:00 at the Greek embassy, at 1A Holland Park W11 3TP. Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/events/396894816993798/ Με επισήμανση:25 february greek embassy, 25 february protest london greek embassy, greek demostration london, greek demostration london 25/02, solidarity protest greek embassy Posted in: Δράσεις
GREEK anarchists have called for international solidarity efforts, as they endure a new brutal wave of repression from the state and its neo-fascists 
guard-dogs.
Says a statement posted on From the Greek Streets: “Greece is at a critical turning point, and many critical changes are taking place in a societal as well as a political and economic level.
“The disintegration and dissolution of the dominant – until recently – model of power and exploitation is more than evident, so it defines what is commonly called ‘crisis.’
“What we are experiencing now is the total failure of a system that is unable to secure any longer the social consensus, thereby is engaged in a frontal attack that is unconditional and with no pretext.
