Friday, July 16, 2010

Verdict of the trial against the arrested at the anti-authoritarian demo of April 25th 2007, in Lisbon.


solidarity arrested demo lisbon april 2007‏
Veredicto do julgamento dos detidos na manifestação anti-autoritária de 25 de Abril de 2007 em Lisboa.

Chegou hoje, dia 14 de Julho de 2010, ao fim o julgamento dos 11 detidos (entretanto uma rapariga infelizmente faleceu) na manifestação anti-autoritária contra o fascismo e contra o capitalismo, de 25 de Abril de 2007.

Por ausência de prova, prova em contrário ou dúvida, o tribunal deu como não provados os actos apresentados pelo Ministério Público que eram por esse atribuídos aos arguidos e que se podiam enquadrar nos crimes de ofensa à integridade física agravada qualificada, injúria agravada e coacção e resistência sobre funcionário. Todos os arguidos foram absolvidos de todas as acusações.

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Today, July 14th,2010 ended the trial against the 11 arrested (one girl unfortunately died in the meantime) at the anti-authoritarian demo against fascism and capitalism of April 25th 2007.

Due to of lack of evidence, contradictory evidence or doubt, the court decided as non proven the facts presented by the public prosecutor as having been done by the defendants, and which fitted the categories of qualified aggravated physical offense, aggravated verbal offense and coercion and resistance over state agent (all crimes against police officers). All of the defendants were acquitted of all charges.

On the 25th of April 2007 happened in Lisbon an anti-authoritarian demo against fascism and capitalism. Close to 500 people took part on a march through one of the city’s richest areas, where paint was thrown at shops, banks and a riot cop van and slogans were spray painted on walls. To this shamelessness the guards of democratic order replied with a police charge and beatings against the demonstrators and everyone who were passing-by. As a result of this charge and of a few Hollywood-style chases throughout the city centre 11 individuals were arrested, charged among other things with insults and assaults on police officers. On the 7h of December 2009 the trial is due to begin, at the court Campus de Justiça de Lisboa.

We know that the real point is more than a few damaged windows and offended cops. It is the attempt to grab the totality of life and of using all the tools we want in the struggle against a social order that consumes and destroys individuals, our relationships and the world we inhabit. It is precisely because this democratic order can not tolerate all the beautiful and wild things and people that still exist that in the last few years we´ve seen and felt a growing criminalization in the media, and the persecution by the forces of repression, of many of our and others’ actions and daily activities.

In the struggle for the liberation of our lives, we know who our comrades are and who are our enemies, and we go on finding all the others with whom we can meet in the joy of revolt. The solidarity with the accused is not limited to that court nor to the dates set by others: it must spread and become part of a struggle that doesn’t have as a point of reference the steps taken by repression, but the steps that we in our own rebellion want to take.

Their attempt to stop us through fear, to isolate us or to make us change our discourse can only have as a result the merciless attack to a power that has no borders.

A few anarchists from Lisbon

Iran Prisoner Solidarity Night


south london

Tonight!

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8pm at the Ratstar, 298 Camberwell Road...south london

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Film Night and Discussion Wednesday 21 July 8pm: The Coconut Revolution


Film Night and Discussion Wednesday 21 July 8pm: The Coconut Revolution
The Bristol Alternatives to Capitalism reading group is hosting a film night on Wednesday 21 July at 8pm at the Factory, Cave Street off Portland Square, St Pauls, Bristol.U.K.

Starting Monday, July 19, prisoners detained in Saint Paul's hospital, Korydallos prisons in Athens, will abstain from prison food.




On Monday, July 19, prisoners will start refusing food with a demand to address and solve the problem of prolonged detention of people with chronic and incurable diseases who, due to their state of health, should have their sentences reduced.

The human ''dump", as the prisoners of this institution call it themselves, is simply tragic, as we have also heard from comrade Simos Seisidis presently being held there. People with disabilities, strokes, fatal diseases are thrown into this vile, dirty environment full of shortcomings.

The Secretary for prison policy visited some time ago, and stated that the matter would be resolved by a legislative bill in February or March. Naturally, he was telling lies.

The prisoners themselves, in their statement to the Minister and the media say:''powerless to react differently, anyway lacking our health, we are offering what is left of our lives to sacrifice them to your inhuman indifference, not because we hope you will change, but because we refuse to live like beasts, like waste from a system and society without humanity, ethics or honour.
So, from Monday, July 19, all those who are able to will abstain from food and all medication and treatment, as a last sign of dignity and self-respect. ..''

Our comrade Simos Seisidis will participate in this mobilization.

Huge Crowd Clashes With Police in Eastern China


| Video Courtesy of NTDTV |

The physical assault and injury of a high school student by a local tourism bureau director in eastern China’s Anhui Province turned into a four-hour street protest .

A crowd of about 10,000 citizens gathered to vent their frustration by yelling and throwing rubbish at police and local officials.

The protest lasted until midnight, with people leaving only when riot police threw tear gas canisters into the crowd. Local media did not report on the massive protest.

The incident in Maanshan City began at 6 p.m. on June 11, when Wang Guoqing, the Huashan District tourism bureau director, was speeding at an intersection in the Huashan District and his car hit a high school student who was crossing the street.

Wang got out of his car and first verbally, then physically assaulted the student. The student ended up with an injury to his eye socket, with blood running down his face.

Onlookers demanded that Wang apologize to the student, but Wang refused and attempted to leave the scene.

Wang then called the police. A few dozen policemen arrived and tried to escort Wang away in a police car. However, the crowd swarmed around the police car in what turned into a two-hour standoff with the police.

At 10 p.m., officials from the Maanshan Municipal Party Committee came to speak to the crowd. They announced that they would “severely punish” Wang for his actions. However, their words had no effect in calming or dispersing people.

Some bystanders told The Epoch Times that the situation was too chaotic for the statement to be heard, while others said they did not believe that Wang would be punished.

At 11:25 p.m., the local authorities sent firefighters to get Wang away from the scene, but they, too, were blocked by the crowd.

Military police and antiriot police were then dispatched to break through the crowd with batons and shields, and many people were injured. Police began throwing tear gas canisters, which finally forced people to disperse at around 11:50 p.m.

Ten thousand clash with police in south-east China



Villagers in China’s southeastern Jiangxi Province, upset over police brutality, relocation and corrupt local officials, have staged a large-scale, violent protest.

Thousands of enraged citizens armed with bricks and stones, smashed town hall windows and overturned police cars in response to police beating two women petitioners into a coma. The women were part of a group protesting forced relocation.

Mr. Yu, a local resident, said that about 10,000 people witnessed the police beating the protesters. The residents picked up bricks from a nearby construction site and threw them at the town hall. The windows were broken and authorities mobilized 300 armed police. Residents then flipped the police cars over and smashed 18 of them.

Earlier in the day, residents from Dongxia Village, Gangkou Town, decided to go to Beijing to file a complaint against the local government forcing them to relocate. Local police mobilized 30 police cars to stop the villagers who were on their way to Beijing, and brought them back to the town hall.

Yu said, “The county party chief and the police bureau called the provincial leader and had over 100 policemen arrest us at the border of Gangkou Town in an attempt to stop us from going to Beijing. The county secretary promised that he would properly handle the case as long as we did not go to Beijing.”

But when they all got back to the town hall, the officials did not want to discuss things with the villagers. The county chief, secretary, and chief of the public safety bureau got into their cars and tried to get away. Petitioners, including one of the women who is now in a coma, then stopped the county chief’s car and asked to talk to him. The chief ordered the police officers to remove the woman.

Yu said, “It was a ghastly scene. The officers fiercely beat and kicked the woman. Many villagers laid down in front of the car to stop it from passing. In the end, two women were seriously injured. The officers grabbed the women by their hair and dragged them to the roadside. The officers beat the people relentlessly and injured about 20 of them.”

The two women are still in a coma in hospital at the time of the report.

Yu said, “It’s been four days now and they have not woken up. They do not even have involuntary reflexes. There are also two men with severe trauma and one slightly injured.”

When this reporter called the Gangkou Town government, a staff member said that they were taking care of the problem, but denied that the police beat and arrested any protesters.

Forced Relocation
Relocation of villagers was ordered by local authorities because villagers had expressed concern over health issues arising from pollution by a local tungsten mining company.

In the past several years, due to the rising price of tungsten, the Xianglushan Tungsten mining company in Xiushui County has continued to expand. Waste water from mining has polluted nearby rivers. The Jiangxi Province environmental safety department also found that the pile of tungsten ore tailings was likely to collapse and cause safety hazards.

The creek running through Dongxia village has been giving out a bad odor from the pollution. Many residents have skin ulcers, and livestock has died after eating and drinking the polluted grass and water. After the villagers expressed their concerns, the local government decided to move them to Gangkou town and Xiushui County.

The town would only compensate each person with 2,500 yuan (US$360) for the relocation. The villagers felt the compensation is not enough and have been negotiating with the authorities, but the two sides have not reached an agreement. In order to force the villagers to move, the county government kidnapped the son of the protest leader and threatened the leader in order to make him move.

According to the villagers, the Xianglushan Tungsten Co. had already allotted the funds for the villagers to move, but the county officials embezzled the money. That’s when the villagers decided to go to Beijing to appeal.

Forced relocations are commonplace in China and have become a source of anger and unrest, especially because of the inadequate compensation generally given to the landowners.

Protests in Senegal kill one person

At least one person has died as a result of the latest in a series of sporadic demonstrations against chronic electricity cuts in Senegal. A 25 year old man was pronounced dead on Wednesday, police say, shortly after arrival at a nearby hospital.
Senegal: Power cut demo claim one life
The incident occurred following a power cut in Yeumbeul, a suburb of the Senegalese capital Dakar, prompting residents to immediately take to the streets and building barricades.

Police in the area then intervened, forcing the protesting youth to retreat. The ensuing commotion resulted in the demonstrators falling down from blacktops along the streets.

A police source told Seneweb that the unidentified victim of last Wednesday’s demo was foaming in the mouth as he was been driven off in a police van to a nearby hospital.

Since the end of the football World Cup in South Africa, Senegal has suddenly plunged into endless blackouts, affecting every sector of the economy.

One newspaper report says that some areas of Dakar have gone without electricity for three whole days.

On Wednesday the people of Dakar followed on the path of several localities in the interior of Senegal, staging a series protests against the seemingly endless power cuts.

People engaged in all sort of trading depending on electricity – tailors, shopkeepers, beverage sellers, hairdressers, carpenters, cell phone repairers, etc, - all took to the streets to express their anger and demand a solution to the outages which they say have halted business.

NATO oil tanks attacked by unknown militants in NW Pakistan


Fire rages after NATO oil tanks were attacked by unknown militants in northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar on July 13, 2010. At least three NATO oil tankers were burned and seven other vehicles were also set fire on the outskirts of Peshawar during the attack.

4th day of riots in N. Ireland

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13 July 2010 - Violence broke out across many parts of Northern Ireland
as tensions simmered following Twelfth of July parades.
In Belfast a bus was hijacked by masked men who claimed to
have planted a bomb on board.
Two hijackers boarded the bus at Glencolin Walk shortly
before 4.30pm and said a device had been left on the upper deck.
They ordered the driver to take the vehicle to Woodbourne
PSNI station in the west of the city and made off towards
the nationalist Lenadoon estate.
A number of roads near the station had to be sealed off as
Army bomb experts examined the vehicle, however the
alert was declared an elaborate hoax and all roads
were re-opened several hours later.
In north Belfast two vehicles were hijacked on the
Oldpark Road. One of the cars was found on Alliance Avenue
shortly before 5.30pm and diversions had to be put in place
between Berwick Road and Etna Drive while police examined it.
Police were also attacked with paint bombs, missiles and at
least five petrol bombs as a feeder parade passed the
Ormeau Bridge area of south Belfast. Two men and a woman
have been reported to the Public Prosecution Service in
connection with disorderly behaviour and assault after
trouble flared at Botanic rail halt.
Meanwhile, in Lurgan a crowd of youths attempted
to hijack and torch the cross border Enterprise
train at a level crossing on Lake Street. All 55
passengers on board the train escaped unhurt after the
driver was able to re-start the vehicle.
A spokeswoman for the PSNI confirmed there were no
reports of any injuries or damage.
Also in Lurgan, a crowd of up to 50 youths hurled
at least seven petrol bombs and a number of stones at police
in the Kilwilkie estate, a white van was hijacked at Lake Street
and a number of petrol bombs were thrown on the Antrim Road.
Police were also called to deal with a hostile crowd
at Killyleagh Road, Armagh, where at least one vehicle
was burnt out by a large crowd.
Yesterday’s trouble followed a night of rioting
in north and west Belfast during which 27 police officers were wounded.
In Ardoyne, youths staged a rooftop protest ..
a stick, a young boy, aged around nine, pulled a
hoodie over his head to cover his face and began
shouting expletives at police.
These officers were kitted out in full riot gear,
with batons, shields and some armed with baton rounds,
but that did not extinguish the boy’s bravado in front of them.
A group of young males took up position on the roof
of commercial premises and began throwing petrol bombs,
bricks and bottles down at police, oblivious to the
fact that they were also striking members of their own community.
Police deemed their actions so serious that two officers
fired at least two baton rounds in their direction.
As the officers took aim crowds of bystanders warned
the males to watch out. When their missiles missed police
the same bystanders yelled “nearly”.
And so it became a game to the young males on the roof
who seemed to be relishing the attention from the ground.
When the water cannon was deployed they ducked, only to
jump up seconds later jeering and laughing. If the
situation had not been so dangerous it could almost
have been comical.
Older residents said they were fed up with the violence,
while younger ones loved the entertainment.
“Mum, can I stay out for another half hour, “ one asked his mother.
“Ok, just don’t get arrested,” she replied.

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N. Ireland cops face 'Disney theme park for rioting'

Political, religious leaders plead for youths to stop violence before one is killed

Image: Rioting in Belfast

Police officers face rioters throwing Molotov cocktail and bricks in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Wednesday.

BELFAST — Rioters attacked police in Northern Ireland for the fourth straight night with children as young as 9 taking part in the mayhem, according to reports.

Molotov cocktails were hurled at officers in Belfast, Britain's Press Association

Video
Fiery riots engulf Belfast for 3rd night

reported on Thursday.

Apocalypse now? Many in the US and abroad are prepared for it


Sat, 10 July 2010

FROM the outside, Jerry Erwin's home in the northwestern US state of Oregon is a nondescript house with a manicured front lawn and little to differentiate it from those of his neighbours. But tucked away out of sight in his backyard are the signs of his preparations for doomsday, a catastrophic societal collapse that Erwin, 45, now believes is likely within his lifetime.
"I've got, under an awning, stacks of firewood, rain catching in barrels, I've got a shed with barbed concertina wire, like the military uses," he said. He and his wife also have also stockpiled thousands of rounds of ammunition and enough food for about six months. "Several years ago I worked on paying off the house, replacing all the windows, and just very recently, I'm proud to say, we've replaced all our exterior doors with more energy-efficient ones, with as much built-in security features as I could get," he said.
"Plus I'm going to be adding some more structural improvements to the door frames to make it hopefully virtually impossible to take a battering ram to them." Erwin and others like him in the United States and elsewhere see political upheaval and natural disasters as clear signs that civilisation is doomed.
"We're hitting on all cylinders as far as symptoms that have led other great powers to decline or collapse: resource depletion, damage to the environment, climate change, those are the same things that affected other great societies," he said. For Erwin, the decline is irreversible and the best approach is to prepare for the inevitable.
His pessimism is shared by a wide range of people, from left-wing environmentalists who believe climate change and capitalist greed will doom human society to Christian fundamentalists who think sin will do the same. They label themselves "preppers," "doomers," and "survivalists," and take a variety of different approaches to the same question: How best to prepare for the coming apocalypse?
Jim Rawles, who Erwin describes as "the patron saint of survivalism," prefers an isolationist, Christian-influenced approach. He homeschooled his children, declines to say where he lives, and advises readers of his website survivalblog.com to "relocate to a safe area and live there year-round."
"When planning your retreat house, think: medieval castle," he adds, extolling the benefits of using sandbags to protect any new home. Rawles, like many on the most conservative end of the survivalist spectrum, is also anti-tax, pro-gun rights, and suspicious of anything that smacks of socialism.
But the survivalist movement also includes left-wing community activists, who are devoted to living off the land and have never fired a weapon, and people like Chris Martenson, who quit a job with a six-figure salary that he felt was "an unnecessary diversion from the real tasks at hand."
He began growing his own food and developed a "Crash Course" that urges people to better prepare for societal instability. He also took over management of his investments and boasts of a 166 per cent return on his portfolio. For Martenson, the wake-up call was the September 11, 2001 attacks, when he felt gripped by uncertainty and totally unprepared.
Erwin had always felt that society would eventually disintegrate, but he and many other US survivalists say the dysfunctional response to the 2005 Hurricane Katrina was what spurred them to action.
"I thought, okay, things are not going to get better... maybe this society, our civilisation, the American empire, will collapse during my lifetime," Erwin said.
For John Milandred, no single event pushed him to leave his suburban home and set up a farm in Oklahoma. "We just got fed up of working all the time to pay bills and not accomplishing anything," he said. A member of the American Preppers Network, Milandred said he and his wife aspired to "grow our own foods and be self sufficient... to live like the pioneers, like our great-grandparents."
It is unclear how many people subscribe to the lifestyle, but there are hundreds of websites devoted to the movement, and Erwin's surburban-self-reliance.com attracts visitors from around the world. The global financial crisis has increased interest in survivalism "bigtime," Erwin said, but he feels sorry for latecomers to the movement. "We'll help them if we can," he said. "But a lot of people are climbing on board at the last minute and its going to be hard for them."

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

camberwell cctv campaign - police fight back south london u.k.

as the campaign against cctv smart cars in camberwell continues, racist undercover police get involved to rough up a local shopkeeper.

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pic from a cctv activist

activists have been campaigning in camberwell over the last week at the arrival of council cctv 'smart' cars snooping under the guise of recording minor traffic violations.

local police have previously attended disruptive protests, but not got particularly involved, and activists have succeeded in forcing the cars to abandon their shifts on several occasions. previous accounts here and here.

you may also have heard of a large number of cctv cameras being funded recently by money earmarked for terrorist investigations in the birmingham area. the cameras were positioned in a largely muslim area, and as the truth was uncovered by activists, a so far successful campaign has managed to stop the surveillance pending a judicial review (guardian story)

this morning things got ugly in camberwell.

the owner of a local bakery, a muslim man, was issued with a ticket after the cctv camera caught him "illegally" unloading bread at his shop. as this was not the first time he had received a hefty fine, and as there is no "legal" way for him to briefly park to get necessary produce to his shop, he started shouting at the council snoops.

suddenly, and wholly disproportionately, undercover police appeared and grabbed the man. winesses heard them making clearly racist comments and threatening remarks telling him to "shut his mouth as he was a muslim who doesn't have any say in this country".

as a crowd began to gather, more police re-inforcements turned up, but the man was held in a stress position with police pulling at his handcuffs to hurt him each time he tried to defend himself verbally. he was subject to assault and abuse for nearly 30 minutes before finally being taken away in a police van.

the cctv activists have so far been receiving plenty of support from the community in their campaign, and they see today's events as an unwelcome escalation from the authorities to protect their surveillance operation at any cost. they have promised to continue with the campaign and not back down.

Police Racially Motivated Assault on Shopkeeper

Police attack shopkeeper in Camberwell

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Police Attack in Camberwell

I would like to provide your site with this photograph I took with my phone on the 12th July. This photograph is confirmation of the earlier post.

Beatrice 73

Camberwell


The trial of the murderers of Alexandros Grigoropoulos is drawing to a close

The trial of the murderers of Alexandros Grigoropoulos (special police forces Epaminondas Korkoneas and Vasilis Saraliotis) in the remote town of Amfissa is now drawing to a close, with the court testimonies of the two accused – who have been released, it is reminded, since June 6 (as the maximum, 18-month period allowed for their pre-trial detention was reached). We will be reporting on the sentencing of the two here. For all the other developments running and even if these two cops are some of the smallest tools of the machine – still, for the days we lived in December, and for Alexandros, we want to see them pay. No justice, no peace.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

2 GM Maize trials trashed in Catalonia, Spain




Today, 12th July 2010, dozens of people came together to sabotage two experimental GM Maize trials belonging to Syngenta, located in the municipality of Torroella de Montgrí (Baix Empordà, Girona, Catalunya).

We destroyed Syngenta's open-air genetic experiment because we understand that this kind of direct action is the best way to respond to the fait accompli policy through which the Generalitat, the State and the bio-tech multinationals have been unilaterally imposing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in our agriculture and our food.

The Spanish State, with more than 75,000 hectares sown in 2009, represents a concentration of approximately 80% of the surface area of GMOs harvested in Europe. After Aragon, Catalonia is the area of Europe that harvests the largest area of GMOs, around 27,000 hectares. In recent years, 42% of the experimental GMO field trials in the EU have been planted in the Spanish State.

Syngenta are the third largest seed corporation in the world (after Monsanto and Dupont). Their objective is to gain a monopoly domination of the global seed market so that all farmers and all agricultural production on the planet depends on their seed sales. Syngenta, and other transnational corporations (TNCs) that control a) the global market in agricultural goods (seeds, fertilizers, agro-chemicals...) , b) the circuits for the distribution and commercialization of food and agricultural raw materials, and c) the global market in final products, is one of the principal promoters and beneficiaries of the corporate industrial model that currently dominates. After having been imposed for decades on a planetary scale, more and more voices indicate that 1) this devastating social and productive model is one of the principal causes of the food, ecological and climate crises that humanity currently faces, and 2) genetically modified crops represent a new turn of the screw of the agro-industrial model, which does nothing more than deepen the devastating social, cultural and environmental impacts associated with transnational agro-business.

According to European legislation, experimental GMO field trials represent an indispensable intermediate step in gaining EEC approval to grow and harvest as yet unauthorized varieties of genetically modified crops in the EU. Many groups in Europe have for years condemned the protocol that the bio-tech transnationals must follow to gain approval for their genetically modified seeds, as being full of irregularities and pit falls. Among these, the most notable are the various scandals that have hit the European food security Agency, (EFSA) which have made it quite clear that this supposedly scientific body is in the pay of the genetics industry. On the other hand, it is important to uncover the role of the EEC itself in the underhand promotion of GM crops by the EEC itself.

Twelve years since GM maize crops were first planted in Catalonia, the appearance of dozens of cases of genetic contamination of organic and conventional agricultural products (contamination of seed batches, fields, animal feeds and products destined for human consumption) has repeatedly demonstrated that the supposed coexistence between GM and non-GM crops is totally impossible and undesirable. The proliferation of genetically modified agriculture in our territory has led to the extinction of a number of varieties of traditional wheat (“morat” and “del queixal”) and a reduction of 95% in the cultivation of organic maize between 2002 and 2008.

All this leads unequivocally to the conclusion that GM agriculture makes it impossible to develop and consolidate social models and models of production, distribution and consumption that differ from the dominant model, based on agro-ecology and the struggle for peoples' food sovereignty. Because of this, we fundamentally reject both GM crops and the techno-industrial capitalist society that makes them possible and necessary (… necessary to ensure that the powerful few consolidate their domination of the global population, and perfect the business strategies). We therefore call for people to take the step to action to destroy their genetically modified crops and the social order perpetuated by those that promote them.

Argentina - Juan Aliste Vega, involved in the Moyana case, arrested


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culmine tranlate from angry news from around the world blog.

radiobiobio.cl, 09.07.10 - In Buenos Aires Chilean Juan Aliste Vega was arrested, considered the material author of the crime against the officer of Carabineros, Luis Moyano, which occurred October 18, 2007, following a robbery at Banco Security.
Remember that Marcelo Villarroel, Fuentevilla Freddy and Carlos Gutierrez, also participated in the robbery and subsequent murder and managed to steal about 20 million Chilean pesos.
The first leaked information claims that it was a joint effort between the Chilean Policía de Investigaciones, Interpol and the Policía Federal Argentina.
The arrest occurred at 3 o'clock this morning at Terminal Interprovincial de Buenos Aires (Retiro). According to early comments, Aliste's appearance is the same as when the crime was committed. He was accompanied by a man and a woman, who are not linked to any kind of crime. The man was carrying no weapons when arrested and did not put up any resistance.
Now the judge of the Policía Federal of Argentina is expected to deliver an order of extradition or expulsion, because there was an international arrest warrant by Chilean investigative authorities.

Greece athens action solidarity!


- Responsibility claim by "Revolutionary Formation of Arsonists"


"Deep repugnance for the comfortable instalation once and for all in whichever single and collective view of the world, the charm of the opposite way of thinking the denial of deprivation of attraction of the enigmatic" Nietzsche

In our days capitalism takes back the crumbs that until now were "provided" to the oppressed and at the same time the dreams of the middle class people are destroyed for "social recognition". The illusions don't last eternally. In this condition the revolutionaries use every means they have to attack dominance and to set their own provocations. At the same time they put society before its responsibilities. Either it will continue silently to accept the demands of authority, or they will dig up the hatchet of war and attack merciless against this aged world. Besides, the sides are becoming more and more visible. Either you will fight actively for the destruction of the existent or you will defend it in your way. Everyone will be judged by their choices.
We realize ourselves as an enemy of the state and that's why we take sides with the Revolution. We do not stand apathetic to the social war that happens every day and we take a clear position. We are fighters of this rotten system and that's why we turn to ATTACK. Choosing the plenty of light that shines on mutiny, we look with hostility at the neutrality of the expresionless metropolis, we realize our conscience. We placed two incendiary devices in vehicles of the Diplomatic Force in Kiffisia area reminding that as long as our comrades remain hostage you will face enraged flames.
P.S.
The secrecy by the state media involving direct actions is included in the strategy of the state mechanisms to keep secret any action that has as its aim the defusion of all forms of authority.

HONOUR TO ANARCHIST REVOLUTIONARY LAMBROS FOUNTAS

SOLIDARITY TO THE PERSECUTED AND WANTED FOR THE REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE AND CELLS OF FIRE

SOLIDARITY TO SIMOS SEISIDIS AND ARIS SEIRINIDIS FREEDOM TO ALL HOSTAGES OF THE SOCIAL WAR

Monday, July 12, 2010

“Tomorrow has come, to banish today” (a poster distributed in Athens these days)


The poster below is distributed on the streets of the Northern suburbs of Athens. Making a play of words with a popular saying (the original saying is “the wild animals have come to banish the tamed”) the poster reads:

Tomorrow has come to banish today

The crisis has come to confirm that today, same as yesterday, capitalism destroys our lives and lootes nature. The moments are crucial, the consciousness-raising among all of us is vital, action is imperative. Let’s meet up, let’s organise, take to the streets… Let’s revolt!

Tomorrow has come: base trade unions, assemblies of workers and unemployed, popular assemblies, self-organisation of health, libertarian schools, housing occupations, mutual aid networks, solidarity funds, mass indefinite strikes, dislocation of capitalist production and consumption, sabotage of the electoral process, isolation of racist and sexist views, full consciensious objection.

To banish today: Sold-out bureaucratic syndicalism, labour exploitation, dependence of society from party pimps and middle-men, isolation, allienation, individualism, commercialised relationships, desires and everyday conditions. Systemic violence and repression.

Everyone to the streets, to claim back our lost dignity!

Comrades from the North of Athens

Sunday, July 11, 2010

The action of solidarity with the residents of informal settlements in South Africa!

undefined This afternoon, about 13 hours, the South African Embassy in Moscow, a small group of anarchists held an unauthorized picket in support of social activists and residents of informal settlements in South Africa.Participants unfurled a banner "No to repression against activists in South Africa," had scattered leaflets in the open windows of the embassy and lit the fireworks. On the banner was the emblem of the movement represented "Abahlali baseMjondolo" ("Movement Shack Dwellers") - a powerful grass-roots protest movement of the poor in South Africa, which is subjected to repression.

Everyone managed to escape from the scene, and a banner left at the neck of a perturbed police officer.

Text of leaflet:

No to repressions! STOP REPRESSIONS!!! No to repressions!!! STOP REPRESSIONS!!!

We do this action in order to express solidarity with all oppressed people in South Africa! Since the residents of informal settlements, are being evicted in the transit camps «Blikkiesdorp», with informal traders, who at the request of FIFA banned the trade during the World Cup in the tourist areas.We express our solidarity with those whose voices are silenced and silenced in the modern "democratic" South Africa - a movement "Abahlali baseMjondolo" in Durban, which in September 2009 and underwent a planned attack in the settlement, "Kennedy road".

We see how, after coming to power of the African National Congress, the majority black population continues to live on the brink of poverty.Deportations to concentration camps, the demolition of informal settlements, forcing the poor as a class outside of the cities that are intended elites should be a place of residence of the rich and the cradle of their capital - that is what the ANC offers for their citizens who fought L for many years against apartheid and received in return a new system of exploitation and oppression.

We want to remind the Government of South Africa that the whole world looks up to you! As a long time ago, we express our protest, and his anger policies of oppression and domination in the poorest residents of South Africa.

With Anarchists

Moscow

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World Cup 2010: All in the name of the ‘Beautiful Gain’




A ZACF statement on the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa


The 2010 Soccer World Cup must be exposed for the utter sham that it is. The ZACF strongly condemns the audacity and hypocrisy of the government in presenting the occasion as a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity for the economic and social upliftment of those living in South Africa (and the rest of the continent). What is glaringly clear is that the “opportunity” is and continues to be that of a feeding-frenzy for global and domestic capital and the South African ruling elite. In fact, if anything, the event is more likely to have devastating consequences for South Africa’s poor and working class – a process that is already underway.

In preparing to host the World Cup the government has spent close to R800 billion (R757 billion on infrastructure development and R30 billion on stadiums that will never be filled again), a massive slap in the face for those living in a country characterized by desperate poverty and close to 40% unemployment. Over the past five years the working poor have expressed their outrage and disappointment at the government’s failure to redress the massive social inequality in over 8,000 service delivery protests for basic services and housing countrywide. This pattern of spending is further evidence of the maintenance of the failed neoliberal capitalist model and its “trickle down” economics, which have done nothing but deepen inequality and poverty globally. Despite previous claims to the contrary, the government has recently admitted this by doing an about turn, and now pretends that the project was “never intended” to be a profit making exercise [1].

South Africa desperately needs large-scale public infrastructure, especially in the area of public transport which is in some cities, including Johannesburg, is almost entirely absent. The Gautrain, which was launched on Tuesday the 8th June (just in time for the big event) is probably the biggest irony here: in a country where the large majority rely on unsafe private mini-bus taxis to travel long distances on a daily basis, the Gautrain offers high speed, luxury transport for tourists and those travelling between Johannesburg and Pretoria… who can afford it if a single trip between the airport and Sandton will set you back a massive R100. The same picture reveals itself everywhere: the Airports company of South Africa (ACSA) has spent over R16 billion on upgrading the airports, the commercialized South African National Road Agency Ltd (SANRAL) has spent over R23 billion on a new network of toll roads – all of which will implement strict cost-recovery measures to recoup the billions spent, and most of which will be of little benefit to poor South Africans. All over the country municipalities have embarked on urban regeneration schemes… accompanied by corresponding gentrification schemes, as the government attempts to hastily paper over the harsh South African reality. Over 15,000 homeless people and street children have been rounded up and dumped in shelters in Johannesburg alone, in Cape Town the municipality has evicted thousands of people from poor areas and squatter camps as part of the World Cup vanity project. The City of Cape Town (unsuccessfully) attempted to evict 10,000 Joe Slovo residents from their homes in order to hide them from the tourists travelling along the N2 highway, and elsewhere they are being removed to make space for stadiums, fan parks or train stations [2]. In Soweto, roads are being beautified along main tourist and FIFA routes, while adjacent schools sport broken windows and crumbling buildings.

Although many South Africans remain unconvinced, others are inundated and swept along by the deluge of nationalist propaganda aimed at diverting attention from the circus that is the World Cup. Every Friday has been deemed “soccer Friday”, in which the “nation” is encouraged (and school children forced) to sport Bafana-Bafana t-shirts. Cars are kitted out in flags, people learn the “Diski-dance” which is performed regularly at every tourist restaurant, and buy Zakumi mascot dolls. Anyone sceptical of the hype is denigrated unpatriotic, the prime example being when appeals were made to striking South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) workers to shelve their concerns “in the national interest” [3]. In a context where close to a million jobs have been lost over the course of the past year, government celebrations that the world cup has created over 400 000 jobs are empty and insulting. The jobs that have been created in the run up have been mostly casual or “Limited Duration Contracts (LCDs)”, taken by workers that are not unionized and paid well below the minimum wage.

Apart from the repression of unions, social movements have received similar hostility from the state, which has unofficially put a blanket ban on all protest for the duration of the event. In fact there is some evidence that this has been in place since as early as the 1st March. According to Jane Duncan:

A snap survey conducted at the end of last week of other municipalities hosting World Cup matches revealed that a blanket ban on gatherings is in operation. According to the Rustenberg municipality, “gatherings are closed for the World Cup”. The Mbombela municipality was told by the SAPS that they were not going to allow gatherings during the World Cup. The Cape Town City Council claimed that it continues to accept applications for marches, but indicated that it “may be a problem” during the World Cup period. According to the Nelson Mandela Bay and Ethekwini municipalities, the police will not allow gatherings over the World Cup period [4].

Although it is clear that the constitution, often hailed for its “progressiveness” is far from the guarantor of freedom and equality that government claims it to be, this new form of repression is clearly in contradiction with the constitutional right to freedoms of expression and gathering. However, social movements in Johannesburg including the Anti-Privatisation Forum and several others have not given up so easily, having managed to get authorization for a protest march on the day of the opening with the help of the Freedom of Expression Institute. However, the march is being forced to be held three kilometres from the stadium where it will not attract the sort of media attention the government is worried about.

Not only has the state been repressively severe on the poor and any anti-World Cup demonstration or activity, all within the guise of painting South Africa as a host flinging its arms open in invitation to those flocking to its upmarket hotels, bed-and-breakfasts and cocktail lounges, but it does so under the guidance of Sepp Blatter & Friends’ legal criminal empire called FIFA (wonderfully referred to as THIEFA by the Durban Social Forum). Not only are they expected to benefit from a 2010 windfall of nearly € 1.2 billion, but have already gained over € 1 billion from media rights alone.

The stadia, and areas around the stadia, which were handed over to FIFA for the duration of the tournament (“tax-free cocoons” literally creating FIFA-controlled and monitored areas exempt from normal taxation and other State laws), and all routes to and from the stadia have been forcibly cleared of anyone selling non-sanctioned FIFA products and those eking out an existence in squatter camps along airport roads. As such, people who would have banked on World Cup sales to boost their survival incomes are left out in the “trickle down” cold.

FIFA, as sole owner of the World Cup brand and its spin-off products, also has a team of approximately 100 lawyers scouring the country for any unauthorized selling of these products and marketing of the brand. These products are seized and sellers are arrested despite the fact that most in South Africa and on the continent purchase their products from the informal trading sector, as very few have R400 to dole out on team t-shirts and other gear. It has also has effectively gagged journalists with an accreditation clause that prevents media organizations from bringing FIFA into disrepute, clearly compromising freedom of press [5].

The major irony is that soccer was once truly the game of the working class. Viewing games live at stadia was cheap and easily accessible to people who chose to spend 90 minutes forgetting about the daily drudgery of their lives under the boot of the boss and the State. Today, professional football and the World Cup bring exorbitant profits to a small cabal of a global and domestic elite (with billions spent unnecessarily and in a time of a global capitalist crisis) who charge patrons thousands of rands, pounds, euros, etc. every season to watch disgustingly overpaid footballers fall and dive all over manicured pitches at the slightest tug and who squabble, via parasitic agents, over whether or not they are deserving of their huge salaries. A game, which in many respects maintains its aesthetic beauty, has lost its working-class soul and has been reduced to just another set of commodities to be exploited.

Bakunin once said that “people go to church for the same reasons they go to a tavern: to stupefy themselves, to forget their misery, to imagine themselves, for a few minutes anyway, free and happy”. Perhaps, amongst all the blindly nationalistic flag waving and vuvuzela-blowing, we can add sport to his equation and that it might seem easier to forget than to actively partake in combating injustice and inequality. There are many who do, though, and the working class and poor and their organisations are not as malleable to illusion as the government would want to believe. From temporary squatter camp constructions at the doors of the stadia, to mass protest and demonstrations, to countrywide strike action, unsanctioned or not, despite the taunts and jeers and the labels of being “unpatriotic”, or blanket bans on freedom of speech, we will defiantly make our voices heard to expose the terrible inequalities characterising our society and the global games played at the expense of the lives of those upon whom empires are built and will be, ultimately, destroyed.

DOWN WITH THE WORLD CUP!

Phansi state repression and divisive nationalism!
Phambili the people’s struggle against exploitation and profiteering!

This statement was issued by the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front

Police targeted in fire at new Olympia City Hall

OLYMPIA – An apparent anti-police arsonist entered the new City Hall, used some kind of chemical accelerant and set fire to a stack of construction materials, causing an undetermined amount of damage and setting back a $35.6 million project that had been on schedule.

Firefighters were called to the four-story building under construction in the 600 block of Fourth Avenue East at 5:34 a.m. Thursday. They put the fire out within minutes, but the damage was done. The fire, though confined to one room, spread smoke through the building, blackening new drywall. It also melted wiring on the first and second floors.

It’s unclear when the fire was started, but it was after workers had quit for the day on Wednesday.

The fire was set in what will become the police department’s squad room, said Rick Dougherty, project manager for the new City Hall.

“(Expletive) PIGS” was spraypainted in red on one of the walls outside the room where the fire started.

“To think it was caused by someone deliberately is really disappointing,” City Manager Steve Hall said. “We don’t know a whole lot yet about how it started … or when.”

No one at the scene was injured. Police were investigating the fire as suspicious.

Construction workers arriving on the job Thursday morning discovered the blaze and called 911. The Olympia Fire Department was dispatched at 5:34 a.m. and arrived at 5:37 a.m. The fire was reported out at 5:49 a.m.

An estimate of the damage probably won’t be ready until today, Dougherty said. Investigators were expected to be on the site Thursday from insurance companies for both the city and the contractor, Hoffman Construction.

Dougherty said he didn’t want to speculate about how long the fire would set the project back. No work was done on the site while fire and police departments investigated. City employees were expected to move into the new City Hall at the beginning of next year.

Dougherty said it was the second attempt in two days to set a part of the site ablaze. On Wednesday, a Hoffman employee discovered that someone had tried to set fire to a construction trailer where the company has makeshift offices. The small fire singed the corner of the trailer but did no significant damage.

Cmdr. Tor Bjornstad said police had been made aware of that fire, and had stepped up patrols Wednesday night in the area. He said police would remain on alert. Private security and surveillance cameras may be brought in, he said.

Such anti-police sentiments are not uncommon among vandals.

“We get a lot of anti-police graffiti,” Bjornstad said.

Dougherty said that there have been minor incidents of vandalism at the site before — some construction signs tagged or stolen. But nothing serious.

“It’s a rough neighborhood,” he said. The new City Hall is being built there, in part, to change that, he said.

The fire won’t affect plans for street improvements around the building, Dougherty said. The right-turn-only lane on Fourth Avenue to Plum Street will remain closed from Jefferson Street to just past the Chestnut Street intersection. Parking on the south side of Fourth Avenue between Jefferson Street and Plum Street will be restricted.

By Thursday afternoon, police still had no suspects, Bjornstad said.

“I think our best hope is a tip of some kind,” he said.

Tacoma Patrol Car Vandalized



A Tacoma police patrol car was vandalized early today parked outside the officer’s North End home, the department reported.

The car’s windows were smashed out and three of the tires slashed. The vandals spraypainted the rear panel and trunk area with the words, “Oscar Grant was here,” Tacoma police spokesman Mark Fulghum said.

The officer interrupted the vandals, who ran off. A police dog searched the area but didn’t find the suspects, Fulghum said.

The vandals were described as men wearing hooded sweatshirts. The patrol car was towed to Tacoma police headquarters for processing, Fulghum said.

The graffiti was a reference to the fatal shooting of Grant in California early on Jan. 1, 2009. He was not armed. The officer was found not guilty of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter Thursday. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

The verdict led to protests and scores of arrests overnight in Oakland.

A self-organised restaurant - Thessaloniki, Greece

From June 7th, the restaurant barthelonika in the centre of Thessaloniki is working in a self-organised manner, run by its workers.

From June 7th, the restaurant barthelonika in the centre of Thessaloniki is working in a self-organised manner, run by its workers. It all began when the owner of the restaurant announced to the workers that the restaurant will close for three months during summer and that he will decide its fate in September. The workers, from their part, claim the business is making profit and there is no reason for it to suspend its operation.

And so, they made an informal agreement according to which the workers themselves will take on the running of the restaurant for two months, in order for them not to become unemployed.

Now, as they tell us, the restaurant barthelonika is “working normally without bosses, managers and hierarchical relationships. We all decide together about everything, we find suppliers and look after the place. In this climate of crisis, if we accept the decisions of the bosses without reaction we will be lead straight to abjection”, they stress out.

Immediately after taking on the management of the restaurant, the workers applied a 30% reduction on all dishes and have invited the society of Thessaloniki to support this self-organised project. On Sunday the kitchen of barthelonika is transferred to the Anti-racist Festival, where the workers decided to attend and cook for its visitors.

translation of an article that was published in the greek newspaper “the street” (O Dromos)

occupiedlondon.org/blog/
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What follows is a translation of a text issued by the workers themselves (greek original here) explaining their action and calling for solidarity.

AGAINST THE CLOSURE OF THE RESTAURANT BARTHELONIKA

LETS SUPPORT THE SELF-MANAGEMENT OF THE RESTAURANT BY ITS WORKERS

Since Monday the 7th of June us, the workers at the restaurant Barthelonika run the restaurant ourselves and for this reason, ask for the help and the support of all the workers of Thessaloniki.

Two weeks ago the owners of the restaurant announced us that the establishment was not going well and that it would close down for the three summer months – and further, that it was uncertain wether it would reopen in September and how many of us would work – and under what working conditions. They also announced us that all the workers at the restaurant would be fired immediately while firing compensations would only start to be paid out in October… that is, of course, if they had any money to pay the compensations out.

As workers in the food industry we know well that a firing in today’s circumstances of deep economic crisis and tough anti-workerist attacks would mean our throwing out in the cold. For this reason we decided as workers at the restaurant not to bow our heads and to take matters in our own hands. We demanded and achieved from the management of the restaurant to pay some expenses for the establishment and our own insurance – and we now have taken on the management of the restaurant for the following two months (June and July) while in August we have achieved to have our holiday as normal.

As workers at the Barthelonika restaurant we are determined not to allow the restaurant where we work to close but also, not to allow any restaurant to close and no co-worker to bef ired. For this reason we stand in solidarity with the just struggle of our co-workers at the Banquet restaurant.

The restaurant Barthelonika will be under our control, through our general assembly. Decisions concerning its running will be taken by majority and will be respected by all us co-workers. Whatever remains from profit after expenses will be distributed equally among all co-workers. All of us co-workers will work the same hours, at the same positions where we were before.

We have also decided to offer a 30% reduction to all customers of the restaurant.

We call for all workers, the youth and the people of Thessaloniki to actively support our effort to run the restaurant, in order to save our jobs and not to be thrown out to unemployment and misery.

The restaurant Barthelonika is in the centre of our city, at 3 Venizelou Str in the Rogoti Arcade, 1st floor, tel. 2310 225 242

Opening hours: 11 am to 1 am. Closed on Sundays.

THE WORKERS OF THE RESTAURANT BARTHELONIKA

Solidarity Poster for Polykarpos Georgiadis and Vaggelis Chrisohoidis (greece)



POSTER SAYS:
did anyone speak of a
KIDNAPPING?
“…A handful of capitalists
have organized a criminal gang
and have kidnapped the proletarians,
demanding for ransom
their labor force,
merchandising their human activity,
their time (which is turned into money),
their own being itself…”
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
to vaggelis Chrisohoidis and Polykarpos Georgiadis
who the persecuting authorities, exactly because they denied to betray values and people,
accuse them as participators in the kidnapping of industrialist Milonas
anarchists from Serres from north-greece


Anarchists solidarity protest outside Korydallos prison, the main prison in Athens, at the time of the change of the year. This protest happens every New Year's Eve for the past six years. This year more than 400 people took part in the protest that interacted with the prisoners inside through shouting mutual slogans and fireworks. The main slogan was "The passion for freedom is stronger that your prisons".
NEW YEAR OUTSIDE IN KORRIDALOS PRISON 2011
Watch live streaming video from agitprop at livestream.com
FIRE TO ALL PRISONS

A society that punishes/the condition of incarceration/the prison of the mind/the prison as punishment/the rage of the damned will sound on the ruins of prisons/those denying obedience and misery of our era even within its hellholes/will dance together on the ruins of every last prison/with the flame of rebellion avenging whatever creates prisons.

To the prisoners struggle already counting one dead and thousands in hunger strike across greece, we stand in solidarity and anger until the destruction of every last prison.


ARSON AND WILDFIRE FOR EVERY PRISON

SOLIDARITY TO ALL PRISONERS IN GREECE


Keny Arkana - La Rage English Subtitles

1976 - 2000 Greek Anarchists Fight for Freedom

(December Riots in Greece)