Posts Tagged news reports
Frente de Liberacion Animal (FLA): Mexico, Chile, Uruguay (Winter 2009-2010)
Posted by Nationalism.n.Matriarchy in Earth Liberation, General, Herbivores/Vegans of Color, News, Statement, animal liberation on February 12, 2010
(Part One of Two…)
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TWO JAILED FOR ELF ACTIONS
December 15, 2009 – Mexico
Abraham López Martínez (age 16) has been held since December 15, 2009 at a youth detention center in Mexico City. He is accused of damaging property and criminal association, related to the burning of nine privately-owned cars and a bomb attack against a Harley Davidson dealer, actions claimed by the Frente de Liberación de la Tierra [Earth Liberation Front]. He is awaiting trial. Abraham is vegan.
Write to Abraham via Anarchist Black Cross-Mexico: cna.mex@gmail.com
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INCENDIARY ATTACK ON MEAT MARKET
December 26, 2009 – Chile
reported on Liberación Total:
“La noche del 25 de Diciembre se instaló un artefacto incendiario en una carnicería de la asesina empresa Friosa, en Santiago.
El artefacto que consistía de un bidón con bencina adosado a esponjas, activado mediante un simple temporizador químico y fue oculto en el techo del centro de exterminio, porque así el fuego se propagaría de mejor manera.
El fuego logró encender y con ello destruir parte del techo de ese asqueroso cementerio, donde seres son vendido como simples objetos de consumo.
Prendímos fuego a este lugar por que en el reconocemos un claro sintoma de las relaciones de poder que en la sociedad existen e impone a fin de mantener un sistema basado en el aniquilamiento y la explotación, así como también lo son las cárceles, las escuelas, las empresas, los cuarteles, etc…
Este ataque es en apoyo a lxs compañerxs que se encuantran en huega de hambre, no como sacrificio sino como un gesto de amor y agitación, demostrando que la cárcel no lxs aniquila y que la guerra se pelea tanto adentro como afuera.
A la memoria de todxs lxs compañerxs caídxs en esta guerra, como es el caso de la querida compañera Soledad Rosas, quién tomo la decisión terminar con su vida estando detenida. Así también el querido compañero Mauricio Morales, quién murió al detonarle accidentalmente el artefacto que llevaba consigo para atacar la escuela de carceleros.
En esta guerra, hace siglos declarada, ningún compañerx esta solx ni olvidadx!
A Diego Ríos, tú fuga, que la hacemos nuestra, es una continua acción por la destrucción de todas las cárceles y las jaulas. Tus palabras son fuerza y energía para todxs quienes atacamos al poder y es por esto que con estas llamas te acompañamos en la huida.”
English:
“On the night of December 25 an incendiary device was placed in a meat market belonging to the murderous Friosa company in Santiago.
The device consisted of a can with gasoline, attached to sponges, activated by a simple chemical timer, and which was hidden in the roof of the extermination camp, because this way the fire would spread better.
The fire was lit and it destroyed part of the roof of that filthy cemetery, where beings are sold as mere objects of consumption.
We set fire to this place because in it we recognize a clear symptom of the power relations that exist in society and to put an end to the support of a system based on annihilation and exploitation, as are the prisons, the schools, the companies, the barracks, etc …
This attack is in support of our comrades in the midst of a hunger strike, not as sacrifice but as a gesture of love and agitation, showing that prison has not annihilated them and that the war is fought both inside and out.
To the memory of all our comrades who have fallen in this war, as is the case of our beloved comrade Soledad Rosas, who made the decision to end her life while under arrest. As our beloved comrade Mauricio Morales, who died when the bomb he carried with him accidentally detonated.
In this war, declared centuries ago, no comrade is alone or forgotten!
To Diego Rios, your escape, which we have made ours, is a continuous action for the destruction of all prisons and cages. Your words are strength and energy for all who attack power and that is why with these flames we accompany you in flight.”
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FIVE HENS LIBERATED
December 29, 2009 – Mexico
received anonymously:
“El día 27 de diciembre el frente de liberación animal libero cinco gallinas en un poblado del sureste de DF. Esta vez entre la oscuridad nos infiltramos a la propiedad de una persona que mantiene una pequeña producción avícola, fueron arrancadas de sus manos antropocentristas y puestas en libertad donde ahora pueden correr, y revolotear entre la tierra. El frente de liberación animal ha demostrado que la acción directa es una herramienta cuando no existe la valoración de que un animal quiere y anhela la libertad tanto como nosotros, estar en un ambiente ausente de civilización, ausente de dominación, ausente de toda practica antropocentrista. Porque no nos quedaremos con las manos cruzadas viendo como el tiempo consume nuestras ansias de libertad. La civilización esta por venirse abajo, la vida y la libertada ya no pertenecen al sistema industrial.
¡Abolición total a las cárceles, a las jaulas!
¡Por una vida libre y salvaje! ALF-suroeste
Accion dedicada a los presos por la liberacion de la tierra en Mexico
Abraham y Fermin.”
English:
“On December 27 the frente de liberación animal liberated five hens in a small village southeast of Mexico City. This time in the darkness we entered the property of a person who maintains a small poultry farm; the chickens were taken from anthropocentric hands and given freedom where they can now run and flit around in the earth. The frente de liberación animal has shown that direct action is a tool when there is no value given to the fact that an animal wants and longs for freedom as much as we do, to be somewhere away from civilization, away from domination, away from all anthropocentric practices.
We will not remain, with arms folded, watching as time consumes our yearning for freedom. Civilization is about to collapse, life and freedom no longer belong to the industrial system.
Total abolition of the prisons, and the cages!
For a free and wild life! ALF-southwest
Action dedicated to the earth liberation prisoners in Mexico
Abraham and Fermin.”
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ATTACK ON MEAT TRUCK AND PSYCHIATRIC CLINIC IN SANTIAGO
January 4, 2010 – Chile
anonymous communique:
“La noche del martes 29, teníamos planificado atacar la maldita tranquilidad de algunos explotadores. Es por eso que salimos con lo necesario para llevarlo a cabo y no quedar solo con las intenciones.
Lo primero que hicimos fue dirigirnos a la casa de un carnicero asesino (valga la redundancia) donde en el patio guardaba un camión transportador de cadáveres, hacia el cual apuntamos nuestra rabia. Las luces de la casa ya estaban apagadas cuando decidimos actuar, roseamos un acido muy corrosivo (que corroe metal y plástico, entre otros) sobre el parabrisas, la parte del motor y dos ruedas laterales, al mismo tiempo se lanzaba pintura roja sobre la gran publicidad a un costado, la que incitaba al consumo de animales, dejando arruinado todo el camión. También quedo manchada la entrada de la casa con pintura.
Con la misma rabia nos trasladamos a una Clínica Psiquiátrica, la cual lucia unos grandes ventanales que a pesar de estar reforzados, estos fueron reventados a piedrazos, en horas donde aun se encontraban los verdugos de traje blanco trabajando.
Ambos ataques fueron apuntados contra propiedad de explotadores, gestores/defensores de la dominación y la alienación, de unos seres por sobre otros.
Las prácticas autoritarias se encuentran por todos lados, tú decides, ser cómplice o atacarlas, haciendo de la vida una propaganda por el hecho.
Estas acciones son un gesto fraterno para todas/os las/os compañeras/os presas/os que se encuentra en huelga de hambre del 20 de diciembre al 1 de enero, porque la actitud inquebrantable de cada una/o de ustedes nos llena de orgullo y nos anima a emprender la ofensiva.
Un saludo lleno de fuerza para todas/os las/os salvajes e insurrectas/os que han (y seguirán) accionando en el territorio denominado, méxico. A seguir atacando compañeras/os que en la guerra contra la dominación nos animamos y reconocemos en cada acción.
Como ya lo habíamos mencionado antes, cada ataque va a la memoria guerrera de Mauricio Morales, compañero aquí seguimos buscando acertar golpes contra el enemigo.
Querido Diego, tu ausencia en las jaulas nos llena de alegría. Tu fiereza y convicción nos da fuerza en esta guerra a muerte. Adelante compañero cada día que pasa en un golpe contra el poder.
Banda Salvaje e Insurrecta en Guerra Contra la Dominación”
English:
“On the night of Tuesday the 29th, we had been planning to attack the evil tranquility of some exploiters. That’s why we left that night with what was needed to do it, rather than just sitting still with only the intention to do something.
The first thing we did was to go to the house of a murdering butcher (forgive the redundancy) where in the yard he kept a truck for transporting corpses, and we directed our rage at it. The lights in the house were off when we decided to act, spraying a very corrosive acid (which corrodes metal and plastic, among other things) on the windshield, part of the engine and two wheels; at the same time red paint was thrown on the large advertisement on the side, which advocated consumption of animals, leaving the truck completely ruined. The entry of the house was also stained with paint.
With the same anger we moved to a psychiatric clinic, which stood out because of some large windows which despite being reinforced, were smashed with stones, where it would remain until discovered by the executioners in white suits a few hours later.
Both attacks were aimed at the property of exploiters, agents/defenders of the domination and alienation, of some beings by/over others.
Authoritarian practices are found everywhere; you decide to be complacent or to attack them, making life an example through action.
These actions are a fraternal gesture for all our comrades in prison who are on hunger strike from December 20 to January 1, because the unwavering attitude of each of you fills us with pride and encourages us to undertake the offensive.
A greeting full of strength for all the wild and insurgent ones who have been (and will continue) acting in the territory named Mexico. Comrades continue attacking because in the war against domination we encourage and motivate one another with each action.
As we have already mentioned, each attack is in fighting memory of Mauricio Morales, comrade we continue to strike blows against the enemy.
Dear Diego, your absence from the cages fills us with happiness. Your fierceness and conviction give us the strength in this battle to the death. Continue forward comrade, each day that passes is a strike against power.
Banda Salvaje e Insurrecta en Guerra Contra la Dominación [Wild and Insurgent Band at War Against Domination]”
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EXPLOSIVE ATTACKS AGAINST BANK AND CONSTRUCTION COMPANY
January 14, 2010 – Mexico
anonymous communique:
“Alrededor de las 3 de la madrugada del día 24 de diciembre hemos dejado un artefacto explosivo relleno de dinamita en la sucursal bancaria BBVA en Ecatepec Estado de Mexico, así mismo simultáneamente dejamos otro de nuestros regalos frente a la fachada de la empresa Kengoord la cual estaba siendo resguardada por dos patrullas de la policía estatal, los dos blancos sufrieron daños en sus ventanales.
Esta acción la hemos hecho sobre la misma avenida (José López Portillo) en la que unas semanas antes las “Brigadas de Eco saboteadores por la Venganza Nunca Olvidada” detonaran una bomba compuesta con latas de gas butano en un Banamex en el municipio de Coacalco. Las autoridades no se imaginaron que otros grupos atacarían otra vez sobre el mismo “perímetro controlado” y dejaron tales blancos vulnerables y listos para colocar nuestros paquetes dinamiteros.
La destrucción de su paz social fue inevitable cuando la mecha se encendió y activo el artefacto, dichas explosiones con un sonido fuerte retumbaron en los oídos de lxs que sustentan el poder y el autoritarismo ganado a costa de la destrucción del planeta en el que ahora subsistimos por causa de los catastróficos avances del cambio climático, que a su vez es causado en gran parte por tales empresa como las que atacamos esta madrugada.
BBVA vista como una empresa engañosa y que administra un dinero resultado de la explotación animal, humana y de la tierra y Kenworth vista como una empresa ligada a la industria de la construcción que tiene contacto con empresas como CAT o Carso, responsable directa de la desolación medioambiental, recibieron nuestro mensaje no con palabras sino con acciones, porque desde que afrontamos de una manera radical temas como lo son los tomados en este comunicado hemos decidido ya no hablar y empezar a actuar.
Al siguiente día de nuestra acción la prensa vendida no mencionó nada de lo acontecido, todo estaba plegado de mensajes hipócritas y sin ningún sentido común sobre las”felices fiestas navideñas”, fecha fatídica admirada por el capitalismo insaciable como la recuperación socioeconómica de su impero en el mundo. La conspiración entre medios y las autoridades que vislumbraron nuestra acción ocultada fue clara, su fin es mantener tranquila a la sociedad sobre lo que pasa en estos días festivos ¿a que persona tranquiliza ver en las noticias que en fechas tan importantes de “convivencia familiar” bombas están estallando en el país? Nosotrxs tiramos sus expectativas, ellxs saben que el descontento no solo esta en nuestras cabezas sino también en nuestros sabotajes, aunque lo oculten o lo tergiversen.
Con estos estallidos queremos solidarizarnos con los detenidos el pasado 15 en Tlalpan DF, en especial con Abraham y Fermín que aunque sean menores de edad, su gran compromiso por la liberación de la tierra es mas que visible y es una de las maneras para emprender la ofensiva para la solidaridad directa. Aguanten compas, que el fuego incinere y que las bombas estallen en sus nombres!
¡Solidaridad directa con Víctor Herrera, Emmanuel Hernández, Abraham López y Fermín Gómez!
Frente de Liberación Animal
Frente de Liberación de la Tierra”
English:
“Around 3 in the morning on December 24 we left an explosive device stuffed with dynamite at the BBVA bank branch in Ecatepec, Mexico City. We simultaneously left another one of our gifts in front of the facade of the Kenworth company which was being guarded by two state police patrols. The two targets sustained damages to their windows.
We’ve carried out this action on the same street (José López Portillo) where a few weeks before the ‘Brigadas de Eco saboteadores por la Venganza Nunca Olvidada’ [Unforgettable Vengeance Eco-Sabotage Brigade] detonated a bomb made with cans of butane gas at a Banamex in Coacalco. The authorities did not imagine that other groups would again attack in the same ‘controlled perimeter,’ and they left such targets vulnerable and ready for our dynamite.
The destruction of their social peace was inevitable when the fuse was lit and the device activated. These explosions echoed with a sound loud in the ears of those who support power and authoritarianism won at the cost of the destruction of the planet on which we survive, caused by the catastrophic encroachment of climate change, which in turn is caused in large part by such companies as we attacked this morning.
BBVA is a deceitful company that manages money earned from the exploitation of animals, humans and the earth. Kenworth is a company bound to the construction industry and which has contacts with companies like CAT or Carso, which are directly responsible for environmental devastation. They received our message not with words but with actions, because we are facing in a radical way issues such as those noted in this communique; we have decided not to talk and to start to take action.
The day after our action the sell-out press mentioned nothing of what happened; instead it was full of hypocritical messages about ‘Merry Christmas’ festivities, the appalling day admired by insatiable capitalism as the socio-economic reclamation of its rule over the world. The conspiracy between the media and the authorities who have hidden our action was obvious; its purpose is to maintain calm in society during the holidays, and what person calmly watches the news seeing that during such important days of ‘family life,’ bombs are exploding in the country? We have defied their expectations, they now know that this discontent is not only in our heads but also in our acts of sabotage, although they hide or distort it.
With these explosions we want to express our solidarity with the detainees of December 15th in Tlalpan, Mexico City, especially with Abraham and Fermin, although you are still young, your great commitment to the liberation of the earth is more than obvious, and one of the ways to undertake the offensive for direct solidarity. Hold on comrades, the fire burns and the bombs explode in your names!
Direct solidarity with Víctor Herrera, Emmanuel Hernández, Abraham López y Fermín Gómez!
Frente de Liberación Animal
Frente de Liberación de la Tierra”
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SABOTAGE AT MEAT RESTAURANT
January 17, 2010 – Chile
reported on Liberación Total:
“Sabotajes a restaurant de carne y construcción inmobiliaria en Santiago, $hile
En la madrugada del jueves 14 de enero, cobijadxs por el silencio nos encaminamos a un local de venta de carne muy popular en santiago conocido como ‘Parrilladas Argentina’. Ahi donde se lucra con la muerte de animales y además se reproduce con esplendor la práctica especista de comer cadáveres.
En el lugar, ubicado en la calle principal de la capital, se quebraron sus ventanales, se lanzaron bombas de pintura roja y además se rayo ‘FLA’ en su fachada.
También la oficina de una nueva construcción inmobiliaria, se llevó un regalo de nuestra parte y quedo con varias de sus ventanas destrozadas.
Nuestro entorno se ve cada vez mas infectado por la expanción de la civilización con edificaciones y asfalto que asesinan la tierra. La destrucción de ecosistemas es la forma en que estas empresas se llenan los bolsillos, por esto solo deseamos su destrucción.
El sabotaje contra los promotores de la explotación, es una herramienta eficaz para frenar la debacle del entorno y de quienes en él habitamos.
La costante amenaza desata el caos, capaz de acabar y alzarse contra lo que nos oprime.
Con estos actos saludamos a los compañeros Abraham López y Fermín Gómez, enjaulados por el Estado mexicano y a Matías Castro enjaulado por el Estado chileno. Fuerza compañeros, desde aquí nos hermanamos con sus ideas y práctica, multiplicando las acciones.
’si no vives como piensas, acabaras pensando como vives’
FLA/FLT”
English:
“Sabotage against a meat restaurant and real estate office in Santiago, $hile
At dawn on Thursday, January 14, protected by the silence we went to a very popular place where meat is sold in Santiago called Parrilladas Argentina[Argentina Grill]. There they profit from the death of animals and also re-create with splendor the speciesist practice of eating corpses.
At this place, located on the main street of the capital, their windows were broken, red paint bombs were thrown and ‘FLA’ was graffitied on the facade.
A new construction real estate office also received a gift from us and was left with several of its windows shattered.
Our environment is increasingly infected by the expansion of civilization with buildings and asphalt that kill the earth. The way these companies are lining their pockets is through the destruction of ecosystems; because of this we desire only their destruction.
Sabotage against promoters of exploitation is an effective tool to confront the collapse of the environment and of those who inhabit it.
The constant threat unleashes chaos with the capacity to put an end to what oppresses us.
With these acts we salute our comrades Abraham López and Fermin Gómez, caged by the Mexican State and Matías Castro, caged by the Chilean State. Strength comrades, we are brothers in ideas and practice, multiplying the actions.
‘If you do not live like you think, you end up thinking as you live’
FLA / FLT”
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COCA-COLA TARGETED BY ALF/ELF
January 22, 2010 – Mexico
anonymous communique:
“La noche del 17 de enero decimos salir para demostrar una vez mas que esta guerra no ha acabado, que nuestro actuar no se he detenido y que seguimos sintiendo esa rabia que convertimos en acción cada que nos decidimos a morder al enemigo.
Esta vez hemos puesto dos cargas limitadas de dinamita forradas de turcas en los ventanales delanteros de las oficinas de canjeo y compra-venta de la embotelladora femsa, propiedad de la asquerosa multinacional coca cola, los cuales quedaron completamente destrozados por la explosión. El atentado fue hecho en el municipio de Ecatepec en el Estado de Mexico.
Coca cola una de las empresas destructoras de la tierra, que expande cada vez mas la extinción de especies animales y que usa la súper explotación humana para producir mas mercancías como refrescos que hacen suyos los recursos naturales y los privatizan; coca cola una de las empresas que son responsables directas del deterioro medioambiental, ha sido visitada por
nosotrxs, lxs molestxs eco anarquistas y liberacionistas, las células que hemos decidido pasar a las acciones de calidad, esforzándonos para expandir de una manera mas violenta nuestros actos de sabotaje.
Si bien es cierto que 2008 y 2009 fueron años de expansión cuantitativa, ahora 2010, nuevo año, nuevas estrategias, nuevas tácticas pero el mismo coraje cuando actuamos.
Esta acción fue dedicada con todas nuestras ansias de libertad para lxs presos Víctor, Emmanuel, Abraham, Fermín y Socorro de Tijuana. Que la solidaridad directa se multiplique en cada acción clandestina, por su liberación incondicional.
¡Preparemos nuestras armas para la cumbre del cambio climático!
¡Golpeando fuerte y huyendo!
Frente de Liberación Animal
Frente de Liberación de la Tierra”
English:
“On the night of January 17 we decided to go out to once again prove that this war has not ended, that our actions have not stopped and that we continue to feel the rage that we have put into every action.
This time we put two packages of explosives in the front windows of the offices of the bottler FEMSA, owned by the filthy multinational Coca-Cola. The windows were completely destroyed in the explosion. The attack was carried out in Ecatepec, Mexico City.
Coca-Cola is an earth-destroying company that causeS the extinction of animal species, that uses extreme human exploitation to produce goods like soft drinks, and that claims and privatizes natural resources. Coca-Cola, one of the companies directly responsible for environmental deterioration, has been visited by us, anarchists and liberationists; we have decided in these cells to focus on quality actions, strengthening ourselves to expand our acts of sabotage.
While it is true that 2008 and 2009 were years of quantitative expansion, now it is 2010, a new year, with new strategies and new tactics, but with the same courage to act.
This action is dedicated with all our desire for freedom to the prisoners Víctor, Emmanuel, Abraham, Fermín, and Socorro of Tijuana. We hope that direct solidarity multiplies in clandestine actions, for their unconditional liberation.
We prepare our weapons for the climate change summit!
Hitting hard and fleeing!
Frente de Liberación Animal
Frente de Liberación de la Tierra”
*******
FREEDOM FOR 8 DOVES
January 24, 2010 – Uruguay
received anonymously:
“En el correr de la madruga del lunes 18 , ingresamos en un ‘mini zoologico’ ubicado en un balñeareo turistico en Uruguay , con la lluvia y el frio de nuestro lado , tomamos cartas en el asunto .
Dentro de esa prision se escuchaban gritos de libertad , naturaleza oprimida por el maldito especismo establecido por el estado el cual encierra , tortura y asesina millones de animales no-humanos . Y nosotros no lo podemos permitir , es por eso que nos acercamos hacia esa ‘mini prision’ , esperamos que se distrajera el seguridad bajo la tranquila y serena noche , y actuamos , dando asi en una jaula de palomas blancas ( alrededor de 25 ) , cortando su reja y pudiendo liberar a 8 palomas , las cuales liberamos metros mas adelante.
En esta prision , se encontraban a Monos , conejos y una gran variedad de aves ( incluyendo a un tucan siendo la ‘atraccion’ principal ) .
Hoy solo liberamos a las palomas , otro dia , seran a todos !
Frente de Liberacion Animal , Uruguay
Queremos saludar con un calido grito de lucha y resistencia ,a todos los compxs que luchan alrededor del mundo , a todos aquellos que fueron secuestrados por el maldito sistema y que hoy en dia estan siendo perseguidos, interrogados y golpeados por las fuerzas del orden establecido , como a los compas Abraham López Martínez y Fermín Gómez Trejo ( de mexico ) a todos los que luchan dia a dia por la Liberacion Animal .
Y a todos aquellos compxs Uruguayos , que se levantaron del sillon y empezaron a luchar !”
English:
“During the early morning of Monday the 18th, we entered a ‘mini zoo’ located in a tourist resort area in Uruguay, and with the rain and the cold on our side, we intervened in the matter.
Inside this prison shouts of freedom were heard, nature oppressed by the speciesism established by the state which imprisons, tortures and murders millions of nonhuman animals. We can not allow it; that’s why we came to this ‘mini-prison’, hoping that security would be distracted by the calm and serene night, and we took action, opening a cage of white doves (around 25), cutting open the wire cage and freeing 8 doves.
In this prison, monkeys, rabbits and a large variety of birds were found (including a toucan who is the principal ‘attraction’).
Today we only released the doves, another day it will be all of them!
Frente de Liberacion Animal, Uruguay
We want to send greetings with a warm cry of struggle and resistance, all of our comrades in this struggle around the world, to all those who were kidnapped by the damned system and who this very day are being persecuted, interrogated and beaten by the forces of the established order, like comrades Abraham López Martínez and Fermín Gómez Trejo (from Mexico) to all who struggle day by day fighting for animal liberation.
And to all those Uruguayan comrades who have risen from their chairs and have began to fight!”
*******
22 BIRDS FREED
January 25, 2010 – Uruguay
received anonymously:
“En la madrugada del viernes 22 ingresamos en un criadero de pájaros, más especificamente de cotorras comunes, y con nada más que pinzas en mano (sí, asi de simple) comenzamos a abrir las jaulas. Habían 22 aves encerradas y fueron liberadas todas ellas. Nos hubiera encantado destruir cada una de las jaulas antes de irnos, pero por razones obvias fue imposible.
Nos alejamos del lugar rápidamente al mismo tiempo que lo hacían los pájaros, volando…..
Queremos mandar un saludo a todos los compañeros que últimamente por estos lados se han atrevido a armarse de valor y en medio de la noche han salido a hacer de la liberación animal una realidad.
¡Fuego a todo aquello que nos convierte en esclavos!
¡Liberación animal!”
English:
“Montevideo, Uruguay.
In the early morning hours of Friday the 22nd we entered a large bird breeding farm, more specifically of common parrots, and with nothing more than pliers (yes, that simple) we began to open the cages. There were 22 birds locked up and all of them were released. We would have loved to destroy each of the cages before we left, but it was impossible.
We left the place quickly at the same time as the birds did, flying….
We want to send a greeting to all our comrades around here who have recently dared to gather up the courage and in the middle of the night have gone out to make animal liberation a reality.
Fire against everything that makes us slaves!
Animal Liberation!”
*******
WINDOWS SMASHED AT PET STORE
January 31, 2010 – Mexico
received anonymously:
“A mediados de este mes de enero nuestra célula salió a las calles a
destruir la propiedad de las personas que se lucran a costa de la
explotación animal.
Llegamos cargados de rabia contra una tienda de mascotas y le dimos una
respuesta a su explotación contra animales, la acción directa. La tienda
quedo con sus vidrios destrozados.
En solidaridad con la jornada de agitación anti carcelaria en solidaridad
con los presos mexicanos y del mundo.
Seguiremos actuando, esto no para aquí!
Célula contra la explotación animal de Guadalajara
México”
English:
“Around the middle of January, our cell took to the streets
to destroy the property of people who profit from
animal exploitation.
We arrived filled with rage at a pet store and we gave them
our response to their exploitation of animals: direct action.
The store was left with their windows destroyed.
In solidarity with the day of anti-prison agitation,
in solidarity with prisoners in Mexico and throughout the world.
We will continue taking action; this does not stop here!
Cell against animal exploitation in Guadalajara
México”
*******
Disclaimer: illvox (www.illvox.org) , illvox administrators and illvox editors are not affiliated or associated with the Frente de Liberacion Animal (FLA) [Animal Liberation Front (ALF)], Frente de Liberación de la Tierra (FLT) [Earth Liberation Front (ELF)], Liberacion Total, BITE BACK, BITE BACK Magazine or any other group or organization and do not conduct or incite any illegal or unethical activity. The above information is not meant to incite or request any illegal actions or illegal activities of any kind. If you have any questions about the legality of any act, we encourage everyone receiving this (or the) action alert(s) to check your local laws and ordinances before proceeding to do anything.
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When Corporations Capture the State
Posted by illvox collective in General on August 27, 2009
by Praful Bidwai
Regardless of what happens to the contentious dispute, also called epic battle, between the Ambani brothers over the supply of natural gas from the Krishna-Godavari Basin, three things are crystal-clear.
One, the dispute’s huge political dimension dwarfs its legal or commercial issues such as the agreement signed between Mukesh Ambani’s [ Images ] Reliance Industries [ Get Quote ] and Anil Ambani’s [ Images ] Reliance Natural Resources [ Get Quote ] on the purchase of the gas at a particular price.
Battle-lines stand drawn between political parties over whom they’ll back. The Supreme Court hearing scheduled for September 1 will further polarise opinion.
Second, the natural gas sector remains under-governed despite its importance — not just financially, but as a key fuel in India’s much-needed transition to a low-carbon economy. There have been about 100 discoveries of natural gas and oil since the New Exploration Licensing Policy was launched 10 years ago.
The value of these stocks is estimated at a substantial 15 per cent of India’s GDP. But the government has generally adopted a ‘hands-off’ approach to the gas business — only to intervene at critical junctures in a partisan manner.
Third, there is no clarity in policy on the use or pricing of gas, and on different options including conservation, pace of production and its alternative uses as chemical feedstock and fuel.
Excessive concentration and monopolies/oligopolies are emerging in gas production and downstream industries. These will raise costs across-the-board. And harm the larger economy.
Although the government says it will intervene in the Ambani case only to defend the ‘public interest’ and assert the national ownership of gas, it isn’t easy for the public to believe it’ll act impartially and fairly, given its recent record of caving in to powerful industrialists.
Meanwhile, in another scandal, India’s private airlines are arm-twisting the government to rescue them as their losses skyrocket from Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) to Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion). They even threatened to go on strike.
Although that call has been withdrawn, this cartel’s pressure hasn’t eased. It’s demanding a reduction in the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), which is 40 per cent higher than in many Western/Gulf countries. It also wants airport user-fees lowered.
While the airlines have a point on the high fees charged by private airport developers, they’re silent on their own default — dues of more than Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) to the National Airports Authority and public sector oil companies.
ATF prices are high in India because of cross-subsidies on diesel, kerosene and LPG. The airlines got into the aviation business fully knowing this.
Pampered for years, the private airlines are in trouble for two reasons. First, they expanded recklessly in their rush to grab as big a market share as possible. Second, the government deregulated the sector wholesale, jettisoning norms of prudence like adequate capitalisation, and allowing carriers to set their own routes, flight schedules and time-slots.
All kinds of fly-by-night (literally) operators entered aviation. They abused their ‘freedom’ to rig fares and slots and corner the public-owned Indian Airlines (since merged with Air India [ Images ]).
Furious expansion led to a 30 to 50 per cent overcapacity in aviation. But carriers kept ordering more aircraft to retain market shares, thus aggravating overcapacity and losing more money. They nurtured the illusion that air travel would become affordable for ‘the common man’.
Many airlines set their fares predatorily low to lure passengers away from rail travel. Yet, at the peak of the ultra-low fare regime, only 3 per cent of the Indian population was flying!
By 2007, many airlines had become unviable. Jet bought out Sahara and Kingfisher acquired Deccan in anti-competitive mergers, which shouldn’t have been allowed in the first place.
Then came the economic slowdown. The private airlines, which are products of, and glorify, ‘free enterprise’, now want the state to rescue them with public money! The state should do nothing of the sort. Those who live by the free market should die by the free market.
This is a good occasion to ask some questions about business-politics relations in India. Contrary to the claim that liberalisation, launched in 1991, would end much-abused ‘licence-permit raj’ and make the government irrelevant in economic decision-making, the state’s importance remains unaltered although its site and focus have changed.
Businessmen have become increasingly cynical in manipulating the state, often in criminal ways, to corner scarce resources and earn rent and super-profits. They have developed this into a fine art.
Indeed, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, immediate past president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, says that liberalisation has not produced ‘a new type’ of entrepreneur — ‘espousing good corporate governance and honesty as the norm. Actually, the reverse is true. . . [I]ncreased opportunities and . . . political influence and public policy on the creation of wealth have. . . created more greed and far too many corporates. . . [are] walking the narrow line between right and wrong. . . This is the ugly side of economic liberalisation. . . ‘
The state remains the sole policymaking agency and main allocator of scarce resources — land, water, minerals, airwaves, the electromagnetic spectrum, oil and gas.
It sets all tax rates, which can make or break businesses. It gives companies permission to borrow money at low interest rates from abroad, which can overnight make them richer by billions. It also determines the maximum area on which urban construction may be allowed. It’s also responsible for all regulation. Markets, however developed, cannot function efficiently without regulation.
The key to business success in India lies often less in real entrepreneurship than in capturing these major functions of the state. Nothing guarantees you higher profits better than favourable official treatment, which allows you to corner resources, grab licences or establish monopolies.
That’s why Indian businessmen invest so much in influencing policies and policy-makers, in creating lobbying institutions such as FICCI, Confederation of Indian Industry and Assocham, and in building personal relationships with and patronising political leaders.
Historically, Indian businessmen have used three methods in this enterprise: bribing or buying up ministers, and increasingly bureaucrats, to secure exemptions from the rules, to get permits or receive other favours; second, getting nominated to advisory bodies such as the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry and various state-level committees; and third, influencing, if not determining, the appointment of ministers and senior officials in various departments of the government to rig high-level decision-making directly.
The first, well-established, route includes the creation of income-earning opportunities for politicians/bureaucrats and their relations and sharing of kickbacks on contracts, especially those generally shielded from public scrutiny such as defence deals.
The favours sought are increasing in their sophistication. In place of illegitimate licences or overnight changes of rules, businessmen want alterations in the terms of auctioning processes. Many businessmen have become MPs to access classified information on and influence policy on their industries.
The second method was inaugurated by the National Democratic Alliance, which nominated industrialists with a stake in particular fields (e.g. infrastructure, textiles, aviation, information technology) to head policy advisory committees.
The United Progressive Alliance [ Images ] has continued this, albeit less blatantly. The scope of industry-dominated committees has been expanded to regulation too — as with the just-created Food Safety Authority.
Once Big Business captures the regulatory heights, it’s virtually impossible to control or monitor its activities and bring it to book. That’s just what’s happening to the environmental impact assessment and clearance process.
That’s also true of the Satyam [ Get Quote ] scam, which exposed the failure of all supervisory bodies, including the statutory auditor, independent directors, Institute of Chartered Accounts of India and the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
The third method is particularly pernicious because it means directly infiltrating the government. Yet, its use is growing. It’s well known that certain business houses determine or veto appointments to crucial ministries, from the director or joint secretary level upwards. Their nominees always ensure that their narrow interests are protected.
And now, the UPA has established a fourth method by inducting business executives into minister-status jobs. The nomination of Infosys [ Get Quote ] co-founder and ex-CEO Nandan Nilekani as chairman of the new Unique Identification Authroity of India with Cabinet rank and that of management consultant Arun Maira as a Planning Commission member set a bad precedent.
It’s not that Mr Nilekani lacks competence or integrity. It’s simply that his assignment is of a technical, not political, nature. It doesn’t deserve to be sanctified by a high rank incommensurate with the absence of public accountability.
In the Cabinet system of government, ministers must be elected. Mr Nilekani could have been given a contract after due bidding for producing a unique identity for each citizen. As for Mr Maira, it’s hard to justify the elevation of a corporate-oriented consultant to the Planning Commission.
The danger of a corporate capture of government isn’t imaginary. It’s a growing phenomenon. Sections of the media celebrate it as a great advance — only by ignoring the clear conflict of interest that’s involved.
Corporations represent the narrow profit-seeking self-interest of businessmen whose forte is not Constitutional values. But politics is a contestation about just those values and public morality. It must not be suborned by business interests.
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Rapper Gets 2 Years for Cop-Killing Song
Posted by APOC-Philly in General on August 21, 2009
by Jeff Douglas / cwla Tuesday August 11, 2009
A Florida rapper is sentenced to two years in prison for a song called ‘Kill Me a Cop’ that he produced as a teenager.
 rapper-cop-song.jpg |
Authorities say 20-year-old Antavio Johnson raps about killing two Lakeland, Fla., police officers in the tune, which cops found on MySpace while surfing for gang-related activity.
Johnson pleaded no contest to two counts of corruption by threat of a public servant and was sentenced to two years in prison last month. He was already in jail on a cocaine charge at the time. …
Singing about killing a cop was not Johnson’s first mistake. Pleading guilty and not hiring a lawyer were. Just ask Ice Cube and N.W.A., who sang ‘%#@* tha Police’ as a form of police protest more than 20 years ago.
Back in 1988, N.W.A had everyone from the FBI to the Secret Service breathing down its neck and lawsuits galore. If someone could have figured out a way to charge the group with a crime, lock ‘em up and throw away the key, I’m sure it would’ve happened.
According to the Daily Beast, Johnson was trying to make a similar lyrical protest when he wrote ‘Kill Me a Cop,’ about two police officers who harassed him.
The song announced: “Im’ma kill me a cop one day.” It called out two specific officers by name, both of whom would be shot with a “glock” in the “dome” if they ever “get my timing wrong.” The best part is not the snappy lyrics. If you Google this kid’s name, you’ll see that he’s a self-proclaimed Christian rapper.
Anyway, did Johnson deserve a two-year sentence for some stupid lyrics he wrote as a teenager? No, of course not.
Should we be surprised that a judge would hand down such a harsh sentence? No. Not at all. To quote professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.: “This is what happens to black men in America!”
After all, there’s some real irony here. This case is not about free speech and it’s not about a legitimate threat to a police officer’s life. It’s about Johnson and the N.W.A. and Gates and countless others who have been complaining about an unfair justice system for decades. At the root of this system is institutionalized police harassment of black people.
But wait a minute, you say. Shouldn’t Johnson get some punishment for making a specific threat at these cops? Yes. If you threaten a cop, there should be consequences. But two years in jail for a song that was never played on the radio? This sounds like more injustice and harassment to me.
Did we accuse John McCain of war crimes for singing “bomb, bomb Iran?”
It’s not about a crime, it’s about the authority and attempts to silence protest. And until something changes, people like Johnson will be rapping and singing about police harassment for decades to come.
The good news is this young man has a lawyer now and the ACLU at his back. He could get his sentence knocked down or thrown out in an appeal.
I posted the song below. Hope I don’t get arrested for it.
reposted from: www.bvblackspin.com
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Leonard Peltier Denied Parole
Posted by APOC-Philly in General on August 21, 2009
…BREAKING NEWS…
PAROLE HAS BEEN DENIED
LP-DOC RESPONSE
The Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee acknowledges the receipt of the decision of the United States Parole Commission to deny parole for American Indian Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier. We wish to thank our thousands of supporters for their tenacious efforts, in particular during the months leading to Leonard’s recent hearing. Currently we are in the process of finalizing plans for efforts around exercising our right to challenge this decision, advocate for intervention by President Obama, and succeeding in getting both proper medical attention for Leonard and a transfer to a federal prison closer to home. We will be issuing directives within the near future.
LP DOC Leadership Team
AMERICAN INDIAN ACTIVIST DENIED PAROLE
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley says imprisoned American Indian activist Leonard Peltier has once again been denied parole.
Wrigley says the next scheduled hearing for Peltier is 2024, when Peltier would be 79 years old.
Peltier is serving two life sentences for the execution-style deaths of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams during a June 26, 1975, standoff on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
He was convicted in Fargo, N.D., in 1977. He has claimed the FBI framed him, which the agency denies, and unsuccessfully appealed his conviction numerous times.
Peltier had a full parole hearing for the first time in 15 years last month at the Lewisburg, Pa., federal prison where he is being held.
Defense attorney Eric Seitz declined comment on the U.S. Parole Commission decision Friday, saying the Justice Department had not informed him.
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In Gaza, only cancer sufferers get only painkillers
Posted by APOC-Philly in General on August 21, 2009
Report, The Electronic Intifada, 20 August 2009
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| Ismail Ahmed, 66-years old from Shujayah, lies in the cancer unit of al-Shifa, Gaza’s primary hospital. His catheter for urination flows into a wastebasket due to the lack of medical supplies at the hospital. (Erica Silverman/IRIN) |
GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IRIN) – Arafat Hamdona, 20, has been confined to the cancer unit of al-Shifa, Gaza’s primary hospital, since he was diagnosed with maxillary skin tumors in June 2008. Red lesions protrude from his face, his features are distorted and his eyes swollen shut.
In April, Arafat was permitted to travel to Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem where he received three series of chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment. He was scheduled to return for further treatment, but has not been granted permission by the Israeli authorities to leave Gaza.
“He is only given pain killers,” said Arafat’s father, Faraj Hamdona, explaining that it is all al-Shifa has to offer.
According to a July 2009 report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Jerusalem, Gaza doctors and nurses do not have the medical equipment to respond to the health needs of the 1.5 million people living in the Gaza Strip.
Medical equipment is often broken, lacking spare parts, or outdated.
WHO attributes the dismal state of Gaza’s healthcare system to the Israeli blockade of the territory, tightened in June 2007 after Hamas seized control. The poor organization of maintenance services in Gaza compounds the problem, reports WHO.
Medical equipment sits idle
Some 500 tons of donations of medical equipment which flooded the Strip after Israel’s military offensive ended on 18 January sits idle in warehouses. Few donors consulted the health ministry or aid agencies working in Gaza to find out what provisions were needed. According to the health ministry, 20 percent of the donated medications had expired. WHO said much of the equipment sent was old and unusable due to a lack of spare parts.
WHO also said suppliers were unable to access medical equipment for repairs and maintenance and “since 2000, maintenance staff and clinical workers have not been able to leave the Strip for training in the use of medical devices.”
The Israeli Defense Ministry says it is not obliged to allow into Gaza anything other than basic humanitarian supplies necessary for survival, and is concerned certain medical technology could be used for other more sinister means. Gaza’s only other connection to the outside world is its border crossing with Egypt, which is closed most of the time.
The lack of proper medical care in Gaza can have dire consequences.
“The largest number of deaths due to the siege is among cancer patients,” Gaza deputy health minister Hassan Halifa said. “Radiotherapy for cancer patients is not available due to the lack of equipment, and chemotherapy is generally not available due to the lack of drugs.”
Lack of drugs, medical supplies
In July, 77 out of 480 essential drugs and 140 out of 700 essential medical supplies in Gaza’s health ministry were out of stock, according to WHO.
Ismail Ahmed, a 66-year-old from Shejayiya, also lies in the cancer unit of al-Shifa, with a catheter for urination flowing into a wastebasket.
“We lack necessary equipment for the patients,” Abdullah Farajullah, a nurse at the unit, said.
Suffering from bladder cancer, Ismail requires blood transfusions.
“There are not enough IV [intravenous] bags. The nurses put blood into plastic water bottles to transfer into my IV bag,” Ismail said.
Due to a lack of equipment, he has been on a waiting list for over a month to have a CT (computed tomography) scan, and requires an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) — although Gaza lacks a single working MRI scanner, according to WHO.
Al-Shifa lacks equipment for basic blood tests. Patients rely on family members to take their blood to certain clinics for testing.
Limited electricity
Another problem for medics in Gaza is the irregular electricity supply, which affects sensitive medical equipment such as incubators and kidney dialysis machines.
Hospitals in Gaza use uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems as backups, but they require batteries which are often not available due to border closures with Israel and Egypt, according to WHO.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is funding and supplying 30 percent of medications and medical supplies in Gaza, said communications officer Mustafa Abu-Hassanain in Gaza.
“Most of the other 70 percent comes from the health ministry in Ramallah, paid for by the Palestinian Authority budget,” said Tony Laurance, head of WHO’s West Bank and Gaza Office in Jerusalem.
There is a dialogue between the health ministry in Gaza and the ministry in Ramallah (under Fatah’s control). Deliveries must be approved by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), a unit of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, before being allowed into Gaza, explained Laurance.
This supply chain is unpredictable and exacerbated by the conflict between Fatah and Hamas.
This item comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. All IRIN material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer to the copyright page for conditions of use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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Israel brings Gaza entry restrictions to West Bank
Posted by APOC-Philly in General on August 21, 2009
Jonathan Cook, The Electronic Intifada, 18 August 2009
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| A French passport stamped with a “Palestinian Authority only” visa. (Toufic Haddad) |
In an echo of restrictions already firmly in place in Gaza, Israel has begun barring movement between Israel and the West Bank for those holding a foreign passport, including humanitarian aid workers and thousands of Palestinian residents.
The new policy is designed to force foreign citizens, mainly from North America and Europe, to choose between visiting Israel — including East Jerusalem, which Israel has annexed illegally — and the West Bank.
The new regulation is in breach of Israel’s commitments under the Oslo accords to Western governments that their citizens would be given continued access to the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Israel has not suggested there are any security justifications for the new restriction.
Palestinian activists point out that the rule is being enforced selectively by Israel, which is barring foreign citizens of Palestinian origin from access to Israel and East Jerusalem while actively encouraging European and American Jews to settle in the West Bank.
US diplomats, who are aware of the policy, have raised no objections.
Additionally, human rights groups complain that the rule change will further separate East Jerusalem, the planned capital of a Palestinian state, from the West Bank. It is also expected to increase the pressures on families where one member holds a foreign passport to leave the region and to disrupt the assistance aid organizations are able to give Palestinians.
According to observers, the regulation was introduced quietly three months ago at the Allenby Bridge terminal on the border with Jordan, the only international crossing point for Palestinians in the West Bank. Israeli officials, who control the border, now issue foreign visitors with a visa for the “Palestinian Authority only,” preventing them from entering Israel and East Jerusalem.
Interior ministry officials say a similar policy is being adopted at Ben Gurion, Israel’s international airport near Tel Aviv, to bar holders of foreign passports who arrive via this route from reaching the West Bank. Foreign citizens, especially those with Palestinian ancestry, are being turned away and told to seek entry via the Allenby Bridge.
Gaza has long been off-limits to any Palestinian who is not resident there and has been effectively closed to Israelis and most foreigners since early 2006, when Israel began its blockade.
“This is a deepening and refinement of the policy of separation that began with Israel establishing checkpoints in the West Bank and building the wall,” said Sam Bahour, a Palestinian-American living in Ramallah who heads a Right to Enter campaign highlighting Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement.
“Foreign governments like the US ought to be up in arms because this rule violates their own citizens’ rights under diplomatic agreements. So far they have remained silent.”
The US consulate in Jerusalem is aware of the increasing restrictions on foreign passport-holders, according to its website, but claims to be powerless to help.
The Right to Enter campaign notes that 60 percent of all people turned back at the borders by Israeli officials are American citizens.
The consulate website notes both the denial of entry for many Palestinian-Americans at Ben Gurion airport, forcing them instead to use the Allenby Bridge crossing into the West Bank, and the issuing at the crossing of the “Palestinian Authority only” stamp, which excludes them from East Jerusalem and Israel.
“The Consulate can do nothing to assist in getting this visa status changed; only Israeli liaison offices in the West Bank can assist — but they rarely will,” points out the website. “Travelers should be alert, and pay attention to which stamp they receive upon entry.”
Bahour, 44, said the immediate victims of the new policy would be thousands of Palestinians from abroad who, like himself, returned to the West Bank during the more optimistic Oslo period.
Well-educated and often with established careers, they have been vital both to the regeneration of the local Palestinian economy by investing in and setting up businesses and to the nurturing of a fledgling civil society by running welfare organizations and teaching at universities.
Although many have married local spouses and raised their children in the West Bank, Israel has usually denied them residency permits, forcing them to renew tourist visas every three months by temporarily leaving the region, often for years on end.
Bahour said the latest rule change should be understood as one measure in a web of restrictions strangling normal Palestinian life that have been imposed by Israel, which controls the population registers for both Israelis and Palestinians.
In addition to the wall and checkpoints, he said, Israel regularly deported “foreigners,” both humanitarian workers and those of Palestinian origin, arriving in the region; it denied family unification to prevent Palestinian couples living together; it often revoked the residency of Palestinians who study abroad for extended periods; and it confiscated Jerusalem IDs from Palestinians to push them into the West Bank.
He added that the US consulate appeared to have accepted Israel’s right to treat American citizens differently based solely on their ethnic origin.
“While Palestinian-Americans are being denied entry to the region or excluded from Israel and East Jerusalem, Israel is actively encouraging American Jews to come and settle in the West Bank.”
In early 2006 Bahour, who is married with two daughters, was affected by another rule change when Israel refused to renew tourist visas to Palestinians with foreign passports, forcing them to separate from their families in the West Bank.
After an international outcry, Israel revoked the policy but insisted that Palestinians such as Bahour apply for permits from the Israeli military authorities to remain in the West Bank.
“This latest rule, like the earlier one, fits into Israel’s general goal of ethnic cleansing,” he said. “Israel makes life ever more difficult to encourage any Palestinians who can, such as those with foreign passports, to leave.”
Bahour said the new restrictions would further sever the West Bank from Jerusalem, the centre of Palestinian commercial and cultural life.
Overnight, he said, his Ramallah business consultancy had lost a quarter of its clients — all from nearby East Jerusalem — because he was now barred from leaving the West Bank.
He lost his limited privileges last month when he finally received a Palestinian ID. He said he had been forced to take the ID, which supersedes his American passport in the eyes of the Israeli authorities, to avoid the danger of being deported.
“The ID was bittersweet for me. It means I can’t be separated from my family here, but it also means my American passport is not recognized and I am now subject to the closures and arrests faced by ordinary Palestinians.”
Sari Bashi, a lawyer with Gisha, an Israeli organization that challenges restrictions on Palestinian movement, said the new policy was placing a severe obstacle in the way of humanitarian organizations, as well as foreigners working in Palestinian welfare organizations and academic institutions.
“Many of the aid organizations working in the West Bank have offices and staff in East Jerusalem and even in Israel, and it’s difficult to see how they are going to cope with this new restriction.”
She said staff of major international organizations such as the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, and its humanitarian division, OCHA, had been denied entry at Ben Gurion airport after declaring that they were working in the West Bank.
“When Israel prevents access to an area, it raises the question of what is happening there,” she said. “What are we being prevented from seeing?”
Human rights groups are also concerned by the wording of the new restriction, confining foreign citizens to the “Palestinian Authority.” The PA rules over only about 40 per cent of the West Bank. The groups fear that in the future Israel may seek to prevent foreigners from moving between the PA-controlled enclaves of the West Bank and the 60 percent under Israel control.
Guy Imbar, a spokesman for Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, said the phrase referred to the entire West Bank.
But Jeff Halper of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions warned: “Given Israel’s track record, it is right to be suspicious that the restriction may be reinterpreted at a later date.”
Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest books are Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East (Pluto Press) and Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair (Zed Books). His website is www.jkcook.net.
A version of this article originally appeared in The National, published in Abu Dhabi.
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Private Security for 2010 Recruiting in Saskatchewan
Posted by APOC-Philly in General on August 20, 2009
August 21, 2009 – 00:48 — no2010
Vancouver-based security company coming to Saskatchewan to recruit for 2010 Olympics
By Heather Polischuk, Leader-Post, August 14, 2009
REGINA — In what it’s hailing as a great opportunity for Saskatchewan’s aboriginal population, a Vancouver-based security company is coming to the province to recruit for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
“It’s a great opportunity to help contribute to the success of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic (Winter) Games, so that once in a lifetime opportunity is definitely a key thing to highlight,” Derek Gagne, workforce division manager with Contemporary Security Canada, said during a phone interview from Vancouver. “I think the other is Contemporary Security Canada is going to be offering a really extensive training program where the folks who work for us will gain really valuable skills as well as experience that they can use towards future job opportunities.”
CSC, contracted to provide security screening for the games, is looking to hire 5,000 security staff from across the country, including 1,500 to 2,000 people of aboriginal background. To do that, CSC is sending recruiters across the country, including to Regina’s Gathering Place beginning at 9 a.m. on Monday and Tuesday. The search continues the following two days in Saskatoon.
“Ideally we want it to be diverse and reflective of our diverse population, so looking at French speakers, women, First Nations,” Gagne said. “It’s about creating a diverse workforce that’s reflective of Canadian society.”
While anyone is welcome to apply, Gagne said aboriginal groups have shown great interest in the recruitment campaign and he expects hundreds to turn up in Saskatchewan — the first stop for CSC.
“There are folks who have expressed a keen interest and we will travel where the keen interest is,” he said.
The File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council is among groups that have been in contact with CSC to facilitate Saskatchewan recruitment.
“It’s certainly exciting that any company would come specifically to target First Nations and Métis individuals for employment,” the council’s tribal vice-chairman, Myke Agecoutay, said. “The organizers are ready to train certain individuals in different fields, so those are skills that these First Nations people can carry on to something different once the Olympic Games are over . . . so it’s a win-win situation for everyone.”
CSC is looking to fill five positions, including screeners, x-ray operators, team communication operators and two management positions, none of which require any past security experience as paid training and licensing are provided. Applicants must be eligible to work in Canada, commit to full-time work during peak periods in February, successfully complete training and be willing to go through a criminal record check. CSC is looking for people with good customer service and interpersonal skills and who can work well in a team environment.
Information about the positions and qualifications — as well as the online application CSC recommends be submitted prior to interview — is available at www.hireme2010.com.
hpolischuk@leaderpost.canwest.com
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JNF presence in S. America perpetuates Palestine injustice
Posted by APOC-Philly in General on August 16, 2009
Rahela Mizrahi, The Electronic Intifada, 13 August 2009
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| The sign leading to Bolivar and San Martin courts. (Rahela Mizrahi) |
Without any sense of irony, lands of destroyed Palestinian villages have been expropriated by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and dedicated to revolutionary South American heroes of liberation.
Since its inception in 1901, the JNF has been a key player in the dispossession of Palestinians and the colonization of their homeland. As Uri Davis notes in his book Apartheid Israel, the 1953 Jewish National Fund Law and the 1961 Covenant between the government of Israel and the JNF are central to the Israeli legal apartheid system that “nationalizes” privately-owned Palestinian property.
Despite this history, JNF has offices in the capitals of Bolivia and Venezuela where they raise funds to further entrench a racist system and to erase the signs of Israel’s double crime: the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the demolition of the Arab Jewish communities all over the Arab world and the transfer of Jews of Arab origin to Palestine by means of deception and terror.
After demolishing most of the Palestinian villages in the territory now called Israel, the Zionist movement housed the transferred Jews of Arab origin in some of the villages and the JNF employed them in the planting of pine forests over the ruins of the Palestinian villages.
Together, the Jewish National Fund Law and the Covenant define 93 percent of the entire territory that Israel occupied in 1948 as “national lands” legally designated for those persons who are defined under the laws of the State of Israel as “Jews.” This effectively places these lands off limits to the indigenous Palestinian population, carrying out a sort of legal ethnic cleansing. In addition, the JNF has been instrumental in veiling the ruins of many, if not most, of the Palestinian localities ethnically cleansed by the Israeli army in the course of and in the wake of the 1948 war. According to Uri Davis, it accomplishes this task by planting forests and developing recreational facilities on the lands they have cleansed, and over their remains.
A prime example of the double crime being committed by the Zionists is Eshtaol Forest. Most of the Eshtaol Forest covers the lands of the two Palestinian villages: Islin, where 280 inhabitants used to live, and Ishwa, formerly home to 680 Palestinians. The inhabitants of these lands were expelled by the Harel Brigade of the Palmach militia, which departed from Kibbutz Zoraa the morning of 18 July 1948. The Eshtaol forest also resides on the lands of two other villages: Beit Mahsir, where 2,620 inhabitants were expelled on 11 May 1948, and Beit Susin, where 230 inhabitants were expelled on 20 April 1948.
In Eshtaol Forest, there stand three courts. The first one is dedicated to the memory of Simon Bolivar, the revered 19th century liberator of Latin America from European colonialism; it stands on the land of the village Ishwa. The other two courts are dedicated to another liberator of Latin America from the same period, General Jose de San Martin; they stand on the land of Beit Mahsir.
Moshav (the Zionist term for village) Eshtaol, built on the ruins of Ishwa, is a village of immigrants from Yemen, who were transferred by the Zionist movement to Palestine right after the 1948 ethnic cleansing. In the transfer camp in Sana, Yemen’s capital, the Zionist Agency looted more then 50 tons of the Yemeni Jewish community’s ancient sacred books and manuscripts and many tons of goldsmithing, a craft in which they specialized. In the transfer camp, children were kidnapped and were delivered to European Jewish families for adoption. Once in Moshav Eshtaol, and in the neighboring Moshav, Yishi, which has an identical story, the community succeeded in restoring a part of life as it was in Yemen.
The return of the Palestinian refugees to their land does not necessarily mean another dispossession of this community. On the contrary, it may provide an opportunity to establish neighborhood relationships that will fix the wrongs that were done both to the Palestinian refugees and Jews from Arab countries by a European settler-colonial movement. Meanwhile, it would fortify the culture of the Yemeni Jewish community of Moshav Eshtaol and Moshav Yishi, which were always fed by Arab and Muslim civilizations in their country of origin. It might also serve to strengthen their Arab dialect of Hebrew, a dialect and culture under threat of extermination by the Israeli Zionist Ashkenazi establishment.
Only when these historic injustices are rectified, can the use of these revolutionary heroes’ names be justified. Until that time, those concerned with social justice should pressure the governments of Venezuela and Bolivia to kick the JNF out of their cities.
Rahela Mizrahi has a degree in fine arts from the Betzalel Academy in Jerusalem and is currently completing her second degree, writing on the “Patterns of Expropriation, Conversion, and Appropriation of Palestinian Heritage through Israeli Art” at Tel Aviv University. A version of this essay was originally published by the International anti-Zionist Network: http://www.ijsn.net/398/.
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Israeli Troops Fired on Gazans Waving White Flags
Posted by illvox collective in General on August 14, 2009
by Dion Nissenbaum
JERUSALEM — Israeli soldiers battling Hamas militants last winter in Gaza opened fire on at least seven groups of Palestinian civilians who were carrying white flags, killing 11 people, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Thursday.
[A Palestinian boy plays with a balloon amongst the rubble of his house which was destroyed during Israel's 22-day offensive in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, April 2009. Israeli soldiers unlawfully shot and killed 11 Palestinian civilians, including four children, who were in groups waving white flags during the Gaza war, Human Rights Watch has said. (AFP/File/Mohammed Abed)] During the three-week conflict, the U.S.-based human rights group says, Israeli soldiers in separate parts of Gaza killed five women, four children and two men as they used white flags to try to escape the battle zone.
The report raises new questions about the actions of Israeli soldiers during the military offensive. A United Nations investigation into possible war crimes continues. McClatchy documented in January one of the instances that Thursday’s report outlines.
“The Israeli military needs to investigate,” said Fred Abrahams, a Human Rights Watch investigator who conducted research in Gaza on some of the cases. “We want the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) to get to the bottom of it.”
Israeli military officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
In its report, Human Rights Watch concludes that the research “strongly indicates that, at the least, Israeli soldiers failed to take all feasible precautions to distinguish between civilians and combatants before opening fire, as required by the laws of war.”
“At worst,” the group says, “the soldiers deliberately shot at persons known to be civilians.”
Faced with prolonged criticism and scrutiny, the Israeli government recently revealed that it’s looking into scores of allegations against soldiers, including five incidents in which Israeli fighters are accused of shooting Palestinian civilians carrying white flags.
Of the seven cases Human Rights Watch documented, Abrahams said, Israeli soldiers didn’t intentionally kill civilians in five, each involving Palestinian civilians shot while walking down desolate roads that Israeli forces controlled. Rather, he said, the incidents appeared to be the tragic result of Israeli military directives to soldiers that they take few risks combined with poor coordination between Israeli units when civilians had a green light to flee.
Two others, however, may have been intentional, Human Rights Watch found.
In one, Palestinian witnesses said that an Israeli sniper shot and killed a 40-year-old woman carrying a white flag when she emerged from her house as an Israeli bulldozer was demolishing it in an attempt to tell the Israeli forces that there were dozens of civilians inside the home.
In the other, Human Rights Watch concluded that evidence backs Palestinian claims that an Israeli soldier opened fire on a woman, her mother-in-law and three girls as they stood on the steps of their home waving a white flag.
Two of the girls, aged 2 and 7, were killed. The third girl, 4, and the older woman were wounded. The 4-year-old was one of the few who managed to escape Gaza for special medical care in Europe.
The incident took place Jan. 7 in the Ezbt Abed Rabbo neighborhood after Israeli forces drove out the few Hamas fighters who were trying to make a stand. Khaled Abed Rabbo, whose wife, daughters and mother were involved, spoke with McClatchy a few days after the shooting.
Human Rights Watch said that evidence at the scene, medical records and other testimony buttressed the family’s story. Investigators said they’d uncovered no evidence that the Palestinian civilians were trying to shield militants from Israeli attacks.
The report reveals some discrepancies in the stories that the survivors told. In January, Abed Rabbo’s mother, Souad, told McClatchy that she’d pushed her son back into the house as the soldier opened fire. Khaled Abed Rabbo told Human Rights Watch investigators that he was in the house when the shooting started, however.
Abrahams attributed the inconsistency to the intense trauma the family went through during the fighting.
“Imagine if your two girls got shot and killed,” he said. “It’s not surprising that discrepancies come up in traumatic and chaotic situations, and they must be probed. But the fundamental narrative remains clear.”
Abrahams expressed doubt that the Israeli military would or could conduct a thorough investigation and noted that Israeli investigators had yet to contact Khaled Abed Rabbo about his case.
According to Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups, the Israeli military killed about 1,400 Palestinians during the conflict. Most of them, according to research by the various groups, were women, children and men who weren’t directly involved in the fighting.
The Israeli military contends that it killed 1,100 Palestinians, the majority of whom were “terror operatives.”
Ten Israeli soldiers and three Israeli civilians were killed during the 22-day conflict.
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PhilTrib on the Civil Rights Campaign, Mumia and Julian Bond
Posted by APOC-Philly in General on August 12, 2009
Written by Larry Miller
Friday, 31 July 2009
The case of Mumia Abu Jamal surfaced again when earlier this month NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said the 100-year-old civil rights organization was asking Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the case.
On a segment of Democracy Now, aired on July 20, Bond, speaking with moderator Amy Goodman and citing the case of Troy Davis, stated Holder should look into the case because over the years serious doubts have been raised over whether Abu Jamal received a fair trial.
“We’re going to ask Attorney General Holder to look into this,” Bond said during the broadcast. “As anyone who’s followed this case for a number of years knows that similar doubts have been raised about him as were raised about Troy Davis. And he’s had trouble bringing these doubts before a tribunal that can say, you know, these things are true or they’re not true. And we think he needs that chance. We think he needs that chance before the state of Pennsylvania decides to snuff his life out.”
Bond said the NAACP opposes the death penalty, and particularly so in cases where innocence seems possible.
“I mean, just think of the notion of killing someone and then finding out later, boy, we made a terrible mistake, I’m so sorry,” Bond said. “I mean, that cannot hold. That cannot be done. So we’re trying to, not only with the Mumia case, but other cases, we expect to talk to General Holder and see if he won’t put the force of the U.S. government behind them.”
But concern for Mumia doesn’t stop there. The day before Bond’s statement, former Rep. Cynthia McKinney sent a letter to Holder also requesting that the Justice Department conduct a civil rights investigation of the case.
“I am writing to ask for your personal and immediate intervention to put an end to a grave injustice. Anyone who has read the reports, as I have, including briefs and opinions of the courts, knows that Mumia Abu Jamal was tried and convicted amid sensationalism and hysteria that, at its core, constituted a racial frenzy,” McKinney wrote. “Indicting words from the judge, himself, point to racism and prejudice even inside the courtroom. The `Batson Issue’ should be of real concern to everyone interested in justice. Sadly, Mumia was convicted amid the very racial cowardice of which you, yourself, have spoken.”
McKinney said the “imperative for a civil rights investigation is clear in Abu Jamal’s case.”
Pam Africa, a long-time supporter of Abu Jamal and coordinator of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu Jamal, said her colleagues have been trying since 2004 to get the Justice Department to look into the case.
“We were told that if we could show evidence of a consistent and on-going conspiracy to keep Mumia from getting a new trial, then they could look into it,” she said. “Having Julian Bond push for this, getting Professor Charles Ogletree’s involvement is just what’s needed in getting the NAACP’s resolution on this case. It’s not just about Mumia; this covers Troy Davis, Marshall Eddie Conway and Reggie Clemons. Now is the time to keep the pressure up because Mumia doesn’t have a chance without the people’s pressure. There was no fair trial. There’s going to be a massive movement on this because Mumia is innocent.”
December 2008 marked the 27th anniversary of the death of police Officer Daniel Faulkner, allegedly by Abu Jamal, a fiery journalist-turned cab driver.
Since that tragic December night in 1981, the case has been mired in controversy, with accusations of racial discrimination during the trial process being raised almost from the beginning.
Since Abu Jamal’s conviction, his defense attorneys have filed numerous appeals and his supporters have staged endless protests calling for his release from prison.
They say there is no doubt in their minds that Abu Jamal is innocent. They also contend that he didn’t squeeze the trigger that ended Faulkner’s life and that he didn’t get a fair trial.
Maureen Faulkner, widow of the slain officer, has stated numerous times that she has no doubt in her mind that Abu Jamal murdered her husband.
“The bottom line is that there were eyewitnesses that saw what happened that night, and the evidence, the ballistics show that Mumia Abu Jamal murdered my husband,” said Faulkner on an edition of WHYY’s Radio Times. “He confessed in the emergency room, and several people heard him confess, saying `I shot the MF-er and I hope he dies’ … Priscilla Durham, she testified in the court in 1982 that she heard him, the security guard. This man confessed to murdering my husband.”
This year of 2009 could well mark the beginning of the next round of protests.
District Attorney Lynne Abraham is calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate Abu Jamal’s death sentence and both the DA’s office and Abu Jamal’s vocal supporters are awaiting a decision.
In March 2008, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit upheld the 1982 murder conviction. The court also upheld a 2001 ruling that tossed out the death penalty because the jury was improperly instructed and agreed with a lower court ruling that Abu Jamal would have to receive a new penalty hearing before he could be executed.
If the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office decides not to grant a death penalty hearing, Abu Jamal would automatically be sentenced to life in prison, an apparent victory, but not as far as Abu Jamal’s supporters are concerned.
“Life in prison is not a victory for Mumia, not as far as we’re concerned,” Africa said.
On Nov. 18, 2008, the District Attorney’s Office filed papers asking the Supreme Court to review the lower court’s decision.
Hilary Shelton, director, NAACP Washington Bureau and senior vice president for Advocacy and Policy, said there is enough controversy and conflicting evidence in the case to warrant a new trial for Abu Jamal.
“The formal position of the NAACP on this case is that Abu Jamal deserves a new trial,” Shelton said. “There’s enough contradictory evidence and conflicting statements to call for this. We’re also calling for his removal from death row. There’s no
reason to keep him under that lock up.”
Shelton said in the past, the civil rights organization has been asking the United States Attorney General and the Justice Department to review the case.
During past NAACP national conventions and board meetings, resolutions were passed regarding this issue. Shelton said it was the hope of the NAACP that Holder would move forward with their request.
“We spoke with him about Abu Jamal soon after his confirmation and he was familiar with the case,” Shelton said. “Our president Benjamin Jealous has also expressed his concerns and mentioned it during our last convention, along with the racial disparity of the death penalty. We do recognize the discrimination regarding this. Abu Jamal deserves a new trial and we fully support this along with the Justice Department’s efforts in this matter.”
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Why is South Africa still helping apartheid Israel?
Posted by APOC-Philly in General on July 21, 2009
Sayed Dhansay, The Electronic Intifada, 21 July 2009
| “Due to their support of South Africans struggling against apartheid, Palestinians likewise expect the same level of support from the now free and democratic South Africa.” (Tess Scheflan/ActiveStills) |
A few weeks ago I departed from South Africa for the Gaza Strip in order to take up a short-term voluntary post with a humanitarian organization there. As the Rafah border crossing with Egypt is effectively the only passage in and out of the besieged territory, flying to Cairo was my only option in gaining access to Gaza.
The Egyptian border authorities controlling the Rafah crossing have varying and often arbitrary requirements that must be fulfilled by anyone wishing to enter Gaza, which change regularly and without notice. The latest requirement is that any non-Palestinian wishing to visit Gaza needs to obtain prior written permission from their embassy in Cairo. This is ostensibly to ensure that foreigners have received the relevant travel warnings from their respective embassies and to absolve the Egyptian government of any responsibility for their health or safety once in Gaza.
While this appears reasonable, as I learned over the next few days, it is actually designed to prevent the entry of foreigners into the Gaza Strip. At the South African Embassy in Cairo, I quickly realized that my government was conspiring with the Egyptian and Israeli siege of the tiny coastal territory. After repeated requests with various representatives, my embassy refused to provide the necessary permission for me to enter Gaza. Indeed, I was told that the embassy was under “strict orders directly from the South African government not to facilitate the travel of any South African citizen to Gaza via Rafah.” Even when I contacted the South African Ambassador, Ms. Santo Kudjoe directly, my request for assistance was denied without any credible reasons. After this, the embassy simply began ignoring my telephone calls.
What enraged me further was that the embassies of every other country, except Sweden, were cooperating with their citizens and providing them with the necessary letters of consent. I personally saw American, French and Polish aid workers entering because they had the dreaded letter.
I had expected to encounter difficulty from Egyptian and Israeli authorities upon attempting to enter Gaza. But neither had interfered. After traveling thousands of kilometers, and now literally standing a few hundred meters away from Gaza, the sad irony was that it was my own government that was preventing me from entering. I couldn’t understand why South Africa, which claims to be sympathetic to the Palestinian struggle, had adopted this policy.
Since the beginning of the Israeli-led siege on Gaza over two years ago, the territory has been plunged into socioeconomic chaos. According to the UN, 80 percent of Gaza’s 1.5 million inhabitants are directly dependent on aid for their basic staple foods. Local trade and industry has collapsed due to virtually all imports and exports being unable to bypass the almost-permanently sealed borders.
The list of 3,000 to 4,000 basic items that were permitted to enter the area prior to the blockade has now been reduced to between 30 to 40 items, with basic household necessities such as light bulbs, candles, matches, books, crayons, clothing, shoes, mattresses, blankets, pasta, tea, coffee, chocolate, nuts, shampoo and conditioner prohibited from entering.
Almost no gasoline or diesel has been allowed in since November 2008, forcing people to run their vehicles and ambulances on cooking gas. Gaza’s only power plant has shut down several times after running out of fuel because the crossing used to import the fuel has been closed. Oxfam research shows that houses across Gaza are without electricity between 4 percent and 33 percent of the time.
In addition, the ban on import of pipes, pumps and other spare parts has caused the collapse of Gaza’s water and sewage network. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, Gaza residents receive only half of their required water needs, with 80 percent of that deemed unfit for consumption by international standards. WHO estimates that between 50-70 million liters of raw or poorly-treated sewage is released into the sea from Gaza daily, due to the collapsing sewage network. Some of Gaza’s sewage is stored in huge lagoons, one of which burst in 2007 causing at least five deaths.
The UN recorded that over 52,000 houses, 800 industrial sites, 204 schools, 39 mosques and two churches were partially or completely destroyed during Israel’s winter assault on Gaza. While international donors have pledged over $3 billion to help rebuild the devastated area, reconstruction efforts have been rendered impossible due to the blockade. As at June 2009, not a single pane of glass had entered Gaza from Israel, while only two truckloads of cement have been granted entry thus far.
Bearing this and our own recent struggle against oppression and apartheid in this country in mind, I find it utterly inconceivable that the South African government would stand in the way of aid workers attempting to render their time and skills in an area so desperately in need of assistance. I have heard several prominent political figures vociferously swearing their loyal support and admiration for the Palestinians on so many occasions, some even going as far as saying that “South Africa is not free until Palestine is free.” This however, unfortunately, appears to be nothing but lip service.
A recently published report conducted by the Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign and endorsed by a broad range of humanitarian organizations, accused the South African government of “complicity in Israeli occupation, colonialism and apartheid.” The report highlights a striking inconsistency between South Africa’s constitution, its obligations under international law, and stated foreign policy on the one hand, and the government’s trade relations with Israeli companies that are directly linked to settlements, checkpoints and the “separation wall” in the Occupied Palestinian Territories — all deemed illegal under international law — on the other.
South Africa’s main power utility, Eskom, for example is accused of having close ties to the Israel Electric Company. According to a speech given at the Israeli Knesset by a South African government representative earlier this year, the Israel Electric Company will participate in the design of new power stations in South Africa. According to the report, the Israel Electric Company is the sole provider of power to all of the occupied West Bank’s illegal settlements.
In addition, Eskom has signed many large contracts with Alstom, a global giant in the transport and energy infrastructure industry, to upgrade its existing plants, as well as build new power stations. Alstom is the same company that is currently being sued in a French court for its involvement in the Jerusalem light rail project built on Palestinian land illegally, and threatening the destruction of many more homes.
Transnet, the South African government’s owner and operator of all national rail and port infrastructure, is also linked to the Israeli video surveillance company NICE Systems. In several multi-million dollar projects, NICE Systems is supplying Transnet with thousands of video surveillance cameras and ancillary equipment throughout the country. According to the report, NICE Systems is heavily involved in wiretapping and surveillance for the Israeli government, with close ties to Israeli intelligence.
South Africa’s state diamond trader Alexkor, is involved primarily in the mining and sale of rough, gem-quality diamonds on the South African Diamond Exchange. Being the world’s largest importer of rough diamonds, Israel is known to buy up a large percentage of South Africa’s rough diamonds. Alexkor is accused of doing business with Israeli diamond magnate Lev Leviev. Leviev, a Ukrainian-born billionaire is heavily involved in the construction of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Due to his extensive role in illegal settlement construction, Leviev has been boycotted by the British government, who refuse to rent property from him for the British embassy in Tel Aviv.
It is well-known that the former South African apartheid regime had close military ties with Israel. But according to the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign’s report, there are still extensive military ties between the two countries. These include the sale of explosive detonators, military aircraft, satellites, as well as spare parts and components for other military vehicles to Israel. In 2005, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported that a high level delegation of South African defense ministry officials visited Israel in order to discuss military cooperation.
The report goes on to detail the involvement of numerous other South African State organs, including Telkom, in large-scale transactions and business deals with companies directly involved in the occupation, settlement construction as well as the separation wall.
In a written submission to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2004, the Republic of South Africa clearly stated that it considers the separation wall and settlements illegal. It has therefore acknowledged the applicability of international humanitarian law to the case of Palestine, and thus implicitly accepted the obligations which flow from these laws. Furthermore, the Department of Foreign Affairs has affirmed that “respect for and adherence to international law underpins [South Africa's] foreign policy.” In South Africa’s case as a third party, the most important obligation is thus to ensure that these laws are enforced.
Why then, do the South African government’s actions and trade relations conflict so drastically with their stated foreign policy and legal and moral obligations? It appears that the government is playing a double game by appeasing the public with lofty rhetoric on the one hand, while violating its own founding ideals as enshrined in the constitution on the other.
Due to their support of South Africans struggling against apartheid, Palestinians likewise expect the same level of support from the now free and democratic South Africa. It was largely because of the pressure exerted by the international boycott, divestment and sanctions movement that the apartheid regime was forced to abolish its racist policies. The least we can do is to return the favor and avoid short-term financial gain from blurring our moral responsibilities.
Having only recently broken free of the humiliation and degradation of apartheid, South Africa should be at the forefront of ending similar injustices wherever else they are found. And if our government is truly a peace loving democracy as it claims to be, then its economic policies should reflect its stated ideals accordingly.
Sayed Dhansay is a South African writer and political activist who volunteered for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 2006-2007.
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One dead, dozens injured as quarry workers in Egypt clash with police
Posted by APOC-Philly in Uncategorized on July 21, 2009
Submitted by Ed on Jul 19 2009
A policeman died and dozens of people were injured when thousands of quarry workers and owners clashed with police in Egypt on Thursday.
The protesters marched into Al-Minya city, in the central province of Al-Minya 210 kilometers south of Cairo, and blocked a bridge spanning the Nile, to protest against a decision by the authorities to impose new duties on quarried rock, security sources said.
Police used teargas to disperse the crowd, but the protesters stoned police, injuring at least four officers, security sources said.
An official said that police fired tear gas at some 3,000 workers who were throwing stones. One policeman died, and accounts differed as to whether he was killed during the stoning or from exposure to teargas. Reports of the total number injured varied. Security sources said at least 17 riot police had been wounded, and more than 20 protesters were suffering the effects of teargas inhalation.
Police arrested some of the protesters. Estimates by security sources of how many ranged from five to close to 50. The southern city is almost quiet again, except for the intense security measures. Now, most of the main roads are blocked, especially a bridge spanning the Nile, where the clashes took place.
The prosecutor has charged detainees with rioting, murder, blocking the main road, and disruption of the traffic, and has called on the forensic team to decide on the autopsy of the dead policeman.
The website of the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm said the government had imposed duties of LE 40 per ton of quarried stone, leading some quarries to shut down and lay off their laborers. Protesters said they held the demonstration because petitions to officials had been ignored and some quarries had been shut for more than two weeks, the website said
Labor unrest has become common in Egypt, usually over pay, and often in privatized companies. Even professional groups such as doctors, pharmacists and lawyers have stopped work or threatened strikes over pay. Worker frustration with rising prices and shortages of subsidized bread flared into two days of clashes with security forces in the city of Mahalla El-Kobra north of Cairo in April last year. Three people were killed and scores injured.
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Chinese workers unpaid and stranded in Warsaw face deportation
Posted by APOC-Philly in Uncategorized on July 21, 2009
Submitted by akai on Jul 18 2009
About 50 Chinese workers are camped out in front of the Chinese Embassy in Warsaw. They did not receive any pay for three months, eventually went on strike and were fired.
The situation of the approximately 50 workers camped out in front of the Chinese Embassy is not unique. There are at least 400 others in a similar situation.
The workers were recruited in Eastern China to work in construction in Warsaw. This group of workers came from three agencies: Fujian Huamin Overseas Employment, Heyly Overseas Employment and an agent called Lin Baotang. They each borrowed money and paid about 1500 dollars to the agents and for airfare. They had two year contracts with their Chinese agents and were promised 700 euro plus room and board for 250 hours labour per month.
They were hired out to two shady companies, both with the same owners: Eko-Energia and V-Agra. It is clear that V-Agra was the real employer-user of the workers. The companies did not want to provide the workers with any local contracts.
V-Agra is a subcontracter for several real estate development firms. The workers were taken to different building sites to work on residential housing. From what we were able to establish, this work was not always done in safe conditions. The workers, who were transported to these sites, were not readily able to identify all the places they worked, but with some effort we managed to identify at least 2 housing estates they worked at.
They did not receive any money for 3 months and were living off food supplies they had brought from China. Finally, they began to search for informal work and eventually they went on strike. For that, the company V-Agra fired them.
We obtained a copy of their notice:
“In connection with a violation of work discipline, refusing to carry out work duties and organizing an illegal strike, as well as some workers taking up illegal work in Poland, and in connection with the companies Fujian Huamin Overseas Employment, Helly Overseas Employment and Lin Baotong failure to pay for the costs of the hotel and supply a return ticket to China, we inform you that as of June 18, that is the day that you did not appear at work, all obligations towards the employees of Fujian Huamin Overseas Employment, Helly Overseas Employment and Lin Baotong have ceased.In connection with the above, we call on all the employees of Fujian Huamin Overseas Employment, Helly Overseas Employment and Lin Baotong to leave Poland by July 12, 2009.
We also inform you that from that day employees of Fujian Huamin Overseas Employment, Helly Overseas Employment and Lin Baotong have no right to lodging in the workers’ hotel in Ursus or to stay in Poland.
In the event that you do not leave Poland by the above-mentioned date, we will inform the Border Guards, which will start your deportation procedure.
In all cases of payment, accomodation and return tickets, please contact your employers – that is Fujian Huamin Overseas Employment, Helly Overseas Employment and Lin Baotong – directly.
We inform you that our company has annulled all permission to work in Poland and Polish visas. Staying in Poland and working is illegal and will be punished according to Polish law.
We also inform you that leaving for another EU country will be considered illegally crossing the border and is subject to penalty.
Anna Chilkiewicz,
Chairperson of the Board”
Other Chinese workers who came to work in Warsaw had to pay much more to get here. A few months ago, some of the Chinese workers left Warsaw to try and find employment elsewhere in Poland. A group of workers were sent to the company Eurochin in Katowice were they were also used as slave labour, among other things, to build a Pentacostal church. (The owner of the work agency is a former pastor.) The owner of Eurochin did not pay them and, when they tried to talk to him about it, he called the police and got protection from the workers who were “threatening him”. They wound up squatting a house in Myslowice. After an idiot journalist revealed the address of the house, the border police went their and took them into detention for deportation.
There are many Chinese workers now illegally living in Poland, looking for illegal work to survive and eventually get back to China. There they may face problems with debts. Apparently one of the Chinese workers who returned home was imprisoned for his debts.
The group in front of the embassy showed up over 3 weeks ago asking for help – but they got none. So some of them tried to find some work. A couple of days ago, they started to camp out in front of the embassy. They don’t have tents and have made makeshift shelters from sticks, garbage bags and plastic.
Camping rough has been difficult; today one person felt faint and had to be hospitalized. The Red Cross came with some supplies, as did ZSP who prepared them some dinner. Some people from the neighbourhood stopped by with provisions.
Members of ZSP, who were able to communicate with the workers and find out some key details about their case, plan to give hell to V-Agra and the companies using these workers, as well as to the authorities who know that these things are happening but do nothing to make sure that these people have proper working conditions and are getting paid.
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Oaxaca Justice Condemns Innocent APPO Man for the Murder of Brad Will
Posted by APOC-Philly in General on July 21, 2009
No Evidence and No Witnesses to the Actual Crime: Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno Sentenced to Prison
By Nancy Davies
Commentary from Oaxaca
July 10, 2009
Read Amendment Below July 19, 2009
Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno has been sentenced to prison by the judge of the Fifth Federal Court, Rosa Iliana Noriega Perez, for the murder of US Indymedia videographer Brad Will on October 26, 2006. This in spite of:
- Brad Will video-graphed his murderers running toward him carrying pistols
- The two assailants shown in the video, Abel Zarate, registrar of Santa Lucia del Camino, and Oswaldo Manuel Aguilar Coello who was a municipal police officer, were arrested but subsequently released by government orders. Both are strongly tied to the PRI
- There was no evidence for accusing Juan Martinez Moreno, who was standing near, not facing, Brad Will when Will was shot
- The “witnesses” in fact saw nothing; Feria Perez, the chief witness, admitted he repeated hearsay
D.R. 2009 Noticias
One of Martinez Moreno’s lawyers noted that Judge Noriega Perez, accepted that Martinez Moreno should be sentenced because his legal stays had expired, although nothing has been proved against him. The judge ordered that the testimony of the two witnesses, Alfredo Feria Perez, the nephew of the former PRI municipal president of Santa Lucia del Camino, and PRIista Carol Ivan Ilescas Resendiz, be accepted as fact, although Feria Perez said, “he knew from comments made by others that Brad Will had been killed by an APPO activist.” And who made that comment? It was the Attorney General of Oaxaca at the time, Lizbeth Cana Cadeza.
The frame-up is clearly the work of the Oaxaca government, in cahoots with the federal government. Their reason: money from the USA for Plan Merida would not be forthcoming if Brad Will’s killer were not caught. This is the only one of the (at least) twenty-three homicides of APPO sympathizers in which someone has been indicted and judged guilty – the wrong guy. All the deaths of the 2006 uprising against the APPO were the work of government death squads.
The court order kills the suspense ― at least for now ― after four different judicial hearings and court stays preceding Martinez Moreno’s sentence to imprisonment at Santa Maria Ixcotel, near Oaxaca City. His sentence has raised the ire of not only the APPO, but also the family of Brad Will, who have known for some time that a cover-up is in process. Also outraged are clerical and civil groups. Mexican and USA clerics – eighty-four from the USA and eighty-one from Mexico – sent a letter to presidents Calderon and Obama stating that the guilty verdict could only be “a justification and condition to accelerate the funds to Mexico to carry out Plan Merida.”
In the letter, also sent to the US Department of State and to the Mexican Secretary of Government, the clerics urge a review of the case taking into account the recommendations of the National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH, in its Spanish initials) and international organizations which all discounted the idea that Martinez Moreno was involved in the killing. The bias was so evident that the CNDH recommended that the case against Martinez Moreno be thrown out.
Martinez Moreno, a baker by trade, was arrested two years after Will’s death, in October of 2008. The letter states, “Juan Manuel is not responsible for the crime he is accused of. And during the judicial process many grave irregularities are found which make the case unjust and illegal. And more than that, Juan Manuel’s family and lawyers have been the objects of various pressures and intimidations. The more than twenty-three homicides of 2006 remain in absolute impunity and obviously there is no one being detained. Only, surprisingly, Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno, accused of the death of the North American journalist. All the assassinated during the political conflict are Oaxaqueños, with the exception of Bradley Roland Will.”
- Source: Noticias, Friday July 10, 2009
Amendment July 19, 2009: As for Juan Manuel Martinez Moreno being sentenced—it turns out that was not so; he was sentenced to a judicial hearing (as opposed to being freed), which will also be in front of a judge, there being no jury trial system. He’s been held for nearly a 580 days in Ixcotel, and was never freed throughout the prior four court protection amparos. Now his lawyers will have to convince the judge who can actually declare him guilty and sentence him in the sense of the word as we use it in the USA, or free him.Facing this, his lawyers have called on anybody who has more evidence in the way of photos or videos or actually saw the shooters. Meanwhile, a committee arrived from Mexico City by a special airplane. They were from the federal body that investigates crimes against journalists. They came unannounced and never contacted anybody in state government, also bringing investigating officials from the United States. What all that means I don’t know—clearly the case is not closed.
My apologies to all readers for creating confusion.
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