happy mayday! anarchists continue to stand strong in defiance of government persecution

anarchists imprisoned for thoughtcrimes released by u.s. government

this is from a different report; (note that this report never mentions the fact that neither one was in seattle the day of the incident, seeing as how they lived in olympia)

Katie Olejnik, 23, and Matt Duran, 24, talked to KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter James Schugel for the first time since getting out of Seatac Federal Detention Center.

Anarchists vandalized downtown Seattle businesses and a courthouse last May. They used sticks and bats to damage several buildings and a courthouse and to vandalize vehicles.

When Olejnik and Duran wouldn’t share information about the riots, the government sent them to prison. They stayed there for more than three months.

“They were like, ‘Do you know this person?’” Oljenik said, “and they would say a name, and I wasn’t going to answer. Then they started asking me about people’s political beliefs, and I couldn’t answer that in good conscience.”

“I believe in a lot of different ways of organizing, and that may be one thing somebody does,” Duran said. “But I can’t control what they do.”

A judge released the two from prison two weeks ago, on the grounds that confinement made them more resolute and was pointless.

Schugel asked Olejnik and Duran if the rioters did the right thing.

“I can’t control anyone else’s actions,” Olejnik said. “This is going to sound really horrible, but I don’t really care what happened on May Day. I don’t have a strong opinion either way.” – from kiroTV, Anarchists who refused to testify speak out for first time

FBI Harassment of Anarchists in Pacific Northwest Continues

They’ve visited a number of houses and The Evergreen State College looking for various people. Sometimes they’ve named names; other times they’ve just made their presence known and gone away. We have no firm indication that they are attempting to serve subpoenas.

What should we do on a day like today?

Foremost, do not panic. Take deep breaths, go for a walk (it is a beautiful sunny day in Washington), do whatever you need to do to stay focused and calm.

If your house is visited, do not open the door. Ask the feds who they are looking for, and tell them that you have nothing to say to them. Let people know that you have been visited. If they say someone’s name, make sure you notify that person.

Make a plan. What would you do if you were subpoenaed? Would you resist by appearing and refusing to testify? Are you prepared to go to prison?

If you are not prepared to go to prison, BE HONEST ABOUT IT.

A lesson to be learned from a prior debacle is this: those who feel unable to endure a possibly lengthy stay in prison, including segregation or solitary confinement, should find other options.

If you feel weak, then do what you must to feel strong. Forget any pressure to appear in any venue: you owe nothing to the media, you owe nothing to “the cause.” What you do, you should do for yourself and those you love. Reach into yourself, find a rock on which you can plant yourself. Get help from those close to you. Find your strength. As important as strength, is flexibility. Find that, as well. Bend when you need to, so that you do not break. – from sayNothing.info

Brooklyn Anarchist Refusing to Play Along With the System

Brooklyn’s 24-year-old Gerald Koch is not charged in the 2008 bombing of a Times Square military recruitment center, which injured no one, but he’s still at the center of the case. Prosecutors believe Koch may have heard something about who did it in a bar back in 2008 or 2009, and have subpoenaed him to testify in front of a grand jury for the second time. He claims to have “no recollection of any such incident,” and so, like last time, he’s refusing to testify, calling the situation “a ‘fishing expedition’ to gain information concerning my personal beliefs and political associations.” – from new york magazine

For free copies of this poster which folds into a broadside about grand jury defiance and solidarity email your address to defiantposter (at) hushmail.com

and what’s the deal with anarchists and mayday?

On May 1, 1886 tens of thousands of workers across the country went on a three day general strike in support of the 8 hour work day. On May 3rd workers in Chicago attempted to confront strikebreakers that were entering a plant where workers had been locked out since February and supported the call for a eight hour work day. The strikebreakers had the protection of hundreds of police and when the striking workers surged forward to meet them at the gates of the factory the police opened fire killing 2-6 workers. The next day May 4th, in response, anarchists called for a rally at Haymarket Square in Chicago. When police ordered the rally to disperse and marched forward in formation a bomb was thrown toward the police: a riot ensued; untold numbers of workers were killed and injured by police bullets. The bomb as well as gunshots from mostly friendly fire killed eight cops. Eight anarchists were later imprisoned in retribution and known as the Haymarket martyrs. Each was tried for murder, the incident and trial led to indignation around the world as the prosecution conceded that none of the eight threw the bomb. The eight were not on trial for throwing bombs, but for being radical labor agitators and anarchists. Two had their sentences commuted to life in prison, one received fifteen years, four were eventually executed, and one cheated the hangman by taking his own life in prison. The anarchist idea did not die in Chicago in 1887. Today it still inspires the struggle against global capitalism and the state. – from puget sound anarchists, Mayday: History, Hype, and Dignified Revolt

“…the Chicago Idea, opposed all top-down con­trol of the economy and the workplace, believing working men and women had the necessary skills to run productive businesses without re­sorting to exploitation. Both Parsons and Spies believed that the rise of in­dustrial capitalism produced “wage slaves,” who weren’t much different from African-American slaves, working long, exhausting hours for star­vation pay with no method of redress. According to these anti-authoritarians, free people don’t rent themselves to a boss who controls them for much of the day; rather, they work voluntarily and cooperative­ly to benefit themselves and their co-workers.

Yet, both men also opposed state socialism, or the belief that a central, controlling authority was necessary to produce a more just society. They were left libertarians who believed, much like many Americans today, that the government that governs least, governs best. Instead, they fought for an idea expressed by the Lowell Mill Girls in the 1840′s: “Those who work in the mills ought to own them. - from anarchy and chaos, Haymarket and the Chicago Idea Resonate 125 Years Later

anarchists aren’t the only ones under attack;

FBI, local police conducting massive sweep in Oakland

A massive law enforcement sweep was underway in Oakland Wednesday, with nine people having reportedly been detained an hour after it was first reported.

FBI agents, local police SWAT and the California Highway Patrol were targeting multiple locations.

Several streets were closed down in West Oakland during the sweeps. Portions of Seventh and Eighth streets were shut down in the area for at least 90 minutes and while helicopters circled overhead.

The police barricades were reportedly lifted just before 10:20 p.m.

It appeared to be an extensive operation with many officers involved.

There were agents carrying out actions in numerous parts of the city Wednesday night.

As of 9 p.m., KTVU learned that nine people had been detained.

An hour later, a separate sweep involving San Leandro Police reportedly resulted in a standoff near the intersection of E. 22 Street and 14th Avenue.

Oakland Police and other agencies involved told KTVU that the participating departments were not at liberty to discuss what the action concerned.

However, those agencies would be able to release details when the sweep was over.

Follow this story for more updates. – from ktvu news

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE GOVERNMENT – THEY PLAY DIRTY

Man Dies in Police Raid on Wrong House

see full story, including video, from blacklisted news

A 61-year-old man was shot to death by police while his wife was handcuffed in another room during a drug raid on the wrong house.

Police admitted their mistake, saying faulty information from a drug informant contributed to the death of John Adams Wednesday night. They intended to raid the home next door.

Farmed and Dangerous – CFIA Destroys a Shepherd’s Life and Her Rare Sheep

Heather Callaghan

Canada’s Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has targeted rare heritage sheep at Wholearth Farmstudio owned by Montana Jones for years now. Shropshire sheep are among the rarest – and CFIA could aid in their extinction with their recent eradication efforts over unfounded fears of a sickness called scrapie. – from Activist Post

Cops Raid Home of Idaho Marijuana Activists; Seize Children

The home of Idaho marijuana activists Lindsey and Josh Rinehart was raided on Tuesday by Boise Police and Child Protective Services while Lindsey, Josh and their friend Sarah Caldwell, a fellow marijuana activist, were on a small trip to the mountains.

Lindsey and Josh’s two children were taken into “protective custody,” and because Sarah’s two children were also at the residence with the babysitter, they were taken as well.

see a video report of this story, Medical marijuana activists’ children taken from home, charges possible

A custody hearing for the children is pending, and possible criminal charges relating to marijuana might arise in the future, according to Serra Frank, director of Moms For Marijuana International. – from toke signals

time is short…do you see what i see?

message from anonymous:

I see a cry for reckoning, and unification. Brothers and sisters time is short we must show how much we are on the same page. no matter color or differences, all should respect the lands that created them and keep true to themselves and being the children of our world make a better future for the next generation. We are anonymous, We do not forgive, We do not forget, EXPECT US!!!

scumbag greek government hires Blackwater mercenaries to kill it’s own citizens

Blackwater is notorious. A private mercenary army, it first came to public attention in 2003 two years after it was founded after the US government contracted it to provide military support for the war in Iraq. Innumerable scandals followed. And now the Greek Government has enlisted its services for domestic duties.

The first time Blackwater came to public attention was with the killing of four of its contractors in Fallujah. The outpouring of rage at the atrocities the company was wreaking on the town which led to the killing made it apparent that substantial elements of the Iraq War had been subcontracted to a private company.  The contract that Blackwater held in Iraq was worth over $1bn, and the intervention became dogged by scandal with dozens of murders by Blackwater employees hushed up, including the murder of 17 civilians in Nisour Square in Bagdad.   It later emerged that senior managers of the company authorised secret payments of about $1m into Iraq intending to bribe officials to allow Blackwater to remain in Iraq despite Baghdad’s position that the company would be banned and the killers prosecuted when those and other murders came to light.

(Reuters) – A makeshift time-bomb lightly injured two security staff at a large shopping center near Athens on Sunday, in escalating political violence in the crisis-hit country.
The blast followed gun and bomb attacks on political figures and journalists in recent weeks, some claimed by anti-establishment leftists angry about Greece’s financial woes.

When its contract for Iraq was not renewed in 2009, it moved to Afghanistan, on a contract worth $200 million, yet still the scandals continued. In May 2009, four drunken off-duty operatives killed a civilian when they opened fire on a car; and in January 2010, two operatives were arrested by the FBI on murder charges for a further two civilian deaths. Yet this is just the tip of the iceberg.

see more, from 2nd council house of virgo, Blackwater: First Iraq, then Afghanistan…now Greece.

Blackwater in Greece: Fears of Coup as Mercenaries Hired for Guarding Govt, Overseeing Police

Blackwater mercenaries are currently overseeing the police in Greece as rumours of a coup abound. We understand the situation is extremely tense and that the mercenaries are there mainly to protect the Government and parliament should trouble break out either in the form of a revolution or counter-revolution. Already, a destabilisation plot involving the far-right and police has been uncovered. More below… Over the last 12 months or more Greece has seen wave after wave of mass demonstrations, riots, battles between police and protesters, armed attacks on Government premises, attacks by fascists (i.e. Golden Dawn ) on migrants, as well as, of course, the complete collapse of the economy. The Government has been beset by scandals (e.g. secret bank accounts in Switzerland) and journalists have been arrested. Most people now exist day by day via co-operatives; workers are taking over the factories .

Mercenaries protecting Government under siege

The Greek Government signed a contract with Academi (the new name for Blackwater) in November last year, though this was a secret agreement and you will not find details about it on the Academi website ). News of the contract leaked out end of January when the Greek ambassador to Canada, Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos, let slip about it in an interview, which was then published in a blog (see highlighted sentence in red). The contract with Academi was confirmed a few days later via the Greek military news site Defencenet. Blackwater/Academi are infamous as the company that ran mercenary operations during the last Iraq War and were engaged in unnecessary fire fights in urban areas, taking civilian lives. They currently have a forward ops base in Afghanistan. We understand their principal role in Greece is two-fold. One is to oversee police operations. They have been contracted to do this because the Government are aware that the police have been comprehensively infiltrated by members of the fascist Golden Dawn and so cannot trust the police to stay loyal. Their other role is to act as a neutral force to provide full protection to the Government against assault from any quarter. In effect, the Greek Government is under siege.

Coup possibility

Recently the Government secured an agreement from the army that under no circumstances would they resort to a coup (as happened in 1967, leading to the junta of 1967-1974 ). Whether this agreement will be honoured remains to be seen. As Greece is now part of the European Community a coup will be unlikely, but in the event of heightened tension martial law could be declared with curfews etc.

Warning of revolution/counter-revolution

According to Ambassador Chrysanthopoulos in his interview, “At a certain moment, quite soon, there will be an explosion of social unrest. It will be very unpleasant.” He then referred to fifteen armed incidents in the previous ten days, including the firebombing of the offices of the governing parties and the homes of pro-government journalists, the machine-gunning of the headquarters of the prime minister’s conservative New Democracy party, and a bomb explosion at a shopping mall belonging to the country’s second wealthiest citizen. Chrysanthopoulos predicts the trouble will begin when new tax bills arrive (soon)…

from 21stCENTURYWIRE,  Blackwater in Greece: Fears of Coup as Mercenaries Hired for Guarding Govt, Overseeing Police

The arson attack on the Skouries mining site and its aftermath

An arson attack took place on the worksite of mining company Hellas Gold in the Skouries forest in north-eastern Halkidiki in the night from 16 to 17 February 2013. An initial report, posted by the pro-mining blog “Citizen of the Aristotelis Municipality”, stated that 50 to 70 individuals wearing full-face hoods and armed with shotguns and petrol bombs entered the site shortly after midnight and set equipments and vehicles on fire. The report further claimed that the assailants immobilized the two security guards who were on the site and held them hostage after dousing them with petrol and threatening to set them on fire. The value of the shares of the majority owner of Hellas Gold, Canadian company Eldorado Gold, dropped by 6% in the Toronto stock exchange following news of the attack. The Skouries forest is at the centre of a hot dispute between the mining company, Hellas Gold, which is owned at 95% by Canadian mining giant Eldorado Gold and at 5% by Greek public works company Hellaktor, and local communities.

The company claims that a pharaonic plan for mining of gold and copper in the area will benefit the region through the creation of some 5,000 direct and indirect jobs, while local residents argue that not only the dubious terms under which mining rights were transferred to Hellas Gold mean that the Greek State will receive no financial benefits from the mining project, but also that activities planned by Hellas Gold will cause massive damage to the environment which will in turn lead to the loss of many more jobs in the existing sectors of the local economy (farming, animal husbandry, fisheries, beekeeping, food processing and tourism). The residents’ claims are supported by research conducted by various independent scientific institutions such as the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Technical Chamber of Macedonia. The fact that the company has the support of the government in the name of “securing foreign investments” has often resulted in extremely heavy-handed police tactics against protesting residents, for example during a demonstration on 21 October 2012. More radiobubble reporting on this issue is available on the tag Skouries (in English, French and Spanish) as well as here, here and here (in Greek) [see original post for live links].

there’s more, from radiobubble.gr

THE TERRORISM OF ‘LAW AND ORDER’

Basic and fundamental human rights are being abused in Greece in the name of ‘law and order’. Adopting a policy of zero tolerance to anything it deems as ‘lawlessness’, the Greek government believes that a society that has been brutalised and beaten by the economic crisis will accept its policies of repression. The ideology of the Neo-Nazi party, that has seen such a spectacular rise since the last elections, is being put into practice by a coalition government that has no ideology of its own.

These policies of repression and terrorism are being implemented by the Minister of Law and Order, Nikos Dendias whose first ‘achievement’ was the introduction of the so-called ‘koukoulonomos’ in 2009, a law that decrees that anyone who wears a hoodie can be arrested. This was the beginning of a series of attacks on civil liberties. Under this law hundreds of people have been arrested and prosecuted because some police officer or other has attested that these people were wearing a ‘hoodie’ or something resembling a ‘hoodie’ during the time of their arrest.

much more, from 99GetSmart

15 States including Texas have filed a petition to peacefully secede from the United States – update: all 50 states

will barack obama follow the example of Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, the last soviet emperor (party chairman, warlord, whatever) of the USSR, who facilitated the end of the cold war and the breakup of the soviet union? if you didn’t vote in the election, here’s an opportunity to tell the federal government what you think of them. if this thing gets discussed across the blogosphere, how will the homeland security apparatus respond?

this isn’t about states rights, or who won what election – this is a referendum on a federal government uninterested in what its citizens have to say about what they expect from their lives.

be sure to read this, too:

A Failed Formula for Worldwide War –

interesting times…

now that the petitions have passed the threshold for showing up on the active listings, i can verify that there are numerous petitions which read much like the example from texas. hey – why the hell not?

from the examiner:

As of Saturday November 10, 2012, 15 States have petitioned the Obama Administration for withdrawal from the United States of America in order to create its own government.

States following this action include: Louisiana, Texas, Montana, North Dakota, Indiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Colorado, Oregon and New York. These States have requested that the Obama Administration grant a peaceful withdrawal from the United States.

These citizen generated petitions were filed just days after the 2012 Presidential election.

Louisiana was the first State to file a petition a day after the election by a Michael E. from Slidell, Louisiana. Texas was the next State to follow by a Micah H. from Arlington, Texas.

The government allows one month from the day the petition is submitted to obtain 25,000 signatures in order for the Obama administration to consider the request.

As of 12:46 am, Sunday, signatures obtained by Louisiana, 7,358; Texas, 3,771; Florida, 636; Georgia, 475; Alabama, 834; North Carolina, 792; Kentucky, 467; Mississippi, 475; Indiana, 449; North Dakota, 162; Montana, 440; Colorado, 324; Oregon, 328; New Jersey, 301 and New York, 169. Many more States are expected to follow.

A petition is not searchable at WhiteHouse.gov until 150 signatures have been obtained. It is the originator’s responsibility to obtain these signatures.

The Texas petition can be reviewed and/or signed by clicking here.

text of the petition:

we petition the obama administration to:

Peacefully grant the State of Texas to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own NEW government.

The US continues to suffer economic difficulties stemming from the federal government’s neglect to reform domestic and foreign spending. The citizens of the US suffer from blatant abuses of their rights such as the NDAA, the TSA, etc. Given that the state of Texas maintains a balanced budget and is the 15th largest economy in the world, it is practically feasible for Texas to withdraw from the union, and to do so would protect it’s citizens’ standard of living and re-secure their rights and liberties in accordance with the original ideas and beliefs of our founding fathers which are no longer being reflected by the federal government.

Created: Nov 09, 2012

votes total 14,454 last checked.

some really useful info in regards to megastorm sandy and weather wars

the guy who does YOUR MIND IS YOUR WEAPON speaks my language!

All Images and Information found at the Links Below, with gratitude.

Collapsing Atmosphere/Magnetic Shield:
STARWATER:

TODAY’S LINKS BELOW THIS VIDEO

Alert – Hurricane Sandy brings flood Alert to Nuclear zone in Ohio – 10-31 12

HAMP:
Video on Elite War:

REPEAT LINKS
Spaceweather:

HAARP: [Click online data, and have a little fun]

CERES JPL:

SDO:[Place to find Solar Images and Videos - as seen from earth]

Helioviewer:

SOHO: [SOHO; Lasco and EIT - as seen from earth]

Stereo:[Stereo; Cor, EUVI, HI - as seen from the side]

SunAEON: [Just click it... trust me]

SOLARIMG:  [All purpose data viewing site]

iSWA:[Free Application; for advanced sun watchers]

NASA ENLIL SPIRAL:
NOAA ENLIL SPIRAL:

US Wind Map:

NOAA Bouys:

RADIATION Network:

NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory:

“Hey, Stupid – it’s just a piece of paper! It’s only worth what WE say it’s worth! Ooooo – look at the money! You know you want it!”"

RSOE:  [That cool alert map I use]

GOES Xray:

JAPAN Radiation Map:

LISS:

Gamma Ray Bursts: [Really? You can't figure out what this one is for?]

BARTOL Cosmic Rays:  [Top left box, look for BIG blue circles]

TORCON: [Tornado Forecast for the day]

GOES Weather: [Clouds over America]

RAIN RECORDS:

EL DORADO WORLD WEATHER MAP:

PRESSURE MAP:

HURRICANE TRACKER:

INTELLICAST:  [Weather site used by many youtubers]

NASA News:

PHYSORG: [GREAT News Site!]

QUAKES LIST .

that’s one down – British ExxonMobil Oil Chief ‘Assassinated’

why doesn’t this happen more often? if the courts won’t go after these ratbastards, the people shouldn’t sit back and do nothing.

that’s why i say: hey, man – nice shot!

upon further reflection, and having read a comment on portland indymedia about this, i reserve judgement about the motives behind this. i somehow don’t think this was due to his potential as a whistle-blower, and i just can’t think that this is not due to some sort of internal rift within the upper tier. possibly a likable clod who was just old and in the way. of…?

well, i wouldn’t be so sure that this was reprisal for the crimes against humanity and the corporate death penalty that would be far over due for thousands of corporate assassins. this guy probably knew something and there were those that were afraid that he would tell someone that they didn’t want to know. that would be far more believable in a highly professional killing like this. did you know that if you’re a democrat (if you’ll pardon the expression) you are 50% more likely to die in a plane crash.

http://www.wirelesswatchblog.org

Police hunt two men after oil chief ‘assassinated’ in Brussels street

Police are hunting for two men after a British executive working for the oil company ExxonMobil was shot dead in front of his wife in the street in an assassination-style killing.

from the daily telegraph -

By Steven Swinford, Duncan Gardham and Bruno Waterfield

11:32AM BST 26 Oct 2012

Nicholas Mockford, a British executive for the oil company ExxonMobil has been shot dead in front of his wife in an assassination-style killing in Brussels.

Belgian police have imposed a news blackout after Nicholas Mockford, 60, was shot as he left an Italian restaurant in Neder-over-Heembeek, a suburb of the capital.

The executive was shot three times, once as he lay on the ground, after leaving the Da Marcello restaurant in Rue de Beyseghem at around 10pm on Oct 14.

His wife, Mary, was left beaten and covered in blood. Mr Mockford died on the way to hospital.

Witnesses said they saw the couple walk across the street to their car, a silver Lexus 4×4, before shots were fired.

The attack was said to have happened very quickly and Mrs Mockford was left cradling her husband in the street, shouting for help. According to reports, two men were seen running away carrying a motorcycle helmet.

Initially police said they were not excluding any possibilities, including a carjacking, but Mr Mockford’s car was not stolen.

The Belgian prosecutor’s office said last night that there was a “judicial instruction” from Martine Quintin, the investigating judge, that meant they could give no “explanation” and no detail about the killing.

“This is usual in such a serious murder investigation,” a spokesman said.

Mr Mockford had worked for the company since the 1970s, and was the head of marketing for interim technologies for ExxonMobil Chemicals, Europe, promoting new types of greener fuel.

He was a keen sailor and was the skipper of an Exxon team who won first prize in a race in the Channel last year aboard their yacht Musette.

He was also interested in motor cycling. Mr Mockford had been married to his second wife, who is Belgian, for 15 years, and
had three grown-up children from his first marriage, all of whom live in Britain.

He was brought up in Leicestershire and had last lived in this country in Chichester, but had been abroad for some years, mostly in Belgium and Singapore.

One family member told The Daily Telegraph he believed Mr Mockford had been killed in a professional hit.

The relation, who asked not to be named, said: “We are all confused about what has happened. Nick was a genuinely lovely, clean-cut, mild mannered, family man.

“I don’t think he would put up a fight or argue with someone trying to steal his company car.

“He was shot so calmly and so quickly, it smacks horribly of a professional hit, but we can’t fathom why. He isn’t the type to cave in to blackmail and it just doesn’t compute.”

A spokesman for ExxonMobil said: “We are shocked by the tragic death of one of our employees on Sunday, October 14 in Brussels.

“Our thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues and we are supporting them as best we can at this very difficult time.”

The relation said Mrs Mockford was recovering from the ordeal and had not been badly hurt. “He was always very tight-lipped about what he did, even when sitting around with the family,” the relation added.

SEE ALSO: 10 Steps That Led To Exxon Mobil’s Global Domination

Livestream back up for sunday actions: net journalist harrassed: nato protests: 4:20 pm central, solar eclipse

yesterday:

In the streets with crowd, Timcast broadcasting on Ustream, live says the place where he is staying, where his equipment is stored, is surrounded by police.

later:

Tim Poole & Luke Rudkowski, were raided at gunpoint & handcuffed, content from NATO protests confiscated!

police harrass them, then let them go…

view,via

CENSORED NEWS: Livestream: NATO protesters Chicago marching.

rare planetary alignment, accompanied by solar eclipse visible in cascadia. and possible dark rites at camp david and chicago.

and, here’s a video about the dark side of the summit:

Tactical Turning Point – what worked in the past may not work in the present

• 

JESUS G. PASTOR

Hey you nimble dreamers, occupiers, believers,

Last May 15, a hundred thousand indignados in Spain seized the squares across their nation, held people’s assemblies and catalyzed a global tactical shift that birthed Occupy Wall Street four months later. Our movement outflanked governments everywhere with a thousand encampments in large part because no one was prepared for Occupy’s magic combination of Spain’s transparent consensus-based acampadas with the Tahrir-model of indefinite occupation of symbolic space. Now exactly a year later, a big question mark hangs over our movement because it is clear that the same tactics may never work again.

Spring re-occupations have largely failed here in North America. The May Day General Strike was stifled by aggressive, preemptive policing that neutralized Occupy’s signature moves. In light of these challenges, Saturday’s May 12 rebirth of the indignados could be a tactical turning point.

Across the world, authorities are using “lawfare” to piecemeal outlaw any tactic that we used last year. In Spain, there is an attempt to criminalize the use of the internet to catalyze nonviolent protests and occupations. The International Business Times reports that this is part of a larger European move to “punish those who use social media and instant messaging to organize and co-ordinate street protests.” Canada wants to ban wearing masks at “unlawful assemblies,” a legal designation often used to disperse nonviolent protesters. Meanwhile Germany is taking a more direct route: they have simply issued a decree “banning” the Blockupy anti-bank protest in Frankfurt. As in the U.S., when outlawing free speech and the right to assembly doesn’t work, authorities are increasingly using brutal, paramilitary force.

The power of Occupy lies in its ability to harness the collective intelligence of our leaderless movement to tactically innovate. We move at viral speed – always one step ahead. “Fight, fail, fight again, fail again, fight again… till victory.” When one tactical constellation fails, we innovate spontaneously – we play jazz.

Across the world, indignados are preparing for a big blast on Saturday, May 12. Some, like Occupy London, are planning to retake the squares and set up encampments. Others have totally new tactics in mind. Whatever happens, let’s learn from the indignados with an eye towards our Camp David inspired May 18 #LAUGHRIOT and the global convergence on Chicago to confront NATO …

Let’s be humble … let’s “fall in love with hard and patient work” – and keep in mind that this is all just the beginning.

for the wild,
Culture Jammers HQ

Indigenous, Campesinos won’t be murdered into submission

Campesinos Refusing To Disappear: Guatemala’s Polochic Valley One Year After the Evictions

Resistance to land theft is something of a family tradition in the Polochic. Some of the old-timers still remember their parents’ stories of the 19th-century colonization of highland Alta Verapaz by German and American coffee planters. They pushed the indigenous Q’eqchi’ population from their lands, leaving many land-poor Q’eqchi’ to seek new homes in the Polochic lowlands. The oldest campesinos there were children when President Arbenz’s 18-month attempt at agrarian reform was cut short by a CIA-backed coup. The valley is still haunted by memories of the popular movement of the 1970′s that culminated in the infamous massacre of Panzós, during which over a hundred Q’eqchi’ campesinos were killed by the army as they agitated for legal recognition of their land titles. The children of today – those that survive the 3rd-highest child mortality rate in the hemisphere – will grow up remembering March of 2011, when 3,000 indigenous farmers in 14 communities were violently evicted by a combination of private mercenaries, army troops, and federal police.

 from upside-down world - Campesinos Refusing To Disappear…

The History and Resurgence of Death Squads in Central America

On March 24, in the Public Health Workers neighborhood in Guatemala City, community leaders and neighbors chatted in a regular gathering place in front of a local store. The relaxed Saturday night was broken up by gunfire, a massacre that killed health care union leader Ovidio Ortiz, along with Bildave Santos Barco, Fredy Leonel Estrada and Oscar Alexander Rodriguez.

Public health workers unions are a strong force in defense of public services and natural resources, and among the most outspoken critics of the abuses of transnational corporations in Guatemala.

Ovidio Ortiz, a life-long health union leader, community organizer and political activist, was apparently the main target in the massacre; he received 8 bullets.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State’s Visit to Central America and the Return of Repressive States in Central America

The next day, Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement William Brownfield arrived in Central America on a two day trip, visiting Honduras and Guatemala. Brownfield’s trip is to promote the US’s “drug war” in the Central America, in close coordination with a government born of a military coup in Honduras, and in Guatemala, a government led since January 7, 2012 by President Otto Perez Molina, a former general accused of participation in genocide.

Politically motivated killings apparently by death squads have been growing over the past few years in Central America, and concern in Guatemala is heightened as the new administration has brought back to public office many of the same individuals directly implicated in the State repression and genocide of the 1980s.

Ex-General, now President Perez Molina is no stranger to death squads. According to declassified State Department and CIA documents, in 1994 while head of Military Intelligence, Perez Molina ran a secret torture center with over 300 political prisoners rounded up by military intelligence. An investigative journalist reported that Perez Molina was a CIA asset at the time.

again, from upside-down world - The History and Resurgence of Death Squads in Central America

Indigenous, Peasant and Popular March arrives to Guatemala City

On April 2, after 9 days and 212 kilometers, the Indigenous, Campesino and Popular March for the defense of Mother Earth, against evictions, criminalization, and in favor of Integrated Rural Development, arrived to the center of the Capital City. According to members of the Committee for Campesino Unity (CCDU), it is estimated that about 15,000 people participated in the ninth and final day of the march.

“Approval of the bills in Congress benefiting poor and Indigenous communities, including Bill 4087, the Law for Community Media, that would legalize community radio. Cancellation of the concessions for mining, petroleum, hydroelectric, and mono-culture agriculture. End to persecution and criminalization of Indigenous people fighting for their rights, including the 8 Indigenous women of San Miguel Ixtahuacán who have orders for capture for speaking out against the Marlin Mine. Termination of forced relocations, in particular the ongoing problem in the Polochic Vally, Alta Verapaz, where hundreds of families were violently evicted from their homes to make way for African palm and sugar plantations in March of 2011. Elimination of agrarian debt imposed by the state on farmers; a just redistribution of land, allowing farmers at least a terrain to provide subsistence crops.”

via Photo Essay: Indigenous, Peasant and Popular March arrives to Guatemala City. – reposted from upside-down world news

Dismantling the Monoculture Mentality

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel observes, much to the contrary of what the majority of his generation thinks. He was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980 during the middle of the Argentine military dictatorship. He was working with the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo and was educated as an architect and a sculptor. But he dedicated most of this time to teaching—he taught in primary and secondary schools and also in colleges.

In 1974 he gave up teaching to coordinate a network of Latin American communities for the liberation of the poor through nonviolence. That same year he founded El Servicio Paz y Justicia (The Peace and Justice Service, or Serpaj) and in 1977 he was arrested by the Federal Police, tortured and detained without trial for 14 months. In the conference he gave in Montevideo on the 13th of March, he explained that human rights are violated when people don’t have access to a healthy environment and secure food sources because a “speculative economy” of monoculture farming and mining is privileged over an “economy of production.”

For example, environmental issues, everything related to mega mining, monoculture farming of eucalyptus and soy that affect peasants and indigenous people and also impact poverty and hunger issues generally. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently reported that 35 thousand children die of hunger each day across the world. The loss of resources like water and biodiversity caused by mining and monoculture farming is very much related to hunger and malnutrition. I think that agrochemicals, cyanide and mercury contamination, to give two examples, are violations of human rights.

In the reductionist vision it’s very uncommon to see a focus on the rights of a people, not just on individuals but on communities, peasants, indigenous people, the inhabitants of a city, when they are confronted with the impact of the contamination of what they eat, drink and breathe. Generally speaking, governments prioritize financial capital over peoples’ lives. They don’t differentiate between a productive economy and one that is speculative and virtual. How can it be that in the stock market everything revolves around the rising and falling of prices? That’s not a real economy because there’s no work or production there. That economy is not interested in damages because it doesn’t depend on what is produced or consumed. I’m not against mining, but I am against any destructive activity. Oscar Wilde said that there are those who know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Price and value aren’t the same. And what’s missing here is that certain things aren’t given a value.

….also from upside-down world, Raúl Zibechi interviews Adolfo Pérez Esquivel

Indian skeletons found at Guatemalan outpost

Guatemalan anthropologists have found at least 99 skeletons of Indians massacred during the 1960 to 1996 civil war at an old military outpost, local media said on Friday.

The skeletons were found in Guatemala’s northern Alta Verapaz region on a site now used by the United Nations’ Regional Command for Peacekeeping Training, said Mr Edgar Telon del Cid, an expert from the Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala (FAFG).

The anthropologist said 15 mass graves containing 99 complete skeletons and nine other body parts were found at the site.

Other research, including statements from the victims’ families, indicate 200 to 300 Indians could be buried in graves at the outpost, he said.

Thousands of Honduran farmworkers seize land

Thousands of farmworkers have seized 30,000 acres (12,000 hectares) of land around Honduras as part of a dispute with large landowners and the government, activists and officials said Wednesday.

Activists say the seized territory is arable public land that small farmers have the legal right to grow crops on under Honduran law. The large landowners who have been farming the land say they bought it legally from the government. A land dispute between small farmers and landlords in the northern Aguan Valley has led to dozens of deaths among farmworkers in recent years.

Mabel Marquez, of the organization Via Campesina, said that the largest seizure had occurred on the country’s Caribbean coast, where roughly 1,500 farmworkers had seized land held by a sugar plantation. The movement also took possession of several farms on the outskirts of the capital, Tegucigalpa.

“We want to avoid any type of confrontation,” Marquez said, adding that the farmworkers were unarmed and used no force. Marquez said the farmworkers didn’t rule out an official attempt to dislodge them from the fields.

Activists said they were seeking meetings with government officials to open a national dialogue on land disputes, make clear that the lands were public property and that the farmworkers shouldn’t be dislodged. According to United Nations figures, 53 percent of Hondurans live in the countryside and, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America, the residents of 72 percent of rural homes are below the poverty line.

via Thousands of Honduran farmworkers seize land | World news | The Guardian.

from via campesina:

17th of April Actions around the world

This action day will take place a few days before the World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty in Washington DC, April 23-26, 2012. The Via Campesina mobilisations will voice small farmers’ strong opposition to the World Bank initiative of Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI) that is supposed to prevent land grab abuses but in fact legitimizes farmland grabbing by corporate and state investors.

“In the run up to the Rio+20 Earth Summit, farmers and supporters of the food sovereignty and agroecology movement are now actively opposing the “greening of capitalism” that is now promoted at the international level. We believe that land, water, seeds and all natural resources should be used by small farmers to protect them and feed to world, and not by transnational corporations to make profit”, said Henry Saragih, general coordinator of la Via Campesina.

On April 17 1996, in the Amazonian state of Pará, at Eldorado dos Carajás, the state military police massacred peasants organized in the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST), killing 19 individuals.That day, 1500 women and men organized in the MST occupied and blocked the BR-150 highway in Eldo-ado dos Carajás, with the intention to pressure the state and federal governments for agrarian reform. At about 4pm, 155 state military police from two brigades surrounded the MST on the highway, firing tear-gas,live ammunition and machine guns. In addition to the 19 MST killed during the massacre, three more died later from injuries, and 69 people were wounded. State authorities, the police, the army and powerful local landowners were involved in planning and executing of the massacre. Fifteen years later, none of those responsible for the massacre at Eldorado dos Carajás has been imprisoned or punished.

see more: 17 April: More than 250 actions around the world for the International Day of Peasant’s Struggle

FBI spied on coffee shops, taverns and organic markets

The FBI conducted a three-year investigation, dubbed “Seizing Thunder,” into a animal-rights and environmental “terrorists” in the Pacific Northwest that devolved into widespread—and seemingly pointless—surveillance of activists for no apparent reason aside from the fact that they were anarchists, or protested the war in Iraq, or were “militant feminists.” Here’s the file.

I first came across the name “Seizing Thunder” several years ago while rifling through the FBI’s investigative files on the Animal Liberation Front. The ALF records obliquely referenced the evocatively named investigation, which I requested via the Freedom of Information Act just for kicks. Last month—after three years—the FBI returned nearly 500 pages (it held back 784).

It turns out that Seizing Thunder, which was based out of the bureau’s Portland field office, was one of several investigations into animal rights and environmental activists nationwide that the FBI eventually merged into Operation Backfire, a wide-ranging probe of ALF and the Earth Liberation Front. Backfire concluded in 2006 with the indictments of 11 activists for arson and other “acts of domestic terrorism,” including a notorious 1998 destruction of a $12 million ski lodge in Vail, Colo. The Portland portion seemed to focus primarily on gathering general intelligence on activists who used tree-sitting and other monkey-wrench tactics to fight old-growth logging in the Pacific Northwest.

Click to expand

What makes Seizing Thunder interesting, however, is how easily the agents slipped beyond investigating actual federal crimes and devoted considerable resources to tracking political activists with no apparent criminal intent.

Seizing Thunder was opened in 2002 to target members of the “Animal Liberation front (ALF), Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and an anarchist group called the Red Cloud Thunder, all whose members are inter-related and they openly claimed several major arsons,” according to the files. The investigation involved physical and video surveillance, warrants for phone taps, and cooperation with local police departments in Portland and Eugene, Ore. But the feds quickly dropped the pretense of tracking organized groups and quickly began surveilling people simply for identifying themselves—or for being identified by informants—as anarchists. The memos read like artifacts from the Red Scare:

• July 19, 2002: “On [redacted], the source observed a [redacted] Oregon license plate…parked at [redacted], a known anarchist hangout.”
• August 8, 2002: “The source observed the following vehicles in the vicinity of [redacted], a major hangout for the anarchist and [redacted]“
• September 19, 2002: “On [redacted] the source observed [redacted] vehicle, Oregon license plate [redacted] parked at [redacted] one of the hangout for anarchist….”
• October 18, 2002: “On [redacted] the source was questioned as to the [redacted] anarchist travelling to [redacted].”

“The anarchists were dressed in black”

What sort of federal crimes were all these anarchists getting up to, aside from the thought variety? The records, which document the FBI’s extensive cooperation and intelligence-sharing with local police departments in Eugene and Oregon, show that agents collected intelligence about an anarchist march that was being planned to protest U.S. policy in the Middle East:

On [redacted] at approximately 2:30 p.m., the source visited [redacted]. The source did not observe any anarchists. The source walked [redacted] to view their bulletin board. Most of the ads on the bulletin board were for individuals looking for roommates.

On [redacted] the source attended [redacted]. The source visited [redacted] where the source met two unknown anarchists at [redacted]. The anarchists were dressed in black and were in their early 20s…. The source stated the anarchists are planning a protest to “Reclaim the Streets” on April 20, 2002, in Portland, Ore.

Here’s how the Associated Press covered that crucible of terror and violence:

About 700 people marched through downtown Saturday in a peaceful protest against U.S. support of Israel in the Middle East crisis. There were no arrests and no altercations, police said.

via How the FBI Monitored Crusty Punks, ‘Anarchist Hangouts,’ and an Organic Farmers’ Market Under the Guise of Combating Terrorism.

You can read the full file, from gawker

9th circuit denies native people’s religious rights

Ninth Circuit Rejects Save the Peaks’ Effort to

Stop the Arizona Snowbowl

Activists are protecting sacred San Francisco Peaks from Snowbowl pipeline construction, which would carry sewage water for snow. Native medicine men gather herbs for healing on the mountain, sacred to 13 area Indian Nations. 

Protest halts Snowbowl destruction on San Francisco Peaks

The 9th Circuit in the case held that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act does not bar the Forest Service from approving the use of recycled waste water to make artificial snow at Arizona’s Snowbowl ski resort, which operates on federal land.

The Save the Peaks coalition have released a statement on the decision.

“The Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari in the Navajo Nation case is unfortunate to say the least.” Stated Jack Trope of the Association on American Indian Affairs who is working together with DNA Legal Services, representing the Hualapai Tribe, Navajo medicine practitioner Norris Nez and Hopi spiritual practitioner Bill Preston. “It means that the San Francisco Peaks, sacred to so many tribes, will continue to be at great risk from the development approved by the Forest Service that allows treated sewage water to be used for snowmaking. It also means that the Ninth Circuit’s narrow interpretation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) – an interpretation which in practice will make that law virtually unavailable to protect sacred lands in the states covered by the Ninth Circuit – will stand.”

This is a big deal. It means that questions of how we approach issues of religious freedom and religious rights on land that is a traditional cultural property under U.S. law are dramatically altered (within 9th Circuit jurisdiction). Perhaps the Forest Service have been intentionally dragging their feet in getting the San Francisco Peaks on the National Register because they didn’t want tribal considerations interfering with their sweetheart deals involving the Snowbowl resort?

via The Wild Hunt » Update: Will SCOTUS Save the Peaks?.

interview with filmaker marshall curry, whose film about the earth liberation front’s demise has been nominated for an oscar

from the gothamist

By Christopher Robbins

If A Tree Falls, follows the plight of Daniel McGowan, a former member of the Earth Liberation Front, a group that the F.B.I. once dubbed “America’s #1 domestic terrorist threat.” Curry traces McGowan’s journey from his identity as the mild-mannered son of an NYPD officer to a radical environmental activist in the Pacific Northwest, carrying out arson in the name of the ELF, and back again. McGowan faces a life sentence plus 335 years for committing acts of terrorism, and his guilt is never in doubt. But the movie forces us to think about who a “terrorist” is, and how our society treats citizens who feel that they have no voice.

via Marshall Curry: Director, Oscar-Nominated Documentary If A Tree Falls: Gothamist.

Greedy Lying Bastards: US filmmaker attacks oil industry

Greedy Lying Bastards:  US filmmaker attacks oil industry

Leo Hickman

guardian.co.uk

Craig Rosebraugh’s new documentary highlights the ‘influence, deceit and corruption’ of fossil fuel industry

Provocative, frank and impossible to ignore. And that’s just the title.

Craig Rosebraugh, a US filmmaker and political activist, has produced a feature-length documentary that demands to be seen. Greedy Lying Bastards is still awaiting a firm release date – sometime in 2012 is the current promise – but, if the trailer and impressive roster of interviewees are anything to go by, it’s likely to cause quite a stir.

Filmed over the past two years and across nine countries, Greedy Lying Bastards claims to be a “searing indictment of the influence, deceit and corruption that defines the fossil fuel industry”:

Rosebraugh documents the impact of an industry that puts profits before people, wages a campaign of lies to thwart measures to combat climate change, uses its clout to minimize infringing regulations and undermined the political process in the U.S. and abroad…By interweaving the stories of the victims of the Gulf oil spill and the global climate crisis, he lays bare the industry’s deliberate pattern of irresponsibility. And, while oil companies worldwide exert influence over policies that will protect their revenues, those who speak out against the industry’s reckless practices risk their livelihoods, and in some instances, their lives.

Rosebraugh’s position is abundantly clear: he is aiming hard and fast at the oil industry and the network of influence that does its bidding. But, despite all the polemic and editorialising, it would appear that he has gone to some lengths to include a wide range of voices in the documentary:

“Greedy Lying Bastards” details the people and organizations casting doubt on climate science and claiming that greenhouse gases are not affected by human behavior and includes interviews with scientists, industry experts, international political delegates, climate change victims as well as deniers, and people affected by the practices of the fossil fuel industry. Among them: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon; Rep. Henry Waxman; former EPA head Christine Todd Whitman; leading climate science skeptics Myron Ebell, Christopher Lord Monckton, and Jay Lehr; Ken Wiwa, the son of the slain Nigerian environmentalist; farmers in Peru and Uganda; and Mike Robichaux, one of the few doctors willing to treat Gulf residents sick with chemical poisoning from the BP spill, Republican Presidential candidates, Texas governor Rick Perry and Minnesota representative Michele Bachman, as well as other prominent politicians like Senator James Inhofe, from oil-rich Oklahoma.

It was announced this week that the composer Michael Brook – who scored Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth – has signed up to pen the music for the film. And in recent weeks, the Greedy Lying Bastards YouTube page has started to host short extracts from some of the film’s interviewees. The most viewed – somewhat inevitably given the hero worship he attracts online – is Noam Chomsky.

via Greedy Lying Bastards: US filmmaker attacks oil industry | Leo Hickman | Environment | guardian.co.uk.

fukushima update; government and regulators conspire to commit genocide of japanese people

Are the Japanese government and the IAEA protecting the nuclear industry and not the people of Japan by claiming that Fukushima is stable when it is not? Fairewinds’ chief engineer Arnie Gundersen outlines major inconsistencies and double-speak by the IAEA, Japanese Government, and TEPCO claiming that the Fukushima accident is over. Dynamic versus static equilibrium, escalated dose exposures to the Japanese children and nuclear workers, and the blending of radioactive materials with non-contaminated material and spreading this contaminated ash throughout Japan are only a small part of this ongoing nuclear tragedy.

via TEPCO Believes Mission Accomplished & Regulators Allow Radioactive Dumping in Tokyo Bay on Vimeo.

also,

Cancer Risk To Young Children Near Fukushima Daiichi Underestimated

Fairewinds analyzes cancer rates for young children near Fukushima using the National Academy of Science’s BEIR (Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation) VII Report. Based on BEIR VII, Fairewinds determines that at least one in every 100 young girls will develop cancer for every year they are exposed to 20 millisieverts [millisievert (1 mSv = 0.001 Sv)] of radiation. The 20-millisievert/ year figure is what the Japanese government is currently calculating as the legal limit of radiological exposure to allow habitation of contaminated areas near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. In this video, Fairewinds introduces additional analysis by Ian Goddard showing that the BEIR VII report underestimates the true cancer rates to young children living near Fukushima Daiichi. Looking at the scientific data presented by Mr. Goddard, Fairewinds has determined that at least one out of every 20 young girls (5%) living in an area where the radiological exposure is 20 millisieverts for five years will develop cancer in their lifetime.

viewers on the west coast and japan might be interested in this:

Hot Particles From Japan to Seattle

from fukushima to tokyo to the u.s. west coast, people are coming into contact with highly radioactive particles spewed by the crippled reactors.

 

Busted: Monsanto Abusing Illegal Workers in ‘Slave-Like’ Conditions

Anthony Gucciardi

Activist Post

Monsanto’s disregard for human health is evidenced by their hazardous GMO crops and herbicides, but a shocking new report has revealed the company’s illegal ‘slave-like’ working conditions.

Forcing slave workers to work the cornfields for 14 hours per day and buy their food (most likely GMO) at highly-inflated prices from the company store, Monsanto has been running these slave rings for an unknown number of years.

What’s more, is the company not only ‘hired’ all of the workers illegally, but prevented them from leaving the farm premises and withheld their salaries.

The information came to light following a raid by Argentina’s tax agency known as AFIP, where it was revealed that the farmhands were being forced to work almost twice as long as legally permissible and given no compensation. Amazingly, AFIP says that it will hold Monsanto responsible for the slave-like conditions.

Unsurprisingly, Monsanto failed to respond to the story.

Monsanto: A Corrupt History of Inhumane Abuse

This is not the first time Monsanto has abused workers, or even farmers dedicated to using the company’s GM seeds. In fact, Monsanto’s previous crimes against the human race are arguably even more despicable.

via Activist Post: Busted: Monsanto Abusing Illegal Workers in ‘Slave-Like’ Conditions.