All Topics
This page contains the features and newswire from all the topics.
The Global War of Terror
08-02-2007 09:51
The so-called 'war on terror' is nothing new; it has its precedents in operations like Gladio; can be seen as the "strategy of tension" gone global and a logical extension of the US-UK imperial policy post 1945; it is the latest justification for the actions of a genocidal Empire which has caused between 20 and 30 million deaths since World War II; imperial genocide is not a new policy. According to Youssef Aschkar, the 'war on terror' did not start on September 11, 2001: "between 1996 and September 11, 2001, the culture of hate and fear was spread to the United States by the publication of thousands of books and articles on the subject of terrorism. From that time onward, 'Islamic terrorism' became the new Evil Empire". The Power of Nightmares, a BBC documentary, even starts from earlier. It "explores the origins in the 1940's and 50s of Islamic Fundamentalism in the Middle East, Neoconservatism in America and the parallels between these movements." Now, with the neocon's 'war on terror', legality and morality gone out of the window, torture [1|2], detention without trial [1|2|3], rendition, secret prisons, dawn raids, death squads [1], profiling, fabricated terror plots, executions and Orwellian Big Brother surveillance are the new norm as muslims are demonised in order to justify the "clash of civilisations" and the military industrial complex's perpetual global war.
Campaigns: Campaign Against Criminalising Communities | Scotland Against Criminalising Communities | National Guantanamo Coalition | Cage Prisoners
Blogs: Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed | Craig Murray
Radio: Taking Aim | Guns and Butter
Gaza: Stop The Genocide
05-01-2009 21:15
Death toll update for Tuesday 6th of Jan 2009 Israel escalated its operations in the Gaza Strip killing at least 82 Palestinians in less than 24 hours. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 640 have been killed over eleven days of Israeli attacks on Gaza. More than 2,850 have been injured. The hospitals say they have run out of supplies because of the blockade and Gaza faces a "a full-blown humanitarian crisis", the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on 6 January. On 3 January 2009 tens of thousands of people protested across the UK and across the world against the Israeli state's slaughter.
Reports: Sheffield | Portsmouth | Lancaster | Manchester | Cambridge | Brighton | Shrewsbury: 1 | 2 | London: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Liverpool | Newcastle | Bristol |
Up and coming demonstrations for Gaza: Demonstration, London UK 12:30, Hyde Park, Saturday, 10 Jan 2009 | Safe place for Gaza all over the world until the genocide stops! | Wrexham, UK 10 Jan 2009 |Leeds, UK 10 Jan 2009 | Lobby your MP Saturday, 10 Jan 2009More news from Gaza: Massacre: 42 killed by Israeli shelling at UN school in Jabaliya Refugee Camp 6 Jan 2009 Unconventional weapons used against the people of Gaza 6 Jan 2009 Jabalia - 4th Jan 6pm - 5th Jan 5pm Sharon in Gaza + Interview with with Alberto Arce I.S.M 6 Jan 2009 | Activist describes attacks Ewa Jasiewicz in Gaza, BBC audio, 29 Dec 2008 | Cluster bombs, Depleted Uranium and White Phosphorus being used in Gaza - even right-wing newspapers talk of "war crimes" 4 Jan 2009 | Occupation forces targeting health workers, preventing medical aid to wounded 5 Jan 2009 | I expected an ambulance but a donkey cart carried the injured Ewa Jasiewicz in Gaza, 4 Jan 2009 | Occupation forces targeting health workers, preventing medical aid to wounded 5 Jan 2009 | Tel Aviv protests against the war Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), 5 Jan 2009 | International Solidarity Movement (ISM) stay in Gaza during ground operation 4 Jan 2009 | Ground invasion starts - ISM in the thick of it 3 Jan 2009 | Indian government gives US$100M to UN refugee body in Gaza 4 Jan 2009 | "Indiscriminate police brutality" at London protest UK 3 Jan 2009
News sources on school shelling, 6 Jan: Besieged families flee homes for shelter under UN flag Guardian | Dozens killed in Israeli strikes on UN schools in Gaza UN | BBC | Ma'an News Agency
Videos: Multiple Israeli air strike on Rafah border with Egypt 2 Jan 2009 | Rage over Gaza - roundup of unrest in London, Athens, Paris 4 Jan 2009 | Protests for Gaza in Holland 4 Jan 2009
Comment: US Thwarts UN Gaza Ceasefire Call Cartoon by Latuff, 4 Jan 2009 | Israel Unleashes Chemical Weapons in Gaza Chris Floyd, 5 Jan 2009 | Israel: Bloody executioner for capitalism International Communist party, 4 Jan 2009
Craig Murray has reported that "British diplomats on the United Nations Security Council are under direct instructions to offer "tacit support" to United States' efforts to block a ceasefire" and from this he has concluded that "Gordon Brown Is a Murderous Two Faced Cunt". Last year Ilan Pappé described the ethnic cleansing of Palestine as genocide and in a recent article he identifies "Zionist ideology as the best means of both explaining genocidal operations such as the current one in Gaza and as a way of pre-empting worse things to come".
Hundreds Condemn Gaza Slaughter In Liverpool
04-01-2009 14:20
Full article | 5 additions | 12 comments
Yet again Israel massacres Gazan civilians - and yet again world leaders sit on the fence while people burn
29-12-2008 20:18
The whole world is watching while Gaza burns and implodes under the might of Israel's military machine. On all major news outlets the charred remains and scattered bodies are a graphic reality TV horror show, right down to the shrouded bundles of what was once 5 little girls who sought safety in a mosque only to be incinerated in a direct hit.
The collective punishment of civilians is a war crime; the whole world is watching gruesome war crimes taking place.
Stop! Look! And listen! Then lobby, campaign and fight for human rights enshrined in international law to be upheld and enforced in this case against the Israeli state war machine.
Newswire: Israeli navy fires on free Gaza ship on human mission to the besieged strip International witnesses speak from Gaza Free Gaza Movement, 27 Dec 2008 | On-the-spot report from Gaza City Ewa Jasiewicz, 28 Dec 2008 | Christmas In Gaza : No More Room In The Morgue Amira Hass, Haaretz correspondent, 28 Dec 2008 | Protest against Gaza massacre in Edinburgh, Scotland 28 Dec 2008 | Nottingham UK, Gaza Emergency Protest 30 Dec: Pictures [1] [2] | Police launch massive attack on Palestinian solidarity demonstration in London 28 Dec 2008 | General strike called by Palestinians in Israel 28 Dec 2008 | Over 50,000 rally as pro-Gaza demos sweep Egypt's cities 28 Dec 2008 | Tales to tell (from Gaza) 28 Dec 2008, 5.30am, Jabalia | Ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza; 225 killed over 700 wounded Saed Banora, | IMEMC, 27 Dec 2008
News links: freegaza.org | IMEMC.org Independent Middle East Media Centre | Ma’an News Agency | english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast
Video links: Israeli shelling of Gaza continues Video from International Solidarity Movement on the ground, 28 Dec 2008 | Eye witness video post bombings 27 Dec 2008 | More video links
Pictures: This is what a massacre looks like 28 Dec 2008 Protest at Israeli embassy, London, England 28 Dec 2008 More pix from Protest at Israeli embassy, London, England 28 Dec 2008 More from Israeli embasy protest 28 Dec 2008 | Demonstration in solidarity with Gaza in Nablus, Palestine 27 Dec 2008 | Hundreds Protest in Sheffield Against Gaza Massacre 29 Dec 2008 | Nottingham UK, Gaza Emergency Protest 30 Dec: Pictures [1] [2]
Comment: Bombs over Gaza cartoon by Latuff, 27 Dec 2008 | Israeli Air Strikes in Gaza Kill as Many as 200 people cartoon by Latuff, 27 Dec 2008 | The Gaza blockade Cincinnati Jewish Community Relations Council | Statement on Zionist attacks on Gaza Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, 28 Dec 2008 | Massive attack on Gaza planned many months ago Barak Ravid, Haaretz, 27 Dec 2008
Anti-vivisection campaigners convicted of blackmail
29-12-2008 00:13
On December 23rd, 4 out of 5 activists on trial at Winchester Crown Court were found guilty of 'conspiracy to blackmail' Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) after a 3 and a half month long trial. The world's media, prompted by police press officers, were quick to condemn Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC), providing examples of harassment against the employees of HLS, their customers, suppliers and investors.
Direct action against the company, not linked to those convicted, such as arson attacks, hoax bombs, letters alleging paedophilia, and threats were pointed to as evidence of the defendants' extremism. Police spokesmen and the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit (NETCU), the branch of the police set up to dismantle the animal rights movement and other expressions of the public's dissent, hailed the convictions as a victory. What was not examined in the media was the worrying development of the repressive use of the law which lead to the conviction of the four defendants.
The trial is the second large animal rights conspiracy trial this year following the imprisonment of Sean Kirtley, an activist involved with Stop Sequani Animal Torture (SSAT). Sean was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for updating a website with news about a legal, nonviolent campaign to close down Sequani laboratories in Ledbury. Despite the Sequani and SHAC investigations leading to convictions, both campaigns against the vivisection labs are continuing undeterred.
Newswire: Strategic Importance of HLS in the broader anticapitalist fight | SHAC Do Christmas & Solidarity Demos | Corporate Watch on SHAC Trial - State Repression of Anti-Corporate Dissent | Campaigning against cruelty is now punishable by up to 14 years in prison! | SHAC campaign against HLS continues despite the convictions says the Guardian | SHAC v HLS
Previous featuers: Solidarity For Political Prisoner Sean Kirtley | Largest HLS Investor Dumps All Shares | SHAC Prepares For National March & Rally | Victory for animal rights campaigners | Activist Imprisoned for Shouting | Fisher Scientific Embarrassed Over Links with HLS | SHAC World Day for Lab Animals | Asahi Glass Protesters Harassed by Police | "March Against the Murderers"
Links: Support Greg, Natasha & Heather | Support Dan Amos | Vegan Prisoners Support Group | SHAC | NETCU Watch | Indymedia UK SHAC topic page
Camping on Raytheon's roof
19-12-2008 09:55
Three hardy protestors have spent the last nine days camping on the roof of Raytheon's Bristol office; they intend to stay on the roof until the New Year! They are braving sub-zero temperatures, and are relying on the support of ordinary Bristolians, to drive Raytheon out of Bristol.
Raytheon is the fifth largest military contracter in the world, and the maker of "Bunker Buster" bombs, Tomahawk and Patriot missiles. A number of their missiles can be loaded with cluster bombs. Raytheon have annual revenues of around USD 20 billion, including huge contracts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and have regularly been found guilty of illegal activity.
The current roof-top protest is the third such protest to have targetted Raytheon in the last two months. There have also been a series of weekly protests as Bristolians have gathered to express their disgust at Raytheon's activities.
Last week supporters on the ground delivered a letter to the office unit, Argentum House, informing them that Raytheon is breaching international law and should be given notice to leave. One roof-top protester said, The US and Britain had no more right to invade Iraq or Afghanistan than Nazi Germany did to invade Poland or France. Raytheon played their part by producing foul, indiscriminate weapons and we won’t be quiet till they have left our city for good...
Raytheon were targetted in 2006 by a group of activists in Derry, who were angry at the part Raytheon played in the Israeli bombing of Lebanon. On 9 August 2003, a jury accepted that the nine had acted to prevent a war crime, and unanimously declared the nine innocent. In their statement after the trial the nine said, This victory is welcome, for ourselves and our families, but we wish to dedicate it to the Shaloub and Hasheem families of Qana in Lebanon, who lost 28 of their closest relatives on the 30 July 2006 due to a Raytheon ‘bunker buster’ bomb.
Raytheon also manufactured the missile that killed 62 civilians in a Baghdad market in 2003.
The Bristol protests are being covered by Bristol IndyMedia: Recent photos | Raytheon rooftop protest continues| Rooftop protest at Raytheon enters second week | Rooftop protest continues at Raytheon ahead of this afternoon's protest | Third rooftop protest at Raytheon | Cluster bomb attack 10th anniversary, Colombia
More information on the Bristol protests: Smash Raytheon Blog | Directions to Raytheon's offices, Argentum House
Related links: Raytheon 9 | www.stopclustermunitions.org | Raytheon's dirty tricks
Wirral Against Service Cuts
11-12-2008 23:32
Anarchist centre opens in St Ann's
09-12-2008 17:49
Sunday saw the opening event of a new centre for anarchist education and culture in St Ann's. The Sparrows' Nest, named after local anarchist publication The Nottingham Sparrow, hosts a large collection of material on anarchist theory, local struggles and workers' struggles. The Sparrows' Nest is largely the work of local Anarchist Federation members and was inspired by a squatted infoshop in Ljubliana and similar projects in Carrara, Italy.
At the opening a selection of pamphlets and books were on display in four sections: The Classics (of anarchism), Neither Left or Right (referring to anarchism's opposition to fascism and the authoritarian left), Work (workers' struggles and the struggle against work) and Anarchy and Action in Nottingham. People were also able to watch films and browse the extensive library.
Newswire: The Sparrows' Nest - A centre for anarchist education and culture | Sparrows' Nest Anarchist Library & Archive, St Anns : opening event | Rebel bulletin The Nottingham Sparrow - March 2008 - No.3 | 'Rebel' bulletin - The Nottingham Sparrow - May 2007 - no.2 | New 'rebel' bulletin - The Nottingham Sparrow - March 2007 - no.1
Full article | 25 additions | 6 comments
Anger Around The World As Police Shoot Dead Teenager In Athens
08-12-2008 21:22
On Saturday 6th of December at around 10pm, two Greek policemen were in patrol in a central street by Exarchia square, in the centre of Athens. They had a verbal argument with some young people who were there. During the argument, one of the cops pulled his gun and shot a 16-year-old guy twice [Video]. The victim was moved to Evangelismos Hospital to be pronounced dead. According to eye-witnesses, the cop had been swearing against the young man, showing his genitals, before shooting him.
This immediately sparkled some of the heaviest protests in Greece for over 20 years. Many Greek cities have seen daily clashes with police for over a week, and are still continuing, together with University occupations in Athens and in Thessaloniki [more], schools being closed down and further demonstrations spreading throughout the country [Infoshop's media gallery]. Some argue that Greece is at the "verge of a serious crisis" [more].
Regular updates and eye-witness accounts from Greece (Eng): Occupied London blog | Center for Strategic Anarchy blog | Libcom.org archive.
Solidarity protesters have taken to the streets all over Europe. In London around 70 activists blocked the entrance of the Greek Embassy for several hours on Monday 8th, and it was effectively closed down for most of the day. The blockade ended with at least two arrests. See full report and photos in IMC-London [BBC Video] Another protest took place on Wednesday 10th, and on Thursday 11th a picket outside the Greek embassy was heavily repressed by the Met police. On Sunday 14th yet another solidarity demonstration took place in the Dalston area of London, with over 100 people facing a heavy handed police presence [Report and Photos 1 | 2 | Video]. Protests also took place in Newcastle [Pics 1 | 2] Edinburgh [Video | more] and Leeds, and there are also reports of actions taking place in Bristol [more], Cardiff and Birmingham.
In Germany there have been protests in several cities, including a solidarity demo in Berlin where the Greek embassy was also occupied (de) for the whole day. Demonstrations also took place in Hamburg (de), Dresden (de), Bremen (de) and Cologne (de), whilst the consulate in Cologne (de) was attacked with red paint. The same as in Bologna (It) where the Greek consulate was blockaded and attacked with red paint. In Venice (It) activists occupied the Greek Institute and Consulate. Other solidarity protests include Bern (Swz), Copenhagen (Dk) [more], New York (Us) [Pics], Toledo (Sp), Madrid [Pics | Video], Barcelona [Pics 1 + 2 | Video], Melbourne, Ljubljana, St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, Oaxaca and several Russian cities. Further calls for solidarity demos have been made in Glasgow, and Dublin.
Related Links: Global IMC Feature | Occupied London blog | Center for Strategic Anarchy blog | IMC-Athens | IMC-Tessaloniki | PrezaTV blog | Garizo blog | Upcoming Solidarity Demos Listing
Direct action cuts CO2 emissions
08-12-2008 15:26
Plane Stupid claim that aviation is Britain's fastest growing source of emissions, amounting to at least 13% of the UK's climate impact. With plans for new runways across the UK, including at Heathrow and Stansted, experts from the Tyndall Centre for climate research say Labour's aviation policy alone will scupper any chance the UK has of hitting its climate targets.
The protest began at 3.15am Monday morning whilst the runway was temporarily closed for maintenance work. Reopening of the runway, scheduled for 5am, was delayed while police removed the locked on protesters, causing 52 flights to be cancelled which the groups says directly prevented the release of thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gases.
Links: Why we did it, Video, Plane Stupid Website
Previous Plain Stupid coverage: House of Commons | Downing Street glue action | Scotlish Parliament | infiltration attempt foiled | March of the penguins | An interview | travel agents | Heathrow consultation report | Manchester Airport Blockade | Heathrow Residents | Easyjet HQ | Day of Action
Has NDC lost the plot?
07-12-2008 21:15
The Neighbourhood Development Company (NDC) is part of the government's New Deal for Communities project to regenerate some of Britain's poorest inner city neighbourhoods. NDC in Nottingham has received millions of pounds of funding to bring positive change to the Radford area over the past 8 years.
The partnership has had a controversial history, culminating in the sacking of its entire Board of Directors earlier this year. In spite of, or perhaps because it is paying its Chief Executive £47k for a 3-day a week job, the organisation has come under criticism for being out of touch with the community and its lack of financial transparency. In spite of the fact that it is set to receive £12m from the government over the next 2 years, NDC is rumoured to be selling the Tennyson Hall community centre, which contradicts its mission to "improve and bring back into use" the assets under its control.
Newswire: NDC: A brief history and critical examination | Nottingham NDC Chief Executive | What is the future of NDC owned Tennyson Hall? Questions need raising.
Previous Feature: Community centres under fire
Links: NDC Nottingham | Mystery over £2.4m funding that ‘vanished’ | A corrupt cabal? | £70k for New Deal for Communities CEO
