Indian rebels blow up new police station

NAXALITE rebels in India have demolished a newly-built police station in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district.

Reports IBN Live: "A group of 50 Naxals assembled at the police station near Geedam area and asked the labourers present there to leave. They blasted the building using huge amount of explosives, police said, adding there were no reports of any casualty."

According to The Economic Times: "On Tuesday, dozens of Maoists [Naxalites] stormed into a two-storey building at Geedam town, some 10 km away from Dantewada town. They blew up the newly-constructed building which had been built by the state government at a cost of Rs.3.5 million.

"The building, which was ready to be handed over to the police department, was located barely a km away from the existing Geedam police station where about two dozen policemen were present at the time of the incident. But no policemen reached the blast site for several hours."

Following the incident, the state government transferred Dantewada police chief Ankit Garg and posted him at police headquarters to Raipur, official sources said. 

The photo shows Naxalite rebels with writer Arundhati Roy, who has explained the reasons for their uprising, in the face of massive anti-Naxal propaganda from the Indian state.

She said last year: "Over the past five years or so, the governments of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal have signed hundreds of memorandums of understanding – all of them secret – with corporate houses worth several billion dollars, for steel plants, sponge-iron factories, power plants, aluminum refineries, dams and mines. In order for the MOUs to translate into real money, tribal people must be moved. Therefore, this war."

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Afghans protest against NATO attack

 

THOUSANDS of Afghans have taken to the streets in the eastern province of Ghazni to show their anger over a US-led night time raid that killed two civilians in the area, Press TV reports.

The protesters staged a rally on Wednesday and strongly condemned the civilian casualties sustained during the deadly NATO airstrike. They also chanted anti-US slogans.

Meanwhile, the Kabul-Kandahar Highway was blocked for hours by protesting local residents.

President Hamid Karzai said on December 24 that Afghanistan will not sign a strategic partnership deal with the United States until NATO night raids and house searches stop.

Karzai said that “arbitrary operations and house searches by NATO have become a serious problem between Afghanistan and NATO forces and that this has been one of the main obstacles on signing the strategic partnership deal with the United States.”

The loss of civilian lives at the hand of foreign forces has dramatically increased anti-American sentiments in Afghanistan.

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Moscow anarchists take to streets

THE ROLE of Russian anarchists in the recent anti-Putin protests in Moscow has been outlined in an article on libcom.org

Despite being picked out for attention by Putin's police, they managed to form a vocal and effective block on December 24 as an estimated crowd of 120,000 protested against corruption and vote-rigging.

Almost all the speakers at a makeshift assembly were unanimous that the official 'opposition',  who consider themselves the ideologues of the protest movement, just want to get into power and do not intend to defend the interests of ordinary people.

It was unlikely that any number of peaceful meetings would lead to radical changes. People could only defend their rights by fighting against the state and capital, and building around libertarian ideas, insisted the anarchists.

The anarchists barracked 'opposition' oligarch Prokhorov when he took to the main podium, calling for  "the power of millions, not the millionaires".

After 16 hours, when some protesters began to disperse,  a column of anarchists and anti-fascists joined together with a group of feminists, LGBT activists and individual representatives of the organized left-wing organizations and moved closer to the stage.

The anarchists chanted slogans such as "Freedom, equality, anarcho-communism," "Higher, higher, black flag, the state is the chief enemy," "Fascism shall not pass!", "Our country - all of humanity!", "All politics - crooks and thieves," "Our candidate - self-government", "Down with fascism and capitalism" and "The path to freedom is revolution!".

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New Year's Eve march on prisons

A GLOBAL call-out has been issued for New Year's Eve solidarity demos outside prisons, as opposition to neoliberal rule is increasingly criminalised.

One protest is being held in London, with people set to gather at 11pm on Saturday December 31 outside the Roxy and march on Brixton Prison.

Said a statement on the Act for Free site: "Over the past year, we have seen prison population soar to record highs.

"The british government with its neo-liberal, proto-fascist agenda sees no problem with criminalising and incarcerating thousands of people, especially youth, all across the country.

"After the August uprising, during which our youth showed the authorities just a taste of how much they were willing to fight back, we have seen a brutal crackdown by pigs on anyone suspected of even minor offenses. Dawn raids, CCTV manhunts and riot police patrolling our streets have seemed to have become the norm.

"With 2012 starting in a few days we should look to the future and think about about the forthcoming olympic$. The police and the army will be working to ensure the smooth running of the gam€s. It is important we remember the every day repression it will bring as well as its lasting legacy of increased militarism of police, intrusion of survelliance and generally increased police powers. We cannot let this become normal.

"We invite you to come celebrate new year with us in solidarity with all those currently in prison for resisting. We will not let the prison system break their spirits and our passion for their freedom WILL be heard.

"SOLIDARITY WITH FRIENDS, RIOTERS AND ALL THOSE IN PRISON.
FIRE TO ALL PRISONS.
RIOT ON, RIOT NOW."

A year ago, prisoners torched Ford Prison in Sussex, England, when warders tried to break up a New Year's Eve party.

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2012 in rap - we're in for a massive year

AN ENTERTAINING and politically astute look at the year ahead is proving a big hit on the internet.

RAP NEWS episode 10 from http://thejuicemedia.com combines references to the Mayan prophecy of the end of the world with a look at the growing global insurrection.

As host Robert Foster says: "If 2011 was a prelude, a portent of things to come, then it's dramatically clear we're in for a massive year."

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Troops attack Life March in Yemen

REVOLUTIONARIES in Yemen have arrived in the capital after an astonishing five-day 264km Life March - only to be attacked by pro-regime forces.

There are early reports of at least 13 protesters dead and dozens more injured as troops opened fire on the Gandhi-style mass peaceful protest.

Yemenis expressed outrage of the lack of global media coverage of their uprising against the US-backed Saleh regime.

US Ambassador to Yemen , Gerald Feierstein, has even been reported as saying the march was not peaceful and that it was legitimate for the regime to kills marchers.

Reports Global Voices: "Yemen's revolutionaries are not deterred nor did they give up on their demands despite the signing of the strongly rejected Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative proposed in April and finally signed by President Saleh on November 23, 2011, providing a so-called mechanism for him to 'relinquish' power.

"They went out on a 264 km march on foot from the city of Taiz in the south to the capital Sanaa in the north to send a message to the world, the United Nations, United States, the GCC and Saleh that they reject the newly formed unity government and are determined to demand that Saleh, who was granted immunity from prosecution for his involvement in an 11-month crackdown on protesters demanding democracy, gets punished for his crimes."

Here are some of the comments on Twitter today

#LifeMarch was made by heros, and attacked by cowards.

#Yemen never witnessed such a day before, and I guess will never witness it again ... #Lifemarch

Live celebration on Suhail TV @ Change Square for the heroes of the #LifeMarch who arrived in Sanaa after 5 days of barefoot walking. #yemen

An uprecedented all day today & night celebrations welcoming the heroes of the #LifeMarch. #Sanaa hasn't been happier Support the #NewYemen

Revolution is Reborn. #Yemen is Reborn. #Taiz #LifeMarch, shines and people just sink in joy.


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Was USA behind Baghdad terror attacks?

 
WAS the USA behind this week's terrorist outrages in Baghdad?

That's the question now being asked by many people in Iraq, while the western media paints a picture of a sectarian civil war erupting after the pseudo-departure of American forces.

Sami Ramadani writes in The Guardian that divide-and-rule tactics remain the only viable weapon the Americans have to control or influence the Iraqi political scene.

He says: "In the rush to provide an explanation for the nihilistic violence, the same old simplistic mantra is trotted out.

"Thursday's co-ordinated, simultaneous attacks are invariably described by the media as sectarian. Few pause to ask why a 'sectarian' attack would be aimed at all sects and ethnicities equally.

"Only a handful raise the possibility that these attacks are not sectarian in motive, or a reflection of sectarian hatred on the streets, but are instead designed to create sectarian entrenchment and animosity, and ignite street conflict.

"Similarly, analysts are quick to conclude that both the power struggle within the political elite, and the explosions are the result of the withdrawal of US troops. They portray the US forces as the good Samaritan who prematurely left the scene.

"Too few examine the legacy of the occupiers' poisonous presence at the heart of Iraqi society for nearly nine years, or ask why the US has built the biggest embassy in the world in Baghdad, staffed by 15,000 personnel and spies."
 
Adds Ramadani, a political refugee from Saddam's regime: "Such is the anger at the occupation that many Iraqis think the US was behind Thursday's attack. This belief is dismissed as conspiratorial, but it is widely held.

"There is a reason for this. Apart from the horrific violence committed directly by the occupation forces and Pentagon-contracted mercenaries, the US also created Iraqi secret militia, and smuggled tens of thousands of weapons and tons of explosives into Iraq through private firms in Bosnia.

"[Paul] Bremer was unable to tell a congressional committee how he spent an unaccounted-for $8.8bn dollars, but many Iraqis suspect that it was used to fund violent sectarian forces.

"Indiscriminate killings and terrorist attacks were a permanent feature of the US-led occupation, and to many ordinary Iraqis, Thursday's bloodshed is just more of the same. "

Meanwhile, some anti-imperialists also see the hand of the USA behind this week's terrorist attack in Damascus in which 55 people died.

'These kids are absolutely fucked'

.

A NEW video on the street revolt in Greece has been published on Vimeo by Ross Domoney.

On December 6th 2008 a police shooting of a 16 year old innocent boy in Athens started a two-week revolt in cities around Greece.

The film, featured on the From the Greek Streets blog, explains how anger at his death was combined with the frustration of a new generation for whom the future is bleak.  "These kids are absolutely fucked."

Three years on people march in remembrance of Alexis Grigoropoulos. Greece now is very much in social and economic turmoil, with all parts of the community sharing the rage of the youth.

The streets look like a war zone as petrol bombs and rocks are hurled at the hated riot cops - often far right extremists in state uniforms. 

Where will it all end? Nobody can know.

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Video - Chinese eco-protesters block major road

CHINESE protesters against a coal-powered power station have blocked a main road and defied riot police.

Reuters reports that the situation seems to have escalated, with residents smashing cars and hurling bricks even though officials sought to calm tempers by suspending the unpopular plan.

Angry crowds smashed and overturned police cars and riot police fired teargas in Haimen town in Shantou city on Wednesday, the second day of the unrest, Hong Kong newspapers reported.

Residents of Haimen, furious with plans to build a coal-fired power plant, took to the streets , surrounding a government building and blocking an expressway.

Officials agreed to suspend the project this week, but residents refused to back down, demanding the plan be scrapped.

Outside a large and closed petrol station near a highway into Haimen, about 100 men on motorbikes watched a wall of riot police armed with batons and shields, blocking the highway.

"What place in the world builds two power plants within one kilometre?" said one of the Haimen residents, who was surnamed Cai, as he watched the riot police.

"The factories are hazardous to our health. Our fish are dying and there are so many people who've got cancer , " he added.

"We thought of protesting outside the government office but we know none of them has listened to us. So we had no choice but to block the highway. The police beat up so many of the protesters in the past two days."

At one point, Haimen residents screamed and surged forward when a riot policeman, waving his baton in the air, charged towards a man on a motorcycle who had been riding towards the police blockade on the highway.

State news agency Xinhua said several hundred people had protested on a highway on Wednesday. According to Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper, more than 1,000 residents gathered at a toll gate to confront hundreds of riot police.

Witnesses said police fired four rounds of teargas and beat up protesters, who do not want another power plant when existing power facilities there were already polluting air and seawater and had greatly reduced their catch at sea, the report added.

At least three protesters were hit and arrested.

Adds Reuters: "People in China are increasingly unwilling to accept the relentless speed of urbanisation and industrialisation and the impact on the environment and health.

"Protests are also often held over corruption, wages and land seizures, that officials justify in the name of development.

"Residents of Wukan village, also in Guangdong, agreed to end a 10-day standoff with authorities over a land dispute on Wednesday."

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Protesters drive tank to seize courts

OCCUPY protesters, including former soldiers, drove a tank to seize disused law courts in the centre of London.

And they say they will use the building to put on trial the 1% who have stolen everything from the rest of the world's population.

A spokesman told the media: "We are targeting the people we feel have been let off or not been brought to justice - it could be bankers, politicians or companies.

"These are not mock trials. These are trials with qualified solicitors. It’s not about staging anything. The accused will be invited to attend."

Said a statement on the Occupy London website: "As Occupy London Stock Exchange occupation prepares to present its case at the High Court today, Occupy London supporters have liberated a disused court house – Old Street Magistrate’s Court – in London‘s East End alongside a group of military veterans, Occupy Veterans.

"The opening of Occupy London’s fourth occupation, will see the movement conducting 'trials of the one per cent' in the abandoned magistrate’s court building which has lain empty since 1996, despite its prime location and grade II listing.

"More information about this abandoned magistrate’s court can be found at http://www.mpa.gov.uk/committees/mpa/2005/050224/10/.

"To the one per cent – see you soon at Occupy Justice, formerly Old Street Magistrate’s Court, Old Street London EC1."

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Tuesday - dawn raid on Tahrir Square

EGYPTIAN police and soldiers fired weapons and used batons and teargas for a fifth day on Tuesday in the latest security operation to clear Cairo's central Tahrir Square of opponents of army rule.

The sound of heavy gunfire rang out across the square as armed security forces charged hundreds of protesters attempting to hold their ground, activists and a Reuters witness said.

"Hundreds of state security forces and the army entered the square and began firing heavily. They chased protesters and burned anything in their way, including medical supplies and blankets," protester Ismail said by telephone.

Before the latest security charge, protesters had been trying to tear down a brick wall the army had put up to block access to parliament, which is located beside the square.

A security source told Reuters some protesters wanted to remove the wall in order to reach parliament and destroy it.

Medical sources have said 13 people have been killed since Friday, but the protesters say the latest attack produced more casualties. "Some of those who fell had gunshot wounds to the legs," Ismail said.

Hundreds more were wounded and scores have been detained in attempts to disperse protests in and around Tahrir Square, hub of the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February.

Anger has been inflamed by brutal attacks on protesters at the weekend, including one on a young woman whose clothes were partly torn off, captured on video for the world to see.

Meanwhile, in an interview with the BBC, Robin Wright, a senior fellow at the US Institute of Peace, said the SCAF regime was now effectively a military junta preventing the country from moving forward and the protests were taking on the form of a real revolution.

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15 dead as Kazakh workers fight cops

AT LEAST 15 people have been killed and 70 injured as Kazakh police opened on unarmed rebel oil workers and their supporters in the west of the country.

The uprising is now being further fuelled by anger at the brutal methods deployed by the state to attack the demonstrations calling for higher wages.

Reports the New York Times: "On Saturday, several hundred protesters blocked railroad tracks in Shetpe, a town north of Zhanaozen, to protest the treatment of the other activists. The police opened fire, killing one person and wounding about a dozen more.

"Kazakh authorities said that the police had made protracted efforts to persuade the protesters to withdraw from the railroad tracks but that '50 hooligans' refused to do so.

"Only after a crowd pelted the police with stones and Molotov cocktails and set a locomotive and the municipal Christmas tree on fire did the police begin to fire in the air and at demonstrators’ legs, the prosecutor’s office said. Five police officers were injured, the statement said.

"An Associated Press reporter who arrived in Shetpe on Sunday said the town was flooded with police officers, some of whom tried to restrict the movement of visiting journalists.

"Another group of oil workers held a protest on Sunday in front of the municipal administration building of Aktau, the regional capital, unfurling a long banner that read 'Do not shoot at your people'.”

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2012 London Olympics - the enemy of democracy

THE 2012 London Olympics are the enemy of democracy and anarchists must protest against them, despite draconian threats from the state.

That's the forceful message from a new post on the Rebel Cleaners blog.

It says: "While company directors, corrupt politicians and bankers are comfortably seated together to supervise and reap profits from the labour of others (how capitalist!) we'll still be on the streets showing that we're strong, we're angry and that these bastards are losing their control over us.

"Now, there is something that our rulers absolutely do not want broadcasting around the world. There'll be no shortage of cameras about, as pretty much every news agency in the world will be operating here in Britain this summer.

"It's not hard to see why the rich are so worried. Protests, direct action, strikes and the like are set to undo every bit of material gain they're hoping to raid from the Olympic Games.

"How can the rich push the sponsors if the TV cameras are showing pictures of people angry at those exact same sorts of mega-corporations?

"How can the rich get their billionaire buddies to travel to Britain to spend their cash in London's fancy hotels and restaurants, if these places are under threat of being attacked by black bloc tactics?

"How can the British government continue to dictate to Greece and other countries through the IMF and EU about their economic policies when the people riot against British economic policy?

"How can foreign policy be enforced when TV screens from Hong Kong to Houston are showing pictures of people critical to these policies?

"The answer is, they can't. So, prepare to kiss your fantasy of legitimate protest goodbye."

The blog lists various measures being taken by the British state to ensure that the corporate, not people's, voices are heard this summer:

• Protests near to the Olympic sites are to be banned. We've already seen bans on protests enforced in parts of London, under the façade of anti-fascism. It's also looking like the legislation is being expanded to include new powers to the police to attack protesters wherever they may be, with encampments such as that at St Paul's or Parliament Square targeted in particular..
• Display, production, or even possession of posters, leaflets,  which critises the government, Olympics, or sponsors has been criminalised. Just printing this article authorises the police to break in, seize your computer, search your home and arrest you for it. Sorry about that.
• 13,500 soldiers to be deployed to "maintain order", including drones, the Royal navy's biggest aircraft carrier, a dozen Eurofighter Typhoons and several attack helicopters mounting tank killing missiles. Oh and a cute jingoistic Nuremberg Rally style military parade too.
• Total control of the media. Reporters or networks that report anything that does not fit into the corporate plan, are threatened with being shut down and having their license (yes, license) to write, or broadcast, what's going on, revoked.
• The push to further militarise the police, by giving them new powers to disperse protest quicker and new weapons such as tasers, water cannons, rubber bullets and chemical warfare agents.

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Tahrir video sparks outrage

THIS astonishing video has appeared online showing the horrific extent of the Egyptian army's attack on Tahrir Square.

No comment is necessary.

Unsurprisingly, outraged Egyptians have been back on the streets today.

Reports AFP: "Clashes between Egyptian troops and protesters rocked central Cairo Sunday in a third straight day of violence that has left 10 people dead and damaged a world-famous historic library.

"Some 500 people have also been wounded in the street battles outside parliament and the government's offices where protesters have been demanding an end to military rule.

"The clashes erupted Friday overshadowing the count from the second phase of the first parliamentary elections since president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February.

"Demonstrators hurled stones and pieces of metal over a concrete wall erected by troops on a wide avenue leading from Tahrir Square to the seat of government, AFP journalists reported.

"Outrage flared on Sunday as furious protesters brandished the frontpage of a local paper showing military police clubbing a veiled woman after having ripped her clothes to reveal her bra.

"In the picture and YouTube footage of the incident, the woman is sprawled on the ground, helmeted troops towering over her, one is seen kicking her, and later she appears unconscious, her stomach bared and her bra showing.

"Other pictures circulating on social media networks that have enraged protesters include one of a military policeman looming over a sobbing elderly lady with his truncheon."

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Police cars torched in Finland

FINNISH anti-capitalists torched two police cars in the capital, Helsinki, on Friday night

A statement at http://takku.net says that as the world economy falters the power elite is holding on to capitalism by tooth and nail, even though around them, their house of cards is wavering.

It adds: "The police are a model example of obedience. The decisions are made high up in the hierarchy and the people who execute these commands can not and will not put them into question.

"Bureaucracy will always prove too slow and rigid for life that is characterized by being fast-paced and ever-moving.

"On the night of Friday the 16th of December 2011, we burned two police cars in the backyard of a Volkswagen-dealership in the Herttoniemi district in Helsinki. We torched both cars by lighting and placing a handful of lighting briquettes on the front wheels and then fled the scene.

"According to their communiqués the police have apprehended people in the vicinity of the dealership on the same night. It is not unheard of that the police bungle arrests without any evidence.

"We claim responsibility for the arson of these cars and wish to say, that no arrests will resolve this situation. Solidarity with all who are imprisoned!"

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Videos - brutal Egyptian army attacks Tahrir Square

THE stormtroopers of the global neoliberal order today moved into Tahrir Square, the cradle of the international pro-democracy uprising.

Protesters were shot in the streets and brutally beaten, while tents were smashed up and set on fire as the supposed friends of the Egyptian revolution showed themselves for what they always were.

Unbelievably, the attack took place during the call to prayer, as can be heard on the video footage.

Posts on the #tahrir hashtag on Twitter tell of "atrocities everywhere".

"We can't allow this to continue, it's so very wrong," says one comment.

Pleas another: "We need people...battle at kasr al ainy".

"No difference btw Israeli army attacking Palestinians who throw rocks and the Egyptian army attacking its own people," someone else points out. 

Another reveals: "Doctors are hiding severely wounded patients in the bathrooms so police and army won't find them."
 
One video shows soldiers attacking a middle aged woman offering no resistance whatsoever.

Meanwhile, Kamal al-Ganzouri, prime minister under the SCAF regime, has had the barefaced audacity to describe the protests in Cairo as a "counter-revolution".

More updates later.
 


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Video - oil workers riot in Kazakhstan

 

OIL workers in the south of Kazakhstan have rioted and torched local government offices, an oil company building and a hotel.

Thousands of protesters demanding higher wages took to the streets in the town of Zhanaozen as the state was marking the 20th anniversary of its independence from the USSR on Friday, December 16.

Russian news agency ITAR-TASS said the protesters set fire to the offices of the town administration, the Ozenmuinagaz oil company and the nearby Hotel Aruana. The crowd also prevented firemen from attending the fires. The source said that, as of Friday afternoon, the police could not contain the unrest.

RT adds: "Later in the day Kazakhstan’s prosecutor general said that 10 people have died in the Zhanaozen unrest and many more wounded, including police officers. The official also confirmed that three buildings were burnt down, as well as several cars and a police bus. The crowd looted some ATMs, the prosecutor said."

"Russian-language blogs described the situation in Zhanaozen as much more dramatic, saying the police opened fire at protestors, killing 70 and wounding over 500 people. Bloggers also said that the authorities deployed 1,500 marines to the town in bid to suppress the riot."

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Libyans protest against new regime

PEOPLE in Libya are rising up against the regime foisted on them by foreign powers following the overthrowal of Gaddafi.

In the words of Twitter user Dima Khatib: "Revolutionary Friday is back in #Libya .. Yes #Feb17 is alive and  kickin till the people get what they fought for."

There are reports of tens of thousands of Libyans protesting in Benghazi and Tripoli accusing the National Transitional Council of "stealing the revolution."

The protesters demand transparency, accountability and payment of wages in a movement that connects democratic and economic demands.

Business Week says they feel the ruling National Transitional Council is being too secretive about its membership structure and finances.

“We sacrificed a lot in this war,” Salwa Bugaighis, a lawyer in Benghazi and a former member of the NTC before she resigned in August over a lack of transparency in its decision- making process, said in an interview.

“We want democracy.” Bugaighis said protesters set up a tented encampment today at Benghazi’s Maidan al-Shagera, or Tree Square, and will not leave until the NTC enacts new rules on transparency and releases the names and resumes of all its members.
 
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Chinese villagers rise up against authorities

CHINESE villagers have risen up in force, expelling corrupt local officials and taking on the police.

Reports The Daily Telegraph: "Trouble in Wukan has been brewing since September, after the village revolted at an attempt to take one of its last parcels of farmland and give it to a major Chinese property developer, Country Garden.

"However it was the death of 43-year-old Xue Jinbo, one of the village’s 13 temporary representatives, in police custody that pushed Wukan into its current fury, and saw the last of the village’s dozen Communist party officials flee. His family believe he was murdered.

"Wukan has been encircled by a police cordon since Sunday, after an attempt by 1,000 armed officers failed to retake the town. No food or water is allowed in, and no villagers are allowed out."

Adds The Financial Times: "Thousands of people from a southern Chinese village protested on Wednesday against the death in police custody of a popular local leader following a standoff over land acquisition and allegations of corruption.

"Xue Jinbo, 43, is believed to have died on the night of December 10. His family saw his body the following evening and reported that it showed signs of bruising – enraging Wukan village in Guangdong province. Local authorities say he died of cardiac arrest.

"Police have responded to the demonstration by blockading the village, residents said, and the term 'Wukan' was blocked on Chinese microblogging sites.

"For the provincial government of Guangdong, which as China’s most industrialised province has faced several protests by workers recently, bringing Wukan under control is proving particularly difficult. Villagers have been demanding the removal and punishment of local officials they claim were involved in a corrupt land deal."

“The police have blocked all the main roads now. We have to go the farthest way round via back roads when we get in and out,” a villager named Zhang told the Financial Times. “Even the rice store is running out. They cut off internet access last night and warned they would cut our electricity today. They haven’t yet.”

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EDL exposed as puppets of the 1%

THE true nature and purpose of the English Defence League is gradually emerging, as the far right street movement struggles to maintain any momentum.

It originally claimed to be virtually apolitical, with the sole aim of countering what it described as the threat of 'Islamic extremism' in the UK.

However, it has recently shown its true colours by vehement animosity towards trade unionists and threats to attack Occupy activists in various cities.

A further dent to its phoney 'working class' credentials has now been made by an investigative report in The Sunday Times exposing some of the wealthy individuals running the show behind the scenes.

These include property tycoon Ann Marchini, from upmarket Highgate in north London, and  Alan Ayling, a former director of an investment fund.

Ayling, pictured above, uses the pseudonym Alan Lake in EDL circles.

It is rather convenient that at a time when opposition to neoliberal rule is on the rise, and the state is sensitive to the possible knock-on effects of overt police violence against dissidents, a ready-made Freikorps-style army is available to do the 1%'s dirty work on the streets.  

There still remains much more to be exposed about the EDL and its murky role in contemporary British politics.

Protests succeed in disrupting US ports

OCCUPY protesters in the USA succeeded in causing serious disruption to West Coast ports on Monday.

Reports RT: "From the blocked port of Oakland to the shipping hub of Seattle, thousands of disenchanted activists have taken to the streets in defiance of a police crackdown.

­"Seattle police have reportedly used flash bang percussion grenades to disperse the protesters who blocked the entrance to the Port of Seattle facilities. Police said multiple people had been arrested, but did not specify exact figures.

"Occupy Seattle protesters were seen holding banners reading Made in China, clearly highlighting the problem of American jobs being outsourced to China.

"Those protests appear to be a part of the nationwide effort to block West Coast port traffic, when thousands took on ports from California to Alaska to disrupt, they claim, the economic machine that benefits the wealthiest individuals and corporations.

"Protesters say they are targeting corporate greed and the government’s complicity and by maintaining their activity, they are keeping the message of the Occupy movement alive.

"According to protesters, among other things they are targeting profits of Goldman Sachs, which owns half of one of the world’s largest transportation and shipping outfits. Therefore, for the movement this is the way of  'getting back at' one of the major banks which had contributed to the financial crisis.

"In New York City, protesters took their message to Goldman Sachs directly. They marched in solidarity with their fellow campaigners from the West Coast to the bank’s Low Manhattan’s headquarters. Almost two dozen of them were arrested."

"In Houston, Texas, some 20 people got arrested in similar solidarity protests.

"While US authorities seem to be quite successful in cracking down on peaceful protesters, with more than 5,000 having been arrested in the course of the past three months, none of those arrests even make it to the headlines in major US media anymore.

"Occupy protesters marched on Monday morning on ports in San Diego, Oakland and Los Angeles in California, Portland in Oregon, Seattle and Tacoma in Washington, as well as Anchorage in Alaska, eventually succeeding in disrupting the work of these major ports on the West Coast. The port of Oakland, for example, was almost completely shut down, while in Portland and LA they effectively blocked trucks from approaching the ports."

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Journalist condemns big lie of neoliberal 'democracy'

 
A LEADING British journalist has spoken out about the big lie of 'democracy' in the neoliberal world.

In an article entitled Bankers Are the Dictators of the West, Robert Fisk of The Independent compares the Arab uprisings with the wave of Occupy protests.

He notes: "The protest movements are indeed against Big Business – a perfectly justified cause – and against 'governments'.

"What they have really divined, however, albeit a bit late in the day, is that they have for decades bought into a fraudulent democracy: they dutifully vote for political parties – which then hand their democratic mandate and people's power to the banks and the derivative traders and the rating agencies, all three backed up by the slovenly and dishonest coterie of 'experts' from America's top universities and 'think tanks', who maintain the fiction that this is a crisis of globalisation rather than a massive financial con trick foisted on the voters.

"The banks and the rating agencies have become the dictators of the West. Like the Mubaraks and Ben Alis, the banks believed – and still believe – they are owners of their countries.

"The elections which give them power have – through the gutlessness and collusion of governments – become as false as the polls to which the Arabs were forced to troop decade after decade to anoint their own national property owners.

"Goldman Sachs and the Royal Bank of Scotland became the Mubaraks and Ben Alis of the US and the UK, each gobbling up the people's wealth in bogus rewards and bonuses for their vicious bosses on a scale infinitely more rapacious than their greedy Arab dictator-brothers could imagine."

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Occupy activists aim to shut down US ports

 
A BID to block the West Coast ports of the USA is being launched by Occupy activists on Monday December 12.

Says the West Coast Ports Blockade site: "The ports play a pivotal role in the flow and growth of capital for the 1% in this country and internationally.  

"For that reason alone it is the ideal place to disrupt their profit machine. The workers on these ports have always understood that; they have consistently staged shutdowns for political reasons, honored community picket lines, and led the labor movement.  

"A general disruption of commerce, in protest of the nationally coordinated attacks on Occupy movements alone is warranted, but additionally, the specifically targeted attacks on workers at these ports by the 1% further necessitate this call to action."

Adds the Occupy Los Angeles site: "As part of the Dec. 12 Boycott and March for legalization and good jobs, the Occupy movement will protest at one or more facilities belonging to SSA Marine, a shipper owned by Goldman Sachs, with 5 terminals and a warehouse in the Harbor area.   

"SSA Marine was recently fined for building an illegal road to the site of its massive, dirty coal terminal project in WA. It was also caught recently not alerting workers to the threat of explosive cargo in Oakland. 

"SSA/Goldman Sachs symbolize the ruin that corporate greed has brought into our lives. The 1% are depriving port truck drivers and other workers of decent pay, working conditions and the right to organize, even while the port of LA/LB is the largest in the US and a huge engine of profits for the 1%. 

"The 1% have pursued a conscious policy of de-industrialization that has resulted in 'trade' at the port meaning that there are 7 containers coming in for every one going out. The 1% have driven migrant workers into a 'grey market' economy and repression. 

"The 1% use police brutality and repression, jails and prisons to suppress, divide and try to silence the 99% and all who oppose their insatiable greed. To put an end to all that, we call on the 99% to march, boycott, occupy the ports, and STRIKE." 

For latest news, the Twitter hashtag is #occupytheports 

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'Corrupt civilization must be destroyed'

 
A CALL for the complete destruction of our valueless and corrupt capitalist civilization has been issued by anarchist blogger Paul Cudenec.

Entitled 'We Anarchangels of Creative Destruction', his article draws on a number of unusual sources, such as the French traditionalist philosopher Rene Guenon.

Cudenec writes: "How many Anarchangels does it take to bring down a civilisation?

 

"More than we are now, that is for sure. But we will swell in size and strength as others flow into our stream and turn it into a mighty river.

 

"Don’t forget that it rains all the time. Life-moisture expended and drawn up into the ether is formed again and joins us here on Earth.

 

"Regeneration means new generations and these are born to play their part in the ending of an age.

 

"The death-power is strong and could not be defeated by the energy of risings past.

 

"But each time we come back stronger and in greater numbers. Each time we know less fear and we understand more fully just how far we have to go.

 

"This will happen again and again until we have won.

 

"Sin miedo. Nothing can stop us."

 

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Russian anarchists torch police car and call for uprising

RUSSIAN anarchists have torched a police car and called for a radical uprising against the regime.

Says a statement from the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Russian Cell, FAI/IRF, posted on the 325 website on Friday "After December the 4th (election day in Russia), when the Russian state deployed numerous police and military forces in Moscow and common people took to the streets to shout 'Enough is enough' in the face of cops and corrupt bureaucrats in all major Russian cities, anarchists were engaged in assembly work, organizing and propaganda.

"Last week saw several clashes of common people with police (anarchists took part in those fights): 1 & 2

"This 'popular dissent' is expressed not only in Moscow, but in St. Petersburgh, Nizhnii Novgorod, Tyumen and other big cities.

"System opposition called for a mass rally on December the 10th. Them and the authoritarian lefties try to come on top in this situation and direct the malcontent towards liberal reformism and pacifist practices.

"Tomorrow will be the day we’ve been fighting hard to see coming. Tomorrow is the day that the Russian regime anticipates with fear.

"Being not the least among those who helped build-up the situation, we continue to push for a more radical character of popular uprising.

"On 09/12/2011 we torched a police car. Solidarity with all active insurgents, solidarity to all revolutionary anarchists in prisons!

"Push for anarchist revolution!"

Occupy Red Square!

Live streaming of protest in Russia can be seen at http://www.ridus.ru/

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UK rioters speak out - video

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Occupy movement reclaims homes from banks

OCCUPY activists in the USA have moved forward into a new terrain of social war by reclaiming repossessed homes for families.

Announced the Occupy Our Homes site on Wednesday: "A housing system that only serves Wall Street banks and the 1% hasn’t worked. Yesterday the 99% stepped up and said, 'We are reclaiming our homes.' The banks have heard this message loud and clear.

"From Southgate, Michigan to South Gate, California, from East New York to the steps of the Fulton County Courthouse in Georgia, members of the 99% took action to Occupy Homes.

"The banks noticed - Bank of America warned their employees nationwide about the 99% standing up for their homes. Banks came to the negotiating table with home occupiers in West Oakland, Seattle, and San Jose. Foreclosure auctions were blocked in Georgia and California, stopping the sale of dozens of homes.

"The media noticed - major programs like Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz, and Keith Olbermann highlighted stories from Occupy Our Homes, along with hundreds of other outlets.

"And perhaps most importantly of all, homeowners and people fighting for housing around the country noticed. Local communities and 99% movement participants have committed to escalating this movement to Occupy Homes because everyone deserves a home — and to stop the bailed-out and fraudulent big banks that are stealing our homes.

"The movement to Occupy Our Homes got this kind of attention by taking action for forty homes and 5,000 activists. Imagine how the country will respond if we occupy 1,000 homes and 200,000 people taking action.

"Please keep taking action, keep occupying and bringing the fight for our homes and our neighborhoods to the banks."

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Youths attack police station in Greek suburb

A GROUP of youths in a suburb of Athens staged a remarkable attack on their local police station on Tuesday.

Reports Contra Info: "As part of the anti-repression commemorations, across Greece and in other parts of the world, for the three years since the assassination of Alexis Grigoropoulos and the December ’08 uprising, a morning rally was held today, December 6th, 2011, in the northern suburb of Halandri, organized mainly by high school students.

"More than 150 people (mostly youths) attended the protest march. The demo started from the square of Aghios Nikolaos and moved on to the police station which was guarded at the time by at least one squad of YMET forces (in blue uniforms).

"Youths attacked the police station throwing stones, reaching its entrance and forcing the cops to retreat and hide inside the building.

"During this direct action which lasted nearly five minutes, the facade was shattered and a police shield was taken as a trophy. The cops used fire extinguishers and shock grenades to disperse the rioters.

"The protesters took to the streets again and continued their march, attacking a luxury car parked nearby, but also smashing shop windows and destroying several bank surveillance cameras along their way. The anti-repression demo ended without any report of arrests."

The video below shows scenes in the centre of Athens on Tuesday.

 

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Russians revolt against corrupt regime - video

THOUSANDS of angry Russians have taken to the streets in Moscow and St Petersburg in protest at the corrupt Putin regime.

The ruling United Russia party won less than half the votes in this week's elections - and there are claims that even this was only achieved with the help of vote-fiddling.

Protesters in Moscow tried to march on the Central Elections Commission near the Kremlin, but were stopped by riot police and taken away in buses.

The photo below shows anarchists burning flares while protesting in the Russian capital with a banner declaring: "You were cheated!".

As one newspaper report says: "Many voters, fed up with widespread corruption, refer to United Russia as the party of swindlers and thieves and resent the huge gap between the rich and poor."

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'Riot will always be the best day of my life'

"I WAS actually doing it. I felt alive, there's no word to explain it. It was like that first day it happened will always be the best day of my life for ever."

This is just one of the comments from English rioters recorded in a new study by the Guardian and the London School of Economics.

Says the paper: "Hundreds of interviews with people who took part in the disturbances which spread across England in August revealed deep-seated and sometimes visceral antipathy towards police."

The findings cut through all the propaganda about criminals and gangs to reveal the obvious truth about the uprisings - they were directed at the police and everything they represent.

And the authorities will be scared witless to hear that thousands of the rioters are up for doing it all again - soon!

Reports The Guardian: "An overwhelming majority of people interviewed about their involvement in this summer's riots believe they will be repeated and one in three said they would take part in any future disorder, a study by the Guardian and the London School of Economics shows.

"Of the 270 questioned in the Reading the Riots study, 81% said they believed the disturbances that spread across England in August 'would happen again'. Two-thirds predicted there would be more riots before the end of 2014.

"Despite more than 4,000 riot-related arrests, and harsher than average sentences in the courts, many of those interviewed said they did not regret their actions."

 Some other comments: 

"For the record: yeah, I do hate the fucking police ... I was caught up in the situation. And it was like: let's cause fucking chaos – let's cause a riot."

"I think the looting came about because it was linked to police. We're showing them that, yeah, we're bigger than the police, we are actually bigger than the police. Fair enough, we are breaking the law and everything, but there's more of us than there are of you. So if we want to do this, we can do this. And you won't do anything to stop us."

"I just see bottles flying. I've never seen police so scared before – it was like they had no control whatsoever. Like even the police cars, the police vans, they was just throwing rocks at them."

"It felt good, that police car – it felt really good [she torched it]. Especially when my friend took the radio and started saying all this hullabaloo over the radio and confusing them and all that. It was fair for us to do that."

"Never thought it would turn out to be throughout the country. I never knew it was going to escalate, all the way up to Croydon, Liverpool – I never knew it would go all over the place. When I seen some of it on TV, I thought: 'Go on you fuckers, keep going – fucking riot away'."

‘It felt like I was part of a revolution, showing these stupid police that, you know, they’re not invincible’ 

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Motorised demo in Athens - video

 
A MOTORISED demonstration has been staged in Greece in support of striking factory workers.

From the Greek Streets reports that 400 workers from the Halivourgiki steel factory have been on strike for more than a month, after their bosses announced that some would be sacked and the rest face reduced wages.

On Saturday December 3  a solidarity demo was called, people gathered in various squares around Athens, informed the local residents about the strike and collected money, food and other goods for the strikers.

Then they formed a solidarity motor-demonstration and went to the factory in Aspropyrgos and joined the picket lines en masse, blocking entry.

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Zapatista flag flies on Mexican embassy in London

ZAPATISTA supporters staged an impressive gesture of support for the Mexican rebel movement on Saturday on a weekend of defiance against oppression.

Says a  report on Indymedia: "A solidarity demo in Embassy Quarter, London, began dramatically with the imperialist tri-colour being removed from the Mexican embassy, set on fire, and replaced with the Zapatista red star.

"Protesters then moved through London streets with music and a banner, handing out flyers raising awareness about the situation in Chiapas.

"Public engagement was good and lots of people stopped to talk and discuss the issues.

"This was part of the weekend of actions and demos worldwide.

"Solidarity to the indigenous people of Mexico!"

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Indian protesters block trains and torch police cars - dramatic video

THOUSANDS  of survivors of the world’s worst industrial accident blocked trains through a central Indian city on Saturday to demand more compensation.

The protest came on the 27th anniversary of the disaster in Bhopal, where a Union Carbide pesticide plant leaked lethal gas that killed an estimated 15,000 people and maimed tens of thousands more.

Associated Press reports that Bhopal activists and survivors also are calling for Dow to be dropped as a sponsor of the 2012 London Olympics. On Friday, about 200 protesters had marched to the now-abandoned plant and burned effigies of  Olympic officials, including Lord Coe.

Activist Rachna Dhingra said police charged Saturday's protesters with sticks in trying to stop them from occupying Bhopal’s five train lines. The protesters, most of them women sitting on the tracks, threw stones at the officers and set four police jeeps and several motorcycles on fire.

Several people, including a police superintendent, were injured in the stone pelting, police said. Eight women were detained, activists said.

Trains were backed up and halted on most lines through much of Saturday, including the route between Delhi and the southern city of Chennai.

The five Bhopal victims’ rights groups that organized the protest demanded that Dow Chemicals, which bought Union Carbide in 2001, pay $8.1 billion in compensation for more than 500,000 people exposed to the leak.

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Video - London cop punches protester

VIDEO footage has emerged of a policeman punching a protester during the November 30 protests in London.

The incident happened at Haymarket in central London at about 6.15pm.

Says one commenter on YouTube: "I was in Haymarket and saw police behaving badly. I was NOT involved in demonstrations, an innocent bystander visiting London with my 81 year old mother.

"Watching from behind police line, a police officer lashed out at me, screamed obscenities at me.

"I spoke to the same Superintendant shown in the video, who agreed that this sort of behaviour did not give a good impression, but didn't take my complaint seriously, walked away smirking. Brutal, violent, stupid behaviour by public servants."

Another adds: "Did you notice that as soon as the victim started shouting 'what's your number' a fellow officer placed his hand on the offending officer's shoulder in an attempt to obstruct the officer's number whilst making it look like he was merely 'helping' the police push forward.... very sneaky."

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Zapatistas declare weekend of defiance

ZAPATISTA rebels in Mexico have called for a weekend of solidarity against a wave of violent political repression directed at them and the National Indigenous Congress (CNI).

And one demonstration has been called at the Mexican Embassy in London (16 St. George Street  Lon W1S 1FD) at 2pm on Saturday Dec 3.

The revolutionaries have been occupying areas of Chiapas non-stop since 1994 in their fight against neoliberalism and have come under regular attack from the state.

Says the statement: "We call on everyone to mobilize on the 3rd and 4th of December, so that, according to our own ways of doing things, we can all perform activities in our own places to show our solidarity with the organizations and individuals who are part of the Other Campaign in the country [Mexico] and who are, or have been, victims of government violence, and to demonstrate our opposition to the repression of the Mexican state which murders, kidnaps, and illegally detains social activists who are in opposition to its policies of dispossession, exploitation and death.

"The mobilization of our forces in the country will help free our prisoners, rescue our disappeared, identify the killers and impart justice.

"We fight against the impunity of a corrupt political regime which is unable to offer our people the solutions they require to live well and in peace.

"The struggle of the Zapatista compañer@s shows that there is another way, yes you can live well, with security and wellbeing.

"So they attack them, fear them, and try to destroy their schools and clinics, they do not want the example to spread.

"This is why the struggle to change things in this country requires our commitment, militant activism and solidarity with our Zapatista brothers and sisters, the CNI, the political prisoners and the disappeared.

"We call on everyone to take the public squares of our cities on the 3rd and 4th December and raise our voices to demand:

"STOP THE ATTACKS ON THE ZAPATISTA SUPPORT BASES".

In this video, Subcomandante Marcos talks about the role of the global neoliberal media in which, needless to say, the ongoing Zapatista struggle is barely mentioned.

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