REVOLUTION is in the air across Europe, as millions take to the streets and reject a future of slavery under global neoliberalism.
The transnational #14N day of strikes and actions saw huge numbers vent their anger against the capitalist system and its "austerity" agenda of privatisation and tyranny.
The panicked establishment - increasingly revealed as the same entity under different 'national' guises - has reacted with ever-more brutal attacks by its hired cop thugs.
The scenes in Portugal, as riot cops viciously cleared protesters from in front of the parliament in Lisbon, were particularly enlightening in this respect.
In Spain, hundreds were injured and rubber bullets fired at protesters - a sure sign that the authorities fear losing control.
This cowardly cop assault on a young girl in Tarragona has sparked widespread public outrage.
There were also attacks on sit-down protesters in Madrid.
This aerial shot shows the scale of the protest in Madrid.
And this one in Barcelona.
In Italy, there were also dramatic clashes between rebels and cops, such as this one in Milano.
When millions of citizens reject capitalism in this manner and the only response from governments is to have them physically attacked, the only way forward is revolution. The great uprising has begun!
ECO-PROTESTERS have halted the construction of a chemical factory in China with mass action against the global industrial machine.
Reports the BBC: "On Friday, crowds opposed to the expansion attacked police in the city of Ningbo in Zhejiang province.
"Officials from Ningbo's city government announced on Sunday evening that work on the project would now not go ahead.
"Environmental protests have become more common in China. They
come ahead of a once-in-a-decade change of national leaders in Beijing.
"Protesters gathered again in Ningbo on Sunday, marching on
the offices of the district government. They are opposed to the
expansion of the plant by a subsidiary of the China Petroleum and
Chemical Corporation."
"The huge growth in China's economy has come at a huge environmental cost. Many Chinese are becoming more environmentally aware and are deeply concerned about pollution, correspondents say."
The emergence and success of a powerful grassroots environmental
movement in the world's most populated state will surely act as a massive
inspiration for others across the world fighting the foul forces of greed and death.
THE spirit of resistance to neoliberalism is alive and kicking in London, despite the attempts of the British state to stamp out dissent.
More than 150,000 people marched through the capital on Saturday October 20 to protest against the punitive austerity measures being imposed on the population by the coalition government.
And, off the official route of the TUC-organised demo, angry protesters took to Oxford Street, storming several businesses and forcing others to close.
They were reacting both to the foul workfare scheme, which sees the unemployed served up by the state to big business as slave labour, and to the blatant injustice of those same capitalists being allowed to avoid paying taxes, while the people are bled dry and public services slashed.
The protest began at Oxford Circus at about 2.45pm, when a small group took the centre of the road junction and staged a brief sit-down protest.
It then set off down Regent Street as a wildcat march, quickly attracting hundreds of others, as well as a samba band, as it snaked back up to Oxford Street and headed west towards Marble Arch.
A whole stream of businesses, notably including Boots, Starbucks and McDonald's, were targeted by fast-moving breakaways from the march - on several occasions protesters managed to get inside before the shutters came down or police lines prevented them.
Oxford Street traffic was brought to a standstill and the protest left in its wake a string of closed businesses - police were still protecting the capitalist outlets when the protest later returned along the same route.
The British state clearly hoped that, by handing out punitive prison sentences not only to the 2011 rioters but also to non-violent protesters like boat-race swimmer Trenton Oldfield, it could crush the spirit of rebellion in a British public numbed into conformity by the media circus of the Jubilee and Olympics.
But the enthusiasm and energy of the "unauthorised" Oxford Street demo suggests it has failed in its repressive aim - the spirit on display bodes well for the resistance to the G8 meeting to be held in the UK in the summer of 2013.
THE JACKBOOT of plutofascism is coming down hard on the people of Greece, first European victims of the new post-democratic capitalist order.
Ahead of the visit by German chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday October 9, authorities took the unprecedented step of banning "all gatherings and protests in the wider centre of Athens plus the city’s airport and the main thoroughfares to it", reports From The Greek Streets.
The physical presence of Merkel in Greece is so unnecessary and provocative, that the event seems stage-managed as part of an attempt to finally break the opposition to the neoliberal rape of the country.
It is no coincidence that at the same time as the fascist measures were being announced, the head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers was warning Greece to speed up the economic measures being imposed on it by the global money system.
It is as if the elite want to send a message to the rest of Europe, and beyond - no matter how angry you get, no matter how hard you try to rise up against us, we have the physical means to keep you in your place.
Unfortunately for them, they have forgotten that resistance to tyranny springs from the deepest wells of the life force itself and can never be extinguished
GLOBAL resistance to the US-led neoliberal empire has intensified over the last few days.
Although the protests in the Islamic world have been sparked by controversy over an anti-Muslim film, the roots are clearly much deeper.
And the momentum caused by the unprecedented wave of fury at the USA and allies like Israel, the UK and Germany, is unlikely to fade fast.
On September 11, an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi,
Libya, left the US ambassador dead, while an attack on the American embassy in Cairo saw the Stars and Stripes torn down and an Islamist banner hoisted in its place.
On September 13 protesters broke into the US embassy compound in Sanaa, Yemen, and the next day protesters stormed the US embassy complex in Tunis. There were seven deaths at protests worldwide, following Muslim Friday Prayers.
Monday's protests included 3,000 protesters in the Philippines burning US and Israeli flags in the southern city of Marawi, and hundreds of
protesters facing off with police in Jakarta, Indonesia, throwing stones and petrol bombs. There have been other protests in Lebanon, Kashmir and Pakistan.
Angry demonstrators in the Afghancapital, Kabul, fired guns, torched police cars and shouted anti-US slogans. And 15 Taliban
fighters who fought their way on to Helmand's main airbase destroyed
six jets worth millions of pounds in an assault that was the start of a
bloody weekend for NATO forces – in 48 hours six US and UK troops were killed by Aghan "allies".
And meanwhile the Occupy Wall Street protests are back with a vengeance, with dozens of arrests in New York on Monday, #S17.
THE MASSACRE of striking miners in South Africa is a sickening foretaste of what is in store for us all as neoliberalism collapses under the weight of its own impossibilities.
Black lives are considered by the global elite to be of less importance than white ones, so the media impact of the mass murder has not been as great as if it had occurred in, say, France, or Britain.
But make no mistake - this sort of thing will also happen in Europe and North America, as the demise of capitalism accelerates.
The logical connections are there to be made. The company which owns the mine at Marikana, Lonmin, is itself a British company, for instance.
And this has, after all, always been the truth behind the facade of western 'democracy' - the authorities reserve the right to kill you if you threaten their hold on power.
Over the last 15 years or so plutocracy has set about turning itself into plutofascism to combat the inevitable global meltdown and uprising - and, to justify that, it has redefined its enemy. Dissent now equals terrorism.
One recent small example of this shift was experienced by two UK anarchists returning from a conference in Switzerland.
Reports Libcom: "On returning from the St Imier gathering, two anarchists, one a
member of the UK Anarchist Federation, were detained for nearly two
hours at Heathrow by SO15 (counter-terrorist) intelligence who initially
refused to identify themselves to the detainees.
"During the detention,
the anarchists were told that their normal rights did not apply, and had
their names, addresses, email addresses, DNA, photographs and
fingerprints taken. The detained anarchists were also forced to sign
forms – which may or may not be legal – waiving their rights to silence
and a solicitor. Police also conducted a thorough search of personal
possessions, photocopied literature and passports and took information
from phones and cameras.
"During the detention, the police constantly accused the anarchists of
lying about involvement in criminal activity and alleged that they
would be conducting follow-up police action against one of the detained
anarchists.
"In addition to this, SO15 officers asked a number of
inflammatory, irrelevant and offensive questions, including ‘what would
you do if someone raped your mother?’ evidently in an attempt to cause
emotional upset and illicit angry or violent responses. One member (28)
who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals from the police, said
“We were treated like criminals.
"I told them I went to the congress as I
am an amateur journalist and I write articles about activism. They saw
my note book, camera and Dictaphone but they said I was lying.” One
officer said ‘You said you are an anarchist, I’ve seen anarchists on the
news, they are violent, throw molotov cocktails and disrupt people’s
lives not write articles”."
Fortunately, though, all the repression merely confirms to many more people that the only way ahead is the destruction of capitalism itself, and this instinctive resistance continues to bubble up all the time - for instance in Amiens in northern France earlier this week (see photo below).
But all the gun-toting, law-passing and media manipulation will not stop the inevitable collapse of the toxic system which is choking this planet to death.
Half of India is brought to a standstill when the power grid fails for the second time in two days - 600 million without power.
There can never be a Disneyland planet of 10 billion happy Olympic-loving consumers - the neoliberal quest for endless growth and complete control cannot succeed.
But unfortunately capitalism is not going to end tomorrow. There is a lot more suffering ahead, a lot more misery, war and tears. And struggle as well, to ensure that the society that emerges from the ruins, the day after tomorrow, is one that will restore hope to humanity.
ANARCHISTS have claimed responsibility for firebomb attacks on two banks in Frascati, Rome.
A statement published on the 325 website states: "In the night of Wednesday July 18 2012, two banks were attacked in Frascati. Two molotov bottles and an incendiary device were thrown at the Unicredit bank and the BNL bank. Unicredit got completely destroyed."
The statement, signed off as being from the Informal Anarchist Federation and the International Revolutionary Front, says graffiti was left at the scene - an encircled A and the slogan "The Earth is worth more than your money."
Explains the statement: "We can see and feel directly what they are doing to the Earth, to the animals, to anti-authoritarians, and this is sufficient to give a reason
to our attacks, every time with more determination and strength…
forward anarchists, let’s sabotage and destroy the present!"
It says the attack was "dedicated to those who are in prison, wanted by police, sentenced and searched…. to the anarchists hit by the repressive forces of the
State/Capital."
EXPLOITED workers in India have dramatically risen up and torched a car factory, leaving one boss dead.
The rebellion took place on Wednesday July 18 at the Maruti Suzuki plant in Manesar, which is now closed and in lockdown as the ruling elite in India, Japan and beyond reels from the shock.
Firstpost website reports: "A huge mob gathered outside the company’s gates in
the evening at around 6 p.m. and torched the security office and the
fire safety room at Gate no 2. Security guards of Maruti, who did not
want to be named, say that there were at least 500 persons in the mob
that set fire to the structures."
Writes one Indian commentator, R Jagannathan: "After caste wars, gender wars, regional wars and religious wars, one
can now add the return of class warfare to the overflowing Indian cup of
social tensions.
"In the land of a 'million mutinies', the violence at Maruti’s Manesar plant
exhibits all the symptoms of class conflict. Even though attempts have
been made to suggest that a casteist remark by a supervisor might have
triggered the violence, this can only be a proximate excuse for the
violence.
"All reports, in fact, suggest that the attack on supervisors and management staff was pre-planned, with workers stockpiling car parts to be used as weapons well in advance.
"Additional proof comes from a statement by Maruti’s CEO and Managing
Director Shinzo Nakanishi, who clearly said that the violence was
unlikely to have been the work of any outside force. Asked to explain
the reasons for the violence, Nakanishi told The Times of India: 'We have to wait for the police investigations to get over, though I do not see any shadow of an outside influence this time'.
"It is significant that even as the government is looking for a Naxal link
to the Maruti incident – and one need not be surprised if there is one,
for the sheer savagery of the targeted violence suggests premeditation –
Nakanishi did not offer this as an alibi.
"He probably suspects that there are broader reasons for the worker angst.
"Actually, there is. It’s called Speedy Growth. Whenever economies
grow at very fast speeds – as the Indian economy has been doing between
1991 and 2011, and more recently during 2003-2011 – inequality widens.
"It has widened in rural areas, which is why we have seen the rise of
Naxalism, which needs a widely perceived sense of injustice to mobilise
people against the state and the better off.
"Now, it is the turn or urban India to face the wrath of even the
traditionally better off sections among workers. The average full-time
Maruti worker gets around Rs 17,000 a month, but sees people around him
who earn five times as much."
AN INVALUABLE insight into the mindset of the liberal bourgeoisie has been provided by an article in The Observer.
Helena Smith, Greek correspondent for the liberal UK publication, reports that the circle she frequents are not backing the radicals in the crucial general election.
She writes: "Everything has changed as certainties have crumbled. Many of my
friends feel bewildered and fearful: bewildered that it should come to
this, fearful of the dislocation from assurances of things past.
"In
the topsy-turvy world that they now inhabit, almost all have decided
that they will throw their political convictions to the winds.
"For the
first time ever, they will vote conservative, casting their ballot in
favour of New Democracy, the 'pro-European' party led by Antonis Samaras
in the hope – no matter how slight – that Greece can be saved."
This is a lesson worth remembering - no matter how 'progressive' their rhetoric, the bourgeoisie have a vested interest in the continuation of the capitalist system and, when it comes to the crunch, will do everything they can to protect it.
Make no mistake, they would prefer the 'security' of fascism to the possibility of real social change.
Fuck the liberals! Fuck the bourgeoisie! Viva la Revolución!
ANARCHISTS are reacting with defiance to the latest clamp-down on their resistance by the forces of neoliberalism.
The June 2012 of the Dark Nights zine focuses on the international repression unleashed in recent days under the title of 'Operation Ardire'.
It reports: "At 4 o’clock in the morning of June 13th, 2012, the Special Operations Group [Raggruppamento Operativo Speciale, ROS) of the Carabinieri [paramilitary police] raided about forty homes in Italy, implementing the so-called ‘Operation Boldness’ (Operazione Ardire), a crackdown against people from the anarchist movement ordered by Manuela Comodi, public prosecutor of Perugia.
"According to the regime’s media, a total of 10 arrest warrants were issued — eight within Italy, one sent to Germany and one sent to Switzerland — while 24 suspects have been put under judicial investigation.
"The Italian bourgeois Press did not hesitate to connect the arrested with the 'anarcho-insurrectionist FAI/FRI'. [Informal Anarchist Federation / International Revolutionary Front]
And Dark Nights comments: "When public debt has reached staggering proportions, the state answer is to increase taxes. When banks and speculators have brought the economy to its knees, the state answer is to give a green light to privatization.
"When work becomes a privilege and its lack brings waves of suicides, the state answer is to facilitate firings.
"More. When functionaries of the institutions soil themselves with the worst infamies, the state answer is to make their “crimes” expire.
"When the oil wells risk running dry in international conflicts, the state answer is to take part in the war.
"If the damned of the earth are forced to flee their countries and disembark on our shores, the state answer is to lock them up in concentration camps called CIE.
"Still more. When local populations don’t want harmful developments (high speed trains, incinerators, waste dumps), the state answer is to massacre demonstrators and militarily occupy the territory.
"If the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer, the state answer is to protect the luxury of the former and suppress the desperation of the latter."
ANARCHISTS in Scotland have replaced the Union Jack on the HQ of the Bank of Scotland with their own red and black banner.
The daring stunt at the very visible building in Edinburgh city centre sends out a powerful visual statement of resistance to the capitalist system and rejection of all the sickening jubilee flag-waving.
The massive 200-year old building on The Mound overlooks East Princes Street Gardens and is close to Edinbugh Castle and just off the Royal Mile.
A UK solidarity action with the Quebec rebels is being held in London on the evening of Wednesday May 30. The Defend the Right to Protest Campaign has called for a demonstration outside Canada House (5 Trafalgar Square) at 6pm.
Faced
with the biggest protests ever seen in Quebec by students fighting
against an 80% hike in fees, police have been importing the same tactics
used against students and other anti-cuts protesters in Britain by the
discredited Metropolitan police.
This includes the deployment of notorious kettling tactics to
intimidate protesters and mass arrests of protesters with over 2,500
arrested so far, along with indiscriminate police violence which has
seen people suffer serious injury.
It has also seen the introduction of a draconian new law, Bill 78,
which bans any protest within 50 meters of university buildings,
imposing severe financial penalties on those involved in pickets or
other protests deemed illegal, and requiring eight hours notice for any
protest involving more than fifty people.
Quebec students are fighting the same battles fought by students in
Britain over the past two years. They are an inspiration to many around
the world confronted with unprecedented cuts and austerity measures.
On Wednesday 30th May protests in solidarity with the Quebec struggle will take place across Canada.
The whole world is watching!
Join the protest in London in solidarity with the Quebec students struggle against fees, and call for:
* The scrapping of Bill 78
* An immediate cessation of kettling, mass arrests and other police tactics designed to intimidate and punish protesters
* The freeing of any imprisoned protesters – drop the charges, conditions and fines imposed on protesters
We’re inspired by the three month long Quebec student strike and the
popular uprising in Quebec against austerity and the anti-protest Law 78
that has mobilized entire neighborhoods throughout the province to bang
pots and pans at 8pm since the 22nd of May.
A New York Times op-ed compared Charest’s government to Putin’s after
he cracked down on students with draconian anti-protest laws, riot
copsand cancelled the school semester rather than to negotiate with
student unions.
A record breaking 2500 people have been arrested, 2 have
lost an eye, several have suffered critical head injuries, and the
resistance is only spreading.
The movement has gone from being called
the “Printemps d’Erable” to being called the Maple Spread. Solidarity
casserole banging has spread from neighborhoods in Montreal, throughout
the province, the country, as well as New York, Paris, Latin America and
now it’s time for London to join in too.
On Wednesday, May 30, starting at 6pm, in front of Canada House by
Trafalgar Square in London, we are showing solidarity by banging pots
and pans and flying red squares.
ANGER is spreading over the Quebec authorities' fascistic new laws, as anti-neoliberal rebels call for global solidarity.
Reports The Edmonton Journal: "The unpredictable nightly protests that helped spur a government crackdown have largely been a Montreal-only affair — until now.
"Since Premier Jean Charest passed a law last week limiting protests
in the province, defiant demonstrations have popped up in cities not
known as hotbeds of activism.
"Small groups from Granby, south of Montreal, to Jonquiere, north of
Quebec City, have joined Montrealers in taking to the streets with pots
and pans to protest Bill 178.
"Their message is clear: This conflict is not just about tuition anymore."
And a call-out for worldwide solidarity with the struggle has been posted on Contra Info and elsewhere on the internet.
It says: "We want you to feel what we’re feeling. We know you feel something,
but we want you to feel it like we feel it.
"We know that every time one
of us goes to jail, every time a comrade in the streets loses their eye
to the shrapnel of a concussion grenade or their ear to a rubber bullet
to the head, that there are so many others who feel the heat of
vengeance swell inside them.
"Knowing the global situation, knowing that
people are approaching the breaking point not just here but everywhere,
it needs to be insisted upon that what is happening in Québec is not
exceptional.
"What has happened here can happen elsewhere and it needs to
happen elsewhere. Everything we’re doing has been inspired by the
revolts and uprisings that have taken hold in other places. If it can’t
inspire social disruptions of its own, then it will die out quick.
"So this is a call out for
solidarity as much as it’s our heartfelt hope that one day you’ll feel
this around you as well. This needs to spread past Montréal, past
Québec. Bring it to your cities and communities in whatever way you can,
using whatever methods and means are at your disposal.
"Our hearts and heads are tired, but we’re still smiling. We want to see the strike spread.
We want to see this social upheaval spread.
ANARCHISTS have sabotaged railway lines in a major English city as the insurrection against neoliberalism steps up across the world.
A statement was posted on Bristol Indymedia by the Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI) - May 22nd Group.
It reads: "On the morning of May 22nd we struck two points on the railway routes
into Bristol, on the outer sides of Patchway (northern) and Parson
Street (southern) stations.
"By lifting the concrete slabs running
alongside the tracks and burning out the signalling cables found in the
trench underneath, before carriges came on the line.
"We chose
specifically chose these places so that employees of the Ministry of
Defence, as well as military industry companies
Raytheon/Thales/HP/QuinetiQ etc., in the business park near Filton Abbey
Wood station, and the corportate hub of Bristol, near the Temple Meads
station, were amongst the affected. Normal services weren't restored
until the evening.
"The potential spread of such blockages in general poses a significant
problem for the flow of commodites and for making sure that labour
exploitation arrives on time, key concerns for transnational capitalism.
"Such actions are a time-honoured method of disturbing the 'social
peace' myth: from similar sabotages in France; cash courier vehicles
getting destroyed in Crete; the night-time smashing of train station
ticket machines in Austrailia; resistance to highway developments eating
even further into wild landscapes (such as Khimki forest in Russia)
whilst displacing animals and people who are still refusing to
assimilate into industrial civilisation (such as Bolivia's TIPNIS
project in one of the most biodiverse regions in the world); to the
iconic seizure and arson of the city bus in London last August.
"Not to
mention our comrades of FAI/Fires on the Horizon, in Athens, and
FAI/Individuals Conspiring for the Destruction of the Existent, in
Curicó, defiant with their barricades...
"Everywhere the bosses want us scurrying around their metropolis, like
consignments of human flesh in alientating containers on
pre-determinated routes, in a frenetic hussle for survival, there is and
will continue to be every reason to forcefully intervene in the smooth
flow of the daily grind.
"In the United Kingdom of clockwork control and domestication, we're
some of the 'unpatriotic ones' who find the 2012 Olympics, with the
ensuing spectacle of wealth (when so many here struggle to feed
themselves and their families), harmful developments and escalating
police state, frankly offensive.
"But no union or movement calls our
shots, and we have no inhibition to use guerrilla activity to hurt the
national image and paralyze the economy however we can. Because simply,
we don't want rich tourists - we want civil war."
Meanwhile in Italy a police chief has warned that anarchists now represent the biggest threat to the neoliberal state.
Agi.it reports that police chief Antonio Manganelli said: "Revolutionary anarchism is now the
real terror threat to our country, not the Red Brigades or the
international terrorism that concerns us like other countries.
"Revolutionary anarchists have created an
international network starting from the Greek cells. It is a
phenomenon to be reckoned with. They themselves in their own
documents have stated that they have made the leap in quality
to be able to carry out assassinations."
MORE than 500 protesters have been arrested in Quebec, Canada, after they took to the streets to defy a neoliberal clamp-down.
The progression from phoney 'democracy' to real plutofascism could hardly be more clearly exposed than here.
The now-familiar laws are passed to increase student tuition fees as education and all other aspects of our society are privatised for the profit of the elite.
Faced with a massive and determined revolt by a new generation, what is the response of the authorities?
To back down and go along with the democratic consensus? No - to ramp up repression and pass draconian new laws to try and crush dissent.
Happily, the Quebec rebels are fighting the plutofascists every inch of the way, sending shockwaves across the world.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports, from Australia: "What began as a protest against university fee increases has
expanded to a wider movement to oppose Bill 78, which was rushed through
by legislators in Quebec in response to the demonstrations.
"The bill
imposes severe restrictions on protests, making it illegal for
protesters to gather without having given police eight hours' notice and
securing a permit.
"On Wednesday night, police in Montreal used 'kettling'
techniques - officers surrounding groups of protesters and not allowing
them in or out of the resulting circle - before conducting a mass
arrest."
Adds the BBC: "Bill 78, passed last Friday, requires marches to follow pre-approved
routes, but protesters say it infringes their democratic rights, and
have pledged to legally contest it."
Below is the artwork submitted by protesters to police when they were asked to provide a map of their route.
ALL eyes are now on Greece, as the neoliberal world order comes into direct and obvious conflict with democracy.
Protests against plutofascist 'austerity' continue all over the world, including in Spain, Italy, the USA and the UK.
But in Greece the conflict has moved on to another phase. The anti-capitalist rebels have successfully made the point that the global bankers are destroying their communities and effectively ignoring the will of the people.
While the years of full-on protest and riots did not succeed directly in sparking a revolution, they did expose to the general public the stark reality of the situation.
It is for this reason that the majority of the electorate backed anti-austerity parties in the recent general election.
With a re-run now lined up, the neoliberal elite fear a victory for Syriza and the left which would represent a serious challenge to their hegemony.
What will they do now? How will they stop the anticipated election result from becoming reality? Already there are dire warnings of a descent into chaos if the Greek population rejects the 'safety' of neoliberal slavery.
What further scaremongering and smears will be wheeled out? Can we expect a false flag 'terror' attack to try and change the course of the vote?
And if the left does win the elections, will the money men stand by and watch while these upstarts take over power and put their worldwide capitalist empire at risk of collapse?
Or will this be the time for them to once and for all drop the pretence of this phoney democracy with which they have been keeping us all in line for so long?
Looking a step further ahead, what would happen next if they denied the Greek people their choice and tried to impose a regime of their own liking?
Remember, the Spanish Revolution did not begin in 1936 as an uprising against the state, but was a defensive reaction to an extreme-right coup against a left-wing government.
With half of the Greek police reckoned to have voted Nazi in the last election, the scenarios are not so different.
MAY 2012 looks set to be another big month for the global uprising against neoliberalism.
May 1 itself is, of course, a traditional day of protest, with demonstrations and strikes expected all across the world.
More specifically, Occupy Wall Street have called for May 1 blockades of New York bridges, tunnels and ferries.
Said a statement: "We are announcing these blockades now as a fair warning to the rest of
the working people of New York and New Jersey who are considering
joining the strikes and mobilizations of the day: the city will be shut
down, so enjoy the day without the 99%!"
In the UK the Bristol First of May Group says: "This is a national call-out for a week of anti-capitalist action,
events and celebration throughout the UK in the first week of May 2012
to show resistance to capitalism and remember all those workers who lost
their lives for a better life for us all.
"Beneath the road, the banks, the shopping malls and prisons lies the Beach,
Behind the politicians, the bureaucrats, the cops AND the robbers lies Freedom, Outside wage and debt slavery, false democracy, capitalism and state control lies our Future."
Spanish indignados are calling for people across the world to take to the streets on May 12 and May 15.
And this call has also been echoed in the UK with this statement: "Occupy London is set to strike back this May as people around
the world take to the streets to mark one year since the indignados
reclaimed their squares in Spain and Greece, and six months since the
Occupy movement went global.
"The next wave is about to begin. Put May Day, 12 May and 15 May in your diary."
The rebellious season got off to an early start in Brighton, UK, where anti-fascists took to the streets on April 22 to oppose an extreme right march in the city and successfully delayed it and diverted its route, building barricades to block streets.
NEOLIBERALS are beginning to panic in the face of growing global resistance to their brutal and corrupt system.
The illusion of democracy and 'government by consent' is evaporating in a heated spiral of popular defiance and increased repression.
Opposition is thus becoming deeper and more radical, as the obvious impossibility of reform opens a new generation's eyes to the necessity of revolution.
One example of this process is Spain, where the state has announced a package of draconian new laws to criminalise dissent.
Jorge Fernandez Diaz, the interior minister, said "serious disturbances of public order and intent to organise
violent demonstrations through means such as social networking" would
carry the same penalty as involvement in a criminal organisation under the
new reform.
He also said that the measures would extend authorities' powers to deal
with passive resistance as contempt of court.
The measures would make it "an offence to breach authority using mass
active or passive resistance against security forces and to include as a
crime of assault any threatening or intimidating behaviour," he said in
Congress.
In addition attempts to disrupt public services such as transportation would
also be made a crime. During the recent general strike picketers blockaded
bus and train stations in an attempt to bring transportation to a halt.
"New measures are needed to combat the spiral of violence practised by
'anti-system' groups using urban guerrilla warfare," the Interior
Ministry clarified in a later statement.
Catalonian interior minister Felip Puig has said he wants the new laws to "make people more frightened of the system" - a clear admission of the direction the neoliberal establishment is now heading.
In Britain, where the authorities fear more rioting could erupt during the corporate beanfeast known as the Olympics, a similar version of 'democracy' is being rolled out.
Police have decided to use chemical warfare against 'rioters' - by which they also mean protesters and strikers - and are stocking up on the tools of repression.
The Guardian revealed a spate of
recent spending by police forces around the UK on plastic bullets, referred to as attenuating energy
projectiles (AEPs).
It reported: "Some forces appear to have decided to
considerably boost their stocks. Leicestershire constabulary spent
£19,630 buying AEPs in 2010-11, doubling its spending on the previous
year. So far in 2011-12 it has spent more than £10,000.
"Even a
relatively small force, Avon and Somerset, which faced serious disorder
in Bristol last year during the English riots and on a previous occasion
amid anger over a controversial Tesco store, has spent more than
£70,000 in the last three years. It also currently possesses 28 AEP
launchers. That is 16 more than the larger West Midlands police, which
still nevertheless spend more than £53,000 stocking up on AEPs in the
last three years.
"Gloucestershire police, whose territory was the
scene of one of the more surprising outbreaks of rioting last summer,
decided to considerably boost its AEP stocks last year. It spent £32,060
doing so, more than double its combined spending in 2009 and 2010.
Elsewhere, Greater Manchester said it had sufficient supplies last year
after spending more than £76,000 in the previous two years, while
Nottinghamshire has spent £74,000 in the past three years."
Meanwhile, there are signs of how the flood of revolt may now be forced to flow, if the authorities try to block it in its conventional course.
Dimitris Christoulas, the Greek pensioner who killed himself in front of the parliament (see video) and Trenton Oldfield, the anti-elitist swimmer who disrupted the upper class boat race in London are examples of how rejection of neoliberalism will manifest itself if protests are met with chemicals and bullets.
There is a clear fork in the path ahead for humanity - one way leads to the wretched misery of plutofascism and the other to our liberation.
THE people of Azawad have today, Friday April 6 2012, formally declared their irrevocable independence.
The statement from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad
(Mouvement National De Liberation de l'Azawad - MNLA) refers to the "complete liberation of the territory of Azawad" achieved in the remarkable final uprising which began in January this year.
It recalls that in 1960 Azawad was attached to the state of Mali, created by France - the former colonial power - without the consent of its people.
And it mentions the massacres, extortion, humiliation, despoilment and genocide carried out against Azawad in 1963, 1990, 2006, 2010 and
2012.
It condemns the "inhuman behaviour" of Mali in using various droughts (1967, 1973, 1984,
2010….) to try and wipe out the people of Azaward at the same time as it had asked for and received generous humanitarian aid from overseas.
The statement says that the accumulation of more than 50 years of bad governance, corruption and political-financial-military collusion had put the existnce of the Azawad people at risk and endangered the stability of the sub-region and international peace.
Announcing the permanence of the borders of the liberated territory and Azawad's total commitment to the United Nations charter, the statement calls on the international community to recognise the new independent state of Azawad with minimum delay.
Azawad is said to be an Arabic corruption of the Berber word "Azawagh", a dry river basin that covers western Niger, northeastern Mali, and southern Algeria. The name translates to "land of transhumance".
POLITICS are corrupt and the only way out for mankind is to kill the 1% who own everything.
This is the view expressed by acclaimed Finnish film director Aki Kaurismäki in an interview with the English newspaper The Guardian.
Kaurismäki is quoted as saying: "For mankind, I can't see any way out except terrorism. We kill the 1%. The only way
for mankind to get out of this misery is to kill the 1% who own
everything. The 1% who have put us in the position where humanity has no
value. The rich. And the politicians who are the puppies of the rich."
Asked by the interviewer if he had ever thought of 'going into politics', he replies: "No, never. Politics are corrupt."
The director has previously boycotted the Oscars ceremony in protest at US imperialist foreign policy. His latest film, Le Havre, is about the plight of an African child immigrant in Europe.
LATEST updates from the global uprising against neoliberalism and its shock doctrine of so-called 'austerity' measures.
Athens, Greece. Angry protests erupted after a 77 year old man committed suicide outside Parliament in Syntagma Square.
From the Greek Streets reports that the suicide note left by Dimitris Christoulas said: "The Tsolakoglou* [Quisling] occupation government
literally nullified my ability to survive on a decent pension, for which
I had already paid (without government aid) for 35 years.
"I am of an age that prevents me from offering a decent individual
response (without of course ruling out the possibility of being the
second person to take arms, should one person decide to do so), I find
no solution other than a dignified end, before resorting to going
through garbage in order to cover my nutritional needs.
"One day, I believe, the youth with no future will take up arms and
hang the national traitors at Syntagma Square, just like the Italians
did with Mussolini in 1945 (at Milan’s Piazzale Loreto)"
Montreal, Canda: Police arrested about 60 students opposed to planned university
tuition hikes as they roved through downtown Montreal on Wednesday
morning, at one point setting off a “pyrotechnic device,” reports the National Post.
California, USA: About 100 students protesting a plan to offer high-priced courses at Santa Monica College this summer tried to storm into a meeting of the college's Board of Trustees on Tuesday evening.
Police attacked protesters with pepper srapy for chanting, "Let us in, let us in" and
"No cuts, no fees, education should be free," reports the LA Times.
WITH the liberation of Timbuktu, rebels have proclaimed an astonishing victory in the Sahara Desert.
The political bureau of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad
(Mouvement National De Liberation de l'Azawad - MNLA) issued a statement on Sunday April 1 speaking of an unprecedented day in the history of its people.
The political fight for a free Azawad turned into an armed conflict after
brutal attacks on the population by the US-backed state of Mali.
On January 17 armed resistance fighters attacked military compounds in
Menaka, Adaramboukare and Tessalit in the north of the African country.
Fighting continued for some time and there was a serious clash at Aguelhok.
The Mali state flooded the area with tanks, aircraft and troops and more
fighting broke out on the morning of Thursday January 26.
But the Malian army suffered heavy losses and was forced to retreat - events which then led to a military coup in the south
Mossa Ag Attaher, spokesman for the MNLA, told French newspaper Le Monde back in January that the aim of the struggle was to liberate Azawad from Malian colonialism.
He explained that Azawad consisted of three regions currently part of Mali - Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal.
The MNLA was fighting for the aspirations of the Touareg people and also those of the Songhai, Peuls and Moors.
They had a right to choose their own form of government, to
self-determination and, if they so desired, to independence, he said.
The MNLA is the result of a fusion between the Mouvement National de
l'Azawad (MNA), a group of young intellectuals and political activists,
and the guerrillas of the former Alliance Touareg Niger Mali (ATNM).
These elements were joined by groups of former Touareg rebels
who fled Mali in the 1990s to join the Libyan army and returned to
Azawad, with plenty of weaponry, during the NATO war on the Gaddafi
regime.
TENSION is already rising in the USA ahead of massive protests planned against the the NATO and G8 Summits from May 15 to 22.
With dissent on the rise, authorities fear a significant outburst of anger against the neoliberal showcase events.
They have moved the G8 meeting from Chicago to Camp David in Maryland and have been cranking up the machineries of repression.
Occupy protests, no matter how peaceful, are now being routinely attacked by police, including the Occupy Wall Street anniversary demo in New York.
Said a statement on the OWS site on March 18: "Yesterday, on the 6-month anniversary of the original Occupation of
Wall Street, #OWS went back to our origins.
"After a weekend of marches
on Wall Street complete with spring training exercises, a St. Patrick´s
Day march, street theater, floating tents, and dancing in the
intersections, Liberty Square was re-occupied by thousands of Occupy
supporters.
"Unfortunately, bringing back memories of November 15th, NYPD
violently evicted us from our home once again while Occupiers were
hugging old friends and celebrating the coming of spring in the park.
"According to the New York Times, 'scores' were arrested, and more
injured, during the attack. Police used city buses to corral
mass-arrested protesters. Media were not allowed to cover the events.
"After clearing the Square, NYPD placed barricades around the area - an
act specifically barred by previous legal action. At least one person
was taken to the hospital on a stretcher. We have also heard reports of
seizures and broken bones.
"On Livestream, peaceful protesters are seen
being tackled, punched, stomped, choked, hit with batons, and thrown
against cars for no reason other than sitting down to peacefully protest
inequality in a public park."
Despite the plutofascist clamp-down, OWS declares: "We will not let police repression stop us!"
MONTREAL anarchists are euphoric after an anti-police protest achieved spectacular impact.
Said a statement on Anarchist News Dot Org: "We flipped over a policecar on rue
Sainte-Catherine. Prole stroll.
"Everyone was like WHOO! and happy kids
were dancing on the chassis, happy cuz they were right to be happy.
Banks got their windows broken. Fancy stores too.
"A lot of garbage
got pulled into the streets, and pylons, and heavy signs. You know, the
usual. But it's the moments when the pigs backed off cuz they were
scared! It's the moments when you get away with political crimes in
totalitarian Canada!
"It's the moments when the pig cruiser is flipped
over and you're highfiving strangers becuz you're happy and they're
happy and this is a moment to cherish. Prole stroll!
"LE 15 MARS, LA VENGEANCE.
We could've done better, but we did what we did, and this was the one
day when the pacifists weren't out in force and the people who get
harassed by the police on a daily basis were letting loose and we got to
share some knowing looks with some of the kids we haven't seen since
this time last year. This was our day, our night. Prole stroll!
"Some comrades are in jail. Many people, perhaps not yet aware of the
fact that we live in a surveillance society, did things that perhaps
they should not have done with their faces unconcealed.
"What happens
next is hard to say. Maybe the pacifists who got beaten with police
batons when they sat in front of cops will have learned their lesson by
now! And maybe anarchists can figure out a way to be half as badass as
some of the people who were on the streets tonight.
"The city is begging the province for more help with the security
crisis: student demos everyday with more to come, and now this, the
biggest March 15 in years, prole stroll like we ain't seen outside of a
hockey riot, what is sure to be a big embarassment to North America's
crowd control experts.
"THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO DO. Onward to March 22,
onward to May Day, onward to the continental general strike and the
infinite strike! Until neither the SPVM nor any other police agency nor
any other institution of domination exist, our work isn't done.
"And to the kids who looted Future Shop and got some PS3s, MAD RESPECT. We GET what we can TAKE."
But it started with St. Louis Police beating peaceful
protesters with batons and arresting several at an encampment for
conference participants.
Arrests of Occupiers from Occupy Oklahoma and
St. Louis have been confirmed, says a report from Occupy Wisconsin.
Police refused to give protesters their badge
numbers and were indiscriminately arresting and beating protesters who
were simply exercising their 'First Amendment Rights'.
By 4am on Friday there were 14 occupiers
in jail. One was said to be having seizures in prisonl. At least two had been brutality beaten by
police.
It was also confirmed that batons, tasers and pepper spray had been used on the occupiers.
ANTI-FASCISTS in Greece smashed up the offices of a notorious extreme right-wing group on Thursday March 15.
Reports Contra Info: "Shortly after 13.00, a large group of anarchists and
antifascists stormed the local offices of the neo-Nazi party Chrissi
Avgi/Golden Dawn, located on Germanou Street, in the centre of the city
of Patras.
"The fascist nest, which had been inaugurated just on Monday,
March 12th, was completely smashed.
"Also, antifascist slogans were
painted on most walls of the building which was provided for the
neo-Nazi thugs, while their hatred material was set ablaze and dumped on
the street. The comrades left the spot in a demo."
Golden Dawn are known for their brutal attacks on immigrants and for teaming up with riot police to attack protesters - yet more fascists finding common cause with neoliberalism as the two twisted ideologies merge.
CHILE'S youth rebellion against neoliberalism has kicked off again, after a summer holiday truce.
Thousands of students and school children took to the streets of Santiago to protest against the privatisation of education.
The authorities said their dissent was 'unauthorised' and used tear gas and water cannon to attack the youngsters.
More demonstrations are planned across the country in the weeks ahead.
Meanwhile, revolt continues in the Chilean region of Aysen, where the social movement has blockaded streets.
Reports Prensa Latina: "Social leaders, parliamentarians and inhabitants of the region of Aysen
denounced on Thursday an excessive police repression in last few hours
against people in this area of Patagonia.
"The Police 'is attacking innocent people with tear gas inside their
houses, people that have nothing to do with the protests and
barricades', noted Senator of the National Renewal Party Antonio
Horvath.
AMERICAN army veterans have backed claims of a cover-up over the latest massacre of civilians in Afghanistan.
Corporate media have obediently stuck to the official US damage-limitation line that one 'rogue' sergeant carried out the murders of 16 people, including 9 children, totally ignoring eye-witness reports of a group of drunken laughing Americans.
But the Veterans Today site draws attention to a series of inconsistencies in this account, including the fact that a vehicle would have been needed to transport the jerrycan of petrol needed for the reported burning of the victims' bodies.
Senior editor Gordon Duff talks in this video about a 'patsy' taking the blame for what happened and of the US bribing people to keep quiet about the truth.
And he writes on the website that "we can safely assume" the following points.
* More than one American was involved as no single soldier would have
been allowed outside the compound, heavily armed with a vehicle.
* Gate security received authorization for the “mission” from the
watch officer at the “Combat Operations Center” at the base, the 24 hour
nerve center than coordinates both offensive and defensive missions for
even the smallest commands.
* No “reaction force” was sent to investigate though this was right
outside the gates. Radio contact would have been attempted, and there
would be recorded records of this and all other activities, as required
by normal procedures.
Adds one user of the site: "I saw this story first thing this morning as one of the lead stories on my homepage. I spent much of the day looking for additional 'facts'...and of course found none. I believe your assesment is as close to the truth as I, or anyone else will likely encounter.
"There is an 'ill and atrocious wind blowing' around this 'incident'. The propaganda machine is already running at full speed. Sad and demoralizing beyond words."
Says another: "I’ve been out with several…..shit, maybe a hundred Iraq/Afghan vets drinking and also shooting out in the hills of Colorado. Mostly marines, a few Army rangers, 2 Seals and the bravest of the brave….medics.
"Boil them down after a few weeks of talking, they all say the same things. The same things my good buddy tells me his Nam buddies all told him – 'it became addicting, god help me?'.
"I tend to agree with your assesment however, this happened on purpose. The group supported SF troops and it wouldn’t suprise me if another group was outside the wire conducting 'phoenix' type operations. Same thing with the timing of Iraqi atrocities when we felt we weren’t needed as much and were leaving amidst ‘success’. First reports were a Seal or two, then a nobody, well fed with Psychotics and other scrip meds."
SPANISH people are gearing up for a massive fight against neoliberal dictatorship.
Huge protests were held across the country at the weekend and a national strike has been called for Thursday March 29.
Meanwhile Bilbao was last week the latest city in the Spanish state where anger against 'austerity' and the theft of people's rights has erupted onto the streets.
Anti-capitalist protesters backing the strike call started fires in the streets of the Basque city and smashed the windows of a bank.
The Spanish people are next in line to be crushed by the gold-plated jackboots of the global plutofascist elite.
An overwhelming majority of people are happy to be living in this industrial capitalist world. We know this because we are told it constantly.
How could we foresee a near future in which the hypnotic spell is broken, the scales fall from a billion eyes and those who say 'Enough!' are revealed, all of a sudden, to be a gale force wind of revolt, a tidal wave of insurgent delight sweeping all before it, a minority so vast it will change everything?
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