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Israeli Students demonstrate against increase in tuition law.Footage taken from adjacent buildings, shows rough crowd control by Israeli police, Gets very wild at end.

If any New Yorker were to become the theoretician for a new secessionist movement, it figured to be Kirkpatrick Sale.Mr. Sale, 70, was a campus rabble-rouser at Cornell in the 1950s long before Berkeley made being one fashionable, a model for a character in Richard Fariña’s classic ’60s novel, “Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me,” a writer who worked briefly with his college pal Thomas Pynchon on a musical called “Minstral Island.” For half a century, he’s written more or less from the left on issues of decentralization, the environment and technology — in praise of Luddites, envisioning with dread the rise of the Sun Belt, lambasting Christopher Columbus as a despoiler of the American Eden and predicting environmental doom in a way that is making him at the moment look more prescient than cranky.And though he once described the personal computer as the devil’s work (its efficiencies producing more “social disintegration, economic polarization, and environmental devastation”), there he was Tuesday at his modern Adirondack-style house in the woods looking in delight at the inbox on his laptop.“Look at this,” he said. “There are 177 more messages from people who want to get on our mailing list. There’s nothing that has brought right and left together like this.”“This” was the Second North American Secessionist Convention, held Oct. 3 and 4 in Chattanooga, and attended by 15 delegates representing 25 states, plus 40 sympathetic observers. It followed, amazingly enough, the First North American Secessionist Convention, held the year before in Burlington, Vt.In this country, secession has not had the greatest odor since the 1860s, when it produced a movement now seen as racist, violent and a loser. But the spirit of Mr. Sale and his pro-secession Middlebury Institute actually has more to do with Vermont.There, a group called the Second Vermont Republic has become a small-bore local phenomenon, with its call for a “genteel revolution,” opposed to “the tyranny of Corporate America and the U.S. government,” and committed to “the peaceful return of Vermont to its status as an independent republic and more broadly the dissolution of the Union.” Hence those “U.S. Out of Vt!” T-shirts. Similarly, the language of the convention’s Chattanooga Declaration decries excess corporate and governmental power, says that the deepest issues of the time go beyond left and right and declares that liberty can survive only if political power is returned to local communities and states. “The American Empire is no longer a nation or a republic,” it says, “but has become a tyrant aggressive abroad and despotic at home.”Even those ill-disposed toward the idea of an independent Vermont, Hawaii or Alaska or to the new Confederacy envisioned by the League of the South might see some logic here. Back in 1981, the journalist Joel Garreau published “The Nine Nations of North America,” mapping out how economics, geography and culture really made it more logical for the United States, Canada and Mexico to be nine nations than three. Mr. Sale argues that the big theme of contemporary history, from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the evolution of the United Nations from 51 nations in 1945 to 192 now, is the breakup of great empires. And some on both left and right agree that the only cure for a federal government that’s too big and too powerful is to make it less big and less powerful.His relentlessly bleak vision is that catastrophic events, long term (collapsing dollar, out-of-control oil prices, climate change) and short term (Iraq, Katrina, government-sanctioned torture), will produce the downsizing of America, secession movement or no.“The virtue of small government is that the mistakes are small as well,” he said.Still, he concedes, there are a few roadblocks. Another 177 e-mail messages might feel like a revolution, but in that big, bad, computer-fueled world it’s just another tiny blip in the din. Local control might look fine in green, crunchy Vermont but perhaps looks less fine if it meant Southern states maintaining segregated schools and water fountains through the ’60s. Who is going to pay your Social Security, build interstate highways or finance NASA? And just how to make secession happen — legally and geographically — is, he concedes, still a work in progress. One option might be state by state, but then there are those Neo-Confederates in the South, or advocates of independent New England, Cascadia (Washington, Oregon, British Columbia) or New Acadia (Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and the four Atlantic provinces of Canada).Mr. Sale was asked what nation he’s prepared to live in.“I’d like the Hudson Valley,” he said. “I’d even include New York City, the whole Hudson watershed. It would be rich in resources and culturally unified. That’s the whole point of secession. If you want to leave a nation you think is corrupt, inefficient, militaristic, oppressive, repressive, but you don’t want to move to Canada or France, what do you do? Well, the way is through secession, where you could stay home and be where you want to be.”Of course, there might be problems here, too. What about the poor orphaned folks in distant Buffalo or Rochester or the vast empty acres upstate? What if the city didn’t want to join and wanted to be its own smug Cosmopolitania instead? Where would the Bronx, the one borough on the mainland, end up?Oh, well, life’s difficult.“You would call it Hudsonia,” he said, warming to the thought. “That’s the thing about secession. It fires up the imagination like nothing else.”

 

On the morning of the 25/10/07 an anti-apartheid protest blocked the busy Highway 443, one of many highways that run on occupied Palestinian land that are reserved for Israelis only. Israeli Security forces used force to remove the demonstrators. Three of the protesters were arrested and released with conditions limiting their movement.

For the past two weeks, a nearly daily mobilization has been taking place in the village of Ni'ilin, where construction of the wall has begun. The video depicts today's demonstration, in which villagers and supporters tried blocking the bulldozers and were met by harsh military violence, which included concussion grenades, teargas and rubber bullets, as well as kicks and punches. Twelve were injured during the demonstration and two, one Palestinian and one Israeli, were arrested.The wall in the area is planned to leave about 2,500 dunams (approx. 620 acres, 250 hectares), practically annexing them to the nearby settlement. The route of the wall on village's lands was planned in order to allow, amongst other things, the construction of a graveyard for the adjacent settlements.

Demonstrations and the attempt to block the construction is expected to resume Sunday.

http://www.awalls.org/daily_mobilizations_against_the_wall_in_niilin

In the Mexican state of Veracruz prized for oil and agriculture and beautiful beaches, at about four o’clock on a 1992 morning, hundreds of campesinos and their families in three pueblos were shaken awake by rumbling. Some were too startled to move. Others ran out of their wood and cardboard shacks and saw caterpillars grinding toward them and waved at the drivers to stop. The drivers and their armed and uniformed escorts motioned and yelled for everyone to clear out. The campesinos were granted a few minutes to dress and grab a few belongings before the caterpillars lumbered on to destroy their homes as well as schools and churches. This ended more than a decade of living on “ejidos,” public land they had farmed and believed should be theirs to use forever. * * *July 31, 2007 – Last week in Mexico City a private driver from my hotel was guiding me down Paseo de la Reforma, the grandest boulevard in the country, indeed one of the most elegant and monument-rich in all the Americas, when the scenery suddenly erupted with large banners that said, “The Senate Doesn’t See or Hear Us” and “The Senate Doesn’t Notice Us”. A man named “Dante Delgado” was blamed. On the other side of the visual protests loomed bleak plastic dwellings anchored by ropes and extending diagonally no higher than three or four feet.“What’s going on?” I asked. “This is the Movement of the 400 Pueblos,” said the driver. “Every day they take off their clothes and protest in public.”“You’re kidding.”“No, I’m not.” “I want to talk to them.” “Fine. Just ahead, at the Monumento a la Madre, they have their main camp. But I’ll have to use the public parking lot.” “No problem. I’ll pay.” We entered the concrete campground, bordered to the west by the gigantic stone Madre, and for several minutes walked around, noting the difficulties of living there, before we approached a few men in a group. “I’m a teacher and writer from California,” I said. “May I please have an interview?” In less than a minute they’d summoned their spokesman, an energetic fellow who shook my hand and introduced himself as Jaime Rodriguez Barrientos. “Who’s Dante Delgado?” I asked. “Dante Delgado was the interim Governor of Veracruz in 1992,” said Rodriguez. “He was corrupt and repressed campesinos. He’s the one who ordered the destruction of our villages – Alamo Temapache, Poza Rica, and Martinez de la Torre. Then he invented charges and jailed 300 people. Twelve were in jail for seven years and many others from eight months to two years. We struggled for the freedom of our comrades until 2000. Since then we’ve been struggling for the return of our land.” “Why did Dante Delgado destroy your homes?”“He represents the interests of the rich and the powerful.”“Is he taking bribes?” I asked. “We’re not saying he takes bribes. But he’s certainly our enemy. So are the men who succeeded him as governor – Patricio Chirinos, Miguel Aleman, and Fidel Herrera, who’s in office now.” “You believe the land you lived on belonged to you.” “Yes, we’d established ourselves there and no wealthy men had a legal right to it. Delgado claims that what he did was legal and the right thing.”“How long have you been here in Mexico City?” I asked. “Since April 11, 2007.” “Why now?” “Dante Delgado was out of power after 1995. In this country there’s no point in chasing someone with no office. When Dante became a senator last year, we decided to go after him.” Gradually some men from the camp had begun to gather around us and about 20 were now watching the interview. “I hear you guys have been publicly protesting in the nude,” I said. “That’s right,” said Rodriguez. “And sometimes our wives, too.” Several of us laughed. “What is the purpose of taking off your clothes in public?” “By protesting naked we’re demonstrating that we lack justice. Every day we do this from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. We go all over, to the Zocalo, the Palacio de Belles Artes, to the Senate of the Republic, to Dante Delgado’s office, and other places.” “Aren’t you concerned about losing public support by being naked in public?” “Only three or four out of a hundred are offended.” “What about the police? Don’t they do anything about the nudity or camping here?” “No. No problem,” Rodriguez said, and handed me a photo. “I want you to have this.”I thanked him and examined four proud men, two standing at attention and two playing drums. “You guys are in good shape.” “Of course, we’re campesinos,” declared a man from the group. “How long will you stay here?” I asked. “Until we get a response,” Rodriguez said. “Until the senate demonstrates that it understands it needs to investigate Dante Delgado. He’s a coward. He hid from an interviewer from TV Azteca, but he can’t hide from us. We’re going to chase him the rest of his life.” I extended my hand toward plastic huts stretched much too low to stand in. “Are you guys, and in many cases your wives and children, comfortable here?” From the group a young man said, “When it rains hard at night, the water comes in under the plastic. We have to sleep sitting up, and that’s hard.” “Where do you go to the bathroom?” I asked. “We use the gas station’s bathroom across the street,” said Rodriguez. “It costs two pesos (about 20 cents) each time.” “Expensive,” I said. “And food, all the other things. How do you support yourselves?” “We get donations, usually one or two pesos, but sometimes people give us a lot more.” (My driver and another Mexico City resident told me they believe the opposition PRD party is also providing support. Its leader, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, lost a close and disputed presidential election last year to Felipe Calderon.) As I spoke to the men, several women were dunking clothes in buckets of water and scrubbing garments on stones at the base of the Monumento a la Madre. Two men, glistening brown in the sun, stood near them, washing themselves with rags also dipped in buckets. All water for the 300 protestors comes from a single tap. “I don’t know how long you can last under these conditions,” I said. “Bathing like that is no problem,” said a muscular man from the photo. “Like typical campesinos we bathed in arroyos. We’re living better here than in Veracruz. Here we only have one family in each place. In Veracruz we had four families in one-room casitas of wood and cardboard.” Mexican Teachers Protest A few blocks from the campesinos, at the Monumento de la Revolución, 3,000 teachers were protesting. The following day, with another driver from my hotel, I entered an impressive campground that featured new tarps pulled together high and wide enough to walk under and stretch out. I identified myself and requested an interview. Shortly, Alvarez Juarez was brought forth, and he and three other teachers, one a woman, offered the driver and me comfortable chairs in a patio-like area beneath canvas stretched between two residences. “What is your position?” I asked. “I’m the National Coordinator of Education Workers from Guerrero,” said Juarez, a polite but serious man. “I’ve taught elementary school 30 years in Acapulco.” “What are the issues you’re most concerned about?” “We’re here because of the new law about our pension fund. We used to pay 3.5 percent, now the government says we have to pay 10.6 percent.” “I’m a teacher in California, and we pay 8 percent and have very good benefits,” I said.“You have to put in more than 3.5 percent to get the benefits you need.” “We aren’t going to get anything. They’re going to rob us.” “Who are they?” “President Felipe Calderon and Esther Gordillo, leader of the National Education Workers’ Union, and the politicians and the business interests they represent. They claim they want to increase pension benefits for our children and our retirement benefits and to improve hospitals and health care, but we know they really want more money to pay their debts to the International Monetary Fund and the Word Bank.” At that moment I knew little about Esther Gordillo and the teacher’s union in Mexico, and thought the eternal cry of corruption was exaggerated. A little reading, however, revealed that Gordillo’s predecessor, Carlos Jonguitud, “was accused of masterminding the assassination of at least 150 dissident teachers, primarily in the southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas.” Gordillo by comparison is a model of moderation, having only “been implicated in the deaths of several teachers that were struggling to democratize the National Education Workers’ Union.” The problem is systemic rather than personal. Gordillo is merely the latest head of a union, like most in Mexico, that has long abused its members. According to Colin Brayton of WorldPress.com, recent surveys show that 98 percent of Mexican teachers “believe the main priority of their leadership is to enrich themselves and hold on to power… and 87 percent believe that their dues are held onto by the leadership and used to buy support… and only 1 percent of (union) members consider that their leadership has a genuine commitment to education.” “The government has been closed and hasn’t given any response to our concerns,” Juarez continued. “The government says it’s a good law and we need to accept it. We’re going to keep trying to change the law. We have marches, protests, lots of activities. On July 26 we’re going to march at the United States Embassy.” “Why the U.S. Embassy?” I asked.“To protest the war in Iraq and the arrogant treatment of people in Latin America.” Unlike the dour Juarez, his colleague next to me was enjoying the interview, and said, “We know Americans think Mexicans are sucking their thumbs. But we know what’s going on. We have eyes. That’s why we don’t like your president, Adolph Bush.” “I don’t care for Bush, either,” I said. “But I guarantee he’s a long way from being Adolph. And, by the way, I wrote a book about Adolph, so I know.” “Just remember, we Mexicans aren’t sucking our thumbs,” said the colleague. Juarez leaned forward and handed me a tabloid titled “Program of Activities” with daily schedules comparable to boot camp. Every day starts at 6 a.m. with bathing then community cleaning, breakfast, two hours of conferences in an auditorium followed, in different places, by lectures, another hour in the auditorium then more meetings, lunch at three p.m., workshops, cultural events in the auditorium, an hour for dinner at 9 p.m., and two hours of free time ending at midnight when most are already in bed, preparing for the next 6 a.m. wakeup. “Where do you guys, and the ladies and kids I see around here, go to the bathroom?” I ask. “We use the public bathroom across the street. It costs three pesos each time and five to bathe.” “How are you supporting yourselves?” The Secretary of Public Education is still paying our teachers’ salaries, about 3,000 pesos every fifteen days, 6,000 a month.” “That’s about 600 dollars a month,” I said. “Is that sufficient?” “It’s not sufficient even when we’re just maintaining our homes. Now we’re maintaining them as well as our community here.” “How long are you prepared to stay?” “We’ve been here since May 7, 2007 and are prepared to stay a long as necessary.”“Are you going to march naked in public?” “We’re not going to undress, unless we get desperate,” said a still unsmiling Juarez.

 

Dec 9th 2006: Several actions against furs took place on the 9th and the 10th December by initiative of Alliance For Animal Rights ( http://aar.org.ru ). Actions were dated for The International Day of Animal Rights and were a part of campaign against fur auction "Soyuzpushnina".On the 9th December in St-Petersburg were hold 2 actions of protest against fur trade. Activists had visited fur stores at the Nevsky prospect. Not all activists could enter the first store, security had barred way to the other part of activists, but they unfold a transparency at the entrance and scanned slogans. Those who had broken through in the store were spreading and scattering leaflets against furs and were scanning slogans by own strength and with a help of a megaphone. Security guards behaved aggressively and tried to strike blows rushed, but activists did not begin involving in fight and have left.The second store did not meat animal defenders with such aggression, all could freely enter and to give out to each customer and shop assistant on a leaflet. Was also used the megaphone, wit the help of which was messaged the object of the visit and were scanned slogans against furs. Security did not offer any resistance. Only stockman tried to push one of entered activists out to the door, but it wasn't effective. Some customers given a leaflet decided to leave the store. We hope they will now never again pay the death trade. When it became boringly, when all leaflets had been spreaded and had been told all what was necessary to tell, the animal defenders decided to leave. So both actions had passed successfully, no one had suffered or been arrested during them.

 

Butner, N.C. — They banded together in the late ‘80s, fighting to keep a proposed incinerator from coming to Granville County. Now, that same group – the Granville Non-Violent Action Team, or GNAT – is reuniting with a similar goal. GNAT wants to stop a proposed bio-defense lab from coming to Butner.GNAT says it’s committed to its cause, but others in Granville say that getting the federal facility would be a "win-win." Edie McKellar is a veteran of the 1989 incinerator battle“It's a scary thing they're bringing here, and we don't deserve something like this,” McKellar says.Johnny Balmer, president-elect of the Granville County Chamber of Commerce, voices the opposite argument. “It's a no-brainer. It's good for Granville County,” Balmer says.Both sides are talking about the National Bio- and Agro-Defense facility. Butner is one of five communities in the country on the short list of sites for it. Balmer says 350-450 jobs, about 1,500 short-term construction jobs and a $1.65 billion impact on the local economy make it too good to pass up. The group is concerned about the environmental impact of the plant, and they say it could be a target for terrorists. John Pike, an opponent says, “We certainly don't deserve to be dumped on, and we certainly don't deserve to be dumped on two, three, four, five times.” The incinerator battle was hard fought. McKellar, a GNAT member, said she remembers all too well sitting under a drill that was ready to strike and getting arrested. “We fought for what was right and I'm proud of it,” McKellar said. “A lot of times when people have the not-in-my-backyard mentality they don't think through the process of the economic benefit to the county,” Balmer says.

GNAT vows not to give up. The members believe they're protecting their families and their community from a potentially risky situation, just like they did nearly 20 years ago. A final selection on a lab site is expected about a year from now. If Butner is chosen, the lab could be up and running by 2013.

From August 20-21, 2007, Stephen Harper welcomed his American idol George W. Bush and Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon to Montebello, Quebec to review the progress of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP).

The SPP – which is being implemented without any public or parliamentary scrutiny – is about eliminating Canada’s ability to set its own independent regulatory standards, environmental protection measures, energy security, foreign, military, immigration and a frighteningly wide range of other policies. Read the report Behind Closed Doors: What they're not telling us about the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

The Council of Canadians was on the ground, both in Ottawa and Montebello, as the leaders met. We brought hundreds of people together at a public forum on Sunday evening, packing an auditorium at the University of Ottawa. Maude Barlow, along with civil society representatives from the U.S. and Mexico, condemned the SPP and promoted a vision of a more just and sustainable North America.

We had of course originally planned to hold the forum in Papineauville, Quebec, just 6 kilometres from where the leaders met on Monday and Tuesday, but the RCMP forced the municipality to cancel our reservation at the last minute (see media release). So we made due with a smaller room in Ottawa, and unfortunately had to turn away at least 100 people on Sunday night, as people stood and crouched in the aisles of the auditorium, hungry for more information about the SPP and how to fight it.

http://www.canadians.org/integratethis/summit/index.html

 

 

A group of 15 Palestinian, Israeli and international activists have blocked the entrance to Karmei Zur Settlement today.

The entrance to the Karmei Tzur settlement, which is built on the lands of the Palestinian villages Halhul and Beit Umar, was blocked by a group of about 15 Palestinian, Israeli and international activists. To block the road activists chose to symbolically use razor wire that was taken from the fence that circles the settlement, and prevents Palestinians from accessing their land.

A sign reading "Mortal Danger-Military Zone. Any person who passes or damages the fence endangers his life", which was taken from the wall in the area, was hung on the razor wire

Flyers that were left on the road, reminded settlers that while their freedom of movement is being shortly and symbolically interrupted, the daily Palestinian reality, greatly to settlers convenience, is such of checkpoints, roadblocks, fences, apartheid roads and military occupation.

http://www.awalls.org/the_entrance_to_karmei_tzur_settlement_blocked_with_razor_wire

 

 

Direct Action against the Wall performed by israeli anarchist group in Beit Umar, Palestine.

Here’s an excellent example of pwnage: when the white supremacist group VNN Vanguard Nazi/KKK tried to host a hate rally in Knoxville, Tennessee, they were foiled by … clowns!

Unfortunately for [VNN] the 100th ARA (Anti Racist Action) clown block came and handed them their asses by making them appear like the asses they were.

Alex Linder the founder of VNN and the lead organizer of the rally kicked off events by rushing the clowns in a fit of rage, and was promptly arrested by 4 Knoxville police officers who dropped him to the ground when he resisted and dragged him off past the red shiny shoes of the clowns. http://www.volunteertv.com/home/headlines/7704982.html

“White Power!” the Nazi’s shouted, “White Flour?” the clowns yelled back running in circles throwing flour in the air and raising separate letters which spelt “White Flour”.

“White Power!” the Nazi’s angrily shouted once more, “White flowers?” the clowns cheers and threw white flowers in the air and danced about merrily.

“White Power!” the Nazi’s tried once again in a doomed and somewhat funny attempt to clarify their message, “ohhhhhh!” the clowns yelled “Tight Shower!” and held a solar shower in the air and all tried to crowd under to get clean as per the Klan’s directions.

At this point several of the Nazi’s and Klan members began clutching their hearts as if they were about to have a heart attack. Their beady eyes bulged, and the veins in their tiny narrow foreheads beat in rage. One last time they screamed “White Power!”

The clown women thought they finally understood what the Klan was trying to say. “Ohhhhh…” the women clowns said. “Now we understand…”, “WIFE POWER!” they lifted the letters up in the air, grabbed the nearest male clowns and lifted them in their arms and ran about merrily chanting “WIFE POWER! WIFE POWER! WIFE POWER!”

http://www.neatorama.com/2007/09/03/clowns-kicked-kkk-asses/

 

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