Showing posts with label liberty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label liberty. Show all posts

Tuesday 12 February 2019

Under The All Seeing State.

      How much more policing by surveillance machines can we accept? We are watched in all aspects of our lives, as you walk down the street, enter a pub/cafe/library, or what ever, you are being watch. Shopping, place of work, sitting on the bus, they are there, the CCTV cameras, 24-7. Having got us all to accept the presence of the camera, they keep adding another surveillance/control facility to its armoury. Facial recognition, profiling, and now predictive algorithms. The computer will tell the police where a crime is likely to be committed and who is likely to commit a crime. Wonderful no need for detective work, just ask the computer where was the crime committed and who "dunnit", problem solved. No denying it the computer has worked it out, so you must be guilty, computers don't make mistakes!!!! 
    What a load of crap to depend on for your freedom, humans design the algorithms, humans come with bias and make mistakes, but the computer will be accurate? We as a society are sleep walking into a panoptic prison.
Policing by Machine – Predictive Policing and the Threat to Our Rights collates the results of 90 Freedom of Information requests sent to every force in the UK, laying bare the full extent of biased ‘predictive policing’ for the first time – and how it threatens everyone’s rights and freedoms.
It reveals that 14 forces are using, have previously used or are planning to use shady algorithms which ‘map’ future crime or predict who will commit or be a victim of crime, using biased police data.
The report exposes:
  • police algorithms entrenching pre-existing discrimination, directing officers to patrol areas which are already disproportionately over-policed
  • predictive policing programs which assess a person’s chances of victimisation, vulnerability, being reported missing or being the victim of domestic violence or a sexual offence, based on offensive profiling
  • a severe lack of transparency with the public given very little information as to how predictive algorithms reach their decisions – and even the police do not understand how the machines come to their conclusions
  • the significant risk of ‘automation bias’ – a human decision-maker simply deferring to the machine and accepting its indecipherable recommendation as correct.
 Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk

Monday 31 August 2015

You Can't Be Governed And Be Free.

 
       Still in prison for being the partner of a prisoner, that's the justice from the Greek "left" wing Syriza government. They continue to lock up people in a prison system that is in a state of collapse, and condemned by the EU, while ignoring a prison hospital system that is inhumane, dangerous. The ugly face of state power cannot be hidden by sticking a new label on the front door. It is still an apparatus for power and control, not a vehicle for liberation. Liberation comes when the state, the nation, and all borders, are destroyed, and replaced by communities based on mutual aid, co-operation, free association, sustainability and the needs of the people.
Greek prison hospital where disease and death are bred
This from Anarchist News:
     Note: Evi Statiri is the partner of Conspiracy of Cells of Fire member Gerasimos Tsakalos. She was arrested on March 2, 2015 under accusation of participating in a 'terrorist' group, for allegedly being involved in an escape plan by the imprisoned CCF members. After her arrest, CCF members went on hunger strike to the death, demanding the release of their family members. After 31 days of hunger strike, with some strikers approaching death, the left wing management agreed to their demands. However, after months of waiting, Evi remains in prison.
Inter Arma received and translated:
      On September 3, the Judicial Council is going to decide on the extension of the pre-trial detention of Evi Statiri.
       In the context of the nationwide call for action and solidarity which has been organized by comrades for the 2nd of September, we invite all anarchist individualities, direct action cells and comrades to sabotage normality and to destroy the clock of power. To brake the silence with counter-info actions (posters, flyers, banners, slogans) and to end the immobility of passivity with actions and sabotage.
      On September 2, let us challenge the world of organized apathy with hostile gestures of insubordination.
NO REGRET
NO DEFEAT
IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF EVI STATIRI
2 SEPTEMBER NATIONWIDE DAY OF ACTION
individualities tending towards chaos
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Tuesday 20 January 2015

Everyone Is An Anarchist At Heart.


     To most anarchists it is so obvious that we expect others to see it the same way, but sadly it doesn't work like that. What can be more enriching and liberating than controlling your own live, in mutual co-operation with others, what can be more demeaning than having your life controlled by others, who don't even have your interests at heart? Why do we accept the later, when the former is there for us to take?


Download the PDF:
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Thursday 3 April 2014

Prophet Or Dreamer?


Continuing poem a day month, today's rendering.

PROPHET OR DREAMER?

Am I a dreamer?
Ever dazzled by unrisen dawns,
always hearing the song of liberty
though freedom's flag is torn.

I walk towards a world
no borders, kings or slaves;
history claims the warrior's hand
peace the crown of bays.

I see the hungry feasting
midst the brotherhood of man;
all the children singing
the fear of famine gone.

I find the common man
hold his brother dear
create a world of social justice,
Elysian fields their sphere.

Freedom's flag is torn,
quiet is liberty's song,
unrisen suns still to dawn;
prophet,   or dreamer born?

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Tuesday 13 August 2013

Tax Payers Funding Open Racism.


       As the our living conditions are savaged by the financial Mafia, the state will always come up with scapegoats. Today it's those on disability and other benefits, its the fault of the unemployed not trying hard enough to find that mythical job. Of course there is the old favourite, immigrants, they can be blamed for all our ills. It is the same old divide and rule. The tougher the conditions and the stronger the resistance, the more the state hits the scapegoats. Normal state procedure.


       On 5th August Liberty sent a mobile billboard onto the streets of London. It was our response to the nasty Home Office "Go Home" vans that were sowing division across London a few weeks ago.
       Yesterday it emerged that the Home Office have finally recognised the need to consult the public before wider implementation - a step notably absent from the ill-fated pilot, rolled out without any attempt to communicate with affected communities. But there has been no apology whatsoever, nor any acceptance that they badly let down the public with this divisive stunt.

Visit ann arky's home.

Wednesday 3 July 2013

See You In A Couple Of Days.


          ann arky is off up north for a few days, so this wee blog will fall silent for those few days. So for those who still say what is an anarchist, I'll leave you with this.



See yi' soon.

ann arky's home.


Thursday 22 November 2012

A LAND OF TOTAL SURVEILLANCE.




How private is your private life?


I am writing to let you know what is happening with the Government’s Draft Communications Data Bill, also known as the Snoopers’ Charter.

The Government plans to instruct private companies to collect and store our ‘communications data’. That means records of emails, web activity, texts and phone calls – for the entire population. This amounts to mass, blanket surveillance - outsourced to the private sector.
Find out more about the Draft Communications Data Bill here

Your privacy is under threat


Your communications data can build up a very detailed picture of your life: who you have texted, emailed, skyped or phoned on any given day; where you were when the contact was made and for how long; which websites you have visited in the privacy of your own home; details of social media activity…and more.

We can stop the Snoopers’ Charter


Since we learned of the draft bill last year, we have submitted expert evidence to Parliament, secured public statements against the measures at all three main party conferences and encouraged thousands of Liberty members to write to their MPs or sign petitions.

This new law is being reviewed right now so we need your help urgently. We stopped this proposal under the last Government, and together we can stop it again.

Please visit www.nosnooperscharter.org.uk to help us stop the Snoopers’ Charter.


Thank you for your support



Shami Chakrabarti

Director of Liberty

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Tuesday 3 July 2012

THE RIGHT TO EXIST.


 QUOTE:
     “Theft exists only through the exploitation of man by man…when Society refuses you the right to exist, you must take it…the policeman arrested me in the name of the Law, I struck him in the name of Liberty.”

Clément Duval (1850–1935)French propagandist and anarchist who was found guilty in 1886 of theft and attempted murder of a police officer. Originally sentenced to death, his sentence was commuted to deportation and hard labour in the French Guiana prison camps, known as the “dry Guillotine" . He was there for 14 years and attempted over 20 escapes before finally making his get-away with some of his fellow prisoners in a dilapidated old boat. He made it to New York City where he was welcomed by the anarchists in the area. 

Tuesday 14 February 2012

BIG BROTHER, -- HE NEVER GOES AWAY!!



        Under our present system you can rest assured that big brother is alive and well. Not only that but he is always trying to take his control a little bit further, little by little, but it is relentless. All the extra control mechanisms come under various guises, “war-on-terrorism” seen some of the most direct attacks on our civil liberties, but “national security” usually tops the lot. Who decides the “national security”, a rich cabal with vested interests, interests that we will never be told of, but will shape the decisions that they make. This from Liberty.
For Their Eyes Only – a new campaign
Today Liberty launches a new campaign against Government proposals to extend the use of secret evidence and closed courts.

Some things are best kept secret, like a secret valentine. Other things demand nothing less than openness and scrutiny – like justice and fair trials.

The Government’s Justice and Security Green paper undermines these centuries-old principles by allowing the deeply flawed and unfair Closed Material Procedure system to spread way beyond the boundaries of national security into any area of civil law concerning material which might ‘damage the public interest’.

This could include civil actions against the police for assault or false imprisonment; personal injury claims brought by ex-servicemen against the Ministry of Defence; class actions against Government or big business and even inquests.

Liberty believes that these proposals are designed to put the Government above the law and keep the rest of us in the dark – shutting out bereaved families, the public and the press.

Find out more by visiting www.ForTheirEyesOnly.co.uk

Tuesday 14 June 2011

THOSE WERE THE DAY'S!!!


           An appeal for help, all those old anarchists, socialists and communists who might have some info on the sadly missed Socialist Sunday Schools, well now's the time to pass it on for the present and future generations. Our kids should have an alternative to the bland pro-establishment pulp that is pumped from ever avenue of media, education and political parties. However, it is up to us.

Socialist Sunday School Project by Ruth Ewan, A Call For Information.

        For Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art (GI) 2012, Scottish artist Ruth Ewan will be investigating the Socialist Sunday School movement, prevalent in Glasgow in the first half of the twentieth century.
A SOCIALIST Sunday school, I'd  go ti tha'.

       The movement's aims were designed to counter the dominant influences of Liberalism, Conservatism and ultimately capitalism, thought by many to be promoted by both church and state schools at that time. The Socialist Sunday Schools had no formulated curriculum, although guidelines were circulated on ethics, morality, love and social responsibility. Throughout the UK these schools flourished in tandem with the Independent Labour Party up until its decline in the early 1930s. Glasgow however avoided this fate with some of its Socialist Schools remaining in operation throughout the 1950s and 60s, and, according to some sources did not cease completely until the 1970s.

Wi' dis socialist mean?

       For the GI Festival 2012, artist Ruth Ewan will create an exhibition, publication and programme of public events reflecting on her research into the Socialist Sunday School Movement in Glasgow. She will include and draw on material from city archives such as Mitchell Library, People's Palace and Scottish Screen.
My book's called "Mutual Aid".

        Importantly, Ruth is keen to hear from and meet as many people who attended, or knew others that attended, the Socialist Sunday Schools, to provide new oral histories and material to add to the archives. Ruth hopes that these contributions will form a major part of her project presented at Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art, which will take place from Friday 20th April - Monday 7th May 2012.

       If you or a friend or family member attended the Socialist Sunday Schools and you would like to offer your knowledge or memories please contact curators Siobhan Carroll and Kitty Anderson on sundayschool@glasgowinternational.org or call the GI Festival office on 0141 276 8384.
ann arky's home.

Tuesday 26 October 2010

UNFAIR UNSAFE.

   
   
     What is it like living under a control order? This is from LIBERTY.
   
     Under a control order you might never know the accusation against you and never have the chance to clear your name. How would that feel?



      In February 2010 we spoke to a young man called Cerie Bullivant and he gave us a moving account of what life under a control order is really like:

      “It became impossible to live an ordinary life. As more and more restrictions and conditions were added, normal activities like working and studying became impossible. Not only did inflexibility of the hour that was set for the daily signing in make it difficult – between noon and 1pm – but any places of work or study had to be vetted by the Home Office. What employer is going to take the risk of hiring someone on a control order! Your life is no longer your own – you can’t plan anything."


     “It’s true I breached the control order a number of times – mostly for signing in late. Everyday I would have to travel to a particular police station to sign in. It wasn’t my local police station – it had to be a 24hour station, even though I had a set one hour period to sign in. Often the police station would be busy and I would have to wait in a queue – one of my ‘breaches’ for being late happened as I was standing in the police station waiting to sign in!”

      “After a year on the control order I tried to study mental health nursing – because of my experience of mum’s illness I thought I’d be good at it. However, the CRB check wasn’t coming back and the College were suspicious - also the daily sign in time made it impossible for me to attend class on time – and they wouldn’t let me change the time I had to sign in. In the end, it was impossible – I had to give it up."

       “More and more restrictions were added to my control order; I couldn’t work, I couldn’t study, I couldn’t plan anything, friends had turned against me, the pressure had caused my new wife to leave me. I felt isolated. I became really depressed; I was having nightmares, and would wake up in the night terrified, thinking the police were at my door.”


      Why not read Cerie’s full story and add your name to our petition to end control orders by visiting our  Unsafe Unfair campaign page.


ann arky's home

Monday 31 May 2010

MORE ISRAELI VIOLENCE.

ISRAELIS KILL TEN STORMING GAZA FLOTILLA
EMERGENCY DEMONSTRATION TODAY
MONDAY 31 MAY 2.00PM DOWNING STREET LONDON
SPREAD THE WORD

       Yet another act of Israeli barbarism as its forces storm one of the seven ships on the international flotilla taking aid to Gaza, where Israel’s illegal siege is starving Palestinians of essential resources. At least ten activists on board have been killed by Israeli forces.

        Please join the emergency demonstration today if you can. Publicise it as widely as possible.

See video of Israeli assault from Turkish television: http://bit.ly/aKExFf
For updates see: http://http//bit.ly/bg5gIu

CONTACT FOREIGN SECRETARY WILLIAM HAGUE & YOUR MP

PROTEST TO FOREIGN SECRETARY WILLIAM HAGUE:

EMAIL:http://mailto:correspondence@fco.gov.uk
AND/ORmailto:private.office@fco.gov.uk
AND MSU.mailto:PublicIn@fco.gov.uk

LETTER TO:

William Hague MP,
Foreign Secretary,
King Charles Street,
London, SW1A 2AH

CONTACT YOUR MP:
http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/ Ask him/her to contact Hague on your behalf

CONTACT DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER NICK CLEGG
EMAIL: cleggn@parliament.uk

LETTER TO: Nick Clegg MP, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA


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Tuesday 25 May 2010

Sat 29 May - Demo against the EDL (Newcastle)


Urgent Message from UAF Edinburgh.
            The poor General Election results for the BNP in their target areas have led to a number of internal debates in the BNP. Many are blaming Nick Griffin for a failed electoral strategy and the hardcore want to move towards a more traditional fascist approach of street fighting thugs. 
          It is against this backdrop that the English Defence League (EDL) has called for a demonstration in Newcastle on Saturday 29 May. The recent BBC documentary on the EDL (still available in BBC iplayer) showed the racism and violence that runs through it. That is why we need a show of strength with as many people as possible joining the "Unity" demonstration called by Unite Against Fascism.
           UAF Edinburgh is organising transport to this key protest. It will leave Edinburgh at 9am from Waterloo Place (east end of Princes St) and will cost: £20 waged & £10 unwaged. However if you are really skint then we can take you for less.  If you can't make it, could you make a donation to help pay for someone else?
      For tickets, information or to make a donation please email: uafedinburgh@riseup.net
 
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Sunday 23 May 2010

SOME THOUGHTS FROM THE BNP.

      These are just some of the thoughts that the BNP scumbags haven't got round to writing into their manifesto. Though given the support and time, these and other abhorrent ideas will be come their open aims.



    
  In February 2009 following the death of the six-year-old son of David Cameron, the Conservative Party leader, Jeffray Marshall, the central London BNP organiser, said: “We live in a country today which is unhealthily dominated by an excess of sentimentality towards the weak and unproductive. No good will come of it.”
      Marshall continued his sick tirade, stating that although it would be “a kindness” to kill children with disabilities”, this was not the same as advocating such a measure as compulsory state policy. “But so what if it is,” he declared. “At least we would all know where we stand. There is actually not a great deal of point in keeping these sort of people alive, after all.”
Mark Collett BNP Director of Publicity said about AIDS: “It is a friendly disease because blacks, drug users and gays have it.”
     Tony “The bomber” Lecomber has advocated a “racially purer” Britain through the sterilisation of the poor, the sick and the disabled. Lecomber even thinks that the rich are “genetically superior” to ordinary people and that poor people shouldn’t be allowed to have children.


Monday 10 May 2010

JUSTICE FOR PALASTINIANS.

       Jews for Justice for Palestinians (JfJP) have organised a short UK tour by one of the Shministim - Or Ben-David - a 19 year old Jewish Israeli woman who has refused to enter military service and has been imprisoned three times as a result. The Shministim - all 12th grade high school graduates - in the tradition of conscientious objectors worldwide, have taken an incredibly brave and inspirational stand in refusing to serve in the IDF in opposition to Israeli policies of occupation and oppression of Palestinians.
      Or will be spending a couple of nights in Scotland - a great opportunity to meet Or and hear first hand about the Shministim campaign. More on the Shministim here   http://www.shministim.com/

     On Wednesday 12th May, 5.30 pm, Or will be speaking at the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Palestine in Edinburgh.

     On Thursday 13th May - 7.30 pm - Public Meeting at STUC, 333 Woodlands Road, Glasgow G3 6NG.

     The meeting is being jointly sponsored by Scottish Jews for a Just Peace and Scottish Friends of Palestine 

All Welcome.

Sunday 9 May 2010

THE NEW WESTERN FASCISM.

       
       Warrantless searches, phone tapping, torture, kidnapping, indefinite imprisonment without charges, denial of legal representation, a continuous assault on our civil liberties, you name it, all part of the free democratic West. We slumbered, we are now in the grip of neo-fascists with an agenda aimed at protecting a privileged elite and using the unbridled power of an authoritarian government to enhance and protect their wealth.
      They are not wearing black shirts, nor stomping down our main streets in their shiny black boots and they are not burning books. To most people Fascist means swastika waving rallies and chants against the Jews. They are wrong. Today’s fascists are radical, conservative, corporate, authoritarian nationalists. They always play the fear card, terrorists from abroad, al-Qaeda, the continuous war against the enemy over there, then claim they need the power to protect us.
       The longer we slumber the tighter their grip until all freedom and civil liberties are a thing of the past. They will not reverse the trend of their own accord, they will never willingly relinquish their power. This is no time for slumber, this is a time to challenge that power, the gangrenous marriage of state and corporate power must be broken, dismantled, atomised and buried in the dustbin of history. Power must belong to the people who make up our society or it belongs to the putrid, pampered, privileged parasites of the new era of the fascist/corporate/state. If we continue to slumber our children will inherit a world of violence, deprivation, control and punishment, while the elite gorge on the fruits of our children’s labour.
 

Saturday 8 May 2010

A STATEMENT FROM GREECE.

        An employee of the burnt bank speaks out on tonight’s tragic deaths in Athens – On wednesday may 5th during the general strike in Athens 3 people died when molotovs were thrown at a bank which was all closed up and appeared empty but in fact the bosses of the bank had forced the employees to hide there despite their repeated requests to leave. They were told that if they left they would be fired. This is off the occupied London website (http://http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/) and is very necessary counter information by the employees of the bank. The Greek state is using the situation to try and vilify the anarchist movement in Greece so counter information is very important at the moment.
love & rage.

          Please spread Tonight’s tragic deaths in Athens leave little space for comments – we are all very shocked and deeply saddened by the events. To those (on the “Occupied London” blog even) who speculate that the deaths might have been caused purposefully by anarchists, we can only reply the following: we do not take to the streets, we do not risk our freedom and our lives confronting the greek police in order to kill other people. Anarchists are not murderers, and no brainwashing attempted by Greek PM Papandreou, the national or the international media should convince anyone otherwise. That being said, and with developments still running frantically, we want to publish a rough translation of a statement by an employee of Marfin Bank – the bank whose branch was set alight in Athens today, where the three employees found a tragic death. Read the letter, translate it, spread it around to your networks; grassroots counter-information has a crucial role to play at a moment when the greek state and corporate media are leashing out on the anarchist movement over here in Greece.
           I feel an obligation toward my co-workers who have so unjustly died today to speak out and to say some     objective truths. I am sending this message to all media outlets. Anyone who still bares some consciousness should publish it. The rest can continue to play the government’s game. The fire brigade had never issued an operating license to the building in question. The agreement for it to operate was under the table, as it practically happens with all businesses and companies in Greece. The building in question has no fire safety mechanisms in place, neither planned nor installed ones – that is, it has no ceiling sprinklers, fire exits or fire hoses. There are only some portable fire extinguishers which, of course, cannot help in dealing with extensive fire in a building that is built with long-outdated security standards. No branch of Marfin bank has had any member of staff trained in dealing with fire, not even in the use of the few fire extinguishers. The management also uses the high costs of such training as a pretext and will not take even the most basic measures to protect its staff. There has never been a single evacuation exercise in any building by staff members, nor have there been any training sessions by the fire-brigade, to give instructions for situations like this. The only training sessions that have taken place at Marfin Bank concern terrorist action scenarios and specifically planning the escape of the banks’ “big heads” from their offices in such a situation. The building in question had no special accommodation for the case of fire, even though its construction is very sensitive under such circumstances and even though it was filled with materials from floor to ceiling. Materials which are very inflammable, such as paper, plastics, wires, furniture. The building is objectively unsuitable for use as a bank due to its construction. No member of security has any knowledge of first aid or fire extinguishing, even though they are every time practically charged with securing the building. The bank employees have to turn into firemen or security staff according to the appetite of Mr Vgenopoulos [owner of Marfin Bank]. The management of the bank strictly bared the employees from leaving today, even though they had persistently asked so themselves from very early this morning – while they also forced the employees to lock up the doors and repeatedly confirmed that the building remained locked up throughout the day, over the phone. They even blocked off their internet access so as to prevent the employees from communicating with the outside world. For many days now there has been some complete terrorisation of the bank’s employees in regard to the mobilisations of these days, with the verbal “offer”: you either work, or you get fired. The two undercover police who are dispatched at the branch in question for robbery prevention did not show up today, even though the bank’s management had verbally promised to the employees that they would be there. At last, gentlemen, make your self-criticism and stop wandering around pretending to be shocked. You are responsible for what happened today and in any rightful state (like the ones you like to use from time to time as leading examples on your TV shows) you would have already been arrested for the above actions. My co-workers lost their lives today by malice: the malice of Marfin Bank and Mr. Vgenopoulos personally who explicitly stated that whoever didin’t come to work today [May 5th, a day of a general strike!] should not bother showing up for work tomorrow [as they would get fired]. – An employee of Marfin Bank [greek original available]

Tuesday 4 May 2010

RISE UP OR SUFFER!!!

          
          As the hatchet is taken to the living conditions of the Greek people the rest of the European working class can either look on as bystanders living the illusion that it wont happen to them, or they can be realists and join in solidarity with the Greek working class in the knowledge that they are next in line. It is much better to pre-empt the onslaught on your living conditions rather than trying to win back what has been slashed from you.
           We should have no illusions, we in Britain are heading back to the Victorian era of working class poverty once the elections are out of the way. Once the new millionaires are in the seats of power the real carnage will begin. There will be massive cuts to all social services, raging unemployment, wage cuts and wage freezes, higher taxes, lower pensions and working longer to get that meagre pension. There will be no care home places for the elderly and infirm, no nursery places unless you are prepared to pay through the nose. There has been estimates of council budgets being cut from 20% to 25%. So if you think the council isn't doing enough at the moment, well imagine what they will be able to do with a quarter less money in their purse.
           It is only common sense to fight back in self defence, we can't just sit back and let the financial pundits grab billions of taxpayers money while we bleed and crawl. Our very generous government handed the financial world billions of our tax payers money, which was gleefully accepted and in return the same financial world now tells us our debt is too high and the working class will have to pay to reduce this mountain of debt. Does that sound like your government is taking care of you?? 
           We don't owe anybody anything, we the working class make everything in this world, we grow all the food, we transport and distribute everything in this world. At no time has the working class of the world been living beyond its means. However the parasites of the political and financial class have been since the birth of capitalism.
           The capitalist system has lurched from one crisis to another and it is always the poor, the working class, that have to take the pain, yet they are never the ones that have gained the most. This "crisis" could be the greatest opportunity the world's working class has ever had. A chance to change the system once and for all to a system of justice. A system based on mutual aid that sees to the needs of all our people, a system freed from the grip of the parasites and their insatiable desire for ever increasing profits. A system of free association, voluntary co-operation and sustainability.
           We have the opportunity to realise the people's dream, we could be nurturing a new spring, ushering in a summer of justice, equality and a society free from the fear of deprivation



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COMMUNITY POLICING.


Friday 30 April 2010

YOUR STONING IS SAFE IN OUR HANDS!!!

     
 Written  by Joseph Abrams Foxnews.com NEW YORK.

      Without fanfare, the United Nations this week elected Iran to its Commission on the Status of Women, handing a four-year seat on the influential human rights body to a theocratic state in which stoning is enshrined in law and lashings are required for women judged "immodest."Just days after Iran abandoned a high-profile bid for a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, it began a covert campaign to claim a seat on the Commission on the Status of Women, which is "dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women," according to its website.
        Buried 2,000 words deep in a U.N. press release distributed Wednesday on the filling of "vacancies in subsidiary bodies," was the stark announcement: Iran, along with representatives from 10 other nations, was "elected by acclamation," meaning that no open vote was requested or required by any member states ― including the United States.The U.S. currently holds one of the 45 seats on the body, a position set to expire in 2012 . The U.S. Mission to the U.N. did not return requests for comment on whether it actively opposed elevating Iran to the women's commission.
       Iran's election comes just a week after one of its senior clerics declared that women who wear revealing clothing are to blame for earthquakes, a statement that created an international uproar ― but little affected their bid to become an international arbiter of women's rights. "Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes," said the respected cleric, Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi.
       As word of Iran 's intention to join the women's commission came out, a group of Iranian activists circulated a petition to the U.N. asking that member states oppose its election. " Iran 's discriminatory laws demonstrate that the Islamic Republic does not believe in gender equality," reads the letter, signed by 214 activists and endorsed by over a dozen human rights bodies.
       The letter draws a dark picture of the status of women in Iran: "women lack the ability to choose their husbands, have no independent right to education after marriage, no right to divorce, no right to child custody, have no protection from violent treatment in public spaces, are restricted by quotas for women's admission at universities, and are arrested, beaten, and imprisoned for peacefully seeking change of such laws." The Commission on the Status of Women is supposed to conduct review of nations that violate women's rights, issue reports detailing their failings, and monitor their success in improving women's equality.
        Yet critics of Iran 's human rights record say the country has taken "every conceivable step" to deter women's equality. "In the past year, it has arrested and jailed mothers of peaceful civil rights protesters," wrote three prominent democracy and human rights activists in an op-ed published online Tuesday by Foreign Policy Magazine. "It has charged women who were seeking equality in the social sphere ― as wives, daughters and mothers ― with threatening national security, subjecting many to hours of harrowing interrogation. Its prison guards have beaten, tortured, sexually assaulted and raped female and male civil rights protesters."
         Iran's elevation to the commission comes as a black eye just days after the U.S. helped lead a successful effort to keep Iran off the Human Rights Council, which is already dominated by nations that are judged by human rights advocates as chronic violators of essential freedoms. The current membership of the women's commission is little different. Though it touts itself as "the principal global policy-making body" on women's rights, the makeup of the commission is mostly determined by geography and its membership is a hodge-podge of some human rights advocates (including the U.S. , Japan , and Germany ) and other nations with stark histories of rights violations.
        The number of seats on the commission is based on the number of countries in a region, no matter how small their populations or how scant their respect for rights. The commission is currently made up of 13 members from Africa, 11 from Asia, nine from Latin America and the Caribbean, eight from Western Europe and North America, and four from Eastern Europe . During this round of "elections," which were not competitive and in which no real votes were cast, two seats opened up for the Asian bloc for the 2011-2015 period. Only two nations put forward candidates to fill empty spots ― Iran and Thailand . As at most such commissions in the U.N., backroom deals determined who would gain new seats at the women's rights body.
         The activists' letter sent to the U.N. Tuesday argued that it would be better if the Asian countries proffered only one candidate, instead of elevating Iran to the commission."We, a group of gender-equality activists, believe that for the sake of women's rights globally, an empty seat for the Asia group on (the commission) is much preferable to Iran 's membership. We are writing to alert you to the highly negative ramifications of Iran ’s membership in this international body." A spokeswoman for the U.N.'s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, which oversees the commission, did not return phone calls or e-mails seeking comment. When its term begins in 2011, Iran will be joined by 10 other countries: Belgium , the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Estonia , Georgia , Jamaica , Iran , Liberia , the Netherlands , Spain , Thailand and Zimbabwe .