Chile Today - Tmorrow----

 

        It doesn't get much, if any, coverage on our mainstream media, but what is happening in Chile is a mass popular uprising being met with fierce, brutal state repression. This is happening now, and across many other countries, how long can this festering sewer of an economic system last. Well it will last as long as the people tolerate its existence, it will collapse when the people say, "enough is enough".

      Some videos of what is happening in Chile, you don't have to know the language to understand what is going on. Videos from arrezafe.

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DEMOCRACY vs MYTHOLOGY:

THE BATTLE IN SYNTAGMA SQUARE.

        I have continually spouted that the deficit reduction has nothing to do with deficit reduction. It is all to do with saving the banks and the bond markets from losing any of their illgotten assets and rescue them from their gambling excesses. The billionaire playboys gambled massively and lost, so now they want the ordinary people of the world to pay for their greed. Living standards will be slashed, social services will be decimated, unemployment will rise, pensions will be plundered and all public assets will be sold off at bargain prices to those very billionaire gamblers.

      All this is happening not because your government wants to destroy the social fabric of the nation, but because they are being dictated to by foreign billionaires and as they are in the pay of those billionaires they obey for fear of losing their own wealth, power and privileges. It is an army of occupation taking over all the decision making in their target countries.

      It is explained excellently in the following extract from STURDYBLOG. Please take the time to read the article in full and spread the details as widely as possible. This is your battle, it is not just something that is happening over there in some foreign land. It is here, it is our struggle, it is your and your kids future.

     "I have never been more desperate to explain and more hopeful for your understanding of any single fact than this: The protests in Greece concern all of you directly.

        What is going on in Athens at the moment is resistance against an invasion; an invasion as brutal as that against Poland in 1939. The invading army wears suits instead of uniforms and holds laptops instead of guns, but make no mistake – the attack on our sovereignty is as violent and thorough. Private wealth interests are dictating policy to a sovereign nation, which is expressly and directly against its national interest. Ignore it at your peril. Say to yourselves, if you wish, that perhaps it will stop there. That perhaps the bailiffs will not go after the Portugal and Ireland next. And then Spain and the UK. But it is already beginning to happen. This is why you cannot afford to ignore these events.

      The powers that be have suggested that there is plenty to sell. Josef Schlarmann, a senior member of Angela Merkel’s party, recently made the helpful suggestion that we should sell some of our islands to private buyers in order to pay the interest on these loans, which have been forced on us to stabilise financial institutions and a failed currency experiment. (Of course, it is not a coincidence that recent studies have shown immense reserves of natural gas under the Aegean sea).

       China has waded in, because it holds vast currency reserves and more than a third are in Euros. Sites of historical interest like the Acropolis could be made private. If we do not do as we are told, the explicit threat is that foreign and more responsible politicians will do it by force. Let’s make the Parthenon and the ancient Agora a Disney park, where badly paid locals dress like Plato or Socrates and play out the fantasies of the rich.---"

 

       We have to admit that the world at this moment in time is owned by gambling billionaires, they buy governments and plunder the planet. We can continue in this fashion and leave a future of deprivation and corporate fascism to our grandchildren, or we can orgainse in solidarity with all the ordinary people of the world and change the way our world is run. We can create a world based on needs, mutual aid and sustainability, we have the resources, we have the ability, all we are lacking is the will to start that change.

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TIME FOR RIGHTEOUS ANGER!!!

         As the Greek government tries to push through more "austerity" measures to appease the IMF and bond markets, the people of Greece are saying NO, enough is enough. The riots, strikes and now camps on Syntagma Square are proof of their determination. Here in the UK, we are also being hit with “austerity” measures for the same reasons, to protect the bond markets, the banks and to appease the IMF. However, to date, we in the UK seem to be taking it on the chin with the mythical stiff upper lip. There are those who might say that the reason for that is because we are not being hit as hard as the Greeks. Perhaps not, but we still have unacceptable poverty in this country and our “austerity” cuts have still to bite.

         Save the Children state that there are over 1.6 million children in the UK living in extreme poverty. No matter the illusions they try to weave, no country can claim to be civilised where over 1.6 million children live in extreme poverty. This is an increase on last years figure, the main contributing factor to this increase being because of huge increases in the cost of energy, petrol and food. According to the British Retail Consortium, families have seen the average food bill of £100 increase by £5 since last year. This continuing rising cost of living, has thousands more families struggling to to pay for the very basics in the home. What people have to cope with in the face of wage cuts, wage freezes and benefit cuts are such things as Petrol £1.37 a litre, diesel £1.42 a litre, and according to the Office of National Statistics, the last 5 years have seen the price of bread increase by 50%, butter by 57.7% and milk up 33%, on top of this gas is expected to rise by 19% and electricity by 12% before the end of this year. Obviously if you are on a low income, benefit or a wage freeze, then these factors are going to hit you hard, as you are obliged to spend a larger proportion of your income on the basic necessities. Last year over 61,000 people across the UK approached Foodbanks for help. Poverty is wide spread here in the UK but our millionaire, friends of the IMF and bank Mafia's hatchet job, has still to do its real damage. Will the UK people still continue with their orderly strikes, marches and banner waving, or will they vent the very real anger that they are already feeling? "Enjoy the ecstasy of your righteous anger", goes an old Korean saying!!!

 

 

TIME FOR RIGHTEOUS ANGER.

We talk of justice, we ooze compassion

you and I. Our comfort sure

with a gracious smile a token give

those “SO deserving poor”.

Where is compassion when children lose

carefree innocent play,

where is justice when children meet

hunger along the way?

Children who, in this world of excess

create a newsreel scene

cradled in a starving mother’s arms

expiring on your TV screen.

Forget the famine rationale

in a sickly syrup word,

mouthed by those crazy apes

until the truth is blurred.

Feel the anguish of the other

hear their pitiful cry

see hunger steal their future;

loudly cry out, why?

Then act out your righteous anger

fan the passions flame,

create a world of social justice

end this human shame.

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SPAIN: ANARCHISTS AND MAY 15 MOVEMENT, REFLECTIONS.

HOW DEMOCRACY WORKS IN SPAIN. 

   

     The following is a short extract from a very interesting article posted on that excellent site LibCom It is well worth reading the full article.

        A reflection article written by anarchists in Madrid on the occupation at Puerta del Sol, leading up to the neighbourhood assemblies which took place on May 28.

        This text was written in Madrid, so many of the descriptions and reflections may not match the reality of other locations, especially given the heterogeneity of the 15-M Movement. Even so, we think that it could be useful as a point of departure for reflection for all the comrades involved in the assemblies, regardless of the site. The text was written and corrected hastily so that it would be ready before the convocation of village and neighbourhood assemblies on May 28. Keep this in mind while reading it and excuse any mistakes that it may have.

-Some Anarchists from Madrid.

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SYRIA - TAKING SIDES vs IMPERIALIST INTERVENTION.

         An extract from an interesting article from The International Centre, it is well worth reading the whole article as it does throw some light on the very complex situation in the Middle East and the even more complex and seemingly contradictory attitude of the West.

         U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ declared on March 25, 2011 – that there are 3 repressive regimes in the Middle East that must be condemned – Syria, Libya and Iran. Why is the U.S. targeting these particular countries? The progressive political movement must avoid being just an echo and a justification of Pentagon war policy, especially whenever any developing country is in the cross hairs of a U.S. attack.

        Consider: isn't Israel a criminally repressive regime against the Palestinian population? Aren't Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Jordan, Yemen, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan repressive regimes, military dictatorships and/or corrupt monarchies? All of these brutally repressive regimes have killed of thousands of their own population and could not survive one day with out decades of U.S. military, economic, diplomatic and political support. Is the U.S., with the largest prison population in the world and more weapons than the rest of the world put together, a repressive regime? It is the source of repression, destabilization, dictatorships and wars.

 

         It is within this context that progressives must view the demonstrations that have been taking place for two months against the Bashir Assad government in Syria. The regime has both acknowledged that reforms are essential and responded with force. The actual character and the social forces involved in these demonstrations remains unclear, as does the political direction of the Syrian opposition.

          The events in Syria are connected to the social explosion shaking the Arab world. Washington and all the old regimes tied to it in the region are trying desperately to manage and contain this still unfolding mass upheaval into channels that do not threaten their domination of the region.

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       BLAIR MOUNTAIN, WEST VIRGINIA.

        There isn't a country in the world that does not have people protesting against what this corporate fascist system is doing to our lives and the planet, which is the future lives of our kids and grandkids. From the "Arab Spring" to the Pan-European protests agains the plunder of our public assets, from groups objecting to the rape of the planet to the cruelty to animals and all this vandalism is done in the name of profit for the rich, parasitical corporate shareholders. It is time that we all joined hands and made it one massive movement against the system that breeds poverty for the many and the eventual demise of the planet.

A REPORT FROM, MARMET, West Virginia—

      On Monday morning, hundreds of people began a weeklong, 50-mile trek to protest mountaintop removal mining and defend labor rights. Nearly 250 marchers and supporters of the Appalachia Rising March on Blair Mountain gathered at the Marmet Baseball Field for a rally on Monday morning. An hour later, shortly after 10 a.m., they headed toward Blair, a town near the Boone-Logan county border, where their march will end on Friday.

SOLIDARITY.

     As the marchers began, several people driving through Marmet honked their horns in support of the marchers. Two small groups of counter-demonstrators held up signs including “Friends of Coal” and “I Love Coal.”

      The marchers plan to walk the same route more than 10,000 coal miners took between Aug. 24 and Sept. 4, 1921, marching to Logan County to organize non-union miners.

 

        The 1921 March on Blair Mountain was the biggest armed conflict in American labor history. After several days of battles, federal troops arrived and ended the conflict.

Read the rest of the story and see video from the Charleston Gazette here

Find out how to join the march here

http://earthfirstnews.wordpress.com/

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GREECE TODAY-- SPAIN, PORTUGAL TOMORROW??

 

      The following is a report from OCCUPIED LONDON-- FROM THE GREEK STREETS. Where are the British people in this corporate plunder of all our public assets and the slashing of our standard of living? Are we going to be limited to 50 or so people at a time running round pointing out the tax dodgers, or are we going to organise and mobilise to change this corrupt and exploitive system once and for all?
      All the media is spouting about the "Arab Spring" where is the "Pan-European Spring"?
   

     REPORT STARTS HERE: Athens sees its biggest gathering in years, more than 150,000 at Syntagma square as the build-up for the General Strike of June 15th begins

A crowd whose size is difficult to even estimate gathered in central Athens to protest against the crisis and the Memorandum tonight. The call to a pan-european call of action saw more than 100,000 (some estimates give much higher numbers) flooding Syntagma square and many central nearby avenues. In contrast to previous gatherings, police presence was much higher, with fencing erected around the parliament building and double, or triple rows of riot police around it.

The city is now building up for the General Strike of June 15th, which is also the next date of action announced at Syntagma square. Both mobilisations are aimed against the new agreement between the government and the troika (IMF/EU/ECB) which is planned to be voted at parliament on the morning of the 15th. The general assembly of Syntagma square has already called for a blocking of the parliament from the night of the 14th. In addition to the fencing installed around the parliament (see below), a police water canon has also appeared nearby.

Similar demonstrations took place in Thessaloniki, Patras, Heraklion, Larisa, Volos and many other Greek cities. In the Cretan city of Chania, fascists bearing arms appeared in the gathering, in a failed attempt to provoke the gathered crowd.

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OUR MAN IN SPAIN.

   

     It is difficult to find out what is really going on in Spain at the moment. The mainstream media, as usual tells us about uprisings in far away places, but never too much about unrest right here in the EU. So ann arky is appealling to blog readers who have any first hand information of what is happening in Madrid, Barcalona and Bibao to send in your account. One such account came in from a friend, "our man in Spain", it is brief but still welcome.

      It is only by communicating across borders that we can learn from each other and know what other resitance groups are doing and how best to support each other. The working class has no borders, no country, we are trans-global.

FROM OUR MAN IN SPAIN.

    "Really frustrating not being able to catch up much on what's going on in Madrid and Barcelona and to a lesser extent Bilbao. I suppose you saw what happened when they tried to evict people in Barcelona. From what they've told me in Bilbao there's a bit of everything but there does seem to be a genuine belief in a horizontal form of organising which, let's face it, is the only way any resistance movement has a chance of getting anywhere. Something positive and creative certainly seems to be taking shape. Time will tell but the signs are encouraging. Don't really know if the PSE lost votes to the PP in the recent regional government elections or people simply didn't bother voting for them or voted for some of the small progressive parties."

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LIBRARIES OR BOMBS??

     

      While the Cameron/Clegg public school thugs shout cuts, cuts, cuts, Cameron's little Libyan war has become Cameron's killing fields. The “No-fly zone” has now escalated into a continual bombardment of Western Libya. NATO has just completed its heaviest bombardment of the city of Tripoli since the so called, “protect civilians” campaign began. How do you protect civilians in a densely populated city by heavy bombardment of weapons of mass destruction? Perhaps the citizens of Tripoli are worth less than the citizens of Benghazi.

      All this killing doesn't come cheap, oh dear no. While the millionaire duo shout, “We can't afford” social services, libraries, education, child care, etc. the bill for Cameron's violent little ego trip, is reckoned to cost around about £1 billion by the autumn. Experts state that the cost to date is around the £300-£400 million with the bill rising by about £38 million a week. A far cry from smug low life Osborne's figure which he quoted at the start of the killing that it would only be in the tens of millions. To people of his ilk, that's just pocket money, he could probably pay for that himself.

WHO NEEDS SOCIAL SERVICES?

        The true cots will not be known for some weeks yet, when the Defence Officials make their announcements. Of course all the cost will be understated as we are about to escalate this affair with the announcement that we will be now using attack helicopters. Another little very expensive military toy that we can obviously afford.

A HOSPITAL??

       Why do we tolerate “our” government spending over £1 billion in six months on the destruction of a country and the killing of its people. This continual free spending when it comes to foreign military intervention and slashing and cutting at all our social services while muttering, we can't afford, we can't afford, lays bare the unbridled hypocrisy of this millionaire cabal of public school thugs.

        This is the situation that capitalism and its bed partner, party political politics, has given us, an elite bunch of pampered parasites controlling everything and showing complete disregard for the ordinary people. However, wonderful sparks of hope keep springing up, with the latest being Madrid and some other cities in Spain. Support appearing in other cities across Europe, with the ordinary people beginning to realise their power and the growing awareness that with solidarity we can change this world. We can create a fairer and more just world freed from the capitalist greed and profit motive, we have the power to create a world we would be proud to leave to our children and our grandchildren. As the world is at the moment, being raped, plundered and polluted, all for profit for parasitical shareholders, we fear for the future of our children and our grandchildren. It doesn't have to be that way, there is an alternative, all we have to do is all come together and discuss the world we want for the future.

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TAHRIR SQUARE, MADRID, EDINBURGH, ---???

      Sunday saw a large march and demonstration in Edinburgh in support of the popular uprising in Spain, you can read more and see more photos on Indymedia Scotland here are a couple of photos to start you off.

Photos from Indymedia Scotland.

     There were also demonstrations of support in other cities across Europe. Is the sleeping lion about awake and rise?

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MADRID ECHOES THE SPIRIT OF TAHRIR SQUARE.

The following was taken from A World to Win site. Where is the rest of Europe in this "awakening"?

Madrid echoes the spirit of Tahrir Square

     The Real Democracy Now movement that has sprung up across Spain, with a main square in Madrid under occupation since Sunday, is a key moment in the developing global struggle against the failure of the political and economic status quo.    

 Drawing their inspiration from Tahrir Square in Cairo – where the Egyptian revolution began – thousands have organised themselves into a people’s assembly in Puerta del Sol to discuss a way forward. The movement, which is independent of political parties and the trade unions, used social networking sites to mobilise for the occupation.

SOLIDARITY.

      A pamphlet distributed by organisers said they "do not represent any political party” and that "we want a new society that prioritises life over economic and political interests. We advocate a change in society and social consciousness." Fabio Gándara, the spokesman for Democracia Real Ya, a 26-year-old unemployed lawyer who is studying to be a civil servant, said: "What we're denouncing is the lack of real democracy and the tendency toward a two-party system where corruption at all levels is simply scandalous.”

     

       With tents, mattresses, a kitchen, a workshop and even a pharmacy, protesters have refused to budge, defying the decision of regional election officials that they should leave the square. They have also organised their own security teams to keep order in the square. There are at least 57 so-called "Sol campsites" that have popped up across the country in solidarity. Spaniards living abroad have also set up camps outside Spain 's embassies in Berlin and London , and in Amsterdam 's Dam Square . 

       In Spain – just as it was in Tunisia and Egypt , where the Arab spring began at the start of the year – the movement is driven by the “lost generation” of educated but unemployed young people. An estimated 45% of them are without work while average unemployment at over 20% is the highest in Europe .

      They are the victims of a global capitalist recession which has devastated Spain ’s economy which floundered when a gigantic property bubble burst in 2008. And they are casualties of the post-Franco dictatorship politics too.

      

       The fascist regime was replaced by los señores Tweedledum and Tweedledee – aka the Socialist Party (PSOE) and the right-wing People’s Party (PP). Only fewer and fewer Spaniards can tell the difference between them. Both parties are endemically corrupt and have shared the role of integrating Spain into the global market-driven capitalist economy.

        One result is that Spain is close to following Ireland , Portugal and Greece in seeking a bail-out from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. That would spell not only the collapse of the eurozone but trigger a new global financial collapse.

      That is why Real Democracy Now is saying “Don’t vote for them” – the PSOE and PP – in Sunday’s regional and local elections because neither represents the interests of ordinary people. This is an astonishing indictment of a parliamentary democracy that was only established in 1977 after Franco’s death two years earlier.

      This, naturally, poses the question of if not this “democracy”, then what type of political system should replace it? The protests in Madrid , Barcelona , Seville and other cities, popularly known as M-15 as they began on May 15, have started that debate. In Sol Square there is a “democracy wall” where people have stuck hundreds of notes with their thoughts on them, declarations and statements.

     In Egypt , the dictatorship was overthrown but power remains out of reach, resting in the hands of an army that owns a large chunk of the economy. In Spain , a 35-year-old parliamentary democracy leaves real power in the hands of the corporations and banks who use politicians as a front.

      For a “real” democracy to work, it must involve the transfer of economic and financial resources into the hands of ordinary working people, alongside the replacing of the capitalist state by forms of popular power. Many took up the fight against Franco’s fascists in the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s with that aim in mind. The revolution was cruelly betrayed by Stalinism and then defeated. Puerta del Sol signals a chance to put history back on course.

Paul Feldman
Communications editor
20 May 2011

Corinna Lotz
Secretary

A World to Win  07871 745258

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