Democracy And Police Violence.

           It appears that in Germany you can't put up posters depicting police violence, without dire consequences.
This from Hyperallergic:

 Kalabal!K Library

           An anarchist library was raided earlier this month in Berlin after police executed search warrants in the hunt for two men wanted in connection to a series of posters depicting police violence during the last year’s G20 protests in Hamburg.
          Kalabal!K, located on Reichenberger Strasse in Kreuzberg, was searched on the morning of May 9 after police suspected two men wanted for libel were located inside. Just after 5:15am, Berlin police reportedly broke open the door of the anarchist library with an angle grinder. They also stormed an apartment in the same building, as well as three other apartments in the Neukölln and Tempelhof districts.
           The State Office of Criminal Investigation (LKA) gave Berlin police permission to search the premises of Kalabal!K, which is located in a left-wing project house known as “Reiche 63a,” part of a collective run by the Self-Governing Comradeship of East Berlin, where police reportedly seized evidence including data carriers, as well as illegal weapons and guns.
         Police arrested two men, aged 24 and 27, on suspicion of spreading slander in connection to the “wanted” signs that were posted around Kreuzberg in December of last year following the violence at the G20 summit in Hamburg. The posters in question depict several members of the Hamburg police and local politicians, who are accused in the renegade poster of forming “a terrorist group for the purpose of attempted manslaughter, serious injury, mistreatment and kidnapping.”
          Politicians depicted in the poster include the Federal Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz; Senator Andy Grote; and Hamburg’s Chief of Police Hartmut Dudde. According to activists, these individuals were responsible for motivating police aggression during the Hamburg G20 protests last July, where for several nights left-wing groups demonstrated against the summit.
           Criticism of police aggression during G20 was widespread, with several journalists reporting a disproportionate use of force to put down demonstrators. According to a report by Constanze Nauhaus in Der Tagesspiegel, “the police deployed such a massive force to surround the demo’s starting point at Hamburg’s Fischmarkt square that it was almost impossible to count the number of water cannon and reinforcement units stationed in the surrounding streets.”

This is the offending poster:

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More Than 70 Dead, The Price Of Protest!!

 

       Six weeks of protests, over 70 dead, including elderly and children, thousands injured, 37 dead and 1,600 injured, today alone, and rising. As far as I can gather, only one Israeli soldier has been slightly injured during this protest. If this was happening in North Korea, China or Russia or any Western country, for that matter, it would be banner headlines in every newspaper, and our TV screens would be pumping it out non stop. However this is Palestinian people, this is the Zionist Israeli state's slaughter, so it may be reported but criticism will be muted. There may even be talk of an inquire about Israeli military's excessive use of force, then it will all settle down and the Palestinian people will be expected to get on with their lives under the yoke of brutal occupation and genocide. How much longer will the people of the world accept this, how much longer will we be complicit in this 21st. century genocide by our silence and inaction?

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Freedom Is Born Through Struggle.

       Those who confront the injustices of this greed driven capitalist system, openly and head on, often pay a high price. For some the price is their life, others it is being locked up in the various states' cages of repression. All deserve our unending solidarity, if our aim is to build a world of fairness for all our people. The state will not relinquish its authoritarian power willing, it will never offer the people freedom, it will not fade away quietly. It will fiercely attempt to crush all and any flowering of freedom and self determination, it can only survive by our subservience, our freedom and justice can only blossom from its ruins.

       The Vrije Bond from Amsterdam, has started an own initative of solidarity, to support the comrade, sentenced to 2 years an 7 months in Hamburg for having participated in the protest against the G20 summit in July.
Money is desperately needed and could be transferred to the following bank account:
VB SOLIDARITEITSFONDS IBAN: NL80INGB0005495473 BIC/Swift: INGBNL2A Key Word : G20

Please spread this information!

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

Hamburg Summer 2017: I Am There, I Stay There!

 

        Like I have said before, it is difficult for me to keep my mouth shut within this kaleidoscope of injustice and inequality, repression and poverty.  I have often spouted off about prisons and their purpose, their part in the control chain of this repressive and exploitative system. This letter taken from Act For Freedom Now, from a victim locked up inside one of Germany's many prisons, for protesting that injustice, puts it much better than I could.

Letter from Hamburg from Billwerder Prison, by a French prisoner
        It’s been almost a month and a half since I was imprisoned during the twelfth G20 summit in Hamburg, in a city that was besieged and taken in hostage by the security forces, but which also saw an important local and popular protest.
       Tens of thousands, if not more, flocking from all over Europe, and even beyond, converged, met, organised, debated and demonstrated together for several days in a great surge of solidarity. At all times aware of the possibility of suffering the violence and the repression of the police. A huge prefab police court had been built for the occasion, to punish any dissent against this international summit as quickly as possible.
      My arrest, like that of many comrades, is based only on the sacred word of the police, of a brigade sent to infiltrate, observe and follow their “prey” (during forty-five minutes in my case, for a supposed throwing of a projectile…). Once isolated, they sent colleagues to arrest them, intervening quickly and violently, and leaving no loop-holes.
        So, here I am, locked up in these places primordial to the proper functioning of a global social order, these places that serve as a tool for the control and management of poverty, essential to the maintenance of their “social peace”. Prison acts like a sword of Damocles hanging above each and every individual so that they are petrified by the idea of deviating from the codes and dictates of an established order: “working, consuming, sleeping”, from which no dominated individual may escape, so they alienate themselves through work and the life that goes with it, to be on time, without ever flinching, and not only during the second round of the presidential elections, where we have been required to be “En Marche” [“in operation”, Macron’s slogan and name of the party in power right now] or to die, preferably slowly and silently.
        Since the law has no vocation to guarantee the general interest, nor to be neutral, it is the expression of an increasingly institutional domination by the most powerful in order to guarantee their property and security and thus paralyse, sanction and marginalize anyone who does not see things the same way or who will not submit.
        Beyond the cases of the well-known and supported activists who are locked up, there are also, and above all, those men and women who are exposed to the brutality and the cruelty of imprisonment. Here the work is paid one euro per hour, of which half is accessible only on release from jail. In my wing, detainees in pre-trial detention or for short sentences (six months to four years) are mainly detained only for one reason: their social condition and origin. Apart from the staff, very few are from the host country, all are foreigners, refugees and/or precarious, poor, weakened by life. Their crime: they did not submit to the rules of the game, for the majority by engaging in drugdealing or by committing thefts, scams, alone or in organised gangs at various scales.
         Imprisonment is a fundamental pillar of this system but one can not criticise it without attacking the society that produces it. The prison, not operating in self-sufficiency, is the perfect link in a society based on exploitation, domination and separation in its varied forms.
“Work and prison are two essential pillars for social control, work being the better police and rehabilitation a permanent blackmail.”
        My thoughts go to the Italian comrades facing an umpteenth wave of repression, especially those charged in the investigation into the “explosive device” left in front of a bookstore linked to Casapound. The extreme right must face an organised, popular and offensive counterattack. It is so useful and complementary to those states that feed on its security aspirations and delusions and its incessant stigmatization of “foreigners.”
        Thoughts also for the comrades who will face trial next September for the police car burned on the eighteenth of May last year, in Paris, during the movement “loi travail” (labour law) movement. Many people have gone through prison and two are still incarcerated. Strength to them!
        Acknowledgments to the local activists organising rallies in front of our prison, an initiative appreciated here as it breaks the routine and the state of ambient lethargy in which we are alienated. Acknowledgments to all those who support us here and everywhere.
To the Bro’, 161, MFC, OVBT, wild youngsters, those who BLF and other friends …
Comrades, strength!
        Let’s free the G20 prisoners and all the others! We’re not alone!
One imprisoned among others
Billwerder Prison,
Hamburg
14 August 2017

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Call Out For Solidarity.

        In this so called democracy, sanitised, and authority choreographed, marches, demos and protests are tolerated, but even in these sanctioned affairs, the eyes of the minders of the state, are ever eager to mark things with their branding iron of fear, just in case anybody should try to think for themselves and act accordingly. Glasgow Pride March, a rather merry and pleasurable affair, saw 5 arrests.
         This is a call out from various groups, to show support and solidarity with those arrested.

Solidarity with 5 arrested at Glasgow Pride MarchHi, 

     There’s a write-up on this blog, including pictures and video: https://athousandflowers.net/2017/08/19/no-pride-in-police-arrests-in-glasgow-as-protesters-resist-police-led-pride-march/amp/
       The first three arrests were a planned protest by Free Pride and they were bailed on Saturday. The other two arrests were from our bloc: a young person nicked for having an offensive banner (with no chance to surrender or destroy it) and someone who tried to intervene / observe. As far as I know these two are being held for court on Monday.
        I’ll go to the court tomorrow in support; is anyone else coming, and do we know the full names of the arrestees? I expect both to be not called, or bailed or ordained to return for trial. Does anyone know where prisoners are released from Glasgow Sheriff Court custody, if they don’t get out through the main doors?
        Thanks for any help, best wishes,

Solidarity with 5 arrested at Glasgow Pride March
        Latest news is that two people are still in custody, the other three have been released. There is going to be a solidarity demo at the Glasgow Sheriff Court tomorrow Monday 9am onwards
       For updates see ACE facebook and especially Free the Pride Five events page https://www.facebook.com/events/294177851048722/
       Excerpt: On 19th August three trans activist and two antifa were arrested for protesting capitalist pride. Join us in solidarity on their court date.
UPDATE: three have been released but we will still be there for the other two.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1445513385484082&id=216550781713688&ref=bookmarks

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

 

Solidarity Is A Weapon.

          A call for solidarity from that "Land of the Free" the good ol' US of A. A country that locks up more of its citizens than any other country on the planet. In this case protesters at the inauguration of the dysfunctional, homophobic, twitter syndrome Trump are facing 75 years in prison, after a mass arrest at that protest. Solidarity knows no borders and is one of our powerful weapons, let's use it now and often.

This from Crimethinc:

       We are calling for a Week of Solidarity with the J20 defendants from July 20 to 27, 2017. July 20 marks six months from the initial actions and arrests during Donald Trump’s inauguration, and on July 27, a motion to dismiss the charges will be argued in court. The case has finally begun to receive the media attention it warrants; with this court date approaching and the cases underway, this is a crucial time for a second Week of Solidarity. Send reportbacks, photographs, and inquiries to J20solidarity@protonmail.com.
       On January 20, 2017, thousands of people came to Washington, DC to protest the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump. In the early morning, blockades shut down security checkpoints and discouraged people from attending the inauguration itself, while impromptu marches and direct actions occurred throughout the day. There was a spirit of defiance in the air.
       Iconic images circulated almost immediately, from the punching of white supremacist Richard Spencer to pictures of a limousine on fire. These were only the most spectacular images, however, of a day that was characterized by generalized disruption.
       Midmorning, an “anticapitalist and antifascist” march of several hundred people made clear its opposition not just to Trump but also the system that made Trump possible. Led by banners reading “MAKE RACISTS AFRAID AGAIN” and “TOTAL LIBERATION FROM DOMINATION,” the disruptive march took the streets of DC to the sound of fireworks and anticapitalist chants. After about half an hour, the march was brutally attacked by police, who used chemical and crowd control weapons along with physical force, then boxed in (“kettled”) and mass-arrested people. Everyone on an entire city block was arrested and given the same charge of felony rioting. Approximately 214 arrestees now face a total of eight felony charges, including conspiracy and destruction of property. All of the J20 defendants are now facing up to 75 years in prison.
       A great deal has happened in the six months since the inauguration. Confrontational protests have taken place across the continent, challenging the political landscape shaped by Trump’s election. Participants have stood up to emboldened white supremacists, disrupted airports in the face of anti-Muslim bans, blockaded proposed pipeline routes, set up sanctuary spaces and rapid response networks against ICE deportations, and much more. In turn, states are passing legislation aimed at further criminalizing protest and limiting resistance.

Read the full article for contact details and further info HERE:

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

Faslane Peace Camp.

        I believe I posted earlier about us at Spirit of Revolt being delighted and honoured to be given the opportunity to collect and archive the Faslane Peace Camp material. The Faslane Peace Camp is the longest running peace camp in the world, this is its 35th year, camped outside the Faslane nuclear submarine base near Helensburgh on the Gare Loch. During that time it has been the hub of a myriad of protests and campaigns against nuclear weapons, and for peace in general. In its 35 years it has seen an army of names, well known and lesser know ordinary people, move through its camp site, some staying for a short period, others staying for a considerable time. All doing their bit to keep alive this important part of our protest heritage.

          Spirit of Revolt already has several boxes of memorabilia, photos, letters, newspaper cuttings, diaries, etc. and a box of the camp's own magazine. We have now been give some videos and podcasts, thanks to Neil Scott.

           We are eager to collect as much material as possible of this grass-roots peace endeavour, so that it can be preserved and made more widely available to the public at large. So if any of you old campers out there are sitting on material, or stories, from your involvement in, and with the Peace Camp, we would be delighted if you would get in touch with Spirit of Revolt, at info (at) spiritofrevolt (dot) info If you wish to donate material we can meet up to discuss this and make arrangements to collect. 

The Purveyors Of Plunder And Mayhem Come To Hamburg.

         July 2017 will see the the gathering of our beloved leaders from across the planet, the G20 will take place in Hamburg, on July 7th.-8th. These are the people that shape our world, and are so beloved by their people, that when they come together to discuss their grand plans, they need  the area where they are to meet, to be in lock-down, the citizens cleared or restricted, and a minimum of 10,000 police and secret agents to protect them from their loving citizens. The scale and concentration of the security that will surround this bunch of managers of the plundering of the earth, is indication of the total disgust in which the people hold them. These are the people responsible for the slaughter in the Middle East, the genocide of the Palestinian people, the drowning of thousands of fleeing innocent people, the army of refugees that are being, harassed, herded like cattle, or abandoned to claws of hunger and deprivation. Protests against this cabal of greed driven war mongers and power grabbers, should not be limited to Hamburg, it should be at least, pan-European, but preferably world wide and co-ordinated.

    They will arrive in their private jets, their limousines, and with their army of flunkies. This obscene display of corrupt power and savage authority will be paid for by you and me, no matter the cost, you and I will pick up the tab, they call it democracy.  

This from 325:

          On the 7th and 8th of July 2017 the G20 summit is supposed to take place in Hamburg. The heads of the governments of the 19 richest and most powerful states of the world, accompanied by 6.000 delegation members, surrounded and permanently photographed by 3.000 journalists and of course cordoned off and protected by an army of at least 10.000 police and secret service operatives.

         All this is supposed to take place in the middle of Hamburg: in the exhibition halls, in the town hall, in the Elbphilharmonie. Large-scale and multilevel barriers, ID controls, evacuated appartments – the main victims will be the people in the Karoviertel and the surrounding neighborhoods. Especially those, that are already more exposed to frequent controls and harrassments because of the color of their skin, their legal status, their precarious social situation or other reasons.

       The residents are supposed to give way for an orchestration of power, a living city is turned into a dead scenery. The main performance is the illusion that the political elites of global capitalism have everything well under control, that they are somehow capable of providing security, peace, livelihood and a real future perspective to the people of the world.

        But we are witnessing the exact opposite: the prevailing world order is a further escalating world disorder of brutal social inequality, structurally embedded sexism and racism, ecological destruction and spreading wars.

       Millions of people are forced to flee, billions are struggling to survive and the number of people that is affected by precarisation is continuously rising, also here in Germany. At the same time a small global upper class is getting richer and richer.

         The political representatives of this world disorder want to come to Hamburg: Erdogan from Turkey, Putin from Russia, the cold putschist Temer from Brasil, and if we are unlucky also Donald Trump.

       There also aren’t a lot of good things to say about the governments of China or India. And the so very democratic governments of western Europe? They are the ones that build walls and fences and coldly let fleeing people drown at sea. We will show them that they are not welcome in Hamburg!

        In many political groups and spectres the reflections on how to organize the necessary protests and actions against the G20 Summit have already begun. There are many different approaches: Some care about the right to the city, others about climate policy, to others flight and migration or capitalism as a whole matters. There are ideas such as a counter summit, a major demonstration, or disobedient actions around the conference venue or in the whole city.

No matter what the criticism of the G20 Summit is precisely based on, no matter what actions or forms of expression are prefered, the protest can only be a success if we are able to make the possibility of a different world, a world of justice and solidarity, appear in them. And if the protest are complementary rather than in opposition to each other.

        That needs arrangements and a lot of communication between the summits opponents.
Autonome Aktion Europe

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

 

Vindictive Laws To Prevent Protests.

 

        Once again the Land of The Free, the good ol' US of A, sets the standard in draconian authoritarian laws. The State of Arizona leads the charge in attempting to prevent any form of protest from taking place. This latest piece of legislation, if enacted, could see you take part in a peaceful protest, some individual throws a rock, you are all complicit, and could have all your assets seized. It doesn't matter who threw the rock, one angry individual, an agent-provocateur, or a drunk, you are all still liable. It makes for intimidation of those wishing to enact their legal right to peaceful protest. By protesting an injustice, you could run the risk of being made homeless and penniless, by the vindictive action of the state. So the illusion of democracy capitalist style, grows ever thinner, the truth is there for all to see.

This from Counter Current News:  

        Imagine having all your assets seized because you planned a peaceful protest that disturbed the peace? That could be a reality under SB1142, which just passed the Arizona state senate.
        Under SB1142, Arizona’s racketeering laws are expanding to include rioting. This gives the state government the right to criminally prosecute and seize the assets of everyone who planned a protest that turned violent and everyone who participated.
         The bill also redefines what constitutes a rioter as any person who “uses force or violence or threatens to use force or violence, if such threat is accompanied by immediate power of execution, which EITHER disturbs the public peace OR RESULTS IN DAMAGE TO THE PROPERTY OF ANOTHER PERSON.”
         Read the full text of the bill at http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/53leg/1R/bills/SB1142S.htm
         The vote was 17-13. One of the 17 that voted for this, Sen. John Kavanagh, gave the following justification for this absurd, unconstitutional new law: “You now have a situation where you have full-time, almost professional agent-provocateurs that attempt to create public disorder. A lot of them are ideologues, some of them are anarchists. But this stuff is all planned… I should certainly hope that our law enforcement people have some undercover people there. Wouldn’t you rather stop a riot before it starts?”
         Who defines what is considered a ‘violent’ protest?
        Who determines what ‘disturbs the public peace’? Does profanity, shouting, or loud music constitute disturbing the peace?
       The opponents of a protest could just hire agitators to make protests violent, then the authorities could use this as an excuse to seize the assets of all the protesters.
        You are peacefully protesting and some guy starts throwing rocks at windows. Not only are you arrested on racketeering charges, but then the cops come and seize your house, car, and belongings? Good luck affording a lawyer to defend you in court!
        If this succeeds and is signed into law by the Governor of Arizona, you can bet a similar nationwide law will be on its way not long after…

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

Another Death In Police Custody.

        I haven’t seen much of this on our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media. They seem to report on “terrorist” attacks and the Tour de France, and that’s probably because there is a UK citizen leading. However the citizens of France are not sitting idly at road side cafés sipping their lattes. There are thousands still on the streets protesting, and the riot police are in full swing, doing what they do best, beating the shit out of people. 

       Fresh clashes have erupted between French police and protesters in the suburbs of Paris for a third night amid simmering anger over the death of a young man in police custody.
      On Thursday night, a group of furious protesters set fire to 15 vehicles in the town of Beaumont-sur-Oise, north of Paris, two days after Adama Traore, 24, was reported to have died following his arrest by police.
      Traore’s family and friends say he was healthy, and was “beaten to death” after being taken into custody on charges of interfering in the arrest of his brother in an extortion case.
      Authorities, however, said Traore was suffering from a serious infection at the time of his death, citing an autopsy report that they said showed little signs of violence on his body.
      Local prosecutor Yves Jannier said Traore “fainted during the ride” to a police station, adding that the paramedics summoned to attend to him were unable to revive him.

Read the full article HERE:

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

Worries About Academics.

 

          I have always been a bit wary of academics, I feel a lot of them could put all that research and studying to better use. I'm afraid young Ben Palmer has just reinforced that feeling. It appears that universities are just there for the furtherance of corporate profits and assisting the state. Yes, I know, there is a spin-off, that benefits society, a mere by product.

        Smart riot shields that appear see-through one-way could allow police to hide their numbers during potentially violent clashes. The design – by Nottingham Trent University undergraduate Ben Palmer - may help diffuse or prevent disorders, as protestors would have little or no knowledge of who they face.
       The 21-year-old – who's studying BA Product Design - interviewed rioters and police to help shape his product. "Riot police have a difficult job to do, and can regularly face very intense situations", said Ben, who's studying at the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment. "So I wanted to use my degree to explore how smart technology could be used to enhance the tools they have at their disposal. "By interviewing rioters, it became very clear that police could gain a psychological advantage if their shields incorporated one-way privacy. "Not only would it allow police to mask their numbers, but rioters wouldn't know who or what they were facing."
         Ben's designs recently went on show for Nottingham Trent University's 2016 Art & Design Degree Show. The show was one of the largest collections of graduating art and design talent in the UK, with more than 1,300 works on public display.

Read the full article HERE: 

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

     

How Do You Police The Police?

         Sub Media is a very interesting site, for a glimpse at some of the police brutality that takes place day and daily, one of their videos, "The End Of The World As We Know It" is worth a look.

ann arky's home.

BENT COPPERS!!!

        Most people that go on demonstrations, protests, rallies etc. know that the police provoke and can lie and when it comes to court, in most cases the police version is accepted. There are times of course when their lying is exposed, but nothing ever seems to happen to them. We all remember Jean Charles de Menezes, shot dead on a London tube. The first stories to emerge from the police were that he was wearing a bulky jacket, refused to stop when asked, and ran away, vaulting over the barrier. The truth being he was lightly dressed, had never been asked to stop, and could be seen on CCTV walking to the tube, stopping to pick up a paper and then continuing. The most recent case of Ian Tomlinson killed at the G20. The first accounts coming from the police were that he was involved in violent and dangerous confrontation, lost his balance, fell and hit his head. Then as the police tried to help him they were bombarded with missiles being thrown by the protesters. We now know the truth was that he was attacked by a police officer while walking slowly with his hands in his pockets, hit with a baton and then pushed to the ground. The first aid he received was from the protesters while the police stood by for a spell and did nothing. There is a catalogue of police lying that never sees the perpetrators brought to justice, so why should be trust the police?

There is an excellent article by George Monbiot in the Guardian which deals in more detail on this subject, it is certainly worth a read.

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