SAVE TROY DAVIS.

                                                                                                             An appeal from Amnesty International, this could be our last chance the life of Troy Davis. A judge in the US state of Georgia has ordered the execution of Troy Davis to take place on Wednesday 21 September 2011. After 20 years on death row, Troy has exhausted every avenue  for appeal from the state level to the Supreme Court. We now  have only one hope: clemency. The Georgia parole board meets on Monday 19 September. They could decide to allow Troy’s execution to go ahead as scheduled – or they could grant clemency and therefore commute  his sentence to life in prison or life without parole. This is Troy’s last chance to avoid execution. Please email the Georgia parole board and urge them to grant clemency Over 300,000 of you have already signed a global petition for Troy, and many more have written to him personally over the years.  But right now we must continue to remind the state of Georgia that in a matter of life and death there is no room for doubt - and there are massive doubts in this case: No physical evidence links Troy to the crime of which he was convicted. Seven of the nine non-police witnesses on whose evidence he was convicted have since recanted or contradicted their testimony. Many witnesses stated they were pressured or coerced by police. Nine individuals have signed affidavits implicating an alternative suspect. As long as there is hope we must continue to fight – for Troy, for his family, for his fundamental human right to life and to be spared this ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Take action – send an email now These are dark days for Troy and all of us who have supported him over the years – but remember: execution is not inevitable. I will be in touch soon to update you on events and any other ways you can help. However, for now it is essential that you email the parole board straight away. Time is fast running out for Troy. In hope, Clare Bracey Death Penalty Campaigner ann arky's home.

WRONGLY CONVICTED.

        There are lots of reasons why there should be no such thing as the death penalty. There is the cold blooded barbarity of deciding to kill someone, preparing the site for the killing, people and method being selected to do the killing and the actual act of someone or group actually carrying out the killing. Then of course there is the fact of giving someone or institution the right to life or death over another human being, but above all that, there is the catalogue of innocent people who have spent years in prison for crimes they did not commit and those executed who were later proved to be innocent.

      The following is just a very small list from America of those who were convicted of crimes they never committed,a is not unique in this field, here in the UK we have had innumerable case of people serving years in prison for crimes they never committed, thankful, in the UK we don't have the death penalty.

       The U.S. justice system is far from perfect, and the evidence is all in the numbers. According to the Innocence Project, there have been 273 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States, and 17 of these people have served time on death row. Some of these cases happened when DNA testing wasn’t available, and others were caused by human and systematic errors, but either way, these innocent inmates have paid an unfortunate price. Here are 10 infamous inmates who were wrongly convicted.

http://www.criminaljusticedegreesguide.com/2011/08

ann arky's home.

THE WORLD'S MOST BRUTAL ORGANISATION - THE STATE.

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       As far as organisations and institutions go, there is none more brutal nor causes more deaths than the state. With it endless wars killing millions across the globe, all sanctioned as legal by the state apparatus. Then there are the thousands of executions that go on a daily basis, legalised killing by an organisation that attempts to weild supreme power over everybody. Innocent or guilty, no man has the right to take another man's life and it is just men that order and carry out the killing. It may get all dressed up in the trappings of power, ritual and ceremony, but at the end of the day it is just other men killing other men. This mythical thing the state, becomes more powerful than the people it is meant to serve. There is no place for legal murder in any civilised society. 

Act NOW to STOP THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS!

EMERGENCY: EXECUTION SET FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21. ACT NOW! Take Action on the Global Day of Solidarity for Troy Davis, Friday, Sept. 16.

 LIST YOUR LOCAL ACTIVITY AT iacenter.org/actions/troydavissept16listlocalaction

SIGN ONLINE PETITION AT iacenter.org/troydavis

All anti-death penalty activists in the U.S. and worldwide should prepare NOW to organize coordinated actions on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16.

Plan an activity - a rally, demonstration, petitioning drive, teach-in, community leafletting, etc on that day in your city.

Post your event at iacenter.org/actions/troydavissept16listlocalaction and justicefortroy.org

In ATLANTA, at 6pm on September 16th there will be a March assembling at Woodruff Park, Peachtree and Edgewood and concluding at Ebenezer Baptist Church, 407 Auburn Ave with a service featuring national civil rights, community and religious leaders, Martina Correia and other family members of Troy Davis,and exonerated prisoners.

NEW YORK CITY:

ALL OUT FOR EMERGENCY DEMO

FRIDAY SEPT 16 4:30- 6 PM

TIMES SQUARE, 43rd ST AND 7th AVE.

STOP THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS

Other important dates:

Thursday, Sept. 15: delivery of petitions to the Georgia Pardon and Parole Board;

Monday, Sept. 19: hearing on clemency for Troy Davis by Georgia Pardon and Parole Board

For more information on the campaign, go to www.aiusa.org or gfadp.org

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On March 28, 2011, the US Supreme Court failed to take up the appeal of Troy Davis. AND NOW HIS EXECUTION HAS BEEN SET FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21.

TELL THE GEORGIA GOV., LEGISLATURE, PARDONS AND PAROLE BOARD, PRESIDENT OBAMA, ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER, CONGRESS AND THE MEDIA:
STOP THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS!

Please join the online campaign to STOP THE EXECUTION! FREE TROY DAVIS NOW!
YOUR EMERGENCY ACTION IS NEEDED NOW! Click HERE to Sign the Online Petition

Tell Gov. Deal and the Georgia Pardons and Parole Board:

STOP THE EXECUTION! FREE TROY DAVIS!

On March 28, 2011, the US Supreme Court failed to take up the appeal of Troy Anthony Davis, the Savannah, Ga. man whose scheduled execution has been halted three times in the past because of the growing evidence and public belief in his innocence. AND NOW HIS EXECUTION HAS BEEN SET FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21.

Troy Davis is an African American on death row in Georgia. Davis was convicted in the 1989 killing of a police officer despite what Amnesty International calls "overwhelming doubts about his guilt." No physical forensic evidence was presented at Davis' trial, and 7 of the 9 non-police witnesses have recanted their testimony, with at least two saying they were pressured by police to finger Davis as the killer.
CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION NOW to let the Georgia Parole Board, Governor, Legislature, and congressional delegation as well as President Obama, U.N. Secretary-General Ban, Congressional leaders and members of the media know you demand No Execution of Troy Davis!

Your messages will go to hundreds of public officials, including the Governor of Georgia, the entire Georgia legislature, each member of the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, the full Georgia Congressional delegation, as well as President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Congressional leaders, U.N. Secretary-General Ban, and national and local media representatives.
SIGN ONLINE PETITION AT iacenter.org/troydavis

The text of the message reads as follows (you will have the opportunity to edit it if you wish):

To: Governor Deal, Georgia Pardons and Parole Board, Georgia Legislature, Georgia Congressional Delegation, President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Congressional Leaders, U.N. Secretary General Ban

cc: members of the media

STOP THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS, NOW SET FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21!

On March 28, 2011, the US Supreme Court failed to take up the appeal of Troy Anthony Davis, the Savannah, Ga. man whose scheduled execution has been halted three times in the past because of the growing evidence and public belief in his innocence. He was convicted solely on eye witness testimony, and 7 of the 9 non-police witnesses have since recanted, several alleging that police coerced them into making false statements.

I join with millions in the US and around the world in demanding that you stop the execution of Troy Davis. Serious doubt remains. I call on all those with authority and influence in this decision to grant clemency to Troy Anthony Davis and overturn the death sentence.

Innocence matters to me. Justice matters to everyone.

I urge you to act now.

Sincerely,

SIGN ONLINE PETITION AT iacenter.org/troydavis

 International Action Center
c/o Solidarity Center
55 W 17th St Suite 5C
New York, NY 10011
212-633-6646 iacenter@iacenter.org www.iacenter.org

ann arky's home.

 

WHAT'S YOUR PENSION WORTH???

         As our well manicured millionaires that haunt the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption force us to work longer and contribute more to our pensions, for less at the end, while spouting about us all being in this together and other crap about the broadest shoulders taking the greatest load, etc. we should take a look at their millionaire CEO chums’ pension pots. Jeroen van der Veer, former boss of Royal Dutch Shell, £1.4m a year. Former Barclays boss John Varley £1.2m. Sir Frank Chapman, CEO of BG Group, and David Brennan, CEO of AstraZeneca, more than a million a year. Diageo's CEO Paul Walsh, more than £930,000 a year. Yea, we’re all in this together!!!  What will this bunch of parasites care about cuts in social services, lack of opportunities, deteriorating education system. How much thought will they give to this year’s heating bills, Their unimaginable wealth will shower them with choices, where as most of us, this winter, will be faced with one choice, to eat or to heat.

         Britain's top company bosses have stashed away pension pots that have soared by 70 per cent in less than a decade and are now at record levels, according to new statistics to be published this week. The five biggest pension pots of FTSE 100 directors are worth more than £84m combined – nearly 600 times greater than the £150,000 that the average retirement fund of five working Britons would amount to. Income inequality in the UK is nothing short of mind-boggling. The average income of a FTSE 100 chief executive, according to the most recent Guardian survey of executive pay, is over £3m per year, including bonuses and pension contributions. Jaw droppingly more than 100 times

median household income. It is common for CEOs to soar 200 or 300 times as much as the median pay of their employees or, in the case of Terry Leahy's final year at Tesco, for a CEO to be paid 500 times the average take-home pay of his employees.

   

        Amid what we are told is austere times, while we, the ordinary people, are having cuts forced on us in every aspect of our lives, and our standard of living being undermined, it is safe to say that the millionaire cabal of parasites have never had it so good. Ah, that’s capitalism for you!!!

ann arky's home.

TODAY'S WORLD??

      "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." "Fascism is an extreme right-wing ideology which embraces nationalism as the transcendent value of society. The rise of Fascism relies upon the manipulation of populist sentiment in times of national crisis. Based on fundamentalist revolutionary ideas, Fascism defines itself through intense xenophobia, militarism, and supremacist ideals. Although secular in nature, Fascism's emphasis on mythic beliefs such as divine mandates, racial imperatives, and violent struggle places highly concentrated power in the hands of a self-selected elite from whom all authority flows to lesser elites, such as law enforcement, intellectuals, and the media."

                                                                   Il Duce Benito Mussolini, 1935

       Look familiar?? Have a real look at what is going on in this world of ours, after all it is OUR world, isn't time we took it back and sorted it out for the benefit of all our people?

ann arky's home.

WORLDWIDE FANANCIAL DICTATORSHIP.

            Anarchists have always said, “Why vote, it changes nothing” and this has become more apparent in recent years than ever before. In this corporate capitalist system, when it comes to fiscal policy, all national governments follow the instructions of the IMF (International Mankind Fuckers). Country after country introduces austerity cuts and in so doing devastate the living standards of its people. Elections come and elections go, Liberals win here, Democrats win there, Socialist win next door and Conservatives win down the road a bit. However, it matters not one jot, as the policies will all be much the same, it will just be a matter of how fast, how deep to make the cuts. Is this because the politicians of all persuasion want to screw the public? Or is it because the have no alternative but to follow the dictate of the financial world, The IMF, World Bank etc.?

          Because of the financial sector's unbridled greed and gambling addiction, they went bust, so to get their money back and start their binge all over again, they had to plunder the world's public purse. This is the process we are going through at the moment. The following statement by Peter Gauweiler, CSU representative of the German Bundestag, is from an interview with Welt Online, “We’re on the way to a worldwide financial dictatorship governed by bankers, -- We don’t support Greece, We support 25 or 30 worldwide investment banks and their insane activities.” I believe he is away off the mark, we are not “on our Way”, we have reached, worldwide financial dictatorship. The policies they will pursue will be to create conditions in which all public assets will be transferred to the private sector, this will help to swell their coffers by billions of pounds worldwide.

        National governments are no more than regional managers for worldwide corporate capitalism. The anonymous unelected financial rulers of the world will sit in a few offices scattered around the world and make the decisions that will protect and enhance their wealth and power at the expense of the ordinary people, their managers, (national governments) sitting in the capitals across the globe, will carry out those instructions. It's called corporate fascism, it is here now, and it is worldwide.

ann arky's home.

THE RIGHT TO PROTEST.

      A release from the Glasgow Defence Campaign in support of the right to protest. No matter what the state and its minders say, everybody has the right to peaceful protest, unless of course we live under fascism, which is a very strong possibility.

GLASGOW DEFENCE CAMPAIGN - ONE YEAR ON.

http://glasgowdefencecampaign.blogspot.com/2011/09/glasgow-defence-campaign-one-year-on.html

       The British state - the police, courts, parliament and media - has responded to the uprisings in English cities with a visciousness and hypocrisy that only the imperialist ruling class and its defenders are capable of. They ranted about destruction, anarchy, violence, disorder and lawlessness while the Royal Airforce had flown over 15,000 missions against the people of Libya and dropped high explosives on residential areas killing innocent men, women and children. What causes the greatest damage, we ask, a half brick or a jet fighter loaded with murderous missiles! Which is the more anti-social crime? Helping yourself to a pair of jeans or helping yourself to a country's oil?

      In this context, the reality of ruling class violence and lawlessness, we look back at the last year of the Glasgow Defence Campaign's work and the argument that we made in July of 2010 that the British state was preparing to attack the living standards of the working class through the cuts budgets and would attempt to control and criminalise all resistance to the rule of the wealthy. As a Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! (FRFI) supporter stated at a May Day rally in Dundee this year: the defence of working class living standards is the defence of democratic rights.

     Comrades from FRFI got out onto the streets of Govanhill, Glasgow last year to protest at the austerity budget of the newly elected Tory-Con Dem government. Within hours we were facing Strathclyde police's attempts to immediately close down our leafletting and petitioning. Regulations were cited and invented to try to force us off the streets. Our human rights to expression and association - clearly upheld in law- were ignored by the bullies in uniform as newspapers and stalls were seized and charges issued against FRFI supporters.

      We stood firm in the face of this political policing and fought back by openly challenging the police censorship and gathering support from every group and individual sharing our concern about the attack on democratic rights. We urged unity and public protest to defend those rights and warned that we were only at the begining of the state's attempts to limit and make any protest innefective and isolated.

      Towards the end of that year as students took to the streets everywhere to protest at education cuts we recognised the emergence of new police tactics to control, intimidate and criminalise protest. From Parliament Square in London to George Square, Glasgow, the kettle was on. FRFI supporters were targeted and arrested by police on protests in December and January and hauled in front of sham courts. Delayed arrests, house raids, frame ups, surveillance and assault were evidence of the state giving the green light to the police to close down protest. The Glasgow Defence Campaign was established to meet these attacks in kind, recording and exposing every incident of police harassment, naming and shaming the officers involved, taking protests to the doors of the District and Sheriff courts and the streets of Glasgow. The aggressive, bundled police operation to evict the Free Hetherington occupation on 22 March educated new layers of young people in the need to organise rapidly against such repression. On 16 April, following another week of arrests and convictions of FRFI and other anti-cuts activists, the GDC held a defiant rally in Glasgow city centre to demand an end to the political attacks, uniting progressive forces. Five days later, all charges against seven activists were dropped as they were due to appear in court.

       Now, faced with the anger of inner city youth facing poverty and unemployment - sparked off by another police killing - the British state's real methods of operation are obvious to many more people. Their idea of justice is to ignore the theft of billions by the wealthy elites represented in the cabinet and parliament or the corruption of policemen and women by the millionaire press and to treat the working class as criminals deserving only of a prison cell should they rebel.

      The Glasgow Defence Campaign states its commitment to the argument that the defence of democratic rights is the defence of the working class. We define that working class as workers in jobs, youth in revolt on the streets, the disabled and poor, immigrants and asylum seekers- all those who the rich are trying to make pay for an economic crisis not of their making.

       The police who tried to close down our political activity last year and who were made to back off by the campaigning work of the Glasgow Defence Campaign have been made bolder and more arrogant by recent developments. At the time of writing this statement, concern is rising about a steep rise in deaths at the hands of police - 3 killings in 8 days. Recent arrests in Glasgow and the return of police interference in legitimate and legal political organisation should put us all on alert and demands that unity and solidarity must be fought for and built in the struggle to defend democratic rights and in the fight for real justice.

POLICE HANDS OFF PROTEST!
DEFEND DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS!
AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL!
Issued by the Glasgow Defence Campaign, 6 September 2011
glasgowdefencecampaign.blogspot.com

Contact: glasgowdefence@yahoo.co.uk

 ann arky's home.

"THEY SHALL NOT PASS"

Stop the racist EDL/SDL this Saturday

            "They shall not pass" was a slogan from the fight against fascism in Spain during the 1930's, however it has come right up to date with our plans to stop organised racists and fascists from coming to Edinburgh City Centre on 10 September.

           Despite being banned and unwanted by the people of Edinburgh, we know that the Scottish and English Defence Leagues are still organising on a large scale to come here. We urgently need you to join the Unite Against Fascism (UAF) protest to make it as big as possible.

           We will rally at The Mound, 11 am this Saturday, 10 September (speakers below). We have route agreed with the police and the council and we will march along Princes Street to a secondary rally area beside the Wellington Statue within sight of the SDL on Regent Rd. We need everyone, bring family and friends, to demonstrate that the majority of people reject their message of race hate and to say "they shall not pass" into the city centre of Edinburgh.

Please consider bringing your own placards.

Speakers include:
Dave Moxham - STUC, Colin Keir MSP, Malcolm Chisholm MSP, Robin Parker -President NUS Scotland , Graham Smith - Unison NEC, Councillor Gordon Munro - Leith Ward, Simon Assaf -UAF National office.

Also supported by Edinburgh Trade Union Council & Edinburgh Council Unison.

Leaflets for the day (two sided) can be downloaded fromhttp://tinyurl.com/3h6u4mh
http://tinyurl.com/3ktw375

More information: uafedinburgh@riseup.net

 

ann arky's home.

NO STATE EXECUTION.

 

 

Act NOW to STOP THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS!

EMERGENCY: EXECUTION SET FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21. ACT NOW! All anti-death penalty activists in the U.S. and worldwide should prepare NOW to organize coordinated actions before Sept. 21. The IAC will send out a proposed date for these actions in conjunction with Georgia activists.

SIGN ONLINE PETITION AT iacenter.org/troydavis

National Day of Coordinated Actions to be set soon. Check iacenter.org for updated info

On March 28, 2011, the US Supreme Court failed to take up the appeal of Troy Davis. AND NOW HIS EXECUTION HAS BEEN SET FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21.

TELL THE GEORGIA GOV., LEGISLATURE, PARDONS AND PAROLE BOARD, PRESIDENT OBAMA, ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER, CONGRESS AND THE MEDIA:
STOP THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS!

Please join the online campaign to STOP THE EXECUTION! FREE TROY DAVIS NOW!
YOUR EMERGENCY ACTION IS NEEDED NOW! Click HERE to Sign the Online Petition

Tell Gov. Deal and the Georgia Pardons and Parole Board:

STOP THE EXECUTION! FREE TROY DAVIS!

On March 28, 2011, the US Supreme Court failed to take up the appeal of Troy Anthony Davis, the Savannah, Ga. man whose scheduled execution has been halted three times in the past because of the growing evidence and public belief in his innocence. AND NOW HIS EXECUTION HAS BEEN SET FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21.

Troy Davis is an African American on death row in Georgia. Davis was convicted in the 1989 killing of a police officer despite what Amnesty International calls "overwhelming doubts about his guilt." No physical forensic evidence was presented at Davis' trial, and 7 of the 9 non-police witnesses have recanted their testimony, with at least two saying they were pressured by police to finger Davis as the killer.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION NOW to let the Georgia Parole Board, Governor, Legislature, and congressional delegation as well as President Obama, U.N. Secretary-General Ban, Congressional leaders and members of the media know you demand No Execution of Troy Davis!

Your messages will go to hundreds of public officials, including the Governor of Georgia, the entire Georgia legislature, each member of the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, the full Georgia Congressional delegation, as well as President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Congressional leaders, U.N. Secretary-General Ban, and national and local media representatives.

SIGN ONLINE PETITION AT iacenter.org/troydavis

The text of the message reads as follows (you will have the opportunity to edit it if you wish):

To: Governor Deal, Georgia Pardons and Parole Board, Georgia Legislature, Georgia Congressional Delegation, President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Congressional Leaders, U.N. Secretary General Ban

cc: members of the media

STOP THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS, NOW SET FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21!

On March 28, 2011, the US Supreme Court failed to take up the appeal of Troy Anthony Davis, the Savannah, Ga. man whose scheduled execution has been halted three times in the past because of the growing evidence and public belief in his innocence. He was convicted solely on eye witness testimony, and 7 of the 9 non-police witnesses have since recanted, several alleging that police coerced them into making false statements.

I join with millions in the US and around the world in demanding that you stop the execution of Troy Davis. Serious doubt remains. I call on all those with authority and influence in this decision to grant clemency to Troy Anthony Davis and overturn the death sentence.

Innocence matters to me. Justice matters to everyone.

I urge you to act now.

Sincerely,


SIGN ONLINE PETITION AT iacenter.org/troydavis

 About the IAC | Donate | IAC Books & Resources | Contact Us

International Action Center
c/o Solidarity Center
55 W 17th St Suite 5C
New York, NY 10011
212-633-6646
iacenter@iacenter.org
www.iacenter.org

ann arky's hme.

THE POLICE ARE THE ENEMY??

Below is an interesting article taken from The Guardian UK. It is refreshing to read something from the mainstream media on the recent riots that has a little more depth than the one dimensional crap that our parasitical millionaire cabal have been spouting, criminality, mindless violence, thuggery, etc.. I'm sure that in a fair and just society there would be no riots, only a brain dead politician would fail to see that the riots are saying something very loud and clear about the way citizens see this society. People will not destroy what they believe they are part of and what they perceive as theirs. Vast swathes of people do not feel in any way connected to, or involved in, the way decisions are made that shape their lives. However, don't expect our political masters to see it that way, they live in a different world, a world of opportunity, security and affluence, and they will do their utmost to hold on to it at any cost. The article is well worth a read.  

Behind the Clapham riots: 'the police are the enemy'

        In south London, young people usually on opposing sides of turf disputes came together in opposition to the 'mainstream', says Amanda Conroy

        The BBC has come under criticism for referring to those involved in the rioting and looting as "protesters". The debate over what to call the social unrest is about more than journalistic accuracy; the question is whether those actions were, ultimately, about "things" or about "politics".

     The London riots have been cast as episodes of "opportunistic criminality", senseless, barbarian and apolitical, because of their apparent lack of leadership, stated political goals or formal engagement with what may be called mainstream politics. In the weeks that have passed since the riots in Clapham – my neighbourhood – I've had the opportunity to speak to members of local communities, youth group leaders and young residents of local estates. I've come to the conclusion that while the looting and destruction in south London may have been about "things", it cannot be separated so cleanly from political protest.

       For many people that I spoke to, the opportunity to "fight" with the "government", by fighting the police, was political. It was a significant part of the decision to take part in the riots. These kids in Clapham and elsewhere, said a Brixton youth group leader, "are surrounded by a culture of 'fuck the police' and these riots gave them the biggest opportunity they could to fight [them]".

This "fuck the police" culture, said several young residents from a Wandsworth council estate who knew people involved in the Clapham disturbances, stems from the fact that residents are constantly being stopped and searched. "When you get stopped by the police and you come from a certain area, they have zero respect", a young male council estate resident told me.

      The police are seen as nothing but a barrier to making money and having fun, said the Brixton youth group leader. For many young people living on council estates, the police are the enemy. They are the representation of the limits of their life, their lack of choices – the most immediate manifestation of what they cannot have or do.

         The riots also offered an unusual opportunity for young people to come together. A young man told me that events organised around his Wandsworth estate are usually affected by "turf wars" erupting between the young people. "The whole thing with the riots was that you had kids of different ages, different estates coming together as one big group. Calling up like 'Hey bruv, want to make some money?'" he said. Despite their territorial differences, when news of the "success" of looting in other parts of the city reached young people, they identified themselves as part of the same collective, with the same interests and the same enemies. They decided that working together was the best way to achieve those goals.

        The looting in Clapham Junction does not seem to be senseless, random criminality; it seems more like the pursuit of group interests at the expense of the interests of a dominant political order. "By taking stuff", a local youth group leader said of the rioters, "they are righting what they see as injustice".

Last week, the UK rapper and poet Genesis Elijah released a spoken-word analysis of the riots, in which he laments: "We used to riot for a cause / Now we riot just because." I would amend this statement slightly. It seems to me that those involved didn't take part in the rioting and the looting "just because" but, rather, "just because they could".  In the context of a society that, they feel, denies them the ability to take part in "mainstream" society – and especially denies them the ability to accumulate "things" – we should not be surprised that a group identity is formed in opposition to the "mainstream" and that violent material accumulation is the form of protest they take.

• Amanda Conroy lives in Clapham, south London, and is a PhD student at the London School of Economics's Gender Institute. Her research interests centre on nationalist and extreme right-wing social movements.

ann arky's home.

DEATH AT THE HANDS OF THE POLICE.

      In a recent post, UK armed police,  I mentioned the death of Mark Duggan, by armed police, and the three deaths at the hands of the police since that event. I referred to this as a recent spate, as it should be noted that death at the hands of the police goes away back in our history.
       We can start with Blair Peach, killed at an anti-racist protest in April 1979. In spite of the fact that 14 witnesses stated that they had seen Blair Peach being hit by members of the Metropolitan Police Special Patrol Group, (SPG), nobody was ever charged with his murder. Prior to the Mark Duggan killing the previous high profile death at the hands of the police was Ian Tomlison. Ian was hit from behind and pushed to the ground by a police officer, he died shortly afterwards. This was April 2009 at the London G20 protest, Ian, however, was not at the protest, he was merely trying to find his way home through the protest, after work. He was walking with his hands in his pockets and his back to the police when he was brutally assaulted by the officer.
      There never seems to be much coverage in the media of the number of deaths at the hands of the police, but the numbers are considerable. From 1997 until 2007, in England and Wales, 530 people have died in police custody. Not one single officer has been convicted in connection with these deaths. During the period, 1990 until 2011, armed police have killed 53 people, 21 of these were by the London Metropolitan Police. A lot of deaths, no convictions, it doesn't seem to add up.

ann arky's home.

COPS AND CAMERAS!!!

          Cops seem to be the same the world over. In the UK we have recently had a spate of deaths at the hands of the cops and this article from the other side of the world just goes to prove, a cop is a cop is a cop.

          "TAMERA MEDLEY begged the police officer to stop slamming her head - over and over - into the hood of a police cruiser. Thinking they were helping, passers-by Shakir Riley and Melissa Hurling both turned their cellphone video cameras toward the melee that had erupted on Jefferson Street in Wynnefield, they said.

But then the cops turned on them.

        Riley had started to walk away when at least five baton-wielding cops followed him, he said, and they beat him, poured a soda on his face and stomped on his phone, destroying the video he had just taken. Meanwhile, two officers approached Hurling, urged her to leave and, after exchanging a few words, slammed her against a police cruiser, Hurling said. They pulled her by her hair before tossing her into the back of a cop car, she said.

      Although it's legal to record Philadelphia police performing official duties in public, all three were charged with disorderly conduct and related offenses, and officers destroyed Hurling and Riley's cellphones, erasing any record of Medley's violent arrest, the pair said.

     Charges against Hurling and Riley were dismissed, but Medley was found guilty last month of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, harassment and related offenses. She was fined $500 but has filed an appeal. Echoes of the incident, which was corroborated by a half-dozen witnesses, have been reverberating nationwide in recent years as the combination of cellphone video and police officers has simmered into what is an increasingly explosive formula. A growing number of bystanders have been misled, arrested or worse for using their cellphones to record what they perceive as excessive force by cops making arrests, watchdogs say.

"I grew up in the neighborhood and I saw stuff go down but it never happened to me," Riley said recently, adding that he did nothing wrong. "They stomped my phone and said it was a federal offense."

'Relevant for integrity'

      The issue is gaining national attention. The American Civil Liberties Union has civil lawsuits pending in Washington, D.C., Florida, Illinois and Maryland. Last week, a federal appeals court in Boston ruled that police had violated the First Amendment rights of a lawyer who was arrested after filming cops arrest a teenager. Suits have been settled in Pennsylvania, and this year, the ACLU plans to file a lawsuit on behalf of several Philadelphians."

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STATE PERSECUTION - GENOCIDE!!

         A place on the planet where hatred is bred, where humiliation is a daily occurrence, where simple freedoms are a dream.

           What other nation on the planet can steal people's land and homes and get away with it. Of course it would be impossible without American money and arms, and American support in the UN.

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IT'S OUR HEALTH SERVICE - TAKE IT BACK.

          What are you doing in your area, get organised, numbers can change society. You either take it or you fight back. We can create a better society based on the needs of all our people, smashing this system of feeding the rich parasites. Surely the measure of a civilised society is the way it caters for those in most need, and a fair and free health service is a prerequisite of any decent society.  

JOINT TRADE UNION RALLY

to protect the NHS

In conjunction with Trades Council Coalition against the Cuts

Outside the Royal Liverpool Hospital

Tuesday 6^th September 2011

at 12 Midday – 2 PM

BE THERE!

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YOUR WORLD, OR THEIR WORLD???

                 So you think we have democracy, well just ask yourself, why do the banks lose a lot of money and then get the ordinary people to pay the bankers what they have gambled and lost? It is one way of getting all public assets into private hands. The march of corporate fascism is well under way and is coming your way, you might not recognise it, but those cuts are the sound of the footsteps of corporate fascism.

           You fight now, or you lose everything you and your forefathers fought for, fight now or you will leave a world of deprivation for your children and your  grandchildren to inherit. It is our world, we the people made everything on this planet, we have bought it with the blood sweat and tears of our forefathers. It is time to claim it back.

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CORPORATE FASCISM, OWNER OF LANGUAGE??

        An interesting article from Corporatewatch, that shows the absurd levels the corporate world will go to to restrict freedom in an attempt to stop any form of competition, criticism, and take control, of anything from which they believe they can make money. How do you own an adjective which describes so many things, are the words we use to be controlled by the corporate world? If ever there was a need for proof that we have entered the era of corporate fascism, then this is it. 

         In an almost surreal corporatisation of politics, and language, a corporate media group has brought us one step closer to the outright ownership of everything by trademarking the phrase
'radical media'. @Radical Media LLC has litigated against Peace News, New Internationalist, Red Pepper and other radical media groups using the phrase in the title of a joint conference to be held in London in October 2011. Six months into organising the conference, the organising group received a threatening legal letter from the media corporation objecting to the 'unlicensed' use of the term. The organisers decided they could not fight the challenge because, even if they won in court, they would have had to pay around 75% of the court costs, amounting to tens of thousands of pounds. The conference will now be called the Rebellious Media Conference

(see www.radicalmediaconference.org).

          In eerie echoes of Monsanto's seed patenting strategy and the corporate ownership of rain water in South America, @Radical Media has essentially taken it upon itself to earmark a resource, here language, which people already use, then punish them for 'stealing it'. In a statement, the conference organisers said "it is absurd that people involved in genuinely radical media projects are being prevented from using the adjective that best describes their activities". This paves the way for a bizarre dystopian future in which companies buy the political language that is used in resistance against them, then have dissenters dragged through court for nicking 'their' phrase.

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DIRECT ACTION AT UNI. GETS RESULTS.

     

       The following is part of an account, taken from The Commune of the Free Hetherington occupation which ended this week after a long and successful campaign. Once again proving that direct action gets results. 

       Liam Turbett reports on a victorious conclusion to Glasgow’s seven-month university occupation

After over 200 days in occupation, the Free Hetherington occupation at Glasgow University finally ended on Wednesday 31^st August. The decision to leave followed direct negotiations with senior management, who allowed the occupiers to declare victory by handing over several major concessions.

Police tried in vain to evict the occupation.

 As previously reported in The Commune, the Free Hetherington was established in early February, when students and anti-cuts activists from across Glasgow took over a disused post-graduate social space at the heart of the Glasgow University campus, transforminglanguage teaching, anthropology and the entire department of adult education entirely.

SOLIDARITY.

        Senior management’s initial approach of ignoring the occupation and hoping it would falter away failed, and now famously, on 22^nd March an attempt was made to end it by force. With dozens of police, alongside the dog unit, the force helicopter and university security charging in to drag out the 15 or so occupants, around 500 students and supporters rapidly gathered outside. Hundreds then marched on the historic administrative centre of the university, and forced their way into the University Senate, which was held for the rest of the day. By midnight, management had handed the Hetherington building back, in exchange for the occupiers leaving the Senate rooms. In doing so, they handed legitimacy to the occupation, strong-arming them into negotiations, and the day’s events reaffirmed the level of support that the anti-cuts movement at the university could draw on.

Continue reading the article in The Commune

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