"The anger that has led to (the London terrorist) attacks has its roots not in American or British freedom and democracy (as we are told); instead it has roots in the absolute opposite -- the government's commitment and historical record of colonialism, military and economic terrorism, and occupation. How dare Bush and Blair speak so boldly and hypocritically of terrorism when their own regimes have consistently used terror, torture, extrajudicial killings, bombings to kill democracy and continue an illegal occupation?"

The Spanish Civil War was the first international war against fascism. It was a war that all capitalist countries would prefer to forget, and have pretty much banished it from their history books and the media. They would prefer to forget it, and not have you remembering it or even knowing about it, because it is an embarrassment to the ruling capitalist elites. You see, they all preferred to look the other way when the democratically elected left-wing government of Spain of the 1930s was attacked by right wing generals allied with the capitalists, the Church, and the old aristocracy. These capitalist elites were still panic stricken by the Russian Revolution of 1917 and were horrified at the prospect that other people might want to abolish the private ownership of their economies. So they declared an official "neutrality" which prevented the Spanish government from receiving any form of military assistance, and they made it difficult for the many volunteers throughout the world to come to the aid of the Spanish people. But many came anyway and fought along side the Spanish people. The Fascist countries of Italy and Germany did not hesitate to vigorously support General Franco, the leader of the Spanish right, with guns, tanks, warplanes, training, etc. They were the first to use their war machines against civilian populations when the German airforce leveled the city of Guernica by aerial bombing.

It's time for the Online Anarchy Scavenger Hunt #2! Answer questions for wacky prizes! What is the LEIU? What is the EZLN? Who are the "Rubble Women?" Answer questions about alternative fuels, Skull and Bones, busking, La Leche League, and more! "Do yourself a favor, educate your mind..." - Stevie Wonder

"A Toronto trade union activist and 50-year-old mother of three
has been identified by Canada's intelligence service as a secret member of
the Colombian 'terrorist' (sic) group FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia)....Ms. Torres denied the allegations in an affidavit filed in Federal Court and said there are 'numerous inaccuracies and omissions' in the (CSIS - Canadian Security and Intelligence Service) report. She claims that CSIS is trying to recruit her."

Kyoto: Your Global Warming Solution. Sure.

Grandinite Blog from Alberta,  has exposed another nasty little aspect of Kyoto that the liberal left like the NDP and the Bloc don't talk about nor does the right wing.

Kyoto is promoting the expansion of nuclear energy!

Whoa lets all hold on here, did you say nuclear power plants. Yep sure did. And of course Canada is a major global manufacturer and exporter of such plants.

Read more about the Kapitalist Kyoto Accord at:

http://redbetweenthelines.modblog.com/

June 24, 2005

By John Pilger

The illusion of an anti establishment crusade led by pop stars - a cultivated, controlling image of rebellion - serves to dilute a great political movement of anger. In summit after summit, not a single significant "promise" of the G8 has been kept, and the "victory for millions" is no different. It is a fraud - actually a setback to reducing poverty in Africa. Entirely conditional on vicious, discredited economic programmes imposed by the World Bank and the IMF, the "package" will ensure that the "chosen" countries slip deeper into poverty.

by Danny Schechter | CommonDreams.org | July 3, 2005

Its now up to the media to track what happens now, to separate the heroes

from the hypocrites, to assess the political impact and follow-up on whether

the poor of the world will be, as many expect, disappointed and forgotten

again. What is needed writes one columnist in Britain is more rage, not

rock.

Are large NGO's fighting poverty in a serious way or are they part of the problem? An article from Counterpunch ties together a series of questionable actions taken by those organizations most in the "anti-poverty" spotlight.

For instance, Oxfam -- who leads the "Make Poverty History" mega-campaign -- decided to tone (down) any message relating war to poverty for fear of embarrassing Tony Blair. The campaign also ironically purchased 500,000 wrist bands from a sweatshop in China.

Such organizations have also watered down the message being sent to the G8 asking only that "unpayable" debt be relieved leaving lots of room for the creators of this poverty to continue their task, while looking like the good guy's for eliminating debt they would otherwise have never been able to collect.

I am absolutely inspired by a piece of mail I received recently. This thing has got me cutting up boxes and perusing ads to lift "name and address" lines for mail collaging. It has me thinking up ways to find strangers to mail things to! Few things make me more randomly happy than some unexpected, unexplainable piece of art arriving in the mail with my name on it. And there is some intrigue about not having the slightest idea who sent this odd thing to me, too. There is a web address pasted onto it, but of course, the web site is not functioning. So the mystery mail continues to inspire and reproduce in my house.

 

By Karthika Thampan | 04 June, 2005 | Countercurrents.org

In an unprecedented judgement Division Bench of the Kerala High Court directed Perumatty gramapanchayath (local council) to renew within one week from Wednesday, the licence granted by the panchayat to Hindustan CocaCola Beverages Ltd to run its plant at Plachimada in Palakkad district, in the south Indian state of Kerala. The court ordered that if a formal licence is not issued by the panchayat within the time prescribed, it should be deemed that the company possesses the renewed licence, and the company will have the right to carry on its functions for a period of two years with effect from June 10, 2004.direction was issued by the Bench consisting of Justice M. Ramachandran and Justice Balachandran while allowing a writ petition filed by the company praying to direct the panchayat to comply with the court's judgment on April 7, 2005, declaring that the company was entitled to function, drawing half a million litres of ground water per day.

By Jonah Gindin | Venezuelanalysis.com | June 7, 2005

Ft. Lauderdale, FL, June 6, 2005--An American proposal to reform the Organization of American States' (OAS) democratic charter has been rejected by a majority of Latin American countries. The draft of the US proposal, called the "Declaration of Flordia: Delivering the Benefits of Democracy," is considered to be too interventionist by at least 28 countries who have refused to sign it.

Stockholm, Sweden -- "Global military spending in 2004 broke the $1 trillion
US barrier for the first time since the Cold War, boosted by the U.S. war
against terror and the growing defence budgets of India and China, a
European think-tank said Tuesday."

Eco-Defense Speech-A-Thon Online: June 10-12

International actions will be occurring June 10-12, 2005, in solidarity with eco-defense/political prisoner Jeff "Free" Luers, now serving a 23 year prison term in Salem, Or. Seattle will be joining in the support of this prisoner, all eco-prisoners, and our Earth, by offering an online Eco-Defense Speech-A-Thon during the weekend. Different speeches by inspirational eco-defense warriors will be rotated for the 3 days, available for free downloads (see below). The speeches will address a wide range of eco-defense techniques and issues, such as guerrilla gardening, monkeywrenching, Gandhi to guerrilla tactics, gentrification, the importance of direct action, permaculture, the FBI stealing Judi Bari's fiddle, and more! We will be featuring speeches from inspirational speakers such as Craig Rosebraugh (former ELF spokesperson), Judi Bari, Julia Butterfly, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Derrick Jensen, Alan Watts, Helen Caldicott, Jane Doe, and others. (This collection of speeches came to a Seattle activist via an anonymous source in the UK and she is sharing this resource in real time during the weekend, the speeches will not be archived online.) Join us in this celebration of courage in the defense of Mother Earth!

By: The Associated Press

"Internal documuents reveal tobacco companies' elaborate efforts to lure female smokers."

Boston - Tobacco companies did elaborate research on women to figure out how to hook them on smoking- even toying with the idea of chocolate- flavored cigarettes that would curb appetite.

Researchers at Harvard University's School of Public Health say that they examined more than seven million documents- some dating back to 1969, others as recent as 2000- for new details about the industries efforts to lure more women smokers.

"The devastating impact of mankind on the planet is dramatically illustrated in pictures published on Saturday showing explosive urban sprawl, major deforestation and the sucking dry of inland seas over less than three decades."

Why are we letting this happen? Why does man feel nothing for our Mother Earth? Something needs to be done. Drastic measures must be taken. We must stop ourselves before we make Earth as barren as the Moon.