AntiCiv.Net - Don't ruin creation, create ruins!

Anticivnet.blogspot.com/ Update

2009-09-14T20:28:00.001-07:00

The website will go on hiatus from now until late October/early November. Also, the domain name may change from anticiv.net to the redirected http://anticivnet.blogspot.com/ after October 2nd due to web-hosting fees; hopefully http://anticivnet.blogspot.com/ will stay up, but if not it will be due to fees associated with this project. In any case the project should continue, as this blog or a new one, and in theory with pre-scheduled dates for news postings when we return. We suggest you take a look at our "NEWS-FOCUSED LINKS" section to keep yourself updated. Apologies to our readers.
Rewild & Resist,
-Anticiv.net Collective

"[UrgentELP] Support the Eco-Prisoners (September 2009)"

2009-09-07T17:12:00.001-07:00

"Spirit of Freedom
(September 2009)
Produced by
EARTH LIBERATION PRISONERS SUPPORT NETWORK

"The whole experience has been tough, but all the kind and strengthening words and wise thoughts from strangers made it much easier!" (Former Swedish Animal Rights Prisoner)

Welcome to the September 2009 edition of Spirit of Freedom. Several years ago ELP reported a police raid against the Italian eco-activist anarchist group, Il Silvestre. At the time of our initial report we never imagined that what was obviously a clear and blatant case of police intimidation against an effective eco-group would continue to run and run in our news reports..

Since ELP started reporting on Il Silvestre we've seen their activists accused of pretty much every possible action out! But ELP has some good news. We've learnt that the Il Silvestre activists who were accused of waging war on the Italian state by allegedly using explosives to destroy electricity pylons (we kid you not, they were accused of waging war on the State or some similar sounding charge) have been found not guilty!!! This is fantastic news.

However does this mean that the two Il Silvestre activists who were held on remand accused of blowing up electricity pylons have been released? Of course not! Daniele Casalini and Francesco Gioia remain on remand now awaiting trail accused of robbery to fund a subversive association!

Their next trial is due in October 2009. ELP will naturally keep you up to date as to the outcome. But in the mean time please do continue to support Daniele and Francesco whilst they face yet another trial in what is a clear and blatant attempt by the Italian authorities to silence this eco-activist/anarchist group.

But as well as supporting our Italian friends, please don't forget our other prisoners, jailed around the world. All of the prisoners listed below welcome letters of support. So please, regardless of what languages you speak and regardless of where you live in the world, please support the eco-prisoners and no compromise in defence of Mother Earth!

If anyone notices any of ELP's prisoner details is out of date or we do not list a prisoner who we should list, please let ELP know as soon as possible. ELP is run by a small group of volunteers and although we try to ensure our lists are accurate, we admit we do make mistakes. So help us help keep the lists accurate by letting us know of any changes we need to make.

ECO-DEFENCE PRISONERS

Grant Barnes #137563, San Carlos Correctional Facility, PO Box 3, Pueblo, CO 81002, USA. Serving 12 years for setting fire to a number of SUV vehicles. The letters ELF were spray painted onto all of the vehicles. (Grant is a vegan).

Nathan Block, #36359-086, FCI Lompoc, Federal Correctional Institution, 3600 Guard Road, Lompoc, CA 93436, USA. Serving 7 years & 8 months for an ELF arson against a Poplar Tree Farm and an ELF arson against an SUV dealership. Also admitted his role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy. (Diet unknown).

Marco Camenisch, Postfach 3143, CH-8105 Regensdorf, Switzerland. Serving 18 years. 1) Ten years for using explosives to destroy electricity pylons leading from nuclear power stations. 2) Eight years for the murder of a Swiss Boarder Guard whilst on the run. In '02 Marco completed a 12-year sentence in Italy for destroying electricity pylons in Italy. (Marco is a meat eater who encourages organic living).

Daniele Casalini, Via Casale 50/a, 15040 San Michele (AL), Italy. Il Silvestre activist awaiting trial accused of robbery to fund a subversive organisation. (Daniele is a vegan).

Francesco Gioia, Via Casale 50/a, 15040 San Michele (AL), Italy. Il Silvestre activist awaiting trial accused of robbery to fund a subversive organisation. (Francesco is a vegetarian and Straight Edge).

Niall Harnett, Castlerea Prison, Harristown, Castlerea, Co. Roscommon, Republic of Ireland. Severing 4 months for non-payment of a fine. The fine was issued following Maura's involvement in an anti-Shell petrol company protest. (Diet unknown).

Maura Harringon, Dochas Centre, Mountjoy Gaol, North Circular Road, Dublin 7, Republic of Ireland. Severing 8 months for non-payment of a fine. The fine was issued following Maura's involvement in an anti-Shell petrol company protest. (Diet unknown).

Jonatan. E-mail messages of support to freejonatan@yahoo.se A 20-year old Swedish man sentenced to 15 months imprisonment after admitting damaging a communication tower used by the Department of Defence, cutting the cables on a crane used in creating urban sprawl, and damaging a vehicle used in the logging industry. Jonatan is currently on bail as he appeals his sentence (Jonatan is a vegan).

Jeffrey Luers, # 13797671, CRCI, 9111 NE Sunderland Ave, Portland, OR 97211-1708, USA. Serving 10 years for arson on a SUV dealership & the attempted arson of an oil truck. The original sentence was 22 years & 8 months, but was reduced on appeal. (Diet unknown).

Marie Jeanette Mason, #04672-061, FCI Waseca, Federal Correctional Institution, PO Box 1731, Waseca, MN 56093, USA. Serving 21 years and 10 months for her involvement in an ELF arson against a University building carrying out Genetically Modified crop tests. Marie also pleaded guilty to conspiring to carry out ELF actions and admitted involvement in 12 other ELF actions. (Marie is a vegan).

Eric McDavid, 16209-097, FCI Victorville, Medium II, Federal Correctional Institution, PO Box 5300, Adelanto, CA 92301, USA. Serving 19 years & 7 months for planning to destroy the property of the U.S. Forestry Service, mobile phone masts and power plants. At the point of his arrest no criminal damage has actually occurred. (Eric is a vegan).

Daniel McGowan, 63794-053, USP Marion, US Penitentiary, PO Box 1000, Marion, IL 62959, USA. Serving 7 years for an ELF arson against a Poplar Tree Farm and an ELF arson against an old growth logging corporation. Also admitted his role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy. (Daniel is a vegetarian).

Jonathan Paul - See details in Animal Liberation Prisoners List.

Justin Solondz (Address Unknown). American Green Scare defendant accused of direct action activity in America. Arrested in China. Exact location currently unknown. (Diet unknown).

Michael Sykes 696693, Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility, 1728 Bluewater Highway, Ionia, MI 48846, USA. Serving four to ten years for anti-sprawl arsons, criminal damage to a utility pole, spray-painting political graffiti and burning the American flag. (Diet unknown)

Briana Waters 36432-086, FCI Danbury, Federal Correctional Institution, Route 37, Danbury, CT 06811, USA. Serving six years for involvement in an ELF arson on a University. (Diet unknown).

Joyanna Zacher, #36360-086, FCI Dublin, 5700 8th St.- Camp Parks- Unit F, Dublin, CA 94568, USA. Serving 7 years & 8 months for an ELF arson against a Poplar Tree Farm and an ELF arson against an SUV dealership. Also admitted her role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy. (Diet unknown).

ANIMAL LIBERATION PRISONERS
(All Animal Liberation Prisoners follow a minimum vegetarian diet and most are vegan).

Jonny Ablewhite TB4885, H.M. Prison, Hewell Lane, Redditch, Worcs B97 6QS, England. Serving 12 years for attempting to blackmail a farmer who supplied guinea pigs for vivisection. (Jon is a vegan).

Dan Amos VN7818, HMP Guys Marsh, Shaftesbury, Dorset, SP7 0AH, England. Serving 4 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Dan is a vegan)

Gregg Avery TA7450, HMP Coldingley, Shaftesbury Road, Bisley, Woking, Surrey GU24 9EX, England. Serving 9 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Gregg is a vegan).

Natasha Avery NR8987, HMP Send, Ripley Road, Woking, Surrey, GU23 7LJ, England. Serving 9 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Nat is a vegan).

Mel Broughton TN9138, HMP Frankland, Brasside, Durham, County Durham DH1 5YD, England. Serving 10 years for "conspiracy to commit arson" against Oxford University vivisection department. (Mel is a vegan).

Jacob Conroy #93501-011, FCI Terminal Island, Federal Correctional Institution, P.O. Box 3007, San Pedro, CA 90731, USA. Serving 48 months imprisonment for helping organise the SHAC-USA campaign. (Jake is a vegan).

Lauren Gazzola #93497-011, FCI Danbury, Federal Correctional Institution, Route #37Danbury, CT 06811, USA. Serving 54 months imprisonment for helping organise the SHAC-USA campaign. (Lauren is a vegan).

Alex Hall, Inmate #2009-06304, Davis County Jail, 800 West State St., Farmington, UT 84025, USA. On Remand accused of raiding a mink farm. Also accused of breaching bail conditions whilst on bail. (William is a vegan).

Sean Kirtley WC 6977, HMP Stafford, 54 Gaol Road, Stafford, ST16 3AW, England. Serving four and a half years for running an anti-vivisection campaign website. (Sean is a vegan).

Kevin Kjonaas #93502-011, FCI Sandstone, PO Box 1000, Sandstone, MN 55072 USA. Serving 72 months imprisonment for helping organise the SHAC-USA campaign. (Kevin is a vegan).

Daniel McGowan - See details in Eco Defence Prisoners List.

Gavin Medd-Hall WV9475, HMP Coldingley, Shaftesbury Road, Bisley, Woking, Surrey GU24 9EX, England. Serving 8 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Gavin is a vegan).

Heather Nicholson VM5859, HMP Foston Hall, Foston, Derby, Derbyshire, DE65 5DN, England. Serving 11 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Heather is a vegan).

Kevin Olliff, #1300931, TTCF 161 D-Pod, 450 Bauchet St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, USA. On remand accused of stalking. Exact details of the indictment have not yet been revealed but the charges appear to relate to a person employed by an educational facility so may be linked to vivisection. (Kevin is a vegan).

Jonathan Paul, #07167-085, FCI Phoenix, Federal Correctional Institution, 37910 N 45th Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85086, USA. Sentenced to 51 months for an ALF arson on a horse meat plant. Also admitted his role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy. (Jonathan is a vegan).

John Smith, TB4887, HMP Lindholme, Bawtry Road, Hatfield Woodhouse, Doncaster, DN7 6EE, England. Serving 12 years for attempting to blackmail a farmer who supplied guinea pigs for vivisection. (John is a vegan).

William James Viehl, Inmate #2009-05735, Davis County Jail, 800 West State St., Farmington, UT 84025, USA. Awaiting sentencing having pleaded guilty to raiding a mink farm. He is due to be sentenced in November. (William is a vegan).

Nicole Vosper VM9385, HMP Bronzefield, Woodhthorpe Road, Ashford, Middx, TW15 3JZ, England. On remand accused of blackmailing Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Nicole is a vegan).

Dan Wadham, A5705AA, HMP Camp Hill, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 5PB, England. Serving 5 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Dan is a vegan).

Kerry Whitburn TB4886, HMP Lowdham Grange, Lowdham, Nottingham, NG14 7DA, England. Serving 12 years for attempting to blackmail a farmer who supplied guinea pigs for vivisection. (Kerry is a vegan).

Sarah Whitehead, VM7684, HMP Bronzefield, Woodthorpe Road, Ashford, Middx, TW15 3JZ, England. Serving two years for: 1) rescuing a puppy from horrific conditions. 2) rescuing over 100 animals from a pet breeder who was later prosecuted for animal abuse. Also awaiting trial for SHAC activity. (Sarah is a vegan)

PLOUGHSHARES PRISONERS

Helen Woodson, 03231-045, FMC Carswell - Admin. Max. Unit, POB 27137, Ft. Worth, TX 76127, USA. Serving 8 years 10 months for actions that focused on the interrelationship of war & the destruction of the natural world. The actions included pouring red paint over the security desk of a federal court and making threatening communications. Previously Helen had served 20½ years for: 1) Using a hammer to disarm a nuclear missile silo. 2) Burning $25,000 on the floor of a bank whilst denouncing war, environmental destruction & economic injustice. 3) Mailing warning letters with bullets ttached to Government & corporate officials. (Diet unknown).

OTHER ANTI-WAR PRISONERS

Elija Smith VP 7551 HMP Lewes, 1 Brighton Rd, Lewes, Sussex, BN7 1EA, England. On remand accused of disarming a weapons factory, which, amongst other things, makes Hellfire Missiles. The action was in protest at Israel military action against Gaza. (Diet unknown).

THE LECCE DEFENDANTS
The Lecce Defendants have been charged with "subversive association" accused of damaging Esso petrol pumps to oppose the War on Iraq; sabotaging the cash machines of a bank which funds an immigration centre; and targeting the multinational company Benetton in support of Mapuche land rights activists in Chile. All of the defendants are currently either under house arrest or released on bail.

ANTIFA PRISONERS
Aleksey Bychin, SIZO 47/2, ul. Akademika Lebedeva, dom. 39, 195005 St. Peterburg, Russia. Serving 5 years for defending himself against neo-nazis. (Diet unknown).

Andrei Mergenov, FGU IZ 64/1 OKB 2 komn. 73, Up. Kutyakova 107, 410601 Saratov, Russia. Serving 3 years for fighting with neo-nazis. (Diet unknown)

Christian Sümmermann, Bnr: 441/08/5, JVA Plötzensee, Lehrterstr. 61, 10557 Berlin, Germany. Serving 40 months for breaching the peace whilst serving a suspended sentence issued for anti-fascist activities. (Diet unknown).

Tomasz Wiloszewski, Zaklad Karny, Orzechowa 5, 98-200 Sieradz, Poland. Serving 15 years for accidentally killing a neo-nazi whilst defending himself. (Tomasz is a vegetarian).

OTHER PRISONERS

Pavel Delidon, ul. Timiryazeva-1, FGU IK-7, 309990 Valuyki Russia. Anarchist/Animal Rights activist jailed for attempting to obtain wages owed to him, but which had not been paid to him by his employer. IMPORTANT: Pavel can only receive letters written in Russian. He is punished by the prison if he receives a letter not written in Russian so please, only send letters written in Russian. (Diet unknown).

Richard Sills (Address Unknown, USA). Serving 15 months for bomb hoaxing a University saying they would be targeted by the ALF if they didn't stop their animal experiments. (Diet unknown).

Fran Thompson, #1090915, CCC, 3151 Litton Drive, Chillicuthe, MO 64601, USA. Serving Life for killing, in self-defence, a stalker who had broken into her home. Before her imprisonment Fran was an eco, animal & anti-nuke campaigner. (Fran is a vegan).

MOVE
MOVE is an eco-revolutionary group who carried out protests in defence of all life. All move prisoners describe themselves as vegetarians. There are currently eight MOVE activists in prison each serving 100 years after been framed for the murder of a cop in 1979. 9th defendant, Merle Africa, died in prison in 1998.

Debbie Simms Africa (006307), Janet Holloway Africa (006308) and Janine Philips Africa (006309) all at: SCI Cambridge Springs, 451 Fullerton Ave, Cambridge Springs, PA 16403-1238, USA.

Michael Davis Africa (AM4973) and Charles Simms Africa (AM4975) both at SCI Graterford, PO Box 244, Graterford, PA 19426-0244, USA.

Edward Goodman Africa (AM4974), SCI Mahanoy, 301 Morea Rd, Frackville, PA 17932, USA.

William Philips Africa (AM4984) and Delbert Orr Africa (AM4985) both at SCI Dallas Drawer K, Dallas, PA 18612, USA.

Mumia Abu Jamal, (AM8335), SCI Greene, 175 Progress Drive, Waynesburg PA 15370, USA. In 1981 Mumia, former Black Panther and vocal supporter of MOVE, was framed for the murder of a cop. He was originally sentenced to death but is currently awaiting re-sentencing following a court hearing in 2001.

STATEMENT ON VIOLENCE
Some people listed in this newsletter have carried out violent actions including assault and murder. 'Spirit of Freedom' does not condone violence. But we are also against censorship & believe people can decide for themselves who they wish to support.

ABOUT E.L.P. SUPPORT NETWORK
ELP is an international eco-prisoner support network founded, in Britain, in 1993 to support jailed eco-activists. We support the prisoners by producing various regular prisoner lists:

Spirit of Freedom is ELP's international monthly prisoner listing which is circulated by e-mail.

Urgent ELP! Bulletin is an e-mail service that distributes the names of any new eco-prisoner as soon as ELP gets their details. For more info e-mail
ELP4321@hotmail.com

On-Line Newsletters - ELP has a number of websites that provide news, prisoner lists and additional info about ELP & the prisoners.

English language ELP Website
www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk

Greek language ELP Website
http://greekelp.blogspot.com

North American ELP Website
www.ecoprisoners.org

Turkish language ELP Website
www.geocities.com/yesilanarsi/elp.htm

ELP Extra is an e-mail group that circulates the details of political prisoners, ELP learns about, who do not fall within the remit for support by ELP. To subscribe to the list e-mail ELP4321@Hotmail.com

Australian ELP.SN is our Australian contact. For more info e-mail
elp4321@hotmail.com

Belgium ELP.SN is our Belgium contact. For more info e-mail
elp_bel@hotmail.com

German ELP.SN is a prisoner led initiative run by eco-prisoner Marco
Camenisch. For more info contact Marco Camenisch, Postfach 3143, CH-8105
Regensdorf, Switzerland.

Greek ELP.SN is our Greek contact. For more info e-mail greekelp@yahoo.gr

North American ELP is our North American contact. For more information
e-mail naelpsn@mutualaid.org

Turkey ELP.SN is our Turkish contact. For more info e-mail
yesilanarsi@yahoo.com"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Received via E-mail
More Info: http://www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk/

"Processed Meats Declared Too Dangerous For Human Consumption"

2009-08-07T17:23:00.001-07:00

"The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has just completed a detailed review of more than 7,000 clinical studies covering links between diet and cancer. Its conclusion is rocking the health world with startling bluntness: Processed meats are too dangerous for human consumption. Consumers should stop buying and eating all processed meat products for the rest of their lives.

Processed meats include bacon, sausage, hot dogs, sandwich meat, packaged ham, pepperoni, salami and virtually all red meat used in frozen prepared meals. They are usually manufactured with a carcinogenic ingredient known as sodium nitrite. This is used as a color fixer by meat companies to turn packaged meats a bright red color so they look fresh. Unfortunately, sodium nitrite also results in the formation of cancer-causing nitrosamines in the human body. And this leads to a sharp increase in cancer risk for those who eat them.

A 2005 University of Hawaii study found that processed meats increase the risk of pancreatic cancer by 67 percent. Another study revealed that every 50 grams of processed meat consumed daily increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 50 percent. These are alarming numbers. Note that these cancer risks do not come from eating fresh, non-processed meats. They only appear in people who regularly consume processed meat products containing sodium nitrite.

Sodium nitrite appears predominantly in red meat products (you won't find it in chicken or fish products). Here's a short list of food items to check carefully for sodium nitrite and monosodium glutamate (MSG), another dangerous additive:

* Beef jerky
* Bacon
* Sausage
* Hot dogs
* Sandwich meat
* Frozen pizza with meat
* Canned soups with meat
* Frozen meals with meat
* Ravioli and meat pasta foods
* Kid's meals containing red meat
* Sandwich meat used at popular restaurants
* Nearly all red meats sold at public schools, restaurants, hospitals, hotels and theme parks

If sodium nitrite is so dangerous to humans, why do the FDA and USDA continue to allow this cancer-causing chemical to be used? The answer, of course, is that food industry interests now dominate the actions by U.S. government regulators. The USDA, for example, tried to ban sodium nitrite in the late 1970's but was overridden by the meat industry. It insisted the chemical was safe and accused the USDA of trying to "ban bacon." Today, the corporations that dominate American food and agricultural interests hold tremendous influence over the FDA and USDA. Consumers are offered no real protection from dangerous chemicals intentionally added to foods, medicines and personal care products.

You can protect yourself and your family from the dangers of processed meats by following a few simple rules:

1. Always read ingredient labels.
2. Don't buy anything made with sodium nitrite or monosodium glutamate.
3. Don't eat red meats served by restaurants, schools, hospitals, hotels or other institutions.

And finally, eat more fresh produce with every meal. There is evidence that natural vitamin C found in citrus fruits and exotic berries (like camu camu) helps prevent the formation of cancer-causing nitrosamines, protecting you from the devastating health effects of sodium nitrite in processed meats. The best defense, of course, is to avoid eating processed meats altogether."

* * *

The World Cancer Research Fund website offers that "To reduce your cancer risk, eat no more than 500g (cooked weight) per week of red meats, like beef, pork and lamb, and avoid processed meats such as ham, bacon, salami, hot dogs and some sausages." Note: avoid means do not consume.

And here's another scientific study exploring the link between cancer and processed meats.

* * *

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Total Health Breakthroughs

"West Papuan Leaders Are Disappointed With The Result Of The Pacific Islands Forum Meeting"

2009-08-07T17:19:00.000-07:00

"For immediate release 7 August 2009

WEST PAPUAN LEADERS ARE DISAPPOINTED WITH
THE RESULT OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM MEETING

Leaders of the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation were in Cairns North Queensland to push hard for the PIF to grant West Papua Observer Status and also for the forum to discuss many other issues affecting West Papuan people. Meanwhile more human violations are occurring. PIF should never fail to address the issue of West Papua. After all PIF was established to address all the issues affecting the Pacific community, political or otherwise. It is important that leaders of the PIF raise these concerns in order to prevent further violence. Turning away from it will only make it worse. Prior to the PIF meeting they have taken part in a Civil Society Forum on Climate Change where all these issues were discussed and linked as inseparable part of climate change.

Vice Chairman of the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation, Dr. Otto Ondawame stated the coalition is not happy at all about the way the PIF treated West Papua. “This is hypocrisy; how could they concern themselves about human right and democracy issues in other parts of the world but ignore what is happening next door he asked? By not protesting or even mentioning the violence in West Papua you are infect encourage it to continue”, he said.

The PIF had clearly stated its concerns about the situation in West Papua during its 37th forum meeting in Fiji. We would have hoped that the PIF be consistent with its concerns because the situation is not improving at all. “Regardless of this setback our Coalition will continue to work for a peaceful and dignified solution to the West Papuan issue. We will never stop until once again we become part of the Pacific community as we were when we were member of the South Pacific Commission from 1947 – 1962”, said Mr. Rex Rumakiek, the Secretary General of the WPNCL.

For more information contact: Dr. John Ondawame, on 0439759026 and Rex Rumakiek on 0414247468.

WEST PAPUA NATIONAL COALITION FOR LIBERATION
P.O. Box 1571, Port Vila, Republic of Vanuatu, ph: + 678 40808; +61414247468; +61439759026
E-mail: morningstar@vanuatu.com.vu, awulkeweng@yahoo.com, rexruma@hotmail.com
"
ORIGINAL SOURCE: Received via e-mail

[UrgentELP] Support The Eco-Prisoners (August 2009)

2009-08-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

"Spirit of Freedom
(August 2009)
Produced by
EARTH LIBERATION PRISONERS SUPPORT NETWORK
"The whole experience has been tough, but all the kind and strengthening words and wise thoughts from strangers made it much easier!" (Former Swedish Animal Rights Prisoner)

Welcome to the August 2009 edition of Spirit of Freedom. As ELP goes to print we are still anxiously awaiting news of Justin Solondz. As previously reported in Spirit of Freedom, in mid-June ELP learnt that the American environmentalist, Justin Solondz, who is wanted by the FBI in connection to their investigation which led to the Green Scare Trials in both Oregon and Washington, has been arrested in China. Since then ELP has not heard anything more about Justin. If anyone has any information on Justin and where he is currently being held then please let ELP know.

The arrest of Justin, in China, is a good reminder to us all of the importance of the international prisoner support movement and how people can be jailed in any country anywhere around the world. In the past ELP has listed prisoners in North America, Latin America, Europe, Scandinavia, Africa, Asia and Australasia. In fact the only continent ELP has never listed a prisoner from is Antarctica!!! As our prisoner lists always show, the cause for Earth/Animal Liberation is international. So please, regardless of what languages you speak and regardless of where you live in the world, please support the eco-prisoners and no compromise in defence of Mother Earth!

If anyone notices any of ELP's prisoner details is out of date or we do not list a prisoner who we should list, please let ELP know as soon as possible. ELP is run by a small group of volunteers and although we try to ensure our lists are accurate, we admit we do make mistakes. So help us help keep the lists accurate by letting us know of any changes we need to make.

ECO-DEFENCE PRISONERS
Grant Barnes #137563, San Carlos Correctional Facility, PO Box 3, Pueblo, CO 81002, USA. Serving 12 years for setting fire to a number of SUV vehicles. The letters ELF were spray painted onto all of the vehicles. (Grant is a vegan).

Nathan Block, #36359-086, FCI Lompoc, Federal Correctional Institution, 3600 Guard Road, Lompoc, CA 93436, USA. Serving 7 years & 8 months for an ELF arson against a Poplar Tree Farm and an ELF arson against an SUV dealership. Also admitted his role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy. (Diet unknown).

Marco Camenisch, Postfach 3143, CH-8105 Regensdorf, Switzerland. Serving 18 years. 1) Ten years for using explosives to destroy electricity pylons leading from nuclear power stations. 2) Eight years for the murder of a Swiss Boarder Guard whilst on the run. In '02 Marco completed a 12-year sentence in Italy for destroying electricity pylons in Italy. (Marco is a meat eater who encourages organic living).

Daniele Casalini, Via Casale 50/a, 15040 San Michele (AL), Italy. Il Silvestre activist awaiting trial accused of using explosives to damage an electricity pylon in protest at nuclear energy. (Daniele is a vegan).

Francesco Gioia, Via Casale 50/a, 15040 San Michele (AL), Italy. Il Silvestre activist awaiting trial accused of using explosives to damage an electricity pylon in protest at nuclear energy. (Francesco is a vegetarian and Straight Edge).

Maura Harringon, Dochas Centre, Mountjoy Gaol, North Circular Road, Dublin 7, Republic of Ireland. Jailed for non-payment of a fine. The fine was issued following Maura's involvement in an anti-Shell petrol company protest. (Diet unknown).

Jonatan. E-mail messages of support to freejonatan@yahoo.se A 20-year old Swedish man sentenced to 15 months imprisonment after admitting damaging a communication tower used by the Department of Defence, cutting the cables on a crane used in creating urban sprawl, and damaging a vehicle used in the logging industry. Jonatan is currently on bail as he appeals his sentence (Jonatan is a vegan).

Jeffrey Luers, # 13797671, CRCI, 9111 NE Sunderland Ave, Portland, OR 97211-1708, USA. Serving 10 years for arson on a SUV dealership & the attempted arson of an oil truck. The original sentence was 22 years & 8 months, but was reduced on appeal. (Diet unknown).

Marie Jeanette Mason, #04672-061, FCI Waseca, Federal Correctional Institution, PO Box 1731, Waseca, MN 56093, USA. Serving 21 years and 10 months for her involvement in an ELF arson against a University building carrying out Genetically Modified crop tests. Marie also pleaded guilty to conspiring to carry out ELF actions and admitted involvement in 12 other ELF actions. (Marie is a vegan).

Eric McDavid, 16209-097, FCI Victorville, Medium II, Federal Correctional Institution, PO Box 5300, Adelanto, CA 92301, USA. Serving 19 years & 7 months for planning to destroy the property of the U.S. Forestry Service, mobile phone masts and power plants. At the point of his arrest no criminal damage has actually occurred. (Eric is a vegan).

Daniel McGowan, 63794-053, USP Marion, US Penitentiary, PO Box 1000, Marion, IL 62959, USA. Serving 7 years for an ELF arson against a Poplar Tree Farm and an ELF arson against an old growth logging corporation. Also admitted his role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy. (Daniel is a vegetarian).

Jonathan Paul - See details in Animal Liberation Prisoners List.

Justin Solondz (Address Unknown). American Green Scare defendant accused of direct action activity in America. Arrested in China. Exact location currently unknown. (Diet unknown).

Michael Sykes 696693, Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility, 1728 Bluewater Highway, Ionia, MI 48846, USA. Serving four to ten years for anti-sprawl arsons, criminal damage to a utility pole, spray-painting political graffiti and burning the American flag. (Diet unknown)

Briana Waters 36432-086, FCI Danbury, Federal Correctional Institution, Route 37, Danbury, CT 06811, USA. Serving six years for involvement in an ELF arson on a University. (Diet unknown).

Joyanna Zacher, #36360-086, FCI Dublin, 5700 8th St.- Camp Parks- Unit F, Dublin, CA 94568, USA. Serving 7 years & 8 months for an ELF arson against a Poplar Tree Farm and an ELF arson against an SUV dealership. Also admitted her role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy. (Diet unknown).

ANIMAL LIBERATION PRISONERS
(All Animal Liberation Prisoners follow a minimum vegetarian diet and most are vegan).

Jonny Ablewhite TB4885, HMP Ranby, Retford, Notts, DN22 8EU, England. Serving 12 years for attempting to blackmail a farmer who supplied guinea pigs for vivisection. (Jon is a vegan).

Dan Amos VN7818, HMP Guys Marsh, Shaftesbury, Dorset, SP7 0AH, England. Serving 4 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Dan is a vegan)

Gregg Avery TA7450, HMP Coldingley, Shaftesbury Road, Bisley, Woking, Surrey GU24 9EX, England. Serving 9 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Gregg is a vegan).

Natasha Avery NR8987, HMP Send, Ripley Road, Woking, Surrey, GU23 7LJ, England. Serving 9 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Nat is a vegan).

Mel Broughton TN9138, HMP Frankland, Brasside, Durham, County Durham DH1 5YD, England. Serving 10 years for "conspiracy to commit arson" against Oxford University vivisection department. (Mel is a vegan).

Jacob Conroy #93501-011, FCI Terminal Island, Federal Correctional Institution, P.O. Box 3007, San Pedro, CA 90731, USA. Serving 48 months imprisonment for helping organise the SHAC-USA campaign. (Jake is a vegan).

Lauren Gazzola #93497-011, FCI Danbury, Federal Correctional Institution, Route #37Danbury, CT 06811, USA. Serving 54 months imprisonment for helping organise the SHAC-USA campaign. (Lauren is a vegan).

Alex Hall, Inmate #2009-06304, Davis County Jail, 800 West State St., Farmington, UT 84025, USA. On Remand accused of raiding a mink farm. Also accused of breaching bail conditions whilst on bail. (William is a vegan).

Sean Kirtley WC 6977, HMP Stafford, 54 Gaol Road, Stafford, ST16 3AW, England. Serving four and a half years for running an anti-vivisection campaign website. (Sean is a vegan).

Kevin Kjonaas #93502-011, FCI Sandstone, PO Box 1000, Sandstone, MN 55072 USA. Serving 72 months imprisonment for helping organise the SHAC-USA campaign. (Kevin is a vegan).

Daniel McGowan - See details in Eco Defence Prisoners List.

Gavin Medd-Hall WV9475, HMP Coldingley, Shaftesbury Road, Bisley, Woking, Surrey GU24 9EX, England. Serving 8 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Gavin is a vegan).

Heather Nicholson VM5859, HMP Foston Hall, Foston, Derby, Derbyshire, DE65 5DN, England. Serving 11 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Heather is a vegan).

Kevin Olliff, #1300931, TTCF 161 D-Pod, 450 Bauchet St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, USA. On remand accused of stalking. Exact details of the indictment have not yet been revealed but the charges appear to relate to a person employed by an educational facility so may be linked to vivisection. (Kevin is a vegan).

Jonathan Paul, #07167-085, FCI Phoenix, Federal Correctional Institution, 37910 N 45th Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85086, USA. Sentenced to 51 months for an ALF arson on a horse meat plant. Also admitted his role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy. (Jonathan is a vegan).

John Smith, TB4887, HMP Lindholme, Bawtry Road, Hatfield Woodhouse, Doncaster, DN7 6EE, England. Serving 12 years for attempting to blackmail a farmer who supplied guinea pigs for vivisection. (John is a vegan).

William James Viehl, Inmate #2009-05735, Davis County Jail, 800 West State St., Farmington, UT 84025, USA. On Remand accused of raiding a mink farm. Also accused of breaching bail conditions whilst on bail. (William is a vegan).

Nicole Vosper VM9385, HMP Bronzefield, Woodhthorpe Road, Ashford, Middx, TW15 3JZ, England. On remand accused of blackmailing Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Nicole is a vegan).

Dan Wadham, A5705AA, HMP Camp Hill, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 5PB, England. Serving 5 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Dan is a vegan).

Kerry Whitburn TB4886, HMP Lowdham Grange, Lowdham, Nottingham, NG14 7DA, England. Serving 12 years for attempting to blackmail a farmer who supplied guinea pigs for vivisection. (Kerry is a vegan).

Sarah Whitehead, VM7684, HMP Bronzefield, Woodthorpe Road, Ashford, Middx, W15 3JZ, England. Serving two years for: 1) rescuing a puppy from horrific conditions. 2) rescuing over 100 animals from a pet breeder who was later prosecuted for animal abuse. Also awaiting trial for SHAC activity. (Sarah is a vegan)

PARTY & PROTEST PRISONERS
Justizvollzugsanstalt Aichach, Natalja Liebich, Postfach 1380, 86544 Aichach, Germany. Jailed until June 2009 for taking part in anti-G8 and anti-NATO protests. (Diet unknown).

PLOUGHSHARES PRISONERS
Helen Woodson, 03231-045, FMC Carswell - Admin. Max. Unit, POB 27137, Ft. Worth, TX 76127, USA. Serving 8 years 10 months for actions that focused on the interrelationship of war & the destruction of the natural world. The actions included pouring red paint over the security desk of a federal court and making threatening communications. Previously Helen had served 20½ years for: 1) Using a hammer to disarm a nuclear missile silo. 2) Burning $25,000 on the floor of a bank whilst denouncing war, environmental destruction & economic injustice. 3) Mailing warning letters with bullets attached to Government & corporate officials. (Diet unknown).

OTHER ANTI-WAR PRISONERS
Elija Smith VP 7551 HMP Lewes, 1 Brighton Rd, Lewes, Sussex, BN7 1EA, England. On remand accused of disarming a weapons factory, which, amongst other things, makes Hellfire Missiles. The action was in protest at Israel military action against Gaza. (Diet unknown).

THE LECCE DEFENDANTS
The Lecce Defendants have been charged with "subversive association" accused of damaging Esso petrol pumps to oppose the War on Iraq; sabotaging the cash machines of a bank which funds an immigration centre; and targeting the multinational company Benetton in support of Mapuche land rights activists in Chile. All of the defendants are currently either under house arrest or released on bail.

ANTIFA PRISONERS
Aleksey Bychin, SIZO 47/2, ul. Akademika Lebedeva, dom. 39, 195005 St. Peterburg, Russia. Serving 5 years for defending himself against neo-nazis. (Diet unknown).

Andrei Mergenov, FGU IZ 64/1 OKB 2 komn. 73, Up. Kutyakova 107, 410601 Saratov, Russia. Serving 3 years for fighting with neo-nazis. (Diet unknown)

Christian Sümmermann, Bnr: 441/08/5, JVA Plötzensee, Lehrterstr. 61, 10557 Berlin, Germany. Serving 40 months for breaching the peace whilst serving a suspended sentence issued for anti-fascist activities. (Diet unknown).

Tomasz Wiloszewski, Zaklad Karny, Orzechowa 5, 98-200 Sieradz, Poland. Serving 15 years for accidentally killing a neo-nazi whilst defending himself. (Tomasz is a vegetarian).

OTHER PRISONERS
Pavel Delidon, ul. Timiryazeva-1, FGU IK-7, 309990 Valuyki Russia. Anarchist/Animal Rights activist jailed for attempting to obtain wages owed to him, but which had not been paid to him by his employer. IMPORTANT: Pavel can only receive letters written in Russian. He is punished by the prison if he receives a letter not written in Russian so please, only send letters written in Russian. (Diet unknown).

Richard Sills (Address Unknown, USA). Serving 15 months for bomb hoaxing a University saying they would be targeted by the ALF if they didn't stop their animal experiments. (Diet unknown).

Fran Thompson, #1090915, CCC, 3151 Litton Drive, Chillicuthe, MO 64601, USA. Serving Life for killing, in self-defence, a stalker who had broken into her home. Before her imprisonment Fran was an eco, animal & anti-nuke campaigner. (Fran is a vegan).

MOVE
MOVE is an eco-revolutionary group who carried out protests in defence of all life. All move prisoners describe themselves as vegetarians. There are currently eight MOVE activists in prison each serving 100 years after been framed for the murder of a cop in 1979. 9th defendant, Merle Africa, died in prison in 1998.

Debbie Simms Africa (006307), Janet Holloway Africa (006308) and Janine Philips Africa (006309) all at: SCI Cambridge Springs, 451 Fullerton Ave, Cambridge Springs, PA 16403-1238, USA.

Michael Davis Africa (AM4973) and Charles Simms Africa (AM4975) both at SCI Graterford, PO Box 244, Graterford, PA 19426-0244, USA.

Edward Goodman Africa (AM4974), SCI Mahanoy, 301 Morea Rd, Frackville, PA 17932, USA.

William Philips Africa (AM4984) and Delbert Orr Africa (AM4985) both at SCI Dallas Drawer K, Dallas, PA 18612, USA.

Mumia Abu Jamal, (AM8335), SCI Greene, 175 Progress Drive, Waynesburg PA 15370, USA. In 1981 Mumia, former Black Panther and vocal supporter of MOVE, was framed for the murder of a cop. He was originally sentenced to death but is currently awaiting re-sentencing following a court hearing in 2001.

STATEMENT ON VIOLENCE
Some people listed in this newsletter have carried out violent actions including assault and murder. 'Spirit of Freedom' does not condone violence. But we are also against censorship & believe people can decide for themselves who they wish to support.

ABOUT E.L.P. SUPPORT NETWORK
ELP is an international eco-prisoner support network founded, in Britain, in 1993 to support jailed eco-activists. We support the prisoners by producing various regular prisoner lists:

Spirit of Freedom is ELP's international monthly prisoner listing which is circulated by e-mail.

Urgent ELP! Bulletin is an e-mail service that distributes the names of any new eco-prisoner as soon as ELP gets their details. For more info e-mail ELP4321@hotmail.com

On-Line Newsletters - ELP has a number of websites that provide news, prisoner lists and additional info about ELP & the prisoners.

English language ELP Website www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk

Greek language ELP Website http://greekelp.blogspot.com

North American ELP Website www.ecoprisoners.org

Turkish language ELP Website www.geocities.com/yesilanarsi/elp.htm

ELP Extra is an e-mail group that circulates the details of political prisoners, ELP learns about, who do not fall within the remit for support by ELP. To subscribe to the list e-mail ELP4321@Hotmail.com

Australian ELP.SN is our Australian contact. For more info e-mail elp4321@hotmail.com

Belgium ELP.SN is our Belgium contact. For more info e-mail elp_bel@hotmail.com

German ELP.SN is a prisoner led initiative run by eco-prisoner Marco Camenisch. For more info contact Marco Camenisch, Postfach 3143, CH-8105 Regensdorf, Switzerland.

Greek ELP.SN is our Greek contact. For more info e-mail greekelp@yahoo.gr

North American ELP is our North American contact. For more information e-mail naelpsn@mutualaid.org

Turkey ELP.SN is our Turkish contact. For more info e-mail yesilanarsi@yahoo.com
"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Received via E-mail
More Info: http://www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk/

"Borneo Tribe Mounts New Blockades Against Rainforest Destruction"

2009-07-30T16:04:00.001-07:00

"Dozens of Penan tribespeople armed with blowpipes and spears have erected blockades across the roads cut by logging companies deep into their forest in Borneo. The blockaders are calling for an end to logging on their land.

Survival International is calling for recognition of the hunter-gatherer Penan tribe’s land rights and a halt to all development on their land without their consent.

Malaysian police are at the blockades, but no arrests have been reported.

One Penan man told Survival, ‘This piece of forest is the only place left for us to hunt and find food. But there’s only a little bit left. Last night I went hunting and came back with nothing. If we can’t save this bit of forest, we will have nothing to eat.’

The Penan live in Sarawak, in the Malaysian part of the island of Borneo. They have been struggling for more than twenty years to stop the companies clearing their forests. Some have been successful, but many have seen their forests devastated, their rivers polluted and the animals and plants they rely on for food disappear.

Now, where the valuable trees have all been taken, the companies are starting to clear the land completely for oil palm plantations. Palm oil is used in many foods and cosmetics, and increasingly for biofuels.

Survival sent action bulletins to thousands of supporters worldwide last week, asking them to write to the Malaysian government in support of the Penan.

Survival’s director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The logging and oil palm companies are robbing the Penan not just of their forests but of their food and water. It is essential that the Malaysian government recognizes the Penan’s rights to their land and stops allowing the companies to take everything in sight.’

The notorious Malaysian company Samling is logging in the Long Daloh area, and a subsidiary of the company KTS is logging in the Ba Marong area.

Survival researcher Miriam Ross visited the Penan earlier this year, and is available for interview.

Visit Survival’s webpage about the Penan.

For more information and images please contact Miriam Ross:
T (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or (+44) (0)7504543367
E mr@survival-international.org
"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Survival International

*Photo Credits: Andy Rain & Nick Rain of Survival International

Six Kalahari Bushmen Imprisoned For Hunting

2009-07-30T15:44:00.001-07:00

"Six Kalahari Bushmen in Botswana have been arrested and jailed, charged with hunting inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.

The Molepolole court is expected to rule on the charges on Monday. The case relates to two incidents, one earlier this year and the other in 2007.

Botswana High Court Judge Justice Phumaphi ruled in 2006 that forbidding the Bushmen from hunting for food was ‘tantamount to condemning [them] to death’. The historic ruling recognized the Bushmen’s right to live on their ancestral land, and condemned the government’s repeated evictions of Bushmen, its ban on hunting and its destruction of their water source.

The Botswana government has not granted a single hunting license for the reserve since 2001, despite the High Court ruling that its hunting ban was unlawful and unconstitutional. At least 75 Bushmen have requested licenses.

Many Bushmen have returned home since the 2006 ruling, but many are still trapped in relocation camps which they call ‘places of death.’ The government has largely ignored the High Court ruling, continuing to deny the Bushmen access to water and refusing them permission to hunt.

Survival’s director, Stephen Corry, said today, ‘Jailing six Bushmen for hunting is an outrageous act of hypocrisy by the Botswana government, which is still refusing to respect the ruling of the country’s own High Court that the Bushmen must be allowed to live freely on their land. Forbidding them from hunting for food is illegal.’

For more information and images please contact Miriam Ross:

T (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or (+44) (0)7504543367
E mr@survival-international.org
"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Survival International

*Photo credits: Stephen Corry of Survival International, 2004

Urgent Support Needed [Forest Defense]

2009-07-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

"Greetings from a camp of people defending one of southern Ontario’s last Old Growth forest parcels. This particular situation has many points of interest that converge to make it a very very important issue. This is bigger than this one particular construction contract, and it is bigger than all of us on the site right now. This is a principled stand on the side of the earth, on the side of life. We all need a healthy landbase to survive and this current occupation is for us all.

As you can see from the below post, the city wants people to leave the construction site so they can continue building infrastructure for a 675-acre industrial park. They are currently mowing some grass in a distant meadow to build us a ‘protest pen’. They haven’t told us anything about it, but in the paper they say we can set up a camp far from the construction site. What they don’t understand is that the purpose of our occupation is to protect this land from this construction/destruction.

The City of Guelph says we are ‘trespassing’. They forget, or don’t realize, that the founders of Guelph were trespassing when they cut down the forests, dammed the rivers, and built their churches, bars, mills, and homes. This has all gone on too long. We are the generation who needs to take a stand and protect this earth from those who would continue it’s destruction – and now under the guise of a business park ‘necessary for economic growth’.

Come out to the site. Give us a call on one of our phones (519-82... and 519-820-6239) and join us. The more of us there are, the safer we all are. We need the City to understand just how many people are standing together on this one. There are lots of amazing people, good food, water, and camaraderie. Note: we are technically trespassing under Canadian law, which warrants a small ticketable offence. It is not the same as a criminal offence. There will be adequate opportunity for anyone to be safe from arrest. We have a competent police liason and vast public support on our side.

Here is a link to a map. We are just on Downey Rd., just south of Teal: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=101874770457439416142.000465705f818967c7c60&ie=UTF8&ll=43.488124,-80.22459&spn=0.030887,0.070639&z=14.

With love,

the Land Defenders at the Hanlon Creek"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Hanlon Creek Business Park Occupation News
Link: http://hcbpoccupation.wordpress.com/2009/07/30/urgent-support-needed/
MORE INFO: http://twitter.com/oldgrowthguelph

Urgent ELP! Bulletin (29th Of July 2009)

2009-07-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

"Dear friends

ELP recently reported that Alex Hall and William James Viehl have both been returned to prison for violations of their bail conditions. Both men are accused of anti-fur farm activity and are awaiting trial for that.

At the time of our original report we had William's full postal address, but not Alex's. However we've now had Alex's address confirmed to us. So please send urgent letters of support to:

Alex Hall
Inmate #2009-06304
Davis County Jail
800 West State St.
Farmington, UT 84025
USA

Also don't forget Williams address is:

William James Viehl
Inmate #2009-05735
Davis County Jail
800 West State St.
Farmington, UT 84025
USA

=========

Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network
BM Box 2407
London
WC1N 3XX
England"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Received via E-mail
More Info: http://www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk/

[UrgentELP] Support the Eco-Prisoners (July 2009)

2009-07-11T22:22:00.000-07:00

"Spirit of Freedom
(July 2009)
Produced by
EARTH LIBERATION PRISONERS SUPPORT NETWORK

"The whole experience has been tough, but all the kind and strengthening words and wise thoughts from strangers made it much easier!" (Former Swedish Animal Rights Prisoner)

Welcome to the July 2009 edition of Spirit of Freedom. In mid-June ELP received a report that the American environmentalist, Justin Solondz, who is wanted by the FBI in connection to their investigation which led to the Green Scare Trials in both Oregon and Washington, has been arrested in China. Since then ELP has not heard anything more about Justin. If anyone has any information on Justin and where he is currently being held (if the rumours about his arrest are correct) then please let ELP know.

ELP has also received a report about a 19-year old, Adam Zyskowski, being arrested in Canada accused of twice setting fire to the same housing development in Ontario. We understand that Adam is facing two counts of arson, and one count of wearing a disguise with intent to commit an indictable offence. If anyone has any further information about Adam or how to contact him, please let ELP know.

However despite the sad news about the above arrests, there is some good news, the last of the French anti-nuclear prisoners held on remand accused of sabotaging railway lines has been released pending trial. Also the Dutch animal rights activists accused of liberating mink from a fur farm have been released from prison. Plus American SHAC Prisoner, Josh Harper, has been released. This is all brilliant news. However despite the releases, still too many prisoners remain inside. Remember, all of the prisoners listed below welcome letters of support. And as our lists always show, the cause for Earth/Animal Liberation is international. So please, regardless of what languages you speak, regardless of where you are in the world, please support the eco prisoners and no compromise in defence of Mother Earth!

If anyone notices any of ELP's prisoner details is out of date, please let ELP know as soon as possible. ELP is run by a small group of volunteers and although we try to ensure our lists are accurate, we admit we do make mistakes. So help us help keep the lists accurate by letting us know of any changes we need to make.

ECO-DEFENCE PRISONERS

Tre Arrow, #70936065, FCI Herlong, Federal Correctional Institution, PO Box 800, Herlong, CA 96113, USA. Serving 78 months for his involvement in two ELF arsons. 1) an arson on logging trucks 2) an arson on vehicles owned by a sand & gravel company. (Tre is a raw energy vegan - He has asked that his letters of support are written on scrap paper or tree-free paper).

Grant Barnes #137563, San Carlos Correctional Facility, PO Box 3, Pueblo, CO 81002, USA. Serving 12 years for setting fire to a number of SUV vehicles. The letters ELF were spray painted onto all of the vehicles. (Grant is a vegan).

Nathan Block, #36359-086, FCI Lompoc, Federal Correctional Institution, 3600 Guard Road, Lompoc, CA 93436, USA. Serving 7 years & 8 months for an ELF arson against a Poplar Tree Farm and an ELF arson against an SUV dealership. Also admitted his role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy. (Diet unknown).

Marco Camenisch, Postfach 3143, CH-8105 Regensdorf, Switzerland. Serving 18
years. 1) Ten years for using explosives to destroy electricity pylons leading from nuclear power stations. 2) Eight years for the murder of a Swiss Boarder Guard whilst on the run. In '02 Marco completed a 12-year sentence in Italy for destroying electricity pylons in Italy. (Marco is a meat eater who encourages organic living).

Daniele Casalini, Via Casale 50/a, 15040 San Michele (AL), Italy. Il Silvestre activist awaiting trial accused of using explosives to damage an electricity pylon in protest at nuclear energy. (Daniele is a vegan).

Francesco Gioia, Via Casale 50/a, 15040 San Michele (AL), Italy. Il Silvestre activist awaiting trial accused of using explosives to damage an electricity pylon in protest at nuclear energy. (Francesco is a vegetarian and Straight Edge).

Maura Harringon, Dochas Centre, Mountjoy Gaol, North Circular Road, Dublin 7, Republic of Ireland. Jailed for non-payment of a fine. The fine was issued following Maura's involvement in an anti-Shell petrol company protest. (Diet unknown).

Jonatan. E-mail messages of support to freejonatan@yahoo.se A 20-year old Swedish man sentenced to 15 months imprisonment after admitting damaging a communication tower used by the Department of Defence, cutting the cables on a crane used in creating urban sprawl, and damaging a vehicle used in the logging industry. Jonatan is currently on bail as he appeals his sentence (Jonatan is a vegan).

Jeffrey Luers, # 13797671, CRCI, 9111 NE Sunderland Ave, Portland, OR 97211-1708, USA. Serving 10 years for arson on a SUV dealership & the attempted arson of an oil truck. The original sentence was 22 years & 8 months, but was reduced on appeal. (Diet unknown).

Marie Jeanette Mason, #04672-061, FCI Waseca, Federal Correctional
Institution, PO Box 1731, Waseca, MN 56093, USA. Serving 21 years and 10 months for her involvement in an ELF arson against a University building carrying out Genetically Modified crop tests. Marie also pleaded guilty to conspiring to carry out ELF actions and admitted involvement in 12 other ELF actions. (Marie is a vegan).

Eric McDavid, 16209-097, FCI Victorville, Medium II, Federal Correctional Institution, PO Box 5300, Adelanto, CA 92301, USA. Serving 19 years & 7 months for planning to destroy the property of the U.S. Forestry Service, mobile phone masts and power plants. At the point of his arrest no criminal damage has actually occurred. (Eric is a vegan).

Daniel McGowan, 63794-053, USP Marion, US Penitentiary, PO Box 1000, Marion, IL 62959, USA. Serving 7 years for an ELF arson against a Poplar Tree Farm and an ELF arson against an old growth logging corporation. Also admitted his role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy. (Daniel is a vegetarian).

Jonathan Paul - See details in Animal Liberation Prisoners List.

Michael Sykes 696693, Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility, 1728 Bluewater Highway, Ionia, MI 48846, USA. Serving four to ten years for anti-sprawl arsons, criminal damage to a utility pole, spray-painting political graffiti and burning the American flag. (Diet unknown)

Briana Waters 36432-086, FCI Danbury, Federal Correctional Institution, Route 37, Danbury, CT 06811, USA. Serving six years for involvement in an ELF arson on a University. (Diet unknown).

Joyanna Zacher, #36360-086, FCI Dublin, 5700 8th St.- Camp Parks- Unit F, Dublin, CA 94568, USA. Serving 7 years & 8 months for an ELF arson against a Poplar Tree Farm and an ELF arson against an SUV dealership. Also admitted her role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy. (Diet unknown).

ANIMAL LIBERATION PRISONERS
(All Animal Liberation Prisoners follow a minimum vegetarian diet and most are vegan).

Jonny Ablewhite TB4885, HMP Ranby, Retford, Notts, DN22 8EU, England. Serving 12 years for attempting to blackmail a farmer who supplied guinea pigs for vivisection. (Jon is a vegan).

Dan Amos VN7818, HMP Guys Marsh, Shaftesbury, Dorset, SP7 0AH, England. Serving 4 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Dan is a vegan)

Gregg Avery TA7450, HMP Coldingley, Shaftesbury Road, Bisley, Woking, Surrey GU24 9EX, England. Serving 9 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Gregg is a vegan).

Natasha Avery NR8987, HMP Send, Ripley Road, Woking, Surrey, GU23 7LJ, England. Serving 9 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Nat is a vegan).

Mel Broughton TN9138, HMP Woodhill, Tattenhoe Street, Milton Keynes, Bucks MK4 4DA, England. Serving 10 years for "conspiracy to commit arson" against Oxford University vivisection department. (Mel is a vegan).

Jacob Conroy #93501-011, FCI Terminal Island, Federal Correctional Institution, P.O. Box 3007, San Pedro, CA 90731, USA. Serving 48 months imprisonment for helping organise the SHAC-USA campaign. (Jake is a vegan).

Lauren Gazzola #93497-011, FCI Danbury, Federal Correctional Institution, Route #37Danbury, CT 06811, USA. Serving 54 months imprisonment for helping organise the SHAC-USA campaign. (Lauren is a vegan).

Linda Greene, #1300927, Century Regional Detention Facility, 11705 S. Alameda Street, Lynwood, CA 90262, USA. On remand accused of stalking. Exact details of the indictment have not yet been revealed but the charges appear to relate to a person employed by an educational facility so may be linked to vivisection. (Linda is a vegan).

Jordan Halliday, Inmate #24836, 1225 West Valley View Highway, Suite 100, Logan, UT 84321, USA. Jailed for contempt of court for refusing to testify before a Grand Jury investigating animal rights actions in Utah. (Jordan is a vegan).

Sean Kirtley WC 6977, HMP Stafford, 54 Gaol Road, Stafford, ST16 3AW, England. Serving four and a half years for running an anti-vivisection campaign website. (Sean is a vegan).

Kevin Kjonaas #93502-011, FCI Sandstone, PO Box 1000, Sandstone, MN 55072 USA. Serving 72 months imprisonment for helping organise the SHAC-USA campaign. (Kevin is a vegan).

Daniel McGowan - See details in Eco Defence Prisoners List.

Gavin Medd-Hall WV9475, HMP Coldingley, Shaftesbury Road, Bisley, Woking, Surrey GU24 9EX, England. Serving 8 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Gavin is a vegan).

Heather Nicholson VM4859, HMP Send, Ripley Road, Woking, Surrey, GU23 7LJ, England. Serving 11 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Heather is a vegan).

Kevin Olliff, #1300931, TTCF 161 D-Pod, 450 Bauchet St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, USA. On remand accused of stalking. Exact details of the indictment have not yet been revealed but the charges appear to relate to a person employed by an educational facility so may be linked to vivisection. (Kevin is a vegan).

Jonathan Paul, #07167-085, FCI Phoenix, Federal Correctional Institution, 37910 N 45th Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85086, USA. Sentenced to 51 months for an ALF arson on a horse meat plant. Also admitted his role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy. (Jonathan is a vegan).

John Smith, TB4887, HMP Lindholme, Bawtry Road, Hatfield Woodhouse, Doncaster, DN7 6EE, England. Serving 12 years for attempting to blackmail a farmer who supplied guinea pigs for vivisection. (John is a vegan).

Nicole Vosper VM9385, HMP Bronzefield, Woodhthorpe Road, Ashford, Middx, TW15 3JZ, England. On remand accused of blackmailing Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Nicole is a vegan).

Dan Wadham, A5705AA,HMP Camp Hill, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 5PB, England. Serving 5 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Dan is a vegan).

Kerry Whitburn TB4886, HMP Lowdham Grange, Lowdham, Nottingham, NG14 7DA, England. Serving 12 years for attempting to blackmail a farmer who supplied guinea pigs for vivisection. (Kerry is a vegan).

Sarah Whitehead, VM7684, HMP Bronzefield, Woodthorpe Road, Ashford, Middx, TW15 3JZ, England. Serving two years for: 1) rescuing a puppy from horrific conditions. 2) rescuing over 100 animals from a pet breeder who was later prosecuted for animal abuse. Also awaiting trial for SHAC activity. (Sarah is a vegan)

PARTY & PROTEST PRISONERS

Justizvollzugsanstalt Aichach, Natalja Liebich, Postfach 1380, 86544 Aichach, Germany. Jailed until June 2009 for taking part in anti-G8 and anti-NATO protests. (Diet unknown).

PLOUGHSHARES PRISONERS

Helen Woodson, 03231-045, FMC Carswell - Admin. Max. Unit, POB 27137, Ft. Worth, TX 76127, USA. Serving 8 years 10 months for actions that focused on the interrelationship of war & the destruction of the natural world. The actions included pouring red paint over the security desk of a federal court and making threatening communications. Previously Helen had served 20½ years for: 1) Using a hammer to disarm a nuclear missile silo. 2) Burning $25,000 on the floor of a bank whilst denouncing war, environmental destruction & economic injustice. 3) Mailing warning letters with bullets attached to Government & corporate officials. (Diet unknown).

OTHER ANTI-WAR PRISONERS

Elija Smith VP 7551 HMP Lewes, 1 Brighton Rd, Lewes, Sussex, BN7 1EA, England. On remand accused of disarming a weapons factory, which, amongst other things, makes Hellfire Missiles. The action was in protest at Israel military action against Gaza. (Diet unknown).

THE LECCE DEFENDANTS
The Lecce Defendants have been charged with "subversive association" accused of damaging Esso petrol pumps to oppose the War on Iraq; sabotaging the cash machines of a bank which funds an immigration centre; and targeting the multinational company Benetton in support of Mapuche land rights activists in Chile. All of the defendants are currently either under house arrest or released on bail.

ANTIFA PRISONERS

Aleksey Bychin, SIZO 47/2, ul. Akademika Lebedeva, dom. 39, 195005 St. Peterburg, Russia. Serving 5 years for defending himself against neo-nazis. (Diet unknown).

Andrei Mergenov, FGU IZ 64/1 OKB 2 komn. 73, Up. Kutyakova 107, 410601 Saratov, Russia. Serving 3 years for fighting with neo-nazis. (Diet unknown)

Christian Sümmermann, Bnr: 441/08/5, JVA Plötzensee, Lehrterstr. 61, 10557 Berlin, Germany. Serving 40 months for breaching the peace whilst serving a suspended sentence issued for anti-fascist activities. (Diet unknown).

Tomasz Wiloszewski, Zaklad Karny, Orzechowa 5, 98-200 Sieradz, Poland. Serving 15 years for accidentally killing a neo-nazi whilst defending himself. (Tomasz is a vegetarian).

OTHER PRISONERS

Pavel Delidon, ul. Timiryazeva-1, FGU IK-7, 309990 Valuyki Russia. Anarchist/Animal Rights activist jailed for attempting to obtain wages owed to him, but which had not been paid to him by his employer. (Diet unknown).

Richard Sills (Address Unknown, USA). Serving 15 months for bomb hoaxing a University saying they would be targeted by the ALF if they didn't stop their animal experiments. (Diet unknown).

Fran Thompson, #1090915, CCC, 3151 Litton Drive, Chillicuthe, MO 64601, USA.
Serving Life for killing, in self-defence, a stalker who had broken into her home. Before her imprisonment Fran was an eco, animal & anti-nuke campaigner. (Fran is a vegan).

MOVE
MOVE is an eco-revolutionary group who carried out protests in defence of all life. All move prisoners describe themselves as vegetarians. There are currently eight MOVE activists in prison each serving 100 years after been framed for the murder of a cop in 1979. 9th defendant, Merle Africa, died in prison in 1998.

Debbie Simms Africa (006307), Janet Holloway Africa (006308) and Janine Philips Africa (006309) all at: SCI Cambridge Springs, 451 Fullerton Ave, Cambridge Springs, PA 16403-1238, USA.

Michael Davis Africa (AM4973) and Charles Simms Africa (AM4975) both at SCI Graterford, PO Box 244, Graterford, PA 19426-0244, USA.

Edward Goodman Africa (AM4974), SCI Mahanoy, 301 Morea Rd, Frackville, PA 17932, USA.

William Philips Africa (AM4984) and Delbert Orr Africa (AM4985) both at SCI Dallas Drawer K, Dallas, PA 18612, USA.

Mumia Abu Jamal, (AM8335), SCI Greene, 175 Progress Drive, Waynesburg PA 15370, USA. In 1981 Mumia, former Black Panther and vocal supporter of MOVE, was framed for the murder of a cop. He was originally sentenced to death but is currently awaiting re-sentencing following a court hearing in 2001.

STATEMENT ON VIOLENCE
Some people listed in this newsletter have carried out violent actions including assault and murder. 'Spirit of Freedom' does not condone violence. But we are also against censorship & believe people can decide for themselves who they wish to support.

ABOUT E.L.P. SUPPORT NETWORK
ELP is an international eco-prisoner support network founded, in Britain, in 1993 to support jailed eco-activists. We support the prisoners by producing various regular prisoner lists:

Spirit of Freedom is ELP's international monthly prisoner listing which is circulated by e-mail.

Urgent ELP! Bulletin is an e-mail service that distributes the names of any new eco-prisoner as soon as ELP gets their details. For more info e-mail ELP4321@hotmail.com

On-Line Newsletters - ELP has a number of websites that provide news, prisoner lists and additional info about ELP & the prisoners.

English language ELP Website www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk

Greek language ELP Website http://greekelp.blogspot.com

North American ELP Website www.ecoprisoners.org

Turkish language ELP Website www.geocities.com/yesilanarsi/elp.htm

ELP Extra is an e-mail group that circulates the details of political prisoners, ELP learns about, who do not fall within the remit for support by ELP. To subscribe to the list e-mail ELP4321@Hotmail.com

Australian ELP.SN is our Australian contact. For more info e-mail elp4321@hotmail.com

Belgium ELP.SN is our Belgium contact. For more info e-mail elp_bel@hotmail.com

German ELP.SN is a prisoner led initiative run by eco-prisoner Marco Camenisch. For more info contact Marco Camenisch, Postfach 3143, CH-8105 Regensdorf, Switzerland.

Greek ELP.SN is our Greek contact. For more info e-mail greekelp@yahoo.gr

North American ELP is our North American contact. For more information e-mail naelpsn@mutualaid.org

Turkey ELP.SN is our Turkish contact. For more info e-mail yesilanarsi@yahoo.com “

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Received via E-mail
More Info: http://www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk/

[Retired Indonesian Military General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono] Implicated In Cover Up Of Ambush Murder Of U.S. Citizens

2009-07-04T00:53:00.000-07:00

Eben Kirksey, Ph.D., University of California (Santa Cruz)

+1.831.429.8276 or +1.831.600.5937 (English or Bahasa Indonesia)

Paula Makabory, Institute of Papuan Advocacy and Human Rights (Melbourne)

+61.402.547.517 (English or Bahasa Indoneisa)

John M. Miller, East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (New York)

+1.718.596.7668 (English)

1 July, 2009 - Previously secret U.S. State Department documents implicate the President of Indonesia in a probable cover-up of an ambush in West Papua. The documents show Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is running for reelection on July 8, maneuvering behind the scenes to manage the investigation into the August 2002 murder of three teachers—one Indonesian and two U.S. citizens.

Yudhoyono brought politics into a case that should have just been about forensic facts,” said Dr. Eben Kirksey, an anthropologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz and a regional specialist. “The documents reveal that Yudhoyono initially stalled attempts by the FBI to launch an independent investigation,” he continued. The U.S. Congress, outraged at these stalling tactics, blocked funds for Indonesian military training until there was cooperation with the FBI.

The documents released today add a new twist to a hotly contested Presidential race.

Yudhoyono is not the only controversial former soldier running in the presidential election,” said John M. Miller, National Coordinator of the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network. “Vice presidential candidates and former generals Wiranto and Prabowo Subianto were involved in well-documented human rights crimes in East Timor and throughout Indonesia.”

When a police investigation implicated Indonesian military shooters as the likely murderers of the schoolteachers, Yudhoyono became involved. Yudhoyono, a retired General and then the Coordinating Minister of Political and Security Affairs, wrote to the Charge D'Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta that “I have dispatched a fact finding team led by one of my deputies to Timika and its surrounding (sic), to find additional information and other related facts especially on a broader political and security aspects of the incident.” Timika, the site of the attack, is in the remote province of Papua, where U.S. mining giant Freeport McMoRan (FCX) operates a concession.

Yudhoyono’s stalling tactics let the Indonesian military cover their tracks,” said Paula Makabory, a Papuan human rights activist who founded the Institute of Papuan Advocacy and Human Rights in Australia. “The ‘fact finders’ under his command systematically intimidated witnesses and tampered with material evidence,” Makabory continued.

Following high-level negotiations with Bush administration officials, who promised Indonesia millions in military aid, Yudhoyono allowed the FBI into his country. "By the time the FBI were granted access the trail was cold," said Makabory. “The FBI investigation proceeded within a narrow framework that fit the Bush administration agenda,” said Dr. Kirksey.

The Special Agents found a fall man, while tiptoeing around evidence connecting their man to the Indonesian military,” Kirksey added.

Antonius Wamang, an ethnic Papuan, was indicted by a U.S. grand jury for his role in the attack. He was apprehended in 2006 by the FBI and sentenced to life in Indonesian prison. Wamang had extensive ties to the Indonesian military, according to a peer-reviewed article, Criminal Collaborations,” co-authored by Dr. Kirksey and Andreas Harsono, an Indonesian investigative reporter (link below).

The declassified documents disclosed today were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) by Dr. Bradley Simpson of the National Security Archive. The State Department found 62 documents relevant to the Timika murders. They released only two of these documents in full and 20 others “with excisions.” The rest were withheld. The FBI did not release any documents, writing: “No records responsive to your FOIA request were located by a search of the automated indices.” The FBI is notorious for not complying with Freedom of Information Act requests.

The documents reveal evidence of a cover-up,” said Dr. Kirksey. “The fact that many relevant documents were not released is more evidence of the same”

Selections from these documents are published here in seven distinct sections [links to the PDFs of the documents can be found here: http://etan.org/news/2009/06Timika.htm

1) Response by the State Department and the FBI to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request

2) Initial Reports About Attackers; Yudhoyono Orders a Quick Response

The first State Department reports about the 2002 attack seriously entertained two theories: that the perpetrators were Papuan independence fighters (OPM guerillas) or rogue elements of the Indonesian military. The documents note that the assault took place on a foggy mountain road near a military checkpoint and an Army Strategic Reserve Forces post. Upon learning of the attack, Yudhoyono ordered a quick response to restore security and to investigate the attack.

The U.S. Embassy noted in a cable to Washington: ”Many Papuan groups are calling for an independent investigation led by the U.S. Calls for an independent probe are unrealistic, but we believe that Papua's Police Chief, who enjoys a good reputation with Papuan activists (and U.S.), can conduct a fair investigation.” The Police Chief’s investigation later indicated that the Indonesian military was involved. The FBI subsequently launched a separate probe.

3) Attack Victims Treated in Secrecy at Australian Hospital

The survivors of the assault were airlifted out of Indonesia to a hospital in Townsend, Australia. Here U.S. diplomats, the FBI,

Queensland Police, and the Australian Defense Force kept a tight lid on the situation—preventing the victims from speaking with the press and even from contacting family members for the first two days. See: Tom Hyland, “Lost in the Fog,” The Age, September 28, 2008. http://www.theage.com.au/world/lost-in-the-fog-20080927-4pb8.html?page=-1

4) Yudhoyono Assumes Coordinating Role in Investigation

Following police reports of Indonesian military involvement, these documents reveal that Yudhoyono began to play a more active role in managing and influencing the direction of the investigation. Yudhoyono met repeatedly with the FBI field investigators, as well as high-level U.S. diplomats, blocking their initial attempts to gain unmediated access to witnesses and material evidence. This file includes a letter from Yudhoyono to the Charge D'Affaires of the U.S. Embassy where he outlines a strategy for managing the broader political and security aspects of the incident.

5) Commander-In-Chief Concerned About Washington Post Interview

The Washington Post reported in 2002 that senior Indonesian military officers, including armed forces commander General Endriartono Sutarto, had discussed an unspecified operation against Freeport McMoRan before the ambush in Timika. General Sutarto vehemently denied that he or any other top military officers had discussed any operation targeting Freeport. He sued The Washington Post for US$1 billion and demanded an apology from the paper. Several months after this lawsuit was settled out of court, The Washington Post asked to interview Sutarto. This document contains notes from a meeting between the U.S. Ambassador and Commander-in-Chief Sutarto where this interview request was discussed: “Clearly concerned, General Sutarto asked why the Washington Post wanted to interview him, as well as TNI’s Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS) and the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) Chiefs regarding the Timika case.” See: Ellen Nakashima and Alan Sipress “Indonesia Military Allegedly Talked of Targeting Mine,” The Washington Post, November 3, 2002. http://etan.org/et2002c/november/01-09/03mine.htm

6) Most Important Issue in U.S.-Indonesia Bilateral Relationship

The U.S. Ambassador stressed in a June 2003 meeting with Yudhoyono that justice in the Timika killings was “the most important issue in the bilateral relationship.” During this period, FBI agents were given intermittent access to evidence. Yudhoyono continued to play an active role in coordinating the political aspects of the investigation. Taking an unusual personal interest for someone with a Ministerial level position, Yudhoyono repeatedly met with the FBI case agents the low-ranking U.S. investigators who were deployed to Timika for field investigations.

7) Attorney General Ashcroft Suppressed Evidence

On June 24, 2005, Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller announced that Antonius Wamang, an ethnic Papuan, was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury for the Timika murders. The indictment alleged that Wamang was a “terrorist” who sought independence from Indonesia. Following this announcement, three respected human rights groups and indigenous organizations charged that the U.S. Government suppressed evidence linking Wamang to the Indonesian military. A peer-reviewed article, titled “Criminal Collaborations: Antonius Wamang and the Indonesian Military in Timika,” details the nature of these links. The group called for Wamang to be given a fair trial in the U.S., rather than in notoriously corrupt Indonesian courts. See: Eben Kirksey and Andreas Harsono, “Criminal Collaborations,” South East Asia Research, vol 16, no 2. http://skyhighway.com/~ebenkirksey/writing/Kirksey-Harsono_Timika.pdf

John M. Miller
Internet: etan@igc.org

National Coordinator

East Timor & Indonesia Action Network

PO Box 21873, Brooklyn, NY 11202-1873 USA

Phone: (718)596-7668 Mobile: (917)690-4391

Skype: john.m.miller Web: http://www.etan.org

Twitter: http://twitter.com/etan009

Facebook: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/134122?recruiter_id=10193810

Send a blank e-mail message to info@etan.org to find out how to learn more about East Timor on the Internet

-- oooooooooooooooooooooo S. Eben Kirksey, Ph.D. NSF Post-Doctoral Fellow 2008-2010 Web: people.ucsc.edu/~skirksey/ Direct-line: +1.831.600.5937 Projects: http://www.skyhighway.com/~multispecies/

Matthew Jamieson

Institute for Papuan Advocacy & Human Rights

PO Box 1805, Byron Bay NSW 2481 Australia

matthew@hr.minihub.org

tel +61 (0) 418291998

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Received via e-mail 30 June 2009
link - http://etan.org/news/2009/06Timika.htm

AntiCiv.Net Collective Status Update

2009-06-21T23:58:00.001-07:00

Due to member priorities and the severity of the modern global crisis, the AntiCiv.Net Collective is now down to one contributing member. This means that posts will likely be much less frequent. The library as of right now is axed, though all of the texts that were previously posted should be available here. (Thanks to the mysterious stranger who did that!)

I've altered the website layout some, the links sidebar especially; make sure to check all that out if you wish to endure more time on the shiny screen. "What are you being screened from? How much of your life comes at you through a screen, vicariously?" Since I'll be unable to post news items as frequently I've added the "News-Focused Links" section to try to compensate. Items submitted to me via e-mail should still be posted as soon as I can.

If you would like to contribute to or support this project in any way, please do so! Contact me at Tetralovesyou [at] gmail.com

Rewild & Resist
-AntiCiv.Net Collective

[Environmental Activist] Justin Solondz Has Been Apprehended In China

2009-06-21T17:41:00.000-07:00

"Environmental activist Justin Solondz has been apprehended in China and has been taken into custody. Justin was named as one of the Green Scare defendants in the University of Washington Genetic Engineering Research arson and was named as a codefendant of Briana Waters, who refused to cooperate, went to trial and was sentenced to 6 years in prison. Justin has been listed as a fugitive by the FBI since the UW indictment was issued several years ago. It is unclear at this time whether Justin will be extradited back to the U.S, and/or when such a transfer would occur. Stay tuned for more updates as they become known."

SOURCE: Portland Indymedia ; Received via e-mail

[SHAC 7 prisoner] Lauren Gazzola Needs Lawyer

2009-06-21T17:38:00.000-07:00

"Announcement:

SHAC 7 prisoner Lauren Gazzola (supportlauren.com) is in need of a lawyer in Connecticut. Lauren is having a legal issue and is attempting to find a lawyer near Danbury, Connecticut that would be able to visit her in prison to have a privileged conversation with her regarding a legal issue.

Unfortunately, due to her incarceration, we are unaware of what the issue is and are as such unable to give any real details to lawyers who may be interested or willing to help. So please, if you know anyone willing to visit her or if you yourself are a lawyer, send Lauren a letter so she may get you a visiting form for the prison. Her address is:

Lauren Gazzola
#93497-011
FCI Danbury
Federal Correctional Institution
Route #37
Danbury, CT 06811

Thanks so much.
-Lauren's Support Committee"

SOURCE: Received via e-mail

Urgent ELP! Bulletin (12th Of June 2009)

2009-06-14T00:16:00.000-07:00

"Dear friends

In April ELP reported the jailing of a Dutch animal rights activist, Peter Janssen, who has been accused of involvement in a raid on a mink farm. A second person who was arrested at the same time as Peter was later released without charge. However since then ELP has learnt of a third arrest. The third person is Naomi van der Pol and she has been remanded into custody. Naomi has been in prison for a month and a half now without any support, so it is vital we send her lots of messages of support from all around the world.

Therefore please send urgent letters of support to both Peter and Naomi to remind them they are not alone and they have our support. Both can receive message of support in English.

Naomi van der Pol
P.I. Breda
Naomi van der Pol 6496122
Celnummer 24b
Postbus 2274
4800 CG Breda
HOLLAND

Peter Janssen
PI Noordsingel
Peter Janssen 5102880
Postbus 37066
3005 LB Rotterdam
HOLLAND

If you would rather e-mail a message of support please send your e-mails to:

Peter Janssen: steunpeter@gmail.com

Naomi van der Pol: steunnaomi@googlemail.com

+++++++

Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network

BM Box 2407

London

WC1N 3XX

England

www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk "

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Received via e-mail

Global Warming Threatens The Maldives

2009-06-07T20:48:00.000-07:00

"The Maldives, one of the nations most threatened by global warming, is appealing to the United Nations space agency to help the island country plan its defenses against rising sea levels.

“Beach erosion is the No. 1 problem for our country right now,” Environment Minister Abdulla Shahid said over the weekend in an interview in Vienna. The Indian Ocean nation of 385,000 people has had to relocate the populations of two of its 200 islands because of eroding beaches, he said.

The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs is meeting this week in the Austrian capital to help poorer nations get access to satellite imagery that can help them plan for environmental disasters and climate change.

Commercial photos from space, which normally cost $4,000 each, can be obtained through the UN for free, Shahid said.

The Maldives wants the images to plan sea walls and future population centers.

“The storm surges have become extreme, much worse than anything our people have seen in their lifetimes,” Shahid said.

One island lost a 1,200-foot (366-meter) long, 160-foot deep stretch of beach in the last two weeks, he said.

The Maldives is among a group of 43 low-lying nations demanding in international climate talks that developed countries slash their emissions of greenhouse gases by at least 40 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels to avert the worst effects of warming.

The Maldives lies 3 meters above sea level at its highest and is among the countries most threatened by rising sea levels caused by global warming."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: BusinessMirror

Animal Liberation Actions: June 6/09

2009-06-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

June 2, 2009 - Mexico
INCENDIARY DEVICE DAMAGES PAVING MACHINE

June 3, 2009 - Colombia
ATTACKS ON POULTRY INDUSTRY

June 4, 2009 - Finland
WINDOWS SMASHED, PAINTED AT THREE FUR SHOPS

June 4, 2009 - Uruguay
EFFIGY OF VIVISECTOR HUNG AT RESEARCH INSTITUTE

une 5, 2009 - Germany
MEAT TRUCKS ATTACKED

June 6, 2009 - Switzerland
CARS DESTROYED AT HOME OF NOVARTIS EXECUTIVE

ORIGINAL SOURCE: BITE BACK Magazine

20 Indians, 7 Police Dead After Peruvian State Attacks Eco-Defense Blockade

2009-06-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

"Reports indicate that up to twenty Indian protesters and seven police officers have died after an Indian blockade of a highway in northern Peru was violently broken up by the authorities today. The number of people injured is believed to be significantly higher.

Survival urges President Garcia and the Peruvian government to withdraw all armed forces from the areas where indigenous peoples are protesting, and to recognise and respect their land rights. The use of army units to quell these protests is merely inflaming an already volatile situation, and does nothing to address the Indians' fundamental and justified concerns."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Survival International

Firehouse 51: New Anarchist Social Space In Modesto, CA, USA

2009-06-04T17:19:00.000-07:00

"Firehouse 51 is a new revolutionary anti-capitalist and anarchist social space located in downtown Modesto CA. The space is historic, as it was once home to the city's fire department. The space is quite large, and is about two stories tall. Members of Modesto Anarcho Crew (MAC) have been hard at work getting the space ready for the coming summer and have been busy planning events. Firehouse 51 will not have regular hours (at least not yet) but has several purposes. It will act as a radical space where local groups can meet and put on events, it will act as a place where local revolutionaries can work on projects, it will be a place where revolutionary musical acts can come and perform, and it will also be a social space where people can come together.

Firehouse 51 has free wi-fi, so feel free to bring out your computer to get some work done. We have an extensive library of books, zines, and a wide collection of anarchist/left communist/situationist publications including Against Sleep and Nightmare, Green Anarchy, Class War, Politics is Not a Banana, War on Misery, Rolling Thunder, Aufheben, Subversion, A Murder of Crows, Wildcat, Insurrection, and many more. Modesto Anarcho Crew also houses their distro in the space, so feel free to check out and grab some titles or copies of our publications.

One of the reasons that we opened this space, is that we wanted to give touring anarchist, class struggle, and revolutionary projects a place in Modesto to come and not only present and give workshops, but also a fine place to stay. If you are a revolutionary project and you are on tour, please, get in contact with us! Email us at: anarcho209[at]yahoo.com. You can also contact us on myspace at: www.myspace.com/modanarcho.

Lastly, we have created a comical video about the space for your viewing pleasure. We also have several events coming up. All events are free, however, we may ask for a donation at the door to help out those traveling from far away, certain projects, or the space. If you would like directions to the space, let us know! Again, email us at: anarcho209[at]yahoo.com. Also, for all of you out there who wish to help us out, you can do so by sending us: massive amounts of zines, books, posters, and magazines, a very tall latter, a projector, a sound system, speakers, and cash donations. If you can fit it in a box, send to: Modesto Anarcho, PO Box 3027, Modesto, CA 95353. If not, bring it on down homie!

---

Opening Event Party! Live Hip hop, jam bands, food, literature table, dance party! Friday, June 19th, 6-10pm.

Eric McDavid Tour. Workshops, Presentations, Discussion, Live music! Friday, July 10th, 7-10pm. More info at: www.supporteric.org

Suburban Revolt (folk punk), plus guests. Live musical performance. Literature tables. Saturday, July 18th. 7-10pm. More info: www.myspace.com/thesuburbanrevolt

Subvert (melodic anarcho-punk), plus guests. Live musical performance. Literature tables. August (TBA). 7-10pm. More info: www.myspace.com/subvertnow

---

View the video here at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_Gf_w8-hIA"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Anarchist news dot org

Health Risks From Soot Particles Twice As High As Previously Thought

2009-06-03T17:11:00.000-07:00

"A new appraisal of existing studies documenting the links between tiny soot particles and premature death from cardiovascular ailments shows that mortality rates among people exposed to the particles are twice as high as previously thought.

Dan Greenbaum, the president of the nonprofit Health Effects Institute, which is releasing the analysis on Wednesday, said that the areas covered in the study included 116 American cities, with the highest levels of soot particles found in areas including the eastern suburbs of Los Angeles and the Central Valley of California; Birmingham, Ala.; Atlanta; the Ohio River Valley; and Pittsburgh.

The review found that the risk of having a condition that is a precursor to deadly heart attacks for people living in soot-laden areas goes up by 24 percent rather than 12 percent, as particle concentrations increase.

A variety of sources produce fine particles, and they include diesel engines, automobile tires, coal-fired power plants and oil refineries."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: NYTimes.com

Global Bird Species In Serious Decline

2009-06-02T17:49:00.000-07:00

"Researchers have known about the speckled brown Sidamo lark for only 40 years. Always a rare sight, the elusive bird may soon vanish from the prairie grasses of Ethiopia forever.

Its habitat already restricted to less than 100 square kilometers, the lark is rapidly losing territory as local residents, the Borana ethnic group, convert grassland into heavily grazed pasture. Unless the Borana are allowed to resume their nomadic ways, within the next few years the Sidamo lark will likely become the first known bird species to vanish from mainland Africa, researchers say.

"We estimate there are fewer than 250 adult individuals left," said Claire Spottiswoode, a research fellow at the University of Cambridge. "In the absence of urgent conservation action on the ground, it is only a matter of time before it goes extinct; no other species on the continent seems to face quite such an imminent fate."

The Sidamo lark is among the most endangered birds included on the Red List of Threatened Species, which the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) updated last month for global bird species and for European amphibians and reptiles.

The IUCN Red List, considered the authority on the status of the world's plant and animal species, now includes 1,227 bird species (12 percent of known birds) as threatened with extinction - 192 of them critically endangered.

Habitat loss, climate change, and the spread of invasive species are the main threats to avian biodiversity, the conservation organization said.

"In global terms, things continue to get worse," said Leon Bennun, director of science and policy for BirdLife International, which conducted the updated research. "But there are some real conservation success stories this year to give us hope and point the way forward."

IUCN upgraded three bird species from "critically endangered" to "endangered" due to successful habitat protection strategies. Among the advances, a 2007 survey found that the bright blue Lear's macaw of Brazil had expanded to a population size of 750, after being reduced to only 70 wild individuals in the late 1980s."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Worldwatch Institute

Orangutan Protection Group In Indonesia

2009-06-02T17:43:00.001-07:00

"Despite worldwide attention and concern, prime orangutan habitat across Sumatra and Borneo continues to be destroyed by loggers and palm oil developers, resulting in the death of up to 3,000 orangutans per year (of a population less than 50,000).

Conservation groups like Borneo Orangutan Survival report rescuing record numbers of infant orangutans from oil palm plantations, which are now a far bigger source of orphaned orangutans than the illicit pet trade. The volume of orangutans entering care centers is such that these facilities are running out of room for rescued apes, with translocated individuals sometimes waiting several months until suitable forest is found for reintroduction. Even then they aren't safe; in recent months loggers have started clearing two important reintroduction sites (forests near Bukit Tigapuluh National Park in Sumatra and Mawas in Central Kalimantan). Meanwhile across half a dozen rehabilitation centers in Malaysia and Indonesia, more than 1,000 baby orangutans—their mothers killed by oil palm plantation workers or in the process of forest clearing—are being trained by humans for hopeful reintroduction into the wild, assuming secure habitat can be found.

Dismayed by the rising orangutan toll, a grassroots organization in Central Kalimantan is fighting back. Led by Hardi Baktiantoro, the Center for Orangutan Protection (COP) has mounted a guerrilla-style campaign against companies that are destroying orangutan habitat in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo. The group rigorously investigates new clearing, documenting environmental transgressions through video, photography, and GPS. It then stages colorful demonstrations and issues media statements presenting evidence against plantation firms, government officials, and even NGOs. COP is also active in schools through its campus program which highlights threats to orangutans and tells students what they can do to help.

COP's activities have not been welcomed by the palm oil industry. Facing threats, Hardi has had to hide his family and the group's base of operations. The COP web site has been hacked and its communications tapped, while palm oil companies have offered Hardi tens of thousands of dollars in bribes in an effort to avoid COP's scrutiny. But Hardi is defiant.

"I don't care if [forest clearing] is legal or illegal. My opinion is that as long as long as orangutan habitat is being destroyed we have to stop it," he told mongabay.com during a meeting at a COP field site. "Anyone who destroys orangutan habitat and kills orangutans is my enemy.""

ORIGINAL SOURCE: mongabay.com

Arson At Mexican State Police Post

2009-06-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

Communique:
"May 27th of this year:

Recently we received news which was painful for the entire insurrectional movement; our compañero Mauricio Morales had died from the explosion of a bomb he had been carrying in his backpack. With determination and conviction he had decided to use it in opposition to the social order of the powerful who govern Chile, he decided to take a step forward in order to shout one more time that social war is inevitable, he took in his own hands the vengeance that we in Mexico have not demanded from all those people who punish with their whip-- no more, no less-- those who have decided to fight a war to the death every day against the present state of things. Many have said compañero Mauricio died in combat, as an anarchist warrior loyal to the idea of the destruction of the established order. In his backpack he carried his heart, in his heart he carried rage and he had turned that rage into action that night which is what most frightens the ideological apparatus of the state, he turned it into insurrectional violence.

This incident is one of the things that went through our heads before carrying out our action. We have realized that it is time to begin spreading the offensive against the state, to begin to expropriate the weapons of our executioners to use against them, to agitate the masses in demonstrations controlled by riot police, to throw mototov cocktails at police stations, to secretly and daily conspire, to detonate bombs at the icons of the capitalist-speciesist-patriarchal system, to coordinate decentralized actions in an informal way and to focus ourselves on the quality and the quantity of our economic sabotage; it is time for everything to explode; we will happily dance on the dead body of this system which is becoming more and more agonizing and degrading; the streets will be illuminated by the abolitionist fire; the love we feel for the world is no longer just an incendiary dream.

In this spirit, we claim the arson attack inside a state police post in the town of Coacalco in Mexico State. Our courage brought us to climb the walls of the post, to enter through a window on the second floor, when realizing that there was no one inside and that the torturers were preparing to begin using the post, we decided to set fire to their chairs, couches, police uniforms, radios, work tools, and a cot among other things and to leave anarchist graffiti against these underhanded bastards, about the destruction of the planet and animals, both human and nonhuman; because while they protect the state and its putrid institutions this is happening on the planet that we inhabit, the expansion of civilization and the industrial technological system, leaving the forests, prairies, rivers and lakes desolate. They are slowly lost little by little due to human thoughtlessness and anthropocentric attitudes. And we will not let that happen any longer:

War against the capitalist system, destroyer of the planet!
Revolutionary solidarity with our comrades in Chile during this difficult time!
That Mauricio's death will set up incendiary barricades!
Bullets, bombs, fire and stones to the state and its accomplices!

Sincerely: Commando of free, dangerous, wild and incendiary individuals for the Black Plague - - - (CILPSPN)"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: BITE BACK Magazine

Birds Freed, Vehicles Burnt At Farm

2009-06-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

Communique:
"One night in May 2009, Paris suburb.

The raising of thousands of birds to be killed (pheasants, geese, ducks, partridges) in Gaillon (Yvelines, France) was the ALF's target.

After cutting the fence to enter the property of the breeder, we discovered thousands of tiny cages and an big incubator for thousands of baby partridges.

Result:
- 10 cars belonging to the farmer and a lorry to transport animals to slaughter (separated and far away from the animals) have been BURNT.
- ALF SIGNED on the wall.
- dozens of prisoner partridges and crows FREED. Wire destroyed.
- several traps: one jailed rat FREED. Traps destroyed .

The breeder has lost several hundred thousand euros and his activity is weakened.

French ALF. Keep fighting!"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: BITE BACK Magazine

Luddites Against The Demostication Of Wild Nature Strike Telephones & Churches In Mexico

2009-06-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

Communique:
"This world now desolated by civilization and its industries is in the hands of only a few people who think they can do whatever they want with it. One of these companies is Telmex telecommunications; its owner Carlos Slim, the richest man on the planet from a developing country such as Mexico, is being attacked today. Though the sabotages are small, we are the stone in your shoe and we will not leave you in peace. The night of May 27 we have set 4 Telmex telephone booths on fire with buckets of gasoline and incendiary devices. We have also attacked 2 Catholic churches in Mexico State; in one we left an incendiary device at their wooden doors which caught on fire and were burnt black by the vengeful fire, in the other we prepared a homemade firebomb; from the fire some 10 windows burst and its walls were completely black. We did this against institutions of lies and manipulation that hide themselves behind the name of their god to obscure their terrible sexual abuses and corrupt deals with any type or style of government.

Our strongest disdain for all dogmatic religions, all destroyers of the earth and all who want to see us under the feet of the capitalist-anthropocentric system!

Luddites Against the Domestication of Wild Nature"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: BITE BACK Magazine

ALF Visits Leather Store Once Again

2009-06-01T16:57:00.000-07:00

Communique:
"The night of May 26, the ALF once again visited the Mendele store in the Mexican capital. This time we wrote Leather = Torture and F.L.A. on the walls of this business of death and suffering,
in addition we left a false bomb at their doors, through which we have once again caused terror for the exploiters who make animals feel like victims of money, ambition and power. We have done this action in solidarity with our Chilean comrades; the death of Mauricio is just the beginning of the expanding war against everything that does not allow us to be free. Our pain and anger along with fire and dynamite are with us as we act from the conspiratorial darkness of the night.
ALF México"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: BITE BACK Magazine

Television Exposure Harms Linguistic Development In Children

2009-06-01T16:54:00.000-07:00

"Young children and their caregivers use fewer words and share fewer conversations when they're listening to the TV, researchers have found.

In the June issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, researchers reported that each hour the TV was on was associated with an average decrease of 770 words the child heard from an adult during a recorded session, after adjusting for the child's age.

"We've known that television exposure during infancy is associated with language delays and attentional problems, but so far it has remained unclear why," said Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington Medical School.

"This study is the first to demonstrate that when the television is on, there is reduced speech in the home. Infants vocalize less and their caregivers also speak to them more infrequently."

The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages television or video viewing before the age of two, suggesting that parents focus on interactive play to encourage development including acquiring language."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: CBCNews.ca

Ogiek Tribe To Become 'Conservation Refugees'

2009-06-01T16:53:00.000-07:00

"The hunter-gatherer Ogiek tribe of Kenya could become the latest in the world’s growing tide of ‘conservation refugees’ if Kenya’s government acts on its threat to evict them from their land in the name of conservation.

The Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga have said that their government plans to remove the Ogiek from their ancestral land in the Mau forest.

Ever since colonial times, they have resisted attempts to evict them from the Mau forest. They depend on the forest, where they gather honey, hunt antelope and pigs and grow vegetables.

More than 60 Ogiek leaders met recently to oppose the government’s plans. ‘We will resist any attempt by the government to remove us from our ancestral land. Mau is our home. Our ancestors are here. We will not be intimidated,’ said Ogiek Councillor Paul Leswagei."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Survival International

Climate Change Turning Seas To Acid

2009-06-01T16:51:00.000-07:00

"Climate change is turning the oceans more acid in a trend that could endanger everything from clams to coral and be irreversible for thousands of years, national science academies said on Monday.

Seventy academies from around the world urged governments meeting in Bonn for climate talks from June 1-12 to take more account of risks to the oceans in a new U.N. treaty for fighting global warming due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December.

"To avoid substantial damage to ocean ecosystems, deep and rapid reductions of carbon dioxide emissions of at least 50 percent (below 1990 levels) by 2050, and much more thereafter, are needed," the academies said in a joint statement.

The academies said rising amounts of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas emitted mainly by human use of fossil fuels, were being absorbed by the oceans and making it harder for creatures to build protective body parts.

The shift disrupts ocean chemistry and attacks the "building blocks needed by many marine organisms, such as corals and shellfish, to produce their skeletons, shells and other hard structures," it said."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Reuters

Underreported Struggles: May 2009

2009-06-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

"In this Month’s Underreported Struggles: 7,000 delegates gather in Peru for the IV Continental Indigenous Summit of Abya Yala; Hundreds of Tibetan villagers face off against armed police ; dozens of indigenous communities in Ecuador struggling after February oil spill; San Carlos Apache speak out against Land Exchange and proposed Copper mine

May 30 - Continental Indigenous Summit focused on Unity - A Press Release from Tonatierra discussing the IV Continental Indigenous Summit of Abya Yala, which began three days ago in Puno, amidst the ongoing Mobilization of Indigenous Peoples of Peru.

May 28 - San Carlos Apache opposed to land exchange and proposed copper mine - Apache Statement of opposition to the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and the proposed Resolution Copper mine at Chich’il Bildagoteel.

May 28 - The Sweet Pepper War - In Peru two villages lost land when a Norwegian-registered agricultural company Camposol started cultivating sweet peppers. Camposol is one of Peru’s largest agricultural companies, with plantations all over the Latin-American country.

May 28 - Letters Needed, Stop liquor license renewal near Bear Butte! - On June 2nd at 3:00 pm the Meade County Commissioners will be meeting regarding the issuance of new liquor licenses, renewals and transfers for Sturgis Rally Venues. Please send an opposition letter asking them to deny the new licenses, transfers and renewals for all venues surrounding Bear Butte.

May 25 - Adivasis fighting against Nuclear Terror in Jharkhand - Thousands of indigenous people from Talsa village in northern Jharkhand, India, must now face the prospect of displacement—in addition to lung cancer, skin diseases and physical deformities as a result of a nearby open cast uranium mine, which has operated for decades.

May 24 - Standoff at Tibet Gold Mine: Tibetan Buddhists regard it as a sacred site - Hundreds of villagers in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) of western China are facing off against armed security forces at the site of a planned gold mine on what the Tibetans consider a sacred mountain, witnesses say.

May 22 - Norway-based oil research in occupied Western Sahara - A French research fellow attached to the Norwegian Geological Survey (NGU) has been researching the geology of the occupied Western Sahara. The work is done in stark contrast to the Norwegian government’s own opinion that oil search in Western Sahara is “a particularly serious violation of fundamental ethical norms e.g. because it may strengthen Morocco’s sovereignty claims and thus contribute to undermining the UN peace process”.

May 22 - Indigenous Groups call for halt by foreign companies of land use without prior knowledge or consent - The Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues continued its discussion of human rights today amid calls for Governments to strictly carry out their obligations under international human rights accords, notably in the Amazon where protests by native inhabitants recently erupted after moves to open the region to oil and mining by foreign companies without their consultation.

May 21 - Malaysian Govt. Denies Oil Palm development in Brazil following protest email campaign - In a positive yet puzzling development, a spokesperson for the Malaysian government‘s federal land agency (FELDA) now denies plan for Malaysian government controlled oil palm development in the heart of the Amazon ever existed.

May 20 - Government renews assault on the Kgeikani Kweni (Kalahari Bushmen) - Botswana’s government sent trucks full of police and wildlife scouts into the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) yesterday to confiscate goats from Bushmen who have returned to their ancestral homes.

May 18 - Villagers Fearful After Mine Water Discharged Into River - Water from a storage pond at Barrick Gold’s North Mara mine in Tanzania is seeping through containing walls, leading local villagers to fear their water sources are contaminated.

May 18 - THOUSANDS of Aborigines in Northern Territory homelands will be forced to move - Thousands of Aborigines living on their remote Northern Territory homelands will be forced to move to larger communities to receive key government services in a radical shake-up of indigenous policy. (counter argument)

May 18 - Dongria Kondh shocked over mine approval - The government of India has given the British mining company Vendata resources final approval for the controversial bauxite mine on the Niyamgiri Mountain of Orissa, India. The Dongria Kondh were shocked to learn this on Friday, after receiving a phone call from the UK charity group ActionAid. It was the first time they heard of the decision.

May 15 - Uyghur Women Block Land Grab in northwestern China - Women in China’s northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have turned back officials trying to implement a forced farming program on their land. (update: standoff said to be “resolved”)

May 15 - The Bhopal of West Africa - The similarities between Trafigura and Union Carbide (Dow Chemical) in Bhopal, are too stark to ignore: Both incidents happened in the dead of night, both were connected to the oil and gas industry, and most tellingly, both companies proclaim their own brand of innocence: Union Carbide through selling its shares to absolve them of any responsibility; and Trafigura through utter denial.

May 14 - Saami sue the Swedish state on hunting and fishing rights - The National Swedish Saami Association is taking the Swedish government to court over hunting and fishing rights in the high mountains, which is traditional Saami land.

May 13 - Peru: Indigenous People declaring the real state of Emergency - “As far as needs and rights go, this is the real state of emergency in Peru right now. Indeed, the mobilization isn’t some ‘misinformed’ adventure as the government would have us believe. It is a struggle for life itself.” (contains an up-to-date list of news on the mobilization)

May 12 - Indian Activists Vow to Fight Northern Minn. Oil Pipeline - Some members of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe are working to prevent a planned oil pipeline from crossing their reservation in northern Minnesota. The pipeline would carry oil extracted from Canada’s oil sands, known widely as ‘the most destructive project on earth’.

May 11 - Systemic human rights violations along Burma gas pipeline - The “Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay” gas pipeline in southern Burma is a guideline for “systemic, shocking and ongoing” human rights violations, according a new report by the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM).

May 9 - Indigenous People ignored one Month after oil spill in the Amazon - Ecuador’s second largest oil pipeline ruptured this past February, causing more than 14,000 gallons of crude oil to spill out onto the banks of the Santa Rosa river. The leak has been contained for a while now, and there are ongoing efforts to clean the oil. However, as many as 47 indigenous communities were effected by the spill, and their urgent pleas for assistance are being completely ignored.

May 8 - Violent eviction of Community blockade near Trinidad Mine - On the morning of May 6, 2009, a mass of federal and state police troopers brought a violent end to a community blockade near Canadian-owned Fortuna’s Trinidad Silver Mine in the municipality of San Jose Progreso, Oaxaca, Mexico.

May 5 - Farmers leaving Raposa-Serra do Sol peacefully - After years of conflict and tension, rice farmers are finally leaving the indigenous territory known as Raposa-Serra do Sol (the Land of the Fox and Mountain of the Sun) in northern Brazil.

May 5 - Malaysia: Sarawak government defeated in landmark native customary rights ruling - A Federal Court has upheld the concept of native customary rights (NCR) to land, ruling against the Sarawak state government.

May 3 - Villagers near Barrick Gold’s Porgera mine violently evicted by police - MORE than 300 houses belonging to local landowners near the Porgera gold mine in Enga Province, have been torched allegedly by policemen called out to restore law and order in the district. (related article)

May 1 - Government determined to exploit uncontacted Indians’ land - Peru’s government has shown its determination to permit work on uncontacted tribes’ land by passing a law declaring oil exploitation in northern Peru a ‘national necessity.’

Videos

Peru: Voicing the Concerns of the People - Over 10,000 people gathered on the streets of Lima, Peru last Wednesday, May 27, to support the ongoing Mobilization of Indigenous Peoples, which began exactly 52 days ago today. During the demonstration, an indigenous man took to the podium to voice the concerns of the People.

You Are on Indian Land - “You Are on Indian Land” was one of the first films in Canada to give voice to the concerns of Indigenous People. Produced in 1969, the film documents a protest led by Mohawks from the Haudenosaunee community of Akwesasne on December 20, 1968.

Cease! Fire! More Broken Promises, More Broken Lives - Cease! Fire! is a heart-wrenching and yet inspiring documentary film about the Indigenous Karen People of eastern Burma, and their continued struggle for peace and freedom on the land they know as “Kawthoolei,” which means, “the land of peace.”"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News

Building An Anarchist Movement: June 4 In Olympia, WA, USA

2009-06-01T16:45:00.000-07:00

"Come one, come all to a discussion about building an anarchist movement.

Join us in a discussion free and open to the public about the tradition of anarchism that Common Action is rooted in: The Spanish Revolution, the Makhnovschina anarchist struggle in Ukraine, the Chicago Idea/Haymarket Synthesis, southern Mexico, Zabalaza in South Africa and Love and Rage.

Thursday, June 4 -- 5:30-7pm
Timberland Library (in the meeting room)
313 8th Ave SE
Downtown Olympia, WA

Some of the discussion topics:

* What is the relevance of these struggles to our situation and our struggle today?
* What can we learn from the anarchist expressions of struggle such as especifismo in Uruguay, platformism from Ukraine and Russia and zapatismo from Chiapas, Mexico?
* How can we create a relevant and effective broad-based anarchist movement nationally and locally?

Brought to you by the Olympia branch of Common Action.

Common Action is a regional anarchist organization in the Northwest United States with members representing the cities of Seattle, Bremerton, Tacoma, and Olympia.

http://www.nwcommonaction.org/"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News

American Food Not Bombs Gathering: August 7-9 In Omaha, NE, USA

2009-06-01T16:42:00.000-07:00

"Greetings from the heartland of the Empire,

While the media is still fetishizing the global economic crisis, the basic relationship between humans, the earth, and capital has remained unchanged. People are still earning, saving and spending money, the earth is still being raped and pillaged so that humans can live an unsustainable lifestyle, and the government is continuing to corral, subjugate and oppress all of us

Food Not Bombs is a group that consistently challenges these fundamental problems by practicing mutual aid in local communities every single day of the week. Omaha’s FNB has been active for the last 13 years and serves free meals every Saturday and Sunday in the Gene Leahy Mall. In those 13 years we've seen our fair-share of police harassment, member burn out, and burnt rice. A few of us ventured down to the gathering last year in Nashville and found it to be a very empowering experience and we hope to create a similar atmosphere this year in Omaha.

Since Food Not Bombs is a collective of autonomous and independent groups decisions made at the gathering will be decided by consensus. If there is a workshop you would like to put on, or an skill share you would like to lead let us know by emailing omahafnbs@gmail.com.

A few questions that we would like to talk about during the gathering are...

How can FNB's strengthen and expand its presence in local communities?
What are good strategies people have found in reaching out to communities most affected by the "economic crisis"?
How can local Food Not Bombs groups support each other?
How can we be everywhere all the time?

We would like to invite any and all Food Not Bombs group to come participate in the skill-shares, dance parties, bike rides, discussions, and presentations that will be happening all weekend. There will be plenty of food, space for people to crash, and fun! For questions about housing, setting up your own skill shares or workshops, or anything else please feel free to contact us at omahafnbs@gmail.com.

Hearts &Fists

Omaha Food Not Bombs"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News

Statement From Philadelphia Anti-Racist Action: One Life Crew Show Canceled

2009-06-01T16:40:00.000-07:00

"Philadelphia Anti-Racist Action (ARA) would like to officially confirm that the One Life Crew show scheduled for Saturday, June 6 at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia is now canceled. Due to concern for keeping the First Unitarian Church a safe space for all, dozens of people from across the country - including members of other Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations and their ministers - contacted Rev. Nate Walker and the Board of Trustees of the Philadelphia church. In the end, the story was picked up by several media outlets and even more pressure was mounted against Reverend Walker's church for considering to allow this event to happen on their property.

On Saturday May 30th, members of Philadelphia Anti-Racist Action and One People's Project met with Reverend Walker, representatives of the church's Board of Trustees, congregation members and two representatives from the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations.

After introductions were made, all parties were given a chance to air their grievances face to face. There was an overall agreement that there had been a breakdown in communication between ARA and Reverend Walker, resulting in ARA's decision to issue a national statement asking those concerned to call both the local church and its' national leadership in Boston.

While Reverend Walker disagrees, ARA maintains that while One Life Crew, R5 Productions, Friends Stand United (FSU) and even Keith Carney - the local head of the neo-nazi group Keystone State Skinheads (KSS) - were all “invited to the table” to discuss this show, attempts were made to marginalize ARA as an “extremist” group. It was not until after ARA issued its call and the pressure mounted on the First Unitarian Church to cancel the show that we were also invited to dialogue with Reverend Nate. With Reverend Walker taking KSS and FSU at face value - going so far as to believe Keith Carney's story that he is not a neo-Nazi without any evidence supporting such an insane claim - ARA believed it was time to inform the larger UU community, and proceeded to contact other congregations and ministers across the country as well as national UU leadership.

We see nothing extreme about wanting a band with a history of lyrical and physical attacks on people of color and persons from the LGBTQ community shut down! We also see nothing wrong with informing the community at large - many of whom obviously shared our concerns - about this scheduled event. We say this because in all initial communication, Reverend Walker stated that while he could cancel the show, he had no intention of doing so. Instead he claimed that dialogue with One Life Crew - a group who chooses to engage in hate speech - was the correct tactic.

ARA respects the fact that different people and groups have different tactics. However, we will make no apologies for our tactics. Further, we believe that the fact that One Life Crew will not be playing in Philadelphia proves that our tactics do work and that our decision to take our case about One Life Crew outside the walls of the First Unitarian Church was a solid one. In fact, some of the church's own Board members and congregation members who were in attendance at Saturday's meeting agreed with us that the UU should never even have considered hosting this show, and thanked ARA for ultimately bringing it to their attention.

Reverend Walker and some congregation members have expressed concern that ARA had hurt the “good name” of the church . ARA reiterates its position that at no time was our goal to specifically harm the reputation of the church, but to bring immediate, direct attention to what we believe was not only a hesitancy to shut down the show, but an indication that the show would go on as planned to the detriment of what is supposed to be a safe space.

We express our desire to count both the Unitarian Church and Rev. Walker as our ally - not as our enemy. However, as we made clear to him at Saturday's meeting, we maintain that in this instance we believe his decisions were part of the problem. Philadelphia ARA will continue to organize around these important issues and hope to be able to work with the church's progressive community in the future. We also hope that Rev. Walker will continue to investigate the information we provided that not only do neo-nazis regularly attend shows at the church, but that they regularly engage in recruiting and violent acts. No matter how innocent R5 Productions and FSU try to make these white supremacists' continued attendance at shows, the fact remains that people have been violently attacked outside R5 shows on several occasions and we implore Rev. Nate to do something before this problem gets even worse.

In Struggle,
Philadelphia Anti-Racist Action
araphilly@gmail.com
215-543-3812"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News

Global Warming Killing 300,000 People A Year

2009-05-31T16:36:00.000-07:00

"The first comprehensive report into the human cost of climate change warns the world is in the throes of a "silent crisis" that is killing 300,000 people each year.

More than 300 million people are already seriously affected by the gradual warming of the earth and that number is set to double by 2030, the report from the Global Humanitarian Forum warns.

"For the first time we are trying to get the world's attention to the fact that climate change is not something waiting to happen. It is impacting seriously the lives of many people around the world," the forum's president, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, told CNN.

The report, titled "Human Impact Report: Climate Change -- The Anatomy of a Silent Crisis" comes just six months before the United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen to forge a post-Kyoto climate agreement for 2012 and beyond.

The report's startling numbers are based on calculations by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that the Earth's atmosphere warmed by 0.74 degrees Celsius (1.33 degrees Fahrenheit) from 1906 to 2005, with much of that increase coming in recent decades. The panel predicts that by 2100 temperatures will have increased a minimum of two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels regardless of what's agreed in Copenhagen.

"No matter what," the report concludes, "the suffering documented in this report is only the beginning." A rise of two degrees, it says, "would be catastrophic."

Of the 300,000 lives being lost each year due to climate change, the report finds nine out of 10 are related to "gradual environmental degradation," and that deaths caused by climate-related malnutrition, diarrhea and malaria outnumber direct fatalities from weather-related disasters."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: CNN.com

Introducing The Anarchist Library

2009-05-31T16:34:00.000-07:00

"We introduce, for your pleasure, The Anarchist Library, an archive of anarchist texts: books, essays, and articles. We hope that this archive grows from its initial selection of over 400 titles (books, essays, and articles) into a comprehensive textual library that spans the entirety of anarchist thought.

The Internet has allowed us an amazing opportunity to share anarchist texts widely. This has allowed more people than ever access to obscure anarchist literature and propaganda. The few existing anarchist archives have all been helpful and inspirational to this project, which arises due to the inactivity of the existing online anarchist archives, with little sign that anyone is specifically serving as a librarian (commonly lacking introduction, curation, updating, or all of the above). A library is either active or dying and with the internet popping with new anarchist texts every day, we believe it would be a shame to not attend to them.

Our group is comprised of anarchists spread across 10 timezones that use conversational consensus to review, edit and update the site. We are an open group.

Besides providing you with a more inclusive and coherent forum to access existing anarchist texts, The Anarchist Library offers clean site design, active curation, and clean, typographically-accurate PDFs. We also intend to continue to support open formats and Free Software. We share code!

What is the significance of typographically accurate PDFs?

Short answer: they look better.
Longer answer: the creation of PDFs from the library text transforms this project from merely an online browsing source to a place where portable analog documents can be created for distribution, sharing, and sneaking into the hands of people who wouldn't otherwise find the texts. The website is pull, printed material is push.

How can I help?

You can help us by creating a user account at http://theanarchistlibrary.org and uploading your favorite anarchist document that isn't already uploaded. Remember to pay close attention to the uploading instructions as they are technically specific. If you have ever manually-edited HTML, this will not be challenging.

If you are interested in working with the library group please join us in our active channel on the Anarchist News SILC Server in channel #Library. We are there most days for 12+ hours a day (usually from 0800 GMT to 2000 GMT) and use conversational consensus to make most of our decisions.

More information?

Email Us
The Anarchist Library
About Us
How to Upload
Texts sorted by Title"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: The Anarchist Library

Squatted Social Centre Is Opened In Montreal

2009-05-31T16:32:00.000-07:00

"Tonight, people in Point St-Charles, a working-class community in Montreal's south-west, and their allies opened the city's first ever squatted social centre, right on the banks of the rapidly gentrifying Lachine canal! More news will come soon, but as of 11:00pm on May 29th, the building was secured by the squatters, the installation and renovations had begun, and there were still over 100 supporters outside.

For more information, and updates, visit www.centresocialautogere.org"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Anarchist news dot org

Call For Solidarity With Greek Prisoners

2009-05-30T11:41:00.000-07:00

"A movement that is not capable of looking after its comrades in prison is destined to die, and that at a high price under atrocious torture.’

- Daniela Carmignani, Revolutionary Solidarity

The insurrection in December was a visible and mass expression of the social war that rages at all times and will continue until the destruction of all domination.

Thousands fought in the re-appropriated streets of the necropolis. Hundreds were arrested and, with exceptionally swift procedures, several were thrown in prison. Six of them still remain imprisoned up to this day. Because for those in power someone has to pay the price for the negation in practice shown by all of us against this decaying world.

Within the first two weeks of June the remaining prisoners of December, amongst them the anarchist A.Kiriakopoulos, will be coming in front of a board of judges who will determine whether their imprisonment will be extended. Days of action will take place between the 12-15 of June in solidarity across Greece.

Prison is a direct and violent tool that power has at its disposal to use against those that are not able or refuse to follow its rules. Especially in moments of intensified struggle or revolt, prison plays the role of isolating the “troublemakers” to weaken our collective attack and instill fear in those who may be willing to join the fight. In this way, prison and the justice system are structures that aim to inhibit the generalization of social conflict. Therefore, solidarity with all those imprisoned for the insurrection in December is necessary for the furtherance of the revolutionary project.

Solidarity should not be viewed through the lens of duty, obligation or charity nor does it require a personal relationship or absolute political identification with those imprisoned but is a means to strengthen our ties as collaborators in a conspiracy against the existent. Solidarity is our weapon by which we attack not only the prison but all the structures of power in a continuation of the social struggle as a whole. At the same time, solidarity is a tool used to obtain the immediate practical result of freeing our comrades in prison.

This is a call to comrades wherever they may be to start a wave of solidarity that sends shudders down the spine of the bastards in power. Let’s prove to them that the Athens syndrome is indeed a contagious disease.

Inside and outside the prison bars, the insurrectionary perspective is a permanent condition which does not wait for a specific moment, does not accept charity but attacks directly, everywhere, always.

Until the destruction of all prisons

FREEDOM TO THE COMRADE A.KIRIAKOPOULOS AND TO ALL THE PRISONERS OF DECEMBER

SOLIDARITY WITH THOSE PROSECUTED

- For the generalization of the insurrectional clash"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Two Hundred and 77 Street Fights

Protest Blocks Entrance To Chevron Headquarters

2009-05-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

"How many activists does it take to shut down the main entrance to the headquarters of the 2nd largest U.S. oil corporation?

Six.

Well, six, plus dozens of supporters and organizers of an international campaign called The True Cost of Chevron.

The purpose was to draw attention to Chevron’s environmental and human rights abuses from Richmond, California– the location of one of its largest refineries– to Ecuador, where a judge is set to decide this fall on the long-standing lawsuit that seeks damages of $27 billion for toxic environmental pollution in the Amazon rainforest and its communities.

The setting was Chevron’s annual shareholders’ meeting in affluent San Ramon, California, about 30 miles from its second largest refinery in Richmond."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: MatadorChange

Five Years Of Really Really Free Markets In Carrboro, NC, USA

2009-05-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

"Saturday, June 6, Carrboro's monthly Really Really Free Market will take place at the Carrboro Town Commons from 2:30 to 4:00 pm. This marks five years of regular RRFMs in North Carolina.

North Carolina's first Really Really Free Market took place in Raleigh on June 12, 2004, immediately after the G8 summit in Georgia. It was preceded by a surprise direct action in which anonymous activists shut down access to Research Triangle Park, one of the most prominent corporate research parks in the US.

As reported in Rolling Thunder magazine,

"On the final day of the G8 summit, activists in North Carolina shut down an entire corporate business district with steel cables, smoke bombs, and banners decrying the G8 and corporate power in general, causing a massive traffic jam in the center of the state. Local newspapers and television gave this more coverage than they gave the protests in Georgia against the G8 summit, and local residents experienced it far more immediately. This took place only two days before a public outreach event, the 'Really Really Free Market,' in the state capital, at which people gathered to share resources and entertainment freely. As a result of the direct action that preceded it, the police and media both paid a great deal of attention to this event: the nightly news showed hundreds of people happily dancing, eating, and exchanging gifts, while police helicopters circled overhead and a hundred riot police waited nearby. Thus, this combination of tactics resulted in free publicity for the effectiveness of covert action, the munificence of community activism, and the heavy-handedness of the state... This can be seen as an effective integration of autonomous action into a wider strategy for building radical communities and gaining widespread attention."

The June 12 Really Really Free Market was one of the very first such events to occur nationwide following the original Really Really Free Market that took place in Miami during the protests against the 2003 FTAA ministerial.

The first Carrboro Really Really Free Market followed soon after in October 2004. The next three years saw a series of conflicts between the government of Carrboro and participants in the event, in which the government was eventually forced to change local laws to avoid a serious confrontation. Really Really Free Markets have occurred on a monthly basis in Carrboro since summer 2006, providing a local reference point for direct action, gift economics, and other anarchist values, and serving the material needs of hundreds, if not thousands, of participants.

Here is the announcement for this month's event:

Carrboro's Really Really Free Market
Saturday, June 6, 2:30 to 4:00 pm
Carrboro Town Commons
301 West Main Street, Carrboro, NC
First Saturday of every month

Bring something to share--take something you need!

Everyone is welcome at this monthly event at which people share goods, services, skills, performances, stories, crafts, food, games, music, clothing, furniture, plants, and other resources.

In a time of recession and economic crisis, events such as this one are especially important, as they demonstrate how communities can maintain themselves even when the capitalist system fails them. If you are unemployed, facing foreclosure, or struggling with debt, or if you care about others who may be facing these challenges, come participate in building this community infrastructure! We can all prosper with or without the economy, if we base our lives and interactions on cooperation rather than competition.

Better than a yard sale, the Really Really Free Market has no price tags: there is no buying, selling, or exchanging involved. At this market, everything is strictly free. This event is a celebration of the cooperation and gift-giving that make life possible beyond the constraints of market capitalism: it is an afternoon when social status has nothing to do with what you own, and when giving and receiving happen directly rather than being administered through an institution or organization. As at other Really Really Free Markets across the U.S. and around the world, we aim to create and participate in a world in which resources are held in common, the community meets the needs of the community, and "free" means just that: really, really free.

Nothing is required for participation, but think creatively about the skills you have and could teach, the useful or beautiful things you have and don't need, or the resources you might be able to bring and share.

Because there's enough for everyone
Because sharing is more fulfilling than owning
Because corporations would rather the landfills overflow than anyone get anything for free
Because a beautiful day outside together is better than anything money could buy
Because "free trade" is a contradiction in terms
Because no one should go without food, shelter, entertainment, and community
Because life should be a picnic, but it's up to us to make it one
BECAUSE THERE IS TOO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News

Animal Liberation Actions: May 29/09

2009-05-29T17:34:00.001-07:00

May 23, 2009 - Germany
WINDOWS ETCHED AT BERLIN FUR SHOP

May 24, 2009 - UK
GAMEKEEPER TRAPS IN THE COTSWOLDS TRASHED

May 25, 2009 - Mexico
ALF CELEBRATES END OF COCKFIGHTING BUSINESS

May 25, 2009 - Belgium
SURPRISE FOR SCHERING PLOUGH DIRECTOR

May 26, 2009 - Czech Republic
OPEN RESCUE OF 16 HENS

May 26, 2009 - Spain
GREYHOUND RESCUE DEDICATED TO JAKE CONROY

May 26, 2009 - USA
BUTCHER SHOP VANDALIZED, DOG RESCUED

May 27, 2009 - Sweden
DOG RESCUED FROM RAPIST

May 27, 2009 - Germany
PAYBACK TIME FOR THE ANIMALS INSIDE HLS

May 28, 2009 - Mexico
LEATHER EXPO TORCHED IN MEMORY OF FALLEN ACTIVIST

May 29, 2009 - USA
FIRE DESTROYS OFFICES OF VIVISECTION SUPPLIER

ORIGINAL SOURCE: BITE BACK Magazine

Guards Flee Prison Due To Bomb Threat

2009-05-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

"Guards at a locked down federal prison in Springhill, N.S., are back on the job following a bomb scare.

Earlier this week, Correctional Service Canada was warned there could be an unauthorized device in the building. The Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, which represents the guards, says it was a bomb threat.

The guards left the building after the lockdown was implemented, saying it was not safe for them to be the ones looking for any such device.

A note said the device was supposed to go off Thursday.

The regional president of the union, Paul Harrigan, said the guards returned Friday when the deadline passed without incident — though they're still refusing to search for any suspicious devices."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: CBCNews.ca

Anarchist Film Festival In Sydney, Australia: June 5-8

2009-05-29T17:28:00.000-07:00

"Jura and Black Rose Books are proud to present the first Sydney Anarchist Film Festival. We are showing 14 great films over the queens birthday long weekend (5th - 8th June). The films include tasty rarities as well as anarchist smash hits.

One highlight is 'Lucio Anarquista' - a 2007 film about an anarchist worker who brought the most powerful bank on the planet to its knees. Tickets are only $8 per film ($5 concession) or get a gold pass to the entire festival for $30 ($25 concession).

Film Festival Program

Friday

5th June: 6pm: An evening of local short films (at Black Rose) -- Saturday 6th June: 12pm: Manufacturing Consent (Jura); Living Utopia (Black Rose) -3pm: Angry Brigade (Jura); Viva Zapata (Black Rose) 6pm: Born in Flames (Jura); Panther (Black Rose)

Sunday 7th June:

12pm: Paris is Burning (Jura); This Revolution (Black Rose)
3pm: Libertarias (Jura); Land and Freedom (Black Rose)
6pm: Free Voice of Labour (Jura); The Weather Underground (Black Rose)

Monday 8th June: 6pm: Lucio Anarquista (at Jura)

For full details and descriptions of each film go to: http://www.jura.org.au/filmfestival

Also for film fanatics, Jura has just received a new shipment of political DVDs. These include Rocking the Foundations, The Hacktivists, Helen's war, Intervention Katherine NT, Wanja, I remember 1948, Stolen Generations, Temple of dreams, Two Mums and a Dad, Lockout and River of No Return.

For a full list, descriptions and prices, go to: http://www.jura.org.au/dvds

Our monthly acoustic music night is also on from 7.30pm, this Thursday 28th May at Jura. 'Rascal & Bones' and 'A Dire Dawn' will be playing. Bring a piece of wood with strings, a tube with holes, your humble vocal chards or just your ears to listen! And it would be great if you could come to the G20 Solidarity Trivia Night.

Three activists (two of them Sydney-based) are going to trial on charges from the G20 protests in Melbourne in 2006. These include aggravated burglary - a serious charge which can carry a ten-year sentence. The action in question took place at a defence force recruitment centre and the Tenix offices (a military contractor); it lasted 10 minutes and involved nothing more than red glitter and water pistols! One person is already in jail as a result of charges relating to actions at G20.

The Trivia Night starts at 7pm, Tues 2nd June at The Workshop, 16 Sloane St, Newtown.

Love and rage from the Jura Collective.

440 Parramatta Rd, Petersham 9550 9931

http://www.jura.org.au

Opening times: Wednesday 2-7pm Thursday 2-7pm Friday 2-7pm Saturday 12-5pm Sunday 12-5pm"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News

Tarnac 9 Prisoner Julien Coupat Released

2009-05-29T17:26:00.000-07:00

"French authorities on Thursday authorised the release of Julien Coupat, who has been detained for more than six months on suspicion of sabotaging high-speed train lines, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

Julien Coupat, 34, was arrested by anti-terrorist police in November 2008 and his lengthy detention without charges being filed had become highly controversial.

His arrest was part of a wider swoop on members of what Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie described as an “anarcho-autonomous” movement that had been under surveillance by domestic intelligence services for months beforehand.

Coupat, the last of the 10 suspects arrested in November to remain in custody, has always said he was innocent but he is still under investigation for organised, terrorism-related destruction of property.

Under the terms of his release, he will have to stay in the Paris region and surrender his passport and identity papers.

The failure to secure any convictions after a highly publicised raid by hundreds of police has proved embarrassing to the government, which has been accused of whipping up terrorism fears to justify tough new security measures.

In a written interview with the Le Monde newspaper this week Coupat described his detention as a “petty revenge which is quite understandable given the means that were deployed and the extent of the failure.”"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Support the Tarnac 9

New Report Reveals Five Uncontacted Tribes Most At Risk

2009-05-29T17:25:00.000-07:00

"One year after photos of uncontacted Amazon Indians made headlines around the world, a new report from Survival International reveals the five uncontacted tribes most at risk of extinction.

They are:

* Indians of the Pardo River, Brazil
* The Awá, Brazil
* Indians between the Napo and Tigre Rivers, Peru
* Indians of the Envira River, Peru
* The Ayoreo-Totobiegosode, Paraguay

These groups are all experiencing the invasion of their lands – by loggers, ranchers, colonists and oil companies – and all are at grave risk of being decimated by diseases to which they have no immunity.

The Awá, Rio Pardo Indians and Envira River Indians are all falling victim to the blight of illegal hardwood logging which is penetrating even the remotest parts of the Amazon.

The Ayoreo-Totobiegosode of the Chaco scrub forests in western Paraguay, on the other hand, are experiencing the illegal clearance of their forests by cattle ranchers. Satellite photos taken over the past year have revealed huge areas illegally cleared in the Indians’ heartland.

In the far north of Peru, the Indians living between the Napo and Tigre Rivers are caught in the middle of Peru’s oil boom. In recent years 75% of Peru’s Amazon has been carved up into oil and gas exploration concessions. Peru’s President has denied the existence of isolated Indians in the Napo/Tigre area, despite abundant evidence of their existence."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Survival International

Toxin Causing Deformities In Chinese Sturgeon

2009-05-28T19:50:00.000-07:00

"BEIJING--A chemical applied to ship hulls is robbing Chinese sturgeon of their eyes and causing other deformities, according to a new study. The toxin may deal a death blow to the already-endangered fish, a living fossil that the Chinese government considers a "national treasure."

The Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis) has lived in the Yangtze River for 140 million years, making it one of the world's oldest fish. Although the 450-kilogram sturgeon once thrived in these waters, overfishing and the loss of spawning areas to dams has cut its numbers by roughly 85% over the past 30 years. As of 2007, there were only about 500 spawning sturgeon left in the Yangtze.

Now Chinese scientists have identified a new threat: triphenyltin (TPT), a biocide applied to ship hulls and fishing nets that prevents the buildup of algae and other aquatic hitchhikers. The compound has slowly washed from ships and accumulated in Yangtze sediments. In this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Hu Jianying, a professor at the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences at Peking University in Beijing, and colleagues report a direct correlation between TPT levels in water and sturgeon deformities. The team captured more than 1000 Chinese sturgeon larvae from the Yangtze and recorded the incidence of mutations: 6.3% exhibited morphological deformities such as gnarled spinal cords, and 1.2% had only one eye or no eyes at all. Sturgeon raised in a TPT-free environment in land-based breeding facilities, by comparison, had a 0.66% rate of morphological deformities and no ocular deformities."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: ScienceNOW

Letter From Greek Prisoner On Hunger And Thirst Strike

2009-05-28T19:45:00.000-07:00

"On Saturday 16 May anarchist Nikos Kountardas was ordered in pre-trial detention under the pretext of his supposed non-abbiding to the bail conditions previously set to him. Nikos had been ordered to appear to his local police station (in the northern city of Xanthi) twice a month. At his previous appearance he was informed he could not sign the paper proving his presence, under a bureaucratic pretext (that his case’s folder had not been transfered to the local station yet). The next time he appeared to the same station (on 16.5), he was arrested!

Next day, on Sunday 17.5 Nikos was transferred to the prison of Komotini, where we was placed in solitary confinement. Two days later, on 19.5, in an obvious attempt to be isolated from the solidarity movement around him, he was transfered to the remote prison of Amfissa, in central Greece.

Nikos went on thirst and hunger strike from the night of May 16, the night of his arrest. He stopped the thirst strike on May 23 when was informed that there will be a court date set for him while he continued to be on hunger strike, demanding his immediate release.

Doctors warn that Nikos’s health is detteriorating and that he is fast approaching a non-reversible condition.

Solidarity actions have taken place in many cities around Greece, while on May 22 Nikos was transferred to the General Hospital of Nikaia in Athens.

Yesterday on May 27 he resumed the Thirst Strike while he is still on hunger Strike since May 16.

Yesterday he managed to secretly send the following letter that reached comrades outside:

"I ‘m writing a few words on a napkin. In secret. They have forbidden me everything. I am in a state of complete isolation. I don't know what’s happening outside. Real terrorism exerted from the deep State itself. However, I believe I haven’t said my last word. I hope these will reach the outside world and will become known, propagated. Whatever happens. To hear the testimony of my soul that I have given a week ago to Radio Revolt. The situation and the conditions in here remind of other dark ages. They are all furious with me. I do not know if I’ m considered a political prisoner of their democracy, the only sure thing is that if someday their sovereignty collapses I may perhaps be recognized as a former casualty or former prisoner of their “democracy”. Something like the actual, frequently advertised and honoured, recognisable by all “released and exiled by the dictatorship”(1967-1974). Until then what would you expect... deafening silence. Silence like “omerta” that should not “break”. It doesn't matter, one day they'll understand, maybe the people will wake up.

Here and now in the State Hospital, they have put me in here since Friday after they transported me in almost a coma condition, with pressure 7-5, glykose 45, weighing 6 kilograms less. I'll try and describe what's going on. The doctors tried to inject me with IV water, however I did not accept. In any case I generally have to admit that despite the pressure by the State the doctors have kept a decent attitude. However, during the course of the night, on the dawn of dawn of Saturday, while I was unconscious a strange woman escorted by policemen entered the room and injected me with glykozated water and vitamins. This is an incident that I want to make public and denounce, while the fact can also be testified by the one and only patient detained in the room with me.

What I want to say is that we may all imagine what also happened to Savvas Xiros (injured by a bomb blast) in Evangelismos Hospital. And since I have talked about Friday, I want to thank all the friends and comrades that upset the area around the hospital (solidarity protest). It was moving and pleasant for me while unpleasant for the enemy. Also I want to thank all the people that came outside the hospital the next morning. It was a gesture that livened up my soul. I heard of and was really glad for the great protest in Xanthi, a city that gives birth to anarchists. As well as for the attacks against the riot police in Trikoupi Str in the cities of Athens and Thessalonica. I THANK all the friends and comrades from every corner of the Greek space for their diversified solidarity.

Now for some different kind of thanks.

* I “thank” the "people in charge" from the Ministry of Justice that are crowding outside the guarded Hospital Ward that they keep me in order to resolve my problem.
* I “thank” the Public Prosecutor and Police authorities that within a matter of 10 minutes they managed to prepare a case against me, while the responsible for my release Council of Judges of Komotini requires more than 10 days.
* I “thank” the humanguards for their “kind” treatment during my transfer-abduction from Komotini Prison, worthy and exemplary for a prisoner in hunger and thirst strike.
* I “thank” my inmate in Komotini Prison that in solidarity abstained from food, and burned the Prison Ward when he heard of my torture and continues supporting me despite me “suspicious” fight.
* I “thank” here in the State Hospital the guards that allow me to make phonecalls, “respects” the personal data and in general “respects” the rights of a prisoner.
* I “thank” the para-government that has "not" threatened my parents...
* Finally I “thank” in advance all the scam that will defame and slander this second and difficult effort of mine to pursue my rights.

Today, Wednesday 27/5/09 noon I began the 2nd and last hunger and thirst strike. I will fight for my right by any means necessary. If there's no solution then it’s WAR WAR WAR!

While closing this letter I ‘m asking for two favours. I had promised something to Alexis in P.Faliro, perhaps I won’t be able to make it. Comrades, please spread this now during the exam school period for those who want to study in Universities: December the 6th 2008 – June the 6th 2009. No students and schoolmates this year to be candidates to join the Police Force. WE DO NOT FORGET - WE DO NOT FORGIVE

And finally, protect those in Xanthi as if it was your own eyes

I'm not of this world

LONG LIVE TOTAL FREEDOM

With True Love, Nickos Koundardas""

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News

Rolling Thunder Seeking Accounts From Chilean Resistance Fighters

2009-05-28T19:42:00.000-07:00

"Following the death of an anarchist alleged by corporate media to be transporting a destructive device, a wave of government repression is sweeping Chile. We extend our heartfelt condolences to those who mourn the loss of a friend, and our support to all who still suffer under a repressive apparatus that has not fundamentally changed since the reign of Pinochet. We fear the worst is yet to come, as the Chilean government will likely use this as a pretext for further raids, arrests, and harassment.

As a humble gesture of solidarity, the next issue of our biannual journal Rolling Thunder will include a report on Chilean resistance movements over the past decade; we hope this will provide more context for and awareness of the Chilean situation for readers around the world. As we did for our coverage of the Ungdomshuset and G8 protests, we are soliciting anonymous accounts from participants in the past decade of social struggles in Chile to fill out our coverage.

If you have experiences you are willing to share or can direct us to publicly available narratives, please contact us at rollingthunder@crimethinc.com. Those who have privacy concerns should consider starting a new email account on a public-access computer.

Please circulate this statement anywhere it may be relevant. Thank you.

ROLLING THUNDER BUSCA RELATOS DE CHILE

Después de la muerte de un anarquista alegado por los medios capitalistas transportar un artefacto explosivo, una oleada de represión estatal está llegando a Chile. Mandamos nuestras condolencias a lxs que han perdido un amigo, y nuestro apoyo a lxs que todavía sufren bajo un aparato represivo que no ha cambiado a fondo desde el mando de Pinochet. Nos preocupa el peor todavía viene, como el estado chileno probablemente utilizará el hecho como un pretexto para más allanamientos, detenciones, y hostigamiento.

Como un gesto humilde de solidaridad, la próxima edición de nuestra revista bianual Rolling Thunder incluirá un reportaje sobre los movimientos de resistencia en Chile durante la ultima década; esperamos que dé más contexto y conocimiento a la actualidad en Chile para los lectores por todo el mundo. Como hicimos para nuestro reportaje sobre las protestas de Ungdomshuset y G8 buscamos los relatos anónimos de participantes durante la ultima década de las luchas sociales en Chile para llenar nuestro reportaje.

Si tienes algunas experiencias que estás dispuestx compartir o sino puedes indicar unos relatos ya publicados y disponibles, por favor contáctanos a rollingthunder@crimethinc.com. Para la gente con preocupaciones de seguridad debe abrir una cuenta nueva de correo electrónico en un computador publico (como un cibercafé).

Por favor que difundan esta declaración donde puede ser relevante. Salud."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News

Hummer Firebombed In Berlin

2009-05-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

"In the night to monday, unknown person arsoned a „Hummer“ in Dahlem in the Lützelsteinerstr.

In the Kopenhagenerstr., Prenzlauerberg, eight cars got damaged by painted slogan and „anarchy“ symbols."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: direct action news from germany

Protests At Business-Oriented Climate Change Summit In Copenhagen

2009-05-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

"Protesters clashed with police in Copenhagen this weekend while attempting to disrupt the World Business Summit on Climate Change, a gathering of the worlds largest corporations and, not coincidentally, biggest polluters. Organized by the Danish government, the Business Summit gave corporate interests unprecedented access to the ongoing UN climate talks, including face time with UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon and so called climate “hero” Al Gore.

The group of protestors, lead by a banner reading “Our Climate is not Your Business” attempted to breach police lines in order to disrupt the meeting. The lively group of activists wanted hightlight the damaging and disruptive role that corporations play in the international climate talks. The list of corporations attending included #1 carbon emitter in the world Shell Oil, Duke Energy (#12 at last count), and BP among other climate criminals.

“The Danish government appears to be under the impression that some of the world’s most polluting companies are going to put forward tough measures to tackle climate change,” said Kenneth Haar, a researcher with Corporate Europe Observatory. “But unfortunately this doesn’t seem likely to be the case. The majority of the corporations attending the World Business Summit on Climate Change seem more intent on pursuing business as usual - with the promise that future technologies will resolve the problem at a later date.

“Corporate lobbyists have been trying to influence the UN climate talks from the start. But now they are being invited to set the agenda before the negotiators have even sat down. If their demands are listened to, we might as well give up the fight against climate change now.”

The WBSCC draws into question the legitimacy of the UN climate talks. How can we trust a process that opens the door to the very corporations that created the climate crisis, while shutting out the worlds poor, indigenous, and land based peoples who are least responsible for climate change, yet will bare the brunt of its impacts?

To get involved with the resistance to corporate control over the talks check out:

www.actforclimatejustice.org"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Rising Tide North America

FedEx Possibly Being Used To Deliver Subpoenas To Bash Back! Members

2009-05-27T17:14:00.000-07:00

"Today, a Chicago collective known to BB! Memphis, were approached by a FedEx delivery man, asking to deliver a package to a “John (Nickname of a person known to BB! Memphis, Name Withheld)”. (A play on John Doe, perhaps?).

The sender was “Bash Back!, Inc.”, a fictitious entity from a downtown Memphis address unknown to any of us here at BB! Memphis.

The members of the Chicago-based collective, immediately told the FedEx delivery man that “Nobody by that name lives here.” After being turned away, the FedEx delivery man attempted question to another roommate, who’d just arrived home about the existence of a “John (Name Withheld)”.

We want to stress to all Bash Back!ers out there; DO NOT ACCEPT OR SIGN FOR PACKAGES SENT FROM PEOPLE YOU DO NOT KNOW.

Heads up, that FedEx has been used in the past, to deliver legal summons/subpoenas.

Stay safe & smash capitalism,
BB! Memphis"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Bash Back! News

Protest At Indian High Commission In London

2009-05-27T17:12:00.000-07:00

"‘Invisible’ demonstrators from Survival International today targeted the Indian High Commission in London.

The protesters – holding blank placards and banners and spelling out the word ‘invisible’ – were drawing attention to the Indian government’s decision to permit British company Vedanta Resources to mine land sacred to the Dongria Kondh tribe. The government has treated the Dongria as invisible, ignoring their views.

The Dongria are vehemenently opposed to the mine on their sacred mountain and today submitted an appeal to the government in Delhi. In London, the protestors echoed their pleas to be heard by the government."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Survival International

Call To Shut Down Racist Punk Show In Philadelphia

2009-05-27T17:00:00.002-07:00

"On June 6th, the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia will play host to One Life Crew; a racist, homophobic hardcore band from Cleveland, Ohio. The band has an extensive history of racist, sexist, and homophobic lyrics, as well as a record of extreme violence at their shows. One Life Crew was dropped by their record label Victory Records after a show in Cleveland where the singer “Mean” Steve Murad leaped from the stage to attack an audience member who took exception to the band's racist lyrics.

Making matters worse, One Life Crew has a rabid neo-nazi following, most likely attributed to their split 7" record with white power band Empire Falls. Here in Philadelphia, there is no doubt that the Keystone State Skinheads (KSS) - whose members have been convicted on various assault and weapons charges - will be attending the show in force. KSS has been talking about this show on their online forum since it was first announced, and Keith Carney, their Eastern Pennsylvania Regional Director, lists One Life Crew among his favorite bands and has made it clear that he will be attending the show.

Philadelphia Anti-Racist Action believes that One Life Crew has no right to spread their hate-filled rhetoric anywhere in Philadelphia, least of all at the First Unitarian Church - a religious institution that prides itself on being an official "Welcoming Congregation" and purports to be "intentionally diverse" and " inclusive towards bisexual, gay, lesbian, and/or transgender people " according to its' website. However, they are willing to let homophobes and racists perform at their church, taking away any sense of safety for people of color and the LGBTQ community at large.

Reverend Nate Walker of the First Unitarian Church is fully aware of this show, and all the potential problems it could bring. However, during a telephone conversation with a member of Philadelphia Anti-Racist Action, Reverend Nate simply stated that the church would not “censor its tenants.” In the face of this statement and apparent blatant hypocrisy of everything the Unitarian Church claims to stand for, we are asking allPhiladelphians to express their concern and anger about this show directly to Reverend Nate. He can be reached on his cell phone at (215) 701-9072 or via the church office at (215) 563-3980. You can also email him to express your feelings about the First Unitarian Church allowing this show to take place - revnate@philauu.org.

We also encourage concerned community members to contact the following church departments:

Alliances for Racial Justice:
* Luana Goodwin -215-235-2343 or lugoodwin@msn.com
* Bruce Pollack-Johnson - 215-848-6246

Young Adult Ministry Coordinator:
* Sarah Lenzi - sarah@philauu.org
Board of Trustees:

* Heather Speirs- hmspeirs@gmail.com
* Christiane Geisler- dgeisler@comcast.net
* Mark Peterson- peterson19130@gmail.com
* Patricia Way- pway@temple.edu
* Patrick Ream- patjream@comcast.net
* Steven Tomcavage- steven@tomcavage.com

In addition, be sure to express your disgust to the show promoters for attempting to bring racist, homophobic scum to our city:
* Sean Agnew - R5 Productions - 267-765-5210 or sean@r5productions.com
* Joe Hardcore - joehardcore@gmail.com

Call and email the First Unitarian Church and R5 Productions: be angry, be firm, but be legal.

In struggle,
Philadelphia Anti-Racist Action
araphilly@gmail.com"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News

Really Really Free Markets In Buffalo, NY, USA

2009-05-27T17:00:00.001-07:00

"The Anarchist Buffalo Front is hosting their second Really Really Free Market, which will be held the first week of every month.

Location: Johnson Park, Elmwood Ave. Buffalo, NY, 14201 (One block North of Chippewa Street in downtown Buffalo)
Date/Time: Saturday, June 6th from 12 pm to 5 pm (or later)
After the successful first attempt in having a Really Really Free Market in Buffalo, the people who put it on are bringing this event on the first Saturday of every month. This one will not only include free goods, tangible or intangible, but free food and water!! Anarchists get free lunches!

Peace and Unity
-Chase"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News

Civilized Assumptions Refuted Again: Non-Humyns Possess Sense of Morality

2009-05-27T00:15:00.000-07:00

"Scientists studying animal behaviour believe they have growing evidence that species ranging from mice to primates are governed by moral codes of conduct in the same way as humans."

"[Prof Marc Bekoff, an ecologist at University of Colorado, Boulder] has compiled evidence from around the world that shows how different species of animals appear to have an innate sense of fairness, display empathy and help other animals that are in distress. "

The article presented recent findings regarding scientific studies of several animal species (most imprisoned for experimentation purposes).

"WOLVES

Wolves live in tight-knit social groups that are regulated by strict rules. If a pack grows too large, members are not able to bond closely enough and the pack disintegrates. Wolves also demonstrate fairness.

During play, dominant wolves will "handicap" themselves by engaging in roll reversal with lower ranking wolves, showing submission and allowing them to bite, provided it is not too hard.

Prof Bekoff argues that without a moral code governing their actions, this kind of behaviour would not be possible. If an animal bites too hard, it will initiate a "play bow" to ask forgiveness before play resumes.

COYOTES

In other members of the dog family, play is controlled by similar rules. Among coyotes, cubs which bite too hard are ostracised by the rest of the group and often end up having to leave entirely.

"We looked at the mortality of these young animals who disperse from the group and they have four to five times higher mortality," said Bekoff.

Experiments with domestic dogs, where one animal was given a treat and another denied, have shown that they posses a sense of fairness as they shared their treats.

ELEPHANTS

Elephants are intensely sociable and emotional animals. Research by Iain Douglas Hamilton, from the department of zoology at Oxford University, suggests elephants experience compassion and has found evidence of elephants helping injured or ill members of their herd.

In one case, a Matriarch known as Eleanor fell ill and a female in the herd gently tried to help Eleanor back to her feet, staying with her before she died.

In 2003, a herd of 11 elephants rescued antelope who were being held inside an enclosure in KwaZula-Natal, South Africa.

The matriarch unfastened all of the metal latches holding the gates closed and swung the entrance open allowing the antelope to escape.

This is thought to be a rare example of animals showing empathy for members of another species – a trait previously thought to be the exclusive preserve of mankind.

DIANA MONKEYS

A laboratory experiment trained Diana monkeys to insert a token into a slot to obtain food.

A male who had grown to be adept at the task was found to be helping the oldest female who had not been able to learn how to insert the token.

On three occasion the male monkey picked up tokens she dropped and inserted them into the slot and allowed her to have the food.

As there was no benefit for the male monkey, Prof Bekoff argues that this is a clear example of an animal's actions being driven by some internal moral compass.

CHIMPANZEES

Known to be among the most cognitively advanced of the great apes and our closest cousin, it is perhaps not surprising that scientists should suggest they live by moral codes.

A chimpanzee known as Knuckles – from the Centre for Great Apes in Florida – is the only known captive chimpanzee to suffer from cerebral palsy, which leaves him physically and mentally handicapped.

Scientists have found that other chimpanzees in his group treat him differently and he is rarely subjected to intimidating displays of aggression from older males.

Chimpanzees also demonstrate a sense of justice and those who deviate from the code of conduct of a group are set upon by other members as punishment.

RODENTS

Experiments with rats have shown that they will not take food if they know their actions will cause pain to another rat. In lab tests, rats were given food which then caused a second group of rats to receive an electric shock.

The rats with the food stopped eating rather than see another rat receive a shock. Similarly, mice react more strongly to pain when they have seen another mouse in pain.

Recent research from Switzerland also showed that rats will help a rat, to which it is not related, to obtain food if they themselves have benefited from the charity of others. This reciprocity was thought to be restricted to primates.

BATS

Vampire bats need to drink blood every night but it is common for some not to find any food. Those who are successful in foraging for blood will share their meal with bats who are not successful.

They are more likely to share with bats who had previously shared with them. Prof Bekoff believes this reciprocity is a result of a sense of affiliation that binds groups of animals together.

Some studies have shown that animals experience hormonal changes that lead them to "crave" social interaction.

Biologists have also observed a female Rodrigues fruit-eating bat in Gainesville, Florida, helping another female to give birth by showing the pregnant female the correct birthing position – with head up and feed down.

WHALES

Whales have been found to have spindle cells in their brains. These very large and specialised cells were thought to be restricted to humans and other great apes and appear to play a role in empathy and understanding the feelings of others.

Humpback whales, fin whales, killer whales and sperm whales have all been found to have spindle cells in the same areas of their brains.

They also have three times as many spindle cells compared to humans and are thought to be older in evolutionary terms.

This finding has suggested that complex emotional judgements such as empathy may have evolved considerably earlier in history than previously thought and could be widespread in the animal kingdom."

* * *

In a similar vein, for information relating to scientific studies of plant cognition, communication, emotion, behavior, biology, and neurology, readers may wish to follow this link (read: "What is Plant Neurobiology"), this link from the international Symposium on Plant Neurobiology, and this link for a list of other highly technical studies regarding the evolving field. Additionally, a simple WikiAnswers search offers the following, cited to the second provided link:

"Q: How can a plant feel pain without a nervous system?

A: Plant Brain: Each root apex harbours a unit of nervous system of plants. The number of root apices in the plant body is high and all brain-units are interconnected via vascular strands (plant nerves) with their polarly-transported auxin (plant neurotransmitter), to form a serial (parallel) nervous system of plants. The computational and informational capacity of this nervous system based on interconnected parallel units is predicted to be higher than that of the diffuse nervous system of lower animals, or the central nervous system of higher animals/humans."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Telegraph

Small Bomb Shatters Windows Of Starbucks Restaurant In New York City

2009-05-26T22:51:00.000-07:00

"A predawn blast from an explosive device damaged a sidewalk bench and shattered windows at a Starbucks coffee shop on the Upper East Side on Monday, the police said. No one was injured, but the authorities were investigating whether it was linked to previous blasts in Manhattan.

Residents near the Starbucks, at 1642 Third Avenue, at 92nd Street, were jolted awake about 3:30 a.m., when the device exploded, setting off car alarms.

The authorities said that investigators were trying to determine whether Monday’s blast was linked to three others that occurred at similar times of day around Manhattan. The previous attacks were on the Times Square military recruiting station in 2008; on the Mexican Consulate at 27 East 39th Street in 2007; and on an office building housing the British Consulate at 845 Third Avenue in 2005.

Each early-morning explosion inflicted little damage and caused no casualties. A bicyclist was spotted or caught on surveillance video at the scene of the three previous attacks. There have been no arrests, the police said."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: NYTimes.com

Really Really Free Market: June 6 In Philadelphia

2009-05-26T22:50:00.000-07:00

"Philadelphia's first ever Really Really Free Market is coming up on Saturday, June 6th. Be at Clark Park (45th and Baltimore) at 12pm. Bring friends and things to share. For those unfamiliar with Really Really Free Markets, here is an explanation from reallyreallyfree.org:

A Really Really Free Market is like a potluck for whatever you want to give or take away. Have you ever brought one dish to a potluck and gone away with a full belly and a balanced meal? Everybody brings something and goes away with more.
We all have skills, ideas, objects, smiles, talents, friendship, excitement, discussions, and many other things to share. If we bring them all together at the Really Really Free Market, we can provide more balanced and full lives for everyone.
As a community we have many more resources than we do as individuals. If we share our resources we won't need to buy as many new ones. This uses fewer of the Earth's resources, and fewer of our working hours, leaving us more time to devote to ourselves and our communities.
Would we all work forty hours a week at one job if we didn't feel we had to? What if instead we worked at improving our individual skills and talents and shared them with each other? We would all spend more time doing things we enjoyed.
The Really Really Free Market is an attempt to put these ideas into practice...

If you're on this website I assume you can realize the importance of events like the Really Really Free Market. If we ever want to build this better world, we need to criticize the status quo and build functioning alternatives to it as well. As radicals, anarchists, autonomists and concerned human beings, this is our opportunity to do that. It is our opportunity to step outside the isolation of our "subculture" and build meaningful connections with our neighbors and the community. Hopefully this is the first of many free markets in Philadelphia. The better this one is, the easier it will be to do in the future, and the easier it will be to grow this into something more. Let's start things off right.

With love,
a neighborhood anarchist"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News

Bash Back! Convergence Location Announced

2009-05-26T22:47:00.000-07:00

"We have Just received word that the Bash Back Convergence will be at Sheffield and Belden 1 block off of the Fullerton Red Line Stop

THURSDAY!, THURSDAY!, THURSDAY!,

The splinter of a splinter cell of Bash Back that exists in the seediest alley’s of our happiness has found a legion of performers so queer that the HRC has teamed up with the ADF to try and assimilate us or make sure we never see the light of day. They will never succeed though as the shredding of our instruments alone will tear down all barriers of oppression and level any organization out to destroy us.

These Queers are as follows

Thursday the 28th there will be the FREE! “No Power Power Folk” show at 21st and Kedzie (right off of the kedzie pink line stop) starting at 8pm.

Performers will be,
-Mercedez
-Anna
-Dis- Un- Anti
-Adahm Roland
-Devan
-Y Lime
-Evan Greer
-Cliterectomy and the Mutilators

Remember if you need information on housing for the convergence or any information you will have to go to this show on Thursday or Belden and Sheffield on Friday.

Cum Faster Friends the Old World is Behind Us!"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Bash Back! News

Protest Against Indian Government: May 27 In London

2009-05-26T22:45:00.000-07:00

"Survival International will hold a protest tomorrow outside the Indian High Commission in London, to demand that the Indian government stops the mining giant Vedanta Resources from destroying the land of the Dongria Kondh tribe.

Time and date: 12.30-2pm, Wednesday 27 May
Place: Indian High Commission, Aldwych, WC2B 4NA

The London protestors will hold blank placards to symbolize the Indian government’s treatment of the Dongria as invisible.

The Dongria Kondh tribe have vowed to stop British company Vedanta mining bauxite in the lush hills where they live, and have mounted a series of blockades and demonstrations.

But the Indian government, ignoring the Dongrias’ voices, has now granted Vedanta the environmental clearance it needs to begin mining. Operations could start within weeks.

Actress Joanna Lumley, narrating Survival’s film ‘Mine: story of a sacred mountain’, said, ‘It’s only because the Dongria have known their lands so intimately and for so long that this extraordinary forest survives. The Dongria know that [the mine] will ruin their homes, pollute their lands and destroy their lives. We cannot let their fate be decided in a corporate boardroom.’

Survival’s director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The Indian authorities have authorized the destruction of one of its most marginalized tribes, the Dongria Kondh, at the hands of the British company, Vedanta Resources. This is an extremely serious human rights' violation which will hang over India's reputation unless the decision is reversed. The Dongria Kondh might be remote but Survival will ensure their voice is heard around the world.’"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Survival International

Native Youth Movement Warrior Society Member Arrested; Donations Requested

2009-05-26T22:44:00.001-07:00

"NATIVE YOUTH MOVEMENT

STATEMENT TO THE PEOPLE

May 24rd, 2009

NYM Warrior arrested and held on 7 year old charges for Defending the Land!

On Thursday May 21st, a Warrior from the Native Youth Movement Warrior Society was arrested and detained in Halkomelem Territory (near so-called hope, british columbia, kkklanada).

Shark is a 27 year old Father of 5 Secwepemc children, from the Ohlone & Chumash Nations. He is currently being held for ransom in the Kamloops Regional Correctional Center (KRCC), facing charges stemming from protecting Secwepemc mountains, Skwelkwek'welt. These Sacred Mountains are being destroyed by Japanese company, Sun Peaks Resort Corporation. The governments of “British Columbia and Canada” are illegally selling Native Land to foreign invaders, and companies. These companies develop mass destruction to the land water, in turn killing the original, natural habitat of these mountains, including the Secwepemc People.

Since 2000, Secwepemc people have been taking direct action to stop Sun Peaks from destroying Skwelkwekwelt, their Hunting, Berry Picking & Medicine Mountains. The People left the Indian Reserve to take back their traditional territory and stop Sun Peaks expansion.

In 2001, the Secwepemc formed a chapter of the Native Youth Movement. They called other Native Warriors to help Defend the Land for the Future generations. Shark was one of those who responded to the call.

From May to December 2001 there were over 50 arrests made of Secwepemc People & their Allies, among them were 74 and 78 year-old women. Since then, there has been targeting of Native Youth Movement and Skwelkwek'welt Defenders. Many have been arrested in connection with Taking Back The Land at Skwelkwekwelt.

We are asking all those who support the struggle for the Land and Indigenous Autonomy to make a donation & spread the word to Free Shark. Those who put themselves between the Invader and the People must be protected. A Warrior is a special person who understands that their willingness to protect women, children, land & water, may result in incarceration, injury or death, but they do it anyway knowing that Truth & Mother Earth are on their side.

Send donations ASAP to help Free Shark to:

Miranda Dick

Royal Bank (in the midst of switching to climate friendly banking)

Shuswap Ave., Chase, BC

Transit # 00880

Account # 5055447

FREE SHARK! FREE PELTIER! FREE JOHN GRAHAM! FREE MAPUCHE WARRIORS! FREE WARRIORS OF ATENCO & OAXACA! FREE JACABO & GLORIA! FREE MUMIA! DROP ALL CHARGES ON POCC MOI JR. VALARY!

NO OLYMPICS ON NATIVE LAND! NO MINING! DOWN WITH SUN PEAKS! NO SKI RESORT IN MELVIN CREEK! DOWN WITH THE TAR SANDS! NO INDEPENDENT POWER PROJECTS (DAMS). NO RAILWAY & HIGHWAY EXPANSION!

IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE MAYAN ZAPATISTA, THE MAPUCHE, THE KUNA AND ALL THE MILLIONS OF WARRIORZ FIGHTING THE ENEMIES OF THE EARTH WORLDWIDE. IT'S NOT OVER UNTIL WE WIN! TAKE BACK THE LAND!

NATIVE YOUTH MOVEMENT"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: No Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics On Stolen Native Land

Call For Solidarity With Raided Squat In Chile

2009-05-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

"La Idea, an anarchist squat based in downtown Santiago is under intense repression by the Chilean State. A young anarchist, Mauricio Morales, recently died under tragic circumstances when an explosive device that he was transporting detonated unexpectedly. The bourgeois press has incorrectly claimed that Mauricio lived in La Idea. Mauricio occasionally visited the squat, an open and public space where many social events take place. The state violently raided La Idea, and the press is now assisting intelligence agencies in crafting false information about the social space. The state claims to have discovered materials for making explosives in La Idea.

The Chilean state is utilizing Mauricio's death to repress our movement once again. The democratic regime in Chile continues to torture and kill comrades, the same tactics of the Pinochet military dictatorship.

International support and solidarity is needed. The state utilizes the bourgeois press as an apparatus of repression. A small number of powerful families control the press, and they are directly aligned with intelligence agencies. Action is needed from abroad to insure the safety of our comrades here in Chile. This is a call for a diversity of tactics.

Communiqué from the occupied social center, La Idea, concerning recent events
Posted on Hommodolars.org

We participate in the squat known as “La Idea.” We openly denounce what we suffered on Friday, May 22.

Around 1:30 in the afternoon while cooking and waiting for news on the television to inform ourselves about recent events, the Police of Investigation (PDI), entered our house, violently kicking down the door and implementing a military operation with all of the technological tools that they have in their control, SWAT equipment, rifles with laser scopes, automatic guns, and helicopters. They abruptly threw us against the wall, handcuffing us and pointing their rifles at us without asking questions. Investigators began to search the house, including the roof and nearby structures that are also unoccupied. Meanwhile, they kept us in the patio forcing us to look down at that ground so that we could not see what they were doing behind our backs.

Next, investigators tried to identify which bedrooms belong to each of us. The investigators violently forced us one by one into the rooms; they prevented us from seeing what objects they removed from each location. Investigators in civilian clothes arrived, many of them with black bags.

The investigators completely trashed our bedrooms, even destroying the floor and digging under the floorboard.

The police returned us one by one with our backs to the wall. At this time, investigators began to question us about chemicals that they had supposedly found in the squat. First, investigators said that they had been found in the screen printing room, but then they changed the story to that it had been in the dinning room. Later, police said that it had been found in a bedroom, and finally they claimed that it was in the practice space. We all denied their accusations, and when we responded that they were simply planting false evidence, the investigators became enraged. They became violent, even kicking one of our comrades. We never stopped affirming that the house serves the role of an open social space. Explosives are not fabricated here, much less do we even store similar materials. We were always aware that the house was under surveillance. We remained firm that the purpose of the space was for public activities, acts of solidarity, and self-education.

About five hours later, they brought us to offices of the Brigade of Special Police Investigations (Bipe). The police told us that we had to count our belongings of value—objects and money—but we never saw any documentation. When we noted that money was missing, they became violent once again, screaming at the Argentine comrades that this was not their country.

Hours later, we realized that the operation extended to the entire block, and the bourgeois press was outside, transforming this into the media event of the day. The seven of us found ourselves handcuffed and followed with vigilance. In the office of the Brigade of Special Police Investigations, they kept us apart and uniformed of each other's whereabouts. Next, they completely undressed us in the nude, removing our piercings and shoe laces. They constantly threatened us by claiming that we would remain in jail. Hours later, we would learn that we were not actually under arrest, instead they brought us in for a voluntary declaration and to sign documents. We did not know this until a lawyer was present. Then, their treatment of us quickly changed, and after several hours they returned our phones. They allowed us to exit the premise through a door where the press was not present. The only thing we know at this moment is that we have to wait for a date for the declaration.

They kept the three argentine comrades for several hours, asking them more questions and taking them to the immigration office to review their legal status. They retained their visas, placing their legal status as an infraction. They must come into the office to sign a document every day. We note that the next day a comrade was forced to sign a document that did not correspond to documents from the day before.

By the end of the day, we returned to our home to find numerous objects missing: a digital video camera, a digital photo camera, two computers, two bicycles in bad condition, movies, cds, cellphone documents, written material, zines, books, song lyrics, clothing, and money in US dollars, Chilean pesos, and Argentine pesos. They also broke into a money box with 60,000 Chilean pesos—about $120—that we know will never be returned.

We declare that this was a demeaning treatment towards us. They entered our home with violence just because it is a squat. They treated us with humiliation and abuse. They treated us like scum. They criticized our way of life. They ridiculed the foreign status of our Argentine comrades.

There have never been explosive materials in this house, nor written materials for the fabrication of bombs. Children come on a daily basis, and that is obviously not the profile of the house. Many people come and go in the house, but we are also careful that everything that goes on in the house is decided in an assembly, fulfilling the role of a social space and also our day by day needs.

The capitalist press is lying just like it always has in the past, and the squats are now its target. In the individual declarations, we, the occupants of this house, affirmed that Mauricio Morales has never lived in La Idea, as the press is claiming. He visited the house during public activities where many people participated.

The prosecutor wants to attack us with planted evidence. We denounce once again the false accusations that they always create. We stand in solidarity with others who have been harassed by the police—the comrades who were arrested friday night and brutally beaten.

We stand in solidarity with the family and friends of Mauricio Morales. The ideas of freedom are with us just like so many others are with us everywhere—people who act in diverse ways.

We call for international solidarity with us so that our voices may be heard. We call for more acts of assistance, resistance, and solidarity against the situation that attacks us once again.

We are here defending our home and space, making a call for solidarity.

-La Idea, Santiago, $hile"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News

Colombian Trade Unions To Sue U.S. Multinational For Financing Paramilitaries

2009-05-25T16:54:00.000-07:00

"Colombian trade unions announced they plan to sue U.S. multinational Drummond for paying protection money to paramilitary groups that murdered more than 220 people.

Tarsicio Mora, the president of CUT, Colombia’s largest trade union said that the lawsuit will be filed in the next few days.
"The lawsuit is written and we are deciding on which court to submit it to, in the U.S. or in Colombia, whichever provides the best guarantee of judicial impartiality," Mora said.

The alleged murders were committed in Colombia’s 'iron corridor' in the northern departments of Cesar and Magdalena. According to El Espectador the victims were trade unionists, members of social organizations and locals. The murders were allegedly committed by now demobilized paramilitary group the AUC.

According to the lawsuit, the paramilitaries were paid by Drummond to "spread fear in the areas where the company had interests".

Mora said that the lawsuit seeks compensation for the victims’ families.

The lawsuit is similar to the one filed against Dole Food Co., who allegedly made regular payments for at least a decade in the banana-growing region in the north of Colombia to paramilitary organization AUC."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Colombia Reports

Animal Liberation Actions: May 24/09

2009-05-24T14:19:00.000-07:00

May 19, 2009 - Switzerland
WINDOWS SMASHED AT BUTCHERS, VEHICLES PAINTED AT FISH FARM

May 19, 2009 - Mexico
ARSON DESTROYS EARTH-DESTROYING TRUCK

May 20, 2009 - Mexico
SUPPORT FOR PRISONERS BY MEANS OF HAMMERS, PAINT AND FIRE

May 21, 2009 - UK
SMEAR CAMPAIGN TARGETS NOVARTIS VIVISECTORS

May 22, 2009 - Afghanistan
SOLDIERS STOP DOG FIGHT

ORIGINAL SOURCE: BITE BACK Magazine

New Group: Hamilton Anarchist Black Cross

2009-05-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

"The Hamilton Anarchist Black Cross came together as a group to collectively answer the need for organization that can both respond to repression from the police and legal system as well as build capacity to respond to these apparatuses in the future. We recognize the legal system, prison system and the police as structures that are implemented and maintained by the rich and therefore can only serve their interests. The purpose of these structures is violence and social control against working class, exploited and oppressed people. We recognize that any movement thathopes to overcome these factors in favor of a free and egalitarian way of life will come into conflict with these forces. We strive to support, provide resources and help build a framework for defense with communities which are burdened by the legal system, courts, jails, prisons, arrests, police harassment and police violence.

For Defence:

Any movement that does not have the infrastructure or ability to defend itself against repression will inevitably fail to gain any ground. Equally important is maintaining emotional and material support for those who are the victims of this repression and are paying for it via the legal process and jail time. Building a defence means access to resources like lawyers, support networks, fundraising, maintaining relationships with those locked up and connecting with those who face similar struggles. Education and outreach regarding the legal process, the prison system and dealing with the police will help build these resources. Distinguishing between “political prisoners” and other prisoners can be a limiting practice; the very idea of prison exists as a result of class and the political and social environment. The better we understand this the stronger our defence from it, the stronger our struggle against it.

For Abolition:

Because of the way our society is organized, the threat of arrest and imprisonment is largely targeted at the working class, impovershed and excluded people. In order to maintain this social organization, anyone who steps outside or is forced outside of what is deemed ‘acceptable behaviour’ is punished. This coupled with poverty, alientation and exploitive work, lays fertile ground for anti-social violence, addiction issues, and diminished mental health leading to a continuous cycle of criminalization and repression. Imprisonment is the opposite of a realistic solution to these problems; instead it is an engine that propels them further. A society based on the imposition of violence and exploitation will of course lead to this behaviour materializing and being accepted in our day to day relations with each other. To confront these issues in a realistic way means challenging prisons and the conditions that create them."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Hamilton Anarchist Black Cross

Indonesian Orangutan Habitat Wiped Out

2009-05-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

"Part of a national park on Borneo island home to hundreds of endangered orangutans has been turned into a development zone complete with an airport and brothels, Indonesian activists said.

Almost 600 of the long-haired apes have disappeared from Kutai National Park, East Kalimantan province, over the past seven years of unchecked construction, the Centre for Orangutan Protection (COP) said in a statement.

"The number of orangutans in the area, which was 600 individuals in 2004, has fallen to only 30 to 60 individuals at present," Hardi Baktiantoro from the Centre for Orangutan Protection (COP) told AFP.

The East Kalimantan administration had permission from the national Forestry Ministry to build a 60-kilometre (37.2-mile) road through the park in 2002, the COP said.

But commercial and residential development covering 23,712 hectares (58,569 acres) of forest was also allowed to flourish alongside the road, with seven new villages springing up almost overnight.

"The Kutai National Park has been changing into a city, complete with an airport, gas stations, marketplace... a bus terminal and prostitution complex," COP habitat campaign manager Yon Thayrun said in a press release."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Yahoo! News

Water Wars In India's Madhya Pradesh

2009-05-24T13:47:00.000-07:00

"Rainfall patterns altered by climate change and worsened by inequity in the water distribution system has led to a water crisis in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

Since 2008, the duration and frequency of rainfall in major parts of the state of Madhya Pradesh has been decreasing. Water levels in all major water bodies in have fallen to alarming levels. As a result, most parts of the state including the capital city of Bhopal is receiving almost half of the volume of water required to fulfill the population’s needs. The poor are the most impacted and drinking water is being supplied only about once every 4-5 days in the slums and other poorer localities

There is a simultaneous increase in the number of violent clashes and over 50 of them have been reported in capital city in the month of May. Media reports suggest that since January over 12 people have been killed and dozens other injured mostly fighting over a bucket of water. And such fights are becoming more frequent and of regular occurrence."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: EcoWorldly

Anti-2010 Olympics Media Co-Op To Launch This Summer

2009-05-24T13:46:00.000-07:00

"SUMMARY: to add your ideas for critical Olympics coverage and read what others have written, visit: http://mediacoop.ca/olympics/coverage

"In Canada, you will find a nation that works every day towards creating the conditions of the Olympic ideal." --Jean Chrétien

The "Olympic Ideal" is part of one of the world’s most successful marketing campaigns, built around concepts that almost everyone can agree upon: world-class amateur sport and peaceful competition.

But a rising chorus of critical voices say that the Olympics are deeply implicated in the expropriation of land, money and resources. From movements demanding "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land" to angry business owners, resistance to the Olympics economic and social agenda is growing.

The Olympics budget includes a billion dollars for security. A billion dollars each will be spent on a new convention centre, a larger highway to Whistler, and SNC Lavalin's rail link from the Vancouver airport to downtown.

In the political and economic maneuvres leading up to the 2010 Olympics, a different "ideal" has been revealed – one of exclusive contracts, sponsorship deals, displacement, social cleansing, and corruption. At times, sport seems like an afterthought.

Many of the real stories behind the Olympics remain to be told.

The Media Co-op and The Dominion want to know what kinds of critical coverage you want to see. Add your ideas as a researcher, a resident, or a reader, and check out what idea others are contributing by visiting our online discussion:

http://mediacoop.ca/olympics/coverage

The Vancouver Local of the Media Co-op is being launched this summer. By 2010, it will be a node for unembedded coverage of the Olympic Games. We encourage writers, researchers and journalists to create an account and share information and coverage about the 2010 Games.

The Dominion, the flagship publication of the Media Co-op, will publish a special issue about the Olympics in November 2009. The issue will draw upon your feedback and story ideas.

We want to hear from you! Join the Olympics working group at
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/Olympics
or email olympics@mediacoop.ca with your story suggestions and ideas.

If you want to support independent coverage of the 2010 Games, please consider becoming a sustaining member of the Media Co-op by visiting http://www.mediacoop.ca/join. May is Membership Month; join now to win prizes! For more information on our membership drive, visit http://www.mediacoop.ca/membershipmonth.

Stay tuned for more from the Media Co-op and the Dominion:

http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca
http://dominionpaper.ca

thanks for all your contributions,

--The Editors"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: No Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics On Stolen Native Land

Street Fights And Bombings In Athens

2009-05-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

"A second protest march against police racism took to the streets of Athens on Friday 22/5/08 in response to the incident of anti-muslim brutality two nights before during a police sweeping-operation against immigrants in the center of Athens. During what appears to be a typically offensive search of muslim immigrants at a local cafe, a policeman tore a Koran in pieces and stepped on threatening the immigrants in compromising racist language. The incident led to a protest march on Thurday with limited clashes between police and demonstrators.

During the Friday protest march immigrants and solidarity protesters of the left gathered in Omonoia square and clashed with the police outside the Greek parliament. The protesters piled the riot police with marbles, shoes and other projectiles, receiving tear gas and blast flash grenades in response.The march then proceeded towards the coveted Athens area of Agios Panteleimonas where the anti-muslim incident had occurred. On the way, protesters smashed banks, expensive shops and government vehicles, before being massively attacked by strong riot police forces. During the battle that ensued scores of protesters were seriously injured, many being hospitalised, while 40 were arrested and remain in custody. One Syrian protester is said to be arrested during the protest march for allegedly throwing a molotov cocktail against the local police department.

The riots that have once again reduced much of the capital's center into a battle zone come at a time of increasing tension across the country, accentuated by both the political impasse after the surprise dissolution of the Parliament earlier this month, and the continuing pressure of urban guerrilla groups which once again demonstrated their resolve this week by bombing the offices of the Siemens affiliated corporation that has provided the greek police with its new phone tapping and electronic surveillance system meant to frame the social antagonistic movement after the December uprising. The attack which injured none due to a previous warning call was claimed by the left-wing urban guerrilla group "Popular Will", who also claimed responsibility for the bombing of the State Land Management headquarters last March. The greek branch of Siemens is involved in one of the biggest economic scandals of the collapsing government, with its head on the run, and its deputy-head held in custody."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: libcom.org

Chilean Anarchist Dies In Action From Explosives

2009-05-23T13:23:00.000-07:00

"Comrades,

We bear tragic news from here in Chile.

During the early morning of May 22, we lost our beloved comrade Mauricio Morales Duarte. According to the bourgeois press, Mauricio was transporting an explosive device in downtown Santiago. The device exploded unexpectedly, and our comrade died in combat.

Long live comrade Mauricio Morales! Mauricio joins the list of fallen combatants under the democratic regime in Chile. He was a dedicated and militant anarchist. We remember Mauricio as a youth combatant like so many before him.

Over the last three years, there have been countless non-lethal and low intensity attacks on capital across Chile. These attacks have often fallen near the anniversaries of various days of combat, and they have occurred without arrests.

Police are currently searching for a second person present at the scene of Mauricio's death. They are also raiding various anarchist squats across Santiago.

Please check: Hommodolars.org for more information in spanish."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News

Queering The Resistance To The 2010 Olympics

2009-05-23T13:22:00.001-07:00

"QUEERING THE RESISTANCE!

Saturday, June 6, 8pm
524 Main (upstairs through the red door)
Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories
$7 door (no one turned away for lack of funds)

Pink resistance! Fundraising Dance Dance Party to support queer resistance to the Olympics.

DJs, dancing and direct action! Organize to oppose the transphobic, homophobic, sexist, impoverishing, and gentrifying Games. Help build the Pink Resistance for the 2010 convergence.

Pink Resistance will be a fund to support queer actions, campaigns, and the 2010 convergence. The Pink Resistance group will be having events and organizing meetings, so look out for our events and meeting times.

This event is a fundraiser for Olympic resistance groups: Olympic Resistance Network, Pink Resistance and the Anti-Poverty Committee.

Contact: apc@resist.ca"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Bash Back! News

Largest Trees In Yosemite National Park Are Dying

2009-05-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

"The oldest and largest trees within California's world famous Yosemite National Park are disappearing.

Climate change appears to be a major cause of the loss.

The revelation comes from an analysis of data collected over 60 years by forest ecologists.

They say one worrying aspect of the decline is that it is happening within one of most protected forests within the US, suggesting that even more large trees may be dying off elsewhere.

James Lutz and Jerry Franklin of the University of Washington, Seattle, US and Jan van Wagtendonk of the Yosemite Field Station of the US Geological Survey, based in El Portal, California collated data on tree growth within the park gathered from the 1930s onwards.

Their key finding is that the density of large diameter trees has fallen by 24% between the 1930s and 1990s, within all types of forest.

"These large, old trees have lived centuries and experienced many dry and wet periods," says Lutz. "So it is quite a surprise that recent conditions are such that these long-term survivors have been affected."

Large trees are not only older, but they play a distinct and important role within forest ecosystems.

Their canopies help moderate the local forest environment while their understory creates a unique habitat for other plants and animals.

Older, larger trees also tend to seed the surrounding area and crucially are able to withstand fires, short term climatic changes and outbreaks of insect pests that can kill or weaken smaller trees."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: BBC

Anti-Globalisation Protestors Clash With Italian Police

2009-05-21T16:40:00.000-07:00

"Several people were injured during violent clashes between anti-globalisation protestors and security forces on Tuesday in Turin, northern Italy, during a G8 meeting on universities.

The troubles [sic] lasted for an hour after a number of the 3,000 demonstrators tried to force their way through a police blockade to access the architecture faculty building where 40 university deans from around the world were meeting.

The protestors, mostly students and far left militants, threw stones and bolts at the security forces who then charged the demonstration and fired tear gas.

According to Turin police, 19 members of the security forces were injured during the clashes with some demonstrators also receiving medical treatment. Two students have been arrested.

Italian far left movements are mobilising their militants to organise more demonstrations during the next G8 meeting. Protests are already planned for next week in Rome when justice and interior ministers are due to meet to discuss security issues.

The G8 summit of heads of state and governments is to take place in Italy in July. In a move to avoid such incidents during the summit, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has decided to organise it in the city of L’Aquila, saying that any anti-globalisation protestors would not dare to create trouble [sic] in a region that has just been hit by a fatal earthquake."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: France 24

ConocoPhillips Poses 'Deadly' Threat To Uncontacted Tribes

2009-05-21T16:38:00.000-07:00

"One of the United States’ largest energy companies, ConocoPhillips, could constitute a ‘deadly’ threat to uncontacted tribes in northern Peru, says a new report by AmazonWatch and Save America’s Forests (SAF).

The report, titled ‘ConocoPhillips in the Peruvian Amazon’, details how the energy giant owns a ‘mega-concession’ of 10.5 million hectares to explore for oil in Peru. This is a larger territory than that occupied by any other US oil company in the entire Amazon basin.

In addition to the threats posed to uncontacted tribes, AmazonWatch and SAF express their concern for the possible consequences on other, contacted indigenous peoples and the environment. The region, rich in plants, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, has been identified as one of the world’s ‘mega bio-diversity hotspots’.

The report explains that uncontacted tribes live in ‘voluntary isolation’ and ‘have a made a conscious decision to avoid forced contact, given the violence, decimation by disease, and cultural devastation’ that usually follows first contact. It also details evidence of uncontacted Indians in the area where ConocoPhillips is working, including several sightings of them and footprints, trails and spears belonging to them.

AmazonWatch and SAF make several recommendations to ConocoPhillips, including the complete withdrawal of the company from the 10.5 million hectares.

Read the report."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Survival International

New Zine About Marie Mason

2009-05-21T16:37:00.001-07:00

"Brand New Marie Mason/Greenscare zine is out now. The New Marie Mason Zine has information on Marie, her case, and the greenscare, with excerpts from Between Orwell and McCarthy: The Crucifixion of Marie Mason by Henry Reed and Marie’s statement at sentencing. It also contains some of her poems and drawings.

Color cover version

Black and White only"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News

Attendee List For 2009 Bilderberg Conference

2009-05-20T16:50:00.001-07:00

"Note: The previous version of this list, translated from Greek via an automated translation device, has seriously distorted quite of a few of the names on this list. Infowars staff have gone over this list twice; if you have information on the people with question marks (?), please send an email to kurt@infowars.com.

Dutch Queen Beatrix

Queen Sofia of Spain

Prince Constantijn (Belgian Prince)

Prince Philippe Etienne Ntavinion, Belgium

Étienne, Viscount Davignon, Belgium (former vice-president of the European Commission)

Josef Ackermann (Swiss banker and CEO of Deutsche Bank)

Keith B. Alexander, United States (Lieutenant General, U.S. Army, Director of the National Security Agency)

Roger Altman, United States (investment banker, former U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton)

Georgios A. Arapoglou, Greece (Governor of National Bank of Greece)

Ali Babaca , Turkey (Deputy Prime Minister responsible for economy)

Francisco Pinto Balsemão, Portugal (former Prime Minister of Portugal)

Nicholas Bavarez, France (economist and historian)

Franco Bernabè, Italy (Telecom Italia)

Xavier Bertrand, France (French politician connected to Nicolas Sarkozy)

Carl Bildt, Sweden (former Prime Minister of Sweden)

January Bgiorklount, Norway (?)

Christoph Blocher, Switzerland (industrialist, Vice President of the Swiss People’s Party)

Alexander Bompar, France (?)

Ana Patricia Botin, Spain, (President of Banco Banesto)

Henri de Castries, France (President of AXA, the French global insurance companies group)

Juan Luis Cebrián, Spain (journalist for Grupo PRISA; his father was a senior journalist in the fascist Franco regime)

W. Edmund Clark, Canada (CEO TD Bank Financial Group)

Kenneth Clarke, Great Britain (MP, Shadow Business Secretary)

Luc Cohen, Belgium (?)

George David, United States (Chairman and former CEO of United Technologies Corporation, board member of Citigroup)

Richard Dearlove, Great Britain (former head of the British Secret Intelligence Service)

Mario Draghi, Italy (economist, governor of the Bank of Italy)

Eldrup Anders, Denmark (CEO Dong Energy)

John Elkann, Italy (Italian industrialist, grandson of the late Gianni Agnelli, and heir to the automaker Fiat)

Thomas Enders, Germany (CEO Airbus)

Jose Entrekanales, Spain (?)

Isintro phenomena casket, Spain (?)

Niall Ferguson, United States (Professor of History at Harvard University and William Ziegler Professor at Harvard Business School)

Timothy Geithner, United States (Secretary of the Treasury)

Ntermot convergence, Ireland (AIV Group) (?)

Donald Graham, United States (CEO and chairman of the board of The Washington Post Company)

Victor Chalmperstant, Netherlands (Leiden University)

Ernst Hirsch Ballin, Netherlands (Dutch politician, minister of Justice in the fourth Balkenende cabinet, member of the Christian Democratic Appeal)

Richard Holbrooke, United States (Obama’s special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan)

Jaap De Hoop Scheffer, Netherlands (Dutch politician and the current NATO Secretary General)

James Jones, United States (National Security Advisor to the White House)

Vernon Jordan, United States (lawyer, close adviser to President Bill Clinton)

Robert Keigkan, United States (? - possibly Robert Kagan, neocon historian)

Girki Katainen, Finland (?)

John Kerr (aka Baron Kerr of Kinlochard), Britain (Deputy Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell and an independent member of the House of Lords)

Mustafa Vehbi Koç, Turkey (President of industrial conglomerate Koç Holding)

Roland GT, Germany (?)

Sami Cohen, Turkey (Journalist) (?)

Henry Kissinger, United States

Marie Jose Kravis, United States (Hudson Institute)

Neelie Kroes, Netherlands (European Commissioner for Competition)

Odysseas Kyriakopoulos, Greece (Group S & B) (?)

Manuela Ferreira Leite, Portugal (Portuguese economist and politician)

Bernardino Leon Gross, Spain (Secretary General of the Presidency)

Jessica Matthews, United States (President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)

Philippe Maystadt (President of the European Investment Bank)

Frank McKenna, Canada (Deputy Chairman of the Toronto-Dominion Bank)

John Micklethwait, Great Britain (Editor-in-chief of The Economist)

Thierry de Montbrial, France (founded the Department of Economics of the École Polytechnique and heads the Institut français des relations internationales)

Mario Monti, Italy (Italian economist and politician, President of the Bocconi University of Milan)

Miguel Angel Moratinos, Spain (Minister of Foreign Affairs)

Craig Mundie, United States (chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft)

Egil Myklebust, Norway (Chairman of the board of SAS Group, Scandinavian Airlines System)

Mathias Nass, Germany (Editor of the newspaper Die Zeit)

Denis Olivennes, France (director general of Nouvel Observateur)

Frederic Oudea, France (CEO of Société Générale bank)

Cem Özdemir, Germany (co-leader of the Green Party and Member of the European Parliament)

Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, Italy (Italian banker, economist, and former Minister of Economy and Finance)

Dimitrios Th.Papalexopoulo, Greece (Managing Director of Titan Cement Company SA)

Richard Perle, United States (American Enterprise Institute)

David Petraeus, United States (Commander, U.S. Central Command)

Manuel Pinho, Portugal (Minister of Economy and Innovation)

J. Robert S. Prichard, Canada (CEO of Torstar Corporation and president emeritus of the University of Toronto)

Romano Prodi, Italy (former Italian Prime Minister and former President of the European Commission)

Heather M. Reisman, Canada (co-founder of Indigo Books & Music Inc.).

Eivint Reitan, Norway (economist, corporate officer and politician for the Centre Party)

Michael Rintzier, Czech Republic (?)

David Rockefeller, United States

Dennis Ross, United States (special adviser for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton)

Barnett R. Rubin, United States (Director of Studies and Senior Fellow, Center for International Cooperation)

Alberto Rouith-Gkalarthon, Spain (?)

Susan Sampantzi Ntintzer, Turkey (?) Guler Sabanci, President of Sabanci Holdings (?)

Indira Samarasekera, Canada (President of University of Alberta, Board of Directors Scotiabank)

Rountol Solten, Austria (?)

Jürgen E. Schrempp, Germany (CEO DaimlerChrysler)

Pedro Solbes Mira, Spain (economist, Socialist, Second Vice President and Minister of Economy and Finance)

Sampatzi Saraz, Turkey (banker) (?) possibly Süreyya Serdengeçti (former Governor of the Central Bank of Turkey) http://arsiv.zaman.com.tr/2002/05/29/ekonomi/h6.htm

Sanata Seketa, Canada (University of Canada) (?)

Lawrence Summers, United States (economist, Director of the White House’s National Economic Council)

Peter Sutherland, Ireland (Chairman, BP and Chairman of Goldman Sachs International)

Martin Taylor, United Kingdom (former chief executive of Barclays Bank, currently Chairman of Syngenta AG)

Peter Thiel, United States (Clarium Capital Management LCC, PayPal co-founder, Board of Directors, Facebook)

Agan Ourgkout, Turkey (?)

Matti Taneli Vanhanen, Finland, (Prime Minister)

Daniel L. Vasella, Switzerland (Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer at Novartis AG)

Jeroen van der Veer, Netherlands (CEO of Royal Dutch Shell)

Guy Verhofstadt, Belgium (former Prime Minister)

Paul Volcker, U.S. (former Federal Reserve director, Chair of Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board)

Jacob Wallenberg, Sweden (chairman of Investor AB and former chairman of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken)

Marcus Wallenberg, Sweden (CEO of Investor AB, former chairman of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken)

Nout Wellink, Netherlands (Chairman of De Nederlandsche Bank, Board of Directors, the Bank of International Settlements)

Hans Wijers, Netherlands (CEO of the multinational corporation AkzoNobel)

Martin Wolf, Great Britain (associate editor and chief economics commentator at the Financial Times)

James Wolfensohn, United States (former president of the World Bank)

Paul Wolfowitz, United States (for U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, President of the World Bank, currently AEI scholar)

Fareed Zakaria, United States (journalist, author, and CNN host)

Robert Zoellick, United States (former managing director of Goldman Sachs, President the World Bank)

Dora Bakoyannis, Greece (Minister of Foreign Affairs)

Anna Diamantopoulou, Greece (Member of Parliament for the Panhellenic Socialist Movement)

Yannis Papathanasiou, Greece (Minister of Finance)

George Alogoskoufis, Greece (former Minister)

George A. David, Greece (businessman, president of Coca-Cola)"

ORIGINAL SURCE: Alex Jones' Infowars

Bostwana Renews Assault On Bushmen

2009-05-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

"Botswana’s government sent trucks full of police and wildlife scouts into the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) yesterday to confiscate goats from Bushmen who have returned to their ancestral homes.

The Bushmen, whose goats had been confiscated in 2002 when they were unlawfully evicted from the reserve, only received their livestock back in recent weeks.

The Attorney General had promised the Bushmen that they could take their goats back to their homes in the reserve, and government vets had certified the animals as free from disease.

But officials from the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism have targeted the Bushmen’s small herds, apparently concerned that they do not fit in with the image of the CKGR they wish to promote. The government is promoting a scheme to build a tourist lodge near the Bushman community of Molapo in the reserve – the same community now being targeted.

Goats provide the Bushmen with an essential source of nourishment, particularly during the dry season. This need is even more acute since the government has barred the Bushmen from using their old water borehole.

Jumanda Gakelebone of the Bushman organisation First People of the Kalahari said today, ‘As Bushmen of the CKGR we were thinking that our issues with the government could be solved and come to an end. The position that the Ministry of Tourism is taking means there are no negotiations. We as Bushmen appeal to the nation of Botswana and say that the battle between the government and the Bushmen of the CKGR is starting. For two years we tried to talk with the government. Now our campaign is beginning again.’"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Survival International

New Website Refutes Vedanta's Propaganda

2009-05-20T16:46:00.001-07:00

"An exposé of the ‘lies’ of British FTSE-100 company Vedanta Resources was launched today by Survival International.

http://www.survival-international.org/behindthelies/vedanta

Vedanta plans to build a massive bauxite mine on land sacred to the Dongria Kondh tribe in India. If it goes ahead, swathes of forests will be lost, rivers polluted and the Dongria Kondh destroyed.

However, while hundreds of Dongria Kondh and neighbouring tribespeople mount large-scale protests against the mine, Vedanta’s PR machine (London PR firm Finsbury and ‘corporate social responsibility’ consultancy CO3) has launched a sustained offensive against the tribe’s efforts to stop the mine.

A host of anonymous pro-Vedanta videos have appeared on the internet in recent months in which grateful Dongria Kondh express their thanks to Vedanta for providing them with healthcare and education. Vedanta propaganda, spread in the local media, makes claims that tribal people have ‘demanded that their land should be taken’ by Vedanta and that mining will improve the quality of the rivers and forests.

Much of this material has been manipulative; some has been completely untrue. For example, Vedanta has stated that there are no Dongria Kondh villages within 12 kilometres of the proposed mine. In fact, there are more than sixty.

Survival gave Vedanta advance notice of the exposé website and invited it to provide evidence to support its claims, but the company failed to do so."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Survival International

Green Scare Fundraiser: May 23rd In Portland

2009-05-20T16:41:00.000-07:00

"May 23rd – A Benefit for Green Scare Prisoners and Rose City Copwatch

Saturday May 23rd at Liberty Hall 7pm sharp.

flyer (jpg)

Please join us for an evening of music and speakers on Saturday May 23rd at 7pm as we examine State Repression as on ongoing strategy of the State to silence dissent. Liberating Dissent II: Against State Repression will raise funds for Green Scare Prisoners and the community organizing efforts of Rose City Copwatch. Speakers will include Kristian Williams, author of Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America and American Methods: Torture and the Logic of Domination as well as Lauren Regan founder and executive director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center. Music will be provided by Resist (Portland anarchopunk legends), Adelit@s (fusion of punk and latin American folk music), Coffin Ship (folk punk) and Silent Majority (sparse melodic punk).

When: Saturday May 23rd 7pm-12am

Where: Liberty Hall (311 N Ivy st. Portland OR)

What: Speakers: Lauren Regan and Kristian Williams, music from Resist, Adelit@s, Coffin Ship and Silent Majority

How much: $6-$100 sliding scale donation. No one turned away for lack of funds.

More info: www.cldc.org/green.html, www.rosecitycopwatch.org, www.greenisthenewred.com

Contact: destroycreate@gmail.com"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: ShiftShapers.GNN.tv

Climate Change Odds Worse Than Thought

2009-05-20T16:39:00.000-07:00

"The most comprehensive modeling yet carried out on the likelihood of how much hotter the Earth's climate will get in this century shows that without rapid and massive action, the problem will be about twice as severe as previously estimated six years ago - and could be even worse than that.

The study uses the MIT Integrated Global Systems Model, a detailed computer simulation of global economic activity and climate processes that has been developed and refined by the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change since the early 1990s. The new research involved 400 runs of the model with each run using slight variations in input parameters, selected so that each run has about an equal probability of being correct based on present observations and knowledge. Other research groups have estimated the probabilities of various outcomes, based on variations in the physical response of the climate system itself. But the MIT model is the only one that interactively includes detailed treatment of possible changes in human activities as well - such as the degree of economic growth, with its associated energy use, in different countries.

Study co-author Ronald Prinn, the co-director of the Joint Program and director of MIT's Center for Global Change Science, says that, regarding global warming, it is important "to base our opinions and policies on the peer-reviewed science," he says. And in the peer-reviewed literature, the MIT model, unlike any other, looks in great detail at the effects of economic activity coupled with the effects of atmospheric, oceanic and biological systems. "In that sense, our work is unique," he says.

The new projections, published this month in the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate, indicate a median probability of surface warming of 5.2 degrees Celsius by 2100, with a 90% probability range of 3.5 to 7.4 degrees. This can be compared to a median projected increase in the 2003 study of just 2.4 degrees. The difference is caused by several factors rather than any single big change. Among these are improved economic modeling and newer economic data showing less chance of low emissions than had been projected in the earlier scenarios. Other changes include accounting for the past masking of underlying warming by the cooling induced by 20th century volcanoes, and for emissions of soot, which can add to the warming effect. In addition, measurements of deep ocean temperature rises, which enable estimates of how fast heat and carbon dioxide are removed from the atmosphere and transferred to the ocean depths, imply lower transfer rates than previously estimated."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: ScienceDaily

Eco-Disasters In Peru: An Environmental Wake-Up Call?

2009-05-19T16:33:00.000-07:00

"SANTIAGO, Chile -- Chilean scientists are investigating three mysterious ecological disasters that have caused the deaths of hundreds of penguins, millions of sardines and about 2,000 baby flamingos in the past few months.

The events started to unfold in March, when the remains of about 1,200 penguins were found on a remote beach in southern Chile. Then came the sardines -- tons of them -- dead and washed up on a nearby stretch of coastline. The stench forced nearby schools to close, and the army was called in to shovel piles of rotting fish off the sand.

Farther north, thousands of rare Andean flamingos abandoned their nests on a salt lake in the Atacama Desert. The eggs failed to hatch and, over a period of three months, all 2,000 chicks died. The extent of the damage was discovered in April, during an inspection.

No one knows for sure what caused these three apparently unrelated ecological tragedies, although there are many theories. Global warming has been blamed, as have overfishing, pollution and bacterial disease. In the north, ecologists have accused mining companies of fatally altering the flamingos' habitat by draining the area of subterranean water.

Whatever the explanations, the events have caused unease. A suspicion that mankind is to blame has created the feeling that maybe Chile should be doing more to protect its spectacularly rich wildlife."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Miami Herald

Highbridge Capital Sells Their HLS Shares

2009-05-19T16:32:00.000-07:00

"Tuesday, 19th May

Highbridge Capital sells most of their shares and will be disposing of the remainder soon.

Since our email alert on Friday 15th May and peaceful protests in New York over the weekend about a new second largest institutional shareholder - Highbridge Capital who owned 187,597 shares in LSR stock.

Highbridge Capital have been in contact with SHAC and have shown us their brokage account details to show that they have now sold over 90% of their shares in HLS (LSR) and are hoping to dispose of the remainder very soon. They presently hold 21,900 shares.

We would like to thank Highbridge Capital for taking this step and await confirmation of the sale of their remainding shares following assurances from Lisa Steele, Senior Vice President of Highbridge Capital.

We have stated that we will hold off on protests and further emails as Highbridge Capital have been open with their dialogue and genuine. So, unless there is a delay in the sale of their shares we ask for campaigners to concentrate on other larger shareholders and also support next week's Mad Science May - Week of Action: http://www.shac.net/action/demos/MadScience/index.html

Thanks to all campaigners that have protested, emailed and contacted companies over their investments.

This makes Vanguard Group, Brown Investment Advisory And Trust Co, State Street Corp and Numeric Investors as the top four shareholders.

Don't forget that HLS are £72 million in debt, their 1st quarter revenue for 2009 is down 24% from 2008
"revenue levels are down from last year and the outlook remains uncertain" - Brain Cass
Lets make sure it stays that way and smash HLS for good!

If you are not near a shareholder, there are plenty of other targets to pile on the pressure and demo to help close HLS!

Keep up the pressure, until all are free"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty

Animal Liberation Actions: May 18/09

2009-05-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

May 14, 2009 - Spain
EXCAVATOR, POLITICAL PARTY HQ VANDALIZED

May 14, 2009 - Mexico
TELMEX TELEPHONES SEALED UP

May 15, 2009 - Chile
LOCKS DAMAGED AT ANIMAL MARKET

May 16, 2009 - Mexico
BROKEN GLASS AT PROPERTY OF COCKFIGHTER

May 16, 2009 - USA
LOCKS GLUED, WINDOWS SMASHED IN SAN FRANCISCO

May 16, 2009 - Finland
WINDOWS BROKEN, PAINT THROWN AT CRUEL RETAILER, FUR SHOPS

May 17, 2009 - France
ATTACKS AGAINST NYSE EURONEXT

May 17, 2009 - Belgium
ALF KNOCK-AND-RUN

May 18, 2009 - Belgium
HLS CUSTOMERS TARGETED

May 18, 2009 - Mexico
5 LITERS OF GASOLINE + ONE BUTCHER SHOP

May 18, 2009 - France
ARSON ATTACK ON NOVARTIS CLUBHOUSE

ORIGINAL SOURCE: BITE BACK Magazine

Last Chance To Stop Bataan Nuclear Power Plant In The Philippines

2009-05-18T13:35:00.000-07:00

"The next few weeks will spell the difference between a nuclear disaster and a clean renewable energy future for Filipinos.

The pushers of nuclear energy in congress want to vote on moving forward with the revival of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) before congress closes in the first week of June, with the foolish argument that the outdated and unsafe facility can address both climate change and energy security.

The truth is you can't solve one problem by creating another.

Nuclear power is not the answer to climate change. Renewable energy and energy efficiency deliver much larger reductions in carbon emissions.
Nuclear power is dangerous. From the mining of radioactive uranium fuel, to its transport and use for nuclear power, and finally up to its disposal, nuclear power creates a radioactive and toxic cycle, which up till now there are no solutions.
Nuclear Power is expensive. Building, operating and maintaining nuclear power plants cost more than most renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.
Nuclear power is not the solution. The key to energy security and climate change is Renewable Energy and energy efficiency. And the best thing about it is: we already have a renewable energy law - so we don't need to revive outdated technology like the BNPP!

We need to tell the congress we don't want nuclear power!

If you want to tell Congress that you don't want nuclear power sign in and we'll make sure your message is delivered.

Your voice and those of your family, friends and colleagues will count!"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News

Fundraiser For Anti-I-69 Prisoners: May 24 In Minneapolis

2009-05-18T13:32:00.000-07:00

"Join us for a potluck and screening of The Camden 28 on Sunday, May 24th. All proceeds benefit recent anti-NAFTA superhighway arrestees in Indiana.

When: Sunday, May 24, 4:00 pm

Where: Mayday Books, 301 Cedar Ave S, Minneapolis

Cost: $5-15 suggested donation (no one turned away for lack of funds)

About the movie: How far would you go to stop a war? The Camden 28 recalls a 1971 raid on a Camden, N.J., draft board office by “Catholic Left” activists protesting the Vietnam War and its effects on urban America. Arrested on site in a clearly planned sting, the protesters included four Catholic priests, a Lutheran minister, and 23 others. The Camden 28 reveals the story behind the arrests — a provocative tale of government intrigue and personal betrayal — and the ensuing legal battle, which Supreme Court Justice William Brennan called “one of the great trials of the 20th century.” Thirty-five years later, the participants take stock of the motives, fears, and costs of their activism — and its relevance to America today.

About the Indiana arrestees: Hugh and Tiga are long-time Bloomington, IN residents and activists who were recently arrested and now face an assortment of misdemeanor and felony charges for the community organizing work they’ve done in resistance to I-69. I-69 is part of the NAFTA superhighway, already constructed from Canada to Indianapolis and in parts of Mexico, Central and South America. This highway is meant to provide multi-national corporations a more cost-effective way to move goods and capital throughout each country, allowing them to cheaply exploit the people and natural resources of Latin America and lessening companies’ accountability in terms of human and environmental rights. Its construction in Indiana requires evicting hundreds of rural families, destroying hundreds of acres of land, and devastating the habitats of countless species of animals, many of them already endangered.

For more info on Hugh and Tiga, see: http://mostlyeverything.net

For more info on I-69 resistance, see: http://stopi69.wordpress.com"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Earth Warriors are OK!

Indian Government Approves Bauxite Mine On Dongria Kondh Land

2009-05-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

"The Indian government has given Britain’s Vedanta Resources final approval to start a controversial bauxite mine in the hills of the Dongria Kondh tribe.

The tribespeople, furious that the lush hills where they live will be devastated, have mounted a series of blockades and large-scale protests in recent years. They say the mine will end their way of life forever, and have vowed to block Vedanta from destroying the top of their mountain, which they hold sacred.

The Indian ministry for environment and forests has now granted Vedanta the environmental clearance it requires to start mining. The mine, in the Niyamgiri hills in Orissa, eastern India, could begin operations within weeks.

Dongria Kondh spokesman Lodu said, ‘If the government give the mountain, we will say ‘sell your own mountain’. This is the Dongria Kondh’s hill, it is not yours to sell.’

Vedanta is already operating a bauxite refinery at the foot of the mountain. Hundreds of people have lost their homes to the refinery, which has been condemned by government officials for its ‘alarming’ rate of pollution."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Survival International

Soupstock Food Not Bombs Convergence: May 21-24

2009-05-17T20:24:00.000-07:00

"On May 21st-24th San Francisco Food Not Bombs will host the Soup Stock convergence to discuss Food Not Bombs and celebrate 29 years; see below for a full schedule!

Thursday
Join soupstock organizers for a final meeting and work party. We will be working on final preparations for the event including screen-printing shirts, banner making and coordinating logistics. We welcome and encourage everyone who wants to help with soupstock to attend this meeting! 6pm, Station 40, 3030b 16th St @ Mission, you can get there by BART (16th/Mission Station) or MUNI (14,49,22,33). Pull the cord and go up the stairs.

Friday
Food Not Bombs informal get-together and social @ hippie hill in golden gate park. 4-6pm+. Join your fellow Food Not Bombers for an informal get-together at the Friday serving. There may be fun and games.

Saturday
The conference will be held at 'the 5lower Shop' 992 Peralta St (next to the Alemany Farmers Market) from 10am to 6pm. There will be discussion, movies, panels and skill shares!

Workshops will include:
- Report back / slideshow on food not bombs in Russia!
- Movie on food not bombs 1995 gathering
- guerrilla gardening / composting
- home-brewing and fermentation
- bike cart / bike transportation skillshare
- mycology
- food not bombs & anarchism: charity or solidarity?
- panel discussion of autonomy and community and anarchy
- ua in the bay: building autonomous infrastructure
And of course some washing and chopping of veggies for the concert the next day...

More Info

Sunday
The concert will be held at McLaren park, a lesser known but amazing gem of a park on the southern edge of san francisco! our concert venue is nestled amongst 317 acres of trees, hiking trails, woodlands and nature. 40 John Shelley Dr, SF,CA, but it might be easier to find it on a map.

Concert:
11am-12 - sign up for Open Forum Poetry, singing and acoustics
Noon - Opening Ceremony with Jorge Molina
12:20 - Peaceniks
12:45 - Mama Crow
1:15 - Rebecca Cross and the Saints
2:00 - Bonfire Madigan
2:35 - Shelly Doty
3:15 - Shotwell
4:00 - Otto Mobile
4:30 - Open Jam with all musicians %*^()^%%$$#@!@%$^&*((&^%%^@%#^^%$$~

Cacophony until we are unplugged at 5:00ish

Unplugged playing after that and performances by Dancers, Clowns and what ever else happens til 7PM
Clean up, tear down, pack it up; etc... Childrens activities provided, this venue is fully accessible.

More Info & Directions

Housing and Ride boards."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Anarchist news dot org

tofu.Ethic: A New Animal Rights Blog

2009-05-16T14:13:00.000-07:00

"Documentaries, videos, ebooks, audiobooks, music about animal rights, veganism, ecology, health ...

@

http://tofuethic.blogspot.com/"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Received Via Email

Earth First! Roadshow To Appear At Feral Futures Rewilding Gathering

2009-05-16T14:05:00.000-07:00

"“Wild Roots, Feral Futures,” a rewilding gathering in Southwest Colorado, is extremely excited to announce that the Earth First! Roadshow will be joining us from around the 27th to the 29th of May. More on the EF! Roadshow at earthfirstroadshow.wordpress.com. For more on Wild Roots, Feral Futures, check out Colorado Indymedia.

Earth First! Roadshow: A cross-county tour aimed at renewing the Earth First! movement, from Spring to Summer 2009

From the Earth First! Organizers’ Conference & Winter Rendezvous in the Sonoran desert this February to Wild Roots, Feral Futures in Southwest Colorado in late May, to the Round River Rendezvous in Cascadia this summer, a band of eco-rebels will be crossing the US Empire to renew a fighting movement that can stop this industrial nightmare from choking the life out of the earth.

The need for resistance in solidarity with the wild has never been louder or clearer than it is today; the roadshow is a great tool for cultivating resistance. There are countless examples to draw from in the story of radical movements before us: militant labor organizing tours, anti-fascist resistance recruitment and international speaking tours to build cross-border solidarity. The origin of Earth First! is credited to a few roadshows that kicked it all off in the early 1980s. We are building on this tradition; akin to a fellowship crossing Middle Earth to amass insurgents to face Mordor head-on.

List-serves and websites aren’t enough

This Roadshow’s primary intention is to strengthen our radical grassroots ecological network. For almost 30 years, we have been an organized voice bridging conservation biology with grassroots community organizing, road blockading and eco-sabotage. In the past 5 years we have seen numbers and experience-level in the EF! movement decline drastically. Yet, our place has never been more urgent. New groups are popping up across the country, but they are detached from many of the groups, history, and skills that preceded them. We can’t afford to stumble and repeat the same mistakes.

We are at the tail end of a decade where corporate globalization rooted itself in the US and spread across the planet like a plague. And now that the reality of climate change is finally sinking into the mainstream consciousness, the same superpowers that pushed so-called ‘free trade’ policies to exploit wild nature more efficiently are promoting carbon trading in attempt to make a profitable industry out of the disasters they’ve created. The spineless Big Green environmental NGOs are scrambling for crumbs and cutting deals with the industry for shallow public relations victories. Earth First! must rise and recognize that it’s presence is a strong component of making the broader environmental movement truly effective. We are its spine, or as an EF! co-founder, Howie Wolke, has put it, we are the lions of a movement ‘ecosystem’. Our niche is critical, and its presence (or absence) is felt deeply by our surroundings.

We need to reconnect the multi-generational aspect of Earth First! that has fallen by the wayside in recent years. We need to broaden our network’s base—from radical rural grandparents to revolutionary urban youth. We must re-establish lost relationships with scholars and scientists who resonate with us. We must re-inspire musicians and artists to contribute their passion to our battles.

When it comes down to it, solid movements are based on strong personal relationships; and real relationships don’t go very far over the internet. We need face-to-face interaction to build trust with—and support for—each other.

For the life of the Earth First! Journal

In a time where internet communication is facilitating the end of print media, including many mainstream news outlets, we are challenged to sustain our movement’s basic, primary medium of communication: the printed Earth First! Journal. Doing this means boosting the subscription/distribution base, plain and simple. And the roadshow is a chance to do that across the country.

If, or when, the lights go out, we will have the inspiration of photos and stories spanning 3 decades that we can hold in our hands and read out loud to each other by fire light, and pass on to the next generations. We shouldn’t let go of that (at least not until the lights go out!), no matter how tempting the allure of free online publishing might get.

The EF! Journal has survived where other activist publications have faded, because there is a base of community support and movement input that is rare in other print media projects. If this publication is lost, it will be a blow to all of our efforts in defense our land, our water, our neighborhoods, our animal-relations and the entire amazing wild process of life’s evolution on this planet.

Where are we going?

If you live in the US, there is a good chance that we will be coming close enough to your home for you to get involved. The roadshow will be starting at the Organizers’ Conference in Arizona and ending at the Round River Rendezvous in Cascadia.

Do you want to set up a quick stop at the local community center of college campus? Does your community want to plan a 3-day regional weekend gathering with direct action trainings and sessions on Earth First! history, vision and strategy? Or maybe something in between? Is there pending action plans that we could lend support to en route?

The Roadshow will be traveling with a variety of skills, topics and resources, including: forming affinity groups and planning direct action; blockading, climbing and occupations; bioregional news from campaigns and projects around the country; tools for challenging oppression; up-to-date news on resisting the Greenscare; independent and corporate media work; community organizing strategies; and more. A primary goal of the tour is to build the skill-base of our network. If you want specific areas of interests covered, let us know and we can tailor the stops to meet local/regional desires.

We also will be traveling with an array of art and culture, including musicians, puppet shows, and merchandise (stickers, books, shirts, etc.), to promote the vibrancy and visibility of radical ecological resistance.

Get involved, get more info, get in touch earthfirstroadshow@riseup.net"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News

Barclays Sells Shares In HLS

2009-05-16T14:03:00.000-07:00

"Another two HLS (LSR) shareholders have dumped HLS, Barclays Global Investors and Barclays Plc have both recently sold their shares. This makes Vanguard Group and new shareholder Highbridge Capital Management the top two shareholders. Barclays have seen sense and sold their shares after protests in London, Europe and across the US. Thanks to all campaigners that have protested, emailed and contacted these companies over their investments.

Barclays Global Investors sold their 398,187 shares and Barclays Plc sold 26,945. The amount of shares owned by institutional shareholders has dropped to 12% of LSR stock. With only 1,500,000 shares being traded.

HLS are £72 million in debt, their 1st quarter revenue for 2009 is down 24% from 2008
"revenue levels are down from last year and the outlook remains uncertain" - Brain Cass
Lets make sure it stays that way and smash HLS for good!

If you are not near a shareholder, there are plenty of other targets to pile on the pressure and demo to help close HLS!

Keep up the pressure, until all are free"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty

Modesto Anarcho #11 Now Available

2009-05-16T14:02:00.001-07:00

"Modesto Anarcho: The Valley's Insurrectionary Journal of Class Struggle, hits the streets with its 11th issue. This is the police and prison issue, which includes interviews, articles, and as always, action reports, repression news, and prisoner letters.

Download the latest Modesto Anarcho here at: http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2009/05/15/ma11.pdf. Feel free to print out the pdf, make copies, and give to friends, co-workers, fellow students, and cell mates. For more information on how to get bulk copies of this and other titles, write to us at: Modesto Anarcho, PO Box 3027, Modesto, CA 95353."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News

'Burning Bridges': New Anarchist Publication From Southern Ontario

2009-05-16T13:58:00.000-07:00

"Check out "Burning Bridges", the new Southern Ontario Anarchist Publication!

People do snap

People reach a breaking point. A point where the misery day after day in this concrete jungle is no longer tolerated. People fnd ways to express their discontents with this life of drudgery and isolation. As anarchists, rebels against this system, constantly assessing and challenging the ways in which we revolt, we constantly ask the question how can people put up with this shit? What the FUCK will it take to reach that breaking point?

The thing is, so many people do reach a breaking point. The ways in which people express their misery is often what we can’t easily identify with. We have chosen to express our misery and isolation by rebelling against the system that reproduces it. We have made a choice to focus this expression onto those who uphold the social structure that has maintained this misery.

Everyone has ways that they respond to their misery. Some harm themselves, by committing suicide, taking drugs, etc. Some take out their anger and misery on those around them, they beat their children or emotionally torment their friends and lovers. Too often we experience, witness and hear of domestic and street level violence. So here we are in a world of miserable people. A hell-a lot of people have reached a breaking point. They can’t deal with this shit anymore.

What really excites us is when people express their dissatisfaction in ways that we can relate with- like returning blows to this repressive society. Whether it’s robbing a bank, sabotage in the workplace, the police chief fnding his personal car broken into and bullets strewn on his front lawn or stopping the development that is gentrifying your hood… It seems to us that attacking the systems of exploitation that are responsible for our misery and isolation, the systems that are responsible for the destruction of the land and the suppression of free living, is more efective and fun towards creating a world that we do want to live in.

Even when we respond to our misery, against our oppressors, these small acts of defance don’t seem to break the isolation inherent in this society. Te reality of prison for anybody who breaks normalcy and obedience exists to keep people in line and to remove from society “dangerous elements” which challenge its control. What if we were to come together to share ideas, build strategy and strike collectively in order to break this isolation and lay the grounds for ever expanding confict? From this point prison may seem less isolating and perhaps even destructable.

Tis is for all those who are submerged over their heads, unable to handle this shit anymore. Our desire to be freed from these chains brings us together. In times when we realize the possibilities of freedom and joy, however brief they may be, our heads can come above the water and gasp fulflling breaths of fresh air.

Tis publication can be more than just another magazine for consumption; those who read it can take something and apply it to their increasingly unruly lives. We wish to use this paper to spark some real discussions and navigate a direction and strategy in which to struggle. Tis publication is no replacement for face-to-face communication. We don’t want to challenge its importance, but provoke it.

Let’s sever ourselves from this dead society, burn our bridges to it and watch the pursuing police cruisers roll of the clif. It’s with this separation that we defne our enemies, to leave nothing but confict between us.

Contents: A broad critique of the medical industry
Tactics and Strategy
History and Analysis
Social fucking war!

Download the PDF here"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Anarchist news dot org

Summary Of The Scientific Evidence Of Anthropogenic Climate Change

2009-05-15T20:35:00.000-07:00

"Today the [National Science Foundation] put out a special report detailing known changes to the planet related to global warming. These are not things that might happen, but things that have.

The highlights, directly from the NSF:

Ecologists have noted marked changes in the habitats of the species they study — changes in the places where they find a particular species, changes in the dates plants first sprout and bloom, changes in plant growth rates and even signs of evolutionary adaptation brought on by a warming climate. In some cases, species extinctions appear linked to climate change.

Ocean scientists have recorded higher temperatures and higher ocean acidity, which alter the characteristics of the most fundamental organisms of the ocean food chain. Coral reefs — some of which have thrived for centuries — have died off suddenly as a result of ocean temperatures that exceed the corals' ability to survive.

Polar scientists have watched vast tracts of Arctic sea ice melt away, leaving behind more open water than anyone can remember seeing during any previous Northern Hemisphere summer. Glaciologists have witnessed ice shelves — once thought too large to be influenced by anything short of cataclysmic environmental change — break up into a churning sea of icebergs in a matter of days.

Social scientists have recorded the bewilderment of indigenous people. Their cultural knowledge, which stretches back in time through numerous generations, holds no record of the kinds of environmental conditions they are encountering today.

Paleoclimatologists have discovered — through tree ring data, ice cores and other corroborating records — that the concentration of carbon dioxide, and the Earth's average temperature, are nearing levels that haven't been reached for hundreds of thousands of years."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: LiveScience

To Our Judges (From 'The Tarnac 9')

2009-05-15T20:30:00.000-07:00

"To Our Judges

For four months, the mediatic-judicial serial[1] entitled "The Tarnac Affair" has not wanted to come to an end. Will Julien [Coupat] come home for Christmas? For New Year's? Another chance on Friday the 13th. No, in the end, they kept him in prison for a little while longer, locked up in his new role as leader of an invisible cell. Since it seems that several people are still interested in perpetuating this masquerade, even beyond the point of being grotesque, it is once again necessary for us to take on the responsibility of the role that they have tailored for us ("The Tarnac 9") and make a necessary collective clarification. Here it is. . . .

First: while the journalists have gone as far as combing through our trashcans, the cops have gone as far as eyeing our rectums. It has been quite disagreeable. Over the last few months, you have read our mail, eavesdropped on our telephones, tracked our friends and filmed our houses. You get off on it.

We, the nine, have been subjected to these means, as have many others. Atomized by your procedures, nine times one,[2] while you are an administration, a police force, and the logic of a [certain] world. From our point of view, the dice are loaded, the pyre is already built. And so, do not ask us to be good sports.

Second: of course you need to have "individuals," constituted into a "cell," belonging to a "circle of influence" among a faction on the political chessboard. You need all this because it is your one and only and last hold on a growing part of the world that is irreducible to the society that you claim you defend. You're right, something is happening in France, but it is certainly not the re-birth of the "ultra-left."[3] Here we are only figures for a rather vulgarized crystallization of a conflict that traverses our entire era. [This crystallization is] the mediatic-judicial spearhead of a merciless confrontation that leads an order to collapse in the face of all that claims to have the ability to survive it.

It goes without saying that, in the context of what is going on in Guadeloupe, in Martinique, in the banlieus and the universities, among the fishermen, rail workers and undocumented immigrants, it will soon be necessary for you to be profs[4] as well as judges. But you understand nothing of these things. And don't count on the clever sleuths in the DCRF[5] to explain it to you.

Third: we have found that there is more joy in our friendships and our "associations of evil-doers" than in your offices and courtrooms.

Fourth: if it seems self-evident to you that the seriousness of your jobs allows you to question our political thinking and our friendships, we do not feel the duty to speak to you of them. No life will ever be absolutely transparent to the eyes of the State and the justice system. There, where you wanted to see the clearest, you have instead propagated opacity. And they tell us that, henceforth, so as to not come under your surveillance [votre regard], there will always be more people who will come to demonstrations without cellphones, which encrypt the texts that they send and cleverly detours them before they arrive. As one says: it's a shame.[6]

Fifth: since the beginning of this "affair," you seem to have wanted to accord great importance to the testimony to a mythomaniac, also called "X." You are obstinate; it is courageous of you to have some faith in this pack of lies and in the practice that has honored France for several centuries: paid informants. This would almost be touching if it did not justify the accusation that Julien [Coupat] is the leader and thus [justify] his continued detention in jail; if this kind of "testimony" did not justify arbitrary arrests -- for example, arrests for allegedly sending bullets through the mail to the police stations in l'Herault and Villiers-le-bel.

Finally: it being understood that the margin of liberty that remains to us is henceforth greatly reduced, the single place from which we could extricate ourselves from your control[7] resides in the interrogations to which you will subject us at regular intervals. Julien has already had four demands to be released denied. He is our friend. He is nothing more than what we are. We have decided that, from now on, in the heroic tradition of Bartleby "we prefer not to."[8] In sum, we will say nothing more and will stay silent until you free him, stop calling him our leader, and stop calling all of us terrorists. In short, until you abandon these persecutions.

For all those who, wherever they are, fight and do not give up. For all those who haven't been suffocated by resentment and who make joy a question of attack. For all our friends, our children, our brothers and sisters, [and] the support committees. No fear, no pity. No heroes, no martyrs. It is precisely because this affair has never been legal that we must transport the conflict to the terrain of politics. What the multiplication of attacks by an always-more-absurd power calls upon us to do is nothing other than generalize the collective practices of self-defense everywhere it is necessary to do so.

There aren't nine people to save, but an order to bring down.

Along with Julien Coupat, Aria, Benjamin, Elsa, Gabrielle, Manon, Matthieu, and Yidune have been questioned in the "Tarnac Affair." Monday 16, March 2009.

(Also published in the 17 March 2009 issue of Le Monde. Translated from the French by NOT BORED! 15 May 2009.)

[1] The French here is le feuilleton mediatico-judiciare. A feuilleton is a serialized show. There is no adequate equivalent in English for mediatique, which not only refers to the media, but the spectacle, as well.

[2] The French here is neuf fois un, which might also be rendered as "one nine times."

[3] Despite what Patrick Marcolini says about them.

[4] Short for professors?

[5] Direction centrale du renseigement interier (DCRI) is the French domestic-intelligence agency.

[6] The French here is c'est ballot.

[7] The French here is emprise, which can also be rendered as "expropriation."

[8] An allusion to Herman Meville's short story "Bartleby the Scrivener" (1853-1856) and, no doubt, the commentary upon it made in 1989 by Gilles Deleuze's essay "Bartleby, ou la formule" and in 1993 in Giorgio Agamben's "Bartleby, or On Contingency.""

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Anarchist news dot org

Update From Bash Back! Convergence Organizers

2009-05-15T20:29:00.001-07:00

"Dearest and most beloved guests!

We are impatiently counting down the days till our city will be over run with pink and black blocers, sex workers, nerds, sluts, artists, organizers, trannies, bi boys, ze’s per’s xe’s and they’s, dykes, fabulous femmes, and crusty punks.

HOWEVER there have been estimates that there will be many many many hundreds of people, Bash Back Chicago CANNOT HOUSE OR FEED SEVERAL HUNDRED PEOPLE! We need your help to pull this off.

If you are coming from out of town and have a friend, ex partner, crazy aunt, or acquaintance in Chicago you need to stay with them. If you can bring food for yourself, bring money to buy your own food, can donate money for convergence food, or can bring dumpstered food for the convergence you need to do it.

If you need us to get you housing, email radicalqueer2009@gmail.com RIGHT NOW.

This is going to be an amazingly successful convergence, especially if you can help us out! Can’t wait to see all your beautiful faces!

-Chicago BB!"

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Bash Back! News

Bomb Destroys Athens Bank

2009-05-14T14:41:00.001-07:00

"A powerful bomb blast shook southern Athens on Tuesday, wrecking a Greek bank and shattering windows of nearby buildings but causing no injuries, the police said. The explosion was triggered by 44 pounds of explosives stashed in a suitcase left at the entrance of a Eurobank bank branch in the suburb of Argyroupoli.

No one claimed responsibility."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: NYTimes.com

Animal Liberation Actions: May 14/09

2009-05-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

May 5, 2009 - Mexico
TELMEX PHONE LINES SABOTAGED

May 6, 2009 - Mexico
EARTH-DESTROYING MACHINE CLEANSED BY FIRE

May 7, 2009 - Mexico
MORE TELMEX PHONES SABOTAGED

May 7, 2009 - UK
PIGLET SAVED FROM SLAUGHTER

May 8, 2009 - Italy
HUNTING CENTER SMASHED INTO PIECES

May 9, 2009 - Mexico
30 TELMEX PHONES SABOTAGED

May 9, 2009 - UK
PHEASANT PENS DESTROYED

May 10, 2009 - Chile
ARSON ATTACK ON SALMON FARMING INDUSTRY ASSOC. HEADQUARTERS

May 11, 2009 - UK
WINDOW SMASHED AT BARCLAYS BANK

May 11, 2009 - Mexico
MCDONALDS SET ON FIRE

May 11, 2009 - Australia
ALF TARGETS MEAT EXPORTER

May 12, 2009 - UK
CIRCUS SIGNS VANDALIZED

May 12, 2009 - UK
BUTCHERS WINDOW AND CCTV SMASHED

May 12, 2009 - Mexico
MCDONALDS ATTACKED IN GUADALAJARA

May 13, 2009 - France
SLOGANS PAINTED AT HOME OF FURRIER

May 13, 2009 - UK
LAMBS LIBERATED, BIRD FREED

May 13, 2009 - Switzerland
HOME VISITS FOR NOVARTIS SCUM, AND DEER RUNNING FREE

ORIGINAL SOURCE: BITE BACK Magazine

Thousands Of Indigenous People In Peru Take Part In Anti-Government Blockades, Protests

2009-05-14T14:08:00.000-07:00

"Peru’s government has declared a ‘state of emergency’ in several regions in the Amazon following protests involving thousands of indigenous people.

The protests are against government laws and policies which undermine indigenous peoples’ rights and make it easier for companies to take over their land. They started on April 9: several rivers have been blockaded, roads closed, and one airport has been shut down. According to reports, at least ten indigenous people have been seriously wounded.

The government’s decision to declare a ‘state of emergency’ has been severely criticised by many different individuals and organisations in Peru, with the president of the leading indigenous peoples’ organisation, AIDESEP, describing it as tantamount to ‘war’. It suspends constitutional rights to personal security, the inviolability of the home, freedom to hold meetings, and travel."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: Survival International