Belgian police detained more than 20 people ahead of
expected protests in Brussels by tens of thousands of trade
unionists and anti-capitalist activists during a European Union
summit on Friday and Saturday.

On the eve of the first demonstrations, Mayor Freddy Thielemans
told reporters 22 people had been arrested on the Dutch border
carrying outlawed objects including knives, gas masks and scanners
to eavesdrop on police frequencies.

They were later sent back to the Netherlands.

The summit at the Laeken royal palace, which caps Belgium's
six-month tenure of the rotating EU presidency, will launch the
next stage of constitutional reform in the 15-nation Union.

read the rest at planetark.com

Pacifica Campaign [mailto:pacificacampaign@yahoo.com] writes:

Utrice Leid Acted As Hammer for Pacifica Board Purged Progressive Staff,
Incited Violence

NEW YORK, (Dec. 12) -- In another sign of the growing influence of a
nationwide listener movement demanding democratic change at the nation's
oldest listener-sponsored broadcaster, the controversial No. 2 executive at
the Pacifica Radio network resigned yesterday following sustained protests.

National Program Director Utrice Leid, who helped carry out last December's
"Christmas Coup" at Pacifica station WBAI 99.5 FM in New York, resigned her
post effective Tuesday after only two months on the job, according to an
internal Pacifica memo obtained by the Pacifica Campaign.

Daybreak Newspaper writes: From Daybreak Newspaper #1. a midwestern anti-authoritarian newspaper. It's available for 2$ from PO Box 14007 Minneapolis MN 55414

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During the summer of 1942, the United States Army's Western Defense Command displaced 110, 000 people of Japanese descent from their homes near the pacific coast. Both American born and alien Japanese residents were forcibly moved into the ten internment camps between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Mississippi River. These camps were "to serve as wartime homes for those evacuees who might be unable or unfit to relocate in ordinary American communities."

This situation is witnessed again today, as over 1,100 people have been detained in connection with the September 11th attacks. Eerily similar to past internments, detainees are being held in undisclosed locations while authorities release little or no information about exactly who has been arrested or why they are being held. The American Civil Liberties Union and other human rights organizations urged the government to release basic information about those arrested but received no reply. "We have been deeply disappointed with the government's refusal to release information that would assure the American public that this crucial investigation is being conducted with the basic protections guaranteed by our laws," Gregory Nojeim said. Attorney General John Ashcroft claims they are not required to release information as the government's actions are "consistent with the framework of law that we operate under."

msherrard@hampshire.edu writes: "December 6, 2001

Hampshire College Condemns
War in All-Community Vote

CounterPunch Wire

AMHERST, MA -- The students, faculty, and staff of Hampshire College have voted to condemn the "War on Terrorism" and propose alternative solutions. The vote, which was won by a margin of 693-121 (with 11 abstaining or ambiguous votes), is believed to the first such decision by a college community in the United States. (A majority of the students, faculty, and staff participated in the vote.)

"Our community has spoken," said Michael Sherrard, an organizer with Hampshire Students for a Peaceful Response, which sponsored the vote and authored the anti-war resolution. "We refuse to fall into silent support for an unjust war that kills innocents overseas, and threatens our safety and civil liberties at home."