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September 10, 2004 - 10:46am -- hydrarchist
News
War

Rob Eshelman writes

Iraq Occupation Focus
www.iraqoccupationfocus.org.uk
Newsletter No. 7
September 8, 2004

Please circulate widely. To make sure you automatically receive
Iraq Occupation Focus Newsletters, go to our mailing list page to subscribe: http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/iraqfocus.

US Military Families Speak Out - UK tour
From the Saturday 4th December to Friday 10 December, Lou
Plummer of US Military Families Speak Out and Michael Hoffman from Iraq Veterans Against the War will be touring the country as guests of IOF. They will be available for media interviews, college and workplace and public meetings.
They would especially welcome any chance to meet with their counterparts among British military families. We are seeking financial sponsorship for Lou and Michael's visit (to defray cost of airfares). Please consider sending us a contribution.

September 10, 2004 - 10:19am -- hydrarchist
News
War

Rob Eshelman writes :


An Appeal for the Release the Italian and Iraqi Aid Workers Abducted in Baghdad


THEY ARE NOT INSTRUMENTS OF THE OCCUPYING FORCES

We are individuals and organizations from around the world who opposed and
continue to oppose the occupation of Iraq and we plead for the release of two Italian and two Iraqi humanitarian workers who were abducted in Iraq last September 7, 2004.

Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, both Italians, and Ra¹ad Ali Abdul Azziz(Bridges to Baghdad) an independent Italian humanitarian organization that has been working in Iraq since 1992. During the embargo, other humanitarian organizations refused to operate in Iraq, Bridges defied that in the belief that the suffering of civilians should not be used as a political bargaining chip.

September 3, 2004 - 10:08am -- hydrarchist
News
Ecology

Front Against the Golf Course (Malta) writes "Urgent Appeal to save agricultural land in Malta from Golf Course development!
-------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- --------

On 9th September 2004 Malta's Environment and Planning Authority shall be
deciding on the proposed development of a golf course on prime agricultural land in Verdala, Rabat, Malta. The proposed development violates Malta's Structure Plan and the 1991 agreement between the Maltese Government and the Holy See. It shall uproot almost 100 farmers from agricultural land which
has been worked upon for hundreds of years and shall consume unsustainable amounts of water in a country where water is a scarce resource. Irreversable environmental damage shall take place.

August 26, 2004 - 9:33am -- hydrarchist
News
Electoral Politics

mmmoongoddess writes:

This is from the Inter-Press News Service
www.ipsnews.net

"'Terror' Election Barring Voters Could Stand, Says Government Memo"
Ritt Goldstein

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Aug 19 (IPS) — A recently unearthed government memorandum prepared for the U.S. Congress addresses the power of the administration to postpone elections. But more notably, it reviews actions the executive branch might take that could preclude large numbers of Americans from casting a ballot in the coming presidential vote.

August 22, 2004 - 1:41pm -- hydrarchist
News
Prisons & Prisoners

What Happened at the Prison of Clairvaux

The first prison uprising at the high-security prison of Clairvaux took place 8 February 2003. A group of prisoners pillaged and destroyed Building A in order to protest against the sanctions inflicted against two of them. The rioters resisted seven hours of attacks by the CRS (anti-riot police) and mobile police. The building, now unrecognisable was emptied of its tumultuous occupants, who were subsequently transferred to “jails” (prison for serving sentences of less than two years). A number of them were placed in solitary confinement, a form of imprisonment synonymous with psychological torture: being alone in a cell and during walks, the prisoner is deprived of human contact.
Around the same time, Perben, the minister of justice, announced the creation of the ERIS: a team of highly trained prison guards, similar to the GIGN (an elite group of highly-trained police), and experts in beating prisoners. Their task: beatings, humiliations, terror. They barge into cells hooded, which allows them to preserve their precious anonymity…

August 21, 2004 - 1:39pm -- nolympics
News
Mainstream Media

Unwilling participants
Iraqi soccer players angered by Bush campaign ads


From Sports Illustrated


PATRAS, Greece -- Iraqi midfielder Salih Sadir scored a goal here on Wednesday night, setting off a rousing celebration among the 1,500 Iraqi soccer supporters at Pampeloponnisiako Stadium. Though Iraq -- the surprise team of the Olympics -- would lose to Morocco 2-1, it hardly mattered as the Iraqis won Group D with a 2-1 record and now face Australia in the quarterfinals on Sunday.

Afterward, Sadir had a message for U.S. president George W. Bush, who is using the Iraqi Olympic team in his latest re-election campaign advertisements.

In those spots, the flags of Iraq and Afghanistan appear as a narrator says, "At this Olympics there will be two more free nations -- and two fewer terrorist regimes."

"Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign," Sadir told SI.com through a translator, speaking calmly and directly. "He can find another way to advertise himself."

August 18, 2004 - 8:15am -- hydrarchist
News
Independent Media

Oliver Shykles writes
Dick Cheney, Hugo Chavez and Bill Clinton's Band
Why Venezuela has Voted Again for Their 'Negro e Indio' President
by Greg Palast

Monday, August 16, 2004 -- There's so much BS and baloney thrown around about Venezuela that I may be violating some rule of US journalism by providing some facts. Let's begin with this: 77% of Venezuela's farmland is owned by 3% of the population, the 'hacendados.'

I met one of these farmlords in Caracas at an anti-Chavez protest march. Oddest demonstration I've ever seen: frosted blondes in high heels clutching designer bags, screeching, "Chavez - dic-ta-dor!" The plantation owner griped about the "socialismo" of Chavez, then jumped into his Jaguar convertible.

August 10, 2004 - 5:43am -- hydrarchist
News
Culture

hydrarchist writes ... ok I just translated this statement from the Confédération Nationale du Travail Bureau confédéral Secrétariat médias medias@cnt-f.org CNT, because none of the other obituaries that I've seen give visibility to his libertarianism. HCB died August 3rd at the age of 95.

Death of an Anarchist

On the death of Henri Cartier Bresson: the CNT salutes the man of all liberties and every necessary escape.

The photographic genius that he was, known and recognised internationally, tirelessly answered those who asked him about his photographic compositions: "The technique has no importance! It's the point of view that matters...." And Henri Cartier Bresson never hid his point of view. On the contrary, he never missed an opportunity to let fly his war-cry during interviews: "Long live Bakunin!". A convinced and declared libertarian, Henri Cartier Bresson tirelessly photographed the world of labour, applying himself from 1931 to denounce of man's alientation before machines. He was present in social struggles, on every continent and, of course, in Spain during the war of 1936 where he made a film about the republican hospitals.

August 9, 2004 - 3:41pm -- jim
News
News

CIA Executives Gathered in Santiago de Chile Revealed in Contingency Plot to Overthrow Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez Frias


Venezuela state-owned news agency VENPRES is quoting an El Mundo de Madrid (Spain) report that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is set to put a contingency plan in motion in the (likely) event that President Hugo Chavez Frias wins next weekend's Recall Referendum.

August 5, 2004 - 4:19pm -- jim
News
The State

CIA Checking If Life Imitates Art

Tabassum Zakaria, Reuters

WASHINGTON — When the plot thickens, the CIA calls in the professionals — Hollywood screenwriters.


Addressing what the September 11 commission said was one of the main failures of government — imagination — a senior CIA official said on Wednesday the spy agency was willing to "push beyond the traditional boundaries of intelligence".


"We had our terrorism and counternarcotics analysts meet with Hollywood directors, screenwriters and producers. People who are known for developing the summer blockbusters or the hit TV show that often have a terrorism theme," said Jami Miscik, CIA's deputy director for intelligence.

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