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Saturday, March 19, 2011: Resist the War Machine!
8th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq
In San Francisco, people will gather at 12 noon for a rally at UN Plaza (7th & Market Sts.) followed by a march to Lo. 2 boycotted hotels. The theme of the March 19 march and rally will be "No to War & Colonial Occupation - Fund Jobs, Healthcare & Education - Solidarity with SF Hotel Workers!" 12,000 SF hotel workers, members of UNITE-HERE Local 2, have been fighting for a new contract that protects their healthcare, wages and working conditions.
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RALLY AGAINST THE WARS AGAINST WORKING PEOPLE AT HOME AND ABROAD! BACK TO THE STREETS! BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 2011
ASSEMBLE AT DOLORES PARK AT 11:00 A.M.
NOON RALLY
MARCH AT 1:30 P.M.
THEY are the government, corporate, and financial powers that wage war, ravage the environment and the economy and trample on our democratic rights and liberties.
WE are the vast majority of humanity who want peace, a healty planet and a society that prioritizes human needs, democracy and civil liberties for all.
WE DEMAND Bring U.S. Troops, Mercenaries and War Contractors Home Now: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan! End the sanctions and stop the threats of war against the people of Iran, North Korea and Yemen. No to war and plunder of the people of Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa! End U.S. Aid to Israel! End U.S. Support to the Israeli Occupation of Palestine and the Siege of Gaza! End support of dictators in North Africa!
WE DEMAND an end to FBI raids on antiwar, social justice, and international solidarity activists, an end to the racist persecution and prosecutions that ravage Muslim communities, an end to police terror in Black and Latino communities, full rights and legality for immigrants and an end to all efforts to repress and punish Wikileaks and its contributors and founders.
WE DEMAND the immediate end to torture, rendition, secret trials, drone bombings and death squads.
WE DEMAND trillions for jobs, education, social services, an end to all foreclosures, quality single-payer healthcare for ail, a massive conversion to sustainable and planet-saving energy systems and public transportation and reparations to the victims of U.S. terror at home and abroad.
Next organizing meeting Sunday, February 20, 1:00 P.M., Centro del Pueblo, 474 Valencia Street (between 15th and 16th Streets, San Francisco)
Sponsored by the United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC)
www.unacpeace.org
unacnortherncalifornia@gmail.com
415-49-NO-WAR
Facebook.com/EndTheWars
Twitter.com/UNACPeace
TRADUCCION:
Marcha en contra de las guerras: en casa y en el exterior
Ellos son el gobierno y las corporaciones que financian las guerras, destruyen el medio ambiente, la economía y pisotean nuestras libertades y derechos democráticos.
Nosotros, somos la gran mayoría de la humanidad y queremos paz. Un planeta saludable y una sociedad que priorice en las necesidades humanas, la democracia y las libertades civiles para todos.
Nosotros, demandamos que las tropas militares, los mercenarios y los contratistas de guerra que enviaron a Irak, Afganistán, y Paquistán sean traídas de regreso a los Estados Unidos ¡Ahora! Que paren con las sanciones y las amenazas de guerra en contra de los pueblos de Irán, Corea del Norte y Yemen; y que los Estados Unidos deje de colaborar con Israel en la invasión y acoso a Palestina y Gaza. No al saqueo de los pueblos de América Latina, el Caribe y África; que paren la persecución racista que amenaza las comunidades musulmanas y que paren el terror policiaco en contra de las comunidades negras y latinas; derechos totales y legalización para los emigrantes.
Nosotros, demandamos que el FBI pare de inmediato la persecución a los luchadores por la justicia social y la solidaridad internacional; como también pongan un alto a todos los esfuerzos que reprimen y castigan a los contribuidores y fundadores de Wikileaks.
Nosotros, demandamos trillones de dólares para trabajos, educación y servicios sociales; que cesen todos los embargos de viviendas y desalojos; un programa de salud gratuito y de calidad para todos; un programa energético de conversión masiva que salve al planeta y buen el sistema de transporte público. Y reparaciones para las víctimas del terror de estados unidos aquí en casa y en el exterior.
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Bay Area United Against War Newsletter
Table of Contents:
A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
B. VIDEO, FILM, AUDIO. ART, POETRY, ETC.
C. SPECIAL APPEALS AND ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
D. ARTICLES IN FULL
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A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
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TONIGHT!
United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC) Steering Committee Meeting to Build April 10!
All Bay Area UNAC members invited.
Tuesday, February 8, 7:00 P.M.
474 Valencia Street (Between 15th and 16th Streets -- in the childcare center)
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World Trade Unions Mobilising for Democracy in Egypt: 8 February Action Day
International Trade Union Confederation
February 4, 2011
http://www.ituc-csi.org/world-trade-unions-mobilising-for.html?lang=en
Trade unions around the world will join a Day of Action for Democracy in Egypt on 8 February, following a decision by the ITUC General Council meeting in Brussels today. Unions will organise demonstrations at Egyptian embassies, and continue to press their governments to demand democratic transition in Egypt and to ensure that those responsible for the violent repression of peaceful demonstrations are brought to justice.
"We will continue to push the international community to put pressure on the regime of Hosni Mubarak to respect the wishes of the Egyptian people. Our support for Egypt's independent trade unions and the other forces for democracy is unwavering, and we are determined that there shall be no impunity for the people responsible for the killings, assaults and intimidation of innocent people," said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.
INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION GENERAL COUNCIL (ITUC)
REVISED DRAFT RESOLUTION ON EGYPT
Brussels, 2 - 4 February 201
http://www.ituc-csi.org/resolution-on-egypt.html
People across Egypt have risen in massive numbers to demand change, for democracy, justice, and fundamental rights and to insist on the end of the discredited Mubarak regime. Decades of repression, poverty, imprisonment of political opponents and violation of human rights including, through the imposition of state controlled organisations, the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining have stifled social and economic progress, and denied social justice.
The ITUC expresses its full support and solidarity to the Egyptian people in their quest for respect for fundamental freedoms and rights and its deepest condolences to the many victims of the Mubarak regime's violent repression of the legitimate protest actions which have taken place throughout the country. It pays tribute to all those who have stood up for democracy, and insists that human values must prevail over geopolitical and economic interests.
As in Tunisia and elsewhere, worsening unemployment, particularly amongst young people, has combined with resentment at the lack of political freedom to catalyse popular mobilisation against the regime. The ITUC salutes the independent trade union movement, which has stood at the forefront of the mobilisation, and recognises the critical role that the independent unions must play in putting Egypt on the path to genuine democracy and in ensuring social and economic justice for the Egyptian people.
The General Council:
INSTRUCTS the General Secretary to continue to closely monitor the situation in Egypt, and to assist the development of the independent trade union movement there;
REQUESTS all affiliates to call upon their governments to exert maximum international pressure for democratic transition in Egypt including full respect for freedom of association, collective bargaining and the other core labour standards; and,
FURTHER REQUESTS all affiliates and solidarity support organisations to assist in every possible way the development of genuine, independent trade unions in Egypt and their actions to promote democracy, social justice, equality and decent work. INSISTS that those responsible for ordering physical attacks, or who sought in any way to use force to prevent people from exercising their right to freedom of expression or to demonstrate must be brought to trial and cannot remain unpunished.
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Music/Ideas to Benefit Bradley Manning: Fri. Feb. 11, 8-11pm
Dear friends,
please join me for this multi-media talk (with amazing organizer-author I met in jail at age 19) and music with cutting edge riot-folk musician Ryan Harvey and friends) benefit and please invite your friends.
--David Solnit
*** PLEASE POST, CIRCULATE, FB & SHARE WITH OTHERS ***
Music and Ideas to Support Bradley Manning:
Exposing War Crimes Is Not a Crime!
A benefit for Bradley Manning
Friday, February 11, 8-11 p.m.
Station 40, 3030B 16th Street (at Mission), San Francisco
$5-20 donation for Courage to Resist , hub of the support campaign for Bradley Manning (but no one turned away for lack of funds)
IDEAS (9-10pm):
War, Peace, and Wikileaks
A multimedia analysis/talk by
Chris Hables Gray
followed by discussion
Chris is an AFT union member and lecturer at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He is a longtime antiwar organizer, anarchist-feminist, and author of the books Peace, War, and Computers, Postmodern War, and Cyborg Citizen.
Manning Support Campaign
Latest updates on Manning and what we can do, with Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist project director and first Gulf War 1 Marine resister.
MUSIC (8-9pm & 10-11pm):
Ryan Harvey (on tour from Baltimore, MD)
Ryan is a Riot-Folk collective member and an organizer with the antiwar Civilian-Soldier Alliance. His songs blend music and activism. He is currently touring to promote his new album, Blowback, his tenth or eleventh CD (he;s not sure). Either way, his music has had an impact as part of many movements for radical change through the last decade.
Nomi
Nomi is a songwriter from New Orleans currently living in San Francisco. "She has a voice and folk songs with an uncanny depth that can tear u apart, and knit you back together again."
Snack Time (with Adhamh Roland of Riot-Folk)
Sugar Hill (banjo, violin, and vocals) and Adhamh Roland (accordion, guitar, and vocals), like peanut butter and chocolate, bring you a harmonious and delicious treat in their vocal and musical ensemble, Snack Time (peanut allergies aside). With more than just tasteful outfits, Snack Time will give you something to chew on, whether it be a tough candy coating or a soft, tender filling.
Please pass the word on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=184729674882307
For more on Bradley Manning
couragetoresist.org
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West Coast Organizing Conference to End Political Repression
Come hear from 4 of the 23 activists targeted by the FBI
Saturday, February 12th, 11:00 AM-4:00 PM
Humanist Hall 390 27th Street (between Telegraph and Broadway)
Oakland, California
West Coast Organizing Conference organized by the Bay Area Committee to End FBI Repression*
Participants will discuss ways organize and strengthen our movement to fight back against government repression. Local activists are encouraged to participate in this regional organizing conference to push back against the government repression of anti-war and international solidarity activists.
The conference will feature a panel including Hatem Abudayyeh of the Arab American Action Network, Anh Pham and Thistle Parker-Hartog of the Twin Cities Anti-War Committee, Tom Burke of the Columbian Action Network, whose homes were raided and/or were subpoenaed by a Federal Grand Jury in Chicago charged with investigating "material support for terrorism."
In addition Bruce Nestor of the National Lawyers Guild and other speakers from the Palestinian, American Muslim, and other communities who either individually or as a community have faced government repression.
* Opposing War and Occupation is not a Crime!
* Resist FBI and Grand Jury Repression of anti-war and international solidarity activists!
For more information, see: www.stopfbi.net,
To find out how to join the committee, contact: stop.political.repression@gmail.com
Phone: Bay Area region: (415) 793-1794 (408) 987-8370 or (408) 849-7977
Los Angeles region: (626) 532-7164
Seattle region: (206) 499-1220
Forward widely. Thank you for your support!
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Cephus Johnson invited you · Share · Public Event
Time
Saturday, February 12 · 10:00am - 3:00pm
Location EOYDC East Oakland Youth Development Center
8200 international Blvd
Oakland, CA
Created By
Cephus Johnson, Beatrice X Dale
More Info The Oscar Grant Foundation
Brings to East Oakland Young Men ages 16 yrs to 34 yrs Old
A DAY Of EMPOWERMENT And OPPORTUNITY
`Empowering Our Communities'
Opportunities To:
Expunge Your Criminal Record;
Speak with Representatives from the Cypress Mandela Certification Program;
Laney College Workforce Development Program;
Mental Health Counseling;
Drug Treatment Program;
Men Of Valor Employment Training Program; and Much More
Join Us for Breakfast: 9:00am - 11:00am
Grits, Eggs, Toast, Pancakes, Potatoes, Coffee, Juice
Partial List of Participants:
Project Think 1st;
Cypress Training Institute;
Alameda County Probation Department;
Oakland Housing Authority;
Laney College;
Merritt College;
East Bay Community Law Center;
Private Industry Council;
City of Oakland Re-Entry Specialist;
Volunteers Of America;
Alameda County Mental Health.
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Bay Area Supporters of International Friends of the Leon Trotsky Museum invite you to:
"Honoring Revolutionary Continuity: An Afternoon Public Forum & Fundraiser for the Leon Trotsky Museum in Mexico City"
Sunday, February 13 @ 2:30 p.m.
Alameda Public Library
1550 Oak Street (@ Lincoln Ave.)
Alameda, Calif.
Featuring:
Presentation by ESTEBAN VOLKOV, Leon Trotsky's grandson and president of the Leon Trotsky Museum Foundation, and
Preview of "A Planet Without A Visa: The Movie" -- a film by DAVID WEISS, with presentations by LINDY LAUB, director of the documentary film, and SUZI WEISSMAN, historian of the revolutionary and socialist movements
Also: Honoring founding members of the American Trotskyist movement ESTAR BAUR, ERWIN BAUR & RUTH HARER
Sliding Scale $10 to $20
For more information, call Frank Fried at 510-459-0328
[If you are not able to make the event but would like to make a tax-deductible donation to International Friends of the Leon Trotsky Museum, please send your check, payable to Global Exchange (our fiscal sponsor), to International Friends, PO Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140.]
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US President Barack Obama may soon announce plans to expand Afghan security forces by roughly 70,000 over current targets by year's end. The plan is expensive: It would cost the United States another $6 billion next year -- nearly twice as much as previously planned.
The United States needs JOBS and a full-employment economy. NOT MORE WARS OR MILITARY SPENDING!
Please join us in demonstrating for Peace on February 18 at 2 PM., corner of University at Acton. Wheelchair accessible.
Sponsors:
Strawberry Creek Tenants Association
Fran Rachael
841-4143
Berkeley GRAY PANTHERS
Phone: (510)548-9696 FAX: (510)548-9697
Email: GrayPanthersBerk@aol.com
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Next Meeting of United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC) Steering Committee Meeting to Build April 10!
All BAy Area antiwar and peace and justice activists invited.
Sunday, February 20, 1:00 P.M.
Centro del Pueblo
474 Valencia Street (Between 15th and 16th Streets -- second floor, in the rear.)
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MEDIA RELEASE from Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists (BFUU)
A Benefit Evening to Support Bradley Manning
Thursday, Feb 24, 2011 7 - 9 pm
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists
Fellowship Hall address: 1924 Cedar Street , Berkeley CA 94709
Sponsored by: Courage To Resist, Social Justice Committee of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists & Code Pink Golden Gate
Wheelchair Accessible. Suggested Donation is $5 - 10. No one turned away for lack of funds.
Dr. Caroline Knowles of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists will give the welcoming remarks.
Daniel Ellsberg will speak. As the "Pentagon Papers" whistle-blower of the Vietnam War era, he is in a unique position to put the the current issues into historical context.
http://www.ellsberg.net
Senator Mike Gravel has been referencing the damage to a democratic society that excessive secrecy and media manipulation has had on the ability of citizens to exercise informed judgment. All the while the government has passed more repressive laws since the 9/11 attacks that intrude on citizen privacy and rights.
http://www.mikegravel.us
Jeff Patterson of "Courage To Resist" will provide an overview of the issues and the history of Bradley Manning's case.
http://www.couragetoresist.org
Cynthia Papermaster of Code Pink Golden Gate chapter will MC. She will offer views on the treatment of Bradley Manning and will report on her recent experience at the demonstration on MLK DAY at Fort Quantico Prison where Bradley Manning is being held in solitary confinement.
http://www.codepinkgoldengate.org
Details of the event can be found at BFUU Upcoming Events Webpage.
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists
Fellowship Hall address: 1924 Cedar Street , Berkeley CA 94709
Phone: 510-841-4824
www.bfuu.org
office@bfuu.org
Submitted by
Shirley Adams
404-245-7977 (cell)
BFUU Membership Team
The only gift is a portion of thyself.- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Saturday, March 19, 2011: Resist the War Machine!
8th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq
In San Francisco, people will gather at 12 noon for a rally at UN Plaza (7th & Market Sts.) followed by a march to Lo. 2 boycotted hotels. The theme of the March 19 march and rally will be "No to War & Colonial Occupation - Fund Jobs, Healthcare & Education - Solidarity with SF Hotel Workers!" 12,000 SF hotel workers, members of UNITE-HERE Local 2, have been fighting for a new contract that protects their healthcare, wages and working conditions.
Come to Washington, D.C., on March 19 for veterans-led civil resistance at the White House
March 19 is the 8th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Iraq today remains occupied by nearly 50,000 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of foreign mercenaries.
Saturday, March 19, 2011, the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, will be an international day of action against the war machine.
The war in Afghanistan is raging. The U.S. is invading and bombing Pakistan. The U.S. is financing endless atrocities against the people of Palestine, relentlessly threatening Iran and bringing Korea to the brink of a new war.
While the United States will spend $1 trillion for war, occupation and weapons in 2011, 30 million people in the United States remain unemployed or severely underemployed, and cuts in education, housing and healthcare are imposing a huge toll on the people.
Actions of civil resistance are spreading.
Last Dec. 16, a veterans-led civil resistance at the White House played an important role in bringing the anti-war movement from protest to resistance. Enduring hours of heavy snow, 131 veterans and other anti-war activists lined the White House fence and were arrested.
In Washington, D.C., on March 19 there will be an even larger veterans-led civil resistance at the White House initiated by Veterans for Peace. People from all over the country are joining together for a Noon Rally at Lafayette Park, followed by a march on the White House where the veterans-led civil resistance will take place.
Many people coming to Washington, D.C., will be also participating in the Sunday, March 20 demonstration at the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia to support PFC Bradley Manning. Quantico is one hour from D.C. Manning is suspected of leaking Iraq and Afghan war logs to Wikileaks. For the last eight months, he has been held in solitary confinement, pre-trial punishment, rather than pre-trial detention.
The ANSWER Coalition is fully mobilizing its east coast and near mid-west chapters and activist networks to be at the White House.
In Los Angeles, the March 19 rally and march will gather at 12 noon at Hollywood and Vine.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
http://www.AnswerCoalition.org/
info@AnswerCoalition.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-265-1948
Boston: 857-334-5084 | New York City: 212-694-8720 | Chicago: 773-463-0311
San Francisco: 415-821-6545| Los Angeles: 213-251-1025 | Albuquerque: 505-268-2488
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Are you joining us on April 8 at the Pentagon in a climate chaos protest codenamed "Operation Disarmageddon?" It has been decided that affinity groups will engage in nonviolent autonomous actions. Do you have an affinity group? Do you have an idea for an action?
So far these are some of the suggested actions:
Send a letter to Sec. of War Robert Gates demanding a meeting to disclose the Pentagon's role in destroying the planet. He will ignore the letter, so a delegation would then go to the Metro Entrance to demand a meeting.
Use crime tape around some area of the Pentagon. The idea of crime/danger taping off the building could be done just outside the main Pentagon reservation entrance (intersection of Army/Navy) making the Alexandria PD the arresting authority (if needed) and where there is no ban on photography. Hazmat suits, a 'converted' truck (or other vehicle) could be part of the street theater. The area where I am thinking is also almost directly below I-95 and there is a bridge over the intersection - making a banner drop possible. Perhaps with the hazmat/street closure at ground level with a banner from above. If possible a coordinated action could be done at other Pentagon entrances and / or other war making institutions.
A procession onto the Pentagon reservation, without reservations, and set up a camp on one of the lawns surrounding The Pentagon. This contingent would reclaim the space in the name of peace and Mother Earth. This contingent would plan to stay there until The Pentagon is turned into a 100% green building using sustainable energy employing people who work for peace and the abolishment of war and life-affirming endeavors.
Bring a potted tree to be placed on the Pentagon's property to symbolize the need to radically reduce its environmental destructiveness.
Since the Pentagon is failing to return to the taxpayers the money it has misappropriated, "Foreclose on the Pentagon."
Banner hanging from a bridge.
Hand out copies of David Swanson's book WAR IS A LIE. Try to deliver a copy to Secretary of War Robert Gates.
Have short speeches in park between Pentagon and river; nice photo with Pentagon in background.
Die-in and chalk or paint outlines of victim's bodies everywhere that remain after the arrest to point to where real crimes are really being committed.
Establish command center, Peacecom? Paxcom? Put several people in white shirts and ties plus a few generals directing their armies for "Operation Disarmageddon."
Make the linkage between the tax dollars going to the Pentagon and war tax resistance. Use the WRL pie chart and carry banners "foreclose on war" and "money for green jobs not war jobs."
Hold a rally with representative speakers before going to the Pentagon Reservation. This would be an opportunity to speak out against warmongering and the Pentagon's role in destroying the environment.
As part of "Operation Disarmageddon," we will take a tree and plant it on the reservation. Our sign reads, "Plant trees not landmines."
Use crime tape on Army/Navy Drive to declare the Pentagon a crime scene. Do street theater there as well. Other affinity groups could go to selected entrances.
Establish a Peace Command Center at the Pentagon. Hold solidarity actions at federal buildings and corporate offices.
What groups have you contacted to suggest joining us at the Pentagon? See below for those who plan to be at the Pentagon on April 8 and for what groups have been contacted.
Kagiso,
Max
April 8, 2011 participants
Beth Adams
Ellen Barfield
Tim Chadwick
Joy First
Jeffrey Halperin
Malachy Kilbride
Max Obuszewski
David Swanson
April 8 Outreach
Beth Adams -- Earth First, Puppet Underground, Emma's Revolution, Joe Gerson-AFSC Cambridge, Code Pink(national via Lisa Savage in Maine), Vets for Peace, FOR, UCC Justice & Witness Ministries, Traprock, Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Order, (National-INt'l) Vets for Peace and WILPF, Pace e Bene, Christian Peace Witness & UCC Justice & Witness (Cleveland).
Tim Chadwick -- Brandywine, Lepoco, Witness against Torture, Vets for Peace (Thomas Paine Chapter Lehigh Valley PA), and Witness for Peace DC.
Jeffrey Halperin -- peace groups in Saratoga Spring, NY
Jack Lombardo - UNAC will add April 8 2011 to the Future Actions page on our blog, and make note in upcoming E-bulletins, but would appreciate a bit of descriptive text from the organizers and contact point to include when we do - so please advise ASAP! Also, we'll want to have such an announcement for our next print newsletter, which will be coming out in mid-December.
Max Obuszewski - Jonah House & Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore
Bonnie Urfer notified 351 individuals and groups on the Nukewatch list
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RALLY AGAINST THE WARS AGAINST WORKING PEOPLE AT HOME AND ABROAD! BACK TO THE STREETS! BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 2011
ASSEMBLE AT DOLORES PARK AT 11:00 A.M.
NOON RALLY
MARCH AT 1:30 P.M.
THEY are the government, corporate, and financial powers that wage war, ravage the environment and the economy and trample on our democratic rights and liberties.
WE are the vast majority of humanity who want peace, a healty planet and a society that prioritizes human needs, democracy and civil liberties for all.
WE DEMAND Bring U.S. Troops, Mercenaries and War Contractors Home Now: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan! End the sanctions and stop the threats of war against the people of Iran, North Korea and Yemen. No to war and plunder of the people of Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa! End U.S. Aid to Israel! End U.S. Support to the Israeli Occupation of Palestine and the Siege of Gaza! End support of dictators in North Africa!
WE DEMAND an end to FBI raids on antiwar, social justice, and international solidarity activists, an end to the racist persecution and prosecutions that ravage Muslim communities, an end to police terror in Black and Latino communities, full rights and legality for immigrants and an end to all efforts to repress and punish Wikileaks and its contributors and founders.
WE DEMAND the immediate end to torture, rendition, secret trials, drone bombings and death squads.
WE DEMAND trillions for jobs, education, social services, an end to all foreclosures, quality single-payer healthcare for ail, a massive conversion to sustainable and planet-saving energy systems and public transportation and reparations to the victims of U.S. terror at home and abroad.
Next organizing meeting Sunday, February 20, 1:00 P.M., Centro del Pueblo, 474 Valencia Street (between 15th and 16th Streets, San Francisco)
Sponsored by the United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC)
www.unacpeace.org
unacnortherncalifornia@gmail.com
415-49-NO-WAR
Facebook.com/EndTheWars
Twitter.com/UNACPeace
TRADUCCION:
Marcha en contra de las guerras: en casa y en el exterior
Ellos son el gobierno y las corporaciones que financian las guerras, destruyen el medio ambiente, la economía y pisotean nuestras libertades y derechos democráticos.
Nosotros, somos la gran mayoría de la humanidad y queremos paz. Un planeta saludable y una sociedad que priorice en las necesidades humanas, la democracia y las libertades civiles para todos.
Nosotros, demandamos que las tropas militares, los mercenarios y los contratistas de guerra que enviaron a Irak, Afganistán, y Paquistán sean traídas de regreso a los Estados Unidos ¡Ahora! Que paren con las sanciones y las amenazas de guerra en contra de los pueblos de Irán, Corea del Norte y Yemen; y que los Estados Unidos deje de colaborar con Israel en la invasión y acoso a Palestina y Gaza. No al saqueo de los pueblos de América Latina, el Caribe y África; que paren la persecución racista que amenaza las comunidades musulmanas y que paren el terror policiaco en contra de las comunidades negras y latinas; derechos totales y legalización para los emigrantes.
Nosotros, demandamos que el FBI pare de inmediato la persecución a los luchadores por la justicia social y la solidaridad internacional; como también pongan un alto a todos los esfuerzos que reprimen y castigan a los contribuidores y fundadores de Wikileaks.
Nosotros, demandamos trillones de dólares para trabajos, educación y servicios sociales; que cesen todos los embargos de viviendas y desalojos; un programa de salud gratuito y de calidad para todos; un programa energético de conversión masiva que salve al planeta y buen el sistema de transporte público. Y reparaciones para las víctimas del terror de estados unidos aquí en casa y en el exterior.
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B. VIDEO, FILM, AUDIO. ART, POETRY, ETC.:
[Some of these videos are embeded on the BAUAW website:
http://bauaw.blogspot.com/ or bauaw.org ...bw]
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WikiLeaks Mirrors
Wikileaks is currently under heavy attack.
In order to make it impossible to ever fully remove Wikileaks from the Internet, you will find below a list of mirrors of Wikileaks website and CableGate pages.
Go to
http://wikileaks.ch/Mirrors.html
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Streaming TV from Egypt
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/spotlight/anger-in-egypt/
Mr. ElBaradei, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 for his work as the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Friday: "The Egyptian people will take care of themselves. The Egyptian people will be the ones who will make the change. We are not waiting for help or assistance from the outside world, but what I expect from the outside world is to practice what you preach, is to defend the rights of the Egyptian to their universal values."
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Labor Beat: Labor Stands with Subpoenaed Activists Against FBI Raids and Grand Jury Investigation of antiwar and social justice activists.
"If trouble is not at your door. It's on it's way, or it just left."
"Investigate the Billionaires...Full investigation into Wall Street..." Jesse Sharkey, Vice President, Chicago Teachers Union
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSNUSIGZCMQ
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Oil Spill Commission Final Report: Catfish Responds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3ZRdsccMsM
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New antiwar song that's bound to be a classic:
box
http://www.youtube.com/user/avimecca
by tommi avicolli mecca
(c) 2009
Credits are:
Tommi Avicolli Mecca, guitar/vocals
John Radogno, lead guitar
Diana Hartman, vocals, kazoo
Chris Weir, upright bass
Produced and recorded by Khalil Sullivan
I'm the recruiter and if truth be told/ I can lure the young and old
what I do you won't see/ til your kid's in JROTC
CHO ooh, put them in a box drape it with a flag and send them off to mom and dad
send them with a card from good ol' uncle sam, gee it's really just so sad
I'm the general and what I do/ is to teach them to be true
to god and country flag and oil/ by shedding their blood on foreign soil
CHO
I'm the corporate boss and well I know/ war is lots of dough dough dough
you won't find me over there/ they just ship the money right back here
CHO
last of all it's me the holy priest/ my part is not the least
I assure them it's god's will/ to go on out and kill kill kill
CHO
it's really just so sad
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You might enjoy a bit of history:
William Buckley Show with Socialist Workers Party Presidential Candidates
http://vimeo.com/18611069
William Buckley Show with Socialist Workers Party Presidential Candidates from asi somburu on Vimeo.
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Wall Street Fat-Cats Flip Public Service Workers the Bird
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTcSOygSBBM
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Free Bradley Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4eNzokgRIw&feature=player_embedded
Song for Bradley Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_eood7DUwI
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Supermax Prison Cell Extraction - Maine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jUfK5i_lQs&feature=player_embedded
Warning, this is an extremely brutal video. What do you think? Is this torture?
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Did You Know?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY
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These videos refer to what happened at the G-20 Summit in Toronto June 26-27 of this year. The importance of this is that police were caught on tape and later confirmed that they sent police into the demonstration dressed as "rioting" protesters. One cop was caught with a large rock in his hand. Clearly, this is proof of police acting as agent provocatours. And we should expect this to continue and escalate. That's why everyone should be aware of these facts...bw
police accused of attempting to incite violence at G20 summ
Protestors at Montebello are accusing police of trying to incite violence. Video on YouTube shows union officials confronting three men that were police officers dressing up as demonstrators. The union is demanding to know if the Prime Minister's Office was involved in trying to discredit the demonstrators.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWbgnyUCC7M
quebec police admit going undercover at montebello protests
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAfzUOx53Rg&feature=related
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Published on Thursday, December 16, 2010 by Countdown With Keith Olbermann
Quantico, the New Gitmo
http://www.commondreams.org/video/2010/12/16-0
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Domestic Espionage Alert - Houston PD to use surveillance drone in America!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpstrc15Ogg
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15 year old Tells Establishment to Stick-it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U_gHUiL4P8&feature=player_embedded#
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Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVGqE726OAo&feature=player_embedded
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LOWKEY - TERRORIST? (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmBnvajSfWU
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Coal Ash: One Valley's Tale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E7h-DNvwx4&feature=player_embedded
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Flashmob: Cape Town Opera say NO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wElyrFOnKPk
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Video of massive French protest -- inspiring!
http://www.dailymotion.com/Talenceagauchevraiment
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"Don't F*** With Our Activists" - Mobilizing Against FBI Raid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyG3dIUGQvQ
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C. SPECIAL APPEALS AND ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
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MECA Middle East Children's Alliance
Howard & Roslyn Zinn Presente! Honor Their Legacy By Providing Clean Water for Children in Gaza
http://www.mecaforpeace.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=13
Howard Zinn supported the work of the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) from the beginning. Over the years, he lent his name and his time countless times to support our work. Howard and Roz were both personal friends of mine and Howard helped MECA raise funds for our projects for children in Palestine by coming to the Bay Area and doing events for us.
On the first anniversary of Howard's passing, I hope you will join MECA in celebrating these two extraordinary individuals.
- Barbara Lubin, Executive Director
YES! I want to help MECA build a water purification and desalination unit at the Khan Younis Co-ed Elementary School for 1,400 students in Gaza in honor of Howard & Roslyn Zinn.
http://www.mecaforpeace.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=13
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Call for EMERGENCY RESPONSE Action if Assange Indicted,
Dear Friends:
We write in haste, trying to reach as many of you as possible although the holiday break has begun.......This plan for an urgent "The Day After" demonstration is one we hope you and many, many more organizations will take up as your own, and mobilize for. World Can't Wait asks you to do all you can to spread it through list serves, Facebook, twitter, holiday gatherings.
Our proposal is very very simple, and you can use the following announcement to mobilize - or write your own....
ANY DAY NOW . . . IN THE EVENT THAT THE U.S. INDICTS JULIAN ASSANGE
An emergency public demonstration THE DAY AFTER any U.S. criminal indictment is announced against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Spread the word and call people to come out, across the whole range of movements and groups: anti-war, human rights, freedom of information/freedom of the press, peace, anti-torture, environmental, students and youth, radicals and revolutionaries, religious, civil liberties, teachers and educators, journalists, anti-imperialists, anti-censorship, anti-police state......
At the Federal Building in San Francisco, we'll form ourselves into a human chain "surrounding" the government that meets the Wikileaked truth with repression and wants to imprison and silence leakers, whistleblowers and truthtellers - when, in fact, these people are heroes. We'll say:
HANDS OFF WIKILEAKS! FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! FREE BRADLEY MANNING!
Join the HUMAN CHAIN AROUND THE FEDERAL BUILDING!
New Federal Building, 7th and Mission, San Francisco (nearest BART: Civic Center)
4:00-6:00 PM on The Day FOLLOWING U.S. indictment of Assange
Bring all your friends - signs and banners - bullhorns.
Those who dare at great risk to themselves to put the truth in the hands of the people - and others who might at this moment be thinking about doing more of this themselves -- need to see how much they are supported, and that despite harsh repression from the government and total spin by the mainstream media, the people do want the truth told.
Brad Manning's Christmas Eve statement was just released by his lawyer: "Pvt. Bradley Manning, the lone soldier who stands accused of stealing millions of pages secret US government documents and handing them over to secrets outlet WikiLeaks, wants his supporters to know that they've meant a lot to him. 'I greatly appreciate everyone's support and well wishes during this time,' he said in a Christmas Eve statement released by his lawyer...." Read more here:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/mannings-message-christmas-eve-i-gr/
Demonstrations defending Wikileaks and Assange, and Brad Manning, have already been flowering around the world. Make it happen here too.
Especially here . . .
To join into this action plan, or with questions, contact World Can't Wait or whichever organization or listserve you received this message from.
World Can't Wait, SF Bay
415-864-5153
sf@worldcantwait.org
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Email received from Lynne Stewart:
12/19/10; 12:03pm
Dear Folks:
Some nuts and bolts and trivia,
1. New Address
Lynne Stewart #53504 - 054
Unit 2N
Federal Medical Center, Carswell
P.O. Box 27137
Fort Worth, TEXAS 76127
2. Visiting is very liberal but first I have to get people on my visiting list Wait til I or the lawyers let you know. The visits are FRI, SAT, SUN AND MON for 4 hours and on weekends 8 to 3. Bring clear plastic change purse with lots of change to buy from the machines. Brief Kiss upon arrival and departure, no touching or holding during visit (!!) On visiting forms it may be required that you knew me before I came to prison. Not a problem for most of you.
3. One hour time difference
4. Commissary Money is always welcome It is how I pay for the phone and for email. Also need it for a lot that prison doesn't supply in terms of food and "sundries" (pens!) A very big list that includes Raisins, Salad Dressing , ankle sox, mozzarella (definitely not from Antonys--more like a white cheddar, Sanitas Corn Chips but no Salsa etc. To add money, you do this by using Western Union and a credit card by phone or you can send a USPO money order or Business or Govt Check. The negotiable instruments (PAPER!) need to be sent to Federal Bureau of Prisons , 53504-054, Lynne Stewart, PO Box 474701, Des Moines Iowa 50947-001 (Payable to Lynne Stewart, 53504-054) They hold the mo or checks for 15 days. Western Union costs $10 but is within 2 hours. If you mail, your return address must be on the envelope. Unnecessarily complicated ? Of course, it's the BOP !)
5. Food is vastly improved. Just had Sunday Brunch real scrambled eggs, PORK sausage, Baked or home fried potatoes, Butter(sweet whipped M'God !!) Grapefruit juice Toast , orange. I will probably regain the weight I lost at MCC! Weighing against that is the fact that to eat we need to walk to another building (about at far as from my house to the F Train) Also included is 3 flights of stairs up and down. May try to get an elevator pass and try NOT to use it.
6. In a room with 4 bunks(small) about two tiers of rooms with same with "atrium" in middle with tv sets and tables and chairs. Estimate about 500 on Unit 2N and there are 4 units. Population Black, Mexicano and other spanish speaking (all of whom iron their underwear, Marta), White, Native Americans (few), no orientals or foreign speaking caucasians--lots are doing long bits, victims of drugs (meth etc) and boyfriends. We wear army style (khaki) pants with pockets tee shirts and dress shirts long sleeved and short sleeved. When one of the women heard that I hadn't ironed in 40 years, they offered to do the shirts for me. (This is typical of the help I get--escorted to meals and every other protection, explanations, supplies, etc. Mostly from white women.) One drawback is not having a bathroom in the room---have to go about 75 yards at all hours of the day and night --clean though.
7. Final Note--the sunsets and sunrises are gorgeous, the place is very open and outdoors there are pecan trees and birds galore (I need books for trees and birds (west) The full moon last night gladdened my heart as I realized it was shining on all of you I hold dear.
Love Struggle
Lynne
The address of her Defense Committee is:
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
1070 Dean Street
Brooklyn, New York 11216
For further information:
718-789-0558 or 917-853-9759
Please make a generous contribution to her defense.
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Help end the inhumane treatment of Bradley Manning!
Bradley Manning Support Network. December 22, 2010
The Marine Brig at Quantico, Virginia is using "injury prevention" as a vehicle to inflict extreme pre-trial punishment on accused Wikileaks whistleblower Army PFC Bradley Manning (photo right). These "maximum conditions" are not unheard-of during an inmate's first week at a military confinement facility, but when applied continuously for months and with no end in sight they amount to a form of torture. Bradley, who just turned 23-years-old last week, has been held in solitary confinement since his arrest in late May. We're now turning to Bradley's supporters worldwide to directly protest, and help bring a halt to, the extremely punitive conditions of Bradley's pre-trial detention.
We need your help in pressing the following demands:
End the inhumane, degrading conditions of pre-trial confinement and respect Bradley's human rights. Specifically, lift the "Prevention of Injury (POI) watch order". This would allow Bradley meaningful physical exercise, uninterrupted sleep during the night, and a release from isolation. We are not asking for "special treatment". In fact, we are demanding an immediate end to the special treatment.
Quantico Base Commander
Colonel Daniel Choike
3250 Catlin Ave, Quantico VA 22134
+1-703-784-2707 (phone)
Quantico Brig Commanding Officer
CWO4 James Averhart
3247 Elrod Ave, Quantico VA 22134
+1-703-784-4242 (fax)
Background
In the wake of an investigative report last week by Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com giving evidence that Bradley Manning was subject to "detention conditions likely to create long-term psychological injuries", Bradley's attorney, David Coombs, published an article at his website on Saturday entitled "A Typical Day for PFC Bradley Manning". Mr. Coombs details the maximum custody conditions that Bradley is subject to at the Quantico Confinement Facility and highlights an additional set of restrictions imposed upon him under a Prevention of Injury (POI) watch order.
Usually enforced only through a detainee's first week at a confinement facility, or in cases of violent and/or suicidal inmates, the standing POI order has severely limited Manning's access to exercise, daylight and human contact for the past five months. The military's own psychologists assigned to Quantico have recommended that the POI order and the extra restrictions imposed on Bradley be lifted.
Despite not having been convicted of any crime or even yet formally indicted, the confinement regime Bradley lives under includes pronounced social isolation and a complete lack of opportunities for meaningful exercise. Additionally, Bradley's sleep is regularly interrupted. Coombs writes: "The guards are required to check on Manning every five minutes [...] At night, if the guards cannot see PFC Manning clearly, because he has a blanket over his head or is curled up towards the wall, they will wake him in order to ensure he is okay."
Denver Nicks writes in The Daily Beast that "[Bradley Manning's] attorney [...] says the extended isolation - now more than seven months of solitary confinement - is weighing on his client's psyche. [...] Both Coombs and Manning's psychologist, Coombs says, are sure Manning is mentally healthy, that there is no evidence he's a threat to himself, and shouldn't be held in such severe conditions under the artifice of his own protection."
In an article to be published at Firedoglake.com later today, David House, a friend of Bradley's who visits him regularly at Quantico, says that Bradley "has not been outside or into the brig yard for either recreation or exercise in four full weeks. He related that visits to the outdoors have been infrequent and sporadic for the past several months."
In an average military court martial situation, a defense attorney would be able to bring these issues of pre-trial punishment to the military judge assigned to the case (known as an Article 13 hearing). However, the military is unlikely to assign a judge to Bradley's case until the pre-trial Article 32 hearing is held (similar to an arraignment in civilian court), and that is not expected until February, March, or later-followed by the actual court martial trial months after that. In short, you are Bradley's best and most immediate hope.
What can you do?
Contact the Marine Corps officers above and respectfully, but firmly, ask that they lift the extreme pre-trial confinement conditions against Army PFC Bradley Manning.
Forward this urgent appeal for action widely.
Sign the "Stand with Brad" public petition and letter campaign at www.standwithbrad.org - Sign online, and we'll mail out two letters on your behalf to Army officials.
Donate to Bradley's defense fund at www.couragetoresist.org/bradley
References:
"The inhumane conditions of Bradley Manning's detention", by Glenn Greenwald for Salon.com, 15 December 2010
"A Typical Day for PFC Bradley Manning", by attorney David E. Coombs, 18 December 2010
"Bradley Manning's Life Behind Bars", by Denver Nicks for the Daily Beast, 17 December 2010
Bradley Manning Support Network
Courage To Resist
484 Lake Park Ave. #41
Oakland, CA 94610
510-488-3559
couragetoresist.org
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KOREA: Emergency Response Actions Needed
The United National Antiwar Committee urges the antiwar movement to begin to plan now for Emergency 5pm Day-of or Day-after demonstrations, should fighting break out on the Korean Peninsula or its surrounding waters.
As in past war crisis and U.S. attacks we propose:
NYC -- Times Square, Washington, D.C. -- the White House
In Many Cities - Federal Buildings
Many tens of thousands of U.S., Japanese and South Korean troops are mobilized on land and on hundreds of warships and aircraft carriers. The danger of a general war in Asia is acute.
China and Russia have made it clear that the scheduled military maneuvers and live-fire war "exercises" from an island right off the coast of north Korea (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) by South Korea are very dangerous. The DPRK has made it clear that they consider these live-fire war exercises to be an act of war and they will again respond if they are again fired on.
The U.S. deployment of thousands of troops, ships, and aircraft in the area while South Korea is firing thousands of rounds of live ammunition and missiles is an enormously dangerous provocation, not only to the DPRK but to China. The Yellow Sea also borders China. The island and the waters where the war maneuvers are taking place are north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone and only eight miles from the coast of the DPRK.
On Sunday, December 19 in a day-long emergency session, the U.S. blocked in the UN Security Council any actions to resolve the crisis.
UNAC action program passed in Albany at the United National Antiwar Conference, July 2010 of over 800 antiwar, social justice and community organizations included the following Resolution on Korea:
15. In solidarity with the antiwar movements of Japan and Korea, each calling for U.S. Troops to Get Out Now, and given the great increase in U.S. military preparations against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, National Peace Conference participants will organize immediate protests following any attack by the U.S. on Korea. U.S. war preparations include stockpiling hundreds of bunker-busters and conducting major war games near the territorial waters of China and Korea. In keeping with our stand for the right of self-determination and our demand of Out Now, the National Peace Conference calls for Bringing All U.S. Troops Home Now!
UNAC urges the whole antiwar movement to begin to circulate messages alerts now in preparation. Together let's join together and demand: Bring all U.S. Troops Home Now! Stop the Wars and the Threats of War.
The United National Antiwar Committee, www.UNACpeace.org
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In earnest support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange:
http://readersupportednews.org/julian-assange-petition
rsn:Petition
We here undersigned express our support for the work and integrity of Julian Assange. We express concern that the charges against the WikiLeaks founder appear too convenient both in terms of timing and the novelty of their nature.
We call for this modern media innovator, and fighter for human rights extraordinaire, to be afforded the same rights to defend himself before Swedish justice that all others similarly charged might expect, and that his liberty not be compromised as a courtesy to those governments whose truths he has revealed have embarrassed.
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GAP Inc: End Your Relationship with Supplier that Allows Workers to be Burned Alive
http://humanrights.change.org/blog/view/workers_burned_alive_making_clothes_for_the_gap
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KEVIN COOPER IS INNOCENT! FREE KEVIN COOPER!
Reasonable doubts about executing Kevin Cooper
Chronicle Editorial
Monday, December 13, 2010
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/13/EDG81GP0I7.DTL
Death penalty -- Kevin Cooper is Innocent! Help save his life from San Quentin's death row!
http://www.savekevincooper.org/
http://www.savekevincooper.org/pages/essays_content.html?ID=255
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
17 December 2010
Click here to take action online:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=15084
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa25910.pdf
Kevin Cooper, who has been on death row in California for 25 years, is asking the outgoing state governor to commute his death sentence before leaving office on 2 January 2011. Kevin Cooper has consistently maintained his innocence of the four murders for which he was sentenced to death. Since 2004, a dozen federal appellate judges have indicated their doubts about his guilt.
On the night of 4 June 1983, Douglas and Peggy Ryen were hacked and stabbed to death in their home in Chino Hills, California, along with their 10-year-old daughter Jessica and 11-year-old houseguest Christopher Hughes. The couple's eight-year-old son, Joshua Ryen, was seriously wounded, but survived. He told investigators that the attackers were three or four white men. In hospital, he saw a picture of Kevin Cooper on television and said that Cooper, who is black, was not the attacker. However, the boy's later testimony - that he only saw one attacker - was introduced at the 1985 trial. The case has many other troubling aspects which call into question the reliability of the state's case and its conduct in obtaining this conviction (see http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/013/2004/en).
Kevin Cooper was less than eight hours from execution in 2004 when the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted a stay and sent the case back to the District Court for testing on blood and hair evidence, including to establish if the police had planted evidence. The District Court ruled in 2005 that the testing had not proved Kevin Cooper's innocence - his lawyers (and five Ninth Circuit judges) maintain that it did not do the testing as ordered. Nevertheless, in 2007, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit upheld the District Court's ruling. One of the judges described the result as "wholly discomforting" because of evidence tampering and destruction, but noted that she was constrained by US law, which places substantial obstacles in the way of successful appeals.
In 2009, the Ninth Circuit refused to have the whole court rehear the case. Eleven of its judges dissented. One of the dissenting opinions, running to more than 80 pages and signed by five judges, warned that "the State of California may be about to execute an innocent man". On the question of the evidence testing, they said: "There is no way to say this politely. The district court failed to provide Cooper a fair hearing and...imposed unreasonable conditions on the testing" ordered by the Ninth Circuit. They pointed to a test result that, if valid, indicated that evidence had been planted, and they asserted that the district court had blocked further scrutiny of this issue.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had already denied clemency in 2004 when the Ninth Circuit issued its stay. At the time, he had said that the "courts have reviewed this case for more than eighteen years. Evidence establishing his guilt is overwhelming". Clearly, a notable number of federal judges disagree. The five judges in the Ninth Circuit's lengthy dissent in 2009 stated that the evidence of Kevin Cooper's guilt at his trial was "quite weak" and concluded that he "is probably innocent of the crimes for which the State of California is about to execute him".
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On 2 June 1983, two days before the Chino Hills murders, Kevin Cooper had escaped from a minimum security prison, where he was serving a four-year term for burglary, and had hidden in an empty house near the Ryen home for two nights. After his arrest, he became the focus of public hatred. Outside the venue of his preliminary hearing, for example, people hung an effigy of a monkey in a noose with a sign reading "Hang the Nigger!!" At the time of the trial, jurors were confronted by graffiti declaring "Die Kevin Cooper" and "Kevin Cooper Must Be Hanged". Kevin Cooper pleaded not guilty - the jury deliberated for seven days before convicting him - and he has maintained his innocence since then. Since Governor Schwarzenegger denied clemency in 2004, more evidence supporting Kevin Cooper's claim of innocence has emerged, including for example, testimony from three witnesses who say they saw three white men near the crime scene on the night of the murders with blood on them.
In 2007, Judge Margaret McKeown was the member of the Ninth Circuit's three-judge panel who indicated that she was upholding the District Court's 2005 ruling despite her serious concerns. She wrote: "Significant evidence bearing on Cooper's guilt has been lost, destroyed or left unpursued, including, for example, blood-covered coveralls belonging to a potential suspect who was a convicted murderer, and a bloody t-shirt, discovered alongside the road near the crime scene. The managing criminologist in charge of the evidence used to establish Cooper's guilt at trial was, as it turns out, a heroin addict, and was fired for stealing drugs seized by the police. Countless other alleged problems with the handling and disclosure of evidence and the integrity of the forensic testing and investigation undermine confidence in the evidence". She continued that "despite the presence of serious questions as to the integrity of the investigation and evidence supporting the conviction, we are constrained by the requirements of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA)". Judge McKeown wrote that "the habeas process does not account for lingering doubt or new evidence that cannot leap the clear and convincing hurdle of AEDPA. Instead, we are left with a situation in which confidence in the blood sample is murky at best, and lost, destroyed or tampered evidence cannot be factored into the final analysis of doubt. The result is wholly discomforting, but one that the law demands".
Even if it is correct that the AEDPA demands this result, the power of executive clemency is not so confined. Last September, for example, the governor of Ohio commuted Kevin Keith's death sentence because of doubts about his guilt even though his death sentence had been upheld on appeal (see http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/079/2010/en). Governor Ted Strickland said that despite circumstantial evidence linking the condemned man to the crime, "many legitimate questions have been raised regarding the evidence in support of the conviction and the investigation which led to it. In particular, Mr Keith's conviction relied upon the linking of certain eyewitness testimony with certain forensic evidence about which important questions have been raised. I also find the absence of a full investigation of other credible suspects troubling." The same could be said in the case of Kevin Cooper, whose lawyer is asking Governor Schwarzenegger to commute the death sentence before he leaves office on 2 January 2011. While Kevin Cooper does not yet have an execution date, it is likely that one will be set, perhaps early in 2011.
More than 130 people have been released from death rows on grounds of innocence in the USA since 1976. At the original trial in each case, the defendant had been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. It is clear beyond any dispute that the USA's criminal justice system is capable of making mistakes. International safeguards require that the death penalty not be imposed if guilt is not "based upon clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the facts". Amnesty International opposes all executions regardless of the seriousness of the crime or the guilt or innocence of the condemned.
California has the largest death row in the USA, with more than 700 prisoners under sentence of death out of a national total of some 3,200. California accounts for 13 of the 1,234 executions in the USA since judicial killing resumed there in 1977. There have been 46 executions in the USA this year. The last execution in California was in January 2006.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Acknowledging the seriousness of the crime for which Kevin Cooper was sentenced to death;
- Urging Governor Schwarzenegger to take account of the continuing doubts about Kevin Cooper's guilt, including as expressed by more than 10 federal judges since 2004, when executive clemency was last requested;
- Urging the Governor to commute Kevin Cooper's death sentence.
APPEALS TO:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814, USA
Fax: 1 916-558-3160
Email: governor@governor.ca.gov or via http://gov.ca.gov/interact#contact
Salutation : Dear Governor
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 2 January 2011.
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
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Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
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Free the Children of Palestine!
Sign Petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41467.html
Published by Al-Awda, Palestine Right to Return Coalition on Dec 16, 2010
Category: Children's Rights
Region: GLOBAL
Target: President Obama
Web site: http://www.al-awda.org
Background (Preamble):
According to Israeli police, 1200 Palestinian children have been arrested, interrogated and imprisoned in the occupied city of Jerusalem alone this year. The youngest of these children was seven-years old.
Children and teen-agers were often dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night, taken in handcuffs for questioning, threatened, humiliated and many were subjected to physical violence while under arrest as part of an ongoing campaign against the children of Palestine. Since the year 2000, more than 8000 have been arrested by Israel, and reports of mistreatment are commonplace.
Further, based on sworn affidavits collected in 2009 from 100 of these children, lawyers working in the occupied West Bank with Defense Children International, a Geneva-based non governmental organization, found that 69% were beaten and kicked, 49% were threatened, 14% were held in solitary confinement, 12% were threatened with sexual assault, including rape, and 32% were forced to sign confessions written in Hebrew, a language they do not understand.
Minors were often asked to give names and incriminate friends and relatives as a condition of their release. Such institutionalized and systematic mistreatment of Palestinian children by the state of Israel is a violation international law and specifically contravenes the Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Israel is supposedly a signatory.
Petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41467.html
We, the undersigned call on US President Obama to direct Israel to
1. Stop all the night raids and arrests of Palestinian Children forthwith.
2. Immediately release all Palestinian children detained in its prisons and detention centers.
3. End all forms of systematic and institutionalized abuse against all Palestinian children.
4. Implement the full restoration of Palestinian children's rights in accordance with international law including, but not limited to, their right to return to their homes of origin, to education, to medical and psychological care, and to freedom of movement and expression.
The US government, which supports Israel to the tune of billions of taxpayer dollars a year while most ordinary Americans are suffering in a very bad economy, is bound by its laws and international conventions to cut off all aid to Israel until it ends all of its violations of human rights and basic freedoms in a verifiable manner.
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"Secret diplomacy is a necessary tool for a propertied minority, which is compelled to deceive the majority in order to subject it to its interests."..."Publishing State Secrets" By Leon Trotsky
Documents on Soviet Policy, Trotsky, iii, 2 p. 64
November 22, 1917
http://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/foreign-relations/1917/November/22.htm
FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! FREE BRADLEY MANNING! STOP THE FBI RAIDS NOW!
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
To understand how much a trillion dollars is, consider looking at it in terms of time:
A million seconds would be about eleven-and-one-half days; a billion seconds would be 31 years; and a trillion seconds would be 31,000 years!
From the novel "A Dark Tide," by Andrew Gross
Now think of it in terms of U.S. war dollars and bankster bailouts!
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MIDDLE EAST CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE
Your Year-End Gift for the Children
Double your impact with this matching gift opportunity!
Dear Friend of the Children,
You may have recently received a letter from me via regular mail with a review of the important things you helped MECA accomplish for the children in 2010, along with a special Maia Project decal.
My letter to you also included an announcement of MECA's first ever matching gift offer. One of our most generous supporters will match all gifts received by December 31. 2010 to a total of $35,000.
So, whether you are a long time supporter, or giving for the first-time... Whether you can give $10 or $1,000... This is a unique opportunity to double the impact of your year-end gift!
Your contribution will be matched dollar for dollar, making it go twice as far so that MECA can:
* Install twenty more permanent drinking water units in Gaza schools though our Maia Project
* Continue our work with Playgrounds for Palestine to complete a community park in the besieged East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, where violent Israeli settlers attack children and adults, Israeli police arrest the victims, and the city conducts "administrative demolitions" of Palestinian homes.
* Send a large medical aid shipment to Gaza.
* Renew support for "Let the Children Play and Heal," a program in Gaza to help children cope with trauma and grief through arts programs, referrals to therapists, educational materials for families and training for mothers.
Your support for the Middle East Children's Alliance's delivers real, often life-saving, help. And it does more than that. It sends a message of hope and solidarity to Palestine-showing the people that we are standing beside them as they struggle to bring about a better life for their children.
With warm regards,
Barbara Lubin
Founder and Director
P.S. Please give as much as you possible can, and please make your contribution now, so it will be doubled. Thank you so much.
P.S.S. If you didn't receive a MAIA Project decal in the mail or if you would like another one, please send an email message to meca@mecaforpeace.org with "MAIA Project decal" in the subject line when you make your contribution.
To make a gift by mail send to:
MECA, 1101 8th Street, Berkley, CA 94710
To make a gift by phone, please call MECA's off at: 510-548-0542
To "GO PAPERLESS" and receive all your MECA communications by email, send a message to meca@mecaforpeace.org with "Paperless" in the subject line.
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For Immediate Release
Antiwar movement supports Wikileaks and calls for and independent, international investigation of the crimes that have been exposed. We call for the release of Bradley Manning and the end to the harassment of Julian Assange.
12/2/2010
For more information: Joe Lombardo, 518-281-1968,
UNACpeace@gmail.org, NationalPeaceConference.org
Antiwar movement supports Wikileaks and calls for and independent, international investigation of the crimes that have been exposed. We call for the release of Bradley Manning and the end to the harassment of Julian Assange.
The United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC) calls for the release of Bradley Manning who is awaiting trial accused of leaking the material to Wikileaks that has been released over the past several months. We also call for an end to the harassment of Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks and we call for an independent, international investigation of the illegal activity exposed through the material released by Wikileaks.
Before sending the material to Wikileaks, Bradley Manning tried to get his superiors in the military to do something about what he understood to be clear violations of international law. His superiors told him to keep quiet so Manning did the right thing; he exposed the illegal activity to the world.
The Afghan material leaked earlier shows military higher-ups telling soldiers to kill enemy combatants who were trying to surrender. The Iraq Wikileaks video from 2007 shows the US military killing civilians and news reporters from a helicopter while laughing about it. The widespread corruption among U.S. allies has been exposed by the most recent leaks of diplomatic cables. Yet, instead of calling for change in these policies, we hear only a call to suppress further leaks.
At the national antiwar conference held in Albany in July, 2010, at which UNAC was founded, we heard from Ethan McCord, one of the soldiers on the ground during the helicopter attack on the civilians in Iraq exposed by Wikileaks (see: http://www.mediasanctuary.org/movie/1810 ). He talked about removing wounded children from a civilian vehicle that the US military had shot up. It affected him so powerfully that he and another soldier who witnessed the massacre wrote a letter of apology to the families of the civilians who were killed.
We ask why this material was classified in the first place. There were no state secrets in the material, only evidence of illegal and immoral activity by the US military, the US government and its allies. To try to cover this up by classifying the material is a violation of our right to know the truth about these wars. In this respect, Bradley Manning and Julian Assange should be held up as heroes, not hounded for exposing the truth.
UNAC calls for an end to the illegal and immoral policies exposed by Wikileaks and an immediate end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an end to threats against Iran and North Korea.
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Courage to Resist needs your support
By Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist.
It's been quite a ride the last four months since we took up the defense of accused WikiLeaks whistle-blower Bradley Manning. Since then, we helped form the Bradley Manning Support Network, established a defense fund, and have already paid over half of Bradley's total $100,000 in estimated legal expenses.
Now, I'm asking for your support of Courage to Resist so that we can continue to support not only Bradley, but the scores of other troops who are coming into conflict with military authorities due to reasons of conscience.
Please donate today:
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38590
"Soldiers sworn oath is to defend and support the Constitution. Bradley Manning has been defending and supporting our Constitution."
-Dan Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistle-blower
Iraq War over? Afghanistan occupation winding down? Not from what we see. Please take a look at, "Soldier Jeff Hanks refuses deployment, seeks PTSD help" in our December newsletter. Jeff's situation is not isolated. Actually, his story is only unique in that he has chosen to share it with us in the hopes that it may result in some change. Jeff's case also illustrates the importance of Iraq Veterans Against the War's new "Operation Recovery" campaign which calls for an end to the deployment of traumatized troops.
Most of the folks who call us for help continue to be effected by Stoploss, a program that involuntarily extends enlistments (despite Army promises of its demise), or the Individual Ready Reserve which recalls thousands of former Soldiers and Marines quarterly from civilian life.
Another example of our efforts is Kyle Wesolowski. After returning from Iraq, Kyle submitted an application for a conscientious objector discharge based on his Buddhist faith. Kyle explains, "My experience of physical threats, religious persecution, and general abuse seems to speak of a system that appears to be broken.... It appears that I have no other recourse but to now refuse all duties that prepare myself for war or aid in any way shape or form to other soldiers in conditioning them to go to war." We believe he shouldn't have to walk this path alone.
Sincerely,
Jeff Paterson
Project Director, Courage to Resist
First US military service member to refuse to fight in Iraq
Please donate today.
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38590
P.S. I'm asking that you consider a contribution of $50 or more, or possibly becoming a sustainer at $15 a month. Of course, now is also a perfect time to make a end of year tax-deductible donation. Thanks again for your support!
Please click here to forward this to a friend who might
also be interested in supporting GI resisters.
http://ymlp.com/forward.php?id=lS3tR&e=bonnieweinstein@yahoo.com
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Add your name! We stand with Bradley Manning.
"We stand for truth, for government transparency, and for an end to our tax-dollars funding endless occupation abroad... We stand with accused whistle-blower US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning."
Dear All,
The Bradley Manning Support Network and Courage to Resist are launching a new campaign, and we wanted to give you a chance to be among the first to add your name to this international effort. If you sign the letter online, we'll print out and mail two letters to Army officials on your behalf. With your permission, we may also use your name on the online petition and in upcoming media ads.
Read the complete public letter and add your name at:
http://standwithbrad.org/
Courage to Resist (http://couragetoresist.org)
on behalf of the Bradley Manning Support Network (http://bradleymanning.org)
484 Lake Park Ave #41, Oakland CA 94610
510-488-3559
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Committee to Stop FBI Repression
P.O. Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Dear Friend,
On Friday, September 24th, the FBI raided homes in Chicago and Minneapolis, and turned the Anti-War Committee office upside down. We were shocked. Our response was strong however and we jumped into action holding emergency protests. When the FBI seized activists' personal computers, cell phones, and papers claiming they were investigating "material support for terrorism", they had no idea there would be such an outpouring of support from the anti-war movement across this country! Over 61 cities protested, with crowds of 500 in Minneapolis and Chicago. Activists distributed 12,000 leaflets at the One Nation Rally in Washington D.C. Supporters made thousands of calls to President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder. Solidarity statements from community organizations, unions, and other groups come in every day. By organizing against the attacks, the movement grows stronger.
At the same time, trusted lawyers stepped up to form a legal team and mount a defense. All fourteen activists signed letters refusing to testify. So Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Fox withdrew the subpoenas, but this is far from over. In fact, the repression is just starting. The FBI continues to question activists at their homes and work places. The U.S. government is trying to put people in jail for anti-war and international solidarity activism and there is no indication they are backing off. The U.S. Attorney has many options and a lot of power-he may re-issue subpoenas, attempt to force people to testify under threat of imprisonment, or make arrests.
To be successful in pushing back this attack, we need your donation. We need you to make substantial contributions like $1000, $500, and $200. We understand many of you are like us, and can only afford $50, $20, or $10, but we ask you to dig deep. The legal bills can easily run into the hundreds of thousands. We are all united to defend a movement for peace and justice that seeks friendship with people in other countries. These fourteen anti-war activists have done nothing wrong, yet their freedom is at stake.
It is essential that we defend our sisters and brothers who are facing FBI repression and the Grand Jury process. With each of your contributions, the movement grows stronger.
Please make a donation today at stopfbi.net (PayPal) on the right side of your screen. Also you can write to:
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
P.O. Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55414
This is a critical time for us to stand together, defend free speech, and defend those who help to organize for peace and justice, both at home and abroad!
Thank you for your generosity! Tom Burke
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Please sign the petition to stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal and
and forward it to all your lists.
"Mumia Abu-Jamal and The Global Abolition of the Death Penalty"
http://www.petitiononline.com/Mumialaw/petition.html
(A Life In the Balance - The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, at 34, Amnesty Int'l, 2000; www. Amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/001/2000.)
[Note: This petition is approved by Mumia Abu-Jamal and his lead attorney, Robert R. Bryan, San Francisco (E-mail: MumiaLegalDefense@gmail.com; Website: www.MumiaLegalDefense.org).]
Committee To Save Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.O. Box 2012
New York, NY 10159-2012
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Short Video About Al-Awda's Work
The following link is to a short video which provides an overview of Al-Awda's work since the founding of our organization in 2000. This video was first shown on Saturday May 23, 2009 at the fundraising banquet of the 7th Annual Int'l Al-Awda Convention in Anaheim California. It was produced from footage collected over the past nine years.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTiAkbB5uC0&eurl
Support Al-Awda, a Great Organization and Cause!
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, depends on your financial support to carry out its work.
To submit your tax-deductible donation to support our work, go to
http://www.al-awda.org/donate.html and follow the simple instructions.
Thank you for your generosity!
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COURAGE TO RESIST!
Support the troops who refuse to fight!
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/
Donate:
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/21/57/
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D. ARTICLES IN FULL (Unless otherwise noted)
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1) World Trade Unions Mobilising for Democracy in Egypt: 8 February Action Day
International Trade Union Confederation
February 4, 2011
http://www.ituc-csi.org/world-trade-unions-mobilising-for.html?lang=en
2) Fox Be Damned: Why a Packers Victory is the People's Victory
By Dave Zirin
February 7, 2011
http://www.thenation.com/blog/158337/fox-be-damned-why-packers-victory-people%E2%80%99s-victory
3) (English Follows Arabic)
EGYPTIAN NATIONALIST INTELLECTUALS UNITE WITH EGYPTIAN NATIONALIST YOUTH
(Cairo, February 5, 2011)
VIA Email
4) The danger to Egypt's revolution comes from Washington
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada,
February 6, 2011
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11781.shtml
5) Protests Linger as Normal Life in Cairo Begins to Resume
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and DAVID E. SANGER
February 7, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/world/middleeast/08egypt.html?hp
6) At Night, Protest Gives Way to Poetry
"Political debates raged, as a gaggle of hundreds deliberated, by microphone, whether Egyptian television should be banned from Tahrir and effigies should be taken down from traffic lights. (Both proposals were rejected, by a show of hands.)"
By ANTHONY SHADID
February 6, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/world/middleeast/07square.html?ref=world
7) Iraqis Protest To Demand Secure Jobs And Services
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 6, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/world/middleeast/07iraq.html?ref=world
8) Support Grows for Tiered Risk System at Airports
By SUSAN STELLIN
February 7, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/business/08security.html?ref=business
9) Protesters Try to Block Tunisian Parliament
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 7, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/02/07/business/AP-AF-Tunisia.html?src=busln
10) By 1 Measure, Federal Taxes Lowest Since 1950
[Tax the Rich! Feed the Poor! Stop the Rich from Stealing More!...bw]
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 7, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/02/07/business/AP-US-Lower-Tax-Bills.html?src=busln
11) Egyptian Revolution: Protesters Not Settling for Concessions, U.S. Envoy to Egypt Had Business Ties to Mubarak Gov't
By Lauren Kelley | Sourced from AlterNet
Posted at February 7, 2011, 7:46 am
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/464217/egyptian_revolution%3A_protesters_not_settling_for_concessions%2C_u.s._envoy_to_egypt_had_business_ties_to_mubarak_gov%27t/#paragraph4
12) Protests swell at Tahrir Square
Tens-of-thousands pour into central Cairo seeking president Mubarak's ouster, despite a slew of government concessions.
Last Modified: 08 Feb 2011 15:27 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201128123235508653.html
13) A Terrible Divide
"For American corporations, the action is increasingly elsewhere. Their interests are not the same as those of workers, or the country as a whole. As Harold Meyerson put it in The American Prospect: 'Our corporations don't need us anymore. Half their revenues come from abroad. Their products, increasingly, come from abroad as well.' American workers are in a world of hurt. Anyone who thinks that politicians can improve this sorry state of affairs by hacking away at Social Security, Medicare and the public schools are great candidates for involuntary commitment. New ideas on a grand scale are needed. The United States can't thrive with so many of its citizens condemned to shrunken standards of living because they can't find adequate employment. Long-term joblessness is a recipe for societal destabilization. It should not be tolerated in a country with as much wealth as the United States. It's destructive, and it's wrong."
By BOB HERBERT
February 7, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/opinion/08herbert.html?hp
14) TV Interview of Protest Leader Revives Crowd in Cairo Square
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, KAREEM FAHIM and ALAN COWELL
February 8, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/world/middleeast/09egypt.html?hp
15) Speakers' Corner on the Nile
"...there is an old Egyptian poem that says: 'The Nile can bend and turn, but what is impossible is that it would ever dry up.' The same is true of the river of freedom that is loose here now. Maybe you can bend it for a while, or turn it, but it is not going to dry up."
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
February 7, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/opinion/08friedman.html?hp
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1) World Trade Unions Mobilising for Democracy in Egypt: 8 February Action Day
International Trade Union Confederation
February 4, 2011
http://www.ituc-csi.org/world-trade-unions-mobilising-for.html?lang=en
Trade unions around the world will join a Day of Action for Democracy in Egypt on 8 February, following a decision by the ITUC General Council meeting in Brussels today. Unions will organise demonstrations at Egyptian embassies, and continue to press their governments to demand democratic transition in Egypt and to ensure that those responsible for the violent repression of peaceful demonstrations are brought to justice.
"We will continue to push the international community to put pressure on the regime of Hosni Mubarak to respect the wishes of the Egyptian people. Our support for Egypt's independent trade unions and the other forces for democracy is unwavering, and we are determined that there shall be no impunity for the people responsible for the killings, assaults and intimidation of innocent people," said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.
INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION GENERAL COUNCIL (ITUC)
REVISED DRAFT RESOLUTION ON EGYPT
Brussels, 2 - 4 February 201
http://www.ituc-csi.org/resolution-on-egypt.html
People across Egypt have risen in massive numbers to demand change, for democracy, justice, and fundamental rights and to insist on the end of the discredited Mubarak regime. Decades of repression, poverty, imprisonment of political opponents and violation of human rights including, through the imposition of state controlled organisations, the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining have stifled social and economic progress, and denied social justice.
The ITUC expresses its full support and solidarity to the Egyptian people in their quest for respect for fundamental freedoms and rights and its deepest condolences to the many victims of the Mubarak regime's violent repression of the legitimate protest actions which have taken place throughout the country. It pays tribute to all those who have stood up for democracy, and insists that human values must prevail over geopolitical and economic interests.
As in Tunisia and elsewhere, worsening unemployment, particularly amongst young people, has combined with resentment at the lack of political freedom to catalyse popular mobilisation against the regime. The ITUC salutes the independent trade union movement, which has stood at the forefront of the mobilisation, and recognises the critical role that the independent unions must play in putting Egypt on the path to genuine democracy and in ensuring social and economic justice for the Egyptian people.
The General Council:
INSTRUCTS the General Secretary to continue to closely monitor the situation in Egypt, and to assist the development of the independent trade union movement there;
REQUESTS all affiliates to call upon their governments to exert maximum international pressure for democratic transition in Egypt including full respect for freedom of association, collective bargaining and the other core labour standards; and,
FURTHER REQUESTS all affiliates and solidarity support organisations to assist in every possible way the development of genuine, independent trade unions in Egypt and their actions to promote democracy, social justice, equality and decent work. INSISTS that those responsible for ordering physical attacks, or who sought in any way to use force to prevent people from exercising their right to freedom of expression or to demonstrate must be brought to trial and cannot remain unpunished.
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2) Fox Be Damned: Why a Packers Victory is the People's Victory
By Dave Zirin
February 7, 2011
http://www.thenation.com/blog/158337/fox-be-damned-why-packers-victory-people%E2%80%99s-victory
The 2011 Super Bowl was between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers-two squads whose monikers speak to their roots as factory teams in the industrial heartland. As these teams prepared to face-off in the almighty spectacle that is the Super Bowl, the game's pre-game show involved a salute to Ronald Reagan on his 100th birthday. Considering how Reagan gutted the aforementioned industrial heartland, a more appropriate pre-game show would have been an intimate meeting at the 50 yard line between a Reagan- disguised tackling dummy and fearsome Steeler James Harrison. [The Black Eyed Peas at halftime, however, made me long for another Reagan tribute.] It was also, by the way, Bob Marley's birthday and I'm going to guess that far more Super Bowl parties in this country reflected Marley's legacy than Reagan's.
But it wasn't just the film tribute that reminded viewers of the Reagan 1980s. The sheer tonnage of militaristic bombast with patriotic trimmings was like Top Gun on steroids and may have seemed over the top to the Gipper himself. Viewers were treated to a reading of the Declaration of Independence, coupled with Marines marching on the field, coupled with that twit from Glee singing America the Beautiful, coupled with more shots of the troops, coupled with a damaged Christina Aguilera stumbling through the National Anthem. By the time it was done, I was ready to get an American Flag tattoo and send my taxes to Hosni Mubarak like a Fox-Approved Good American. But fortunately for my sanity, I was watching the game with the DC Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against War at their annual Demilitarized Super Bowl Party. The vets, who booed every time Fox tried to use the troops to build its brand, made it clear that real war in Iraq and Afghanistan doesn't have a damn thing to do with what the broadcast was selling. As Geoff Millard of Iraq Vets Against the War said to me, "We love sports but hate the way it's used and hate the way the soldiers are used to sell war."
And yet somewhere amidst the noise, the smoke, the Reagans, and the Black Eyed Peas, a football game actually broke out and it was a dandy. In every previous Super Bowl, no team had ever come back from more than a 10-point deficit and before you could blink the Steelers were down 18, 21-3. This was thanks to two costly interceptions by Pittsburgh quarterback and twice-accused rapist Ben Roethlisberger. An electric interception return for a touchdown by Green Bay safety Nick Collins [1] reminded a lot of us why we love this game in the first place. But Pittsburgh is a team with two-dozen players who were part of their Super Bowl championship team two years ago and they refused to quit. The game winded down with Green Bay leading 31-25 and Pittsburgh having the ball with just two minutes to play. Green Bay's defense held and a fantastic game ended as the Pack came away with the win. Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers was absolutely brilliant completing 24-of-39 passes for 304 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and winning the MVP. [2]
Yet for all the celebration of the Packers and their history, there was one brazen decision made by the show's producers and announcers Joe Buck and Troy Aikman that was an insult to everything the team stands for. Often, the Super Bowl includes numerous shots of the two teams' owners fretting in their luxury boxes like neurotic Julius Caesars. But the Packers are a team without an owner. They're a community-run non-profit owned by 112,000 fans. Rather than celebrate that fact, Fox didn't mention the Pack's unique ownership structure once. They also then didn't include shots of the Rooney family, the most celebrated ownership family in the NFL.
After the game, during the traditional passing of the Lombardi Trophy to the winning team's owner, the award was handed to the Packers "CEO and Chief Executive Officer" Mike Murphy who barely looks old enough to shave. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, as he threatens to lock the players out, clearly wants to hide the truth that the Packers have no single billionaire owner.They want it hidden because the team from Green Bay stand as a living breathing example that if you take the profit motive out of sports, you can get more than a team to be proud of: you get a Super Bowl Champion. It aint Tahrir Square [3], but it's something in our over-corporatized, hyper commercialized, sports world, to cheer. That is reason enough to celebrate the fact that the Lombardi Trophy has finally come home to Titletown.
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3) EGYPTIAN NATIONALIST INTELLECTUALS UNITE WITH EGYPTIAN NATIONALIST YOUTH
(Cairo, February 5, 2011)
VIA Email
EGYPTIAN NATIONALIST INTELLECTUALS UNITE WITH EGYPTIAN NATIONALIST YOUTH
(Cairo, February 5, 2011)
There is no doubt that the Egyptian revolution at hand erupted spontaneously, and that the Youth is its primary foundation. Continuing peaceful demonstrations lend strong support and legitimacy to this popular revolt.
We support the revolutionary Egyptian Youth in their demands of replacing the current regime with a political order based on true democracy, social justice, and national sovereignty.,
We also concur with their insistence that no negotiation is to occur until the departure from office of President Hosni Mubarak. The Youth declared in no uncertain terms that none of them will negotiate, either individually or through a committee acting on their behalf.
In these times it is imperative to link the nationalist agenda to demands of democratic freedoms and to guard the revolution from exploitation, and derailment from within Egypt or externally. There can be no freedom for individual citizens in a nation which is not free. In this vein, we uphold the slogan: "Freedom... Social Justice ... National Sovereignty".
From this perspective, it is necessary that a reasonable period of Freedom to form unrestricted political parties, labour, professional, and student unions, precede elections which must be secure from interference by state security forces and their supporters.
We further demand the liberation of all forms of mass media outlets from the control of the regime after which it will be possible to amend the Constitution in the best interests of the Egyptian People.
Establishment of a society of social justice requires pursuit of a path of economic development based on productive agricultural and industrial sectors, supported by scientific research, and independent of the dictates of western financial institutions.
Social Justice and independent national development require continuous oversight by the people to protect national resources and wealth from corruption, and guard against misappropriation of public funds. As for national sovereignty, this is pivotal to any project of liberation from dependence on the U.S. administration to the benefit of Israel. This means the cessation of all forms of "normalization" , including the criminal sale of Egypt's natural gas to Israel; the sealing of the common borders with Gaza and Rafah; and the blockade on these territories.
We the undersigned join the revolutionary Egyptian youth in avowing the following principles and demands:
Change the regime and its policies beginning with the departure from office of President Mubarak ; establishment of a national government that excludes ministers of his regime, and those officials who have contributed to the prevailing order of foreign hegemony;
· Dissolution of the Parliament and the Shura Council, which have lost all legitimacy;
· Removal of restrictions on freedom, abolition of the emergency laws, and all other laws which suppress freedom; dissolution of the restrictive Commission of Political Parties; and termination of military court jurisdiction over civilians
· Holding the Ministry of Interior, Central Security Forces and the National Party gangs responsible for the criminal repression of the protestors; prosecuting all those responsible for acts of torture, killings, and other human rights violations, restructuring the security apparatus
· Immediate release of all imprisoned protestors, and other political prisoners;
· Call on Egypt's Military to support the Egyptian People's demands of establishing a civil government, and upholding its responsibility of protecting them
· Creation of an atmosphere which fosters citizenship rights, and realistically eliminate religious discrimination
· It is necessary to expose attempts to hijack the popular youth revolution, including attempts by friends of Israel and the U.S, government. Also unacceptable is the recycling of the regime with new faces Calling for unity should not divert attention from those attempting to manipulate the popular revolution. We firmly reject changing the regime to one which upholds the same policies of serving the interests of Zionism, colonialism and projects of the "New Middle East", or the interests of billionaires of the alliance of political authorityand wealth.
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SIGNATORIES - (in their personal capacity)
Mr. Tarek El-Bishry Counselor Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court
Mr. Hamdy Kandeel TV Political Commentator
Lt. Gen. Safwat El-Zayat (Ret.)
Dr. Hoda Gamal Abdel Nasser University Professor
Mr. Fahmy Howeidy Journalistic/ Author
Dr. Alaa El-Aswany Author
Dr. Ashraf El-Bayoumi University Professor
DR. Radwa Ashour University Professor/ author
Mr. Ahmed El-Gamal Journalist
Ms. Mohsina Tawfik Movie /theater star
Mr. Abd El-Hakim Gamal Abdel Nasser
Dr. Hossam Issa University Professor
Dr. Salah Saddiq University Professor
Dr. Abdel Minaam Abu El-Fotouh Union of Arab Physician
Dr. Omar El-Sibakhy University Professor
Dr, Roushdy Saeed Senior University Professor
Mr. Khaled Youssef Film Director
Dr. Abdel Minaam Aabeed University Professor
Mr. Abdelaal El-Bakoory Journalist
Dr. Ebadda Kahila
Ms. Aida El-Azzab Moussa
Mr. Abdullah El-Sinnawy "Al Aaraby" newspaper, Chief Editor
Mr. Sayyed Haggab Poet
Mr. Mohsen Awad (Author)
Mr. Abdelazim El-Maghraby Former M.P.
Mr. Abdel Ghaffar shokr Political activist/Arab Research Center
Mr.Helmy Shaarawy Political activist/Arab Research Center
Political activist/Arab Research Center
Mr. Saad Abood Former M.P.
Mr. Ahmed El-Naggar Economic Expert
Dr. Hoda El-Misseery University Professor
Dr. Widad Habib Saad University Professor
Dr. Nelly Hanna University Professor
Dr. Saeed Salah El-Din El-Nisha'y University Professor
Dr. Shadia El-Shisheeny University Professor
Mr. Gamal Fahmy Journalist Syndicate Council Member
Mr. Amr Nassef TV Political Commentator
Mr. Samir Morkos author/writer
Eng. Abu El-Aala Mady Political Activist
Eng. Wael Khalil Political Activist
Ms. Arab Loutfy Film Director
Ms. Salwa Bakr Author
Dr. Soheir Morsy University Professor
Dr. Saeeda Montasser
Ms. Hala Sakr
Ms. Gihan Faddel Artist
Dr. Gamal Abdel Fatah Pharmacist
Mr. Mohamed Waked Political Activist
Ms. Amel Ramsis Film Director
Dr. Kamal Naguib University Professor
Dr. Safwat Hatim Surgeon
Mr. Mahfouz Aazam
Eng. Omar Aazam
Mr. Abdel Azeem Manaf Journalist
Ms. Nagla' El-Kayoubi Political Activist
Mr. Magdy Hussein Political Activist
Dr. Magdy Kurkur University Professor
###
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4) The danger to Egypt's revolution comes from Washington
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada,
February 6, 2011
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11781.shtml
The greatest danger to the Egyptian revolution and the prospects for a free and independent Egypt emanates not from the "baltagiyya" -- the mercenaries and thugs the regime sent to beat, stone, stab, shoot and kill protestors in Cairo, Alexandria and other cities last week -- but from Washington.
Ever since the Egyptian uprising began on 25 January, the United States government and the Washington establishment that rationalizes its policies have been scared to death of "losing Egypt." What they fear losing is a regime that has consistently ignored the rights and well-being of its people in order to plunder the country and enrich the few who control it, and that has done America's bidding, especially supporting Israel in its oppression and wars against the Palestinians and other Arabs.
The Obama Administration quickly dissociated itself from its envoy to Egypt, Frank Wisner, after the latter candidly told the BBC on 5 February that he thought President Hosni Mubarak "must stay in office in order to steer" any transition to a post-Mubarak order ("US special envoy: 'Mubarak must stay for now'," 5 February 2011).
But one suspects that Wisner was inadvertently speaking in his master's voice. US President Barack Obama and his national security establishment may be willing to give up Mubarak the person, but they are not willing to give up Mubarak's regime. It is notable that the US has never supported the Egyptian protestors' demand that Mubarak must go now. Nor has the United States suspended its $1.5 billion annual aid package to Egypt, much of which goes to the state security forces that are oppressing protestors and beating up and arresting journalists.
As The New York Times -- always a reliable barometer of official thinking -- reported, "The United States and leading European nations on Saturday threw their weight behind Egypt's vice president, Omar Suleiman, backing his attempt to defuse a popular uprising without immediately removing President Hosni Mubarak from power." Obama administration officials, the newspaper added, "said Mr. Suleiman had promised them an 'orderly transition' that would include constitutional reform and outreach to opposition groups" ("West Backs Gradual Egyptian Transition," 5 February 2011).
Moreoever, the Times reported, the United States has already managed to persuade two of its major European clients -- the United Kingdom and Germany -- to back continuing the existing regime with only a change of figurehead.
Suleiman, long the powerful chief of Egypt's intelligence services, has served -- perhaps even more so than Mubarak -- as the guarantor of Egypt's regional role in maintaining the American- and Israeli-dominated order. As author Jane Mayer has documented, Suleiman played a key role in the US "rendition" program, working closely with the CIA which kidnapped "terror suspects" from around the world and delivered them into Suleiman's hands for interrogation, and almost certainly torture ("Who is Omar Suleiman?," The New Yorker, 29 January 2011).
High praise for Suleiman's work has also come from top Israeli military brass. "I always believed in the abilities of the Egyptian Intelligence service [GIS]," Israeli General Amos Gilad told American, Palestinian Authority and Egyptian officials during a secret April 2007 meeting whose leaked minutes were recently released by Al Jazeera as part of the Palestine Papers. "It keeps order and security among 70 millions -- 20 millions in one city [a reference to the population of Egypt, actually closer to 83 million, and to Cairo] -- this is a great achievement, for which you deserve a medal. It is the best asset for the Middle East," Gilad said.
The notion that anyone, let alone US officials, could believe that Suleiman would lead an "orderly transition" to democracy would be laughable if it were not so sinister. Much more likely, the strategy is to try to ride out the protests and wear out and split the opposition, consolidate the regime under Suleiman's ruthless grip with the backing of the Egyptian army, and then enact cosmetic "reforms" to keep the Egyptian people politically divided and busy while business carries on as usual. Under any Suleiman "transition" political activists, journalists and anyone suspected of being part of the current uprising would be in grave danger.
From the American perspective, the strategy can be likened to what happened in the summer of 2008 when the house-of-cards international financial system started to collapse. Think of the Tunisian regime of deposed dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali as the investment bank Lehman Brothers. When a run on the bank began, the United States government refused to provide it with financial guarantees to bail it out, and it quickly went bankrupt.
But when the panic spread and even larger "too big to fail" financial firms including massive insurance company AIG began to see their positions suddenly deteriorate, the United States government stepped in to bail them out with hundreds of billions of dollars.
The Egyptian regime is the AIG of the region and what we are seeing now is an American attempt to bail it out. If Egypt goes under, the United States fears that the contagion would spread as Arab publics realize that the US-backed despots who rule them can be replaced, and that the toppling of these regimes whose only promise to their people has been "security" is not the end of the world but the start of renewal.
Of course, no analogy is exact. Whereas, allowing Lehman Brothers to collapse was a calculated decision, the United States did not see the revolution in Tunisia, or the uprising in Egypt coming. "Our assessment is that the Egyptian government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton infamously declared on 25 January, the day the anti-regime protests broke out ("US urges restraint in Egypt, says government stable," Reuters, 25 January 2011).
Clinton's cluelessness is reminiscent of her predecessor Condoleezza Rice's famous words ("didn't see it coming") in relation to Hamas' victory in Palestinian legislative council elections in 2006.
According to The New York Times, Obama himself is unhappy with US intelligence failures in the Arab world ("Obama Faults Spy Agencies' Performance in Gauging Mideast Unrest, Officials Say," 4 February 2011). For close watchers of the United States, this obliviousness is no mystery.
As Helena Cobban has observed, the Israel Lobby, "AIPAC and its attack dogs," have conducted such a thorough "witch-hunt" over the past quarter century "against anyone with real Middle East expertise that the US government now contains no-one at the higher (or even mid-career) levels of policymaking who has any in-depth understanding of the region or of the aspirations of its people" ("Obama's know-nothings discuss Egypt," 28 January 2011).
But it is even worse than that. The US "policy" establishment seems only capable of viewing the region through Israeli eyes. This is why for so many officials and commentators the concerns of Israel to maintain a brutal hegemony trump the aspirations of 83 million Egyptians to determine their own future free from the shackles of the regime that has oppressed them for so long.
And different futures are possible. On the minds of many observers is the "Turkish model" of constitutional democracy, economic resurgence and foreign policy independence, all under the rule of a "moderate" Islamist party. Turkey, once closely in the orbit of the United States, started to break out with its refusal to allow the US to use the country's bases for the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
In recent years, Turkey has developed a deliberate "360 degree" foreign policy doctrine which includes maintaining relations with Europe and the United States, while restoring close ties with all its neighbors among them Iran and Arab countries, and assuming a greater regional mediating role. Since 2009, Turkey's once close alliance with Israel has deteriorated sharply, even though ties have not been cut. These shifts, along with its ubiquitous consumer and cultural products have given Turkey enormous regional influence and appeal.
Turkey has its own specific history and is no more perfect than any other country. But the bigger point is that subservience to the United States and Israel is not Egypt's only option. The worst case scenario from the American viewpoint is to have three major regional powers, Iran, Turkey and Egypt, that are not under Washington's control.
Of course Turkey is carving out its own path and Egyptians are struggling to go their own way which may be very different. There's no reason either to believe that Egypt would become "another Iran" as ceaseless Israeli propaganda suggests. But given a free choice, Egypt is not likely serve the "interests" of the United States and Israel the way the Mubarak regime has.
One example is that Egypt might dispense with US aid and still come out ahead by simply selling its natural gas on international markets rather than to Israel at what is reported to be a deep discount. Another is that a truly independent Egypt would eschew serving as Israel's proxy in enforcing the criminal siege of Gaza and stoking intra-Palestinian divisions.
By coming to the streets in their millions, by sacrifing the lives of some of their very finest, the Egyptian people have said that they and they alone want to decide their nation's future. Mubarak as a person is already irrelevant. The confrontation is now between the Egyptian people's desire for democracy and self-determination on the one hand, and, on the other, US insistence (along with its clients in Egypt and the region) on continuing the old regime. Let us offer whatever solidarity we can from wherever we are to help the Egyptian people to win.
Ali Abunimah is co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse and is a contributor to The Goldstone Report: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict (Nation Books).
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5) Protests Linger as Normal Life in Cairo Begins to Resume
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and DAVID E. SANGER
February 7, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/world/middleeast/08egypt.html?hp
CAIRO - With Egypt's revolt entering a third week, many parts of Cairo appeared to be resuming normal life on Monday: A.T.M.'s dispensed much-needed cash, shops and banks were staffed - though some kept their doors shut to customers - and the city's drivers were snarled in a vast traffic jam.
The government met on Monday for its first formal meeting since President Hosni Mubarak reorganized it in the early days of the uprising, announcing a 15 percent salary hike for government employees, according to news reports.
The move appeared targeted at shoring up support for Mr. Mubarak among the six million workers on the government payroll and defuse popular support for the ongoing protests. The newly appointed finance minister, Samir Radwan, said the pay raise would take effect in April, The Associated Press reported; other reports suggested that the raise might be a one-time bonus.
Still, signs that the revolt had not ended were rife. Plans to reopen the stock exchange were postponed until Sunday. The army kept columns of armored personnel carriers patrolling the streets, and burnt-out vehicles remained in various squares. The group of young professionals who used Facebook to organize protests called for a general strike Tuesday.
Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the demonstrations, teemed with protesters and a small army of vendors selling cigarettes, coffee - even sweet potatoes wrapped in a list of the protesters' demands. A dozen horse-carts, bereft of their usual tourist trade, waited for fares at the edges of the square. One idled driver, Muhammad Adel, said, "I am hopeful I can make some money here." .
The crowds demanding the immediate departure of Mr. Mubarak were smaller. But there were enough to form a human chain blocking the entrance to the Mugamma, a huge edifice on Cairo's central square built in the 1950s to house the city's labyrinthine bureaucracy - a central part of everyday life.
International financial markets were viewing the country as an increased risk. The Egyptian pound fell 1.6 percent (from 5.84 to 5.95 to the dollar) in global currency trading. The Central Bank, in its first auction of Treasury bills after a weeklong closure because of the revolt, sharply reduced the size of the sale, suggesting that demand by investors for Egyptian government debt was subdued.
On Sunday, the government announced that the transition had begun with a meeting between Vice President Omar Suleiman and two representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood, the outlawed Islamist group the Egyptian government has sought to repress for many years as a threat to stability. They met as part of a group of about 50 prominent Egyptians and opposition figures, including officials of the small, recognized opposition parties, as well as a handful of young people who helped start the protest movement.
While both sides acknowledged the meeting as unprecedented, its significance quickly became another skirmish in the battle between the president and the protesters. Mr. Suleiman released a statement - widely reported on state television and instantly a focal point in Washington - declaring that the meeting had produced a "consensus" about a path to reform, including the promise to form a committee to recommend constitutional changes by early March. The other elements echoed pledges Mr. Mubarak had already made, including a limit on how many terms a president can serve.
Leaders of the protest movement, including both its youthful members and Brotherhood officials, denounced Mr. Suleiman's portrayal of the meeting as a political ploy intended to suggest that some in their ranks were collaborating.
Though the movement has only a loose leadership, it has coalesced around a unified set of demands, centered on Mr. Mubarak's resignation, but also including the dissolution of one-party rule and revamping the Constitution that protected it, and Mr. Suleiman gave no ground on any of those demands.
"We did not come out with results," said Mohamed Morsy, a Brotherhood leader who attended, while others explained that the Brotherhood had attended only to reiterate its demands and show openness to dialogue.
The standoff over the meeting underscored the conflicting narratives about the next chapter of the revolt that has shaken Egypt and the wider Arab world.
Each side claimed that it had emerged from the last two weeks as a survivor - unarmed protesters repulsed assaults first by police officers in riot gear and then by pro-Mubarak gangs in plain clothes, but Mr. Mubarak still emerged from a week of demonstrations that brought hundreds of thousands into the streets with his position and his Western support still intact. And while the government hailed what it called a return to normalcy, the protesters vowed that there was no turning back.
To rebut Mr. Suleiman's claims of consensus, a group of young organizers whose Facebook page fomented the revolt - a half-dozen scruffy-looking doctors, lawyers and other professionals in their early 30s - stepped forward publicly for the first time. At least three had been released just the night before from three days of extra-legal detention at the hands of Mr. Mubarak's police, and they vowed to escalate their movement. "The government played all the dirty games that they had, and the people persisted," said Shady el-Ghazaly Harb, a 32-year-old surgeon. "We are betting on the people."
More than 100,000 turned out again on Sunday in the capital's central Tahrir Square - more than expected as the work week resumed here. And some of the movement's young organizers, who were busy meeting to organize their many small groups into a unified structure, said they were considering more large-scale demonstrations in other cities, strikes or acts of civil disobedience like surrounding the state television headquarters.
Zyad Elelaiwy, 32, a lawyer who is one of the online organizers and a member of the umbrella opposition group founded by Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel laureate, acknowledged a generational divide in the movement. Some older leaders - especially from the recognized parties - were tempted to negotiate with Mr. Suleiman, he said, but the young organizers determined to hold out for sweeping change.
"They are more close to negotiating, but they don't have access to the street," Mr. Elelaiwy said. "The people know us. They don't know them."
Mr. ElBaradei and the Muslim Brotherhood, the biggest opposition group, have committed to follow the lead of the young organizers, he said.
Many of the protesters who gathered in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protests, vented anger at reports that the United States was supporting the idea of a negotiated transition undertaken by Mr. Suleiman while Mr. Mubarak remained in power. "The extremists aren't here in Egypt, but they will be if the United States persists!" said Noha El Sharakawy, a 52-year-old pharmacist with dual citizenship in both countries.
But the young revolt's initiators said they were unfazed because they had never relied on Western support. "If the United States supports the revolution, it is good for the United States," said Islam Lofty, 32, a lawyer. "If they do not, it is an Egyptian issue."
Some in Washington said they welcomed Mr. Suleiman's statement, arguing that it echoed points that Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has pressed for: a clear road map and timetable of reforms, starting with the end of one-party rule and protections for political opponents and the news media.
Though Mr. Mubarak's government has often made similar pledges without delivering, American officials pursuing a strategy of slow and steady motion toward a few clear goals suggested they were gratified.
In an interview with National Public Radio on Sunday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that she and Mr. Biden had held many conversations with Mr. Suleiman about steps toward democracy. "We hear that they are committed to this," she said, "and when we press on concrete steps and timelines, we are given assurance that that will happen."
To explain the apparent American shift from urgent demands for change to endorsing plans for Mr. Mubarak to remain in place during a transition, Mrs. Clinton alluded to "a debate within Egypt itself, and not just in the government, but among the people of Egypt" over how to manage the timing of the transition, since the existing Egyptian Constitution would set an unrealistic deadline of two months for an election if Mr. Mubarak stepped down. That "doesn't give anybody enough time," she said. She has not addressed the Egyptian opposition's suggestion for how to solve that problem: suspension of the Constitution for up to a year until a transitional unity government can organize a free election.
In an appearance on ABC News, Mr. Suleiman said little to suggest that he was ready to move Egypt toward democracy or that he even took its youth-led democracy movement seriously.
Insisting that a transition had already begun with his meeting with members of the opposition, he reiterated that Mr. Mubarak would stay in power. If he left, Mr. Suleiman argued, "other people who have their own agenda will make instability in our country."
Brushing aside the secular character of the youth revolt shaking Egypt and the Arab world, Mr. Suleiman suggested conspiratorially that unspecified "other people" and "an Islamic current" were in fact pushing the young people forward. "It's not their idea," he said. "It comes from abroad."
And when asked about progress toward democracy, he asserted that Egypt was not ready, and would not be until "the people here will have the culture of democracy."
Mr. ElBaradei, who has been delegated as a negotiator for the protest movement, rejected Mr. Suleiman's arguments in his own Sunday talk show appearance.
"We need to abolish the present Constitution," Mr. ElBaradei said in an interview on CNN. "We need to dissolve the current Parliament. These are all elements of the dictatorship regime, and we should not be - I don't think we will go to democracy through the dictatorial Constitution."
Rashid Mohammed Rashid, a former minister of trade and industry, said in an interview with Fareed Zakaria on CNN that he believed it would be better for Mr. Mubarak to finish his term as president to ensure a smooth transition.
But he also dismissed the threat of a radical Islamist takeover that Mr. Mubarak has often used to justify his regime, in part because of the secular impulses of the new youth movement. "I generally believe that what we have seen in the last 10 days have been initiated by the young people of Egypt, that were probably, as I said, were restricted, despite the political reforms that have been happening, of having a voice and a share," Mr. Rashid said.
"Egypt is a great country," he said. "It has a great young population. It has a great future and I think it is time now to let the future happen by the young people, not by history,"
Protesters in the square, meanwhile, sought to dispel the notion that their ostensibly secular, liberal movement might contain seeds of extremism. Coptic Christians held a Mass there while Muslims stood guard, repaying a favor that Christian protesters did for Muslims on Friday.
Some in the square - where many have stayed for a week without going home - acknowledged some worries about Mr. Mubarak's perseverance, especially after the Western powers appeared to back a political transition that left him in place. "There is a lot of pressure on us," said Omar el Shamy. "We are kind of scared."
He added: "But after the work week started and they tried to get everyone to hate us because they couldn't get to work, the people keep coming!"
David D. Kirkpatrick reported from Cairo, and David E. Sanger from Washington. Mona El-Naggar contributed reporting from Cairo and Rick Gladstone from New York.
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6) At Night, Protest Gives Way to Poetry
"Political debates raged, as a gaggle of hundreds deliberated, by microphone, whether Egyptian television should be banned from Tahrir and effigies should be taken down from traffic lights. (Both proposals were rejected, by a show of hands.)"
By ANTHONY SHADID
February 6, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/world/middleeast/07square.html?ref=world
CAIRO - It was a few minutes after midnight on Sunday, when an unaccustomed rain washed Cairo's somnolent streets, as Ahmed Abdel-Moneim walked with friends across a bridge that was a passageway to a parallel capital in Tahrir Square, an idea as much as a place.
"My vision goes a lot farther than what my eyes can see," he said.
Egypt's revolution is a contest of ultimatums - chaos and revolution, freedom and submission - but its arena of Tahrir Square becomes quieter at night, the cacophony of rebellion giving way to a stage of poetry, performance and politics.
Be it the canteen that prepares cheese sandwiches, the volunteers who ferry tea to guards at the barricades, the pharmacies that are overstocked with Betadine or the artists who bring their aesthetic to the asphalt, their Cairo begins as the city sleeps. The weary collapse in exhaustion, but no one else seems willing to surrender a moment that feels imbued with the idealism of defiance.
"Everyone here is awake," Mr. Abdel-Moneim said as he passed an army checkpoint where a soldier urinated on his tank. "I might be weary, but when the morning comes, I can breathe freedom. What I've seen here is what I've never seen in my life."
Or, as graffiti on a tank put it, "The revolution is in Tahrir, no sleeping in bed."
On any day, the Arab world's greatest city staggers, its 18 million people joined by a million more from the countryside. Staccato horns bring a cadence to a rush hour that lasts all day, overwhelmed only by the din of one of the world's most crowded cities. The assault on the senses that the city represents has long given rise to a nostalgia, the glimpses of an older, more rarefied capital captured in black-and-white Egyptian movies.
Tahrir is that, longing and novelty.
As the night unfolded, vendors ambled through peaceful streets, past couples holding hands and men still wearing bandages from their fight with government supporters trying to overrun the square. "Tea for an Egyptian pound!" one cried. Volunteers handed out bread sticks. "My man, eat it!" shouted Ahmed Khater, to a gesture of polite reluctance. "Just take one. We came for you."
Down the street, men took their seats on the wet pavement, to a performance of colloquial poetry by a man in a wheelchair, speeches by a brawler draped in an Egyptian flag and slogans led by Mohammed Mahmoud, a 16-year-old with a knack for words.
"God reigns over the crisis, and that guy has the mind of a shoe," he cried of President Hosni Mubarak as he stood under a drizzle. (It rhymes in Arabic.) "Oh Mubarak, you coward, we're the people in the square" went another. (It rhymes, too.)
A speech followed. "Finally the decision is in our hand," it ended.
"After we get rid of him, we'll clean the square, we'll cherish the square," said Azza Khalil, an oncologist who has worked around the clock at a pharmacy set up near a line of tanks. "It will be a symbol of making something new."
She walked by box after box of bandages, lotions, disinfectant, inhalers, intravenous solution and even insulin - what she called "nearly a pharmacy" - provided by donations and organized by Dr. Khalil, who is a secular Muslim, as well as her veiled counterpart and a young Christian. Men healing from the clashes slept under lean-tos next to the tents the women used. In two days, Dr. Khalil had left for only a few hours.
"Some people go but come back quickly because it's so ugly outside," she said.
Protesters have called this "the Week of Steadfastness," and there is plenty here. But there is a sense of siege, too, with a lurking fear that the optimism of the people here may eventually succumb to grimmer realities. Near fires offering more smoke than flame, men debated whether Mr. Mubarak would leave tomorrow or the day after. Neither is probably the answer, as the government begins to gain its footing in the face of a 13-day uprising.
"Who knows what life will be like after Tahrir," said Mohammed Ali, one of the protesters. "I don't know if we can win or not. They have power, but we're not weak."
"The words of people," he added, "are stronger than guns."
At 3 a.m., words infused the square, in the form of songs from the 1960s and 1970s. "Oh Egypt, our numbers are still great, don't be scared of others' might" goes one song. Mohi Salah strummed the oud and sang another to the crowd. "If I die, mother, don't cry," his song went, "I'll have died so that my country can live."
Political debates raged, as a gaggle of hundreds deliberated, by microphone, whether Egyptian television should be banned from Tahrir and effigies should be taken down from traffic lights. (Both proposals were rejected, by a show of hands.)
Everywhere there was humor, for which Egyptians are famous. "Mubarak, please leave" went one man's placard. "I've been married for 20 days, and I miss my wife." Someone else joked that Mr. Mubarak immolated himself in protest over his people.
"Where can I find the Facebook youth?" a peasant from southern Egypt asked.
As dawn approached, youths typed away on computers, perusing Twitter and Web sites of Arabic satellite channels by way of Internet connections unlocked from apartments surrounding the square. Men waited for two hours in lines to the square's sole bathroom in the Omar Makram mosque. Two tents were set up for lost and found. Other tents housed artists, one of whom declared that Tahrir was the Revolution of Light. There was something fitting in the description, an idea of the ephemeral and fleeting.
"God has cured my ailments here," said Ali Seif, 52, a photographer who has been here since the uprising began, and who said he had diabetes and heart problems.
"That's what freedom feels like," said Ibrahim Hamid, standing next to him.
A little after 5 a.m., as the softest glow filtered across the sky, the call to prayer rang out. "Prayer is better than sleep," the muezzin cried. Men and women awoke, joining their community, as the call intersected with a medley rising across a capital known as the City of a Thousand Minarets. For a moment, Tahrir was tied to Cairo again.
Mohamed Farouq stood at the entrance to the Kasr el-Nil Bridge, the passageway to Tahrir.
"You feel like this is the society you want to live in," he said.
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7) Iraqis Protest To Demand Secure Jobs And Services
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 6, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/world/middleeast/07iraq.html?ref=world
BAGHDAD (AP) - Protesters scuffled with riot police officers and marched along sewage-filled streets in demonstrations across Iraq on Sunday to demand better utilities and job security from their government.
The authorities estimated that several thousand protesters turned out in Baghdad, Basra, Ramadi, Mosul and a small town in eastern Diyala Province. They were galvanizing on popular uprisings across the Middle East to repeat longstanding complaints about Iraq's limited electricity, shoddy water and sewage services and potential government layoffs.
"Our children have many diseases because of sewage problems and accumulated trash in the area," said Ali Hassan, a resident of Boub al-Sham, where more than 1,000 protesters gathered amid stagnant pools of water and a stench of waste in the air. The Diyala town is about 15 miles northeast of Baghdad.
In the southern port city of Basra, around 1,500 demonstrators got into a shoving match with riot police officers who lined up to protect the provincial government headquarters.
A small delegation of the protesters met with Basra provincial officials to present a list of demands, including better electricity, more jobs and a crackdown on crime and corruption in the city, Iraq's second largest.
Makki Jassim al-Timimi, who led the Basra protest, said officials promised to answer their demands within two weeks.
While protests in Iraq so far have come nowhere close to the scale or intensity of those in Egypt or Tunisia, they nonetheless have unnerved government officials.
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki announced last week that he would not run for a third term and that he would give up half his salary.
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8) Support Grows for Tiered Risk System at Airports
By SUSAN STELLIN
February 7, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/business/08security.html?ref=business
One reason airport security measures frustrate travelers is that screening procedures tend to treat all passengers the same: as potential terrorists.
But in the wake of the furor last fall over pat-downs and body scanners, several industry organizations are working on proposals to overhaul security checkpoints to provide more or less scrutiny based on the risk profile of each traveler.
While the proposals are in the early stages of development, they represent a growing consensus around a concept that has the support of John S. Pistole, the head of the Transportation Security Administration: divide travelers into three groups - trusted, regular or risky - and apply different screening techniques based on what is known about the passengers.
"Today we have T.S.A. agents looking at TV screens, but they don't know anything about the person going through the system," said Steve Lott, a spokesman for the International Air Transport Association. "The idea is to take data that the government and the airlines are already collecting about passengers and bring it to the checkpoint."
A crucial part of the group's "checkpoint of the future" proposal, and similar plans under discussion by other industry organizations, is creating a trusted traveler program that would allow passengers to undergo a background check to gain access to an expedited security lane at the airport.
These trusted travelers would probably pay a fee for the vetting, much like the $100 application fee for the Global Entry program operated by United States Customs and Border Protection. After submitting to an interview, a background check and a fingerprint scan to join Global Entry, members can clear customs using a kiosk instead of waiting to speak with an agent - a model for a screening process that could offer similar benefits to domestic travelers.
"Our security apparatus has already acknowledged that we can create trusted traveler programs," said Geoff Freeman, executive vice president of the U.S. Travel Association. "Let's expand on that."
The association, a travel trade group, plans to release its own proposal for ways to improve security checkpoints next month, but many of its core concepts overlap with ideas presented by the International Air Transport Association at an industry conference late last year.
Both groups envision three screening lanes with different security procedures based on varying levels of risk. Trusted travelers would undergo lighter screening, perhaps passing through a metal detector with their shoes on and laptops in their bags, whereas anyone flagged as potentially risky would receive more intensive scrutiny, using technology like the body scanners and interviews with officers trained in behavioral analysis.
Although many of the procedural details are still just proposals, the idea is to determine who may present a risk based on better use of government intelligence and watch lists as well as suspicious behaviors like checking in for a one-way international flight with no luggage.
Travelers in the middle group - neither vetted nor risky - would receive an intermediate level of screening, but ideally the process would be quicker than current procedures because suspicious passengers would be diverted to a separate lane.
Making the screening process more efficient is the major goal of both trade associations, based on concerns that as the economy improves and passenger traffic increases, security lines will slow down, deterring people from traveling. Whether more invasive procedures like pat-downs and body scanners are discouraging air travel is open to debate, but there is a growing consensus that 10 years after the Transportation Security Administration was created, it is time to re-evaluate the agency's strategy.
In remarks to the American Bar Association in January, Mr. Pistole expressed a need to formulate a vision for transportation security, mentioning a trusted traveler program as an option under consideration and expressing an openness to other suggestions.
"If people have ideas, he wants to hear them because he's looking at ways to make changes," a T.S.A. spokesman, Nicholas Kimball, said.
In response to concerns about the body scanners, the agency last week demonstrated software it was testing at Las Vegas McCarran International Airport that allowed the machines to display a generic outline of a human figure rather than the graphic images some passengers view as a privacy invasion.
The agency has also responded to pilots' concerns about escalating security measures by expediting the screening process for crew members, based on their trusted status and the background checks they undergo as a condition of their employment. The Air Line Pilots Association is another group calling for a more risk-based approach to security screening, not just for the crew but also for passengers.
The idea of a tiered security system is not new, but there is growing support for this type of approach, even on a global level. The International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations body that helps establish aviation policies for 190 member countries, has convened a working group to make recommendations about security screening procedures. A trusted traveler program is one idea on the table, said Jim Marriott, head of the organization's aviation security branch.
While there is support for more standardized practices around the world - rather than a hodgepodge of rules about liquids and laptops - Mr. Marriott cautioned that countries had different security needs, capabilities and resources.
"There are also some hard realities that we have to recognize in the security world about the protection of personal information and sensitivities to individual rights," he said.
Another issue in an era of tight budgets is the cost of escalating security measures, and how much taxpayers and travelers are willing to spend to feel safe in the air.
"We need strong high-level leadership that levels with the public and says, 'Look, you cannot expect perfection out of any security system,' " said Robert Poole, director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation.
For years, Mr. Poole has advocated for a more risk-based approach to aviation security, including some type of trusted traveler program. Now there finally seems to be more support to make it happen, he said.
"For the first time since 9/11, I think we have the conditions where it might be politically possible to have a serious debate about it," he said.
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9) Protesters Try to Block Tunisian Parliament
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 7, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/02/07/business/AP-AF-Tunisia.html?src=busln
Filed at 2:08 p.m. EST
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) - Hundreds of demonstrators in Tunisia's capital tried to block lawmakers from taking part in a vote Monday to give the interim president strong temporary powers after the ouster of the dictatorial regime.
Lawmakers maneuvered around the demonstrators by going in through the service door, the TAP news agency reported. In a 177-16 vote, the lower house approved a plan to give Interim President Fouad Mebazaa temporary power to pass laws by decree. The issue goes to the upper house Wednesday.
Tunisia is preparing for new presidential elections, expected within about six months, after former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled into exile Jan. 14 following a month of nationwide anti-government protests.
Rachida Neifer, a university professor among the demonstrators, said protesters believe that parliament - still dominated by members of the longtime ruling party - lost its legitimacy once Ben Ali was ousted. Demonstrators want a new constitution for the North African nation, she said.
Authorities have been removing traces of the Ben Ali regime, notably by replacing government members with strong connections to it, but the change is not fast enough for many citizens.
Last weekend, Tunisia's interior minister suspended all activities of the country's former ruling party. Meanwhile, crowds pillaged and burned a police station in the northwestern city of Kef, a day after police shot dead at least two demonstrators there. It was the worst violence in Tunisia since Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia, ending 23 years in power.
Also Monday, Tunisia's prime minister appealed for international aid to help offset economic losses estimated in the billions of dollars following the country's weeks of unrest.
Mohammmed Ghannouchi said in an interview published in the Financial Times that the cost to the Tunisian economy of the weeks of anti-government protests are between $5 billion and $8 billion, "and the needs going forward are even more significant."
"We must undertake massive and speedy investment in the regions, especially in the most underprivileged regions," he said.
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10) By 1 Measure, Federal Taxes Lowest Since 1950
[Tax the Rich! Feed the Poor! Stop the Rich from Stealing More!...bw]
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 7, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/02/07/business/AP-US-Lower-Tax-Bills.html?src=busln
Filed at 2:20 p.m. EST
WASHINGTON (AP) - Taxes too high?
Actually, as a share of the nation's economy, Uncle Sam's take this year will be the lowest since 1950, when the Korean War was just getting under way.
And for the third straight year, American families and businesses will pay less in federal taxes than they did under former President George W. Bush, thanks to a weak economy and a growing number of tax breaks for the wealthy and poor alike.
Income tax payments this year will be nearly 13 percent lower than they were in 2008, the last full year of the Bush presidency. Corporate taxes will be lower by a third, according to projections by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The poor economy is largely to blame, with corporate profits down and unemployment up. But so is a tax code that grows each year with new deductions, credits and exemptions. The result is that families making as much as $50,000 can avoid paying federal income taxes, if they have at least two dependent children. Low-income families can actually make a profit from the income tax, and the wealthy can significantly cut their payments.
"The current state of the tax code is simply indefensible," says Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. "It is hemorrhaging revenue."
In the next few years, many can expect to pay more in taxes. Some increases were enacted as part of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. And many states have raised taxes because - unlike the federal government - they have to balance their budgets each year. State tax receipts are projected to increase in all but seven states this year, according to the National Council of State Legislatures.
But in the third year of Obama's presidency, federal taxes are at historic lows. Tax receipts dropped sharply in 2009 as the economy sank into recession. They have since stabilized and are expected to grow by 3 percent this year. But federal tax revenues won't rebound to pre-recession levels until next year, according to CBO projections.
In the current budget year, federal tax receipts will be equal to 14.8 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, the lowest level since Harry Truman was president. In Bush's last year in office, tax receipts were 17.5 percent of GDP, just below their 40-year average.
The lack of revenue, combined with big increases in spending, means the federal government will have to borrow 40 cents for every dollar it spends this year. The annual federal budget deficit is projected to reach a record $1.5 trillion.
Lawmakers from both political parties vow to tackle the nation's financial problems. Republicans in Congress promise big spending cuts, and Obama says he wants to reshape corporate taxes, closing loopholes to pay for lower overall rates. Few in Washington, however, are calling for big tax increases, at least in the short term.
"America's tax system is clearly broken," Donald Marron, a former economic adviser to Bush, told the Senate Budget Committee at a recent hearing. "It fails at its most basic task, which, lest we forget, is raising enough money to pay for the federal government."
At the request of The Associated Press, The Tax Institute at H&R Block compared 2008 and 2010 tax bills for families at various income levels, showing how their taxes have changed since Obama took office. Taxpayers are filing their 2010 tax returns this spring, while 2008 was the last full year that Bush was president. The scenarios assume that each family had the same income, filing status and number of dependent children in both years.
Income tax rates remain unchanged. But many taxpayers are seeing their bills drop under Obama because of more generous tax credits for college students, working families, homebuyers and the working poor. Many of the changes were enacted as part of the big economic stimulus package passed in 2009.
Congress also extended Bush-era tax cuts through 2012. Lawmakers let Obama's Making Work Pay tax credit expire at the end of 2010, but they replaced it with a one-year cut in Social Security payroll taxes that is already showing up in workers' paychecks.
Some scenarios:
- A married couple with two young children and a combined income of $25,000 will pay no federal income taxes for 2010. Instead, they'll get a payment of $7,085 - up from $6,700 in 2008. The larger payment comes mainly from a more generous Earned Income Tax Credit, which provides subsidies to the working poor. They will also get a $1,000-per-child tax credit. The example illustrates how complicated tax returns can be, even for low-income families, said Kathy Pickering, executive director of The Tax Institute at H&R Block.
- A married couple with two children, including one in college, and a combined income of $50,000 would pay no federal income taxes, instead getting a payment of $734 from the government this year. However, they did better in 2008 when they netted a $1,234 payment from the government. That's because Obama's Making Work Pay credit was worth less to them than the Bush-era economic stimulus payment they received in 2008.
- A single person making $50,000 while paying interest on a student loan would have a 2010 tax bill of $5,325 - a $63 decrease from 2008. The difference is due to an inflation-based increase in the standard deduction and personal exemption.
- A married couple with two children, including one in college, with some modest investments and a combined income of $200,000 will see their federal income tax bill drop by $780, to $28,496. Their tax bill is lower than in 2008 largely because itemized deductions are no longer limited for high-income families.
-A rich couple with two kids in college, larger investments and a combined income of $1 million will see their taxes drop by $6,740, to $277,699 in 2010. Their tax bill is lower than in 2008 because they were able to defer a larger portion of their income to retirement accounts, and because itemized deductions are no longer limited for high-income families.
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11) Egyptian Revolution: Protesters Not Settling for Concessions, U.S. Envoy to Egypt Had Business Ties to Mubarak Gov't
By Lauren Kelley | Sourced from AlterNet
Posted at February 7, 2011, 7:46 am
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/464217/egyptian_revolution%3A_protesters_not_settling_for_concessions%2C_u.s._envoy_to_egypt_had_business_ties_to_mubarak_gov%27t/#paragraph4
Today marks the fourteenth consecutive day of protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square, with pro-democracy protesters continuing to call for President Mubarak's ouster. The government made a few concessions to the protesters this weekend, but those negotiations failed to placate the demonstrators, who are settling for nothing less than a new political system in Egypt. Al Jazeera reports:
Omar Suleiman, the country's newly appointed vice-president, began meetings with six opposition groups on Sunday, including the banned Muslim Brotherhood (MB), in an attempt to end the crisis.
But Salma El-Tarzi, an activist in Tahrir Square, told Al Jazeera that she was indifferent to the talks. "The political parties can do whatever they please because they don't represent us," she said. "This is not a revolution made by the parties. The parties have been there for 30 years and they've done nothing. This is the people's revolution."
The concessions from the government included offers to "form a committee to examine proposed constitutional amendments, pursue allegedly corrupt government officials, 'liberalise' media and communications and lift the state of emergency in the country when the security situation was deemed to be appropriate."
Meanwhile, McClatchy reports that the Egyptian military spent the weekend rounding up and detaining "scores of human rights activists, protest organizers and journalists" without formally charging them of any crime -- a sign that Mubarak is hanging onto his old ways, even as he is being forced out of power.
The U.S. government, for its part, is apparently having trouble maintaining consistency of message about what it wants to see happen in Egypt. Over the weekend, U.S. envoy to Cairo Frank Wisner embarrassed and confused the White House by breaking from the official Obama administration line re: Egypt (Mubarak should step down peacefully, etc.). Speaking in Cairo on Saturday, the retired State Department employee said that "President Mubarak's continued leadership is critical: it's his opportunity to write his own legacy." Robert Fisk of the Independent reports on the furious back-pedaling now underway at the White House and reveals that Wisner had business ties to the Mubarak regime:
The US State Department and Mr Wisner himself have now both claimed that his remarks were made in a "personal capacity". But there is nothing "personal" about Mr Wisner's connections with the litigation firm Patton Boggs, which openly boasts that it advises "the Egyptian military, the Egyptian Economic Development Agency, and has handled arbitrations and litigation on the [Mubarak] government's behalf in Europe and the US". Oddly, not a single journalist raised this extraordinary connection with US government officials - nor the blatant conflict of interest it appears to represent.
As for the real White House stance on Mubarak -- it's not garnering much support from the protesters in Tahrir Square either. "Protesters tell me Obama still hasn't come up with any statement that they want to hear," said an Al Jazeera correspondent reporting from the square. "They want immediate change and the feeling among many of them is that the way US is handling this crisis is not good for the way America is perceived both here and in general in the wider region."
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12) Protests swell at Tahrir Square
Tens-of-thousands pour into central Cairo seeking president Mubarak's ouster, despite a slew of government concessions.
Last Modified: 08 Feb 2011 15:27 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201128123235508653.html
Thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators have poured into Cairo's Tahrir (Liberation) Square as protests against Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, entered their 15th day despite a slew of concessions announced by the government.
Tens of thousands of protesters have also come out on the streets in Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city.
There were also reports of a protest outside the parliament building in the capital. A witness said at least a thousand people had gathered at the spot and more were coming in.
According to Hoda Abdel-Hamid, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the Egyptian capital, the crowd at Tahrir Square grew rapidly on Tuesday afternoon, with many first-timers joining protesters seeking Mubarak's immediate ouster.
The newcomers said they had been inspired in part by the release of Wael Ghonim, the Google executive, after what he said was two weeks of detention by state security authorities.
"I came here for the first time today because this cabinet is a failure, Mubarak is still meeting the same ugly faces ... he can't believe it is over. He is a very stubborn man," Afaf Naged, a former member of the board of directors of the state-owned National Bank of Egypt, said.
"I am also here because of Wael Ghonim. He was right when he said the NDP [ruling National Democratic Party] is finished. There is no party left, but they don't want to admit it," she said.
Amr Fatouh, a surgeon, said he had joined the protests for the first time too.
"I hope people will continue and more people will come. At first, people did not believe the regime would fall but that is changing," he said.
Ghonim was the person behind a page called "We are all Khaled Said" on the social networking site Facebook, which is being credited for helping spark the uprising in Egypt.
Another Al Jazeera journalist, reporting from the square, said the protesters' resolve seemed very high. Many said they would not leave until their demands are met.
Meanwhile, about 20 lawyers have petitioned Abdel Meguid Mahmoud, the country's prosecutor general, to try Mubarak and his family for allegedly stealing state wealth.
Ibrahim Yosri, a lawyer and a former deputy foreign minister, has drafted the petition.
Constitutional reforms
But Mubarak's message has thus far been that he will not leave until his term expires in September.
However in a statement made on Egyptian state television, Omar Suleiman, the country's vice-president, said that a plan was in place for the peaceful transfer of power.
Suleiman Speech
Following are the main points of announcement
Mubarak will form a committee to review constitutional amendments.
Mubarak will form another committee to follow up govt measures to solve the crisis, including talks with opposition.
Third committee will investigate violent acts and attacks on protesters.
Mubarak has promised not to arrest or charge any one of those who took part in the protests.
The newly appointed vice-president announced on Tuesday that Mubarak would set up a committee that would carry out constitutional and legislative amendments to enable a shift of power.
Suleiman also said that a separate committee will be set up to monitor the implementation of all proposed reforms. The two committees will start working immediately, he said.
Suleiman stressed that demonstrators will not be prosecuted.
The government had offered on Monday a pay rise to public-sector workers, but the pro-democracy camp said the government had conceded little ground in trying to end the current crisis.
"[The pay rise] doesn't mean anything," Sherif Zein, a protester at Tahrir Square told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.
"Maybe it will be a short-term release for the workers ... but most of the people will realise what this is, it's just a tablet of asprin, but it's nothing meaningful."
Beyond Tahrir Square, life has been slowly getting back to normal in other parts of Cairo with some shops and banks reopening.
Tourism sector affected
However, the country's tourism sector is still suffering, with the area around the famed pyramids remaining closed. The Credit Agricole bank says the protests are costing Egypt more than $300m a day.
"There is a lot of popular public sentiments in Cairo and wider Egypt regarding what those protesters are trying to achieve but at the same time, people are trying to get back to live as normal lives as possible," our correspondent said.
Another correspondent, also in Cairo, said: "There are divisions. On one side, people do agree with the messages coming out of Tahrir Square, but on the other, Egypt is a country where about 40 per cent of the population lives on daily wages."
Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from Cairo, said that a so-called battle for hearts and minds is going on.
"Anti-government demonstrators are pushing to convince the country that Mubarak needs to go, but some also don't want the country to plunge into chaos," he said.
"There is also a struggle to get back to normality. Many want to get back to normal lives, but at the same time want this campaign to continue."
Tanks continue to guard government buildings, embassies and other important institutions in the capital.
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13) A Terrible Divide
"For American corporations, the action is increasingly elsewhere. Their interests are not the same as those of workers, or the country as a whole. As Harold Meyerson put it in The American Prospect: 'Our corporations don't need us anymore. Half their revenues come from abroad. Their products, increasingly, come from abroad as well.' American workers are in a world of hurt. Anyone who thinks that politicians can improve this sorry state of affairs by hacking away at Social Security, Medicare and the public schools are great candidates for involuntary commitment. New ideas on a grand scale are needed. The United States can't thrive with so many of its citizens condemned to shrunken standards of living because they can't find adequate employment. Long-term joblessness is a recipe for societal destabilization. It should not be tolerated in a country with as much wealth as the United States. It's destructive, and it's wrong."
By BOB HERBERT
February 7, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/opinion/08herbert.html?hp
The Ronald Reagan crowd loved to talk about morning in America. For millions of individuals and families, perhaps the majority, it's more like twilight - with nighttime coming on fast.
Look out the window. More and more Americans are being left behind in an economy that is being divided ever more starkly between the haves and the have-nots. Not only are millions of people jobless and millions more underemployed, but more and more of the so-called fringe benefits and public services that help make life livable, or even bearable, in a modern society are being put to the torch.
Employer-based pensions, paid vacations, health benefits and the like are going the way of phone booths and VCRs. As poverty increases and reliable employment becomes less and less the norm, the dwindling number of workers with any sort of job security or guaranteed pensions (think teachers and other modestly compensated public employees) are being viewed with increasing contempt. How dare they enjoy a modicum of economic comfort?
It turns out that a lot of those jobs were never so secure, after all. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities tells us:
"At least 44 states and the District of Columbia have reduced overall wages paid to state workers by laying off workers, requiring them to take unpaid leave (furloughs), freezing hew hires, or similar actions. State and local governments have eliminated 407,000 jobs since August 2008, federal data show."
We have not faced up to the scale of the economic crisis that still confronts the United States.
Standards of living for the people on the wrong side of the economic divide are being ratcheted lower and will remain that way for many years to come. Forget the fairy tales being spun by politicians in both parties - that somehow they can impose service cuts that are drastic enough to bring federal and local budgets into balance while at the same time developing economic growth strong enough to support a robust middle class. It would take a Bernie Madoff to do that.
In the real world, schools and libraries are being closed and other educational services are being curtailed. Police officers are being fired. Access to health services for poor families is being restricted. "At least 29 states and the District of Columbia," according to the budget center, "are cutting medical, rehabilitative, home care, or other services needed by low-income people who are elderly or have disabilities, or are significantly increasing the cost of these services."
For a variety of reasons, there are not enough tax revenues being generated to pay for the basic public services that one would expect in an advanced country like the United States. The rich are not shouldering their fair share of the tax burden. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continue to consume an insane amount of revenue. And there are not enough jobs available at decent enough pay to ease some of the demand for public services while at the same time increasing the amount of taxes paid by ordinary workers.
The U.S. cannot cut its way out of this crisis. Instead of trying to figure out how to keep 4-year-olds out of pre-kindergarten classes, or how to withhold life-saving treatments from Medicaid recipients, or how to cheat the elderly out of their Social Security, the nation's leaders should be trying seriously to figure out what to do about the future of the American work force.
Enormous numbers of workers are in grave danger of being left behind permanently. Businesses have figured out how to prosper without putting the unemployed back to work in jobs that pay well and offer decent benefits.
Corporate profits and the stock markets are way up. Businesses are sitting atop mountains of cash. Put people back to work? Forget about it. Has anyone bothered to notice that much of those profits are the result of aggressive payroll-cutting - companies making do with fewer, less well-paid and harder-working employees?
For American corporations, the action is increasingly elsewhere. Their interests are not the same as those of workers, or the country as a whole. As Harold Meyerson put it in The American Prospect: "Our corporations don't need us anymore. Half their revenues come from abroad. Their products, increasingly, come from abroad as well."
American workers are in a world of hurt. Anyone who thinks that politicians can improve this sorry state of affairs by hacking away at Social Security, Medicare and the public schools are great candidates for involuntary commitment.
New ideas on a grand scale are needed. The United States can't thrive with so many of its citizens condemned to shrunken standards of living because they can't find adequate employment. Long-term joblessness is a recipe for societal destabilization. It should not be tolerated in a country with as much wealth as the United States. It's destructive, and it's wrong.
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14) TV Interview of Protest Leader Revives Crowd in Cairo Square
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, KAREEM FAHIM and ALAN COWELL
February 8, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/world/middleeast/09egypt.html?hp
CAIRO - Several thousand demonstrators marched on the Egyptian Parliament for the first time and masses crammed into Tahrir Square on Tuesday to demand the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in a revolt buoyed by the broadcast of an emotional television interview with a young Google executive conducted hours after his release from secret detention.
The executive, Wael Ghonim, had been a quiet force behind the YouTube and Facebook promotion of the protests, but became a symbol after he disappeared nearly two weeks ago. On Monday night, he became an instant icon when the interview was broadcast on an Egyptian satellite channel, telling his story of detention and continued hope for change that resonated deeply with the demonstrators' demands for more fundamental shifts and their outrage over repression.
In the interview, Mr. Ghonim wept over the death toll from clashes with the government. "We were all down there for peaceful demonstrations," he said, asking that he not be made a hero. "The heroes were the ones on the street."
On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Ghonim galvanized Tahrir Square, briefly joining the tens of thousands of chanting protesters there. "We will not abandon our demand, and that is the departure of the regime," he told the crowd, which roared its agreement, The Associated Press reported.
State television responded Tuesday with an appearance by Vice President Omar Suleiman offering placating messages of respect and reform that Mr. Suleiman said came from Mr. Mubarak himself.
"The youth of Egypt deserve national appreciation," Mr. Suleiman quoted the president as saying. "He gave orders to abstain from prosecuting them and forfeiting their rights to freedom of expression."
Mr. Mubarak has endorsed moves to create a timetable for a "peaceful and organized transfer of power," Mr. Suleiman said, and he "welcomed this national reconciliation, assuring that it puts our feet at the beginning of the right path to get out of the current crisis."
After demonstrating an ability to bring hundreds of thousands to downtown Cairo, protest organizers have sought this week to broaden their movement, acknowledging that simple numbers are not enough to force Mr. Mubarak's departure. The government - by trying to divide the opposition, offering limited concessions and remaining patient - appears to believe it can weather the biggest challenge to its rule.
But protesters continued to demand Mr. Mubarak's ouster and deep change. Some handed out spoof copies of the official Al Ahram newspaper with the headline: "From the people of Tahrir, Mubarak must go." Substantial protests were seen in Alexandria, as well.
While some demonstrators had urged a general strike on Tuesday, there was no indication that the call had been heeded, or widely broadcast, in a city where many people live from day to day on low wages. There were scattered reports of walk-outs on a small scale in the city of Suez.
Momentum has seemed to shift by the day in a climactic struggle over what kind of change Egypt will undergo and whether Egyptian officials are sincere about delivering it. In a sign of the tension, American officials described as "unacceptable" statements by Mr. Suleiman that the country was not ready for democracy, but showed no sign that they had shifted away from supporting him, a man widely viewed here as an heir to Mr. Mubarak.
Underscoring the government's perspective that it has already offered what the protesters demanded, Naguib Sawiris, a wealthy businessman who has sought to act as a mediator, said: "Tahrir is underestimating their victory. They should declare victory."
Normalcy had begun returning to parts of Cairo on Monday. Chronic traffic jams resumed as the city adapted to both the sprawling protests in Tahrir Square, a landmark of downtown Cairo, and the tanks, armored personnel carriers and soldiers out in the streets. People lined up at banks and returned to shops.
The government has sought to cultivate that image of the ordinary, mobilizing its newspapers and television to insist that it was re-exerting control over the capital after its police force utterly collapsed on Jan. 28. The cabinet on Monday held its first formal meeting since Mr. Mubarak reorganized it after the protests.
Officials announced that the stock market, whose index fell nearly 20 percent in two days of protests, would reopen Sunday and that six million government employees would receive a 15 percent raise, which the new finance minister, Samir Radwan, said would take effect in April.
The raise mirrored moves in Kuwait and Jordan to raise salaries or provide grants to stanch anger over rising prices across the Middle East, shaken with the repercussions of Egypt's uprising and the earlier revolt in Tunisia. In Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said Friday he would cut in half his salary, believed to be $350,000, amid anger there over dreary government services.
As in the past the government here has swerved between crackdown and modest moves of conciliation. In harrowing raids it arrested 30 human rights activists, but released them by Sunday morning. In past years the government has managed to at least make its version of events the dominant narrative, but in the outpouring of dissent here that is no longer the case. Fighting still flared in the Sinai Peninsula, where Bedouins, long treated as second-class citizens, have fought Egyptian security forces for weeks.
David D. Kirkpatrick and Kareem Fahim reported from Cairo and Alan Cowell from Paris. Anthony Shadid, Mona el-Naggar, Thanassis Cambanis and Liam Stack contributed reporting in Cairo.
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15) Speakers' Corner on the Nile
"...there is an old Egyptian poem that says: 'The Nile can bend and turn, but what is impossible is that it would ever dry up.' The same is true of the river of freedom that is loose here now. Maybe you can bend it for a while, or turn it, but it is not going to dry up."
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
February 7, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/opinion/08friedman.html?hp
Cairo
I'm in Tahrir Square, and of all the amazing things one sees here the one that strikes me most is a bearded man who is galloping up and down, literally screaming himself hoarse, saying: "I feel free! I feel free!" Gathered around him are Egyptians of all ages, including a woman so veiled that she has only a slit for her eyes, and they're all holding up cellphones taking pictures and video of this man, determined to capture the moment in case it never comes again.
Aren't we all? In 40 years of writing about the Middle East, I have never seen anything like what is happening in Tahrir Square. In a region where the truth and truth-tellers have so long been smothered under the crushing weight of oil, autocracy and religious obscurantism, suddenly the Arab world has a truly free space - a space that Egyptians themselves, not a foreign army, have liberated - and the truth is now gushing out of here like a torrent from a broken hydrant.
What one hears while strolling around are all the pent-up hopes, aspirations and frustrations of Egyptians for the last 50 years. I know the "realist" experts believe this will all be shut down soon. Maybe it will. But for one brief shining moment, forget the experts and just listen. You have not heard this before. It is the sound of a people so long kept voiceless, finally finding, testing and celebrating their own voices.
"We got a message from Tunis," Hosam Khalaf, a 50-year-old engineer stopped me to say. "And the message was: Don't burn yourself up; burn up the fear that is inside you. That is what happened here. This was a society in fear, and the fear has been burned." Khalaf added that he came here with his wife and daughter for one reason: "When we meet God, we will at least be able to say: 'We tried to do something.' "
This is not a religious event here, and the Muslim Brotherhood is not running the show. This is an Egyptian event. That is its strength and its weakness - no one is in charge and everyone in the society is here. You see secular girls in fashionable dress sitting with veiled women. You see parents pushing their babies wearing "Mubarak must leave" signs. You see students in jeans and peasants in robes. What unites all of them is a fierce desire to gain control of their future.
"This is the first time in my life I get to say what I think in public," said Remon Shenoda, a software engineer. "And what is common here is that everyone wants to say something."
Indeed, there is a powerful sense of theft here, that this regime and its cronies not only stole wealth, but they stole something so much more precious: the future of an entire generation of Egyptians, whom they refused to empower or offer any inspiring vision worthy of this great civilization.
"All Egyptian people believe that their country is a great country with very deep roots in history, but the Mubarak regime broke our dignity in the Arab world and in the whole world," said Mohamed Serag, a professor at Cairo University. By the way, everyone here wants to give you their name and make sure you spell it right. Yes, the fear is gone.
Referring to Egypt's backward public education system that depends so much on repetition, one young girl was wearing a sign urging Mubarak to leave quickly. It said: "Make it short. This is history, and we will have to memorize it at school."
Grievances abound. An elderly woman in a veil is shouting that she has three daughters who graduated from the college of commerce and none of them can find jobs. There are signs everywhere asking about Mubarak, a former Air Force chief. Questions such as: "Hey Mr. Pilot, where did you get that $17 billion?"
You almost never hear the word "Israel," and the pictures of "martyrs" plastered around the square are something rarely seen in the Arab world - Egyptians who died fighting for their own freedom not against Israel.
When you enter the square now, one row of volunteers checks your ID, another frisks you for weapons and then you walk through a long gauntlet of men clapping and singing an Egyptian welcome song.
I confess, as I walked through, my head had a wrestling match going on inside. My brain was telling me: "Sober up - remember, this is not a neighborhood with happy endings. Only bad guys win here." And my eyes were telling me: "Just watch and take notes. This is something totally new."
And the this is a titanic struggle and negotiation between the tired but still powerful, top-down 1952 Egyptian Army-led revolution and a vibrant, new, but chaotic, 2011, people-led revolution from the bottom-up - which has no guns but enormous legitimacy. I hope the Tahrir Square protesters can get organized enough to negotiate a new constitution with the army. There will be setbacks. But whatever happens, they have changed Egypt.
After we walked from Tahrir Square across the Nile bridge, Professor Mamoun Fandy remarked to me that there is an old Egyptian poem that says: " 'The Nile can bend and turn, but what is impossible is that it would ever dry up.' The same is true of the river of freedom that is loose here now. Maybe you can bend it for a while, or turn it, but it is not going to dry up."
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