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Army sets pre-trial hearing date for Bradley. Vigils and rallies planned at Fort Meade MD, worldwide.
Protest his Pretrial Hearing Saturday, Dec 17th (Bradley's B-Day) at 12pm at Fort Meade, MD outside Washington D.C.! (Solidarity actions taking place around the world.)
http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/army-schedules-dec-16-pretrial-hearing-for-pfc-bradley-manning
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Occupy Oakland Calls for TOTAL WEST COAST PORT SHUTDOWN ON 12/12
Posted 21 hours ago on Nov. 19, 2011, 8:35 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
http://occupywallst.org/article/occupy-oakland-calls-total-west-coast-port-shutdow/
Proposal for a Coordinated West Coast Port Shutdown, Passed With Unanimous Consensus by vote of the Occupy Oakland General Assembly 11/18/2012:
In response to coordinated attacks on the occupations and attacks on workers across the nation:
Occupy Oakland calls for the blockade and disruption of the economic apparatus of the 1% with a coordinated shutdown of ports on the entire West Coast on December 12th. The 1% has disrupted the lives of longshoremen and port truckers and the workers who create their wealth, just as coordinated nationwide police attacks have turned our cities into battlegrounds in an effort to disrupt our Occupy movement.
We call on each West Coast occupation to organize a mass mobilization to shut down its local port. Our eyes are on the continued union-busting and attacks on organized labor, in particular the rupture of Longshoremen jurisdiction in Longview Washington by the EGT. Already, Occupy Los Angeles has passed a resolution to carry out a port action on the Port Of Los Angeles on December 12th, to shut down SSA terminals, which are owned by Goldman Sachs.
Occupy Oakland expands this call to the entire West Coast, and calls for continuing solidarity with the Longshoremen in Longview Washington in their ongoing struggle against the EGT. The EGT is an international grain exporter led by Bunge LTD, a company constituted of 1% bankers whose practices have ruined the lives of the working class all over the world, from Argentina to the West Coast of the US. During the November 2nd General Strike, tens of thousands shutdown the Port Of Oakland as a warning shot to EGT to stop its attacks on Longview. Since the EGT has disregarded this message, and continues to attack the Longshoremen at Longview, we will now shut down ports along the entire West Coast.
Participating occupations are asked to ensure that during the port shutdowns the local arbitrator rules in favor of longshoremen not crossing community picket lines in order to avoid recriminations against them. Should there be any retaliation against any workers as a result of their honoring pickets or supporting our port actions, additional solidarity actions should be prepared. In the event of police repression of any of the mobilizations, shutdown actions may be extended to multiple days.
In Solidarity and Struggle,
Occupy Oakland
-In Oakland: the West Coast Port Shutdown Coordinating Committee will meet on General Assembly days at 5pm before the GA to organize the local shutdown, and to network with other occupations.
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Suggested slogan for the 2012 elections:
DON'T VOTE FOR THE ONE PERCENT!
http://community.nytimes.com/comments/cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/protesters-and-officers-clash-near-wall-street/?permid=567#comment567
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We Are the 99 Percent
We are the 99 percent. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we're working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent.
Brought to you by the people who occupy wall street. Why will YOU occupy?
OccupyWallSt.org
Occupytogether.org
wearethe99percentuk.tumblr.com
http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/
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Drop All Charges on the 'Occupy Wall Street' Arrestees!
Stop Police Attacks & Arrests! Support 'Occupy Wall Street'!
SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION AT http://bailoutpeople.org/dropchargesonoccupywallstarrestees.shtml to send email messages to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, NYC City Council, NYPD, the NY Congressional Delegation, Congressional Leaders, the NY Legislature, President Obama, Attorney General Holder, members of the media YOU WANT ALL CHARGES DROPPED ON THE 'OCCUPY WALL STREET ARRESTEES!
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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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es we can! *We are the 99%!*
SI PODEMOS! *NOSOTROS SOMOS EL 99%*
*Join Occupy SF, Mission community, and immigrants rights groups*
*March for Immigrants Rights!*
Sat, Nov 26th/SABADO, 26 DE NOVIEMBRE
3pm - March: Occupy SF (Justin Herman Plaza)
4pm - Rally: 16th & Mission
4:30pm - March: to 24th & Mission
UNASE A OCCUPY SF, LA COMUNIDAD DE LA MISSION, Y GRUPOS POR LOS DERECHOS DE
LOS INMIGRANTES!
*MARCHE POR LOS DERECHOS DE LOS INMIGRANTES!*
3 PM Marcha desde Occupy SF (Justin Herman Plaza, Embarcadero)
4 PM Rally en la esquina de la 16 y Mission
4:30 PM Marcha a la esquina de la 24 y Mission
Download English or Espanol flyers (1/4 sheets or 8 1/2 x 11)
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/11/22/18700768.php*
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Occupy UC Davis Calls Monday, Nov. 28 General Strike to Shut Down CA Campuses, Block Regents' Austerity Vote
Postedby OccupyWallSt
http://www.occupywallst.org/article/occupy-uc-davis-calls-nov-28-general-strike-shut-d/
The following proposal was passed by a massive general assembly today at UC Davis:
The UC Board of Regents, who not only represent but actually are this state's richest one percent, has repeatedly shown itself to be utterly unfit to manage and represent the interests of the students, faculty, and workers who constitute the University of California.
Following two successive years of sharp tuition increases, accompanied by millions in department and resource cuts, layoffs, and furloughs, the board had the audacity to propose a new 81% fee increase and drastic budget reductions.
Undergraduate student fees have tripled over the past ten years, as we have seen an unprecedented explosion of student debt; and departmental budgets have shrunk, as academic and non-academic workers experience diminishing benefits, swelling workloads, and non-existent job security.
In the midst of the economic crisis, the Regents have intensified their pursuit of the project of privatization and de-funding that diminish the quality of education and quality of life for those across the UC, while consigning students' futures to greater and greater sums of debt.
The Regents' theft of an ostensibly public resource to fund "capital projects" such as construction projects and private research initiatives, demonstrate a clear conflict of interests that benefits a narrow administrative elite-both the Regents and their local appointees (chancellors and vice chancellors)-at the expense of the greater faculty, staff, and student body.
The familiar rhetoric of austerity demands our resigned compliance, as our learning and working conditions progressively deteriorate. We have seen recently and in years past that political dissent is met with increasingly violent displays of force and repression by University police.
The continued destruction of higher education in California, and the repressive forms of police violence that sustain it, cannot be viewed apart from larger economic and political systems that concentrate wealth and political power in the hands of the few.
Since the university has long served as one of the few means of social mobility and for the proliferation of knowledge critical to and outside of existing structures of power, the vital role it plays as one of the few truly public resources is beyond question.
The necessity of reclaiming the UC has never demanded such urgency, as it continues to shift towards the corporate model, pursues dubious fiscal partnerships (such as those with the defense department and international agribusiness), and engages in disturbing collusion with financial institutions like US Bank (which is one of the largest profiteers from student loans).
As such, I propose that in light of the upcoming Regents' vote on Monday the 28th, (which will be occurring on four campuses simultaneously, one of which being UC Davis), that we call for a general strike this same day, with the aim of shutting down campuses across the state and preventing the Regents from holding their vote.
In response to the intolerable effects privatization and austerity and the horrific repression of student dissent that has occurred throughout the last month, the GA, as a governing body of all concerned UC Davis students, will prevent the Board of Regents from continuing its unbridled assault upon higher education in the state of California.
This will entail total campus participation in shutting down the operations of the university on the 28th, including teaching, working, learning, and transportation, as we will collectively divert our efforts to blocking their vote[s]. In doing so students, faculty and workers assert the power-and the will-to effectively represent and manage ourselves.
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Youth Together: RALLY & MARCH NOV. 30
STOP CORPORATIONS STEAL OUR FUTURE!
They make billions, pay little or no tax at all, buy and run our government, and get bailed out at our expense.
Date: Wednesday, Nov. 30th
Time: 4pm
Gather at the steps of City Hall in Oakland and march to Chevron Gas Station on Castro Street
Chevron as the largest corporation in California:
Made $18 billion in profits in 2009 and paid no federal tax. In fact, it received $19 million in benefits;
Pays no tax on drilling oil in California;
Enjoys millions from its under-assessed properties under Prop. 13;
Spent nearly $7 million on lobbying this year;
Contributed almost $1 million to California state politicians during 2009-2010 session;
Has $13 billion in cash on hand, etc.
Money for schools and our future!
JOIN KIDS COUNT! CAMPAIGN
For more information please contact us at 510-645-9209 ext.316 or visit www.youthtogether.net -- facebook.com/kidscountca
Please check the attachment for the flier in PDF File.
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FRIDAY, DEC. 2
DAY OF ACTION IN SF TO STOP THE CUTS
The 1% Got Bailed Out & The 99% Got Sold Out!
NO CUTS!
* Because a Phony Deficit Crisis Transfers More Wealth to the 1%!
* Because We Oppose Cutting Social Benefits Already Paid For by the 99%!
* Because We Should Tax the 1%!
* Because We Should Fund Jobs Instead of Wars!
* Because We Should Pay for Schools Instead of Prisons and Forgive Student Loans!
Expand Social Security!
No Cuts to Medicaid!
Medicare for All!
Jobs for All & Economic Fairness!
2:00 PM OCCUPY THE FEDERAL BUILDING PLAZA
(7th & Mission St./Civic Center Bart/Muni)
Assemble at the SF Federal Building where hundreds of us will peacefully deliver our strong message to government representatives of No Cuts to Medicaid; Expand Social Security and Medicare for All while a rally is held outside in the Federal Building Plaza. We will then march to the Financial District.
3:30 PM OCCUPY WALL STREET WEST
We will march to several wretched symbols of corporate and financial corruption K Westfield Plaza (to support SEIU Local 87), Wells Fargo Bank (to demand cancellation of student debt), and Verizon (to demand end to attacks on 45,000 union workers) K then to the Occupy SF area at the foot of Market St.
4:30 HYATT REGENCY
5:00 PM INTO THE NIGHT CELCEBRATE & DEFEND OCCUPY SF
We will gather for a protest action at Hyatt Regency Hotel (foot of Market St.), a notorious symbol of corporate greed, to express our solidarity with Hotel Workers Local 2 before assembling for a rally/concert in Justin Herman Plaza to support Occupy SF.
This is a peaceful & family-friendly day of protest.
Contact Amber Parrish Bauer, SF Labor Council, 415 440-4809
Endorsers forming San Francisco Labor Council & San Mateo County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, Veterans for Peace, Chap.162, East Bay, Single Payer Now, California Alliance for Retired Americans, Independent Living Resource Center, San Francisco, Jobs with Justice, MoveOn.org, SF Living Wage Coalition, U.S.Labor Against War , Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace & Justice, State Council, Peace & Freedom Party, ANSWER
Thanks to Nicholas Brown for this extremely educational 15-minute video presentation exposing fraudulent claims that we of the 99% must pay for deficits created by the 1%.
The video was produced especially to promote the December 2, 2011 Day of Action but it remains valuable as long as cuts to critical social programs remain on the table.
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No Cuts Dec 2 Protest Internet.mp4
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B-JN5ssZOKunNzI0NWQ1YmUtNzgxNS00MzgxLWEzODQtNWFhMGFmMDhmOTQ5&hl=en_US&pli=1
Friday, December 2 - Day of Action in SF
To Stop the Cuts!Proposed by the SuperCommittee & Congress
Because the 1% Got Bailed Out & the 99% Got Sold Out
Because a Phony Deficit Crisis Transfers More Wealth to the 1%!
Because We Oppose Cutting Social Benefits already Paid For by the 99%!
Because We Should Tax the 1%!
Because We Should Fund Jobs instead of Wars!
Because We Should Pay for Schools instead of Prisons!
Expand Social Security!
No Cuts to Medicaid!
Medicare for All!
2pm - Occupy the Federal Building (7th & Mission St.-Civic Center Bart/Muni).Assemble at the SF Federal Building where hundreds of us will peacefully deliver our strong message to government representatives of No Cuts to Medicaid; Expand Social Security and Medicare for All while a rally is held outside in the Federal Building Plaza. We will then march to the Financial District.
3:30pm - Occupy Wall Street West- route to be announced soon. We will march to several symbols of financial gluttony before heading to the Occupy SF area at the foot of Market St.
5pm into the night - Celebrate & Defend Occupy SF - We call upon Bay Area labor and community activists to join us for a rally/concert in Justin Herman Plaza that will support Occupy SF and express solidarity with Hotel Workers Local 2 boycott activity across the street at the Hyatt Hotel, a notorious symbol of corporate greed.
Contact Conny Ford, SF Labor Council Vice President at 415-647-7776
Endorsers forming -San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO; Single Payer Now; CARA; Independent Living Resource Center; Jobs with Justice....
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OCCUPY SF HOUSING: MASS DAY OF ACTION SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3
Hi All,
I hope you can join us!
Save the date: Saturday December 3: OccupySF Housing Day of Actions
In conjunction with OccupySF, the Tenants Union, Causa Justa:: Just Cause, Housing Rights Committee. Eviction Defense Collaborative, ACCE, Tenants Together & others will be holding a day of actions focused on the role banks play in the evictions of tenants via their financing of real-estate speculators.
Banks: No more Evictions and Foreclosures for Profit!
Join tenant and homeowner groups together with Occupy SF for a Mass March on December 3rd, 2011. We gather and rally in four neighborhoods in San Francisco which have experienced high rates of evictions for profit, and highlight the local struggles of the 99% against banks, and greedy real estate speculators. Then join us for a mass march at 3pm from Justin Herman Plaza to demand housing justice and corporate accountability.
Neighborhood actions kick off in the following locations:
Bayview: 11am, 3rd and Palou-focused on foreclosures by banks
Castro: 12pm, Harvey Milk Plaza-focused on banks financing Ellis Act
Mission: 1pm, corner of 24th and Mission--focused on banks financing Ellis Act
Tenderloin: 1pm, Civic Center-focused on banks financing Citi Apartment purchases
Mass March: Meet at 3pm at Justin Herman Plaza
The SFTU will focus on the 1pm march and rally in the Tenderloin. Here is a link to the facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/280334935337958/
Here is the event for the full day of events:
https://www.facebook.com/events/143521945754017/
INVITE YOUR FRIENDS!
Also, a facebook page has been created for the mass day of action:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-SF-Housing-Day-of-Actions/204052893006469?sk=info
On December 1st, from 5-8pm SFTU will host a sign making party for the march. We will make signs, eat pizza, and get ready for the big day. All are welcome!
Please spread the word!!
Best,
Becca Gourevitch
Volunteer Coordinator, San Francisco Tenants Union
558 Capp St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
415-282-6543
www.sftu.org
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK!
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Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality and State Repression and Berkeley Copwatch present a community forum and video showing:
Silencing The Witnesses:
Government Attacks on the Right To Observe
Saturday, December 3, 2011, 2:00 p.m.
Humanist Hall, 390 27th Street (between Broadway & Telegraph)
Oakland, California 94612
Recent protests have drawn incredibly violent responses from police agencies. Tear gas, flash bang grenades, bean bag rounds and overwhelming force has been documented by civilian journalists across the country at Occupy protests.
Meanwhile, on a daily basis, people who attempt to document police abuse are increasingly being targeted for their efforts to bring human rights violations to light. In response to new legislation and outright assaults, activists are waging a national struggle to keep copwatching safe and legal. Join us for an update of where the right to record stands, how the government is suppressing evidence of brutality and how we can defend our first amendment rights right here in the Bay Area.
· Video Updates will include footage from civilian monitors
· Wheelchair accessible
· There is a $5-$10 suggested donation
· Refreshments will be provided
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MECA and Joining Hands' 9th Annual Palestinian Bazaar
One Day Only: Sunday, December 4th
10 AM - 4PM
Live Oak Park
1301 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley
Beautiful Hand-Crafted Gifts
Bring your friends! Grab a bite of delicious Arabic food and coffee --
Benefits Palestinian craftspeople
Come shop at this popular annual sale of beautifully crafted items:
Olive wood, First Cold Press Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, Pure Olive Oil Soap, Beautiful Scarves & Shawls (new styles!), Traditional Embroidery, Hand-blown Glassware from Hebron, Colorful Hand woven rugs, Ceramics from Jerusalem & Gaza, Cookbooks, Children's books, Calendars, Honey, Jewelry, Children's clothing, Dolls from Gaza, food items and more! New this year-Palestinian Dead Sea Products.
This is a great opportunity to buy something quite special -- and also support cooperative unions and crafts people living under Israeli Occupation.
Please join us in celebrating the heritage, artistry, and creativity of the Palestinian people!
EVENT WEBSITE: http://www.mecaforpeace.org/events/berkeley-ca-meca-and-joining-hands-9th-annual-palestinian-bazaar
--
Leena Al-Arian
Program and Communications Coordinator
Middle East Children's Alliance
1101 8th Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
510-548-0542
www.mecaforpeace.org
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CALL FOR AN EMERGENCY INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Against the wars of occupation; Against the interference in the internal affairs of countries; In defense of the integrity and sovereignty of nations
Algiers, Algeria -- December 3-5, 2011
Ever since the invasion of Afghanistan by NATO troops in 2001, under the pretext of the "War on Terror," and of Iraq in 2003, in the name of a so-called "struggle for democracy," imperialist governments, under the leadership of the U.S. government, have implemented a strategy based on international wars of occupation and plunder. This strategy has also included widespread interference in the internal affairs of nations, the astronomic growth of war budgets, the assault on democratic rights, and the massive cuts in social spending -- particularly in Europe and the United States.
Today, the governments of the imperialist powers -- specifically the U.S., French, British and Italian governments -- have opened a new front in the war; this time in the Maghreb region of Northern Africa. (*)
A new step has been taken with the further implementation of the U.S. government's Greater Middle East Plan, which was first announced by George W. Bush in 2003 at the time of the launching of the war of occupation and looting of Iraq. It's a plan that aims to dismantle nations along ethnic, religious and communitarian lines -- from Pakistan to Mauritania.
At the very moment when the Tunisian and Egyptian workers and peoples are struggling to exercise their full sovereignty by means of democracy, Libya is descending into chaos after a foreign military intervention under the aegis of NATO -- an intervention that threatens its territorial integrity.
By this means, all the countries of the Maghreb region are now facing threats to their integrity. But this is not all: The implications for the SAHEL countries (parts of Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Eritrea) and, more generally, for sub-Saharan Africa are incalculable. This is because the conflict has gone way beyond the Libyan borders in terms of the movement of weapons -- including heavy weapons massively distributed among Libyan civilians and armed terrorist groups who have openly displayed them in the aftermath of the foreign military intervention.
This is not to mention the devastating effects on the economies of these countries, especially when combined with the massive return of hundreds of thousands of migrants who had been working in Libya, as well as more than one million Libyan refugees, mostly in Tunisia.
In reality, through the foreign military intervention in Libya, the U.S., French, British and Italian imperialists seek to terrorize all the peoples of the region and the world.
No political party genuinely committed to the sovereignty of nations and to democracy can condone, under whatever pretext whatsoever, the imperialist war of occupation and plunder in Libya. No labor organization faithful to the traditions of the international labor movement can condone such a war. That is why we the undersigned reject another war on our African continent -- a continent that is already bloodied and torn apart by so-called ethnic conflicts, which are really nothing but the result of foreign plunder of the continent's natural resources, the repayment of foreign debt, and the various manipulations that result therewith.
We reject any foreign military presence in any form whatsoever in our region of the Maghreb, elsewhere across Northern Africa, and, more generally, on our continent of Africa.
We reject any and all attacks upon sovereign nations.
We reject the foreign looting of the riches and resources of the peoples of the Maghreb and of Africa as a whole. Taking control over these resources -- including through the installation of foreign military bases, starting with AFRICOM (United States Africa Command) -- is the real objective of the war of occupation in Libya, under the auspices of NATO. This is what's really at stake.
We denounce the imperialist designs of the governments that are racing to grab the reconstruction deals for the infrastructure of Libya, destroyed by NATO air strikes - another stake of the war.
We deny the imperialist governments, NATO and the mongers of war and chaos the right to decide the fate of the peoples of the Maghreb, sub-Saharan Africa and all peoples of the world.
We affirm that because there can be no popular sovereignty without national sovereignty, from the standpoint of democracy it is up to sovereign peoples -- and up to them alone -- to define their present and their future without external interference and foreign military intervention.
We call upon organizations and parties around the world and in our own country that oppose the imperialist wars to join us in supporting and participating in an Emergency International Conference in Algiers on December 3-5, 2011, against the wars of occupation, against the interference in the internal affairs of countries, and in defense of the integrity and sovereignty of nations. (**)
signed/
A. Sidi Said
General Secretary
General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA)
Louisa Hanoune
General Secretary
Workers Party of Algeria (PT)
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(*) The five countries that make up the Maghreb region are Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Mauritania.
(**) For more information about the conference or how you can get involved, please contact the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples in Paris at
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Howard Petrick's "Rambo" - anti-VietNam activist tells his story-Marsh Berkeley-Oct 20-Dec 10
Directed by Mark Kenward and developed with David Ford, the show plays on Thursday and Friday at 7:00 pm and Saturday at 8:30 pm from October 20 to December 10, 2011 (press opening November 4, no performance on Thanksgiving Day) at The Cabaret at The Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston Way, near Shattuck. The public may visit www.themarsh.org or call 415-282-3055.
The Little Guy Takes on the Pentagon
in Howard Petrick's "Rambo: The Missing Years"
The Hilarious and True Story of the Private Who Protested the Viet Nam War - While Still in the Army!
"Howard's show is proof you can fight bureaucracy and win. How he does so is told with aplomb and a certain sense of mischievousness." - Vancouver Fringe
"The potency of the show...springs from Petrick's first-hand account of his anti-Vietnam activism from within the army...this comes with an intriguing authenticity."- Winnipeg Free Press
"Petrick delivers...For 60 minutes he has you laughing through the fear." - Winnipeg Uptown
The Vancouver Sun calls San Francisco's Howard Petrick, "a guy who really knows how to get up the nose of the war machine." Petrick's Rambo: The Missing Years is an hilarious - and true - account of the misadventures of a Vietnam-era draftee who frustrates the military brass by asserting his right to organize his fellow GIs against the war. Petrick's Rambo - not to be confused in the least with the Sylvester Stallone action figure - plays at The Marsh-Berkeley, 2120 Allston Way in Berkeley.
The story begins as Petrick reports for the draft and refuses to fill out the forms, befuddling the military bureaucracy for the first of many times to come. Yet, during his time of service he maintains an unblemished military record, breaks no rules, and continues to carry out his military duties.
Directed by Mark Kenward and developed with David Ford.
A twenty-year-old anti-war activist in 1966 when he was drafted into the Army, Pvt. Petrick was a model soldier except when the subject of Vietnam came up. At that point, he missed no opportunity to make his opinions known to his fellow GIs and anyone else who would listen. His activities helped ignite an antiwar movement in the barracks and led to a confrontation with the brass. Calls from the Pentagon! Threats of treason! By the time it was all over, Petrick, who never backed down, had become something of a celebrity. He even had a song written about him and was the subject of an article in the New York Times. From the ass-scratching first cook to the frustrated Military Intelligence officer, Petrick brings over twenty characters to life in this autobiographical solo piece.
"If Westmoreland can give a political partisan speech to the Press Club in New York City supporting the war, then I should be able to speak in uniform opposing the war." - Howard Petrick quoted in the Texas Observer in 1967.
It's a comedy that keeps hope alive. Here are more kudos for the show:
"Petrick made headlines as a GI for his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War, and he's turned his experiences into a deftly crafted solo show." - Georgia Straight (Vancouver)
His "aw shucks" attitude had me right there with him every step of the way, rooting for my new hero. Please don't miss this true tale. - Jenny Revue (Winnipeg)
"His ear for dialogue...is superb." - Georgia Straight (Vancouver)
"It's an engaging tale, often funny...Petrick's writing is strong...valuable as a piece of history in a time when for much of the population, Vietnam is just a vague, long-ago event." - Fresno Bee
"This is an important piece of history - from the common man's point of view." - Victoria Fringe
"A must see!" - The Plank (Vancouver)
Howard Petrick has studied solo performance with David Ford, Ann Randolph, James Donlon, Mark Kenward and Leonard Pitt. He has performed at FronteraFest, The Marsh, Words First, City Solo, San Francisco Theater Festival, Solo Sundays, Tell it on Tuesday, the Fresno Rogue Festival and Fringe Festivals in Boulder, Chicago, Winnipeg, Victoria and Vancouver. For more information, visit www.howardpetrick.com
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UNAC Conference: March 23-25, 2012
The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) conference originally scheduled for November, 11-13, 2011, has been rescheduled for March 23-25, 2012, in order to tie in to organizing efforts for building massive protests at the NATO/G-8 Summits in Chicago, May 15-22, and to have sufficient time to generate an action program for the next stage of building a mass movement for social change.
Organizations are invited to endorse this conference by clicking here:
http://www.jotform.com/form/12685942513
Donations are needed for bringing international speakers and to subsidize attendance of students and low income participants. Contributions will be accepted at www.UNACpeace.org.
For the initial conference flyer, click here:
http://nepajac.org/conferenceflyer.pdf
Click here to donate to UNAC:
https://nationalpeaceconference.org/Donate.html
Click here for the Facebook UNAC group:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_157059221012587&ap=1
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NATO/G8 protests in Chicago.
United National Antiwar Committee
UNACpeace@gmain.com or UNAC at P.O. Box 123, Delmar, NY 12054
518-227-6947
www.UNACpeace.org
UNAC, along with other organizations and activists, has formed a coalition to help organize protests in Chicago during the week of May 15 - 22 while NATO and G8 are holding their summit meetings. The new coalition was formed at a meeting of 163 people representing 73 different organization in Chicago on August 28 and is called Coalition Against NATO/G8 War and Poverty Agenda (CANGATE). For a report on the Chicago meeting, click here: http://nepajac.org/chicagoreport.htm
To add your email to the new CANGATE listserve, send an email to: cangate-subscribe@lists.riseup.net.
To have your organization endorse the NATO/G8 protest, please click here:
https://www.nationalpeaceconference.org/NATO_G8_protest_support.html
Click here to hear audio of the August 28 meeting:
http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/54145
Click here for the talk by Marilyn Levin, UNAC co-coordinator at the August 28 meeting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1tHQ7ilDJ8&NR=1
Click here for Pat Hunts welcome to the meeting and Joe Iosbaker's remarks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoNGcnBGGfI
NATO and the G8 Represent the 1%.
In May, they will meet in Chicago. Their agenda is war on poor nations, war on the poor and working people - war on the 99%.
We are demanding the right to march on their summit, to say:
Jobs, Healthcare, Education, Pensions, Housing and the Environment, Not War!
No to NATO/G-8 Warmakers!
No to War and Austerity!
NATO's military expenditures come at the expense of funding for education, housing and jobs programs; and the G8 continues to advance an agenda of 'austerity' that includes bailouts, tax write-offs and tax holidays for big corporations and banks at the expense of the rest of us.
During the May 2012 G8 and NATO summits in Chicago, many thousands of people will want to exercise their right to protest against NATO's wars and against the G8 agenda to only serve the richest one percent of society. We need permits to ensure that all who want to raise their voices will be able to march.
Chicago's Mayor Rahm Emanuel has stonewalled repeated attempts by community organizers to meet with the city to discuss reasonable accommodations of protesters' rights. They have finally agreed to meet with us, but we need support: from the Occupy movement, the anti-war movement, and all movements for justice.
Our demands are simple:
That the City publicly commit to provide protest organizers with permits that meet the court- sanctioned standard for such protests -- that we be "within sight and sound" of the summits; and
That representatives of the City, including Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, refrain from making threats against protesters.
The protest movement, Occupy Wall Street (OWS), has the support of a majority of the American people. This is because people are suffering from the economic crisis brought about by Wall Street and big banks. As the OWS movement describes it, the "99%" see extreme economic inequality, where millions are unemployed without significant help while bankers in trouble get bailed out.
In Chicago and around the country, the Occupy movement is being met with repression: hundreds have been arrested, beaten, tear gassed, spied on, and refused their right to protest.
The Chicago Police Department and the Mayor have already acknowledged that they are coming down hard on the Occupy movement here to send a message to those who would protest against NATO and the G8.
We need a response that is loud and clear: we have the right to march against the generals and the bankers. We have the right to demand an end to wars, military occupations, and attacks on working people and the poor.
How you can help:
1) Sign the petition to the City of Chicago at www.CANG8.org You can also make a contribution there.
2) Write a statement supporting the right to march and send it to us atcangate2012@gmail.com.
3) To endorse the protests, go to https://nationalpeaceconference.org/NATO_G8_protest_support.html or write to cangate2012@gmail.com
4) Print out and distribute copies of this statement, attached along with a list of supporters of our demands for permits.
4) And then march inChicago on May 15th and May 19th. Publicizethe protests. Join us!
Formore info: www.CANG8.org or email us at cangate2012@gmail.com
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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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Mic Check Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Jmqo1yQag
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UC Davis Police Violence Adds Fuel to Fire
By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News
19 November 11
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/275-42/8485-uc-davis-police-violence-adds-fuel-to-fire
UC Davis Protestors Pepper Sprayed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AdDLhPwpp4&feature=player_embedded
Police PEPPER SPRAY UC Davis STUDENT PROTESTERS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuWEx6Cfn-I&feature=player_embedded
Police pepper spraying and arresting students at UC Davis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmJmmnMkuEM&feature=player_embedded
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Officers Put on Leave After Pepper Spraying Protesters
By BRIAN STELTER
November 20, 2011, 2:58 pm
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/officers-put-on-leave-after-pepper-spraying-protesters/?scp=1&sq=Officers%20Put%20On%20Leave%20After%20Pepper&st=cse
UC Davis Chancellor Katehi walks to her car
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CZ0t9ez_EGI#!
Occupy Seattle - 84 Year Old Woman Dorli Rainey Pepper Sprayed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTIyE_JlJzw&feature=related
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THE BEST VIDEO ON "OCCUPY THE WORLD"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S880UldxB1o
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Occupy With Aloha -- Makana -- The Story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-M07v8N_eU&feature=channel_video_title
We Are The Many -- Makana -- The Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq3BYw4xjxE&feature=relmfu
We Are The Many
Lyrics and Music by Makana
Makana Music LLC (c) 2011
Download song for free here:
http://makanamusic.com/?slide=we-are-the-many
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Rafeef Ziadah - 'Shades of anger', London, 12.11.11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2vFJE93LTI
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News: Massive anti-nuclear demonstration in Fukuoka Nov. 12, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq_xKEWuj1I&feature=player_embedded
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Shot by police with rubber bullet at Occupy Oakland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0pX9LeE-g8&feature=player_embedded
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Copwatch@Occupy Oakland: Beware of Police Infiltrators and Provocateurs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrvMzqopHH0
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Occupy Oakland 11-2 Strike: Police Tear Gas, Black Bloc, War in the Streets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Tu_D8SFYck&feature=player_embedded
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Quebec police admitted that, in 2007, thugs carrying rocks to a peaceful protest were actually undercover Quebec police officers:
POLICE STATE Criminal Cops EXPOSED As Agent Provocateurs @ SPP Protest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoiisMMCFT0&feature=player_embedded
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quebec police admit going undercover at montebello protests
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAfzUOx53Rg&feature=player_embedded
G20: Epic Undercover Police Fail
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrJ7aU-n1L8&feature=player_embedded
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WHAT HAPPENED IN OAKLAND TUESDAY NIGHT, OCTOBER 25:
Occupy Oakland Protest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlPs-REyl-0&feature=player_embedded
Cops make mass arrests at occupy Oakland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R27kD2_7PwU&feature=player_embedded
Raw Video: Protesters Clash With Oakland Police
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpO-lJr2BQY&feature=player_embedded
Occupy Oakland - Flashbangs USED on protesters OPD LIES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqNOPZLw03Q&feature=player_embedded
KTVU TV Video of Police violence
http://www.ktvu.com/video/29587714/index.html
Marine Vet wounded, tear gas & flash-bang grenades thrown in downtown Oakland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMUgPTCgwcQ&feature=player_embedded
Tear Gas billowing through 14th & Broadway in Downtown Oakland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU4Y0pwJtWE&feature=player_embedded
Arrests at Occupy Atlanta -- This is what a police state looks like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YStWz6jbeZA&feature=player_embedded
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Labor Beat: Hey You Billionaire, Pay Your Fair Share
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY8isD33f-I
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Voices of Occupy Boston 2011 - Kwame Somburu (Paul Boutelle) Part I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA48gmfGB6U&feature=youtu.be
Voices of Occupy Boston 2011 - Kwame Somburu (Paul Boutelle) Part II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjKZpOk7TyM&feature=related
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#Occupy St. Louis: Bank of America refuses to let customers close accounts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KtI85Zc6Oik
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ALL COLORS (Occupy LA)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Zh6hDQC8I
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#Occupy Wall Street In Washington Square: Mohammed Ezzeldin, former occupier of Egypt's Tahrir Square Speaks at Washington Square!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziodsFWEb5Y&feature=player_embedded
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#OccupyTheHood, Occupy Wall Street
By adele pham
http://vimeo.com/30146870
@OccupyTheHood, Occupy Wall Street from adele pham on Vimeo.
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Live arrest at brooklyn bridge #occupywallstreet by We are Change
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yULSI-31Pto&feature=player_embedded
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FREE THE CUBAN FIVE!
http://www.thecuban5.org/wordpress/index.php
Free Them
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmS4kHC_OlY&feature=player_embedded
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The Preacher and the Slave - Joe Hill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca_MEJmuzMM
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Visualizing a Trillion: Just How Big That Number Is?
"1 million seconds is about 11.5 days, 1 billion seconds is about 32 years while a trillion seconds is equal to 32,000 years."
Digital Inspiration
http://www.labnol.org/internet/visualize-numbers-how-big-is-trillion-dollars/7814/
How Much Is $1 Trillion?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPfY0q-rEdY&feature=player_embedded
Courtesy the credit crisis and big bailout packages, the figure "trillion" has suddenly become part of our everyday conversations. One trillion dollars, or 1 followed by 12 zeros, is lots of money but have you ever tried visualizing how big that number actually is?
For people who can visualize one million dollars, the comparison made on CNN should give you an idea about a trillion - "if you start spending a million dollars every single day since Jesus was born, you still wouldn't have spend a trillion dollars".
Another mathematician puts it like this: "1 million seconds is about 11.5 days, 1 billion seconds is about 32 years while a trillion seconds is equal to 32,000 years".
Now if the above comparisons weren't really helpful, check another illustration that compares the built of an average human being against a stack of $100 currency notes bundles.
A bundle of $100 notes is equivalent to $10,000 and that can easily fit in your pocket. 1 million dollars will probably fit inside a standard shopping bag while a billion dollars would occupy a small room of your house.
With this background in mind, 1 trillion (1,000,000,000,000) is 1000 times bigger than 1 billion and would therefore take up an entire football field - the man is still standing in the bottom-left corner. (See visuals -- including a video -- at website:
http://www.labnol.org/internet/visualize-numbers-how-big-is-trillion-dollars/7814/
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One World One Revolution -- MUST SEE VIDEO -- Powerful and beautiful...bw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE3R1BQrYCw&feature=player_embedded
"When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty." Thomas Jefferson
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Japan: angry Fukushima citizens confront government (video)
Posted by Xeni Jardin on Monday, Jul 25th at 11:36am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVuGwc9dlhQ&feature=player_embedded
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FREE BRADLEY MANNING
http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/national-call-in-for-bradley
I received the following reply from the White House November 18, 2011 regarding the Bradley Manning petition I signed:
"Why We Can't Comment on Bradley Manning
"Thank you for signing the petition 'Free PFC Bradley Manning, the accused WikiLeaks whistleblower.' We appreciate your participation in the We the People platform on WhiteHouse.gov.
The We the People Terms of Participation explain that 'the White House may decline to address certain procurement, law enforcement, adjudicatory, or similar matters properly within the jurisdiction of federal departments or agencies, federal courts, or state and local government.' The military justice system is charged with enforcing the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Accordingly, the White House declines to comment on the specific case raised in this petition...
"This email was sent to giobon@comcast.net
Manage Subscriptions for giobon@comcast.net
Sign Up for Updates from the White House
Unsubscribe giobon@comcast.net | Privacy Policy
Please do not reply to this email. Contact the White House
"The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111"
That's funny! I guess Obama didn't get this memo. Here's what Obama said about Bradley:
BRADLEY MANNING "BROKE THE LAW" SAYS OBAMA!
"He broke the law!" says Obama about Bradley Manning who has yet to even be charged, let alone, gone to trial and found guilty. How horrendous is it for the President to declare someone guilty before going to trial or being charged with a crime! Justice in the U.S.A.!
Obama on FREE BRADLEY MANNING protest... San Francisco, CA. April 21, 2011-Presidential remarks on interrupt/interaction/performance art happening at fundraiser. Logan Price queries Barack after org. FRESH JUICE PARTY political action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfmtUpd4id0&feature=youtu.be
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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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Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVGqE726OAo&feature=player_embedded
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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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C. SPECIAL APPEALS AND ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
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It's time to tell the White House that "We the People" support PFC Bradley Manning's freedom and the UN's investigation into alleged torture in Quantico, VA
On September 22nd, the White House launched a new petition website called "We the People." According to the White House blog, if a petition reaches 5,000 signatures in 30 days, "it will be reviewed by policy experts and you'll receive an official response."
Act now! Sign our petition to the White House: LINK
This is our chance to make sure the people in power know that the public still care about the fate of PFC Bradley Manning, and that we won't let this issue go away until PFC Manning is recognized as the whistleblower he is. It is also an opportunity for us to educate fellow Americans who may not have heard of PFC Manning yet, by boosting our petition to the top of the WhiteHouse.gov site.
The same day the White House launched the petition website, it also unveiled an Open Government Action Plan calling to "Strengthen and Expand Whistleblower Protection for Government Personnel." We consider this ironic given the fact that in April of 2011 the UN Chief Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Mendez, was forced to issue a rare reprimand to the U.S. for repeatedly denying his request to meet with alleged WikiLeaks whistleblower PFC Manning in an official, unmonitored visit to investigation allegations of his torture in the military brig of Quantico, VA.
We submitted the petition to the "We the People" website earlier this week, and we have already gathered over 1,000 signatures. We are relying on your help so that we can reach the 5,000 mark, and then some.
Signing the petition requires a quick and simple registration process. (Should you encounter technical trouble, please check out the link at the bottom of this e-mail.)
Click here to sign the petition now!
Already signed the petition? You can promote it to your friends on facebook and twitter! Copy and paste the following text: Tell the Obama Administration to let UN investigate torture of alleged WikiLeaks whistleblower PFC Bradley Manning! http://wh.gov/40y
We petition the obama administration to:
Free PFC Bradley Manning, the accused WikiLeaks whistleblower.
https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/free-pfc-bradley-manning-accused-wikileaks-whistleblower/kX1GJKsD?utm_source=wh.gov&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_campaign=shorturl
Using the information PFC Bradley Manning allegedly revealed, media outlets have published thousands of stories, detailing countless attempts by governments around the world -- including our own -- to illegally conceal evidence of human rights abuses.
According to the President, "employees with the courage to report wrongdoing are a government's best defense against waste, fraud and abuse."
It appears that PFC Manning acted on his conscience, at great personal risk, to answer the President's call.
However, he has been subjected to extreme confinement conditions that US legal scholars have said may amount to torture.
Therefore, we also ask the Obama administration to stop blocking the UN's chief torture investigator, Juan Mendez, from conducting an official visit with PFC Manning.
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Cristian Fernandez is only 12 years old. And if Florida prosecutor Angela Corey has her way, he'll never leave jail again.
Cristian hasn't had an easy life. He's the same age now as his mother was when he was born. He's a survivor of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. In 2010, Cristian watched his stepfather commit suicide to avoid being charged with abusing Cristian.
Last January, Cristian was wrestling with his 2-year-old brother, David, and accidentally broke David's leg. Despite this, their mother left Cristian with his brother again in March. While the two boys were alone, Cristian allegedly pushed his brother against a bookcase, and David sustained a head injury. After their mother returned home, she waited six hours before taking David to the hospital. David eventually died.
Now Cristian is being charged with first degree murder -- as an adult. He's the youngest person in the history of his Florida county to receive this charge, and his next hearing is scheduled for tomorrow.
Melissa Higgins works with kids who get caught up in the criminal justice system in her home state of New Hampshire. When she read about Cristian's case, she was appalled -- so she started a petition on Change.org asking Florida State's Attorney Angela Corey to try Cristian as a child. Please sign Melissa's petition immediately before Cristian's hearing tomorrow.
As part of his prosecution, Cristian has been examined by two different forensic psychiatrists -- each of whom concluded that he was "emotionally underdeveloped but essentially reformable despite a tough life."
Cristian has already been through more than most of us can imagine -- and now the rest of his life is in the hands of a Florida prosecutor who wants to make sure Cristian never leaves jail.
The purpose of the juvenile justice system is to reform kids who haven't gotten a fair shake. If Cristian is sent to adult prison, it will be more than a tragedy for him -- it will also be a signal to other prosecutors that kids' lives are acceptable collateral in the quest to be seen as "tough on crime."
Cristian's next hearing is in just 24 hours. State's Attorney Angela Corey needs to know that her actions are being watched -- please sign the petition asking her not to try Cristian as an adult:
http://www.change.org/petitions/reverse-decision-to-try-12-yo-cristian-fernandez-as-an-adult
Thanks for being a change-maker,
- Michael and the Change.org team
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International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5
TAKE ACTION: New Punishment Against Rene Gonzalez
On Oct 7, René González, one of the Cuban 5 Patriots will be released from the US prison in Marianna Florida after serving out his 15 year sentence. Rene's crime was defending the security of the Cuban people against terrorist attacks.
The US government is now trying to stop his immediate return to his homeland, and his family, after he serves out the last day of this unjust sentence. And now, in the most cynical and mean spirited fashion, the US court that sentenced him in 2001 is extending his punishment by making him remain in the United States.
Because Rene was born in the US he will now have to spend an additional 3 years of probation here. Seven months ago his lawyer presented a motion asking the court to modify the conditions of his probation so that after he finished his sentence he be allowed to return to Cuba to reunite with his wife and his family for humanitarian reasons.
On March 25, the prosecutor Caroline Heck Miller asked the judge to deny the motion. On September 16 Judge Joan Lenard rejected the defense motion, alleging among other reasons, that the Court needs time to evaluate the behavior of the condemned person after he is freed to verify that he is not a danger to the United States.
We have to remember that this is the same prosecutor that rejected an attempt to try Posada Carriles as a criminal, and this is the same judge that included in the conditions of his release a special point that while Rene is under supervised release that," the accused is prohibited from associating with or visiting specific places where individuals or groups such as terrorists are known to be or frequent"
By writing this Judge Lenard made the shameful recognition that terrorists groups do exist and enjoy impunity in Miami. Furthermore she is offering them protection from Rene from bothering or denouncing them upon his release.
It was not enough for the US government to make Rene fulfill the complete sentence to the last day; It was not enough to try and blackmail his family by telling them he would not go to trial if he collaborated against his 4 brothers; it was not enough to pressure Rene with what could happen to his family if he did not cooperate with the government, including the detention and deportation of his wife Olga Salanueva; and it was not enough to deny Olga visas to visit her husband repeatedly all these years.
Why does the US government want to continue punishing René and his family?
The prejudice of the Miami community against the Five was denounced by three judges of the Eleventh Circuit of the Atlanta Court of Appeals on August 27, 2005, where it was recognized who the terrorists were, what organizations they belonged to and where they reside. To mandate that Rene Gonzalez stay another 3 years of supervised "freedom" in Florida, where a nest of international terrorists reside and who publicly make their hatred of Cuba and the Cuban 5 known, is to put the life of Rene in serious risk.
Today we are making a call to friends from all over the world to denounce this new punishment and to demand the US government allow René Gonzalez to return to Cuba to reunite with his wife and his family as soon as he get out of prison.
Contact now President Barack Obama and US Attorney General Eric Holder demanding the immediate return of René Gonzalez to his homeland and his family
TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE WHITE HOUSE
Write a letter to President Obama
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20500
EE.UU.
Make a phone call and leave a message for President Barack Obama: 202-456-1111
Send an e-mail message to President Barack Obama
HTTP://WWW.WHITEHOUSE.GOV/CONTACT
TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Write a letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder
US Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Make a phone call and leave a message for US Attorney General Eric Holder: 202-514-2000
Or call the public commentary line: 202-353-1555
Send an e-mail message to US Attorney General Eric Holder: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov
International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5
International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5
To learn more about the Cuban 5 visit:
www.thecuban5.org
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Say No to Police Repression of NATO/G8 Protests
http://www.stopfbi.net/get-involved/nato-g8-police-repression
The CSFR Signs Letter to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel
The CSFR is working with the United National Antiwar Committee and many other anti-war groups to organize mass rallies and protests on May 15 and May 19, 2012. We will protest the powerful and wealthy war-makers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Group of 8. Mobilize your groups, unions, and houses of worship. Bring your children, friends, and community. Demand jobs, healthcare, housing and education, not war!
Office of the Mayor
City of Chicago
To: Mayor Rahm Emanuel
We, the undersigned, demand that your administration grant us permits for protests on May 15 and 19, 2012, including appropriate rally gathering locations and march routes to the venue for the NATO/G8 summit taking place that week. We come to you because your administration has already spoken to us through Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy. He has threatened mass arrests and violence against protestors.
[Read the full text of the letter here: http://www.stopfbi.net/get-involved/nato-g8-police-repression/full-text]
For the 10s of thousands of people from Chicago, around the country and across the world who will gather here to protest against NATO and the G8, we demand that the City of Chicago:
1. Grant us permits to rally and march to the NATO/G8 summit
2. Guarantee our civil liberties
3. Guarantee us there will be no spying, infiltration of organizations or other attacks by the FBI or partner law enforcement agencies.
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Supporter of Leak Suspect Is Called Before Grand Jury
By SCOTT SHANE
June 15, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/us/politics/16brfs-Washington.html?ref=world
A supporter of Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, who is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of documents to WikiLeaks, was called before a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., on Wednesday, but he said he declined to answer any questions. The supporter, David M. House, a freelance computer scientist, said he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, because he believes the Justice Department is "creating a climate of fear around WikiLeaks and the Bradley Manning support network." The grand jury inquiry is separate from the military prosecution of Private Manning and is believed to be exploring whether the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, or others in the group violated the law by acquiring and publishing military and State Department documents.
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Justice for Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace: Decades of isolation in Louisiana state prisons must end
Take Action -- Sign Petition Here:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/justice-for-albert-woodfox-and-herman-wallace
For nearly four decades, 64-year-old Albert Woodfox and 69-year-old Herman Wallace have been held in solitary confinement, mostly in the Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola prison). Throughout their prolonged incarceration in Closed Cell Restriction (CCR) Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace have endured very restrictive conditions including 23 hour cellular confinement. They have limited access to books, newspapers and TV and throughout the years of imprisonment they have been deprived of opportunities for mental stimulation and access to work and education. Social interaction has been restricted to occasional visits from friends and family and limited telephone calls.
Louisiana prison authorities have over the course of 39 years failed to provide a meaningful review of the men's continued isolation as they continue to rubberstamp the original decision to confine the men in CCR. Decades of solitary confinement have had a clear psychological effect on the men. Lawyers report that they are both suffering from serious health problems caused or exacerbated by their years of close confinement.
After being held together in the same prison for nearly 40 years, the men are now held in seperate institutions where they continue to be subjected to conditions that can only be described as cruel, inhuman and degrading.
Take action now to demand that Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace be immediately removed from solitary confinement
Sign our petition which will be sent to the Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, calling on him to:
-- take immediate steps to remove Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace from close confinement
-- ensure that their treatment complies with the USA's obligations under international standards and the US Constitution.
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WITNESS GAZA
http://www.witnessgaza.com/
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One year after Bradley's detainment, we need your support more than ever.
Dear Friends,
One year ago, on May 26, 2010, the U.S. government quietly arrested a humble young American intelligence analyst in Iraq and imprisoned him in a military camp in Kuwait. Over the coming weeks, the facts of the arrest and charges against this shy soldier would come to light. And across the world, people like you and I would step forward to help defend him.
Bradley Manning, now 23 years old, has never been to court but has already served a year in prison- including 10 months in conditions of confinement that were clear violation of the international conventions against torture. Bradley has been informally charged with releasing to the world documents that have revealed corruption by world leaders, widespread civilian deaths at the hands of U.S. forces, the true face of Guantanamo, an unvarnished view of the U.S.'s imperialistic foreign negotiations, and the murder of two employees of Reuters News Agency by American soldiers. These documents released by WikiLeaks have spurred democratic revolutions across the Arab world and have changed the face of journalism forever.
For his act of courage, Bradley Manning now faces life in prison-or even death.
But you can help save him-and we've already seen our collective power. Working together with concerned citizens around the world, the Bradley Manning Support Network has helped raise worldwide awareness about Manning's torturous confinement conditions. Through the collective actions of well over a half million people and scores of organizations, we successfully pressured the U.S. government to end the tortuous conditions of pre-trial confinement that Bradley was subjected to at the Marine Base at Quantico, Virginia. Today, Bradley is being treated humanely at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. T hanks to your support, Bradley is given leeway to interact with other pre-trial prisoners, read books, write letters, and even has a window in his cell.
Of course we didn't mount this campaign to just improve Bradley's conditions in jail. Our goal is to ensure that he can receive a fair and open trial. Our goal is to win Bradley's freedom so that he can be reunited with his family and fulfill his dream of going to college. Today, to commemorate Bradley's one year anniversary in prison, will you join me in making a donation to help support Bradley's defense?
http://bradleymanning.org/donate
We'll be facing incredible challenges in the coming months, and your tax-deductible donation today will help pay for Bradley's civilian legal counsel and the growing international grassroots campaign on his behalf. The U.S. government has already spent a year building its case against Bradley, and is now calling its witnesses to Virginia to testify before a grand jury.
What happens to Bradley may ripple through history - he is already considered by many to be the single most important person of his generation. Please show your commitment to Bradley and your support for whistle-blowers and the truth by making a donation today.
With your help, I hope we will come to remember May 26th as a day to commemorate all those who risk their lives and freedom to promote informed democracy - and as the birth of a movement that successfully defended one courageous whistle-blower against the full fury of the U.S. government.
Donate now: bradleymanning.org/donate
In solidarity,
Jeff Paterson and Loraine Reitman,
On behalf of the Bradley Manning Support Network Steering Committee
www.bradleymanning.org
P.S. After you have donated, please help us by forwarding this email to your closest friends. Ask them to stand with you to support Bradley Manning, and the rights of all whistleblowers.
View the new 90 second "I am Bradley Manning" video:
I am Bradley Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-P3OXML00s
Courage to Resist
484 Lake Park Ave. #41
Oakland, CA 94610
510-488-3559
couragetoresist.org
"A Fort Leavenworth mailing address has been released for Bradley Manning:
Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027
The receptionist at the military barracks confirmed that if someone sends Bradley Manning a letter to that address, it will be delivered to him."
http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/update-42811
This is also a Facebook event
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=207100509321891#!/event.php?eid=207100509321891
Courage to Resist needs your support
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
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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Drop the Charges Against Carlos Montes, Stop the FBI Attack on the Chicano and Immigrant Rights Movement, and Stop FBI Repression of Anti-War Activists NOW!Call Off the Expanding Grand Jury Witchhunt and FBI Repression of Anti-War Activists NOW!
Cancel the Subpoenas! Cancel the Grand Juries!
Condemn the FBI Raids and Harassment of Chicano, Immigrant Rights, Anti-War and International Solidarity Activists!
STOP THE FBI CAMPAIGN OF REPRESSION AGAINST CHICANO, IMMIGRANT RIGHTS, ANTI-WAR AND INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY ACTIVISTS NOW!
Initiated by the Committee to Stop FBI Repression stopfbi.net stopfbi@gmail.com
http://iacenter.org/stopfbi/
Contact the Committee to Stop FBI Repression
at stopfbi.net
stopfbi@gmail.com
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
NATIONAL CALL-IN DAY -- ANY DAY
to Fitzgerald, Holder and Obama
The Grand Jury is still on its witch hunt and the FBI is still
harassing activists. This must stop.
Please make these calls:
1. Call U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald at 312-353-5300 . Then dial 0
(zero) for operator and ask to leave a message with the Duty Clerk.
2. Call U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder 202-353-1555
3. Call President Obama at 202-456-1111
FFI: Visit www.StopFBI.net or email info@StopFBI.net or call
612-379-3585 .
Copyright (c) 2011 Committee to Stop FBI Repression, All rights
reserved.
Our mailing address is:
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
PO Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55415
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
P.O. Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55414
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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Mumia Wins Decision Against Re-Imposition Of Death Sentence, But...
The Battle Is Still On To
FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL!
The Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
PO Box 16222 • Oakland CA 94610
www.laboractionmumia.org
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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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DEFEND LYNNE STEWART!
http://lynnestewart.org/
Write to Lynne Stewart at:
Lynne Stewart #53504 - 054
Unit 2N
Federal Medical Center, Carswell
P.O. Box 27137
Fort Worth, TEXAS 76127
Visiting Lynne:
Visiting is very liberal but first she has to get people on her visiting list; wait til she 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.
Commissary Money:
Commissary Money is always welcome It is how Lynne pay for the phone and for email. Also 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 !)
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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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
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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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D. ARTICLES IN FULL (Unless otherwise noted)
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1) Oregon Governor Says He Will Block Executions
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
November 22, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/us/oregon-executions-to-be-blocked-by-gov-kitzhaber.html?ref=us
2) About Pepper Spray
By Deborah Blum
November 21, 2011
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/11/21/about-pepper-spray/?WT_mc_id=SA_WR_20111123
3) OWS Organizer Questions Intentions of Secretive Affinity Group
By Alexander Kelly
November 22, 2011
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/we_are_the_99_20111122/
4) Occupy UC Davis Calls Nov. 28 General Strike to Shut Down CA Campuses, Block Regents' Austerity Vote
Posted 1 day ago on Nov. 22, 2011, 4:03 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
http://www.occupywallst.org/article/occupy-uc-davis-calls-nov-28-general-strike-shut-d/
5) Demonstrators Plan to Occupy Retailers on Black Friday
By Cadie Thompson, CNBC
November 24, 2011
http://www.readersupportednews.org/news-section2/320-80/8562-demonstrators-plan-to-occupy-retailers-on-black-friday
6) The Poor, the Near Poor and You
New York Times Editorial
November 23, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/24/opinion/the-poor-the-near-poor-and-you.html?hp
7) Occupy Student Debt Campaign Announces Nationwide Loan Refusal Pledge
By Amanda M. Fairbanks
November 25, 2011
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/21/occupy-student-debt-campaign_n_1106379.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#undefined
8) Free Fumiaki Hoshino. Innocent Fighter for Justice. 37 years behind bars
11/27 International Solidarity Day For Japanese Fumiaki Hoshino/Action-Solidarity Messages Requested
http://fhoshino.u.cnet-ta.ne.jp/pages/ayumi110811.html
9) White House Urges Egypt's Military to Yield Power
"The statement is a significant escalation of the international pressure on the generals because the United States is among the Egyptian military's closest allies and biggest benefactors, contributing more than $1.3 billion a year in aid. ...With a broad spectrum of civilian leaders - excluding the Muslim Brotherhood - joining calls for a "million man march," large crowds of protesters began to assemble in Tahrir Square as Friday prayer began across the capital, responding to protesters' appeals for a substantial display of support." [This is the signal that the U.S. wants to make sure that whoever gets in will play ball with them. They are afraid of a revolutionary movement starting--next Obama will send in NATO troops to make sure that doesn't happen. ...bw]
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
November 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/world/middleeast/egypt-military-and-protesters-standoff-in-tahrir-square.html?hp
10) Six Children Are Killed by NATO Airstrike in Afghanistan
"Six children were among seven civilians killed in a NATO airstrike in southern Afghanistan... ...Abdul Samad, an uncle of four of the children who were killed, disputed the government's version of the attack. He said his relatives were working in fields near their village when they were attacked without warning by an aircraft. His brother-in-law, Mohammad Rahim, 50, had his two sons and three daughters with him. They were between 4 and 12 years old and all were killed, except an 8-year-old daughter who was badly wounded, Mr. Samad said. 'There were no Taliban in the field; this is a baseless allegation that the Taliban were planting mines,' Mr. Samad said. 'I have been to the scene and haven't found a single bit of evidence of bombs or any other weapons. The Americans did a serious crime against innocent children, they will never ever be forgiven.'"
By TAIMOOR SHAH and ROD NORDLAND
November 24, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/asia/six-afghan-children-are-killed-in-nato-airstrike.html?ref=world
11) Egypt Military and Protesters Dig In for a Long Standoff
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
November 24, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/middleeast/generals-in-egypt-offer-apology-for-violent-clashes.html?ref=world
12) Protesters Look for Ways to Feed the Web
By JENNIFER PRESTON
November 24, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/business/media/occupy-movement-focuses-on-staying-current-on-social-networks.html?ref=us
13) Occupy Cal: Open Letter to the State Government, UC Regents, CSU Trustees, & All Education Administrators (adopted by GA of estimated 7,000 people on Nov. 15, 2011
Vie Email
14) Washington, Havana and the Case of Alan Gross
by Salim Lamrani
Le Monde Diplomatique (April 2011)
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs3338.html
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
WALTER LIPPMANN
Los Angeles, California
Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
"Cuba - Un Paraíso bajo el bloqueo"
15) NATO Strikes Kill Pakistani Forces, Raising Tensions
By SALMAN MASOOD
November 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/world/asia/pakistan-says-nato-helicopters-kill-dozens-of-soldiers.html?hp
16) Egypt Braces for Fresh Clashes After Protester's Death
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
November 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/world/middleeast/new-clashes-underscore-standoff-in-egypt.html?hp
17) The Death of the Fringe Suburb
By CHRISTOPHER B. LEINBERGER
November 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/opinion/the-death-of-the-fringe-suburb.html?hp
18) Transgendered and Homeless, Youth Struggles to Build a Life
By MERIBAH KNIGHT
November 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/us/transgendered-and-homeless-youth-struggles-to-build-a-life.html?hp
19) For U.S., Risks in Pressing Egypt to Speed Civilian Rule
By HELENE COOPER
November 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/world/middleeast/us-urges-egypt-to-let-civilians-govern-quickly.html?ref=world
20) Occupy L.A. to Be Evicted on Monday
By IAN LOVETT
November 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/us/occupy-los-angeles-to-be-evicted-from-city-hall-park.html?ref=us
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1) Oregon Governor Says He Will Block Executions
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
November 22, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/us/oregon-executions-to-be-blocked-by-gov-kitzhaber.html?ref=us
Gov. John Kitzhaber of Oregon on Tuesday said he would halt the execution of a death row inmate scheduled for next month and that he would allow no more executions in the state during his time in office.
"It is time for Oregon to consider a different approach," Governor Kitzhaber, a Democrat elected last fall, said in a news conference in Salem on Tuesday afternoon. "I refuse to be a part of this compromised and inequitable system any longer; and I will not allow further executions while I am governor."
Oregon, which uses lethal injection, has executed just two people since its voters approved the death penalty in 1984, and both of those inmates waived certain rights to appeal, making them so-called volunteers. The state, which has 37 inmates on death row, last executed someone in 1997. It has been one of at least seven states that allow the death penalty but have not used it in more than a decade, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
But Oregon's status appeared likely to change after Gary Haugen, a twice-convicted murderer, waived several appeals and asked to be executed. Mr. Haugen, convicted of killings in 1981 and in 2003, has testified that the death penalty wastes taxpayer money and is unjustly carried out. But in a court appearance in October, Mr. Haugen said: "This is going to be one time where I just don't do a lot of talking, because I'm ready, your honor. Because I'm ready."
Outside groups fought to stop the execution, but late Monday the Oregon Supreme Court ruled, 4 to 3, to allow it to go forward. By Tuesday morning, Governor Kitzhaber's office had scheduled his afternoon announcement.
The governor, a physician who served two previous terms, from 1995 to 2003, noted that he had allowed the two earlier executions to go forward under his watch.
"They were the most agonizing and difficult decisions I have made as governor and I have revisited and questioned them over and over again during the past 14 years," Governor Kitzhaber said. "I do not believe that those executions made us safer; certainly I don't believe they made us more noble as a society. And I simply cannot participate once again in something I believe to be morally wrong."
Noting the length of time many inmates spend on death row, often more than 20 years, he said Oregon had an "unworkable system that fails to meet basic standards of justice." He said there was a wide sense the death penalty process was flawed but that the state had "done nothing; we have avoided the question."
"It is a perversion of justice when the single best indicator of who will and will not be executed has nothing to do with the circumstances of a crime or the findings of a jury," he said. "The only factor that determines in Oregon whether someone sentenced to death will actually be executed is that they volunteer to die."
The governor did not commute the sentence of Mr. Haugen or any of the other death row inmates. He granted Mr. Haugen what he called a temporary reprieve. He asked the Legislature "to bring potential reforms before the 2013 legislative session" and he encouraged "all Oregonians to engage in the long overdue debate that this important issue deserves."
In all, 34 states allow the death penalty, but only 27 have executed someone in the past decade, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit group that has been critical of how the death penalty is carried out around the country. The annual number of executions nationwide has declined by about half over the past decade.
Gov. George Ryan of Illinois halted executions in that state in 2000, then, as he was leaving office in 2003, commuted the sentences of all death row inmates. The Illinois Legislature banned the death penalty this year. New Jersey abolished the practice in 2007. The New Mexico Legislature ended the death penalty in 2009.
Richard C. Dieter, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said that states could be forced into the death penalty debate when inmates volunteered.
"An execution focuses everybody's attention," Mr. Dieter said. "It becomes real and people have to decide. And of course the governor has a personal responsibility."
Governor Kitzhaber said he would be criticized, and he was.
"If the review system is broken such that nobody but volunteers are being executed, the answer is to fix the review system," said Kent S. Scheidegger, the legal director for the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, which supports the death penalty.
Mr. Scheidegger said the authority some governors had to commute or delay death penalty sentences "is given for the purpose of correcting injustices in individual cases. It's not given for the purpose of negating an entire law."
Governor Kitzhaber said his decision was rooted in policy and personal views. He noted he had taken an oath as a physician to "never do harm." Asked with whom he had consulted, he said, "Mostly myself."
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2) About Pepper Spray
By Deborah Blum
November 21, 2011
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/11/21/about-pepper-spray/?WT_mc_id=SA_WR_20111123
One hundred years ago, an American pharmacist named Wilbur Scoville developed a scale to measure the intensity of a pepper's burn. The scale - as you can see on the widely used chart to the left - puts sweet bell peppers at the zero mark and the blistering habanero at up to 350,000 Scoville Units.
I checked the Scoville Scale for something else yesterday. I was looking for a way to measure the intensity of pepper spray, the kind that police have been using on Occupy protestors including this week's shocking incident involving peacefully protesting students at the University of California-Davis.
As the chart makes clear, commercial grade pepper spray leaves even the most painful of natural peppers (the Himalayan ghost pepper) far behind. It's listed at between 2 million and 5.3 million Scoville units. The lower number refers to the kind of pepper spray that you and I might be able to purchase for self-protective uses. And the higher number? It's the kind of spray that police use, the super-high dose given in the orange-colored spray used at UC-Davis.
The reason pepper-spray ends up on the Scoville chart is that - you probably guessed this - it's literally derived from pepper chemistry, the compounds that make habaneros so much more formidable than the comparatively wimpy bells. Those compounds are called capsaicins and - in fact - pepper spray is more formally called Oleoresin Capsicum or OC Spray.
But we've taken to calling it pepper spray, I think, because that makes it sound so much more benign than it really is, like something just a grade or so above what we might mix up in a home kitchen. The description hints maybe at that eye-stinging effect that the cook occasionally experiences when making something like a jalapeno-based salsa, a little burn, nothing too serious.
Until you look it up on the Scoville scale and remember, as toxicologists love to point out, that the dose makes the poison. That we're not talking about cookery but a potent blast of chemistry. So that if OC spray is the U.S. police response of choice - and certainly, it's been used with dismaying enthusiasm during the Occupy protests nationwide, as documented in this excellent Atlantic roundup - it may be time to demand a more serious look at the risks involved.
My own purpose here is to focus on the dangers of a high level of capsaicin exposure. But as pointed out in the 2004 paper, Health Hazards of Pepper Spray, written by health researchers at the University of North Carolina and Duke University, the sprays contain other risky materials:
Depending on brand, an OC spray may contain water, alcohols, or organic solvents as liquid carriers; and nitrogen, carbon dioxide, or halogenated hydrocarbons (such as Freon, tetrachloroethylene, and methylene chloride) as propellants to discharge the canister contents.(3) Inhalation of high doses of some of these chemicals can produce adverse cardiac, respiratory, and neurologic effects, including arrhythmias and sudden death.
Their paper focuses mostly, though, on the dangerous associated with pepper-based compounds. In 1997, for instance, researchers at the University of California-San Francisco discovered that the "hot" sensation of habaneros and their ilk was caused by capsaicin binding directly to proteins in the membranes of pain and heat sensing neurons. Capsaicins can activate these neurons at below body temperature, leading to a startling sensation of heat. Repeated exposure can wear the system down, depleting neurotransmitters, reducing the sensation of the pain. This knowledge has led to a number of medical treatments using capsaicins to manage pain.
Its very mechanism, though, should remind us to be wary. As the North Carolina researchers point out, any compound that can influence nerve function is, by definition, risky. Research tells us that pepper spray acts as a potent inflammatory agent. It amplifies allergic sensitivities, it irritates and damages eyes, membranes, bronchial airways, the stomach lining - basically what it touches. It works by causing pain - and, as we know, pain is the body warning us of an injury.
In general, these are short term effects. Pepper spray, for instance, induces a burning sensation in the eyes in part by damaging cells in the outer layer of the cornea. Usually, the body repairs this kind of injury fairly neatly. But with repeated exposures, studies find, there can be permanent damage to the cornea.
The more worrisome effects have to do with inhalation - and by some reports, California university police officers deliberately put OC spray down protestors throats. Capsaicins inflame the airways, causing swelling and restriction. And this means that pepper sprays pose a genuine risk to people with asthma and other respiratory conditions.
And by genuine risk, I mean a known risk, a no-surprise any police department should know this risk, easy enough to find in the scientific literature. To cite just three examples here:
1) Pepper Spray Induced Respiratory Failure Treated with Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation
2) Assessing the incapacitative effects of pepper spray during resistive encounters with the police.
3) The Human Health Effects of Pepper Spray.
That second paper is from a law enforcement journal. And the summary for that last paper notes: Studies of the effects of capsaicin on human physiology, anecdotal experience with field use of pepper spray, and controlled exposure of correctional officers in training have shown adverse effects on the lungs, larynx, middle airway, protective reflexes, and skin. Behavioral and mental health effects also may occur if pepper spray is used abusively.
Pepper spray use has been suspected of contributing to a number of deaths that occurred in police custody. In mid-1990s, the U.S. Department of Justice cited nearly 70 fatalities linked to pepper-spray use, following on a 1995 report compiled by the American Civil Liberties Union of California. The ACLU report cited 26 suspicious deaths; it's important to note that most involved pre-existing conditions such as asthma. But it's also important to note a troubling pattern.
In fact, in 1999, the ACLU asked the California appeals court to declare the use of pepper spray to be dangerous and cruel. That request followed an action by northern California police officers against environmental protestors - the police were accused of dipping Q-tips into OC spray and applying them directly to the eyes of men and women engaged in an anti-logging protest.
"The ACLU believes that the use of pepper spray as a kind of chemical cattle prod on nonviolent demonstrators resisting arrest constitutes excessive force and violates the Constitution," wrote association attorneys some 13 years ago.
Yesterday, the University of California-Davis announced that it was suspending two of the police officers who pepper-sprayed protesting students. Eleven of those students were treated by paramedics on scene and two were sent to a hospital in Sacramento for more intensive treatment.
Undoubtedly, these injuries will factor into another scientific study of pepper spray, another acknowledgement that top of the Scoville scale is dangerous territory. But my own preference is that we start learning from these mistakes without waiting another 13 years or more, without engaging in yet another cycle of abuse and injury.
Now would be good.
Cross-posted from Speakeasy Science.
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3) OWS Organizer Questions Intentions of Secretive Affinity Group
By Alexander Kelly
November 22, 2011
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/we_are_the_99_20111122/
NEW YORK CITY-At 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 21, I got a text message from a confidential source who worked closely with Occupy Wall Street for the past two months. Within 45 minutes the two of us were seated in a Tribeca coffee shop just a few blocks north of Zuccotti Park. There, over a pair of steaming coffee cups, I was told that a secret faction has developed within New York City's Occupy movement, made up of a coalition of big-name celebrities and would-be leaders, some of whom look determined to steer the movement in a direction of their choosing, including into the hands of traditional political forces.
It's not easy getting things done at Occupy. Since day one the group has paid faithful allegiance to the ideal of direct democracy, working to ensure that all major decisions-especially the allocation of funds-are made through a consensus process at nightly general assemblies in which anyone may participate. As you might guess, this means that things move slowly, and it is mounting frustration with this challenge that my source believes has motivated a small group of Occupiers to split away from the main body and begin making decisions on their own.
The story seems to center around a young man named Thorin Caristo. Caristo is an early Occupier who started his own media operation within Liberty Park and who in an early interview appears exhausted but level-headed and thoughtful. He has played a foundational role in organizing major events and has pushed without success for an occupation of Central Park. I'd heard his name before, mostly in conversation with people from the end of the plaza where the occupation's lower-income contingent had gathered, some of whom claimed Caristo said disparaging things about them. Others from the better-to-do side of the park have paused and tensed up when I mentioned his name.
My source accused Caristo of holding secret meetings with an elderly New York-based activist named Jean-Louis Bourgeois. If a bizarre audiotape posted on YouTube last Sunday by an independent OWS media team is to be believed, then Bourgeois is Caristo's private benefactor, providing him with the cash, connections and other resources needed to cast their opaque agenda as the movement's own. My source asserts that a number of other now visible figures within the movement have worked or are working closely with Caristo, many of whom are alleged to have met or exchanged messages with celebrity supporters and possible financial and publicity sponsors of OWS, including Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons; documentary filmmaker Michael Moore; civil rights attorney, former director of the New York branch of the ACLU and political aspirant Norman Siegel; and actor and possible New York City mayoral candidate Alec Baldwin.
Transparency and accountability kept surfacing as my source's main concerns. Repeated attempts to understand what their colleagues were up to while out of view were met with curt dismissals and claims that they were too busy to explain. "This is a group that is supposed to represent everybody," the source said. "If they're raising money and organizing independently of the group, and representing themselves as leaders to celebrities and other business people-which they're not-that alone is a giant conflict of interest. There are no leaders like that. We're all leaders or the group doesn't exist. Nobody should have anything to hide."
Bloomberg's eviction of the Occupiers from Zuccotti Park made it easier for organizers to work literally behind closed doors, especially at a new office space on the 12th floor of a building at 50 Broadway that is being funded by an unnamed sponsor. If my source is right, then Zuccotti Park and its nightly showings of democracy in action may be at risk of becoming an elaborate front for a political operation directed by an ambitious, however well-intentioned, few. In the days ahead, I'll try to confirm whether Occupy's supporters have any reason to be concerned.
***
Truthdig reporter Alexander Kelly has been reporting on Occupy Wall Street from New York City. For more, visit truthdig.com/occupy
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4) Occupy UC Davis Calls Nov. 28 General Strike to Shut Down CA Campuses, Block Regents' Austerity Vote
Posted 1 day ago on Nov. 22, 2011, 4:03 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
http://www.occupywallst.org/article/occupy-uc-davis-calls-nov-28-general-strike-shut-d/
The following proposal was passed by a massive general assembly today at UC Davis:
The UC Board of Regents, who not only represent but actually are this state's richest one percent, has repeatedly shown itself to be utterly unfit to manage and represent the interests of the students, faculty, and workers who constitute the University of California.
Following two successive years of sharp tuition increases, accompanied by millions in department and resource cuts, layoffs, and furloughs, the board had the audacity to propose a new 81% fee increase and drastic budget reductions.
Undergraduate student fees have tripled over the past ten years, as we have seen an unprecedented explosion of student debt; and departmental budgets have shrunk, as academic and non-academic workers experience diminishing benefits, swelling workloads, and non-existent job security.
In the midst of the economic crisis, the Regents have intensified their pursuit of the project of privatization and de-funding that diminish the quality of education and quality of life for those across the UC, while consigning students' futures to greater and greater sums of debt.
The Regents' theft of an ostensibly public resource to fund "capital projects" such as construction projects and private research initiatives, demonstrate a clear conflict of interests that benefits a narrow administrative elite-both the Regents and their local appointees (chancellors and vice chancellors)-at the expense of the greater faculty, staff, and student body.
The familiar rhetoric of austerity demands our resigned compliance, as our learning and working conditions progressively deteriorate. We have seen recently and in years past that political dissent is met with increasingly violent displays of force and repression by University police.
The continued destruction of higher education in California, and the repressive forms of police violence that sustain it, cannot be viewed apart from larger economic and political systems that concentrate wealth and political power in the hands of the few.
Since the university has long served as one of the few means of social mobility and for the proliferation of knowledge critical to and outside of existing structures of power, the vital role it plays as one of the few truly public resources is beyond question.
The necessity of reclaiming the UC has never demanded such urgency, as it continues to shift towards the corporate model, pursues dubious fiscal partnerships (such as those with the defense department and international agribusiness), and engages in disturbing collusion with financial institutions like US Bank (which is one of the largest profiteers from student loans).
As such, I propose that in light of the upcoming Regents' vote on Monday the 28th, (which will be occurring on four campuses simultaneously, one of which being UC Davis), that we call for a general strike this same day, with the aim of shutting down campuses across the state and preventing the Regents from holding their vote.
In response to the intolerable effects privatization and austerity and the horrific repression of student dissent that has occurred throughout the last month, the GA, as a governing body of all concerned UC Davis students, will prevent the Board of Regents from continuing its unbridled assault upon higher education in the state of California.
This will entail total campus participation in shutting down the operations of the university on the 28th, including teaching, working, learning, and transportation, as we will collectively divert our efforts to blocking their vote[s]. In doing so students, faculty and workers assert the power-and the will-to effectively represent and manage ourselves.
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5) Demonstrators Plan to Occupy Retailers on Black Friday
By Cadie Thompson, CNBC
November 24, 2011
http://www.readersupportednews.org/news-section2/320-80/8562-demonstrators-plan-to-occupy-retailers-on-black-friday
ome demonstrators are planning to occupy retailers on Black Friday to protest "the business that are in the pockets of Wall Street."
Organizers are encouraging consumers to either occupy or boycott retailers that are publicly traded, according to the Stop Black Friday website.
The goal of the movement is to impact the profits of major corporations this holiday season.
"The idea is simple, hit the corporations that corrupt and control American politics where it hurts, their profits, " states the Occupy Black Friday Facebook page.
A few of the retailers the protesters plan on targeting include Neiman Marcus, Amazon and Wal-Mart.
Their website states the following:
"Keep in mind that we are not occupying small businesses or hardworking people - we must make a distinction between the businesses that are in the pockets of Wall Street and the businesses that serve our local communities.
We are NOT anti-capitalist. Just anti-crapitalist.
Below is a shortlist for publicly traded large businesses to Occupy or to boycott on Black Friday. Luckily, most of them don't have good presents anyway. If you want to see the top 100 retail businesses for 2010 to boycott, click here.
On Black Friday, Occupy or boycott:
- Abercrombie & Fitch [ANF 44.88 -0.79 (-1.73%) ]
- Amazon.com (yes, we have to stay away from Amazon, too!) [AMZN 188.99 -3.35 (-1.74%) ]
- AT&T Wireless [ATT 27.21 0.17 (+0.63%) ]
- Burlington Coat Factory
- Dick's Sporting Goods (I was surprised, too!) [DSG-FF 28.505 -0.43 (-1.49%) ]
- Dollar Tree [DLTR 76.61 -0.48 (-0.62%) ]
- The Home Depot [HD 36.52 -0.58 (-1.56%) ]
- Neiman Marcus
- OfficeMax [OMX 4.25 -0.24 (-5.35%) ]
- Toys R'Us [JPM 28.38 -1.03 (-3.5%) ]
- Verizon Wireless [VZN 95.50 1.20 (+1.27%) ]
- Wal-Mart [WMT 56.64 -0.21 (-0.37%) ]
Solidarity!"
This is not the first time the demonstrators have taken action against corporations by using their money as weapon for change.
Consumer Nation - Holiday Edition - A CNBC Report
On Nov. 5th many demonstrators participated in "Bank Transfer Day" and moved their money from banks to credit unions.
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6) The Poor, the Near Poor and You
New York Times Editorial
November 23, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/24/opinion/the-poor-the-near-poor-and-you.html?hp
What is it like to be poor? Thankfully, most Americans do not know, at least not firsthand. And times are tough for the middle class. But everyone needs to recognize a chilling reality: One in three Americans - 100 million people - is either poor or perilously close to it.
The Times's Jason DeParle, Robert Gebeloff and Sabrina Tavernise reported recently on Census data showing that 49.1 million Americans are below the poverty line - in general, $24,343 for a family of four. An additional 51 million are in the next category, which they termed "near poor" - with incomes less than 50 percent above the poverty line.
As for all of that inspirational, up-by-their-bootstrap talk you hear on the Republican campaign trail, over half of the near poor in the new tally actually fell into that group from higher income levels as their resources were sapped by medical expenses, taxes, work-related costs and other unavoidable outlays.
The worst downturn since the Great Depression is only part of the problem. Before that, living standards were already being eroded by stagnating wages and tax and economic policies that favored the wealthy.
Conservative politicians and analysts are spouting their usual denial. Gov. Rick Perry and Representative Michele Bachmann have called for taxing the poor and near poor more heavily, on the false grounds that they have been getting a free ride. In fact, low-income workers do pay up, if not in federal income taxes, then in payroll taxes and state and local taxes.
Asked about the new census data, Robert Rector, an analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation told The Times that the "emotionally charged terms 'poor' or 'near poor' clearly suggest to most people a level of material hardship that doesn't exist." Heritage has its own, very different ranking system, based on households' "amenities." According to that, the typical poor household has roughly 14 of 30 amenities. In other words, how hard can things be if you have a refrigerator, air-conditioner, coffee maker, cellphone, and other stuff?
The rankings ignore the fact that many of these are requisites of modern life and that things increasingly out of reach for the poor and near poor - education, health care, child care, housing and utilities - are the true determinants of a good, upwardly mobile life.
Government surveys analyzed by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities indicate that in 2010, just over half of the country's nearly 17 million poor children, lived in households that reported at least one of four major hardships: hunger, overcrowding, failure to pay the rent or mortgage on time or failure to seek needed medical care. A good education is also increasingly out of reach. A study by Martha Bailey, an economics professor at the University of Michigan, showed that the difference in college-graduation rates between the rich and poor has widened by more than 50 percent since the 1990s.
There is also a growing out-of-sight-out-of-mind problem. A study, by Sean Reardon, a sociologist at Stanford, shows that Americans are increasingly living in areas that are either poor or affluent. The isolation of the prosperous, he said, threatens their support for public schools, parks, mass transit and other investments that benefit broader society.
The poor do without and the near poor, at best, live from paycheck to paycheck. Most Americans don't know what that is like, but unless the nation reverses direction, more are going to find out.
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7) Occupy Student Debt Campaign Announces Nationwide Loan Refusal Pledge
By Amanda M. Fairbanks
November 25, 2011
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/21/occupy-student-debt-campaign_n_1106379.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#undefined
NEW YORK -- Early Monday afternoon, a group of faculty and student organizers unveiled the Occupy Student Debt campaign from the southeast corner of lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park.
As part of the Occupy Wall Street movement, the national Occupy Student Debt campaign asks that borrowers default on their student loan payments after one million individuals have similarly signed the debtors' pledge.
"Since the first days of the Occupy movement, the agony of student debt has been a constant refrain," announced Andrew Ross, a professor at New York University, to a crowd of more than 100 assembled in Zuccotti Park. "We've heard the harrowing personal testimony about the suffering and humiliation of people who believe their debts will be unpayable in their lifetime."
Ross, who teaches social and cultural analysis at NYU, helped to unveil the campaign on Monday. He is also an active member of the Occupy Wall Street education and empowerment working group, which is spearheading the student-debt refusal pledge.
In addition to asking debtors to stop making their student loan payments after a million signers have made a similar pledge, the campaign hopes to draw attention to the connection between the increasing cost of college and rising student debt loads.
Further, the campaign aims to highlight the necessity of federally funded institutions of higher education, interest-free student loans and a requirement that for-profit and private universities reveal their internal finances -- not to mention the abolishment of all current student debt.
As of Monday evening, according to the campaign website's own calculations, 120 individuals had signed the debtors' pledge, 64 had signed the faculty pledge of support and 26 had signed the non-debtors' pledge of support.
But Anya Kamenetz, author of "Generation Debt" and "The Edupunks' Guide," cautions borrowers against romanticizing the notion of what it means for student borrowers to actually default on their loans -- including the garnishing of future wages and tax refunds, among other penalizing tactics.
Additionally, Kamenetz said she sees the college graduate population as being less likely to garner widespread sympathy by virtue of their relative privilege.
"As an organizing tactic, mass default is a little bit difficult to get mainstream America to embrace, since there's this very strong moral and ethical belief that people don't walk away from loans they voluntarily assumed," said Kamenetz, who has written about the issue of student loan debt for seven years. "There's this deep, pervading sense that since I had to pay off my loans, you should have to pay off your loans, too."
Besides the difficulty of amassing widespread public support, Carl Van Horn, a professor of public policy at Rutgers University, also said defaulting on student loan debt will have long-lasting consequences.
"Defaulting is considered a financial felony that will continue to haunt you," Van Horn said. "Student loans are not something you can easily walk away from, and defaulting is hardly the same thing as missing a credit card payment. It really is a a black mark."
Black mark or not, Thomas Gokey and many others see little in the way of viable alternatives.
Gokey, an adjunct professor of visual art at Syracuse University, participated in Monday's announcement. He said it was not uncommon for his students at Syracuse to graduate with upwards of $200,000 in debt. Gokey said he is personally on the hook for about $100,000.
As a professor at NYU, where undergraduate debt loads average $35,000, Ross said he considers his salary to be financed by the willingness of his students to assume vast debt loads.
"There's been a lot of talk around student debt, but not a lot of action," Ross said. "Even in the best of times, it was a very heavy burden to carry for decades. But now, with chronic unemployment, it's morally unsustainable."
At the faculty level, it's a sentiment shared by Ashley Dawson, an associate professor of English at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
"I see my students who have to work not only one but two jobs just to afford our relatively reasonable tuition rates," said Dawson, who has taught in the CUNY system since 2001. As part of a formal week of student-led action, Monday's announcement in Zuccotti Park culminated in a rally in Madison Square Park, followed by a march to Baruch College, where the CUNY Board of Trustees met to consider a potential tuition increase.
"For students faced with debt, this campaign is important because it will help provide them with a collective organizing vehicle," said Dawson, a member of the education and empowerment working group. "We're aiming to galvanize sweeping political change."
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8) Free Fumiaki Hoshino. Innocent Fighter for Justice. 37 years behind bars
11/27 International Solidarity Day For Japanese Fumiaki Hoshino/Action-Solidarity Messages Requested
http://fhoshino.u.cnet-ta.ne.jp/pages/ayumi110811.html
Dear Friends,
On November 27, we will hold a National Rally to free Fumiaki Hoshino in Tokyo. Please send your solidarity message to the rally.
Fumiaki Hoshino is an innocent political prisoner fighting behind bars for 37 years-one of the longest detained political prisoners of the world. The Japanese prison system is extremely oppressive: most of his friends cannot visit him.
On November 14, 1971, Fumiaki Hoshino led one of the student contingents of the demonstration against so-called "Okinawa Reversion Agreement", which in reality helped maintain the US military bases with nuclear arsenal in Okinawa. One of the riot policemen died during the crash with demonstrators. Hoshino was framed as "the perpetrator"; the prosecution demanded death penalty, the courts sentenced to life imprisonment.
He is innocent. There is no physical evidence whatsoever. Only the "depositions of the six demonstrators" made in closed interrogation rooms in the police stations were the "evidence of guilt." Five of the eyewitnesses recanted, claiming police and prosecution coercion. Remaining one refused to testify in the open courts. On top of it, the police "lost" the videotape of the demonstration, in which Hoshino's contingent had participated.
Hoshino filed an application for retrial based on newly discovered photos that clearly contradict his alleged involvement in the death of the policeman.
A broad coalition of labor unions, other organizations and individuals are now increasing their efforts to free Hoshino.
International solidarity is also developing. Last July, we were given an opportunity to hold two events in San Francisco LaborFest: "Hoshino Art Show" and "Labor & Political prisoners: From Hoshino To Mumia."
The National Coordinating Center of Labor Unions-an organization of militant labor unions and labor activists in Japan-decided to show its solidarity with Hoshino, holding its annual convention next February in Tokushima City near the Tokushima Prison where Hoshino is detained.
Please send your solidarity message to the November 27 rally. It will greatly help free Hoshino.
Thank you so much in advance.
In Solidarity,
Hoshino Defense Committee
http://fhoshino.u.cnet-ta.ne.jp/pages/ayumi110811.html
http://fhoshino.u.cnet-ta.ne.jp/
Appeal from "Free Hoshino Fumiaki! National
Coordinating Conference for Retrial"
HOSHINO Akiko
Co-Chair of the Conference
Spouse of HOSHINO Fumiaki
Brothers and Sisters, thank you for your struggles in your workplaces and communities.
Hoshino Fumiaki is an innocent political prisoner in Tokushima Prison. He has spent 36 years in detention. He appeals, "Workers who produce everything and run the society have the power to smash enemy attacks, transform workplaces and whole society, get back all the properties from capitalists and emancipate all human beings. Get back the power of labor movement, free the anger of all of workers and people! Build unity of all workers and people across the borders!"
On November 14, 1971, Fumiaki took part in the demonstration in Shibuya, Tokyo, against the ratification of the Agreement on the Reversion of Okinawa, which was strengthening of war efforts, especially the reorganization and enhancement of the US military bases in Okinawa. The secret pact on nuclear weapons was also included in the Agreement.
During the course of the demonstration, one riot policeman died and the police framed up and charged Fumiaki on criminal homicide. Also the Supreme Court sentenced him life imprisonment.
I married with him in 1986 while he was in prison. Since then I have been living and struggling together with Fumiaki against Japanese inhumane prison system, which prohibits even a minimal human contact: I cannot touch his hands.
Fumiaki did not engaged in the death of the riot policeman. He is innocent. The police framed and arrested many students who had participated the demonstration and forced them to "confess" the "crime" of Hoshino. In the open court five of the six students who "confessed", withdrew their "testimonies." Remaining one student refused to testify altogether. Nevertheless the court admitted the "confession" in a closed interrogation room as evidence and rejected the testimonies in the open court.
The first application for retrial was refused. The Supreme Court, however, admitted that Fumiaki wore at the time "light blue clothes" instead of "biscuit clothes" which was the previous story of the framed up sentences.
We filed second application for retrial on November 27, last year.
The Tokushima Prison has punished Fumiaki two times, in order to obstruct our movement for retrial. Seven of his friend were refused to visit him. My letters were censored and partially erased four times. Even the wife of the prisoner, myself was prohibited to visit him. And the prison management "consider lawyers' visits general visits and limit the time and the prison officers watch on the side of the lawyers.
We will file a lawsuit under national redress law. Protests from around the world are surely very effective. Please send protest and encouragement letters to the government and to Fumiaki. He himself said that his task is to encourage everyone.
In 1971, many workers and students in mainland Japan rose up for Okinawa struggle at the risk of their own lives. The life imprisonment of Fumiaki was retaliation against this historic struggle. This is also an exemplary punishment on Fumiaki who continues the struggles of 1970 and creates today's Okinawa and anti- Anpo (Japan US Security Alliance) struggles in prison. Furthermore, the oppression against Fumiaki is meant to destroy the struggles of workers and people including Doro-Chiba outside the prison.
Smash the divide and conquer policy! Take back Hoshino Fumiaki with the power of international solidarity. Please support us to free my beloved husband, Fumiaki, and to corner the Kan administration of Democratic Party. Please join the national rally for free Hoshino.
Let's take back political prisoners of the world, including Mumia Abu Jamal, with international solidarity!
All workers, fight together across borders! Fight back together against capitalists who shift blames of global financial meltdown to workers! Let's organize the Nation-wide Movement of National Railway Struggle and create a perspective for workers to live our own lives!
Urgent appeal to all working people of the world
Free innocent HOSHINO Fumiaki from 35 years' imprisonment
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9) White House Urges Egypt's Military to Yield Power
"The statement is a significant escalation of the international pressure on the generals because the United States is among the Egyptian military's closest allies and biggest benefactors, contributing more than $1.3 billion a year in aid. ...With a broad spectrum of civilian leaders - excluding the Muslim Brotherhood - joining calls for a "million man march," large crowds of protesters began to assemble in Tahrir Square as Friday prayer began across the capital, responding to protesters' appeals for a substantial display of support." [This is the signal that the U.S. wants to make sure that whoever gets in will play ball with them. They are afraid of a revolutionary movement starting--next Obama will send in NATO troops to make sure that doesn't happen. ...bw]
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
November 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/world/middleeast/egypt-military-and-protesters-standoff-in-tahrir-square.html?hp
CAIRO - The White House on Friday threw its weight behind Egypt's resurgent protest movement, urging for the first time the handover of power by the interim military rulers in the Obama administration's most public effort yet to steer the course of the Egyptian democracy.
"The United States strongly believes that the new Egyptian government must be empowered with real authority immediately," the White House said in a statement.
"Most importantly, we believe that the full transfer of power to a civilian government must take place in a just and inclusive manner that responds to the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people, as soon as possible."
The White House released the statement as tens of thousands of demonstrators poured into Tahrir Square for what is expected to be the biggest display of anger in a week of protests against the military's intention to retain power even after parliamentary elections that are scheduled to begin on Monday.
The statement is a significant escalation of the international pressure on the generals because the United States is among the Egyptian military's closest allies and biggest benefactors, contributing more than $1.3 billion a year in aid.
But speaking out against the military could be a risky bet for White House if the transition to democracy moves out of the hands of the military to less predictable civilian control.
The military is the most powerful institution in Egypt and a key supporter of the United States in a country where anti-American sentiment and Islamist political movements are surging.
Since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in February, the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has held itself up as the sole guardian of Egypt's stability against chaos and radicalism.
Until recently the United States had publicly endorsed its plans to guide a slow transition to civilian democracy in 2013 or later.
But the military council began spelling out plans to carve out permanent political powers and protection from civilian oversight under the next constitution. Those efforts exploded after the government used force to clear a small protest camp from Tahrir Square last Saturday, amid mounting unrest across the country.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton first referred obliquely to United States' displeasure with the military's power grab about two weeks ago.
Since then, the military escalated its tactics in confrontations that killed at least 38 civilians and injured more than 2,000.
As huge crowds of demonstrators gathered in Tahrir Square on Friday, state television reported that the generals had appointed a politician from the Mubarak era to head a new cabinet, potentially hardening the lines between the interim military rulers and protesters demanding their exit.
At the same time, the Obama administration urged the generals to transfer power immediately to a civilian government "empowered with real authority."
The developments reinforced fears of a prolonged standoff after the generals vowed on Thursday to forge ahead with parliamentary elections despite a week of violence that is certain to tarnish the vote.
With a broad spectrum of civilian leaders - excluding the Muslim Brotherhood - joining calls for a "million man march," large crowds of protesters began to assemble in Tahrir Square as Friday prayer began across the capital, responding to protesters' appeals for a substantial display of support.
Late Thursday, the generals announced over the state news media that they planned to name a 77-year-old former Mubarak lieutenant, Kamel el-Ganzoury, as the new prime minister, though many Egyptians mocked him as "a dinosaur."
The appointment of Mr. Ganzoury follows the resignation this week of the previous cabinet in capitulation to protesters' demands. The last prime minister was a bureaucrat seen as serving the military council. Demonstrators, as well as most civilian parties, are now calling for the council to hand over real authority to a legitimate successor.
Despite those calls, state television reported Friday that Mr. Ganzoury had been appointed.
The political shifts have heightened the sense of turmoil in advance of Monday's planned parliamentary vote.
Government news organizations reported on Thursday that at least one political party - the Social Democrats, perhaps the best established of the liberal parties founded in the burst of hope after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak nine months ago - would boycott the elections as a sham intended to prop up military rule.
By day's end on Thursday, the Muslim Brotherhood also appeared to distance itself from the military council. The powerful Islamist group stands to gain the most from early elections and for the moment had stepped to the sidelines of the protests.
As clashes with the security police stopped for the first time this week, the crowd in Tahrir Square grew larger on Thursday than the day before, reaching tens of thousands.
The generals were unmoved. "Egypt is not Tahrir Square," Maj. Gen. Mukhtar el-Mallah, a member of the military council, declared early Thursday at a news conference. The generals claimed an open-ended mandate to hold power long after Monday's parliamentary vote. "We will not relinquish power because of a slogan-chanting crowd."
The declaration, after six days of violent confrontation in the capital and around the country, shifted the political struggle to a new and murkier phase.
Fulfilling a promise made in negotiations with political parties earlier in the week, the military pulled back the security forces who had battled protesters and constructed a concrete wall bisecting the street where most of the clashes had taken place.
The generals, meanwhile, issued an unusual apology for the deaths of at least 38 people during the week of unrest and the injuries of more than 2,000. But even as they hailed the dead as "martyrs," the generals also appeared to justify killing them as criminals who had attacked the Interior Ministry. And they denied - despite the statements of many witnesses, doctors and even the health ministry - that security forces had fired live ammunition or birdshot in their clashes with protesters, further inflaming anger.
"The police are very committed to self-control, but I can't give orders to anyone not to defend themselves," General Mallah said.
But the council made clear in its news conference on Thursday that it was not ready to surrender any power, and the choice of Mr. Ganzoury appeared to show the generals' preference for a prime minister who would serve in a subordinate role, as Mr. Ganzoury did under Mr. Mubarak.
Mayy el Sheikh and Dina Salah Amer contributed reporting from Cairo, and Alan Cowell from Paris.
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10) Six Children Are Killed by NATO Airstrike in Afghanistan
"Six children were among seven civilians killed in a NATO airstrike in southern Afghanistan... ...Abdul Samad, an uncle of four of the children who were killed, disputed the government's version of the attack. He said his relatives were working in fields near their village when they were attacked without warning by an aircraft. His brother-in-law, Mohammad Rahim, 50, had his two sons and three daughters with him. They were between 4 and 12 years old and all were killed, except an 8-year-old daughter who was badly wounded, Mr. Samad said. 'There were no Taliban in the field; this is a baseless allegation that the Taliban were planting mines,' Mr. Samad said. 'I have been to the scene and haven't found a single bit of evidence of bombs or any other weapons. The Americans did a serious crime against innocent children, they will never ever be forgiven.'"
By TAIMOOR SHAH and ROD NORDLAND
November 24, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/asia/six-afghan-children-are-killed-in-nato-airstrike.html?ref=world
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Six children were among seven civilians killed in a NATO airstrike in southern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said Thursday.
The deaths occurred on Wednesday in the Zhare district of Kandahar Province, an area described by coalition forces as largely pacified in recent months, and two insurgents were also killed, the Afghan officials said.
A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, Master Sgt. Christopher DeWitt, said the authorities were aware of the strike and had sent a team to the district to investigate. He said the assistance force had not previously issued a news release on the deaths.
Zalmai Ayoubi, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar, said that a NATO reconnaissance aircraft spotted five militants planting mines in the village of Siacha, in the Zhare district, on Wednesday. The plane targeted the insurgents, killing two and wounding a third, and then pursued the other two suspects as they carried their wounded comrade away.
"The plane chased them, the insurgents entered a street where children were playing and, as a result of its shooting, seven people have been killed, including six children, and two girls also have been injured," Mr. Ayoubi said. The victims were members of two families.
Abdul Samad, an uncle of four of the children who were killed, disputed the government's version of the attack. He said his relatives were working in fields near their village when they were attacked without warning by an aircraft.
His brother-in-law, Mohammad Rahim, 50, had his two sons and three daughters with him. They were between 4 and 12 years old and all were killed, except an 8-year-old daughter who was badly wounded, Mr. Samad said.
"There were no Taliban in the field; this is a baseless allegation that the Taliban were planting mines," Mr. Samad said. "I have been to the scene and haven't found a single bit of evidence of bombs or any other weapons. The Americans did a serious crime against innocent children, they will never ever be forgiven."
American soldiers have destroyed numerous dwellings in Zhare to deny insurgents hiding places, and they have also built new roads across farmland because existing ones were so heavily mined. Residents were quickly compensated by the military, however, and in recent months the area, one of several districts near the city of Kandahar that were once Taliban strongholds, has been relatively quiet.
The area is also known as the ancestral home of the Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar.
Taimoor Shah reported from Kandahar, and Rod Nordland from Kabul, Afghanistan.
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11) Egypt Military and Protesters Dig In for a Long Standoff
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
November 24, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/middleeast/generals-in-egypt-offer-apology-for-violent-clashes.html?ref=world
CAIRO - Egypt's interim military rulers and the masses of protesters demanding their exit dug in Thursday for a prolonged standoff as the generals vowed to forge ahead with parliamentary elections despite a week of violence that is certain to tarnish the vote.
State news organizations reported that at least one political party - the Social Democrats, perhaps the best established of the liberal parties founded in the burst of hope after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak nine months ago - would boycott the elections as a sham intended to prop up military rule.
By day's end on Thursday, the Muslim Brotherhood also appeared to distance itself from the military council. The powerful Islamist group stands to gain the most from early elections and for the moment had stepped to the sidelines of the protests.
As clashes with the security police stopped for the first time this week, the crowd in Tahrir Square grew larger on Thursday than the day before, reaching tens of thousands. A broad spectrum of civilian leaders - excluding the Brotherhood - joined calls for a "million man march" on Friday.
The generals were unmoved. "Egypt is not Tahrir Square," Maj. Gen. Mukhtar el-Mallah, a member of the military council, declared early Thursday at a news conference. The generals claimed an open-ended mandate to hold power long after Monday's parliamentary vote. "We will not relinquish power because of a slogan-chanting crowd.
The declaration, after six days of violent confrontation in the capital and around the country, shifted the political struggle to a new and murkier phase.
Fulfilling a promise made in negotiations with political parties earlier in the week, the military pulled back the security forces who had battled protesters and constructed a concrete wall bisecting the street where most of the clashes had taken place.
The generals, meanwhile, issued an unusual apology for the deaths of at least 38 people during the week of unrest and the injuries of more than 2,000. But even as they hailed the dead as "martyrs," the generals also appeared to justify killing them as criminals who had attacked the Interior Ministry. And they denied - despite the statements of many witnesses, doctors and even the health ministry - that security forces had fired live ammunition or birdshot in their clashes with protesters, further inflaming anger.
"The police are very committed to self-control, but I can't give orders to anyone not to defend themselves," General Mallah said.
Then, late in the day, the generals announced over the state news media that they would name a 77-year-old former Mubarak lieutenant, Kamel el-Ganzoury, as their new prime minister, though many Egyptians mocked him as "a dinosaur."
The appointment of Mr. Ganzoury follows the resignation this week of the previous prime minister, in capitulation to street protesters' demands. The last prime minister was a functionary serving the military council, and the demonstrators, as well as most civilian parties, are now calling for the council to hand over real authority to a successor.
But the council made clear in its news conference on Thursday that it was not ready to surrender any power, and the choice of Mr. Ganzoury appeared to show the generals' preference for a prime minister who would serve in a subordinate role, as Mr. Ganzoury did under Mr. Mubarak. Several others also reportedly turned the post down.
The selection of Mr. Ganzoury may also have provoked the Muslim Brotherhood, the one major political force that had agreed to a deal with the military council for it to retain full power until early elections. As prime minister in the late 1990s, Mr. Ganzoury presided over the incarceration or torture of scores of Islamists who now lead the movement.
In a statement released shortly after Mr. Ganzoury's name was floated, the Brotherhood's new Freedom and Justice Party pointedly declared that the next prime minister "must enjoy general national consensus and popular acceptance and have to stand at one distance from all political forces." The group said that its leaders had not met with the council on Thursday, meaning they had not been consulted.
The Brotherhood had already issued a statement appearing to back away from its previous embrace of an agreement with the military council for it to hold power until after an accelerated constitutional ratification and presidential vote by the end of June.
A Brotherhood spokesman had previously said it would not join the street protests demanding the immediate transfer of power because it had agreed with the council on a timetable that all should accept.
But the group was pilloried for appearing to trade its support to the council in exchange for holding elections on a favorable timetable, and it faced internal divisions on the issue as well.
The group responded Thursday in an extraordinarily defensive statement that it had declined to join the protests only because it feared its presence could provoke more violence, not because of a political calculus.
"Our decision has been misunderstood and misinterpreted by some," the group said. "They harshly criticized and slandered the Muslim Brotherhood."
It added, "Had we been out to secure our own interests and reap popularity on the political street, going down to Tahrir Square would have been just the way to do that. But we refrained from rash action," calling the demonstrators "purely patriotic youths and sincere citizens."
In the square, many argued Thursday that the military's ability to end the violence at its discretion - a provision of its agreement with the Brotherhood - suggested that the generals might have deliberately tolerated it for days. "If they had done this the first day, there would not have been any martyrs or injuries," said Mohamed Salem, 25, watching a crane erect the wall of cement blocks across the side street that had become the central battleground between protesters and the security police.
Although the military said that the security police were merely defending the Interior Ministry from attack, the fighting had always centered on that one block leading to the square, while other more direct routes to the ministry remained open, supporting the assertions of many protesters that the security forces were deliberately provoking the violence to destabilize the elections.
A flawed or disputed election, the argument runs, would undercut liberal hopes that the new Parliament could become an effective counterweight to the power of the ruling officers' council during the rest of the transition.
But the protesters, emboldened by the end of the fighting, said they were as determined as ever to stay in the square until the military council and its chief, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, left power. "Oh, Field Marshal, Oh, Field Marshal, legitimacy comes from Tahrir," they chanted.
With the flames of garbage fires lighted during the fighting the night before still smoldering in the morning, some said competition among candidates now seemed irrelevant to the more pressing struggle against the military. "Elections don't matter for me anymore, because now there is blood," said Samer Saad Ali, 37, an accountant who vowed to stay until Mr. Tantawi left power.
Then, at around 4:30 p.m., the same debate about the election suddenly broke out in clusters around the square. In each, a lone voice tried to convince those around him that it was time to go home, to focus on the vote, as others passed out fliers with a similar message nearby.
Though it appeared to be an organized campaign to empty the square, its true sponsor - some suggested the military council, others pointed at the Brotherhood or another conservative religious group - was not clear.
But in any case, the crowd only grew. "You can't trust the Field Marshal with the square; how can you trust him with elections?" argued Adel Fawzy Tawfiq, 47, a butcher. Mr. Tantawi "is betting on the 'silent majority,' " he added. "He never learned the lesson of Mubarak."
Others, though, said they intended to stay to protest and turn out to vote, no matter how flawed the tally. "The Egyptian people, through their representatives, will be able to stand up to anyone," said Reda Bassiouni, a 48-year-old lawyer As he walked the square, he held hands with his small son, whom he had brought along "to see the history," he said.
May el Sheik and Dina Salah Amer contributed reporting from Cairo.
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12) Protesters Look for Ways to Feed the Web
By JENNIFER PRESTON
November 24, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/business/media/occupy-movement-focuses-on-staying-current-on-social-networks.html?ref=us
Social media has played a vital role in the Occupy Wall Street movement since it began as a Twitter experiment in July, when the anticonsumerism magazine Adbusters posted a suggestion for a Sept. 17 march in Lower Manhattan. And over the last two months, protesters used cellphones and social sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to spread their message around the world.
Now, with cities starting to break up dozens of encampments from New York to Oakland, Calif., protesters may no longer have a physical presence that helps produce daily images and live streaming video for the 24-hour news cycle. And, despite having created a large network on social media sites, organizers within the movement and social media experts say that online tools alone are not enough to sustain it.
"I think the online component was critical - the ability to stream video, to capture the images and create records and narratives of sacrifice and resistance," said Yochai Benkler, a professor at Harvard Law School and co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard. But he added that a complete retreat to an online-only form would be a mistake.
"The ability to focus on a national agenda will depend on actual, on-the-ground, face-to-face actions, laying your body down for your principles - with the ability to capture the images and project them to the world," Mr. Benkler said, pointing to the outrage over the use of pepper spray at the University of California, Davis, last weekend as an example of an encounter that ratcheted up the online conversation.
It was video of that episode spreading on YouTube that helped get the conversation going. YouTube is part of the formidable digital presence that has been created with 1.7 million videos, viewed 73 million times, that are tagged with the keyword "occupy" in YouTube's News and Politics category.
The movement counts more than 400 Facebook pages with 2.7 million fans around the world. On Tumblr.com, the "We Are the 99 Percent" blog continues to publish the personal stories of hundreds of people struggling with student debt, health care costs and foreclosure. There are also dozens of new wikis and Web pages, including OccupyWallSt.org and HowToOccupy.org.
On Twitter there are more than 100 accounts with tens of thousands of followers that come together under the hashtag #ows. The main account, @occupywallstnyc, has more than 94,000 followers.
But movement organizers recognize that they will need news to deliver updates.
To help propel the Occupy movement forward and prompt discussion across social networks, organizers are planning multiple protests in the coming weeks. A general strike has been called for Monday at University of California campuses, and a National Day of Action is planned for Dec. 6 to protest foreclosures. On Dec. 10, organizers are hoping to repeat the huge success they had in October when a call for a global day of action led to dozens of new encampments and protests that rippled from Asia to Europe. They are urging people to take to the streets on that day for a global human rights day.
Another global event would help provide fuel for the groups' ambitious live video-streaming efforts. The real-time video showed people around the world what was happening in Zuccotti Park in New York, and also allowed them to talk about it on video-streaming platforms, including Livestream.com.
What began as one channel live streaming from the park has evolved into more than 200 Occupy-related unique channels on video-streaming sites.
"We can provide the real-time perspective, and we can also give people a place to talk about what they are seeing," said Vlad Teichberg, 39, one of the volunteers who helps operate GlobalRevolution.tv, the first Occupy channel on Livestream.com.
Mr. Teichberg and other volunteers are planning to deliver regular broadcasts from a new television studio in a dilapidated building in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn. They want it to serve as the main portal for aggregating and curating video content about the movement from all over the world.
An analysis of the conversation on Twitter shows how important it is for the movement to have real things on the ground to talk about.
In the last month, the conversation about Occupy was beginning to wane but picked up again last week, according to an analysis by Trendrr, a social media analytics firm. That is due in part to the protests that followed the well-publicized police raid on the encampment at Zuccotti Park and the outrage at the pepper-spraying in California.
According to Jason Damata, a spokesman for Trendrr, the daily volume of posts about the movement on Twitter averaged 400,000 to 500,000 a day since Oct. 7. Mr. Damata said there were just over 2 million Twitter posts on Nov. 15, the day the police took apart the Zuccotti Park camp. This represented the highest volume of posts about the movement on Twitter during the last month.
But Occupy Wall Street's online visibility could also diminish if other events, like the protests in Egypt this week, pick up momentum and drive the conversation online. Or they could help bolster it.
Another firm, 140Elect.com, which tracks political trends online, noted a rise in tweets in the last week that shared content from both the Occupy movement and Egypt, according to the firm's co-founder, Adam Green.
Mr. Green also observed that the conversation on Twitter was shifting from what was taking place inside the Occupy encampments to major news about the movement and other large protests around the world, including Egypt.
"We are not trying to control the message," said Justin Wedes, a former Brooklyn science teacher who helps manage the @occupywallstnyc Twitter account. "People are getting on board with the message of the 99 percent and they are sharing their stories and we have engagement from all over the world."
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13) Occupy Cal: Open Letter to the State Government, UC Regents, CSU Trustees, & All Education Administrators (adopted by GA of estimated 7,000 people on Nov. 15, 2011
Vie Email
(please excuse duplicate postings, please distribute widely)
On November 15, 2011 thousands of students, faculty, and staff filled Sproul Plaza to participate in the Occupy Cal general assembly. (Crowd total estimates range from 5,000 to 10,000.) The GA discussed and voted to approve the Open Letter below:
Open Letter to the State Government, UC Regents,
CSU Trustees, & All Education Administrators
Quality public education is a basic human right, not a privilege. We call on you to publicly declare your support for the following:
1) Stop cuts to public education. Reverse the fee hikes, layoffs, and cuts in all levels of public education to at least their 2009 levels.
2) Refund education and public services by taxing the rich and the corporations.
3) Fully implement affirmative action to stop the re-segregation of public education. Overturn Proposition 209.
4) Respect free speech and free assembly. No use of force against protesters on school sites.
If you fail to issue such a statement, and if you fail to take concrete actions in this direction, we will begin a wave of actions, up to and including striking, beginning on February 1, 2012 to ensure that our demands are met.
We call on all California students, teachers, workers, and their organizations to sign this Open Letter and to organize and mobilize around it at their sites and in their communities.
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14) Washington, Havana and the Case of Alan Gross
by Salim Lamrani
Le Monde Diplomatique (April 2011)
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs3338.html
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
WALTER LIPPMANN
Los Angeles, California
Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
"Cuba - Un Paraíso bajo el bloqueo"
Since December 3, 2009, the case of Alan Gross has been fueling tensions between
Washington and Havana. Cuba-US relations have been in conflict for more than
half a century and reached a high tension peak under the administration of
George W. Bush. The arrival of Barack Obama to the presidency in 2009 brought a
mild flexibility to the restrictions formerly imposed by the Republican
administration, but still did not reach the level achieved under William Clinton
between 1996 and 2000. Now, Cuban-Americans can travel to their country of
origin without limitations; instead of for the 14 days every three years imposed
by Bush between 2004 and 2009. Similarly, the White House has been more tolerant
regarding bilateral and religious academic exchanges. But the case of Gross,
which clearly reflects an aspect of the US foreign policy towards Cuba - which
consists of openly financing internal opposition - hinders feeble attempts of
approach between the two capitals. As the US State Department has recalled, "the
detention of Alan Gross represents a main obstacle for the dialogue between our
two countries." 1
Who is Alan Gross?
Alan Gross is a 61 year-old Jewish US citizen from Potomac, Maryland who works
for the US Government. He is an employee of Development Alternatives, Inc.
(DAI), a subcontractor of the US Agency for International Development (USAID)
which itself is a dependency of the State Department. In December 2009, when
Gross was about to leave Cuba with a simple tourist visa -after his fifth visit
that year - Cuban state security authorities detained him at the International
Airport in Havana. An investigation discovered close links between him and the
internal opposition to the Cuban government. Gross had been distributing among
the opposition portable computers and satellite telephones as part of a State
Department program for "promoting democracy in Cuba".2
A long-distance communications technology expert, Gross has great experience in
the field. He has worked in more than 50 nations and set up satellite
communications systems during the military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan
to circumvent channels controlled by the local authorities. 3
Possession of a satellite phone is strictly forbidden in Cuba for national
security reasons. In fact, apart from avoiding all control by local authorities,
such devices, with a price between 1,500 € and 5,000 € per unit, permits the
transmission of data to coordinate an air strike to a country that has been the
victim of many terrorist attacks - close to a total of 6000, the most recent in
1997 - and air bombings since 1959. On the other hand, telecommunications in
Cuba are a state monopoly and competition is forbidden. 4
Aid for the Cuban Jewish Community?
The State Department, demanding the release of the detainee declared, "Gross
works for international development and travelled to Cuba to assist the members
of the Jewish community in Havana to connect with other Jewish communities in
the world." According to Washington, Gross' activities were legitimate and did
not violate Cuban legislation. 5
In October 2010, during the annual session of the UN General Assembly, Arturo
Valenzuela, Assistant State Secretary for Inter-American Affairs, met with Bruno
Rodríguez, Cuban Minister for Foreign Affairs, to discuss Gross. This was the
most important diplomatic meeting between representatives from both nations
since the beginning of Obama's era. 6
Alan Gross' family also assured that his frequent trips to the island were to
allow the Jewish community in Havana to gain access to the Internet and to
communicate with Jews all over the world. 7
His lawyer, Peter J. Kahn, endorsed their words, "His work in Cuba had nothing
to do with politics; it was simply aimed at helping the small, peaceful,
non-dissident Jewish community in the country." 8
However, the Jewish community in Havana contradicts the official version of the
US and the Gross family. In fact, the community affirms they don't know Alan
Gross, and they had never met with him despite his five visits to Cuba in 2009.
Adela Dworin, President of the Beth Shalom Temple, rejected Washington's
statements, "It's lamentable [...]. The saddest part is that they tried to involve
the Jewish community in Cuba which has nothing to do with this." For its part,
Mayra Levy, Speaker of the Sephardic Hebraic Center, declared she didn't know
who Gross was and added he had never been to her institution. The US agency
Associated Press said "the leaders of the Jewish community in Cuba denied the
American contractor Alan Gross [...] had collaborated with them. In like manner,
the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that "the main Jewish groups in Cuba have
denied having any contacts with Alan Gross or any knowledge of his project." 10
Reverend Oden Marichal, Secretary of the Consejo de Iglesias de Cuba (CIC)
[Cuban Council of Churches] which groups the [non-Catholic] Christian religious
institutions and the Jewish community in Cuba, confirmed this position at a
meeting with Peter Brennan, State Department Coordinator for Cuban Affairs. On
the occasion of the General Assembly of Churches of Christ in the US, held in
Washington in 2010, the religious leader rejected Gross' allegations. "What we
made clear is what the Cuban Jewish Community, a member of the Cuban Council of
Churches, told us, `We never had a relationship with that gentleman; he never
brought us any equipment'. They denied any kind of relationship with Alan
Gross." 11
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tried to mobilize the US Jewish community
to support Gross, "I call upon the active Jewish community in our country to
join this cause." But the initiatives of the Secretary of State have found
little echo among Jewish leaders in the United States. A year after his arrest,
no US religious Jewish organization has become involved in this case. 12
In fact, the small Cuban Jewish community, far from isolated, is perfectly
integrated in society and has the best relations with the political authorities
in the Island. Fidel Castro, although very critical of Israeli policy in the
occupied territories, declared to American journalist Jeffrey Goldberg that in
history "no one has been as slandered as the Jews. They were exiled from their
land, persecuted and mistreated everywhere in the world. The Jews had a more
difficult existence than ours. Nothing can compare to the Holocaust," he said.
13
Cuban President Raúl Castro attended the religious ceremony for Hanukkah -the
Festival of Lights - at the Shalom Synagogue in Havana, in December 2010. The
visit was broadcast live on Cuban TV and published in the front page of
newspaper Granma. He took the opportunity to greet "the Cuban Jewish community
and the fabulous history of the Hebrew people." 14
Moreover, the Cuban Jewish community has all the technological facilities needed
to communicate with the rest of the world, thanks to the assistance of other
international Jewish entities such as the B'nai Brith and the Cuban Jewish
Relief Project, the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), the World ORT, the Joint
Distribution Committee (JDC) or the United Jewish Committee (UJC); all of it
endorsed by the Cuban authorities. 15
Arturo López-Levy, B'nai Brith Secretary for the Cuban Jewish Community between
1999 and 2001, and today a professor at Denver University, is also skeptical
about the US version of the Gross case. On the subject he stated, "Gross was not
arrested for being Jewish or for his alleged activities of technological aid to
the Cuban Jewish community which already had an informatics lab, electronic mail
and Internet access before he got to Havana. [The Jews in Cuba] do not gather at
a synagogue to conspire with the political opposition because this would
jeopardize their cooperation with the government which is needed for their
activities: the emigration to Israel program, the Right by Birth project
--through which young Cuban Jews travel to Israel every year-or to deal with
humanitarian aid. To protect the most important they detach themselves as much
as possible from the US programs of political interference on Cuban internal
affairs. Gross travelled to Cuba not to work with any Jewish organization but
for USAID." 16
Wayne S. Smith, Chief of the US Interests Section in Cuba from 1979 to 1982 and
Director of Cuba Program of the Center for International Policy in Washington,
said that "in other words, Gross was involved in a program whose intentions were
clearly hostile to Cuba, because its objective is nothing else than regime
change." 17
The clandestine nature of Gross' activities also intrigued the Cuban authorities
which inferred that the employee had received assistance to introduce satellite
materials. In fact, every piece of luggage goes through the X-rays of Cuban
customs and such merchandise would have been detected and confiscated
immediately. This allows the suspicion that Gross had the assistance of the US
Interests Section in Havana, the American diplomatic representation in Cuba,
which probably introduced the different equipment in their diplomatic bags.
Illegal Activities According to Cuban Authorities
The official US version has not convinced the Cuban authorities and Gross is
suspected of espionage and internal subversion activities. 18
Ricardo Alarcon, President of the Cuban Parliament, declared that the American
citizen had violated the country's legislation. "He violated Cuban laws,
national sovereignty, and committed crimes that in the US are most severely
punished." 19
Truly, the USAID employee was providing highly sophisticated technological
equipment. The distribution and use of satellite phones is regulated in Cuba and
it is forbidden to import them without authorization. On the other hand, Article
11 of Cuban Law 88 reads that, "He who, in order to perform the acts described
in this Law, directly or through a third party, receives, distributes or takes
part in the distribution of financial means, material or of other kind, from the
Government of the United States of America, its agencies, dependencies,
representatives, officials, or from private entities is liable to prison terms
from 3 to 8 years." 20
This severity is not unique to Cuban legislation. US law prescribes similar
penalties for this type of crime. The Foreign Agents Registration Act prescribes
that any un-registered agent "who requests, collects, supplies or spends
contributions, loans, money or any valuable object in his own interest" may be
liable to a sentence of five years in prison and a fine of 10,000 dollars. 21
French legislation also punishes this type of action. According to Article 411-8
of the Penal Code, "the act of exercising on behalf of a foreign power, a
foreign company or organization or a company or organization under the control
of a foreign agent, any act aimed at supplying devices, information, procedures,
objects, documents, informatics data or files whose exploitation, spreading, or
gathering can by nature attempt against the fundamental interests of the nation
is punishable with ten years of imprisonment and a fine of 150,000 Euros." 22
On February 4, 2011, the Prosecutor of the Republic of Cuba formally accused
Alan Gross of "acts against the integrity and independence of the nation," and
demanded a jail sentence of 20 years. On March 12, 2011 Gross was finally
sentenced to 15 years imprisonment after his trial. 23.
The lawyer for the defense, Peter J. Kahn, expressed his regret that his client
was "caught in the middle of a long political dispute between Cuba and the
United States." 24
The New York Times remembers that Gross "was arrested last December during a
trip to Cuba as part of a semi-clandestine USAID program, a service of foreign
aid of the State Department destined to undermine the Cuban Government." The
New York paper also indicated that "US authorities have admitted that Mr. Gross
entered Cuba without the appropriate visa and have said he distributed satellite
telephones to religious groups." 25
Since 1992 and the adoption of the Torricelli Act, the US openly admits its
objective towards Cuba is a "regime change" and one of the pillars of this
policy is to organize, finance and equip an internal opposition. 26.
USAID, which is in charge of the implementation of the plan, admits that, as
part of this program, it finances the Cuban opposition. According to the Agency
for the 2009 fiscal year the amount destined for aid to Cuban dissidents was of
15.62 million dollars. Since 1996 a total of 140 million dollars have been
dedicated to the program aimed at overthrowing the Cuban government. "The
largest part of this figure is for individuals inside Cuba. Our objective is to
maximize the amount of the support that benefits the Cubans in the Island." 27
The government agency also stresses the following, "We have trained hundreds of
journalists in a ten year period and their work is seen in mainstream
international media." Formed and paid by the US, they represent, above all, the
interests of Washington whose objective is a "regime change" on the island. 28
From a juridical point of view, this reality in fact places the dissidents who
accept the emoluments offered by USAID in the position of being agents at the
service of a foreign power, which constitutes a serious violation of the Cuban
Penal Code. The agency is aware of this reality and simply reminds all that
"nobody is obliged to accept or be part of the programs of the government of the
United States." 29
Judy Gross, the wife of Alan Gross, was authorized to visit him in prison for
the first time in July 2010. 30. She took the occasion to send a letter to
Cuban President Raúl Castro. She expressed her repentance and apologized for the
acts of her husband. "I understand today that the Cuban Government does not
appreciate the type of work Alan was doing in Cuba. His intention never was to
hurt your government." 31.
Judy Gross also expressed her bitterness against President Obama who has not
made a statement on the subject. Her husband, a militant Democrat "had
campaigned five weeks for Obama's election." The President did not respond
either to a letter from Evelyn Gross, mother of the detainee. Judy Gross accuses
the State Department of not having explained to her husband that his activities
were illegal in Cuba. "If Alan had known that something would happen to him in
Cuba, he would not have done that. I think he was not clearly informed about the
risks." 32
A Way Out of the Crisis?
The Gross case bears no good news for the improvement of the relations between
the two nations. On the part of Washington, as the authorities have stated
through Arturo Valenzuela, there will be no substantial change until a solution
is found to this issue. It poses an important obstacle to any hint of approach
between Havana and Washington. 33
The Gross-USAID issue seems linked to the future of the five Cuban agents
sentenced to severe jail sentences in the US and incarcerated since 1998. They
were accused of conspiracy to commit acts of espionage for infiltrating small
violent groups of anti-Castro exiles in Florida. Associated Press remembers that
"their mission was to gather information about the violent anti-Castro groups in
Florida after a sequence of bomb attacks against tourist centers in Havana a
year before." 34.
The Atlanta Court of Appeals admitted this was not a case of espionage or an
attempt against US national security. The case has been condemned by most of the
organizations of lawyers and jurists in the United States, the United Nations,
Amnesty International and at least ten Nobel Prize Winners. On the part of
Havana, the position is also very clear: there can be no approach to Washington
while this five people are in prison. 35
The most viable solution would be an exchange of prisoners. At present, under
the pressure of Congresspersons of Cuban origin such as Senator Robert Menéndez,
and House Members Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Díaz-Balart
and Albio Sires, the State Department rejects this possibility which could be
acceptable to the Cuban authorities. But the American position could evolve
after the severe sentence given to Alan Gross. 36
The exchange of prisoners promoted by former New Mexico State Governor Bill
Richardson, who stands for an approach for which "each side has to take steps",
would allow to mitigate in part the rancor of the past, attenuate the Cold War
mentality prevailing in the bilateral affairs and open the path to a true
reestablishment of relations between both nations. 37
Addendum - November 2011
Alan Gross himself made an such an appeal when he asked that the administration
of Barack Obama undertake negotiations with the Cuban authorities in order that
he might be exchanged for the five Cuban prisoners in the U.S. "Following the
recent exchange of the Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, for 1,000 Palestinian
prisoners, Gross was clear that he wants the United States and Cuba to make a
similar gesture for him and for the Cuban Five", explained Rabbi David Shneyer,
who had visited him in Havana.(1) Such a negotiation has also been suggested by
former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who supports a rapprochement,
according to which "each party would take a step toward meeting the other,"
thereby dampening the rancor of the past, attenuating the Cold War mentality
that still reigns over bilateral relations, and opening a door that could lead
to the reestablishment of normal diplomatic relations between the two nations.
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs002/1101822053869/archive
Revised by Caty. R.
Notes
1 Phillip J. Crowley, «Statement on Anniversary of Alan Gross' Incarceration in
Cuba», U.S. Department of State, December 3, 2010.
2 Jeff Franks, «Scenarios - U.S. Contractor Jailed in Cuba Still in Limbo»,
Reuters, October 24, 2010.
3 Phillip J. Crowley, «Statement on Anniversary of Alan Gross' Incarceration in
Cuba», op. cit.; Saul Landau, «The Alan Gross Case», Counterpunch, July 30,
2010. http://www.counterpunch.org/landau07302010.html (site consulted on
February 18, 2011).
4 Ibid.
5 Phillip J. Crowley, «Statement on Anniversary of Alan Gross' Incarceration in
Cuba», op. cit.
6 Paul Haven, «US, Cuban Diplos Met About Jailed US Man», The Associated Press,
October 18, 2010.
7 Anthony Boadle, «Exclusive: American Held in Cuba Expresses Regret to Raul
Castro», Reuters, October 24, 2010.
8 Juan O. Tamayo, «Pedirán 20 años de cárcel para Gross», El Nuevo Herald,
February 5, 2011.
9 Andrea Rodríguez, «Judíos niegan haber colaborado con Alan Gross», The
Associated Press, December 2, 2010.
10 Jewish Telegraphic Agency, «Cuba to Seek 20-Year Prison Term for Alan Gross»,
February 6, 2011.
11 Andrea Rodriguez, «EEUU pide iglesias de Cuba interesarse por contratista
preso», The Associated Press, December 2, 2010.
12 Jewish Telegraphic Agency, «Clinton Makes Plea for Cuban Detainee Alan
Gross», July 14, 2010.
13 Jeffrey Goldberg, «Castro: `No One Has Been Slandered More Than the Jews'»,
The Atlantic, December 7, 2010.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/09/castro-no-one-has-been-\
slandered-more-than-the-jews/62566/ (site consulted on February 18, 2011).
14 The Associated Press, «Raul Castro Celebrates Hanukkah With Cuban Jews»; Juan
O. Tamayo, «Raúl Castro asiste a fiesta de Janucá en sinagoga de La Habana», El
Nuevo Herald, December 6, 2010.
15 Comunidad Hebrea de Cuba, «Quienes ayudan».
http://www.chcuba.org/espanol/ayuda/quienes.htm (site consulted on February 18,
2011).
16 Arturo López-Levy, «Freeing Alan Gross: First Do No Harm», August 2010.
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2010/08/freeing_alan_gr/ (site
consulted on February 18, 2011).
17 Wayne S. Smith, « The Gross Case and the Inanity of U.S. Policy », Center for
International Policy, March 2011.
http://ciponline.org/pressroom/articles/030411_Smith_Intelligence_Brief_Gross.ht\
m (site consulted on March 13, 2011).
18 Paul Haven, «US Officials Ask Cuba to Release Jailed American», The
Associated Press, February 19, 2010.
19 Andrea Rodriguez, «Contratista de EEUU violó soberanía de Cuba, dice alto
dirigente», The Associated Press, December 11, 2010.
20 Ley de protección de la independencia nacional y la economía de Cuba (LEY Nº.
88), Artículo 11.
21 U.S. Code, Title 22, Chapter 11, Subchapter II, § 611, iii «Definitions»; §
618, a, 1 «Violations; false statements and willful omissions».
22 Code Pénal, Partie législative, Livre IV, Titre Ier, Chapitre I, Section 3,
Article 411-8.
23 William Booth, «Cuba Seeks 20 Years for Md. Man», The Washington Post,
February 5, 2011. Paul Haven, « Cuban court convicts American Alan Gross of
crimes against state; 15 year sentence », The Associated Press, March 12, 2011.
24 Paul Haven, «Cuba Seeks 20-Year Jail term for Detained American», The
Associated Press, February 4, 2011.
25 Ginger Thompson, «Wife of American Held in Cuba Pleads for His Release and
Apologizes to Castro», The New York Times, October 24, 2010.
26 Cuban Democracy Act, Titulo XVII, Artículo 1705, 1992.
27 Along the Malecon, «Exclusive: Q & A with USAID», October 25, 2010.
http://alongthemalecon.blogspot.com/2010/10/exclusive-q-with-usaid.html (site
consulted on October 26, 2010); Tracey Eaton, «U.S. government aid to Cuba is in
the spotlight as contractor Alan Gross marks one year in a Cuban prison», El
Nuevo Herald, December 3, 2010.
28 Ibid.
29 Ibid.
30 Jessica Gresko, «US Man Jailed in Cuba Can Call Home More Often», The
Associated Press, October 26, 2010.
31 Anthony Boadle, «Exclusive: American Held in Cuba Expresses Regret to Raul
Castro», op. cit.; Jeff Frank, «Factbox: Jailed U.S. Contractor, Sour U.S.-Cuba
Relations», Reuters, October 24, 2010.
32 Anthony Boadle, «Exclusive: American Held in Cuba Expresses Regret to Raul
Castro», op. cit.
33 EFE, «EEUU no negocia liberación de Alan Gross», February 8, 2011.
34 Andrea Rodriguez, «Contratista de EEUU violó soberanía de Cuba, dice alto
dirigente», op. cit.
35 Supreme Court of the United States, «Brief of Amici Curiae of José
Ramos-Horta, Wole Soyinka, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nadine Gordimer, Rigoberta
Menchú, José Saramago, Zhores Alferov, Dario Fo, Gunter Grass, and Máeread
Corrigan Maguire in support of the petition for writ of certiorari», N° 08-987,
http://www.freethefive.org/legalFront/amicusnobel.pdf (site consulted on March
12, 2009). See also http://www.freethefive.org/resourceslegal.htm (site
consulted on March 12, 2009)
36 Agence France-Presse, «Advierten sobre eventual canje de presos con EEUU»,
September 2, 2010.
37 EFE, «Aseguran que liberar a Gross es beneficioso», February 16, 2011.
Salim Lamrani, PhD in Iberian and Latin American Studies of the Paris
Sorbonne-Paris IV University is a professor in charge of courses at the
Paris-Sorbonne-Paris IV University and the Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée University.
He is a French journalist, and specialist on the Cuba - United States
relations. He has recently published: Ce que les médias ne vous diront jamais.
Salim.Lamrani@univ-mlv.fr
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15) NATO Strikes Kill Pakistani Forces, Raising Tensions
By SALMAN MASOOD
November 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/world/asia/pakistan-says-nato-helicopters-kill-dozens-of-soldiers.html?hp
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani officials said Saturday that NATO aircraft had killed at least 25 soldiers in strikes against two military posts at the northwestern border with Afghanistan, and the country's supreme army commander called them unprovoked acts of aggression, in a new flash point between the United States and Pakistan.
Officials in both countries called for investigations, and the Pakistani government said it had closed the main border crossing in the region, at Torkham, blocking NATO supplies from entering Afghanistan. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani cut short a vacation, returning to Islamabad, the capital, and calling a meeting of his cabinet's defense committee.
In Washington, American officials were scrambling to assess what had happened and weigh the implications on a relationship that took a sharp turn for the worse after a United States military helicopter raid killed Osama bin Laden near Islamabad in May, and that has deteriorated since then.
"It seems quite extraordinary that we'd just nail these posts the way they say we did," said one senior American official who was in close touch with American and NATO officials in Pakistan and Afghanistan early Saturday. "Whether they were going after people or whether there was some firing from the Afghan side of the border, then the Pakistan side, we just don't know. It's real murky right now. Clearly, something went very wrong."
The American ambassador in Islamabad, Cameron Munter, called an emergency meeting and expressed regret over the Pakistani casualties. And Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, offered condolences to families of the dead and promised an investigation. "This incident has my highest personal attention and my commitment to thoroughly investigate it to determine the facts," he said in a statement.
The strikes, which Pakistani officials said had involved both helicopters and fighter jets, took place overnight at two military posts in Salala, a village in Pakistan's Mohmand Agency near the border with Kunar Province in Afghanistan. At least 40 soldiers were deployed at the posts, which according to Pakistani officials were established to repulse cross-border attacks by Afghan militants and the Taliban.
Such attacks have been at the heart of an increasingly hostile relationship between Pakistani and American officials. The Americans accuse Pakistani forces of not doing enough to stop factions of the Taliban and Al Qaeda that are taking shelter in Pakistan from crossing over to attack American forces in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the raid on Bin Laden and repeated American drone strikes against militants in the northwestern tribal regions have enraged Pakistani officials, who consider them breaches in the country's sovereignty. In a statement, the Pakistani military said its top commander, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, praised troops at the border checkpoints for responding "in self-defense to NATO/ISAF's aggression with all available weapons," though there was no confirmation by NATO or American officials of return fire. The statement went on to say General Kayani had "directed that all necessary steps be undertaken for an effective response to this irresponsible act."
President Asif Ali Zardari also strongly condemned the airstrikes, saying he had lodged strong protests against NATO and the international military force in Afghanistan.
Masood Kausar, the governor of northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, called the attacks "unprovoked and highly condemnable" while talking to AAJ TV, a private news network.
"This incident is highly regrettable and condemnable," he said. "We think there is no justification. This is not a small incident. It is being taken very seriously."
Mehmood Shah, a retired brigadier and an analyst in Peshawar, said the matter should be taken to the United Nations Security Council. Mr. Shah said Americans wanted to make Pakistan a scapegoat after facing failure in Afghanistan.
The border crossing closed at Torkham runs through the Khyber Pass and is the main crossing to Afghanistan from Pakistan. NATO has used it to ship supplies into Afghanistan.
After coalition helicopters killed three Pakistani security guards in a series of strikes a little more than year ago, Pakistan responded by temporarily closing the border crossing at Torkham.
A similar attack occurred in June 2008 and killed 11 soldiers belonging to a paramilitary force called the Frontier Corps, prompting the Pakistani government to temporarily halt shipment of NATO supplies to Afghanistan.
The border episode came a day after General Kayani and General Allen met in Rawalpindi. The two "discussed measures concerning coordination, communication and procedures between the Pakistan Army, ISAF and Afghan Army, aimed at enhancing border control on both sides," according to a statement by the Pakistani military.
The border strikes will further aggravate the widespread anti-American sentiment in the country, analysts here said.
"Even if the U.S. thinks Pakistan is an unreliable and undependable ally, how does it think such an incident will go down with public opinion in Pakistan?" asked Omar R. Quraishi, the opinion editor at The Express Tribune, an English-language daily in Karachi.
"U.S. is funding civil society initiatives to the tune of millions of dollars, but attacks like this won't help," he said in an interview. "The U.S. should take more care."
Imran Khan, an opposition politician who has recently experienced a surge in his public support, urged the Pakistani government to break its military alliance with the United States.
"The time has come to leave America's war," Mr. Khan thundered while speaking at a political rally in Shujaabad in Punjab Province Saturday evening.
"The attack was carried out by those for whom we have destroyed our own country," he added, alluding to a popular perception here that Pakistan has suffered economically and in terms of human lives because of its partnership with the United States.
Ismail Khan contributed reporting from Peshawar, Pakistan; Eric Schmitt from Washington; and Rod Nordland from Kabul, Afghanistan.
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16) Egypt Braces for Fresh Clashes After Protester's Death
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
November 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/world/middleeast/new-clashes-underscore-standoff-in-egypt.html?hp
CAIRO - The killing of an unarmed demonstrator by the security police on Saturday threatened to stir up new protests here as Egypt's military rulers and political parties raced to prepare for potential chaos surrounding the parliamentary elections scheduled to start on Monday.
An outpouring of anger over the episode, in which a protester was run over by a police truck, added to fears that continued protests and violence would undermine the integrity of the vote, the first since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak nine months ago.
The episode took place at the end of a week of mounting protests across the country against Egypt's interim military rulers, accused of threatening the revolution that brought down Mr. Mubarak by claiming permanent political powers and autonomy above a civilian government. The death recalled the event that set off the recent uprising, when the heavy-handed eviction of a small protest camp in Tahrir Square galvanized public anger against the military's power grab.
That eviction set off five days of clashes with the security police that left more than 40 dead and 2,000 injured, and it drew hundreds of thousands back to the square in recreations of the two-week sit-in that ousted Mr. Mubarak in February. Other protests continued around the country on Friday night, including a demonstration by thousands in Alexandria, and on Saturday there were calls for major new demonstrations on Sunday or Monday.
Also Saturday, The Associated Press reported that three Americans who were studying at the American University here and had been arrested during a protest last Sunday had left Egypt early in the day. It was unclear when the students would arrive in the United States.
Still scrambling to quiet the streets, Egypt's military rulers met separately on Saturday with two prominent civilian leaders, the former diplomats Mohamed ElBaradei and Amr Moussa, the state news agency reported. What they discussed was not disclosed. Protesters in Tahrir Square have rallied around the idea that Mr. ElBaradei, who won a Noble Peace Prize as the director of the United Nations nuclear energy watchdog, could lead a new interim civilian government. Mr. Moussa, a former foreign minister and secretary general of the Arab League, is one of Egypt's most popular politicians.
The Muslim Brotherhood, the popular Islamist group positioned to win a major role in the new Parliament, stepped up its own preparations for the possibility of mayhem around the elections. Its new Freedom and Justice Party said in a statement that it would form "protection committees of volunteers" to help secure polling places.
The protester's death on Saturday evoked a pattern of excessive force, half-apology and finger-pointing by the military-led government that has contributed to the escalating tension here. It took place early Saturday when six security police trucks arrived to relieve the night shift at the offices of the Egyptian cabinet. A few hundred demonstrators had been camped there since Friday night to protest the military council's appointment of another prime minister.
Although it was widely reported here on Friday that a contingent of demonstrators had moved to the cabinet building from the sit-in in Tahrir Square, the police in the trucks were surprised to see them, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Saturday. In the confusion, the police fired tear gas into the crowd and ran over one of the demonstrators, Ahmed Sayed El Soroor, 19, killing him.
The Interior Ministry expressed its regret for the death. But it also said the protesters were partly to blame because they had hurled rocks and gasoline bombs at the armed police cars. Military leaders issued a similar expression of regret after the deaths of two dozen Coptic Christians at a protest last month. But at a news conference to discuss the event, the generals argued that the Coptic protesters had started the violence and scared the troops, who then, in their efforts to flee, drove armored vehicles over civilians.
Last week, the military issued another apology for the civilian deaths in the recent clashes near Tahrir Square. But, at the same time, they argued that the police were justified in using deadly force because the civilians were threatening the Interior Ministry.
By midday Saturday, outraged protesters were talking about carrying the 19-year-old's coffin to Tahrir Square for a public funeral.
His mother, Zeinab Ali Abdel Salam, told the state newspaper, Al Ahram, "I wish youth in Tahrir wouldn't leave the square before their demands are met because I see Ahmed, my son, in all of them."
Many protesters dismissed the military's claims that the death was an accident. They vowed to stay in the square until the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces relinquished power. "We are not going to rest until the S.C.A.F. is judged for spilling the blood of our children," said Wafaa Ahmed, 55, a homemaker.
Mohamed Abid, 35, a travel agent, asked, "How many more people must die before the S.C.A.F. unclenches its grip on power?"
Mayy el Sheikh and Dina Salah Amer contributed reporting.
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17) The Death of the Fringe Suburb
By CHRISTOPHER B. LEINBERGER
November 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/opinion/the-death-of-the-fringe-suburb.html?hp
Washington
DRIVE through any number of outer-ring suburbs in America, and you'll see boarded-up and vacant strip malls, surrounded by vast seas of empty parking spaces. These forlorn monuments to the real estate crash are not going to come back to life, even when the economy recovers. And that's because the demand for the housing that once supported commercial activity in many exurbs isn't coming back, either.
By now, nearly five years after the housing crash, most Americans understand that a mortgage meltdown was the catalyst for the Great Recession, facilitated by underregulation of finance and reckless risk-taking. Less understood is the divergence between center cities and inner-ring suburbs on one hand, and the suburban fringe on the other.
It was predominantly the collapse of the car-dependent suburban fringe that caused the mortgage collapse.
In the late 1990s, high-end outer suburbs contained most of the expensive housing in the United States, as measured by price per square foot, according to data I analyzed from the Zillow real estate database. Today, the most expensive housing is in the high-density, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods of the center city and inner suburbs. Some of the most expensive neighborhoods in their metropolitan areas are Capitol Hill in Seattle; Virginia Highland in Atlanta; German Village in Columbus, Ohio, and Logan Circle in Washington. Considered slums as recently as 30 years ago, they have been transformed by gentrification.
Simply put, there has been a profound structural shift - a reversal of what took place in the 1950s, when drivable suburbs boomed and flourished as center cities emptied and withered.
The shift is durable and lasting because of a major demographic event: the convergence of the two largest generations in American history, the baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) and the millennials (born between 1979 and 1996), which today represent half of the total population.
Many boomers are now empty nesters and approaching retirement. Generally this means that they will downsize their housing in the near future. Boomers want to live in a walkable urban downtown, a suburban town center or a small town, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors.
The millennials are just now beginning to emerge from the nest - at least those who can afford to live on their own. This coming-of-age cohort also favors urban downtowns and suburban town centers - for lifestyle reasons and the convenience of not having to own cars.
Over all, only 12 percent of future homebuyers want the drivable suburban-fringe houses that are in such oversupply, according to the Realtors survey. This lack of demand all but guarantees continued price declines. Boomers selling their fringe housing will only add to the glut. Nothing the federal government can do will reverse this.
Many drivable-fringe house prices are now below replacement value, meaning the land under the house has no value and the sticks and bricks are worth less than they would cost to replace. This means there is no financial incentive to maintain the house; the next dollar invested will not be recouped upon resale. Many of these houses will be converted to rentals, which are rarely as well maintained as owner-occupied housing. Add the fact that the houses were built with cheap materials and methods to begin with, and you see why many fringe suburbs are turning into slums, with abandoned housing and rising crime.
The good news is that there is great pent-up demand for walkable, centrally located neighborhoods in cities like Portland, Denver, Philadelphia and Chattanooga, Tenn. The transformation of suburbia can be seen in places like Arlington County, Va., Bellevue, Wash., and Pasadena, Calif., where strip malls have been bulldozed and replaced by higher-density mixed-use developments with good transit connections.
Reinvesting in America's built environment - which makes up a third of the country's assets - and reviving the construction trades are vital for lifting our economic growth rate. (Disclosure: I am the president of Locus, a coalition of real estate developers and investors and a project of Smart Growth America, which supports walkable neighborhoods and transit-oriented development.)
Some critics will say that investment in the built environment risks repeating the mistake that caused the recession in the first place. That reasoning is as faulty as saying that technology should have been neglected after the dot-com bust, which precipitated the 2001 recession.
The cities and inner-ring suburbs that will be the foundation of the recovery require significant investment at a time of government retrenchment. Bus and light-rail systems, bike lanes and pedestrian improvements - what traffic engineers dismissively call "alternative transportation" - are vital. So is the repair of infrastructure like roads and bridges. Places as diverse as Los Angeles, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Dallas, Charlotte, Denver and Washington have recently voted to pay for "alternative transportation," mindful of the dividends to be reaped. As Congress works to reauthorize highway and transit legislation, it must give metropolitan areas greater flexibility for financing transportation, rather than mandating that the vast bulk of the money can be used only for roads.
For too long, we over-invested in the wrong places. Those retail centers and subdivisions will never be worth what they cost to build. We have to stop throwing good money after bad. It is time to instead build what the market wants: mixed-income, walkable cities and suburbs that will support the knowledge economy, promote environmental sustainability and create jobs.
Christopher B. Leinberger is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and professor of practice in urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan.
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18) Transgendered and Homeless, Youth Struggles to Build a Life
By MERIBAH KNIGHT
November 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/us/transgendered-and-homeless-youth-struggles-to-build-a-life.html?hp
Dressed in black baggy jeans, a gray tank top and a Harley Davidson cap skewed backward, Juan Gallaher stood under a cool late-fall drizzle devouring a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from the Night Ministry's homeless-youth-outreach van at Belmont Avenue and Halsted Street.
It was 8:30 p.m., and Mr. Gallaher was getting his first meal of the day. But he has gone so long and so often without food that hunger is now a faint feeling, he said, though he knows he needs to eat.
Three weeks earlier, he had turned 21. While that is a happy milestone for most young people, for Mr. Gallaher - a ward of the state since 2006 - it meant he was no longer eligible for services from the Illinois child welfare system. As a result, he lost his apartment and his subsidies.
"I've learned in my life that nothing is stable," Mr. Gallaher said. So he focuses on the fundamentals: getting a free dinner and finding a place to sleep - maybe under a bridge, in an abandoned house or crowded with other homeless youths on the floor of a friend's small apartment.
With a state unemployment rate of 10.1 percent, combined with a lack of affordable housing and shelter beds, an increase in homeless young people in Chicago is putting stress on an overburdened social-support system that is facing deep cuts in budgets and programs.
Advocates estimate that Chicago has up to 3,000 homeless youths in need of shelter on any given night. But there are just 209 youth shelter beds available citywide - only 5 percent of the approximately 4,000 in the city's shelters. And with local youth shelters and drop-in centers turning away more young people than ever, providers said, young homeless people are left to navigate for themselves in a system created to meet the needs of adults.
Homeless youths are in need of nurturing, they are easy targets for crime and abuse, and some are prone to commit crimes. This makes the task of helping them costly and complex. Beyond basic housing, there is a need for services that can help them obtain an education and job skills that could help lead them toward society's mainstream.
Mr. Gallaher also is a transgendered person, and a former ward of the state - both of which, studies show, make him far more likely to experience homelessness.
Experts say that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people make up a disproportionate number of the homeless youth; they represent as much as 40 percent of the national homeless population.
Many youths with gender-identity issues have been kicked out of their homes or have run away. In Chicago, most flock to Boystown, the magnet for young gay men and lesbians along Halsted Street on the North Side, looking for ad hoc family structures born of the street - street moms, street dads, nieces, nephews, brothers and sisters. Some even call themselves twins.
A History of Abuse
Mr. Gallaher, the second oldest of 11 children, likes to say he came from "a hole under a rock in the middle of nowhere." Birth records show he was born in Duplin County, N.C., on Oct. 2, 1990, Paige Francis Gallaher.
He said he grew up homeless, sleeping in Dumpsters and trees with his older brother and his drug-addicted mother. His tales of abuse are harrowing: rape, beatings, forced prostitution. For years, Mr. Gallaher struggled with his gender identity. Though he was born female, he felt more comfortable wearing boys' clothes, lifting weights and passing for male.
To Mr. Gallaher, a male identity was intrinsic. To his family it was "an abomination of nature," he recalls his mother saying. Eventually they shut him out, and now he has no contact with his siblings or his mother.
Mr. Gallaher was sent to live with a relative in Illinois, but more abuse and more running away followed, he said. Eventually, records show, the state took custody and placed him in a group home. He bounced around living programs and, still a woman at age 19, gave birth to a daughter.
In 2010, under the care of the Howard Brown Health Center in Lakeview, Mr. Gallaher began taking hormone injections to make the transition from female to male. Every month he must somehow save the $35 it costs to continue taking them. On Nov. 23, 2010, he officially changed his name from Paige to Juan, records show. In February Mr. Gallaher gave up his daughter for adoption after child services was called when he left her in the care of a friend while he was in the hospital. Mr. Gallaher chose an open adoption, not wanting to place her in the child welfare system where he spent much of his youth.
As part of an independent living program, Mr. Gallaher lived in an apartment in Melrose Park. He loved the western suburb so much he named it Hope City. But after aging out of the child welfare system in October he lost the apartment - and was on the streets again.
Nearly 40 percent of youths who reach 21 and lose access to foster care experience some form of homelessness, according to a 2010 Midwest study by the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago. Additionally, 2009 data show Illinois with more foster youths aging out than in previous years, up 1.2 percent, while nationally it has gone down by nearly half of 1 percent.
"As soon as you're 21, all the support is gone," said Amy Dworsky, a senior researcher at Chapin Hall. "We live in a place where there is a big shortage of affordable housing, and we know these young people are not earning significant amounts of money. Their options are limited."
Chicago, with its big city allure and a continuum of services, attracts runaway and homeless youths. Yet as the population grows, state and federal cuts are hacking away at budgets for outreach organizations.
A survey released Monday by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless reported that 55 percent of Illinois agencies administering homeless prevention grants said they would run out of money by Dec. 31. Last year, shelter programs in Illinois served 40,542 people, yet people were turned away 45,673 times because of insufficient resources, the survey said.
In the 2012 state budget, Gov. Pat Quinn approved $4.7 million in cuts, a 52 percent reduction of state outlays for shelters, emergency housing and transportation. Homeless advocates hope to persuade lawmakers to reverse the cuts Tuesday, the final day of this year's legislative session.
"We want homeless youth to be heard. Too often they're invisible," said Anne Holcomb, a coordinator at the Night Ministry's Open Door Shelter. "They're even invisible when it comes to funding."
Making It Work
For youths like Mr. Gallaher, the erosion of financing means he has less contact with social workers and spends more time wandering the streets, crashing on couches and fending for himself. He believes he is missing information about jobs, classes or other opportunities that might help him get on his feet.
Recently, sitting on a mattress on the floor at a friend's apartment in West Pullman on the South Side, an area he and friends refer to as Ragtown, Mr. Gallaher recited his current motto: "This isn't the life I want, but it's the life I've got, and I can't let the life I've got kill me before I get the life I want."
Mr. Gallaher prides himself on his street savvy. The most prized of his few possessions - which include five decks of magic cards, a utility knife, a Dell computer and an MP3 player - is a fireproof briefcase containing labeled folders filled with resource pamphlets on transportation, housing, mental health, Internet cafes, jobs and food.
For Boystown's homeless youth, Mr. Gallaher is a connector of sorts, a liaison between the services offered and the young people who need them. "If you need help," he said, "you come to me. I'll tell you where to go to get what you need."
But that is getting harder, and Mr. Gallaher can make fewer referrals these days. "With all the budget cuts, there is not as much programming now," Mr. Gallaher said. "It's a lot different."
On Nov. 16, Mr. Gallaher scraped together enough money to take out his partner - who goes by the name Genesis and like many homeless youths declines to give his full name - to celebrate his 20th birthday at Castle Buffet at Belmont and Kimball. Inside, Genesis, Mr. Gallaher and his two "nephews" declared an eating contest. They piled plates high with fried shrimp, pizza, stir-fry and sweet buns, and ate French fries with chopsticks. Laughing, they set napkins on fire so Genesis could blow them out to make a wish.
They talked about going to Hope City after dinner, but wound up in Boystown, wandering along Halsted Street and goofing off. Passers-by glared. Some crossed the street.
But it was too cold to walk all night, and it was too late to get into a nearby shelter. They would head back to the West Pullman apartment.
Hope City would have to wait.
"Tomorrow," said Mr. Gallaher as he walked toward the train, his MP3 player piping Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" into his earphones. "Tomorrow we'll go to Hope City."
mknight@chicagonewscoop.org
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19) For U.S., Risks in Pressing Egypt to Speed Civilian Rule
By HELENE COOPER
November 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/world/middleeast/us-urges-egypt-to-let-civilians-govern-quickly.html?ref=world
WASHINGTON - Ever since tens of thousands of protesters converged on Tahrir Square in Cairo for the first Day of Revolution exactly 10 months ago, the Obama administration has struggled to strike the right balance between democracy and stability. In the early morning hours on Friday, President Obama came out on the side of the Arab street, issuing a call for the Egyptian military to quickly hand over power to a civilian, democratically elected government.
In so doing, the president opened up a litany of risks, exposing a fault line between the United States and the Egyptian military which, perhaps more than any other entity in the region, has for 30 years served as the bulwark protecting a critical American concern in the Middle East: the 1979 Camp David peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
In explicitly warning the military to swiftly begin a "full transfer of power" to a civilian government in a "just and inclusive manner," the White House served notice that the army in Egypt would continue to receive the Obama administration's support only if it, in turn, supported a real democratic transition.
The statement, issued at 3:03 a.m. in Washington, was timed to greet the news of the military's selection of a new prime minister in Egypt and to get in front of protests in Cairo that drew hundreds of thousands, the largest turnout of a tumultuous week. It signaled, foreign policy experts said, the beginning of a shift in how the United States deals with a fast-changing Arab region and tries to preserve the Egypt-Israel peace accord.
"What we're now doing is saying to the military that if you think you're going to maintain military power, we're not going to support that," said Martin S. Indyk, director of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution and the former United States ambassador to Israel. "We want you to play the role of midwife to democracy, not the role of military junta."
But the strategy "is a high-risk one, because the ones who benefit most from it are the people who don't necessarily have our best interests in mind - the Islamists - who might not be as wedded to the peace treaty as the military," Mr. Indyk said. "We are essentially coming down on the side of democracy."
The strategy risks straining Washington's deep ties with Egypt's military, as well as a potential backlash in Egypt if the United States, which is not popular from a long history of supporting the former president, Hosni Mubarak, is seen to be meddling. But administration officials were apparently judging that the bigger risk may be to the Egyptian public, which will need to be won over if Egypt becomes fully democratic, as the administration says it hopes.
The Obama administration appears now to be openly hedging its bets, trying to position the United States in such a way that regardless of who comes out on top - the army or the protesters - it will still maintain some credibility, and ability, to influence the government and ensure a level of stability in Egypt, and to continue to uphold the Egyptian-Israeli peace deal, which the United States views as central to stability in the region as a whole.
Obama administration officials said Friday that the United States would continue to work closely with the Egyptian military, which still receives more than $1.3 billion a year in American aid. But American diplomats said that there had been increasing concern over how the military had handled the latest demonstrations, and in particular over the tactics of the security forces in confrontations with protesters this week that killed at least 41 civilians and injured more than 1,000.
Senior officials at the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon have been on the phone with their Egyptian counterparts urging restraint; Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta called the army field marshal, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, late Wednesday night to express "just how fundamental the United States believes the matter of responding to the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people" is, one senior official said on Friday, speaking on grounds of anonymity. Anne W. Patterson, the American ambassador to Egypt, has also been in talks with Egyptian officials.
Administration officials have also been talking to Lt. Gen. Sami Hafez Enan, the second in command and American military favorite, who is viewed as a potential successor to Field Marshal Tantawi and perhaps more amenable to making a swift change to democracy.
The announcement late Thursday over state media that the army generals planned to name a 78-year-old former Mubarak lieutenant, Kamal el-Ganzoury - a bureaucrat who is viewed as serving the military council - as the new prime minister spurred a flurry of e-mails and telephone calls on Thanksgiving Day among officials at the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon.
"The United States strongly believes that the new Egyptian government must be empowered with real authority immediately," the White House statement said. "Most importantly," it added, "we believe that the full transfer of power to a civilian government must take place in a just and inclusive manner that responds to the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people, as soon as possible."
The statement was intended to put a marker in the sand, one administration official said.
"At this moment of increased tension on the ground, it's important that we get as specific as possible so that everybody understands what's been agreed to and what constitutes the next steps," said a second senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity on Friday. "We're focused on a full transition to a new civilian government on the timeline that's been announced. Let's make sure we're keeping our eyes on that target."
The official added that "while this isn't a value judgment" about the appointment of Mr. Ganzoury, "we want to make sure the new prime minister is consistent with our goals for the transition of power." Specifically, the administration wants a civilian to have authority over the Ministry of the Interior and policing in general, and issues like the planning of elections.
Foreign policy experts said the statement, which came from the White House press secretary, Jay Carney, was a significant, if risky, escalation of the international pressure on the generals, particularly given that the military is the most powerful institution in Egypt and a crucial supporter of the United States in a country where anti-American sentiment and Islamist political movements are surging.
For more than 30 years, the United States has viewed the Egyptian military as the safeguard of the Camp David peace accord that was signed by Menachim Begin and Anwar Sadat in 1979. When President Obama broke with Mr. Mubarak this year, administration officials at the same time sought assurances that the Egyptian military would guide the transition to democracy and continue to uphold the treaty.
Since then, Egyptian democracy advocates and the country's opposing political parties, including the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, have mostly indicated that they, too, would continue to uphold the treaty, albeit with some possible modifications, like the number of troops in the Sinai.
But there remains uncertainty over whether a new civilian Egyptian government will be as wedded to the treaty as the Egyptian military has been, which is why the administration has trod so carefully in Egypt. At the same time, the United States has also taken pains to build relations with Egypt's new political leaders.
Of all of the countries undergoing tumult in the Middle East this year, there is none more central to American interests than Egypt. The United States can afford to maintain a low profile in Syria, where America has had little influence for decades; it can stick by the royal family in Bahrain, where the United States Fifth Fleet is based but which is not seen as pivotal to influence the region.
But Egypt is different. "In terms of the weight of any single country, Egypt outweighs them all," said Rob Malley, program director for the Middle East and North Africa with the International Crisis Group. "The reason why is because of its size, its population, the historical role its played in influencing Arab public opinion, and, of course, from the U.S. point of view, because of its peace agreement with Israel."
David D. Kirkpatrick contributed reporting from Cairo.
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20) Occupy L.A. to Be Evicted on Monday
By IAN LOVETT
November 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/us/occupy-los-angeles-to-be-evicted-from-city-hall-park.html?ref=us
LOS ANGELES - The Occupy Los Angeles protesters have probably received a warmer reception than most of their counterparts elsewhere in the country. With vocal support from the City Council, the protesters have been allowed to remain on the lawn outside City Hall for almost two months, without any major confrontations with the police.
But even here, city leaders have finally lost patience with the Occupy encampment. Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa announced on Friday that City Hall Park would be closed at 12:01 a.m. on Monday. Those who refuse to leave may face arrest.
"The movement has awakened the country's conscience. It has given voice to those who have not been heard," the mayor said. "I am proud of the fact that this has been a peaceful, nonviolent protest. It has been peaceful because we decided to do things differently in Los Angeles, not stare each other down across barricades and barbed wire."
The impending end of Occupy L.A.'s stay outside City Hall - one of the last of the movement's major encampments - may signal the end of a phase of the protests that has been characterized by large camps in parks and public spaces.
At the Occupy L.A. encampment, protesters on Friday were considering what to do next as they prepared for the tents to come down, one way or another.
Occupy L.A. organizers said the end of the tent city would offer the movement an opportunity to evolve into what some of them called Occupy 2.0. They talked of renting office space and continuing the protests at various locations around the city. Mario Brito, 38, who also has been involved in discussions with City Hall, said several events were in the works to highlight the foreclosure crisis, one of the movement's defining issues
"The tents are a symbol, no question about it," Mr. Brito said. "But it's not only about symbols. It's about getting hard work done and building the movement. Just because we're not at City Hall anymore doesn't mean the Occupy movement has ended."
Still, in a movement that has proudly declared itself leaderless, there were discussions about a variety of plans for next week. Some spoke of renting an empty warehouse where people can sleep and work, like they have in the park.
Many said they would refuse to leave the camp until the police arrested them.
Los Angeles leaders had worked hard to avoid the kinds of clashes with the police that have marked the end of Occupy encampments in other cities. City officials had engaged in talks with the protesters in hopes of persuading them to leave the park peacefully, but those negotiations ended earlier this week.
Chief Charlie Beck of the Los Angeles police said he planned to give protesters ample time to leave before officers began making arrests. "I want to make sure that I have given everyone the most reasonable opportunity possible to leave peaceably," Chief Beck said. "I want to make sure that when we do make arrests - and we will if we have to - that it is the people who won't go, not those who haven't had time or can't go."
But some confrontation with the police may be inevitable. "They're not moving us," said Alejandro Recinos, 44. "I'm here. We are City Hall. We can fire our city councilmen, and then we run it."
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