[Onthebarricades] On the Barricades - CALLS FOR ACTION - TAKE ACTION NOW!!!
Andy Robinson
ldxar1 at tesco.net
Mon Apr 4 04:30:34 PDT 2005
CALLS FOR ACTION
Protest dismissal of investigative journalist
http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20050306223633963
BOYCOTT EMIRATES AIRLINE
This airline is involved in deporting refugees - so boycott them!
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/614/614p4c.htm
BOYCOTT TOSHIBA! BOYCOTT TOSHIBA! BOYCOTT TOSHIBA!
Toshiba wants to build 100 mini nuke plants in US.
(Note: "Almost unattended" means "easy target for
terrorists almost
any time".)
http://www.energy-net.org/N-LET/EN/0RBULL/RB05226.HTM
Canada seafood boycott
http://www.hsus.org/marine_mammals/protect_seals/why_a_boycott_of_canadian_seafood.html
Papua solidarity petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/free800/
Petition for prisoners' rights
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?swiney12&1
Automated email: protest fur farming in China
http://ga0.org/campaign/chinafur
Lobby for Sonoma farmworkers
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/BucadiBeppoGallo/s8bgde427b6k6w
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/LAPhilGalloSonoma/s8bgde2y758nij
Lobby for health and safety in the rural workplace
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/AgJobs_AnaCruz/s8bgde247bjb7d
Free Samar and Jawad - political prisoners in Britain
http://www.petitiononline.com/FreeSaJ/
Stop ferret gassing!
http://www.petitiononline.com/nogas/petition.html
And you can join in: Tell TOTAL Oil to pull out of
Burma now! Send
them an email via the website:
www.burmacampaign.org.uk/total.html
Petition: Support WalMart workers
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/walmart_accountable
Support Haida protesters, defend old-growth forests!
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/486494/
Petition for human rights in Balochistan
http://www.petitiononline.com/baloch/
Petition against Canadian seal killing
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/370512755?z00m=21459&z00m=21459<l=1109557459
Petition for legal rights for chickens
http://hsus.ga4.org/campaign/petition_for_poultry?rk=BdqPbrM1HjEfW
Petition to defend Ward Churchill
http://www.petitiononline.com/churchil/petition.html
Petition against pesticides on aeroplanes
http://thiscause.org/p/menu.php?p=AFL_CIO34967
Stop logging in Oregon!
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/siskiyou_logging/6k85b4hj8bjme
Protest Goimbra killings
http://www.brasil.indymedia.org/en/blue/
Support Colombian flower growers
http://www.waronwant.org/?lid=9452
Background:
http://www.waronwant.org/flowers?cc=1
Save Taku River Salmon from the Tulsequah mine
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/504980/
Special Caribou and Grizzly Bear Action Alert
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/505527/
CALL FOR ACTION: Online petition to support the Tiananmen Mothers
http://www.fillthesquare.org/
Petition to support Mari indigenous people
http://www.ugri.info/mari/
Petition to support student anti-recruitment activists
http://www.petitiononline.com/sfsu/petition.html
Petition to remove Canadian charitable status from a Zionist pressure group
http://www.petitiononline.com/jnfca/petition.html
Basra students solidarity campaign
http://www.uuiraq.org/english/152.htm
Phone to support political prisoner in US
http://www.newsandletters.org/Issues/2005/Mar-April/Khaldun_Mar-April_05.htm
Protest attacks on union organisers by Levi Strauss suppliers in Mexico
http://www.nosweat.org.uk/article.php?sid=1235&mode=&order=0
BOYCOTT TOURISM IN BOTSWANA - Bushmen displaced
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/620/620p22i.htm
****Cross Post Freely****
Jailed activist Peter Young needs your support NOW!
Peter has been able to make a couple of calls out, and
received his first visitor today BUT he has now been
told that he had forfeited "all his rights" and his
phone privileges have been revoked because he refused
to take a non-vegan TB test. As a result he is now
being held in high security isolation - unable to make
phone calls or trade for food. Since being jailed the
only thing Peter has been given that he can actually
eat is a small amount of lettuce. Peter desperately
needs our help so that he can remain in touch with his
supporters and start getting food he can eat.
PLEASE CALL THE JAIL NOW!
(408) 299-8770
POLITELY point out that Peter is an ethical vegan and
* should be allowed to make phone calls to his
supporters
* can be given an alternate form of TB test (a chest
x-ray)
* should be given vegetarian/vegan food
****************
CASE BACKGROUND:
****************
Peter Young was arrested on March 21st in San Jose,
CA. He has been "WANTED" since 1998 after being
indicted on charges of violating the Animal Enterprise
Terrorism Act by releasing mink from a Wisconsin fur
farm.
A support website is being setup and will be online
soon SupportPeter.com) with more background on the
case, and additional information on how we can all
help Peter. In the meantime please send Peter a
letter so he knows he's not alone. Until his phone
privileges are restored letters and visits will be his
only contact with the outside world.
******************
LETTERS FOR PETER:
******************
Peter Young
Booking #05015987, PFN #DVF828
C/O Santa Clara Main Jail Complex
885 North San Pedro Street
San Jose, CA 95110
Political censorship on campus
Stuart Munckton, Sydney
On February 23, members of the Resistance socialist club at the University of Technology, Sydney were prohibited by David Redden, a representative of the UTS Union, from leafleting students and selling Green Left Weekly at the front entrance of the main UTS building. Resistance members staffing an o-week stall were also forced to either remove, or cover-up T-shirts bearing the slogan "Unfuck the world!"
Resistance members were campaigning against the decision by the Howard government to send more Australian troops to the Iraq war.
Amber Pike, a Resistance activist and women's officer at the Kuring-gai UTS campus, said: "This is a huge attack on freedom of speech. Universities are supposed to be a place for the free flow of information and ideas. UTS has a strong history of activism; students have always had the right to express their political ideas through leaflets and T-shirts. To be told what you can or can not say on a T-shirt, or where you can or cannot distribute political ideas is an outrage. It is important to stand up to it so it doesn't become entrenched or spread."
To send a message of protest to the UTS Union against attempts to limit freedom of speech for UTS students, email <unionoffice at uts.edu.au>, phone (02) 9514 1444 or fax (02) 9514 1636.
3. Greenland Plans to Put Polar Bears in Line of Fire
In an attempt to invigorate the country's sagging
economy, the
government of Greenland is making plans to allow
tourists to shoot polar bears
and keep their pelts as souvenirs. Government
officials are currently
drafting a decree for presentation to Greenland's
parliament, and
Fishing and Hunting Minister Rasmus Frederiksen
expects to officially
announce open season on polar bears this summer.
The polar bear is part of Greenland's natural
heritage, and actually
appears on the country's national coat of arms. Rather
than inviting
visitors to kill them for profit, Greenland should
protect and celebrate
its native wildlife, which includes reindeer, wolves
and whales.
Please write to the Greenland Tourist Board to let
them know that if
Greenland proceeds with this cruel plan they will lose
far more tourists
than they will attract.
Greenland Tourism - The National Tourist Board of
Greenland
P.O. Box 1615
Hans Egedesvej 29
3900 Nuuk
Greenland
Tel: 299 34 28 20
Fax: 299 32 28
E-mail: 77info at greenland.com
It seems the Japanese "war government" of Koizumi
while it illegally is sending troops to Iraq to carry
out the wishes of the Bush administration has little
concern about violating the rights of Kurdish
immigrants who are subject to persecution in Turkey
for supporting the independence of Kurdistan.
Kazankiran came to Japan after he took part in a
campaign seeking Kurdish independence in Turkey. He
and his son held a sit-in protest in front of the
United Nations University in Tokyo last year after
Japan refused to grant him refugee status.
The Koizumi government is also seeking to illegally
militarize the country and repress all democratic and
labor rights. Teachers in Tokyo are now being
suspended and fired for refusing to sing nationalist
pro-war songs. The government has also passed so
called "anti-terrorism" laws modeled on the US
"Patriot Act" legislation that is now being used to
harass and illegally arrest trade unionists and other
anti-war activists in Japan.
Recently the Japanese police arrested union TAKE
Ken'ichi, President of Kan-Nama, TAKEYA Shingo,
Executive Board Member of Kan-Nama of the(Solidarity
Union of Japan Construction and Transport Workers
Kansai Area Branch) and carried out an raid on the
union headquarters and 30 union members' homes in
Osaka.
http://www.labournet.net/world/0501/japan1.html
The Koizumi government is also attempting to censor
the news.
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Shoichi
Nakagawa and former Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo
Abe have sought to censor NHK producers from exposing
the use of "comfort women" by the Japanese government.
They want to cleanse their government's previous war
crimes so they can get on with carrying out the
militarization of Japan.
We demand that all deportations of refugees and
immigrants in Japan be halted. We call on the Japanese
people to investigate the violation of refugee and
democratic rights by the Koizumi government and to
call for the resignation of this government for
continual violation of all democratic, labor and
refugee rights.
Please send letters of protest to the Consulate
General in SF at 50 Fremont St. San Francisco.
In San Francisco, the consulate phone number is
(415)777-3533
To Fax or Email Japan
Japanese Ministry of Justice FAX: 03 - 3592 - 7393
e-mail: Webmaster at moj.go.jp
Tokyo entry Bureau of Administrative Services
(Shinagawa) retreat execution section
Telephone: 03 - 5796 - 7122 (direct)
FAX: 03 - 5796 - 7125
ACTION ALERT: CHILD VICTIM OF RAPE AND
TRAFFICKING ARRESTED &
IMPRISONED
>From Black Women's Rape Action Project,
Tel: 020 7482 2496, Fax 020 7209 4761 email:
bwrap at dircon.co.uk
Please take action in urgent support of Ms
Doreen Kyomugisha, a
17-year old rape victim
from Rwanda (see below). Ms Kyomugisha escaped
from her
trafficker last October and turned up on the doorstep
of the Women's Centre
where we are based. After months of intensive
counseling and support, she
was beginning to recover from a nightmare of losing
her parents through
illness and war at the age of 11, being raped by many
men for money in
several African countries for over two years and
finally trafficked to
London. Instead of finding the safety and protection
she urgently
needs, last Wednesday she was charged with entering
the UK as a refugee
using "deception" and "failure to produce an
immigration document or
passport which is in force and satisfactorily
establishes [your] identity,
nationality or citizenship." She was refused bail and
imprisoned.
As the Home Office disputes her age, Ms
Kyomugisha is on remand
in Bronzefield Women's Prison where she is deeply
traumatised by the
imprisonment. Conditions (in this privatised prison)
are totally
inappropriate for such a vulnerable child. Visitors
report a drastic
deterioration in her mental and physical health. She
is so upset that she is
unable to eat (as well as suffering from an eating
disorder) and has been
given no suitable food[. As a result her weight has
dropped 2kg in
just two days from an already low 48kg. She speaks of
suicide, often
retches during visits, is in constant pain and has
panic attacks. She is
heavily medicated and being held on her own in a
hospital wing, deprived
of the company of others who might look out for her;
she has not been
allowed her own clothes or homeopathic medicine; cards
sent to her have
not been delivered.
Last week, Solicitor General Harriet Harman,
launched a European
wide crackdown on trafficking claiming to improve
protection and saying
". . . it is the trafficked people who are the
victims." Does Ms
Kyomugisha's brutal treatment indicate what
"protection" victims can expect?
Will the people who pressed for stronger
anti-trafficking legislation
speak out against how it is being used by the
government to criminalise
and deport immigrant people and asylum seekers?
Everyone who knows Ms Kyomugisha, from members
of the All African
Women's Group of which she has become an active
member, church
representatives to health professionals, are appalled
at the way she has been
treated and are rallying support for a bail
application on Wednesday 16
February. At the very least she must be released so
that she can work
closely with Legal Action for Women and her legal team
to clear her
name against these malicious charges, brought on the
basis of "evidence"
which has not been scrutinised or verified. We
understand that HO
policy indicates that charges of failing to produce
valid documents when
entering the country should not be used against a
minor. On this basis
alone a proper assessment of her age should have been
done, taking into
consideration the social services assessment and the
prosecution should
not have been brought.
As the authorities prioritise implementing
repressive immigration
controls over women and children's safety and welfare,
this shocking
treatment of a vulnerable child makes a travesty of
any pronouncements
that the authorities are sensitive to rape survivors
and that young
people claiming asylum or victims of trafficking
receive a caring response.
Please help Ms Kyomugisha by:
· Writing and calling Harriet Harman and
the Attorney
General, Lord Goldsmith, to demand Ms Kyomugisha is
immediately released
from prison and all charges against her are dropped.
Please cite Ms
Kyomugisha's Home Office reference ASC/502B67 and send
by email to:
harmanh at parliament.uk & lslo at gtnet.gov.uk; fax 0207
271 2430 or post to
Attorney General's Office, Buckingham Gate, 9
Buckingham Gate, London
SW1E 6JP. Tel: Harriet Harman 0207-219 2057.
· Supporting her application for bail.
Please send
letters to BWRAP (bwrap at dircon.co.uk) for forwarding
to the court.
· Attending court for her bail hearing -
9.45 Wednesday
16 February, Bromley Magistrates Court, London Road,
Bromley, Kent.
· Contacting Bronzefield Prison Governor
Janine McDowell,
Tel: 01784 425 690; Fax 01784 425 691 urging that Ms
Kyomugisha be
given healthy food, her own clothes and homeopathic
medicine as an urgent
priority.
Please contact us if you can help in other ways or
need more
information.
Yours sincerely,
Cristel Amiss
Black Women's Rape Action Project, Tel: 020 7482 2496,
Fax 020 7209
4761
email: bwrap at dircon.co.uk
Background
In October 2004, Ms Kyomugisha was brought to
the Crossroads
Women's Centre where we are based, by a woman who
found her distressed and
traumatised at a bus station. Over a period of
several days, Ms
Kyomugisha was able to tell us a little of what
happened to her. She was
born in 1987 in Rwanda. Both her parents died when
she was 11. When she
was 15, her relatives sent her to Congo Brazzaville
with a man who
forced her to have sex with men for money which he
kept. She was brought
to England by an African man who told the immigration
authorities that
she was his niece. He kept her locked up somewhere in
London and forced
her to have sex with several men. She managed to
escape from him when
he drove her to a house to see one of his clients and
left her alone in
his car.
We have been counselling and supporting Ms
Kyomugisha, including
by securing legal representation for her asylum claim
and for housing
and support. It is clear that she is still a child.
She remains
traumatised by everything that has happened to her and
feels very vulnerable
and at risk of possible reprisals from the man who
brought her into the
country.
The Home Office in Croydon was hostile and
unsympathetic from the
beginning. On her first visit to claim asylum Ms
Kyomugisha was
interrogated by security guards who were abusive and
began questioning her in
detail about her claim before allowing her into the
building. She was
interviewed in a public place about rape and other
sexual violence
using a male translator and witnessed vicious
questioning of other young
girls.
Camden Asylum Seekers Team assessed Ms Ms
Kyomugisha and provide
housing and support on the basis that she is an
unaccompanied minor.
Health professionals have also assessed her as being
no more than 17
years old. Ms Kyomugisha attends our self-help
sessions, and was
improving her English as well as learning computer and
typing skills.
SUPPORT JAILED HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST
Austrian human rights activist Sandra Bakutz was arrested at
Istanbul's Ataturk airport on February 9th whilst entering the
country to observe a trial. As soon as the plane landed police
entered the plane and removed her from the aircraft taking her
straight into police custody.
As a result of an imprisonment order issued by Ankara's No.2 State
Security Court (also known as the Serious Crimes Court) in September
2001, she was transported to Pasakapisi Prison. Although it is still
not clear what specific crime she is being charged with, she has been
imprisoned accused of "membership of the illegal DHKP-C
organisation". Already the authorities have said that her alleged
involvement in a protest in Brussels several years ago in opposition
to the visit of the then Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem is
evidence against her.
Sandra has made regular trips to Turkey over the years to observe the
human rights abuses carried out by the state. On a previous visit to
Turkey in 1998 Sandra was detained and threatened by plainclothes
police in Ankara when she went with a delegation to protest against
disappearances.
Sandra went to Turkey on this occasion as part of a European wide
delegation to observe the trial of 64 people that were arrested in an
operation in April last year. The defendants include lawyers,
journalists, musicians, students and workers all of whom were working
for legal institutions at the time of their arrests: all of them
were tortured whilst in custody and are now being held in F-type
isolation prisons. The sole evidence against them consists of floppy
disks that the police claim contains a membership list of the banned
DHKP-C. The police say that they found these disks whilst carrying
searches of houses on April 1st.
One of the documents containing names that the police claim to have
found on one of the discs is dated February 20th, but the man
recorded as its author was arrested by police on February 19th and
detained until the 24th. Under Turkish law, police are obligated to
seal confiscated documents such as these discs and send them to the
courts immediately. However, between the time of their confiscation
on April 1st, and the date they were sent to the court, May 3rd, the
discs were not sealed, so providing ample time and opportunity for
the documents to be interfered with. The files used for the trial
consist only of printouts from the discs, so neither the judges nor
the lawyers have had the opportunity to see the actual discs
themselves.
In an added twist last December a man was arrested at Ataturk airport
in Istanbul whilst trying to fly to Berlin to participate in a
conference about prison isolation. He was detained at the airport as
the police claimed his name was on the never ending list even though
he had not been mentioned before in any of the court hearings.
Sandra Bakutz was a participant in that very same conference that
also included former Irish prisoners, representatives of Basque
prisoners, family members of prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay,
Palestinians and other activists from across Europe. Sandra also
came to England last year to make a contribution to the European
Social Forum in London where she spoke against prison isolation and
European anti-terror laws.
Sandra has now found herself on trial in the very same courthouse
that she was intending to observe a trial. Let this silence those
that claim Turkey has improved its human rights record. 118 people
have died in the prisons in the last five years in the struggle
against isolation cells, whilst the EU chose to be complicit in this
abuse Sandra didn't.
Let us not permit Sandra Bakutz to be imprisoned and condemned in
Turkey. Her struggle against human rights violations is a legitimate
struggle. Let us not allow this struggle to be criminalised by her
arrest by the Turkish authorities. We call on all people and
organisations which support human rights to make her cause their own
and work for her release.
Please write a protest and send it to the following addresses:
Austrian General Consulate
Telefax: (+90/212) 262 26 22
E-Mail: istanbul-gk at bmaa.gv.at
President of Turkey:
Mr. Ahmet Necdet Sezer,
Cumhurbaskanligi
06100 Ankara,
Turkey
Fax: +90 312 468 5026
Prime Minister:
Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan
TC Basbakanlik Bakanligi
Ankara, Turkey
Fax: + 90 312 417 0476
receptayyip.erdogan at basbakanlik.gov.tr
Interior Minister:
Mr Abdulkadir Aksu
Ministry of Interior
Içisleri Bakanligi
06644 Ankara, Turkey
Telegram: Interior Minister, Ankara, Turkey
Fax: + 90 312 418 17 95
aaksu at icisleri.gov.tr
Justice Minister :
Mr Cemil Cicek
Ministry of Justice
Adalet Bakanligi
06659 Ankara, Turkey
Telegram: Justice Minister, Ankara, Turkey
Fax: + 90 312 418 5667
ccicek at adalet.gov.tr
Foreign Minister:
Mr Abdullah Gül
Office of the Prime Minister,
Basbakanlik,
06573 Ankara, Turkey
Fax: + 90 312 417 04 76
agul at mfa.gov.tr
Police Chief:
Mr Gokhan Aydiner
Emniyet Genel Müdürlügü
Dikmen Caddesi No : 89
Dikmen / ANKARA
bphism at egm.gov.tr
Fax: + 90 312 231 96 05
Police chief of Istanbul
Mr. Celalettin Cerrah
Fax : 00 90 212 636 18 32
Please send any copies of your protests to the following addresses:
isolation at post.com, info at tayad.de
The International Platform Against Isolation will translate messages
Into Turkish and pass them on to those to those responsible for the
arrest.
We will keep you informed about the latest situation of Sandra Bakutz
and of any planned activities in due course.
FREEDOM FOR SANDRA BAKUTZ!
URL: http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/12/1707994.php
Rescue Members,
The appaling experiments on German Shepherd puppies as
young as ONE DAY has begun or is about to begin.These
pups will have their hearts surgically mutilated and
implanted with devices to cause congestive heart
failure resulting in immediate death or death in the
short term.
The University of California at San Francisco (UCSF)
finally released to me documents confirming the
experiments requested under the California Public
Records Act due to the intercession of S.F. Supervisor
Bevan Duffy's office. term. An update was also
provided to me by IDA which is attached.
UCSF's terrible record of animal neglect and current
citation by the USDA on 61 counts of the same should
have caused an immediate halt to these projects and a
reevaluation as called for by both a cardiologist and
DMV to consider alternative investigative methods that
would accomplish the project objectives.
I urge you you to contact UCSF, Senators Boxer,
Feinstein, Rep. Ellen Tauscher, and Nancy Pelosi. The
funds for these experiments come from the Nat'l Inst.
of Health.
UCSF Officials:
Chancellor J. Michael Bishop
513 Parnassus Ave, S-126
University of California
San Francisco, CA 94143
jmbishop at chanoff.ucsf.edu
Nigel Bunnett
Office of Research, Box 0962
513 Parnassus Ave
University of California
San Francisco, CA 94143
car at research.ucsf.edu
Barbara Boxer:
http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/webform.cfm
Dianne Feinstein:
http://feinstein.senate.gov/contact.html
Ellen Tauscher:
http://www.house.gov/tauscher/IMA/get_address.htm
Nancy Pelosi:
http://www.house.gov/pelosi/contact/contact.html
Request immediate cessation of the project pending an
impartial evaluation by sources OUTSIDE the
university.
Please CC your emails to me (dlewenthal at yahoo.com) for
followup and PLEASE CROSS POST THIS TO ALL GERMAN
SHEPHERD RESCUE ORGANIZATIONS YOU CAN ALERT.
>From the StWC website;
Eygptian Activists Arrested ...send letters of protest to Eygptian
Embassy!
Egyptian Security Forces arrested three activists of the Socialist
Studies Center during their presence in the Cairo International
Book Fair where the Socialist Studies Center was exhibiting its
publications, among which was their recent release on change
in Egypt titled: The Socialists' Route to Change - A socialist
vision for change in Egypt (864/2005).
We have received information that the three activists have been
transferred to Madinet Nasr Police Station where they will be
summoned to the evening prosecution, charged with distribution
of leaflets denouncing a new mandate for Hosni Mubarak, the
heritage of the presidency to Gamal Mubarak in addition to
calling for the 4th of February demonstration, which has been
called for by the Popular Committee for Change, which calls for
constitutional change enabling Egyptians to elect their president
from among more than one candidate, reducing the authorities
of the president, an end to the emergency state, and the release
of detainees and prisoners of conscience. Those demands had
been endorsed by 11 political groups, 15 popular committees
and organizations, and more than 2000 public figures, university
professors, journalists, writers, artists, trade unionists, lawyers,
engineers, and students.
Among the three activists are a woman lawyer and journalist
Ibrahim Sahari, who was brutally beaten by the police.
What you can do:
§ Write, email or phone the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak,
the Public Prosecutor and the Egyptian Ambassador (addresses
below).
§ Write to your MP and ask him/her why the British government is
still backing a regime which denies its citizens their basic
democratic rights. Click here.
§ Send messages of support from your trade union branch or
community group to office at stopwar.org.uk and we will forward
them to the defence campaign.
Write to:
His Excellency Mohammad Hosni Mubarak
President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
'Abedine Palace, Cairo, Egypt
webmaster at presidency.gov.eg
+ 202 390 1998
Telegram: President Mubarak, Cairo, Egypt
Telex: 93794 WAZRA UN
Counsellor Maher 'Abd al-Wahid
Public Prosecutor
Dar al-Qadha al-'Ali
Ramses Street, Cairo, Egypt
+ 202 577 4716
Telegram: Public Prosecutor, Cairo, Egypt
His Excellency Mr Adel El Gazzar
Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
26 South Street London W1Y 6DD
(020) 7499 3304/2401 Press and Information Office (020) 7409
2236
(020) 7491 1542
The University of Colorado is threatening to fire
radical professor Ward Churchill after right-wing
students protested the contents of one of his essays,
which was critical about the way the 9/11 massacre has
been cast.
Despite the fact that he is a tenured professor, he
has already been forced to step down as co-head of the
ethnic studies department at University of Colorado.
Please call / write / email the Chancellor of the
University of Colorado in support of Churchill's right
to hold unpopular views. If he is successfully
removed, this will undoubtedly cause a dominio effect,
and be the start of a blacklist against progressives.
I recommend threatening to boycott Colorado if he is
dismissed.
Contact: Interim Chancellor DiStefano
Send email: chanchat at spot.colorado.edu
Phone: 303-492-8908
Snail mail: 17 UCB, Regent 301, Boulder, CO, 80309
http://www.colorado.edu/chancellor/
Governor Bill Owens
governorowens at state.co.us
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, CU-Boulder:
Gleeson at Colorado.EDU
President:
Elizabeth.Hoffman at cu.edu
Chancellor:
Phil.Distefano at Colorado.edu
CU Regents:
Jerryrutledge at adelphia.net
Gail.Schwartz at colorado.edu
Regent.Carlisle at colorado.edu
Regent.Hayes at colorado.edu
Carrigan at colorado.edu
Tommyjclay at aol.com
Regent.Bosley at colorado.edu
Regent.Schauer at colorado.edu
---------------------------------------
OR:
governorowens at state.co.us, Gleeson at Colorado.EDU,
Elizabeth.Hoffman at cu.edu,Phil.Distefano at Colorado.edu,
Jerryrutledge at adelphia.net,
Gail.Schwartz at colorado.edu,Regent.Carlisle at colorado.edu,
Regent.Hayes at colorado.edu, Carrigan at colorado.edu,
Tommyjclay at aol.com,Regent.Bosley at colorado.edu,
Regent.Schauer at colorado.edu
SUPPORT WAR TAX RESISTERS
Three Face Jail for Refusing to Pay for War
http://www.nwtrcc.org/mtap05/mtap0205.html#three
After a six-year investigation, a five-day trial, and
four hours of jury deliberation, three members of The
Restored Israel of YAHWEH were found guilty in federal
district court on December 15, 2004, of charges
related to the nonpayment of federal income tax. The
trial took place in Camden, New Jersey, near where the
group is based.
Joseph and Inge Donato and Kevin McKee were arrested
on April 12, 2004, and were charged with "conspiring
to defraud the United States for the purpose of
impeding, impairing, obstructing, and defeating the
lawful government functions of the IRS in
ascertaining, computing, assessing, and collecting
taxes; Tax Evasion; and Failure to File Tax Returns"
(see MTAP, June 2004). The two men ran a construction
business, and Inge Donato was the bookkeeper. While
they cooperated with state and local tax laws and
filed appropriately for employees who were not members
of the society, for those who refuse to pay war taxes
the company honored their consciences and did not
withhold taxes.
The Restored Israel of YAHWEH has a long history of
war tax resistance. "We cannot in good conscience pay
a tax that we know goes to kill and fight against
other people whose lives were also given to them by
YAHWEH," says a statement by the group. "This stand
has been taken in our organization since 1948 when our
founder, mentor and spiritual leader, Leo J. Volpe,
after much research, stopped paying federal income tax
because he did not want the blood of those killed in
warfare on his hands."
Volpe himself was investigated and pursued by the FBI
in the late 1970s and finally arrested in 1982 on
charges of income tax evasion. He had been outspoken
about his refusal to pay federal income tax since 1948
because of the connection to war. He spent four months
in jail, but continued to refuse federal taxes until
his death in 2000. A Jehovah's Witness in 1944, Volpe
also refused to be drafted, and since then the group
has supported other conscientious objectors to
military service.
A criminal trial and charge of conspiracy against war
tax resisters is unusual. A disgruntled former member
contacted the IRS about the business, and a
particularly relentless local IRS agent pursued the
case. U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle set
sentencing for April 1, 2005. A two- to three-year
sentence is possible, but the recent changes in
federal sentencing guidelines allow the judge
discretion.
A statement from the society says, "The guilty verdict
does not change our conviction that federal income tax
pays for war and violates YAHWEH'S commandment, 'Thou
shalt not kill.' We hope that more and more people
will come to understand this, and will understand how
unjust it is that our firm religious convictions were
labeled as a conspiracy and used against us."
What you can do:
Send letters of support: Write the judge prior to
sentencing asking him to honor the sincere convictions
of the group and impose no jail time. (Send letters to
Hon. Jerome B. Simandle, Mitchell H. Cohen Federal
Building and U.S. Courthouse, 1 John F. Gerry Plaza,
Camden, NJ 08101.)
Attend the sentencing, scheduled for April 1 in
Camden. Details and directions will be available on
the Web site ( http://www.nwtrcc.org ) or by
contacting the NWTRCC office.
Send letters of support to: The Restored Israel of
YAHWEH, PO Box 801, Mays Landing, NJ 08330, or email
them at restoredisraelofyahweh at att.net.
( http://www.rioy.org/ )
An important new documentary, Mission Against Terror, (2004, 48 minutes)
co-produced by Radio Havana Cuba reporter Bernie Dwyer, and Cuban TV
producer, Roberto Ruiz Rebo, will travel the United States in 22 cities, with 30
showings, from January 28 to February 27. Bernie Dwyer will appear at each
venue, to present and discuss the making of the film. There will also be local
reports on the ongoing campaign to fight for the freedom of the five Cuban
heroes, political prisoners in the U.S.
SEE TOUR SCHEDULE BELOW. It is sponsored by the National Committee
to Free the Cuban Five, is co-sponsored by the National Network on Cuba
and the local committees listed below.
The documentary follows the case of the Cuban Five-five men from Cuba who
are unjustly imprisoned in the U.S. for doing nothing more than preventing
terrorism against the Cuban people. They were arrested on September 12,
1998 by the FBI and have been in prison ever since. The men, Gerardo
Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, René González, and
Fernando González, were sentenced in Miami federal court to four life terms
and 75 years collectively. Their case is on appeal before the 11th Circuit
Court of Appeals.
"Mission Against Terror" shows historical footage of terrorism against Cuba
and provides a moving depiction of the case of the Cuban Five. It features
interviews with Cuban National Assembly president Ricardo Alarcón, former
CIA agent Philip Agee, attorney Leonard Weinglass, Cuban activist from
Miami, Andrés Gómez, and family members of the Cuban Five.
Filmmaker Dwyer is an Irish woman who lives and works in Havana as a
journalist with Radio Havana. She has worked there for the past four years.
Dwyer was previously a lecturer in Women's Studies at University College in
Dublin. She and Ruiz Rebo have made four documentary films together. Their
documentaries have been screened throughout Europe and at the Havana
Film Festival. They have won several filmmaking prizes in Cuba.
Please spread the word about these events and the struggle of the Cuban
Five. Copies of the video and DVD will be available shortly after the tour
begins, if you are interested in organizing other events in the future.
For more information, call the National Committee at 415-821-6545, or write:
freethefive at a...
Tour schedule:
MIAMI
Fri., Jan. 28, 8 pm/viernes, 28 de enero
at La Alianza Martiana
30007 N.W. 7th Ave.
Sponsors: La Alianza Martiana,
la Brigada Antonio Maceo, la Alianza
de Trabajadores Cubanos, and others
305-643-5481
PHILADELPHIA
Sun., Jan. 30, 3 pm/domingo, 30 de enero
at White Dog Café
3420 Sansom Street
Sponsor: Philadelphia Committee to
Free the Cuban 5
(215) 849-2793
PHILADELPHIA
Sun., Jan. 30, 7 pm/domingo, 30 de enero
Germantown Women's Y
Sponsor: Philadelphia Committee to
Free the Cuban 5
5820 Germantown Ave.
(215) 849-2793
PHILADELPHIA
Mon., Jan. 31, 6:30 pm/lunes 31 de enero
Taller Puertorriqueño
2557 North 5th St. (at Hunningdon)
(215) 849-2793
NEW YORK CITY
Thurs., Feb. 3, 7 pm/jueves, 3 de febrero
at Swayduck Auditorium
The New School University
65 W. 5th Ave.
Sponsor: NYC Committee to Free the
Cuban 5, IFCO/Pastors for Peace,
Cuba Solidarity NY, Venceremos Brigade,
and others
212-633-6646
BOSTON
Fri., Feb. 4, 7 pm/viernes 4 de febrero
at Community Church of Boston
656 Boylston St., Boston
$5 donation
Sponsor: July 26th Coalition,
Community Church of Boston
617-566-2861
WASHINGTON DC
Sat., Feb. 5, 7 pm/sábado, 5 de febrero
at the Festival Center
1640 Columbia Rd., NW
(near Metro, Columbia Hgts. stop)
Sponsor: A.N.S.W.E.R.
202-544-3389, ext. 14
NEW PALTZ, NY
Sun., Feb. 6/domingo, 6 de febrero
6 pm potluck/comida
7 pm Film and program
Details to be announced
MILWAUKEE
Tues., Feb. 8, 7 pm/martes, 8 de febrero
at Central United Methodist Church
25th St. & Wisconsin Ave.
$5-10 donation
Wisconsin Coalition to Normalize Relations
with Cuba, Milw. Committee to Free the Cuban Five,
Peace Action-WI, Nat'l Lawyers Guild-Milw.,
Milwaukee Coalition for a Just Peace
414-273-1040, ext. 12
MILWAUKEE
Wed., Feb. 9, 7 pm/miércoles, 9 de febrero
at UWM Union, E. Wisconsin Room
2200 E. Kenwood
$5-10 donation
See Wisconsin sponsors listed above
414-273-1040, ext. 12
CHICAGO
Thurs., Feb. 10, 11:30 am/jueves, 10 de febrero
at Rafael Cintron-Ortiz Cultural Center
UIC, 750 S. Halsted
Chicago Committee to Free the Five:
773-376-7521, 773-878-0166
CHICAGO
Thurs., Feb. 10, 7 pm/jueves, 10 de febrero
at Puerto Rican Cultural Center
2739-41 W. Division
773-376-7521, 773-878-0166
CHICAGO
Fri., Feb. 11, 7 pm/viernes, 11 de febrero
at DePaul University
Schmitt Academic Center #154
free admission
2320 N. Kenmore
(near Fullerton stop, Red Line)
Chicago Committee to Free the Five:
773-376-7521, 773-878-0166
DETROIT
Sat., Feb. 12/sábado, 12 de febrero
Details to be announced
U.S.-Cuba Labor Exchange
313-516-8004
MINNEAPOLIS
Sun., Feb. 13, 7 pm/domingo, 13 de febrero
at the McKnight Early Childhood Theater
4240-4th Ave. South
$5 donation
Sponsor: Minneapolis Cuba Committee
612-624-1512
PALO ALTO, CA
Mon., Feb. 14, 7:30 pm/lunes, 14 de febrero
at the Unitarian Hall
505 E. Charleston Rd.
$5-10 donation
Peninsula Peace and Justice Ctr., World Centric,
Peace Umbrella of Unitarian Univ. Church, Palo Alto
650-326-8837
SANTA CRUZ
Thurs., Feb. 17, 7 pm/jueves, 17 de febrero
at the Rio Theater
1207 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz
$5 donation
Santa Cruz Cuba Study Group
831-462-8272
SAN JOSE
Fri., Feb. 18, 7 pm/viernes, 18 de febrero
at MACLA
510 S. First St.
$10 donation
Sponsor: South Bay Mobilization
408-998-8504
SAN FRANCISCO
Sat., Feb. 19, 7 pm/sábado, 19 de febrero
at the Women's Building
3543-18th St. (b/n Valencia & Guerrero)
$5-10 donation
Sponsor: A.N.S.W.E.R., National Committee
to Free the Cuban Five
415-821-6545
SAN LUIS OBISPO
Sunday, Feb 20, 7pm/domingo, 20 de febrero
San Luis Obispo Library
Donation requested
Sponsors: West Coast Cuban American Alliance,
National Committee, HopeDance Media
805-627-1959
EUGENE, OR
Mon., Feb. 21, 7 pm/lunes, 21 de febrero
100 Willamette Hall
University of Oregon
Sponsor: Solidarity with Cuba!
541-343-1572
OLYMPIA, WA
Tues., Feb. 22/martes, 22 de febrero
12, 3 pm, and 7 pm events
Information: 360-705-2241
ask for Tom or Rick
SEATTLE
Wed., Feb. 23, 7 pm/miércoles, 23 de febrero
911 Media Arts Center Theater
402-9th Ave. (at Harrison)
$10 donation
U.S. Women and Cuba Collaboration
SANTA BARBARA
Thur., Feb. 24/jueves, 24 de febrero
Faulkner Art Gallery
323-464-1636
RIVERSIDE
Fri., Feb. 25/viernes, 25 de febrero
Place, time to be announced
232-464-1636
LOS ANGELES
Sat., Feb. 26, 7 pm/sábado, 26 de febrero
First Methodist Church
Details to come
323-464-1636
OAKLAND
Sun., Feb. 27, 3 pm/domingo, 27 de febrero
Casa Cuba
6501 Telegraph Ave.
Bay Area Cuba Alliance
Noticia del Comité Nacional por la Libertad de los Cinco Cubanos, 24 enero
2005
Queridos amigos de los Cinco Cubanos:
Un importante documental nuevo, Misión Contra el Terror, (2004, 48 minutos)
co-producido por la reportera de Radio Habana Cuba, Bernie Dwyer, y el
productor de la TV cubana, Roberto Ruiz Rebo, recorrerá 22 ciudades de
Estados Unidos, con 30 presentaciones, desde el 28 de enero hasta el 27 de
febrero. Bernie Dwyer estará presente en cada una de las muestras del
video, para discutir la realización de su trabajo. También habrá reportes
locales sobre la campaña por la lucha por la libertad de los Cinco Héroes
Cubanos presos en los EEUU.
VEA EL CALENDARIO ARRIBA: Está patrocinada por El Comité Nacional por
la Libertad de los Cinco Cubanos y co-patrocinado por la Red Nacional de
Solidaridad con Cuba, y los comités locales que siguen a continuación.
"Misión Contra el Terror" sigue el caso de los Cinco Cubanos--cinco hombres
de Cuba quienes se encuentran injustamente encarcelados en los EEUU por
el único "delito" de prevenir terrorismo en contra del pueblo cubano. Fueron
arrestados el 12 de septiembre de 1998 por el FBI y han estado presos
desde entonces.
Los hombres, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero,
René González, y Fernando González, fueron sentenciados por una corte
federal de Miami a cuatro cadenas perpetuas y 75 años colectivamente. Su
caso se encuentra en apelaciones ante la corte Oncena de la Corte de
Apelaciones de Atlanta.
"Misión Contra el Terror" muestra escenas históricas de terrorismo en contra
de Cuba y ofrece una conmovedora visión del caso de los Cinco Cubanos. El
documental muestra entrevistas con el Presidente de la Asamblea Nacional
de Cuba Ricardo Alarcón, el ex agente de la CIA Philip Agee, el Abogado
Leonard Weinglass, el activista cubano de Miami, Andrés Gómez, y familiares
de los cinco cubanos. El documental fue mostrado en el Festival de Cine en
la Habana en diciembre del 2004.
La cineasta Dwyer es una mujer irlandesa que vive y trabaja en la Habana
como periodista de Radio Habana. Ha trabajado allí por cuatro años. Dwyer
anteriormente fue profesora de la cátedra de Estudios de la Mujer en la
Universidad de Dublín. Ella y Ruiz Rebo han hecho cuatro documentales
juntos. Sus documentales han sido mostrados en Europa y en el Festival de
Cine de La Habana. Ellos han ganado premios por sus documentales en
Cuba.
Por favor, corra la voz sobre estos eventos y la lucha de los Cinco Cubanos.
Copias del video o DVD estarán disponibles después que comience la gira,
para aquellos interesados en organizar eventos en el futuro.
En solidaridad, el Comité Nacional por la Libertad de los Cinco Cubanos
> The Church of the Resurrection (Anglican) on 435 Mohawk Road West,
> Hamilton L9C 1X1 had taken under its wing a couple. He is a refugee
> from Kosovo She had fled from Morocco. They have a two year old
> son. Saadia fled from Morocco to get away from a marriage her father
> had arranged for her with an old man who already had two wives. When
> she left her father declared he would kill her if he ever got near
> her. Her brother also says this. Immigration decided to send her back
> to Morocco. Immigration says Morocco is a safe place where "honour"
> killings are no longer allowed. This statement isn't totally right as
> "honour" killings still go on there. The Church asked for a stay so
> that they could arrange a safe country where she could go and then
> apply from there to come back to Canada. Saadia would not ask the
> church for Sanctuary because she did not want to cause trouble. The
> law says the Church could not offer it to her. The Rector, Archdeacon
> R. Jones tried everything he could think of to get this stay of
> departure. They had very little time to do this and did not get on
> to Lawyer Barbara Jackman until the Saturday, the day before she had
> to leave. Jackman got an appointment for her with a judge. He would
> not look at her papers. Jackman got another appointment with another
> judge for Sunday morning. He just said it was too late. That afternoon
> Saadia walked through the gates to her plane. Her son crying ran after
> her and she picked him up and they both disappeared back to Morocco
> where the parish hopes they have a safe place for her to hide but how
> long it will be safe is the question.
>
> The Immigration Minister, Mr.J. Volpe reviewed the case and then went
> on TV to distort the truth by saying that Saadia was lying about being
> afraid to go to Morocco because she had returned there many times. In
> fact, the returns to Morocc was when she worked in Europe and before
> her father arranged the marriage. Since coming to Canada her passport
> was taken away from her in 2000 and it expired in 2002 so she could
> not have gone to Morocco even if she had wanted to or had had the
> money to go. Volpe then broke the law by telling the TV audience
> that her husband Saud had been charged with assaulting Saadia.
>
> This was true. The parish explained to him that this conduct was not
> approved in Canada and he agreed to go to an Anger Management course.
> Since taking this course there has not been any more problems with
> anger. Volpe might even have remembered this man had gone through much
> during the war in Kosovo and his anger problem might have been part of
> that experience.
>
> I am asking people to write, fax, email Volpe asking that Saadia be
> allowed back on a temporary residence permit to give the parish time
> to sort out the problem. To get in touch with Volpe :
>
> Hon. J. Volpe no stamp required to
> H of Commons
>
> Minister of Immigration,
>
> c/o House of Commons.
>
> Ottawa, Ont K1A 0A6
>
>
>
> Volpe's email is: Volpe.J at parl.gc.ca
>
>
>
> His fax is: 613-992-9791
>
>
>
>
>
> Hi constituency office is:
>
> 511 Lawrence Avenue,
>
> Toronto, ON M6A 1A3
>
>
>
> If you could also write the Prime Minister that would be good too. No
> stamp required to Commons
>
>
>
> If you write letters could you make copies and send them to the
> Archdeacon whose address is at the beginning of this email. The lawyer
> wants to get as many letters as possible and Jones will send on any
> sent to him.
>
>
>
> This is the first time Archdeacon Jones has dealt with anything like
> this and he feels terrible because he tried to do everything in the
> proper way and then realized,too late, that he had been playing with
> people who didn''t abide by the same standards he had used. I.
> throughout all of this agonizing time, have sometimes felt as sorry
> for him as I have for Saadia and Saud. The Minister seems to have
> forgotten that the child that also is in danger of being killed is a
> Canadian subject.
A Valentine for Flower Workers
February 11, 2005
Pesticide Action Network Updates Service (PANUPS)
URL: http://www.panna.org
Shortly before one of the biggest flower-giving holidays of the year, flower workers in Ecuador have petitioned their government for permission to establish an industry wide union. Their request has been denied twice before by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Labor, so the workers are also turning to consumers in the U.S., where half of Ecuador's flowers are sold, asking PANUPS readers to urge Ecuadorian officials to certify the union. A link at the end of this article opens a sample email to the Ministry of Labor in Quito. The flower workers have chosen to name their new union for Valentine's Day, Federación de Trabajadores Floricultores 14 de Febrero, a testament to the significance of consumer purchases on this day.
The perfect blooms that workers in Ecuador and other Central American countries grow, cut, and pack for export rely on intensive use of highly hazardous pesticides. The International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) reports that two thirds of Colombian and Ecuadorian floriculture workers experience health problems as a result of their work. Child labor is increasingly common in the sector. According to the International Labor Organization, fully 20% of workers in Ecuadorian floriculture are children and more than 70% of floriculture workers in Colombia and Ecuador are women. The ILRF reports that illegal pregnancy tests are often required at the time of hiring, and pregnant workers are fired. Some plantations force workers to work overtime without overtime pay before flower-giving holidays, and have fired workers for union organizing activities. Plantations increasingly hire workers through sub-contractors, who provide less training, transportation, and benefits than workers hired directly. Subcontractors are also able shift workers from one plantation to another to avoid union organizing efforts.
An industry wide flower worker union would provide workers with the collective strength to counter these abuses. Currently, workers at only four of Ecuador's 300 flower companies have managed to organize unions. Those four existing unions have joined the petition for an industry wide federation, understanding that it will make them all stronger.
Floriculture workers in Colombia have a sector wide union, Untraflores, which brought international attention to the pesticide poisoning of 200 workers at a large floriculture facility near Bogotá in 2003 (see PANUPS, Workers Poisoned in Colombia, December 11, 2003). Late last year Untraflores gained certification for the first local union of flower workers at a Dole plantation in Colombia. Since it was certified, the new union has gained members and none have been fired, despite management threats.
If certified, Federación de Trabajadores Floricultores 14 de Febrero would represent flower workers at any plantation in the country, and enable single workers to join. In the absence of a sector wide organization, at least 25 workers at a facility need to petition to form a union. While organizing themselves into a union, workers are the most vulnerable to firing or other repercussions for union activity.
In 2002 and again in 2003 floriculture workers petitioned the Ecuadorian Minister of Labor for permission to form a union, as allowed under the Ecuadorian Labor Code. The Minister denied both requests on technical grounds. The ILRF reports that the Labor Ministry asked Expoflores, the association of Ecuadorian flower producers and exporters, to weigh in on the workers' request. "The exporters' association," argues ILRF "should not have the right to deny the workers the freedom to form this type of union."
On February 9, 2005, workers applied for a third time, and have asked consumers around the world to send a Valentine to the Ecuadorian Minister of Labor, urging him to allow the Federación de Trabajadores Floricultores 14 de Febrero to represent all of the nation's floriculture workers.
Visit our new Action Center to email your letter/Valentine to Quito
http://ga4.org/campaign/flower_workers
For more information on labor conditions at Ecuadorian flower plantations, see the ILRF appeal,
http://www.laborrights.org/actions/index.php
OINK OINK
People may have seen in Saturday's Guardian Diary an item which we sent them on Oldham Police. Oldham was the scene of race riots a few years ago and is notorious for the racist/fascist sympathies of its Police and their refusal to take racist attacks seriously.
As the letter we have sent below makes clear, Oldhams principal officer, one Supt. Keith Bentley, personally arrested the Secretary of the Trades Council, Martin Gleeson, for 'damaging' the wreath the British National Party laid at the Holocaust Memorial event there. The BNP of course deny there was any holocaust and their presence was a calculated insult to the memories of the millions who died in the extermination camps - be they Jewish, Gypsy, Gay, Trade Unionst etc.
B&H UNISON Local Government Branch passed a motion last week condemning Bentley. People may recall that 'The Secret Policeman' programme last year exposed the deep racism at a Greater Manchester training college and its toleration among its instructors.
We are asking that you e-mail and fax GMP to let them know that you believe their actions are, once again, unacceptable and that the said Bentley is immediately suspended from office.
Tony Greenstein
divisionalcommanderoldham at gmp.police.uk, press.office at gmp.police.uk, public.relations at gmp.police.uk
Fax: 0161 856 6306/0161 856 8806
>>( & 01273-540717 Fax 01273-540797
By Fax & E-Mail to 0161 856 6306
Michael Todd, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police
Greater Manchester Police, P.O. Box 22, Manchester, M16 0RE
Dear Mr Todd,
The arrest of Martin Gleeson, Secretary of Oldham Trades Union Council
As you are no doubt aware, Martin Gleeson, Secretary of Oldham Trades Council was personally arrested for criminal damage by Chief Superintendent Keith Bentley, the most senior police officer in Oldham. His offence was covering up a wreath laid by the British National Party, at the Holocaust Memorial Day Commemorations. As you should also be aware, though nothing can be taken for granted in such matters, the BNP denies that there was a Holocaust. Its presence at the wreath laying celebration can therefore have had no other purpose other than to insult those who were there for the purpose at hand.
The action by the BNP was clearly designed to insult those presence. There are clearly provisions in the Public Order Act designed to deal with such a mischief, e.g. threatening and insulting behaviour. Supt. Bentley however decided to arrest Mr Gleeson instead. This action was clearly and explicitly racist.
Although Greater Manchester Police might fool itself into believing that putting the picture of a Black officer on its web home page is sufficient, the actions of the racist Keith Bentley clearly demonstrate otherwise. Greater Manchester Police promised, after the 'Secret Policeman' that racists would be rooted out of the force. Yet it is clear that you are happy for a racist to be the senior officer in the Oldham Division of Greater Manchester Police.
We demand, if you wish to retain any credibility, that you suspend the said Keith Bentley from his position and drop all charges against Martin Gleeson immediately.
Yours sincerely,
WOMEN IN KENYA RAPED BY SOLDIERS FROM BRITISH ARMY BASE - Kenya government
refuses to act in order to keep British aid
Picket Kenya High Commission, International Women's Day, Tues 8 March 2005,
1pm - 3pm
45 Portland Place, London W1
Oxford Circus tube
SUPPORT THE MASAI AND SAMBURU WOMEN'S MARCH ON THE BRITISH HIGH COMMISSION
IN NAIROBI, 8 MARCH 2005
nkexplo at yahoo.co.uk 07984 405307
Our organisation takes part of the world tribune about the iraqian war. The
NATO is an important institution in the oppressing of the iraqian people. We
therefore ask for your support for our actions against the NATO and its
partners.
Hereby I send you an appeal to all peace loving organisations and people in
the world.
There will be a big international meeting of all NATO members and their
partners, among them Sweden, in our countryside. I am convinced that one of
their most important questions will be the situation in Iraq and how they
can keep their imperialistic press on this country in order to destabilize
the country and utilize its resources.
We will be grateful if you will send this message to all the organizations
you have on your maillist.
Comradely greeting
Network for Global Peace and Democracy
Östersund Sweden
Kick Leijnse
The 4 year boycott of Taco Bell is over!! On March 8, 2005, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers reached an agreement with Yum Brands (the largest restaurant company in the world, and owner of Taco Bell) for increased wages and an improvement in working conditions of tomato pickers in Immokalee, Florida. This unprecedented victory is proof that major multinational corporations can be held accountable for upholding the rights of workers throughout their supply chains!
Thank you so much to everyone who supported the campaign. This would not have been possible without the hard work of USAS members booting the bell from college and university campuses nationwide! Join CIW and the Student Farmworker Alliance in Louisville, KY March 11th and 12th for a victory celebration. Congratulations CIW!
> *OGIEK APPEAL*
>
> _*200 OGIEK RENDERED HOMELESS, HUNDREDS OF
> PROPERTIES DESTROYED IN AN
> EVICTION EXERCISE.*_
> Nakuru, Monday 7 March 2005, Report by Sang J.K
>
> 200 hundred members of Ogiek Community in
> Enoosupukia region of Narok
> District have been rendered homeless following a
> Government eviction
> plan causing loss of hundreds of properties, we can
> now establish. In a
> fact finding mission conducted by OWC to establish
> the extent of losses,
> it is now revealed that the affected families are
> presently camping at a
> local church without food and shelter.
>
> /" Tensions are high with the Ogiek situation
> worsening day after
> day given that the affected families are not even
> allowed access to
> water outside the church as torching and demolition
> of houses goes on"
> /said Kimaiyo Towett, Ogiek Welfare Council National
> Coordinator moments
> after he toured the area which also has been
> recently rocked by tribal
> animosities between 2 dominant communities in the
> area. He further
> criticised the police for brutality especially to
> one of OWC staff Mr.
> Simon Ngaiyami, who had his home pulled down by a
> bulldozer with tight
> security by combined forces of administration Police
> and General service
> Unit despite the fact that the area he resides in
> was not part of the
> areas targeted for evictions.
>
> Local sources further indicate that the affected
> families who have
> nowhere to go are facing starvation since all their
> crops and personal
> belongings were destroyed.Towett further called for
> well-wishers to
> assist in provision of food, medicines, water,
> shelter and
> clothing's. The evictions in Enoosupukia is widely
> seen as a scheme by
> politicians /(who sanctioned the encroachment some
> years back)/ to
> frustrate the Ogiek community who have been living
> there for
> centuries. In a 1 page 7 day notice, the area
> residents were asked to
> move from the area with immediate effect. /"The
> county Council security
> personnel shall carry out the surveillance and any
> person found to be
> inside the trust land area shall be evicted/arrested
> "/ says the letter
> in part.
>
> 3 weeks ago, Minister for Lands, cancelled all Title
> deeds issued in the
> expansive Mau forest complex with government
> determined to evict more
> than 100,000 people living in the forest. The
> original government report
> indicates that members of the Ogiek community would
> not be affected.
> Meanwhile a group of non-Ogiek beneficiaries of such
> title deeds moved
> to court to challenge the impending evictions with
> the court temporarily
> restraining the government from implementing the
> plan till the suit is
> heard and determined. Despite this, the government
> is yet to obey the
> court order.
>
> In a related development, the court case against the
> same settlement in
> the forest will be heard on May 16 and 17 after an
> adjournment. The
> judgement of the case shall be used to justify the
> evictions which has
> been okayed by a Presidential Commission that was
> set up to investigate
> Illegal and Irregular allocations of public land
> which includes forest.
> However the commission further recommended that
> special attention should
> be accorded to members of the Ogiek
> community./"Subject to court ruling,
> revoke the excisions and titles already issued and
> maintain the area as
> forests/catchments areas but put into account the
> position of the Ogiek
> as a recognised forests inhabitants"/ says the
> commission report in part.
>
> With regard to this appalling situation, OWC is
> therefore appealing to
> well-wishers who are willing to assist the victims
> of the evictions and
> should get in touch with the Ogiek Welfare Council
> for details using
> below contacts
>
> Sang J.K
> Coordinator
> Ogiek Welfare Council
> National Secretariat, Kwanza Hse, 3rd Floor
> P.O. Box 12069, 20100
> Nakuru, Kenya
> Tel. +254 51 2212736, Telefax +254 51 2211257,
> Mobitel +254 722 236324
> www.ogiek.org <http://www.ogiek.org>
>
> OGIEK SUPPORT PROGRAMME
> ECOTERRA Intl. - Nairobi Node
> P.O.Box 177, EAK 00502 KAREN
> Nairobi / Kenya
> 24h call: +254-733-633-000
> e-mail: ogiek at ecoterra.net
> www.ogiek.org
10 GERMAN SHEPHERDS AND ONE SAMOYED FROM THE MATACAN BASE IN SPAIN WILL BE KILLED BECAUSE THE ARMY UNIT THAT TRAINED THEM IS TO CLOSE DOWN! MOST OF THE DOGS ARE HIGHLY SUITABLE FOR ADOPTION, ONLY TWO OF THEN CAN ATTACK BUT ARE VERY OBEDIENT, SOME ARE VERY YOUNG, MOST LOVE CHILDREN AND OTHER ANIMALS, THEY ALL DESERVE TO BE REHOMED BUT THE ARMY REFUSES TO HAND THEM OVER FOR ADOPTION AND WANT TO KILL THEM ALL. THIS IS ONLY THE FIRST STEP, HUNDREDS MORE COULD BE KILLED! PLEASE WRITE OR CALL YOUR LOCAL SPANISH EMBASSY, THE MEDIA IN YOUR COUNTRY AND THE ARMY (SR. JOSE BONO MARTINEZ) AT infodefensa at mde.es; minisdef at ext.mde.es; EL PAÍS DAILY NEWSPAPER :atencionclientes at prisacom.com THE PSOE (POLITICAL PARTY IN POWER) AT: administrador-web at psoe.es YOU CAN ALSO RING THE MINISTRY OF DEFENSE ON TEL. 00 34 913 95 15 45!
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