[Onthebarricades] On the Barricades 5 (previously, forthcoming, repression, technology, theory, misc)

Tue Jan 25 13:58:52 PST 2005

COMING SOON ON THE BARRICADES

Germans plan Bush visit protests
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-12/29/article07.shtml

PREVIOUSLY ON THE BARRICADES

First jury trial arising from RNC protests ends with charges dismissed, as video footage and witnesses prove police are a bunch of LYING ASSHOLES!!!

http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/136493/index.php

Conviction for crossing line during fascist police close-off operation overturned

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37904-2004Dec30.html

Background to the WalMart Mexico dispute

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0116-01.htm

Phillipine transport strike

http://www.philippinerevolution.org/cgi-bin/abshow/abshow.pl?year=2004;month=12;day=07;edition=eng;article=09

Repression against workers who occupied the labour office

http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?index=1&story_id=22107

Background on the Copt revolt in Egypt

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/722/eg6.htm

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/722/pr1.htm

Police free Copts detained during unrest

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/Default.pl?id=12337

Demonstrations against Lula in Brazil

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/12/303076.html

Argentina telecom strike ends

http://www.union-network.org/UNITelecom.nsf/0/A88A6E6DD1CB092CC1256F6D004D0B0A?OpenDocument

MST statement on 20 Nov massacre

Statement by the MST (Landless Tenants Movement)

On November 20, 2004 the day after the High Court of Pará upheld its

acquital of the policemen responsible for the Eldorado dos Carajás

massacre in 1996, five landless workers living in encampments in the

Brazilian state of Minas Gerais were killed by gunmen. 

There are 11 million hectares of vacant land in the state of Minas

Gerais, and land reform in the state is a much longer process than it

need be, due to the slow response of the Judiciary to the processes of

expropriation. The Land Institute of Minas Gerais (ITER) has stated 

that

the ranch is vacant and belongs to the state of Minas Gerais. But

because of the slowness of the Judiciary, the process of settling the

families has not been completed. About 200 families occupied the Nova

Alegria Ranch in Minas Gerais since May 1, 2002. 

On November 20, eighteen well-armed men sprayed gunfire on the

encampment. Thirteen workers were shot and five people died. In 

addition

to the shootings, the gunmen set fire to all the shacks. On Sunday,

November 21, 2004 Miguel Rosseto (Minister of Agrarian Development),

Holf Hackbart (President of the Institute for Colonization and Land

Reform - INCRA) and Nilmario Miranda (Special Presidential Secretary 

for

Human Rights) arrived at the scene, promising to make an example of the

punishment in this case. 

The surviving victims testified and three gunmen are already jailed.

Arrest warrants have been issued for another 10 people. Evidence 

against

the rancher who has been fighting the land occupiers is substantial: he

planned the attack, contracted the gunmen, and personally participated

in the massacre, according to the testimony of nearly all the victim

witnesses. 

The Landless Workers Movement (MST) hopes that a precedent will be

established by immediately arresting all the gunmen and the rancher who

hired them. The MST proposes that the government of the state of Minas

Gerais take immediate possession of the area and distribute the land to

the workers.

Afghanistan report: demonstrations against the occupation

17 January 2005. A World to Win News Service. Special to AWTWNS from a 

reporter for Sholeh Jawid, newspaper of the Communist Party (Maoist) of 

Afghanistan.

US imperialism and its puppet regime have been trying to prettify the 

ugly face of the real life people of Afghanistan face every day. The 

peak of that was the election deception in last October mainly meant to 

boost the Bush election campaign. The big noise about democracy and the 

liberation of women was just empty talk. Apart from the cheating by 

President Hamid Karzai, many of the people did not take part in that 

election, especially in the southern and eastern regions. Many who did have 

been disappointed. Sholeh Jawid reporters talked to voters in the 

central area of Afghanistan who have come to the conclusion that it was just 

a trick to elect Karzai and legitimise his rule. They said that voting 

was a mistake and that those who refused to take part in the election 

did the right thing. Two recent events show how discontent with the US 

invaders and their puppet regime is rising and taking different forms of 

_expression. 

Demonstrations against the invaders in Nangerhar 

A mass demonstration against the US broke out in Nangerhar (south-east 

province) on 27 November. American troops had begun searching people's 

homes the night before in what they claimed was a hunt for 

"terrorists". When they couldn't find anything after entering many houses, they 

arrested three men and a woman and took them away. Tens of thousands of 

people staged an angry protest. Demonstrators closed down the main 

highway between Jalalabad and Torkham (the major artery connecting Kabul to 

Peshawar in Pakistan, where many Afghanistan refugees still live). They 

chanted slogans against the occupation troops and the puppet regime. 

The protestors were particularly indignant about the invaders coming into 

their homes and the arrest of the woman, who was taken away not because 

she was suspected of being a Taleban - that group's reactionary 

ideology does not allow them to recruit women - but because, the Americans 

said, they wanted to find out more about her husband. 

The regional security forces of the puppet regime attempted to prevent 

the demonstration and open the motorway. In the subsequent clashes 

between demonstrators and security forces, a teenage girl was killed and 

several other demonstrators injured. 

What was specific about this demonstration was that a considerable 

number of women took part. Many sat down on the Jalalabad-Torkham highway 

and blocked traffic to demand the release of those arrested. They kept 

the highway closed from early morning on the 27th until noon on the 

28th. When the security forces failed to break up the demonstration, the 

protest spread through the whole region east of Jalalabad up to Torkham. 

Finally, fearing that the actions would spread even further, the 

occupiers and their puppets freed the arrested men and the woman and promised 

the demonstrators that US forces would no longer search the people's 

houses unless accompanied by Afghanistan government forces. But the 

demonstrators did not accept this and demanded an end to the brutal 

house-searching as a whole.

On 3 December 2004, puppet regime officials in Nangerhar province held 

a joint meeting with the so-called tribal leaders who depend on them. 

Later in a statement they announced that if the people of the region 

wanted an end to the searches and the operations of US forces there, they 

would have to prevent the "terrorists" from being active in their area. 

The majority of the people of the region cannot tolerate the presence 

of American and other foreign invader forces in Afghanistan, and they 

don't want to accept their conditions. How can puppet regime officials 

expect these people to help the invaders and prevent armed activities 

against them?

Demonstration at Kabul University

In November 2004, Kabul University was the scene of a student 

demonstration against the regime's security forces. It started after student 

Habibulah Heidari was stabbed to death by a gang at the university widely 

believed to be linked to Marshal Fahim, the former Defence Minster and 

an important warlord. This gang was making trouble for the students, 

and Habibulah Heidari did not yield to their threats. University security 

guards closed their eyes when the gang knifed Habibulah to death and 

let them ride away on their motorcycles. Many students believe that the 

police were involved in this killing.

The day after, students protested with the slogans "Death to the 

security forces" and "Heidari's killer should be prosecuted". They marched 

from the university towards the Interior Ministry. Officials promised to 

follow the case but did nothing. The students demonstrated again. This 

time the security forces tried to suppress the demonstration. But the 

students counter-attacked, throwing stones, and eventually chased away 

the police force. At this point the police opened fired on the 

demonstrators. Several students were injured and many more were arrested. 

Ironically, the puppet regime, whose existence depends on imperialist 

occupation forces, shamelessly accused the students of letting 

themselves be provoked by foreign elements. 

Students in Afghanistan who were unhappy with the invasion and 

occupation of their country and with the puppet regime were quick to raise 

their opposition. This is not their first demonstration. In the last two 

years they have been demonstrating and raising their voices against the 

authorities but their protests have received little publicity. When 

security forces shot and killed several students protesting against the 

unbearably cold and miserable conditions in their dormitory at Kabul 

University during the last academic year, this was reported in the world 

media, but they were slandered as Taleban supporters. The students have 

been seizing every opportunity to express their discontent with their 

situation at the university and with the puppet regime and the presence of 

the US and other imperialist invaders.

TAK BAI:  58 CHARGED; ONGOING UNREST - TYRES BURNT

Charges against 58 people arrested at Tak Bai
WASSAYOS NGAMKHAM
[From: Bangkok Post 18 December 2004]
Narathiwat _ Police have decided to press charges against 58 people arrested during the break-up of the Tak Bai protest.  The suspects were charged with causing disorder,
illegal possession of firearms and explosives and illegal assembly, said Pol Col Thanongsak Pattarapanu, deputy commander of Narathiwat police.  Reports on the suspects, earlier released on bail, were submitted to the prosecution yesterday.  Pol Col Thanongsak said the police action was based on solid evidence.  ''We have video footage showing how they instigated chaos, threw objects and destroyed state property. Some suspects also attacked officials,'' he said.  Pattani police chief Pol Maj-Gen Paitoon Pattanasopon, meanwhile, said the investigators had already submitted a report to the prosecution on the deaths of 78 detainees. The prosecution would decide if the police had over-reacted or simply done their duty, he said.  A total of 1,354 witnesses, including villagers and relatives of the victims, were questioned in the inquiry. Autopsy
results accompanied the report.

In the latest violence in the deep South, a policeman was shot and killed by a gunman on a motorcycle in Pattani's Yaring district.  Pol Cpl Charnyuth Phumdan, 29, of Yaring police station, was shot twice in the back with a .38 pistol while riding a motorcycle. He died on the way to hospital.  Authorities in Narathiwat yesterday inspected the scene of three blazes reported on Thursday night in two districts.  The officials waited until morning to investigate out of concern the reports were false and were intended to lure them into harm's way.  The assailants had set tyres on fire.  The first attack was reported at a house which had been turned into a temporary Sukhirin police check-point.  The second attack was at a house in same district.  The last took place at a wooden house in a tangerine orchard in Chanae district.  Authorities also received a mysterious phone call reporting a fire in Wang district but it turned out to be a hoax.  Meanwhile, a ranger was yesterday found dead in his room at an operations base in Pattani's Thung Yang Daeng district.  Rachai Khaosang, 21, was found with a rifle by his side.  Police believe he shot himself in the chin.  The bullet passed through the wall and grazed a colleague working  outside.  Police suspected the ranger was under stress due to the ongoing tension in the deep South.  In another incident, a defence volunteer in Pattani's Muang district, Dorloh Jehya, 45, was shot dead on Thursday evening by two assailants while riding his motorcycle home along Ban Krue Se and Ban Klong Maning of Muang district.  Dorlor Jehya was shot three times in the back by two gunmen who were trailing him on another motorcycle.  He was pronounced dead upon arrival at the provincial hospital.  Meanwhile, an Islamic religious teacher in Pattani was yesterday sentenced to 20 years and three months' in jail on firearms and bomb possession charges.  The Pattani Provincial Court sentenced Abdulkhorday Saha, a 50-year-old Muslim religious teacher arrested in May last year.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/181204_News/18Dec2004_news16.php

Panel finds three senior security officers at fault

PREEYANAT PHANAYANGGOOR

[From: Bangkok Post 29 December 2004]

The independent inquiry into the Tak Bai tragedy criticised the

disorganised transport of Tak Bai demonstrators, supervised by

inexperienced, low-ranking personnel, that led to 78 fatalities, but

found the deaths had not been caused intentionally.

The fact-finding panel, chaired by Pichet Soonthornpipit, said there

was no doubt the transfer of around 1,300 demonstrators from Tak Bai

police station in 26-28 trucks had involved them being piled atop one

another in the trucks, particularly at the back end of the convoy.

As a result, many suffocated as they were crammed together so tightly

in the vehicles. They were also found to have imbalances in their

blood composition with their muscles having been destroyed, the

nine-page summary findings of the panel, released by the government

yesterday stated.

The commission blamed senior military and police officers for their

failure to supervise the transport of those in custody, particularly

the Commander of the Fifth Infantry Division, Maj-Gen Chalermchai

Viroonpetch, who had been assigned to oversee the transfer of the

demonstrators but had left the scene early with no valid reason or

justification.

As a result, the organisation of the transport was left in the hands

of inexperienced, low-ranking personnel who were only focused on

trying to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible

without taking into account other factors.

The panel also blamed Fourth Army Area Deputy Commander Maj Gen

Sinchai Nutsathit for not issuing any warnings or orders to other

trucks after discovering protesters had suffocated on the first truck

to reach the army camp destination.

This would have helped to minimise the total number of deaths and the

panel deemed this irresponsible conduct.

The panel findings also faulted Fourth Army Commander Lt-Gen Pisarn

Wattanawongkiri as he was in overall charge of the operation and thus

responsibility lay with him.

The panel recommended that in any future handling of incidents similar

to Tak Bai, only core demonstrator leaders be held in custody, more

care be taken over the safety and well-being of detainees with a

sufficient number of vehicles to carry them all and for such

operations to be supervised by commissioned officers.

Those in custody should also be seated upright if transport over long

distances was required and officers should be ready to provide basic

care for them until they were handed over safely at their destination,

the panel said.

In addition, the probe suggested the setting-up of a committee to

determine the amount of compensation for the families of those who

died as a result of negligence or misconduct of government officials,

and also for the injured and those who went missing during the tragedy.

The committee would be chaired by Rung Kaewdaeng, the assistant

minister, to determine the amount of state assistance and compensation

that would be paid to those involved and also their relatives, said

Deputy Prime Minister Visanu Krue-ngam.

He said the committee would also investigate the loss of property of

demonstrators to return and compensate them for belongings seized by

officers that subsequently vanished, particularly mobile phones.

Mr Visanu said the government had assigned the Defence Ministry to

conduct a disciplinary investigation into the three senior officers

named by the inquiry as being at fault as well as allowing police to

investigate according to civil law to prosecute those found 

responsible.

The panel also called for the speed-up of the investigation into seven

people who went missing after the Tak Bai riot though it refused to

release their names.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/291204_News/29Dec2004_news23.php

Senior officer blasts inquiry

Claims Tak Bai panel 'wrong to blame him'

WASSANA NANUAM

[From: Bangkok Post 31 December 2004]

A senior military officer facing a disciplinary probe for alleged

negligence during the Tak Bai protest says the independent inquiry was

unfair to accuse him of leaving the scene too early.

Maj-Gen Chalermchai Viroonpetch, commander of the Fifth Infantry

Division, insisted he was at the scene from when the protest began

until it ended.

He said he did not leave until after the last army truck carrying

demonstrators had left Tak Bai even though he had suffered head

injuries when protesters threw rocks at him.

''Why did the probe panel conclude that I, as a commander, was not at

the scene to handle the transport of protesters. It's unfair as I was

there from the morning until 8pm. I waited until the last truck

carrying demonstrators left Tak Bai police station for

Ingkhayutthaboriharn camp in Pattani,'' said Maj-Gen Chalermchai.

The independent inquiry, chaired by Pichet Soonthornpipit, said it was

the disorganised transport of Tak Bai demonstrators, supervised by

inexperienced, low-ranking personnel, that led to 78 suffocation

deaths, but found the deaths were not intentional.

About 1,300 demonstrators were rounded up on Oct 25 and transported by

army trucks. The protesters were piled on top of one another in the

trucks, resulting in deaths.

The panel blamed senior military and police officers for their failure

to supervise the transport of those in custody, particularly Maj-Gen

Chalermchai, who the panel said had been assigned to oversee the

transfer of demonstrators but had left the scene early with no valid

reason.

The Fifth Infantry Division commander said the findings were

discouraging, since he had worked hard that day. However, he was

willing to go in front of the disciplinary probe and give testimony,

he said.

Maj-Gen Chalermchai, a former classmate of Prime Minister Thaksin

Shinawatra at the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School, is one of

the three high-ranking military officers facing disciplinary

investigation.

The other two are Fourth Army commander Lt-Gen Pisarn Wattanawongkhiri

and Fourth Army deputy commander Maj-Gen Sinchai Nutsathit.

Lt-Gen Pisarn was in overall charge of the operation. Maj-Gen Sinchai

is faulted for not issuing warnings to other trucks after discovering

protesters had suffocated on the first truck to reach the army camp.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/311204_News/31Dec2004_news17.php

Thai MP could be jailed for airing Tak Bai video

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_20-12-2004_pg4_13

Thai officials could be punished for Tak Bai

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/123548/1/.html

Haiti prison massacre: eyewitness evidence emerges

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1376873,00.html

Palm Island: Right to "Riot"

http://darwin.indymedia.org/index.php?action=newswire&parentview=2702

Aboriginal leader speaks out on Palm Island police atrocities

http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Police-criticised-over-Palm-Island-unrest/2004/12/24/1103825086371.html?oneclick=true

Solidarity march

http://www.themilitant.com/2005/6902/690210.html

More on Palm Island

http://www.themilitant.com/2004/6847/684710.html

Loitering case against migrant workers in DC set to be dismissed

http://dc.indymedia.org/feature/display/114201/index.php

Columbus Day protesters acquitted
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2665635,00.html

CHINA:  Shenzen factory owner shocked by strike
http://www.asianlabour.org/archives/003324.php#more

Italy general strike

http://www.newsandletters.org/Issues/2004/December/olat-Italy_Dec2004.htm

Haiti prison massacre

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1227-28.htm

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=04/12/19/1612247

Ukraine's "orange revolution" - an eyewitness account

http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/2005/377/index.html?id=pp9.htm

Argentina telecom strike

http://www.themilitant.com/2004/6848/684862.html

Brazil march for land

http://www.themilitant.com/2004/6848/684804.html

Iceland teachers end strike

http://www.themilitant.com/2004/6848/684811.html

OOPS!  MISSED THIS ONE.

Buy Nothing Day in Japan (29-11-04)

http://japan.indymedia.org/index.php?limit_start=8

December 6th - big labour demo in Lahore, Pakistan

http://www.scottishsocialistvoice.net/back%20issues%2004/issue%20202.htm

Haiti:  General strike in response to UN repression

http://www.workers.org/ww/2004/haiti1230.php

OINKERS ON THE BARRICADES

AMERICANS USE CHILDREN AS HUMAN SHIELDS

American aggressors use small children as human shields in assault on ar-Ramadi. 

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam in ar-Ramadi reported that US occupation forces on Thursday morning drove into the western neighborhoods of ar-Ramadi, arresting 32 small children. 

Local residents told Mafkarat al-Islam that the US troops lured the children from in front of their houses with candy then put them in tanks or armored vehicles and then attacked the al-Bu Farraj Neighborhood and the 17 April Neighborhood to raid and search houses there. 

The correspondent wrote that the Resistance was in an extremely anguished situation, for they could not attack the Americans out of concern for the children whose relatives appealed to the Resistance not to attack the US column for fear that their children would be killed. 

US troops stormed into the city at 9am Thursday and were still there when the Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent sent in his report, posted at 12:25pm Mecca time Thursday afternoon. The Americans arrested 12 persons on charges of being with the Resistance, as the children, being held on the tops of the tanks, were reduced to tears in their terror. 

The Resistance did not dare attack the American column which drove around the city however it wanted, taking advantage of the Resistance fighters self-imposed restraint out of consideration of the captive youngsters. 

One father agreed that the Resistance should attack the American column even if is son, Hudhayfah, aged 3 would die. But the Resistance rejected his offer.

http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/read/994728.htm

IRAQI OINKERS MISBEHAVE

National Guard Abuses Anger Public:

"This Isn't A Police Force - It's A Bunch Of Thugs In Uniform."

By Hussein Ali al-Yasiri and Imad al-Shara in Baghdad (ICR No. 92, 

29-Nov-04)

The US-backed and trained Iraqi National Guard is facing allegations of 

misconduct and ill-discipline.

In recent weeks, there have been a number of complaints about guardsmen 

beating and abusing members of the public. 

Farook Shamran, an investigator at a police station in the al-Beya'a 

suburb of Baghdad, says he was not only beaten up and accused of being a 

terrorist by guardsmen, but also alleges that they stole a large sum of 

money from his vehicle. 

"My brother-in-law and I were arrested by guardsmen who broke into our 

house one night.  I showed them my police ID but they beat us both and 

then arrested us.  We were in custody for two days, during which time 

they beat us again and accused us of being insurgents," he said. 

"Eventually, I was released, but when I got back to my car, which the 

guards had kept the key to, I discovered they had taken the money I had 

left there.  Almost 2,000 US dollars and two million Iraqi dinar [1300 

dollars] had gone missing," he continued.  

"It was stolen money we had recovered from a gang we arrested, and 

technically it belongs to the government. 

"I tried to follow up on the incident and get an explanation but no one 

would talk to me. This isn't a police force - it's a bunch of thugs in 

uniform.  Unless the government sorts this out quickly, the National 

Guard will become useless and corrupt." 

In another incident, Doctor Bashar Ali, an orthopedist at al-Kindi 

hospital in Baghdad, said guardsmen tried to force him to treat one of 

their colleagues ahead of other more serious cases. 

"They told me to ignore everyone else and treat their colleague first.  

When I refused they started to slap and punch me.  Other staff had to 

intervene to prevent them arresting me," he said. 

While the behaviour of some guardsmen has provoked anger, there are 

those who say that even their appearance raises doubts about their 

professionalism.

"Their uniform looks quite like the US military's and they've started 

wearing black sun glasses and cutting their hair really short too.  They 

also try to act like them, holding their rifles with their fingers on 

the trigger and using sign language rather than talking."

While senior guardsmen insist they will clamp down on indiscipline, 

some are not convinced. 

Members of the municipal council in the Baghdad neighbourhood of 

Al-Rashid, who recently had a run in with guardsmen carrying out over-zealous 

searches of council members entering a meeting, said they weren't 

confident the situation would improve. 

"We asked for guardsmen to come and provide security for a meeting we 

were having. But the lieutenant on duty was incredibly rude to the 

people they were searching," said Jacob al-Mosawi, a council member. "Even 

Saddam's henchmen didn't talk like that to normal people." 

Mosawi said his colleagues complained to guard commanders, who said 

they were appalled by what had happened and would take necessary steps to 

stamp it out.  "But," said Mosawi, "As far as we can see, nothing has 

changed."

POLICE STATE "DEMOCRACY" IN IRAQ

Phones down, borders sealed, troops on streets: time for democracy
Richard Beeston, Times Online
State of alert will match the battle for Fallujah 
Baghdad, January 14, 2005 -- THE plan sounds more like the preparations for war than the holding of Iraq's first democratic elections. But such is the dire state of Iraqi security today that the authorities in Baghdad are considering a complete lockdown of the country ahead of polls in two weeks' time. According to Iraqi and Western sources, international borders will be sealed, movement between cities tightly controlled, mobile phone networks switched off and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi security forces and foreign troops deployed in a show of force not seen since the height of the war nearly two years ago.  The draconian measures aim to prove to the estimated 15 million voters that it is safe to cast their ballot, while deterring the insurgents from killing off the election with their campaign of violence and intimidation. Although details will be kept secret until the last moment, it is clear that Iyad Allawi, the Prime Minister, is planning a countrywide alert similar to the one he imposed during the storming of Fallujah in November by US Marines. A state of emergency law, granting the authorities sweeping powers, has recently been renewed until the beginning of February to cover the January 30 election date. That will allow curfews to be imposed, restrict movement between cities, open special courts where police can obtain arrest warrants around the clock and seal off Iraq's land and air borders to civilian traffic. With that in place the Iraqis are also planning to halt the movement of insurgents, who seem able to strike at will from southern Iraq all the way to the northern capital of Mosul, currently the bloodiest city in the country.  Traffic is expected to be strictly limited to those with special passes and the mobile phone network, which is a patchy service at best, will be turned off to hamper rebelcommunications. "I would like to assure the Iraqi people that we will protect every citizen who will come forward to vote in the elections," said Falah al-Naqib, the Iraqi Interior Minister, yesterday, after meeting police chiefs from around the country to co-ordinatethe plans. Arguably the key factor in the operation will be the use of foreign forces, particularly the heavily reinforced 150,000 US troops and, in the South, the newly strengthened British contingent of some 9,000. Although a political liability, the coalition troops remain the only force powerful enough to take on the insurgency in an open fight. A senior British official said that the aim was to have Iraqi forces, drawn from the police and National Guard, provide security around the thousands of polling stations dotted across the country. Foreign forces would be deployed in the vicinity and ready to step in as reinforcements in case of an attack.  Some of the tactics being used to protect candidates and voters will make the Iraqi elections a unique event. All candidates for the national assembly appear on one of the 111 party lists registered with the electoral commission. In many cases the names of those who wish to stand for public office are not actually available and will only be shown on request inside the polling station on election day.  Polling stations too are going undercover. The location of many polling stations will not be announced until a few days before the election.  The precautions are certainly necessary. Several election workers have already been killed by militants, who have said that taking part in the poll is a crime punishable by death. US military commanders and the Iraqi Government have written off the idea of holding normal polls in four of Iraq's 18 provinces, where the Sunni Muslim rebellion is at its strongest.  Most of the preparations seem to be geared toward protecting areas in the South and North, to allow the country's Shia Muslim majority and the autonomous Kurdish population to vote in peace.  That remains a formidable challenge. On Wednesday night gunmen killed Sheikh Mahmoud al-Madaen, a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the spiritual leader of Iraq's Shia Muslims, who has told his brethren that voting is a religious duty. Sheikh Mahmoud was killed with his son and four bodyguards in the city of Salman Pak, south of Baghdad. Halim al-Mohaqeq, another al-Sistani aide, was found dead in the holy city of Najaf.  The deaths coincide with fresh violence in the northern city of Mosul, where a suicide car bomber and a separate car bomb killed at least two Iraqi soldiers. 
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1439684,00.html

US atrocities in Iraq - houses routinely trashed and looted during searches, people nearly shot for using mobile phones in cars, anti-occupation activists and even tennis players forced to hold their meetings abroad.

http://www.islamonline.net/english/In_Depth/Iraq_Aftermath/2004/12/article_03.shtml

U.S. Troops Burn Down Baghdad Shops
14 January 2005 Aljazeera
US troops burned down commercial shops in al-Radwaniya district, west of Baghdad, saying they came under attack from that area, Aljazeera has learned.  Eyewitnesses said the US troops encircled the area and closed all roads to it before setting the shops ablaze.

(from GI Special)

Collective punishment is policy for US in Iraq

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=8882

American eco-terrorism - bodies dumped in rivers, causing health problems and ruining the fishing industry

http://www.jihadunspun.net/intheatre_internal.php?article=101206&list=/home.php&

ARE THEY KILLING THEM INSTEAD?

US orders troops to take fewer prisoners to avoid abuse scandals in Afghanistan

http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?aid=4498

Massive abuse of detainees exposed

http://uruknet.info/?s1=2&p=8445&s2=27

http://uruknet.info/?s1=2&p=8360&s2=23

German abducted in Macedonia, given to Americans, deported to Afghanistan and tortured

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1390256,00.html

New evidence of Gitmo abuse emerges, as the US tries to silence defence lawyers and others

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1382033,00.html

First-hand account of Abu Ghraib abuse

http://www.jihadunspun.net/intheatre_internal.php?article=101268&list=/home.php

Detention in Iraq  is growing, and is mostly against innocents

http://electroniciraq.net/news/1775.shtml

POLICE STATE AMERICA

Inauguration Marchers Forbidden To Look At Bush
Other instructions given performers include a warning not to look directly at Bush while passing the presidential reviewing stand, not to look to either side and not to make any sudden movements. 

01/11/2005 By: Joan Lowy, Scripps Howard
WASHINGTON - The nation's 55th presidential inauguration, the first to  be held since 9/11, will take place this month under perhaps the heaviest security of any in U.S. history.  Dozens of federal and local law enforcement agencies and military commands are planning what they describe as the heaviest possible security.   Virtually everyone who gets within eyesight of the president either  during the Jan. 20 inauguration ceremony at the U.S. Capitol or the  inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue later in the day will first go through a metal detector or receive a body pat-down. Other instructions given performers include a warning not to look  directly at Bush while passing the presidential reviewing stand, not to look to either side and not to make any sudden movements.  Thousands of performers - marching bands, color guards, pompon dancers,  hand bell-ringers, drill teams on horseback and Civil War re-enactors -  will be bused early in the morning to the Pentagon parking lot across the Potomac in Virginia. While performers disembark and go through metal detectors, bomb-sniffing dogs will search the buses.  Then everybody will get back on the  buses for a trip to the National Mall, where they will spend most of the  day in heavily guarded warming tents.  Participants have been warned that they will not be allowed to leave  the tents except to go to portable toilets accompanied by a security  escort.  "They want you to just look straight ahead," said Danielle Adam, co-director of the Mid American Pompon All Star Team from Michigan, which also performed in the 2001 inaugural parade.  "Last time we went security was really tight," Adam said. "This time we got almost like a book of things we needed to fill out beforehand."

(NOTE:  I've no love for such bigots, but this is a very dangerous precedent, giving out 47-year sentences for protesting disruptively)

Christian Activists Face Up To 47 Years Behind Bars For Gay Protest
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)  Four evangelists have pleaded not guilty to hate crimes charges related to a demonstration at last October's Outfest in Philadelphia.  The four members of Repent America are charged with ethnic intimidation, criminal conspiracy and inciting to riot. If convicted they each could be sentenced up to 47 years in jail.  The four, and 6 others who were not charged, marched to the front of a stage at Outfest and began to yell Biblical passages to drown out the events on stage.  Police attempted to get the protestors to move to to an area on the edge of the site.  Instead they went deeper into the gay crowd.  Using a bullhorn they condemned homosexuality.  They then got
into an argument with a group of Pink Angels, who screamed back.  It was at that point police intervened.  The entire incident was recorded.  It occurred as filmmakers were working on a documentary.  The defendants are represented by the Mississippi-based American Family Association which is involved in a number of cases across the country 
opposing gay rights.

American dissident sent to mental asylum, forcibly drugged

http://theempirejournal.com/albany_woman_forcibly_injected_w.htm

Random DNA tests by cops are a threat to privacy, freedom

http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/read/1008748.htm

US statists crack down on ex-students

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/breaking/010605loans.html

Nicaraguan leftists banned from US in racist,
vindictive Patriot Act border hysteria
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0412220366dec22,1,6185605.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Arrested for telling lawyer jokes
http://groups.msn.com/Anarchists/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=68

Oinkers fingerprint at traffic stops

http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?s=2776926

Cops stop fingerprinting traffic violators
Chief blames news media for publicizing 'Big Brother'
issue

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: January 13, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com 

With public fears of a police state being created in
Green Bay, Wis., law enforcement authorities are
dropping a new policy where officers collected
fingerprints from traffic violators. 

"The news media blew it out of proportion," Police
Chief Craig Van Schyndle told the Green Bay Press
Gazette. 

He says his department received numerous phone calls
and e-mails from people opposed to the voluntary
practice aimed at lowering the number of
identity-theft crimes. 

Green Bay Police Chief Craig Van Schyndle 

"But, of course, they were listening to the news media
... how horrendous this was," Van Schyndle said. 

The chief says there's been a trend of suspects giving
police false names, and the fingerprinting could
prevent innocent citizens from being implicated in a
crime committed by someone else. But he admitted only
about a half-dozen wrongly jailed citizens would be
affected in a year. 

"Something that we tried to do to assist the victims
and protect the public was changed to a Big Brother
... that we were keeping a database on these
fingerprints," Van Schyndle told the paper. 

James Plummer, director of the National Consumer
Coalition's Privacy Group, said there simply wasn't
enough justification to collect biometric data from
those not involved in serious offenses. 

"Isn't there another way they can work around it
rather than just gathering more files?" Plummer said. 

WBAY-TV in Green Bay has been among the stations
publicizing the fingerprint policy, airing negative
reaction from motorists who felt the policy was going
too far. 

"You look at the ID, that's what they're there for,"
Ken Scherer from Oconto, Wis., told the station.
"Either it's you or it's not. I don't think that's a
valid excuse." 

Carol Pilgrim of Green Bay said, "I would feel
uncomfortable, but I would do it." 

Though the policy was voluntary, defense attorney
Jackson Main said citizens tend to follow instructions
from officers. 

"[Drivers] could say no and not have to worry about
getting arrested," Main told the Press Gazette. "On
the other hand, I'm like everybody else. When a police
officer tells me to do something, I'm going to do it
whether I have the right to say no or not."

North Portland drink sale ban targets black, poor people in social cleansing exercise

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/12/306879.shtml

US bans al-Manar TV station

http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?aid=4327

Parents arrested for letting youths drink - could be jailed for a year

http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0106-09.htm

School strip-searches pupils as legalised child abuse
spreads
http://www.local6.com/news/4061915/detail.html

Victims of police violence sue police over attack on school protest

http://www.ktsm.com/news/story.ssd?c=88facd342b4a493f

http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20050114-11951.shtml

Korea - social cleansing freaks attack protest sites

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200412/26/200412262148133579900090409041.html

Nepal Maoists attack protesters

http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=25968

http://www.nepalnews.com.np/ntimes/issue226/nation.htm

http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=27856

http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=27842

Fear of Maoists causes exodus from Dailekh

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullstory.asp?filename=aFanata0sfqzpda6Qa2ra.axamal&folder=aHaoamW&Name=Home&dtSiteDate=20041218

Locals complain of Nepalese Army excesses

http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=26048

Indonesian army attacks Aceh in tsunami aftermath

http://ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews=26885

Turkey charges poet and protesters with treason - death penalty threatened (though unlikely to be given) - for protesting against hijab ban

http://manila.indymedia.org/index.php?action=newswire&parentview=2366

http://arkansas.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/5891

Saudi Arabia jails and plans to flog protesters

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=57439&d=12&m=1&y=2005

Mexico forest defender stitched up

http://www.americaspolicy.org/articles/2004/0412arriaga.html

Uganda:  Nazi judge jails student for criticising the government over a disappearance

http://allafrica.com/stories/200501040505.html

New Zealand frees Zaoiu (about friggin time)

http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?aid=4204

http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?aid=4208

Israeli ransacking reported by ISM

http://www.palsolidarity.org/DesktopModules/Articles/ArticlesView.aspx?tabID=0&alias=Rainbow&lang=en-US&ItemID=744&mid=10618

French oinkers raid newspapers to find sources
http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=2894&Language=EN

Australian peace group persecuted

http://sydney.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=49486&group=webcast

Bakhtiyaris deported in the dead of night - now at great risk

http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2004/12/85501.php

Mass arrests and detentions in Russian city

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/01/303678.html

Spanish EXPO protesters persecuted - false charges, threats of multi-million Euro fines

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/12/302960.html

Pigs near Gleneagles plot local ID cards, roadblocks and violence against protesters, making terroristic threats against those who defy their fascistic demands

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/12/303209.html

UK doctor suspended for protesting against cuts
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3993185

Worker sacked for blog critical of boss

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1388249,00.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4167629.stm

Cops jail council tax refusenik after moving the goalposts to make impossible demands

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/12/303042.html

The men labelled a threat to Britain include one who has no arms and another who is wheelchair-bound with polio.

"They feel they're being used for political purposes and were arrested to create fear in the public," he said. "They know they're no threat. They feel that if they had a fair trial, they could prove to the public they're not a threat. They say they escaped as refugees to this country for safety and justice: it's ludicrous for them to be described as a threat to this country."

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/12/302986.html

Social cleansing by the IRA - youth with disabilities attacked

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,418834,00.html

SRI LANKA SOLDIERS MURDER PRISONERS DURING TSUNAMI

Prisoners demand to be freed and try to break out; guards and soldiers attack with lethal force

"In the midst of the many tragic stories in Sri Lanka on December 26, the killing of two prisoners at Galle jail stands out as a demonstration of the ruthlessness of the state apparatus towards ordinary people.  A magistrate, who held an inquiry into the deaths, commended the actions of the guards. As far as he was concerned, the prisoners had no rights, even if their lives were in danger. Indifferent to the sentiments of the prisoners, he insisted that the authority of the state had to be upheld, regardless of the circumstances-in this case, a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions."

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jan2005/sril-j04.shtml

Talebanising Bhutan

http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=29095

BIGOT SCUM JUDGE JAILS ANTI-DEPORTATION ACTIVIST

In sentencing Justin to the full 90 days recommended by the Crown

Prosecutor, the Judge cited the "deterence" & "denunciation" principles of

the Criminal Code of Canada: in other words, acts of solidarity and

sympathy must be "denounced" and "detered" through the imposition of

criminal sanctions serious enough to cause others to think twice before

engaging in similar acts of decency. The Judge also said, with a straight

face, that violations of the "rule of law" undermine "legitimate social

protest."

LET'S "DETER" THE SCUMBAG JUDGES WITH MOLOTOVS!!!

http://www.ainfos.ca/04/dec/ainfos00258.html

Evil police beat up and arrest someone for being a tsunami victim!

http://resist.ca/story/2005/1/11/14175/9782

Worker sacked for anti-boss blogging

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4167629.stm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1388249,00.html

TECHNOLOGY ON THE BARRICADES

Bosses snoop via GPS
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-01-03-gps-supervision_x.htm

ID smart cards trialled on Native Canadians

http://resist.ca/story/2005/1/7/6523/36141

BRAINS ON THE BARRICADES

MASSIVE FOUCAULT ARCHIVE AVAILABLE FREE AS PDF'S!

http://csml.calumet.yorku.ca/~engin/courses/6320/2003.htm

Could the rainforest have been home to complex societies?

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2005/01/04/a_rain_forest_debate_could_it_have_been_home_to_complex_societies/

Ethnography of West Bengal radicalism

http://www.epw.org.in/showArticles.php?root=2004&leaf=12&filename=7980&filetype=html

The modern anti-world - John Zerzan

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=04/12/23/0566747

Towards an anti-authoritarian Islam

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=04/12/22/5321600

Resisting work - the case of schoolchildren

http://www.enrager.net/newswire/stories.php?story=05/01/10/6059471

ALSO ON THE BARRICADES

US army teaches soldiers to hate Arabs

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/3981703/detail.html

Iraq resistance calls on troops to desert, seek refuge

http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/01/video-message-from-iraqi-resistance.html

Half the political parties withdraw from Iraq's puppet elections

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-01/13/content_2454796.htm

Rand Corporation study urges US military to divide-and-rule

http://uruknet.info/?s1=2&p=8435&s2=27

Behind the revolt in Balochistan

http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/sair/index.htm

Tribal movement could become full-scale insurgency

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_15-1-2005_pg7_53

Berber leaders start talking with Algerian state

http://www.algeria-interface.com/new/rubriques/english/dispatchesafp.php?doc=050109144137.m26uo7gj.xml

Algerian state cuts deal with Berber leaders

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=11861

Nepal tribes demand autonomy - Madhessi autonomy is especially high on the agenda as ethnic insurgency takes off

http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=29078

http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=28571

http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=29233

Tribal rebels clash with Maoists

http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=28571

Arctic elders give message about climate change

http://thunderbay.indymedia.org/news/2004/11/16394

GM is neo-colonialism - Africa doesn't need it!

http://www.currentconcerns.ch/archive/2004/06/20040607.php

Living with rats

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/12/306316.shtml

Bush craps on his own economy - foreign students vote with feet, head for Europe

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0103-30.htm

How America has sold out the Uighurs

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1215-32.htm

TITLE: Evicted squatters move to riverbanks
SOURCE: Jakarta Post - January 14, 2005
Jakarta -- Hundreds of squatters evicted from a three-hectare land owned by PT Kereta Api Indonesia (PT KAI) in Tanah Abang district, Central Jakarta have set up tents along the banks of West Flood Canal.  Many evictees said they were forced to stay on the riverbank because they had no other place to live. Others said they would rent rooms close to Tanah Abang market where they worked.  Maman, 40, one of the evictees, said he would erect a temporary shelter on the riverbank. "I don't have money to rent a room. I hope I will be allowed to erect a tent here," Maman, a hot coffee vendor, said on Thursday.  He claimed that he was not entitled to the Rp 500,000 (US$55.60) compensation from the administration because he was not registered as a squatter in the area, also known as a red light district.  Central Jakarta deputy mayor Dadang Efendi said each of the 885 families evicted on Wednesday would receive Rp 500,000 compensation from the administration. But many of the evictees did not know their rights. Dadang confirmed that only registered squatters received such compensation.  According to Maman, he lived alone in Jakarta because his family lived in his hometown in Indramayu, West Java.  "I need to stay here to earn a living. I have been vending hot coffee in Tanah Abang market for over five years," said the man, who has two children still studying in elementary school.  Meanwhile, PT KAI said that it planned to build warehouses on the land, which was cleared from the squatters. Workers began fencing the land with zinc plates to prevent the squatters from returning.  Spokesman of PT KAI for Greater Jakarta Ahmad Sujadi said the company would also construct the first stage of double-track railways, connecting Tanah Abang to Serpong in Tangerang.  Currently, the Serpong-Tanah Abang route is only served by a single track railway.  Sujadi said his company cooperated with private company PT Bertono Yudha Kencana to construct warehouses.  Sujadi said PT KAI had to expand its businesses to other sectors because it needed money for the construction of the warehouses.  "To earn profit, we cannot rely just on our transportation services to the public," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

HOW TO ORGANISE A GENERAL STRIKE (fwd from UK Left Network)

From: benpincas <benpincas at yahoo.fr>
Dave Parks wrote:
> If we had the political clout to organise a general strike....
In your mind a strange "if".  You don't need political clout to arrange a strike: being able to arrange a strike gives you political clout.  I met some of the comrades who arranged the general strike in a province of Nigeria. They said that nobody had heard of them, they weren't in some big union.  But they worked from the basis, BOTTOM UP, and they managed to get everyone in the province involved.  It was, after all, an issue about which everyone was concerned.  After they had striked once, and followed it with another, then they started getting the invitations to go to negotiations.
Ben

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.resist.ca/pipermail/onthebarricades/attachments/20050125/ee5fb824/attachment.html>