Addis Ababa

First impressions? Difficult to describe. A whirlwind of feelings. A lot of interest in what goes on behind the screens and faces. 

More soon.

Ciwan Haco, Şivan Perwer, and other Kurdish artists support the Syrian revolution

Carta de la hija del juez condenado por el (fascista) Tribunal Supremo

Carta de la hija del juez Baltasar Garzón publicada en El País:

A los que hoy brindarán con champán 

Esta carta está dirigida a todos aquellos que hoy brindarán con champán por la inhabilitación 

de Baltasar Garzón. 

A ustedes, que durante años han vertido insultos y mentiras; a ustedes, que por fin hoy han 

alcanzado su meta, conseguido su trofeo. 

A todos ustedes les diré que jamás nos harán bajar la cabeza, que nunca derramaremos una 

sola lágrima por su culpa. No les daremos ese gusto. 

Nos han tocado, pero no hundido; y lejos de hacernos perder la fe en esta sociedad nos han 

dado más fuerza para seguir luchando por un mundo en el que la Justicia sea auténtica, sin 

sectarismos, sin estar guiada por envidias; por acuerdos de pasillo. 

Una Justicia que respeta a las víctimas, que aplica la ley sin miedo a las represalias. Una 

Justicia de verdad, en la que me han enseñado a creer desde que nací y que deseo que mi hija, que 

hoy corretea ajena a todo, conozca y aprenda a querer, a pesar de que ahora haya sido mermada. Un 

paso atrás que ustedes achacan a Baltasar pero que no es más que el reflejo de su propia condición. 

Pero sobre todo, les deseo que este golpe, que ustedes han voceado desde hace años, no se 

vuelva en contra de nuestra sociedad, por las graves consecuencias que la jurisprudencia sembrada   

pueda tener. 

Ustedes hoy brindarán con champán, pero nosotros lo haremos juntos, cada noche, porque 

sabemos que mi padre es inocente y que nuestra conciencia SI está tranquila. 

Madríd, 9 de febrero de 2012 

María Garzón Molina

What happened in Port Said by @Heemalization

From day one we’re trying to calm people down, and we knew a problem would happen. We kept repeating that we made a statement and this time is too critical for any of that; and many of the older members of the UA07 (Ahly Ultras) were telling the younger ones to maintain self control.

Out train was thrown by rocks in Ismailia and that we were used to. It is the norm for the train or bus to be attacked when it is on its way from one province to another. The train broke down so we went down in a train station in “Al Cap” before Port Said in order to ride buses that will take us to Port Said because we knew that they prepared an ambush for us at the train station.

We got to Port Said from the buses entrance area and the rock throwing on the buses hasn’t stopped all the way to the stadium. All of this was still very normal and happens whenever we travel.

On our way into the stadium we heared that the “Masry” (Port Said team) fans attacked the Ahly players’ bus and injured Said Muawad with fireworks. In the first half of the match both parties (Ahly Ultras) and (Masry fans) were chanting hostile slogans as usual and then they started exchanging fireworks.

We started seeing “Masry” fans break into the stadium very easily from many sides of it; it increased after the first half of the game and they threw missiles at us. The only thing the police did was take them away without arresting any of those that the missiles on the “Ahly” fans. The missiles kept coming our way throughout the whole second half.

The moment the referee whistled to declare the ending of the game, the pitch was attacked in a very bizarre way from two sides; one towards the players to hit them and the other towards the “Ahly” fans in the bleachers. At this very same moment the lights went off and the stadium turned black, at that time there were two CSF security cordons along the “Ahly” bleachers and all of a sudden the cordon was opened for the “Masry” fans to go up the bleachers and attack the “Ahly” fans.

Continue here.

Caironess

Cairo Impressions II (May 2011)

The AUC conference: an academic approach to the current Egyptian state of affairs

The American University Cairo conference was a great opportunity to learn of a more

academic approach to the challenges facing Egypt now. The sessions covered different

essential aspects of the Egyptian Revolution, from youth movements and social media to the

role of elections in the region, including the even more important issue of how to restructure

the security apparatus. As I walked in on the session on social media Hossam el-Hamalawy,

Egyptian journalist, prominent activist and blogger, tackled the different labels that the

Egyptian Revolution has been tagged with. As he eloquently put it, the idea that facebook

activists were behind the event called Revolution is ludicrous and falls short of reflecting the

reality of the Egyptian uprising. Media aided the cause by providing a helpful platform and

adopting a more proactive role than the traditional so-called impartial approach. As he pointed

out, activists and protesters used Al Jazeera and BBC Arabic to communicate between each

other, as the internet had been blocked at the time.

Marc Lynch, academic at George Washington University, discussed the innovation in the

spread and consumption of information in the region. As a politically neutral tool, technology

can also be used by the very repressive states the revolutions aim to overthrow. In Tunisia

and Egypt the state did not know how to deal with the use of technologies, but as proof that

the states can use it as effectively as the activists, the cases of Syria and Bahrain stand out.

If the use of social media allowed the reality of the Egyptian revolution to reach a wider

international audience, the question of its over-representation of certain sectors of society

remains unanswered. As he warned, if the US only listens to these people, this will lead them

to a serious misjudgement of the situation. The apolitical character of the revolution was

obvious as the revolution in Tahrir did not have anyone in control, as Hossam pointed out.

In order to ease communication with media outlets coalitions were formed. This made the

conversations with the media possible. Interestingly, the military junta also has facebook

presence. Still, it is obvious that they are not interested in changing public opinion or people’s

demands via social media campaigns. In fact they are fully aware they will have to use force,

as the junta’s recent attempts to control demonstrations and expressions of discontent show.

In the session dealing with the future of political parties, Samer Soliman from the American

University in Cairo exposed the challenges that newly formed parties are facing at the

moment: lack of social depth, lack of institutions and the current legislative framework. The

lack of trust in parties needs to be overturn if the younger individuals involved in the uprising

want to reach parliament, according to him. The cohesiveness of political parties depend on

the ability of members to highlight similarities over differences, as confidence needs to be

regained in the capability of parties to be representative. As Soliman pointed out religion

has traditionally been the cohesive social force. Similarly difficult are the challenges that

the Muslim Brotherhood faces at the moment. These relate to their ability to move beyond

the context they have been operating on so far. As it was discussed in this session, the older

generations of the Brotherhood have had to deal with a censorship that younger generations

have skipped. This translates into the different positions and faces the Brotherhood has

adopted. As a transitional period, the reality is that both parties and organizations like the

Muslim Brotherhood ought to mature to raise to the challenge.

The issue of the elections and the role of clientelism in relation to them was also much talked

about at the AUC conference. Mazem Hassam from Cairo University offered the results

of his research on different electoral systems and their importance in shaping the political

landscape of a country. It is normally taken for granted that systems are representative of

electoral processes. The issue is that politicians tend to choose a system that benefits them.

According to his analysis, the Egyptian process will be characterized initially by volatility and

most probably it will follow a similar path to Eastern Europe democratic transition processes.

Antonio Spinelli, an expert on electoral processes shared a comprehensive account of the

difficulties in finding a real democratic representative process as in fact, what works well

today does not work well tomorrow, hence processes change constantly and vary depending

on the country. By meeting the goals of transparency and accountability, the democratization

processes taking place after the Arab uprisings will ensure the change is essential and

durable and elections are credible. Credible elections require a credible legal framework,

therefore regulations ought to be enhanced and strengthened. If the elections lack credibility

accordingly to Spinelli we can expect more instability in the region. The Egyptian social

groups and individuals need to work together to overcome all of these issues.

Further into the subject of transitions and specifically about the state security apparatus,

Charles Powell from the Foundation for Spanish Transition provided a fascinating

comparative analysis of the cases in Spain and Egypt. The transition and consolidation

phases that a country like Spain endured are processes full of setbacks. But these setbacks

might have unexpected positive consequences, as in the attempted coup in 1981 reinforced

the democratic will of the nation, according to Powell. Based on the case of Spain, he went

through a series of tasks that the civilian leadership would have to tackle in order to promote

and preserve a new democracy: constitutional redefinition of the role of the armed forces,

creation of a unified defense ministry, removal of armed forces from law-enforcing tasks,

redefinition of the role of military intelligence, reform of military justice, removal of all

military activity from economic interests (this particular point raised a few laughs from the

audience, showing that trust in the Egyptian military force is far from strong) and reform of

the military education system and professionalization of the army.

Hossam Bahgat, from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights gave a great insight into the

current role of the Egyptian security apparatus. Set up in 2002, this civil society initiative has

struggled to expose the violations and shed light of abuses committed to shame the government, their ultimate goal being the mobilization of political pressure towards self-reform. The endemic corruption of the Egyptian security apparatus and the green light given by Mubarak´s government in the name of anti-terrorism has shaped the abuses carried out, abuses fostered officially by the infamous emergency law, the culture within the apparatus, neighbouring abuses, agglomeration of power (no appointment in Egypt was carried out without security intervention), licenses and permits, and surveillance. According to his account, the military rulers are far from different to this bleak picture of Mubarak´s security state: ten thousand civilians have been deferred to military courts in the last months. Bahgat advises a complete overhaul of the legal framework is essential, specifically there are at least fifteen

different laws that need to be revisited. The competences of the interior ministry need to be brought down to mere law and order. Egypt needs judicial observation of detentions and a strong involvement of civil society. Linking with the theory exposed by Powell in regards to Spain, security sector reform is the key on how to understand and move on and deal with the past.

Bruce Rutherford from Colgate University went further on the role of the judiciary in the state

security reform. He stated that the judiciary seemed to be the institution less penetrated by the security apparatus. Mubarak´s regime had created a parallel legal institution to that of the judiciary, the main responsible agent in the abuses of the dictatorship. The less negative outcome of this situation is the relative independence of the judiciary itself, which according to him more or less escaped the sphere of influence of corruption and unaccountability. As the volume of cases has increased dramatically since the revolution started, the strengthening of the rule of law and support to a judiciary that is currently struggling is the key.

A current debate tackles the ongoing high profile prosecutions. According to Bahgat they lack

coherence and strategy. The trials have been rushed for the most serious crimes, for example

Mubarak’s trial for the slaughter of protesters when it is not known exactly how many were killed. The full extent of Mubarak’s abuses is unknown. The Egyptians deserve to know what the system was really like and who else was involved.

The role of creative art within the revolutionary process

The AUC conference on the challenges that face the current Egyptian revolution proved

to be a great opportunity to be exposed to a deeper understanding of Mubarak’s regime, of

the corrupted system and disregard for anything similar to accountability, of the nature of

the different forces behind the revolution and of the different possible scenarios Egypt will

be facing in the near future. Still, merging this experience with the opinions exposed in the

socialist conference provided a useful representation of the current complex social and political

landscape in Egypt. The Revolution is far from over and that is obvious. In fact, I overheard

on a couple of occasions the need of a revolution of the revolution. An important part of this

scene is the role of creative arts as new means to speak political change. Artists such as

Ganzeer have been working on what he called “taking Tahrir out of Tahrir and into the

neighbourhoods”, opinion shared by others such as Hossam el-Hamalawy, who called

for a “Tahrir inside universities and factories”, following the intense campaign by the

military to discredit the current strikes gripping the Egyptian workforce. The struggle

continues and takes on different shapes, possibly more difficult to read than a media-

friendly revolutionary Tahrir Square. This could be a sign that the changes are taking

place as we speak, as further demonstrations were met with police force on the 8th of

June as Hossam el-Hamalawy reports.

The different projects to avoid collective forgetting of the important reasons behind

what drove the Egyptians to Tahrir in the first place are visible on the walls of

Downtown Cairo, Zamalek and other neighbourhoods of the city. Two of the most

poignant have been the Martyrs Mural Project and the recent stencil action on the walls

of the Ministry of Interior to coincide with a protest against continued police torture,

marking the anniversary of Khaled Said’s murder in Alexandria at the hands of the

police. The Egyptian youths generally technologically savvy are taking advantage

of the available means to continue to spread the messages. The latest is a creation of

an interactive map that enables to identify the spots where revolutionary graffiti has

been created, enabling artists and public to locate and further create more works. Also

an initiative to archive and translate all documents related and produced about the

Revolution provide a useful gateway to all the literature produced so far. All of these

efforts signify a collective will not only not to forget the recent events, but also to allow

the city to talk through its walls what for years has not been able to say out-loud: the

times of passive witnessing of the dictatorial regime are over and the Egyptians will

face the difficult tasks ahead with the courage that took them to the streets in the first

place.

As an outsider I was made to feel welcomed, an aspect of Egypt that has not changed.

Still, and as I was reminded by one of the organizers of previous Cairo Conferences,

what Egypt needs now is not another international conference. The old conferences

functioned as means of pressuring the ousted Mubarak’s regime. Now the efforts

are by the Egyptians and for the Egyptians, and the organization and management of

these efforts against the counter-revolutionary attempts by the military junta take up

most of the time of the activists I met. As I walked out of the Commerce Syndicate

in Ramses street, the anti-riot police were in formation, about to charge a crowd of

people demonstrating in Ramses square. The day before, a microbus driver had died

in Azbakeya Police Station custody. As I walked the streets of Downtown Cairo the

tension was obvious. This is perhaps the new normality the Egyptian society faces

now, until the changes they long for and deserve materialize in long term stability, job

security, accountability and real democracy. The process has only just begun. 

Published in Ekopolitik's Website in June 2011

Cairo Impressions I (May 2011)

A useful way to remember the importance of the continuous support to the Egyptian Revolution is revisiting some of the moments where revolution and social change were ascertained, via conferences, walks or simple street talk. 

A challenging task lies ahead if my intention in this article is to offer a truthful snapshot of a complicated political moment in the history of Arab politics and specifically in the development of Egypt as a free society. Therefore the account that follows of my trip to Cairo should be taken as a personal take on the current situation. There I participated in two conferences and caught up with the state of the Uprising via conversations with Egyptian friends. 

As a student of Middle East politics and society, the revolts that begun in 2011 mark for me a U-turn in what until then had been a depressing state of affairs. For years now I have followed different initiatives in and outside this region, mainly dealing with the struggle for freedom and equality. These have taken the shape of demonstrations, meetings, conferences and so on. Understanding the position of Western powers as problematic both during colonial and post-colonial times pushed me to look for different ways to discern the manner they have been involved and continue to be involved in the decision-making process of countries in the area, and in the rest of the world for that matter. Therefore the idea of going to Cairo to attend a series of meetings on the Egyptian revolution seemed important in the context of the Arab revolts. Furthermore, I felt it could provide a platform to listen to the accounts of that struggle and to hopefully disseminate far and wide the details of the efforts to reshape a whole society.

Cairo Conference: a small share of the leftist perspective 

The Cairo Conference has taken place on and off since the American aggression on Iraq. First conceived as an anti-war conference, it has benefited from the support of different international organizations, political parties, academics and individuals from across the board with different and sometimes opposing ideological stances. This year, though, the conference has mutated into something else and as I will explain below perhaps it was not as representative of the Egyptian opposition to Mubarak’s regime as it had been before. 

With the backdrop of a Revolution in the making, many internationals gathered at the hall of Commerce Syndicate in Ramses Street. I had wondered up until then who exactly would come along. The opening session gave me a chance to hear voices from Syria, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, UK, Spain, Lebanon, India, USA, Canada and of course Egypt. The overall idea was clear: the Arab uprisings are needed and welcomed, and the Egyptian Revolution stands as a great source of inspiration to people committed to struggle for democracy or question the nature of established orders as uncontested paradigms of democratic values, as in the current Spanish movement for Real Democracy.

Within the common thread of the opening speeches that hailed the Egyptian and Arab revolutions there were particular voices that stood out. Their words are worth recalling here. The Libyan resistance representative eloquently spoke of the right of the Libyan people to demand what others can freely request or enjoy elsewhere. The struggle towards a democratic Libya by means of an empowered civil society was crushed brutally by Gaddafi’s armed forces. The hospitals were assaulted and the water and electricity supplies were cut. The future of Libya embodied in its young folk has been curtailed by means of violence. He declared that Gaddafi did not belong to Libya anymore as he held the photographs of maimed bodies; the result of attacks by loyal forces. Tackling one of the issues that perhaps stands uneasily in the anti-imperialist discourse of the broad left movement, specifically the left I am more familiar with in the UK, the Libyan resistance representative hailed the intervention of the international forces as an effective means to prevent further slaughter and disaster. 

Some of the speeches that followed, for example the Canadian representative of Stop the War , mentioned the need to support the Libyan uprising against Gaddafi but condemned the NATO intervention. Interestingly I did not witness a comprehensive explanation of what the Libyan people ought to do as an alternative means to oust their dictator. This makes an interesting debate for the leftist internationalist movement as perhaps I am not able to escape the important issue of perspective. When the Libyan people hail the international forces intervention as they are being saved from a certain death is there really space for outsiders to comment and criticise this? Of course the cause can be easily hijacked by the Western countries involved in the intervention once the worst is over, and the resistance will probably face tough negotiations. But when the reality of a house to house massacre is imminent, is there a possibility of anything else than immediate action? I do not know myself. What I do know is that I would rather listen to those who face that reality to try to find an answer to these questions. Condemnation of the intervention in the Libyan context, as hypocritical as the Western coalition might be, seems to overlook the fact that it is easy to be outside of Libya and think this way. I suppose this ought to be discussed somewhere else.

Another of the most interesting interventions was the Yemeni human rights activist that called for an urgent focus on the situation in Yemen. She reminded the conference attendees that people were being killed then and that somehow Yemen would stand as a key factor of stability of turmoil in the region. Similar calls were made by the Syrian envoy. As testimony of the reputation of the Cairo Conference, the international delegates found a forum to voice their views on the present revolutions. The other side of the coin is that it seems the conference had more pulling power internationally. Even though there were several Egyptian speakers and attendees, the lack of an Egyptian majority in the audience was also representative of the current political landscape taking shape in Egypt.

This concern was also voiced by a couple of delegates when the lack of Muslim Brotherhood representatives was pointed out. Some went on to criticise the organization of the conference itself as highly unrepresentative of the current moment. Evidently the conference had a very clear thread linking most delegates: a socialist ideological basis. There is no real issue with this if interventions had shown more self-awareness and had not deemed workers as the only real force and agent behind the revolutions. My personal criticism of this kind of discourse is that, as well intentioned as it might be, it excludes certain sectors of society such as informal labourers, students, elderly, jobless, middle classes and so on. It is precisely the unity of all the peoples that made the revolution possible in the first place, therefore narrowing the actors to the working class might have the opposite effect: alienation of all the other folk that would not feel represented in the discourse. 

The reasons behind the decision by the conference not to invite the Muslim Brotherhood were further explained by the commission: the Brotherhood’s stand in regards to the recent demonstrations and strikes has been far from supportive. Furthermore, it has strengthened its links with the military junta, a move that has been seen by some as a way to secure a portion of the power-share in a future government. But at the same time there are other arguments: the Muslim Brotherhood is anything but an homogeneous group united under one opinion. Furthermore, the Ikhwan as it has been voiced in a simultaneous conference at the American University in Cairo is trying different positions and possibly shaping its own official policies as it comes. After all their legal status is also something they ought to internalize and accept as part of their existence and after years of persecutions the generational differences in life experiences of its members might be shaping an internal struggle. Their absence in this conference was difficult to justify, particularly as it triggered further important absences like the Nasserist groups. 

The fact is that as this conference unfolded it was obvious this was not as important as previously held Cairo Conferences or as well attended as expected. But at the same time perhaps it shows the reality of an Egyptian political realm that is not only healthy, but much alive and kicking. The proof of this rests in the simultaneous events taking place in one weekend: this conference, the AUC conference “From Tahrir: Revolution or Democratic Transition”, a conference on women’s rights and several different meetings with representatives of unions and farmers. It seems that Egypt has difficult times ahead, but if we go by the level of activity that continues even under the military junta’s rule (as much as they try to control it), a strong civil society might be taking shape, and an even stronger sector of independent unions might hold further power in the Egyptian struggle towards their democracy.

Turkey and Britain: of acceptable Muslim democracies and British interests.

Turkey has been praised as a successful example of how Muslim and democracy are not exclusive terms. As it becomes increasingly difficult to justify economic and military ties with long established dictatorships such as British links with Gaddafi or Mubarak’s old regimes, along comes Turkey, to provide some European premiers with the option of a new discourse of what relations with a self-proclaimed Muslim democracy ought to look like. Specifically, Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, (AKP), promotes a conservative practice of Islam whilst embracing the traditional accentuated expressions of Turkish nationalism attached to the politician’s profession if she or he wants to remain within the legality.

Winner of the 2002 elections, the then newly formed AKP changed as needed the previous policies of the religious conservative Refah to legitimize the expectations of a new class of business men. AKP profited in popularity via brotherhoods which were not part of the state nor civil society and further developed instrumentalization of religion in Turkey. One of the most popular at the moment is the Fetullah Gülen movement, which manages to combine Islam and free market, and focuses on indoctrination via educational institutions all over the globe.

In spite of their religious tendencies, what was most convenient for those countries promoting the free international flow of capital was AKP’s stance on capitalist policies. Firm believers in privatization and promoters of mass consumption, AKP makes a perfect ally for European countries seeking further economic options in a dire scenario whose ideological coordinates are dictated by market forces. Using the common language of free market, Erdogan’s government and the UK counterpart have engaged in a hasty romantic affair, where they are both unable to admit to each other’s deficiencies. The religious character has been utilized to legitimize AKP’s policy within Turkish borders and with Middle East countries, inasmuch it has provided the UK premier with an easy discourse of artificial tolerance.

Going beyond the discourse, how exactly are these countries benefiting from each other? In order to avoid the necessary intervention on tax avoiding corporations and profit-enhancing schemes, UK companies are taking advantage of agreements between Turkey and UK. Tesco recently expressed its will to expand further in Turkey. A country where striking is heavily penalized and where child labour is common occurrence, Tesco's investment is everything but unquestionable.

Turkey had not yet achieved anything similar to a welfare state. Its long standing issues of working conditions, of access to education, of women's rights, of minority rights, amongst others have been only partially invested in, and those struggling for any of these points are in fact in need of urgent international support. Considering the curtailment of freedoms that the current UK government deems as necessary to put the economy "back on track" it is hardly surprising they consider Turkey as a worthy ally.

But there is more. UK and Turkey's agreements to increase their ties include further contracts between the Turkish Defense industry and British multinational BAE systems. Turkish aspirations to become the 10th biggest world economy are good enough to justify the links between the countries. What is not mentioned in any of the public statements of BAE systems or both governments is who is the likely target of those arms.

What would happen if the UK government was to bomb and kill 35 of its citizens as it happened in the South Eastern village of Uludere last December? There are different scenarios of course. Could we imagine that the majority of media outlets, clearly controlled by the state, wrongly labelled these citizens as terrorists and therefore the massacre as justifiable? It is well known how the voices of dissent are treated: jailed or threatened or both. Could we see a prime minister that instead of humbly stepping down, hardly apologised for the army's alleged mistake and continued to accuse the opposition of siding with terrorists? Perhaps, and this is the key to the alliance between these countries, it is not an inconceivable reality.

AKP has recently been portrayed also as successfully winning the power struggle with the once-unbeatable Turkish army. In reality, they are doing away with any possible contender, paving the way for a virtually uncontested rule.

Children in Turkey are indoctrinated from the first day of school. It is likely that for all of those without a Turkish origin, the exclusion is traumatizing. For those of Turkish origin, their notion of identity is exacerbated until it becomes a racist formula. Yet Erdogan's AKP betrayed its own attempt to deal with the country's institutionalized inequalities which took shape in the so-called Democratic Opening in 2009. The prosecution of civil society advocates, opposition members, human rights groups and anyone that does not buy AKP's populism has shown exactly the undemocratic path AKP has chosen.

Repression in Turkey is brutal. Censorship is common occurrence. Acceptance of difference is almost non existent. Yet Erdogan and his entourage of businessmen campaigned in the Middle East marketing their product, a Muslim democracy that apparently works. With an urgent need of an uprising within its borders that liberates its citizens of an abhorrent and excluding nationalism, Turkey stands as an awkward ally for anyone that not only speaks of true democracy but also practices it.

A year went by.

Revolutions. Bloods. Anger and friends. Possibilities, Love. London. Essays and libraries. Hard work, harder homes. Stretching out and findings. France and Spain. Paris and Badajoz. Love and Revolution. Istanbul. Earthquakes, Iraq and Kurdistan. Cairo, sweet and sour. Dust, planes, articles and Cyprus. Love, tears, books and coffees. France, London, Spain and Love. 

Unmissable article on Western countries arm sales to ME dictatorships

From Al Jazeera: 

In Egypt and Bahrain, protesters held up tear gas canisters stamped "Made in USA", giving longstanding US support for autocratic Arab regimes a painful physical manifestation.

Unmissable! US hypocrisy at work. OCCUPY EVERYTHING!

Witness call out

Witnesses needed!  Important message from LDMG and GBC.
Your help is needed if you attended any of the following:

• Nov/Dec 2010 student protests
• March 26th (Piccadilly, Oxford Street, Trafalgar Square, UK Uncut action)
• June 30^th

Even if you didn’t attend – you can help simply by spreading the word.
What YOU saw during these demos might stop someone going to prison.
We need your help.
Defendants need your help.
We need you to respond to this call out and we need you to spread the word – especially through the student networks. Many people do not seem to know how serious this is. Already we have many people in prison when they really should not be there!
We need all potential witnesses to come forward.
If you were on any of these protests this could well be YOU!
The job of LDMG (Legal Defence and Monitoring Group) and GBC (Green and Black Cross) is to stop people going to prison by helping people prepare their best defence – but of late we are spending way too much time preparing people for prison instead, and many of the cases could have been so different if we had more witnesses come forward. It is hard to know if you could be useful as a witness but we hope to find that out if you get in touch with some basic information.
It is often the case that during a trial it is simply the police version of events against the defendant’s, and it is often blatantly obvious that the police are lying (yes, shock horror). In most cases the judge and the jury often believe the police version of events (yes, shock horror). And it often doesn’t mater if defendants are telling the truth, if they don’t have good strong witnesses, they have far less chance of being believed and therefore being found not guilty.
Witnesses do not have to have seen the arrest or indeed the incident itself and often it is helpful if you were simply there, saw the mood of the crowd, witnessed unprovoked police attacks etc..
Judges dealing with these cases are being incredibly harsh in their sentencing, more harsh than many of us have ever known before, and things show no sign of easing up as the public’s memories of the protests fade.
It seems like the courts are attempting to send out a massive message to anyone who dares to challenge the cuts and the system that is behind them in order to ensure that people dare not protest. We need to support all those going through this court process. It could easily have been any one of us who were arrested and preparing for the possibility of prison right now.
There is no sense or justice in many of these arrests. Some people were trying to protect themselves and those around them when attacked by police in an unprovoked manner, many weren’t even doing that, they were simply ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time’.
So far it has mainly been people pleading guilty that have been sentenced, but trials are now starting to take place and the gaps in the defence for some are huge – many defendants believe that if they get up on the stand and tell the truth they will be found not guilty – sadly it just doesn’t work like that.
As we approach the one year mark for some of these protests, many of those facing charges are incredibly stressed concerning what lies ahead if they are found guilty and it is heartbreaking to see, especially when you know that it doesn’t have to be like that.
What little justice there is seems to have gone out of the window. Their best hope is other people! Once more – they desperately need more witnesses to come forward in order to stop people going to prison.
There are various call-outs that have gone around about specific arrests, these will be collated further over the coming days and added to the following links. Please read through them.
In the meantime, please get in touch with the address below tell them which protests you were on and where you were. You can leave it that vague for now. They will get in touch with you about specifics if you were in a place where people are calling for witnesses.
In the meantime these are a few of the requests:

- People who witnessed the policeman falling off his horse on student protest in Dec and/or witnessed the police charge into the crowd
- December 9th 2010. Parliament Square/Broad Sanctuary between about 2 and 3.30pm. If you were in Parliament Square or Broad Sanctuary (in front of Westminster Abbey) during this time please come forward.
- Witnesses to events near the Treasury from about 5.30 to 8.30pm on 9 December 2010.
- Witnesses from March 26th at Trafalgar Square mid – late evening.
There are more details of other call-outs here:
http://greenandblackcross.org/legal/appeals
and a couple more here…
http://ldmg.org.uk/witness%2520support.html
If you think that you can help please get in touch with LDMG asap!
ldmgmail@yahoo.co.uk
and please cc your messages to
courtsupport@riseup.net

In solidarity.

On the gates of fortress Europe.

Africa SIGUE en venta

ElPaís habla sobre las compañías que se benefician de la desgracias de otros, cuando ser "otro" en África parece ser equivalente a no ser nada. Después de años de salvaje explotación, la historia continua. 

Grandes compañías compran tierras para producir alimentos que luego exportan - Mientras, los habitantes locales pasan hambre

We are the 99 percent

OCCUPY EVERYTHING. 

The kleenex worker

Fuck the police!

Last Sunday, the Turkish police closed down a street in my neighbourhood. 
Us: Why is it closed?
Them: It is closed.
I guess their eloquency expands across borders. This reminded me of how much I despise them, and how much they ought to be despised. A great article on the powers and abuses of UK police:

On Monday 8th August, in South London, three hundred young people gathered outside Battersea’s Lavender Hill police station "taunting" the police to come out. In Nottingham, three police stations were attacked including Canning Circus police station, which was firebombed. The Pembury Estate in Hackney erupted when the police stopped and searched a teenager. As one young girl said in Peckham that day:
“I will die for the cause of FUCK THE POLICE! They fuck our lives up every day!”

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Erdogan hails. Erdogan hopes.

(Erdogan tours the Arab world)
(Don't come back)

Belediye, where is my seat?

(Perhaps thrown away in the streets of Tarlabasi).

Companies ejected from London arms fair for 'promoting cluster bombs'

Whilst Cameron is happy to be in free Libya...

In London:

The world's largest arms fair has thrown out two exhibitors after they were found to be promoting cluster munitions that have been banned by the UK and condemned by more than 100 other countries.