| Credit: Mohawk Nation News THE RULE OF WHAT LAW? CANADA’S OBSCENE PART IN GAZA ATROCITIES – WEAPONS NEED TO BE BURIED MNN. Jan 7, 2008. How many Palestinian infants, toddlers, children and schools have been bombed by the criminals in charge of Israeli forces in the last few days? What law are they following? An eye for an eye! A tooth for a tooth! This is primitive barbarity. The Israelis claim if they kill enough Palestinians, Hamas will stop sending in rockets. Conveniently overlooked is the fact that Israelis have built a wall around Gaza to control every Palestinian and everything that comes in and out of the ghetto to deliberately force the people into desperation. Also forgotten is that parts of the new smart bomb, GBU 39, designed for urban warfare, is made in Canadian facilities with the help of government tax breaks and Canada Pension Plan investments. This is obscene! Gaza is occupied Palestinian territory. The Israelis and Americans toppled the democratically elected Hamas government because it couldn’t control them. The war is being waged on civilians who have no arms nor anywhere to hide. How noble is it for heavily armed Israelis to shoot fish in a rain barrel? The Palestinians have a right to live. They can only lob their homemade rockets into Israel. The Israelis attack them with illegal weapons. All weapons are illegal. Manufacturers should be prosecuted. The weapons collected and buried. The United Nations is looking more like a bogus organization that serves the interests of a handful of war mongers who are trying to profit by setting up a New World Order. This is where the bankers and war mongers are the bosses and we are supposed to be their slaves. We fear the UN is setting up an “international department of Indian affairs” to control all indigenous peoples and resources worldwide. Obviously the U.S. cannot broker the peace agreement when they are supporting Israel’s attack and supplying the weapons. We Indigenous went through the same plot. To stop the invading Europeans from killing us all off, we were forced to give up our possessions and territories. We resisted. 115 million of our people died in the biggest holocaust in all humanity. The survivors had to live in concentration camps called “reserves”. Today the Israelis and their backers are carrying out the same sequence of events in the Middle East. The UN, US, Canada and Europe are part of this. The majority of the people in the world are appalled by Israel’s atrocities. They have killed over 500, mostly civilians. Over 2000 have been cruelly injured by illegal weapons made from depleted uranium and phosphorous. Palestinians have reached out to their Arab brothers and sisters whose governments are controlled by the West. Iran could be nuked by the U.S. if they helped their Palestinian family. We know how hard it is to unify. The colonists constantly work at dividing us. We too were starved and abused so they could grab our territories and wreak environmental havoc. Just follow the “blood money”. Canada helps craft and support this cynical conspiracy. 10% of income tax goes to the military. The Canada Pension Plan contributions are invested in Carlyle Group and such weapons makers as NG [Northrop Grundman], L3Com, BAESystems, Bombardier, Raytheon, DRS Technologies, Boeing and many more. How many people get their pay check directly or indirectly from the military industry? Mineral resources to make these deadly bombs and destroy the world are being stolen from our territories that have been left polluted in the process. We constantly object and are threatened and subjected to impoverishment. Our social programs, health care, education and infra structure are cut back or stopped altogether to shut us up. For example, the dissidents of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake Quebec have moved out of their communities and into the bush. They are unwanted because they are trying to stop deforestation, demineralization and water diversion of their territory. The guys trying to control our territories are finding the biggest obstacles are the sovereign legal resistance of the Indigenous people. A huge intelligence network has been set up to undermine and control our people and put out misinformation to us and about us to the public. Survival is natural. To murder babies, women, men and elders is not natural. The Palestinians are struggling to survive. Those who follow this natural instinct are labeled “terrorist”. In fact we are defenders of our people, land, nation, very existence and Mother Earth. Every living creature has a right to carry out the natural instinct for self-preservation. Creation put that in us. The war mongers tell us we have no right to self preservation. The Palestinians are being forced to live under the apartheid “Indian Act” system of Gaza which is being rammed down their throats. The same apartheid system was imposed on us and continues here. They pulled out papers on us. What are these papers? Why does their paper have more authority than human rights and our lives? Is it because they have a big gun and can constantly threaten us? This is thuggery! The idea that peace can be bought at the end of a gun has been proven false time after time. Fanaticism has never solved anything. Truly impartial people must be found to form a body that can broker a true peace. Peace will come if people learn how to stop being greedy. There has to be a real willingness to assert equality and a voice for everybody. There will never be peace of mind on the terms of the war mongers and their cohorts that want control over us, our land, culture and resources. According to the Kaianereh:kowa, the Great law of Peace, the grievances felt by people on both sides has to be acknowledged. We, the Rotinoshonni:onwe [Iroquois] have a ceremony called the “small condolence” which we perform before any negotiations. It is all symbolic. The eyes are wiped with the softest skin of the deer so that we may see the issue clearly; the ear is cleared with an eagle feather so that we may listen and hear what is being said; and a glass of clear water is drunk to clear our throats so that only those words that have no jagged edges will come forth. Unfortunately, it looks unlikely that these few war mongers will look for methodologies that can bring true peace. They are making too much money. If we choose we can organize an economy so that people can be rich without obscene torture, death and famine. First the arms have to be buried. True peace requires work. These war mongers have to be dealt with. The people have to stop listening to their propaganda. These greedy war mongers don’t have borders and no loyalty to anybody but their bank accounts and their lust for the power of life and death over us. This 3% of the population are multi national corporations, their governments, their military and their agents. They own the banks and try to control everything. They fix the economy to hold us hostage. The Palestinians will not die quietly in the Gaza ghetto from starvation, thirst, bombs or anonymity. Iakoha’ko:wa, Eagle Watch near Sharbot Lake of Haudenosaunee Territory, MNN Mohawk Nation News www.mohawknationnews.com; iakohakowa@yahoo.ca; katenies20@yahoo.com; kahentinetha2@yahoo.com; Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations to PayPal at www.mohawknationnews.com, or by check or money order to “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Nia:wen, thank you very much. Got to MNN “Canada” category for more stories; New MNN books for sale; purchase T-shirts, mugs and more at our CafePressStore http://www.cafepress.com/mohawknews; sign up and subscribe to MNN for breaking news updates at http://mohawknationnews.com/news/subscription.php; and sign Women Title Holders petition at http:/www.ipetitions.com/petition/Iroquois; NOTES: GBU stands for Guided Bomb Unit. The GBU 39 is the newest small bomb which weighs 250 lbs. known for its accuracy and huge explosive power built into it. A plane can carry 4 and drop them separately. Used in Iraq and Afganistan in urban warfare. The Gaza is really a refugee camp. Northrop Grunman mades instruments for these units, other warheads, bomber planes and helicopters. The Canada Pension Plan contributions are invested in Carlyle group and companies like NG, L3Com, BAESystems, Bombardier, Raytheon, DRS Technologies and many more. GBU-39 are made in the U.S. by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Harris Corp. with Viasat Inc. with offices in Canada. The #1 bomb for the “war of terror” because they are small, accurate and very deadly. Excerpts from http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/sdb.htm Photo: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/sdb-pics.htm http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/missiles/sdb/index.html http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/missiles/sdb/news/2007/q2/070613b_nr.html http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/missiles/sdb/news/2001/q4/nr_011003b.html At just 5.9 feet long the bomb increases number of weapons an aircraft can carry, therefore raising the amount of people it can kill in one sortie. Complementing the weapon is a smart miniature munitions carriage system. The munition, with a smart fuze, has been extensively tested against multi-layered targets by Wright Laboratory under the Hard Target Ordnance Program and Miniature Munitions Technology Program. The goal is genocide to wipe out people and make their territory unlivable. Yaakov Katz wrote an article in the Jerusalem Post on December 29th 2008 that the Israeli Air Force is using new U.S. supplied smart bombs. [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?] “a new bunker-buster missile made by [and 1000 bought from] the U.S. to strike Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. The GBU-39 missile is a small-diameter bomb for low-cost, high-precision and low collateral damage. [They] … arrived in December 2008. They penetrate underground Kassam launchers during the heavy aerial bombardment of Hamas infrastructure… It was used in Sunday's bombing of tunnels in Rafah [where civilians are taking shelter]. This 113-kg. bomb can penetrate like a normal 900-kg. bomb, although it has only 22.7 kg. of explosives. It is 1.75 meters long. … It can penetrate at least 90 cm. of steel-reinforced concrete… used in any weather and has a standoff range of more than 110 km. due to pop-out wings”. “Military Intelligence's Psychological Warfare Department broke into radio broadcasts in Gaza and warned Palestinian civilians not to cooperate with Hamas terrorist activity”. Palestinians received recorded messages on their cell and land phones from the IDF ordering them to immediately leave their homes that IDF purported were next to Hamas infrastructure or being used by the “terrorist” organization. Defense officials said Israel will not hesitate to target civilian homes who they feel might protect Hamas terrorists. Could this be the reason behind the killing of infants, children and civilians? [www.montrealmuslimnews.net newslist: montrealmuslimnews-subscribe@lists.riseup.net montrealnews@gmail.com] Harris Canada Incorporated [of Harris Corporation], 1710-130 Albert Street, Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA, K1P 5G4 phone: 613-567-2912 Fax: 613-567-2920 255 Albert Street, Suite 500 Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1P 6A9 Phone: 613-567-2912 Fax: 613-567-2920 Contacts: Pierre Blais, pblais@harris.com, 613-567-2912 http://www.govcomm.harris.com/harris-canada/ Dollard-des-Ormeaux Quebec plant provides wireless, broadcast, government systems, and network support. Calgary, Alberta plant designs, manufactures and distributes microwave radio systems for wireless communications. Home of Consolidated Automatic Test Equipment Facility (CATEF) of Government Communications Systems Canada (GCSC). Provides avionics and logistics support to the Department of National Defence CF-18 Program. GCSC. Also manages the Canadian Forces Contractor Augmentation Program (CANCAP) which is communication hardware and satellite communications services for the Canadian Forces. Harris Canada Inc. has annual sales that exceed $200M. Has business development offices in Ottawa, Ontario representing Government and Defense Communications Systems and RF Communications groups. Calgary Alberta - 6727 - 9th Street N.E. Canada T2E 8R9 Telephone: 403-295-4770 Fax: 403-295-4765 Bob Fehr, rfehr@harris.com, 403-295-4750 | ||
| poster: katenies | ||
Showing posts with label militray corporate complex. Show all posts
Showing posts with label militray corporate complex. Show all posts
1/10/09
Canada's obscene part in Gaza atrocities
10/11/07
Nuclear Politics: Base Motives
Early last year, a surprising statement in New York’s Smithsonian magazine caught my eye. Author Simon Worrall, who had traveled on The Ghan between Adelaide and Darwin when the north-south railway opened in January 2004, candidly reported that its main purpose is military:
To counter today’s threats — particularly from terrorist groups operating within Indonesia — the railway will provide supplies to a squadron of FA-18s based near the town of Katherine and also to the armed forces, many of which are based in the Northern Territory.
 |
Thanks to Fiona Katauskas |
For years, economic considerations were the excuse for having no ‘land bridge’ from Alice Springs to Darwin. But military strategists know that armies can cross bridges in both directions. Now we have it: the railway, on which an invader could theoretically travel in airconditioned comfort all the way to Adelaide.
The railway is clearly strategic, and even if we don’t know much about the military strategy behind it, that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. The extended railway passes the world’s biggest uranium deposits, several potential nuclear waste sites, and several military bases, all of which are what have made it feasible at last.
Back in May 1992, when the US had to replace its training range in the Philippines and was coming under pressure to shrink or relocate its bases in Japan and South Korea, Prime Minister Paul Keating met with then Defense Secretary Dick Cheney to discuss ‘joint facilities’ — as US bases are called — in Australia. Keating offered the Delamere RAAF base, south of Tindal in the Northern Territory.
Four years later, the new Howard Government put out feelers for joint activities on more sites, including a field training area and land and amphibious facilities at Bradshaw, near Timber Creek in the Northern Territory, and an air weapons range at Delamere. Speculation was encouraged about Darwin becoming the primary base for supply and deployment of forces northwards.
In 2003, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld discussed with Defence Minister and South Australian Senator Robert Hill a staging post near Darwin that could store US materiel.
The essential logistical problem was how to supply the forces in the north, other than by coastal shipping and the Stuart Highway from Adelaide. From January 2004, the new railway became the solution to that. But just as the line opened, Hill said there were no plans to have US military based in Australia. Visiting Australia at the time, General Richard Myers, Chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, asked Australia to develop a ‘permanent joint military training facility,’ while continuing to deny that it would be a ‘base.’
Since the Australian and American military intend to go on staging war games, building permanent facilities makes practical sense. In July 2005, Hill said Yampi Sound, north of Derby on the Kimberley coast, would become a major training centre for Australian ‘and allied’ forces. A year later we learned that it would be used for joint US-Australia training in amphibious seaborne landing techniques.
In 2006 Defence Minister Brendan Nelson belatedly confirmed what ministers had been hinting at for a decade: that more ‘joint facilities’ would be established with the United States. In Queensland, ‘training area facilities’ would be built at Shoalwater Bay near Rockhampton. In February 2007, a ‘missile defence’ base at Geraldton in Western Australia was added to the list.
‘Pre-positioning’ of American equipment — something previous governments resisted and ministers under Howard have denied — has begun to look more likely, with biannual exercises like July’s ‘Talisman Sabre’ growing in scale. The logical next moves would be semi-permanent basing first of support staff, and then of troops. Otherwise, what is the point of building accommodation for 750 at Bradshaw? But for now, the official line continues to be that there are no American bases in Australia, as Stephen Smith, then the US Consul-General in Sydney, told a Marrickville Peace Group meeting in June.
Whatever they are called, and whatever their purpose, defence facilities in northern Australia are being built or expanded.
Near Alice Springs on the railway line is Pine Gap. Set up in 1966 as a ‘Joint Defence Space Research Facility,’ it was and is off limits to most Australians. For years, Australian parliamentarians have been ill-informed about what it does. The Senate’s Joint Standing Committee on Treaties — established by Howard — complained in 2006 that its members were not properly informed about the base, and were still ‘entrusted with less information than can be found in a public library.’
Recently, Nelson told us a little more about its current operations, which now include collecting information ‘of interest to Australia’ on ballistic missile launches. He warned Parliament last month about unnamed nations ‘aggressively pursuing’ such programs, and developing weapons of mass destruction. He did not speculate on whether those nations might be China and North Korea, or if they are responding to Nuclear Missile Defence or ‘Star Wars,’ the US missile defence scheme that Australia supports. Nor did he say whether Pine Gap — whose contribution to the Iraq invasion was crucial — makes Australia a larger target for terrorists. But Pine Gap and Australia’s Jindalee over-the-horizon radar system are now involved with Star Wars.
The train line also passes vast tracts of Indigenous land, which have now become strategic too.
Legislation passed in August as part of the Federal Government’s Northern Territory ‘emergency intervention’ put enormous areas of land at the Government’s disposal. Seen by critics as a semi-permanent land grab by a Government that has always opposed Native Title, it could clear the way for more uranium mines, nuclear waste dumps and military bases than Howard and his successors can dream of — and certainly more than they will tell us about before the election.
10/8/07
PACIFIC BUSINESSES HEAD TO GUAM TO CHECK OUT U.S. DOLLARS
This is disgusting Winne Laban, and shows what nz foreign policy in the Pacific is all about, supporting US hegemony in our region. The indigenous peoples of Guam have protested vigorously against the US army base thats being moved from Okinawa to Guam. Shame of the settler gubbament to send another brown puppet of the slave labour party wanting to make a buck of the oppression of of brothers and sisters in Guam. SHAME, SHAME, SHAME !!!!
Date: 4 October 2007
Auckland 6am: US dollars are luring Kiwi Pacific businesses to a big
conference in Guam ....
Next week's fono in the North Pacific will allow the businesses to get
a first hand look at what the opportunities are. At an earlier business conference in Auckland this year, they heard that billions are up for grab, thanks to the US moving its military base from Japan to Guam.
Melino Maka, the deputy chair of the New Zealand Pacific Business Council, says the chance to cash in on that particular deal, and perhaps others, is too good to pass up.
David Cohen, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Department of Insular Affairs, which is organising the conference, is confident it's worth the Kiwi delegation taking the long haul up to Guam.
Cohen also sees the Guam conference as helping Australia and New Zealand get a better radar on the Pacific.
Meanwhile a business trade analyst is warning that New Zealand could damage its trade relations with the Pacific if it's not careful.
Mike Flanagan, a board member for the New Zealand Pacific Business Council, says trade to the Pacific, especially to Fiji, could suffer in the current political climate.
Flannagan says even though there's no direct sanctions on trade to Fiji, the other sanctions are having an impact on trade, like investment and tourist developments.
He says China is already showing an interest in the Pacific and could end up selling directly to them instead of using New Zealand as a middleman.
The New Zealand Pacific Business noted recently that venues for the youth Pacific Games in Samoa were all built by Chinese and Kiwi businesses missed out completely.
Associate Economic Development and Pacific Island Affairs Minister Luamanuvao Winnie Laban is leading the 27-strong trade mission and says it's the perfect opportunity for New Zealand and Pacific businesses to explore opportunities in the construction, building materials, machinery supplies and consultancy sectors in the Pacific.
"New opportunities are expected to be created when around 50,000 United States military forces move from Okinawa to Guam, " says Laban.
"I look forward to supporting our business leaders to identify commercial opportunities for Kiwi firms and fostering stronger bilateral relations with the US Pacific territories. "The New Zealand Pacific Business Council and I also look forward to exploring two-way trade possibilities with Guam."
Note: The trade mission has been organised by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) and the New Zealand Pacific Business Council (NZPBC)
http://www.niufm.com/?t=3&View=FullStory&newsID=2458
9/28/07
Military - Diplomatic Relationship as Critical in Pacific as Middle East
They are certainly beefing up their bull shit in this part of the world, look at the mess the Amerikkkans have made everywhere they go, Haere Atu Free Hawaii Now, get out of the Pacific. Get Out of Iraq
As the full-time foreign policy advisor to Navy Adm. Timothy J. Keating, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, Christy provides a vital communication link among PACOM, the State Department and U.S. ambassadors in the region
American Forces Press Service/ Pacnews
Thu, 27 Sep 2007
WASHINGTON, USA ---- With a big emphasis in Iraq on getting diplomatic and economic progress to catch up with security progress, officials here say U.S. military-diplomatic cooperation is just as important here, half a world away in the Pacific.
The so-called “DIME” principle of applying all elements of national power –– diplomatic, information, military and economic -- to U.S. foreign policy goals is as key to maintaining stability in this region as everywhere else in the world, Ambassador Gene B. Christy told American Forces Press Service.
As the full-time foreign policy advisor to Navy Adm. Timothy J. Keating, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, Christy provides a vital communication link among PACOM, the State Department and U.S. ambassadors in the region.
The goal, he said, is to ensure that as the United States engages with countries in the region, it leverages its diplomatic and military efforts in a coordinated, unified way. It’s an effort he said has improved significantly since Sept. 11, 2001, and continues to be more synchronized.
At the simplest level, diplomacy takes the lead in assuring friends and allies of U.S. support, or deterring aggression and of dissuading excessive military buildups that could threaten them, he said. “It’s the part you want to have most active, most engaged and most successful, so you don’t face having to implement the ‘M,’” or military force, he explained.
But at the same time, Mr Christy said, diplomacy can’t be fully effective without military power backing it up. “You have to have the ‘M’ to make the other parts credible,” he said. “Deterrence will deter no one if you have no capability to deter and to move onto the next stage.”
U.S. military power adds another dimension to the diplomatic equation, Mr Christy said. It’s often the major catalyst in building partnerships, alliances and coalitions. Particularly in small and relatively vulnerable countries, a strong relationship with the United States offers an assurance “that in the event of trouble, there would be a friend in a position to come to your assistance,” he said. “And in that case, the United States is a pretty good friend to have.”
Military-to-military relationships offer other, more immediate benefits as well. For example, he said, some countries welcome the political message and the deterrence value that comes when a U.S. ship visits its port. Many view exercises with the U.S. military as an opportunity to enhance their own military skills and capabilities. Still others, like tiny Tonga, which recently sent its second 55-member troop contingent to Iraq to serve in Multinational Force Iraq, take strong national pride in contributing to a coalition effort alongside the United States.
United States Ambassador Larry Dinger to Fiji, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Nauru, Tonga said the military component has always been important toward diplomatic efforts around the world. “The military does the warfighting, but everything else that goes after it and around the edges of it needs both (military and diplomatic) systems contributing,” he said.
The military contribution has become increasingly important in recent years in the Pacific Island nations, particularly as U.S. Agency for International Development funding for the region has dried up. That, he said, makes military programs one of the most important tools in his diplomatic toolbox.
“When we can provide the Tongans with some ammunition and equipment and training and exercises, it’s a big deal,” he said. “It is really appreciated, and it strengthens the relationship. It works.”
Another benefit to the region is the humanitarian assistance missions the U.S. military regularly carries out. These range from teams delivering critically needed medical and dental care to construction crews building schools and clinics to service members visiting orphanages or performing concerts.
Mr Dinger cited a recent humanitarian exercise in which teams of U.S. military reservists carried out week-long medical-support and construction missions in Kiribati and Nauru. “The people-to-people aspect was phenomenal,” he said. The troops involved “reconfirmed U.S. engagement with this region and with each country.”
Christy called this “soft power” application of military capabilities an important aspect of diplomatic efforts in the region. It helps to win hearts and minds as it builds new relationships or repairs strained ones, he said.
Few examples of the healing effect of this soft power compare to the U.S. military response following the December 2004 tsunami that devastated Ache, Indonesia. U.S.-Indonesian relations were at a low ebb at the time when U.S. forces rushed in to offer relief.
“Here were soldiers rescuing babies, delivering food, doing things that demonstrated a great deal of sympathy and empathy,” Christy said.
Even less dramatic personal interactions go a long way toward supporting diplomatic efforts, he said. A Foreign Service officer who’s reached the apex of his career and earned the title “ambassador,” Mr Christy hesitates to call U.S. service members ambassadors as they interface with foreign militaries and citizens.
But he acknowledges that in many ways, these troops serve as the embodiment of U.S. values overseas.
Whether volunteering for a civic-action program or simply shopping at a local market, they give foreign nationals the opportunity to “put a human face on American soldiers and sailors,” Mr Christy said. That’s particularly important, he added, in cases where people have never met an American personally and might have preconceived and possibly negative notions about Americans.
“There’s a lot of misappreciation of the United States, and one of the most effective ways to overcome that is through people-to-people contacts,” Christy said. In this way, he explained, individual soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines “are becoming part of the ‘D’” application of the DIME principle.
“They play a very active role in diplomacy by their presence, their behaviours, their openness, their willingness to engage with people and satisfy their curiosity,” he said. “They are diplomats. They are ambassadors. They are showing what America is all about,” he said.
As important as this relationship is to the Pacific, Mr Dinger said, it’s important to the United States, too, as friends and allies become stronger partners in the security of the region and beyond. There’s “no doubt that the military role in this region is important,” Mr Dinger said. “And it’s encouraging that even in the midst of huge military investment in the Middle East, we are clearly seeing more within this region, too.”
9/3/07
Important Legal Briefing- From Sydney Human Rights Monitors
For all of those who plan to excerise their cvil and human rights in Eora Country over the course of Asshole Politicians Excrete Capitalism
Love,and Solidairty to All.
Haere Atu apec
2 September 2007
Special Melbourne edition !!!
This edition of the Human Rights Monitors Info Sheet is intended for those coming to Sydney form Melbourne and other non-Sydney locations around Australia.
The meeting of 21 of the world's leaders to Sydney has led to unprecedented security measures being taken during their visit. Special powers have been given to police under the APEC Meeting (Police Powers) Act 2007 and these will be in force from August 30 to September 12. The main APEC event is the Leaders' Week, with September 7 (the Friday) a public holiday.
Although this was written on 2 September 2007, the situation in Sydney is fluid and it would be a good idea to try and get an update from locals when you arrive in Sydney.
Who's who
The main protest march, planned for the Saturday, is being organised by the Stop Bush Coalition ( http://stopbush2007.org). A number of autonomous actions are also being organised by Flare in the Void ( http://flareinthevoid.wordpress.com). Some actions may also be organised by other groups. Some information about events is deliberately not mentioned in this newsletter as the details are confidential.
What's when
The following information on the Stop Bush Coalition is from the website, Flare in the Void info is from their August 2007 zine, and other information is from the corporate press. You should check with each group that the information is still accurate.
Tuesday 4th
rally at 5.00pm to mark the arrival of Bush in Australia. At the time of writing, the location is undecided, but is probably Central. Please check
http://stopbush2007.org for more info. Organisers estimate 1,000 people.
Opening of Flare in the Void from 5.00pm-ish. To find out where Flare in the Void is being held, text 0434 585 264.
Wednesday 5th
Student strike. Organisers estimate 1-2,000. Please check
http://stopbush2007.org for more info.
Flare in the Void workshops.
Legal training sessions for legal observers. 6.00-8.00pm at University of Technology, Sydney, Students Association Backroom. Building 1 (the main building), opposite Central station.
Thursday 6th
Flare in the Void decentralised actions day across Sydney. Contact Flare in the Void for more info.
10.00am Flare in the Void legal briefing for latecomers.
Falun Dafa protest, march from Hyde Park through Sydney CBD
Friday 7th
A public holiday in the Sydney Metro area.
Falun Dafa protest - CBD
Maritime Union of Australia protest - Hyde Park
Chinese Freedom rally - location not known.
Flare in the Void workshops.
1.00pm (perhaps 2.30pm). Flare in the Void Legal briefing for latecomers.
Stop Bush 2007 convergence in Newtown. Check website for more info.
Saturday 8th
The main protest march. Police estimate 5-10,000 will attend. Check
http://stopbush2007.org for more info. The march route is contested. A meeting of the Stop Bush coalition on 27 August 2007 reaffirmed its march route (Town Hall/George St/Martin Place/Hyde Park). The police have consistently opposed this march route and as of today there is no agreement. The last meeting of Stop the Bush before the protest will be on Monday 3 September 2007. Again, check the website for more details.
Vietnamese community protest - Belmore Park
Amnesty International protest - Victoria Park
Chinese People for 2008 Olympics - Chinatown
Sunday 9th
Mutiny chill-out picnic.
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The legal stuff: restricted areas and declared areas
The Act introduced for APEC speaks of two types of security zones: "restricted areas" and "declared areas". To make them easier to visualise, this article will refer to them as red areas and green areas (respectively).
The red areas are areas of maximum security. Police may search all non-residential premises without a warrant. It is likely that they will be surrounded by fences and armed police. There is a legal obligation to provide ID to a police officer on request. It is an offence punishable by 6 months imprisonment (in some circumstances, 2 years) to try to enter a red area without special justification. Special justification means that you live or work in the area: it is up to you to prove this if you are claiming a special justification for being in a red area. The rest of this article will only speak about green areas. It is assumed that, as a protester, you will get nowhere near a red area. There is no legal obligation to tell the public where the red areas are, but press reports indicate the Sydney Opera House, Government House, various hotels and the Sydney Convention/ Exhibition Centre. The rest of this article will only speak about green areas.
Green areas: geography, check points, cordons and road blocks
The largest green area is that part of the CBD north of King Street. There is a presumption that members of the public can enter and leave the green areas. At the entrance to green areas, or once inside a green area, the police may set up check points, cordons or road blocks in order to stop and search people or vehicles. The police can close roads.
The largest green area includes most of the CBD north of King Street, Hickson Road and parts of Darling Harbour. Part of this area will be fenced off in any event, with a 2.8 metre tall fence, running along Bridge St, the location of the Australian Stock Exchange. At the time of writing, the fence has been extended so that it covers much of downtown Sydney, near Martin Place, and Circular Quay, where the ferries are. The fences are secured by concrete blocks and seem impossible to push over.
On August 24, other green areas were added: Sydney airport, RAAF Airbase Richmond, parts of Kirribilli, the Icebergs Club and surrounds in Bondi, and a number of hotels (the Sheraton on the Park in Elizabeth St, Hilton Hotel on George and Pitt Sts, Observatory Hotel, Kent St and the Marriott Hotel, College St.). The law allows for the Minister to add other green areas. Check the daily press for details for any added green areas closer to the day.
Note: the press speaks of "no-go areas." This is inaccurate, as that might indicate a red or a green area. Check with the APEC legal hotline (below).
Green areas: searches and prohibited items
The police may do a pat-down search as a condition of entering the green area. A person's entry may also be made conditional upon giving the police a prohibited item. A police officer who is given or seizes a prohibited item doesn't have to give it back.
Prohibited items are spray paint cans, chains, handcuffs or other devices capable of being used to lock persons to other persons or things, poles that are more than 1 metre in length, marbles, ball-bearings or other similar spherical items, smoke devices, flares, flammable or noxious liquids or substances, laser pointers, devices that are capable of being used to interfere with broadcast or communication devices. Regulations closer to the time might add other items to the list.
Green areas: reasonable directions and showing ID
Police officers have the power to give reasonable directions to any person or group providing that it substantially assists security, safety or "in preventing or controlling a public disorder." There is a clear obligation to give your name to a police officer upon request if they are in a red area. There is no clear obligation to do so in a green area. A police negotiator advised a representative of Stop Bush 2007 on August 17 that people will be have to show their IDs to police officers in the green areas. However, this is legally doubtful. If asked for your name or ID, consider asking the police officer if you are legally obliged to do that and what the basis of that obligation is. Some people have been reported that they will enter the green area without ID in order to test police powers.
Refusing to comply with a "reasonable direction" is not an offence, but allows the police to escort that person from the green area. The legislation does not appear to provide a limit on how far a person can be escorted from the green area, but in past protests the police have arrested people for breach of the peace and then escorted them many miles away and the released them. This is of doubtful legality.
Green areas: keeping people out and the excluded persons' list
A person can be excluded from a green area if they fail to agree to a pat-down search; fail to agree to their vehicle being searched on entering; unlawfully resist, hinder or obstruct a police search; fail to give up a prohibited item as a condition of entry; are on a road closed for APEC purposes or fail to comply with a reasonable direction. One of the powers that have gained media attention is the creation of an excluded persons' list. No criminal convictions are necessary to be on the list. It is only necessary that the Police Commissioner satisfy himself that a person would pose serious threats to the safety of persons or property in a green or red area. No more specific criteria have been announced so far. Police have said they will write to people beforehand saying that they are on the list, but they don't have to legally keep this promise.
According to media reports, 29 people are on the excluded persons list. A Sydney tabloid has published the names and photos of 27 of them. There may be another list (or lists) for private police consumption. You will only know if you are on this list when told by the police - perhaps even at the entry to a green area.
Bail
Bail laws have been changed in relation to three offences: assaulting a police officer, throwing a missile at a police officer and maliciously damaging property. There is a presumption against bail for people charged with these offences. This is open to abuse, as any act of escorting a person from the green area, or any arrest, can easily allow the police to manufacture an allegation of assault.
We have been advised that those arrested during APEC will be taken to Parramatta and Surry Hills police stations. The police have boasted that they can process up to 500 people. The Act allows for special audiovisual links in relation to bail applications for these offences. If arrested after 2.00pm or so, it may be difficult to get in a bail application that day. It may take longer to process out of state persons as the police of that state will be contacted by NSW police.
If appearing before a court, it may be the case that you are subjected to a strip search. It should be performed in minimum time and with respect. It can be (but does not have to be) humiliating - it happens to people in prison all the time.
People arrested may be detained in buses. You may be there a long time. Consider having medication or a medical certificate if prolonged detention will cause problems. This will not guarantee that the police look after you, but it may help.
This newsletter has only one passage in bold and in a box, because it is so important:
If arrested, do not give an interview or make any comments about any alleged offences. Anything you tell a police officer is never off the record. Threats to charge you if you don't give an interview are bullshit - they will charge you anyway.
Human Rights Monitors: policing the police
Human Rights Monitors are a Sydney-based community group, mainly of law students and lawyers, who are concerned about aggressive policing and protests. We will be attending the main APEC protests and other actions by invitation.
We will be wearing marked yellow vests and normally operate in pairs. Our aim is to collect eye-witness, photographic and video evidence of any misbehaver or illegal activity by the police. We will also be handing out bust cards, which will have the phone number to ring in case you want to speak to a solicitor for legal advice.
We will have 20-30 Human Rights Monitors, a number working 'undercover' and 30 solicitors on-call to give phone advice.
Further information
An 8-page leaflet will be handed out by Human Rights Monitors at protests, Flare in the Void and elsewhere on request. A limited number of workshops for particular groups can be arranged. Contact Dale on dalemills@cantab.net or 0422 644 363 for more information about Human Rights Monitors.
The APEC Legal Hotline will be 0401 427 588 or 0432 598 318. This number will be open during the main protest days and also be distributed on stickers and laminated business cards.
Love,and Solidairty to All.
Haere Atu apec
2 September 2007
Special Melbourne edition !!!
This edition of the Human Rights Monitors Info Sheet is intended for those coming to Sydney form Melbourne and other non-Sydney locations around Australia.
The meeting of 21 of the world's leaders to Sydney has led to unprecedented security measures being taken during their visit. Special powers have been given to police under the APEC Meeting (Police Powers) Act 2007 and these will be in force from August 30 to September 12. The main APEC event is the Leaders' Week, with September 7 (the Friday) a public holiday.
Although this was written on 2 September 2007, the situation in Sydney is fluid and it would be a good idea to try and get an update from locals when you arrive in Sydney.
Who's who
The main protest march, planned for the Saturday, is being organised by the Stop Bush Coalition ( http://stopbush2007.org). A number of autonomous actions are also being organised by Flare in the Void ( http://flareinthevoid.wordpress.com). Some actions may also be organised by other groups. Some information about events is deliberately not mentioned in this newsletter as the details are confidential.
What's when
The following information on the Stop Bush Coalition is from the website, Flare in the Void info is from their August 2007 zine, and other information is from the corporate press. You should check with each group that the information is still accurate.
Tuesday 4th
rally at 5.00pm to mark the arrival of Bush in Australia. At the time of writing, the location is undecided, but is probably Central. Please check
http://stopbush2007.org for more info. Organisers estimate 1,000 people.
Opening of Flare in the Void from 5.00pm-ish. To find out where Flare in the Void is being held, text 0434 585 264.
Wednesday 5th
Student strike. Organisers estimate 1-2,000. Please check
http://stopbush2007.org for more info.
Flare in the Void workshops.
Legal training sessions for legal observers. 6.00-8.00pm at University of Technology, Sydney, Students Association Backroom. Building 1 (the main building), opposite Central station.
Thursday 6th
Flare in the Void decentralised actions day across Sydney. Contact Flare in the Void for more info.
10.00am Flare in the Void legal briefing for latecomers.
Falun Dafa protest, march from Hyde Park through Sydney CBD
Friday 7th
A public holiday in the Sydney Metro area.
Falun Dafa protest - CBD
Maritime Union of Australia protest - Hyde Park
Chinese Freedom rally - location not known.
Flare in the Void workshops.
1.00pm (perhaps 2.30pm). Flare in the Void Legal briefing for latecomers.
Stop Bush 2007 convergence in Newtown. Check website for more info.
Saturday 8th
The main protest march. Police estimate 5-10,000 will attend. Check
http://stopbush2007.org for more info. The march route is contested. A meeting of the Stop Bush coalition on 27 August 2007 reaffirmed its march route (Town Hall/George St/Martin Place/Hyde Park). The police have consistently opposed this march route and as of today there is no agreement. The last meeting of Stop the Bush before the protest will be on Monday 3 September 2007. Again, check the website for more details.
Vietnamese community protest - Belmore Park
Amnesty International protest - Victoria Park
Chinese People for 2008 Olympics - Chinatown
Sunday 9th
Mutiny chill-out picnic.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The legal stuff: restricted areas and declared areas
The Act introduced for APEC speaks of two types of security zones: "restricted areas" and "declared areas". To make them easier to visualise, this article will refer to them as red areas and green areas (respectively).
The red areas are areas of maximum security. Police may search all non-residential premises without a warrant. It is likely that they will be surrounded by fences and armed police. There is a legal obligation to provide ID to a police officer on request. It is an offence punishable by 6 months imprisonment (in some circumstances, 2 years) to try to enter a red area without special justification. Special justification means that you live or work in the area: it is up to you to prove this if you are claiming a special justification for being in a red area. The rest of this article will only speak about green areas. It is assumed that, as a protester, you will get nowhere near a red area. There is no legal obligation to tell the public where the red areas are, but press reports indicate the Sydney Opera House, Government House, various hotels and the Sydney Convention/ Exhibition Centre. The rest of this article will only speak about green areas.
Green areas: geography, check points, cordons and road blocks
The largest green area is that part of the CBD north of King Street. There is a presumption that members of the public can enter and leave the green areas. At the entrance to green areas, or once inside a green area, the police may set up check points, cordons or road blocks in order to stop and search people or vehicles. The police can close roads.
The largest green area includes most of the CBD north of King Street, Hickson Road and parts of Darling Harbour. Part of this area will be fenced off in any event, with a 2.8 metre tall fence, running along Bridge St, the location of the Australian Stock Exchange. At the time of writing, the fence has been extended so that it covers much of downtown Sydney, near Martin Place, and Circular Quay, where the ferries are. The fences are secured by concrete blocks and seem impossible to push over.
On August 24, other green areas were added: Sydney airport, RAAF Airbase Richmond, parts of Kirribilli, the Icebergs Club and surrounds in Bondi, and a number of hotels (the Sheraton on the Park in Elizabeth St, Hilton Hotel on George and Pitt Sts, Observatory Hotel, Kent St and the Marriott Hotel, College St.). The law allows for the Minister to add other green areas. Check the daily press for details for any added green areas closer to the day.
Note: the press speaks of "no-go areas." This is inaccurate, as that might indicate a red or a green area. Check with the APEC legal hotline (below).
Green areas: searches and prohibited items
The police may do a pat-down search as a condition of entering the green area. A person's entry may also be made conditional upon giving the police a prohibited item. A police officer who is given or seizes a prohibited item doesn't have to give it back.
Prohibited items are spray paint cans, chains, handcuffs or other devices capable of being used to lock persons to other persons or things, poles that are more than 1 metre in length, marbles, ball-bearings or other similar spherical items, smoke devices, flares, flammable or noxious liquids or substances, laser pointers, devices that are capable of being used to interfere with broadcast or communication devices. Regulations closer to the time might add other items to the list.
Green areas: reasonable directions and showing ID
Police officers have the power to give reasonable directions to any person or group providing that it substantially assists security, safety or "in preventing or controlling a public disorder." There is a clear obligation to give your name to a police officer upon request if they are in a red area. There is no clear obligation to do so in a green area. A police negotiator advised a representative of Stop Bush 2007 on August 17 that people will be have to show their IDs to police officers in the green areas. However, this is legally doubtful. If asked for your name or ID, consider asking the police officer if you are legally obliged to do that and what the basis of that obligation is. Some people have been reported that they will enter the green area without ID in order to test police powers.
Refusing to comply with a "reasonable direction" is not an offence, but allows the police to escort that person from the green area. The legislation does not appear to provide a limit on how far a person can be escorted from the green area, but in past protests the police have arrested people for breach of the peace and then escorted them many miles away and the released them. This is of doubtful legality.
Green areas: keeping people out and the excluded persons' list
A person can be excluded from a green area if they fail to agree to a pat-down search; fail to agree to their vehicle being searched on entering; unlawfully resist, hinder or obstruct a police search; fail to give up a prohibited item as a condition of entry; are on a road closed for APEC purposes or fail to comply with a reasonable direction. One of the powers that have gained media attention is the creation of an excluded persons' list. No criminal convictions are necessary to be on the list. It is only necessary that the Police Commissioner satisfy himself that a person would pose serious threats to the safety of persons or property in a green or red area. No more specific criteria have been announced so far. Police have said they will write to people beforehand saying that they are on the list, but they don't have to legally keep this promise.
According to media reports, 29 people are on the excluded persons list. A Sydney tabloid has published the names and photos of 27 of them. There may be another list (or lists) for private police consumption. You will only know if you are on this list when told by the police - perhaps even at the entry to a green area.
Bail
Bail laws have been changed in relation to three offences: assaulting a police officer, throwing a missile at a police officer and maliciously damaging property. There is a presumption against bail for people charged with these offences. This is open to abuse, as any act of escorting a person from the green area, or any arrest, can easily allow the police to manufacture an allegation of assault.
We have been advised that those arrested during APEC will be taken to Parramatta and Surry Hills police stations. The police have boasted that they can process up to 500 people. The Act allows for special audiovisual links in relation to bail applications for these offences. If arrested after 2.00pm or so, it may be difficult to get in a bail application that day. It may take longer to process out of state persons as the police of that state will be contacted by NSW police.
If appearing before a court, it may be the case that you are subjected to a strip search. It should be performed in minimum time and with respect. It can be (but does not have to be) humiliating - it happens to people in prison all the time.
People arrested may be detained in buses. You may be there a long time. Consider having medication or a medical certificate if prolonged detention will cause problems. This will not guarantee that the police look after you, but it may help.
This newsletter has only one passage in bold and in a box, because it is so important:
If arrested, do not give an interview or make any comments about any alleged offences. Anything you tell a police officer is never off the record. Threats to charge you if you don't give an interview are bullshit - they will charge you anyway.
Human Rights Monitors: policing the police
Human Rights Monitors are a Sydney-based community group, mainly of law students and lawyers, who are concerned about aggressive policing and protests. We will be attending the main APEC protests and other actions by invitation.
We will be wearing marked yellow vests and normally operate in pairs. Our aim is to collect eye-witness, photographic and video evidence of any misbehaver or illegal activity by the police. We will also be handing out bust cards, which will have the phone number to ring in case you want to speak to a solicitor for legal advice.
We will have 20-30 Human Rights Monitors, a number working 'undercover' and 30 solicitors on-call to give phone advice.
Further information
An 8-page leaflet will be handed out by Human Rights Monitors at protests, Flare in the Void and elsewhere on request. A limited number of workshops for particular groups can be arranged. Contact Dale on dalemills@cantab.net or 0422 644 363 for more information about Human Rights Monitors.
The APEC Legal Hotline will be 0401 427 588 or 0432 598 318. This number will be open during the main protest days and also be distributed on stickers and laminated business cards.
8/14/07
Death Merchants meet in Sydney ahead of APEC summit
CANBERRA, Australia (AP): Army chiefs from 19 countries including the United States, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand met secretly in a Sydney hotel last week ahead of Asia-Pacific leaders forum, an official said Tuesday.
Australia's Chief of Army, Lt. Gen. Peter Leahy, said the meeting, which precedes the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation annual summit next month, was kept secret for security reasons.
"We were aware that there's a lot going on in Sydney and we didn't want to make a fuss," Leahy told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio, referring to added security measures being put in place in Australia's largest city for APEC.
Leahy's interview with the ABC is the first mention in the Australian media that the meeting had taken place. He did not say when last week the meeting was held.
Leahy said he and his international counterparts had discussed some of the challenges facing modern armies, such as how to prepare for disaster relief, peacekeeping and counterterrorism operations. (***)
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailgeneral.asp?fileid=20070814064734&irec=0
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
AUSTRALIA: Kkkanberra urged to pressure Indonesia over Papua - 10/08/2007
Australia's Prime Minister John Howard is being asked to speak up for the human rights of Papua when he meets Indonesia's President in Sydney next month. The Chairman of the Papuan People's Assembly wants the issue raised when Australia hosts 20 national leaders during the APEC summit in September. Chairman Agus Alua claims Papua's special autonomy is being deliberately undermined by Indonesia's military.
Presenter - Karon Snowdon Speaker - Agus Alua. Chairman of the Papuan People's Assembly
listen windows media >
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/asiapac/programs/m1429728.asx
Australia's Chief of Army, Lt. Gen. Peter Leahy, said the meeting, which precedes the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation annual summit next month, was kept secret for security reasons.
"We were aware that there's a lot going on in Sydney and we didn't want to make a fuss," Leahy told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio, referring to added security measures being put in place in Australia's largest city for APEC.
Leahy's interview with the ABC is the first mention in the Australian media that the meeting had taken place. He did not say when last week the meeting was held.
Leahy said he and his international counterparts had discussed some of the challenges facing modern armies, such as how to prepare for disaster relief, peacekeeping and counterterrorism operations. (***)
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailgeneral.asp?fileid=20070814064734&irec=0
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
AUSTRALIA: Kkkanberra urged to pressure Indonesia over Papua - 10/08/2007
Australia's Prime Minister John Howard is being asked to speak up for the human rights of Papua when he meets Indonesia's President in Sydney next month. The Chairman of the Papuan People's Assembly wants the issue raised when Australia hosts 20 national leaders during the APEC summit in September. Chairman Agus Alua claims Papua's special autonomy is being deliberately undermined by Indonesia's military.
Presenter - Karon Snowdon Speaker - Agus Alua. Chairman of the Papuan People's Assembly
listen windows media >
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/asiapac/programs/m1429728.asx
8/7/07
anarchist action in hiroshima 2007!
Fw:*join anarchist action in hiroshima 2007! Comrades & Affinities,
Saluton from hiroshima, japnese islands. by the way, also 8:15 on 6 aug of this
year, anarchist comrades living in japnese islands will do an action against the
"heiwa-kinen-shikiten" & "fascist prime minister abe" at the foot of
motoyasu-bashi(motoyasu-bridge, very near to the heiwa-kouen and genbaku-doom!)
as an anti-government & anti-nuke protest. on every 6 August at hiroshima,
anarchist individuals/groups have done against faked "peace" for at least 18
years: "hiroshima has some important military bases/local headquater of japanese
military, and also U$ marine corp!", "hiroshima is not peace-city!", "NO NUKE!
NO GOVERNMENT! ABOLISH ALL MILITARY BASES!"...und so weiter.
If you will come to hiroshima on 8:15 of 6 aug 2007, if you will be able to
take part in our action at motoyasu-bashi, join us! after 8:15, we will go/pray
to Korean grave of a-bombing victims, then, will start a demo with black
flags/black&red flags! also this year, fascists scums(uyoku) will try
to prevent our demo at starting point.
following is our schedule of this 6 aug in hiroshima city:
*6 Aug about 7:45...starting our action against fuckin' heiwa-kinen-shikiten!
about 8:30...going/praying to korean grave of a-bombing victims
...then, we will try to start an anti-nuke/anti-government demo with black
flags at the central of hiroshima city.
after demo, on afternoon, we will hold a tiny anarchist gathering
(8.6hiroshima-syuukai) at a place of the central of hiroshima, maybe.(a part of
RRU members, la federacio anarkiista japanio, rebel_factory...will be
participated.) militant anarchists living in japnese islands are NOT DEAD YET!
thanx. in solidarity with black flags and fists.(rebel_JILL)
nigra_mano(aT)openoffice
★旅浪人/ JILL rebel_jill98-A-yahoo.co.jp
Namonaku, Chiinaku, Sugatanashi... Ware Yamito Kageyori Hikariwo Utan.
Saluton from hiroshima, japnese islands. by the way, also 8:15 on 6 aug of this
year, anarchist comrades living in japnese islands will do an action against the
"heiwa-kinen-shikiten" & "fascist prime minister abe" at the foot of
motoyasu-bashi(motoyasu-bridge, very near to the heiwa-kouen and genbaku-doom!)
as an anti-government & anti-nuke protest. on every 6 August at hiroshima,
anarchist individuals/groups have done against faked "peace" for at least 18
years: "hiroshima has some important military bases/local headquater of japanese
military, and also U$ marine corp!", "hiroshima is not peace-city!", "NO NUKE!
NO GOVERNMENT! ABOLISH ALL MILITARY BASES!"...und so weiter.
If you will come to hiroshima on 8:15 of 6 aug 2007, if you will be able to
take part in our action at motoyasu-bashi, join us! after 8:15, we will go/pray
to Korean grave of a-bombing victims, then, will start a demo with black
flags/black&red flags! also this year, fascists scums(uyoku) will try
to prevent our demo at starting point.
following is our schedule of this 6 aug in hiroshima city:
*6 Aug about 7:45...starting our action against fuckin' heiwa-kinen-shikiten!
about 8:30...going/praying to korean grave of a-bombing victims
...then, we will try to start an anti-nuke/anti-government demo with black
flags at the central of hiroshima city.
after demo, on afternoon, we will hold a tiny anarchist gathering
(8.6hiroshima-syuukai) at a place of the central of hiroshima, maybe.(a part of
RRU members, la federacio anarkiista japanio, rebel_factory...will be
participated.) militant anarchists living in japnese islands are NOT DEAD YET!
thanx. in solidarity with black flags and fists.(rebel_JILL)
nigra_mano(aT)openoffice
★旅浪人/ JILL rebel_jill98-A-yahoo.co.jp
Namonaku, Chiinaku, Sugatanashi... Ware Yamito Kageyori Hikariwo Utan.
8/5/07
Scrap the SPP
Resist the Security and Prosperity Partnership Agreement. Continental Day of Action August 20th
==> LEARN ABOUT THE CORPORATE LOBBY BEHIND THE SPP:
The North American Competitiveness Council (NACC) was launched as part of
the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) in June 2006. It is the only
formal advisory board to the SPP and is made up of 30 corporate leaders
from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico with ten advisors from each of the SPP
signatory states. A September 13, 2006 story in Maclean’s magazine
describes NACC as a “cherrypicked group of executives who were whisked to
Cancun in March by the leaders of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, and asked
to come up with a plan for taking North American integration beyond
NAFTA.”
Read more at: http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=438
==> WHAT IS THE SPP?
The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) was founded
in March 2005 at a summit of the Heads of State of Canada, the US, and
Mexico. SPP is not an official treaty; it is not an official law;
therefore it has been able to escape any public scrutiny. The major drive
behind the SPP is a CEO-based organization, which is the only official
advisory group to governments on the SPP.
The real face of SPP is to further an agenda of corporate free trade,
border militarization, criminalization of migration, privatization and
theft of indigenous land and resources, repression in the name of national
security, impoverishment and displacement, and cooperation in war and
occupation.
The SPP is a NAFTA-plus-Homeland-Security model and will involve the
harmonization of over 300 areas of regulations, including: integration of
the military and police, expansion of temporary worker programs as a means
of ensuring low wages, coordination of no-fly lists, expedited resource
extraction particularly oil and water on unceded indigenous territories,
and harmonization of health and environmental regulations to lower
standards and development of a North American alternative to the Kyoto
Protocol.
Read more at: http://noii-van.resist.ca/?page_id=102*
Please check http://noii-van.resist.ca frequently for updates or contact
the Scrap SPP Campaign at scrapspp@gmail.com or call 778 885 0040
======================================
* No One Is Ilegal Vancover is an antiauthoritarian anticapitalist initiative
5/5/07
The Relationship Between Globalization and Militarism
by Steven Staples
Social Justice magazine, Vol. 27, No. 4 (2000)
Globalization and militarism should be seen as two sides of the same coin. On one side, globalization promotes the conditions that lead to unrest, inequality, conflict, and, ultimately, war. On the other side, globalization fuels the means to wage war by protecting and promoting the military industries needed to produce sophisticated weaponry. This weaponry, in turn, is used-or its use is threatened-to protect the investments of transnational corporations and their shareholders.
1. Globalization Promotes Inequality, Unrest, and Conflict
Economic inequality is growing; more conflict and civil wars are emerging. It is important to see a connection between these two situations.
Proponents of global economic integration argue that globalization promotes peace and economic development of the Third World. They assert that "all boats rise with the tide" when investors and corporations make higher profits. However, there is precious little evidence that this is true and substantial evidence of the opposite.
The United Nation's Human Development Report (U.N. Development Programme, 1999: 3) noted that globalization is creating new threats to human security. Economic inequality between Northern and Southern nations has worsened, not improved. There are more wars being fought today-mostly in the Third World-than there were during the Cold War. Most are not wars between countries, but are civil wars where the majority of deaths are civilians, not soldiers.
The mainstream media frequently oversimplify the causes of the wars, with claims they are rooted in religious or ethnic differences. A closer inspection reveals that the underlying source of such conflicts is economic in nature. Financial instability, economic inequality, competition for resources, and environmental degradation-all root causes of war-are exacerbated by globalization.
The Asian financial meltdown of 1997 to 1999 involved a terrible human cost. The economies of Thailand, South Korea, and Indonesia crumbled in the crisis. These countries, previously held up by neoliberal economists as the darlings of globalization, were reduced to riots and financial ruin. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) stepped in to rescue foreign investors and impose austerity programs that opened the way for an invasion by foreign corporations that bought up assets devalued by capital flight and threw millions of people out of work. Political upheaval and conflict ensued, costing thousands of lives.
Meanwhile, other countries watched as their neighbors suffered the consequences of greater global integration. In India, citizens faced corporate recolonization, which spawned a nationalistic political movement. Part of the political program was the development of nuclear weapons-seen by many as the internationally accepted currency of power. Nuclear tests have put an already conflict-ridden region on the brink of nuclear war.
2. Globalization Fuels the Means to Wage War
The world economic system promotes military economies over civilian economies, pushing national economic policies toward military spending. The World Trade Organization (WTO), one of the main instruments of globalization, is largely based on the premise that the only legitimate role for a government is to provide for a military to protect the interests of the country and a police force to ensure order within. The WTO attacks governments' social and environmental policies that reduce corporate profits, and it has succeeded in having national laws that protect the environment struck down. Yet the WTO gives exemplary protection to government actions that develop, arm, and deploy armed forces and supply a military establishment. Article X~ of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) allows governments free reign for actions taken in the interest of national security.
***
The Military-Corporate Complex
Since the end of the Cold War, President Eisenhower's 196.0s-era military-industrial complex has been fundamentally challenged by globalization. Globalization has weakened the powers of the nation-state, while freeing corporations to move profits and operations across national boundaries. Defense/military contractors, once considered part of the national industrial base and regulated and nurtured as such, are becoming detached from the nation-state and are able to pursue their interests independently.
Globalization and the transnationalization of defense / military corporations have replaced the military-industrial complex of the Cold War economy with a military-corporate complex of the new global economy. This is based upon the dominance of corporate interests over those of the state. The weakened state is no longer able to reign in weapons corporations and is trapped increasingly by corporate interests: greater military spending, state subsidies, and a liberalization of the arms trade.
***
The Threat of Military Force Is Used to Protect Corporate Interests
According to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, "the hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist. McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the builder of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley's technologies is called the United States Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps" (Friedman, 1999).
Friedman illuminates the strategic relationship that exists between corporations and militaries. As globalization extends the reach of corporate interests around the world, a matching military capacity must be deployed to protect those interests. This is the underlying reason the U.S. military maintains the capacity wage two major wars in different regions of the world simultaneously.
***
Conclusion
Globalization is driving a global war economy and creating the conditions for tremendous loss of human life. Many writers and researchers have documented the decline in human rights, social justice, environmental standards, and democracy caused by globalization. The inevitable outcome of globalization will be more wars-especially in the Third World where globalization has its harshest effects. Meanwhile, the elites of the industrialized world are confident that the global economy will continue to provide them with wealth created from the resources and labor of the Third World. Their technologically advanced militaries will protect them and their investments, insulating them from the violent effects of globalization.
What is required is a complete reassessment of the current global economic system, with the goal of promoting genuine human security and development. Global financial institutions, such as the World Trade Organization, that do not promote these goals must be revised or scrapped completely and replaced with a system based upon principles of equity, peace, and democracy.
Steven Staples is the Chair of the International Network on Disarmament and Globalization (405 - 825 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC, V6Z IK9 Canada; e-mail: sstaples@canadians.org), a network of activists and researchers in over 30 countries who are concerned about the new global economy and the need for peace, disarmament, and the funding of human needs.
For more information, visit the International Network on Disarmament and Globalization at www.indg.org, or e-mail info@indg.org.
Social Justice magazine, Vol. 27, No. 4 (2000)
Globalization and militarism should be seen as two sides of the same coin. On one side, globalization promotes the conditions that lead to unrest, inequality, conflict, and, ultimately, war. On the other side, globalization fuels the means to wage war by protecting and promoting the military industries needed to produce sophisticated weaponry. This weaponry, in turn, is used-or its use is threatened-to protect the investments of transnational corporations and their shareholders.
1. Globalization Promotes Inequality, Unrest, and Conflict
Economic inequality is growing; more conflict and civil wars are emerging. It is important to see a connection between these two situations.
Proponents of global economic integration argue that globalization promotes peace and economic development of the Third World. They assert that "all boats rise with the tide" when investors and corporations make higher profits. However, there is precious little evidence that this is true and substantial evidence of the opposite.
The United Nation's Human Development Report (U.N. Development Programme, 1999: 3) noted that globalization is creating new threats to human security. Economic inequality between Northern and Southern nations has worsened, not improved. There are more wars being fought today-mostly in the Third World-than there were during the Cold War. Most are not wars between countries, but are civil wars where the majority of deaths are civilians, not soldiers.
The mainstream media frequently oversimplify the causes of the wars, with claims they are rooted in religious or ethnic differences. A closer inspection reveals that the underlying source of such conflicts is economic in nature. Financial instability, economic inequality, competition for resources, and environmental degradation-all root causes of war-are exacerbated by globalization.
The Asian financial meltdown of 1997 to 1999 involved a terrible human cost. The economies of Thailand, South Korea, and Indonesia crumbled in the crisis. These countries, previously held up by neoliberal economists as the darlings of globalization, were reduced to riots and financial ruin. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) stepped in to rescue foreign investors and impose austerity programs that opened the way for an invasion by foreign corporations that bought up assets devalued by capital flight and threw millions of people out of work. Political upheaval and conflict ensued, costing thousands of lives.
Meanwhile, other countries watched as their neighbors suffered the consequences of greater global integration. In India, citizens faced corporate recolonization, which spawned a nationalistic political movement. Part of the political program was the development of nuclear weapons-seen by many as the internationally accepted currency of power. Nuclear tests have put an already conflict-ridden region on the brink of nuclear war.
2. Globalization Fuels the Means to Wage War
The world economic system promotes military economies over civilian economies, pushing national economic policies toward military spending. The World Trade Organization (WTO), one of the main instruments of globalization, is largely based on the premise that the only legitimate role for a government is to provide for a military to protect the interests of the country and a police force to ensure order within. The WTO attacks governments' social and environmental policies that reduce corporate profits, and it has succeeded in having national laws that protect the environment struck down. Yet the WTO gives exemplary protection to government actions that develop, arm, and deploy armed forces and supply a military establishment. Article X~ of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) allows governments free reign for actions taken in the interest of national security.
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The Military-Corporate Complex
Since the end of the Cold War, President Eisenhower's 196.0s-era military-industrial complex has been fundamentally challenged by globalization. Globalization has weakened the powers of the nation-state, while freeing corporations to move profits and operations across national boundaries. Defense/military contractors, once considered part of the national industrial base and regulated and nurtured as such, are becoming detached from the nation-state and are able to pursue their interests independently.
Globalization and the transnationalization of defense / military corporations have replaced the military-industrial complex of the Cold War economy with a military-corporate complex of the new global economy. This is based upon the dominance of corporate interests over those of the state. The weakened state is no longer able to reign in weapons corporations and is trapped increasingly by corporate interests: greater military spending, state subsidies, and a liberalization of the arms trade.
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The Threat of Military Force Is Used to Protect Corporate Interests
According to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, "the hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist. McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the builder of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley's technologies is called the United States Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps" (Friedman, 1999).
Friedman illuminates the strategic relationship that exists between corporations and militaries. As globalization extends the reach of corporate interests around the world, a matching military capacity must be deployed to protect those interests. This is the underlying reason the U.S. military maintains the capacity wage two major wars in different regions of the world simultaneously.
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Conclusion
Globalization is driving a global war economy and creating the conditions for tremendous loss of human life. Many writers and researchers have documented the decline in human rights, social justice, environmental standards, and democracy caused by globalization. The inevitable outcome of globalization will be more wars-especially in the Third World where globalization has its harshest effects. Meanwhile, the elites of the industrialized world are confident that the global economy will continue to provide them with wealth created from the resources and labor of the Third World. Their technologically advanced militaries will protect them and their investments, insulating them from the violent effects of globalization.
What is required is a complete reassessment of the current global economic system, with the goal of promoting genuine human security and development. Global financial institutions, such as the World Trade Organization, that do not promote these goals must be revised or scrapped completely and replaced with a system based upon principles of equity, peace, and democracy.
Steven Staples is the Chair of the International Network on Disarmament and Globalization (405 - 825 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC, V6Z IK9 Canada; e-mail: sstaples@canadians.org), a network of activists and researchers in over 30 countries who are concerned about the new global economy and the need for peace, disarmament, and the funding of human needs.
For more information, visit the International Network on Disarmament and Globalization at www.indg.org, or e-mail info@indg.org.
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