The Free is a book and a blog. .”the most detailed fictional treatment of the movement from a world recognizably like our own to an anarchist society that I have read.. imagined strongly enough to allow readers to believe that events could happen this way.” 451,225 blog reads so far (2020).
“..It is incomprehensible to me that German politicians are again supporting the same Russophobic ideologies on the basis of which the German [Nazi] Reich found willing helpers in 1941, with whom they closely cooperated and jointly carried out murder…”.
The Berlin-Tiergarten District Court sentenced peace activist Heinrich Bücker in January for speaking out in public against Germany’s war policy in Ukraine. The verdict is a massive attack on the basic democratic rights of freedom of speech and assembly. It is reminiscent of the persecution of anti-militarists in the Weimar Republic who—like Carl von Ossietzky—opposed the rearmament of the Reichswehr (armed forces).
Bücker is a member of the Association of the Persecuted of the Nazi Regime–League of Anti-Fascists (VVN-BdA) and the Left Party.He runs the COOP Anti-War Café in Berlin, where anti-militarist events are held regularly.
On June 22, 2022, he gave a speech at the Soviet Memorial in Berlin’s Treptow Park on the 81st anniversary of Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union, in which he condemned the cooperation of German politicians with former Nazi collaborators in Ukraine and expressed understanding for the views of the Russian president.
Heinrich Bücker during his speech on the 81st anniversary of the German attack on the Soviet Union [Photo by Screenshot AntikriegTV]
As a result, the judge at the local court, Tobias Pollmann, sentenced Bücker to a fine of €2,000, or 40 days imprisonment.
çHis criminal offence under Section 140 of the Criminal Code had consisted of “publicly approving a crime of aggression (Section 13 of the International Criminal Code) in a manner likely to disturb the public peace at a meeting.”
The verdict was issued as a summary penalty order, which does not provide for an oral hearing of the defendant and examination of witnesses. The defendant can appeal within two weeks of the issuance of the penalty order, which Bücker reportedly did. If he had not done so, the penalty order is considered a final judgment, and appeals against it are then no longer possible.
The penalty order states that Bücker, in his speech, approved “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in violation of international law, the illegality of which you knew.” To prove this, a longer paragraph from the speech is quoted, the entire wording of which is documented here (in German).
In the quoted paragraph, Bücker opposes cooperation with far-right forces in Ukraine:
It is incomprehensible to me that German politicians are again supporting the same Russophobic ideologies on the basis of which the German [Nazi] Reich found willing helpers in 1941, with whom they closely cooperated and jointly carried out murder. All decent Germans should reject any cooperation with these forces in Ukraine against the background of German history, the history of millions of murdered Jews and millions and millions of murdered Soviet citizens in World War II. We must also vehemently reject the war rhetoric emanating from these forces in Ukraine. Never again must we as Germans be involved in any form of war against Russia. We must unite and oppose this madness together.
In this context, he called for understanding for the Russian point of view:
We must openly and honestly try to understand the Russian reasons for the special military operation in Ukraine and why the vast majority of people in Russia support their government and their president in it. Personally, I very much want to and can understand the view in Russia and that of Russian President Vladimir Putin. I have no distrust of Russia, because the renunciation of revenge against Germans and Germany determined Soviet and then also Russian policy since 1945.
How and why Bücker thus “agrees” to the invasion of Russia, the Berlin District Court did not elaborate with a single syllable. The request to understand and comprehend the reasons for something is quite different from consent.
Otherwise, the work of psychiatric evaluators would be as impossible as that of historians, sociologists, mediators or even police investigators. Any effort to understand the actions of others would be deemed complicity.
Because Section 140 of the Criminal Code severely impinges upon the fundamental right to freedom of expression under Article 5 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court has set high standards in its case law.
Este domingo, 5 de febrero, está convocada una manifestación en Alcalá de Henares en apoyo a la activista por el derecho a vivienda Nani Martínez.
La manifestación saldrá a las 12:00h. de la Plaza 11 de marzo, junto a la estación de ferrocarril de Alcalá de Henares, y finalizará en la Plaza de la Paloma, frente a los juzgados.
Comunicado
Nani Martínez ha sido la cara más visible de la Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca del Corredor del Henares durante 10 años, ha asesorado a cientos de familias afectadas, ha participado en gran cantidad de acciones reivindicativas por el derecho a vivienda y en la paralización de decenas de desahucios hipotecarios.
El próximo mes de febrero se enfrenta a la solicitud de una pena de dos años y medio de prisión por participar en 2017 en la paralización del desahucio de una familia con cuatro menores en Alcalá de Henares.
Convoca la Plataforma Nani Absolución, compuesta por diferentes movimientos sociales, asociaciones vecinales, sindicatos y partidos políticos. El manifiesto Nani Absolución ha sido firmado por la Federación Regional de Asociaciones de Vecinos, la Federación Comarcal de Asociaciones de Vecinos, CCOO, CGT, Izquierda Unida, Podemos, PCE, PCTE. Asociaciones como 13 Rosas, Agua de Mayo, Bienvenidos Refugiados, MAR, XR…
Tanto ella como otras nueve personas sufrieron lesiones por la intervención de los agentes de la Policía Nacional en este desahucio. El juicio contra Nani tiene fecha para el 14 de febrero de 2023, a consecuencia de las denuncias presentadas por los agentes.
Los agentes de Policía Nacional trataron de entrar en la vivienda de la familia desahuciada antes de la llegada de la Comisión Judicial, que es con la que los abogados de la PAH tratan de dialogar en estos casos para paralizarlo por motivos humanitarios y falta de alternativa habitacional. Los activistas se opusieron pasivamente a la entrada de la policía, pues ello hubiera significado la ejecución del desahucio sin haber tenido la opción de dialogar con la Comisión Judicial. Es en ese momento cuando la policía comenzó a cargar, causando 10 heridos. Finalmente, el desahucio no se realizó por decisión de la Comisión Judicial.
Nani no fue detenida en ese momento, ni hizo nada que lo hubiera justificado, pero días después recibió la denuncia, en la que la acusaban de un delito de atentado contra la autoridad en un relato cargado de contradicciones y falsedades.
Nani ya se vio obligada a pagar una fianza de 4.000€ que consiguió reunir gracias a la solidaridad del tejido asociativo. El próximo 14 de febrero se celebrará el juicio, en el que se pide para ella una pena de dos años y medio de prisión; un juicio contra la persona más visible del movimiento por el derecho a vivienda en la comarca.
Desde la Plataforma por la Absolución de Nani hacemos un llamamiento al apoyo y a la solidaridad con nuestra compañera y con todas las represaliadas por luchar por el derecho a la vivienda o por cualquier otro derecho.
Note: These interviews were mostly filmed in January 2020, before the COVID-19 outbreak. Be sure to turn on the subtitles (CC), as some parts are in Spanish.
These are dark days. As the COVID-19 crisis turns our world upside-down, the social isolation and atomization of capitalism has given way to full-blown social distancing.
At a time when we most need to come together, we’re told that human contact can kill us. Alarm bells are flashing everywhere as the dead pile up, the economy burns, and more and more people’s mental health deteriorates. This is the most severe and far-reaching global crisis that most of us who are alive today have ever experienced.
Its a terrifying, alienated, and stressful time. It’s also no time to give up. No time to turn on Netflix, bury our heads in the sand, and wait for things to pass. Certainly not for anarchists, or anyone who calls themselves a revolutionary.In the midst of the current pandemic, it’s easy to forget that 2019 was a year of global uprisings on a scale not seen since 1968.
The system is dying. Today we stand at the precipice of a massive restructuring of the global order. There will be no going back to the way things were. We can either fight for a future that we want to live in, or we can sit by and let the banks and the tech companies pick it for us.
It’s important that we take the necessary steps to keep each other safe during this crisis. Of course. But it’s also important that we take the necessary steps to keep each other safe from what comes after. And that means getting organized.
New data shows that 100% of COVID deaths in Canada are being caused by the mRNA vaccines that were forced on the population by the Trudeau regime and Big Pharma. 100% of COVID Deaths in Canada Now Due to mRNA Vaccine, New Data Shows Sean Adl-Tabatabai Feb 1, 2023 New data shows that 100% of […]
Protests in Peru’s capital continue as the demonstrators who traveled from across the country for the “takeover of Lima” have been brutally repressed through mass arrests, the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and beatings, and the deployment of armored vehicles.
June 6, 2021, was the day which shocked many in Peru’s oligarchy. Pedro Castillo Terrones, a rural schoolteacher who had never before been elected to office, won the second round of the presidential election with just over 50.13% of the vote.
More than 8.8 million people voted for Castillo’s program of profound social reforms and the promise of a new constitution against the far-right’s candidate, Keiko Fujimori.
In a dramatic turn of events, the historical agenda of neoliberalism and repression, passed down by former Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori to his daughter Keiko, was rejected at the polls.
From that day on, still in disbelief, the Peruvian oligarchy declared war on Castillo. They made the next 18 months for the new president a period of great hostility as they sought to destabilize his government with a multi-pronged attack that included significant use of lawfare.
With a call to “throw out communism,” plans were made by the oligarchy’s leading business group, the National Society of Industries, to make the country ungovernable under Castillo.
In October 2021, recordings were released that revealed that since June 2021 this group of industrialists, along with other members of Peru’s elite and leaders of the right-wing opposition parties, had been planning a series of actions, including financing protests and strikes.
‘Many might be wondering why exactly the US dollar has yet to collapse. The United States maintains a $31.5 trillion national debt, runs an annual $1 trillion budget deficit, and forks out about $500 billion in interest payments. What’s the deal with the dollar?‘
For one thing, it helps that 90% of the world’s transactions are completed in Ponzi Greenbacks. If anyone dares dissent against US policy, the Washington leviathan and its many tentacles can cut off access.
US coercion is backed by sanctions control via the World Bank/IMF/Swift and over 900 military bases worldwide. We have to buy dollars to trade, and this is how the US can still JUST PRINT MONEY without collapse after all these years.
US debt impunity is a variation of a Ponzi scheme, enforced with sanctions and threats. But all Ponzi schemes are really giant Confidence Swindles, and finally face inevitable sudden and complete collapse.
Despite the RISE of the dollar at the end of 2022 and the huge US capitalist gains, due to oil and gas price inflation from sanctions on Russia, as well as the war profiteering boom of the key Military Industrial Complex, many economists still predict a great economic crash.
Now that Russia has defied the system, and profited economically, despite hundreds of economic sanctions and a full scale proxy war against it, many countries are beginning to break ranks and deal in their own currencies or in the ruble and yuan. Finally some nations are daring to not buy the now devaluing dollar from a USA again forced to increase its 31.5 Trillion debtlimit or face default and meltdown.
Defender la cultura africana y sus raíces es una forma de hacer activismo y luchar contra la discriminación racial, coinciden activistas cubanas.
“Elracismose elimina un poco cuando entendemos la cultura del otro, y que la gente pueda conocer la cultura afro por medio de la moda es algo positivo”, dijo la activista y educadora popularHildelisa Leal Díaz, en el Taller de prácticas culturales afrocubanas realizado en La Habana el 24 de enero.
El encuentro, convocado por la Cátedra de Estudios Nelson Mandela en alianza con el proyecto Afroestética, reunió a académicas y activistas para conversar sobre la historia y usos del turbante, una pieza con significados míticos, religiosos, estéticos, culturales y políticos.
«Los descendientes de las personas esclavizadas arrancadas de África han dignificado, explicado y defendido el significado de esta pieza. Los turbantes significan pertenencía, empatía, hermandad, jerarquía”, dijo Leal…
In this column, we present our monthly roundup of political prisoner, prison rebel, and repression news, happenings, announcements, action and analysis. Packed in as always are updates, fundraisers, and birthdays.
There’s a lot happening, so let’s dive right in!
Repression of Forest Defenders in Atlanta
“Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is trying to stomp out the protests by any means necessary, charging the demonstrators with terrorism and, on Thursday, calling up the National Guard to stand by to put down any further resistance. “
Eric is so grateful, overwhelmed and humbled by all of the support that has been coming in. Taylor Swift news. Feedback on his writing. Books, notes, letters. He had tears in his eyes this weekend when he was told about it. Life afterward has been on his mind a lot. Getting out, surviving and raising children. And also wrestling with the inadequate feelings when it comes to job prospects, housing and an incredible foreign world. When he entered prison there was not a ton of people lining up his support him. It took months to get a book purchased from his list. Seeing real tangible support is helping quiet those fears. Thinking about cars, computers and capitalism and how much closer he is to working it all out.
Things have been ok. He has finally has his first phone call with his family since 2018, and first visit since the week after trial. He is a bit overwhelmed by the difference in respect that comes from the guards around him. Well trained guards, because the ADX demands that. Guards that know the law and are asked to follow it. It has definitely caused some reflection and wonder… what would it have been like if he were met with guards like this in Englewood? Florence medium? Leavenworth, USP McCreary? FTC Oklahoma? USP Atlanta? USP Lee?
He is safe and thinking about what it will be like ending this year on his way to freedom ❤ We have added some notebooks to his Amazon book list because he needs some paper that is a manageable size. As well as his current obsession and the goal reading every book Colum Mccann has written.
Feb 6th, 2023, will mark the start of Leonard Peltier’s 48th year of imprisonment. Leonard’s Defense Committee are calling for “Rise Up for Peltier” events to mark the date, with events planned for several countries and US locations including Rapid City, SD, Minneapolis, MN, Fargo, ND, Tampa, FL, Santa Fe, NM, Albuquerque, NM, San Francisco, CA, San Jose, CA, Sacramento, CA, Columbia, MO, Tulsa, OK, and Washington DC.
Joshua Williams #1292002 C/O Digital Mail Center-Missouri DOC PO Box 25678 Tampa, FL 33622-5678 Missouri prisoners can receive electronic messages via Securus Tech.
Urooj Rahman, convicted of molotoving a nypd cruiser in 2020, recently began her 15-month sentence and is now being held at philadelphia federal detention center.
EDIT UPDATE: the feds fucked up her entry in their database, left out the ‘j’ in her name… but here is the information to write to her:
Urooj Rahman #83822-053 FDC Philadelphia P.O. Box 562 Philadelphia, PA 19105
Her support group has put out a solidarity statement, highlighting the gendered islamophobia on display during her trial and the need for building stronger collective defense: https://bit.ly/SolidarityStatementUR as well a form if you want to get involved in her support, especially if you are in the area: https://form.jotform.com/230226019488153
Poland has ordered an additional batch of Javelin missiles from the US.
The $103.5-million purchase follows the receipt of a previous order worth $54.5 million in October.
The latest purchase comprises 50 launchers and 500 missiles, with additional logistics and training packages, according to MILMAG. The deliveries are expected to be complete by 2026.
The previous contract included 60 launchers and 180 missiles.
***
The purchase came a month after Warsaw approved an additional purchase of 116 Abrams tanks from the US for $1.4 billion. Poland purchased 250 Abrams last year.