Author: thefreeonline

By Turkish Minute – April 10, 2021 302

Cases of human rights violations in Turkey in March included 182 deaths and 371 incidents of torture and maltreatment, with 233 of them taking place in prisons, a report drafted by Sezgin Tanrıkulu, a lawmaker from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), revealed on Saturday.

The report by Tanrıkulu, a prominent human rights activist and deputy chair of a parliamentary committee on human rights, said 142 workers, 28 women, five inmates and three refugees were among those whose right to life was violated last month.

The MP’s report further showed that the right to freedom of speech of 173 people was violated in March, with investigations launched into five members of the press; eight journalists, authors or publishers convicted; six members of the press detained; and a journalist attacked.

Femicide! “Since the night one man annulled [Turkey’s ratification of] the Istanbul Convention to this night, in four weeks, 27 women have lost their lives and many others were subjected to violence,” the DEVA party said in a tweet on Saturday, referring to the overnight decree issued by Erdoğan on March 2021. …In 2020, 300 women were murdered and the rate shows no sign of slowing with 79 women killed in the first three months of 2021, according to the women’s rights group ‘We Will Stop Femicide’ Platform. Turkish Minute

Continue reading “Turkish State kills 182 people in March 2021.. 371 tortured.. 27 femicides..”

by Enough14 shared with thanks

“We the multitude who have no position in life and everywhere face discrimination and lack equal rights lose nothing by marching into battle. The most we have to lose is the life of slavery that we have presently fallen into. We who are the true owners of the world will succeed in taking back the whole world”. -“The Ogre” -Thakin Po Hla Gyi, Burmese revolutionary anti-imperialist oil field worker, 1938

To the revolutionaries of Myanmar,

We wish you a revolutionary Thingyan and a Ramadan of liberation to our Muslim comrades who have fought and died side by side with their Buddhist, Christian and Hindu neighbors.

We stand in solidarity with the popular revolution taking place against the fascist Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) regime. We watch in awe as the levels of creativity and militant resistance seem to grow daily.

738 killed since coup in Myanmar: Rights group

Our hearts break at the videos of the parents and siblings grieving over the blood drenched bodies of their fallen family members, murdered by heavily armed soldiers.

We know that the Tatmadaw has the capacity for much, much worse; we also know that you, the revolutionaries, will never stop fighting, until the end of the world!

Continue reading “Solidarity with multi-ethnic revolutionary struggle in Myanmar against military dictatorship.”

by winter oak

 by Marion, anarchist since 1982

In this article I am going to give some definitions of anarchism, contrast some different schools of anarchist thought and show that the idea of freedom is essential to all of them, as it seems many anarchists these days do not see free action or free speech as that important or even desirable.

I will contrast anarchism with socialism and also say a bit about capitalism. I will give some examples of where anarchism has worked, albeit sometimes temporarily, and where it has turned into authoritarianism or been defeated and why. I will also suggest how an anarchist society could deal with viruses.

Anarchism equals no government; this includes no leaders, rulers, laws or prisons, and a stateless society. That is the basic definition of it. Within that, there are various types of anarchism but it always means no government or states.

A good definition I have seen, from Lexico dictionary, is ‘belief in the abolition of all government and the organization of society on a voluntary, cooperative basis without recourse to force or compulsion’.

Max Nettlau in his book A Short History of Anarchism (1932-34) says about anarchism that it ‘starts from the earliest favourable historic moment when men first evolved the concept of a free life…a goal to be attained only by a complete break from authoritarian bonds and by the simultaneous growth and wide expansion of the social feelings of solidarity, reciprocity, generosity and other expressions of human co-operation’.

There are many schools of thought in anarchism. All of them have in common an opposition to the State and all believe that people are in fact capable of organising a society without the State that is co-operative, safe, equal and produces prosperity and abundance for all, while governments can never do that.

Anarchist communists or libertarian socialists (Russian 19th/20th century anarchist Peter Kropotkin among others) advocate the abolition of the State and capitalism in favour of a horizontal network of voluntary associations and worker-run enterprises through which everyone will be free to satisfy his or her needs without capitalism or money.

They argue that any economic system based on wage labour and private property requires a coercive state (implying lack of liberty) to enforce property rights and to maintain the unequal economic relationships that will inevitably arise. Instead, local communities would make decisions collectively, with collective ownership of the means of production (raw materials, tools, machines etc.).

Continue reading “Anarchism!.. not State Socialism”

Update Update Update

7 of the 8 anarchists are still in prison. The decision on the court hearing will take 2 to 7 days

Translation of the tweets from the defence group after the 4 hr court picket

”We have finished the picket at the provincial court at around 1:00 pm.
Upon leaving, the lawyers told us that although the accusation has been ratified, no new evidence was presented”

”The three magistrates have to deliberate, to make the announcement can take between two days, four or even a week. They will pronounce a ruling for each one of the companions. So far this is the news we have, when we have more news we will share it.”@presxs27febrer·Apr 20, 2021

see also: 8 arrested are ”An Anarchist Group, responsible for the riots in Barcelona for Pablo Hasel’s Freedom” claim cops. Eng/Esp

Now they are the 7 anarchists, the woman accused of ”setting a police van on fire” (slight damage to paintwork) was released ‘thanks to forensic evidence’, it seems the identification failed.

Incredibly the police just jumped on the wrong woman, outside their own police station, and refused for 5 weeks to admit it. Perhaps because she looked like an ‘okupa’, and ironically it’s illegal NOT to wear a mask

Great news for her, and also because she and the other 7 were charged COLLECTIVELY WITH ATTEMPTED MURDER of the policeman inside the van, as the police claimed they are a ‘criminal organisation’ so all are responsible (this works under repressive Spanish law).

Continue reading “Barcelona: delayed court verdict as frame up of jailed ‘Anarchist 8’ unravels”

by claudia.abril. shared with thanks

Brazil has asked women to “delay pregnancy” until the Covid-19 pandemic subsides, citing the threat of a coronavirus variant plaguing the country. Between new variants and vaccine risks, now is not a good time to be expecting.

“If it’s possible, delay pregnancy a little until a better moment,” Health Ministry official Raphael Parente said during a news conference on Friday, warning that the P1 variant of the coronavirus prevalent in Brazil “acts more aggressively in pregnant women.”

Brazil has become one of the world’s coronavirus epicenters lately, with 13.7 million cases of Covid-19 recorded and 365,000 fatalities, a death toll second only to the United States.

Continue reading “”Don’t get pregnant until a better moment” Brazil tells women, as coronavirus still surging.. Eng/ Prt”