Fraguas: Call to resist Eviction of Occupied Abandoned Village


Call to resistance in Fraguas.. en castellano abajo
Sent by Gavroche on Mar, 06/18/2019

 Fraguas.. NO Eviction NO Jail NO Demolition

Imminent danger of eviction, demolition and imprisonment of 6 people from the village of Fraguas. We can not allow it. We call for indefinite days of resistance in order to stop it. This can only be stopped if there is a massive influx of people willing to defend the project.

‘Half of Spain is de-populated to serve the capitalist consumer nightmare now destroying the planet. Now is time to defend Fraguas and re-occupy thousands of abandoned villages’.

There is no concrete date for the demolition but there are many preparations to be made and we need help. We intend to use techniques of peaceful resistance and disobedience. They want to destroy autonomy, community life, self-sufficiency, self-management, the rural world, its inhabitants and traditional culture.

-We believe and fight for the community, self-government, self-sufficiency and self-management. Since we arrived we were “invited” to abandon our dreams by environmental agents and civil guards with threats and fines, some of us carry thousands of euros in fines-.

They want to keep total control, civil society has to say ‘That’s enough’. With all humility we want to invoke the spirit of other struggles like those of Sasé, the ZAD, Hambach and many other stories of resistance that although they did not always conserve the space, served as seeds or inspiration for everyone.

They want to imprison 6 people for crimes that were committed by the Francoist government, usurping the houses and lands from their rightful owners and changing the territorial arrangement that had lasted for more than 5 centuries. Imprison them as real estate speculators, ironic when the corrupt and speculators are in the courts.

To all the people who have ever come, or if you have never come and want to see the land alive, it is time to come and defend it, if you wait it may be too late. Now or never. A big hug to all supporters.. Long live self-management.

Translate and disseminate this text .. and come to Fraguas!.

Fraguas resists

We write these lines from Fraguas, a squatted and rehabilitated village in the Sierra Norte de Guadalajara. the village, where 6 years ago there were were nothing but ruins, has been rebuilt through the work and enthusiasm of hundreds of people who have supported this self-managed project.

An assembly without hierarchies, with the principle of sustainability with the natural environment that surrounds it, learning day by day to sustain ourselves less and less attached to the capitalist system, caring for the earth and collecting its fruits, without harming it and learning to live in it, since from the moment we were born we were only taught to exploit it.

Practicing a collective existence and not falling into the competitive individualism that promotes the capitalist productive model. Rehabilitating with the materials that the earth gives us, the ruins that through the fraudulent expropriation at first left the Francoist state in 68, expelling forever its former inhabitants for a handful of pesetas and  condemned them to a life of work salaried in most cases; and later the use as a military practice range that took place in the 90’s.LLamamiento a la Resistencia Indefinida en Fraguas - Algrano

Right now a sentence dictates that “to restore balance” we must pay for the demolition of the reconstructions carried out and sentences 6 people to more than two years of prison . The Board of Castilla la Mancha (Podemos in coalition with the PSOE in the previous term and the PSOE with absolute majority since May 2019) conceals the atrocities carried out in the Franco regime. They intend to leave the town in ruins once more, expelling its inhabitants and leaving it in oblivion.

The State represses any attempt to attack or propose alternatives to its mercantilist dogma. Self-managed and horizontal projects such as this one, which escape their consumption logic, are in focus. In this logic of domination and control they attack Fraguas, just as they have attacked and will continue attacking any initiative that opposes them.

We can not allow them to achieve their objectives and simply crush us, we have to defend our liberated spaces. By supporting each other we have more strength and we will achieve it among all. With all humility we want to invoke the spirit of other struggles such as Sasé, the Zad, Hambach, Errekaleor and many other stories of resistance, which serve as seed or inspiration for all.

Currently there is no specific date of eviction but this could be imminent and we will not allow it. Concurring different types of strategies but with the firm conviction that here we are going to stay and continue to experience ways of living outside of authority and control.

We call for indefinite days of resistance in the village of Fraguas.

Living villages in struggle.

from Ekomedia Barcelona. translation TheFreeOnline

Llamamiento a la resistencia en Fraguas

Fraguas Resiste

Peligro inminente de desalojo, demolicion y encarcelamiento de 6 personas del pueblo de Fraguas. No podemos permitirlo. Hacemos un llamamiento a las jornadas de resistencia indefinidas con el fin de paralo. Esto solo podrá pararse si hay una afluecia masiva de gente dispuesta a defender el proyecto.

No hay una fecha concreta para la demolición pero hay muchos preparativos que hacer y necesitamos ayuda. Pretendemos utilizar técnicas de resistencia pacifica y desobediencia. Quieren destruir la autonomía, la vida en comunidad, la autosuficiencia, la autogestión, el mundo rural, a sus habitantes y la cultura tradicional.

«60% of the Spanish municipalities have less than 1,000 inhabitants, they occupy 40% of the surface, but hardly have 3% of the population».

Quieren manejar todo a sus anchas, la sociedad civil tiene que decir basta. Con toda la humildad queremos invocar el espíritu de otras luchas como las de Sasé, las Zad, Hambach y otras muchas historias de resistencia que aunque no siempre conservaron el espacio sirven de semilla o inspiración para todxs.

Quieren encarcelar a 6 personas por delitos que fue el gobierno Franquista quien los cometió, usurpando las casas y tierras a su legítimos dueños y cambiando la ordenación territorial que tuvo durante más de 5 siglos. Encarcelarles como especuladores inmobiliarios, irónico cuando corruptos y especuladores están en las cortes.

A todas las personas que habeis venido alguna vez, o si no habeis venido nunca y quereis verlo vivo es el momento de venir a defenderlo, si esperas quizás sea demasiado tarde. Ahora o nunca. Un abrazo a toda la peña viva la autogestion.

Traduce y difunde este texto,y acude a Fraguas.

 

Rehabilitación de viviendas en el pueblo de Fraguas. Ecologistas en Acción

Aún no hay fecha, pero los repobladores de Fraguas temen que no queden muchos días hasta que lleguen las máquinas que demolerán las casas reconstruidas de este pueblo de Guadalajara. Por ello, han hecho un llamamiento para defender este pueblo recuperado.

“Parece que va a ser prácticamente ya”, señala a El Salto Lalo Aracil, uno de los repobladores de Fraguas condenados por reconstruir este pueblo. “Están haciendo cortafuegos alrededor del pueblo, cuando no es fecha para ello, y también vino la Guardia Civil con peritos y estuvieron viendo las casas, incluso las que estaban fuera de la sentencia”, continúa. “Nos van a notificar dentro de nada, cuando ellos quieran. Y no sabemos qué plazo nos dará la notificación, algunos nos dicen que seguramente nos darán 24 horas, para que no estemos preparados”.

Ante una demolición que se prevé inminente, los pobladores de Fraguas han pedido apoyo a diversos colectivos, “para ver estrategias de defensa claras”, apunta Aracil. “Queremos que venga gente todo el rato, el llamamiento es continuo, para hacer unas jornadas indefinidas de resistencia, que se reúna masa de gente suficiente para poder detener a la policía”, continúa.

Por lo pronto, ya son entre 60 y 70 las personas que han acudido a acampar o a proteger las construcciones de Fraguas. También cuenta con el apoyo de otros pueblos recuperados de Pirineos y Navarra, desde donde se van a fletar camiones con materiales. Y de El Calabacino, otro pueblo neorrural de Huelva.

“Están intentando hacer grupos de permanencia de colectivos rurales para tener aquí un grupo de gente que se mantenga de forma fija, poder hacer cuadrantes y mantener a un mínimo de personas de continuo que aguantes hasta que se dé una alerta y dé tiempo a que gente de otros puntos del Estado pueda venir a ayudarnos también”, señala Aracil. La convocatoria ha ido más allá de España, contestando también gente del ZAD y del bosque de Hambach.

Condenados a pagar la demolición

Han pasado ya cerca de seis años desde que una docena de jóvenes decidieron ir a Fraguas, un pueblo que dejó de existir cuando, en los años 60, Franco ordenó su demolición para replantar pinos. Después se convirtió en zona de prácticas militares. Desde ese año 2013, los repobladores de Fraguas reconstruyeron tres de las casas del pueblo.

Todo fue bien hasta que la Consejería de Ordenación de Territorio, Urbanismo y Medio Ambiente les denunció por delitos contra el territorio y usurpación. En junio del año, seis de los repobladores de Fraguas pasado fueron condenados por el Juzgado de lo Penal número 1 de Guadalajara.

En enero, la Audiencia Provincial confirmó la condena de un año y nueve meses de cárcel para cada uno de ellos, además del pago de multas que suman los 16.380 euros y, también al pago de la demolición, cuyo coste, en la primera tasación, ascendía a 26.600 euros.

“La condena quedó en que, si no pagábamos la demolición, entrábamos a la cárcel dos años y tres meses, recurrimos al [Tribunal] Constitucional, porque consideramos que nuestros derechos de defensa habían sido vulnerados, y rechazaron el recurso porque dicen que no tenían relevancia constitucional suficiente”, explica Aracil.Rehabilitación de viviendas en el pueblo de Fraguas

Aunque sí se plantean pagar los 16.000 euros de multa, Aracil confirma que no tienen ninguna intención de pagar la demolición: “No tenemos dinero, y es que no creemos que haya que demoler el pueblo por segunda vez, solo hemos reparado unas casas que ya estaban aquí”.

En los próximos días señalan que se hará una segunda tasación de la demolición de Fraguas, y, con la nueva suma, tienen previsto acudir al juzgado para pedir una moratoria de la ejecución de la condena por cinco años. También siguen a la espera de la contestación de un recurso que presentaron para suspender las penas de prisión, y de una reunión con la Consejería de Ordenación de Territorio.

“Llevan dándonos largas desde abril”. En ese mes, desde la Consejería les dijeron que si conseguían crear un marco legal al proyecto de Fraguas, la institución castellano-manchega lo firmaría. “Ayer fuimos al registro para pedir una reunión de máxima urgencia, pero todavía no nos han contestado”, concluye Aracil.

Llamamiento a la resistencia en Fraguas

Escribimos estas líneas desde Fraguas, un pueblo okupado y rehabilitado en la Sierra Norte de Guadalajara. Pueblo que hace 6 años no eran más que ruinas y que mediante el trabajo y la ilusión de cientos de personas que han apoyado este proyecto autogestionado, asambleario sin jerarquías, con el principio de sustentabilidad con el medio natural que lo rodea, aprendiendo día a día a sostenernos cada vez menos atadxs al sistema capitalista, cuidando la tierra y recogiendo sus frutos, sin dañarla y aprendiendo a vivir en ella, ya que desde que nacimos sólo fuimos enseñadxs a explotarla. Practicando una existencia coleciva y no cayendo en el individualismo competitivo que promueve el modelo productivo capitalista. Rehabilitando con los materiales que nos da la tierra, las ruinas que mediante la expropiación fraudulenta en un primer momento dejó el estado franquista en el 68, expulsando para siempre a sus antiguos habitantes por un puñado de pesetas y para ser condenadxs a una vida de trabajo asalariado en la mayoría de los casos; y más tarde las prácticas militares que se llevaron a cabo en los 90.

Ahora mismo una sentencia dicta que “para restablecer el equilibrio” debemos pagar la demolición de las reconstrucciones realizadas y condena a más de dos años de prisión a 6 personas. La Junta de Castilla la Mancha (Podemos en coalición con el PSOE en la anterior legislatura y el PSOE con mayoría absoluta desde mayo) encubre así las atrocidades realizadas en el franquismo. Pretenden dejar en ruinas el pueblo una vez más, expulsando a sus habitantes y dejándolo en el olvido.

El Estado reprime cualquier intento de atacar o plantear alternativas a su dogma mercantilista. Proyectos autogestionarios y horizontales como este, que escapan a su lógica de consumo, están en su punto de mira. En esta lógica de dominio y control atacan Fraguas, al igual que han atacado y seguirán atacando cualquier iniciativa que se les oponga.

No podemos permitir que logren sus objetivos y nos aplasten sin más, tenemos que defender nuestros espacios liberados. Apoyándonos entre todxs tenemos más fuerza y entre todxs lo conseguiremos. Con toda la humildad queremos invocar el espíritu de otras luchas como las de Sasé, las Zad, Hambach, Errekaleor y otras muchas historias de resistencia, que sirven de semilla o inspiración para todxs.

Actualmente no hay una fecha concreta de desalojo pero este podría ser inminente y no lo vamos a permitir. Confluyendo distintos tipos de estrategias pero con la firme convicción de que aquí nos vamos a quedar y continuar experimentando formas de vivir al margen de la autoridad y el control.

Convocamos unas jornadas indefinidas de resistencia en el pueblo de Fraguas.

Pueblos vivos en lucha.

Greek Anarchist Prisoner Escapes .. Giannis is Free!

Giannis Michailidis, one of the Greek Anarchist Prisoners Escapes from Prison

 Giannis Michalidis “the archer of Syntagma”escaped from prison in Tyrintha on June 7th.   Grecia: L’anarchico Giannis Michailidis è evaso dal carcere di Tyrintha

The anarchist prisoner Giannis Michailidis [sometimes the name is reported as Yannis and the surname as Mihailidis] escaped a few days ago from the so-called rural prison of Tyrintha (Tiryns), in thr Peloponnese.

Jeremy Hammond: Anarchist Hero sends Message from Prison

June 11th 2019 statement

A special message from anarchist prisoner Jeremy Hammond

A raised fist to you all this June 11th! May this letter find you in revolutionary health and spirits. Although I am unable to be with you physically on this occasion due to being held in captivity by the BOP, I still feel connected with you on this day of solidarity. It was nice to run the 5K with you a few days ago for Running Down The Walls. I also sent out a few dozen origami models decorated with June 11th anarchist tattoos; you should be receiving those shortly.

Big ups to the other anarchist comrades behind bars. We have been through a lot of trials and tribulations over the years: harassment from abusive guards, solitary confinement, diesel therapy, the mind-numbing frustrations from battling the brutal bureaucracy for so many years. Never have we been alone, however. Continue reading “Jeremy Hammond: Anarchist Hero sends Message from Prison”

Carribean climate chaos, dead zones, plastic dumps, coral collapse, predatory Capitalism ..

”World Oceans Day also offered us an opportunity to showcase new and emerging opportunities e.g. wave and tidal energy potential, international telecommunication (through submarine cables) and for making the sustainable use of coastal and marine resources an integral part of our development agenda and in so doing ensuring that measures are put in place to safeguard this resource for future generations.

Why do we celebrate World Oceans Day? To remind everyone of the major part the Ocean has in everyday life. They are the lungs of our planet, providing most of the oxygen we breathe. To inform the public on the impact of the human actions on the Ocean.  .. To develop a worldwide movement of citizens, towards the Ocean. …To celebrate together the beauty, the wealth and the promise of the Ocean” …..

STOP Predator Capitalism Destroying the Carribean

Christopher Corbin interviews CARICOM’s Secretary for CARICOM Today.   …Mr. Corbin: What are some critical issues that the Region needs to address ?

  1. 1.POLLUTION: We must prevent, reduce and control the level of pollution entering the Caribbean Sea from both land and marine based sources. These include pollution from untreated sewage, from garbage which eventually ends up as marine litter, from agrochemical run-off – pesticides and fertilisers, from the run-off of soil from poor land-use practices and from maritime transportation including oil spills and discharge of ballast water. Continue reading “Carribean climate chaos, dead zones, plastic dumps, coral collapse, predatory Capitalism ..”

Zapatistas resisting ecocidal Highway and Luxury Hotels

: The San Cristóbal-Palenque highway is back and so is the resistance

Chiapas, Mexico:
The highway is heating up conflicts in the region.
Originally published by Chiapas Support.
The San Cristobal-Palenque highway is key to an elaborate tourism development plan, the Palenque Integral Center (CIP, its initials in Spanish), which includes a lush green jungle area in the northern zone of Chiapas, the Agua Azul Cascades, the Misol Ha waterfall and the magnificent archaeological site of Palenque.
Agua Azul Cascades. [1]The San Cristóbal-Palenque highway and the Palenque Integral Center are part of a regional development plan for Mesoamerica, originally known as the Plan Puebla-Panamá (PPP). [2]The PPP included numerous infrastructure projects that prompted strong opposition from social, environmental and human rights organizations, as well as academics and organized indigenous communities.
That led governments and planners to silence the most controversial projects contained in the plan and to re-name it the Mesoamerica Project.
In Chiapas, at least up to now, the most controversial projects within the Mesoamerica Project have been the San Cristobal-Palenque highway and the Palenque Integral Center. They go together; the CIP needs the highway to facilitate tourism.
 

Residents of the areas affected by these projects have had two general concerns: 1) dispossession of the lands of indigenous communities of subsistence farmers through which the highway would pass and the effects on those communities and 2) the massive amount of tourism envisioned in the Palenque Integral Center.

Perhaps the best articulation of why the Zapatista communities and other pro-Zapatista indigenous communities oppose and resist the superhighway and the Palenque Integral Center may be in the words of Miguel Vazquez Moreno, a Zapatista supporter from the San Sebastián Bachajón ejido, who was briefly a political prisoner as a result of resistance to the superhighway and the tourism megaproject.

“I am a native of the San Sebastián Bachajón ejido and I am part of the EZLN’s support base, an organization that defends its right to exercise autonomy and self-determination as indigenous peoples, its right to territory and to natural resources.

They [the federal and state governments] want to impose neoliberal economic projects on our autonomous territory. As indigenous people, the land is our life, we eat from it, we work, our children grow and it is something sacred, therefore we consider that the land is not for sale but to work and care for. Our territory is rich in water, animals and natural resources.

They want to make it into a ‘Chiapas Cancun’ by plundering the indigenous of our life, that is, the land, just so that foreign and national companies can become richer, as well as the government officials that benefit from these projects. They want to cross through our autonomous territory without respecting our rights.

They want to impose these projects on indigenous peoples without giving importance to our word, and with discrimination they want to remove us from our lands for tourist purposes and only to benefit rich developers and the federal and state government, putting us aside because to them we give a bad appearance to those eco-tourist centers, being that we are original peoples, descendants of the peoples that have lived on these lands since before anything like an official government existed.” [3]

The San Cristóbal-Palenque highway would pass through small rural indigenous communities, both Zapatista and non-Zapatista, thus dispossessing each community of some of its land and, possibly, dividing those lands in two.

It would also alter animal habitats, endanger animal species and cause air pollution from the giant tourist buses. This is not a highway to facilitate local traffic between one town and the next. It’s a superhighway (toll road) to facilitate international mega-tourism arriving by both airplane and cruise ship.

Cruise ships dock at Puerto Chiapas and from there passengers can then board giant tourist buses to visit the world-famous Palenque archaeological site and other sites, such as the Agua Azul Cascades, within the mega tourism project that the CIP envisions. Imagine the volume of tourism a completed San Cristóbal-Palenque superhighway and CIP would bring when combined with a completed Maya Train station in Palenque bringing tourists to Palenque from Cancun!

Stop the war against the Zapatistas

It would transform life and culture, as we now know it in that area of Chiapas. Like Miguel Vazquez Moreno above, some have dubbed the CIP “the new Cancun.” [4]

The CIP contains an elaborate plan to convert the area surrounding the Agua Azul Cascades into a “world-class resort destination.” The government plan includes a Boutique Hotel, a European 5-

Star Hotel, a Conference Center with golf course, and a Lodge overlooking the waterfall at Bolom Ajaw, a Zapatista community on land reclaimed in the 1994 uprising.

Luxury tourists would have to helicopter into the Lodge at Bolom Ajaw due to its remoteness, so plans for the lodge include a helipad!

The Agua Azul area has been a flashpoint of conflict between pro-government communities (in favor of luxury tourist development because the government has promised them a cut of the income) and pro-Zapatista communities (opposed to development based on luxury tourism).

The controversial project pAgua Azul, of roposed for which a superhighway is key to attracting large numbers of tourists, has already generated three pro-Zapatista deaths (one in Mitzitón and 2 in San Sebastián Bachajón), numerous violent conflicts, serious bodily injuries, political prisoners, death threats, torture and the death of at least one government supporter in Bolom Ajaw. The San Sebastián Bachajón ejido includes the entryway to the Agua Azul Cascades.

The government argues that these tourist projects will bring jobs and income into a very poor state, while Zapatista supporters, their sympathizers and allies argue that the volume of tourism envisioned will damage the environment, their food security, their autonomy and their way of life; that is, their culture.

Government planners envision converting autonomous subsistence farmers, who believe that the land is sacred, into busboys, maids and bellhops.

The Los Llanos court decision

The Los Llanos ejido is located on the current highway to Palenque, close to where the new highway was originally supposed to start. It is across the highway from the Mitzitón ejido, near the intersection where the current highway to Palenque forks off from the Pan American Highway.

In January 2014, the Los Llanos ejido filed for an injunction against the new superhighway crossing through their lands, based on their right to a prior, free and informed consultation (consulta) about the project. [5]

The government had not followed the United Nations protocol for consulting with Los Llanos before starting construction. A temporary injunction against highway construction was in place while the case was pending. Two years later, in January 2016, the court granted an amparo (permanent injunction) to Los Llanos, ruling that the government failed to conduct the required consultation with the affected communities. [6]

The court decision prevented construction of the superhighway, but only in the municipalities of San Cristóbal de las Casas and Huixtán, where Mitzitón and Los Llanos are located, leaving open the possibility of either re-routing the controversial superhighway or improving the existing highway.

Approximately 9 months after Los Llanos filed its court case, opposition to the San Cristóbal-Palenque superhighway emerged again and it was from La Candelaria ejido in the Chiapas municipality of San Juan Chamula. More than 2,000 representatives, including people of faith belonging to Pueblo Creyente, attended this meeting at La Candelaria’s sacred site of Laguna Suyul and vowed to resist the highway. [7]

The clear implication of this important meeting was that government planners intended to re-route the superhighway to begin in San Juan Chamula, a municipality bordering on San Cristóbal de las Casas, and pass close to the sacred Laguna Suyul site.

A map of the route is shown in the article. The recent news article about resistance in San Juan Cancuc means that the new route remains pretty much the same as that shown at the time of the La Candelaria meeting and would pass through San Juan Cancuc over the mountains in the direction of the Agua Azul Cascades.

Many of the municipalities and organizations represented in La Candelaria have joined San Juan Cancuc in resisting the new route for the superhighway. They issued a statement as members of the Movement in Defense of Life and Territory (Modevite). [8]

The list of municipalities signing the statement is a good indicator of the superhighway’s new route and the municipalities that would be affected.


[1] https://chiapas-support.org/2019/04/11/residents-of-san-juan-cancuc-reject-san-cristobal-palenque-superhighway-construction/

[2] https://chiapas-support.org/2014/03/25/the-plan-puebla-panama-is-changing-chiapas/

[3] Chiapas Update, August 2009, pp. 3-4

[4] https://expansion.mx/obras/pulso-de-la-construccion/chiapas-se-perfila-como-el-nuevo-cancun

[5] https://chiapas-support.org/2014/01/25/indigenous-file-lawsuit-against-san-cristobal-palenque-toll-road/

[6] https://chiapas-support.org/2016/05/30/indigenous-win-lawsuit-against-the-san-cristobal-palenque-superhighway/

[7] https://chiapas-support.org/2014/09/22/opposition-to-chiapas-super-highway/

[8] https://chiapas-support.org/2019/04/30/8-more-municipalities-reject-the-san-cristobal-palenque-highway/

Members of the Mexican Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) during the celebration act of the New Year in the community of La Garrucha,PHOTO /BERNARDO DE NIZ

Chiapas: Frayba Denounces Intensification of Attacks against Indigenous Peoples since December 2018

Frayba

On May 27th, the Fray Bartolome de Las Casas Center for Human Rights published a bulletin warning that, “aggressions against peoples, communities and organizations have intensified as part of a strategy to contain civil and peaceful resistance in defense of territory.” Two years after the Constituent Assembly of the Indigenous Council of Government (CIG in its Spanish acronym), of the National Indigenous Congress (CNI in its Spanish acronym).

It illustrated the statement by referring to the six indigenous defenders who have been murdered so far in 2019, as well as mentioning the CNI’s own denunciations since December 2018 with situations of “dispossession, forced displacement, arbitrary detention, forced disappearances, threats, harassment, criminalization and attempts of executions.”

Frayba denounced that “this logic of war against the peoples that build autonomy, is reproduced in the increase of militarization of Zapatista territories, especially the incursions, flights and espionage of the Mexican Army to the headquarters of the Junta de Buen Government Toward Hope, in La Realidad Caracol (Official Municipality of Las Margaritas). This containment is deepened by the presence of the National Guard in the region, which increases risks to the integrity and security of the population.”

In this context, Frayba demanded that the Mexican State: “Cease the attacks against peoples, communities and organizations that make up the National Indigenous Congress; justice for the defenders and communicators murdered in the country; and high militarization in Chiapas and Mexico.”

For more information in Spanish:

Contrainsurgencia a Pueblos Originarios que construyen la vida digna (CDH Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, a 27 de mayo de 2019)

Las agresiones contra pueblos originarios se intensifican: Frayba (La Jornada, 29 de mayo de 2019)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Two Members of CRAC-PF and CIPOG-EZ Murdered (May 28, 2019)

Guerrero: CNI Denounces Kidnapping and Murder of Two Members (May 11, 2019)

Chiapas: denuncian dos comunidades choles de Salto de Agua amenazas, persecución y hostigamientos (El 22 de abril de 2019)

National: Third Assembly of National Indigenous Congress and Indigenous Council of Government (CNI-CIG) in Mexico City (March 14, 2019)

Chiapas : CNI denuncia amenazas y agresiones en la zona Norte (El 16 de agosto de 2018)

How Britain stole $45 trillion from India .. And lied about it.

by

There is a story that is commonly told in Britain that the colonisation of India – as horrible as it may have been – was not of any major economic benefit to Britain itself. If anything, the administration of India was a cost to Britain. So the fact that the empire was sustained for so long – the story goes – was a gesture of Britain’s benevolence.

New research by the renowned economist Utsa Patnaik – just published by Columbia University Press – deals a crushing blow to this narrative. Drawing on nearly two centuries of detailed data on tax and trade, Patnaik calculated that Britain drained a total of nearly $45 trillion from India during the period 1765 to 1938.

Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, and his wife, Lady Edwina Mountbatten, ride in the state carriage towards the Viceregal lodge in New Delhi, on March 22, 1947 [File: AP]

It’s a staggering sum. For perspective, $45 trillion is 17 times more than the total annual gross domestic product of the United Kingdom today. Continue reading “How Britain stole $45 trillion from India .. And lied about it.”

Carne Ross on the Anti Capitalist Transition

Politics as we Know it should Die and loving Anarchy should Prosper
via metro.co.uk  one of 7.600 shares
The present manner of doing politics on this Earth is coming to an finish.  Carne Ross explores the possibilities in the UK.
The climate emergency will require dramatic changes to the wasteful way we consume resources. The grotesque of the 0.1% cruising in private jets while the rest struggle with rent and debt cannot last.A peaceful, harmonious society requires that people are fairly treated.For now, there is no justice, no peace. The breakdown of consensus is painfully visible in the poisonous cloud of abuse and polarization on mis-named ‘social’ media.
This is not working. So what comes next?The Far Right, because it trades in bogus certainties and machismo, has the clearest plan.It is rising in America, Europe and in the UK with its takeover of the Tory party.It appeals because it pretends to return control to those who feel shut out of the existing political system, though in fact its only strategy is more authoritarianism, justified by whipped-up racism and fear of The Other.The Left and Greens offer a more sympathetic proposition but no political party can honestly claim to represent ‘the people’ or even ‘the many’.No single party can claim support from more than about a third of the adult population. One-party government is therefore a recipe for endless political confrontation, with its own polarizing dialectic.

When people take to the streets, the political system isn’t working. Continue reading “Carne Ross on the Anti Capitalist Transition”