Financed by capitalist slush funds the rightwing press has fanned a wave of race hate against southern Europeans, blaming our lazy love of fiesta for their economic woes.
BUT OECD FIGURES PROVE THAT SPANISH, PORTUGUESE, ITALIAN AND GREEK WORKERS DO LONGER HOURS FOR LESS PAY, WORK IS MORE PRECARIOUS, HARDER WITH LESS MECANIZATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT IS HIGHER.
The eurozone crisis has sown divisions in the European family, and Greece in particular has often been singled out for criticism. Has Greece been living beyond its means? Are Greeks lazy? On this second point, the statistics tell a surprising story.
This week Greece is facing more spending cuts after agreeing to a deal of 130bn euros (£110bn, $175bn) to help it avoid bankruptcy.
But the statistics suggest the country has not lost its way due to laziness. If you look at the average annual hours worked by each worker, the Greeks seem very hard-working.
Out of the 34 members of the OECD, that is just two places behind the board leaders, South Korea.
On the other hand, the average German worker – normally thought of as the very epitome of industriousness – only manages 1,408 hours a year. source: BBC NEWS
GREEK anarchists have called for international solidarity efforts, as they endure a new brutal wave of repression from the state and its neo-fascists guard-dogs.
Says a statement posted on From the Greek Streets: “Greece is at a critical turning point, and many critical changes are taking place in a societal as well as a political and economic level.
“The disintegration and dissolution of the dominant – until recently – model of power and exploitation is more than evident, so it defines what is commonly called ‘crisis.’
“What we are experiencing now is the total failure of a system that is unable to secure any longer the social consensus, thereby is engaged in a frontal attack that is unconditional and with no pretext.
The world has lost 10 crucial years in the race to stop a cataclysm of runaway climate change, due to the massive secret funding of US 'climate skeptics', really obscene criminals cashing in on the trashing of our planet....
Now it’s a straight fight with the billionaires and corporations.
By George Monbiot Shocking, fascinating, entirely unsurprising: the leaked documents, if authentic, confirm what we suspected but could not prove. The Heartland Institute, which has helped lead the war against climate science in the United States, is funded among others by tobacco firms, fossil fuel companies and one of the billionaire Koch brothers(1).
It appears to have followed the script written by a consultant to the Republican party, Frank Luntz, in 2002. “Should the public come to believe that the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly. Therefore, you need to continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate.”(2)
Luntz’s technique was pioneered by the tobacco companies and the creationists: teach the controversy. In other words, insist that the question of whether cigarettes cause lung cancer, natural selection drives evolution or burning fossil fuels causes climate change is still wide open, and that both sides of the “controversy” should be taught in schools and thrashed out in the media.
The leaked documents appear to show that, courtesy of its multi-millionaire donors, the institute has commissioned a global warming curriculum for schools, which teaches that “whether humans are changing the climate is a major scientific controversy” and “whether CO2 is a pollutant is controversial.”(3).
Heartland Institute's Denialgate includes funding from Microsoft to undermine the IPCC: Breaking Heartless-news for Valentine’s Day: “Dissuading teachers from teaching science …”
Mass Police brutality fails to stopValencia Uprising (Spain) The Spanish National Police condemned the “aggression” of school students, who they considered the “enemy”
20/02/2012 Rights and Freedoms
Huge seige of students at the Lluis Vives High School | Author: @ JoanaRibes
The student revolt takes more strength than ever despite the efforts of the Spanish government and police to quell it. more than a hundred demonstrators , many of them minors, have been wounded, and there have been dozens of detained since the protests began last week.
On Monday, there were about twenty prisoners, and the emergency services had to meet four people who were injured by the loads of riot, they have not stopped all afternoon.
As usual,the fourth day of protests, has started at 14:45 the doors of the IES Luis Vives High School, the school that sparked the protests. From there the demonstration went to cut the main roads of the Valencian capital, where there were severe persecutions and police charges throughout the evening, even with rubber bullets and tear gas. The police occupied the city in helicopters and the Civil Guard(militarised) controls the different access roads of the Orchard North suburbs.
At nightfall, groups of demonstrators were still protesting in the streets Bailen and Xativa. In addition, the Faculty of History at the University of Valencia has been occupied about 400 students and teachers to protest the police action with the intention of spending the night. 60 vanloads of riot police were deployed, the police chief refused to reveal their numbers wuith the phrase ?’I don¡t tell my enemies how majny we are”. The un iversity declared the students were refugedthere with permission, but most left to resume the struggle.
Students rebelled against cuts in education, which have led schools to Valencia suffered an extreme situation, to the point of cutting light or heating.
Police condemned the “aggression” of students, who considered the “enemy”
The Spanish National Police, for their part, spoke of aggressiveness. In a hearing this Monday afternoon, the upper head of the police in Valencia, Antonio Moreno, spoke to students as the “enemy” and justified the police charges against students for “aggressiveness” of young. As he said, the protesters have acted with “a surplus of aggression” that has led police officers to provide “a fair response.”
Solidarity with students from all over the country
Solidarity with the Valencian revolt has spread throughout the country. In this respect, concentrations were held in the Plaza Sant Jaume de Barcelona, Plaça de la Font in Tarragona, in the Plaza Wine Girona and Alicante Montanyeta Square. Tuesday at 7 they held another in the Plaza of the Town Council of Lleida at half past eight in the square of the President Ferrer Olot. Sunday he held a Palma.
There was also a big demo in Madrid, etc.
Students have demanded the release of detainees without charge.
The SEPC ask the whole school community to join the general strike of February 29.
Teachers reported the siege of Vives High School bypolice
The assembly of teachers of IES Lluis Vives Valencia has also denounced the siege of students. He recalled that on Wednesday, in the vicinity of the institute, there was “a violent and disproportionate” police action against a student group focused out to protest against cuts in education. The result several students were injured and bruised, and even arrested, injured, handcuffed and taken to the police Sapadors.
Thursday and Friday also saw “these violent actions, disproportionate and out of any democratic logic against children and adolescents, treated like criminals.”
All in all, the teachers expressed their “strongest condemnation of such actions” and that “stem from the repeated attempts of our authorities to discredit public education and criminalize us all that we are engaged as teachers, non-teaching staff, students and families in the dignity of public education. ”
original Catalan
La brutalitat policial no apaga la revolta estudiantil valenciana
La Policia Nacional espanyola denuncia l'”agressivitat” dels estudiants, a qui considera l'”enemic”
La revolta estudiantil pren més força que mai tot i els esforços del govern espanyol i la policia per sufocar-la. No és de franc: es compten per més d’un centenar els manifestants –molts d’ells menors d’edat- que han resultat ferits, i hi ha hagut desenes de detinguts des que van començar les mobilitzacions, la setmana passada.
Aquest dilluns, en la quarta jornada de protestes, hi ha hagut una vintena de detinguts, i els serveis d’emergències han hagut d’atendre quatre persones que han resultat ferides per les càrregues dels antiavalots, que no han cessat en tota la tarda.
La mobilització, com cada dia, ha començat a les 14.45 h a les portes de l’IES Lluís Vives, l’institut que va encendre les protestes. D’allí n’ha partit una manifestació que ha tallat les principals vies de la capital valenciana, on s’han produït persecucions i severes càrregues policials durant tot el vespre, fins i tot amb pilotes de goma i gasos lacrimògens. La policia ha ocupat la ciutat, amb helicòpters i controls de la guàrdia civil per diferents accesos de l’Horta Nord.
Ben entrada la nit, grups de manifestants segueixen protestant entre els carrers Bailén i Xàtiva. A més, a la Facultat d’Història de la Universitat de València s’hi ha tancat al voltant de 400 estudiants i professors en protesta per l’actuació policial amb la intenció de passar-hi la nit.
Els estudiants es rebel•len contra les retallades en educació, que han dut els centres educatius valencians a patir una situació límit, fins al punt de tallar la llum o la calefacció.
La policia denuncia l'”agressivitat” dels estudiants, a qui considera l'”enemic”
La Policia Nacional espanyola, de la seva banda, ha parlat d’agressivitat. En una compareixença aquest mateix dilluns a la tarda, el cap superior de la policia de València, Antonio Moreno, s’ha referit als estudiants com l'”enemic” i ha justificat les càrregues policials contra els estudiants per “l’agressivitat” dels joves. Segons ha afirmat, els manifestants han actuat amb “un plus d’agressivitat” que ha portat els agents policials a donar “una resposta equitativa”.
De la seva banda, la responsable política de l’actuació, la delegada del govern espanyol al País Valencià, Paula Sánchez de León, s’ha limitat a donar suport en tot moment a l’actitud de la policia, que actua “davant d’una situació de desordre i desacatament”, afirma. “No hi ha repressió, ni instruccions ni intent de control del dret a la manifestació”, ha asseverat.
Solidaritat amb els estudiants des de tots els indrets del país
La solidaritat amb la revolta valenciana s’ha estès per tot el país. En aquest sentit, s’han celebrat concentracions a la Plaça Sant Jaume de Barcelona, a la Plaça de la Font de Tarragona, a la Plaça del Vi de Girona i a la Plaça de la Montanyeta d’Alacant. Aquest dimarts a les 7 se’n celebrarà una altra a la Plaça de la Paeria de Lleida i a dos quarts de vuit a la plaça del Rector Ferrer d’Olot. Diumenge se’n va celebrar una a Palma.
Aquest cap de setmana s’ha portat a terme diverses mobilitzacions arreu dels Països Catalans per denunciar les brutals agressions
luis Vives High School yesterday
contra els estudiants a València, després que les càrregues policials de la setmana passada se saldessin amb una desena de detinguts i diversos ferits.
Els estudiants adverteixen que seguiran rebel·lant-se
Els estudiants han rebutjat en bloc la brutalitat policial i han exigit l’alliberament sense càrrec dels detinguts. El SEPC ha remarcat que es repeteix la violència i repressió que es va viure al Principat amb el Pla Bolonya i denuncia que el govern espanyol “està disposat a les retallades i les polítiques privatitzadores per sobre de la voluntat de les classes populars”. En aquest sentit, considera “indignant que haguem de patir la incompetència dels nostres governants” i “lamentable la negació del diàleg per part del Govern de la Generalitat Valenciana”, així com l’ús de la violència contra els manifestants, especialment els estudiants d’institut.
Per tot plegat denuncia que les retallades “s’estan aplicant amb violència, per precaritzar l’educació pública i hipotecant el futur del nostre país” i exigeix l’aturada de la violència per part de la policia espanyola i la fi de les retallades i de l’EU2015 que hipotequen el futur del país.
El SEPC demana al conjunt de la comunitat educativa que s’adhereixin a la vaga general del 29 de febrer.
De la seva banda, Endavant OSAN ha exigit la dimissió de Paula Sánchez de León i d’Antonio Moreno, “per actuar sobre la ciutat de València com en una zona de guerra”. Així mateix, exigeix l’absolució sense càrrecs de totes les persones detingudes i convida tota la ciutadania a mobilitzar-se.
I la COS ha condemnat la repressió policial però ha lloat la resposta dels estudiants. Una afiliada del sindicat ha estat agredida per un policia espanyol a l’IES Lluís Vives. Segons informa la COS, la càrrega li ha provocat una síncope cardiaca i ha hagut de ser avacuada en ambulància.
La COS celebra que “comença l’autèntica primavera valenciana, l’autèntica primavera dels Països Catalans” i denuncia que “l’Estat, i el cap major dels torturadors, Jorge Fernandez Diez, ha tornat a usar València com a laboratori de proves repressives pel conjunt del nostre país”. Però “només estan aconseguint que tota la ràbia accumulada comence a brollar com l’aigua neta i bona dels brolladors de l’Albufera de València”, proclama.
Els professors del Vives denuncien el setge policial
L’assemblea del professorat de l’IES Lluís Vives de València també ha denunciat el setge contra els estudiants. Ha recordat que dimecres, a les proximitats de l’institut, es va produir “una violentíssima i desproporcionada” actuació policial contra un grup d’estudiants concentrat a fora per protestar contra les retallades en Educació. El resultat foren diversos alumnes ferits i contusionats, i fins i tot un detingut, lesionat, emmanillat i portat a la comissaria de Sapadors.
Dijous i divendres es van produir també “aquestes actuacions violentes, desproporcionades i fora de qualsevol lògica democràtica contra adolescents i menors, tractats com a delinqüents”.
Per tot plegat, els professors expressen la seva “més enèrgica repulsa a aquesta mena d’actuacions” i assegura que “s’emmarquen en els intents reiterats de les nostres autoritats per tal de desprestigiar l’ensenyament públic i criminalitzar-nos a tots els que estem compromesos com a professors, personal no docent, estudiants i famílies en la dignificació de l’educació pública”.
A més, anuncien que denunciaran formalment les actuacions i reclamaran responsabilitats penals i polítiques per als qui han promogut “aquest despropòsit”. També adverteixen que continuaran denunciant els atacs als serveis públics i “la criminalització que els governants intenten fer dels seus empleats per desprestigiar-los”.
Indignació política
El síndic de Compromís, Enric Morera, ha demanat que s’alliberin sense càrrecs tots els joves que es troben detinguts a la comissaria i que es retirin tots els expedients sancionadors oberts contra els estudiants de l’IES Lluís Vives de València. Morera considera que amb el PP “han arribat les retallades en democràcia, perquè la resposta del govern a les protestes estudiantils ha sigut desproporcionada i més pròpia d’un règim dictatorial que d’una societat democràtica, la qual cosa lamentem”.
De la seva banda, la coordinadora general d’Esquerra Unida al País Valencià (EUPV), Marga Sanz, ha demanat la dimissió de Paula Sànchez de León, a qui ha acusat de “saltar-se els principis democràtics i ha deixat el poder a mans de la policia”. Segons Sanz, “el que està passant a València és propi d’èpoques no democràtiques, que ens recorden massa el franquisme i les persecucions dels grisos a les revoltes estudiantils contra la dictadura”.
I quant al PSPV, simplement ha telefonat al president de la Generalitat Valenciana, Alberto Fabra, perquè cessi la violència contra els estudiants, segons ha informat el secretari general dels socialistes, Jorge Alarte, a través del Twitter.
On March 11 2011, at 2:46pm, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck Japan. The earthquake, followed by a colossal tsunami, devastated the nation, together killing over 10,000 people. The earthquake also triggered the start of a triple nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, run by Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco).
Of the three reactors that melted down, one was nearly 40 years old and should have been decommissioned two decades ago. The cooling pipes, “the veins and arteries of the old nuclear reactors”, which circulated fluid to keep the core temperature down, ruptured….
..Tepco has long been a scandal-ridden company, caught time and time again covering up data on safety lapses at their power plants, or doctoring film footage which showed fissures in pipes. How was the company able to get away with such long-standing behaviour?
According to an explosive book recently published in Japan, they owe it to what the author, Tomohiko Suzuki, calls “Japan’s nuclear mafia… A conglomeration of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats, the shady nuclear industry, their lobbyists…” And at the centre of it all stands Japan’s actual mafia: the yakuza…..
For his book, The Yakuza and the Nuclear Industry, Suzuki went undercover at Fukushima to find first-hand evidence .
….The initial work, directly after a series of hydrogen explosions in March, was extremely dangerous. Radiation was reaching levels so high that the Japanese government raised the safety exposure levels and even ordered scientists to stop monitoring radiation levels in some areas of the plants
. Tepco sent out word to their contractors to gather as many people as possible and to offer substantial wages. Yakuza recruited from all over Japan; the initial workers were paid 50,000 yen (£407) per day, but one dispatch company offered 200,000 yen (£1,627) per day.Even then, recruits were hard to find. Officials in Fukushima reportedly told local businesses, “Bring us the living dead. People no one will miss.”
‘SAFETY’ LEVEL RAISED TO OVER 500 TIMES HIGHER
The labour crunch was eased somewhat when the Japanese government and Tepco raised the “safe” radiation exposure levels at the plant from pre-earthquake levels of 130-180cpm (radiation exposure per minute) to 100,000cpm…. OVER 500 TIMES HIGHER
Arbeit Mach Frei, the Nazis proclaimed above their concentration camps. Well, in 21st century Britain we now have a government offering cheap or even completely free labour to employers using the most vulnerable people imagineable – prisoners, the unemployed, the physically disabled and the mentally ill. And the dying.
No, it is not a sick joke. Cameron and Clegg’s Britain has today seen three blows to what little civilised restraint remained among Coalition policymakers.
Saturday 18 February 2012 WE ARE FIGHTING FOR OUR FUTURE! + article/global invitation:”Greece shows us how to protest against a failed system” by John Holloway
More than 300.000 people participated at the social revolt that took place in 12 February 2012 in Athens. Many thousands took the streets all over Greece… Thousands of students demonstrated all over Greece in 17 Feb. 2012. The social struggle against misery, inequality and exploitation continues, expands and becomes stronger and stronger. People from all cultural backgrounds come together in the neighbourhood assemblies, in the grass-roots unions, the social centers, the big demonstrations and the riots. People from all ages help each other in the streets to attack against police, against the parliament, against the economy and the inhuman austerity measures that the global and local economic elites imposes to the people of this world
We invite all our friends to participate all over the world in the demonstrations at Saturday 18 February 2012 for Greece, for ourselves, for all the possible reasons, for all the life of this planet! WE ARE FIGHTING FOR OUR FUTURE!
Five senior Sun newspaper employees were arrested this morning over the scandal of payments to police for information. As part of the ongoing police investigation Operation Elveden, which began after the News of the World phone-hacking scandal saw the Murdoch Sunday paper close, a number of high profile journalists were arrested in a series of early morning raids, along with senior police officers and Ministry of Defence employees and a member of the armed forces.
All five were arrested on suspicion of corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 – aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office and conspiracy accroding to a police statement, which adding ‘It relates to suspected payments to police officers and public officials’.
The arrests come two weeks after four former and current Sun journalists and a serving Metropolitan police officer were arrested over alleged illegal police payments.
Sean Hoare's death let Murdoch and Cameron off the hook in the NOTW hacking scandal
It’s understood the paper itself is in jeopardy and Murdoch attempted to distance himself further from his UK employees and operation with a statement: “News Corporation remains committed to ensuring that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past will not be repeated and last summer authorised the MSC to co-operate with the relevant authorities”.
The NUJ on the other hand are less than impressed with Murdoch’s stance stating: “Journalists are reeling at seeing five more of their colleagues thrown to the wolves in what many sense to be a witch-hunt. They are furious at what they see as a monumental betrayal on the part of News International.”
It is also understood the scandal so far has cost the company $200 million in legal fees and compensation pay outs to people who had their phone illegally hacked by Murdoch’s papers.
Financed by capitalist slush funds the rightwing press has fanned a wave of race hate against southern Europeans, blaming our lazy love of fiesta for their economic woes.
BUT OECD FIGURES PROVE THAT SPANISH, PORTUGUESE, ITALIAN AND GREEK WORKERS DO LONGER HOURS FOR LESS PAY, WORK IS MORE PRECARIOUS, HARDER WITH LESS MECANIZATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT IS HIGHER.
average annual hours worked by each worker, the Greeks seem very hard-working.
Next solidarity protest on Saturday 25 February at the Greek Embassy
guard-dogs.
The Free 
