take the streets. Invitation From Spain.

”there’s a mini revolution going on in the square!  they’ve been there ten days or more, I  helped plant tomatoes, had a free haircut, free food.. it’s all money free, and slept with 700 people Tuesday under the stars…….

May 25, 2011 at 4:16am With this mail we want to animate others to organize more sit-ins outside of Barcelona, around the world, which will be organized by you. We propose not to target on the Spanish embassies in your countries, also because the Spanish press practically does not cover those actions.

Our proposal is that you join in with your local struggle, to occupy the central places of your city while following the model of organization used during the Arab revolutions (and Spaniards), which means connecting with groups and local organizations and organize a sit-in in the main squares, to work in commissions and to write up your own documents (manifest, calls, proposals, minutes of meetings, etc). To make it public, spread it, use the internet networks to expand your message and to self-manage.

What is happening in different Spanish cities is not accidental nor specific of our society, we fight to recover our dignity, our freedom and our social rights, for direct democracy where we can participate in the course of our lives. We are a spontaneous and independent network, we don’t need leaders thus we offer that you will organize independently, according to what is possible and relevant in your area. We would like that everywhere people will take the streets, but in each place people will think themselves on the local alternatives to the capitalist and cruel world to which our governments are ‘leading’ us and the whole planet.

For us the borders do not exist, the network is ours and the street also! Another world is possible now! More concretely, we propose to you that you squat in your city during the next days of THURSDAY AND FRIDAY 26 AND 27 OF MAY to take advantage of the international days of mobilization against the G8 against the world-wide oligarchy, we invite you to take the street and to establish si-ins in sufficiently big places which will receive a consequent infrastructure that allow you to work and to mobilize in the best conditions.

These two days and their nights could be the beginning of a long global struggle of the Indignados, please add your sit-in to the world-wide map of: http://www.thetechnoant.info/campmap/ We use the social networks to coordinate and to maintain informed. We encourage you to create an international commission to communicate with us, to share materials and strategies of organization in the Web n-1.cc to look for the group https://n-1.cc/pg/groups/104127/take-the-square-international and open a space with your location.

In that link you will find a guide. In the chat (http://ur1.ca/48ogs) you can contact with us and others sit-ins simultaneously or to contact us by e-mail comisiointernacional@gmail.com. Our content commissions is working on a document which formulate the very elaborated agreements which are agreed on in the general assembly.

The document is available on web http://acampadabcn.wordpress.com/ Take the street! Real Democracy Now! Hugs, International Networks of the International Commission of the Barcelona Camp Barcelona Information: #acampadabcn http://acampadabcn.wordpress.com/ e-mail general: acampadabcn@yahoo.es Internacional commission – Barcelona Camp: https://n-1.cc/pg/groups/103405/akbcn_int/ e-mail international commission: comisiointernacional@gmail.com Internacional coordination: http://www.thetechnoant.info/campmap/ e-lists: https://lists.takethesquare.net/mailman/listinfo/cominterm https://n-1.cc/pg/groups/104127/take-the-square-international/ Chat irc.freenode.net # takethesquare http://ur1.ca/48ogs

FOREST DEFENDER’S WIFE ALSO MARTYRED

UPDATE: FOREST DEFENDER’S WIFE ALSO MARTYRED IN BRUTAL ASSASSINATION

José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva speaking at TEDx Amazon in 2010
José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva speaking at TEDx Amazon in 2010

[URGENT: Please join the new avaaz sign-on letter. It is in Portuguese for Brazilian officials but you can easily enter your name, email and country. Please help the Brazilian forest defenders NOW.]

More from Mongabay

José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife, Maria do Espírito Santo da Silva, were gunned down last night in an ambush in the city of Nova Ipixuna in the Brazilian state of Pará. Da Silva was known as a community leader and an outspoken critic of deforestation in the region.

Police believe the da Silvas were killed by hired assassins because both victims had an ear cut off, which is a common token for hired gunmen to prove their victims had been slain, according to local police investigator, Marcos Augusto Cruz, who spoke to Al Jazeera. Suspicion immediately fell on illegal loggers linked to the charcoal trade that supplies pig iron smelters in the region.

José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva, who also went by the nickname ‘Ze Claudio’, was a vocal critic of illegal logging in Pará, a state in Brazil that is rife with deforestation. He also worked as a community leader of an Amazon reserve that sold sustainably harvested forest products.

Da Silva had received countless death threats and had frequently warned that he could be killed at any time, however he was refused protection by officials.

“I will protect the forest at all costs. That is why I could get a bullet in my head at any moment … because I denounce the loggers and charcoal producers, and that is why they think I cannot exist,” da Silva said in a TED Talks last November, adding “but my fear does not silence me. As long as I have the strength to walk I will denounce all of those who damage the forest.”

Clara Santos, the niece of the da Silvas, told BBC that the couple had suffered death threats for 14 years. A report compiled by Brazil’s Catholic Land Commission, a human rights group, in 2008 listed Da Silva as one of the environmental activists most likely to be assassinated.

The double assassination comes at a fateful time for the Amazon rainforest. Politicians in Brazil are considering changing to its Forest Law, which would allow ranchers and farmers to cut down a higher percentage of forest on their land. A vote may occur today.

Brazilian environmental journalist, Felipe Milanez, has said the assassination of da Silva has created ‘another Chico Mendes’. Mendes was a rubber trapper turned Amazon activist whose 1988 assassination catalyzed efforts to save the Amazon.

Da Silva’s killing comes six years after Dorothy Stang, an American nun who fought against deforestation, was slain by gunmen hired by a cattle rancher, also in the state of Pará. Her death was met by a sharp crack-down by the Brazilian against illegal fore

After my last birthday I trashed my car.

 After my last birthday I trashed my car.

Well, in fact I still have it, but the weeds have reached the windows.

Tomorrow my friends will help push it out on the road, where it can be towed away for scrap.

So ha ha ha you filthy spewing dupes of capitalism ! Coz we’re the greenest squatters on the block!

This is a joke of course, I had a car for 30 years and justified it to myself…

..now I have more money for less work, I have to walk and wait quite a lot,

and I and my family can do less things.

On the other hand I AM fitter and less harrassed, people pick me up on the road and chat

on the bus if it ever comes. But  the best thing of all is off loading the hypocrisy, I  still feel bad

but at least I’m not personally promoting car culture. Maybe we could go for a negative carbon footprint

and still enjoy the party?

Everyone is just ignoring the fact that climate  change gases are  totally out of control with zero prospect of agreement.

When 90% of scientists predict monumental future suffering and death of billions of innocent creatures and people and almost nobody complains…, it’s like there’s a mass conspiracy to ignore or deny the facts

We would need a mass movement just to stop the capitalist machine in any that could be sustainable,

So  Let There Be INFINITE GROWTH and at least enjoy the spectacular gadgets and gigantic immoral waste, while

wage slaving to pay the bills and by the way… destroy the planet for everyone but the hyper rich criminals.

Just don’t be surprised if some vegan or anarchist terrorist trashes your wheels!

Check out review of new anti car book here

http://dissidentvoice.org/2011/05/steering-away-from-car-culture/

URGENT AMAZON FOREST ALERT

URGENT AMAZON FOREST ALERT

slaughtering-the-amazon-cover

[UPDATE 20 May 2011: The Guardian UK reports, “Brazil forms ‘crisis cabinet’ following unexpected deforestation surge”.]

Events are moving quickly in Brazil’s epic battle over a new national Forest Code. The struggle has has reached a critical stage full of both danger and opportunity. Please take action.

EMERGENCY — BRAZIL’S NATIONAL MONITORING AGENCY JUST CONFIRMED THAT RECENT DEFORESTATION HAS JUMPED 473 PERCENT. THE SITUATION IS CRITICAL.

[Reuters reportagem em Português]

Sign the international petition to defend Brazil’s forests.

If you would rather sign a petition in Portuguese, here is one from avaaz.

The recent monitoring reports of both the government and the environmental NGOs showed prelimary data of a huge surge in deforestation as agribusiness and the ruralist coalition push to deforest and create a new code of amnesty for the forest destroyers. Today’s release of frightening new data shows how aggressive the large farmers and agribusiness are. PLEASE ACT NOW.

The Dilma government has been caught between its desire for for rapid economic development and its desire to maintain its green image to the international community where it has pledged to reduce emissions from deforestation and to maintain biodiversity. Additionally, it wants to showcase its “greenness” at the upcoming 2012 “Rio+20” world environment conference. Indeed, on the advice of its Foreign Ministry, the Dilma leadership delayed the recent Forest Code debate (google translation from Portuguese) in Congress in order to revise its position.

The good news it that IBAMA (the national environment protection agency) has just announced a new policy of zero deforestation. The future of the forest hangs between this positive initiative and the reckless campaign of ruralista deforestation. This is the defining moment!

[Update: Here are the latest reports on deforestation and the new IBAMA policy.]

ACT NOW. Sign the petition in English or in Portuguese to defend Brazil’s forests.

with thanks via:

http://lougold.blogspot.com/2011/05/urgent-amazon-forest-alert-events-are.html

Beef industry destroying Amazon

Brazilian beef industry blamed for Amazon deforestation

McDonalds top list of world criminals

Boots and training shoes are not the first things that spring to mind when you think about the causes of rainforest destruction and climate change, but just because the connection isn’t obvious doesn’t mean it isn’t realm, says Greenpeace in a new report, “Slaughtering the Amazon”


SLAUGHTERING THE AMAZON

slaughtering-the-amazon-cover

Greenpeace fingers out Lula da Silva’s complacency with the industry and ranchers Greenpeace fingers out Lula da Silva’s complacency with the industry and ranchers illegal deforestation and in some cases slavery, via giant processing facilities to the supply chains of some of the best known global brands. Shoe companies like Adidas, Reebok, Nike, Timberland and even Clarks are sourcing a significant proportion of their leather from the Amazon – and its big business.

via Brazilian beef industry blamed for Amazon deforestation — MercoPress.

Amazon destruction..6 fold increase..- 593,000,000 m2 in 2 months

BRASILIA (AFP) – A sharp increase in forest destruction in March and April in the Amazon has led Brazil to announce the creation of an emergency task force to fight against deforestation.

The two-month total of 593 square kilometers (368 square miles) deforested represents a six-fold increase compared to the same period last year, according to official statistics. The office will be comprised of government experts and representatives of states badly impacted by recent deforestation, according to Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira, who announced the office at a press conference. “Our goal is to stifle deforestation,” Teixeira said. “And we are going to do it by July.”

In the Amazon state of Mato Grosso alone, 480 square kilometers (298 square miles) of forest were destroyed in two months, according to official statistics based on satellite images.

The land is used for cattle and soybean farming. Teixeira said those responsible for illegal deforesting will have their cattle seized. Officials in Mato Grosso are investigating how so much land was destroyed in their central-western state, Teixeira added. Brazil, the world’s fifth largest country by area, has 5.3 million square kilometers of jungle and

PARÁ, BrazilThe Amazon jungle is metaphorically referred to as the lungs of the world: CO2 in, O2 out, transformed through a dense emerald mass. It’s an irreplaceable treasure, in many spots still unmapped, and a biological preserve filled with species that we likely haven’t even seen.http://theamazonforest.blogspot.com/2009_11_01_archive.html

forests — mostly in the Amazon river basin — of which only 1.7 million are under state protection. The rest is in private hands, or its ownership is undefined.

Massive deforestation has made Brazil one of the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters. But the pace of deforestation peaked in 2004 at 27,000 square kilometers a year, and in 2010 it dropped to 6,500 square kilometers. The announcement comes as Brazil’s Congress debates a bill that has sparked clashes between environmentalists and supporters of farmers and ranchers over how to regulate the country’s vast but vulnerable wilderness. At issue is a reform of the 1965 law regulating forestry.

The current law forces land owners that have forest on their property to keep part of it intact. A reform is being pushed by Brazil’s powerful agribusiness sector, which is chafing under the country’s strict environmental rules.

Brazil is a major world exporter of grains — including wheat, rice and corn — as well as soybeans, coffee and beef, and posted record exports worth $80 billion over the past 12 months, according to recent government figures. The government hopes the proposed reform would force private owners to re-forest land they have already destroyed. Debate has created splits across the political spectrum, and President Dilma Rousseff’s control over her party on the issue appears in question.

Rousseff pledged during her campaign to make no concessions that would result in further deforestation or threaten Brazil’s international environmental commitments.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110519/sc_afp/environmentbrazilpolitics_20110519013854

Activists Dump GMO Foods at shops

Activist Dump Genetically-Modified Groceries

If you’re walking past the Lincoln Park Whole Foods this morning and see a huge heap of food sitting on the ground, it’s not a sale. The Organic Consumers Association, as part of their “Millions Against Monsanto” campaign, is dumping genetically modified foods in front of Whole Foods at noon. They’ll also be holding a press conference, in an attempt to convince more of the food-shopping public that GMO foods should be labeled.The “Millions Against Monsanto” campaign is fighting for transparency in labeling, an issue which causes tremors amongst the food industry. While almost all of us have eaten genetically modified food of some sort, a 2006 survey by Pew indicates that less than 30% of consumers think they have – probably because there is no requirement that genetically-modified food be labelled. On the other hand, food producers are worried consumers are much less likely to buy foods if they have scary labels with scientific terms on them, and Monsanto claims that genetically modified foods have no proven health risks. [Full Disclosure – I am a member of the OCA, but do not plan to participate in this protest.]

The problem gets even more complicated. In order to get USDA organic certification, a product cannot contain GMOs. Whole Foods also has started a program, through the Non-GMO project, to make sure that their store-brand products are GMO free. But, Whole Foods (despite its environmental credentials) still carries many conventional products, which may contain GMOs. Should they be forced to label them?

>>> Read the Full Article