Category: feminist

Anarchist Laura Gomez arrested in Barcelona

Detenida Laura Gomez de la CGT por su presunta participación en los disturbios del 29M en Barcelona. Se trata de una detención más con cara a la toma policial por la Cumbre del BCE el 2 de mayo..

They claim she burnt a box of fake money outside the Stock Exchange.

Arrested a leader of the CGT for alleged involvement in riots in Barcelona General Strike  29M. This is one of many arrests leading up to the police takeover for the European bank Summit on 2nd May. There are now daily demonstrations.
A Laura Gómez, secretaria de Organización de la Federación Local de Barcelona del sindicato anarquista, se le imputan los delitos de desórdenes públicos, incendio, coacciones y un delito relativo al ejercicio de los derechos fundamentales y las libertades públicas.
Laura Gomez, Secretary of Organization of Local Federation of Anarchist union Barcelona, is charged with public disorder offenses, arson, extortion or an offense concerning the exercise of fundamental rights and civil liberties.

Demonstration in support of the CGT leader Barcelona Laura Gomez held on Tuesday at the police station in the Catalan police in Les Corts (photo: CGT).
Manifestación de apoyo a la dirigente de la CGT de Barcelona Laura Gómez celebrada este martes ante la comisaría de los Mossos d’Esquadra de Les Corts (foto: CGT).


The Police have arrested Tuesday at the Organizing Secretary of the Barcelona Local Federation of the CGT, Laura Gomez, for his alleged involvement in the burning and destruction caused to the building of the Barcelona Stock Exchange during the day general strike on March 29. Wednesday is scheduled to go to court.

Los Mossos d’Esquadra han detenido este martes a la secretaria de Organización de la Federación Local de Barcelona de la CGT, Laura Gómez, por su presunta participación en la quema y los destrozos causados en el edificio de la Bolsa de Barcelona durante la jornada de huelga general del pasado 29 de marzo. Está previsto que este miércoles pase a disposición judicial.
Carlos Navarro, a spokesman for the CGT, explained that the action took place before the stock was to burn a box containing money and papers that had symbolized a message against capital, and is unrelated to the union of the destruction occurred. In his opinion, the detention serves the objective of “clear that people can protest through organizations and unions not officially controlled.”

Demonstration in defense of the arrested

Carlos Navarro, portavoz de la CGT, ha explicado que la acción que se llevó a cabo ante la Bolsa consistió en quemar una caja que contenía papeles que simbolizaban dinero y que llevaba un mensaje contra el capital, y ha desvinculado al sindicato de los destrozos que se produjeron. En su opinión, la detención responde al objetivo de “desactivar que la gente pueda protestar a través de organizaciones y sindicatos no controlados oficialmente”.

Manifestación en defensa de la detenida

Un grupo de militantes y simpatizantes de la CGT se han manifestado durante este martes por la tarde ante la comisaría de los Mossos d’Esquadra de Les Corts, en Barcelona, para exigir la puesta en libertad de Gómez.

A group of militants and sympathizers of the CGT have emerged during this Tuesday afternoon at the police station of the Autonomous Police of Les Corts in Barcelona, to demand the release of Gomez.

CONCENTRACIÓ DIMECRES 25 D’ABRIL a les 8.30h.

a la Ciutat de la Justícia, entrada per Gran Via.

Si ens toquen a una, ens toquen a totes. Solidaritat.

mès informaciò akì..http://www.kaosenlared.net/compone….

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LAND and LIBERTY..Honduras Occupations

Honduras farm workers stage mass land occupations

Thousands of rural workers in Honduras have occupied land as part of a dispute with large landowners and the government.
The coordinated invasions took place in several locations across the country, activists and officials say.
Farmers groups say the areas taken over are public lands where poor farmers have the right to grow food under Honduran law.

The government said the seizures were illegal and targeted private holdings.

The director of the National Agrarian Institute, Pedro Ham, said the coordinated occupations were politically motivated and aimed at destabilising the government of President Porfirio Lobo.

Violent disputes over farmland are common in Honduras, with dozens of rural workers killed in recent years.Organisations representing rural workers say successive governments have failed to fulfil promises to distribute farmland using agrarian reform legislation.

They also accuse the authorities of acting in the interests of large landowners.Thousands of Honduran farm workers Wednesday launched a coordinated land occupation, squatting on 12,000 hectares nationwide and fueling new tensions over land rights, authorities said.More than 3,500 families started squatting on 29,652 acres of farmland in the departments of Yoro, Cortes, Santa Barbara, Intibuca, Comayagua, Francisco Morazan, El Paraiso and Choluteca on Tuesday — the International Peasant Day of Struggle.

Leaders of the farmers in the impoverished Central American nation say they are worried authorities will violently kick them off the land they are occupying.National Agrarian Institute chief Cesar Ham blamed leftist lawmaker Juan Barahona at least in part for the land use tensions.
Thursday, April 14, 2011

Embattled Honduran Radio Station Reaches First Birthday

Continue reading “LAND and LIBERTY..Honduras Occupations”

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Remembering Agnes..Stop Hate Crimes!

“Femicide is an act of fear, of hate, of incompetence, omission, of cowardice and abuse. Not one more.”

Agnes Torres, a transsexual psychologist and gay rights activist, left her home in the central Mexican state of Puebla on her way to a party. The next day, her body was found in a gully, naked from the waist down. Her throat had been slit.

“Agnes’s case had major repercussions because she was an activist involved deeply in the struggle for our rights. But there are many other cases that no one has ever heard about,”

Torres was 28 years old and in the process of changing her identity in Mexico City, the only part of Mexico that has passed progressive laws such as the decriminalisation of abortion, same-sex marriage and a gender identity law http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51861 allowing transgender people to change their gender and sex, under the left-leaning Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), which governs the capital.

Big demo against homophobia and femicide

…….The protesters, who according to news reports numbered between two hundred and one thousand, filled the central square with pictures of Torres, art, candles, and signs that read “La homosexualidad no es una enfermedad, la homofobia sí,” (Homosexuality is not a disease, homophobia is.)   Members of the crowd also taped signs to the walls of the buildings that border the central square: “Exigimos justicia,” (We demand justice) “¿Cuántas más?” (How many more?) “No somos todas; faltan nuestras muertas,” (This isn’t all of us; our dead are missing.)

The crowd chanted “va caer, va caer, la homofobía va caer.” (It will fall, it will fall, homophobia will fall.)  Instead of a minute of silence, the demonstrators had a minute of applause to remember and celebrate Torres’ life.  After filling the square for two hours, the group marched to the state government offices in downtown Puebla.

Word of Torres’ death spread quickly through social media, allowing the protest to be organized within about 24 hours.  On Monday night Twitter users were writing about plans for protests and memorials in other Mexican cities such as Xalapa and Guadalajara.

  “People should know about her. #AgnesTorres she was a daughter, she was a friend, she was a professional, she was human being. She is no longer with us. She was murdered”

-@mtorch on Twitter

Messages were directed at politicians such as state governor Rafael Moreno Valle asking him to take action to prevent hate crimes in the state. Tweets expressed a range of emotions from grief to anger and indignation.

Angry comments on Twitter also centered around a user who tweeted that Torres had deserved to die.  The account purported to belong to Juan Pablo Castro, a young man who had earlier in the week been forced to apologize for using a derogatory slang word for homosexuals at a political event for young people in the congress building in Mexico City.  However the account tweeting about Agnes Torres contained a slight variation in spelling from the real Juan Pablo Castro’s account name (substituting a capital i for an l) leading many to believe that it was a case of stolen identity.  The fake Castro account continued to tweet negative comments about Torres throughout the evening.  Perhaps in response to the backlash against “Castro,” other politicians took to Twitter on Monday evening to condemn Torres’ murder.
Image

“Femicide is an act of fear, of hate, of incompetence, omission, of cowardice and abuse. Not one more.” Photo via @feminicidios on Twitter.

People attending the protest also tweeted that the body of César González Martínez, a gay man, had just been found in Momoxpan, Puebla, at 2 PM that afternoon.  Some news outlets reported that including Agnes Torres, there had been three murders attributed to homophobia in Puebla so far in 2012; activist groups, some represented by Ibrahim Zamora and the organization “De Ser” (To Be), claimed that there have been six homicides of members of the gay community in Puebla so far this year.

According to the autopsy performed by the coroner, the cause of Torres’ death was hypovolemic shock caused by beheading with a sharp weapon. The autopsy was performed as part of the preliminary investigation into case number AP/406/2012/Atlixco.  News reports also stated that part of the body had been burned.

In addition to working as an activist, Torres was a psychologist specializing in gender identity. She was 28 years old.

Reads more HERE  with thanks   http://awayfare.wordpress.com/

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The Hunger Games and The Warfare State

By Joel Poindexter   Much has been written about The Hunger Games and the underlying libertarian themes in that story.

Jeffrey Tucker recently described the similarity between the fictional games and voting. Brent Railey noted just the other day the realities of the black market springing up to provide what the state can’t, or won’t, and the futility in relying on political figures for salvation. I’d like to draw attention to the allegory of the games and the modern warfare state….

A co-worker of mine suggested that another lesson is that when fighting one evil, it’s important not to become just as evil yourself; a lesson from later in the series.

…So right off the bat it’s pretty clear: An impoverished underclass, already forced to pay tribute to the government, has its youth pressed into violent service by the wealthy and politically powerful, for the entertainment and enrichment of this ruling elite. This pretty well describes the nation-state in virtually all times and all places, but it goes far beyond this.

The next similarity one finds is the way in which children are selected for the games: a draft. Each child’s name is placed in a bowl, and a representative from the Capitol draws the “winner.” There is a slight twist, one that makes the process even more similar to the actual draft. Each child may be entered additional times in exchange for greater food rations for their family.

The obvious effect is that poorer families are at greater odds of having their children selected for the games. In similar fashion, special rules applied during the draft allowed wealthy draftees to receive deferments, effectively allowing them to avoid military service. In modern times the ranks of the military are almost exclusively made up of the middle class and poor, who are promised better-paying jobs and opportunities otherwise not available at home.

While the people of most districts generally dread the “reaping,” in others, participation in the games is a coveted experience. In these districts, children, known as “Careers,” volunteer to go after training their whole lives. In very much the same way, military service is a generational endeavor. There are many soldiers now serving who can trace their family’s participation in wars going back many generations. It’s not uncommon for recruits to explain that their reason for joining was, at least in part, because their fathers and grandfathers served; “it’s just what we do.”

It continues.

The games are of course a spectacle. The players are paraded in front of adoring crowds; politicians make grand speeches, the Capitol showers praise on the children, who are costumed and trained before being sent to their deaths. Those who die have their portraits broadcast at the end of each day, in memoriam, not at all unlike the nightly news here when troops are killed in overseas combat.

One point that stands out, as Tucker notes, is that none of the participants would have any real reason to fight one another outside the arena. They are forced to do so, to adopt a base mentality and become uncivilized animals in order to survive. This is also true in virtually all wars. The people of at least one side, if not both, are pressed into service and sent to kill other people they’ve never met, and have no real quarrel with.

As with all contemporary conflicts, the games are televised, and huge profits are realized for those who organize them. Cameras are set up everywhere, ensuring that no detail goes unnoticed. Highlights are routinely played, not just of current games, but of those past…..

….There is one major deviation, to be sure. “Winners” are treated to special accommodations and never want for any material thing, unlike many of the troops who return from war with broken minds, bodies, and souls. A staggering number of returning veterans are often unable to function in normal society. Having been used up by their government, unfit to continue fighting, they’re no longer valuable and may be left and forgotten.

It’s no surprise that so many parallels exist, given that the series’ author, Suzanne Collins, was inspired when watching news reports about the wars. The two are so strikingly similar I can only hope that the millions of people, mostly teenagers, will make the same connection.

see full article HERE  http://www.stopwar.org.uk…

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More Gays and Lesbians killed and tortured, as Police join in.

Dozens of bodies bludgeoned to death pop up in Baghdad’s dusty streets like the remains of a wreckage on a beach. They are the corpses of homosexuals and followers of the ‘emo’ fashion who dare to break with the strict canons of the Shia orthodoxy in power.

“They crushed his head with a concrete block. His name was Saif Asmar and he was a close friend of mine; tomorrow it could be me”.

Ruby (fake name) can hardly cope with his anger and fear as he holds a photo of his friend, barely recognisable after the brutal murder. Since the beginning of the year, death squads have been targeting gay men as well as those who dress in a distinctive Western-influenced style called ‘emo’.

Ruby talks about a surge in the attacks since Feb. 6 that, according to unofficial sources, has led to the killing of more than 80 homosexuals.

“That day they killed Ahmad Arusa in Sadr City and four other people in Geyara – two Shia neighbourhoods in eastern Baghdad. Earrings, nose rings, tattoos…all those are synonymous with either being homosexual, worshipping the devil or both things at a time,” says this young man who left home a month ago after he was threatened.

 POLICE JOIN IN GAY WITCH HUNT
Colonel Mushtaq Taleb Muhammadawi, director of the community police of the Iraqi Interior Ministry, stated on 6 February that they had observed the so-called Satanists and emos. He added that the police have an official approval to eliminate emo people because of their ‘notorious effects’ on the community.
The colonel declared to Iraq News Network that: ‘Research and reports on the emo phenomenon has been conducted and shared with the Ministry of Interior which officially approves the measures to eliminate them.

‘The Ministries of Education and Interior are taking this issue seriously and we have an action plan to “eradicate them”. I will be leading the project myself and we have the necessary permits to access all schools in the capital,’ added the colonel, thus possibly indicating at the very least Iraqi state complicity with the massacres.
Speaking with Gay Middle East and Gay Star News, 'O', a university student from Baghdad, explained that emo youth are wrongly perceived as gays who worship satan and are also labeled "vampire groups" falsely believed to suck blood from each other’s wrists in their satanic gatherings.O stated: ‘There is no religion that would dictate the killing of those who look different. Even if we credit the ridiculous assumption that emos might be worshiping Satan, the Quran says “you have your religion and I have mine”. There are so many myths around them. They are being killed for being perceived as too feminine and gay.’

It wasn’t a letter on a wall but an email that made Madi (also fake name) run away from her family five weeks back.

“They threatened to tell my family that I am a lesbian if I didn’t leave the country immediately,” recalls this 26-year-old woman in an interview with IPS at an undisclosed location in Baghdad. Apparently, Madi’s fears were far from being groundless.

“Many lesbians die in Iraq at the hands of older brothers. It is yet another ‘honour killing’, a ‘domestic matter’ over which the government will never conduct any investigation.”

London-based NGO Iraqi LGBT estimates that more than 720 gays have been killed in Iraq by extremist militias in the past six years. Madi says she’s lost many close friends.

“Moqtada al-Sadr’s militiamen and Iraqi Security Forces are the most aggressive against us, especially since a fatwa (a ruling in Islamic law) released four years ago said that homosexuals ‘should be executed in the most severe way.’”

Madi says many have been dismembered or burnt alive. She says doctors know the nature of such crimes by the state in which the bodies arrive. IPS has confirmed such claims with doctors who preferred to remain anonymous.

The Americans have come and gone, leaving half a million dead and their companies in the Oilfields. Under Sadaam  at least there were basic services, education and jobs, and the police controlled religious fanatics. This is the middle ages. this is predator capitalism gone mad.

EMO movement targetted

Emo, short for emotional or emocore is a US originated hardcore punk-rock music that appeared in the 80s attracting mostly teenagers. According to a report by a local LGBTQ activist the first murder occurred on 6 February in Sadr City district in Baghdad, the last was reported on 7 March of two female victims in their 20s from Shaab district of Baghdad.

Moral panic has been stirred up by militias about emo youth for the last year, alleging they are adulterers, Satanists, vampires and sexually depraved.

  MORE INFO HERE http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/100-killed-iraq-gay-and-emo-massacre090312

HELP TAKE ACTION HERE http://www.iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/iowa/article/pressroom/pressrelease/1499.html

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Non Violence key to Occupy ‘success’?

By Rebecca Solnit   Violence is what the police use. It’s what the state uses. If we want a revolution, it’s because we want a better world, because we think we have a bigger imagination, a more beautiful vision. So we’re not violent; we’re not like them in crucial ways.

When I see a New .York City policeman pepper-spray already captive young women in the face, I am disgusted; I want things to be different. And that pepper-spraying incident, terrible though it was for the individuals, did not succeed in any larger way.

In fact, seen on Youtube (704,737 times for one posted version) and widely spread, it helped make Occupy Wall Street visible and sympathetic to mainstream viewers. The movement grew tremendously after that. The incident demonstrated the moral failure of the police and demonstrated that violence is also weak. It can injure, damage, destroy, kill, but it can’t coerce the will of the people, whether it’s a policeman assaulting unarmed young women or the US Army in Vietnam or Iraq…..

We Are Already Winning

The powers that be are already scared of the Occupy movement and not because of tiny acts of violence. They are scared because right now we speak pretty well for the 99%. And because we set out to change the world and it’s working…..

This movement is winning. It’s winning by being broad and inclusive, by emphasizing what we have in common and bridging differences between the homeless, the poor, those in freefall, the fiscally thriving but outraged, between generations, races  and nationalities and between longtime activists and never-demonstrated-before newcomers. It’s winning by keeping its eyes on the prize, which is economic justice and direct democracy, and by living out that direct democracy through assemblies and other means right now.

It’s winning through people power direct-action tactics, from global marches to blockades to many hundreds of Occupations.  It’s winning through the creativity of the young, from the 22-year-old who launched Move Your Money Day to the 26-year-old who started the We Are the 99% website. And by tactics learned from Argentina’s 2001 revolution of general assemblies and politica afectiva, the politics of affection. It’s winning by becoming the space in which we are civil society: of human beings in the aggegate, living in public and with trust and love for one another. Violence is not going to be one of the tools that works in this movement.

What Actually Works

The language of Crimethinc is empty machismo peppered with insults. And just in this tiny snippet, incoherent. People who don’t like violence are not necessarily fearful or obedient; people power and nonviolence are strategies that are not the same as the ideology pacifism. To shut down the whole central city of Seattle and the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting on November 30, 1999,  or the business district of San Francisco for three days in March of 2003, or the Port of Oakland on November 2, 2011—through people power—is one hell of a great way to stand up. It works. And it brings great joy and sense of power to those who do it. It’s how the world gets changed these days.

Crimethinc, whose logo is its name inside a bullet, doesn’t actually cite examples of violence achieving anything in our recent history. Can you name any? The anonymous writers don’t seem prepared to act, just tell others to (as do the two most high-profile advocates of violence on the left). And despite the smear quoted above that privileged people oppose them, theirs is the language of privilege. White kids can do crazy shit and get slapped on the wrist or maybe slapped around for it; I have for a quarter century walked through police lines like they were tall grass; people of color face far more dire consequences. When white youth try to bring the police down on a racially diverse movement—well, it’s not exactly what the word solidarity means to most of us……………….

Another Occupy Oakland witness, a female street medic, wrote of the ill-conceived November 2 late-night antics, “watching black bloc-ers run from the cops and not protect the camp their actions had endangered, an action which ultimately left behind many mentally ill people, sick people, street kids, and homeless folks to defend themselves against the police onslaught was disturbing and disgusting in ways I can’t even articulate because I am still so angry at the empty bravado and cowardice that I saw.” She adds, “I want those kids to be held accountable to the damage that they did, damage made possible by their class and race privilege.” And physical fitness; Occupy Oakland’s camp includes children, older people, wheelchair users and a lot of other people less ready to run………….-

Read much more here... WITH THANKS  http://occupy.infoshop.org/blogs-mu/2011/12/01/throwing-out-the-master%E2%80%99s-tools-and-building-a-better-house/