US Prison Strike Takes us to the Dark Heart of Capitalism: Support Needed

New US Prison Strike Takes us to the Dark Heart of Capitalism

shared from LIBCOM  and Enough is Enough

Prison labour is a billion-dollar industry, and the corporate beneficiaries of this slave labour include some of the largest corporations and most widely known brands. There are literally hundreds of corporations and firms that exploit prison labour.

One year ago the largest prison labour strike in US history took place. More than 24,000 prisoners across 29 prisons in 12 states protested against exploitation and inhumane conditions.

 

 

 

It was timed to mark the anniversary of the Attica Prison uprising1 of 46 years ago over prisoners’ demands for better living conditions and political rights. Attica prisoners rioted and took control of the prison, taking 42 staff hostage. When the uprising was over, at least 43 people were dead, including ten prison staff, and 33 inmates.2


see also : Two Weeks Into #PrisonStrike, Inmates Speak Out

One year on, another major prison strike is now spreading across the US and Canada which has entered into its second week. The strike began on August 21 and is set to last a total of 19 days. Naturally, it has been subjected to a media blackout by the mainstream media in the US; and reliable information about the progress of the strike is difficult to come by. Continue reading “US Prison Strike Takes us to the Dark Heart of Capitalism: Support Needed”

Israeli invaders kill 168, wound 17,259, shoot Peace Activist twice. Boycott Israel!

 

Related imageFrom May to 13 August 2018, 168 Palestinians have been been killed protesting the closed Gaza border.[wikipedia 3] By the end of July 2018, 17,259 had been injured, many permanently maimed.

Norwegian Palestine-solidarity activist Kristin Foss was shot twice in a week by Israeli soldiers. The first time she was shot whilst standing with her hands raised, and the second occurred when she was standing against a wall.

Israeli forces shoot Norwegian peace activist twice in one week (VIDEO)

Kristin was standing still with her hands raised when she was shot in Kafr Qaddum during a weekly demonstration last Saturday.Image result for total number casualties Great Return GazaMourners console the mother (C) of 15-year-old Palestinian teenager Azzam, murdered  by the Israeli army.

Foss and another activist were walking with an elderly Palestinian man who asked them to help him get back to his car which the soldiers were using as a shield. International activists often attend Palestinian protests in a bid to discourage Israelis from using excessive force.

The man was talking to the soldiers and Foss and the other activist were filming from a distance. A soldier tells Foss it is dangerous and she responds: “It’s dangerous that you’re pointing a gun at us,” as a shot is fired. Seconds later, another shot is heard and Foss is hit in the abdomen.

The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said last week it had asked the Israeli authorities to explain the circumstances, VG reports.

Foss, who is an International Solidarity Movement volunteer, returned to the village the next Friday to support demonstrators. The weekly protests at Kafr Qaddum are to demonstrate against the closure of a road which has been closed to Palestinians for seven years, forcing them to travel more than 14 km (9 miles) to reach the regional capital of Nablus.

Bruises and wound on Foss’s abdomen

In a video, filmed before she was shot, she said that although the demonstrations had not started, the IDF had already “invaded the town.”

Foss was leaning against a wall “well behind” the demonstrations when she was shot in the ankle by a rubber bullet, she told RT.Related image

When she was in an ambulance with another man who had been shot in the shoulder, they had to turn back after another person was shot in the head.

An IDF spokesperson told RT that the protests were “violent riots” and “Palestinians threw stones at IDF soldiers and burned tires.”

https://www.nytimes.com/video/players/offsite/index.html?videoId=100000005932394


US Military Aid to Israel Set to Exceed a Record $3.8 Billion
Aug 3, 2018 – WASHINGTON — In an event largely overlooked by the U.S. media, the Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that would provide Israel with $3.3 billion or $23,000 Per Year for Every Jewish Family Living in Israel

Israel’s rulers just laugh at our solidarity protests and ignore dozens of UN rulings and International Law.
But they do start to listen ( a bit) when targeted boycott’s hit their pockets.
Lets organize to force them to lift the siege of Gaza and at least compensate the Palestinians and treat them equally.
You can really help.. check out the BDS movement below …

 

BDS Movement | https://bdsmovement.net/

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement works to end international support for Israel … It’s simple to get involved with the BDS movement today. …. Artistic Director of Portuguese National Theater Joins Cultural Boycott of Israel.

Join a BDS Campaign | BDS Movement https://bdsmovement.net/get-involved/join-a-bds-campaign

Thanks to strategic and creative campaigns taking place across the world, the BDS movement is having a real impact and inspiring many to act for justice.

Eviction Case dropped after 2000 strong demo in Iruñea/Pamplona for re-Squatted ‘Gaztxe Maravillas’ (Marvels Youth Center)

 Maravillas is a tool to move towards the social, radical and complete transformation of our lives. That is why defending spaces like Maravillas is to defend all the projects and people that fight every day for a just world …

The occupied self run center in the Palace of the Marquis of Rozalejo of Pamplona, ​​20 yrs abandoned and occupied eleven months before,  was violently evicted in the middle of the night by the Navarra Govt despite widespread local support. see videos..

see also: Maravillas Occupied Center in Pamplona Evicted in Night Battle

Then 2 days later it was resquatted by the same collective who prepared to resist again ‘tooth and nail’.

The Assembly of ‘Gaztetxe Maravillas’, strongly anarcha feminist, demanded that the Government of Navarre “paralyze the eviction process” of the building and “withdraw the complaint against the accused persons” .

The festive march last Saturday was supported by many collectives and local people. Thousands of people have joined the protest led by a banner reading “Wonders Herriantzat” (Wonders for the People) and a second slogan that “is not a gaztetxe, but a way to understand the world” .

Maravillas is the center of a ‘Pamplona Spring’ with all kinds of creative activities taking off. The organisation is assembly  based without leaders. Continue reading “Eviction Case dropped after 2000 strong demo in Iruñea/Pamplona for re-Squatted ‘Gaztxe Maravillas’ (Marvels Youth Center)”

Women of Syria and Their Daily Resistance

 by  Alexandra Valiente and  Marinella Correggia           at Internationalist 360°.              shared with thanksWoman from Quneitra in front of a mosaic in Damascus |Image © Marinella Correggia

The oriental fable “Appointment in Samarra”, of the soldier rushing away from his destiny of death while indeed rushing into this very destiny (it is the theme of the song Samarcanda by Roberto Vecchioni) seems well suited to what Om Ahmad is telling us.

Robust, flowered scarf on her head and black dress, sitting on the cushions that serve as a sofa in the bare apartment rented in Masaken Barzeh district, she explains that her husband, an auto mechanic, and their three sons lived in Douma, the most Islamist area of Eastern Ghouta.

“Over five years ago, while several formations of musallahin – armed Islamist groups – were coming to the area, we closed the house and came here to Damascus, where we had friends”.Her second child Rabee, now sixteen, is in a wheelchair. “One day, three years ago, he and my husband were in the mechanical workshop…. when it was hit by a missile that targeted Damascus, starting right from the area that we had left behind.”

Rabee’s father died in the explosion, and the boy’s mangled legs had to be amputated. Continue reading “Women of Syria and Their Daily Resistance”

US prison strike .. solidarity events ..END PRISON SLAVERY

Indigenous Environmental Defender killed as logging mafia targets tribe

The Guardians of the Amazon recently destroyed a logging truck they discovered in their territory.The Guardians of the Amazon recently destroyed a logging truck they discovered in their territory.© Guardians of the Amazon

shared with thanks from Survival International   A leader of an Amazon tribe acclaimed for its environmental defenders has been killed, the latest in a series of deaths among the tribe.Image result for guardians of the amazon

The body of Jorginho Guajajara was found near a river in the Brazilian state of Maranhão. He was a leader of the Guajajara people, acclaimed internationally for their work as the ‘Guardians of the Amazon’ in the most threatened region in the entire Amazon. Continue reading “Indigenous Environmental Defender killed as logging mafia targets tribe”

Towards a World without Bullshit Jobs.. Interview with David Graeber on his Theory

Shared from Roar with thanks

In this interview about his latest book, David Graeber discusses the role of unions, the challenges posed by automation and “the revolt of the caring classes.

Is your job pointless? Do you feel that your position could be eliminated and everything would continue on just fine? Maybe, you think, society would even be a little better off if your job never existed?

If your answer to these questions is “yes,” then take solace. You are not alone. As much as half the work that the working population engages in every day could be considered pointless, says David Graeber, Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and author of Bullshit Jobs: A Theory.

According to Graeber, the same free market policies that have made life and work more difficult for so many working people over the past few decades have simultaneously produced more highly paid managers, telemarketers, insurance company bureaucrats, lawyers and lobbyists who do nothing useful all day. Labor journalist Chris Brooks interviewed David Graeber to learn how so many pointless jobs came to exist and what it means for labor activists. Continue reading “Towards a World without Bullshit Jobs.. Interview with David Graeber on his Theory”