By Jack Crosbie on Rolling Stone via anarchistnews.collectve and thefreeonline

In an Atlanta forest slated for development, an activist movement has built a community — and they’re vowing to defend it by any means necessary

Whatever the excavator driver had in mind for his morning, it’s pretty clear it wasn’t this. It’s not yet 8 a.m. on a Saturday in late July, and he’s dodging rocks and full cans of rosemary-grapefruit seltzer being flung from 20 yards away, and screaming at the impassive DeKalb County cop next to him to intervene.

“Pull your gun out!” he yells in desperation. “Pull your gun out!”

The driver is here in Atlanta’s South River Forest on behalf of Ryan Millsap, a real-estate tycoon who’s been granted permission to bulldoze a huge swath of trees and put up a soundstage for the city’s booming film industry — “Hollywood Dystopia,” as the band of masked protesters hurling projectiles have taken to calling it.

Millsap’s plans cover 40 acres of parkland on the eastern bank of Intrenchment Creek, which roughly divides a 300-acre pocket of this forest that has become a battleground. On the western side of the creek, the nonprofit Atlanta Police Foundation has laid claim to 85 acres of woods, which the Atlanta City Council voted last September to flatten in order to build a $90 million police- and fire-training complex that’s come to be known as “Cop City.”

What the city didn’t expect was that the land would become home to a band of environmentalists and anarchists, loosely united under the banner Defend the Atlanta Forest, who are combating those plans at every turn.

The “decentralized autonomous movement,” as they call themselves, consists of hundreds of local and out-of-state activists, several dozen of whom live full time in these woods, in a ramshackle network of tents and treehouses erected dozens of feet off the forest floor.

A barricade erected by Defend the Atlanta Forest to complicate law enforcement entry onto the grounds.
Jack Crosbie

By day, the group hosts meals procured through donated food and prepared via collective action, as well as teach-ins on resistance tactics and philosophies, skill shares, guided hikes, and other community events.

By night, on the weekends, the scene often shifts to musical performances featuring local bands and DJs — a distinctly Atlanta mix of trap, hardcore, and electronica — plus a bar and substances of every sort, a chance to mosh for freedom and dance in defiance.

Months after the deals with Millsap and the APF were signed, the only thing being built in the South River Forest, it seems, is the next stage of a nationwide direct-action movement, people tired of losing in the traditional halls of power — be it Atlanta’s City Hall or America’s Supreme Court — who are ready to fight for something different.

“It’s not just a local struggle, it’s about two competing ways of life,” says a DAF protester who goes by the name Cicada. “The people who are destroying the forest live all over the country. People should feel empowered to hold them accountable, to feel like they’re capable of stopping this depravity.”

Continue reading “The Battle for Cop City > Support Atlanta Forest Defenders”

The Ukrainian ‘Counteroffensive’ Was Destined To Fail – Today It Did So

Sept 3, 2022 by Moon of Alabama via Williambowles.info via thefreeonline

+ 173 Comments

Saturday, 3 September, 2022 — Moon of Alabama

On August 24 the British prime minister Boris Johnson visited Kiev:

In comments made next to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Mariyinsky Palace, Johnson said Ukraine “can and will win this war.”

The Ukrainian forces have no air defense or air attack capability to cover advancing troops. Its artillery capabilities are a tenth of what the Russian military can provide in the area. It was obvious from the beginning that this was a suicide mission.

Johnson’s visit was the start signal for the long announced Ukrainian ‘counteroffensive’ towards Kherson.

In early April Johnson had called on and visited Kiev to stop well developed peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine:

“Russian and Ukrainian negotiators appeared to have tentatively agreed on the outlines of a negotiated interim settlement,” wrote Fiona Hill and Angela Stent. “Russia would withdraw to its position on February 23, when it controlled part of the Donbas region and all of Crimea, and in exchange, Ukraine would promise not to seek NATO membership and instead receive security guarantees from a number of countries.”

The news highlights the impact of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s efforts to stop negotiations, as journalist Branko Marcetic noted on Twitter.

The decision to scuttle the deal coincided with Johnson’s April visit to Kyiv, during which he reportedly urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to break off talks with Russia for two key reasons: Putin cannot be negotiated with, and the West isn’t ready for the war to end.

Over the last months Britain has trained several thousands of Ukrainian troops and their officers. Together with Ukrainian special forces Britain’s MI-6 secret service planned a special operation for Ukraine to regain control over the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on the south side of the Kakhovka Dnieper reservoir.

This was designed to coincide with a visit of IAEA inspectors, long held up by Ukraine, to visit the ZNPP.

The Kherson offensive started on August 30 on five axes. It was destined to fail. Three of these attempts to gain ground held by Russian troops failed. One axis was stopped after taking a few small villages of no strategic value. The only ‘successful’ attack was across the Inhulet river near Andriivka in the direction of the dam and river crossing that closes off the Kakhovka Dnieper reservoir.

The plan was crazy to begin with. The whole area is flat open steppe. The troops would have had to created a 50 kilometer (30 miles) long corridor through open hostile land. The towns on the way are mostly one or two street agricultural mini-villages with one story homes that offer little protection.

see also: Ukraine admits shelling area around nuclear plant

The Ukrainian forces have no air defense or air attack capability to cover advancing troops. Its artillery capabilities are a tenth of what the Russian military can provide in the area. It was obvious from the beginning that this was a suicide mission.

Reportedly the Ukrainian military command was against this mission. But the Ukrainian political leadership, the Zelenski regime, ordered it to proceed. It was under political pressure from its foreign supporters to show at least some success.

Extremely heavy Russian Grad attack (around 120 missiles) on the main Ukrainian army defense position in Velyka Novosyolka.
Even more frightening than the destructive and certainly deadly attack: Russian BM-21 systems are operating freely from just15-20 km south of the town. pic.twitter.com/oSStF3gNrY

— Julian Röpcke🇺🇦 (@JulianRoepcke) August 30, 2022

The attack was launched on August 30. The Ukrainian military created three river crossings over the Inhulet near Andriivka. This already smelled bad. Why didn’t the Russian airforce or artillery immediately destroy those crossings?

It was obvious that this was a trap.

In a CNN piece, co-written by the notorious ‘intelligence’ stenographer Natasha Bertrand, the U.S. military distanced itself from the upcoming catastrophe:

In the buildup to the current Ukrainian counteroffensive, the US urged Kyiv to keep the operation limited in both its objectives and its geography to avoid getting overextended and bogged down on multiple fronts, multiple US and western officials and Ukrainian sources tell CNN.

Those discussions involved engaging in “war-gaming” with Kyiv, the sources said — analytical exercises that were intended to help the Ukrainian forces understand what force levels they would need to muster to be successful in different scenarios.

The Ukrainians were initially considering a broader counteroffensive, but narrowed their mission to the south, in the Kherson region, in recent weeks, US and Ukrainian officials said.

Officials say they believe there is now increased parity between the Ukrainian and Russian militaries. But western officials have been hesitant to label the nascent Ukrainian operation — which appeared to begin on Monday in the southern province of Kherson — a true “counteroffensive.”

How successful Ukraine is likely to be in regaining lost territory remains an open question, sources familiar with the latest intelligence tell CNN.

For three days the Ukrainian military sent battalion after battalion into the salient. These were good professional troops trained by Britain. They were equipped with modernized Polish T-72 tanks and up-armored Dutch Infantry Fighting Vehicles (YPR-765 IFV).

But while these force were able to create a deeper salient it would soon become their grave.

Continue reading “Ukraine’s suicidal ‘offensive’ sent 1000’s to a terrible death, spurred on by UK ‘advisors’”

by By Daisy Brickhill at FairPlanet Editorial Team in Thailand, Myanmar, China via thefreeonline

“It was 3:30am when I jumped. There were two possible outcomes – we would escape, or we would be killed. But it made no difference. We were working to serve them, and we would not continue. So I jumped into the sea.”

These are the words of a man we will call Ko Myo, although that is not his real name. He was a Burmese worker trafficked onto a Thai fishing boat, and then trapped at sea, at the mercy of his abusive captain.

Ko’s story is sadly common. Many migrant fishers are trafficked onto vessels and once out at sea, far from authorities, they are subjected to a kind of hell. Investigations by the Environmental Justice Foundation have uncovered cases of slavery, debt bondage, insufficient food and water, squalid living conditions, physical and sexual assault and even murder aboard fishing vessels from all over the world.

This photo essay shows some of the faces and tells some of the stories of those who have suffered this fate. World Day Against Trafficking in Persons provides a chance to raise awareness of their plight.

The individual stories are horrifying, but it is the systemic nature of the abuse that must be tackled. The first and most effective line of defence is surprising simple. Transparency.

Continue reading “Trafficking, Slavery and abuse in the Fishing Industry”

by Claytoonz via Dr Rex and thefreeonline

BlackLivesMatter … another one!! … “The Black Lives Matter movement is just as important today as when it rose after the murder of George Floyd. Black lives still matter and it still needs to be said.”

Columbus, Ohio cops shot and killed twenty-year-old Donovan Lewis, an unarmed Black man, this week during a nighttime raid while he was in bed.

The police burst into Lewis’ apartment with dogs to serve Lewis with arrest warrants on charges of domestic violence, assault, and improper handling of a firearm.

In body-camera footage of Tuesday’s shooting released by authorities, a Columbus cop pushes open a bedroom door and immediately fires at Lewis as he sits up in bed.

They then order him to crawl out of bed and then handcuff him to it. He died on his way to the hospital.

Between shooting and handcuffing Lewis, the cops told him to “stop resisting arrest.”

Was Lewis holding a gun when the cop shot him? No, he was not and the cop didn’t take enough time to notice as he shot as soon as the door opened.

The lawyers representing the cop who shot Lewis said that police officers “are forced to make split-second decisions” when faced with “volatile encounters in dangerous situations.”

The only one making it a volatile encounter and a dangerous situation was the cop. This cop’s “split-second decision” was the wrong one.

The police chief said Lewis may have had a vape pen or electronic cigarette in his hand, though it’s not seen in the video. Still, vape pens and electronic cigarettes are not guns. They don’t look anything like guns. Now we can add vape pens with cell phones and tasers for items cops mistake for guns.

Nighttime raids are costing tragic losses of lives. Minneapolis cops killed Amir Locke while he was sleeping on a couch during a no-knock raid several months ago.

In March 2020, Louisville cops shot and killed Breonna Taylor during one of their nighttime raids, and she wasn’t even the person they were looking for.

Donovan Lewis shooting highlights ‘persistent’ threat

What are the police going to do next, shoot unarmed black people while they’re on the toilet?

According to a 2019 study by Northwestern University, Black Americans are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by police than White Americans.

The rates are higher in Columbus where Black people are 4.5 times more likely to be killed by police than White people.

Andre Hill, a 47-year-old unarmed Black man, was shot four times by a Columbus cop while leaving a friend’s house in 2020. Last year, Ma’Khia Bryant, a Black 16-year-old, was shot by a Columbus cop outside her home. 

The city had to pay out $10 million for the killing of Hill but an investigation let Bryant’s shooter go.

The Black Lives Matter movement is just as important today as when it rose after the murder of George Floyd. Black lives still matter and it still needs to be said.

Music note: I listened to the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. You should too.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.

In English and partly in Catalan..from KurdisCat:/ ANF/ Medya/ El Salto /thefreeonline/ Sept 1st, 2022

Turkey, star member of NATO, attacked a UN-sponsored girls’ education center with a combat drone on August 18. Four girls died and another eleven were injured, some seriously, in the attack on the facility in Rojava, NE Syria. Boasting of 100’s more crimes Erdogan vows to crush direct democracy and women’s freedom with a 4th genocidal occupation.

Atrocity in Rojava as Turkish drone slaughters four girls playing volleyball at UN-funded centre

Combined US Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) division commander general John Brennan condemned the attack as a “violation of the laws of armed conflict,” without even mentioning Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently renewed threats of a broad operation against the Kurds in northern Syria but is thought to have failed to secure a green light from Iran and Russia, the two other key foreign brokers in the area.

The cynical US statement promised no punishment against NATO’s Turkey, just a ritual complaint, saying..: “On the night of August 18, an armed unmanned aerial system struck a group of teenagers playing volleyball who were active in a United Nations educational outreach program located between Tell Temir and Hesekê/Hasakah..

“Initial reports indicate that the attack killed four and injured several others, on behalf of CJTF-OIR, I condemn this attack and any others that kill and injure civilians”.

Civilians? But for the Turkish Regime all Kurds, Gays, Armenians, etc and anyone criticising President Erdogan are Terrorists

“These acts are contrary to the laws of armed conflict, which require the protection of civilians We extend our condolences to the families of the dead and our condolences to the injured. … We call for an immediate de-escalation by all parties and an end to activities that put at risk the significant battlefield gains the Coalition has made against IS.”

SDF accuses US of turning blind eye to Turkish aggressio The Kurdish militia has demanded that Washington take a firmer stance against Ankara’s strikes against their forces. In mid-August, the SDF suspended their anti-ISIS operations with the US coalition in protest at continued drone massacres in northeast Syria by Turkey, who has recently stepped up its operations against Kurdish militants.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused the United States and the coalition, as always, of supporting terrorism in Syria. (Which they do, but from their base in Al Tanf in the SW Syrian desert)

NATO had disgracefully okayed the planned Turkish genocide of 170K trapped Afrin refugees in Tell Rifaat/Shebha enclave in part exchange for Turkey letting Finland and Sweden join NATO. However despite fierce blackmail Russia refused to give Turkey the key permission to bomb using Syrian air space (which it gave in the Afrin invasion). Erdogan replied with an ongoing drone war, slaughtering people and claiming them as Kurdish terrorists. Neither Russia nor the US will provide anti drone defences.

AANES urges the International Coalition to uphold responsibilities against Turkey’s atrocitiesThe Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) released a statement and called for the international community to break their silence and to confront the atrocities of the Turkish st… ANF News

Erdogan told reporters on Friday after his return from Ukraine: “In all the steps we are currently taking in Syria, especially in northern Syria, east and west of the Euphrates in the Mediterranean, the work what we’ve done with the Russians has been a fight against terrorism”.

“Our phrase “we might come suddenly one night” is not in vain. That will happen at the right time. But let me also say this: nobody should ask Turkey if it is ready for something like that. We are prepared for all these things. “

Because we are prepared, we have the power to do whatever is necessary at a moment’s notice. At this time, unfortunately, the United States in particular is stockpiling thousands of weapons loads , ammunition, vehicles and equipment there. to whom all this is piling up ? Completely for terrorist organizations.

Continue reading “Turkey bombs UN Youth Center in Rojava, murders 4 Kurdish girls playing volleyball + 100’s more depraved crimes”

by Slobodan Kolomoets on 1 Sep, 2022 at a Western Banned News Agency via thefreeonline

How London played a role in Zelensky’s newest clampdown on the rights of the country’s citizens with Zero hour contracts

In a scheme which may have been devised in far away London, Europe’s lowest paid workforce has just lost some of the few precious protections it had. The measure flies in the face of Ukraine’s apparent ambitions to join the European Union. 

On August 22, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky ratified highly controversial new labor laws, ones that have wide-ranging negative implications for the overwhelming majority of the country’s workers.

Employees work at the steel production of the Melitopol autotractor spare parts factory, in Melitopol, Ukraine.

Collectively known as Bill 5371, the legislation robs up to 70 percent of Ukrainian employees of rights and protections provided under the country’s established national labor law, while severely restricting the power of already-embattled trade unions to organize.

President Zelensky’s ruling Servant of the People party argues the “liberalizing” measures are not only necessary, but long overdue, as a result of Kiev’s “extreme over-regulation of employment” contradicting “principles of market self-regulation [and] modern personnel management,” and creating “bureaucratic barriers both for the self-realization of employees and for raising the competitiveness of employers.”

By contrast, in the lead-up to Bill 5371’s ratification, a great many groups within and outside the country expressed outcry at the proposed measures over many months.

The International Labour Organization (ILO), a United Nations agency charged with ensuring social and economic justice by safeguarding international labor standards, including conditions of freedom, equity, security and dignity in workplaces worldwide, published a withering and extensive analysis of the proposals – as did Ukraine’s own parliamentary committee on EU integration. 

The body charged that the legislation “weakens labor protection, narrows the scope of labor rights and social guarantees of employees, in comparison with the current legislation,” in contravention of Ukraine’s obligations to Brussels under the terms of its Association Agreement.

Andrey Reva, Ukraine’s former minister of social policy, has leveled similar charges:

“Employees will no longer have any protection against arbitrary dismissal. Upon hiring, the employee will be asked to sign an employment agreement, which will allow the employer to obtain unilateral advantages during its conclusion and deprive the employee of any legal opportunities for his defense … Why is this being done right now, when Ukraine has submitted an application to join the European Union and is awaiting its consideration?”

Made in Britain

Many comparisons have been drawn between these ‘reforms’ and notorious “zero-hour” contracts, which offer staffers no paid vacation time, limits on daily or weekly hours worked, notice periods, pension contributions, or even guaranteed work in the first place.

Continue reading “Leaked document exposes hidden Western hand behind new British-style anti-worker slave laws in Ukraine”