Dannenrod. Germany. October 1. 2020. The clearing of the forest for the controversial further construction of the A49 freeway began in the early hours of this morning.
The logging work is taking place under police protection in the Herrenwald FFH protection area. This lies on the planned route of the A49, north of the Dannenröder Forest, which has been occupied for a year in protest against the construction of the freeway section and for a consistent traffic transition.
A few weeks ago, platforms and tree houses were also constructed in the Herrenwald, and activists have announced that they will also block the logging there and the associated expansion of the freeway.
In case you missed it! Crimethinc responds to a stupid anti anarchist article in the New York Times. And in the process gives us insights into the BLM and anarchist resistance. AnalysisCurrent Events
The Ex-Worker Responds to the New York Times
Yesterday, Farah Stockman from the New York Times editorial board published an article claiming to be “The Truth About Today’s Anarchists.” It draws on the work of an amateur conspiracy theorist, a poorly researched report from a nonprofit including a former Republican state attorney general and a former NYPD chief, a couple interviews with politicians and reformers, decontextualized and misleading references to two of our own publications, and regurgitated right-wing talking points to argue that violent anarchists are somehow controlling the ongoing countrywide protests but don’t care about Black lives.///
What follows is a detailed rebuttal of this dangerously irresponsible article. Fortunately, initial reactions on social media suggest that the reading public has largely seen through its distortions. Nonetheless, we want to take the opportunity to reply in full—because despite its absurdity, the article touches on critical issues that deserve to be addressed. This is an opportunity to set the record straight, to explain why many anarchists have participated in these protests, and to elaborate our vision for a freer world.
How did Stockman learn this “truth”? She appears to have spoken to at least one experienced activist in the course of her research, though she didn’t use any of the information or contacts that person offered her. There are thousands she could have approached—but she didn’t include perspective from any of them.
Instead, the article’s primary source is Jeremy Lee Quinn, an amateur conspiracy theorist posing as an investigative journalist who has no more familiarity with anarchists than one can gain from standing around at a couple demonstrations. Admitting he has no prior background on the subject, he claims to have “gone undercover” during black bloc protests in several cities over a period of months, and has now posted a website full of videos and disjointed rants as “a non-partisan source of information on riot Direct Action [sic] and how it may succeed under the cover of protest.”
If words are as dangerous as bullets and sharp as knives Can we start filling the pages? grinding our pencils to stubs Turning ink into guillotines prose the ropes onto their wrist and rhyme these prison walls to paste cause nothing else seems to be working heads aren’t rolling, the streets are on holiday maybe enough words can spark a million fires in our hearts which would create a million fires in the banks a million convicts in the streets Not giving a fuck about a voters box Giving a fuck about having a life our words can break these chains? then gather our dictionaries there aren’t enough thesauruses in the world I need to fight more, I need to write more My tongue has been shackled I haven’t resisted, I haven’t insisted More words, more battles, more victories more poems, more struggle, more bumps We’d be fighting with our minds dismantling the system that strangles us Then turning those words into life A life more important than burning and bombing Enough magic, love, growth and life We can grow into a space worth existing in Our words can get us free.
– Eric King, political prisoner, FCI Englewood, 2020
Who is Eric King?
by Eric King Support Crew
Eric G. King, a 33-year-old vegan anarchist political prisoner and poet, was arrested and charged with an attempted firebombing of a congressperson’s office in Kansas City, Missouri, in September 2014. As part of his plea and sentencing, Eric publicly and proudly acknowledged that his intent was to take direct political action in solidarity with the community of Ferguson, Missouri, following the August 2014 police killing of Michael Brown Jr.
Eric was charged with throwing a hammer through a window of the building, followed by two lit Molotov cocktails. The criminal complaint states that both incendiary devices failed to ignite. Eric was identified as a suspect by local police because he had previously come under suspicion for anti-government and anti-police graffiti.
Russia has delivered the first batch of its Covid-19 vaccine to Venezuela, making it the first Latin American nation to participate in Sputnik V’s clinical trial.
“We are the first country from the Western Hemisphere which will start the Phase III trial of this vaccine against Covid-19,” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro tweeted, expressing his gratitude to Russia.
Red crates containing doses of the Sputnik V vaccine to immunize 2,000 people arrived at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas on Friday. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez accepted the cargo during a short welcome ceremony, after which it was moved to a lab.
“On behalf of President Nicolas Maduro and the Venezuelan people, we thank our sister Russia and President Vladimir Putin,” she tweeted.
The vaccine, nicknamed after the USSR’s first space satellite, was registered in Russia in August, before a large-scale Phase III trial of the drug was conducted. The decision was criticized by some Western nations, who called it reckless.
Moscow said the medicine was based on a time-tested platform successfully used for other vaccines, assuring its safety.
The batch delivered to Venezuela is part of a post-approval trial, which involves some 40,000 volunteers and is conducted with the help of some of Russia’s foreign allies. The results of the study are expected to be reported within two months.
Creator of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine offers to help White House staff after US President Trump contracts virus
By Jonny Tickle The developer of Russia’s pioneering Covid-19 vaccine has offered the White House administration an opportunity to be inoculated against the virus after Donald Trump confirmed Thursday he and his wife had contracted the disease.
Speaking to Moscow news agency RIA Novosti, Sputnik V creator Alexander Gintsburg advised President Trump’s colleagues to get in touch with Moscow to get a hold of some of the vaccine. “I think we can help them if they contact the Russian authorities officially,” he said.
In the morning of Monday, August 17th, in Thessaloniki, the squat Terra Incognita was evacuated by the repressive forces of the state.
For over 16 years, Terra Incognita has been a meeting place and a melting pot for hundreds of fighters, men and women, thanks to its stable structures, such as a library, a printing house, a gym etc., hosting events, interventions or demonstrations against repression, capitalism, fascism and patriarchy..
A few days later, in the early hours of Saturday, September 5th, the state mechanism chooses to evacuate Rosa Nera squat in Chania (Crete). This attack is not random either, since Rosa Nera in recent years has been the center of investment plans by the administration of the Technical University of Crete, given that the squat is situated on Kastelli hill, one of the most touristic places in the city.,
For 16 years, Rosa Nera hosted people and events, supported and participated in many struggles, local and non-local, had been a stable spot offering practical solidarity towards immigrants but also the local community thanks to its numerous open structures such as library, reading room, children’s workshops, playground, theater groups, community garden, charity bazaars etc.
Red Lines host Anya Parampil debunks a new report issued by the UN Human Right’s Council which accuses Venezuela’s government of “crimes against humanity”. Transcript below.
By Anya Parampil
A new report by a special mission of the United Nations Human Rights Council was released in September and is making headlines after it accused Venezuela’s government of crimes against humanity.
Because it is getting so much attention, several people have reached out to me asking for clarification regarding the information and allegations presented in the report. So I thought I’d help provide some context.
see also..https://thefreeonline.wordpress.com/2019/05/03/stop-us-murder-machine/COMMENT: We do not deny that the Venezuelan State, like almost all others, has used torture against civilians. The ‘Chavez revolution’ can only survive by militarized organisation against the endless subversion, sanctions and coups of strongest Empire in history. But within that State control there are still genuine mass communal solidarity movements, a constituent assembly, gender rights, housing and health rights, etc. now sadly disappearing in mass hunger and poverty.
The first point to understand about this report is that none of its authors set foot in Venezuela in order to produce it..
The Office of the High Commissioner of the UN Human Rights Council, Michele Bachelet, did not author this report.
An underused and overrated high speed train network.
Three conflicts where, once again, the environmental movement has always been on the frontline against politicians, businessmen and judges who strive to increase every day more social and territorial inequalities and environmental catastrophes.
For more than 50 years, different sectors of society have been warning of the irreversible path that humanity is taking with respect to the environment that surrounds it. Climate change, the end of fossil resources, the loss of biodiversity, population concentration in large cities, long-distance tourism, the transmission of diseases, the financialization of the economy, industrial relocation … are indicators that something is going very badly.
