from Behind Enemy Lines shared with thanks. Translation The Free Online

by Eric King

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.

Continue reading “If words are as dangerous as bullets.. by Eric King. English/Spanish”

3 Oct, 2020 Get short URL

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

2 Oct, 2020 12:05 Get short URL

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.

Anya Parampil·October 1, 2020Red LinesVenezuela

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.

Continue reading “Debunking UN’s new Venezuela report: Using human rights to promote US War and criminal Siege”

from todoporhacer.org. translation thefreeonline

What do the Isla de Valdecañas, Madrid Central low-emission zone and the high-speed AVE trains have in common?

An island in an environmentally protected area in a reservoir in Cáceres converted into a luxury resort.

A low emission zone in Madrid denounced by the Partido Popular (PP) and annulled for “defects of form” by a judge.

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.

Continue reading “Environmental destruction as Fast as the High Speed Train .. English /Spanish”

As Brazil’s wetlands burned, neo-fascist Bolsonaro regime did worse than nothing to help

Tatiana Pollastri And David Biller / The Associated Press

September 30, 2020 02:53 PM

As Brazil’s wetlands burned, government did little to help

Jair Bolsonaro’s government says it has mobilized hundreds of federal agents and military service members to the region to douse the flames. However, all along the only highway through the northern Pantanal, dozens of people —  firefighters, ranchers, tour guides and veterinarians — told The Associated Press that the government has exaggerated its response and there are few federal boots on the ground.

The world’s largest wetland is on fire: how can we save the Pantanal?

https://blog.ecosia.org/what-is-the-pantanal-and-why-is-it-burning/

PORTO JOFRE, Brazil — After hours navigating Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands in search of jaguars earlier this month, Daniel Moura beached his boat to survey the fire damage. In every direction, he saw only devastation. No wildlife, and no support from federal authorities.

Continue reading “Trashing the Last Paradise. World’s biggest Pantanal Wetlands still Ablaze”