Our stomach turns when we do a visual count of the damages caused by the merciless rains of recent days. It’s just that figures alone don’t allow for a full comprehension of the catastrophe’s characteristics – in figures there is a cold rational that isn’t understood until one sees concrete faces, the faces of little kids scared and searching for answers amongst such despair. Wrinkles and colors of our People, the poor, asking ourselves how damn long will we be the everlasting protagonists of natural disasters? And while the answer is simple, it is urgent that we ideologically alphabetize at this precise moment, at the center of this crisis, and expose the great unmasked guilty party in front of cameras and in front of consciousnesses. The guilt lies with capitalism, the … [read more]

Mubarak missed by 17 hours the last possibility of a respectable resignation. His demission was stated by his vice, Mr. Omar Suleiman. Mubarak could see how the whole Arab nation from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arab-Persian Gulf celebrated his departure, as well his Western allies welcoming the transition of power in Egypt. The Egyptians have a great reason to celebrate. They are celebrating a victory over 30 years of a rule of fear and poverty. They are celebrating a victory which was achieved by an uprising of popular masses and without foreign support. The Egyptians earn the respect of the whole world, being able to remove one of the most crucial regimes in a country with 80 million inhabitants through a totally peaceful uprising. Despite of all attempts of defamation by Western … [read more]

It includes the founding forces of political parties and progressive and democratic organizations. The Front’s urgent tasks are: 1. Bringing down Ghannouchi current government or any government that includes symbols of the former regime. 2. Dissolving the RCD, the confiscation of its headquarters and property and Bank accounts as they belong to the people, and dismissing its members. 3. Formation of temporary force that enjoys the confidence of the people and the progressive forces of the civil society political, associations, unions and youth organizations. 4. The dissolving of the House of Representatives and the advisers council and all current false bodies, and the Higher Council of the Judiciary, and the dismantling of the political structure of the … [read more]

Many young university graduates are earning 300 Euros per month. The normal worker earns 50 Euros/month. This is why young Egyptians between 25 and 40 years old are not able to rent an apartment on their own and leave their parents’ home. And the problem is getting worse since the Egyptian families are not able anymore to finance their sons and daughters even though they are living under one roof. The young generation is desperate and this is why suicide attempts are getting higher and more attempts to immigrate illegally in risky and unhealthy conditions are more frequent. What is also important to analyze is the position of the US government vis a vis of what is happening in the Arab World. They don’t care if their allies are under threat or in danger, for example Hariri and … [read more]

Congretulation on Tunisian Revolution which will inspire the workers and the oppressed around the world to stand up aganist so- called democratic regimes and capitalist brutal system.The workers and people of Afghanistan which have been suffering from occupation of US/Nato and their barbaric war, express their solidarity with Tunisian people and condonle with families of martyreds and victim of police in Tunisia. - long live workers revoluation in Tunisia! - Down with imperialism and occupation! - Stop imperialist intervention in Tunisia! Nasir Loyand 24 January 2011, … [read more]

We wish in the first place to express our condolences to this sorely tried community, but we also wish to condemn in the firmest way this perverse action which nothing, no ideology and no belief could ever justify. At the present state of things we know nothing on the perpetrators of this action, on their identity or on their reasons. Conversely, we know that this attack has taken place following other similar actions having the Christians as a target. Such things happen regularly in Iraq since the US invasion and have a precedent in Egypt last year with the gunfire against a church of Nagaa Hamadi, in the South of the country. Furthermore, other religious communities, such as the Sunni and Shi’ite in Iraq or Pakistan have also been the victims of such operations. At any rate, it is … [read more]

Transcribed by Claudine Fähndrich, BDS Switzerland http://www.silviacattori.net/article1429.html I begin by thanking all the organizers; I know it took quite a lot of efforts to bring us all together. It is a great achievement, and as Mazen and Eider mentioned, and Lubna, yesterday, you also provided a great opportunity for us to meet and we are very grateful to you for this opportunity to meet you and to meet each other. It is easier because of the Israeli oppression to meet here than to meet in Palestine where we should meet and hopefully one day we will all be there without the need to go to the frozen hills of Stuttgart to create a joint life! And I think that's the gist of the Zionist story that it does not allow people to meet normal life and to be normal friends that they … [read more]

Dear colleagues and friends, New Year’s Greetings! Tomorrow, the 4^th of January, 2011, is the 61^st birthday of Dr. Binayak Sen. Let us flood the Raipur Jail with greetings, telegrams and cards to Dr. Sen wishing him on his birthday. Raipur Additional District and Sessions Judge B. P. Verma sentenced PUCL’s (People’s Union for Civil Liberties) National Vice President Dr. Binayak Sen to life imprisonment under charges of sedition 124 (A) of the IPC read with conspiracy (120-B IPC) along with convicting him concurrently u/s 8-(1), (2), (3) and (5) of the Chhattisgarh Vishesh Jan Suraksha Adhiniyam,2005 (Chhattisgarh Special Public Safety Act, 2005) and u/sec 39 (2) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 2004 (amended) on the 24th of December 2010. Dr Binayak … [read more]

The conference was a breakthrough not only regarding the number of participants but first of all because of its quality. It indicates a political shift which in most western countries is already in full swing. The two-state solution is being recognized more and more not only as deception and farce but as an outright support for Israeli apartheid. This change is due to the dramatic impact of the continuing blockade of Gaza, the Israeli military aggression on Gaza in January 2009 as well as the massacre on the Gaza freedom flotilla. Outstanding orator was Ilan Pappé, an Israel historian teaching in England. He was setting the line: A Jewish state cannot be other than colonial oppressing the Palestinians. There is no such thing as progressive Zionism. On the contrary Pappé compared … [read more]

Equality – or nothing (Edward W. Said) The speakers were the Israeli historian Prof. Ilan Pappé from the University of Exeter (U.K.), Prof. Haidar Eid from the Al Aqsa University Gaza, Prof Mazin Qumsiyeh from Bir Zeit University Ramallah, the co-founder of the Internet Portal Electronic Intifada Ali Abunimah, the Palestinian activist Lubna Masarwa, the international law expert from Hamburg Prof. Norman Paech, the journalist and human rights activist Evelyn Hecht-Galinski, Annette Groth MP from the parliamentary fraction of the left party (DIE LINKE), lawyer Jörg Lang, and Attia Rajab and Verena Rajab from the Stuttgart Palestine Committee. The jazz musician Gilad Atzmon supported the conference with his welcome address. The actress Julianna Herzberg and Samir Mansour with his … [read more]

Maryam Abu Dagga was interviewed be the Intifada Magazine during her participation in the 9th International Symposium against Isolation, held in Vienna on December 4-5, 2010. Intifada: Recently you spoke in different meetings and forums in Berlin, Copenhagen and other European cities. What is your impression of the European solidarity movement? Maryam Abu Dagga (M.A.D): First of all thank you for this meeting. Living in Gaza under the siege is very hard, and after the war our suffering and problems have gotten worse, especially for the people of our party. We have many problems and many difficulties to move. So it is only at very few times that we have the possibility to meet people internationally to speak about our problems. This occasion is very important for me and for the … [read more]

Delhi Convention on Kashmir AZADI: THE ONLY WAY 21 OCTOBER 2010, NEW DELHI ORGANISED BY COMMITTEE FOR THE RELEASE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS (CRPP) *A REPORT* The convention on Kashmir that was held on the 21 October 2010 proved to be historic in every aspect given the topicality of the issue. As can be noticed from the title of the convention itself we at the CRPP thought it necessary to pose the question directly, as the people of Kashmir, in their persistent struggle for their right to self-determination braving the repressive apparatus of the Indian State had dared even in their death. When people are being killed in hundreds; maimed, tortured, raped and put behind bars in thousands; it is of utmost significance as a responsible body which gives paramount importance to … [read more]

By Emily Wax Washington Post, Foreign Service Saturday, July 17, 2010 SRINAGAR, INDIAN-ADMINISTERED KASHMIR — One minute, a shaggy-haired 21-year-old is on the Internet, mixing brooding rock music with video footage of young Kashmiris protesting Indian control of this disputed Himalayan region. The next, he’s out on the streets wielding a more traditional weapon: the stone. The latest outbreak of dissent here, dubbed “Kashmir’s stone war,” marks a shift in the mostly Muslim region’s long-running struggle for autonomy. In a post-9/11, globalized world, Pakistan-backed separatists no longer roam the streets of this summer capital with guns. Instead, the heirs to the conflict are styling their discontent after cellphone images of the Palestinian uprising and its … [read more]

First of all in the mineral-rich belt in the south-east the Indian government awarded vast swathes of land to mining companies and heavy industries with contracts worth dozens of billions of Euros. They come to exploit the natural resources leaving little more than pollution and depleted resources. On the land they wish to appropriate, however, happen to live people mostly without property titles – the Adivasi, Hindi for native people. They are the poorest of the poor, excluded from caste society like the untouchables (Dalits), but differently to them living in formerly remote areas, in the jungles, which provided their livelihood in subsistence. Thus for business there is only one solution: drive them off their lands like its predecessor evolving capitalism did with the European … [read more]

A Note of POSCO Pratirodh Sangharsa Samiti ( PPSS), Jagatsinghpur, Odisha A Brief Background: On June 22 2005, Pohang Steel Company (POSCO), a large South Korean corporation, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Orissa in eastern India. This MOU outlined POSCO’s proposal to invest in the mining industry and build a steel plant, captive power station and port in Erasama block of Jagatsinghpur district. For the last five years, people living in the villages of the proposed site under the banner of POSCO Pratirodh Sanghrsa Samiti (Anti-POSCO People’s Movement) have been relentlessly protesting against the land acquisition process. More than 4000 families totaling a population of 30,000 will be affected by the project. These include all those persons … [read more]

Brothers, Sisters and comrades, I am glad and honoured to be addressing you for this event. I would like to tell you that from the start of our Palestinian revolutionary movement, we knew we were not alone, that our struggle was part of the international struggle. This makes us continue our struggle without fear in facing zionism and imperialism, especially US imperialism, as we know people around the world are with us practically and not just theoretically. We have learnt from history that when a people is occupied and oppressed they will revolt to liberate themselves using all methods including armed struggle, which is also enshrined in the UN Charta. Our homeland has been occupied since 1948, and I Leila Khaled have been a refugee for 62 years like 6 million other … [read more]

Zhao Dongmin was arrested on 19 August last year after organizing more than 380 workers from about 20 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to form a labour rights group tasked with overseeing and monitoring SOE restructuring, and reporting corruption and abuses of power. The Shaanxi Union Rights Defence Representative Congress was formally banned by the municipal government of Xi’an on 27 July, after which Zhao wrote an open letter protesting the action to the State Council, the municipal, provincial and central committees of the Chinese Communist Party. He was arrested 18 days later. Since his arrest, Zhao’s case has been taken up by an increasingly vocal group of supporters, many of whom share his leftist political views. Zhao was the head of the Shaanxi Mao Zedong Thought Study … [read more]

On 17th October, when people were celebrating Dussehra to mark the victory of Good over the Evil, the Democratic Front Against Operation Green Hunt, Punjab, held a massive Convention in Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall, Jalandhar on "War against the people & Role of Democratic Forces." It was addressed by noted pro-people thinker & Booker Award winner writer Arundhati Roy and Gandhian social activist Himanshu Kumar. Hundreds of people from all walks of life - University Professors, Research Scholars, Students, Artists, littérateur, cultural activists, press-persons, farmers, agricultural & industrial laborers, trade unionists, thinkers etc., participated from all across Punjab & Chandigarh. The Convention Hall having a seating capacity of 900 was overfilled & hundreds of people were left to hear … [read more]

Press Statement from UK Delegation in Diyarbakir to observe the trial of 151 Kurdish political activists and human rights defenders: We, as delegates from Britain of varying backgrounds and ethnicities welcome the opportunity that has been afforded to us to have firsthand insight into these historic trials. During our observations thus far we have had the opportunity of meeting and speaking with Mayors, Parliamentarians, Lawyers, Academics and many other interested parties. This has given us the opportunity to explore at firsthand the issues in these trials and have helped to shape our understanding of the actual meaning of these trials. We had firsthand experience of being in the Courtroom with the 151 defendants and their 250 lawyers yesterday and today. We can confidently … [read more]

We had the renowned author and activist Ms. Arundhati Roy as a special observer in the IPT. The esteemed members of the Jury were Retd Judge of Jharkhand High Court, Justice Vikramaditya Prasad, Sri Prashant Bhushan Senior Supreme Court advocate, Sri K.S. Subramanian, I.P.S. and former Director General of Police, Sri C.S. Jha, former CMD of BCCL and ECL and others. We are sharing the observations and recommendations of the Jury. We hope it will have a huge impact in the human rights movement. Independent people’s tribunal on operation green hunt in Jharkhand (held in Ranchi on 25th and 26th Sept 2010) Observations of the Jury The jury heard the testimonies of a number of social Activists working the Tribals in Jharkhand as well as a number of Tribals themselves who have been … [read more]