Website / newspaper / journal / web based media updates: April 4th - Apr 11th : Blog here!

by SevenOaksMag.com Mon Apr 05, 2004 09:56

This week, Seven Oaks looks at the politics of global warming, a new kind of Irish immigration, and prison chic in Berlin. Commentaries look at the Air Canada fiasco and Cuba's doctors without borders. Plus 7 questions with Lily Loncar on protest for social housing, a critical-satirical look at Viagra's multicultural advertising, a look at the legacy of the 1990s, and a photo gallery from Peru and Bolivia. See http://www.sevenoaksmag.com/
Vol. 1, no. 7

FEATURES

The new Irish immigrant
http://www.sevenoaksmag.com/features/07_belfast.html

Global warning: Climate change as a real weapon of mass destruction
http://www.sevenoaksmag.com/features/07_global_warning.html

Berlin’s convict chic
http://www.sevenoaksmag.com/features/07_berlin_chic.html

COMMENTARY

What’s the deal with airplane feud?
http://www.sevenoaksmag.com/commentary/07_airlines.html

A real humanitarian intervention: Cuba’s doctors without borders
http://www.sevenoaksmag.com/commentary/07_cuba.html

CULTURE

Oh well, whatever, never mind: Looking forward to the 90s, again
http://www.sevenoaksmag.com/culture/07_nineties.html

Viagra: Movin’ on apna!
http://www.sevenoaksmag.com/culture/07_apna.html

GALLERY

Simón says
http://www.sevenoaksmag.com/gallery/

SEVEN QUESTIONS

Lily Loncar on the tent city and homelessness
http://www.sevenoaksmag.com/questions/07.html

by WSM Mon Apr 05, 2004 12:10

The latest issue of the Irish anarchist paper Workers Solidarity No 80 is online. Individual articles can be accessed at http://struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/index.html
The PDF file of Workers Solidarity 80 is at
http://struggle.ws/wsm/pdf/ws/80.html
for you to print out and distribute locally

Mayday Mayday
EU leaders in the castle - we'll take the streets. On Saturday, the first of May, anarchists and other activists from the Dublin Grassroots Network are calling for a day of action and protest against the EU.
http://struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/80/mayday.html

Deporting our neighbours - Government plays race card to divide and rule
It suits the Irish elite to scapegoat refugees for all the problems that their mismanagement of society causes. The ruling class wants to set Irish workers against immigrant workers so as to prevent the workers from seeing that their interests are the same regardless of nationality
http://struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/80/thatscapitalism.html

Quebec 1, Global Elite 0
When the summit circus came to Quebec and lost. The Summit of the Americas, a meeting of 34 head of state to advance the agenda of neo-liberal capitalism, was held in Québec in 2001.
http://struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/80/quebec.html

On the frontlines of the health crisis
An interview with Dr. Ciara McMeel, a GP working in West Tallaght
http://struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/80/health.html

Book Review - Palestine by Joe Sacco
In the book '1984', Winston Smith is told what the future is going to be like. He is told to imagine a boot grinding a face into the ground over and over again.
http://struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/80/review.html

Thinking about Anarchism - Immigration
The flip side to the world of freedom of movement for the wealthy and their commodities is that there are massive restrictions on the freedom of movement for those seeking to escape the poverty of the third world.
http://struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/80/immigration.html

Hijab: lifting the veil
Standing up to religious oppression or state racism? Ultimately we believe that people should have the freedom to dress whatever way they like. This means freedom from state interference and freedom from religious interference in how one should dress.
http://struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/80/hijab.html

International Women's Day
International Women's Day is an expressly political day. In 1907 women sweatshop workers marched in New York and thus the first International Women's day was born.
http://struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/80/womensday.html

Transport privatisation: working conditions under attack
Reduce wage costs, increase fares, cut back on less used routes. That's the plan for the bus service. Airport workers are also looking at worsening conditions with the threatened break up of Aer Rianta
http://struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/80/transport.html

Thats capitalism
Racist attacks, Fianna Fail bribes and housing shortages in Ireland
http://struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/80/thatscapitalism.html

The PDF file of Workers Solidarity 80 is at
http://struggle.ws/wsm/pdf/ws/80.html
for you to print out and distribute locally

by redjade Mon Apr 05, 2004 15:02

Los Angeles, USA - An article that appeared today, February 21, in the Los Angeles Times mentions that the United States Department of the Treasury declared recently that American publishers cannot edit works authored in nations under trade embargoes. Altering any works written in the five five embargoed nations, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya and Cuba, is deemed illegal. Publishing articles is legal, but editing is considered a "service" and the agency has ruled that it is illegal to perform services for embargoed nations.

by I mac di armada - torre de corsairi. Mon Apr 05, 2004 15:32

interesting love affair reflected upon:-
The Brits reflect on 100 years of their Entente Cordiale with France.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1185876,00.html
they of course signed the Treaty 100 years ago today, and historians amongst you will be thrilled to know, the Kingdom of Ireland was included.
http://www.libe.com/
photo puts the cordial agreement nicely on the French site.

1904 as we all know was a most important year for the gongs.

Some day "again", we will reflect on our love affair with both those countries as well. As we have all gone through so much in such different ways, and we all should feel a little bit proud of the co-operation enjoyed between us despite the inarguable fact that Brits hate Frogs, Frogs hate Brits and the Irish are many different people who reserve their special hatred for each other and Brit politicians.

We don't need to chop up our DNA in reductio ad absurdio, in complete contravence of the creative principle which is enshrined as a central mystery of dogma be it Christian, Jewish or Islamic.
You won't find a Higgs Boson in a gene.
And you wouldn't know what to do with it if you tried, that is what your graduates have told you, it really is so mysterious that it doesn't warrent the money being thrown into it, what a bottomless pit, but not let you be reminded the "really scary one".
Despite over 10 years of chopping up the little creatures, no advance has been made, and lots of little _"monsters"_ have been quietly binned. But they were not your little creatures to chop up.

Your animals were bred, carefully for your health, nutrition and safety over millenia.
We are proud of our breeds, they offerd you reliable food and protected you from the plagues.
You like children learn how to walk, by falling many times, you will not run so soon.

This is not NewsSpeak.
it's Old Speak.

by Dublin - Antiauthoritarian Movement of Greece (Thessaloniki) Mon Apr 05, 2004 15:59

a
Informations translated in Greek about the Dublin mayday (text, programe and useful web-sites) can be found in the web site of the Antiauthoritarian Movement of Greece. www.resistance2003.gr

You 'll find a link about Dublin MayDay in the front page!

by Independent Workers Union (I.W.U.) - Independent Workers Union (I.W.U.) Tue Apr 06, 2004 10:15 iwu at union dot ie Trade Union Centre, 55 North Main Street, Cork

A Chairdre,

The newly formed Independent Workers Union (I.W.U.) held our 1st conference in the Victoria Hotel, Cork City last Saturday, April 3rd. Around 70 delegates turned up. For a report on our conference please log onto http://www.union.ie/Conference_news.htm

For photos of our conference please log onto http://www.union.ie/photos.htm

by redjade Tue Apr 06, 2004 10:32

gt. Camilo Mejia has become part of a group of about a hundred military personnel who have declared themselves "conscientious objectors" and refuse to fight in Iraq. This Hispanic staff sergeant overnight has become one of the standard-bearers of American pacifist organizations and activists opposing the war in Iraq. The 28-year-old Nicaraguan is now in his own war to defend his principles.

"The fear of dying has the power to turn soldiers into killing machines. I went to Iraq and was a instrument of violence; now I have decided to turn myself into an instrument of peace," Mejia declared, accompanied by about a hundred activists and relatives.

After having fought in Iraq, the sergeant returned in October on a 14-day furlough that turned into five months of being "absent without authorized leave". Mejia finally turned himself in to the appropriate military authorities. But why in the first place would the son of a leftist couple from Nicaragua's Sandinista era enlist in the U.S. army?

more at....

by redjade Tue Apr 06, 2004 10:36

Q Mr. President, are you concerned at all that events like we've seen over the last week in Iraq are going to make it tougher to meet that deadline, or increase pressure from the U.N. or anyone else?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think there's -- my judgment is, is that the closer we come to the deadline, the more likely it is people will challenge our will. In other words, it provides a convenient excuse to attack. In this particular incident, with Sadr, this is one person who is deciding that rather than allow democracy to flourish, he's going to exercise force. And we just can't let it stand. As I understand, the CPA today announced a warrant for his arrest. This is one person -- this is a person, and followers, who are trying to say, we don't want democracy -- as a matter of fact, we'll decide the course of democracy by the use of force. And that is the opposite of democracy. And it's -- that's why the CPA issued the statement they issued.

by redjade Tue Apr 06, 2004 11:32

Four soldiers from a New York Army National Guard company serving in Iraq are contaminated with radiation likely caused by dust from depleted uranium shells fired by U.S. troops, a Daily News investigation has found.

They are among several members of the same company, the 442nd Military Police, who say they have been battling persistent physical ailments that began last summer in the Iraqi town of Samawah.

"I got sick instantly in June," said Staff Sgt. Ray Ramos, a Brooklyn housing cop. "My health kept going downhill with daily headaches, constant numbness in my hands and rashes on my stomach."

A nuclear medicine expert who examined and tested nine soldiers from the company says that four "almost certainly" inhaled radioactive dust from exploded American shells manufactured with depleted uranium.

by redjade Tue Apr 06, 2004 12:23

PRESS RELEASE
Coalition Provisional Authority
http://www.iraqcoalition.org

April 1, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Joe Frazier 914-360-5114.
Hardimanm@orha.centcom.mil 


Optimists Club Organizes Baghdad Chapter


Optimists International can now claim Baghdad, Iraq as the home of its most recently organized chapter. Founded in 1919 with chapters in 28 countries, Optimists is a service organization best known for “bringing out the best in kids.” The new chapter held its organizational meeting at the former palace of Saddam Hussein, now the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) Headquarters in Baghdad. A group of 28 civilian CPA staff and Iraqi nationals attended.

The meeting began with folk music entertainment from Pearse Marshner, who has been in Iraq for a year supporting the Coalition effort. Ben Krause then described plans to promote an essay contest for local high school seniors in the Baghdad metropolitan area. The theme of this year’s essay contest will be “What a Free Iraq Means to Me.” Any Iraqi high school student will be eligible to participate. The date for the contest has not been finalized.

by pat c Tue Apr 06, 2004 12:28

(Merry pranksters strike! pat c)

A ceremony has been held in Chile to honour the 19th Century military hero Arturo Prat after bizarre insults were published in 250,000 school books. The offending English language textbook called him a dirty old man that never shaved and said Chilean sailors were Pinochet supporters and cowards.

The Chilean government has called it sabotage and recalled all copies.

by enver hoxha - a.c.p. Tue Apr 06, 2004 14:24

the freer the market the freer the people...
i don't know whether to laugh or cry but this is interesting if a little sad. check out who the members are. i think you'll be pleasantly surprised!!

by redjade Tue Apr 06, 2004 17:14

American bodyguards in Iraq want to strengthen their weaponry with hand grenades and high-powered machineguns after four private security consultants were murdered in Fallujah last week.

Only coalition soldiers are allowed to carry explosives under existing regulations, leaving up to 20,000 civilian contractors working as guards outgunned by insurgents with rocket-propelled grenades and belt-fed machineguns.

The Coalition Provisional Authority is horrified by the contractors' plans to flout the rules, believing that such action could lead to a serious escalation in violence as the June deadline approaches for power to be transferred to the Iraqis.

more at....

by redjade Tue Apr 06, 2004 17:18

A special investigation by Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez of the New York Daily News has found four of nine soldiers of the 442nd Military Police Company of the New York Army National Guard returning from Iraq tested positive for depleted uranium contamination. They are the first confirmed cases of inhaled depleted uranium exposure from the current Iraq conflict. [....]

- Sgt. Herbert Reed, assistant deputy warden at Rikers Island with 442nd military police company of New York Army National Guard. He did not test positive for depleted uranium, but has uranium 236, a uranium isotope not found in nature.

- Sgt. Agustin Matos, was deployed in Iraq with the 442nd Military Police. He is among the first confirmed cases of inhaled depleted uranium exposure from the current Iraq conflict.

- Sgt. Hector Vega, among the first confirmed cases of inhaled depleted uranium exposure from the current Iraq conflict.

- Dr. Asaf Durakovic, colonel in army reserves who served in first Gulf War. He is one of the first doctors to discover unusual radiation levels in Gulf War veterans. He has since become a leading critic of the use of depleted uranium in warfare. He tested the nine men at the request of the Daily News.

by R Isible Tue Apr 06, 2004 22:28

Sorry no translation available. But Dutch seems very like English and I think you'll get the gist.

by ec Wed Apr 07, 2004 15:16

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0406-12.htm

by ec Wed Apr 07, 2004 15:19

Gas Hogs

Ordinarily, I'd be pleased and excited about the results of the latest Pew poll, which shows a sharp drop in Bush's approval rating over the past couple of weeks (It's now negative -- 43% approve, 47% disapprove, and even worse on specific issues like the economy, energy and Iraq).

But then I came across this nugget:

Public attention to news about rising gas prices, already quite high, increased markedly in early April – fully 58% paid very close attention to reports on the high price of gasoline, compared with 36% who followed the recent attacks on Americans in Iraq very closely.

Now as disgusted as I was by the right-wing hate rally that followed the Fallujah atrocities, I really have to wonder: What does it say about a country -- a country at war, no less -- when its citizens are paying much closer attention to the price of a gallon of gas than to the fact that four of their countrymen were just killed, burned and hung upside down from a railroad bridge in Iraq for the world to stare at?

Does anyone out there still want to argue that control of the Persian Gulf oil fields was not one of the causes of war that led us into the Iraq quagmire?

by MG Wed Apr 07, 2004 19:38

A computer hacker who allowed himself to be publicly identified only as ''Mudhen'' once boasted at a Las Vegas conference that he could disable a Chinese satellite with nothing but his laptop computer and a cellphone.


The others took him at his word, because Mudhen worked at the Puzzle Palace -- the nickname of the U.S. National Security Agency facility at Fort Meade, Md., which houses the world's most powerful and sophisticated electronic eavesdropping and anti-terrorism systems.


It was these systems, plus an army of cryptographers, chaos theorists, mathematicians and computer scientists, that may have pulled in the first piece of evidence that led Canadian authorities to arrest an Ottawa man on terrorism charges last week.


Citing anonymous sources in the British intelligence community, The Sunday Times reported that an e-mail message intercepted by NSA spies precipitated a massive investigation by intelligence officials in several countries that culminated in the arrest of nine men in Britain and one in suburban Orleans, Ont. -- 24-year-old software developer Mohammed Momin Khawaja, who has since been charged with facilitating a terrorist act and being part of a terrorist group.

by redjade Thu Apr 08, 2004 09:08

Nearly 20,000 Sudanese in Darfur have flooded the region’s towns over the past week, reporting a campaign of systematic torture and rape by militia groups, which a senior United Nations official recently linked to ethnic cleansing.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported today that 4,000 people have taken shelter at the Kalma camp in recent days, raising its population to 12,000.

Truckloads of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Dinka ethnic community are also entering Nyala itself on a daily basis, OCHA reported. In the town of Kass, 15,000 people have arrived in the last week.

New arrivals at Kalma told OCHA staff that Janjaweed militias committed "major atrocities" in the Shetaya and Kailiek areas of Darfur, killing and torturing up to 200 men and systematically raping women. IDPs fleeing Kailiek said they were forced to pay the militias simply to leave the area.

more at....

by redjade Thu Apr 08, 2004 09:44

I have never been so scared in my life. Scared doesn’t cover it: terrified doesn’t, either. I'd never known it was possible to be terrified and be totally calm. I’d look around, seeing the trails of weapons, seeing the F-16s overhead---they never dropped bombs, they just flew around------and then look down and see the chameleons running in the grass. And then you’d hear the thump of another mortar round, but you don’t really hear those---you feel them, somehow. They’re loud enough to make you flinch, and these were all close----I saw one land in front of me at about three thirty AM, no more than fifty meters away.

My captain didn’t know I heard him say what he just said. “Honestly, last night, I think every one of us thought that was it, that we weren’t going to make it back. It was that bad.”

We faced a force of four to five hundred rebels, with mortars, RPGs and various handheld weapons. There were four US soldiers---myself and the other people in my team----about twenty Ukrainian soldiers, and thirty or so scared British and Aussie expats, including the British governor. The Ukrainian soldiers had a couple tank/hybrid vehicles, but they didn’t have much ammo for them. By midnight, everyone was running out. We kept impressing this on Higher, and they just couldn’t get that through their heads. What the fuck good are they? We are running out of ammo. We will be over-run if light hits this place in the morning and finds us still here.

More than that, it was the concrete reality that you were going to die. I felt that a few times yesterday, last night, and this morning. Escape attempt after attempt fell through, and those mortars started hitting the grounds, the gate, the vehicles. The enemy sent word that when darkness fell, they were going to over-run the compound and exterminate everyone there. The whole Iraqi security force just up and quit. One guy claimed that his mother had had a heart attack and he had to go home. I heard that on the radio myself. It’s the dog-ate-my-schoolwork excuse as applied to battle.

read more at....
http://www.livejournal.com/users/ginmar/

by redjade Thu Apr 08, 2004 10:43

Also see:
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/

Larger version of this image...
http://www.michaelmoore.com/_media/images/special/the_war_president_hires.jpg

by redjade Thu Apr 08, 2004 10:51

It's like the first few days of occupation again… it's a nightmare and everyone is tense. My cousin and his family are staying with us for a few days because his wife hates to be alone at home with the kids. It's a relief to have them with us. We all sit glued to the television- flipping between Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabia, CNN, BBC and LBC, trying to figure out what is going on. The foreign news channels are hardly showing anything. They punctuate dazzling reportages on football games and family pets with a couple of minutes worth of footage from Iraq showing the same faces running around in a frenzy of bombing and gunfire and then talk about 'Al-Sadr the firebrand cleric', not mentioning the attacks by the troops in Ramadi, Falloojeh, Nassriyah, Baghdad, Koufa, etc.

Over the last three days, over 150 Iraqis have been killed by troops all over Iraq and it's maddening. At times I feel like a caged animal- there's so much frustration and anger. The only people still raving about 'liberation' are the Iraqis affiliated with the Governing Council and the Puppets, and even they are getting impatient with the mess.

Our foreign minister Hoshyar Zibari was being interviewed by some British journalist yesterday, making excuses for Tony Blair and commending him on the war. At one point someone asked him about the current situation in Iraq. He mumbled something about how there were 'problems' but it wasn't a big deal because Iraq was 'stable'… what Iraq is he living in?

And as I blog this, all the mosques, Sunni and Shi’a alike, are calling for Jihad...

by redjade Thu Apr 08, 2004 11:08

A huge new U.S. Embassy will take the place of the current Coalition Provisional Authority, and the largest CIA station in the world will be in Baghdad.

"The June 30 thing is mostly symbolic," said Joseph S. Nye, dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and a former assistant defense secretary in the Clinton administration. "What you have on June 30 essentially is a transformation of the CPA into an embassy. But it's mostly in name."

Despite mounting questions about whether the deadline can or should be met, Bush administration officials have repeated their commitment to June 30. Denying that the date is merely symbolic, they are eager to convince Americans and Iraqis that they intend to make good on their promise to step back.

"We will pass sovereignty on June 30," President Bush said again Tuesday, in an appearance in Arkansas. "We will stay the course in Iraq."

by redjade Thu Apr 08, 2004 11:13

Private Guards Repel Attack on U.S. Headquarters

By Dana Priest Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, April 6,
2004; Page A01

An attack by hundreds of Iraqi militia members on the U.S.
government's headquarters in Najaf on Sunday was repulsed not by
the U.S. military, but by eight commandos from a private security
firm, according to sources familiar with the incident.

Before U.S. reinforcements could arrive, the firm, Blackwater
Security Consulting, sent in its own helicopters amid an intense
firefight to resupply its commandos with ammunition and to ferry
out a wounded Marine, the sources said.

The role of Blackwater's commandos in Sunday's fighting in Najaf
illuminates the gray zone between their formal role as bodyguards
and the realities of operating in an active war zone. Thousands
of armed private security contractors are operating in Iraq in a
wide variety of missions and exchanging fire with Iraqis every
day, according to informal after-action reports from several
companies.

More on Blackwater mercenaries....
http://www.blackwaterusa.com/

Rest of this article....

by Eoin Dubsky Thu Apr 08, 2004 11:33

http://rezo.net/anglais

Rezo.net is a French portal for alternative international news coverage.
There are some other sites, like ZNet.org and
InformationClearinghouse.info, which are also great portals to this sort
of thing, but they're a complete clutter. Rezo.net is nicely done
indeed, using the free French content management system SPIP to organise
and present newsfeeds from sources like Robert Fisk, Naomi Klein, John
Pilger, and publications from The Nation (US) to ZNet, CounterPunch and
The Los Angeles Times.

by redjade Thu Apr 08, 2004 12:02

While checking the (could-be-a-Trager) bag to see if it could be washed, he noted the washing instructions appeared in both English and French. The English is exactly what you would expect and so is the French, for the first 6 lines. The last three lines of French are most interesting:

''We are sorry that our President is an idiot. We didn't vote for him.''

by redjade Thu Apr 08, 2004 14:15

The death toll for coalition forces in the last two days of fighting stood at 34, including 12 Marines who died Tuesday in Ramadi. Ten of those Marines were from a single company.

The Iraqi death toll was much higher, perhaps more than 500. Marine engineers patrolling near Ramadi on Wednesday reported coming across a mass grave containing up to 350 bodies of Iraqis who appeared to have been killed in the fighting. It wasn't clear whether the bodies belonged to combatants, civilians or both.

by redjade Thu Apr 08, 2004 14:33

''This website was developed by the National Youth Council of Ireland with funding from the Communicating Europe Initiative. NYCI is the representative body for voluntary youth organisations in Ireland. Is é Comhairle Náisiúnta na nÓg an eagras ionadaíochta an óige in Éirinn.''
http://eurog.ie/aboutus/index.html

- - - - - - - -

Human Rights In The EU

Where?

blah blah

What?

blah blah blah

What does it do?

blah blah blah blah

by Alexander James - none Fri Apr 09, 2004 09:23 ajsij at yahoo dot com

We hear about the horrible secretive techniques by the RCMP and CSIS against the 7 persons currently arrested under the draconian terrorist laws. It seems to me that the reason such a secretive curtain is setup around these most likely innocent people (just like the other ones across the world) is that the purpose of these arrests is for propaganda purposes, i.e. fake terror to further consolidate the government's grip on people's minds and perform the acts required by the Banking Dynasties behind this smoke screen. I have writen a book on this subject which covers the topic of propaganda and fake terror.

Here in Canada there is about to be a national election where the two contenders - current Prime-Minister Paul Martin (Liberal Party) and Stephen Harper (Conservative Party) are both regular invitees to the secret NWO Bilderberg meetings.

Everything is connected to MONEY. Jesus said to beware of the Pharisees and the Synagogue of Satan (read the Bible). The money powers have been formenting ennimity between people to keep the masses busy while they maintain their money power. Please read the books by Victor Ostrovky, Dr. Henry Makow, Ari Ben-Menashe and others who have described how false information is planted and fake terror is by intelligence agencies to frame people for propaganda purposes.

For the full version with illustrations, please see http://ee.1asphost.com/alexjames999/ .

THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF MONEY
Compiled by Alexander James: version 2.64 April 5 2004

by MG Fri Apr 09, 2004 15:12

What is being proposed is a network of Irish American Anarchists organizing to radicalize other Irish Americans, educating others about issues regarding Ireland (all 32 counties), educating others about issues that face Irish America, and showing solidarity with radical organizations in the 32 counties of Ireland without sectarianism.

by Jimmy Fri Apr 09, 2004 18:35

Suppression of Freedom of Speech
Published today by the Basque newspaper GARA (Gara.net) in English
"2003 World Press Freedom Review
The war on terrorism had a severe impact on Spanish local media in 2003. Starting with the closure of the Basque newspaper Euskaldunon Egunkariaa and finishing at year end with the arrest of an Al-Jazeera reporter, allegedly for his connections with al-Qaeda, it seemed that the Spanish authorities were determined to sever a connection between terrorism and the media. However, it often appeared that the media were chosen because they were an easier target than the terrorists themselves and no consideration appears to have been given to the implications for freedom of the press in Spain.
In late February, there was a heated debate over the closure of Euskaldunon Egunkariaa, the Basque daily based in the northern Spanish town of Andoain. The paper was closed on 20 February on the order of the courts that claimed it had links with the armed separatist group ETA. On the day of closure, hundreds of Civil Guard police officers raided the paper’s offices and the homes of its senior staff throughout the Basque region of northern Spain.
Prior to the closure, Spanish National Radio 1 reported that a report from the Civil Guard had concluded that terrorist group ETA finances the newspaper and uses it to launder money obtained from extortion and kidnapping. Authorities also accuse the newspaper of assisting ETA by issuing coded messages in its pages, alerting operatives to the capture of one of their commando groups.
Editor-in-chief Marcelo Otamendi and nine executives of the Egunkaria S.A. company, which publishes the daily, were arrested during the raids on charges of supporting ETA. Police also seized documents and computer equipment and shut down the daily's Web site before boarding up the offices. The remaining staff published a 16-page edition under the name Egunkaria that covered the raid. The Basque-language headline read, "Closed but not silenced." "Closing a newspaper is a drastic measure, and it is incumbent that the Spanish government justify its actions by making the evidence against Euskaldunon Egunkaria public," said CPJ acting director Joel Simon.
On 22 February, tens of thousands of protestors, including three ministers from the Basque regional government, marched in the northern city of San Sebastian, to oppose the newspaper's closure.
Also in February, IFJ called for charges to be dropped against two Spanish journalists facing a court case in Gibraltar on 4 March. The demand came after their arrest with 12 other journalists when covering a protest by environmentalists. José Martin, an editor with the private station Tele 5, and Virgillo Moreno, a photo-journalist with another private channel, Antena 3. The journalists were among a group of reporters and photographers arrested at sea with a number of activists and held for 10 hours on 20 January.
According to IFJ, the journalists were travelling in launches trying to film protests over the use of the dock by an oil tanker which had been taking part in dumping activities which protesters say is responsible for oil spills in the region. "These journalists are being victimised for doing their job," said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. "It is scandalous that they are being brought to court for following a story and for highlighting a matter of serious public concern."
Martin and Moreno will face judicial authorities over incidents surrounding their arrest, but IFJ said the court action was unjustified and only further penalizes journalists who have "suffered enough." The IFJ says that the original arrests -- of journalists from the Spanish El Mundo and El País newspapers and the state-run TV Española, Canal Sur network and the private Antena3 and Tele5 -- were provocative and insensitive.
During early March there were allegations of ill-treatment from a Spanish journalist. Journalist Martxelo Otamendi Egiguren, managing editor of the Basque-language newspaper Euskaldunon Egunkaria, who was held for five days during a police operation against the paper's management, alleged he was both psychologically and physically ill-treated while in police custody.
Otamendi claimed that he had twice had a plastic bag placed over his head until he was nearly suffocated and spent much of the time naked and forced to crouch. He added that he could hear the screams of his colleagues, notably author Juan Mari Torrealdi, as their interrogators beat them.
"We urge you to open an inquiry into these allegations of ill-treatment in custody by the managing editor of Egunkaria and to keep us informed of the condition of former managing editor Pedro Zubiria, who tried to commit suicide in custody," RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard said in a letter to Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes.
On 7 March, the WiPC of International PEN highlighted its concerns that since 11 September 2001, the Spanish government policies of tackling the struggle against ETA terrorism has become increasingly confused with a policy of suppressing certain democratic institutions promoting Basque culture.
In May, RSF urged the Spanish authorities not to prosecute the Basque public radio and television network Euskal Telebista ("ETB") for broadcasting a videotape of three presumed members of the Basque terrorist organisation ETA reading a statement. ETB Director General Andoni Ortuzar was summoned for questioning on 21 May by the State Prosecutor's Office, which will decide whether or not to prosecute the broadcaster.
The videotape broadcast by ETB on 15 May showed three masked ETA members saying ETA did not envisage "any tactical truce" and demanding guarantees of "respect for the will of the Basques." They called on voters to cast a spoiled ballot in the 25 May municipal elections to protest the Spanish judicial authorities' outlawing of a pro-independence party allied with ETA. They also showed an ETA bulletin which, according to the Basque pro-independence newspaper Gara, said ETA would continue to attack the Spanish "war media."
In July, there was further bad news for the Euskaldunon Egunkaria newspaper when a court ordered a six-month extension to the "preventive measures" that have kept the newspaper closed since February. RSF responded to the decision with a letter to the Spanish authorities, "We reiterate our opposition to the closure, even if it is provisional, of the newspaper Euskaldunon Egunkaria while the courts have not yet reached a decision on the substance of this case."
In September, there were concerns over the arrest of an Al-Jazeera television journalist. On 5 September, Tayseer Alouni, an Al-Jazeera reporter who had worked as a war correspondent in Kabul for the Qatar-based satellite network, was arrested by anti-terrorist police at his home in Alfacar, Spain and placed under police custody in Madrid. He had been told to present all reports and activities undertaken whilst working in Afghanistan and Iraq and could be held for a substantial period of time
Judge Baltasar Garzón issued an arrest warrant for Alouni based on both his supposed links to the Spanish cell of al Qaeda, and, in particular, due to his links with Osama Bin Laden. Garzón accused Alouni of manipulating his stance as a journalist so as to obscure his work for the terrorist organisation. Alouni had previously covered the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
"Over the past year there has been an expression of irritation by western, particularly American, officials over the work of some Arab media and Al-Jazeera in particular," said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. "Its offices have been attacked by the military in Afghanistan and twice in Iraq. With this latest arrest it all begins to look like developing into an international witch-hunt.""

by Sinead Gallagher - Animal Rights Action Network (ARAN) Sat Apr 10, 2004 00:35 arancampaigns at hotmail dot com Po Box 722, Kildare, Ireland 087-6275579

Volunteer for the Animals
ARAN is now become ireland's fastest growing animal rights group. We are now running campaigns to ban fur farms, target Huntingdon Life Sciences Laboratory's, Animals being used in circuses, Vivi-section and hunting. Please is you can spare a few hours each month to help us out in whatever city you live in ireland please let us know, not only may we be able to hook you up with others but will work with you too.

by SP reader Sat Apr 10, 2004 13:19

Other material has been added as well
Publications online
The full range of articles from the April 2004 edition of Socialist Voice, on the occupation of Iraq, the bin charges campaign, an anti-fascist report, news from the CWI, industrial struggles, etc. are now online.


http://www.geocities.com/socialistparty/

by John mc Dermott - Remove Fianna Fail Party Sat Apr 10, 2004 16:42 Ashtown,Dublin

The checks and balances normal to a democratic society are being subsumed into ta corruplegislative
This excellent letter published in yesterdays Irish Independent deserves widespread distribution,and is a wake up call for every thinking citizen who values his diminishing freedoms in a state ruled by an arrogant and corrupt Junta of Ministers after the fashion of an african or south American dictatorship.Only people power ,storming the gates of Leinster House ,will remove this bunch of Jackals from office.
'Sir - Minister Cullen proposes to remove decision-making on all major infrastructure projects from both the local planning councils and An Bord Pleanala.
On the surface, this might seem like an isolated proposal to smooth the way forward for controversial projects.
But look a little deeper. Look at a succession of decisions taken by Minister Cullen and his predecessor, and they all have one common thread.
Taking the cue from his predecessor, who removed waste management decisions from elected officials and granted them to unelected city and county managers, Mr Cullen is systematically removing checks and balances to preserve and protect the environment, and removing the democratic right of every citizen to voice their opposition to or concern about certain projects.
First, he subsumes a formerly independent agency, Duchas, into the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, from where it will be answerable to Departmental objectives rather than being independent.
He then takes a second independent agency, An Bord Pleanala, and removes the appeal mechanism to An Bord Pleanala for planning application objectors where the applicant has been approved by the local planning board and that applicant is connected to or has contributed to the local community (whatever that means!)
Wasn't An Bord Pleanala established to be an honest broker to take local politics and connections out of the planning process?
Isn't this why the current planning tribunal is investigating past planning decisions involving Quarryvale, Mr Lawlor, Mr Gilmartin, elected politicians etc?
Now he proposes to create a whole new review board, the Strategic Infrastructure Board.
That's just what we need right now - another review board.
This way, the government can appoint the board members and there will be no avenue for review or appeal on major projects that affect hundreds of thousands of people. This is dictatorship. '
Mindy O'Brien,
St Fintan's Road,
Dublin 13

by redjade Sun Apr 11, 2004 10:20

The current chaos in Iraq can be traced to decisions that were made earlier in the invasion. Gen. Eric Shinseki ran into enormous political flak when he estimated that several hundred thousand American troops would be needed to stabilize the country, but right now he's looking prescient. The disbanding of the Iraqi Army and the reliance on slightly trained Iraqi security forces with dubious loyalties are also at least partly to blame for the current problems. So is the Bush administration's decision to invade without the help of the United Nations or broad international support.

But if the goal was clear, and people understood how to reach it, Mr. Bush could compensate. He could even bolster the desperately straitened military with a draft if Americans understood the need to sacrifice. But the public was given the impression that the war in Iraq would be sacrifice-free — for everyone but the military families. And the goal has gone from destroying weapons of mass destruction to ousting a repulsive dictator to stopping terrorism to establishing a free and stable democracy in the Arab world.

It is hard for the American people to envision the road to a better Iraq when they have not been introduced to Iraqi leaders with popular backing who are committed to tolerance, civil rights and democracy. Even the moderate Shiite clerics were shaky on these issues and now their standing appears to have been weakened by the current surge of anti-Americanism. The crackdown on former Baath Party leaders has left the coalition forces with literally no one to negotiate with when it comes to stopping the violence in Sunni areas. The feckless Iraqi Governing Council created by the occupation authorities has lost credibility by its mute passivity in the current crisis.

It is hard to accept the deaths of young men and women when all the world's other military powers, save Britain, have chosen to sit this one out. The ill-prepared troops who form the contributions of places like Ukraine and Bulgaria seem to need protection themselves. With less than 90 days before the symbolic transfer of authority to an Iraqi governing body, the United States has not even seriously started working out the arrangements for bringing the United Nations into Iraq as a real partner.

by redjade Sun Apr 11, 2004 10:29

But Afghanistan also needs more troops. So where will they come from? Nobody knows, and that connotes an overcommitment by the United States and a miscalculation at the Defense Department. The uniformed military does not speak out publicly, but the generals are outraged. A former national security official considers the relationship at the Pentagon between civilians and the military as worse than at any time in his long career.

At the heart of this debate is the original belief by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's team that conquering U.S. troops would be welcomed by open arms in Iraq. In this highly political season, Democrats are replaying the debate of a year ago. Gen. Eric Shinseki, then about to leave as the Army's chief of staff, said ''several hundred thousand soldiers'' could be needed in Iraq. ''Way off the mark,'' retorted Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

by AGA Sun Apr 11, 2004 10:38

Since the introduction of the first genetically modified tomato a decade ago, bioengineering has been fraught with controversy.

Four years ago, a group dubbing itself the Anarchist Golfing Association broke into a seed research facility in Portland, Ore., and stomped on experimental plots, then spray-painted the walls with the slogan, “Nature Bites Back.” Biotech saboteurs struck about 20 targets around that time, including the 1999 fire that burned part of Michigan State University’s Agriculture Hall.

Such attacks make biotech companies nervous, but they are not abandoning their testing. Oregon farmers hand-picked by Marysville, Ohio-based Scotts are growing nearly 400 acres of biotech grass in Madras, a three-hour’s drive from Gervais.

“We’ve been here since the 1970s. It would be un-American to be scared away,” Harriman says. “Why a new use of a safe technology should cause controversy is beyond me.”

by redjade Sun Apr 11, 2004 10:50

Video is 3.6meg download - well worth downloading and burning and goving to friends.