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|
Sunday Papers "the state of the union" edition.
.:. Now that we have your attention listen to what we have to say .:.
It has long been observed that there are families and voices missing. That there are many who are not, were not and will not be here.
More voices than we can imagine.
But they stir to be heard.
 he was there. “You cannot imagine what it means, being exposed to this martyrdom, this extermination and to so much suffering.“ Pablo Escribano Yesterday I took a walk in the park with my partner who is jewish, her sephardic family tree lost branches in the war, and we went for a coffee and passed the memorial to the catalans who were sent to the extermination camps.
As we took our coffee, kids played, parents chatted, the whole display of BCN civilisation strolled by. Teenagers on their skateboards, hippies with their drums avoiding the police and their noise prohibition, old folks and care workers wheeling the disabled. Muslims are so easy to spot, yet I felt no need to count the hijabs.
And then a van drew up, and out tumbled a gitano (gypsey) wedding. Both groom and bride wore white, her train was easily five metres and on her head the crown which traditionally is worn by a gypsey bride on her day. They had their photos taken at the various points of beauty, with flowers in the background, at the fountain, walking through the grass.
This is a ritual which is repeated in every culture, it is I believe supposed to mean "look at us, we met here, we courted here, this is our day, we're staying together till the end, may it be long".
It is certainly curious that of all the contemporary characters whom we write about in this indymedia space, the four who have been depicted in certain german uniforms with certain symbols, the most in the last three years are - Bush, Sharon, Berlusconi and michael mcdowell. & then along came Benedict XVI. Curious, that we have used up the power of the words and those symbols in misusing them as abuse.
The man in the photo in the interpreters booth is
Pablo Félix Escribano-Cano.
He was born in Rasueros, province of Ávila (Spain) in 1917; he grew up in a catholic family of farm labourers from 1930 he learnt the profession of a hairdresser from his uncle in Navalperal de Pinares near Ávila. In October 1936 after the breakout of the Spanish Civil War he escaped to Madrid, where he volunteered in the republican army to defend the 2nd republic.
In February 1939 during the conquest of Catalonia by the Franco rebels he escaped to France, where he lived in several refugee- and then interment camps.
In August 1940 he was deported together with all Spanish republicans in the camp Angoulême (Charente) by the SS to Mauthausen, there he worked in the quarry, as a hairdresser and in the kitchen.
He was liberated 60 years ago today - May 1945
from 1945 he worked in the car factory Renault in Paris-Billancourt until retirement, he still lives in France. He did not choose to return to his homeland, his name was not on the list of sephards which belatedly were welcomed to Spain, he was a catholic, a republican, a bolshevik, just one of 8000 such sent to Mauthaussen, just one of 200,000 inmates, just one of the 100,000 who survived. just one of the millions of citizens of europe who passed from being listed, to named, to imprisoned, to having their property confiscated, to being enslaved, to being starved, to entering the infernal lottery.
After I left the park, I met a student who is troubling with an essay on ethics and social work. We spoke a while on the progress of ethics, and of the changing nature of "social work". Of the limitations of a state which sets upon its legislature the task of regulating all behaviour as a nanny, or the irresponsiblity of a state which sees society as not existing whose needs may only be served in commercial models of intervention or investment.
Yalta, has been attacked by the president of the USA, who though not there, has decided the division of Europe into its polar spheres of influence to have been the disaster of the XX century and not the collapse of the 2nd republic, and the emergence of bipolar tyranny some ten years previous. Still many will not pay attention to the man credited with giving the world the greatest disaster of the XXI century.
A multi-polar world, does not just mean multi-polar government and states, with differing belief systems and prescriptions to remedy the problems of economics, society or politics. It means multi-polar memory, it means multi-polar solutions. It means lifting the curtains on memory, on recognising that there millions of voices missing. Millions of weddings never occured.
Millions of songs were never sung. Millions of words never written.
Gunther Grass has chosen to publish today in various newspapers his thoughts on the 60 years.
Of how the modern union of Germany is in chatteldom to the solely materialist based market
system, which offers no basis for ethics. I'll shall add his piece in the next week in the comments when it goes through the booth and gets it translation. Vaclav Havel has chosen to write yet another open letter calling for increased democracy in Russia, it will be published in english on tuesday and will be appended in the comments. Milan kundera has published a new book can't say I've read it yet. Enough of central european writers?
upcoming events-
The Russian remembrance-
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=69625
Leafleting Dublin-
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=69674
protest Stock exchange-
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=69668
first mediterranean social forum
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=69020
we as a movement if I may dare to write, are multi-polar, we hold no single ideology, no single solution, no single leadership, no single kitty for the donations, no single memory system.
& thats how we continue, because each step of the road out of Egypt, out of Babalon, out of the camp, is one of dialogue, concensus, maturity, forgiveness, and ought be led by the hope of those who didn't live, whose grandchildren are not in the park, whose smiling old faces are not in the photo album whose code, whether it was of genius, or strength, or vice or virtue, straight or gay, red-haired or bald, thin or fat, is not with us and has not been voiced.
The legacy of Hitler and his regime,
is their silence.
Democracy and Ethics are taught from the beginning, they are not imposed by either state or institution or educational system which installs from the beginning "fear of retribution" as the reason for obedience to an abstracted morality.
Neither nanny state or nun with a whip will teach our children how not repeat the criminality of the past.
Thank you for your attention.
internment camps in europe-
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=69199
spanish republic-
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=69411
last week's "sunday papers" article
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=69645
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international |
rights, freedoms and repression |
opinion/analysis
Sunday May 08, 2005 12:14
by .:. @ * + € $ %
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Comments (17 of 17)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=69689&condense_comments=false#comment106952
just like the gypsey couple.
hip hip horrah!
"....after having been wounded in Lusacia amidst chaotic fighting in the retreat, with a wound which healed quickly in the right thigh and a piece of shrapnel in the left shoulder, I was in Marienbad, hospital town which only a few days before had been occupied by US soldiers the same as its neighbour Karlsbad had been occupied by Soviet units. I lived that 8th of May in Marienbad, feeling like an eejit of 17 years old who until the last moment had believed in the final victory. That's to say, for me there came no moment of liberation, rather I felt an invasive feeling of being conquered after the total collapse....
thus when comes again the 8th of May, with well delivered speeches, celebrated as the day of Liberation, it can only be treated as an interpretation "a posteriori" for the germans did little or nothing for our liberation....
In the immediate post war years the hunger and the cold, the misery of the refugees, the displaced by the bombardments determined the quotidien life. In the four zones of occupation, the growing affluence at the end of it all, of more than 12 million germans who had been expelled from both eastern and western Prussia, Pomerania, Silesia and the Sudetans could only organise themselves in their forced settlements in a limited space."
************
more later. Gunther, Nobel prizewinner for Literature and one of the best we've got, thinks Germans ought be proud of the liberation _they gave themselves_ in the decades after the war, as they learnt to live with themselves without all that extra living space they had thought they needed. And that on the 8th of May only those in camps could have experienced any sense of liberation, yet as I've tried to tell you there was no ginger pop or ice cream at the door of Aushwitz, Buchenwald, Muathaussen...
(it's difficult to translate Gunther to English from a Spanish translation, but the article was commissioned by El Pais which is subscription only and was translated from the german by Miguel Sáenz. It mostly is a question of moving verbs about)
you'd learn alot, it's happening right now not 50 years ago
a simple act of symbolism occured for the first time in history which illustrated in some small way the purpose that many of us have dedicated many years, having grown up in the shadows of the XX century, having seen at close quarter the conflicts which occured and are occuring, having been made, taught and bred of those who wore uniforms and badges and swore allegiance to all sorts of flags and symbols.
It was not an act of gardening.
It was not an act of tagging a memorial.
It was not an act of subversion of ritual or meaning.
It was not a semiotic display.
It was a juxtaposition.
At mauthaussen concentration camp both spanish republican and spanish constitutional flags flew together & the same wind caught and carried them.
I've been to Belfast, and I've been to the balkans, and i've guerilla-d the garden, and I know where I'm going. Come along .:. @ * + $ / % € Out of Egypt and out of Babalon, this weekend the process of regularisation of immigrants in Spain, a core demand of our movement of the newly elected regime last year along with withdrawl from Iraq closed, we now have 690,000 new fellow citizens. Both Irelands north or south of that border have a long way to go.
"no agreed common constitution acceptable to both sides of the german people was made or sought"
"the east was annexed to the triumphalist west"
"the property owned in the name of all germans in the DDR was sold off in the name of capitalism"
"we are all everyday subject more to the blackmail of this economic system as both employee and employer".
******************************************************
And this is the letter which was drafted by a US pressure lobby group and which they told all the usual news agencies that Havel had signed, yet he has told Czech TV that he didn't sign it, but he agrees with its general punchiness-
Bit like spam really-
the state of the Union...
"As citizens of the Euro-Atlantic community of democracies, we wish to express our sympathy and solidarity with the people of the Russian Federation in their struggle against terrorism. "The mass murderers who seized School No. 1 in Beslan committed a heinous act of terrorism for which there can be no rationale or excuse." While other mass murderers have killed children and unarmed civilians, the calculated targeting of so many innocent children at school is an unprecedented act of barbarism that violates the values and norms of our community and which all civilized nations must condemn.
At the same time, we are deeply concerned that these tragic events are being used to further undermine democracy in Russia. "Russia's democratic institutions have always been weak and fragile." Since becoming President in January 2000, Vladimir Putin has made them even weaker. He has systematically undercut the freedom and independence of the press, destroyed the checks and balances in the Russian federal system, arbitrarily imprisoned both real and imagined political rivals, removed legitimate candidates from electoral ballots, harassed and arrested NGO leaders, and weakened Russia's political parties. In the wake of the horrific crime in Beslan, President Putin has announced plans to further centralize power and to push through measures that will take Russia a step closer to authoritarian regime.
We are also worried about the deteriorating conduct of Russia in its foreign relations. President Putin's foreign policy is increasingly marked by a threatening attitude towards Russia's neighbors and Europe's energy security, the return of rhetoric of militarism and empire, and by a refusal to comply with Russia's international treaty obligations. In all aspects of Russian political life, the instruments of state power appear to be being rebuilt and the dominance of the security services to grow. We believe that this conduct cannot be accepted as the foundation of a true partnership between Russia and the democracies of NATO and the European Union.
These moves are only the latest evidence that the present Russian leadership is breaking away from the core democratic values of the Euro-Atlantic community All too often in the past, the West has remained silent and restrained its criticism in the belief that President Putin's steps in the wrong direction were temporary and the hope that Russia would soon return to a democratic and pro-Western path. Western leaders continue to embrace President Putin in the face of growing evidence that the country is moving in the wrong direction and that his strategy for fighting terrorism is producing less and less freedom. We firmly believe dictatorship will not and cannot be the answer to Russia's problems and the very real threats it faces.
The leaders of the West must recognize that our current strategy towards Russia is failing. Our policies have failed to contribute to the democratic Russia we wished for and the people of this great country deserve after all the suffering they have endured. It is time for us to rethink how and to what extent we engage with Putin's Russia and to put ourselves unambiguously on the side of democratic forces in Russia. At this critical time in history when the West is pushing for democratic change around the world, including in the broader Middle East, it is imperative that we do not look the other way in assessing Moscow's behaviour or create a double standard for democracy in the countries which lie to Europe's East. We must speak the truth about what is happening in Russia. We owe it to the victims of Beslan and the tens of thousands of Russian democrats who are still fighting to preserve democracy and human freedom in their country.
And these are the people the lobbyists said signed it (in response to a fax from 00 1 (202) 228-4148 )
Mr. Urban Ahlin, Member of Parliament, Sweden*
The Honorable Madeleine K. Albright, Former Secretary of State, United States
The Honorable Giuliano Amato, Former Prime Minister, Italy
Dr. Uzi Arad, Institute for Policy and Strategy, Israel
Dr. Timothy Garton Ash, St. Antony's College, Oxford, United Kingdom
Dr. Anders Aslund, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, United States
Dr. Ronald D. Asmus, The German Marshall Fund of the United States, United States
Mr. Rafael L. Bardaji, Strategic Studies Group, Spain
Prof. Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, Former Foreign Minister, Poland
Dr. Arnold Beichman, Hoover Institution, United States
Dr. Jeff Bergner, Former Staff Director, U.S. Senate, United States
The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Senator, United States
Mr. Carl Bildt, Former Prime Minister, Sweden
Mr. Max Boot, The Council on Foreign Relations, United States
Ms. Ellen Bork, Project for the New American Century, United States
Mr. Pascal Bruckner, Writer, France
Mr. Mark Brzezinski, McGuire Woods LLP, United States
Mr. Reinhard Buetikofer, Chairman, Green Party, Germany
Dr. Janusz Bugajski, Center for Strategic and International Studies, United States
Sir Michael Butler, Former Permanent Representative to the European Community, UK
The Honorable Martin Butora, Former Ambassador, Slovakia
Mr. Daniele Capezzone, Italy
The Honorable Per Carlsen, Institute of International Affairs, Denmark
Ms. Gunilla Carlsson, Member of Parliament, Sweden
Dr. Ivo Daalder, Brookings Institution, United States
The Honorable Massimo D'Alema, Former Prime Minister, Italy
Mr. Pavol Demes, Former Foreign Minister, Slovakia
Dr. Larry Diamond, United States
His Excellency Philip Dimitrov, Former Prime Minister, Bulgaria
Mr. Thomas Donnelly, American Enterprise Institute, United States
Mr. Nicholas Eberstadt, American Enterprise Institute, USA
Mr. Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, Former Foreign Minister, Denmark
Ms. Helga Flores Trejo, Heinrich B�ll Foundation of North America, United States
Dr. Francis Fukuyama, United States
Dr. Jeffrey Gedmin, Aspen Institute Berlin, Germany
Prof. Bronislaw Geremek, Former Foreign Affairs Minister and Member of EU Parliament, Poland
Dr. Carl Gershman, National Endowment for Democracy, United States
The Honorable Marc Ginsberg, United States
Mr. Andre Glucksmann, Writer, France
Dr. Phil Gordon, Brookings Institution, United States
The Honorable Karl-Theodor von und zu Guttenberg, Member of Parliament, Germany
The Honorable Istvan Gyarmati, Institute for Euro-Atlanticism and Democracy, Hungary
Mr. Pierre Hassner, Center for International Studies and Research, France
His Excellency Vaclav Havel, Former President, Czech Republic
The Honorable Richard C. Holbrooke, Former Ambassador to the United Nations, USA
The Honorable Toomas Ilves, Former Foreign Minister and Member of EU Parliament, Estonia
Mr. Bruce Jackson, Project on Transitional Democracies, United States
Dr. Donald Kagan, Yale University, United States
Mr. Robert Kagan, United States
Mr. Jerzy Kozminski, Former Ambassador to the United States, Poland
Mr. Craig Kennedy, The German Marshall Fund of the United States, United States
Ms. Glenys Kinnock, Member of European Parliament, United Kingdom
Dr. Bernard Kouchner, Former UN Special Envoy to Kosovo, France
Dr. Ivan Krastev, Center for Liberal Strategies, Bulgaria
Mr. William Kristol, Project for the New American Century, United States
The Honorable Girts Valdis Kristovskis, Former Minister of Defense, Latvia
Prof. Dr. Ludger Kuehnhardt, University of Bonn, Germany
The Honorable Mart Laar, Former Prime Minister, Estonia
The Honorable Vytautas Landsbergis, former President and Member of EU Parliament,Lithuania
Dr. Stephen Larrabee, RAND Corporation, United States
Mr. Mark Leonard, The Foreign Policy Center, United Kingdom
The Honorable Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, Member of EU Parliament, Germany
Mr. Tod Lindberg, Policy Review, United States
Mr. Tom Malinowski, Human Rights Watch, United States
Mr. Will Marshall, Progressive Policy Institute, United States
Prof. Dr. Margarita Mathiopoulos, University of Potsdam, Germany
Mr. Clifford May, United States
The Honorable John McCain, Senator, United States
Dr. Michael McFaul, United States
Mr. Matteo Mecacci, Italy
Mr. Mark Medish, Former Senior Director of the National Security Council, United States
Mr. Thomas O. Melia, Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, United States
Dr. Sarah E. Mendelson, United States
Mr. Michael Mertes, Dimap Consult, Germany
The Honorable Ilir Meta, Former Prime Minister, Albania
Mr. Adam Michnik, Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland
The Honorable Richard Morningstar, Former Ambassador to the EU, United States
Dr. Joshua Muravchik, American Enterprise Institute, United States
Gen. Klaus Naumann (ret.), Former Chairman NATO Military Committee, Germany
The Honorable Dietmar Nietan, Member of Parliament, Germany
Mr. James O�Brien, Former Presidential Envoy to the Balkans, United States
The Honorable Janusz Onyszkiewicz, Member of European Parliament, Poland
The Honorable Cem Ozdemir, Member of European Parliament, Germany
Dr. Can Paker, Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, Turkey
Ambassador Mark Palmer, Capital Development Company, LLC, United States
Mr. Martin Peretz, United States
The Honorable Dr. Friedbert Pflueger, Member of Parliament, Germany
Ms. Danielle Pletka, American Enterprise Institute, United States
Mr. Florentino Portero, Strategic Studies Group, Spain
Ms. Samantha Ravich, Phd, Long Term Strategy Project, United States
The Honorable Janusz Reiter, Center for International Relations, Poland
The Honorable Alex Rondos, Former Ambassador, Greece
The Honorable Jim Rosapepe, Former Ambassador to Romania, United States
Dr. Jacques Rupnik, Center for International Studies and Research, France
Prof. Dr. Eberhard Sandschneider, German Council on Foreign Relations, Germany
Mr. Randy Scheunemann, Project for the New American Century, United States
The Honorable Christian Schmidt, Member of Parliament, Germany
Dr. Gary Schmitt, Project for the New American Century, United States
Dr. Simon Serfaty, Center for Strategic and International Studies, United States
The Honorable Stephen Sestanovich, United States
Mr. Radek Sikorski, American Enterprise Institute, United States
Mr. Stefano Silvestri, Institute for International Affairs, Italy
Mr. Martin Simecka, Editor, Slovakia
Dr. Gary Smith, American Academy in Berlin, Germany
Dr. Abraham Sofaer, Hoover Institution, United States
Mr. James Steinberg, The Brookings Institution, United States
Mr. Gary Titley, Member of European Parliament, United Kingdom
Mr. Ivan Vejvoda, Fund for Open Society, Serbia
The Honorable Sasha Vondra, Former Deputy Foreign Minister, Czech Republic
Dr. Celeste Wallander, Center for Strategic and International Studies, United States
Prof. Ruth Wedgwood, United States
Dr. Richard Weitz, Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, United States
Mr. Kenneth Weinstein, Hudson Institute, United States
Ms. Jennifer Windsor, Freedom House, United States
Mr. R. James Woolsey, United States
*****************************************************
I prefer Gunther, he understands what it is to be European, most of these people above are americans playing a different game. Still I said I'd append the letter.
They do them regularly. You'll know you're consequential when you get a fax from 0012022284148!
yesterday's global leadership spam was-
"While the anniversary itself is without question a worthy occasion for celebrating one of the greatest victories of mankind over tyranny, we believe the venue and hosting of this event are altogether unsuited to the fundamental principles for which that historic victory in the Second World War was achieved,"...
"Six decades after the defeat of fascist despotism in Europe, Russia's own civil liberties, political freedoms, rule of law and democratic institutions are extremely weak and fragile, to the extent that they exist at all."...
"Indeed it is highly ironic that one of Europe's least democratic and most repressive regimes today will be hosting an assembly of global leaders of free countries to celebrate the continent's liberation."....
"At the very moment when Moscow's own commitment to the principles of democracy and justice are in serious decline ... it seems to us a mockery of the occasion to gather there in honour of the 20th century's climactic sacrifice for Europe's freedom,"....
"Russia's retreat from freedom and democracy in the post-Soviet era has never seemed so rapid or broadscale."..........
"We urge senior representatives of the United States and Europe who are going to Moscow to attend today's event to raise with Russia's leadership our serious concerns about the erosion of the principles of democracy and justice in Russia today."..........
all the usuals signatories (the US senators that worry about things over here)-
Apart from Ms Bonner, who is the wife of Nobel peace prize-winning Andrei Sakharov (son went to Eton), and Mr Landsbergis, the letter was signed by the former prime ministers of Estonia (didn't go to Eton) and Bulgaria, Mart Laar and Philip Dimitrov. The 71 signatories include Soviet-era dissident Elena Bonner, Lithuania's first post-Soviet president Vytautas Landsbergis, politicians, former diplomats and international affairs analysts and rich people.
Former Czech president Vaclav Havel is also named, (he's quite rich) but he told the Czech news agency CTK that he had not signed the letter and had not been contacted about it, although he expressed understanding for its content. He did meet Madelene Albright (very rich) the other day, and she signed it, so perhaps they talked about it.
Gunther Grass didn't sign it.
nor did I. nor did you.
(we mustn't have fax lines)
Today's State of the Union debate at the Madrid congress of deputies, with politicians you've never heard or thought about, is being televised live on telly, with high quality telly pictures and commentaries from 12h00 C€T (irish time + 1hour)
Marking the first debate of the ZP regime, there will be ample opportunity for deputies from all parties (PP booooo!) PSOE (you just work harder than new Labour ok) the Canary islands (olé!) ERC (endevant!) the greenies (yippee!) and basques! (kaixo!).
If you'd like to watch this high quality telly -
point your dishy at Hispasat (frequency 12226 MHZ vertical polarity) to catch either TVE2 (spain's rte) or RE2 (spain's bbc radio) or go here http://www.congreso.es/
and click on the "emission line".
Things to listen our for:-
Good old time insults on the decisions so far-
withdrawl from Iraq, Largest presence in Afghanistan, presence in Haiti, Selling weapons to both Venezuela and Colombia, letting gay girls and lesbian boys marry in the town hall, making over a half a millilon new citizens out of the poorest workers, doing dockworker deals with Venezuala, bla bla.
Other things to listen out for:-
Catalan and Basque, lets see will the deputies from those places use their language legally for the first time in a state of the union debate.
Oh its very exciting.
alternatively you could just watch Irish tv here-
http://tv4all.com/portal.htm?http://tv4all.com/television/102.htm
Television is Toxic.
to make - it requires a sweatshop labour force without proper protection working with dangerous chemicals.
Television is Toxic.
to watch - it is a passive activity which effects the endochronolical system adversely, downing levels of concetration, and in children installing disassociated emotional and psychological response to stimuli varying from fear through erotica to delight.
Television is Toxic.
to produce - the emergence of a multi-media industry of television workers has supported uncountable quasi-academic industries and constantly steals creativity from outside the world of superficial mutual admiration to dictate fashions and unsustainably world visions consistently based on liberal capitalist models of ethics and consumerism.
Television is Toxic.
To dispose of - a TV set contains over 70 chemicals which are not biodegradable and are poisonous to the environment.
Television is Toxic.
Kill your TV!
* its like I still remember the campaign to expand the use of catalan sign language for the deaf, and all the trips the interpreters and teachers of a community which at least represents 5% of the population to the government asking for their language to be given status, and the end, they got fobbed off with - "a deaf interpreter in the corner of the screen on live parliamentary broadcasts".
** I am thus recommending to the congress that next year's state of the union debate be prepared before hand as an easily downloadable interactive game on broad band internet written using an open source software, whereas respecting the norms (no calling another deputy a fascist or rojo but still being allowed to say gilipollas in anger) the viewer will be able to move the deputies about in a simulated fightclub sort of scenario and pick up life packs and points every time they get a vestige of modern life and attitudes past Fraga.
TV is Toxic.
Would it be okay to watch this on TV? Maybe some pay per view deal can be set up with murdock :)
Zapatista rebels woo Inter Milan
Subcomandante Marcos promised Milan would not be thrashed
The captain of Inter Milan football club says he would be willing to take up an invitation for the club to play a team of Mexican Zapatista rebels.
The Italian club have received a letter from the indigenous movement, based in the southern state of Chiapas.
Rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos asked Inter to bring the match ball because the Zapatistas' ones were punctured.
Captain Javier Zanetti said: "It is not a problem for me if [the club] accept the challenge. I'd be willing to go."
The letter bore the signature of Subcomandante Marcos, the elusive Zapatista leader known for his trademark balaclava and pipe.
It was formal and precise, but contained a touch of the wry humour that is the leader's hallmark, says BBC correspondent Mark Duff in Milan.
Rigorous training
"I challenge you to a match against a team from the Zapatista national liberation army," it said, "at a time and a place to be determined."
"Given the affection we have for you, we're not planning to submerge you in goals," the letter went on.
Zanetti has expressed his support for Chiapas people
"As we wait for your reply, we'll continue with our rigorous training regime."
Inter - one of Italy's biggest and most famous clubs - have built links with the Zapatistas by funding sports, water and health projects in their area of operation in Chiapas.
Team manager Bruno Bartolozzi paid a visit to a village in Chiapas last June, bearing donations from the club and its owner, Massimo Moratti. During the trip, he was approached by a Zapatista commander.
Zanetti, an Argentine, also wrote a letter to express his support for the rebels' "struggle to maintain your roots and fight for your ideals".
The club told the BBC News website that no decision had been made on whether to accept the challenge.
The Zapatistas are demanding greater autonomy and indigenous rights. Their campaign has been largely peaceful since January 1994, when at least 150 people died in clashes.
http://www.libcom.org/newswire/stories.php?story=04/10/19/3835098
http://www.libcom.org/newswire/stories.php?story=05/05/11/7963709
"the revolution will not be televised".
BASTA!
kill your TV.
Do not be fooled into adding your presence to a popularisation of Blair's "re-organisation" of Africa's resources and post-colonial governments. The G8 meeting in 2005 is not about ending poverty. This is about selling a message to the children of Europe, one which they just might swallow.
But We Don't. They will declare a "victory" and "progress" for the poorest of earth, and tell teenagers they "did it" by buying a wristband and going to a gig - so the whole issue is forgotten in five years. "poverty?" = "what poverty we solved that in 2005".
BASTA = DINERO GRATIS
.
Burn your bracelets kids
Underneath the photo of Pablo Félix Escribano-Cano a survivor of the Holocaust.
In Valencia Spain Aribert Heim (born 28. June 1914 in Bad Radkersburg, Austria has been found alive and well and.... rich.
He was one of the SS guards in the camp and at 91 years of age one of the last "most wanted war criminals" on the Wiesenthal list.
He will be tried in Austria. Very tragically one of the "survivors" of the spanish republican contingents who were transferred to death camps was exposed as a fake this summer.
A catalan, he had never been to the camps and I didn't mention him in the text above.
Enough went. Very few came back.
http://www.vilaweb.com/www/noticia?p_idcmp=1510146
In many ways the motives to publicise himself as a survivor of the camp were well-thought and perhaps even nobel, though the un-named Catalan in this article of a few months ago, accepted medals, awards and was a spokesperson for the survivors up to the day I chose another to sit in the interpreters booth with the little flag.
Look at the picture above. Look at that little flag. He survived, millions didn't, and there are now very few of the culprits alive to bring to justice.
But there are _a few_ dotted around the world, near the beach, in the villa, up the mountains, even some thought to eventually come out of their jungle labs and get a decent burial.
And most interestingly there are many families whose children profited from the crimes and experimentation. The list would be exhaustive. Can we visit on the children the crimes of their parents? It is generally accepted that we can not. Those who were only children when the disaster struck, and the light was lost have to be thought of in different terms. They are now the survivors in some cases rich in many cases poor. So tehir kindergarten memories were set against a different backdrop. Look at the little photo above, he was little older than the now pope was when his disaster struck. There are now the rich old children of the culprits.
What can we learn from them about disaster prevention and preparedness?
"mister Heim",
In 2001, Heim reportedly asked the German tax authorities to reimburse capital gains tax because he was living abroad. In August 2005 his berlin bank accounts were frozen with over 1 million €u. The ibiza link is a bit old, there was quite a concentration of unsavoury characters on the little island even before the drunken british arrived to shag in mc donalds window, but by the early 60s they had mostly moved on to south america and in some cases had gone back home. By the time Orson Welles was hanging out in Ibiza the Tito yugoslav secret service were busy poisoning their own croat most wanted list who had been brought back from Latin America. murky eh?
There is just off the hilly road from Alicante to Valencia an interesting old man who boasts he is 91 who speaks excellent german, french and italian, spanish but speaks english with an afrikaans accent and plays host on ocassion in the grounds of a castle he rebuilt. I dunno if he's one of the doctors of death, I just know he's there, and some polite germans have been wrangling invitiations to his garden parties this spring exploring his personality, he likes gambling. For a moment let us "presume" he's the one. Well to drag him out and put him to trial, you have to prove who he is. Circumstantial burns or scarring where the tattoo was and gaps in the cv don't hack it you see. Nope, with that sort of problem you need not only bait and trap but some pretty heavy beating of the heather.
just a thought for the day simon weisenthal's death was reported.