Second Life Left Unity: June 2007

Saturday, 30 June 2007

Coffee / Cre8

SLLU are involved in a few exciting projects around Second Life - two of which are detailed here - more to follow. All of these projects are designed by our members to facilitate learning.

I'D KILL FOR A COFFEE

There are coffee shops on every high street. Places like Starbucks and Costa Coffee have become common place. SLLU have opened a coffee shop in Second Life - click on one of the images below for a slurl - if you are logged into sl, you will be tp'ed there. If you are not yet a Second Lifer, click on the image and then follow the instructions on how to set up free membership and when you have arrived in SL - look up Second Life Left Unity group!

Farmers only get around 10p of every £2.00 or more we spend on coffee – and that proportion is diminishing as free trade rules slice off more of their living standards. Even Fair Trade products are not addressing the poverty the coffee industry is creating.

The coffee trade is at the moment controlled almost entirely by four multinational companies – Kraft Foods, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble and Sara Lee. They sell coffee as a standardized retail good – sold at a relatively constant price. This masks wildly fluctuating prices on the commodity markets. And these prices have been falling since, in the past decade, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been deregulating the market. The IMF and WTO use Third World Debt to make countries turn more of their land over to producing cash crops such as coffee. This is the Irish Famine writ large. Entire countries forced to grow for export, while their own people starve.

The result? – Multinationals make HUGE profits from coffee while the 25 million growers are forced into poverty. Around 70 percent of coffee is grown on small farms in Africa, East Asia and Latin America.

Some non-governmental organizations are taking the coffee companies to task, but it is a drop in the ocean. The history of coffee is tied to capitalism – don’t forget that the first financial markets such as Lloyds and the London Stock Exchange where started in coffee shops. The London Stock exchange and the capitalists who used/ use it to make money have profited from the coffee trade from supplying slaves, insuring ships and supplying finance to coffee merchants. The emergence of an international market altered the balance of power in the trade in favour of importers. The New York Coffee Exchange was set up in 1882 to prevent producers from banding together.

Monday, 25 June 2007

CALLING ALL LEFTY CR8-tive TYPES!!

You Cre8tive lot! The photo below shows some of the Cre8 garden tributes you have left in memory and in tribute to the victims of globalisation/capitalism.

All you lefty creative types - the ongoing Cre8 Garden

(http://slurl.com/secondlife/Isla%20Montevideo/49/220/36)

has proved that the left have the artists! Well done to all who have taken part and all of those who are going to.

SLLU are now working towards aquiring our own land for a new and exciting ongoing proposed project - details of which to follow later in the week.

In order that we can expand, and connect with as many people in SL as possible, we are now looking for content-creators who are interested in participating in our new ventures. Currently, we are in the process of setting up a space where we will give away creations, donated by members, to residents of SL, who can then contribute a voluntary donation if they wish (or not, as the case may be!).

SO! if you are a content-creator, and are interested in donating content you have made, and having a venue to show-case it, be it overtly politically-themed, or just playful/dorky/useful/experimental - whatever! please get in touch for further details, and/or send your full-perms content to either myself (higgleDpiggle Snoats), Eremia Woodbury, or Plot Tracer.

thanks again for your continuing support!
higgledpiggle snoats

OUR CHARTER:

The SLLU seeks creative, non violent means to foster revolutionary social dialogue. We oppose capitalism, as well as racism and sexism as a part of capitalism. Our goal is to develop socialism in order to maximise left activity and thought on SL.

SLLU originated from members of the Scottish SSP, and is now part of a world wide left unity movement in SL. We are a diverse group, united around social justice and anti-capitalism. We are a democratic collective.

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Saturday, 23 June 2007

From Michael Moore

'SiCKO' Sneaks Across America This Saturday!

Thursday, June 21st, 2007

Friends,

Would you like to go to a sneak preview of my new film, "Sicko," before it opens on June 29th? Well, if you live anywhere near the 32 cities listed below, this Saturday night, June 23rd, our movie studio is going to hold sneak screenings of "Sicko" in 43 theaters across the country. I'd love for you to be one of the first to see it so, if you'd like, you can click here and order tickets now. We'd love to see you there.

Also, if you live in the New York City area we are opening the film tomorrow (Friday, June 22) exclusively at one theater, the AMC Lincoln Square for a first week run. The interest in the film is very high and theaters have been asking us to open it as soon as possible. Alright, already! It opens tomorrow in NYC, the sneak previews are Saturday around the country, and we open nationwide next Friday, the 29th.

Last night we screened "Sicko" for the members of Congress and the Senate in Washington, D.C. Earlier in the day we testified during a briefing in Congress called by the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Conyers, Jr. I brought with me some of the people who appear in the film to tell their stories -- and it was a powerful moment.

I will write again next week, before "Sicko" opens nationwide on the 29th. I'm so excited, after spending the last couple of years working on this film, that you all will finally be able to see it.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. Catch the sneak preview of "Sicko" in these cities this Saturday night, June 23rd:

Phoenix, AZ
Sacramento, CA
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Denver, CO
Washington, D.C.
Miami, FL
Tampa - St. Petersburg, FL
Atlanta, GA
Chicago, IL
Indianapolis, IN
Kansas City, KS
Baltimore, MD
Boston, MA
Detroit, MI
Flint, MI
Minneapolis - St. Paul, MN
St. Louis, MO
Las Vegas, NV
Albuquerque, NM
Albany, NY
Cleveland, OH
Columbus, OH
Portland, OR
Philadelphia, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Austin, TX
Dallas, TX
Houston, TX
Seattle, WA
Tacoma, WA
Milwaukee, WI

Order tickets online here: http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/about/sneak/

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Wednesday, 20 June 2007

Close the School of the Americas

Congress to take critical vote tomorrow!

Tell your representative: Close the School of the Americas!

In the next two days, Congress will vote on an amendment to close the notorious School of the Americas/WHINSEC. The School of the Americas, funded by our tax dollars and located at Ft. Benning Georgia, has trained -for more than 60 years- over 60,000 Latin American Soldiers in torture, psychological warfare and war against civilian populations. Many of the tactics of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay began at the SOA to be used on civilians and those working for justice in Latin America. This school has graduated the worst human rights abusers in Latin American History. Rep. McGovern (MA) and Rep. John Lewis (GA) will introduce an amendment to the Foreign Operations appropriations bill to cut funding for the SOA/ WHINSEC and stand up against the legacy of torture as a part of US Foreign Policy!

Last year, in a similar vote, ANSWER (http://www.answercoalition.org/) activists made a decisive difference in challenging the school. We are continuing to support the work of the School of the Americas Watch (SOAW), which has carried on a long campaign to shut this institution down.

We expect a close vote and need as many people as possible flooding the offices of the House of Representatives with calls, e-mails and faxes in support of a YES vote on the amendment everyday through June 8th. This is it! You can make a difference and it's the people power of our movement that will get this amendment passed! Send an e-mail and free fax to Congress by using this link:

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Monday, 18 June 2007

From Wildo Hofmann (English below)

http://www.archipelrouge.fr/

Groupe de Résistance active à très haute résolution;-) Inhumaines et parfaitement dissociées ... Contre l'endormissement mutualisé, le gel des consciences,la pensée unique,la prozac politique et la néthique bobo chic élevée au rang de parc à huitres,L'Archipel Rouge est un regroupement de personnes engagées soucieuses de vouloir expérimenter un militantisme de traverse sous forme d’un maillage rhizomique, franchement ancré à gauche(...)

Very active group of resistance. We are against mutualized sleeping, conscioussness frozing, unilatreal thinking, prozac politic, and nethique bobo chic raised to oyster art. L'Archipel Rouge is a group composed by members engaged in left militantism through rizomic webbing.

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Sunday, 17 June 2007

PHOTOS FROM ROSTOCK

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR MORE SPECTACULAR IMAGES FROM THE ANTI-G8 DEMONSTRATIONS

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Sunday, 10 June 2007

Cre-8 Anti G8 Garden and Anti G8 Demo pictures

To go to the Garden and place a tribute to the victims of globalisation/ capitalism or to leave a message for the leaders of the G8 countries, click on the sign (it is a slurl)

(thanks to HiggleDpiggle Snoats for these pics)

DEMO AND MARCH

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My G8 - from Steve, a friend of SLLU

Steve is a member of the Republican Communist Network

I arrived in Rostock in the early afternoon of June 2. It was already
clear that a large demo was in progress as large numbers of people were
gathered in front of the train station. I joined a contingent of Turkey's
Platform for Rights and Freedoms (HOC), who marched in a bloc that also
included the Internationalist League of People's Struggle (mostly Turkish
Maoists) and the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party and a few other, smaller
groups from Turkey. They in turn seem to have been part of an
"anti-imperialist bloc", with some German organisations. The composition
of the demo was very mixed, especially politically. It looked like the
overwhelming majority were from Germany.

The march was long but uneventful. The police could be s een in the
distance, down side streets. I don't know how many people were in the
march - the nearest I can put it is tens of thousands.

Nothing much happened until people got to the end of the march, in a kind
of harbour area where there was a sort of raised platform. There was said
to be trouble up ahead but there was a screen of trees off to the left
which made it difficult to see well. Many of us moved forward to see what
was happening, with people shouting out to keep together and if necessary
keep arms linked. Sometimes demonstrators would throw stones, then run
like hell, and there would be a police rush.

Off to the left there was clearly some kind of clash, with stones thrown
by demonstrators and police charges. At some point I had been handed a red
flag to hold and I was waving it. Suddenly there was a police rush, they
were like a green blur and one of them grabbed my flag. I hung onto it and
he started hitting me, I think helped by another one. I fe lt hits to my
face and arm and then I was hit in the groin and fell to the ground, at
this point losing the flag. I was conscious of being hit while on the ground.

A German tried to help me up and backed off when there was some aggressive
reaction from the cops. I remember making a victory sign at nearby
demonstrators from Turkey while I was on the ground. The German or another
one tried again to help me to my feet and was successful as I was pulled
back into the crowd, and led to the back by one of my friends. I was
stopped by a German with some kind of camera and mike and asked what
happened. I explained in German to camera. I was perhaps smiling a bit,
which might not have appeared appropriate, but I was relieved at no longer
being a punching bag and being back among friends and the adrenalin
brought forth by an emergency may have kicked in as well.

A German demonstrator offered me a sip of beer and then I moved to near
the stage. One of the demonstrators I wa s with, from Hamburg, had had
pepper gas sprayed in his face and was in a worse way than me, though he
seemed to recover later on.

A German asked me if I had been hit by a stone thrown by a demonstrator or
by the police. I said the police, and he lost interest - it was a sign of
the divisions among demonstrators. If I had been hit by a stone thrower he
might have been more interested, I think. The march was divided into
militant Autonomen/the "black bloc", some of whom needed no encouragement
to mix it with the police and throw stones, and pacifists. The
"anti-imperialist bloc" were not trying to provoke the police but if
attacked would try to resist, but we were something of a stationary target
for the cops and if they couldn't catch the stone throwers they would
settle for us.

At a certain point I went with others to an anti-G8 encampment near
Rostock. There were several police helicopters over the camp and there was
an air of tension, and some speculation that the police would raid the
camp to break it up. There was discussion round a camp fire near the tent
where I was, about the need to organise to defend the camp etc.
Eventually I went to sleep in the tent. Nothing happened during the very
cold night.

The following day I went to the camp first aid centre, as my injuries were
bothering me, especially the groin one. A doctor came and said the damage
was superficial. He said the testicular bruising would go down after a
while. We discussed why the cop had targetted there, apart from it
hurting. He said it was a macho way of attacking someone else's
masculinity. I said, "Es sind Schweine, nicht wahr?" ("They are pigs,
aren't they?") He replied, "Ja, Schweine." (Further note: as of the
evening of the 7th, most of my Sheridan zone is still a disturbing indigo
colour.)

Earlier that day a German who was in Workers Power's "Revolution" youth
network said he had seen me get beaten up by the police the day befor e
and asked me if I was OK.

Later that day I went with the others I knew to Berlin. It was decided not
to stay in the camp and we were not equipped for a long stay in the
campsite anyway. At Rostock station there was a police rush against some
demonstrators but we got onto the train all right. After the evening of
June 3, all my info about the G8 came from the media. This tended to play
up demonstrator violence - it was claimed that dozens of police were
severely injured. However, the left-wing German daily Junge Welt on June 6
reported that when it contacted the police they were told that only two
police had actually been taken to hospital and one of them had been
discharged. Junge Welt said that the scale of police injuries was
exaggerated in the media to whip up hysteria and justify police
repression, as well as encourage the feeling that injured demonstrators
were getting what they deserved. There were calls from right-wing
politicians for plastic bullets a nd even live ammunition to be used
against demonstrators.

Reports in the media and on the Internet have suggested all kinds of
scenarios. One YouTube shows police suddenly attacking some demonstrators
at a time when everything looked peaceful, thus triggering clashes. I
didn't see it myself, but a police car was parked close to the
demonstration and was attacked. The question arises, why was it there? Was
it bait placed there by police who hoped it would get attacked and give
them a pretext to start charging at demonstrators? I have also mentioned
the divisions among the marchers, who were everything from militant
militants to militant pacifists. It was reported on subsequent days that
there were clashes between the Autonomen and other demonstrators. The
demonstrator who asked me if I had been hit by a rock may have been hoping
to wave me as a bloody shirt in a campaign against the Autonomen. On the
other hand, the people throwing rocks were clearly unconcerned that others
might pay the price for their actions.

I stayed in Berlin a few days, and returned to London on the evening of
the 6th. I wondered if going through passport control might cause me to be
stopped and questioned at either the Berlin or the London end, but nothing
happened. On the 7th, I posted a message on German Indymedia saying I had
been injured and asking if there was anywhere I needed to report the fact.
I have since been trying to find film of my own scuffle on the Internet,
so far without success, though I was told something of it had been
broadcast on TV.

Come to the Cre8 Garden and help create something worthwhile - a memorial to the past present and future victims of Globalisation/capitalism. And let’s put pressure on our politicians to ensure a fair world for everyone.

Click on the link - and if u have second life running it will take you there. If you donot have second life the link will take you to the free download page:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Isla%20Montevideo/49/220/36

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Saturday, 9 June 2007

Scottish Teachers vote to stop Army recruiting in schools:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1459912.0.ban_sought_on_armed_forces_visits_to_schools.php

The SLLU welcome the scottish teaching union, EIS, decision to ban army recruitment from schools.

This despicable practise, in which the army recruitment officers act like the "Child Catcher" in the film "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!" centres, enevitably, in those areas devastated by the ruinous policies of Thatcher, Bush, Reagan, Major and Blair. Our poor are dying in the foriegn oil fields in order to fill the pockets of the rich.

STOP THE SLAUGHTER! BRING OUR BOYS HOME!

GELDOF G8 - "BOLLOCKS!"

Even the liberal Blairite fan, Bob Geldof, has called the latest G8 summit "Bollocks" and a sham. He has said of the deal between the leaders of the richest eight nations – all of whom are millionaires - , "This wasn't serious, this was a total farce... I won't have it spun as anything else except a farce."

Come to the Cre8 Garden and help create something worthwhile - a memorial to the past present and future victims of Globalisation/capitalism. And let’s put pressure on our politicians to ensure a fair world for everyone.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Isla%20Montevideo/49/220/36

Capitalism Kills. Come plant a flower (there is one on this notice) at the Cre-8 Anti-G8/Capitalism Garden in memory of all of the victims of this violent world system we live in.

It is an indictment of the current world system that

1. that there are more people in the world in poverty than not

2. there is enough food in the world to feed everyone, yet millions starve and millions die of obesity

3. the gap between the incomes of the richest and poorest countries was about 3 to 1 in 1820 and over 72 to 1 nowadays

4. The amount of food spent on pet food in the US and Europe each year equals the additional amount needed to provide basic food and health care for all the people in poor countries with a sizeable amount left over.

5. WOMEN AND CHILDREN MAKE UP 76% of poor people in the US (institute for women’s policy research 2001) 7. $13billion a year would satisfy the worlds sanitation and food needs (about as much as the people of the US and European Union spend each year on perfume)

6. The 225 richest people in the world have a combined wealth of more than $1 trillion - equal to the annual income of the poorest 47% of the earths population, some 2.5 BILLION people.

7. Former chief economist of the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz in his book "Making Globalisation Work" admits that globalisation makes some people poorer and that Africa has gotten poorer since the 1980's while wages for the av American family have fallen as the US continues to borrow $2 billion a day from the rest of the world.

8. 42 million Americans live in poverty - 25.3% are American Indians and Alaskan natives; 24.9 % are Black; 21.8% are Hispanics; 11.1% are Asians and 8.3 % are whites - see above for a breakdown on how many are women.

9. A Canadian study shows that the wealthiest nations do not have the healthiest people. instead, it is the countries such as Norway and Cuba with the smallest economic gap between rich and poor.

Capitalism has failed - it is an unsustainable economic model - its central premise of unlimited economic growth is impossible to achieve in a world of finite resources. we are subordinating life to commerce, rather than commerce to life.

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Thursday, 7 June 2007

Second Life Left Unity PRESS RELEASE

Photos of Cre-8 Garden and Demo at Linden Mansion

(Thanks to Dissdent Vollmar for some of these photos)

Over the past few days, groups on SL opposed to Globalisation have organised demonstrations against the G8, whom are at the present meeting in Rostock, Germany. There have been G8 demonstrations outside Reuters and other places. Tonight there will be a mass demo at the Linden Mansion.

SLLU have set up a "Tribute Garden" for people to go place either a flower, a candle - or a tribute of their own choosing on the site in memory of the millions of victims of globalisation
Isla Montevideo (41, 185, 32)

SLLU commend all of those who have organised and have taken part in these demonstrations against a cabal of self elected owners and distributers of the worlds assets. This cabal have tried to "sell" off some of the poorest countries water resources to the highest bidder. This is shameful and has led to demonstrations across the world.

A concerted effort by British campaigners has meant that Nepal's water system is safe, for now, from the profiteers.

Vicky Cann, the World Development Movement’s water campaigner said:

“Time and again water privatisation has failed to connect the poor in the developing world to affordable drinking water. That’s why the WDM joined campaigners from Nepal in calling for Severn Trent to withdraw from this contract.

“It is shocking to now learn, from media reports, that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is threatening to terminate its multi-million dollar loan if the privatisation element of the project is not fulfilled. It is yet another blatant example of a donor trying to bully a poor country into doing what it wants. It is good to see that the minister in charge will not be railroaded by the ADB into privatising Kathmandu’s water supply before reviewing more options.”

Gopal Chintan, coordinator of the Water and Energy Users' Federation-Nepal said:

"People in Nepal are against multinational companies taking over Nepal's drinking water supply and we are pleased that Severn Trent has withdrawn its bid. What Kathmandu needs is public investment in its water supply and management - to cut the 40 per cent plus leakage rate and upgrade the water supply network served by the many small local rivers, springs and ponds,"

ENDS.

PLOT TRACER

Second Life Left Unity

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