MENA UPDATE February 26th 2011

by Siri Vita


MENA UPDATE February 26th 2011
Events in the Middle East & North Africa region (MENA) are unfolding quickly as protesters across the region, calling for regime changes, freedom and democracy refuse to back down, even  in the face of ruling regime brutality.

Libya
Calls for action against Gaddafi  by the US and the United Nations escalated as evacuations were completed and the danger of a hostage crisis receded. However, Gaddafi appears to be holding the entire city of Tripoli hostage as fighting escalates around the capital. Cities all around Libya has come under control of the opposition with the entire eastern half of the country celebrating freedom from his 41 year dictatorial rule.

Gaddafi’s forces are made up of Special Forces loyal to his two sons, about 5,000 regular army soldiers and mercenaries brought in from Chad and Niger. Army, Navy and airforce personnel have defected and  come out in support of the opposition forces after being ordered to attack civilians. Reports of mass killings by Gaddafi loyalists of soldiers who refused orders have surfaced over the last few days with video evidence supporting the claims.

Opposition forces are reluctant to enter Tripoli without a no fly zone being enforced. They fear bringing on an aerial bombing attack that would destroy the city and cause extreme civilian casualties.  A no-fly zone over Libya would also halt the importation of the foreign mercenaries bolstering Gaddafi’s dwindling loyal forces. The U.N. security council is meeting in special session today (Saturday) amidst calls from all quarters to establish this no-fly zone.

Estimates are that thousands have died in the conflict to date with thousands more wounded, arrested or missing. In Tripoli, snipers opened fire yesterday on worshipers leaving Friday prayers and roving bands of armed mercenaries cruised the streets.  Gaddafi called his own rally, attended by about 200 loyalists, in which he gave yet another rambling speech in which he stated he would throw open the armament stores for his loyalists to use against the opposition. There are grave concerns that as he sees his chances of regaining control of the country dwindling, he will commit mass murder within the capital. Defectors from his inner circle state that he is quite capable of such action and the current focus of everyone is looking for a way to avoid a bloodbath in Tripoli.

An  interim government has been formed in Benghazi until#Tripoli is liberated.  The former Justice Minister, Abdul Jalil Mustafa, who resigned in protest of the crackdown, has been named interim president.

Bahrain
Tens of thousands gathered in Manama, Bahrain Friday on the official day of mourning for the 7 dead since protests began there on February 14th..  The government called security forces off the streets a week after protests began and things have been relatively peaceful since. Thousands marched in Pearl Square chanting “Leave Hamad” & “Down Hamad” referring to King  Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa

The King has fired 3 ministers in an attempt to appease the protesters.

Yemen
Demonstrators protesting the rule of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh were attacked in brutal crack down in Aden on Friday with reports of up to 19 dead.  Other protests taking place in the capital of  Sanaa and Taez have also seen violence since protests began.

From EA Newsfeed:  “More on the difficulties for Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh from the apparent defection of two of Yemen's most important tribes to the anti-regime movement.

Powerful tribal leaders, including those of the Hashid and Baqil, pledged at a gathering north of the capital Sanaa to join protests against Saleh.
"I have announced my resignation from the General People's Congress in protest at the repression of peaceful demonstrators in Sanaa, Taez and Aden," Hashid tribal chief Sheikh Hussein bin Abdullah al-Ahmar was quoted as saying.
The Hashids are considered Yemen's most powerful tribal confederation and include nine clans, among them the Sanhan, long a bulwark of Saleh's regime”

Egypt
Protesters in Tahrir square and at the Parliament building had gathered to mark the two weeks since Mubarak has stepped down. Protesters have vowed to come out every Friday till the military cedes power to a civilian government.

In a move which has now angered many and may prove extremely counter-productive for the Egyptian military, forces moved in on the protesters last night dispersing them with tasers and whips while chasing them through the streets.  There were reports of many arrests and beatings amid the ensuing chaos.

The Egyptian military apologized today on it’s facebook page!  All those who were detained last night have been released.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/6450/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-military-attacks-Tahrir-sitin,-army-apologis.aspx

Tunisia
From EA News Feed: “As more than 100,000 people demonstrated in Tunis, Tunisia's interim Government said Friday that elections will be held by mid-July.

Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi's Government also announced that it had seized financial and real estate assets belonging to 110 more members of the entourage of former President Ben Ali. Similar action had already been taken against 46 people, and arrest warrants had been issued for Ben Ali and his wife Leila Trabelsi.”

Iran
A march from Azadi square  is being planned for March 1st.

Iraq
PM of Iraq said: we are a democracy we don't fear demonstrations. He then  imposed curfew and sent police to shoot at protesters. Reportedly at least 7 dead.

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Murder They Rote...

Two minute video from Scottish Socialist Party showing the horrors of the past three political decades in the UK...

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Plea from SLLU member, Irah Anatine

Forget all your opinions about what is going on in Iraq. There are great chances that you are wrong, lacking vital information or, at least, that the information you have is only one small part of the huge caos that Iraq is today.


How do I know this? First of all, I apply this rule to myself. Second, one of the most important lessons I've learned when I was in Iraq is that...you really need to be there in order to understand how little we know about it.


But let's forget all about this too, I'm not trying to start a debate, more urgent things are happening. In Iraq, there is a "city" called Ashraf. It's the headquarters of the PMOI, iranian resistance, protected under the Geneva Agreement by american forces. 4800 people live there, including young men and women, educated in the best western schools, who decided to join Ashraf in order to "make a difference and fight for freedom." The difference is...they have no guns, so they fight with the same persistent activism then many of the western movements: words, campaigns, concrete actions of support to iraqi civilians. What do they fight against? Torture, terror, violence against women, dictatorship. But forget about all this, it doesn't matter one bit at this point. First of all because you don't know if I'm telling the truth. Second because, even if it's true, it would be only a small portion of the great chaos that Iraq is today.


The facts are: the american government has agreed to transfer the responsibility of protecting Ashraf citizens from America to the Iraqi Government, under Iraqi Government request. The Iraqi Government wants to close Ashraf camp and send citizens back to Iran or a third country.


Facts are: 4800 people risk death, torture and displacement, right now, while we wrap Christmas presents.


Facts are: Iranian prisons are far worst then any Guantanamo, the shameful prison we fight so much against.


Facts are: you can make a difference, by signing the following letter to Obama and send it back to babelproject@gmail.com. At this ponit I am still trying to find a delivery adress, but all your help is necessary. Best wishes,

Ana

NOTE: You will need to put your name, position and the name of the organization you belong to. If you don't belong to any, please put your name, email and hometown.

LETTER TO OBAMA


Dear President Obama

Following the singing of the agreement between the USA and Iraq on the status of the US forces in Iraq the anxiety and fear over the situation of the residents of Camp Ashraf in Iraq, home to the members of the People's Mojahedin organization of Iran (PMOI), the main opposition to the Iranian regime, has extremely increased.

The residents of Ashraf were recognized as "protected persons" under the 4th Geneva Convention in 2004 by the US government. Recently the US authorities in Iraq have announced that the protection of the Camp and its residents will be transferred to the Iraqi forces.

Concerning the influence of the Iranian regime in Iraq since the war in 2003 and an Iranian official collective death sentence on the PMOI members, the said transfer will put the lives of the residents of Ashraf at great risks. Many world leading human rights organizations and personalities, as well as members of the US Congress have expressed their concern over the situation. Amnesty International warned on December 27 that, "The Iraqi government is reported to have told the PMOI that those at Camp Ashraf must leave Iraq by 31 December 2008. Some Iraqi officials have suggested that they will be forcibly expelled if they fail to comply. According to Amnesty International, the Iranians would be at risk of serious human rights violations if they were forcibly returned to Iran."

The Parliamentary Assembly of Council Europe (Written Declaration No 415) announced on 2 October 2008 that: "Transferring protection of Ashraf under the present circumstances violates the principle of non-refoulement, the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Refugee Convention, the Convention Against Torture, IHL and International Law and would result in a humanitarian catastrophe, thus we urge U.S. forces for as long as they remain in Iraq to continue to protect Ashraf residents and uphold their judicial protection under international law."

We urge you that the US protection of Camp Ashraf is continued until the government of Iraq provides secure and viable guarantees for protection of Ashraf residents. We are sure such guarantees under the auspices of international community will help to safeguard the independence and security of the government of Iraq vis-a-vie the pressures and interferences by Iran.

Yours sincerely,

(Views addressed are not necessarily the views of SLLU as an organisation. Members are free to comment).

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from the General Union of Dock Workers in Iraq

www.uslaboragainstwar.org

May Day Message
from the General Union of Dock Workers in Iraq
to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in the United States

Dear Brothers and Sisters of ILWU in California

The courageous decision you made to carry out a strike on May Day to protest against the war and occupation of Iraq advances our struggle against occupation to bring a better future for us and for the rest of the world as well.

We are certain that a better world will only be created by the workers and what you are doing is an example and proof of what we say. The labor movement is the only element in the society that is able to change the political equations for the benefit of mankind. We in Iraq are looking up to you and support you until the victory over the US administration's barbarism is achieved.

Over the past five years the sectarian gangs who are the product of the occupation, have been trying to transfer their conflicts into our ranks. Targeting workers, including their residential and shopping areas, indiscriminately using all sorts of explosive devices, mortar shells, and random shooting, were part of a bigger scheme that was aiming to tear up the society but they miserably failed to achieve their hellish goal. We are struggling today to defeat both the occupation and sectarian militias' agenda.

The pro-occupation government has been attempting to intervene into the workers affairs by imposing a single government-certified labor union. Furthermore it has been promoting privatization and an oil and gas law to use the occupation against the interests of the workers.

We the port workers view that our interests are inseparable from the interests of workers in Iraq and the world; therefore we are determined to continue our struggle to improve the living conditions of the workers and overpower all plots of the occupation, its economic and political projects.


Let us hold hands for the victory of our struggle.

Long live the port workers in California!

Long live May Day!

Long live International solidarity!

The General Union of Port Workers in Iraq
An Affiliate Union with General Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq (GFWCUI)

28-4-2008

---

May Day 2008 Statement from the Iraqi Labour Movement
To the Workers and All Peace Loving People of the World

On this day of international labour solidarity we call on our fellow trade unionists and all those worldwide who have stood against war and occupation to increase support for our struggle for freedom from occupation - both the military and economic.

We call upon the governments, corporations and institutions behind the ongoing occupation of Iraq to respond to our demands for real democracy, true sovereignty and self-determination free of all foreign interference.

Five years of invasion, war and occupation have brought nothing but death, destruction, misery and suffering to our people. In the name of our “liberation,” the invaders have destroyed our nation’s infrastructure, bombed our neighbourhoods, broken into our homes, traumatized our children, assaulted and arrested many of our family members and neighbours, permitted the looting of our national treasures, and turned nearly twenty percent of our people into refugees.

The invaders helped to foment and then exploit sectarian divisions and terror attacks where there had been none. Our union offices have been raided. Union property has been seized and destroyed. Our bank accounts have been frozen. Our leaders have been beaten, arrested, abducted and assassinated. Our rights as workers have been routinely violated.

The Ba’athist legislation of 1987, which banned trade unions in the public sector and public enterprises (80% of all workers), is still in effect, enforced by Paul Bremer’s post-invasion Occupation Authority and then by all subsequent Iraqi administrations. This is an attack on our rights and basic precepts of a democratic society, and is a grim reminder of the shadow of dictatorship still stalking our country.

Despite the horrific conditions in our country, we continue to organise and protest against the occupation, against workplaces abuses, and for better treatment and safer conditions.

Despite the sectarian plots around us, we believe in unity and solidarity and a common aim of public service, equality, and freedom to organise without external intrusions and coercion.

Our legitimacy comes from our members. Our principles of organisation are based on transparent and internationally recognised International Labour Organisation standards.

We call upon our allies and all the world’s peace-loving peoples to help us to end the nightmare of occupation and restore our sovereignty and national independence so that we can chart our own course to the future.

1)   We demand an immediate withdrawal of all foreign
troops from our country, and utterly reject the agreement being
negotiated with the USA for long-term bases and a military presence. The
continued occupation fuels the violence in Iraq rather than alleviating
it.  Iraq must be returned to full sovereignty.


2) We demand the passage of a labour law promised by our
Constitution, which adheres to ILO principles and on which Iraqi trade
unionists have been fully consulted, to protect the rights of workers to
organize, bargain and strike, independent of state control and
interference.


3)   We demand an end to meddling in our sovereign economic
affairs by the International Monetary Fund, USA and UK. We demand
withdrawal of all economic conditionalities attached to the IMF's
agreements with Iraq, removal of US and UK economic "advisers"
from the corridors of Iraqi government, and a recognition by those bodies
that no major economic decisions concerning our services and resources
can be made while foreign troops occupy the country.


4)   We demand that the US government and others
immediately cease lobbying for the oil law, which would fracture the
country and hand control over our oil to multinational companies like
Exxon, BP and Shell. We demand that all oil companies be prevented from
entering into any long-term agreement concerning oil while Iraq remains
occupied. We demand that the Iraqi government tear up the current draft
of the oil law, and begin to develop a legitimate oil policy based on
full and genuine consultation with the Iraqi people. Only after all
occupation forces are gone should a long term plan for the development of
our oil resources be adopted. 

We seek your support and solidarity to help us end the military and economic occupation of our country. We ask for your solidarity for our right to organise and strike in defence of our interests as workers and of our public services and resources. Our public services are the legacy of generations before us and the inheritance of all future generations and must not be privatised.

We thank you for standing by us. We too stand with you in your own struggles for real democracy which we know you also struggle for, and against privatisation, exploitation and daily disempowerment in your workplaces and lives.

We commend those of you who have organised strikes and demonstrations to end the occupation in solidarity with us and we hope these actions will continue.

We look forward to the day when we have a world based on co-operation and solidarity. We look forward to a world free from war, sectarianism, competition and exploitation.

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School’s out for troops out

Five years on from the invasion of Iraq, Lena de Casparis sounds out the views of some of those who were at school at the time – some who joined the big anti-war protests and some who didn’t

Back in 2003, a sign of the depth of the revulsion at the government’s support for the US war on Iraq was the extraordinary reaction to the war by Britain’s supposedly apathetic and feckless youth. Around the UK, tens of thousands of students walked out of school in protest. In Birmingham over 4,000 school-uniformed protesters took to the streets; in Edinburgh around 300 12-15 year olds tried to occupy the castle; and in Manchester over 400 students sat in the road, peacefully blocking the traffic.

Read the rest of the article at RED PEPPER.

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Michael Prysner's testimony at Winter Soldier...

"We were told we were fighting terrorism...The real terrorism was this occupation... I threw families onto the street in Iraq only to come home and see families thrown onto the street in this country in this tragic and unnecessary foreclosure crisis... Our enemy is not 5,000 miles away: they are right here at home." -- Michael Prysner

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ON SATURDAY - TELL THEM TO COME HOME

TELL the young people in Afghanistan and Iraq to come home. Why should our young men and women - the majority of which are from poor backgrounds - be ordered to kill other poor people?

On Saturday, lets tell Brown, Bush and the rest - NOT IN OUR NAME!

BBC NEWS FROM TODAY. CLICK HERE FOR ANOTHER REASON WE SHOULD LEAVE

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Stop the War!

Join the global protests - demonstrate 15 March

Assemble 12 noon, Trafalgar Square, London

Assemble 11.30, Blythswood Square, Glasgow.

Join the Global protests

Troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan
Don’t attack Iran
End the siege of Gaza

More details here

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D-Notice on SAS man who told the truth

http://www.stopwar.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=533&Itemid=27

Video and statement about d notice-

ontent&task=view&id=537&Itemid=1

"As of 1940hrs 29/02/08 I have been placed under an injunction preventing me from speaking publicly and publishing material gained as a result of my service in UKSF (SAS).

I will be continuing to collect evidence and opinion on British Involvement in extraordinary rendition, torture, secret detentions, extra judicial detention, use of evidence gained through torture, breaches of the Geneva Conventions, breaches of International Law and failure to abide by our obligations as per UN Convention Against Torture. I am carrying on regardless "
Ben Griffin, Former UK Special forces trooper

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The machine gun of capitalism

From Information Clearing House
Dead soldiers, peak oil and mind-boggling profits; praise Jesus, the machine's still working

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

06/02/08 "SFGate" -- - Surprisingly moving Barack Obama music videos? The potential end of the writer's strike? Cute young deer being saved by helicopters? No no no no no. Here are your most deeply inspiring news stories of the month:

A flurry of pink slips fluttered over the job sector as corporate payrolls were sliced like sour pie. Foreclosures are skyrocketing and new home sales across the nation are plummeting faster than Britney Spears' serotonin levels. A nasty recession is either creeping or flooding in, depending on your perspective and how recently you purchased your home and/or tried to dump your Google stock.

Meanwhile, the largest corporation in the world, the one which has consistently raked in the largest and most appalling profits of any organization on Earth, a company so powerful and deeply influential to the machinations of our own nation, our government, the globe, so ingrained and unstoppable that no president, no administration, no nuclear warhead to its CEO's home planet stands a chance of slowing it down or altering its behavior in any significant way because there is simply far, far too much money involved in its nefarious endeavors, has recently posted the largest profit of any company in American history.

Yes, the Exxon Mobil corporation sucked in a staggering $11.7 billion in a single quarter (more than $40 billion for the year, a new record for an American company) thanks largely to record-breaking prices for a barrel of oil, which are of course only record-breaking because, well, the Bush administration has essentially engineered the economy and launched a bogus war and desiccated the American idea exactly so they would be.

Oh yes, two more trifling stories, buried beneath the nauseating Exxon headlines and the tales of looming economic struggle: More U.S. soldiers are dead in Iraq as a result of Bush's failed war, U.S. military spending in 2009 will reach its highest levels since WWII ($515 billion), insurgents have taken to strapping suicide bombs to mentally retarded women and nearly 100 more civilians are dead in another bombing in Baghdad because the U.S. troop surge is working so well. Oh wait.

Do you feel the righteousness? The inspiration? Can you sense the deep connection between these stories? Because the truth is, they merely add up to the heartwarming conclusion that, without a doubt, American capitalism is still firing on all cylinders. Praise!

Yes, the system is working just exactly as those in control of the nation right now wish it to be working, with the most dominant, ruthless corporations in the world (Exxon joined by Shell, Chevron, BP, ConocoPhilips et al) still making the most money in the most destabilizing and environmentally devastating manner possible, while poor uneducated kids die like chattel in unwinnable wars trying to secure a tiny bit more of the source of their profit.

And somewhere in between, the nation's overall health and well-being are sacrificed like dazed lambs to an ignorant god, with our government offering up only the most meager, desultory efforts to keep it functional so as to not induce all-out fire-and-pitchfork revolt.

Is that too simplistic? Too reductive? Not even close. Hell, you can distill it down even further. For if you understand, as most sentient creatures on the planet now do, that this "war" is merely a particularly bloody chunk of a particularly brutal, fraudulent national energy policy spearheaded by Dick Cheney and beloved by Saudi Arabia and Halliburton and most of Texas, then it is no stretch at all to say that we are sending American kids to their deaths exactly so Exxon can continue to make $3 billion in a single month (or: $100 million per day, $4 million per hour, or more than $1,000 every. Single. Second).

Or how about this for dark math: $40 billion for the year, 4,000 dead U.S. soldiers ... that's a cool $10 million in pure profit for every American soldier BushCo has thrown to the wolves of petroleum, just for 2007 alone. Even if you factor in the 20,000 wounded, paralyzed and brain damaged U.S. soldiers — not to mention the record number of military suicides — on a body-by-body basis, you've still got yourself one hell of a sweet profit margin. See Dick Cheney's vile, crooked little grin? Now you know where it comes from.

This, you might argue, is perhaps the bleakest way to look at American capitalism, as an instrument of war and death and gluttony that serves only the most cretinous corporate masters at the expense of, well, everyone else. This is the capitalism of the hard right, a particularly ruthless type that happily sacrifices quite literally everything — the environment, health, human life, God, national identity, the stability of future generations — for the sake of immediate and unchecked profit.

It is the kind of system, furthermore, that brings with it a huge, nauseating sense of shame for how we have approached the world, pouring a vague disgust over the nation like a cancerous sludge. This is perhaps BushCo's cruelest gift of all: tragically convincing us that this strain of capitalism, a furious weapon of greed and disgrace, inviting all manner of corruption and destruction as it brings out the absolute worst in the human animal, is the only flavor there really is.

But then again, no. Maybe there's something else, a flipside we've forgotten amid the insane oil profits and dead bodies and global mistrust. It's the awkward truism that American capitalism is potentially capable, despite its dark core of profit, despite its frequently poisoned heart, of tremendous creative opportunity and ingenuity. Like porn, like God, like wisdom and plutonium and very, very dark rum, it's all in how you use it.

Here, then, is perhaps the most dominant question surrounding the upcoming big transition, as the nation prepares over the next year to finally rid itself of the cancer of Bush: Are we still capable of reshaping the capitalist demon, injecting it, on a national scale, with something like conscience and compassion and responsibility, sans the need to sell your mother, rape Alaska, or bomb ancient cities and kill pathetic foreign dictators in a pitiable attempt to vindicate your dad? Is such a turnaround even possible anymore?

Because this nasty truth remains: Bush or no, Exxon and its nefarious, insanely powerful ilk are ramming full speed ahead, undertaking more incredibly brutal, land-raping techniques as you read these very words to get at the Earth's remaining supply of oil, sucking up tar sand and coal and anything else possible to maintain profit and power. They are, and will continue to be, utterly relentless and, at least for a number of years to come, quite unstoppable.

There is no eliminating the dark side of capitalism, the gluttony and the greed and the violent underbelly. There is only minimizing, shifting the emphasis, changing the pitch and angle of approach, trying to take what is, at its very heart, a flawed and self-destructive system, and making it into something proud and interesting and vibrant, something actually worth defending.

Can it be done? Is it still possible? No matter how many poetic Barack Obama speeches, no matter how many pragmatic Hillary Clinton promises, it's a question that seems far bigger than both of them. And the truth is, it's really the only question that matters.

Mark Morford's Notes & Errata column appears every Wednesday and Friday on SFGate and in the Datebook section of the San Francisco Chronicle

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Free land to make your point!

Set up your own peace camp - free at the lovely Isla Montevideo.

Click the sign at the landing point to receive your free tents. Then create a display of your choosing (max 25 prims) on the theme of peace. Please be respectful of the sim and other contributors.

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"Student's Day" demonstration at the University of Tehran

azady barabary said...

To Whom It May Concern:

As you know, the Student's Day (Azar 16th, December 7th) which is held every year as a protesting action in the universities of Iran,
we the communist (in farsi: azady khah va barabary talab) students of the universities in Iran are planning a "Student's Day" demonstration at the University of Tehran.
The main policies of this demonstration include these points:

1. Protest against the war in the Middle East

2. Protesting Against political and social pressures against the student, worker unions and women's rights and … activists

We want: the freedom of speech all through the society, free unions for students, workers and etc. and …

So, we are asking you to support our demonstration through you media on Tuesday,
December 4th at the University of Tehran beginning in front of the Engineering Faculty.
For more information on the details of this demonstration, please contact us: azady.barabary@gmail.com.
See more information at http://azady-barabary-01.blogspot.com.

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Don't Iraq Iran!

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DON'T IRAQ IRAN

CLICK ON PIC FOR DETAILS.

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Hands off Iran!

There is a major demonstration planned for second life this Saturday. The demonstration is for people in secondlife to show their abhorrence of the present build up to war/annihilation of Iran. It is also a show of disgust at the present world powers and their destruction in Iraq and other war zones. Those who have wreaked havoc on civilians across the world in the name of profit and dollar dominance should be tried for murder and for crimes not seen on this scale since the Nazi horrors in Europe in the first half of the last century.

Whatever your political view, no-one can say what has been done on the people of Iraq is just. And no-one can say that the planned "limited" nuclear strike on Iran can be justified. Anyone who can justify this will have to do so to generations of people across the world who will suffer the repercussions and fallout of such an action.

There are different political positions represented in this demo, from conservative through to liberal to ultra-left. The SLLU is a unity group made up of left individuals and groups. We fully support this action by people across the world, and members will be part of this demonstration. Members will also facilitate this demo by contributing demo material. Placards and teeshirts made by people across sl can be found in our freebie shop- made available absolutely free to all who wish to have them.

Please contact any1 Gynoid for details on the demo, and Higgledpiggle Snoats, Plot Tracer, Eremia Woodbury, Hanni Bekkers, Trevor Caldwell, Laura Gagliano or Krisp Alexandre for details on SLLU.

PRESS CONFERENCE: 10AM SLT FRIDAY 30 NOV 2007 Commonwealth 3
DAY OF ACTION: 8AM to 6PM SLT SATURDAY 1 DEC 2007 Commonwealth 3,
Capitol Hill, CNN, Reuters, LIVE-4-U TV, and other protest venues

MAJOR PROTEST ACTION IN SECOND LIFE - STOP THE NEXT WAR: US vs. IRAN

EVENT: LAG 4 PEACE's DON'T IRAQ IRAN! Day of Action, Teach-Ins,
Protests, Poetry, and Live Music

SLLU original demonstration - http://slleftunity.blogspot.com/2007/02/sllu-demonstrate-against-us-plans-to.html

PRESSE KONFERENZ: 10 AM SLT/19.00 UHR (deutsche Zeit) Fr. 30. Nov. 07 Commonwealth 3

DAY OF ACTION: 8AM bis 6PM SLT/17.00 - 3.00 Uhr SA. 1 Dez. 07 Commonwealth3,

Capitol Hill, CNN, Reuters, LIVE-4-U TV, and other protest venues

PROTEST AKTION IN SECOND LIFE - STOPPT DEN NÄCHSTEN KRIEG: US vs. IRAN

EVENT: LAGs FÜR DEN FRIEDEN -KEIN IRAK IRAN! Day of Action, Teach-Ins,

Proteste, Poesie, und Live Musik

Kontakt: Any1 Gynoid (Second Life) oder email an .... any1gynoid@googlemail.com

Nach BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5346524.stm),

die Republikaner haben einen großteils erfundenen Bericht veröffentlicht und durch den

US Kongress verbreitet, der Bericht enthielt Kriegs- inspirierte Lügen über den aktuellen

Stand des Atom- Programms des Iran und über Aktivitäten im Irak. Die United Nation's In-

ternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) verurteilten den Bericht energisch und bezeich-

nete ihn als ein Lügenpaket und widerlegten Punkt für Punkt. Letzte Woche berichtete die

IAEA, dass der Iran völlig mit den UN Inspektoren kooperiere. Ein aktueller Artikel im New

Yorker zeigte die wahren Absichten der US- Behörden, insbesondere: "Es ist eine verzwei-

felte Anstrengung von Cheney zu erkennen u.a. schnellstmöglich militärische Aktionen in den

Iran zu bringen

Als Reaktion auf diese alarmierenden Neuigkeiten, organisieren links/progressive SL-Bewohner

eine große Protest-Aktion im Second Life, für den 1. Dezember 2007 zusammen mit anderen

progressiven Gruppen und eigenständigen Personen im SL.

Über Lag4Peace (Lags für den Frieden)

Diese SL-basierende Koalition lädt die Medien dazu ein Teilnahme an unserem Protest zu

haben. Wir heißen die Beteiligung aller Gruppen oder Personen im SL willkommen, die die Welt

frei von Krieg und Tyrannei sehen wollen.

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Remembrance Sunday - opinion- by Plot Tracer

It is Remembrance Sunday. A day when luminaries such as Brown and Blair in the UK lay wreaths in remembrance of the people they sent to their deaths.

People across the country pay in to a fund that helps the survivors of these wars – though the name of the fund – Haig – is the name of the member of the British Aristocracy who sent thousands of young men to their deaths in World War One.

99.9% of those who die in wars are working class.

We will remember them.

…it is our business as socialists to develop 'class patriotism', refusing to murder one another for a sordid world capitalism… Let the propertied class, old and young alike, go out and defend their blessed property. When they have been disposed of, we of the working class will have something to defend, and we shall do it.
John Maclean 17 September 1914

November 9^th is the birthdate of a woman who campaigned for peace during the first and second World Wars. Much more worthy as a representative of the working class. A voice from the past who struggled against the system that prevails – a system that year after year pits poor against poor in order for the rich to hold on to the world.

http://www.gcal.ac.uk/radicalglasgow/chapters/helen_crawfurd.html

We will remember them.

This week Rose Gentle, mother of Gordon, was given official recognition for her campaign to reveal the truth about her son Gordon’s death in Iraq. Army logistics failure led to the unlawful killing of a British soldier in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq, a coroner ruled. Selena Lynch, assistant deputy coroner for Oxfordshire, said vital bomb-disabling equipment was not supplied to 19-year-old Gordon Gentle's regiment, the Royal Highland Fusiliers (RHF) when it should have been.
She said: "It is more likely than not that the bomb would not have detonated had Element B [a bomb jamming kit] been fitted." After three years of ex-Prime Minister Blair refusing to meet her, the man who as Chancellor once proclaimed he would “spend what it takes” to disarm Saddam Hussein has said he will. Gordon Brown will need to answer the question of why we are still in Iraq and why did this young man and the tens of thousands of people in Iraq have to die?

And why are they still dying?

We will remember them.

http://www.mfaw.org.uk/

http://www.ivaw.org/

http://www.vvaw.org/

click HERE for the film, "War is Sell"

and HERE for Propaganda and War: Iraq and BeyondNoam Chomsky, professor, linguistics, MIT

Lest We Forget

By John Pilger

On Remembrance Day 2007 - Veterans Day in America - the great and the good bowed their heads at the Cenotaph. Generals, politicians, newsreaders, football managers and stock-market traders wore their poppies. Hypocrisy was a presence. No one mentioned Iraq. No one uttered the slightest remorse for the fallen of that country. No one read the forbidden list.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18726.htm

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CASH COST OF US WARS

War Costs May Total $2.4 Trillion:

Bush war spending highest since WW II.

Click here
===

Bush wars to cost 40 times higher than original estimates;

$8,000 per man, woman child in US

Click here

From Information Clearing House

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MEETING RESISTANCE

This video clip from the upcoming, award winning film from Steve Connors and Molly Bingham, Meeting Resistance, portrays a side of the Iraqi insurgency President Bush doesn't want the world to see.

In “Meeting Resistance” we hear the voices and stories of individuals usually simply referred to – depending on your perspective -- as resistance fighters, insurgents, or terrorists. Visit the film’s website.



Priests Protesting Torture Jailed
Louis Vitale, 75, a Franciscan priest, and Steve Kelly, 58, a Jesuit priest, were each sentenced to five months in federal prison for attempting to deliver a letter opposing the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Both priests were taken directly into jail from the courtroom after sentencing.

Fort Huachuca is the headquarters of military intelligence in the U.S. and the place where military and civilian interrogators are taught how to extract information from prisoners. The priests attempted to deliver their letter to Major General Barbara Fast, commander of Fort Huachuca. Fast was previously the head of all military intelligence in Iraq during the atrocities of Abu Ghraib.

The priests were arrested while kneeling in prayer halfway up the driveway to Fort Huachuca in November 2006. Both priests were charged with trespass on a military base and resisting orders of an officer to stop.

More HERE

VISIT THIS POLITICAL BLOG: http://politicsplus.blogspot.com/

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Wealth Creates Poverty? Terrorism, Globalization and Conspiracy

Dr. Michael Parenti

Globalization is an attempt to extend corporate monopoly control over the whole globe. Over every national economy. Over every local economy Over every life.

Dr. Michael Parenti, one of North America's leading radical writers on U.S. imperialism and interventionism, fascism, democracy and the media, spoke to several hundred people at St. Andrews Wesley Church in Vancouver.

Dr. Parenti has taught political science at a number of colleges and universities in the United States and other countries. He was written 250 major magazine articles and 15 books and is frequently heard on public and alternative radio.

Click here to watch:

OCTOBER 9, 2002, VANCOUVER

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IRAQ- THE HUMAN COST

For a breakdown in coalition fatalities, click on the image below.

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