The latest on Dandelion Salad23 October, 2010 — Mathaba.net
The Wikileaks press conference on the release of the 400,000 Iraq War Logs. This report is immensely important, please watch it in full and share widely.
22 October 2010 — Truthout
“I came to protest so we can find a solution. Misery is killing me,” said Mascarie Sainte-Anne, 70, at the edge of a rally in front of Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive’s office on October 12.
Haitians have been taking to the streets with increasing frequency since August in calls for redress of the economic and social crisis which has followed the earthquake. The social movements’ demands of the government include the right of those living in internally displaced people’s camps to permanent, humane housing, accessible education and an increase in minimum wage. Rallies have also protested the continued presence of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).
23 October, 2010 — ZCommunications
Iraq War Logs
[At 5pm EST Friday 22nd October 2010 WikiLeaks released the largest classified military leak in history. The 391,832 reports ('The Iraq War Logs'), document the war and occupation in Iraq, from 1st January 2004 to 31st December 2009 (except for the months of May 2004 and March 2009) as told by soldiers in the United States Army. Each is a 'SIGACT' or Significant Action in the war. They detail events as seen and heard by the US military troops on the ground in Iraq and are the first real glimpse into the secret history of the war that the United States government has been privy to throughout.
The reports detail 109,032 deaths in Iraq, comprised of 66,081 'civilians'; 23,984 'enemy' (those labeled as insurgents); 15,196 'host nation' (Iraqi government forces) and 3,771 'friendly' (coalition forces). The majority of the deaths (66,000, over 60%) of these are civilian deaths. That is 31 civilians dying every day during the six year period. For comparison, the 'Afghan War Diaries', previously released by WikiLeaks, covering the same period, detail the deaths of some 20,000 people. Iraq during the same period, was five times as lethal with equivalent population size.]
Transcript follows:
23 October, 2010 — ZCommunications
Founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange has defended the release of hundreds of thousands of secret US military files, the “Iraq War Logs” which suggest numerous war crimes were committed on a regular basis.
23 October, 2010 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
Settlers Attack Dozens of Protestors, Spray Them With Wastewater
IMEMC – 23 Oct 2010 – Sunday October 24, 2010 – 00:52, A group of fundamentalist Jewish settlers attacked on Saturday a group of nonviolent protestors who demanded Israel to reopen the Al Shuhada Street, in the southern West Bank city of Hebron. The settlers hurled stones at the protestors and sprayed them with waste-water.
Extremists Settlers Assault Arab Students In Safad
IMEMC – 23 Oct 2010 – Saturday October 23, 2010 – 13:10, On Friday midnight, a group of extremist settlers hurled stones at students dorms, at the Academics College of Safad, in the Galilee.
22 October, 2010 – URUK Net
Iraq war logs: An introduction
David Leigh, Guardian
October 22, 2010 -… The raw material in these Iraq war logs, like databanks of previous classified files the Guardian has published on the Afghan war, comes from US military archives. A dissident US intelligence analyst, Bradley Manning, formerly based in Baghdad, is currently facing a court martial charged with leaking similar material to WikiLeaks, the online whistleblowing activists. WikiLeaks has defied the Pentagon to pass this data on to a wide range of media organisations, including the Guardian. WikiLeaks intends to post much of it on its own website…
Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=71047
19 October, 2010 Global Research – Under The Holly Tree Blogspot
Dear Survivors of the Chilean Mine Trap,
You do not know me. I am just an American blogger/peace actvist who has followed your heroic efforts to survive your 69 day ordeal and the heroic efforts to save you. With wonder I watched as you were brought up one by one to freedom from your underground hell, where for so long you did not know if you would live or die. Indeed the whole world watched as you were rescued in thunderous joy that you would be reunited with your loved ones who had sat vigil for you for so long, insisting you were alive, insisting the rescue effort keep on, praying together for your safety. The entire world rejoices in your safe return above ground to your loved ones.
Now it is your time to recover from your ordeal, to readjust to above ground living with all the physical aspects that entails as well as the emotional ones. Yet people who wish to somehow attach themselves to your rescue and what they see as your celebrity status are now issuing public invitations for you to visit them.
Beware the Trojan horse bearing gifts. For their all-expense paid trip invitations are being issued with their own interest and image at heart.
22 October, 2010 — Strategic Culture Foundation
‘This appears to confirm our worst fears. Far from being an exercise in simply managing budgets and increasing efficiency, this shows that the government is planning to fundamentally change the shape of the welfare state. With unemployment expected to rise and billions of pounds being cut from the benefits paid to some of society’s most vulnerable people, it is deeply troubling to consider the implications of loosening the ties that hold our criminal justice system together.’ — Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union, responding to a planned 30 percent reduction in the budget of the UK’s Ministry of Justice[1]
To borrow a formulation from Karl Marx, a specter is haunting the world: the specter of the privatization of public assets. At an accelerating rate, the infrastructure that makes civilization possible, such as transport routes, communication lines, hospitals, schools, energy delivery, sanitation, etc. is being privatized, with serious consequences to the welfare of society today and in the future. Privatization comes in various forms, and is often disguised in so-called ‘Public-Private Partnerships’(or ‘PPPs’, or ‘P3s’), which we shall detail below.
22 October, 2010 — Strategic Culture Foundation
Budget Austerity in the West: New Food for the Privatization Parasite?
22.10.2010 | 10:04 | KERANS David (USA)
To borrow a formulation from Karl Marx, a specter is haunting the world: the specter of the privatization of public assets. At an accelerating rate, the infrastructure that makes civilization possible, such as transport routes, communication lines, hospitals, schools, energy delivery, sanitation, etc. is being privatized, with serious consequences to the welfare of society today and in the future. Privatization comes in various forms, and is often disguised in so-called “Public-Private Partnerships”…
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2010/10/22/budget-austerity-in-the-west-new-food-for-the-privatization-parasite.html
22 October, 2010 — VTJP
News
International Middle East Media Center
Moratinos: “I Regret Leaving Without Seeing Peace in Palestine”
IMEMC – 22 Oct 2010 – Friday October 22, 2010 – 11:58, The former Foreign Minister of Spain, Miguel Angel Moratinos, who was replaced on Wednesday by Trinidad Jimenez, told the media that, despite the efforts, he has been unable to achieve peace in Middle East.
Israel Considers Unilateral Moves
IMEMC – 22 Oct 2010 – Friday October 22, 2010 – 10:37, Israeli officials are considering declaring unilateral steps if the Palestinian leadership of Mahmoud Abbas implements its vows to walk out of the negotiations and seek international recognition of a Palestinian State.
22 October, 2010
Welcome to the Cuba50 newsletter - for Cuban cultural events in the UK. For many more see http://www.cuba50.org or contact office@cuba50.org
NEWS
Don’t miss an amazing gala night this saturday 23 October: celebrating Cuba’s National Day of Culture with London’s Cuban community and friends with live music, dancing, poetry, food and Cuban bar more>>
Latest Cuban TV soap opera ‘We are here for you’ is fuelling debate in Cuba more>>
More News from Cuba50 >>
EVENTS
Dia de la Cultura Cubana: A gala night to celebrate Cuba’s Day of Culture
23 October 2010, Conway Hall, London 7pm til late
The cream of London’s Cuban musical talent live on stage: Leo Duany y su Tumbao Tivoli bring their hot Santiago de Cuba dance sound of son and guaracha,Yuri Moreno sings boleros and filin’, classical guitarist Ahmed Dickinson Cardenas, pianist Eralys Fernandez, Roberto Molina performs AfroCuban poetry, plus special guests, DJ Green Papi Oriente Star Sound spinning the latest Cuban tunes, authentic Cuban food and bar, dancing til late. Don’t miss it! more>>
Creole Choir of Cuba
17-20 November 2010, London
This unique choir sings passionate melodies, harmonies and richly textured arrangements with movement and spirit, telling the stories of their Haitian ancestors who came to Cuba to work in the plantations. more>>
Chucho Valdes & The Afro-Cuban Messengers
18 November 2010, London
Cuba’s greatest pianist brings more Cuban flavour to the London Jazz festival, with his 8 piece band. more>>
AfroCubism
21 November 2010, Barbican, London
02 December 2010, Usher Hall, Edinburgh
The legendary ‘lost’ project that became Buena Vista Social Club is finally realised. Featuring Cuban Eliades Ochoa plus Toumani Diabate, Bassekou Kouyate, Djelimady Tounkora, Kasse Mady Diabate from Mali.
more>> Watch videos of the group recording and perfoming more>>
Cuba50 newsletter and website bring you the best of Cuban arts and culture events around the UK plus the latest culture news from Cuba
http://www.cuba50.org/ email office@cuba50.org
22 October, 2010 — The Guardian
• Massive leak reveals serial detainee abuse
• 15,000 unknown civilian deaths in war
By Nick Davies, Jonathan Steele and David Leigh
A grim picture of the US and Britain’s legacy in Iraq has been revealed in a massive leak of American military documents that detail torture, summary executions and war crimes.
Almost 400,000 secret US army field reports have been passed to the Guardian and a number of other international media organisations via the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.
The electronic archive is believed to emanate from the same dissident US army intelligence analyst who earlier this year is alleged to have leaked a smaller tranche of 90,000 logs chronicling bloody encounters and civilian killings in the Afghan war.
21 October, 2010 – Information Clearing House
Thank God for France. While American liberals tremble at the idea of sending an angry e mail to congress for fear that their name will appear on the State Department’s list of terrorists, French workers are on the front lines choking on tear gas and fending off billyclubs in hand-to-hand combat with Sarkozy’s Gendarmerie. That’s because the French haven’t forgotten their class roots. When the government gets too big for its britches, people pour out onto to the streets and Paris becomes a warzone replete with overturned Mercedes Benzs, smashed storefront windows, and stacks of smoldering tires issuing pillars of black smoke. This is what democracy looks like when it hasn’t been emasculated by decades of propaganda and consumerism. Here’s a blurp from the trenches:
Headline: ‘French Energy Sector Crippled by Nationwide Strike… French energy facilities are close to total disruption in the wake of nationwide strike against the raise of the retirement age…..France has been hit by numerous protests across the country against a controversial pension reform that would rise the retirement age to 62 from 60….On October 22 morning 80 protesters blockaded Grandpuits oil refinery outside Paris, key supplier for Charles de Gaulle and Orly international airport.’ (The Financial)
They’re shutting ‘em down.
21 October, 2010 – URUK Net
Candidate who shot Iraqis brags about gun skills
By Justin Elliott
October 21, 2010 – North Carolina Republican House candidate Ilario Pantano isn’t the first politician to hold a fundraiser at a gun range. But he probably is the first who became famous for shooting two unarmed Iraqi prisoners at close range up to 60 times with an assault rifle. We’ve written previously about how Pantano’s controversial past as a Marine in Iraq has largely been ignored by his opponent, incumbent Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.). But Pantano’s recent announcement (via Yuna Shin) that he’s holding a fundraiser at a shooting range — where supporters are promised a chance to “see if you have what it takes to outshoot Ilario Pantano” — underscores the extent to which the Iraq killings are a nonissue…
Read the full article / Leggi l’articolo completo: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=71009
21 October, 2010 — MEDIA LENS: Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media
AN INTERVIEW WITH MATTHEW ALFORD, AUTHOR OF REEL POWER
Where They Have Holes In Their Souls
We bask in a certain reflected glory from the newspapers we read. To “take” The Times is to be far more intellectual, far more highbrow, than someone who takes the Mail. To read the Mail is to be far more responsible than someone who gawks in the Mirror. A Guardian reader is highbrow with a human face: intellectual, aware, like other “broadsheet” readers, but with a much greater commitment to making the world a better, fairer place. Independent readers share the same commitment, perhaps a little less earnestly.
Because we locate some of our identity in what we read – some sense of who we are as intelligent, caring people – we may react with rage when the newspapers we take are criticised. To suggest that “my” newspaper is biased and superficial can seem to imply the same of “me” and “my” beliefs about the world.
21 October, 2010 — Mathaba.net
Advice on whistleblowing by Wikileaks Editor-in-chief Julian Assange (photo). The video can be found at the end of the transcript.
You have secret information that the world needs to know. Here are some simple things that you need to know.
Blowing the Whistle – A Guide
Over the last four years, as editor of WikiLeaks I have dealt with thousands of confidential sources. We have never lost a source. None of our sources has been exposed or come to harm.
During that process, I’ve learned a lot, and I want to convey what I’ve learnt, to people that are considering blowing the whistle, who are considering getting information out, either directly to the public or through the press.
15 October, 2010 Toronto — Left Streamed
View on Blip.TV website
Lecture by: Professor Frances Fox Piven, CUNY Graduate Center.
A leading scholar and political activist, Frances Fox Piven was recently president of the American Sociological Association and is former Vice-President of the American Political Science Association. Her most recent book is Keeping Down the Black Vote (2009).
Other books include:
Moderated by John Myles, Professor of Sociology, University of Toronto.
22 October, 2010 — Haaretz and Anshel Pfeffer
Senior army officers are under investigation for authorizing an air strike in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead that killed 21 members of the same family despite possibly receiving warnings from subordinates that there could be civilians in the area.
One of those involved in authorizing the strike was then-Givati Brigade commander Col. Ilan Malka.
Col. Ilan Malka. Twenty-one people were killed in the air strike. Photo by: Eliahu Ben Igal / Jini
A security source told Haaretz that the Military Police probe into the incident turned out to be particularly complex, and added that this is “explosive and highly sensitive material,” which casts a shadow on senior figures in the military. If a decision is made to bring charges against those involved, the source said, there will be deliberations on the broader question of the rules of engagement during the operation. The rules of engagement had been described by officers who participated in Cast Lead as both excessive and overly lenient.
A decision on whether or not to charge officers has not yet been made.
The incident occurred on January 5, 2009, in the neighborhood of Zeitun in Gaza City. At the time, Givati units were on a mission in the neighborhood and identified the home of the Samouni family as a location of armed Palestinian militants.
An air strike was twice called in over a short period of time. Twenty-one people were killed, among them women and children, and 19 were injured.
