Gaza Aid Appeal BBC occupation success

25 January 2009

Written by Stop the War Admin

BBC Scotland occupiers

bbc-glasgow-1.jpgImage: Gareth Harper

Over 100 people occupied BBC Scotland’s headquarters today, demanding that the BBC show the Disasters Emergency Committee Gaza appeal.

The occupation continued for almost four hours – despite the police threatening mass arrests to remove everyone within 15 minutes.

The action increased the pressure on the BBC with extensive national and international media coverage, including CNN, CBS and Al-Jazeera.

Tony Benn phoned the occupation to offer his support, saying ‘The decision to occupy the BBC in Glasgow must be understood as a plea for the people of Gaza, who are suffering so much and who need our help to help get the money through’

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Housmans Radical Books (London) Newsletter February 2009

housmans-new.jpg

CONTENTS:

NEWS

1. Facebook group launched!

EVENTS

2. (talk/book signing)
‘Securing Our Survival (SOS) – The Case for a Nuclear Weapons Convention’ a talk by Bruce Kent
Saturday 7th February – 5pm

3. (talk)
‘Frantz Fanon and the continuing struggle against colonialism’ a talk by Ziauddin Sardar
Wednesday 11th February – 7pm

4. (talk and book launch)
War Resisters’ International launch their ‘Handbook for Nonviolent Campaigns’
Saturday 14th February – 6pm

5. (talk and book launch)
Campaign against Climate Change presents: ‘Too Little, Too Late: The Politics of Climate Change’ with Colin Challen MP
Wednesday 18th February – 7pm

6. (live music)
Trusty Chords Presents: Squab, Mega Games 2, PJ & Gaby
Saturday 21st February – 6-9pm

7. (talk/book signing)
The Freethought History Research Group presents: ‘Darwin, Marx and Aveling’ a talk by Terry Liddle
Saturday 28th February – 5pm

8. Forthcoming in March 2009

BOOKS

9. ‘The First Six Days: Abu Dis Memories of the Six-day War in 1967 – the Beginning of the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip’ by Nandita Dowson and Abdul Wahab Sabbah


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Move to End “Internet Neutrality”: Blow to Bloggers. “Ten Pin Strike against Political Freedom” By Sherwood Ross

26 January, 2009 Global Research

If the cable and phone companies that transmit Internet data are allowed to charge higher rates to some producers for faster service the result will be “a ten pin strike against political freedom,” a prominent legal authority warns.

That’s because the change will enable the wealthy to “quickly take over the high speed transmissions (for their trash commercial content) just as they completely monopolize radio and TV, and just as their incredibly greedy profit-seeking has had a very deleterious effect on print journalism,” writes Lawrence Velvel, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover.

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IPS: Alarm Spreads Over Use of Lethal New Weapons By Erin Cunningham

GAZA CITY, Jan 22 (IPS) – Eighteen-year-old Mona Al-Ashkar says she did not immediately know the first explosion at the United Nations (UN) school in Beit Lahiya had blown her left leg off. There was smoke, then chaos, then the pain and disbelief set in once she realised it was gone – completely severed by the weapon that hit her.

Mona is one of the many patients among the 5,500 injured that have international and Palestinian doctors baffled by the type of weaponry used in the Israeli operation. High-profile human rights organisations like Amnesty International are accusing Israel of war crimes.

Mona’s doctors at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital found no shrapnel in her leg, and it looked as though it had been ‘sliced right off with a knife.’

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44 Years Later, LBJ’s Ghost Hovers Over the 44th President By Norman Solomon

A few days after the inauguration, in a piece celebrating the arrival of the Obama administration, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert wrote that the new president has clearly signaled: “No more crazy wars.”

I wish.

Last week — and 44 years ago — there were many reasons to celebrate the inauguration of a president after the defeat of a right-wing Republican opponent. But in the midst of numerous delightful fragrances in the air, a bad political odor is apt to be almost ineffable.

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