looting
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Movie Review: Robbery of Books and Ownership of Narrative By Susan Abulhawa
I finally watched The Great Book Robbery at the University of Pennsylvania this weekend with some friends. It’s a film documenting Israel’s systematic looting of over 70,000 books from Palestinian public and private libraries after Jewish gangs in Palestine proclaimed the state of Israel and ethnically cleansed the native population. Continue reading
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Syria faces Humanitarian Catastrophe By Bill Van Auken
After two years of escalating civil war, the people of Syria confront a humanitarian catastrophe, with an estimated four million people—roughly 20 percent of the population—lacking adequate food and shelter. Hundreds of thousands have left for refugee camps in neighboring countries, and as many as three million are displaced within Syria itself. Continue reading
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LIBYA: The Making of a Ghost Town By Karlos Zurutuza
Tawargha had been Muammar Gaddafi’s headquarters during the terrible two-month siege of the rebel enclave of nearby Misrata,187 km southeast of capital Tripoli. Once a vibrant city of 30,000 inhabitants, the vast majority of them black, Tawargha has turned into a huge ‘supermarket’ where families from nearby Misrata load their vehicles with the spoils of… Continue reading
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Media Lens: Killing Gaddafi
Gaddafi and his son were not the only victims of the mob. Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that between six and ten people appeared to have been executed at the scene of the Libyan leader’s capture. Around 95 bodies were found in the immediate vicinity, many of them victims of Nato airstrikes. In fact, it… Continue reading
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What is going on in Libya? By William Bowles
The BBC is reporting the ‘fall of Tripoli/Gaddafi’ except for ‘mopping up’ “pockets” of resistance. On the other hand, here is a report, including audio that says the opposite Continue reading
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Bloodbath in Libya embarrassing for National Transitional Council
The horrors began to emerge, despite careful media manipulation, right after Qaddafi’s compound of Bab al-Aziziya was stormed by rebel fighters. Aside from the expected looting and souvenir hauling by rebel fighters, dead bodies were seen strewn across the vast grassy expanses of the compound. At first, rebel fighters alleged they were killed by government… Continue reading
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Bitter clashes on in Libyan capital
The troops that are loyal to Gaddafi, as well as his supporters, have repulsed a rebel attack on the Bu-Salim district of Tripoli, with dozens of rebels and foreign mercenaries fighting against Gaddafi reported killed in the attack. Continue reading
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Riotgate : Dispatch from East London By Felicity Arbuthnot
From afar we have heard the politicians, the social scientists, the psychologists. It is ‘feral youth’, ‘black youth’, ‘low life scum living off the State’ (say the millionaire politicians in charge of the State, living off it courtesy the tax payer.) The ‘lazy’, the ‘feckless’, ‘people from sink estates’, are responsible – and so it… Continue reading
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Damn it or fear it, the forbidden truth is an insurrection in Britain By John Pilger
On a warm spring day, strolling in south London, I heard demanding voices behind me. A police van disgorged a posse of six or more, who waved me aside. They surrounded a young black man who, like me, was ambling along. They appropriated him; they rifled his pockets, looked in his shoes, inspected his teeth.… Continue reading
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Broken Britain: Broken record By Ann Czernik
The interpretation and response to mass expressions of anger, frustration and despair from the media, politicians or the public is like a broken record. Over and over again, we hear the same phrases and the same message. Continue reading
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The state unleashes the Dogs of Media By William Bowles
What a depressing state of affairs. The media, like some slavering pack of wolves, eager for blood has descended on our dispossessed and demonized them some more. It’s like something out of the worst of the Victorian period, where to be poor was literally regarded as a crime and treated as such. Continue reading
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The Meaning of the British Riots: Corruption At The Top Leads To Lawlessness By The People
More vigorous policing will drive the thugs off the streets and restore a tenuous calm. But keeping them off the streets, and integrating them — and the hundreds of thousands who have poured onto the streets in peaceful protests — into a socio-economic system that offers them a future and a stake in social stability… Continue reading
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UK: Tony McKenna, “Order within the Chaos”
A riot cannot be justified in the way a political march can. The reasons for a political march are adduced in advance and it is coordinated according to a pre-planned route. But a riot is chaotic and uncontrolled and feeds on itself, much like the fires it leaves burning in its wake. To see in… Continue reading
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UK Uprisings Newslinks Roundup 6-13 August 2011
A collection stories, mostly from independent journalists and media sources on the uprisings. Continue reading
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Britain’s Riots: Thuggery, Looting, Lawlessness… By the Ruling Class By Finian Cunningham
The events have visibly shocked the political establishment of all parties, police chiefs and the mainstream media. But what should be more shocking is the myopic and incredibly banal commentary that is being offered to ‘explain’ the outburst of street disturbances and violence. Continue reading
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Pambazuka News 544: Stealing the commons and looting the streets (Pambazuka Editor)
12 August 2011 — PAMBAZUKA NEWS 544: STEALING THE COMMONS AND LOOTING THE STREETS The authoritative electronic weekly newsletter and platform for social justice in Africa Pambazuka News (English edition): ISSN 1753-6839 CONTENTS: 1. Features, 2. Announcements, 3. Comment & analysis, 4. Advocacy & campaigns, 5. Books & arts, 6. Highlights French edition, 7. Cartoons Continue reading
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UK: An Anatomy of a police shooting By Tony Mckenna
Consider the following hypothetical situation: a group of policeman unlawfully kill a suspected criminal. We do not know what has lead to the unlawful killing – only that it takes place and – having taken place, must now, somehow, be presented to the public as a ‘lawful kill’. Continue reading
The New Dark Age 