World Terror War

Reports and news related to the so-called 'war on terror' and the police state measures carried out in its name.

Brian Haw 7/1/49 - 18/6/11 RIP

19-06-2011 10:23 | Anti-militarism | Terror War | World

Early on Saturday morning 18 June 2011, veteran peace protester Brian Haw, 62, passed away just after the camp he established right opposite the Houses of Parliament had celebrated its tenth anniversary of highly visible opposition to the wars being waged on ordinary people. Brian had been suffering from lung cancer, diagnosed less than a year ago.

Newswire: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Links: parliament-square.org.uk | brianhaw.tv

SchNEWS 742: ITT's Hammertime

Brighton's Smash EDO campaign are holding a mass demo at EDO/ITT on Wednesday 13th October. Anti arms trade campaigners plan to lay seige to EDO/ITT and shut them down for the day.

Info for the Day:: The meeting place for the demo is Wild Park Cafe (directions here) at 10am on Wednesday, but people are being asked to arrive on the evening of the 12th. Convergence space will be available. There will be a meeting about the demo at 7pm at the Cowley Club on Tuesday 12th. There will be a timeline on Indymedia and a twitter feed: @smash_edo

Local contacts for ITT's Hammertime: Birmingham - hammertime-brum [at] riseup.net | Bristol - bristolagainstarmstrade [at] gmail.com | Cambridge - hammertime-cambridge [at] riseup.net | Cardiff - val.swain [at] yahoo.co.uk | Cornwall - kernowaction [at] gmail.com | London - hammertimelondon [at] dsei.org | Manchester - info [at] targetbrimar.org.uk | Notts - alex.dable [at] ntlworld.com | Swansea - d [at] undercurrents.org

Links: ITT's Hammertime demo page| Smash EDO |Target Brimar| Decommisioners

SchNEWS 740: No Borders Camp, Brussels

No Borders Camp 2010 in Brussels kicks off this Saturday (25th) til the 3rd October, so get yourself to the continent to make a start on creating a world where no one is illegal. Among the objectives of the camp are the denouncing of European migration policy; showing the links between this policy and the structures of capitalism and repression; the blocking of Brussels' deportation system and the organisation of an autonomous safe space for the voices of migrants and activists to be heard.

On the Newswire: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

In SchNEWS:1

Links:www.noborderbxl.eu.org

Sheffield Indy Radio Show #2 - Deportations, The EDL and Divide and Rule

The second Sheffield Indy Radio Show, Deportations, The EDL and Divide and Rule, features a discussion about the recent EDL confrontation at a Sheffield Indymedia meeting [MPEG video], the campaigns to oppose the deportations of two women from Sheffield, Odette Sefuko and Lem Lem Hussein Abdu, a listing of upcoming events from Alt-Sheff, news about the BP gulf oil spill via Democracy Now.

Read on to listen to the show and more details about what is in the show, Intro, Deportations, the BP Oil Spill, the EDL and some Chat. If you missed it the first Sheffield Indy Radio Show came out on 17th June 2010.

SchNEWS: A Smashing Defence

"I told many people in Gaza about the people's strike on EDO MBM... When I recounted this action to people, I saw an expression come over their faces that I hadn't encountered before when talking about international solidarity. It was a kind of respect, a sense of surprised pride at a tiny move towards a leveling between the blood sacrifices and living hell of so many here, and sacrifices made by people in comparative comfort zones on the other side of the world - for them" - Ewa Jasiewicz - human rights activist/journalist eyewitness to Operation Cast Lead

In the early hours of 17th January 2009, during Israel's 'Operation Cast Lead' offensive against Gaza, six people broke in to the EDO/ITT weapons' components factory in Moulsecoomb, Brighton, and caused hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage to the production line. (see SchNEWS 663 and also check out the local paper's video of some of the damage)

On the Newswire: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Indymedia EDO archive

In SchNEWS: 721 | 663

Links: smashedo.org.uk | decommissioners.co.uk

SchNEWS 717: Counter Strike

AS REPRESSION INC ARRIVES IN LONDON TO PEDDLE ITS WARES.....

Roll up, roll up, one and all for the ‘Counter Terror’ Expo 2010. Kicking off at London’s Kensington Olympia on April 14th, the two day event will showcase the surveillance and ‘security’ technologies of 250 companies hoping for a slice of the paranoia dollar. Also on the Big Brother bandwagon are NATO, the MoD and other representative associations from the police, military and private security industry. There are several good reasons to show up at 12pm, Wednesday 14th April (at Olympia Way W14) and counter the terror expo.

Action Reports: 1 | 2
Other Sites: Disarm DSEi | Corporate Watch | Counter Terror Expo homepage

Remembrance conflict

05-11-2009 23:29 | Anti-militarism | Terror War | World

Symbolised by the wearing of a red poppy, every year at this time there is a brief period of remembrance for those who have given life and limb in conflict on the behest of the British state apparatus. Every year that period is itself marred by a war of words between those who see it as a chance to glorify those conflicts under the umbrella of patriotism and those who hope that remembrance might be an opportunity to learn and advance. In previous years the conflict has mostly centered on arguments over whether or not TV personalities and politicians are wearing red poppies predominantly enough, or occasionally over the rights and wrongs of wearing white poppies. The poppy appeal has become effectively sacrosanct with no dissenting views allowed. This year the predictable arguments have broadened as the Legion has 'modernised' it's appeal, adopted an 'Afghanistan Generation' campaign which focuses on the current conflict there.

A week ago reports emerged of poppy appeal billboards being subvertised to call for Tony Blair to be prosecuted for war crimes and for British troops to be bought home. Mainstream media reported outrage and the act was condemned by the Legion. The subvertising spread with reports of sightings in Norwich, Basingstoke, Bristol and London. Not long after, an open letter of apology was issued and reproduced in full or in part in the media. The Legion replied through the media saying it accepted the apology. The Afghanistan occupation has now cost 229 British soldiers lives, and thousands more injured (not to mention the tens of thousands of Afghan civilians killed since the invasion began 8 years ago). In an apparently intolerable act of remembrance, three people held a 229 minute vigil at the Cenotaph in Downing Street but with less than a week now till remembrance day the repression against dissenting voices stepped up a notch and all three were arrested under the controversial SOCPA laws.

Links: 229 Minute Afghanistan Vigil, Cenotaph, London | 3 arrests at 229 Minute Afghanistan Vigil, Cenotaph, London | New rash of subverted poppy appeal billboards across London. | Poppy appeal poster 'vandal' apologises | Support for poppy poster defacement | DIY guide | Subertising hits the big time | Bring 'em Home - first report and photo of poppy poster subvertising | Poppies poem Background: Afghanistan: Dying For OIL…..Unicol Corporation Feeding On Blood!

Mainstream coverage: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Resisting Deportations to Bagdad

16-10-2009 18:24 | Iraq | Migration | Terror War | World

Around fifty people protested on 14th October against the deportation of more than forty people to Baghdad. The demonstration was called to stop the first mass deportation flight to Baghdad, and demanded that "the first mass deportation flight to southern Iraq, expected to leave on Wednesday, is suspended and the detainees threatened with forcible removal are released immediately." Activists from International Federation of Iraqi refugees and Stop Deportation Network spoke and called for an end to all deportations to Iraq and to free the detainees. Also on 14th October an early day motion was tabled by 4 MPs in the House of Commons which "calls for the deportation of Iraqi refugees to Iraq to be halted and for the Iraqi detainees threatened with forcible removal to be released immediately". Despite this the first deportation to Baghdad took place, 39 people were flown out early on Thursday the 15th October on a specially chartered plane provided by Air Italy. Sadly UKBA were able to deport the first ten people to Baghdad. The other detainees were not accepted by the Iraqi government and were flown back to detention in the UK. Update: the returned Iraqi detainees have announced a hunger strike from 19th October 2009 and have said that they and will strike until they are released. In addition a French / UK deportation flight to Afghanistan was due to leave Lille-Lesquin on the 20th October but was cancelled at the last moment.

A model letter has been produced by NCADC for people to use as part of their campaign against Air Italy over this issue. A further demonstration, was held on Saturday October 17th in Parliament Square and it was addressed by two deportees, who had been returned to Brook House detention centre, they spoke on the phone and told protesters, via a megaphone, of the violence and mistreatment they had experienced during the deportation at the hands of immigration officers and private security guards.

A protest has called, No Deportations to Iraq - Release the hunger strikers now! for Monday, 26th Oct, 4:30-6:30pm at the Home Office: 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF

Articles: [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 ]

Links: [ Stop Deportation Network | Coalition to Stop Deportations to Iraq ]

Obama, Guantánamo and the “War on Terror”

Update: Binyam Mohamed/UK involvement in torture

Former Guantánamo prisoners including Moazzam Begg and Chris Arendt, a former guard, are completing a UK speaking tour to “mark seven years of unlawful detention, abuse and torture”. The tour, organised by Cage Prisoners started in London on 11th January 2009, exactly seven years after the first transfers to the prison torture camp at Guantánamo Bay at date which was marked in London by a weekend of actions. Sami al-Haj, a former Guantánamo prisoner and Al Jazeera journalist was due to be one of the speakers but instead he joined a Free Gaza boat which was fired on and didn’t make it. By the Sheffield meeting, held on the date of Obama’s inauguration, he had been replaced by Omar Deghayes another former Guantánamo prisoner. In Liverpool the meeting “was held on the same day as the US president signed an order to close Guantanamo. Moazzam Begg was not impressed, and commented that Barack Obama spoke about ‘outlawing torture’ as though he himself had just decided to make it illegal: “It has ALWAYS been illegal, at least in any civilised country”" Further reports can be found on the tour blog.

Background: Andy Worthington on Antiwar Radio: Obama, Guantánamo and Torture (audio) | SchNews: [ Inside Guantanamo | Omar Deghayes Speaks to SchNews ] Seven Years of Guantánamo Bay: London Actions | Guantánamo - Obama could do better | Binyam’s Story: From Ladbroke Grove to GTMO | The Rendition Monolgues | Moazzam Begg and Andy Worthington on Human Rights in The War on Terror | Can Human Rights Survive the "War on Terror"? | Guantánamo Bay: The Case of Omar Deghayes | Craig Murray: Legality, Morality and the War on Terror

Gaza: Stop The Genocide

06-01-2009 15:07 | Palestine | Terror War | World

Death toll update for Tuesday 6th of Jan 2009: Israel escalated its operations in the Gaza Strip killing at least 82 Palestinians in less than 24 hours. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 683 have been killed over eleven days of Israeli attacks on Gaza. More than 2,850 have been injured. The hospitals say they have run out of supplies because of the blockade and Gaza faces a "a full-blown humanitarian crisis", the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on 6 January. On 3 January 2009 tens of thousands of people protested across the UK and across the world against the Israeli state's slaughter.

Up and coming demonstrations for Gaza: Continuous vigil for Gaza in Parliament Square, London, every day - from 10.30am, Thursday 8 Jan 2009 | Safe place for Gaza all over the world until the genocide stops! | Pedal for Palestine: London ride against the massacre in Gaza 18:00 Friday 9 Jan 2009 | Demonstration, London UK 12:30, Hyde Park, Saturday, 10 Jan 2009 | Rally for peace in Gaza - Belfast Saturday, 10 Jan 2009 | Wrexham, UK 10 Jan 2009 |Leeds, UK 10 Jan 2009 | Lobby your MP Saturday, 10 Jan 2009

More news from Gaza: Massacre: 42 killed by Israeli shelling at UN school in Jabaliya Refugee Camp 6 Jan 2009 Unconventional weapons used against the people of Gaza 6 Jan 2009 Jabalia - 4th Jan 6pm - 5th Jan 5pm Sharon in Gaza + Interview with with Alberto Arce I.S.M 6 Jan 2009 | Activist describes attacks Ewa Jasiewicz in Gaza, BBC audio, 29 Dec 2008 | Cluster bombs, Depleted Uranium and White Phosphorus being used in Gaza - even right-wing newspapers talk of "war crimes" 4 Jan 2009 | Occupation forces targeting health workers, preventing medical aid to wounded 5 Jan 2009 | I expected an ambulance but a donkey cart carried the injured Ewa Jasiewicz in Gaza, 4 Jan 2009 | Occupation forces targeting health workers, preventing medical aid to wounded 5 Jan 2009 | Tel Aviv protests against the war Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), 5 Jan 2009 | International Solidarity Movement (ISM) stay in Gaza during ground operation 4 Jan 2009 | Ground invasion starts - ISM in the thick of it 3 Jan 2009 | Indian government gives US$100M to UN refugee body in Gaza 4 Jan 2009 | "Indiscriminate police brutality" at London protest UK 3 Jan 2009

News sources on school shelling, 6 Jan: Besieged families flee homes for shelter under UN flag Guardian | Dozens killed in Israeli strikes on UN schools in Gaza UN | BBC | Ma'an News Agency

Blogs by activists in Gaza: Tales to Tell | In Gaza

Videos: Multiple Israeli air strike on Rafah border with Egypt 2 Jan 2009 | Rage over Gaza - roundup of unrest in London, Athens, Paris 4 Jan 2009 | Protests for Gaza in Holland 4 Jan 2009

Comment: US Thwarts UN Gaza Ceasefire Call Cartoon by Latuff, 4 Jan 2009 | Israel Unleashes Chemical Weapons in Gaza Chris Floyd, 5 Jan 2009 | Israel: Bloody executioner for capitalism International Communist party, 4 Jan 2009