Zapatista child brutally attacked
The zapatista "Committee of Good Government" for the Morelia zone has denounced a brutal attack on a zapatista child in the municipality of Chilon, Chiapas, Mexico.Gleneagles Confirmed as G8 2005 Venue
Following months of speculation over the location of the 2005 G8 Summit in the UK, and reports that all police leave in Edinburgh and Scotland will be cancelled next summer, the Gleneagles hotel [official website] in Perthshire, Scotland has finaly been confirmed as the venue (G8 dates: 6th-8th July 2005).
The last time the G8 met in the UK was in Birmingham in May 1998. Then up to 70,000 people encircled the centre of Birmingham, forming a human chain and demanding an end to third world debt [pics]. On the same day up to 7,000 people took control of the centre of Birmingham for the second Global Reclaim the Streets Party [pics 1 | 2 | 3][video] - with actions and protests happening against the G8 in around 40 cities across the world, with over 400 social movements taking co-ordinated action under the banner of Peoples' Global Action (PGA).
Six years and many huge mobilisations later, people in the UK have been organising around the G8 for several months. A growing new network of local groups has been created called the Dissent! Network, with nodes across the country. Dissent! is planning a series of awareness raising events through the year and has been calling for both local and international participation. Many people and groups are now focussing on planning protests and direct action campaigns against the G8.
Recently many NGO organisations are also co-ordinating on a level unseen since the Jubliee 2000 drop the debt campaigns, and are set to try and take advantage of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown's aim to pitch the UK presidency of the G8 as a positive step towards reducing third world debt and around issues of development and trade [see guardian article] - 2005 is also the 20th anniversary of the Live Aid concert. Several groups are expected to use the European Social Forum in London in October later this year as a platform from which to launch campaigns. Recently several Trade Union leaders, politicians and Globalise Resistance have also issued their first call for protests.
See also:
Recent UK Savannah G8 Solidarity Actions
The People's Golfing Association (PGA) [statement][pics]
"Anarchist Group's Gleneagles Website Exclusive!"*
Corporate Media Coverage of Gleneagles G8
For more on G8 - see the Indymedia G8 Reports Section
Brutal murder of a leading Zapatista in Zona Norte, Chiapas
On Monday, 7th of june 2004, the Zapatist Eduardo Vázquez Álvaro was murdered in bright daylight in the middle of the city centre of Chilón. 
http://germany.indymedia.org/2004/06/85327.shtml http://www.chiapas.ch
Hunger strike asylum seekers close to death
A protest has been announced by a Glasgow based Refugee Solidarity Campaign for Thursday 18 March 11.30 a.m. in Edinburgh.
Three Iranian Kurdish refugees, who have been refused asylum in Glasgow, Britain, are on hunger strike. The Three men, Faroq Haidari, Farnborz Gravindi and Mokhtar Haydary, have now been on hunger strike for about 3 weeks. They have apparently now stopped taking fluids, and are in a really bad way. Friday, the 5th of March, two of the men blacked out and were admitted to hospital.
The men are faced with a harsh choice, as once refused asylum they have no right to work, housing or benefits of any kind. They must choose whether to return to Iran and face arrest, imprisonment, torture - perhaps death, or stay and starve on the streets of Scotland.
Around 200 people attended a hastily organised solidarity demonstration the evening of Tuesday, March the 2nd, outside the city chambers (council offices). In a statement read out to protestors, the men say they would rather die than return. Supporters say they are close to death. Faroq Haidari, Farnboz Gravindi and Mokhtar Haidari are getting weaker by the hour. More information: [1,2]
Mexican Army Burns Down Indigenous Village
Mexican armed forces have attacked the Chol indigenous community of Nuevo San Rafael, burning down 23 houses and violently evicting the inhabitants, who are Zapatista sympathisers. The attack, reported variously as happening on either 19 or 22 January, took place in the remote Montes Azules jungle area of Chiapas.
Resource-rich Montes Azules has long been coveted by multinationals. As the governments and multinationals press forward with the Plan Puebla Panama and Free Trade Area of the Americas, the “war of low intensity” against the thousand-plus Zapatista autonomous communities erupts into blatant repression. The Secretary of Government of Chiapas, Rubén Velázquez López, promises more evictions, declaring that land invasions will no longer be tolerated.
The fate of the inhabitants of Nuevo San Rafael is unknown, as the army is preventing reporters and human rights observers from entering the area. Local indigenous Chol, Josué Jiménez Cruz, has been arrested, and is apparently imprisoned in the town of Ocosingo. International solidarity activity is vital, declare Zapatista solidarity groups. Protesters call to ring the Mexican Embassy in London on 0207 499 8586 (open 9am-6pm)
Protest letter in Spanish by the Gruppe B.A.S.T.A.
Indymedia Chiapas
dissent!edinburgh - a new edinburgh based alter-globalisation collective
The g8 monolith might be coming to Scotland in 2005 (so the rumour is whispered). Already, plans are forming to confront this sinister instrument of imperialist hegemony! In Edinburgh, a group by the name of dissent!edinburgh is forming for just this purpose.
Drop Bush Not Bombs
Taking direct action to end the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.Sharing free vegetarian food inprotest to war and poverty.
Keith McHenry is visiting Edinburgh and will talk about the movement he helped start 23 years ago. On Wednesday 10th of December, 8pm at the Forest, he will describe Food not Bombs’ history, his experiences as an American political prisoner and the global Food Not Bombs movement. He will show a video about Food not Bombs. Keith will also discuss the movement’s future and plans for A Food not Bombs World Gethering to be held the week before the Republican National Convention in New York City.
Award winning Australian filmmaker Elizabeth Tadic, is making a video documentary of the worldwide Food Not Bombs peace movement. Its 2005 release will coincide with the 25th anniversary of Food not Bombs. Provisionally titled “Bombs & Broccoli”, the film will be the first to show the magnitude and quiet influence of this global social movement, virtually ignored by the mainstream media for the past quarter century.
[Food Not Bombs | Drop Bush Not Bombs Europe Tour ]
WTO Cancun summit - Zapatista call for "rebellion and resistance"
As the Cancun, Mexico summit of the World Trade Organisation approaches, Comandante Zebedeo and the Zapatistas condemn the WTO, reminding the world of the Alternative Media Tech Convergence Sept 1-7, the Campesino (peasant farmer) Forum 8-9, and the Global Day of Resistance Sept 9th.. "Make ourselves children of rebellion and resistance", declare the Zapatistas.
More wasteful summits?
One year on, the complete failure of the Johannesburg Earth Summit is obvious. But should activists therefore give up on UN Summits altogether? Daniel Mittler of Friends of the Earth Germany doesn´t think so.
When I got on a plane one year ago to attend the biggest ever UN Summit, the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, I was under no illusion that this Summit would have any chance of being a giant step for mankind. It had become all too obvious in the long and ardeous preperatory process - involving some 8 weeks of day and night meetings of bureaucrats from all over the world - that there was no desire by those who call themselves our leaders, to address the root causes of global inequality and unsustainable development.
ZAPATISTAS PUT AUTONOMY INTO PRACTICE
5,000 Zapatista supporters gathered at Oventik, Chiapas on 8-9-10 August 2003 to celebrate a major step forward in the indigenous movement's struggle for autonomy.The last few weeks have seen the Zapatistas issue several communiques of major importance.
“It is possible to govern and to govern ourselves without the parasite that calls itself government.”
2003: The summer of Resistance Camping
The summer of Resistance Camping is still ongoing. Starting of with the convergence of protesters against the G8 in Evian, tents and food kitchen have moved on to the noborder camps and various other activist gatherings in the sun, organised around particular pressing issues, such as computing (also see WSIS [1,2]), antinuke or ecology. Coca-Cola - Stop the Violence
Coca-Cola stands accused of violence, intimidation and murder in Columbia. A new global boycott and direct actions looks like the Real Thing...
Documentary Film: Jeremy Hardy vs. Israeli Army on tour in Scotland
'Comedians often get stuck looking for new material, but only Jeremy would get himself shot at ... well done.' Mark SteelJeremy Hardy v. The Israeli Army is a feature documentary about the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine as experienced through the eyes of British comedian Jeremy Hardy.
Leila Sansour, the filmmaker with a degree in philosophy, grew up in Bethlehem in the Occupied West Bank and will present the film in Glasgow on Sunday and Monday, the 28th at the Glasgow Film Theatre and in Edinburgh from Monday to Thursday in the Edinburgh Filmhouse.
Each screening will be followed by a question and answer session with the filmmaker.
Autonomista Interview
In June and July of this year, two Argentinian women toured the UK to talk about the wave of social change which is sweeping their home country. Graciela and Neka talked about the Piquetero movement, which has seen unemployed workers taking control of over 200 factories, and organising a direct democracy through neighbourhood assemblies. The movement has also organised road blockades in resistance to the neo-liberal reforms which are leaving many Argentinians unemployed.The tour was organised by the Argentina Autonomist Project (AAP), an group which seeks to educate people around the world about the struggles in Argentina.
I met up with Graciela at the Glasgow event, to find out more...
Scottish human right observer under arrest and to be deported from Gaza!
Nick from Scotland, and his friend Alice, are currently held by Security Forces in Israel.They were arrested at 8:30 PM on Thursday evening, May 8, 2003.
Their phones were temporarily confiscated, giving them no means of contacting friends, activists, or lawyers.
However, the activists called the British Embassy to inform them of the detention.
No formal charges have been brought against them, but they were told to be under arrest, although there are no grounds for legal action against them.
Nick and Alice are being held as part of the overall execution of a plan to remove Internationals from the West Bank and Gaza.
Another condition to enter Gaza is to fill in a form, which absolves Israel of all responsibility in the case an International is injured or killed and in addition forces the Internationals to waive all basic rights.
[ report on Friday | update on Saturday | update on Sunday ]
For further info:
Palestine Solidarity
Peace Protesters still active!
In Scotland anti war actions are still taking place nearly every day, despite the police tactics getting more and more restrictive for the protesters. On Thursday 3rd of april the autonomous demonstration suceeded in blocking an Esso garage for about an hour, following on from the demonstration a week earlier on the 27th of april.On Friday the school students suceeded in blocking the traffic with a sit-in before marching of in a cordon of police to the American embassy. Friday saw also a mass mave-in of posters and postcards as a solidarity action for a protester, who was arrested alongside with others on the anti-war demo the 22nd of march for his design of the American flag.
An anti-war exhibition by local artists also opened on Friday, to be seen untill the 13th of april, in the Roxy Art House.
On Saturday, activists went to protest in front of the BP headquaters in Grangemeouth, Fife.
Peace Vigils were also held on Monday, 7th of april in front of the US consulate. The next women's vigil will take place on Saturday, 12th of april Night outside City Chambers on Royal Mile from 9-10pm.
More actions are also to take place on Wednesday,9th of april, when Glasgow activists have announced a demonstration, starting off at Kelvinbridge Underground at 5pm to march to BBC studios, Queen Margaret Drive.
On Saturday, 12th of april, another mass demonstration will take place in Glasgow and in London, following on from the one on the 29th of march.
Stop the War- Stop the City!
Direct actions and peace demonstrations took place again today. In Edinburgh, lots of speeches and a die-in in front of the Scottish Parliament started the anti-war protest, before school students speeded the demonstration off to Princess Street to block the traffic several times with sit-ins before marching to the US consulate followed by another row of speeches.
Then back to Princes Street with more Sit-Ins and Die-Ins to Charlotte Square.
Police until then has been astonishing relaxed, but become violent, aggressive and provoking when plain-cloth policemen brutally tried to arrest a protester for no apparent reason which kicked off the bystanders to intervene, resulting in more arrests and detention.
Whereas the speakers of the rally tried to support police tactics by asking demonstrators repeatedly not to bother, the police had to let the detained people go due to crowd pressure.
The crowd finally walked off to have a solidarity picket in front of St.Leonards police station, St.Leonard Street.
The demonstration broke through police-lines, when police tried to block their way.
The solidarity picket is still continuing after 10 pm on Saturday night.
In Glasgow there was a big demonstration, and protesters were boxed in for over one and a half hours by police.
Hoosie, from Faslane Peace Camp has been beaten up by police and is now hospitalised with bruised kidney and bruised liver.
He was arrested on Thursday at an action for allegedly assaulting a police officer.
Edinburgh shows solidarity with Chiapas
As the situation in Chiapas, Mexico, intensified over the last couple of months, international solidarity and awareness becomes more and more important.The autonomous communities of the Indigenous people and the Zapatistas are in struggle against the threat of US economical trans-latin-american interests and the consequences of globalisation with its associated ecological and human exploitation in their local environment.
The Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Campaign invites interested people along to its presentation of the issues.
[ report | Chiapas indymedia | special page on ImcUk , special page on ImcScotland]
Protest and attempted occupation at Spanish embassy in Edinburgh
The Spanish embassy in Edinburgh was targeted by about fifty activists, who attempted to occupy the representative institution of the Spanish state and its politics. Scuffles broke out and two people were at one point thrown to the floor and handcuffed by police, but later released without charges or arrest.
The action at the Spanish embassy had the aim to reveal the repressive measures in conjunction with the war-propaganda as well as the further institutional ignorance towards right-wing, fascist structures in Spain.
[full report and picture | more pictures| picture1 | | picture2 | theoretical background]
Edinburgh: Solidarity Picket at Spanish Consulate
'In Valencia repression against political dissidents and grassroots social movements is becoming a common thing; the arrest of these four anarchist activists, the eviction of squats including "Malas Pulgas" where they were also involved, illegal home searches by the police, harassment towards solidarity groups.....It is a very long list. For all those reasons we are here today.'
[full story | pictures]
