World Feature Archive

From 22nd to 24th of July a european-wide gathering of Zapatista Solidarity Groups was convened in Barcelona. More than 120 delegates of 36 organisations from Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France and Belgium have gathered to discuss the new initiative of the Zapatista Army for Liberation EZLN to build up broad non-parliamentary left alliances.
The Initative to build broad non-parliamentary left alliances was published in the “Sixth Declaration from the Lacadonian Jungle” [1|2|3] start of July.

MP3 audio streams from "The Other Campaign" Zapatista meetings (Sp) 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Photos 1 | 2 | 3 Videos 1 | 2

More:

• Chiapas Indymedia
• Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Campaign
• Glasgow Zapatista Solidarity Group
• Indymedia UK Zapatista Topic pages
• list of communiquees
• Photo archive of red alert

Over 17,000 young international activists have gathered in Caracas for the 16th World Festival of Youth and Students, which begins today (Monday 8th August). Several groups in the UK, including Hands Off Venezuela, Colombia Solidarity Campaign, Justice for Colombia and New Generation, as well as various communist groups, have between them sent over 100 delegates. Everyone from Europe is being housed at a newly-completed village, half an hour south of the Venezuelan capital, except for the organisers from the World Federation of Democratic Youth who have been staying at the Hilton Hotel (which is now run as a co-op). The festival is seen as an excellent opportunity to build solidarity with Venezuela's peaceful and democratic revolution.

The annual Czech 'CzechTek' (also known as Technival) is one of the biggest free festivals in Europe. With over 6000 people attending this year, it has met with severe police hostility. Police blocked access to the legally rented festival site and later attacked it, resulting in over 50 injured people. One man has been confirmed dead. Police has stated he was killed in a "normal car accident". The Czech League of Human Rights have called upon Interior Minister František Bublan to immediately resign. A large demonstration against the police brutality, in Prague on Sunday July 31th was attended by over 5000 people and was supported by the former Czech President Vaclav Havel. The demonstration in the capital ended in a streetrave. Solidarity actions have been taking place throughout Europe.

Official Festival Website | Photo's Festival [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] | Photo's Motorway Blockade | Photo's police brutality [1] | Video police brutality [1] [2] | Statement by Czech Prime Minister | Updates on Indymedia Slovakia

On Monday July 25th or Tuesday 26th, young failed asylum seekers from Afghanistan will be put on a charter plane at one of the London airports. The charter will then travel to Paris, pick up more young failed asylum seekers from Afghanistan in France for onward transit to Kabul. At least 60 Afghans are expected to be on board.

Reports by Lille Indymedia tell of widespread repression in the form of mass arrests and detention of Afghani refugees since July 14th ahead of the chartered flight. According to Lille Indymedia, a significant number of Afghani refugees have attempted to flee France to seek sanctuary in England. There are also reports of a hunger strike by 51 detained Afghanis that has since been broken up by the French authorities.

Expulsions to Kabul, be ashamed! | NCADC response and model letter | Deportation Alliance

Almost a month after the EZLN announced a Red Alert in all the autonomous Zapatista communities, the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee – General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation announced on July 11 that "with the completion of the internal consulta the EZLN has decided to lift the Red Alert which it has been maintaining since June 19, 2005". The EZLN also informed that "the Zapatista Caracoles will be reopened" and that "the different Good Government Juntas will also once again begin their work in their respective headquarters". [ Read full Communique ]

This follows a period of internal consultation with the Zapatista autonomous municipalities and support bases, where "meetings and assemblies were held in more than one thousand indigenous communities in the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas". On June 26 a new Communique announced that "the results were that more than 98% approved the new step, and less than 2% decided not to support the proposal", and that over the next few days, the EZLN would make public a series of texts which would form the "Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona."

On June 29 the First Part of the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona is published. This is followed with Part 2 in which the Zapatistas describe how they "see what is going on in the world and in our country", and Part 3 that not only states what the Zapatistas "want to do in the World and in Mexico" but also how they are going to go about doing it.

On July 13, the CCRI-CG of the EZLN publishes two further communiques in which the Zapatistas explain the "Ways and Means" of the new phase of the Zapatista struggle to all those "individuals, organizations, collectives, groups and associations of the left who support what has been proposed in the Sixth Declaration of the Selva Lacandona".

Zapatista breaking news:
IMC-Chiapas | Archive of Zapatista communiques 2005

All over Scotland, (dis)organisations as varied as the grassroots network dissent! and the largely conservative coalition "make poverty history" protested against the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles. The reasons were as varied as the forms to express disagreement, from marching to blockading, from clowning to filming, from talking to direct action. Although police from all over the UK were busy containing protesters in pens, arresting, searching and holding them under section 60 [Legal Support Group statement], discontent with the G8 agenda was voiced in many significant places and eventually supported by international solidarity.

Read the Full Article for summaries on issues, actions, timelines, repression and resistance in Scotland from Saturday 2 July to Friday 8 July. And check G8 Info for quick links and resources.

[ G8 video coverage | G8 Audio | G8 Photo Archive ]
[ IMC Scotland | IMC UK G8 topic pages | Worldwide IMC Reports + 2 ]
[ Red Pepper Blog | Live 8: Corporate Media Bonanza ]

[ Legal Support | Medical Support | Activist Trauma Support: +44-796 240 6940 | Missing Persons/Prison support: +44-131-208 0767 ]

Background info : Why Are People Protesting? [more] | Groups and Websites | Protests and Events
Read latest G8 coverage : Indymedia Scotland and IMC UK G8 topic pages [ RSS feeds: Newswire | Features ]
Video : Collected G8 Video Coverage - list of links | Upload your videos
Radio : See G8 Radical Radio Collective website or Global Radio Indymedia Newswire for streams or archive material.
Photo: IMC Photo Library and Search website

• G8 Legal Support + Advice | Legal Support Statement
• G8 Medical Support
• Activist Trauma Support
  
• Submit your G8 story
  
• G8 debriefs: London, Oxford, Brighton, Bristol, Manchester

G8 Official Statement | Campaigns Responses

For full collected reports see IMC G8 Newsblast

At least 200,000 demonstrators from very different backgrounds, ranging from religous organisations to samba bands and the Infernal Noise Brigade to the Clown Brigade, joined today's Make Poverty History march in Edinburgh. The organisers had called for people to wear white clothes. The march was set up with staggered starting times, but because of the number of people and small funnelled start gate many were unable to join the actual march. Report
Photos: [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 ]
Video: [ Interviews
Audio: [ interviews | speeches ]

Before the start of the official march, residents of Craigmillar, the most deprived area of Edinburgh, joined with anti-G8 protestors camping on a park in their estate. They marched through the estate to show their opposition to poverty here and abroad.

An anti-capitalist block broke away from the main march and was cordoned off by riot cops. People are being released in small groups, others appear to be held and photographed under a Section 60 order (which police later confirmed was applied to whole city centre). There are two possible arrests. [ timeline | report]

Photos: [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 ]

Other events happened during or after the official march (and we're not talking about Live 8). Faeries moved about the march, as did detatchments of the Clown Army (Photos: 1 | 2). Break Dancers gathered in Bristo Square in an attempt to 'Break Poverty' (photos). Capitalists marched in support of the G8 [1]. An impromptu street party (photos) on one of the roads closed for the march, with samba and music from the Infernal Noise Brigade, lasted until midnight. At that point, police moved the party to the nearby Meadows in order to re-open the road, resulting in one arrest.

In the wake of the Governments much hyped "Commission for Africa" came a reply - a conference not so much "for" Africa, as from Africans.

There were excellent presentations and speeches by the usual suspects - Patrick Harvie, Tommy Sheridan, Aamer Anwar, representatives from Oxfam and G8 alternatives - but the most succesful aspect to the conference, what made it really striking, was the African speakers.

The conference was held at Caledonian University - Glasgow - 23rd April 2005.

Maastricht - The University of Maastricht cancelled the building of a primate vivisection lab because it is too expensive and they are afraid of actions against the primate centre by animal rights activists.

The request to build a new primate centre was initially presented by neuro-psychologist P. de Weerd. He recently received a subsidy of 1.25 million euros for research into the influence of genes and the nervous system and sense perception/learning. One part of this reasearch is taking tissue samples of the brains of Rhesus monkeys.

Report

In 1992 in San Francisco cyclists started riding together monthly to assert themselves as traffic in a ride that became known as Critical Mass. Since then Critical Mass has spread to over 300 cities around the world and become a common feature of protest culture.

To celebrate 10 years of critical mass, over 800 cyclists took to the streets in London last year with a bike samba band, live guitar from a rickshaw, multiple sound systems, mad bikes the like of which have to be seen to be believed. It was massive, and it happened again on Friday April 29. At least 500 cyclists, rollerbladers and skateboards joined the 11th Annivesary in London [photos 1, 2, 3, report]. There will also critical masses in Glasgow, Liverpool and Nottingham [photos] - and probably other cities around the country as well.

On Saturday 30th April there was a successful mass "against climate change, pollution and the G8" in Worthing, Sussex. Meanwhile, in Sheffield on June 11th and the 15th there are more rides to coincide with an anti-war demo and the G8 meeting of Justice and Interior Ministers in Sheffield taking place 15th/17th.

Neuquen: The workers of Zanon and other social organizations mobilized in front of the central courthouse on April 21 to defend their factory against mounting attacks. At a moment when the courts and government must make a “political and legal decision” concerning the ceramics factory that has been producing under worker control since 2001 – legal attacks, death threats and physical attacks against the workers have increased.

A delegation of 30 workers traveled some 1,200 kilometers to manifest their determination to defend the factory at all costs. Inside the courthouse a small delegation of workers presented a petition with thousands of signatures from all over the world in support of the workers of Zanon who have set an example that workers can produce and manage even better without a boss or owner.

Read more...

Background
Zanon Kidnap/Torture: [en][es][fr][de][gr]
March for Expropriation Law: [en][es][it]

Links: [Zanon/FaSinPat Site][Grupo Alavío] [Argentina Indymedia][WorkersWithoutBosses.net][Zmag: Argentina]

On March 21st, as part of an International Day of Action Against the Arms Trade - called at the 'Destroy the Arms Trade' session at Beyond ESF to coincide with the second anniversary of the start of the second war on Iraq, groups and individuals took part in a number of actions against companies involved in the arms trade.

Netherlands | London | Brighton

Around the world, anti-war protests have been held on the 2nd anniversary of the attacks on Iraq [see global pictures].

On Saturday 19th March in London, a massive protest took place, passing by the US Embassy where members of the Military Families Against the War laid a coffin to remember the 100,000 plus dead caused by the war. Organisers claimed up to 200,000 people had marched through the streets of London. [see Short report | Statement to Blair + Bush | Policing Pictures | Anti-war Demo Pics | Samba Protest Pics | Creative Protest Images | Stop the War Demo Pics | Troops Out Images | Portrait Pictures | OutRage! Protest | Samba Surveillance | Policing Pictures + Report | US Embassy Pics | Assorted Protest Pictures | Picture Story | Placard-spotting Pics + Report | Summer of Dissent | Video Clips]

March 19th also marked the start of 'Counter Terror: Build Justice' - an International Month Of Peace Action.

The "Troops Home" demonstration was organised by the Stop The War Coalition, CND and the Muslim Association of Great Britain, and followed several days of activities at a Peace Camp set up in Trafalgar Square [see pics 1 | 2].

Protests also took place in Glasgow, Scotland with around 2000 people demonstrating [see pics and reports 1 | 2] and Dublin in Ireland [see pics and reports 1 | 2 | 3].

Over 50,000 people marched in Brussels against the new EU Bolkestein Directive, proposed new attacks on public services, and labour reforms in a European Action Day that took place just days before the EU summit. There were also anti-war protests in Athens (2, 3, video) Barcelona, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Italy (2), Melbourne (2), Poland (2, 3, 4, 5), Sydney, Johannesburg and many other cities.

Protests also took place in across across the US. See major feature report for San Francisco where over 10,00 people took to the streets - see also New York ( Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Video: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ) , Chicago (Photos: 1 | 2 Video: 1 ), and Fayetteville, North Carolina ( Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 ) .

Thousands also took to the streets in Portland (Photos), smaller towns in Oregon ( Photos: 1 | 2 ), Las Vegas ( Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 ), Baltimore (Photos: 1) , St. Paul ( Photos: 1 ) , Boston (Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ), Houston ( Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 ), Madison ( Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 Video: 1 ), Nashville ( Photos: 1 ), Miami ( Video: 1 ) Atlanta ( Photos: 1 | 2 | 3   Video: 1 ) , Pittsburgh (Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 ), Champaign Illinois ( Photos: 1 ), Cleveland ( Photos: 1 ) , and Milwaukee. Elsewhere in California, thousands took to the streets of Los Angeles (Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 ) and many people from all over the Central Valley gathered in Fresno for "the Rally in the Valley" (Photos: 1 | 2 Video: 1 | 2 ). There was a protest in San Diego (Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ) and in Eureka, thousands braved the rain to demand an end to the occupation of Iraq and the immediate withdrawal of US troops (Photos). On Friday, there was a protest in Reedley (Photos)

For about one week the economy of Guatemla has practically been shut down by strikes. And there is no end in sight. Primarily the protests are against the ratification of the central american free trade agreement CAFTA with the USA. But many people in Guatemala want to also bring down the neo-conservative government.

More information:
[ Guatemala section on Chiapas Indymedia | report | FTAA protests Imc | Indymedia San Fransisco Bay | pictures | original article on Indy Germany | coverage by Christian Aid | BBC world ]

Background information:

• talk by human rights activist about massacres committed during civil war
• Guatemalan Environmentalists fear for Safety
• critical developments in Guatemala
• Guatemalan Elections Update
• Activists to Host Language Learning Expedition to Guatemala
• past CAFTA protests
• Indy at the FTAA protests

The workers of the self-managed Zanon ceramics factory are once again under attack by the government and business interests trying to evict them in the southern province of Neuquen, Argentina. Since 2001, the employees have successfully managed the factory, setting an example for the working-class worldwide that workers can produce and manage even better without a boss or owner. Over the past four years, workers have battled against eviction threats and intimidation, but in the past few weeks the government and security forces representing the factory’s old ownership have used tactics of torture and kidnapping – reminiscent of Argentina’s military dictatorship (1976-1983) in which 30,000 people, mostly activists, were disappeared in the dirty war.

On Friday, March 4 a group of four individuals (three men and a woman) kidnapped the wife of an employee at Zanon. They forced her into a green Ford Falcon, a model of car security operatives used to kidnap activists during the dictatorship, sending a chilling reminder of the dirty war. They tortured her and cut her face, hands, arms and breasts. They gave details of how they carefully followed her and have detailed information about her movements. In response, this woman, who had never participated in a protest, led the march on International Women's Day in Neuqen.

Links: [1 | 2 | 3 | 4]

More information: Argentina Indymedia | Zanon website

Actions and gatherings have happened all over the world on this year's 8th of March. In Istanbul, a group of around 150 people gathered in Istanbul on Sunday 6th of March 8. Police intervened after protesters refused to disperse and detained 59 people, including 29 women. Muslim Turkey has promised to do more to improve the plight of women as it legislates reforms required by the European Union before the government begins membership talks in October.

In Ecuador, it is remembered that most of the "drug trafickers" are poor and single mothers who, fed up of telling their children that there is no food today, risk their bodies and lives by swallowing drugs in order to transport them, on behalf of fat cats that never get caught.

In Santiago de Chile, more than 150 organisations seconded the march.

In Madrid no actions were reported - a Community Centre was evicted on the 8th of March.

There have been actions, amongst others, in Argentina 1 (in spanish)|2, in Euskalherria (also in spanish), http://pt.indymedia.org/ler.php?numero=55786&cidade=1 Portugal (in portuguese),

In San Francisco, CA, USA, a colourful demonstration took place.pics 1|pics 2 <"http://www.indybay.org/uploads/justicedelayedmaybedenied.gif">

women's solidarity, UK and international event listings

At the end of Fashion Week in Milan, anti-precarity activists pulled off an ambitious spoof against the fashion industry and the mainstream media. The scene was set earlier in the week when protesters targeted the a cat walk show by Prada and issued a statement that there would be further protests and that the fashion show by the controversial japanese designer Serpica Naro. On Thursday another show was disrupted when eight women breached security and took over the cat walk and issued further statements over the microphone before being kicked out. Milans police contacted the press agent of Serpica Naro and warned them of the threats being made to disrupt her show which was schedualed to take place on saturday evening. The media ran a few stories and the agent for Serpica Naro was interviewed about the prospect of protests by anti-precarity activists.

Reports: [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 ] Photos: [ 1 | 2 ] | Video |

A large military police operation took place on the morning of February 16 to evict the land occupation of Sonho Real(Real Dream) in the city of Goiânia, Brazil. Two people got killed, over 800 people got arrested and several people are wounded, five of which severely. Among the arrested there are two Indymedia volunteers, one from Goiânia and one from Indymedia New York.

For more information and updates see: Indymedia Brazil and Indymedia Global

Twenty Israeli military vehicles and two bulldozers have been occupying the village of Sieda in the northern Tulkarem district since early this morning placing the village under curfew and conducting house to house searches.

Electricity and the water supply in the village have been cut off. The Israeli military has closed all entrances to the village and are occupying the boys' school. Two family homes, belonging to Mohammed Zaki Raddad and Hussein Raddad are also occupied. Villagers fear that the bulldozers are there to demolish the homes of families of men wanted by the Israeli army. Volunteers from Canada, England and Denmark, who work with the International Solidarity Movement, are present in the homes where the Israeli soldiers are occupying the roof and ground floor of the homes, trapping the family inside on one floor. Israeli soldiers have invaded the village every night since the Eid, searching homes and harassing villagers. The soldiers have told the villagers they intend to remain in the village for at least three days.