World Free Spaces Newswire Archive

For anyone who managed to get to rampART a couple of weeks ago for the screening of the documentary 'Enron - the smartest guys in the room', the latest corporate scandle revolving around the internet trailblazer Livedoor should be a familiar one.

Rising global energy prices are hitting UK manufactures, but the costs have yet to be passed down to the consumer...

Squatters pledge to resist by any means necessary..

On top of disruption to oil supplies this week from Nigeria after sabotage and kidnapping, and on top of concerns over stability of supplies from Iran should the UN initiate sanctions, now the 5th largest oil producer in the world has asked the question 'what would happen if we were to stop exports to the US'?

Should this implied threat be taken seriously it could spell further increases in oil prices in an already jumpy market. It could also fuel speculation that the US will taken action to remove Chavez from power in the coming months....

Experts agree, we're either at or very close to peak oil productions which means we will soon be seeing supply fall below growing demand and see massive price rises for energy, transport, consumer goods and food. If you haven't clued yourself up on the implications of peak oil, it's time you did.

Meanwhile, it's business as usual... wind power getting slagged off, nuclear powers trying to maintain their monopoly on power and increasing conflict over dwindling oil reserves around the world.

Below you will find some of todays news stories which together help to reveal the state of our peaking civilization.

Tonight (thursday) the free weekly cinema at the rampART is showing films related to the french riots.

During the last few weeks these riots have been used to fuel race hatred by nationalist and other right wing scum in the hope of gaining power and influence for their fascist agenda.

In France, Le Pen's Front National party has been milking the situation for all it's worth and apparently gaining support. Opinion poll commissioned by the newspaper Le Monde, suggest that only 39 percent of the French now believe that the views of the Front National party, are "unacceptable." That suggests up to 61 percent, now see Le Pen as a legitimate political candidate, along with his policies of compulsory mass expulsion of immigrants, including children born in France.

Moreover, the ideas and resentments that underpin Le Pen's message have become widespread. Nearly three out of four (73%) declared that "the traditional values of France are not adequately protected." while almost two out of three (63%), said that there are too many immigrants in France.

Le Monde also reported another poll organized by France's National Commission for the Rights of Man. It was accompanied by a confidential report to the Minister of the Interior, noting that "the word 'racist' has been liberated." Indeed it appears that the word is no longer used with shame in France. The poll found that 33% of French adults used the word 'racist' to describe themselves (in rural districts the percentage is even higher at 48%!). In the same poll a year ago, only 25 percent would call themselves 'racist.'

The poll showed that the public acceptance of racist attitudes is strongest among men, the elderly, skilled workers, small business people, company heads and workers. The report concludes that, "the end of the taboo against racism is confirmed by the finding that 63 percent of respondents said that certain behavior (by immigrants) can justify racist reactions."

Slightly less than the previous poll, this one reported that 56% thought that there were too many immigrants in France - even immigrants saying the same apparently! France has the highest proportion of immigrants in Europe with some 10 percent of the population, mostly of Islamic backgrounds in North Africa.

Racism appears to be making gains around Europe. In Belgium, the successor to the Vlaams Blok party (a party banned two years ago for it's 'extremism'), has 18% of the vote and is the second largest party in the Flemish parliament. It is also the largest party on Antwerp city where 'Mohammed' is now the most common name in new registrations of births.
 http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20051218-092936-9999r

In the UK, the British Nazi Party have also been striving to gain support for their fascist agenda by capitalising on peoples fear after the french riots.  http://www.bnp.org.uk/columnists/brimstone2.php?leeId=66 All over the internet you can find right wing websites exploiting stories of gang rape of white women by muslims men in order to fuel the race hate that gives them power.

Where the riots in france really race riots by terrorist inspired muslim youth or simply a class issue of alienation, discrimination and poverty? Whatever the answer that fact remains that tensions are growing as the cap between the haves and have nots widens under global capitalism and as the worlds finite resources are squandered at an ever increasing pace.

º En entrevista con La Rosa Negra - contrainformación de México, la CRA de Venezuela expone la importancia del Foro Social Alternativo a realizarse dentro de poco y comenta aspectos significativos de su actividad como grupo libertario.

Plans are being made to host a gathering on the issue of peak oil and it's implications. It will be be hosted at the rampART social centre, most likely sometime in February.

People are being sought to help organise the event and we are also keen to find out how much interest there is generally in the idea of the event. Please get in touch either if you would be interest in attending or in helping to organise the event...

Since nobody denies that peak oil will happen, the idea is to concentrate on likely timing and the implication and priorities for those who are currently campaigning on various issues in the hope of creating a better world.

Netherlands:
In Schinveld, near the dutch-german border members of "Groenfront" and independent acitivists have occupied a forest and built tree houses for stopping the government buid a NATO-air base for AWACS planes.

On Saturday 7th January around 60 people gathered at Middle Oak to remember the resistance against the Newbury Bypass (A34), and reveal the huge traffic growth that's come since.

It's ten years on Monday since the destruction of around 10,000 trees began in ernest, or rather should have done - back then protestors scored an early victory by blockading the entrance to the security compound with scaffolding tripods, thus ensuring no vehicles could leave. The start of work heralded the most full-on phase of the '3rd Battle of Newbury', Britain's biggest ever road protest, which saw over thirty different tree camps set up to oppose the road and around one thousand arrests.

When it rains, it pours!

With climate chaos reeking havoc in the US with flood and wildfires, the US suffers another blow in the form of a massive bribery and corruption scandal that is implicating dozens of politicians.

Sadly, with all this going on, a previous unresolved corruption story might find itself squeezed out of the US media for the second time as the trial of the fattest cats of Enron begins in a couple of weeks time.

Watch the film - Enron 'the smartest guys in the room' at the weekly free cinema at rampART this thursday 5th 8pm

www.rampart.co.nr

Enron was big. WorldCom even bigger. If it hadn't been for 911 and subsequent 'war on terror' then the fall out over the big corporate scandals of 2001 may have been bigger.

Now, will the Abramoff scandal blow the lid off democracy for sale in the USA or will it be quickly swept under the carpet and blamed on a few bad apples. Disgraced lobbyistis, Abramoff is now cooperating with the prosecutors, and many in Washington have reason to worry about what he is saying. Abramoff, who raised at least $120,000 for the Bush re-election campaign, pleaded guilty last Tuesday to conspiracy, tax evasion and fraud. He also agreed to help investigators trying to piece together the scope of his lobbying and fundraising activities. Watch this story - it is set to grow and grow!

This is a short, humorous account of the lively party by the Dead Sea on New Year's Eve. 13 photos attached.

“Did you knowingly deceive the investing public?” Lake asked Causey, who replied, “Yes, your honor.” When asked if he knew that giving false public documents and statements was illegal, Causey said, “Yes.” He appeared relaxed during the hearing and before it began winked and smiled at his wife, who wept after it was all over.

Causey, had been scheduled to go on trial next month with former Enron chief executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, facing the possibility of more than 20 years behind bars. He is now predicated to cooperate with federal prosecutors against his former bosses. Whether Causey will testify in the trial of Lay and Skilling is uncertain, but his deal with prosecutors calls for them to request a seven-prison sentence that could be reduced to five years if he cooperates fully.

Causey was a key figure in the huge financial scandal that drove Enron to bankruptcy in December ‘01 amid revelations the company had used off-the-books partnership deals to hide billions of dollars in losses and inflate profits.

Causey’s plea makes it 16 former Enron executives who have now pleaded guilty to crimes related to the scandal that opened a window on corporate accounting misdeeds and tainted the Bush administration because Lay had been a close ally of the Bush family for years and one of its biggest political donors.

Members of Pax Christi today today risked arrest by assembling outside Downing Street and reading out the names of Iraqi children and British servicemen killed in Iraq

This is just another idea for how we might work to highlight the absurdity of Blair's criminalisation of peaceful protests in Parliament Square.

Will Tony Blair arrest us for singing songs of peace and goodwill in Parliament Square? Christmas Carol concert will test the limits of government free speech ban.

As detailed in previous articles on Indymedia, the social/cultural centre INCA in Timisoara, Romania, is under threat of eviction and desperately needs support. To send a protest email will only take a few minutes.

* The Venezuelan anarchist movement invites you to participate in the Alternative Social Forum at Caracas in January 2006, a gathering of anti-establishment social movements, in response to the bureaucratic World Social Forum promoted by the Venezuelan government.

Over 200,000 people have protested at the anti-hoWARd government rally in Melbourne, with at least 150,000 or more in other capital cities and in regional centres throughout Australia.

A full account of the Katrina/New Orleans crisis. From police murders, to the National Gaurd, to the flooded Ninth Ward, to Whiskey in the French Quarter.