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On August 12th, the police of Orissa, India detained David Pugh, a teacher who lives in San Francisco. The Orissa Police have also detained two anti-displacement activists, Protima Das and Pradeep, who accompanied Pugh. Pugh has been released from detention, but the Orissa police have ordered him to stay at his hotel to await further interogation.
David Pugh was visiting Kaliganagar and Sukinda to see the industrialization of the area and its effects on peoples' displacement, and to investigate the movements against industrialization and mining. All the activists were in Kalinganagar after attending a People’s Tribunal on Displacement organized in Bhubaneswar by anti-displacement movements from various parts of India including Orissa. Activists from Orissa came to the peoples tribunal to testify about their conditions of destitution and destruction.
In a press release, the movement against displacement in India has called on people to urgently contact various officials in Orissa and India and demand the release of all the activists. The statement added that, "The Government of Orissa has been unleashing brutal repression on the anti-displacement movement for the last two years. The detentions are part of the larger plans of the Government to coerce the people to accept the displacement and give up their lands. We appeal to all democrats to immediately intervene and put pressure on the Govermenent of Orissa to release Miss. Pratima, Mr. Pradeep and Mr. Amin Maharan, (if he is also arrested) without subjecting them to any kind of harassment. We demand the Government of Orissa to immediately release Miss Pratima Das, Mr. Pradeep and Mr. Amin Maharana and stop harassing Mr. David Pugh.”
Update! Pugh has been released from detention and he has issued a statement.
Visthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan, Press Statement l Dave Pugh: Nandigram and the Struggle against Forced Displacement in India l Statement by Dave Pugh on his Detention during his Fact-Finding Trip to India
On on July 28, Ehud Olmert, Israel's Prime Minister, announced that he will resign his post once a new leader is chosen for his party-Kadima. This decision comes as a result of two investigation for corruption that is carried against Olmert. Olmert has been under many police investigations in recent years for corruption and bribery.
Olmert became Kadima's party leader and Israel 's Prime Minister in 2006 after a stroke left Ariel Sharon, Kadima's former Party Leader in Coma.
Olmert is the last to resign among three figures that many see as responsible for the Lebanon war. The other two figures are Dan Halutz, who was chief of staff at the time of the war, and Amir Peretz, the then defence minister. In 2006 after two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by the Hizbulla, Olmert refused to negotiate an exchange of POW, and instead pushed for a full attack on Lebanon .
Olmert to Resign Amid Corruption Investigations | Israeli PM to step down | olmert profile | Olmert 'planned Lebanon war before soldiers' kidnap' | Olmert defies calls to resign over bribe probe
On July 28th, at the Left Bank offices in Tel Aviv, a party celebrating thirty years of artistic and political work by Mohammad Bakri took place. Another reason for this celebration was a recent decision by a judge who ruled that Bakri cannot be sued for making the film Jenin Jenin, a documentary of interviews with residents of the Jenin refugee camp after an Israeli invasion in April of 2002. Bakri is a well known Palestinian actor and a director who acted in many movies. After producing Jenin Jenin, however, Bakri has been blacklisted by the movie industry in Israel and sued by a group of Israeli soldiers. The film was banned by the Israeli state censor on the grounds that it is one sided and does not take into account the viewpoint of the occupying army. It was allowed to be screened after an appeal to the Israeli High Court; meanwhlie three Israeli movies describing the attack on Jenin from the Israeli military point of view were aired on two TV channels.
Bakri and Israeli cinemas that showed the film were sued by a group of Israeli soldiers who participated in the Jenin invasion. Recently, an Israeli judge has ruled that although the movie has presented untrue information, its accusations were directed at a whole population and not at specific people, and therefore specific individuals cannot sue Bakri. The judge also ruled that Bakri has not brought to court any of the Palestinians who commented in the movie to testify, or human rights organization to back up the assertion in the movie. And that therefore the movie is untrue. But many have wondered how Bakri was supposed to bring to court residents of Jenin who are living under occupation and are not allowed to enter Israel, and might be afraid of an Israeli retaliation. Furthermore, Amnesty international and Human Right Watch has written extensive reports on what happened during the siege of Jenin in 2002 that details many of the stories that were describe in the movie. Homan Rights Watch, for example, has accused the Israeli military of committing war crimes in Jenin. Some of the incidents described in the reports and the movie were of houses being demolished with residents still inside, and helicopters firing missiles into civilian’s houses. 4000 people, more than a quarter of the population of the camp, become homeless due to the demolishing of their houses by the occupying Israeli army.
Bakri stated after the ruling that the movie was an attempt to give voice to the residents of Jenin, to allow them to speak about the assault on the camp. The soldiers who sued Bakri claimed that they were just trying to defend their homeland, not to assault a refuge camp. But Bakri in an interview responded that “They are not fighting for their homeland. They are fighting for settlements. They are fighting to defend the occupation. They mustn’t be there. They mustn’t be in the West Bank. They mustn’t be in Gaza. This land was occupied in 1967” and that “this is not the right way to fight terrorists, by demolishing whole houses and by that very cruel invasion.”
Bakry has recently finished another movie called Since You Left. The movie is personal documentary describing Bakri’s harassments and experiences in Israel since making Jenin Jenin.
Israeli soldier testimony on what actually happened in Jenin, by one of those who did it and are proud of it. || Jenin: IDF Military Operations, Human Rights Watch || Israel and the Occupied Territories: Shielded from scrutiny: IDF violations in Jenin and Nablus, Amnesty International || Mohammad Bakri defense committee || Mohammad Bakri official Web Site. || Acclaimed Palestinian Actor Mohammad Bakri Faces Trial in Israel for Documentary “Jenin, Jenin", Democracy Now! || Mohammad Bakri: “I will never apologize!” || Galway IPSC protests against the political show-trial of Mohamed Bakri, Director of Jenin Jenin, Indymedia Ireland
In at least five separate incidents during July alone, U.S.-led NATO forces have killed as many as 132 civilians in Afghanistan. The worst of the five attacks took place in the Deh Bala district of the Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, when a U.S. air strike killed 47 civilians on July 6th. Another air strike killed up to 22 Afghani civilians on July 4th, when missiles from U.S. helicopters struck civilians in Kunar. Nine more Afghani civilians were killed in the province of Farah on July 15. In a fourth civilian killing, up to 50 civilians died and at least seven more were wounded in the western province of Herat. The fifth and most recent attack occurred on July 20th, when at least four Afghani civilians were killed.
These latest attacks come on the heels of a trip to the Bagram and Jalalabad air bases by the leading US Presidential contender, Senator Barak Obama, in which he reiterated his long-held policy plans to increase the U.S. troop presence in the country by up to 10,000 more soldiers. "This is a war we have to win," proclaimed Obama, during his highly publicized and ongoing international trip.
The presumptive Republican nominee for President, Senator John McCain, has also proposed troop increases in Afghanistan by pledging at least three more brigades to the already 34,000 U.S. troops. Roughly half of the total number of foreign troops are currently comprised of U.S. soldiers. Since neither candidate has any plans or proposals for an immediate or phased-in withdrawal from the country, it is probable that without anti-war resistance in the U.S. and abroad, the U.S.-led occupation will continue through the next term of the Presidency until 2013.
The flurry of air strikes are part of a planned and ongoing offensive that has resulted in at least one official investigation that was called for by Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, a strong supporter and ally of the Bush administration, who also met with Senator Obama during his visit this past weekend. Democracy Now! reported that the latest air offensive is the most intense seen in Afghanistan since 2003. U.S.-led forces have occupied the beleaguered, oil-rich nation since 2001.
Civilian Death Toll Continues to Rise by Heightened U.S. Air Strikes in Afghanistan | US to investigate air strike that killed 47 Afghan civilians | Afghan wedding party killed in a second air strike over three days l Civilian deaths in Afghanistan soars: Red Cross l airstrikes kill 50 civilians in Herat l AFGHANISTAN: Afghan paper warns of new resistance front unless civilian casualties stop l Photos of Civlian Dead
On July 7th through 9th, the G-8 countries held their annual meeting high above Lake Toyoaka in Hokkaido Japan at an exclusive spa resort. This is part of the usual pattern of the annual G-8 meetings to hold them in the most remote areas possible. Hokkaido, a land of beautiful lakes and volcanos is the most rural and least populated of the four major islands that make up Japan. The Japanese government spent $250 million in security measures and deployed 22,000 national police to Hokkaido and another 20,000 were on reserve in Tokyo.
All the G-8 countries; Germany, France, Russia, Italy, England, Japan and of course the U.S. make up less then 35% per cent of the world's population but control the great majority of the wealth. The emerging economies of Brazil, China, India, were not included, but they along with Mexico and South Africa got to have meetings on the side. (The little G-5)
The one agreement that was reached at the summit was that the G-8 countries would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by the year 2050, 42 years from now. Fidel Castro commented in his reflections of July 15, that this "is about the time that hell freezes over".
 Photos & Report
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Resistance and Repression in Japan continue: Inside the Anti-G8
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G8: Summits and summits
Previous Indybay Coverage of the G8 Summit And Protests
On July 19th, three activists were arrested for breaking through police barricades around Pelosi's Pacific Heights mansion and "dying in" on her walkway to protest against war with Iran.
Code pinkers Toby Blome and Phoebe sorgen and peace organizer David Hartsough were arrested during the Die-In. They broke through the police barricades around Pelosi's home to lie down "as examples of the death that will come to yet another country if the build-up toward war is not halted".
Pelosi was not home -- she was in Austin, Texas being protested by Austin Code Pink.
When Toby was being walked to the police car in handcuffs, she called out in a strong but anguished voice, "Pelosi, not another war!" The crowd warmly cheered and applauded the courage of Toby, Phoebe and David.
Medea Benjamin and Leslie Angeline were among the dozen or so representing Code Pink. They joined over 60 others from Act Against Torture, DASW, World Can't Wait, Western States Legal Foundation and other organizations. FM DJ Soul of 104.1 in Berkeley also spoke out during the die-in.
Actions on the weekend of July 19th coincided with UFPJ's national call for action.
Many banners and signs focused on House Concurrent Resolution 362 and the $400 million the US is spending on covert operations in Iran.
Protest organizers say that "as the Bush administration maneuvers to bomb Iran, Congress has been a willing enabler of the administration's crimes of aggression." Additionally they point out that "Pelosi is one of the 'gang of eight' - congressional leaders that granted the administration the powers (and $400 million) for covert operations inside Iran to destabilize the regime and potentially clear the path for war. Congress and Speaker Pelosi have the ability to stop the administration's war plans. They can pass a resolution requiring congressional approval for any future military action."
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 Event Announcement
A rally to oppose H.Con.Res. 362 and war with Iran was also held in San Francisco at the Federal Building on July 8th.
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Event Announcements:
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On July 31st, there will be an eyewitness report-back at the SF Women’s Building from two Iranian American activists just back from Iran.
At 7pm, they will make presentations on myths and realities about life in Iran today, the continued U.S.-European aggression against Iran and the danger of a new war.
Event Details
Congresswoman Speier: Full speed for war with Iran
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Iran Missle Tests: Who’s the Real Aggressor in the Middle East?
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House Iran Resolution Would Send Alarming Message to President Bush
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Peace Activists Join With Iranians to Say 'Talks, Not Sanctions or War'
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Iran Reaction to Possible US Interest Section
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U.S. Journalist Exposes Further American Moves Against Iran
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Bush reaffirms "all options on the table" over Iran
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The odds are against an attack on Iran
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US 'escalates covert Iran missions'
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As war clouds gather: Democrats back covert US attacks on Iran
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H.R. 362: Proposed U.S. Naval Blockade on Iran Amounts to "an Act of War"
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Gandhi Peace Brigade: Will Congress Start A War with Iran?
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Who's threatening whom?
More signs of Israeli-US preparations for attacking Iran
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Israeli Air Force in massive night drills over Iraq
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Wars and Rumors of War
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 Democracy Now: Is Israel Preparing to Bomb Iran?
On July 16th, a prisoner exchange took place between the governments of Israel and the Hezbollah. Israel has returned 199 bodies of Hezbollah fighters and five live soldiers to Lebanon in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers who were killed on an occupied territory on the border between Israel and Lebanon. The government of Lebanon stated that “the agreement marks a big failure to Israel’s tactics and policies.”
In the past year the price of food has risen sharply. Wheat has gone up by 130%, rice by 217%, corn by 125%, soybeans by 107%. Vegetables, fruits, meat, and dairy have become too expensive for most of the population of the world to buy. This has led to food riots in Haiti, followed by riots in Egypt, Mexico, Zimbabwe Bangladesh, Kenya as well as throughout Africa. The armed forces of the state were mobilized in many countries to shut down demonstrations and to guard food.
While it’s hard to isolate a singular cause that led to the food crisis, research shows that the problem is systematic and not a mere fluke, as the Bush administration and other policy makers would have us believe. Although droughts, and the rising demand of the new middle class in China and India contribute to the shortage, they do not explain the exponential rise in food prices that hurts primarily the global poor.
The problem is more fundamental: stemming from three decades of neoliberalism and free trade agreements, government subsidized agribusiness and low price dumping, the World Bank with its structural adjustment policies, economic speculations on food and oil prices, and the diversion of arable land to biofuel production.
Mainly the so-called "food crisis" | How Far is the US From Food Shortages and Food Riots? | The Global Food Crisis: How the Market Has Driven up Prices and Hunger | Stuffed and Starved, Democracy Now | Making a killing from hunger | Financial speculators reap profits from global hunger | Food Crisis: "The greatest demonstration of the historical failure of the capitalist model"
| Manufacturing a Food Crisis, The Nation |
Racism and anti-immigrant hysteria have been increasing in Italy in recent years.
Hate crimes have been on the rise with reports of gangs of right-wing youth attacking Roma in Rome, Genoa, Turin, Milan and other cities.
Seventy years ago this month, Italy's Fascist regime published a "Manifesto of Race", which paved the way for its notorious racial laws persecuting Jews and members of other supposedly "inferior" minorities.
Now, the country's rightwing government has again stepped up special measures against an entire ethnic group.
In their election campaign earlier this year, Berlusconi and his allies had already made clear their intention of deporting tens of thousands of Roma back to Romania and former Yugoslavia. In mid-June a March decisions by Italy's highest appeal court was released stating that "it is acceptable to discriminate against Roma" because the court found that "they are thieves".
Following the release of the court rulling, Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, announced that a file is to be drawn up containing a DNA data base with digital fingerprints and photos of all Roma irregardless of their citizenship.
Unicef has protested that this is discriminatory and a violation of the UN's Declaration of the Rights of the Child.
The Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana denounced the move as "an indecent and racist proposal" reminiscent of "when Jewish children were identified with a yellow star on their sleeves".
The European Parliament voted July 10th to adopt a resolution calling on member states to "review and repeal laws and policies that discriminate against the Roma on the basis of race and ethnicity."
In November 2005, the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia reported that Roma minorities are the ethnic group most susceptible to racism in the European Union. A spokesman for an Italian NGO opposed to fingerprinting states that life expectancy for Roma living in Italy is already under 60.
Read More
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Anti-Gypsy sentiments out of control in Italy
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Berlusconi government steps up its attacks on Roma and foreigners
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Plight of the Roma: echoes of Mussolini
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Move to fingerprint Gypsies reminds many of Italy's darker days
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Italy Leads Fascist Revanche in Western Democracies
European Roma Rights Centre
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Italy Indymedia
On July 4th, peace and humanitarian organizations celebrated a Canadian federal court decision favoring Iraq war resister Joshua Key that could have substantial implications for other American war objectors. Canada's ruling conservative government may still try to ignore the will of its citizenry.In a nationwide action July 9th, US protesters drew attention to the imminent deportation from Canada of AWOL GIs. Across the country 14 events were held in support of US war resisters attempting to remain in Canada. Activists were pleased with a surprise decision announced just hours after San Francisco's noon hour protest; a Canadian Federal Court granted Corey a last minute reprieve of at least several months while his lawyers are given an opportunity to appeal earlier negative rulings.
Japanese police continue to escalate repression against protesters of the Group of 8 Summit, part of a growing trend of human rights suppression in Japan. Police in full riot gear are supported by the Japanese Army, called the Self Defense Forces (SDF). Air and sea missions near the summit are being carried out in a joint deployment of the SDF and the US military.
Federal agents seized 32 computers from Pastors for Peace as they attempted to cross the Pharr International Bridge early this morning at the US-Mexico border. The confiscated computers were donated by a Japanese-American group from the San Francisco Bay Area. As a result of this US seizure, 32 Cuban classrooms will not have a computer from this caravan.
Demonstrations against the Apartheid Wall are a daily occurrence in Palestine. On July 1st, in Ni'lin, two caterpillar bulldozers were destroyed during a demonstration. In Bil’in, on July 4th, three activists were injured and dozens of protesters were treated for tear gas inhalation. On June 5th, Palestinians and other activist defied a curfew on the village of Ni’lin, and demonstrated and blocked the Settler-road that runs by the village. In Ma’sra, live bullets and tear gas were used to dispersed a demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian land, and to mark the 4th anniversary of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision, which declared the wall illegal, and called for it to be dismantled and for those affected to be compensated for the damages.
In the lead up to the G8 Summit in Japan from July 7th through 9th, Japanese authorities have arrested domestic activists and have detained numerous foreign independent media journalists and anti-G8 protesters. At least six independent journalists and ten academics have been detained by Japanese immigration officials in the past weeks, including Andrej Grubacic, professor of sociology at the University of San Francisco.
Police arrested eight protesters on June 29, as 1,500 people marched against the G8 Summit in Tokyo's fashionable Shibuya and Shinjuku districts. Japan's security budget for the G8 Summit is at least $283 million, topping the $186 million Germany spent to host the summit of the world's most powerful "democratic" nations.
On June 17th, 2008, a U.S. military judge dismissed charges against another Marine connected to the massacre of twenty-four unarmed Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha. Of the eight Marines originally charged in the case, only one still faces prosecution. Criminal charges have been dismissed against six of the Marines and a seventh Marine was acquitted.
Video cameras have become a crucial way for Palestinians to document the daily harassment inflicted on them by Israeli settlers. In one recent example, a Palestinian family living on the southern hills of Al-Halil, was attacked by four settlers armed with baseball bats while farming their land. The video provided evidence against two settlers, who were arrested by the Israeli police.
Under the guise of the "War on Drugs," the Mexican Army has increased its presence around the Zapatistas autonomous municipalities in La Garrucha — the last place Subcomandante Marcos was seen. On June 4, a convoy of 200 army, state and local police tried to enter La Garrucha under the pretext of “looking for marijuana plants,” but were turned away by Zapatista men, women and children armed only with machetes and stones.
While the violence surrounding drug cartels in Mexico causes great alarm in Mexico and abroad, the targeting of Zapatista communities in the “War on Drugs” is equally alarming.
May 2008 marked 60 years of the Nakba, the catastrophe. Sixty years ago, 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes and 350 Palestinian villages were destroyed by the Israeli army and militias. In the Bay Area, the Nakba was commemorated by numerous events and demonstrations. On May 10th at the Civic Center, a peace and solidarity festival took place with bands such as the Coup and Dam. Jewish groups also organized solidarity actions. The International Jewish Solidarity Network has circulated a statement calling on people not to celebrate, and Jewish Voice for Peace called on Americans to remember the thousands of Palestinians who have suffered in the creation of Israel. The IJSN disrupted an event at San Francisco's JCC called "Israel at Sixty."
Indymedia Newsreal, a monthly television series, brings progressive grassroots organizing, going on in your backyard, to a national television audience. Newsreal is a longstanding collaboration between the Independent Media Center and Free Speech TV. It is shown on Free Speech TV every first Thursday at 5pm PST and sent on disc to community screening groups who show it during public screenings or include it on public access shows.
12AM Thursday Sep 11
General Strike!
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On August 23rd, two small boats carrying 42 human rights activists broke the siege of Gaza. They sailed from Cyprus in defiance of Israeli threats to intercept the boats to enforce its blockade of Gaza. The arriving boats were greeted by thousands of jubilant Gazans and former Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
