Peaceful Demo. in Poland Against US Missile Base Ends In Police Brutality

'Slupsk=Second Belarus!End the Repression!'(Fot.Justyna Wawak)
On Saturday March 29th over 700 people attended a protest at noon in the city of Slupsk, Northern Poland, against the Polish government's plans to permit the construction of a US missile base, part of their notorious 'Star Wars' program. On Friday and Saturday solidarity vigils were held with Polish activists in Prague, Dublin, London, Hamburg, Berlin, Moscow, Washington and the U.S. spy base at Fylingdales in England.

The demonstration was organised by a wide range of Polish anarchist groups working together as the Polish Campaign Against Militarism. A variety of representatives from other political groups and anti-militarist campaigns attended the demonstration. The 'No Logo' guideline helped keep focus on participants opposition to the missile base and avoided a space which merely provided a marketing opportunity for political parties to promote themselves.

It was the first time a manifestation was held at the potential site for the U.S. government's missile defence program in Poland, where they intend to have 10 ground based interceptors costing billions of dollars. In return, the Polish government are requesting the U.S. help modernise the Polish army to the tune of $20 billion by 2015.

A recent poll conducted amongst residents of Slupsk city established that 60% of residents are against the proposed missile base and that 87% demand a referendum on the issue. The opposition level is similar throughout Poland. An agreement may be signed between both governments as early as June, construction would most likely occur from January 2009 and be completed by 2013.

Approximately 200 local residents listened and participated in a 'Hyde Park' public debate by the town hall while a 'No Missile Shield' newspaper was distributed outlining the arguments against the missile base and increased militarisation. AA large majority of locals who spoke and were in attendance were opposed to the missile shield.

The Food Not Bombs group kept participants strong and healthy with delicious vegetarian food.

Two excellent samba bands from Gdansk and Poznan and a street theatre group from Torun and Slupsk led the demonstrators through the streets after the public discussion has concluded. Placards had slogans including, 'We don't want to be a missile shield for the U.S.', 'No Shield, No War, We are for Peace', while participants chanted and danced around the city centre. It attracted a lot of attention and many local residents, both young and old, joined in.

At the end of the demonstration 100 people marched 4km from Slupsk to the ex-soviet military base next to the town of Redzikowo and likely site for U.S. weapons. Riot police blocked participants entrance and forced them from the area, which is currently a disused Polish military property undergoing.

The demonstration finished in Redzikowo town at 4.30pm where demonstrators had positive interactions with local residents, despite the bad weather. The reception we received bodes well for future co-operation. Appeals were made at a military barracks for Polish soldiers to stop fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq and to resist defending the violent interests of the rich and powerful arms companies and politicians against their peaceful fellow citizens.


Police repression and revenge against activists
At 6am, on Sunday morning after the demonstration, police violently broke their way into an apartment in Slupsk, arresting 23 anti-missile defence activists under the pretext that they were disturbing the 'night silence'. They used tear gas and batons, forcing their way into the apartment and beating the 18-25 year old peace activists staying there. One person had his arm broken.

By noon on Sunday, 30 protestors had gathered outside the police station where the anti-militarist activists were being detained. The police are accusing some of the arrested of unethical force against a police officer and disturbing the peace. It remains to be seen whether the injured activists will bring charges against the police officers for their brutal revenge on those opposed to the U.S. missile base.
At 8pm Sunday 13 remained in police custody. They are due to be released by 3pm tomorrow. activists are due to be released

Funds to support the repressed activists and the Campaign Against Militarism would be gratefully appreciated. If you want to donate to support the efforts to stop the construction of the missile base in Poland you can do so by transferring your donation to this account:

Jakub Gawlikowski
(PL) 05 1140 2004 0000 3702 4238 2269
BRE Bank S.A. Retail Banking, al. Mickiewicza 10, 90-050 Łódź
BIC/SWIFT: BREXPLPWMUL
SORT CODE: 11402004


Very important:
Write "Against the Missile Shield" for general campaign support.
Write "For Repressed Activists" to support those currently arrested.


Videos of demonstration:

http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80273,5069861.html
http://www.gp24.pl/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=tarcza

Photos of demonstration
http://www.tarcza.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=123&Itemid=2

Polish Campaign Against Militarism

English Contacts: 0048607340093
0048662535719

7 New Deadly Sins - Are you screwed?

The Vatican, notoriously slow to change on anything, have rapidly moved with the times in the past 24 hours. They have decided to increase their traditional 7 deadly and mortal sins by double that number. And thankfully they are less about the individual and more about one's role in and on society.

Pope Gregory the Great drew up the original list in the 6th Century, which in trun was made popularly known through Dante's Inferno - they were pride, envy, gluttony, lust, wrath, greed and sloth. They have now been joined with the following newcomers:

8. "Bioethical" violations such as birth control
9. "Morally dubious'' experiments such as stem cell research
10. Drug abuse
11. Polluting the environment
12. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor
13. Excessive wealth
14. Creating poverty

Well, we all know that for every vice there is a virtue. The original 7 holy virtues are: chastity, abstinence, temperance, diligence, patience, kindness and humility.

The original 7 offences also had interesting punishments:

Pride Broken on the wheel
Envy Put in freezing water
Gluttony Forced to eat rats, toads, and snakes
Lust Smothered in fire and brimstone
Anger Dismembered alive
Greed Put in cauldrons of boiling oil
Sloth Thrown in snake pits
Source: The Picture Book of Devils, Demons and Witchcraft; Ernst and Johanna Lehner

So what will the 7 new virtues be?

Well, one things seems certain. The top 1,125 Forbes gold horders and all living the lives of pseudo Kings and Queens are totally fucked!!!

Open letter to Prime Minister Tusk from US Peace Groups and Academics

This was initiated by the Campaign for Peace and Democracy and our Polish Campaign Against Militarism

Dear Prime Minister Tusk,

We are writing you as individuals and organizations based in the United States committed to human rights and peaceful relations among nations. We have been dismayed by the attempts of both the Polish and Czech governments to negotiate deals with the Bush administration to establish military bases in your countries despite the fact that these bases are opposed by a majority of your own people. The U.S. bases threaten to restart a Cold War between the United States and Russia. They have nothing to do with genuine defense and much to do with an aggressive U.S. military policy.
Read full letter

Signed by:
· Campaign for Peace and Democracy
· Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
· Humanist Movement-U.S.
· Physicians for Social Responsibility/NYC
· Peace Action

Plus the following individuals (affiliations listed for identification only)
1. Anthony Arnove, author and editor, Brooklyn, NY
2. Stanley Aronowitz, Distinguished Prof. of Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center
3. Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies
4. Norman Birnbaum, University Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University Law Center
5. Eileen Boris, Hull Professor of Women's Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara
6. Laura Boylan, MD, Assistant Professor, New York University School of Medicine
7. Jeremy Brecher, author and historian
8. Vinie Burrows, U.N. Representative, Women's s International Democratic Federation
9. Leslie Cagan, National Coordinator, United for Peace and Justice
10. Noam Chomsky, Professor (Retired), MIT

Full list

*The letter was circulated to U.S. individuals and groups. However, Adam J. Chmielewski, Professor, University of Wroclaw, Poland received the text and wished to add his name.

In memory of the 2 Poles killed in Dublin

The 2000 people who assembled in Drimnagh, Dublin on Saturday in commemoration of the 2 young Polish men viciously killed early this week will have given much needed consolation to the heartbroken families of the two tragic victims, Pawel and Mariusz.

Both men died in hospital after being attacked with a screwdriver by a gang of teenagers after they had refused to buy alcohol for the teens. There seems to have been no provocation for the attack.

According to the Irish Times, over €16,000 has been donated to a fund set up by the men's employer, Alan Kennedy,to help the families with transporting the bodies back to Poland.

RTE report that

"The family says it would like to believe that the tragic deaths of the two men will result in a public debate about what they term the increasing level of aggression by youths."

A worthwhile and rational call indeed, but nowadays, where gratuitous violence is glorified in books, magazines, tv screens, computer games, in ghetto-like apartment blocks and beyond, there is little chance of such a debate bearing nonviolent or long lasting beneficial results.

And it truly sickens me to hear the mass violence, warmongering, poodle mouthpieces of Bertie Ahern and Donald Tusk pretend they're as soft as hay and as innocent as snow. Think Afghanistan, Iraq, US missile defence, increased weapons procurements, disregard for workers rights and homeless people's human right to shelter. The political systems they help operate as political representatives create and sustain many of the social problems that exist today in Irish and Polish society.

Of course I am not blaming them personally for these attacks. Though, in another sense, I am blaming us all in society for standing by with our ears plugged, heedless to the cries of the 'mentally insane,' 'teen thugs,' 'lost cases,' and the endless list of those who we fail to care for as a whole.

They, the perpetrators of this heinous deed, will of course have to take responsibility for the act of craziness. But packing them off into a violent institution like Mountjoy jail (if they're old enough) is no way to restore justice for Pawel and Mariusz. Alive, I'm sure they would wish us as a society to do what we so often fail to do: listen.

So here I'm going to make a bit of a jump.

Is there not a connection between the mass violence sanctioned through the capitalist system and it's puppet-string masters, and the pathetic deranged acts of lunacy carried out on the streets of underclass areas by some teens who crave alcohol and attention and have screwdrivers in their back pockets?

When these stupid kids are caught, and the victims' families can rest assured they soon will (some of them are bound to talk, would have been seen in the area at the time or minimally it is fair enough to speculate that it is not the first time they have hung around that area and badgered people to buy them alcohol), then the last thing society is going to do is listen to them. Tabloids will go to town dehumanising them as vicious, mindless, evil thugs. We'll learn nothing. We rarely, if ever, do.

And so I will call upon words of wisdom from what may seem like an unlikely character in this debate: Marilyn Manson. As he stated on a VH1 interview, after his band had cancelled three concerts in memoriam of the Columbine high school shooting tragedy in the US (12 teen victims), about what he would have said to the killers, Manson replied: "Nothing. I would have listened, because no one else did.

I believe there is much truth in that statement, and a sound basis to build the restoration of justice for what Pawel and Mariusz's loved ones most desire: the prevention, if possible, of other families suffering from the same fate.

Three teens detained as part of the investigation were released on Saturday though the Director of Public Prosecutions is due to receive files on them.

As a mark of respect, players and fan like observed a minute's silence during the friendly soccer game between St Patrick's Athletic and Blackburn Rovers.

Harmonious relations have prospered between Poles and the Irish since the mass exodus post-May 2004 when Poland acceded to the E.U. and Ireland opened up it's labour market to them. Though some fear that the attack was somehow related to Pawel and Mariusz's nationality, this seems like a bit far-fetched.

Let's just hope that the Irish justice system's renowned ability to continue the victims' families suffering by being inefficient does not transpire in this matter.

And if you care, and who'd blame if you didn't, here's a link to the Irish fascist portal (Stormfront) debate on the attacks: http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php?p=5187783

Drowning The Lie

Mike Hastie, former US army medic in Vietnam, penned the lines that follow.
A friend once told me, 'to add is often to subtract' - so no commentary of mine need follow this poem:

Someday,

when this war is over,

I’m going to drown every toy soldier

I ever owned.

My mother still keeps that shit in the attic.

What a fool that kid inside of me was.

I was lied to from day one.

Something tells me,

that if my mom ever found out,

she would probably give me a medal.


Mike Hastie
U.S. Army Medic
Vietnam 1970-71