World Hunger Strike Day Against US Star Wars

In feline solidarity, Miaou, my cat, fasted today against the delusional US Star Wars proposal for Poland and the Czech Republic! But he only lasted 10 mins, then started eating a cheesecake, so I took over for him.

Why fast today? Well Sunday, June 22nd, was declared by our Czech colleagues as World Hunger Strike Day Against Star Wars - sensibly calling on financial resources to be divested from the US missile defence programme, and militarism in general, and to be directed towards addressing real human needs - food, education, health, sustainable environment, etc.

Please read on to find out more about this initiative, videos against Star Wars, photos and comments from participants in the June 22nd fast.


The following is an original article by Tony Robinson which I brushed up to make it more time relevant

On the 2nd June, after 21 days, Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar suspended their hunger strike. The protest against the proposed US Star Wars system for Poland and the Czech Republic continues, however, in the form of a relay in the Czech Republic with the participation of politicians, scientists and artists, etc.

video message by Jan Tamas

To give more force to this great non-violent protest, the Czech campaigners launched a Worldwide 1-Day Hunger Strike today, June 22nd, proposing a simple but significant gesture: let’s not eat for one day to oppose Star Wars and say to the world powers: “Stop feeding the war machine and start feeding the people!”

The Czech campaigners declared that it’s scandalous one thousand million dollars are destined to military spending, when with different choices this money could solve the problems of hunger, lack of education and the environment.

Here you can look at photos and messages from today's hunger strike participants

If you’d like more information please have a look here:

Contact Us
Campaign in the World

In Italy, Giorgio Schultze started a hunger strike on the 1st of June and suspended it on the 13th of June in Brussels where, together with Jan Tamas, he met with Luisa Morgantini – Vice-President of the European Parliament and many other MEPs (Members of the European Parliament). On the 9th of July, there will be a meeting and press conference in Strasbourg with MEPs opposed to the Star Wars project. He will present the signatures gathered by the on-line petition: A great opportunity to redouble our efforts and reach 200,000 signatures!

Giorgio Schultze and Jan Tamas will participate in the European Humanist Forum “The Strength of Nonviolence” in Milan, Italy on the 17th, 18th and 19th of October where they will be guest-speakers on the Disarmament panel. For more information about the forum see the website: Humanist Forum and download the monthly bulletin here.

The bulletin is also available in French, Spanish and Italian.

On 22nd June in the USA

Video about “Star Wars” (reduced version of 10 minutes)

20 minute version

Other Information

Support this campaign by letting your friends know, in your city, among organisations and the media. Only with everyone’s help can we change the future, a future that is today in the hands of a few unscrupulous crazy people.

info@europeforpeace.eu
www.nonviolence.cz

The Bushman in Northern Ireland

Just a few images to document George Walker's passing through. Thankfully we won't have to see the gobshite again.


Belfast tells Bush where to stick it!
From the ever-reliable Paula Geraghty (c)


Schoolgirl: "Hey George, what's 2 + 2 equal to"?
GWB: "Ah.....uhm.....err...."


Super mural in Northern Ireland

And I couldn't be arsed writing any more about this flute. More images and reports from friends in Ireland at Indymedia

'Hammered by the Irish' - Out Soon!

“Hammered by the Irish” by Harry Browne deals with the militarisation of Ireland’s Shannon Airport in service of the U.S invasion and occupation of Iraq.

The book tells the story of 5 Catholic Workers, known as the Pitstop Ploughshares www.peaceontrial.com , who in 2003 disable a U.S war plane at Shannon causing $2.5 million damage.

The five were demonised by the mainstream media and condemned by large sections of the anti-war movement.

Their act of nonviolent resistance was to resonate with a Dublin jury which unanimously found them not guilty of all charges at their third trial in 2006.



Harry Browne lectures in Dublin Institute of Technology. His book, ‘Hammered by the Irish: How the Pitstop Ploughshares disabled a US war-plane – with Ireland’s blessing’, is forthcoming from Counterpunch.org Books.
He can be reached at: harry.browne@gmail.com

No - 55%; Yes - 45% >>>>> Farewell to the Lisbon Treaty

From last week's Irish Times

It is now highly likely that Irish voters have rejected the Lisbon Treaty.

Results have already being announced in 19 of the 43 constituencies, and the Lisbon Treaty has been rejected by a margin of 54.7% to 45.3%.

Dermot Ahern, Minister for Justice, has conceded that it looks like the Lisbon Treaty has been lost.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs Brian Lenihan got hounded out of the main count centre by No campaigners.

Analysts are saying that the high turnout surprisingly did not favour the Yes side as was predicted.

Leading bookie, Paddy Power, who started prematurely paying out to those who bet on the Yes side winning, now looks like it will be paying out to the No side also.

Speculation from commentators is that the ratification process will go ahead throughout the EU despite the Irish result, but what will happen after that is still anyone's guess.

The Irish Prime Minister, Brian Cowen, may attempt to get some more clear opt out clauses to alleviate Irish fears on militarisation, taxation, abortion, etc. amongst a host of other issues and then put the referendum to the Irish people again (as happened with the Nice Treaty).

He is due to go to Brussels next week and will certainly face cold shoulders. A joint Franco-German declaration is due later this afternoon, while Sarkozy and France are due to take over the EU presidency soon and will do so at a very difficult period for the Euro-elite.

Gordon Brown in Britain is also going to face strong pressure to either abandon the process or hold a referendum to decide on the issue.

The fact that 14% of construction workers in Ireland have lost their jobs in the last 12 months and that Ireland currently has the worst performance in Europe in this sector may have also being a factor in getting some to vote No. The Fisheries crisis in Ireland helped the No side in many areas, in addition to conservative voters fears of abortion, euthanasia while others voted with their feet against a perceived loss of sovereignty and moves to further militarise Europe.

Ireland at the polls - Will Lisbon sink or swim?

Well, that question is really impossible to answer, as the polling stations only opened at 7am this morning and are due to close at 10pm tonight.

Recent polls differed on who held the upper hand. Both sides agree that it is likely to be a tight race.

No campaigners are hoping for a low turn-out, while the Yes campaign know they have to motivate and get their people out of their offices and houses to carry the referendum through.

The Lisbon Treaty issue is quite odd really. 2.8 million registered voters in Ireland, of whom probably less than 50% will vote, are to determine the future shape of a European Union that consists of 490 million+ citizens in 27 countries, 18 of which have already ratified treaty in their parliaments (being too fearful to put it to their electorate). The French and Dutch voted No to the EU Constitution 2 years ago, yet the Lisbon Treaty, in substance, is the same document.


Working class and more rural voters overwhelmingly voted No in France and Holland in 2006, whereas urban, more middle-class folk voted Yes. The social class breakdown of the pre-referendum polls in Ireland are very similar, and therefore the regional breakdown of turn-out throughout Ireland today will have a huge influence in terms of who will end up victorious.


If the No camp win, it is unclear whether EUrocrats will go back to the drawing board to hammer out a new treaty which they will then attempt to ratify in the future. Or, a repeat of the Nice referendum debacle in 2001 may occur, when the Irish, who initially voted No, held a second referendum a year later and 'dutifully' voted Yes.

One way or the other, all European eyes are on Ireland over the next 24 hours.

The issues which will swing the vote either ways are hard to judge. Many Yes voters seem likely to not vote on the content of the treaty, which few have read and even fewer can digest and comprehend, but rather on whether they are content with Ireland's place in Europe. The No side is a diverse bunch, including the only political party to campaign for a No vote, Sinn Fein. Their key points are loss of sovereignty and the death of Irish neutrality.

Free marketeers Libertas, an astro-turf campaign with close connections to US military aviation charter services, is fearful of tax harmonisation, which would damage Ireland's favourable tax system for multi-national corporations.

Statist leftists and anarchists are against the treaty for a range of issues including increase in national military expenditure, EU army intervention forces, fear of privatisation of public services, centralisation of power in Brussels.

Right-wing Catholics are against the treaty as they are afraid the European Court of Justice will over-rule Irish sovereignty regarding abortion law.

With a downturn in the Irish economy and tightening up of the labour market, many working class voters are fearful of Polish and other EU immigration to Ireland threatening their future employability.

All these and much more are factors in today's referendum.

Only time and turn-out rates and geographical spread will determine the much awaited fate of the EU constitution/Lisbon Treaty.

Raytheon 9 Acquitted in Belfast Court

Below is brief interview with Eamonn McCann, one of the Raytheon 9 and veteran civil rights campaigner from Derry, Northern Ireland, speaking from Qana, Lebanon, (July 2007) on the 1st anniversary of the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon with Raytheon produced missiles.

http://radio.indymedia.org/en/node/16892

This is a link to my report from Lebanon last summer after spending time with members of the DAWC, Raytheon 9 visiting areas torn apart by he war.

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/83681

The interview with activist/artist Shane Cullen (in the comment section), who designed the commemoration stone layed at Qana by the DAWC, might be of particular interest.


Statement issued by the DAWC, calling for Raytheon to be prosecuted - by Goretti Horgan

The six anti-war activists who occupied arms manufacturer Raytheon's offices in Derry and destroyed its computers have been acquitted by a jury in Belfast.

Derry Anti War Coalition calls on the office of the Attorney General and the Crown Prosecution Service, in light of the jury's verdict of 'not guilty' to criminal damage charges, to institute an investigation into the activities of Raytheon at its various plants across the UK, with a view to determining whether Raytheon is a criminal enterprise.

After their acquittal on three charges of criminal damage to the computer equipment and office of Raytheon, the world's largest supplier of Guided Bomb Units, Colm Bryce and Eamonn McCann spoke to supporters and press outside the court. Colm Bryce began:

The Raytheon 9 have been aquitted today in Belfast for their action in decommissioning the Raytheon offices in Derry in August 2006. The prosecution could produce not a shred of evidence to counter our case that we had acted to prevent the commission of war crimes during the Lebanon war by the Israeli armed forces using weapons supplied by Raytheon.

Full story here

Images from 27th May 2008 outside Laganside solidarity protest and (c) Paula Geraghty

Related Link: www.raytheon9.org

Frontex - The EU Migrant hunting agency

Based on original report by Laure Akai
Last weekend activists from many different countries came to Warsaw to protest against the deadly policies of Frontex, the EU agency which conducts migrant hunting operations, trains border guards and special units to hunt down people crossing "national borders" and which helps to coordinate and implement EU immigration policy. Frontex has its headquarters in Warsaw.

Video

On June 5, the second of two transnational conferences took place.

The conference was opened by Laure Akai with presentations by Amadou Mbow, a human rights activist from Mauretania, Devi Sachetti from Italy, who deals with issues of migrant rights, including the issue of precarity and migrant labour, Vincent de Jong from Holland, who is active in resistance against detention and deportation in Holland, Georgios Maniatis from Greece and Hagen Kopp from Germany.

The speakers presented information about the Frontex operations near the coast of Africa and their consequences, the operations in Libya and the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas, as well as an overview of Frontex operations, the ideology behind this and our arguments against this regime. It was pointed out during the presentations and later discussions how destructive these policies are and how the migrants can be victimized twice - for example, by the practices of some businesses which undermine their traditional livelihoods at home and then by the policies of the countries these businesses tend to come from, which seek to exclude people.

On June 6, a demonstration was held in front of Frontex headquarters. People from many countries and social movements were present, some refugees living in Poland as well. The protestors demanded that Frontex be shut down and that freedom of movement should be given to all, that there be an end to discrimination of all sorts against immigrants.



The head of Frontex, Ilkka Laitinen, came out to try to assure the press that he's a nice, decent guy - later on representatives from the demonstration, including a Euro parliamentarian, held a meeting with him and other Frontex representatives.

Participants then went to the Presidential Palace to protest Poland's immigration policies, in particular it's agreement with the Vietnamese government to deport 5000 Vietnamese people. The Polish border police, along with Vietnamese security forces, carried out a number of raids recently in which Vietnamese people were beaten, detained and deported. This government agreement has driven many of Poland's Vietnamese (70,000 people in Warsaw) underground.







Here are the press conference audio links I uploaded:

1. Bernd Kaspareck speaks at a press conference held in Warsaw, June 6th 2008, on why it is important to protest against Frontex, the EU 'border security' (migrant-hunting) agency.

Bernd is from a well-known organisation in Germany called The Caravan based in Munich, Germany, which helps migrants, resists deportations, conducts research on EU migration policies, etc.

2. Tobias Pflüger is a Member of the European Parliament. In this clip he speaks about Frontex, the EU migrant hunting agency, calling for it to be abolished. Tobias was among a delegation of human rights activists who met with the chief of Frontex agency in Warsaw during a demonstration outside he EU 'border security' agency's Warsaw headquarters, on Saturday June 6th 2008.

3. Speech by Mauritanian Human Rights activist Amadou Mbow, AMDH - Human Rights Organisation from Nouakchott/Mauritania.

Amadou came to Warsaw especially for a conference on and demonstrations against EU agency, Frontex, who have their headquarters in Warsaw.

Shut Down Frontex: Audio links to press conference Q&A session

Mauritanian Human Rights activist Amadou Mbow, AMDH - Human Rights Organisation from Nouakchott/Mauritania, on EU migration policies, Mauritanian civil resistance, State repression.

The events in Warsaw this weekend are part of year long activities organised by the 'No Border' campaign.

Contact info.

Tobias Pflueger on EU Parliament & Frontex


Tobias Pflueger, EU parliamentarian, on the Lisbon Treaty & Frontex

Bernd Kaspareck on the EU's Frontex agency operations against migrants, African States' policy shifts and EU border security privatisation.

Will the Irish kill the Lisbon Treaty?

Pulling the piss out of the Labour Party

The Irish are a funny sort. Having a long history of not doing what their next door neighbours wanted them to do (sit back, suffer and enjoy British imperialism), despite famines and awful repression lasting centuries, the people of Eire shook off the chains of foreign occupation over 80 years ago.

This history is deeply engrained in the hearts and minds of Irish people, despite huge pressure to forget everything beyond and including your last piss-up. With recent decades of rapid change in Irish society and the ever-increasing divide amongst the haves and the have-nots, strong elements of 'being pissed off when having determined someone is trying to screw you' can become a call to arms (metaphorical)in a split second.

On a variety of occasions, people in Ireland wake up and smell the shite that's going on around them - e.g. the 1st Nice Treaty (yes, thanks to it Poland, etc. got in the door, blah, blah, blah), although we corrected our 'mistake' 1 year later by voting 'Yes.'

Biased, biased, biased - Irish Referendum Commission does it's master's work

At the end of a week day night, in the local pub, when the Irish anthem is played and sung along to(though few know the lyrics), one can experience that thing called sovereignity and decentralisation, which the Irish have always longed for and cherished (by the former I mean being independent enough to buy a pint of stout and by the latter I mean that there are enough pubs per capita to quench our insatiable thirst).

Though the sacred calf of Irish military neutrality was quashed and exposed as an actualmj myth in the first place, with the US army's use of Shannon as a pitstop for the Iraq war, the Irish still value their roles as peace keepers in the world, not war facilitators.

There are a host of other issues, all important in their own right, on the privatisation of public services, voting rights, tax sovereignity, military spending, etc. which have been dealt with inexorably in the Irish media and elsewhere.

I ain't going to bother my arse wasting time writing here about them.

Unity, Yes! Lisbon rag, No!

5 days ago I was 99.99% sure that the Yes campaign had it in the bag. But it seems like the Irish capacity to surprise may still await the half a billion citizens of the EU

Hence, my surprise with the recent Irish Times poll that the 'No Vote' have jumped a massive 17% in a recent survey, and have therefore taken the lead over the 'Yes campaign.'

No - 35%
Yes - 30%
I haven't a clue or don't give a shite one way or the other - 35%

Pundits say the latter group will be more inclined to vote No.

But, who knows what could happen in the final 4 days of campaigning.

It may all rest on the biggest trade union SIPTU, and whether they give their blessing to the 'Yes campaign' in exchange for a promise from the government that they will legislate for collective bargaining rights in the workplace. The Prime Minister, an intelligent, fairly pragmatic prick from my area, will not commit himself to whether worker's collective bargaining rights will be enshrined for the Irish workforce through the Lisbon Treaty. Consequently, he risks losing a major body of potential support for the 'Yes campaign.'

Random thoughts from Warsaw

Of late I am snowed under and consequently blog-less. So I'll give a Top 10 list of what is going on in my head:

- Can't vote against the Lisbon Treaty on June 12th because Irish State does not grant it's citizens voting rights when they are living abroad. Ireland is the only country who has a say in the matter and can scuttle the boat. All other member states' trusted politicians did the job for their citizens with a relatively debate-less ratification.

It's highly likely that the referendum will be passed.

- Glad to be hosting international guests over the next few days. They are coming to Warsaw to protest against Frontex HQ, the EU's border police dog.

Frontex is an EU agency with coordinates the activity, training and operations of the EU's border control. It also coordinates this activity with police, the military and secret services. The Frontex- run RABITs (rapid border intervention teams) carry out military- like exercises with weaponry in preparation for operations against groups of migrants. There is growing likelihood that somebody will be shot dead for trying to cross the border.

So on Friday friends will go to the Frontex office in Warsaw with slogans "No one is Illegal" and "No Borders, No Nations" to confront the migrant hunters with the consequences of their policies and show what it is that this institution is really protecting: misery, poverty, exploitation, racism, imperialism and global capitalism.

- The legendary trade union Solidarnosc are currently holding a postal worker's strike in Poland. More power to them! I hope their postulates are met.

- Currently reading Part I of Isaac Deutscher's biographical trilogy on Leon Trotsky, 'The Prophet Armed: Trotsky, 1879-1921' - an interesting read.

- Also reading 'Anarchism, A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas, Volume 1: From Anarchy to Anarchism (300CE to 1939)' compiled by Robert Graham. Some fascinating texts, especially the ancient Asian texts included.

- My dance lessons are going well, my guitar practice has stagnated; again! While dancing, I look a bit like this blue-footed booby.

- Studying Polish grammar to help reduce my mistakes and also brushing up on my French, which is quite exciting. I expect to meet lots of Poles in Ireland so I will still be able 'mowic po polsku' this summer:)

- Preparing to hitch home to Ireland soon with my girlfriend. Looking forward to the road trip and hope we don;t end up in a ditch somewhere.

- We are looking for foster parents to take care of our cat Miaou. If you are living in Warsaw and want to take care of a beautiful cat for 2 years let me know.

- And finally, I'm beginning to really love Poland, mainly because it is summer. Strawberry season, evening walks while it is still bright, amazing sunrises that I see every morning when the cat wakes me up (one of his bad points), and end of the school year. I'll be sad to leave in 4 weeks:((