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The Real Operation to "Rescue" Ingrid Betancourt and US Mercenaries

In order to understand the "rescue operation" of Ingrid Betancourt and the Northrop Grumman Corporation mercenaries who were released with her, it is necessary to piece together articles published in the media, filter the content and out of this is formed a true understanding of the facts of what happened here.

1. On June 3rd, Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba revealed that she possessed information that the government of Colombia was negotiating a deal with FARC to trade money for the release of Betancourt and the mercenaries. The official policy of the United States is that they don't "negotiate with terrorists," even as many leaders of Latin American countries accuse President Uribe of supporting the AUC paramilitary death squads and accuse the United States of providing safe harbor to known terrorists such as Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles.
   
   
2. Careful observers began to question the strange circumstances under which the "dramatic rescue" of Ingrid Betancourt happened. Some guys with Che Guevara t-shirts simply showed up and redirected them into another helicopter? If it were that easy, why didn't they do that years ago? The French media also found strange the fact that Betancourt didn't resemble the gaunt and hungry images we have been seeing in the media -- she seemed well-fed and healthy, as if she were being prepared for release.
   
   

Resistance action against police in Kamagasaki

On 12th June 2008, just in the afternoon before the G8 Finance Ministers' Meeting had began in Osaka with many guards and excessive security, one of the daily labourers in Kamagasaki was tortured by the police. From the next day 13th, many of the daily labourers and neighbourhood youth began to resist against the police repression and violence. Most Japanese mainstream media just copied the official announcements by the police and reported this as a "riot" for the first time after 18 years since the last one in 1990.

10pm, 17th June: 5th nights from the beginning, reporters told us that dozens of labourers and youth were arrested. 4am, 18th June: Are they "suppressed"?

19th June: Over the past week and a half, an unprecedented political crackdown has been enacted in advance of a series of economic summits around the country. Despite this, the brave workers of Kamagasaki stood up against the stiff security environment in riots against the brutal beating of a day laborer over the past five days. The twin situations of repression and revolt deserve to be examined in more detail.

VIDEO: [1 (it)] | PHOTOS: [13 June] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [14]

G8 LINKS: background | schedule | online media | local media centers | camp site | music | events | communications

G8 MEDIA: G8 Media Network | No-G8 | Alt-G8 | IMC Japan | Teiko (ru)

New and brutal aggression to Rosary Indymedia of camarógrafo

Rosary Indymedia denounces a new and brutal aggression to the Gustavo correspondent, Goatherd and condemns the violation to the right of freedom of expression and to the social access to the information. Friday, the 23rd of May at approximately 1:00am, Gustavo Goatherd was covering the conflict in the Faculty of Humanities and Arts and was attacked and seriously hurt in its left eye. Our companion is responsible for the coverage of the of election of director and the events of the National University of Rosary for June of 2007. The presence of groups of fanatical individuals that usually act with violence at decisive moments of the university political life, acting like gangs inside the University, the persecution to students and intimidation to the independent press, was the previous frame of this aggression.

Repression against animal rights activists - 'touch one, touch all'

At around 7:00 am on May 21, 2008, members of the Austrian elite police force (WEGA) stormed several apartments across the country. Some of the residents were woken up in their beds at gunpoint. A total of twenty-three (23) apartments, houses and offices were searches in Vienna, Lower Austria, Styria and Tirol. In many of the apartments the WEGA kicked in the doors. The officers stormed the apartments like in bad Hollywood movies. Only after the residents had been intimidated, "secured" on the wall and/or put in handcuffs did the police start the searches.

All the arrestees are active in the animal rights movement in Austria. The offices of at least 4 animal rights group were search by police. The 10 people, a few of which are currently on hunger strike, are still in custody. On a bail hearing on June 6th, the judge decided to keep them in jail for at least 4 weeks further.

There have been solidarity demonstrations in Austria and around the world to demand the immediate release of the activists and for the authorities to drop the charges (see list of protests below).

English texts: Legal Support Update (June 5, 2008) | Call for Global Solidarity Action Day on 4th of June 2008 | Legal Support Update (May 28, 2008) | Austrian Activists in Prison (uk indymedia) | Solidarity Photos | Legal Support Information (May 24, 2008)) | Legal Support Information (May 21, 2008)

Links: Anti-repression/ Solidarity Website | tierbefreier.de English solidarity website | at.indymedia.org

Utah Phillips has left the stage

Folksinger, Storyteller, Railroad Tramp Utah Phillips Dead at 73

Utah Phillips, a seminal figure in American folk music who performed extensively and tirelessly for audiences on two continents for 38 years, died Friday, May 23rd, 2008, of congestive heart failure in Nevada City, California a small town in the Sierra Nevada mountains where he lived for the last 21 years with his wife, Joanna Robinson, a freelance editor.

Born Bruce Duncan Phillips on May 15, 1935 in Cleveland, Ohio, he was the son of labor organizers. Whether through this early influence or an early life that was not always tranquil or easy, by his twenties Phillips demonstrated a lifelong concern with the living conditions of working people. He was a proud member of the Industrial Workers of the World, popularly known as "the Wobblies," an organizational artifact of early twentieth-century labor struggles that has seen renewed interest and growth in membership in the last decade, not in small part due to his efforts to popularize it.

Phillips died at home, in bed, in his sleep, next to his wife. Read More

see also: U. Utah Phillips Has Passed Away | A Note From Utah | A short jog through a long memory (UtahPhillips.org) | Utah Phillips Blog || Utah Phillips Live 2004 Performance FRSC Raid Benifit || Amy Goodman interviews Utah Phillips || Utah Phillips at the Fiddle Down the FBI Rally, May 2002 || Utah testifies at Judi Bari's trial || Family requests memorial donations to Hospitality House

Indymedia Journalists Targeted in Ecuador, Five Arrested

Ecuadorian police detained five journalists associated with Ecuador Indymedia late Tuesday night, May 6th. Four of the five were released from custody on Wednesday afternoon. The government says that the four activists were detained because of their relationship with the fifth detainee, Ecuadorian resident and Colombian national Antonio Alcívar.

The government at first refused to issue a statement on the matter or inform the detainees of the reason for their arrests. The Regional Foundation for Assistance in Human Rights (INREDH) noted that this was a violation of the detainees' constitutional right to be clearly informed of the reason for their detention along with the identities of those who ordered and carried out the arrests.

CMI Ecuador: Comunicadores de Indymedia Ecuador víctimas de arresto arbitrario || URGENTE: SOLIDARIDAD CON COMUNICADORES INDEPE || Comunicado detención comunicadores de Indymedia Ecuador víctimas de arresto arbitrario || Periodistas populares fueron liberados (más información) || CMI Brasil: Comunicadores independentes são vítimas de prisão arbitrária || Upside Down World

May Day 2008 Parades

Since 2001, Euro May Day Parades on the 1st of May have spread all around Europe.

The May Day Parade is a transnational march which expresses the common will to fight the precarity of work and the criminalization of migrants, to make the daily struggles of the precarious visible. Every year hundred thousands of people protest against the precarity of work and life in a context where worktime can be expanded with no limits, and where migrant workers are the most precarious of all workers. This year, the EuroMayDay network called for a joined parade in Aachen, where, on the same day, French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel received the Charlemagne prize. Referring to Charlemagne as the founder of Western culture, it honours people for their contribution to European unificaton. In Hamburg, one thousand nazis tried to recuperate the MayDay, ten thousands antifa met there and cancelled the nazi demo in the most violent riots in Hamburg since 80's. In Milano, there was 100.000 people in the euromayday parade [ video ].

In US, tens of thousands marched and held demonstrations on Thursday 1st of may, calling for an end to war and dignity for immigrants and workers. Dockworkers on the west coast defied their union bosses and staged a one day strike against the war, effectively shutting down all port activity [ pics ]. High school and university students staged walkouts in Venice and San Francisco. Protesters also called out unjust military recruiting and defended public housing.

In New-Zealand, near Blenheim, ploughshares penetrate Waihopai base and deflate satellite dome.

MayDay Parades and Immigrant marches were held all around the world:

Triqui community radio announcers murdered in Oaxaca

Bulletin of the Center for Community Support Working Together (Centro de Apoyo Comunitario Trabajando Unidos “CACTUS”)

Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala, Oaxaca--Around the community of Llano Juárez in the Triqui zone, two announcers for the Community Radio of the Autonomous Municipality of San Juan Copala "The voice that breaks the silence" were ambushed and murdered. In the attack, four other persons were hurt, among them two minors by age.

RELATED: Two announcers killed | Interview with Radio Bemba

strong>IN ENGLISH: Indybay: Community Radio Producers Murdered in Mexico | Boston Indymedia: Two Radio Reporters Murdered in Oaxaca | Indymedia.UK: Murder, Corruption and Illegal Logging in Oaxaca | | | Background from Cleveland IMC: Triqui Peoples in Oaxaca Take Over and Narco News The Triquis Inaugurate Their New Autonomous Municipality

Decentralized Days of Action for Squats and Autonomous Spaces

Activists across Europe and beyond have dubbed Friday 11th and Saturday 12th April 2008 as days of action for squats and autonomous spaces. Following a meeting in the autonomous space 'Les Tanneries' in Dijon last year, there was a call out for two days of decentralised actions in defence of free spaces and for an anti-capitalist popular culture.

The aim of the days of action is to develop interconnections and solidarity between squats and autonomous spaces and help create more visibility for them as a european/global political movement. Public actions are planned in the Austria, Belarusia, Czech Republic, Danmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Sweden and other places.

In Copenhagen things have already kicked off with an advance action in support of creating a new Ungdomshuset 'Youth House' took place with 5000 people taking part in a demo followed by a massive street party. In the UK, new squats have already been opened in Leeds City Centre, Nottingham, and London. Further advaned actions took place in Amsterdam (nl) (pl) (en), Hamburg (de) and Innsbruck (de). One goal for the weekend of action is to "inspire and empower people" who have previously been unfamiliar with squatting. Discussing campaigns and sharing knowledge and skills we can support one another and be empowered ourselves, as well as drawing in new people by creating a vibrant and exciting place to be.

Throughout the weekend there will be independent media coverage of actions, video and radio reports from around Europe.

Links: April2008 website (multilingual) | Agenda | wiki | Indymedia UK feature | at.indymedia.org feature | Indymedia.nl feature | Indymedia Danmark features

Audio streams Open-Radio (multilingual) | Radiojukebox (de/en) | Radio Bronka (ca/es) | more radio (playlist)

Violent Repression At NATO Summit in Romania

At approximately 12:30pm on 2nd April hundreds of Romanian police violently raided a convergence center in Bucharest, the country's capital. The convergence space was set up to facilitate an anti-NATO gathering and was legally rented. It is reported that during the raid at least two protesters were hospitalized. Various reports state people are badly beaten while in custody and even while taken to hospital. Numerous people are reported to be seriously injured and some have been refused medical assistance while in custody.

It is estimated that 46 people have been arrested. No demonstration or action had happened before the raid and all the arrests were made inside the convergence center. Police officers were masked and reportedly very aggressive towards journalists trying to access the scene. The convergence center is located near the center of Bucharest, which is hosting a NATO summit that just got underway today. It is estimated that up to 27,000 police officers, military, snipers and secret police are 'guarding' the city. The security alert code yellow has been announced, meaning that all demonstrations are forbidden in the whole city amongst other restrictive laws.

Indymedia articles: Riot police storms convergence centre at Bucharest anti- NATO protests | Massive Repression during the NATO Summit in Romania | Anti-NATO Convergence Centre in Bucharest attacked by Anti-Terror Police | Breaking News: Mass Arrests during NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania | Mass Arrest of demonstrators in Bucharest | Anti NATO activists faced police brutality

Other media: Massive Repression during the NATO Summit in Romania | Videos of the raid on the convergence centre | Photos of mass arrests | Info for anyone going to Romania | Solidarity demo in Berlin | Protests at police stations | Bucharest Declaration | Solidarity from Vienna, Bern, Berlin, Skopje, Kopenhagen

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