[Vancouver] Women Athletes Challenge Gender Barrier in 2010 Olympics

re-posted from NPR.org

Gender Barrier Persists at Vancouver Olympics

By Howard Berkes, 12/29/08

All Things Considered · No man or woman has flown farther than American Lindsey Van off the K90 ski jump built for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Van holds the distance record at the K90 hill in Whistler, British Columbia.

But Van and other women contend they are barred from the 2010 games simply because they're women.

Ski jumping is the last Winter Olympics sport closed to women. So Van and nine other women from six countries are suing to get into the 2010 games. They argue that the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games is violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by staging ski jumping competition that excludes women.

"[It's] just pretty painful to watch [men] I grew up training with be able to have that opportunity and me sit there knowing that I don't even have that opportunity because I'm not a male," says Van, of Park City, Utah, who has been ski jumping since she was 7. "It's depressing to tell young girls that you don't have the same opportunities just because they're girls."

The Technical Mark

"If the men are going to jump the women have to jump. And if the women aren't going to jump then the men can't either," says DeeDee Corradini, who served as the mayor of Salt Lake City during its bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics and is president of Women's Ski Jumping USA.

Corradini describes the legal reasoning behind the ski jumpers' lawsuit, which is now before the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

"VANOC is a quasi-governmental entity. If you look at the composition of their board [and] if you look at who's funding all of the venues in the Olympic Games, it's the federal and the provincial and local governments," Corradini contends. "And therefore, under Canadian law, [VANOC] is subject to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which prohibits discrimination."

VANOC declined interview requests for this story, but its officials have blamed the International Olympic Committee, which voted two years ago to keep women out of the Vancouver ski jumping competition.

"We have, obviously, put the IOC in a position that they could, if they'd made a decision to put this on the program, we would have attempted to accommodate it," said VANOC CEO John Furlong in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in May. "But the frustration is it's not our area of jurisdiction at all."

That is not a credible argument to Margot Young, a professor of law at the University of British Columbia.

"The games have to be run according to Canadian law when they're on Canadian territory," Young asserts. "I don't think VANOC can say 'Well, the International Olympic Committee made us treat women unequally.' So, I think the IOC and what it believes is essentially irrelevant if the event's being held in Canada."

The International Olympic Committee did not respond to interview requests for this story. But IOC President Jacques Rogge spoke to the CBC during a visit to Vancouver in May.

"To become an Olympic sport, a sport must be widely practiced around the world, universal, and have a big appeal," Rogge explained. "This is not the case for women's ski jumping. So there is no discrimination whatsoever. They did not pass the technical mark. That will change in the future. We have no doubt about that. But today they're not ready for it."

Corradini says Rogge and other IOC members are grossly misinformed. She says more than 80 women from 14 countries were competing at the elite ski jumping level when the IOC's executive board voted in 2006 to keep women's ski jumping off the 2010 schedule.

"If you look at the facts of ski jumping versus other sports that we should be compared to, which are luge, skeleton, bobsleigh and ski cross, in particular, we have more women and more nations competing at the elite level than any of those sports did when they were admitted," Corradini adds.

'They're Not Good Enough'

The IOC's rejection angers Anita DeFrantz, one of the few women on the IOC and chairwoman of the committee's Women and Sports Commission. She's an African-American and former Olympian herself who has tried to open more Olympic sports to women. And she doesn't understand why her fellow IOC members won't include women in the Olympic ski jumping competition.

"The words I heard were, 'They're not good enough,' " DeFrantz recalls. "I've heard that before. I understand discrimination very well. And this is a nearly textbook case of discrimination."

Some believe the IOC chose the new Olympic sport of ski cross for the 2010 games, and passed over women's ski jumping, because ski cross will attract younger television viewers enticed by so-called extreme sports. Television is the biggest generator of revenue for the Olympics, and young people immersed in extreme sports are coveted by television sponsors and Olympic organizers.

Ski jumpers consider their sport one of the original extreme sports. And it's long been part of the Olympics. Men have been jumping in the games since the first Winter Olympics at Chamonix-Mont Blanc in 1924.

DeFrantz notes that some women used to jump disguised as men, and some have dominated the sport, sometimes jumping farther than men. In fact, American women do so well in international competition that the U.S. Ski Jumping Team does not include any men.

None of that may matter to the judge at the Supreme Court of British Columbia, who will hear arguments in the lawsuit in April. The case will come down to interpretations of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and whether it applies to VANOC and the 2010 Olympics, says law professor Margot Young.

"When it comes to organizations like VANOC, it's just not clear," Young says, despite government funding, government control and the staging of the Olympics as government policy. "The case law is contradictory and unpredictable. … It's not a slam-dunk. It's a complex argument. … I wouldn't bet on the result myself."

DeFrantz is usually reserved when she speaks of the IOC, where she has represented the United States since 1986. "It makes me feel embarrassed that our organization, which is built on mutual respect and fair play, is doing this to a group of women," DeFrantz admits. "It's just wrong."

Ski jumper Van is hoping the IOC or the Supreme Court of British Columbia will still open the 2010 competition to women, so she can fly into history as one of the first women to break the final gender barrier in the Winter Olympics. Van is 24 now, and 2010 is her last chance at the Olympics.

"I grew up expecting to be in [the] '98 [Olympics]," Van recalls. "And then 2002. And then 2006. So, the expectation's always been there. The dream's always been there. But there's no reality to that dream at this point."

[editorial on Greece's insurrection] A Road to Revolution?

suggested by Javier, printed in the widely read Israeli paper, Haaretz: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050296.html

A road to revolution?

By Uri Gordon

Three weeks have passed since the unprovoked police murder of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos in Athens, and the riots engulfing Greece show no sign of abating.

While the student occupations of the capital's three universities (Economics, Polytechnic and the law faculty) are expected to end soon, a major student demonstration has been called for January 9, and the protests, street clashes and seizures of television and radio stations are set to continue in full force.

A Greek blogger wrote this week: "We have a duty to move here, there, anywhere but back to our couches as mere viewers of history, back home to the warmth that freezes our conscience."

The international ripples are also tangible. Solidarity demonstrations and attacks on Greek embassies have taken place around the globe, from Moscow to New York and Copenhagen to Mexico City. Declarations and manifestos issued by student assemblies at Greek schools are almost immediately translated and posted online in English, French, Italian, Turkish and Serbian.

In the first few days of the revolt, bloggers were trying to put together a list of all the solidarity actions taking place, but the task proved impossible: There have been literally hundreds of them; thousands of people have taken to the streets. Last Saturday, a global day of action against police violence saw raucous demonstrations in over 30 cities worldwide.

The corporate press has trotted out various theories to explain the cause of the unrest - frustration with a corrupt government, the global financial crisis, and discontent among Greece's youth, who face meager prospects of secure employment or welfare rights - the riots being a blind reaction to objective conditions.

But all these explanations are in fact decoys intended to silence and ignore the rebels' own declared motivations.

A declaration by the students occupying the Athens School of Economics was quite clear about how they see the issue: "The democratic regime in its peaceful facade doesn't kill an Alex every day, precisely because it kills thousands of Ahmets, Fatimas, Jorjes, Jin Tiaos and Benajirs: because it assassinates systematically, structurally and without remorse the entirety of the third world ....

"The cardinals of normality weep for the law that was violated from the bullet of the pig Korkoneas [the policeman who shot Grigoropoulos]. But who doesn't know that the force of the law is merely the force of the powerful? That it is law itself that allows for the exercise of violence on violence? The law is void from end to bitter end; it contains no meaning, no target other than the coded power of imposition."

Or, in another declaration, this one anonymous: "What do we seek? Equality. Political, economic, social. Between all people. Our possibility of convincing the servile consumers to refuse being commodities and subjects is rather limited. What can we do? Ravage and plunder the market, distribute the goods to everybody, dissolve the myths that support inequality."

These are no single-issue protests or vague grievances. This is full-blooded revolutionary anarchism.

The mainstream media simply cannot stomach the notion that what is happening in Greece is by now a proactive social revolt against the capitalist system itself and the state institutions that reinforce it. It is time to acknowledge that the Greek anarchist movement has successfully seized the initiative after the killing of one of its own, framing the issues in a way that appeals to a larger - albeit mostly young - public.

Few people realize that the Greek anarchist movement is appreciably the largest in the world, in proportion to its country's population. It also enjoys wide social support due to its legacy of resistance to the military dictatorship from 1967 to 1974. Highly confrontational demonstrations are a matter of regularity in Greece. It is practically a bimonthly occurrence for anarchists and police to engage in fiery street battles in Thessaloniki or Athens. The current events are only marked by their breadth and duration, not by their level of militancy.

Another rarely appreciated factor is that Greece is a country in which the security apparatus is normally kept on a relatively tight leash. For example, Privacy International's 2007 assessment of leading surveillance societies found Greece to be the only country in the world with "adequate safeguards" against the abuse of government power to spy on its citizenry. The legacy of the dictatorship has created a lasting image of the police as inherently oppressive, even among the middle class.

Will the riots in Greece lead to an anti-capitalist revolution? Only if the opening they have torn in the social fabric widens and deepens, involving ever-growing sections of society and creating new grass-roots institutions alongside the destruction of the old. This seems unlikely in the short term, as bureaucratic labor unions and the Communist Party attempt to domesticate the revolt and cut their own political coupon with their demand to disarm the police.

But there is no doubt that a new benchmark has been set for what can be expected in Western countries during the coming era of economic depression and environmental decay. European governments will no doubt ratchet up their policies of surveillance and repression in anticipation of growing civil unrest. But that may not be enough to keep the population subdued, as crisis after crisis calls the existing arrangement of power and privilege into question.

------------------------------
Uri Gordon is the author of "Anarchy Alive!: Anti-Authoritarian Politics from Practice to Theory" (Pluto Press); www.anarchyalive.com.

[CA] RAC's Food Program

re-posted from IllVox.org

RAC's Food Program, posted by apoc on December 24, 2008

The Food Program is a mutual-aid project where people themselves are organizing and distributing food in their own neighborhoods. This is not charity, we do not believe that change will happen this way. This is self-empowerment, where working class neo-colonies are feeding themselves, and organizing to feed themselves.

Since the first week of November, 2007, RAC has distibuted much needed grocieries to the needy workers of the area. Las week more than 200 people standing in line received food packages.

You can join us every Sunday at 1:30 PM. Meet at the SE Corner of Wilshire and Parkview in MacArthur Park.

RAC Mission Statement:

We feel that this system is killing our people by what the corporations feed us or don’t feed us. At the same time there is an abundance of healthy food that goes to waste. They would rather let food go to waste than allow the prices of food in the market to drop. Then they disconnect people (all indigenous and colonized people) from the land, which a free and independent people need to survive. They centralize power and resources in the hands of the few, this is how they keep oppressed people dependent on a white-supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist-imperialist system.

RAC’s Food Program is a way that we can work with supporters and other organizations to feed healthy food to our communities. We want people to connect with each other, to pick up and distribute the food amongst themselves. We will support, help connect people and to supply whatever resources we can. Through this process our goal is to connect our communities and to take them back. Our overall goal is to regain our necessary connection to the land. We need land to survive, and the land belongs to us, not the colonizer. We want to relearn how to live off the land and how to truly be self-sustainable.

We’re Still Here, We Never Left

Support our Food Program.

Help Pick Up Food.

Help Distribute Food in Your Neighborhood.

Donate to our Community Mutual-Aid Program.

Get Organized!

Take Back Our Communities and Take Back the Land!

All Power THROUGH the People!

-Revolutionary Autonomous Communities (RAC)

Mission Statement:

Who we are. What we believe. What we fight for.

We are a revolutionary federation of community councils & liberated spaces based in oppressed communities made up by oppressed people of color. We are a horizontal organization building self-sustainability and creating the structure, strategy, and program for change through direct participatory forms of organizing and a decision-making process based on consensus. We stand against all forms of oppression: imperialism, capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, fascism, heterosexism/homophobia/transphobia and the domination of human over human & human over all living things including mother earth. We believe and we fight for autonomy, self determination, self organization & the self defense of our communities.

Our strategy includes outreach and education, community programs, empowerment, support, training and mutual aid, so people can build self reliance & gain the skills, resources and the experience to liberate themselves. In striving for liberation, we work to decolonize our minds by embracing our indigenous roots and practices.

Revolution comes from the people not a vanguard party; it is an individual and collective process where we destroy the system while we create change within ourselves and the world. The best way to show our solidarity to the people of the world is to bring the war home, and to bring down amerikkkan imperialism while we struggle to build internationalism & intercommunalism.

We fight for freedom and won’t settle for less!

All power to the people!

rac@riseup.net

[Modesto, CA] Solidarity With Greece

re-posted from Anarchistnews.org from Indybay - By crudo

Modesto: Anarchists Take to the Streets in Support of Greek Insurrection

“Bring it. We right here. We ain’t going anywhere. We right here.” - DMX

For nearly two years anarchists have stayed off the streets of Modesto as an organized presence. That is until last night. After a gathering of about 30 people at a local coffee shop, where comrades discussed the situation in Greece and read aloud a text from a prepared flyer on the revolt and how it relates to what is happening in the Central Valley of California, about 20-25 people took to the streets of downtown Modesto. Many of those in attendance that night had never engaged with others or organized themselves for such an activity as taking over a street for a march, so for many of the working class hooligan youths who marched for about 10 minutes to the downtown area of 10th and J Street, last night was a learning experience. Marchers held a large banner in front reading, “Solidarity With Greece! For Global Resistance!,” carried signs such as, “No Justice, No Peace! From Modesto to Greece,” and several youths carried anarchist black flags. The group chanted, “Who’s Streets? Our Streets,” and variations of, “From Modesto to Greece: Fight the Police!”

Right as the group approach it’s desired endpoint, the police showed up. The group did not stop and marched into the downtown blocked off street of 10th and J Street. There, youths engaged with the public and passed out several hundred flyers on car windows and to passersby. Although it was cold and not many people were about, we still accomplished our goal of taking the street, holding it, marching to our destination, and then engaging with people.

Members of Modesto Anarcho Crew (MAC - wat wat) also made it clear that the conditions in the Central Valley are just as ripe for insurrection and revolution as Greece. Several people pointed out that a young man of color was just shot to death by pigs in Stockton (about 20 minutes north of Modesto) when he came out of his house in a high crime neighborhood with a licensed firearm during the arrest of another man. The Greeks should not have all the fun. We have buildings to occupy, police to fight, and resources to appropriate as well.

Being that this demonstration was organized in less than three days mainly through social networking websites and friend networks - I would say last night was a success and hopefully only the start of things to come. Until I can light my cigarette on my on burning barricade, keep bringin da soc war, here, there, and everywhere.

[DC] Organic Farm at the White House?

re-posted from: All Things Considered, NPR

By Brian Reed, Activists Clamor For Organic Farm At The White House, December 24, 2008

President-elect Barack Obama will have his hands full when he takes office in January, and some activists want to make sure his belly is full, too — full of fresh fruits and vegetables. Several campaigns are petitioning Obama to plant an organic garden on the White House lawn, and they've devised peculiar ways of getting attention.

Take, for example, Daniel Bowman Simon and Casey Gustowarow and their upside-down, topsy-turvy bus — a vehicle that is actually one school bus flipped on its back and fused on top of another. On the roof, where the second bus's engine would have been, is a small but hardy vegetable garden.

"People have just kind of gravitated toward this upside-down school bus just because they want to know what it is," Simon says. "So it opens up the potential for having a conversation."

Simon and Gustowarow founded the White House Organic Farm Project –- or TheWhoFarm. Since August, they've driven through 25 states visiting farms, markets, schools and restaurants, asking people to sign their petition.

"We need to be more holistic in the way that we view health in this country, and a lot of it comes down to eating healthier," Simon says. "People who eat healthier don't get sick as much."

But for the WhoFarm guys and other sustainable-food junkies, eating locally grown produce is not just about health. They say it's also about cutting down the amount of fuel we use to transport food, encouraging communities to congregate around a garden and rediscovering America's agricultural roots. Simon says the president should lead by example.

"If we have arguably the most famous person in the country eating off the most visible piece of land in the country, which is a piece of land that we all share collectively, that could inspire immense changes," he says.

And the WhoFarmers are not the only grassroots gardeners trying to get the president-elect's attention. In February, Roger Doiron, director of Kitchen Gardeners International, launched an online campaign called Eat the View — the "view" being the pristine White House grounds.

"It might sound a bit trivial to some people, the idea of a garden on the White House lawn," Doiron says. "But it's not. It's something that would speak to millions of people in the United States and even more people around the world who look at gardens and small subsistence farms as a way of making a living, as a way of putting good food on the table."

Like TheWhoFarm, Eat the View has an online petition. In total, the campaigns have collected about 18,000 signatures. (It's hard to say how many are duplicates.) At one point, Doiron even raised money for his nonprofit by selling imaginary plots of the White House lawn on eBay.

But not everyone is so supportive of these campaigns. Alex Avery, author of The Truth About Organic Food and director of research at the Center for Global Food Issues, is critical of the larger organic farming agenda.

"I think the idea to put an organic farm on the White House lawn is as shallow a stunt as is the intellectual rigor of the organic movement as a whole," he says.

According to Avery, feeding the world's population organically — that is, without synthetic fertilizer — would require plowing down millions of square miles of wildlife habitat in order to achieve the same yield of food.

"It would create no solutions — it would, in fact, create nothing but problems," Avery says.

Not to mention that some of what the activists are proposing may already be going on. Walter Scheib, executive chef at the White House for 11 years under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, says that people might be surprised at some of the sustainable practices already in place at the White House.

"There's always an assumption that something isn't happening already," he says. "But Mrs. Bush is adamant about organics. If anything was available as an organic it was to be a default."

Scheib says that when he arrived at the executive residence during the Clinton administration, there was already a small vegetable garden on the roof, which he expanded during his time there.

Still, TheWhoFarm and Eat the View are petitioning for something a bit more ambitious and more visible. Both campaigns are suggesting that the White House produce enough food to help stock D.C. food banks. In addition, Simon and Gustowarow have proposed that schoolchildren and people with disabilities work at the First Farm.

The Secret Service would not comment on the feasibility of that.

Nonetheless, the activists find reasons to be optimistic. Famous foodies like chef Alice Waters and bestselling author Michael Pollan are calling for a White House garden. And the students at Watkins Elementary, a school TheWhoFarm visited in southeast Washington, D.C., seem pretty excited, too.

"You guys are so cool!" several students shouted when they saw TheWhoFarm's wacky ride.

"Good luck," one girl said after TheWhoFarmers had explained their project. "I'll go home and sign your petition if my mom lets me."

"Yes," Simon told her. "Ask her for permission."

Now all these traveling gastronomes need is for Obama to get on the bus.

[NYC] New School Occupation Victory!

This update is a little late. Still good though.

re-posted from NewSchoolInExile.com

University in Exile Occupation Wins Major Victoryover University Administration in 3rd Day (3 am) !!

After more than two weeks of concerted actions on campus, students in the occupation were finally able to win significant victories in the ongoing struggle to improve the New School. Those victories include: an agreement not to press charges or impose academic punishments for students involved in the protest, the implementation of a Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) committee within the university, more autonomy and power for Student Senate to communicate with the student body, more representation on the Board of Trustees for students and faculty, and finally the creation of more student study space on campus. As of approximately 4am this morning New School and other students have left the 65 5th Avenue building and declared the occupation successful, ending this stage of the action.


FULL TEXT OF THE AGREEMENT:

Agreement with New School President Bob Kerrey

1) I agree to grant total amnesty for all participants involved in the occupation and all events related to it over the course of 12/17/08 through 12/19/08 at all New School Buildings. Neither criminal charges nor academic disciplinary measures will be pursued against those involved. The University will not press charges against Eliot Liu.

Agreed.Staff and security guards will be compensated for all time lost over the course of the occupation.

This is not necessary. They have been compensated.

2) I agree that students may use the GF building at 65 Fifth Ave until a suitable replacement is secured and instituted, which would include the re-installment of suitable library and study space. This would need to be approved by the USS.

Due to my limitation under the board, and because of repeated and voiced student concern about the university's investments, this is already underway for alternative space. I guarantee that by the beginning of spring semester I will provide new library space in Arnold hall. I will also provide 7000 feet of quiet study space at Sheila Johnson galleries by the end of spring semester. I agree to meet with the students to discuss the current plans, alternatives, and financial planning.

3) I agree that students will have voting representation on the search committee for the interim-Provost and the Provost, as well as any searches that may take place in the future for a new President. The details of this will be worked out with representatives of the University Student Senate, and input from the student body at large.

Agreed.

4) I agree for student participation to establish a committee on Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) for the University's endowment and that this committee will then establish an independent auditing process with the SRI framework. The committee to establish the SRI will meet by the first week of April, 2009.

Due to being limited by the board, and because of repeated and voicedstudent concern about the university's investments, I will urge myinvestment committee to establish such a committee with studentinvolvement.

5) I agree to grant the University Student Senate the ability to communicate with the student body freely and without constraint (and to not restrict their access to Groupwise email and other technologies that enable this).

I agree with the greater autonomy of the university student senate with the stipulation that the email use does not violate federal law for the distribution of materials or FERPA regulations. I guarantee that I will immediately provide the university student senate with the tools necessary to have fluid communication, in particular with reference to groupwise email, with the student body.

6) I agree that a representative of the USS should be allowed to have a representative at meetings of the Board of Trustees in order to speak to specific issues that pertain to decisions passed by the USS or directly relating to USS business.

I have already asked the chairman of the trustees to consider adding a student and a faculty member to the boards in this capacity. I have agreed to ask the board to do this.

Signed,

Bob Kerrey

12/19/08

[Canada] Students sit-in at York University

re-posted from: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2008/12/15/ont-yorkstrike.html?ref=rss%22

Sit-in protest begins as York University strike enters 5th week

Monday, December 15, 2008 7:40 PM ET

At least 80 people are occupying the hallway outside the president's office at York University in Toronto, as they try to increase pressure on school administrators to reach a deal and end a strike by graduate students and teaching assistants that's now in its fifth week.

The protesters, who began their sit-in about 1:30 p.m. ET on Monday, said they want to meet with President Mamdouh Shoukri, and are refusing to leave until he meets and answers their questions. He wasn't in his office.

The university has said it will cancel classes for the remainder of 2008 if a new contract can't be reached by Monday night, and no new contract talks are scheduled.

Contract negotiations between the union and the York University administration began in July 2008, but since the strike, which began Nov. 6, the university has refused to bargain, the union said.

CUPE Local 3903 represents more than 3,400 members, including 1,800 teaching assistants, 900 contract faculty and 800 graduate students at York University.

The union said it's seeking a wage increase above inflation, a two-year collective agreement and job security for contract faculty among other things.

With files from the Canadian Press

[Athens] A letter to students occupying their schools

*A letter from workers in Athens to the students occupying their schools*

suggested by Javier, re-posted from facebook

A letter to students, December 2008

An open letter to students by workers in Athens, against the background of the social upheaval following the police shooting of a young boy.

A letter to students

Our age difference and the general estrangement make it difficult for us to discuss with you in the streets; this is why we send you this letter.

Most of us have not (yet) been bald or big-bellied. We are part of the 1990-91 movement. You must have heard of it. Back then, and while we had occupied our schools for 30-35 days, fascists killed a teacher because he had gone beyond his natural role (that of being our guard) and crossed the line to the opposite side; he had come with us, into our struggle. Then, even the toughest of us got to the streets and riot. However, we didn't even think of doing what you easily do today: attack police stations (although we sang "burn police stations…").

So, you're gone beyond us, as always happens in history. Conditions are different of course. During '90s they passed us off the prospect of personal success and some of us swallowed it. Now people cannot believe this fairy tale. Your older brothers showed us this during the 2006-07 students' movement; you now spit their fairy tale to their faces.

So far so good.

Now the good and difficult matters begin.

We'll tell you what we've learned from our struggles and our defeats (because as long as world is not ours we'll always be the defeated ones) and you can use what we've learned as you wish:

Don't stay alone. Call us; call as many people as possible. We don't know how you can do that, you will find the way. You've already occupied your schools and you tell us that the most important reason is that you don't like your schools. Nice. Since you've already occupied them change their role. Share your occupations with other people. Let your schools become the first buildings to house our new relations. Their most powerful weapon is dividing us. Just like you are not afraid of attacking their police stations because you are together, don't be afraid to call us to change our life all together.

Don't listen to any political organization (either anarchists or anyone). Do what you need to. Trust people, not abstract schemes and ideas. Trust your direct relations with people. Trust your friends; make as many people as possible in your struggle your people. Don't listen to them when they're saying that your struggle doesn't have a political content and must seemingly obtain. Your struggle is the content. You only have your struggle and it's in your hands to preserve its advance. It's only your struggle that can change your life, namely you and the real relations with your fellowmen.

Don't be afraid to proceed when confronting new things. Each one of us, as we're getting older, has things planted in their brains. You too, although you are young. Don't forget the importance of this fact. Back in 1991, we confronted the smell of the new world and, trust us, we found it difficult. We learned that there must always be limits. Don't be scared by the destruction of commodities. Don't be scared by people looting stores. We make all these, they are ours. You (just like we in the past) are raised to get up every morning in order to make things that they will later not be yours. Let's get them back all together and share them. Just like we share our friends and the love among us.

We apologize for writing this letter quickly, but we do it swinging the lead from our work, secretly from our boss. We are imprisoned in work, just like you are imprisoned in school.

We'll now lie to our boss and leave work: we'll come to meet you in Syntagma sq with stones in our hands.

Proletarians

[NYC] New School Occupation

re-posted from NewSchoolInExile.com

From within the occupied New School in Exile, 65 5th Avenue, New York City:

We have been in occupation of the Graduate Faculty building of the New School University since 8pm Wednesday the 17th of December. More than 100 of us have taken over a student building, including our only library, which the administration has marked for demolition without creating any equivalent new space on campus. We have opened the building as a student-run autonomous space, in protest against the administration of President Bob Kerrey who recently received a vote of no confidence from the majority of faculty in this school. Details of our multiple grievances against Kerrey, his vice-President Jim Murtha, and treasurer of the board of trustees Robert Millard are laid out in our first communiqué. This morning we have an update on our situation. At around noon today New School security moved to block our access to the fire exits, preventing us from allowing in our fellow students of the Inter-University Consortium to whom they had refused access to the building in a violation of the Consortium agreement. When they failed to remove us, the NYPD were sent in to violently evict us from the fire exit and one of our fellow students was arrested. The police entered the building at the same time as President Kerrey arrived and offered to speak with us, we responded by refusing to negotiate with him and repeating our demand that he immediately resign. He left and took his police with him. At the moment our security has returned and our numbers have doubled, but we expect future incursions on our space and encourage all who support us to come to the Graduate Building at 65 5th Avenue and 14th street.

Signed,
The New School in Exile

re-posted from cuny_movement listserv

Thu, Dec 18, 2008 at 12:15 AM

New School Occupied! 10:30am Press Conference/Rally - CUNY Students statement

We write this statement from an occupied New School University. (WHAT WHAT)

At 8pm, December 18th, over 75 students reclaimed the cafeteria at the New School University as an autonomous student center. Students from several Universities commandeered this space. Students of City College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center are here participating in this struggle. This is every student's occupation.

If this can happen at the New School, through the organized activity of 75 dedicated students, it can happen at CUNY. And we certainly have reason to be upset: On the first day of the Fall 2008 semester, the CUNY budget was slashed $50.6 million. Massive layoffs plague all our schools. We are now being told of a looming $600-per-year tuition hike and more colossal budget cuts to CUNY students and teachers, in a school that was once FREE.

We will continue this campus occupation until our demands are met. While the demands tonight are specific to The New School we will not be satisfied until the students and faculty of CUNY, NYU, all the consortium schools and beyond, have control over their universities. Education should be free, student debts should be cancelled, students and workers should work together to achieve our goals, and we start here.

Please, come out to the New School and support us! Join us! We are at 65 5th avenue (between 13th and 14th St.). The building will be open to all consortium students at 7:30am, we invite you to come any time tomorrow, but particularly at 10:30 when there will be a rally and press conference. The morning hours will be crucial, and the student-occupiers need to know that we are not struggling alone!

Our next stop? CUNY.
- CUNY students at The New School in Exile

Contact:
Frank at 718.314.2328, fmanning@gc.cuny.edu
Conor Tomás Reed at 979.204.9253, cocoreed@gmail.com

!! EMERGENCY UPDATE !! (11:30 pm)

A huge group of students have just gained access to the 65 5th Avenue building and joined the ongoing New School student occupation. For a few minutes the cafeteria was a whirling maze of shouts, cheers, dancing and jubilation as friends inside the occupation were joined by friends and supporters outside. Students breached the security lockdown shortly after 11pm est. The student negotiators who had been meeting with the university administration reported back shortly after the breach, and have reported that the negotiations were very successful and there is widespread support for our demands, including information that President Kerrey himself has agreed to some of the student demands. In solidarity with the students, staff, faculty and supporters around the world we are with you, and thank you!

FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO: www.newschoolinexile.com

[Baghdad] Iraqi Threw Shoes At Bush During Press Conference

re-posted from: huffingtonpost.com

please go to this link to see updates and video: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/14/bush-visits-iraq-for-fina_n_150832.html

AP: BAGHDAD On an Iraq trip shrouded in secrecy and dissent, President George W. Bush on Sunday hailed progress in the unpopular war that defines his presidency and got a size-10 reminder of opposition to his policies when a man hurled shoes at him during a news conference.

"This is the end!" shouted the man, later identified as Muntadar al-Zeidi, a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt.

Bush ducked both shoes as they whizzed past his head and landed with a thud against the wall behind him.

"All I can report," Bush joked of the incident, "is a size 10."

The U.S. president visited the Iraqi capital just 37 days before he hands the war off to President-elect Barack Obama, who has pledged to end it. The president wanted to highlight a drop in violence in a nation still riven by ethnic strife and to celebrate a recent U.S.-Iraq security agreement, which calls for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011.

"There is still more work to be done," Bush said after his meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, adding that the agreement puts Iraq on solid footing.

"The war is not over," Bush said, adding that "it is decisively on it's way to being won."

It was at that point the journalist stood up and threw his shoe. Bush ducked, and it narrowly missed his head. The second shoe came quickly, and Bush ducked again while several Iraqis grabbed the man and dragged him to the floor.

In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt. Iraqis whacked a statue of Saddam Hussein with their shoes after U.S. marines toppled it to the ground after the 2003 invasion.

Bush brushed off the incident, comparing it political protests at home.

"So what if I guy threw his shoe at me?" he said.

In many ways, the unannounced trip was a victory lap without a clear victory. Nearly 150,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq fighting a war that is intensely disliked across the globe. More than 4,209 members of the U.S. military have died in the conflict, which has cost U.S. taxpayers $576 billion since it began five years and nine months ago.

Polls show most Americans believe the U.S. erred in invading Iraq in 2003. Bush ordered the nation into war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq while citing intelligence claiming the Mideast nation harbored weapons of mass destruction. The weapons were never found, the intelligence was discredited, Bush's credibility with U.S. voters plummeted and Saddam was captured and executed.

For Bush, the war is the issue around which both he and the country defined his two terms in office. He saw the invasion and continuing fight as a necessary action to protect Americans and fight terrorism. Though his decision won support at first, the public now has largely decided that the U.S. needs to get out of Iraq.

In the news conference with al-Maliki, the U.S. president applauded security gains in Iraq and said that just two years ago "such an agreement seemed impossible."

"There is hope in the eyes of Iraq's young," Bush said. "This is the future of what we've been fighting for."

Said al-Maliki: "Today, Iraq is moving forward in every field."

Air Force One, the president's distinctive powder blue-and-white jetliner, landed at Baghdad International Airport in the afternoon local time after a secretive Saturday night departure from Washington. In a sign of security gains in this war zone, Bush received a formal arrival ceremony _ a flourish absent in his three earlier trips.

Bush soon began a rapid-fire series of meetings with top Iraqi leaders.

He met first with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and the country's two vice presidents, Tariq al-Hashemi and Adel Abdul-Mahdi, at the ornate, marble-floored Salam Palace along the shores of the Tigris River. Defending the war, Bush said, "The work hasn't been easy, but it has been necessary for American security, Iraqi hope and world peace."

Later, Bush's motorcade pulled out the heavily fortified Green Zone and crossed over the Tigris so he could meet al-Maliki at the prime minister's palace. A huge orange moon hung low over the horizon as Bush's was ferried quickly through the city.

The two leaders sat down together for probably the last time in person in these roles. They signed ceremonial copy of the security agreement. Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said the trip proved that the U.S.-Iraq relationship was changing "with Iraqis rightfully exercising greater sovereignty" and the U.S. "in an increasingly subordinate role."

The Bush administration and even White House critics credit last year's military buildup with the security gains in Iraq. Last month, attacks fell to the lowest monthly level since the war began in 2003. Still, it's unclear what will happen when the U.S. troops leave. While violence has slowed in Iraq, attacks continue, especially in the north. At least 55 people were killed Thursday in a suicide bombing in a restaurant near Kirkuk.

It was Bush's last trip to the war zone before Obama takes office Jan. 20. Obama won an election largely viewed as a referendum on Bush, who has endured low approval ratings because of the war and more recently, the U.S. recession.

Obama, a Democrat, has promised he will bring all U.S. combat troops back home from Iraq a little over a year into his term, as long as commanders agree a withdrawal would not endanger American personnel or Iraq's security. Obama has said that on his first day as president, he will summon the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the White House and give them a new mission: responsibly ending the war.

Obama has said the drawdown in Iraq would allow him to shift troops and bolster the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. Commanders there want at least 20,000 more forces, but cannot get them unless some leave Iraq.

The trip was conducted under heavy security and a strict cloak of secrecy. People who made the 10 1/2-hour trip with the president agreed to tell almost no one about the plans, and the White House released false schedules detailing activities planned for Bush in Washington on Sunday.

The new U.S.-Iraqi security pact, which goes into effect next month, replaces a U.N. mandate that gives the U.S.-led coalition broad powers to conduct military operations and detain people without charge if they were believed to pose a security threat. The bilateral agreement changes some of those terms and calls for all American troops to be withdrawn by the end of 2011, in two stages.

The first stage begins next year, when U.S. troops pull back from Baghdad and other Iraqi cities by the end of June.

Gen. Raymond Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Saturday that even after that summer deadline, some U.S. troops will remain in Iraqi cities.

[Greece] Interesting commentaries on "the coming insurrection"

re-posted from Independent.co.uk

Dec 13, 2008

Are the Greek Riots a Taste of Things To Come?

After firing 4,600 tear-gas canisters in the past week, the Greek police have nearly exhausted their stock. As they seek emergency supplies from Israel and Germany, still the petrol bombs and stones of the protesters rain down, with clashes again outside parliament yesterday.

Bringing together youths in their early twenties struggling to survive amid mass youth unemployment and schoolchildren swotting for highly competitive university exams that may not ultimately help them in a treacherous jobs market, the events of the past week could be called the first credit-crunch riots. There have been smaller-scale sympathy attacks from Moscow to Copenhagen, and economists say countries with similarly high youth unemployment problems such as Spain and Italy should prepare for unrest.

Ostensibly, the trigger for the Greek violence was the police shooting of a 15-year-old boy, Alexis Grigoropoulos. A forensic report leaked to Greek newspapers indicated he was killed by a direct shot, not a ricochet as the policeman's lawyer had claimed. The first protesters were on the streets of Athens within 90 minutes of Alexis's death, the start of the most traumatic week Greece has endured for decades. The destructiveness of the daily protests, which left many stores in Athens's smartest shopping area in ruins and caused an estimated €2bn (£1.79bn) in damage, has stunned Greece and baffled the world. And there was no let-up yesterday, as angry youths shrugged off torrential rain to pelt police with firebombs and stones, block major roads and occupy a private radio station.

Their parents grope for explanations. Tonia Katerini, whose 17-year-old son Michalis was out on the streets the day after the killing, emphasised the normality of the protesters. "It's not just 20 or 30 people, we're talking about 1,000 young people. These are not people who live in the dark, they are the sort you see in the cafes. The criminals and drug addicts turned up later, to loot the stores. The children were very angry that one of them had been killed; and they wanted the whole society not to sleep quietly about this, they wanted everyone to feel the same fear they felt. And they were also expressing anger towards society, towards the religion of consumerism, the polarisation of society between the few haves and the many have-nots."

Protest has long been a rite of passage for urban Greek youth. The downfall of the military dictatorship in 1974 is popularly ascribed to a student uprising; the truth was more complicated, but that is the version that has entered student mythology, giving them an enduring sense of their potential. So no one was surprised that Alexis's death a week ago today brought his fellow teenagers on to the streets. But why were the protests so impassioned and long-lasting? "The death of this young boy was a catalyst that brought out all the problems of society and of youth that have been piling up all these years and left to one side with no solutions," said Nikos Mouzelis, emeritus professor of sociology at LSE. "Every day, the youth of this country experiences further marginalisation."

Although Greece's headline unemployment of 7.4 per cent is just below the eurozone average, the OECD estimates that unemployment among those aged 15 to 24 is 22 per cent, although some economists put the real figure at more like 30 per cent.

"Because of unemployment, a quarter of those under 25 are below the poverty line," said Petros Rylmon, an economist at Linardos, the Labour Institute of the Greek trade unions. "That percentage has been increasing for the past 10 years. There is a diffused, widespread feeling that there are no prospects. This is a period when everyone is afraid of the future because of the economic crisis. There is a general feeling that things are going to get worse. And there is no real initiative from the government."

For Greek youngsters such as Michalis Katerini, job prospects are not rosy, but without a university degree they would be far worse, so he and his mother are making serious sacrifices to get him into further education. So inadequate is the teaching in his state high school that he, like tens of thousands of others across the country, must study three hours per night, five nights a week at cramming school after regular school, to have a hope of attaining the high grades required to get the university course of his choice. His mother, whose work as an architect is down 20 per cent on last year, must pay €800 a month to the crammer for the last, crucial year of high school.

She believes the government of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis faces more turbulence if it fails to grasp the reality of the past week, and pass it off as a spontaneous over-reaction. "The government has tried hard not to connect what is happening with the problems of young people. The government says one boy died, his friends are angry, they over-reacted then anarchists came to join in the game. But this is not the reality."

Vicky Stamatiadou, a kindergarten teacher in the rich northern suburbs with two teenage sons, agrees. "Until now, our society was full of dirty but calm water; nothing was moving, nothing improving, all the problems of our society remained unsolved for years. People pretended that everything was going well. But now this false picture has been broken and we are facing reality."

Greece's official youth unemployment statistics are not far removed from the rates in other European countries with a history of mass protest, such as France, Italy and Spain. With the graffiti "The Coming Insurrection" plastered near the Greek consulate in Bordeaux this week, the warning signs to the rest of the continent's leaders are clear.

suggested by: Gaurav, re-posted from Hurriyet.com

Hurriyet Daily News, 12-12-08

Greek riots could bode more unrest in Europe

ISTANBUL - As the street protests over the death of a teen in a police shooting rage in Greece, governments are concerned the violence could spread accross Europe. Hundreds of people were detained in Spain, France and Denmark over copycat incidents and politicians are wary of a more revolt.

As economic crisis tightens its grip on Europe, politicians and analysts fear the street battle raging in Greece could herald a violent winter of discontent elsewhere on the continent.

The Greek riots were triggered by a specific police shooting and sustained by broad opposition to a weak right-wing government, and as such are unlikely to spread directly to other territories. But as of yesterday, hundreds of people were detained across the Europe, including Spain, France and Denmark, as protestors attacked banks, shops, police stations and cars in an apparent show of support for rioting Greeks.

"A violent reaction comparable to what has happened in Greece is possible, if there's some kind of spark to light the fire, such as a youth's death," Roberto d'Alimonte, professor of political science at Florence University told Agence France-Presse. "We can't ignore the phenomenon of imitation, which is very significant right now," Alimonte said. "At the moment, Italian youth is frustrated and worried for its future. The crisis is only going to make this worse."

Greece in far worse situation
In Spain, however, sociologist Andreu Lopez, insisted that the situation in Greece -- where an unstable government is confronted by youth with shrinking prospects -- was far worse than elsewhere. "It would be impossible for what is happening in Greece to happen in Spain," insisted Lopez, co-author of a recent report on young people in Spain. "Young Spaniards have many more opportunities and responses to the situation, even in a time of crisis, whether it be grants for studies, state aid or support from families," AFP quoted the sociologist as saying.

The violence Wednesday night in Madrid and Barcelona was the first in Spain in apparent solidarity with Greek protesters. In the Spanish capital, some 200 people targeted a police station, stores and banks, and officers detained nine people, a police official told the Associated Press.

Arsonists torched two cars outside a Greek consulate in southwestern France yesterday, scrawling slogans in support of the youth riots gripping Athens, according to an account by the Associated Press. Police found graffiti on a wall opposite the consulate, and on a nearby garage door, reading "Support for the fires in Greece," "Insurrection Everywhere" and "The Coming Insurrection."

'Beware of revolt'
Against this background, official in Prime Minister Francois Fillon's office said he was "following the situation carefully," and President Nicolas Sarkozy told ruling party deputies to beware a revolt against falling living standards. According to a lawmaker who dined with the president and his supporters on Wednesday, Sarkozy warned that the crisis could provoke widespread protests. "Just look at what is happening in Greece," he reportedly said.

Meanwhile, Greek offices in Moscow and Rome were hit by firebombs and in Denmark 63 protesters were detained. Police spokesman Michael Paulsen in Copenhagen said some of the 150 people who were demonstrating late Wednesday hurled bottles and paint at riot police.

Just as in Greece, students in France, Italy and Spain have been angered by underfunding in universities. Last month, thousands of young Italians took to the streets to protest youth unemployment of more than 23 percent. France is no stranger to university unrest, and politicians fear protests by middle-class students could re-ignite rioting by the young immigrants.

[Pakistan] Dancers Protest Ban of Mujra

re-posted from Independent.co.uk

By Patrick Cockburn and Issam Ahmed

Dancing Girls of Lahore Strike Taliban Law

LAHORE -- The dancing girls of Lahore, the cultural capital of Pakistan, are on strike in protest against the tide of Talibanisation that is threatening to destroy an art form that has flourished since the Mughal empire.

The strike, which is supported by the theatres where they perform, was sparked by the decision of Lahore High Court last month to ban the Mujra, the graceful and elaborate dance first developed in the Mughal courts 400 years ago, on the grounds that it is too sexually explicit.

"The Mujra by its very nature is supposed to be a seductive dance," says Badar Alam, a cultural expert. He recalls that attempts were made to ban it during the 1980s. "Gradually, it returned to commercial theatre, mostly by paying off officials. The question remains: does the government have the right to engage in moral policing?"

The government and High Court in particular have no doubt about their right to do just that. They have tried to encourage "family friendly" dances, but once-packed theatres are now near empty, despite dropping their prices from 300 rupees to 25 rupees a seat.

In the face of the strike and the lack of enthusiasm for alternative entertainment, the court has suspended its ban. It has, however, ordered dancers to cover their necks with shawls and wear shoes (they used to dance barefoot but the court deemed that too erotic). "Do they expect girls to dance in a burkha?" asks stage manager Jalal Mehmoud. "Mujra has been going on for so many years it is part of our culture."

The dancers are also distressed by the situation. "Theatre needs dance like food needs water," says Rabia, a dancer and actress. "Some girls were making up to 15,000 rupees in one night. Hundreds of these girls from poorer backgrounds will be out of the work if the crowds do not come back."

The ban on dancing is a symptom of a more dangerous trend in Pakistani society. "If the government engages in moral policing," says Badar Alam, "it gives vigilantes licence to do the same. It fuels intolerance and de-secularisation by violence and intimidation and opens the door to extreme Jihadi Islamic movements."

Over the past few months, there has been a crescendo of violence in support of fundamentalist morality in Lahore. In the middle-class Garhi Shahu neighbourhood, young men and women used to meet in fruit-juice bars. There was nothing particularly salacious going on but, two months ago, three bombs exploded among them, killing one man and wounding others.

One bomb went off in a juice bar called Disco, where Mohammed Zubair Khan said he doubted if his customers would ever come back. "Everybody's frightened," said Saeed Ahmed Afiz, the owner of a another bar. Asked what he thought of those who had ruined his business, he declared surprisingly: "They were not terrorists because they did not kill anybody. They did the right thing." Asked about the man who died, Mr Afiz added unfeelingly: "Maybe he was just here to see the show."

A striking feature of those suffering persecution from fundamentalists is not their fear but their acceptance that, if they had encouraged immorality, they deserved punishment. The main centre for selling CDs and DVDs in Lahore is Hall Road. But when one of the tough-looking shopkeepers received a threatening letter accusing him and others of selling risqué films, the mood was not one of defiance, but of submission. The traders heaped up the forbidden DVDs and CDs in the middle of Hall Road and made a giant bonfire. "I swear we sell no pornography," said one nervously.

[NC] Union organizing victory!

suggested by: Sendolo, re-posted from: Southernstudies.org

By Chris Kromm, Dec 12, 2008

VICTORY AT SMITHFIELD: Union scores big win in North Carolina

In what unions are hailing as a crucial victory in the South, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union prevailed in their 16-year campaign to organize the world's largest pork slaughterhouse.

By a vote of 2,041 to 1,879, workers at Smithfield Foods' massive hog plant in Tar Heel, N.C. voted to unionize the plant in what had become one of the most closely-watched labor battles in the country.

Virginia-based Smithfield had earned a national reputation for its hostility to organized labor: A 2005 report by Human Rights Watch had singled out Smithfield for creating a "climate of fear" among workers, including intimidation, harassment and even beatings of suspected activists.

Indeed, such tactics are what caused the two previous union elections at Smithfield to be dismissed:

The results of two previous elections at the plant in the 1990s were thrown out after federal officials declared that the company had harassed and fired union supporters, even forcing an employee to stamp the words "Vote No" on dead hogs.

Smithfield was forced to pay $1.1 million in back pay plus interest to employees who had been fired for union activity, after a federal judge ruled in the union's favor in 2006.

But workers at the plant soldiered on: Two years ago, 1,000 workers staged a wildcat strike over issues ranging from immigration raids to sexual harassment and Smithfield's failure to compensate workers for injuries suffered at the dangerous site. The following year, hundreds of workers walked out to protest the company's refusal to make Martin Luther King Day a paid holiday.

Union organizers say that not only tenacity but also unity among the largely African-American and Latino workforce was key to victory.

Also critical was the Justice for Smithfield campaign, launched in 2006 to mobilize national community, faith and consumer support for the union. Smithfield saw the Justice for Smithfield campaign as particularly dangerous: The company filed a racketeering lawsuit against the UFCW, claiming the solidarity campaign had cost them $900 million.

In a surprise move last month, the UFCW and Smithfield settled the lawsuit. The UFCW agreed scale down its national campaign, and the agribusiness giant agreed to stop its public attacks on the union as they headed towards this week's union election.

Last month's neutrality agreement was a critical turning point. As Jane Slaughter wrote in Labor Notes before the election, the pact's requirement that both sides avoid negative attacks in lobbying workers helped dispel the climate of fear that had thwarted the union:

The settlement is more favorable to the union than many 'neutrality' agreements that unions and companies have arrived at where both sides are limited to "factual' language."

Under the "factual" criterion, companies have distributed details about the worst union contracts in the country, talked about union officials' salaries, or made statements such as, "If you go on strike, we can permanently replace you."

The UFCW-Smithfield deal, though, uses a different standard: negativity. Both company and union may talk themselves up, but neither may disrespect the other. Smithfield can brag, for example, about its wages and working conditions--and if that impresses any workers in the plant, they can vote accordingly. UFCW can talk about what unions do for workers.

The Smithfield campaign signals that even in Southern states as notoriously hostile to labor as North Carolina, workers -- when free of intimidation and fear -- can and will organize.

[Charleston, SC] Buy Nothing Day Tactics in South Carolina

suggested by: Gaurav, re-posted from: Charleston.net

By Katy Stech for The Post and Courier
Saturday, November 29, 2008

Vandals squeeze glue into locks of King Street businesses

Groups outside King Street stores early Friday morning weren't waiting for Black Friday sales to start. They were waiting for locksmiths.

Vandals squeezed glue into the front door keyholes of 70 downtown Charleston stores overnight, delaying some business openings and rattling already stressed store managers.

The vandalism didn't deter downtown shoppers, who usually start their bargain-hunting later in the day, but the incident added an unexpected twist to one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

As the downtown commercial district livened during the morning hours, clusters of shut-out sales employees commiserated over losing precious preparation time for the coming Black Friday crowd. Some managers said they were awaiting overnight instructions from corporate headquarters on things like pricing and display arrangement.

Meanwhile, a handful of locksmiths darted from one storefront to the next. They drilled into the keyholes, leaving a dusting of shiny metal shavings.

While the clerks outside retailers like Juicy Couture, Williams-Sonoma and Steve Madden politely awaited their turn, the owner of M. Dumas and Sons clothier decided to take matters into his own hands.

Shortly before the store's special 6 a.m. opening, eight groups of shoppers had lined up outside the store's entrance, eager to take advantage of its three-hour, 35 percent storewide discount. With the front door lock sealed and business at stake during these tough economic times, owner David Dumas made a critical decision.

"I said there was no way we were going to lose 1 1/2 to two hours of business when we had people waiting to get in," he said, noting that last year's Black Friday was the biggest sales day in the company's 88-year history.

So with Dumas' permission, a sales clerk swung a cinderblock through the glass front door, shattering it.

"We were open for business five minutes later," he said.

Dumas' store was one of the few retailers on King Street that opened early for Black Friday, a somewhat suburban holiday that is typically dominated by large retail chains.

Bleary-eyed downtown boutique employees, in the absence of the harsh fluorescent lighting found in big box stores, usually see business pick up in early afternoon. (It didn't help that the vandals glued the lock on Starbucks Coffee shop, too.)

"They'll come in after they get their electronics fix," said Nora Innis, who manages Affordables, a women's clothing shop. While only a few customers shopped early at the downtown store, Innis said that the chain's West Ashley and Mount Pleasant locations buzzed with bargain hunters.

Activity was even quiet outside the popular Apple Store. About 30 minutes before the store's 9 a.m. opening, West Ashley resident Norm Shea was the only potential customers who peered through its glass window exterior.

Shea, who admitted he was more a Black Friday spectator than shopper, jokingly suggested the overnight vandals were trying to send an anti- capitalism message.

"I feel bad for the businesses, but I think it was kind of clever," he said.

State Rep. Chip Limehouse, R-Charleston, took the vandalism a little more seriously, calling it a "systematic assault" on the local business community.

"This is the time when we all need to be pulling together to make our economy better, and for some person to commit a crime of this nature — this is a lowdown trick," he said.

He added that he'd consider proposing legislation that would toughen penalties for those who commit property damage. Currently, a vandalism conviction is considered a misdemeanor and carries a maximum of five years in prison and possible fine if the amount of damage is between $1,000 and $5,000.

Charleston police public information officer Charles Francis estimated the glue caused several thousand dollars worth of damage. His department is reviewing a handful of surveillance tapes but didn't have any suspects Friday night.

The vandals also damaged at least one downtown home. Rob Concannon, who lives on King Street, came back from walking his dogs Thursday evening to find the lock to his condominium glued shut. He said the incident shows how the downtown commercial district, a gleaming shopping mecca during the day, can become an unsafe, unfriendly place at night.

"There's no police presence out here whatsoever," said Concannon, who owns Trio Club on Calhoun Street. "The police need to do a better job between the homeless guys, the graffiti and now this."

[Greece] Letter correcting Greek media lies

re-posted from anarchist.academics

Wed, December 10, 2008 7:04 am

Dear comrades,

Today is the general strike and the fifth day of riots. There were again attacks from both sides and police used a lot of tear gases in Athens and in Thessaloniki were I live. Right now the situation seems quiet, though there is assembly in a few hours and we will see…

It is true that the situation in universities is rely on government and family connections, as Mitzi pointed, but it is totally false that the protesters set fire to the National Library. In fact on of the libraries of the Law School in Athens get fired and I don’t know if it was an intended action. This was one more lie of Greek medias in order to turn the citizens against the protesters.

I also believe that people from low and middle classes participate to those demonstrations. It is also true that some stole products from the broken shops.

Yesterday night in Zefiri, Athens, a place that they mostly live gypsies, there was an organized attack against the police department. They set fire to a track and then pushed it to the door of the department. After that, they started to shoot with air guns against the policemen. Also, last light immigrants were starting to participate to the riots in Victoria square in Athens. So, it is obvious that people from all the oppressed social groups, who face the racism every day from the state and the police they needed just a causation (the murder of Alexis) to react to this situation.

Also, I saw people from various ages to throw stones and clap when teenagers were breaking and burning banks. Of course they were. These are the banks that sell their houses after an auction. Yesterday the Greek media referring that anger citizens were fighting with the police against the demonstrations. This was also a lie. They were neo-nazis. They always did this, since there is a strong connection between them and the Greek police.

Comrades, if you want to help write a declaration sign it and send it to the Greek embassy of your region and to the media. There is already a declaration from Italian comrades.

stavros

[UK] Activist's Sabotage Reduces Britain's Carbon Output By 2%

re-posted from guardian.co.uk

No new coal - the calling card of the 'green Banksy' who breached fortress Kingsnorth

by John Vidal

The £12m defences of the most heavily guarded power station in Britain have been breached by a single person who, under the eyes of CCTV cameras, climbed two three-metre (10ft) razor-wired, electrified security fences, walked into the station and crashed a giant 500MW turbine before leaving a calling card reading "no new coal". He walked out the same way and hopped back over the fence.

All power from the coal and oil-powered Kingsnorth station in Kent was halted for four hours, in which time it is thought the mystery saboteur's actions reduced UK climate change emissions by 2%. Enough electricity to power a city the size of Bristol was lost.

Yesterday the hunt was on for the man dubbed "climate man" or the "green Banksy". Climate activists responsible for hijacking coal trains and breaking on to runways said they knew nothing about the incident.

Even veterans of some of the most audacious direct actions, such as the scaling of the Kingsnorth chimney, are mystified. The station operator E.On professed astonishment that a lone activist would be daring enough to try to do something so potentially dangerous. Medway police said they had no suspects but were still investigating the incident, which took place on November 28.

"It was extremely odd indeed, quite creepy. We have never known anything like this at all, but it shows that if people want to do something badly enough they will find a way," said Emily Highmore, a spokeswoman for E.On.

Should "climate man" ever show up, he will be feted for what activists say was the most daring individual action of the year. "We have no idea who he is - but we really want to know. Everybody's asking 'where were you on Friday November 28'," said Ben Stewart of Greenpeace, one of six people arrested for climbing the 76 metre (250ft) chimney of the Kingsnorth station early last year but found not guilty of criminal damage in November. "We would never act anonymously," he added.

Yesterday the full story emerged of what happened. "It was about 10pm, very dark indeed," said Highmore. "It looks from the CCTV like he came in via a very remote part of the site by the sea wall and got over the double layer of fences."

The intruder then crossed a car park and walked to an unlocked door. But instead of going to the power station's main control room, where about eight people would have been working, he headed for its main turbine hall, where no one would have been working at that time.

Within minutes, says E.On, "he had tampered with some equipment" - believed to be a computer at a control panel - "and tripped unit 2, one of the station's giant 500MW turbines".

"This caused the unit to go offline," she added. "It was running at full 500MW load and the noise it would have made as it shut itself down is just incredible. CCTV shows that he then just walked out, and went back over the fence.

"It could be that no one has taken responsibility because they were so frightened by the noise it would have made. It's probably taken them a week just to get over the shock."

E.On, which wants to demolish the station and replace it with Britain's first new coal-fired power station in 34 years, said it was reviewing security, but doubted it was an inside job or the work of a big environment group. The intruder may have had some experience at one of Britain's other major power stations, insiders say.

"He left a banner but it was a real DIY job. It was really scrappy. This was an old bedsheet with writing done out of gaffer tape. It was very crude," said Highmore

"People at the station are gobsmacked," she added. "This is a different league to protesters chaining themselves to equipment. It's someone treating a power station as an adventure playground. You have to be trained to work here. People do not just wander about on their own. He could have killed himself. We do not have a problem with public protest but this was reckless. Whoever it was has crossed a line they should not have gone over. Power stations are dangerous places."

Kingsnorth was the site of a week-long activist camp in August which saw about 1,000 climate change activists try but fail to get into the station.

Notorious, but nameless

The Kingsnorth intruder joins a select group of "caped crusaders" who do their work without their names becoming widely known

Banksy: The graffiti artist whose work has attracted worldwide attention has taken his subversive style from urban Britain to the West Bank. He was recently unmasked by a Sunday paper, but after years of arresting images he has almost been elevated to status of national treasure.

Captain Gatso: The controversial leader of protest group Mad (Motorists Against Detection) has stoned, superglued, sprayed and ringed with burning tyres more than 1,000 roadside speed cameras in an eight-year campaign.

Superbarrio: Billed by his supporters as "faster than a speeding turtle and able to leap small speed bumps in a single bound", the flabby caped crusader in cherry red tights traverses the streets of Mexico City, defending the working class, the poor and the homeless. "I can't stop a plane or a train single-handed, but I can keep a family from being evicted," he said.

The Biotic Baking Brigade: A loosely connected group of leftwing activists, famous for throwing pies in the faces of such figures as the Microsoft's Bill Gates, the San Francisco mayors Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom and the Swedish King Carl Gustaf. The group's members have been active on animal rights and ecology issues as well as in feminist movements.