News from Elsewhere

In English: http://khimkibattle.org/?lang=en
Français: http://khimkibattle.org/?lang=fr
Deutsch: http://khimkibattle.org/?lang=de
Türkçe: http://khimkibattle.org/?lang=TR
Español: http://khimkibattle.org/?lang=es

English below, for other languages follow links

September 17—20, 2010

On July 28, 2010, more than two hundred young antifascists and
anarchists carried out a spontaneous demonstration outside the town
administration building in Khimki, a suburb of Moscow. They
demonstrated in defense of the Khimki Forest, which was at that time
in the process of beings cutting down for the needs of big business.
The demonstration, during which several windows were broken, received
a great deal of public attention. The authorities responded with a
wave of repressions. The day after the demonstration, two well-known
social activists, Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov, were arrested.
They are now threatened with up to seven years in prison for
disorderly conduct, although there is no evidence of their complicity
in illegal activities. Meanwhile, the police continue to hunt down and
harass other activists, especially those involved in the antifascist
movement.

The campaign to save the Khimki Forest has been going on for the past
three years. The authorities had decided to build a segment of a
planned Moscow—Saint Petersburg toll highway, the first of its kind in
Russia, through the forest. This would lead to the deterioration of
environmental conditions in the region, and local residents and
Muscovites would be deprived of yet another recreation zone. Despite
the availability of alternative routes that would not require
clear-cutting the forest and vigorous protests by environmentalists
and ordinary citizens against the planned route, the authorities f0r a
long time ignored the voice of society and on several occasions took
measures to suppress their critics.

Khimki authorities and the highway project contractor have used
violence and other tactics against Khimki Forest defenders. They
refused to give permission for protest demonstrations, recruited
nationalist thugs to break up a peaceful protest camp organized by
environmentalists and local residents, and illegally arrested and beat
up journalists covering the story. Nearly two years ago, Mikhail
Beketov, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Khimkinskaya Pravda and a
critic of the local administration, was severely beaten by persons
unknown; the attack left Beketov permanently disabled. Sergei
Protozanov, the layout designer of another local opposition paper, was
murdered in similar circumstances six months later.

After the July 28 demonstration, the Russian police and secret
services unleashed an unprecedented dragnet against antifascists.
People who had even just once come to the attention of the Center for
Extremism Prevention and FSB for their involvement with the
antifascist movement have been forcibly taken in for questioning. In
several cases they have been subjected to harsh physical coercion in
order to compel them to give the testimony required by investigators.
In addition, illegal searches have been carried out in their
apartments. All these actions on the part of law enforcement
authorities are violations of Russian and international law.

Frightened by the numerous and growing protests against the
clear-cutting of the Khimki Forest, the authorities have finally made
concessions by agreeing to review the advisability of the planned
route for the toll highway. But this does not mean victory. Alexei
Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov are still in police custody for no reason
at all. They are hostages of the authorities.

In late September, the next hearing in their case will take place. The
judge will decide whether to keep them in police custody pending
completion of the investigation and trial. Everyone who cares about
the fate of these two young men must do everything in their power to
see that they are set free. The Campaign for the Release of the Khimki
Hostages calls on people around the world to organize days of action
on September 17, 18, 19, and 20 to pressure the Russian authorities to
release Alexei and Maxim.

We ask you to hold protests outside of Russian Federation embassies,
consulates, trade missions, and cultural centers, as well as at public
events and concerts connected to Russia. We also ask you to send
faxes, e-mails, and protest letters to the court, the prosecutor’s
office, and the country’s political leadership. In the very near
future we will inform you of addresses where you can send these
protests as well as more details about the ongoing repressions in
Russia. Look for this information on our website
http://khimkibattle.org in English, German, Russian, and French.

Join our campaign!

Campaign for the Release of the Khimki Hostages

+7 (915) 053-5912 • info@khimkibattle.org • http://khimkibattle.org

Nothing for nothing, if drinking ends up putting you in a kid's banana suit and sending you off to do doughnuts in your car while screaming "White Power!", exposing yourself and brandishing a shotgun, a straight-edge life is for you! This is an update on a story about a guy that just might have set that whole White superiority thing back a notch or two. Soon-to-be-former Marine Reservist Carlton Kohnert was in court in Washington State the other day where he pled not guilty to the above, and they set a trial date for Oct. 21. We are hoping he is found guilty and made to work at a bar where all he is allowed to make are virgin bananna daquiris. It's  only fair.

(Congress reconvenes on September 13. In the meantime, this issue should be widely discussed. Please re-post this article. If you would like to publish it, please email me at sallydarity at yahoo dotcom)

Invasion by Birth Canal?

The fourteenth amendment and its opponents’ motivations

by stacy/sallydarity

Russell Pearce, the Arizona Senator who pushed the “Support Our Law Enforcement” immigration bill (known in Arizona as SB 1070), complains about the automatically-given U.S. citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants. “This is an orchestrated effort by [illegal aliens] to come here and have children to gain access to the great welfare state we’ve created,” he huffed.[1]

Doesn’t Pearce’s comment sound eerily similar to that of this Southern legislator, pre-civil rights movement? “In 1958, Mississippi state representative David H. Glass introduced a bill mandating sterilization for any unmarried mother who gave birth to another illegitimate child. Glass explained that his objective was to reduce the number of Black children on welfare: …‘The negro woman, because of child welfare assistance, [is] making it a business, in some cases of giving birth to illegitimate children.’”[2]

Pearce, probably feeling empowered by SB 1070’s semi-success (or at least its public support), is working on a controversial plan to “push for an Arizona bill that would refuse to accept or issue a birth certificate that recognizes citizenship to those born to illegal aliens, unless one parent is a citizen”[3]. Perhaps also inspired by the anti-immigrant fervor, Senators John Kyl and Lindsey Graham are proposing that the U.S. Senate review the Citizenship Clause of the 14th amendment. The idea of withholding citizenship to children born of undocumented parents goes back to 1991 when Elton Gallegly proposed the idea to the California congress, followed by several other unsuccessful attempts.[4]

Birthright citizenship is said to reward illegality and encourage procreation for the purpose of accessing the privileges the U.S. has to offer, such as welfare. The underlying attitudes follow an ongoing pattern of attacks on the reproductive freedom of women of color. This is all part of an effort to contain, exclude, and criminalize undocumented immigrants--specifically women due to their reproductive potential. Appealing to Americans’ sense of being cheated, the topic of welfare has been used politically with hidden racial motives. People of color and immigrants have been criminalized even though immigrants’ draw on public services is insubstantial. The topic of overpopulation draws on white Americans’ fear of being outnumbered or overpowered and has been used to control women’s fertility, especially restricting the reproductive freedom of women of color in the U.S and internationally. The problems of poverty and environment are said to necessitate the containment of certain populations, while in actuality the major perpetrators of these problems seek to limit the self-determination of targeted populations to continue to profit off them and their resources.

Read more...

read more

If for some reason it had not yet been time to really address the concept of citizenship, now is the time. Once congress is back in session, birthright citizenship will be the next hot topic of debate. The 14th amendment gave ex-slaves and their children the citizenship they did not have before, and has since applied to anyone born on US soil (aside from a few cases), including the racist-tizzy-inducing undocumented immigrants' children, called by the derogatory term, "anchor babies".

The focus on birthright citizenship, if it does not succeed in changing the 14th amendment, may have a chance at shifting the debate in the favor of the racists. They not only want to remove all undocumented immigrants from the country, but their children as well. While they claim that their concern is over the law ('Illegal is not a race, it's a crime', Pearce says) as of right now, the so-called "anchor babies" have not committed any crime, yet they are to be ousted as well. The immigrants' rights movement will find it necessary to focus on defending the children of undocumented parents and retreat from the defense of undocumented immigrants themselves. This may look similar to the hierarchy created between the more deserving and the less deserving created by the debate around the Dream Act. We cannot allow them to shift the debate in this way. We need to shift it in the direction of questioning the concept of citizenship and the legitimacy of the country in the first place.

So we must ask, what does citizenship mean? We should especially ask this in the context of the fact that the US is on stolen land. What does it mean for some settlers to seize a bunch of land and declare that they are citizens and the original peoples are not (it took a while for indigenous people to be counted as citizens even after ex-slaves were included), and then continue to do this to many people who are in fact more indigenous to this continent than the settlers are. Not only are they withholding citizenship and the rights and privileges it entails; they are criminalizing most of the folks who reside in the US who are not citizens. This means detention centers, deportation, fear, etc. Citizenship is based on theft, domination, and criminalization.

Certainly there are many of us who are counted as citizens who do not have allegiance to the US government. However, in many ways citizenship is about loyalty to this system. In what ways can we call this into question? This all deserves much more attention and discussion.

Please watch for my article called "Invasion by Birth Canal" which should be posted in the next week or so.

US out of North America!

read more

On ICE, Imprisonment, and White Supremacy - This is a pamphlet that was passed out at the Friday noise demonstration outside the Water St. Jail. We hope to radicalize the dialogue about immigration, and draw lines between the criminalization of migrants and and other marginalized people.

Social Control In Santa Cruz:
ICE, Imprisonment, and White Supremacy

August 2010

In our midst there are humans living in cages: tucked between the San Lorenzo River and Ocean Street over 300 people sit behind bars, serving sentences or awaiting trial. From the drunks in their stupor, caught up on yet another DUI, to the gang members arrested for having the wrong family or tattoos, to the gun-toting killer: our crimes are a product of our society, a response to the everyday violence that capitalism inflicts upon our lives and bodies by the mechanisms of poverty, by the police’s baton, the pesticides in the field and the “accidents” in the factory. Crime and criminals only exist because the law exists to categorize people as such, just like illegal immigration is only a phenomenon because of the existence of nations and borders. To escape the situation we are in we must step back and examine it clearly, and look at the real functions of imprisonment in our society.

Some residents of Santa Cruz have been in an uproar about the supposed crime problem: “Our town is being taken over by illegals!” “If we know who these people are, can’t we just go in their houses and get them?” “How would those anarchists like it if we threw a rock through their windows?” Since the killings of Tyler Tenorio, Carl Reimer, and the May Day property destruction, the police and their allies have needed a scapegoat for their failure to control Santa Cruz and keep out the riff-raff. Of course, the obvious choices were those who the police already wanted locked up: people of color and anarchists. The Santa Cruz Sentinel has only contributed to the hysteria and witchhunt-like atmosphere by publishing misleading articles and pictures of SubRosa collective members. While the death threats seem to be over, the city council has used the riot and recent violence as a justification to fill eight vacant positions in the police force, as well as to begin working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

With neo-nazi and fascist activity in our country on the upswing, we must fight any ICE presence in our area. Immigration control and the militarization of the border are but one more way to divide and conquer the lower classes: racism and fascism go hand in hand. In the guise of national security, the federal government is establishing a system which gives them the ability to detain people of color at will, indefinitely, without access to legal help or medical care. A 2009 article in The Nation reported that ICE has 186 unmarked and unlisted offices they use to detain people, incommunicado. 107 people have died in ICE custody between 2003 and 2009. But we don’t need this proof to know that the whole project of immigration control is fucked. We know it’s just another tool of a white supremacist power structure, another method to control us and keep us in line. We see the effects in our communities, we feel the terror of the situation when ICE is knocking at the doors of friends and family.

read more

Demonstrators use noise to break down barriers; anarchist march held at County Jail in solidarity with prisoners -

SANTA CRUZ - A group of about 40 people stood behind the County Jail for more than an hour Friday night banging on large drums, empty water jugs and other noise makers in a demonstration to show support for prisoners in jail "with or without papers."

Around 6:30 p.m., the group of self-proclaimed anarchists and their supporters marched from San Lorenzo Park to the County Jail in protest of ICE's presence in Santa Cruz and the controversial federal program that checks the immigration status of anyone booked on criminal charges set to launch at the County Jail on Tuesday.

As many as eight sheriff's deputies stood on the jail roof to monitor and film the protesters, but did not interfere with the protest.

The event had a personal connection for Watsonville resident Nayeli Gil, who said she watched a cooperative effort between police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest and deport her undocumented brother seven days ago.

Gil, who was born in Tijuana, said living in the U.S. has delivered an opportunity for a higher education for her. She said her brother was trying better himself as well.

"What they are doing is disrespecting people's rights; it's rude and unfair," Gil said. "It's frustrating. He was trying to work for his family. They're making our lives miserable."

read more

Anti-SB1070 graffiti popping up in downtown Phoenix -

PHOENIX - Arizona's border battle is leaving its mark on downtown Phoenix, but not in a good way.

"Usually people, when they see graffiti, they think of crime or a run down area," said Manager of Alta Phoenix Lofts Chiara Elie.

Within the last week, downtown Phoenix has become a spot for anti SB 1070 tagging, which has residents in Alta Phoenix Lofts upset.

read more

12 arrested in protest outside Phoenix jail -

Twelve protesters were arrested Friday afternoon after allegedly blocking access to the Lower Buckeye Jail near 35th Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road in Phoenix, authorities said.

The protesters, who have been vocal in their opposition to Arizona's immigration law, were reportedly trying to stop a crime-suppression sweep run by Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said.

read more

We have been out and about for a few days, so we are a little late on our Glenn Beck/Al Sharpton rally coverage. Luckilly, Lady Liberty's Lamp is on the ball with their assesment of last Saturday, and we must say Glenn Beck's rally was truly the greatest honor that could be given to Martin Luther King Jr. on the 47th anniversary of his "I Have A Dream Speech". A month after MLK gave that speech, noted conservative James J. Kilpatrick, a regular at the National Review at the time, said in his article "The Hell He Is Equal" (which by the way was pulled from the Saturday Evening Post because the Birmingham bombing that killed four black girls in church just happened) that, "...the Negro race, as a race, is in fact an inferior race." And ten days after James J. Kilpatrick died at the age of 89, another conservative white man rallied other white people along with people of color who would put up with him to say that they were inferior to Martin Luther King, Jr! Sure, it was phony posturing so conservatives can say they weren't racist, but even that was a sign that what Martin Luther King work was not in vain! Sadly, it was also a sign that work needed to be done because truth of the matter is that those who came out to the rally at the Lincoln Memorial did not come in the spirit of unity and social justice as those who participated in the 1963 March on Washington. If they were going to do that, they would have participated in the rally that Al Sharpton put together, and they made sure that no matter what Beck was pulling that day, black people - particularly the ones he didn't like - will be heard. This link comes with a few videos from the day including a special one from Lady Liberty's Lamp themselves. We will have ours up shortly, but with Nazis running around in banana suits, you will have to excuse us for the tardiness. CORRECTION: You also have to excuse us for not adding the Lamp's video that we wanted you to see. We've just added it now. Sorry about that!

Marcia Powell's Death Unavenged: County Attorney Passes on Prosecuting Prison Staff By Stephen Lemons, Wed., Sep. 1 2010 @ 8:09AM Feathered Bastard Sadly, Marcia Powell may never get justice The Maricopa County Attorney's Office has chosen not to prosecute Arizona...

This fall is going to be an exciting one for Philly JwJ, with a full slate of direct action and organizing work that will build power for workers and their communities, and win battles for full employment, fair jobs, and funded public services. As we mobilize for our September 15th SOS Jobs Rally, we are asking anyone who is able to join as a sustaining member to help us win these fights. We need your help to step up and help us reach our goal of signing up 99 new sustainers this fall in protest of the 99 week gap on unemployment benefits. Sign up to sustain, and get into our October 16th Sustainer Soiree for free!

Here's what sustainers will help us accomplish this fall:

• Kick off an exciting campaign to win rights for local workers and community members up in the area around Temple;
  
  
• work alongside city residents and public service workers in a fierce direct action campaign to keep city workers fairly employed, and keep essential services like libraries, pools, after-school programming, and more free and open;
  
  
• fight alongside workers and unions in solidarity during contract fights and other workplace disputes;
  
  
• connect faith leaders and labor with our September Labor in the Pulpits program in coordination with Philadelphia AFL-CIO, Interfaith Workers' Justice, and dozens of congregations in and around the city;
  
  
• build student leadership and training the next generation of organizers through our Student Labor Action Project;
  
  
• push for local, state and national legislation to guarantee full employment, fair jobs, and funded public services in coordination with National Jobs with Justice; and
  
  
• mobilize for direct actions on 9/15, 10/2, and more to force big business to pay its fair share.
  

We have an amazing movement full of excited volunteers, staff, interns, and allies, all ready to launch this full slate of programming. Help make our vision for Fall 2010 a reality by signing up as a monthly sustainer with Philadelphia Jobs with Justice.

Thank you for your support--you are what makes this movement happen.

-Gwen

We kind of have to wonder about Vinlanders. For three years, Brien James & Co. have been trying like hell to make themselves look like stand up citizens merely interested in upholding their culture and heritage, not politically driven white supremacists trying to screw with people who aren't white. And in the course of those three years we have had Vinlanders going to jail for attacking homeless people and killing their girlfriends and toddler sons. Now we have this Vinlander scum named Aaron Schmidt from Phoenix, Arizona (why do all racist roads lead back to this state?) who along with four other Vinlanders harassed an interracial couple in 2009, shooting and killing the woman, Kelly Jaeger. Of the five that were involved, four are now in custody, with Schmidt captured in Livingston, Tennessee over the past year.  Now we are sure ol' Brien is going to do his little song and dance about how they were not Vinlanders and that Vinlanders would never do this. And we will laugh at him as we will always do, while chalking it up as yet the latest example of why we keep screwing with his people. In other words, forget it, Brien. No one is buying your BS excuses.

I'm a month late in getting this up here, but the billboard lib group California Department of Corrections (CDC) put up a great new billboard: Here's their press release: For Immediate Release San Francisco, California – July 28, 2010 New... Josh M. www.justseeds.org

Nicolas Lampert

Friday September 17th, 2010 at 7:30pm
East Harlem Cafe 1651 Lexington Avenue (btwn. E104-105th St.)
Take the 6 train to E. 103rd St.

Join us for a night of incredible poetry, rap and spoken word as we unite to help
our brother former Puerto Rican Political Prisoner Carlos Alberto Torres!

Carlos Alberto, freed from 30 years in jail this July, is trying to open up a
ceramics workshop in Puerto Rico! He needs our help to pay rent, buy supplies and
many other expenses!

Come through and Help our brother Carlos Alberto, make his dream a reality!

Featured artists:
The Welfare Poets
Prisionera
(not4)Prophet
Sandra Maria Estevez
Papoleto Melendez
SPIRITCHILD
Steve Bloom
The Mahina Movement
Rafael Landron

Share Wednesday, 01 September 2010 intifada-palestine.com
Abdul Hamid Abdul Latif Sa’id Abu Haniyeh was beaten up severely before being hit hard by a large jolt of electricity.

Following a visit yesterday to some young prisoners being held at the Megiddo Prison, lawyers for the Ministry of Detainees have stated that the young prisoners testified under oath that they had been interrogated and systematically electrocuted and tortured by Israeli intelligence officers in settlements near to Palestinian cities.

According to Salim Redouane who was arrested near Qalqilya on 08.05.2010, he was kept in a camp near Tzofin for 3 hours before being transferred to the settlement of Ariel where he was questioned by Shin Bet interrogators. His head was repeatedly hit against the prison room wall in an effort to get him to confess and he was beaten severely. The investigators threatened to burn his skin if he did not confess to the accusations against him.

Another detainee, Mohamed Ali Radwan, informed the lawyers that he was arrested at his home in Qalqilya Azzun on 3/8/2010 and one of the soldiers forced him to take off his shirt in order to use it as a blindfold. He was handcuffed and then taken somewhere near the village where he was told to hand in what was in his possession before he was hit in the back with a rifle butt and kicked repeatedly in the stomach and on the back. One of the soldiers then dragged him across the ground which resulted in deep wounds on his hands and he was taken to the Ariel settlement where he was questioned for several hours and was hit on the head, in the face and all over his the body.

According to the testimony of Yahya Ali Abdel-Hafez, born 03.07.1995 and a resident of the Qalqilya Governorate of Azzoun, he was arrested on 05.08.2010 near the city of Qalqilya and taken to a camp near Tzofin where he was kept for 3 hours before being transferred to the settlement of Ariel and interrogated. During the interrogation, he did not recognize some of the charges against him and so he was beaten in the face several times and repeatedly electrocuted. Under duress, Yahya eventually signed the statement to avoid further torture.

Lawyers also visited Abdul Hamid Abdul Latif Sa’id Abu Haniyeh who is currently in year 10 and was born on 12/11/1994. A resident of Azzun, he was arrested on 05.08.2010 near Qalqilya, where was also taken to the Ariel settlement and interrogated by Shin Bet interrogators. He was beaten up severely before being hit hard by a large jolt of electricity. A terrified Abdul Hamid who thought he would be imprisoned at the Megiddo prison along with his brothers, signed the statement he was given.

Lawyers for the Ministry of Prisoners also visited Ahmed Hussein Mustafa who was born on 10/01/1994 and is from Jalazoun, north of Ramallah. He was arrested from his home at three in the morning on 11.02.2010 and was beaten up inside his house before being taken to the Beit El settlement. Ahmed remained in the settlement until daybreak when he was transferred to Benjamin where he was fined 2000 NIS and sentenced to 20 months in detention. His two brothers were detained in the Negev prison

Source: News of Palestine – Agencies via Middle East Monitor

View the rest of the movie here:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0849EDA92981AE03

Aug. 31, 2010 8:42 p.m.
Climate Collective

(PRESS RELEASE) The Copenhagen City Court has today ruled that Natasha Verco and Noah Weiss are innocent. The two climate activists were charged for organizing illegal activities during the COP15 summit in Copenhagen in 2009. But the charges didn't stand in court. The verdict discredits the violent methods adopted by police during the climate summit, when politically active people were denied their democratic right to criticize the climate negotiations.

Natasha Verco feels that the entire process has been absurd:

There has been a very clear political purpose behind these court cases, and the verdict is totally absurd. In the whole case the evidence has been related to fully legal activities, that the police has tried to manipulate, in order to make them appear illegal. It has been all from prints of posters, to finding parking lots fors sound equipments and participating in open information meetings for hundreds of people.

Both Natasha and Noah feel, that the case should put an end to the police undemocratic methods:

I see this as a victory, not only for us, but for the legal rights in Denmark. And it also means that no longer can the police use manipulation of evidence and lies to repress politically active people. I assume that also Tannie and Stine, who are going to court in October, will be acquitted as well, says Noah Weiss.

Contact Climate Collective

• Phone: +45 50 58 87 51
• media@climatecollective.org
• www.climatecollective.org

Background

2000 people have been arrested during the climate summit in December, and many were preventively arrested during the big climate demonstration on December 12th, 2009. These incidents, has later been criticized, among others, by Amnesty International. Now there are four people charged for having, according to police, planned actions during the summit. Among them are Natasha Verco, 32 years old Australian woman, and the American student Noah Weiss.

Natasha Verco and Noah Weiss are accused to having planned violence against police, disturbance of public order and vandalism. These are the charges, that could lead to several years of prison and deportation.

Background articles on the court cases

• Politiken.dk English news
• Call for solidarity with accused activists

Articles in Danish

Alle midler i brug mod miljøaktivister

Surveillance, secret investigation and eventually custody were all employed against people that according to the police was planning illegal actions during the climate summit. Now it has to be decided, if they can be sentenced.

Diffus anklage mod aktivister

The prosecutor saw one of the charges against the two defendants dropped. They are now only accused of planning criminal activities during the climate summit.

Video: Tash & Noah's freedom speech outside the city court of Copenhagen

A couple nice articles have come out recently about my projects: 1) Beth Simpson is working up a new Champaign-Urbana-specific Celebrate People's History poster project. There's a nice write-up in a local blog the217.com HERE. 2) The Spectres of... Josh M. www.justseeds.org