Contra Información |
Número 51 |
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Welcome to Número 51 of Contra Información which went to printed press on 28 Sept. 1998.
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The Omagh bombing was an outrage, whether calculated or part-accidental. It showed the depths that 'armed struggle' sects can reach when ordinary people are viewed as expendable pawns.
Almost as sickening was the audacity of Bill Clinton and his shoe-shine boys, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, to manipulate the grief for their own ends. The British and Irish Governments have given new powers to already discredited police chiefs to incriminate the accused - making further Guildford 4 and Birmingham 6 injustices possible.
The U.S. Government, the biggest State terrorist worldwide, acted in a cavalier and brutal fashion in it's pursuit of ex-Afghanistan CIA collaborator Osama Bin Laden by targeting a medicine factory in Khartoum, Sudan. The Nairobi and Dar-es-salaam bombings in east Africa were on a par with Omagh [and Oklahoma]. U.S. hegemonic power is expressed as the right to obliterate demons without observing the conventions of international legalities.
Children of those 'disappeared' during the Argentine military dictatorship are determined that their parents will not be forgotten. With 26 networked groups across the country, HIJOS - Children for Identity and Justice and Against Forgetting and Silence - are dedicated to exposing detention centres and homes of those responsible for the murder of 30,0000 people. With 'democratic' governments having pardoned the armed forces, the Hijos, supported by Mothers of the Disappeared carry-out 'scratches' - actions to indicate the places and people involved in the torture and abductions of their parents. They use paint, posters, leaflets, road signs and jail bars to "make of every torturer's home a prison cell."
Meanwhile the Mexican state's 'medium-intensity' war continues in Chiapas against the Zapatista communities. 1000 'communities in resistance' organised into 32 regional autonomous municipalities are surrounded by an estimated 73,000 federal troops and an unknown number of paramilitaries. On June 10, 100s of police, soldiers and paramilitaries entered the community of San Juan de Libertad (formerly El Bosque) bombing the settlement and burning houses. 8 Zapatistas and 2 policemen were killed. Security forces then went to 2 hamlets, Chavajeval and Union Progreso detaining those suspected of being involved. In all, 52 were arrested and many tortured. San Juan de Libertad was the 3rd autonmous municipality to be destroyed in 2 months.
THE PERNAMBUCO region of Brazil has seen numerous food-laden trucks held-up by people from the huge Movimento Sem Terra (Landless Peasant Movement). In July, 5 lorries carrying 120 tonnes of food were hijacked by 300 peasants who distributed the bounty amongst the needy in Agroisa, Caxanga, Lagoa Grande and Jacate in Juazeiro. Around 1000 families are occupying 4 estates in Mato Grosso - land that had been stolen from them according to Egidio Brunetto, a member of the Landless People's coordination team.
e-mail: semterra@mail.sanet.com.br
ON 5TH March 1998 the Italian police arrested 3 anarchists. They were charged with sabotage actions against the construction of the unpopular high speed railway through the Val di Susa in Piemonte, part of a major European Union project. Now only one of the three remains alive.
Edoardo Massari died in the Vallette prison in Turin on 28 March. The authorities said he had hanged himself. Maria Soledad Rosas hanged herself on 11 July while under house arrrest in a residential home. The surviving prisoner, Silvano Pelissero, following a month long hunger-strike and a demo at the maximum security prison of Novara, was transfered on 22 July to house arrest.
State repression has met resistance. During the 5 March arrests police attempted to evict 3 self-managed social centres in Turin. Occupiers defended one centre, and later re-occupied the other two. 7,000-10,000 from all Italy demonstrated in Turin on 4 April, following Edoardo's death. The evening of Maria's death there were unauthorised demos and barricades in the streets of Turin and Rome. Plus many other actions. Solidarity actions in Athens, Greece on 28 July saw 10 cars burnt out at the Italian embassy and at 2 Italian car agencies. "The new world that every anarchist carries in their heart cannot ever be suffocated by the walls of a prison cell."
Sources:
Quote from Umanita Nova, Corso Palermo 46, 10152 Torino, Italy. www.fatinrete.it
El Paso occupato, via Passo Buole 47, 10127 Torino, Italy. www.elpasoecn.org
A-Infos: www.ainfos.ca
Samira Adamu was killed on 22nd September at Brussels airport. The 20 year old Nigerian refugee was suffocated while being 'restrained' before flight take-off to Togo in West Africa. Two police officers are under investigation. She had sought asylum from a forced marriage. This was the second occasion when a pillow was used to prevent her protests to fellow passengers. In Belgium, mass demon-strations have been held, while in Paris the Belgian tourist Board was occupied by 30 activists on 24th September. On 25th Sept. a picket led to a street occupation and a confrontation with the CRS riot cops.
Source: www.ainfos.ca
"UNPAID WORK experience is exploitative of you, why should you work hard to please a scrooge employer when he/she thinks so little of you that you do not even deserve to be paid?" say the newly-formed Angry Youth group. They urge fellow school students to resist work experience, by refusing to participate or by demanding the same wages as paid staff.
Angry Youth, c/o 17 West Montgomery Place, Edinburgh EH7 5HA
web: angrypunk.org.uk
Despite the 'regularisation' policy conceded by the French 'Socialist' Government [see CI 49] the fairer hearings have not materialised. 29 members of the '3eme collectif des Sans Papiers' went on hunger strike on June 16th to highlight the situation.
EDINBURGH CLAIMANTS have forced Employment Service management to move notorious bullying Restart interviewer Marianne MacDonald into a job where she cannot harass claimants.
A "3rd Strike" demo was carried out against MacDonald on 11 February by 20 protestors wearing her photo as a mask. Her photo has featured on leaflets and posters. She has since been moved from High Riggs benefit office to the Marketing Section at St Andrews Sq. Job Centre, an office where no-one signs on. A victory for claimants' direct action! 0131 557 6242.
A dutch, finnish and american protestor swam for 90 minutes across Gareloch, Argyll, to breach security barriers around nuclear submarines on 25th august. In another incident two momen liberated a boat from the 'high security area' at Coulport, the site of weapons storage on the River Clyde. The actions were described as "open crimimal activity" from closed minds at the Ministry of Defence!
130 'Ploughshare' protestors are defending the Faslane Peace Camp from eviction - 01436-820901.
On Bastille Day, July 14th, direct action to reclaim the United Nations plaza in San Francisco led to 28 being arrested.
Source: webcom.com/peace
Groundswell, Manchester, Dept 99, 1 Newton St., Manchester M1 1HW.
Brighton vs Benefits Cuts, Po Box 2536, Rottingdean, Brighton BN2 6LX
EDINBURGH CLAIMANTS have forced Employment Service management to move notorious bullying Restart interviewer Marianne MacDonald into a job where she cannot harass claimants.
A "3rd Strike" demo was carried out against MacDonald on 11 February by 20 protestors wearing her photo as a mask. Her photo has featured on leaflets and posters. She has since been moved from High Riggs benefit office to the Marketing Section at St Andrews Sq. Job Centre, an office where no-one signs on. A victory for claimants' direct action! 0131 557 6242.
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