US soldier Bradley Manning is allegedly the whistleblower who unveiled a large number of secret or confidential documents that evidenced troops' total disregard for the lives of civilians, and the apparent support of Taliban guerrillas by Pakistan.
He has been compared to Daniel Ellsberg, who unveiled the so-called Pentagon Papers in the 1970s.
Antimilitarist organizations Courage to Resist, Codepink and Veterans for Peace are launching a campaign in support of this brave and bold soldier who dared to challenge authority and unveil some of the ill-guarded secrets of the imperial oligarchy.
Whatever you may think of the endless and pointless¹ Afghanistan War, one thing is clear: it is an imperialist war. The retreat of most of the Dutch force (250 soldiers will remain) marks an important turn point in the sad story of this war, where the only losers are civilians and unemployed recruits.
¹ It's pointless because only Afghans could liberate themselves from the Taliban, it's pointless because Osama and Al Qaeda are the creation of the USA with their fundamentalist-fascist allies in the region: Israel, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, it's pointless because 9/11 was an insider job (most simple of all evidence: both towers and building 7 of the CIA fell as in a controlled demolition - what actually was).
Cluster bomb ban treaty becomes official after 38 countries ratified it, other 70 states have signed but not yet ratified the treaty. Cluster bombs have been heavily criticized because of being highly indiscriminate and because they leave too many unexploded fragments around that later kill children and others.
The main producers of these criminal bombs (USA, Israel, China) have not signed it but still the treaty creates a moral instrument of international law. However there are still many unregulated particularly horrible weapons like the dense inert metal (DIME) explosives used by Israel against the civilian population in Gaza last year.
US antimilitarist intellectual and activist Howard Zinn died yesterday at the venerable age of 87. He helped to coin the, quite descriptive phrase "American Empire" and fought through his life against war and imperialism.
His main book is A People's of the United States, where the idealization of US history typically found in official history books is deconstructed and explained as it really is: the history of a growing and usually merciless empire of global dimensions.
The video above (found at Gara) synthesizes his life and thoughts through the illustrations of Mike Konopacki and the voice of actor Vigo Mortenssen.
Update: Howard Zinn's perception of the Holocaust and how it has been manipulated by the Zionists can be read here (including an anonymous reply by some Zionist).
Today, December 18th, is the Shministim Day of Action. Shministim are those young Israelis who are being jailed for refusing to serve in an army that persists with the occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Meet them at WWW.DECEMBER18TH.ORG, and don't forget to send your email of protest.
One case is particularly worrying: Tamar Katz (pictured), 19, has been put in isolation and there are reports of abuses because she rejected to wear military uniform while in prision.
I know well that total resistence to the military, and particularly conscription, is a virus (a benefic one though) that is not going to stop at the borders of EU. And the cultural relationship of Turkey with the rest of Europe is way too strong to change that, as it's probably the case of Russia, though it may take some more time in this latter case because of their grandeur dreams.
She is being accused under article 318 that forbids dissuading people from miltary service. But she is standing defiant: even if they hang me, I will keep talking.
She could face more than four years in prision if convicted.
The transexual singer stood defiant. Some people deployed banners in her support.
I still recall when a Turkish resister to the army visited us maybe some 20 years ago (this issue is not new at all) , his main worry was legal matters: his organization was about to be declared illegal and, to my incrdulity, he said that, if illegalized they would not be able to work anymore because the full wight of repression would fall upon them. I was flippant as our own organizaton had never bothered to get legalized at all (better outside the law) but guess circumstances are somewhat different. I am not sure of their current situation but I bet it is most delicate. I'll see what can I find on war resisters in Turkey.
In any case, the attitude of Bulent Ersoy is most brave and an example for people, not just in Turkey, but around the World.
As the song of my youth went: I live in a place that is like any other place, just that one out of eight is a policeman...
Regional police charged against people who protested against the last arrests in Errenteria. A 65 year old man is in hospital after being badly beaten in the police attack. He and another person arrested. Just the typical everyday Basque stamp.
A nicer and at least equally typical Basque postcard is this one:
Hundreds demonstrated again in Pamplona against the military polygon of Bardeak (Las Bardenas) in southern Navarre, used (and abused) by Spanish and the US pilots equally.
Many other protests took place yesterday, for several reasons, just like almost any day - and just like almost any day they went unheeded by the authorities.
Another even more typical postcard is this one:
Now in the news too because of a huge white-collar robbery: 500,000 euros were diverted by the chief accountant to his own pocket. The director of the extravagant turistic attraction (there is a very good museum in Bilbao but it's not that one), J.I. Vidarte, refuses to resign.
This is my country: healthy cooperative daring people in the streets, thieves and lackeys in the halls of power.
...
And a postcard update for Sunday:
Police charged against a press conference and one (pictured) made two shots. The oficial version is that he was rounded up by a mob in some sort of ambush but the image shows it's not the case at all.
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