Neue Linkspartei in Polen gegründet

»Bialo-Czerwoni« (Die Weiß-Roten) tritt zur Parlamentswahl im Oktober an Warschau. Wenige Monate vor der Parlamentswahl in Polen hat sich in dem EU-Staat eine neue Linkspartei mit Namen »Bialo-Czerwoni« (Die Weiß-Roten) gegründet. Man sei offen für die Zusammenarbeit mit anderen Gruppen, sagte am Montag Mitbegründer Grzegorz Napieralski, der erst am Wochenende das Linksbündnis SLD verlassen hatte. Napieralski trat zusammen mit Andrzej Rozenek auf, einem ehemaligen Politiker der Linkspartei »Twoj Ruch«. Das Programm soll in den kommenden Wochen vorgestellt werden. Die Partei will nach den Worten Napieralskis eine linke Alternative sein in einer Parteienlandschaft, die geprägt ist vom Dauerkonflikt zwischen den regierenden Liberalkonservativen und den oppositionellen Nationalkonservativen. In der Vergangenheit waren mehrfach Versuche gescheitert, ein linksliberales Bündnis jenseits der SLD zu positionieren. Die SLD ist aus der ehemals regierenden kommunistischen Partei hervorgegangen. Nach derzeitigen Umfragen müssen sowohl die SLD als auch »Twoj Ruch« befürchten, bei der Wahl im Herbst an der Fünf-Prozent-Hürde zu scheitern. dpa/nd

Shock waves sweep U.S. after white supremacist murders nine Black people

22 June 2915. A World to Win News Service. Many people abroad, and some in the United States., believe that with the presidency of the African-American Barack Obama, the U.S. has become a "post racial" society. In fact, the country is becoming increasingly – and violently – polarized for and against the oppression of Black people. Despite the massive protests against police killings of Black people that began breaking out after the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida by a white vigilante, and then especially last year after the shooting of the unarmed Black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and choking to death Eric Garner in New York, U.S. police have been continuing to kill Black people and other minorities at a terrifying rate. To give a statistic that reveals something about the difference between the U.S. and other imperialist countries, despite the prevalence of racism in all of them, U.S. police have shot dead almost 400 people so far this year, not counting those who were choked to death, killed by electrical shocks (Tazers) or otherwise murdered in custody. Half were minorities, and Black people were far more likely to be killed while unarmed and allegedly committing a minor offence (like failing to obey police orders) or none at all. This has everything to do with the legacy of slavery and other forms of the oppression of Black people that have continued since the end of the civil war, when the southern states (the Confederacy) fought to preserve the "right" to enslave African-Americans. There is tremendous controversy over whether to remove the Confederate flag that now flies in official events and locations, including the capital of South Carolina, a state where slaves once vastly outnumbered white people, and where the civil war began. When 21-year old Dylann Storm Roof walked into a church in Charleston, South Carolina whose history is deeply rooted in resistance to slavery and Black oppression, he wore a t-shirt bearing the flags of the white minority regimes that once ruled Zimbabwe and South Africa. His Web site also featured the Confederate flag. The state's governor at first denied that the massacre of nine people in this church had anything to do with racism. Later, she claimed that state law will not allow her to lower that flag. While other politicians called for its removal, as if the official American flag itself were not itself a symbol of oppression in the country and the world, the fact that many prominent political figures have defended the Confederate flag or refused to condemn it shows the depths at which fissures are speeding through U.S. society. Roof explained his act by saying that he wanted to provoke a new civil war. In its coverage of the massacre and the aftermath, Revolution, newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist Party USA , reported the following observations by a team of revolutionaries, including members of the Revolution Club in Atlanta, Georgia, at a 21 June memorial service held at that church, located in what has become a white area after Blacks were pushed out. Hundreds of people crammed inside and gathered on the street in front, many from nearby churches. "One older white woman from a different church congregation brought her Confederate flag from her house. This flag had been passed down through generations in her family and had been on the wall of her kitchen. She brought it to the church and said she didn't want it on her wall any more. A group of white children with scissors ceremonially cut it up. "We weren’t the only ones challenging the terms of 'healing' – before the disease is cured. One sister came with her sign 'Enough is Enough' on one side and on the other 'White Jesus isn't Coming Back.' She, too, was the focus of controversy. I talked to her about why she was making this statement here. She said, 'They are continuing to mask the underlying hate.' "She said, "Black people make 13 percent of this country, but we are the highest rate of incarceration and death. We are killing each other – because what do we do with the hate? This Kumbahyah [an African-American folk song often taken to mean that God will everyone together – which is Obama's stance] ain't working for everyone. That white boy was angry, what do we do? I'm not saying go out here and kill anyone, I don’t condone hate to that measure, but we have to be able to express [our] anger... '[I'm focused on] those who are struggling in the economy, who have no hope, this next generation, they are the ones who can make change... Everyone coming to me with anger is 23, 24 and younger. Out here, they are trying to cover the anger. This country has been built on Black backs. I've been told they have pushed Black people out of this community. We are angry at this gunman, but he ain't by himself. It would be stupid to think this is just one man with a gun!'" RCP Chairman Bob Avakian has written, "There would be no United States as we now know it today without slavery." For more on this, see "The Oppression of Black People, the Crimes of This System and the Revolution We Need" on revcom.us Following is a statement by Carl Dix, the co-founder of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network and a representative of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, made on 18 June, 2015. After that is an article about guns and white supremacy in the U.S., from Revolution #392, June 22, 2015. Both have been slighted edited for use in this news service. **** Outrage in Charleston – This IS America! Outrageous! A white supremacist motivated by racist venom enters Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, during a Bible study class. He sits down with people there for a while and then starts shooting them, murdering six Black women and three Black men. He calmly reloaded in the course of carrying out these foul murders, telling his victims that he had to do this "Because you (meaning Black people) rape our women and are taking over our country"! Mass murder carried out in a church – a place that is supposed to be a sanctuary in the face of injustice. This brings to mind the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963 which killed four little girls. And the wave of burnings of Black churches in more recent decades. Mass murder carried out at this church, which has a history of being a place Black people gathered to organize themselves to stand up to the savage oppression this system has enforced on them for centuries. This history goes back to the church's founding in 1816. Among its founders was Denmark Vesey, who was hung in 1822, along with 35 other Black people, for planning a slave uprising. The blood of the nine people murdered in Charleston is on the hands of the rulers of this country. Whether this guy acted alone or not, he was acting within a climate that has been deliberately whipped up. White supremacy has been ingrained in the fabric of America from its very beginning. This country was founded on theft of land from and genocide inflicted on the native inhabitants and the dragging of millions of Africans to these shores in slave chains. And white supremacy remains at the heart of this society right down to today. What does it tell you about this country that George Zimmerman could murder Trayvon Martin as he walked home carrying Skittles [sweets] and iced tea and walk away with no punishment. That cops could choke Eric Garner to death, ignoring his cries of "I can't breathe," and get off scot free. That a South Carolina cop could feel he could get away with shooting Walter Scott in the back as he ran away. That Black communities are built on toxic areas that poison people. That Black couples with good credit were steered to sub-prime loans that led to them disproportionately losing their homes in the 2007 economic meltdown. That more than million people are imprisoned in this country, vastly disproportionately Black and Latino. These and more amount to a genocidal programme of suppression and deprivation targeting Black people. And they have contributed to a climate in which it is legitimate to view Black people as criminals and justified to murder them. In these and a thousand other ways a message is delivered that Black life doesn't matter. All this faces us all with an urgent question: Which side are you on? Are you on the side of the savage oppression and brutality this system enforces on Black people? Or do you stand against these kinds of horrors? The crocodile tears being shed by those who preside over the brutality and murder this system inflicts on people are worse than useless. It will take revolution, nothing less, to uproot white supremacy and end the oppression of Black people and all the other horrors this system inflicts on humanity. If you want to see these horrors stopped, there is a movement you can get with, a movement for revolution that the Revolutionary Communist Party is building. Everyone should understand that there is no middle ground in this struggle where people can be neutral while this system grinds away, crushing the bodies and breaking the spirits of those on the bottom of society. If you have an ounce of humanity, you must add your voice to those demanding that horrors like these STOP! Right Now! **** "Gun Control" is not a solution to violent white supremacy When a white supremacist murdered nine people in a historic Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, he reportedly told the victims, "You’ve raped our women, and you are taking over the country... I have to do what I have to do." According to press reports, he has told authorities he committed the crime to start a "race war." In the face of what is undeniably a racist mass murder in a racist society, Barack Obama’s response to the massacre said: "At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it." Only after that did Obama acknowledge: "The fact that this took place in a black church obviously also raises questions about a dark part of our history. This is not the first time that black churches have been attacked." A specific defining factor in the history and culture of the United States is that this country is built on genocide and white supremacist violence carried out not only by the official forces of violent repression (the army and police) but by significant sections of armed white people. The horrible murders in Charleston are a product of and component of vicious, violent, societal white supremacy that runs from the Confederate flag in front of the South Carolina State House to the AmeriKKKan flag on the shirts of police who murder Black people from New York to California and everywhere in between. [KKK is a reference to the Ku Klux Klan, a white militia organized to terrorize Black people after the end of slavery that exists to this day.] Yes, the United States is unique among powerful imperialist countries like those in Western Europe, Japan, Australia, or Canada, in the number of guns in people’s hands and the amount of violence associated with that. The question is why, what that serves, and what’s the solution? And then how do calls for "gun control" (in quotes because "gun control" advocates are not in any way calling for controlling all guns!) fit into this picture? We live in a society of intense exploitation, alienation, and – correspondingly – an ethos of "might makes right." That he who has the most and biggest guns gets to assert his interests. And a specific defining factor in the history and culture of the United States is that this country is built on genocide and white supremacist violence carried out not only by the official forces of violent repression (the army and police) but by significant sections of armed white people. From the gold mines of South Dakota to the farms of Oklahoma, as the army drove Native Americans from their land, armed settlers who occupied that land were formally or informally "deputized" to enforce their "right" to that stolen land with guns. Mexicans were also frequently the targets of lynch mobs in the South-west, from the mid-1800s until well into the 1900s, to drive Mexican landowners from the land. The iconic American myth of the "rugged individual" supposedly defending "his" farm, his ranch, his claim, his property from so-called "savages," is set on a stage of genocidal massacres of Native Americans and theft of land from Mexico. [In Communism and Jeffersonian Democracy (RCP Publications, 2008), Bob Avakian] takes on the ideals of Jeffersonianism [the founding ideology of the U.S.], and convincingly locates even its "loftiest aspirations" in social relations of exploitation and oppression – the social relations out of which those ideals grew, and which they served and continue to serve. In doing so, he draws on a wide range of scholarly research and polemically takes on major contemporary defenders of Jeffersonian democracy. Avakian demonstrates why and how these ideals of democracy co-existed with – and, indeed, arose on the basis of – the enslavement of Black people and the deep embedding of white supremacy into the body politic and ideological psyche of the U.S. But he goes further: not only showing why events turned out that way, but why those ideals themselves could only and can only generate and serve relations of exploitation and the division, and polarization, of people into antagonistic classes, into oppressor and oppressed. Moreover, he convincingly points the way to a vision and future that is truly emancipatory – to a vision of freedom far more radical and thoroughgoing than anything imaginable within the constricted horizons of Jeffersonianism. In doing this, Avakian includes a devastating critique of the "free marketplace of ideas", contrasting it to a genuinely unfettered search for the truth – and he shows what kind of economic and political system would be necessary for that to flourish. After the Civil War, the oppression of Black people in slavery-like conditions and the enforcement of Jim Crow laws took the form of official state violence, but also the lynch mob, the Texas posse, and the KKK. Movies like Birth of a Nation glorified lynching and Klan terror as "defending traditional Southern culture and way of life" – which was a tradition and culture of slavery. And the history of the United States is a history of wars of aggression around the world, against rival reactionary powers, and against rebellions and revolutions. The murderers are glorified as "heroes," and the victims demonised with racist venom (as "Japs," "Chinks," "Gooks," or "Sand Niggers"). George Bush II told his generals in Iraq, "Kick ass! If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them!" This "might makes right" gangster, "kick ass," bullying "logic" and "morality" trickles down and infects this society very broadly. In the United States, all kinds of people resort to violence with guns for all kinds of reasons – and many of those reasons are very bad, including too many of the most oppressed killing each other over nothing. But this system and its spokespeople legitimize white supremacist, male chauvinist, anti-immigrant, and racist gun violence, both by their official enforcers (like the police and army) and by vigilantes and "lone wolf" racists and reactionaries. A number of commentators have pointed to the fact that the massacre in Charleston isn't being treated as a terrorist attack by the media. If the killer was a Moslem, he would have been branded a terrorist. And can anyone deny that had the murderer in Charleston been Black, he would have been branded a "thug" and Black people as a whole would have been blamed and vilified? In either instance, the incident would have been used to ratchet up racist demonization and repression. And imagine if one of the recent victims of racist violence – either at the hands of police like Eric Garner, or at the hands of a racist like the person who killed Trayvon Martin – had exercised a right to armed self-defence? What do you think the authorities, or the National Rifle Association, would have to say about that? Not every gun owner is doing something bad with their gun, or planning to. And individual gun ownership and the ability to train in firearm use is actually an important right of the individual against the state, one which is upheld in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America (Draft Proposal). At the same time, right now, in capitalist-imperialist America, there is an epidemic of reactionary violence committed with guns. But what would be served by passing new laws restricting gun ownership in light of everything we’ve pointed to about the nature of this system? First off: the police kill hundreds of people every year in the United States, many of them Black or Latino and unarmed. Is anyone advocating disarming the police? The U.S. military inflicts mass death around the world. The U.S. invasion of Iraq alone was responsible for the deaths of over a million people. Are any "gun control" advocates talking about taking the guns (and drones and nukes and poison gas) out of their hands? And why is it that the powers-that-be, as a whole, either do not want to or do not dare move to disarm these white supremacist militias, border vigilantes, and other armed fascists? For some in the ruling class, they count on these paramilitary fascists to enforce the status quo and to be a violent force in future societal clashes, and to be ready and able to try to crush a serious attempt at a liberating revolution. As for others in the ruling class, they don’t dare stir up the hornet's nest that would be set off if they seriously moved to disarm these forces. People should remember a year ago when a fascist named Cliven Bundy organized all kinds of white people to take up guns to "defend his property" against the federal government and totally got away with it. What do you think would happen if Black or Latino people did anything even remotely similar in the inner cities of this country? One thing for sure – the government would not have "stood down"! The reality is, "gun control" has historically been used and would be used as a tool for ratcheting up repression directed against the oppressed. We are not here advocating anything, but to pose a hypothetical: How do you think stricter "gun control" laws (or even the ones on the books now) would be used in a future situation where there might be legitimate resistance and self-defence against racist attacks either by police or unofficial racist vigilantes? And how would these laws be used in the event of an attempt at a revolution – under conditions that do not exist today but that could emerge? And get real: Who do you think would be targeted for any "gun control" clampdown? We’ve already seen how so-called "Stand Your Ground" laws that set an atmosphere where a white racist could kill Trayvon Martin in Florida were applied completely differently when a Black woman defended herself and her children – by firing a warning shot into the ceiling of her own apartment ¬– from a man who was threatening them. [Sshe was sentenced to 20 years in prison at a first trial, and faces up to 60 years in a appeal because she fired the gun in the presence of her children,.] New laws that gave the authorities – the State – more of a monopoly of control of guns would not address or solve the problem of violently enforced white supremacy. And would not be a good thing. But revolution can solve the problem of white supremacy, along with providing the basis to overcome and end all oppression and in so doing put an end to all antagonistic conflicts among people. That would be a good thing!

[Hoppetosse] Korrektur der Anfangszeit Podiumsdiskussion 6.7. in Offenburg

Hallo, leider ist gerade die Anfangszeit der Podiumsdiskussion in Offenburg verschoben worden, so dass meine Mail von gestern jetzt an dem Punkt falsch ist. Bitte nur mit korrigierter Anfangszeit weiterleiten (jetzt: 13.30 Uhr). D.h. die folgende Fassung ist jetzt richtig: ich werde demnächst vier Tage in Offenburg sein mit etlichen Veranstaltungen, die offen für alle sind. Daher lade ich Euch alle dazu ein ... und weitergeben dürft Ihr die Termine auch. Fr, 3.7. um 19.30 Uhr in Offenburg (Linkes Zentrum R12, Rammersweierstr. 12) Ton-Bilder-Schau "Fiese Tricks von Polizei und Justiz" "Die Vorwürfe klingen ungeheuerlich: Polizisten basteln einen Brandsatz oder fertigen Gipsabdrücke selbst an, um Beweismittel zu haben. Beweisvideos und -fotos verschwinden, Falschaussagen werden gedeckt, Observationen verschwiegen, um Straftaten erfinden zu können. Alles Hirngespinste von Verschwörungstheoretikern? Offenbar nicht." (ddp am 22.11.2007, 10.26 Uhr) Aus erster Hand: Ein erschreckender, zuweilen witziger und immer spannender Vortrag mit konkreten Fällen mit Originalauszügen aus Polizei- und Gerichtsakten. Ein tiefer Blick hinter das Grauen im Polizei- und Justizalltag bis zur Vertuschung, wenn die Operationen schief gehen: Ein Innenminister (heute Ministerpräsident in Hessen) wird gedeckt, StraftäterInnen in Robe und Uniform geschont, Ermittlungsergebnisse manipuliert. Dieser Abend ist eine Mischung aus Enthüllung, Kriminalroman, Kino und Kabarett. Staunen über die Dreistigkeit der Staatsmacht. Kopfschütteln über uniformierte Dummheit. Lachen über die kreative Gegenwehr! ++ www.fiese-tricks.de.vu So, 5.7. ab 11 Uhr (bis ca. 20 Uhr) in der "Mühle" in Renchen (Weidenstr. 30, das liegt im Ortenaukreis nördlich von Offenburg) Training zu offensivem Umgang mit der Polizei Einführung zu rechtlichen Grundlagen der Repression (vor allem Polizei- und Versammlungsrecht, aber auch Hinweise auf weitere Spezialgesetze und das Strafrecht). Varianten des Polizeikontaktes, Handlungsmöglichkeiten und rechtlicher Rahmen: Personalienkontrolle, Durchsuchung, Festnahme, Verhör usw. Dann Trainings in Form eines Rollenspiels zu ausgewählten Situationen - in der Regel auf Wunsch der Teilnehmenden. Mo, 6.7. um 13.30 Uhr in Offenburg ("Freie" Waldorfschule, Großer Saal, Moltkestr. 3 ++ Veranstaltung ist offen auch für Gäste, pünklicher Beginn!): Podiumsdiskussion zur Agrogentechnik Spektakulär und erstmals in Deutschland: Hochrangige Gentechniklobbyist_innen diskutieren gegen eine spannende Mischung ihrer Gegner_innen: Ein_e Landwirt_in, ein Umweltverbandsvertreter_in sowie der investigative Autor von "Monsanto auf Deutsch" und Feldbefreier Jörg Bergstedt! Mo, 6.7. um 19 Uhr in Offenburg (Linkes Zentrum R12, Rammersweierstr. 12) Vortrag und Diskussion "Macht macht Umwelt kaputt" Herrschaft bedeutet die Möglichkeit, Abläufe und Verhältnisse so regeln zu können, dass andere die negativen Folgen erleiden müssen. Umweltzerstörung basiert regelmäßig auf diesem Prinzip: Industrie und ihre Staaten graben in armen Regionen nach Energiequellen und Rohstoffen, transportieren schiffeweise Nahrungsmittel oder Holz zu sich und kippen den Müll wieder in die Peripherien zurück. Städte nutzen das Umland für Bauflächen, Straßentrassen und Müllhalden. Die Natur zählt nichts, weil die Menschen in ihr still sind oder still gehalten werden. Wer Umwelt dauerhaft schützen will, muss daher die Machtfrage stellen. Doch was geschieht tatsächlich? Selbst Umweltver-bände setzen auf Staat, Umweltpolizei, Gesetze und Firmen, um die Welt grün zu halten. Diese Schüsse gehen nach hinten los - schon seit Jahrzehnten. Nötig ist eine Umweltschutzstrategie, die die Menschen ermächtigt, ihr Leben wieder selbst zu organisieren – ohne Hierarchien und Privilegien. Nur ein Umweltschutz von unten ist grundlegend und dauerhaft wirksam. Referent: Jörg Bergstedt, Autor von "Reich oder rechts?" und "Monsanto auf Deutsch" Infoseite: www.umwelt-und-emanzipation.de.vu Ich freue mich auf alle, die kommen. Herzliche Grüße aus der Projektwerkstatt, Jörg B. P.S. ... noch zwei Anmerkungen: Am Samstag, den 4.7. habe ich da noch nichts vor - es können also auch gerne noch Treffen irgendwelcher Art verabredet werden. Und: Wahrscheinlich im November kommt dann die nächste Veranstaltungstour durch den Süden. Der Lust auf solche oder andere Veranstaltungen in Baden-Württemberg oder Bayern oder angrenzende Gebiete hat, darf sich gerne schon mal melden. -- (Bitte bei Antworten lange Mailzitate wegschneiden ... spart Daten, Zeit und Unübersichtlichkeit :-) Projektwerkstatt Saasen, 06401/90328-3, Fax 03212-1434654 Ludwigstr. 11, 35447 Reiskirchen-Saasen (20 km östlich Giessen) www.projektwerkstatt.de/saasen PGP unter www.projektwerkstatt.de/feedback.html - Seminarhaus und politische Aktionswerkstätten - Archive, Bibliotheken und Gruppenräume (mit Bahnanschluss) Spannende Bücher und DVDs unter www.aktionsversand.de.vu! Angebote für Aktionstrainings, Workshops und Vorträge: www.vortragsangebote.de.vu und www.projektwerkstatt.de/termine. Die Projektwerkstatt lebt davon, was anderswo übrig ist, z.B.: Audio-Aufnahmegerät, PCIexpress-Grafikkarten, HD-Kamera mit Mikrofonanschluss, Obstpresse und viele Verbrauchsmaterialien (Gesamtliste unter www.projektwerkstatt.de/gesucht). _______________________________________________ Mailingliste von Hoppetosse - Netzwerk für kreativen Widerstand. Alle Infos und Formular für Aus-/Eintragen sowie Archiv: www.projektwerkstatt.de/hoppetosse.

Marikana: The day President Zuma added insult to injury

For two years, the Marikana Commission of Inquiry looked at the deployment of the police to Marikana and who was responsible for the death of 44 people. For three months, the country has waited for its findings and recommendations. Days before the report is due for release, President Jacob Zuma gave his view, a disaster for the public's trust in his ability to lead and act to ensure justice. By GREG NICOLSON. Despite attacks in Parliament, a court challenge, and public outcry, it was Napoleon Webster who caused the latest public relations disaster for the presidency on Marikana. With his beard and camouflage fatigues, Napoleon is the Economic Freedom Fighters' Heckler-in-Chief in Gauteng. When Cyril Ramaphosa appeared at the Marikana Commission, Napoleon led the chorus, calling the deputy president a murderer, sell-out and “buffalo head”. On Tuesday, Zuma was waxing on the potential need to reinstate Apartheid policing tactics if protests aren't peaceful, a headline on any other day, before Napolean did his thing, according to City Press. “Otherwise the culture of Apartheid that used violence to suppress people will have to be looked at again, and I don't want it. We don't want the police who must use violence because they are stopping violence,” Zuma said at the Tshwane University of Technology. Napoleon: “They killed people in Marikana!” “And those people in Marikana had killed people and the police were stopping them from killing people,” Zuma quipped. In August it will be three years since the Marikana massacre. The Commission of Inquiry sat for two years and the president has had its report for almost three months. There's been no justice for any of the 44 people who died in that week of August 2012 (although hundreds of miners were arrested and allegedly tortured) and their relatives wait for Zuma to release the Marikana Commission's report, which he promised to make public at the end of June. His comments were criticised for showing bias towards the police while country waits for the inquiry's version. The presidency tried to spin Zuma out of the knot on Wednesday. “All the deaths should be equally condemned by all without being selective, as all lives are important and all families equally lost their loved ones in the tragic and painful incidents that occurred at Marikana,” Zuma said in a media statement condemning accusations he condones the deaths of the 34 people killed on 16 August. The damage had been done. “These reckless remarks demonstrate that the president does not care about the families who had their loved ones ripped from them by a trigger-happy SAPS on that fateful day,” said the DA's Dianne Kohler Barnard. “Of even greater concern is the heinous remark Zuma made about Apartheid-era South Africa and using it as a threat by which to quell social dissatisfaction,” she added. “This is the same attitude that got us in[to] this Marikana mess in the first place.” EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said Zuma was releasing the report in piecemeal fashion and further traumatising the relatives of those who were killed. “This means Jacob Zuma has singlehandedly found the Marikana workers guilty of murder and thus condoned a death sentence on them before even their side of the story was heard. Zuma is saying it is correct that his police massacred workers in Marikana and we must accept a massacre as an act of crime prevention.” The presidency struggled to defend its boss. It's easy to say all the killings should be condemned and in the past Zuma has expressed sympathy with all the victims and their relatives. But while the country is on edge, waiting for the release of the Marikana report, on Tuesday he was not neutral, nor sympathetic, not diplomatic. The presidency offered no valid explanation for what the president may have intended to say, so his statement, made while he only he has access to the report, suggests he believes in the simple view: “Those people in Marikana had killed people and the police were stopping them from killing people.” In essence, his comments reflect the SAPS argument at the Marikana Commission, supported by characterising the miners as muti-crazed and hell-bent on violence. And yet police killed 37 of the 44 people who died that week. On Monday 13 August, the SAPS fired teargas (no one wants to own up to giving the order) into a crowd they had agreed to escort and in the chaos they caused the police killed three miners while the miners killed two cops. On 16 August, they rushed to implement a poorly developed plan, which even they expected might lead to deaths, failed to sufficiently use non-violent weapons, and killed 17 people at scene one, where they delayed medical attention for the injured. Then, with bodies down, they continued the operation, pursuing miners to scene two, killing another 17, where evidence suggests many were killed in cold blood. Police commanders then congratulated their troops for representing the best of SA policing. During the inquiry the SAPS hid evidence from the Marikana Commission, pinned their hopes on a clearly unreliable “Mr X”, and distanced themselves from cops who wouldn't toe the line. Those are just the footnotes. Before even discussing allegations that Lonmin used Cyril Ramaphosa to pressure ministers to get the police to end the strike with force, or the transcript that links the hasty implementation of the SAPS operation to political fears that Julius Malema would intervene, it's simplistic, even offensive, given what's now known, to simply say, “Those people in Marikana had killed people and the police were stopping them from killing people.” Yet as the president appears to think the return of Apartheid-style policing should be an option, it's not surprising. Whatever the findings and recommendations of the Marikana report reveal, more than ever, it's now difficult to believe the Zuma is the man to act on them. DM Photo: South African police check the bodies of striking mineworkers shot dead at the Wonderkop informal settlement near Marikana platinum mine, Rustenburg, South Africa, 16 August 2012. EPA/STR

Toulouse: la LICRA cherche à faire taire la campagne BDS pour la Palestine

Nous reproduisons ici le communiqué de BDS France Toulouse, attaqué pour avoir milité contre le régime raciste et colonial d'Israël. Le collectif anti-impérialiste Coup Pour Coup 31 réaffirme sa solidarité avec les militants et militantes de BDS France Toulouse et assure son plein soutien. "Accusés" d'avoir participé à la distribution d'un tract de la campagne BDS lors de deux actions, cinq militantEs toulousainEs ont été ou vont être auditionnés par la police. A l'issue de leur audition, trois d'entre eux ont déjà reçu une convocation au tribunal pour le 9 décembre. Ces deux actions d'information à la population - aux abords des magasins Auchan, Sephora et Orange les 19 décembre 2014 et 7 février 2015 - sont inscrites dans le cadre de la campagne internationale BDS qui est, à l'image de celle du boycott de l'Afrique du Sud dans les années 80, une démarche citoyenne, pacifiste et non violente, initiée par la société civile palestinienne pour lancer un courant d'opinion mondial en faveur du respect des droits des Palestiniens et pour en finir avec l'impunité de l'état d'Israël. A la demande de la LICRA (association qui serait mieux inspirée de rester sur le terrain de l'antiracisme plutôt que de servir de petite main pour les intérêts de l'Etat colonial israélien), nos camarades sont poursuivis pour " avoir entravé l'exercice normal - des 3 magasins - lors de leur activité économique". Alors que les deux simples distributions de tracts auxquels ils sont supposés avoir participé ont été pacifiques, dans la bonne humeur et sans intimidation envers les passants, dans le domaine public et sans entrée dans aucun magasin. L'empressement du procureur à poursuivre contraste avec le silence total de la justice à propos des deux plaintes qui ont été déposées par des militants BDS agressés violemment lors d'une distribution de tracts par un commando pro-israélien le 17 janvier. La police était sur place, les agresseurs photographiés, mais le procureur n'a toujours pas pris le temps de donner suite à ces plaintes. La criminalisation des actions militantes BDS a démarré avec la circulaire Alliot-Marie, toujours pas abrogée par ce gouvernement. Mais aujourd'hui, pire encore, c'est la liberté d'opinion et d'expression qui est remise en question. Le 31 mars, le maire de Toulouse a même osé interdire une conférence-débat avec le professeur Farid Esack, ancien compagnon de Nelson Mandela et président de Boycott, Désinvestissement, Sanctions en Afrique du Sud. Nous avons déposé plainte pour illégalité contre cette décision. Le droit de critiquer un Etat qui ne respecte pas le droit international, qui colonise et occupe dans le cadre d'une politique d'apartheid, ne peut être remis en question. Nous appellerons début septembre à la constitution d'un large comité de soutien pour faire respecter la liberté d'expression pour BDS, pour l'abrogation de la circulaire Alliot Marie, pour la relaxe de nos camarades. Dès aujourd'hui nous appelons à manifester le mercredi 9 décembre devant le TGI de Toulouse. Ils ne nous feront pas taire! BDS France Toulouse Le 25 juin 2015

Festnahmen von Migranten in Mexiko nehmen zu

Zehntausende Mittelamerikaner durchqueren Mexiko jedes Jahr auf ihrem Weg in die USA. Viele fahren als blinde Passagiere auf Güterzügen von Süden nach Norden. Quelle: Repositorio Peninsula [2] Lizenz: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Mexiko-Stadt. Seit Oktober sind in Mexiko die Festnahmen von zentralamerikanischen Migranten stark angestiegen und haben sogar die Zahlen aus den USA übertroffen. In den letzten sieben Monaten haben mexikanische Behörden circa 93.000 Migranten aus Honduras, Guatemala und El Salvador festgenommen. In diesem Zeitraum sind in den USA ungefähr 70.000 Einwanderer aus den gleichen Herkunftsländern in Haft genommen [3] worden. Grund der Veränderung ist das umstrittene Regierungsprogramm "Südgrenze". Diese staatliche Initiative ist wegen der steigenden Anzahl erwachsener, vor allem aber minderjähriger Migranten ins Leben gerufen worden, die ohne Begleitung ihrer Eltern durch Mexiko Richtung USA fahren. Vor der Umsetzung des Programms nahmen die USA zwischen Oktober 2013 und April 2014 fast 160.000 nichtmexikanische Migranten fest, Mexiko dagegen nur circa 50.000. Der mexikanische Präsident Peña Nieto verkündete [4] beim EU-Celac-Gipfel in Brüssel im Juni, dass seit der Einführung von "Südgrenze" im Juli 2014 Mexiko praktisch "eine Migrationsrate von null" hätte. Das Programm beinhaltet allerdings härtere Kontrollmaßnahmen. So wurden Checkpoints in Mexiko eingerichtet, um Migranten ausfindig zu machen. Herbergen werden zudem ständig von der lokalen Polizei überwacht. Der Güterzug, der Mexiko durchquert, bekannt als "La Bestia" (die Bestie), hat seine Fahrgeschwindigkeit erhöht, damit die Migranten nicht mehr darauf aufspringen können [5]. Zehntausende Einwanderer aus Mittelamerika nutzten diesen Zug, um in die USA zu kommen. Die neue Art der Festnahmen sei gewaltsamer und schneller geworden, so Rubén Figueroa, Sprecher einer Organisation von mittelamerikanischen Migranten. Die Einwanderer hätten keine Gelegenheit mehr, bei ihrer Festnahme einen Asylantrag zu stellen. Denn sobald ihre Nationalität festgestellt werde, würden sie umgehend zurückgewiesen. Sie dürften ihre Verwandten nicht anrufen, und juristische Unterstützung bekämen sie auch nicht. Auch aus den USA kommt Kritik an dem Programm. Für Maureen Meyer, innerhalb der NGO Washington Office on Latin America (Wola) für Mexiko und die Rechte der Migranten zuständig, ist klar, dass "die Migranten nun gefährlichere und längere Wege in Richtung USA nehmen. Der Migrationsfluss wird aber nicht weniger." Hinzu kommt, dass die häufig gewaltsamen Angriffe der organisierten Kriminalität gegen die Migranten oft in Kooperation mit den nationalen Sicherheitskräften und Mitarbeitern des mexikanischen Ministeriums für Migration (INM) geschehen. Zum Beispiel entführt die organisierte Kriminalität Migranten mit Unterstützung der Behörden und verlangt von Familienangehörigen in den USA Lösegeld (amerika21 berichtete [6]). Die Angriffe der letzten zwei Wochen bestätigen das. Im Bundesstaat Sonora eröffneten Männer in Militäruniform das Feuer auf eine Gruppe von etwa 120 Einwanderern aus Mittelamerika. Mindestens 13 von ihnen konnten entkommen und brachten sich nach einem beschwerlichen Weg durch die Wüste in Sicherheit. Ähnliche Attacken ereigneten sich im Bundesstaat Veracruz im Osten des Landes. Dort haben mit Pistolen, abgesägten Schrotflinten und Macheten bewaffnete Männer rund 100 Migranten angegriffen, die als blinde Passagiere auf dem Güterzug Richtung USA unterwegs waren, und von ihnen Geld gefordert. Die Menschenrechtsorganisation Amnesty International forderte nun durch ihre Regionalchefin in Mexiko, Erika Guevara-Rosas, dass die mexikanischen Behörden die Migranten schützen sollten. "Mexiko ist zu einer Todesfalle für Migranten geworden, mit brutalen Gangs, die nur darauf warten, um sie für ein paar Dollar anzugreifen", kritisierte Guevara-Rosas. elnherald [3] dpa Unterstützen Sie amerika21 mit einer Spende via Flattr [7] Links: [1] https://amerika21.de/autor/leticia-hillenbrand [2] https://www.flickr.com/photos/78592498@N02/7284702740/in/photolist-dNSLWu-c6J1SN-aD4DKi-5moP8t-sTta3k-q5RMXd-bDjLAZ-c6J1k7-c6J23L-o9igLN-c6J1vo-c6J2qQ-c6J2gd-c6J1GW-dWZykL-9tiB6C-dTqsBK-eKWS1A-873bBQ-86YZPt-5Q5rti [3] http://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/mundo/america-latina/article24937012.html [4] http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2015/06/12/politica/010n1pol [5] http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2014/08/25/aumentan-velocidad-a-la-bestia-para-evitar-que-migrantes-se-suban-8773.html [6] https://amerika21.de/2014/08/105255/mexiko-bestia-migration [7] https://flattr.com/submit/auto?user_id=amerika21&url=https%3A%2F%2Famerika21.de%2F2015%2F06%2F123701%2Fmigranten-mexiko-mittelamerika&title=Festnahmen%20von%20Migranten%20in%20Mexiko%20nehmen%20zu&description=Mexiko-Stadt.%20Seit%20Oktober%20sind%20in%20Mexiko%20die% 20Festnahmen%20von%20zentralamerikanischen%20Migranten%20stark%20angestiegen%20und%20haben%20sogar%20die%20Zahlen%20aus%20den%20USA%20%C3%BCbertroffen.%20In%20den%20letzten%20sieben%20Monaten%20haben%20mexikanische%20Beh%C3%B6rden%20circa%2093.000%20Migranten%20aus%20Honduras%2C%20Guatemala%20und%20El%20Salvador%20festgenommen.&language=de_DE&category=text Veröffentlicht auf amerika21 (https://amerika21.de) Quellen-URL: https://amerika21.de/2015/06/123701/migranten-mexiko-mittelamerika _______________________________________________ Chiapas98 Mailingliste JPBerlin - Mailbox und Politischer Provider Chiapas98@listi.jpberlin.de https://listi.jpberlin.de/mailman/listinfo/chiapas98

Mexico: Widersprüche bei Aufklärung der 42 Morde von Tanhuato

Spuren von Folter lassen Zweifel an Version der Polizei aufkommen. Die Parallelen zu anderen Gefechten mit zivilen Opfern sind arlamierend Von Jana Flörchinger [1] amerika21, 22.06.2015 Tanhuato, Mexiko. Bei einer Schießerei zwischen Zivilisten und der mexikanischen Bundespolizei sind im Mai 43 Menschen ums Leben gekommen, darunter 42 Zivilisten und ein Polizist. Die hohe Zahl getöteter Zivilisten, Zeugenaussagen und Spuren von Folter bei den Toten deuten darauf hin, dass es sich möglicherweise um ein Massaker gehandelt haben könnte. Deshalb werden die Zweifel an der offiziellen Version des Geschehensablaufs größer. Am 22. Mai kam es im Bundesstaat Michoacán zu einem Gefecht zwischen Zivilisten und mexikanischen Sicherheitskräften. Laut offizieller Version geriet ein Konvoi der Polizei in einen Hinterhalt des Drogenkartells "Jalisco Neue Generation" (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación – CJNG). Andere Quellen berichten von einer geheimen Operation, um den Anführer des Kartells Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes alias El Mencho, festzunehmen. Ob es sich tatsächlich um Mitglieder des Kartells gehandelt hat, ist indessen noch unklar. Möglicherweise waren auch Lohnarbeiter aus der Umgebung unter den Opfern. Während des Gefechts befanden sich etwa 65 bis 70 Personen auf dem Gelände, von denen 42 von der Polizei erschossen wurden. Drei weitere wurden festgenommen und über die restlichen mindestens 20 Personen sind keine weiteren Informationen bekannt. Ob es sich in Tanhuato um Mitglieder des Drogenkartells "Neue Generation" handelte, kann jetzt nur noch schwer nachgewiesen werden. Dennoch wurden die Ereignisse in Tanhuato als "Triumph im Kampf gegen den Drogenhandel und das organisierte Verbrechen" bezeichnet. "Die Polizei hat in diesem Fall ihre besten Fähigkeiten durch ihre Ausbildung und ihr Geschick demonstriert", lobte [3] der Hauptkommissar der Bundespolizei, Enrique Galindo Ceballos, den Einsatz in Tanhuato. In den mexikanischen Medien und in der Bevölkerung wachsen jedoch die Zweifel an der offiziellen Version. "Sie bezeichnen sich selbst als Regierung. Für mich sind das Mörder mit Lizenz", beschreibt der Bruder eines Opfers sein Vertrauen in die mexikanischen Behörden. Man frage sich, weshalb dutzende Menschen erschossen wurden, während kaum jemand verletzt wurde. Des weiteren sei auf Fotos des Tatorts deutlich zu erkennen, dass viele der Opfer weder mit Schuhen noch mit Oberteilen bekleidet waren. Der Bürgermeister von Tanhuato vermutet [4] daher: "Das scheint eher ein Massaker gewesen zu sein als eine Polizeioperation." Die Familien der Opfer berichten [2] von deutlichen Folterspuren wie ausgeschlagenen Zähnen, gebrochenen Gliedmaßen und tiefen Brandwunden bei elf der Getöteten. Die Vorwürfe, dass die Opfer erst gefoltert und dann hingerichtet wurden, werden von offizieller Seite abgestritten. Ceballos betonte wiederholt, dass es sich nicht um ein Massaker gehandelt habe, sondern um einen ordnungsmäßigen Einsatz. Die nationale Menschenrechtskommission hat vor dem Hintergrund der Widersprüche eigene Ermittlungen aufgenommen. Das Kartell "Neue Generation" gilt mittlerweile als eines der mächtigsten in Mexiko. In nur wenigen Jahren gelang es dem Anführer El Mencho in weiten Teilen des Landes zu operieren. Bei zwei tödlichen Gefechten zwischen Kartell und Sicherheitskräften wurden Anfang dieses Jahres 20 Polizisten erschossen [5]. Am ersten Mai gelang es den Mitgliedern des Kartells, die zweitgrößte Stadt Mexikos, Guadalajara im Bundesstaat Jalisco, in Alarmstufe Rot zu versetzten. 17 Menschen kamen dabei ums Leben. Für die mexikanische Polizei und das Militär gibt es daher zahlreiche Gründe, gegen die Mitglieder des Kartells vorzugehen. Die Maßnahmen, die insbesondere von Militär, Bundespolizei und Marineeinheiten durchgeführt werden, stoßen jedoch auf Entsetzen. Menschenrechtsorganisationen schätzen, dass dem Krieg gegen Drogenhandel und organisiertes Verbrechen seit 2006 bis zu 100.000 Menschen zum Opfer gefallen sind, unter ihnen auch zahlreiche Zivilisten. Die Ereignisse von Tanhuato reihen sich in eine Serie von Massakern ein, die sehr ähnliche Muster aufweisen. Anfang des Jahres sind in Apatzingán im Bundesstaat Michoacán bei einem Gefecht mit der Polizei 16 Zivilisten ums Leben gekommen, darunter auch Mitglieder der unabhängigen Bürgerwehr. In Tlatlaya kam es vergangenes Jahr zu 22 zivilen Opfern bei einer ähnlichen Auseinandersetzung, die vor kurzem von offizieller Seite als außergerichtliche Hinrichtung deklariert wurde. Links: [1] https://amerika21.de/autor/jana-floerchinger [3] http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion-mexico/2015/-39quien-busca-masacre-en-tanhuato-se-equivoca-39-1102960.html [4] http://www.animalpolitico.com/2015/05/los-42-muertos-no-tuvieron-oportunidad-la-policia-disparo-desde-un-helicoptero-testigos/ [5] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-32211367 URL: https://amerika21.de/2015/06/123587/tanhuato-widersprueche _______________________________________________ Chiapas98 Mailingliste JPBerlin - Mailbox und Politischer Provider Chiapas98@listi.jpberlin.de https://listi.jpberlin.de/mailman/listinfo/chiapas98