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An open letter to the Press
An Open Letter to the Press Rostock, G8 2007:
There is Something Terribly Wrong Here
Here in Germany, as major protests begin against the G8, the world press is not looking beyond the story of the battle – a partial story at best – and asking how or why it is happening.
Summit after summit, we have seen the same pattern in the media. The images of black clad protestors hurling rocks at police, the stories of senseless hooligans—those whom the government says should be punished and locked away.
These stories and images of street fighting do nothing but spread fear, criminalize protests, divide social movements, and distract the public from the story of the G8 and their unaccountable polices that are spreading militarism, poverty, violence, environmental destruction and climate change.
It is easy to condemn those who throw a rock or burn a car, but most of what we are seeing in Rostock is police blatantly provoking violence, using that same violence to justify ever more heavy-handed repression. Each day we are experiencing constant harassment, searches and humiliation imposed on us in the streets and on bikes, trains and borders, with no evidence of crime.
According to an official statement 13,000 police were present in Rostock on Saturday – all were well-armed and wearing lots of protective gear. There were small bands of police running into crowds, pushing, shoving and encircling protestors in a legally permitted rally. We saw nonviolent protestors who were trying to de-escalate the situation bludgeoned with batons and pepper sprayed. We saw huge water cannons infused with toxic chemicals spraying indiscriminately. Why is the press not reporting these acts of violence by the police? If violence makes such good headlines, why does the violence of poverty created by G8 policy go un-condemned?
Perhaps we might begin to understand if we look deeper. We may see that such violent confrontations have become a symptom of social and economic systems that values property over life, prisons over education, sprawl over sustainability, borders over migration, war over peace. We might see that it is in the interest of the police and the G8 to have such street fights, to justify the 90 million euros spent on security (in Germany alone). We might understand that repression and the violence of police is designed to thwart democracy and silence dissent.
But we who oppose the G8 will not be silent and we not be stopped. We understand that things are terribly wrong and that without such protests our voices will not be heard at all.
For ongoing independent coverage of events near Rostock: de.indymedia.org
Contact:
* Lisa Fithian, Austin,TX / +49 17629799874 / fithianl(at)igc.org /
* Logan Price, Seattle, Wa / +49 16092437902/ logan(at)riseup.net
* Nick Simmons, Vashon,WA / technocrat.nick(at)gmail.com
* Causten Wollerman, Denver, CO / 303.748 0922 / causten.wollerman(at)gmail.com
* Eric Freeman,Minneapolis, MN / erriiik(at)riseup.net (speaks German)
* Ian Markson, San Francisco, CA / IanEMarkson(at)yahoo.com,
* Val Alzarga, Denver, CO / 31610647398
* Michal Asterweil, Chapel Hill, NC / 0049015774630929
* David Zlutnick, CA, davidzlutnick(at)gmail.com
* Brandon Letsinger, Seattle, WA, cascadianow(at)gmail.com
* Luke Rodeheffer, Rodchester, MN, unspunmedia(at)gawab.com (speaks German)
Gag Me?
Excellent post on “The Smirking Chimp” blog. Accurately identifies a facet of the progressive rot that seems to have infected virtually every level of society…
Folks on the political right claim we Americans must give up some of our most cherished freedoms in order to protect our freedom from terrorists. They say we have to give up a our absolute right to privacy, water down the separation of powers, deny the right of an accused to face his/her accusers, challenge the evidence against them, or to even have a public trial.Folks on the left have their own list of cherish freedoms they say we must protect, and that the only way to do that is to trim back other freedoms — like freedom of speech when it comes to the utterance of touchy, controversial, unpleasant, potentially offensive subjects and terms. They change the meaning of words, like “illegal immgrants,” which becomes “undocumented immigrants.” Laws were broken, but no one is guilty.
Reconstructing a White House-censored op-ed
ArmsControlWonk: More on the Leverett Redactions
Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann claim that all the passages blocked by the CIA under White House pressure can found in other published articles, mostly quoting senior US officials less critical of the Bush Administration.I can’t prove it, but a plausible op-ed can be constructed from the crib sheet they provide in the New York Times and the redacted op-ed—a plausible op-ed that doesn’t threaten national security unless one goes all Sun-King and conflates the interests of the country with those of Mr. Bush.
Berlin Humboldt University Bans 9/11 Film
» Berlin Humboldt University Bans 9/11 Film - RINF Alternative News
Humbold University in Berlin cancelled a planned presentation of the film Loose Change scheduled for November 3, 2006, with only two days notice to the organizers.
Three young Americans created the film Loose Change, which examines unanswered questions with regard to the attacks of September, 11, 2001, and made it available over the internet in mid-2005. The film calls the official story into question and shows, among other things, a series of contraditions which still demand explanation. The film makers appeal to the public to examine the evidence and judge for themselves whether or not the official claims about the events can possibly be true.
Loose Change contains a wealth of evidence which indicates that the 911 attacks were a false-flag operation staged by the Bush administration in order to justify a so-called “war against terror” to promote their geo-political interests.
The film “Loose Change” has been downloaded over 70 million on Google Video and is thus the first international blockbuster. The version with German subtitles has been viewed 2,000,000 times on the internet since June, 2006. Television stations in France, Israel, Italy, Poland, Belgium, Holland, and Australia have show “Loose Change.” Even Hollywood has shown interest — a large studio is in negotiations to co-produce a version for film theaters, which is scheduled to premier at the USA’s Sundance Film Festival in spring 2007.
It is highly questionable that a film from the United States, which calls on viewers to educate themselves and form their own opinions, would be censored at Humboldt University. This is unusual for a German instiution of higher education, especially in view of the fact that the film “Loose Change” has been shown at dozens of US universities without similar attempts at censorship. It has furthermore been copied by thousands of US students and widely distributed on US colleges and universities. Humboldt University is a former east german university and had problems with censoring before during the Nazi era as well as during the communist period. In Germany usually only films with extremly violent, racist or pornographic content would be censored.
A free presentation of this film for the general public was planned for November 3, 2006 in the Film Theater of the Humboldt University; it was officially approved in early October and this was confirmed in both written and spoken form. The agreement was annulled by the office of the president of the university (signed by Mr. Kuhring) only two days prior to the planned presentation. This unjustified action was based on an alleged technicality. This are extracts from the 2 page letter sent to the student from the office of the President of Humboldt University :
…”The film ‘Loose Change’ covers the terrorist acts of September, 11th in the USA and makes allegations that refer to a direct responsibility of the president of the United States and other people within the US administration, but also to people within the economic system and the society.”
“The film contains racist and discriminating allegations, the distribution of which within the public domain cannot be supported. Furthermore, the distribution could damage the image of the Federal Republic of Germany and could compromise international cooperation. It could also result in a loss of reputation in the event that Humboldt University should be mentioned in this context.”
“The film is a failure, it presents unacademic assertions and prejudices and pretends pseudo-academic evidence, not scientific in any respect, both in the American scientific community and in the European scientific community.”…..
On November, 3 after a cancellation notice was placed on the website of the event, free DVDs of “Loose Change” were handed out to about 150 people who still came to see the film. Several businesses in Berlin support the film — a hairdresser, a CD shop, a bar, a new age store, a filmstudio, and an art gallery distribute “Loose Change” for free. So far in Berlin 10000 DVDs have been mailed and handed out through these outlets. Small ads for the film appear on a continuous basis in Berlin magazines and newspapers. The film was shown in small theaters and at a Berlin -Potsdam Film Festival.
As of Saturday 11/4 one german daily newspaper, the Berliner Zeitung has covered the ban on the event.
Zionists seek to silence critics of US policy toward Israel
Zionists seek to silence critics of US policy toward Israel
Prominent Zionist groups and individuals in the US are conducting a campaign of intimidation against liberal and left-wing critics of the Israeli regime and Washington’s policy toward Israel.
Planted Propaganda
Planted Propaganda - washingtonpost.com
Planted Propaganda
It’s a bad idea, whether or not it violates regulations. Too bad the Pentagon won’t say that.Monday, October 23, 2006; Page A20THE DEFENSE Department inspector general has concluded that having a Pentagon contractor secretly pay Iraqi journalists and news organizations to run positive news stories about the war doesn’t violate any laws or regulations. It’s almost impossible to tell whether that conclusion is correct: The scanty, two-page summary released by the Pentagon provides no details about the activities of the contractor, the Lincoln Group, the contract under which it was operating or the applicable rules.
We won’t dwell too long, though, on the irony that an assessment of the military’s secret propaganda operations is itself — except for the largely exculpatory conclusion — secret. The more important point is that, assuming the inspector general’s legal assessment is right, it only makes the problem worse. The U.S. government has a legitimate interest in conveying its point of view. The problem is when it does so in secret. The government shouldn’t be in the business of covertly peddling propaganda — especially in a war based on the notion of seeking to export democratic values such as, say, a free press.
Pentagon unit to push US message
Aljazeera.Net - Pentagon unit to push US message
The US defence department is setting up a special unit aimed at influencing 24-hour news outlets and websites around the world to counter what it considers derogatory publicity, according to a memo.
Internet Censorship
In the continuing battle against internet censorship Amnesty International have launched a campaign, irrepressible.info, to combat the insidious encroachment on our freedoms of speech and communication.
Irrepressible Adj. 1) Impossible to repress or control.
Chat rooms monitored. Blogs deleted. Websites blocked. Search engines restricted. People imprisoned for simply posting and sharing information.
The Internet is a new frontier in the struggle for human rights. Governments – with the help of some of the biggest IT companies in the world – are cracking down on freedom of expression.
Amnesty International, with the support of The Observer UK newspaper, is launching a campaign to show that online or offline the human voice and human rights are impossible to repress.
