yet another blog

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

During a G8 summit blockade near Bad Doberan, following repeated media warnings a so-called “agent provocateur” has been unveiled. This violence provoking state employee has sneaked into the peaceful anti-G8 sit-in action and instigated people to violent deeds.
Apparently, various activists have tried to hold back this still unmasked guy, who showed up his aggressive temper urging people around him to violence. But eventually some protesters identified this man in black with a policeman.
When the news about this man’s identity went round, activists literally mobbed him. The agent provocateur was freed by some Legal Team members from the mess he’d got himself into and handed him over to his police colleagues.
During the clashes between anti-capitalist globalization protesters and police it had already been cried out that violence by state paid agents provocateurs had massively contributed to the escalation of 2nd June in Rostock.

Source: Indymedia

Anyone got any photos of the guy?

Oh, and by the way… don’t forget to check out the up-to-the-minute reports being sent to Indymedia. Anyone wanna remind the German police that they’re beginning to behave a bit like the Nazis?

What’s next, concentration camps for the protesters? Gas chambers even?

The German cops would do well to remember who they’re actually protecting… the likes of Bush and Blair; the very people who deceived their countries into an illegal war upon a sovereign nation that had no real means to defend itself. Now what does that remind us of I wonder?

And let’s not forget the CIA’s rendition program and Guantanamo Bay.

These are the people that the German police are so conscientious in protecting from the legitimate protests of tens of thousands of ordinary citizens!

Protests, moreover, that if left unhindered would almost certainly just be probably very noisy but peaceful. At least no-one would be injured or killed by them - which is more than can be said for State-intervention policies!

When will the police finally realise that by using repressive tactics they merely provoke an escalation in the determination of the general public to have their voice heard?

Sample extracts from the Indymedia Timeline:

06.06.07 22:15
Legal update: So far 200 arrests have been made today, of which 60-70 were in a parking lot near the Rostock Laage airport. Two lawyers were not allowed through but, instead, warned that if they came back they would be arrested. At both detention centres in Ulmen and Industriestr., all lawyers were kicked out of the the lawyers room. An alternative media bus from Amsterdam was seized by police and the driver was physically forced to drive the bus. A Stern photographer was arrested for “inciting violence”.

06.06.07 19:15
The sit-down blockade in Hinter Bollhagen near Gate 1 has been forecfully dissolved by police. Protesters are withdrawing, some having been hurt by pepper spray and batons.

06.06.07 19:00
Police have announced that they will prevent food supplies to activists at blockades. Water and meals are not being let through any more. A doctor had requested that Disaster Control provide blankets for protesters as they face the provision of cold. Police, however, have not approved this.

06.06.07 18:35
Hinter Bollhagen: A peaceful sit-down blockade near Gate I of the fence, with approximately 100 participants, is being brutally dispersed by police. A water cannon is being used and cops are reportedly beating people up.

Footnote: protesters (at least in Germany) are actively prevented from wearing any form of protective clothing at all. Yet the cops are armoured, shielded, batoned, and generally “tooled up”. Now what does that tell us?

The article “Why People Hate Cops” was posted to Insurgent American  on 28th May ‘07, though I’ve only just stumbled across it. As a summary of the role of the police in 21st century Western society it is superb.

Customarily one would reproduce the first para, or extracts from the start of an article, to introduce the topic. Breaking with that tradition, here’s what’s virtually the final para…

Think about the stories you just told me. Think about how the cops treated you. Think about their perspective on you that they kept trying to get you to see? What is it about that perspective? What are they feeling toward you? Think about all the cop shows you see. What do the cops feel toward those they encounter? Contempt, at best. More likely hatred. Think about the looks on cops’ faces when they walk up to give you a ticket. Think about all the stories you have ever heard about the police. Yes, we all have a good story here or there involving police treating us well, but think about your experience and the experiences of those you know. What do all of those stories have in common? Think about the question you asked: why do so many people hate the police? I think the answer is staring us in the face, especially when it is cops who are doing the staring. I think a lot of people hate the police because the police hate us first.

With the failure of our so-called “democratic” political system increasing numbers of people are turning to other means in attempts to halt the escalating encroachments on our freedoms and privacy, and to achieve changes in our society.

However, whilst talk of protests, demonstrations, civil disobedience and other forms of direct action are all well and good the harsh reality is that the greater number of the general public are either unwilling or unable to participate in such activities.

And absent their participation (i.e., the participation of the “silent majority”) few revolutionary changes, no matter how well-intentioned, are likely to make much headway.

Moreover, this sad state of affairs is one that the “activist community” at large still seems unprepared to acknowledge.

But things are changing!

We’ve come across a brand new initiative that a group of youngsters are just now developing that, with sufficient uptake, has the potential for achieving changes that the hardcore activist can presently only dream about.
Its called the “Lazy Revolution”, and we’ll let them speak for themselves…

“We are a movement founded in 2007 by a small group of young people to combat globalization and the surveillance culture in the UK primarily but we also support other movements internationally with similar aims.

Our primary aims are simple - to move against the following trends:

• the disappearence of small local businesses in favour of global monsters including but not limited to supermarket, restaurant, coffee shop and clothing retail chains.
• the prevalence of surveillance measures including but not limited to video cameras, travel cards containing personal details, DNA databases.

We are called Lazy Revolution. We are about working against globalization and the surveillance society in much the same spirit as we allowed it to spread in the first place, passivity and complacence. We are not radical activists, all we ask of our adherents is therefore that they do what is manageable for them to help us achieve our goals.
We simply ask supporters to stop buying in to this machine. It relies on our apathy, our preference of comfort, convenience, and security over freedom. We don’t want our supporters to go all out - we know that this is not possible, so far ingrained into our culture has it become to choose the path of least resistance. We simply ask that if you agree with us you make the conscious decision to become a defective cog in the machine.

Here are some ridiculously simple starter ideas:

• If you have viable alternatives near you: grocery shops, markets, chemists, butchers, bakeries etc. even if there is less variety and it is a bit more expensive / less convenient, do not shop at your local supermarket.
• If you want to go out for a meal or a coffee simply choose to go to a small family owned restaurant/cafe rather than a chain.
• If you have them nearby, take advantage of clothing markets, vintage clothing shops, second hand shops and street traders rather than buying from chain retailers.
• Promote these small but effective gestures to friends, the only way this can work is if enough people get on board and start making these minor lifestyle changes.

We also want to actively support some of the people who provide alternative services to the ones provided by big business - we hope to help promote these services so that people will start using them more often so that we start seeing supermarkets closing down to make way for yet another small enterprise rather than the other way round. Please see our interest list for a list of types of service we support.

This is the beginning for us and we are still trying to work on ways to combat these trends which we object to. The matter of surveillance is still more difficult to work on because any small scale action against it will inevitably be ineffective or illegal or both. We welcome ideas from supporters and hope to develop with their help.”

To sign on to their ideas and let them know you’re “in” you can visit them at their MySpace page - they’d really appreciate it.
But you don’t even need to do that if you don’t wish. Just start practising their suggestions, and spreading the word to your family, friends, and workmates.

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direct Chasers War on Everything

Reuters - 10:08 PM Wednesday December 13

Bomb blasts killed 15 people in Baghdad on Wednesday and suicide bombers attacked an Iraqi army base as U.S. President George W. Bush ended a three-day review of Iraq policy and said he would not be rushed into making changes.

More. . .

Check this one out!

Doubt if this’ll indicate any significant change overall for smokers, but its about time we saw initiatives like this being developed.

The almost world-wide anti-smoking campaign that we’ve seen maturing over at least the last decade (possibly longer - its been going on too long now for me to remember accurately) is a superb example of successfull mass brainwashing.

Mention smoking now to self-professed human rights, civil liberties and freedom campaigners and it seems their ability to think clearly and rationally, to question, to probe, and to analyse, suddenly goes into melt-down.

Yeah. Sure. Smoking is seriously bad for one’s health. But so are countless other human pursuits, not least of which is the excessive imbibing of alcohol.

And the bottom line has surely always got to be the question: “Should we have the freedom to choose”?

Whilst I’m totally in favour of ensuring that full information is freely available regarding the risks attendant upon the pursuit of a given activity, the choice of whether or not to pursue that activity should still be ours to make.

Far too many of the tactics and arguments that’ve been used to promote the anti-smoking position have been, to say the least, dubious. Words such as spurious, logically flawed, and downright dishonest spring to mind. (a propos of which, its almost amusing to note the way the following article’s been written: a classic example of the way emotive words can be used to elicit a desired response!)
IOL: Smokers light up, chill out on their airline
By Eva Kuehnen

Berlin - “We would like to remind passengers that smoking is permitted on this flight.”

It has been a long time since most European air travellers heard anything like this, but a German entrepreneur has set up an airline that will give its customers the freedom to chain-smoke from take-off to landing.

more…

Warning on “surveillance society”

“Every time we use a mobile phone, use our credit cards, go online to search on the Internet, go electronic shopping, drive our cars, more and more information is being collected,”

“Humans must dictate our future, not machines.”

Trident Ploughshares - Calendar

Um… yeah. That’s about right.