MANITOU

Freitag, 2. Dezember 2011

A Message from Syria by actor Fadwa Soliman

Sonntag, 20. November 2011

No Time for Losers

Darwinian principles should apply in the euro zone and the rule of survival of the fittest prevail, with the strongest economies having the leading say in how the bloc is run, Finland's Europe Minister Alex Stubb said on Thursday. Setting out his argument for the euro zone's six triple-A rated countries to have more influence in the region's economic management, Stubb said the 13-year-old currency needed to look to its strongest members to secure the future. "We've been looking at the whole debate from the wrong end, we've been looking at countries that we need to save and help all the time," he told Reuters in an interview. "For me, the euro is a Darwinist system, it is the survival of the fittest. The markets take care of that, and I think that's the best way we can keep up market pressure," said Stubb, who is himself a fitness fanatic and frequently completing Ironman triathlons.

- Reuters, 17 November 2011

Welche Werkzeuge findet der Planet-Manager vor? Wie kann er seinen Auftrag wahrnehmen, während ringsumher die überflüssigen Massen nicht nur nach Brot, sondern nach Lebenssinn schreien? Wenn die ständigen Massaker auf dem ganzen Globus sich immer unabweisbarer als Schlachten im Kampf um Wasser und Ackerboden entpuppen?

Zunächst muß überwacht werden, und zwar gründlich und lückenlos. Hitlers Drittes Reich hatte für damalige Verhältnisse einen gewaltigen Lausch- und Spähapparat aufgebaut, aber verglichen mit den Verhältnissen unter Stalin, und natürlich erst recht im Vergleich zu den heutigen Möglichkeiten, war er eine recht altmodische und klapprige Angelegenheit…

Es wird auch selektiert werden müssen. Gut, die Sache der Menschenrechte hat in der zweiten Jahrhunderthälfte Fortschritte gemacht, kein Zweifel…

Dennoch, es wird selektiert. Hier und heute.

Manchmal findet die Auswahl äußerst konkret statt, und dann zeigt sich, daß sie immer noch nach alten Kriterien funktioniert. Rupert Neudeck, der Initiator der „Cap Anamur“-Hilfe, hat erst jüngst darauf hingewiesen, daß bei den großen Massakern in Ruanda zunächst und reflexhaft die Weißen ausgeflogen wurden – einschließlich belgischer Nonnen, die sich solche rassistische Präferenz, die nicht ganz ihren Ordensgelübden entsprach, durchaus gefallen ließen. Es konnte dabei zu der grotesken, aber bezeichnenden Situation kommen, daß ein US-amerikanischer Diplomat zurückgelassen wurde, weil er eine schwarze Haut hat und man ihn deshalb automatisch zu den Überflüssigen rechnete.

Selektiert wird von der transnationalen Finanzmacht schon vorher, wenn es um die Verlängerung von Krediten, die Umschuldung der Ärmsten, die Bedingungen für weiter gewährtes Wohlwollen geht.

Selektiert wird durch die GATT-Abkommen, welche der sicherste und unauffälligste Weg zur Ausrottung etwa noch existierender traditioneller Gesellschaften und Kulturen sind.

Selektiert wird an den Grenzen des Schengener Abkommens, auf deutschen Flughäfen, wo das einst sehr liberale deutsche Asylrecht zu einem bürokratischen Fegefeuer geworden ist. Sinn solcher Selektion ist die Bewahrung des Wohlstandsgefälles, das nicht zuletzt durch die vorhergehende Selektion, nämlich die terms of trade, die internationalen Handelsbedingungen, entstanden ist.

Selektiert wird in nie dagewesener Breite und Gründlichkeit in der Arbeitswelt. Die jahrtausendelang geltende Qualifikation eines arbeitswilligen Normalmenschen, der über starke Muskeln, geschickte Hände und einige Ausdauer verfügt, ist völlig unwichtig geworden. Man geht davon aus, daß die erwünschte Produktion der Weltwirtschaft dank der technisch-wissenschaftlichen Innovation von etwa zwanzig Prozent der Weltbevölkerung geleistet werden kann. Der Rest wird vorläufig von der schon etwas tatterigen Wach- und Schließgesellschaft der Nationalstaaten betreut, aber eines Tages, das ist vorauszusehen, muß er entsorgt werden.

Selektiert wird aber auch in den obersten Stockwerken der Weltökonomie. Die Riesensaurier mit den großen Firmen- und Konzernnamen verschlingen einander in mehr oder weniger freundlichen takeovers, wobei mehr oder weniger klar der Endzustand eines weltweiten Gesamtkapitalisten am Horizont erscheint. Wackere Kartellämter versuchen die Entwicklung wenigstens zu bremsen, aber allzuviel Glück haben sie dabei nicht. Man hat für diese Spielchen die Regeln der grausamen Königin in den ökonomischen Regelkreis hineingenommen; was dabei an Schicksalen den Bach hinunter geht, ist unvermeidlich, also uninteressant, und wird höchstens durch sogenannte Sozialpläne abgefedert. Der Gesamtkapitalist am Ende der Selektionskette kann sich dann als Planet-Manager konstituieren und die große Rechnung aufmachen, die über kurz oder lang fällig ist.

- Carl Amery, Hitler als Vorläufer. Auschwitz – der Beginn des 21.Jahrhunderts ?, Luchterhand, München 1998, Seite 176-179 (gekürzt)

Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland ist ein demokratischer und sozialer Bundesstaat. Alle Staatsgewalt geht vom Volke aus. Sie wird vom Volke in Wahlen und Abstimmungen und durch besondere Organe der Gesetzgebung, der vollziehenden Gewalt und der Rechtsprechung ausgeübt. Die Gesetzgebung ist an die verfassungsmäßige Ordnung, die vollziehende Gewalt und die Rechtsprechung sind an Gesetz und Recht gebunden. Gegen jeden, der es unternimmt, diese Ordnung zu beseitigen, haben alle Deutschen das Recht zum Widerstand, wenn andere Abhilfe nicht möglich ist.

- Grundgesetz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Artikel 20 (der letzte Satz über das Widerstandsrecht wurde 1968, im Zuge der Notstandsgesetze, in den Gesetzestext eingefügt)

***

Music: Queen’s "We Are the Champions", released as single the 7 October 1977, is from their studio album "News of the World". It has become an anthem for sporting victories and was recently voted catchiest pop song of all time by some sort of 'rocket scientists' who were relying on ‘maths, science, engineering and technology’… I don't like this song, because for me it’s the secret anthem of neoliberalism.

Mittwoch, 16. November 2011

This Is Not America

Das System der Befehle ist allgemein anerkannt. Am schärfsten ausgeprägt hat es sich wohl in den Armeen. Aber viele andere Bereiche des zivilisierten Lebens sind vom Befehl ergriffen und gezeichnet. Der Tod als Drohung ist die Münze der Macht. Es ist leicht, hier Münze auf Münze zu legen und enorme Kapitalien anzusammeln. Wer der Macht beikommen will, der muß den Befehl ohne Scheu ins Auge fassen und die Mittel finden, ihn seines Stachels zu berauben.

- Elias Canetti, Masse und Macht (Crowds and Power), Schluß

According to the Syrian Uprising 2011 Information Center (16/11/2011), the place where this man is tortured and mistreated is Kafr Nabl, 40 km south of Idlib, Syria.

Donnerstag, 10. November 2011

Fear Form Flying

- Politics is over, Charles, it doesn’t touch the public imagination any longer. Religions emerged too early in human evolution – they set up symbols that people took literally, and they’re as dead as a line of totem poles. Religions should have come later, when the human race begin to near the end. Sadly, crime is the only spur that rouses us. We’re fascinated by that “other world” where everything is possible.

- Most people would say there’s more than enough crime already.

- But not here !

-- J. G. Ballard, Cocaine Nights (1996), Counterpoint, Washington, D.C. 1998, page 245

Über solch gut und so rein geschriebenen Nonsens mag man nicht diskutieren. Zwischen der beliebig hervorragenden Ästhetik gewisser Phänomene, z.B. der Kristallisierung der Welt oder des vom Busch und Krokodilen überschwemmten London und der wachsenden Existenz, die in diesen Phänomen vernichtet wird, gibt es keinerlei Übergänge. Eine Guillotine, ganz mit Veilchen geschmückt, bleibt eine Guillotine. Die Ästhetik der Vernichtungsformen, das ist eine Sache, und ihr, das persönliche Sein vernichtender Charakter, ist eine andere Sache; zwischen den Kategorien der Eschatologie und der Ästhetik gibt es keine Konjunktionen. Wenn wir das sagen, dann tun wir das nicht als blinde, hartnäckige Anhänger des empirischen Credo. Keineswegs ! Nur, in welche ontologische und metaphysische Ordnung eigentlich sollen wir diese Art der Beziehung „Subjekt – Objekt“ hineinstecken, damit eine Begriffsadäquation entsteht ? Denn rein ästhetische Argumente sind kein Fundament für eine Metaphysik als Existenztheorie. Wenn Glaubensliturgien schöne Objekte benutzen, dann gilt diese Schönheit nicht als autonom: ist sie doch sakral geweiht. Dadurch kann sie nicht völlig geschlossen in ihrer Ästhetik gehalten werden. Sie ist nur ein Signum der Offenbarung, ein Hinweis auf die Anmut der Transzendenz, sie tritt hier nur zeitweilig in den Rechten eines symbolischen Vertreters auf. Wir würden daher jeden für irre halten, der das Kreuzeszeichen durch ein Kreiszeichen zu ersetzen verlangt, weil – seiner Meinung nach – „ein Kreis schöner als ein Kreuz“ sei; als einen Irren und nicht als einen Metaphysiker sollen wir auch denjenigen ansehen, der uns die Vernichtung schmackhaft machen will, indem er ihr ein ästhetisch attraktives Äußeres gibt. Nicht der ist heiliger, der auf dem Scheiterhaufen schöner brennt …

Die Erzählungen Ballards sind jedoch im allgemeinen gut geschrieben.

-- Stanisław Lem, Phantastik und Futurologie I (polnisch 1970), Frankfurt am Main 1984, Seite 283 (über Ballards Roman „The Illuminated Man“ und die Erzählung „The Drowned World“)

While in the RAF, Ballard also wrote his first science fiction story, "Passport to Eternity", as a pastiche and summary of the American science fiction he had read.

He left the RAF in 1954 after two years and returned to England. In 1955 he married Helen Mary Matthews and settled in Chiswick, the first of their three children being born the following year. From 1957, Ballard worked as assistant editor on the scientific journal "Chemistry and Industry". In 1960 Ballard moved with his family to the middle-class London suburb of Shepperton in Surrey. In 1964 Ballard's wife Mary died suddenly of pneumonia, leaving him to raise their three children – James, Fay and Bea Ballard – by himself.

--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._G._Ballard

Ballard zog seine drei Kinder alleine auf. Er behauptete, die Hausarbeit lasse sich in fünf Minuten erledigen, vorausgesetzt, man mache keinen Fetisch aus der Sache. Die Presse belegte ihn mit dem Beinamen "Prophet von Shepperton".

-- http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Graham_Ballard

1955 heiratete J.G. Ballard die aus wohlhabenden Verhältnissen stammende Sekretärin Mary Matthews. In „Wunder des Lebens“ erinnert er sich, daß sie im Gegensatz zu seinen Eltern von seiner Zukunft als Autor überzeugt war, ihm anfangs sogar ihre Schreibmaschine lieh. Pragmatisch, aber auch romantisch.

--Wolfgang Frömberg, „Ein Leben wie im Flug“, FAZ, 10. November 2011, Seite 30 (über Ballards jetzt in deutscher Übersetzung bei Edition Phantasia erschienene Autobiographie „Miracles of Life")

PHOTO: JG Ballard and his children. He acknowledged reading his daughters' copies of the "New Musical Express" during the punk era. "I'd grab it from them and start reading avidly, because it seemed to convey the news, not about rock music, which I wasn't interested in, but about the larger world." - J. G. Ballard mit seinen Kindern Fay, James und Beatrice

http://www.rrr.org.au/playlist/5740/

Mittwoch, 1. Juni 2011

O Banqueiro Anarquista

Wir hatten das Abendessen beendet. Mir gegenüber saß mein Freund, der Bankier, ein großer Händler und namhafter Schieber; er rauchte wie einer, der nicht denkt. Die Unterhaltung war allmählich ins Stocken geraten und erstarrte schließlich ganz. Ich versuchte auf gut Glück, sie wieder in Gang zu bringen und bediente mich dabei der erstbesten Idee, die mir durch den Kopf ging. Lächelnd wandte ich mich ihm zu:

"Richtig! Mir wurde erzählt, Sie seien früher Anarchist gewesen."

"Ich bin es nicht nur gewesen, ich bin es noch immer. In dieser Hinsicht habe ich mich nicht geändert. Ich bin Anarchist."

"Was Sie nicht sagen! Sie und Anarchist? Und wieso wären Sie Anarchist? ... Sie verstehen das Wort vielleicht anders..."

"Anders im gewöhnlichen Sinn? Nein, keineswegs. Ich gebrauche es ganz im gewöhnlichen Sinn."

"Sie wollen also sagen, Sie seien Anarchist im selben Sinne wie diese Typen von den Arbeiterorganisationen? Es gäbe also keinen Unterschied zwischen Ihnen und diesen Bombenlegern und Gewerkschaftstypen ?"

"Daß ich nicht das Leben der Bombenleger und Gewerkschaftstypen führe, stimmt. Doch deren Leben spielt sich jenseits des Anarchismus, jenseits ihrer Ideale ab. Meines nicht. In mir - jawohl, in mir, dem Bankier, dem großen Händler und Schieber, wenn Sie es so hören wollen - in mir vereinigen sich beide, Theorie und Praxis des Anarchismus, auf's genaueste. Sie haben mich mit diesen Idioten von Bombenlegern, mit denen von der Gewerkschaft verglichen, um zu beweisen, ich sei anders als sie. Das bin ich auch, nur ist der Unterschied folgender: die da (jawohl, die da, nicht ich) sind nur in der Theorie Anarchisten, ich bin es in der Theorie und in der Praxis. Die da sind Anarchisten und Dummköpfe, ich bin Anarchist und gescheit. Darum mein Guter, bin ich der wahre Anarchist!"

- Fernando Pessoa, Ein anarchistischer Bankier (1922)

***

Die deutsche Übersetzung von Reinold Werner erschien 1986 als Quartheft 146 im Berliner Verlag Klaus Wagenbach.

Freitag, 13. Mai 2011

Don't do it, Ameneh !

Ameneh Bahrami is an Iranian woman blinded and badly disfigured in an acid attack by a fellow student at Tehran university in October 2004, after she had rejected his romantic advances. In the following trial she informed the court that she desired "to inflict the same life on him that he inflicted on me". In February 2009, the criminal court ordered qisas (retaliation) on her attacker and entitled her to blind him with acid as well. This sentence was reportedly set to be carried out on Saturday the 14th May 2011; it was postponed at the 11th hour on Saturday, the ISNA news agency reported.

Freitag, 22. April 2011

The Trial of Jesus

The trial of Jesus (Christ before Caiphas)

Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy, painted 1304-1313 by Giotto

"Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death."

- The Holy Gospel according to Mark, Chapter 14, 61-64

See also this story according to Matthew, Chapter 26, line 63-66. The essential difference between both texts is that Marc says the high priest tore his shirt (in biblical Greek: tous chitônas), while Matthew identifies him expressingly as Caiphas and says he tore his cloak (tà imátia). Luke and John do not report this gesture. The rending or tearing of one’s clothes (as a sign of intense grief and anger) is a common mourning practice in historical Mediterranean & Near Eastern cultures and other parts of the world. In Jewish tradition it is known as Kriah.

Freitag, 25. Februar 2011

The Arab Revolution

On February 21st protesters gather in Libya's second-largest city, Benghazi, where the uprising against the regime of Col. Muammar el-Gaddafi began the 16th February. The protesters made their own flags to replace those representing their dictator's regime (Photo via Public Broadcasting Service, USA)

On February 25th, the first Friday prayer service since Benghazi declared itself free from Colonel Gaddafi, was charged with emotion, both triumph and anger. Worshipers cried as an imam, on a stage and through loudspeakers, gave a defiant, impassioned speech about liberating Tripoli, and the fight for justice and freedom. Benghazi is now being run by committees of citizens (Photo: Suhaib Salem/Reuters via Boston Globe; with text from NYT)

In Benghazi, a relative mourns the death of Ahmed Sarawi, 36, who was killed in recent clashes. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said today that reports indicated that "thousands may have been killed or injured" during the regime's bloody attacks against the uprising. (Photo: Suhaib Salem/Reuters via Boston Globe)

Migrant laborers and other expatriates prepare to board a ship going to Greece from the Libyan harbor in Benghazi. (Photo: Asmaa Waguih/Reuters via Boston Globe)

The Libyan uprising and brutal counterattacks by forces still loyal to Muammar el-Gaddafi have prompted tens of thousands to flee, including these Chinese evacuees arriving on the Greek part of the island of Crete. Many of those fleeing were able to take Greek ferries to safety; others were stuck in Libyan ports waiting for ships to arrive and seas to calm. The main airport in Libya has been overrun with people desperate to leave, witnesses say. (Photo/text: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images via Boston Globe)

Libyan protesters shout slogans against Libyan leader Muammar el-Gaddafi in front of the Libyan embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Photo: Getty Images via New Statesman, UK)

Anti-government protesters attend a rally in Taiz, Yemen, on February 25th. It was the biggest pro-democracy protest day in Yemen's recent history. Local media reported 30,000 demonstrators in Sana'a and more than 100,000 nationwide. In Saana where also 10,000 government loyalists took to the streets the protestors called for an end to the 32-year reign of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The protest was peaceful, though at times tense. Protesters want better living conditions as well as political reform. One banner read simply: "Look at the gap between rich and poor." In the southern port city of Aden with more than 10,000 people on the streets two people were killed and thirty-four wounded, mostly by live bullets, witnesses said. (Photo: Reuters via Time, USA; text from The Guardian, UK, and The Peninsula, Qatar)

Sana'a, Yemen, 25 February: An anti-government protester chants slogans demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The president ordered security services to protect protesters. (Photot/text: Muhammed Muheisen/AP via The Guardian, UK)

Iraqi anti-government protesters confronting the riot police during a demonstration in Baghdad on Friday 25th, billed as "day of rage". Thousands marched on government buildings and clashed with security forces Friday in cities across Iraq in an outpouring of anger that left eleven people dead — the largest and most violent anti-government protests in the country since political unrest began spreading in the Arab world weeks ago. (Photo/text: AP via Arab News, Saudi-Arabia)

Bahraini protesters thronged Manama on Friday to demand the end of the ruling Sunni regime, as top US military officer Admiral Mike Mullen reaffirmed Washington's commitment to embattled King Hamad. "The people want to topple the regime!" roared tens of thousands of demonstrators in Pearl Square, which has become the epicentre of protests that began on February 14th (Photo: Associated Press; text: Agence France-Presse)

Today, February 25th, protesters, not satisfied with only ridding Egypt of Mubarak, protested the new cabinet. Tens of thousands rallied in Cairo's Tahrir Square, keeping the pressure on Egypt's military rulers to carry out reforms and calling for the dismissal of members of the Mubarak regime who are still in place. (Photo: Khalil Hamra/AP; text: Axis of Logic)

Tunisians chant slogans as they hold Tunisian and old Libyan flags during an anti-Gaddafi protest at the Tunisian-Libyan border crossing of Ras Jdir. Weighed down with suitcases, blankets, and, for some, horrific memories, people fled into Tunisia by the thousands. (Photo/text: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters via Boston Globe)

Freitag, 11. Februar 2011

Tunisia's and Egypt's Revolution

Tarek el-Tayyib Mohamed Ben Bouazizi, known as Basboosa, the street vendor who set himself on fire on December 17, 2010, in protest of the confiscation of his wares and sparked the Tunisian Revolution

An Egyptian woman cries as she celebrates the news of the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, who handed control of the country to the military, Friday night, in Tahrir Square, Cairo

Freitag, 4. Februar 2011

On Revolution

Cairo, Friday night: Several thousand demonstrators remained in Tahrir Square, for the Night Prayer and Protest, after curfew (Photo: Ed Ou for The New York Times)

From the writings of Ruhollah Khomeini:

"All governments in the world are based on bayonets. We do not know any monarchy or republic in the contemporary world that is founded on justice and reason. They all maintain themselves only by repression."

From the New York Times, USA (by Anthony Shadid):

" 'We decided on eliminating all businessmen', Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq said Friday of his cabinet in an interview with Al Arabiya, an Arabic satellite channel, in a gesture toward protesters who have made Mr. Ezz a symbol of everything corrupt about the state."

From the Press Trust of India via Hindustan Times:

"A failed assassination bid against Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman has left two of his bodyguards dead, according to a media report. The incident was reported by Fox News which said, "Such an attempt on the life of Omar Suleiman would mark an alarming turn in the uprising against the government of President Hosni Mubarak, who only recently named Suleiman as Vice President in an effort to quell the unrest and possibly line up a successor." White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, however, refused to comment on the issue."

From the Indo-Asian News Service via Deccan Herald, India:

"Protesters stand their ground in Cairo square

Cairo, Feb 5, (IANS):

Defiant protesters continued to camp in Cairo's Tahrir Square to seek the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, a day after tens of thousands of Egyptians held a ''day of departure'' for their president who has ruled for the past 30 years.

Demonstrators stood their ground in Tahrir Square, the focal point of the unrest that has swept through the country. Massive protests also took place in Alexandria, Mahalla and Giza. The protests entered the 12th day Saturday.

Mubarak is under intense pressure to quit as the protests gained momentum. He said he is willing to step down at the end of his term in September, but refused to quit now. He has even warned that if he leaves now, there will be chaos in the country.The protesters are unimpressed with Mubarak's statement and have kept up their demand for his immediate ouster.

Al Jazeera reported Saturday that protests continued into the night as the demonstrators defied a curfew. The newly relaxed curfew now runs from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time.

The protesters have made it clear that they would not budge till Mubarak steps down.

"It's either death, or freedom," a protester said.

'Go Mubarak!' chanted the protesters.

Egypt's Defence Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi was a surprise visitor to ground zero Tahrir Square Friday. He met his military commanders and a few protesters [see photo below].

The square has been encircled by the army with checkpoints at a few entrances and the soldiers have been trying to keep the pro-Mubarak supporters away from the anti-president demonstrators [see also this Tahrir square protest diagramm].

The unrest had turned violent Wednesday when bloody clashes took place between the pro- and anti-government supporters, leaving 13 people dead and over 1,000 injured. It has been estimated that around 300 people have died across Egypt.

On Friday, there was a huge cheer when a rumour went around that Mubarak had stepped down. The protest leaders quickly said it was false. The protesters became even more upbeat, saying it will be true the next time around.

An Egyptian journalist died Friday of a gunshot wound suffered while covering the unrest a week ago in Cairo, the Committee to Protect Journalists said in New York.

Ahmad Mohamed Mahmoud, who was working for the newspaper al-Ta'awun, was hit by what the newspaper described as sniper fire while filming a confrontation between security forces and protesters Jan 28 near Cairo's Tahrir Square, DPA reported.

His death Friday was the first by a journalist covering the unrest in Egypt, according to CPJ. A number of journalists have been detained or assaulted while covering the protests in Egypt.

Hosni Mubarak said he doesn't care what people say about him and was fed up of being president.

"I don't care what people say about me. Right now I care about my country, I care about Egypt," said Mubarak. Mubarak, 82, told ABC News that he was fed up of being president.

He said he would like to leave now, but can't as he fears that the country would sink into chaos, ABC News reported."

A natural gas pipeline exploded on Saturday in El Arish in Egypt's North Sinai, after mass protests broke out in the country more than a week ago (Photo: Xinhua)

Donnerstag, 3. Februar 2011

Growing concerns over rise in killings - UN urges Iran to halt executions

Undated photo of Zahra Bahrami, an Iranian-Dutch citizen, who was executed under dubious circumstances in Tehran on Saturday, January 30

While there seems to be no change in the cases of Sakineh Ashtiani and Habibollah Latifi (who are still supposed remaining on death row), there are now growing concerns not only in Western media over a dramatic rise of executions so far in 2011 in Iranian prisons. Expressing alarm at the increase, United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay said on Wednesday at least 66 people were executed in January in Iran, while Ms Pillay’s aides said they had recorded about 300 executions for the whole of last year.

Two Iranian opposition leaders, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, have also condemned the growing number of executions in Iran, while expressing support for the popular movements that are shaking up countries in the Arab world.

On Monday, the U.S. State Department had urged the Iranian government to halt executions after Tehran hanged Zahra Bahrami, a Dutch-Iranian woman, saying she was a drug smuggler. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has said the drug charges were only a pretext to execute Bahrami, and the Netherlands froze all ties with Iran on Sunday, a day after the hanging. According to Reuters news agency her family said the charge was fabricated after she was arrested for participating in anti-government protests in 2009.

According to the United Nations Office for Human Rights (Geneva), there are at least three known cases in which Iranian political activists were executed in January. The three persons, Jafar Kazemi, Mohammad Ali Haj Aqaei and another man whose name was not disclosed, were affiliated with banned political parties. Kazemi and Aqaei were arrested in September 2009 during protests. All three were convicted of mohareb or "enmity against God", and hanged last month.

In the United States there were forty-six executions in 2010 and four executions so far in January 2011 (and more than 3.000 prisoners are actually waiting on death row).

At least 66 executions in Iran's death penalty in January - UN says (BNO News, Netherlands, via New Kerala, India)

Iran: UN Human Rights chief concerned about recent spate of executions (United Nations Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva)

UN experts call for a moratorium on death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran (United Nations Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights)

Concerns grow over fate of Political prisoner in Iran after disappearance (National Council of Resistance in Iran, an organisation linked to the People's Mujahedin of Iran)

Iranian opposition leaders speak out against surge in executions (Payvand, San Francisco)

Message of Zahra Bahrami's execution to the world (Radio Zamaneh, Netherlands, via Payvand, San Francisco)

Zahra Bahrami Executed in Iran (Rohama.org, Union of Islamic World Students, Tehran)

2 Terrorists Jafar Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Haj Aqaei Executed in Iran (Rohama.org)

Death Row Prisoner's Father: Confessions After 17 Months of torture (International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Netherlands, via Payvand, San Francisco)

Dutch gov't seeks return of hanged woman’s body (Reuters via cnews, Canada)

No change in Ashtiani case, says Iranian judiciary (Roundup) (DPA, Germany, via Monsters & Critics, UK & USA)

Judiciary still examining Sakineh Ashtiani case (Tehran Times, Iran)

Iran: 103 Hinrichtungen seit Beginn des Jahres 2011 (Weblog von Ali Schirasi, Germany)

Alle 8 Stunden wird im Iran ein Mensch hingerichtet (Weblog von Ali Schirasi)

Iran: Elf Jahre Gefängnis für Nasrin Sotoudeh (Weblog von Ali Schirasi)

Feuer unter der Asche - Wo ist die iranische Frauenbewegung? Man hört nichts mehr und sieht nichts mehr (Frankfurter Rundschau, Germany)

Women, Islam, Egypt and Iran (The Huffington Post, USA)

Iran urged to drop prison sentences against human rights activists (Amnesty International)

Die Menschenrechte im Iran als Herausforderung für die Weltgemeinschaft (IranAnders.de, Germany)

USA Executions 2011 (as of 01/25/11) (Website of Rick Halperin, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, USA)

Iranian Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested in September 2010 on charges of spreading propaganda and conspiring to harm state security. In January 2011, she has been sentenced to 11 years in prison in addition to barring her from practicing law and from leaving the country for 20 years.

To help Ms Sotoudeh, write letters to the Iranian authorities. More information is here (in German, with English summary).

Sonntag, 26. Dezember 2010

Lawyer: Iran halts execution of Kurdish student

From Agence France-Presse:

"Iran halts execution of Kurdish student: lawyer

By Hiedeh Farmani (AFP)

TEHRAN — Iran has halted the execution of Kurdish student Habibolah Latifi, who was due to be hanged on Sunday for backing a separatist rebel group, his lawyer told the ISNA news agency.

"The verdict has been halted for the moment," lawyer Nemat Ahmadi told the agency. "The sentence has not been carried out and he has met with his family this morning."

A court in the western city of Sanandaj, Kordestan province, had notified Latifi's other lawyer that he would be hanged Sunday morning, Ahmadi said.

Latifi, a law student, has been convicted of waging war against God (moharebeh) for supporting PJAK, the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, a banned Iranian-Kurdish rebel group.

In a letter to the judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani on Saturday, Ahmadi said he had requested "a delay in carrying out the verdict, a fair and lawful investigation and commuting of the sentence."

The announcement came as rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called on Iranian authorities not to go ahead with Latifi's execution.

Latifi was originally sentenced to death in 2008 for taking part in armed acts in the western province of Kordestan, according to his other lawyer Saleh Nikbakht -- a ruling upheld on appeal in February 2009.

He was detained in November 2007 and charged with taking part in an assault on the car of the prosecutor in Sanandaj, the capital of Kordestan, and attacking a police station the same year.

According to Nikbakht, Latifi had admitted being a PJAK supporter but denied committing acts of violence. The student told the court he was not in Sanandaj when the attacks took place.

London-based Amnesty on Saturday urged Iran to commute the sentence, after hearing from his lawyer that he was to be executed Sunday at Sanandaj prison in Kordestan.

"While we recognise that governments have a responsibility to bring to justice those who commit crimes, this must be done according to international standards for fair trial," said Amnesty's Malcolm Smart.

"It is clear that Habibolah Latifi did not receive a fair trial by international standards, which makes the news of his impending execution all the more abhorrent," said Smart, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa director.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch issued a similar statement on Friday, calling on Iran's judges to rescind the execution order and suggesting that Latifi had not had a fair trial.

"The circumstances surrounding Latifi's arrest, detention, and conviction strongly suggest that the Iranian authorities have violated his fundamental rights," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

"As in numerous previous security cases, intelligence agents appear to have subjected Latifi to torture and a court sentenced him to death without any convincing evidence against him."

In Paris, a group of between 20 and 30 demonstrators picketed the Iranian embassy in the early hours of Sunday, with some protesters chaining themselves to the railings outside, organisers and police said.

Officers eventually moved in to cut the chains of the protesters and break up what they said was an unauthorised demonstration, said a police spokesman.

Hundreds of militants from the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a bloody campaign for self-rule in southeast Turkey, and its sister group in Iran, PJAK, are based in the mountains of northern Iraq."

Samstag, 25. Dezember 2010

Save the life of Habibollah Latifi

Habibollah Latifi, a Kurdish student and political activist, currently imprisoned at the Sanandaj Prison in south-western Iran, is according to his lawyer under the immediate threat of execution. His niece says Habib has been accused of moharebeh, enmity with God, through a fabricated case of the Sanandaj Intelligence Office. Habib himself said in court that they have extracted confessions from him under special circumstances and under torture. Nemat Ahmadi, the other lawyer of Latifi, said on Saturday that he is presently at the Head of the Judiciary’s office to deliver a letter addressed to Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, the Head of the Judiciary System of Iran, requesting clemency for his client, as well as objecting to the way this case has been reviewed. Ahmadi said he is hoping to receive a reply by 5:00 p.m. today.

I beg and pray to God, the All Gracious, the All Merciful - Save the life of Habibollah Latifi

From the Guardian:

""Iran poised to execute student accused of being Kurd terrorist

Habibollah Latifi's family say he is not member of separatist group but is being punished for his political activism

A 29-year-old Iranian student activist is facing execution tomorrow unless an international campaign launched by human rights groups can persuade authorities to quash his conviction.

Habibollah Latifi, a politically active student of civil engineering at Azad University, in the south-western province of Ilam , is scheduled to be executed in Sanandaj prison tomorrow, following what his lawyer has described as an unfair trial.

His family is pleading with the international community to urge Iran to stop his execution.

"We do not have any other hope than reaching out to the international community," Latifi's sister Elahe told the Guardian. "Please help my innocent brother not to be executed while people of the world are celebrating Christmas."

Latifi, a member of the Kurd minority in Iran, was arrested on 23 October 2007 in Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan province, and was taken to prison where he has been kept for the past three years and two months.

Iran says he was a member of Kurdish Independent Life party (PJAK), an armed opposition group and has convicted him of Muharebeh (enmity against God) but his family denies his connection with PJAK and claims the charges were fabricated .

"This is nonsense, they're just angry with his political activities as a student and have charged him with the false claim that he was a member of PJAK, that's absolutely a lie, it's just an excuse for them to execute him," his sister said.

According to Amnsty International, his trial was held behind closed doors and his lawyer was not allowed to be present to defend him. His death sentence was upheld by the appeal court in Sanandaj on 18 February 2009.

Human rights advocate Peter Tatchell, who has campaigned in defence of Iran's ethnic minorities, said: "Iran has a long history of persecuting its Kurdish ethnic minority population, including framing peaceful, lawful Kurdish rights activists on false charges.

He added: "Habibollah Latifi was sentenced to death after an unfair trial in a closed court, where he had no legal representation – clearly in violation of articles 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

"The Iranian authorities should, at the very least, revoke the execution order and schedule a new trial where Latifi can have legal representation, call witnesses and submit forensic evidence in his defence."

Amnesty's Middle East and north Africa director, Malcolm Smart, said: "We are urgently appealing to the Iranian authorities to show clemency, halt the imminent execution of Habibollah Latifi, and commute his death sentence. "

He added: "It is clear that Habibollah Latifi did not receive a fair trial by international standards, which makes the news of his impending execution all the more abhorrent." "

Mittwoch, 22. Dezember 2010

Students protest mostly peacefully all over Italy - Strike as prelude to Greek austerity vote

This Roman place, shown at the end of the below "Youtube", is called Piazza del Gesù. It is one of most typical places of Rome, taking its name from the chiesa del Gesù, and owes its celebrity also to the Palazzo Cenci-Bolognetti, which was until 1994 the headquarter of the Democrazia Cristiana party. La piazza reminds me of a school excursion in 1982 with our history teacher, Mr. Zwölfer, because he had quartered us in the little hotel just in front of Il Gesù. I liked much this teacher, we had a lot of debates, and after the high school exam Mr. Zwölfer gave me as farewell present "The Greek Discovery of Politics" by Christian Meier, a book by which I was very impressed, although I do not like its recourse to Carl Schmitt and Nietzsche ...

22 dicembre - La diretta dalle città contre il ddl Gelmini (Atenei in rivolta, Italy)

22 dicembre - Cortei e scontri, blocchi stradali e azioni in decine di città, a Roma 30mila in piazza: voi soli nella zona rossa, noi liberi nella città! (Uniriot, Italy)

Napoli 22.12 - 10.000 studenti in piazza -Occupati porto e stazione (Uniriot, Italy)

Palermo 22.12 - Gli studenti assediano il Palazzo della Regione, scontri con le forze dell’ordine (Uniriot, Italy)

Italian students protest against education budget cuts (2nd Roundup) (Deutsche Presse-Agentur via Monsters & Critics)

Thousands of Italian students take to the streets (Agence France-Presse)

Italy students protest tuition cuts (Al Jazeera)

Greeks go on strike before austerity vote (Daily Times, Pakistan)

Greeks rally against 2011 budget (Reuters)

Greek lawmakers set to vote on austerity budget amid protests (People's Daily Online, China)

Greece passes austerity budget (2nd Roundup) (Deutsche Presse-Agentur via Monsters & Critics)

Donnerstag, 16. Dezember 2010

buback ponto schleyer der nächste ist ein schweizer

Via Econo-Matrix

Before Punk (II)

I see faces and traces of home
back in New York City –

So you think I'm a tough kid?
Is that what you heard?

Well I like to see some action

and it gets into my blood.

They call me the trail blazer –
Rael - electric razor
I’m the pitcher in the chain gang,
we don't believe in pain

‘cos we're only as strong, yes
we’re only as strong,

as the weakest link in the chain.

Let me out of pontiac when
I was just seventeen, I had to get it out of me, if you know
what I mean, what I mean.

You say I must be crazy, ‘cos I don’t
care who I hit, who I hit.

But I know it’s me that’s hittin’ out
and I’m, I’m not full of shit.

I don’t care who I hurt, I don’t
care who I do wrong. This is your mess I’m stuck in,
I really don't belong. When I take out my bottle,
filled up high with gasoline, you can tell by the night fires
where Rael has been, has been.

As I cuddled the porcupine

he said I had none to blame, but me.

Held my heart, deep in hair, time to shave, shave it off, it off.

No time for romantic escape, when your fluffy heart is ready for rape.

No!

No time for romantic escape,

when your fluffy heart is ready for rape.

No!

Off we go ...

Your sitting in your comfort
you don't believe I’m real,

you cannot buy protection
from the way that I feel.

Your progressive hypocrites
hand out their trash,

but it was mine in the first place,
so I’ll burn it to ash.

And I’ve tasted all the strongest meats, and laid them down in coloured sheets.

Llaid

them down

in coloured shields.

Who needs illusion of love and affection

when you’re out walking in the streets
with your mainline connection?

Connection.

As I cuddled the porcupine

he said I had none to blame, but me.

Held my heart, deep in hair, time to shave, shave it off, it off.

No time for romantic escape, when your fluffy heart is ready for rape.

No!

… No time.

Before Punk (I)

“The last great adventure left to mankind” –

Screams a drooping lady
offering her dreamdolls at less than

extortionate prices,

and as the notes and coins are taken out

I’m taken in, to the factory floor.
For the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
All ready to use

The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging

I just need a fuse.
Got people stocked in every shade,
Must be doing well with trade.
Stamped, addressed, in odd fatality.
That evens out their personality.
With profit potential marked by a sign,
I can recognize some of the production line,
No bite at all in labour bondage,
Just wrinkled wrappers or human bandage.
The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
All ready to use
It’s the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging

- I just need a fuse.
The hall runs like clockwork
Their hands mark out the time,
Empty in their fullness
Like a frozen pantomime.
Everyones a sales representative
Wearing slogans in their shrine.
Dishing out failsafe superlative,
Brother John is No. 9.
For the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging
All ready to use
It's the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging

- I just need a fuse.
And the decor on the ceiling
planned out their future day
I see no sign of freewill,
So I guess I have to pay,

pay my way,
for the Grand Parade ...

Grand Parade

Oh, the Grand Parade

Yes, the Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging

- All ready to use
The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging

- just need a fuse.
Grand Parade

Grand Parade

Mittwoch, 15. Dezember 2010

Greece is striking and celebrating a great molotov party against European austerity

From the Greek Streets, UK, reports this from today's General Strike in Athens :

"More than 100,000 people marched in central Athens today against the freshly-voted labour relations law and the austerity measures imposed by the government and the EU/IMF/ECB troika. One of the biggest mass demonstrations the city has seen in recent times was met by brute police violence; the police, nevertheless, proven unable to quell peoples’ anger. A former conservative minister, Kostis Hatzidakis, made the unfortunate decision to be present at Stadiou Street at the time of the demonstration and felt the anger of the demonstrators, quickly leaving the scene injured. Street-fighting erupted across the city, which saw chaotic scenes for hours. Barricades were erected across Patision Avenue, which leads to the Polytechnic School; waves of demonstrators arriving at Syntagma square, outside Parliament, fiercely fought with the police. An – eventually unsuccessful – attempt by demonstrators to occupy the building of GSEE (the country’s mainstream trade union) saw people fighting off the notorious Delta motorcycle police and two of their bikes were set ablaze.

From reports coming in so far, 23 people were detained in Athens today and of those 10 are arrested and face charges. There will be an update on the arrested tomorrow.

One of the most empowering elements of today’s demonstration was peoples’ sheer anger and their willingness to fight back at the police repression and to defend their right to be on the streets. New tactics, including the incredibly successful use of fire extinguishers in keeping police away from demonstrator blocks, is surely a legacy for the struggles to come.

A good selection of photographs on Athens IMC: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 [some English picture legends here]

Apart from the spectacular images circulating around global and local media, an astonishing feeling in the streets of Athens is the rage felt by ordinary people toward authority, the police and of course, the people who have lead us all to today’s situation."

Parrhesia = Free Speech. Not all cops are bastards, if you can't beat them, talk to them ...

This man’s placard reads: “They are bringing us the [Axis] Occupation, 1940-1944″

From Free Voice Network via Europeans against the political system:

Huge protests and mass strikes stormed Greece today. Rallies and marches ran not only in the major big cities but even in smaller towns. Workers, trade unionists, anarchists and people from all kinds of political parties expressed their anger against the austerity measures of the government and the stance of the European Union. For once again what we see, is the reactionary broadcasting from the Western media. Here is a screen-shot of what the BBC has broadcasted today, definitely one of the most outrageous lies ever seen about Greece:

[Apparently the merry old aunt BBC has meanwhile elaborated her text, so I have copied this revised version:]

BEGINNING REVISED BBC TEXT

"Greek police have clashed with protesters in the capital Athens as unions stage a general strike against government austerity measures.

Demonstrators threw petrol bombs and police responded with tear gas as the violence flared outside parliament.

A former minister was chased and beaten by a mob and forced to seek shelter in a building [Reuters Video, and other here].

The day of action has grounded flights, disrupted public transport and closed schools across the country.

It is the seventh general strike this year following tough reforms needed to receive a 110bn euro (£84bn) bail-out from international organisations.

Police said about 15,000 people were taking part in marches in Athens.

Protesters started fires around luxury hotels in Syntagma Square, outside parliament, and cars were set ablaze. Riot police fired several rounds of tear gas in response.

The BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens says the scenes are some of the ugliest in a year of protests marking the country's economic crisis.

He says a lynch mob atmosphere developed as former conservative minister Kostis Hatzidakis emerged from parliament and was chased by dozens of protesters.

Former conservative minister Kostis Hatzidakis was surrounded and beaten by a crowd.

The opposition MP was pictured surrounded by a mob and with blood pouring from a head wound. Mr Hatzidakis's office said he was unable to reach hospital because of the crowds.

Witnesses said demonstrators shouted at him: "Thieves! Shame on you!"

Police said at least 10 people had been detained and three had been injured.

Roads jammed

With public transport at a standstill, major roads connecting the centre of Athens were jammed as motorists struggled to get to and from work.

Journalists were also on strike, affecting news bulletins on TV and radio.

Teacher Anastasia Antonopoulou, 50, travelled from the Ionian island of Zakynthos to join thousands marching through Athens on Wednesday.

"I can't sit on the sofa and watch my country go down. I'm here to shout and struggle," she said.

"Many of my students' parents are jobless."

On Tuesday, the Greek parliament voted through key economic reforms stipulated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union, which are funding the bail-out.

The new legislation will cap the salaries of workers in state-run companies such as the public transport networks.

In the private sector, employers will no longer have to abide by union-negotiated agreements and can set their own wages.

Prime Minister George Papandreou said the measures were designed to keep struggling companies afloat.

But union leaders have condemned the moves.

"We need to send the government a message that we will not accept measures that lead us only to poverty and unemployment," Ilias Iliopoulos, general secretary at the civil servants' union Adedy, told Reuters news agency.

Our correspondent says opposition groups are angry with the government for taking just 10 hours to debate such major changes to employment law.

However, as a result Greece is now more likely to receive its fourth instalment of financial aid due in the New Year, he adds.

Wednesday's strike is part of a European day of action against economic reforms.

Workers have been rallying against austerity measures in countries including Spain and Belgium, ahead of a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday and Friday."

END REVISED BBC TEXT

The BBC shamefully mentions only what the police claims ignoring any other source. The protesters in Athens were not only 15.000 but according to local people 100.000. Many claim that the number is much higher, close to 200.000! It is very obvious that BBC reproduces cheap pro-capitalist propaganda trying to show that the clashes between Greek protesters and the police are the actions of a minority while the majority of the people support the austerity measures which is not true at all! Only in the second major city of Greece, Thessaloniki, there were more than 10.000 protesters. In Volos it is estimated that more than 2.500 people marched. 4.000 also gathered in Patra, 2000 in Heraclio (Crete), 2.000 in Ioannina, 1.500 in Xanthi (the numbers are approximate). Rallies took place also in small islands such like Skopelos and Naxos.

The BBC instead of being focused on police brutality where repression forces attacked even peaceful protesters, spends too much of its analysis for what happened to Kostis Hatzidakis, a conservative MP who was beaten up by an angry crowd. He was nothing more but a person who belonged to the previous conservative government of New Democracy, one of the most corrupted governments in the history of Greece. He knew that thousands of angry people were gathered in the Athens city centre, he knew that all of them are very hostile towards any Greek politician but instead of avoiding the “battlefield” area decided to cross this crowded street ignoring the possible consequences.

Around 14:00 in Athens, members of the riot police attacked people who were standing around Sina area. There are serious witnesses that a couple was brutally beaten up by 4 policemen. In the same area, police threw tear gas against the student’s block. The atmosphere was suffocating. The block of the trade Union GSEE has been also targeted by the riot squad as well. When a group of people reached the GSEE building and opened the main door, members of the riot squad entered, trying to kettle, many of them pulling out even guns. However, at the same time another angry crowd appeared and attacked the riot squad which finally retreated due to the huge number of gathered people.

Heavily armed police forces followed strict orders to evacuate Parliament square because patrol cars and police vehicles offered help to some MPs who wanted to escape. Rumours say that the evacuation of the Parliament square happened in fear of a rebel invasion into the Parliament House.

In Athens, “everything smells like a junta” says a protester. Close to the office of “Deposits and Loans” the police arrested a 55 year-old photographer without any single reason despite the reaction of many bystanders who did everything possible to liberate him but with no success. Another has been insulted for taking pictures and there are witnesses of the arrest of a girl with a camcorder. “Suddenly, a red car appeared coming down the university. When the people realised that it was taking pictures the driver rushed with speed against the protesters! People could have been killed because of that” said another protester.

Ordinary people chased a group of about 20 police undercover forces while others were setting barricades at the Polytechnic school. When the crowd started shouting against the police, the riot squad fled. The undercover forces run away towards the area of Exarcheia but one of them who did not escape from the angry crowd, was beaten up. Later on, a girl was taking pictures while a policeman was dragging a person outside of the University and members of the riot squad confiscated her camera.

In Thessaloniki several people called for first aid in a local pharmacy while some were taken away by an ambulance. As it is estimated that they have been brutally attacked by the riot squad. 28 people have been arrested while later on, 17 of them were released. Many protesters also condemned the actions of some trade unionists, accusing them for being “sold off to the government”.

CNN Reporting: John Psaropoulos, Athens, interviewed by Charles Hodson, London, with Reuters Pictures. Or the other way round. A joint venture, I suppose ...

Turkish TV Live Reporting

Greek Video with a Street Fighting Scene

Dienstag, 14. Dezember 2010

Berlusconi buys time and sparks urban guerrilla warfare in Italy

From the blog Act for Freedom Now ! (by Severrino):

"14 December 2010 - Thousands of college students demonstrated today in Rome and major cities in a day of action against the Gelmini reform and in support of the no-confidence vote against Berlusconi. Among them, however, were also social centres and the militant black bloc. And after the confidence in the House, the violence broke out.

Black Bloc activists and militants from the social centres, who had joined the student marches in the morning, reached corso Rinascimento, a step away from the Senate, presided over by the police. Against the police cars paper bombs, firecrackers, cobblestones, bottles and eggs rained down. There were riots and fights in different areas of the centre between Via del Corso and Piazza del Popolo, with charges of tear gas in response to improvised barricades with trash bins on fire, road blocks, broken windows, and assaults on armoured forces of law and order with sticks and hammers. A dozen young men with their faces covered raided the offices of civil defense in via Ulpiano smashing windows and throwing eggs, no injuries among employees. The wounded in the street however were at least 40. Among them a journalist of the Agi, hit in the face by a stone.

At Porta del Popolo police charged protesters engaged in heavy stone-throwing, to back them off to the Tiber. The bulk of the procession is split: one part is directed at the Flaminio district, the other Prati. A difficult day today for the Capital. In the streets, on the day in Parliament voted confidence in the Berlusconi government, university and high school students, along with temporary workers, workers, researchers, Aquila earthquake survivors and activists from struggles for housing and social welfare gathered under the name "united against the crisis."

From the blog Italy Calling (by a Partisan Woman):

"It’s difficult to make out a clear picture of what’s been happening today, when Italian websites and blogs are still being inundated with of updates, reports, pictures and videos. While Berlusconi was narrowly winning a vote of confidence in Parliament (314 to 311…3 fucking votes!), thousands of people took to the streets to protest once again against the Gelmini reform and the government.

Demonstrations started in the morning and went on till late afternoon. In Rome at least 100,000 protesters have been estimated, from all sorts of groups: students, precarious workers, factory workers, social centres, migrant groups, groups of residents from L’Aquila.

Milan, and Rome in particular, have seen scenes of total urban guerrilla warfare. In Rome protesters tried to break into the Parliament buildings and were violently charged by the police. Riots went on for hours in central Rome and blocked the whole city centre. Italy Indymedia says at least 41 people were arrested and 57 injured among the police.

Alemanno, Rome’s right wing mayor, and his close friends from the right wing party Alleanza Nazionale, were seen around enjoying the charges and the beatings.

In Milan protesters invaded the Stock Exchange, and attacked banks, party HQ’s and other buildings.

Protests have also been held in other European countries by Italian students studying abroad."

Aus dem Arcor.de-Newsticker:

"15.12.2010, 03:45

Randale nach Erfolg für Berlusconi bei Misstrauensvotum

Nach dem knappen Sieg des italienischen Ministerpräsidenten Silvio Berlusconi bei einem Misstrauensvotum ist es in Rom zu schweren Ausschreitungen gekommen. Einige hundert Demonstranten verwüsteten bei Straßenschlachten mit der Polizei Teile des historischen Stadtzentrums. Mehr als 100 Menschen wurden verletzt. Berlusconi hatte den Misstrauensantrag der Opposition im Abgeordnetenhaus mit nur wenigen Stimmen Vorsprung abgewehrt. Kritiker werfen ihm Stimmenkauf und Bestechung vor."