World Anti-militarism Newswire Archive

Shut Guantánamo – End 10 Years of Shame - Public Rally, Saturday 7 January, 2-4pm, Trafalgar Square (North Side, outside National Gallery)

This Saturday (7 January) the weekend before the tenth anniversary of the opening of the illegal US military prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, on 11 January 2002, a public rally is to be held at Trafalgar Square (North Terrace, outside the National Gallery), organised by the London Guantánamo Campaign (LGC), Save Shaker Aamer Campaign (SSAC), Stop the War Coalition (StWC) and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) [1].

Just what is happening in Syria? While the brave syrian people are sacrficing their lives the Arab League sends its expert straight from the genocide and ethnic cleansing in Darfur and now in South Kordofan to advise president Assad.

BCfm’s weekly politics show
At five: discussing the big stories in Bristol, Britain and around the world
After six: straight talking and investigative reports with Martin Summers and Marina Morris

Channel 4 makes Goebbels proud with conveniently timed propaganda piece.

Activists believe that up to 5 people have died in Cairo today following clashes between troops and protesters. Hundreds are reported to be injured after pro-SCAF thugs hurled rocks onto the protestors from the roofs of neighbouring buildings. According to Joseph Mayton:

The violence began around two in the morning after an Ultra – a hardcore football fan – was allegedly abducted by security near the nearly three-week old sit-in in front of the Egyptian cabinet building.

The man was reportedly beaten up and tortured by his captors.

Today, on the first day of Bradley Manning's pre-trial hearing, supporters put up two banners at the busy Plas Coch roundabout in Wrexham, Wales, during the morning rush hour: ‘FREE BRADLEY MANNING’ and ‘END THE WARS!’ Bradley Manning’s mother is from Pembrokeshire and still lives in Wales along with other of his relatives. There will be solidarity actions taking place in Cardiff over the weekend:  https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/12/490101.html

BCfm’s weekly politics show
At five: discussing the big stories in Bristol, Britain and around the world
After six: straight talking and investigative reports with Martin Summers and Marina Morris

The following article by John Pilger starts with a reference to 22nd May 2007 Guardian front page, which was the subject of the following UK Indymedia feature at the time:

Imperial Disinformation: The Guardian's Iran/Iraq Coverage
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/05/371753.html

200 bears shot in 1 day in New Jersey, Quebec strengthens
animal protetion laws, How vegans unwittingly cause animal suffering
etc

The Egyptian revolution will not be settled in 18 days or months. It’ll take “years” for the dust to settle, may be four or five, I don’t know. There will be waves, ebbs and flows, battles to be won and others lost.

This November uprising is only one chapter in the Egyptian revolution, but not the final one.

We have come a long way. We can all recall the mood in February when you could have been lynched in a protest by the people if you had chanted against the army. Now there is wide disillusionment with SCAF, and the majority of the public can clearly see today they are nothing but Mubarak’s army generals who are in effect leading the counterrevolution.

A string of attacks on Iran, from assassinations of key nuclear and military personnel to attempts to alienate it internationally, ring the bell. Could it be that the US, UK, the EU and Israel are working hard to gather winds of war against Iran, knowing full well that their credibility is at an all-time low following years of flagrant lying to justify attacks on Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and more recently Libya? Attacking Iran won’t be easy to pull off.

Britain’s sabre-rattling over the past month, threatening the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iranians citizens, has had consequences – consequences that any government with any real intelligence should have foreseen.

It is worth noting that Iran has not launched an attack or invasion of another country for over 200 years, has stated no intention to do so, and does not have any nuclear warheads. The hypocrisy is so blatant, and so extensive, that it is little wonder that Iranian citizens, like those elsewhere in the Middle East and throughout the world, are taking matters into their own hands.

An editorial in the Times, headed by scandal-struck Rupert Murdoch, has called on the UK government to shut down Press TV's London office simply because the alternative news network is funded by Iran.

As we have previously reported long term Smash EDO campaigner Mark Rivers tragically died in a fire at his flat in Brighton in the early morning on Sunday, 6th of November at the age of 51.

There will be a special noise demo in his honour next Wednesday (7th), 4-6 outside EDO/ITT. Spread the info and help us make it big!

The concept of “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) essentially posits that a country’s independence is not a right and can be taken away by the international community when the need arises. The international community under the R2P paradigm has the responsibility to intervene in any independent country in order to protect that country’s citizens.

The Syrian Arab Republic now faces the “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) as a threat. R2P is being prepped to be wielded as a weapon by Washington and NATO. It is a neo-imperialist device under the cover of sheep’s skin that appropriates the language of humanitarianism. The plan is to oust President Bashar Al-Assad from power and install a new client government in Damascus.

This week's Wednesday noise demo will be cancelled. We hope that everyone will be out on the streets in support of the November 30th strikers instead.

According to numerous reports from the Western media, human rights organisations, as well as the UN, countless peaceful civilians have been killed by the Syrian forces since the beginning of the unrest in the country in mid March. But where do the numbers come from? Many media reports on the alleged deadly repression by the Syrian government fail to mention the sources of their information, which are very often referred to solely as "human rights groups" or "activists":

The reliance of the mainstream media on information emanating from anonymous groups provides a biased understanding of the Syrian protests, which in turn supports the broader objective of destabilizing the Syrian regime. When information from unknown sources pertaining to the death toll is published either by a mainstream media or a recognized human rights group, it is invariably picked up and considered as "factual evidence" by other news sources or think tanks, without further verification. Moreover, in the process the information is subject to further distortion.

In the past, the colonial powers of Western Europe would indoctrinate their people. Their objective was to acquire popular support for colonial conquest. This took the form of spreading Christianity and promoting Christian values with the support of armed merchants and colonial armies.

At the same time, racist ideologies were put forth. The people whose lands were colonized were portrayed as "sub-human," inferior, or soulless. Finally, the "White Man's burden" of taking on a mission of civilizing the so-called "uncivilized peoples of the world" was used. This cohesive ideological framework was used to portray colonialism as a "just cause." The latter in turn was used to provide legitimacy to the waging of "just wars" as a means to conquering and "civilizing" foreign lands.

Today, the imperialist designs of the United States, Britain, France, and Germany have not changed. What has changed is the pretext and justification for waging their neo-colonial wars of conquest. During the colonial period, the narratives and justifications for waging war were accepted by public opinion in the colonizing countries, such as Britain and France. Today's "just wars" and "just causes" are now being conducted under the banners of women's rights, human rights, humanitarianism, and democracy.

BCfm’s weekly politics show
At five: discussing the big stories in Bristol, Britain and around the world
After six: straight talking and investigative reports with Martin Summers and Marina Morris

Earlier this month, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released its much-trailed report ‘presenting new evidence’, said the BBC, ‘suggesting that Iran is secretly working to obtain a nuclear weapon.’

Relying on ‘evidence provided by more than 10 member states as well as its own information’, the IAEA said Iran had carried out activities ‘relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device’.

Having looked deeply into the claims, veteran journalist Seymour Hersh commented this week in an interview with Democracy Now!:

‘But you mentioned Iraq. It’s just this — almost the same sort of — I don’t know if you want to call it a "psychosis," but it’s some sort of a fantasy land being built up here, as it was with Iraq, the same sort of — no lessons learned, obviously.’