World Repression Feature Archive

13-01-2004: Tom Hurndall has died. A Vigil took place on Wed 14 . Background information here and website.

The Israeli sniper who shot activist Tom Hurndall brain dead has been arrested. The army leadership has now admitted that its initial accusations of Tom being armoured and in camouflage, as well as its claim that the soldier was returning Palestinian fire, were lies. The arrest is particularly important as opening fire on activists in Palestine is becoming increasingly regular for the Israeli army. Last Friday Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition into a non-violent action [photos]. Gil Na'amati, an Israeli from the Anarchist Movement Against the Wall, and an American woman of the International Solidarity Movement were seriously injured. On 1 January the Israeli army fired over 100 rubber bullets aimed at people's heads during another demonstration. Approximately ten people were taken to the hospital and deportation orders were issued against four activists, including a Swedish MP. Tom was shot in Rafah (Gaza, Palestine) in April last year while pulling away children out of the way of a tank. He is currently on life support in a London hospital. [Maps of the Wall] [Palestine IMC] [Israel IMC]

Last month, December 2003, hundreds of PRI supporters threatened to burn down the Zapatista centre of Morelia. This mob was headed and encouraged by a local mayor, and by a senator.

But 1,000 Zapatistas gathered to defend Morelia, one of the five new Zapatista Caracols, and base for the Zapatista regional “Committee of Good Government”.
After a stand-off the PRI-istas (supporters of the Institutional Revolutionary Party) backed down and dispersed, though the threat to the Caracol remains.
The Zapatistas have declared: “We are prepared to face up to anyone, whoever they might be, to defend our Caracol - to the death if necessary.”

Pictures from Morelia below.

Today friday, there was an anti-WSIS demo in the centre of Geneva, near the train station, at around 12.00 uk time. As people began to gather a steadily growing number of police in riot gear stopped anyone they thought might be there for the demonstration. The protest was broken up with Police dragging away demonstrators. Follow-up demonstrations were also attacked by the Police. The repression was condemned. Details...

A the same time, and during the whole day, a series of presentations, discussions and talks took place in the a the Polymedia Lab. These included a talk by Richard Stallman on 'Combating Terror Tactics'. The day ended with a Yomango style free dinner for all those present. The Civil Society plenary issued a press release denouncing repression against We Seize!. And in London Resonance FM broadcasted into the city's airwaves live from Geneva.

News from Geneva that the police have raided the Polymedia Lab on Tuesday, 9th December, at 11am local time. The Polymedia Lab was planned in for today's S-Conf open conference event to take place. Whilst the participants are currently consulting legal counsel, events have temporarily moved elsewhere. Meanwhile, action committees are formed to deal with the issues of space and accomodation.

Reports: short | long | Quicktime Video Clip | Performance review | Denial of new space | Meeting notes
Streaming audio | pictures | | irc.indymedia.org #sconf
Newswire reports: [1,2,3, 4, 5]
More information under: [WSIS? We Seize! | Polimedia Lab website | uk feature site | Wiki website | World Summit on Information Society]

Elections have just been held in Guatemala. Polling in the number 3 spot is former dictator Gen. Efrain Ríos Montt who came to power after a coup in 1982. Analysis and results, with links and video from Guatemala in Spanish and English.

A week of uprisings, street blockades, general strikes and conflict erupted on the height of the Bolivia's "gas war", finally forcing the president Sanchez de Losada to resign and to flee to Miami, Florida, US. Despite the army shooting protesters, leaving about a hundred dead and several hundred wounded, a wide coalition of miners, coca-farmers, highland peasants, indigenous, transport workers, teachers, pensioners, union members and many other sections of civil society, took to the streets to show their disagreement with the IMF enforced cheap sell-out of Bolivia's natural gas resources to the US. [Read a letter from Bolivia's capital La Paz]

This was the second major insurrection this year that took place in Bolivia. On February anothr revolt occured following tax rises, cuts in pensions and other neoliberal measures carried through on orders of the International Monetary Fond (IMF) Bolivia is not the only country in Latin America where clashes between social movements and governments have taken place; as cuts in the educational system (Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay, Chile, Mexico), privatisation of state owned companies (Colombia), oppression of the indigenous population (Argentina, Chile, Colombia) and attacks on social projects and self-managed factories (Argentina) are repeatedly followed with protests, student riots and strikes, to which governments have reacted by enforcing repression and military style curfews.

To read the full feature containing background information, first hand reports, photos, timelines of events and daily updates of the week 13th - 19th of October, click on the "Read more" link below.

Demonstrators descended on the Spanish Consulate in Edinburgh on 29th September to express solidarity with the threatened Barcelona squat LA KASA DE LA MUNTANYA.

Placard-waving protestors plastered the Consulate with flyers, delivered a letter to the Consulate-General and distributed leaflets denouncing the attempted eviction of the self-managed community centre.

"For 14 years LA KASA DE LA MUNTANYA has been a community, cultural and social centre run on principles of self-organisation and self-regulation. Despite the fact that there is clear evidence that the Spanish government has obtained ownership of the building illegally and has no plans for its use, an eviction has been scheduled for 2nd October," declared flyers distributed by the dozen demonstrators. See pictures.

Stop Evictions! - Fortnight of Actions In Barcelona

From Sept 26 to Oct 12, the Squatters Assembly of Barcelona has called for a "Fortnight of Struggle" to defend Barcelona's occupied spaces [read background info] This call is in response to the eviction threats against two of the oldest and most emblematic squatted social centres of the city, [the Kasa de la Muntanya and Les Naus], and also to protest about the re-opening of judicial procedures against several other local occupied houses and social centres, such as La Hamsa. This international call to action includes the first international squatters' demonstration in history, due to take place in downton Barcelona on Saturday 4th of Ocotber.

Meanwhile a series of actions, demonstrations, gatherings and meetings are already taking place in and around Barcelona [Photos].

See below for latest news and updates:

- Sat 4th October: The international demonstration against evictions and property speculation took place in downtown Barcelona under heavy police presence. Between 3 and 5,000 people (with a bycicle critical mass in front) marched behind a banner that read "in defense of liberated spaces and against evictions". Another big banner stated: "evictons, torture ... if this is your peace we declare war on you". The demo was very loud and determined, whilst a sound system provided a festive atmosphere. Several activists engaged in a series of actions and performances along the march.
[Reports in English 1 and 2 | Photos 1 and 2 | Videos 1 and 2 | Timeline of Events (esp & cat)]
Further information: IMC-Barcelona(eng) and La Haine(esp).
- Thurs 2nd October: Activities continue to take place in Barcelona's social centres. Today, a call has been made to participate in the workshops "Speeches and Channels - Creating New Networks of Horizontal Communication" due to take place this weekend in the squated social centre Les Naus. Organised by IMC-Barcelona, Les Naus and Luther Blisset.
- Wed 1st October: Around 1000 people have taken to the streets of Barcelona's barrio of Gracia to protest against the eviction of la Kasa de la Muntanya. Reports 1(esp) | 2(cat)
Photos of solidarity action in Barcelona's Tibidabo this morning.
- Tue 30 September: Eviction of Kasa de la Muntanya temporarily suspended. Repots 1 and 2.

Stop Evictions! - Defend Squatted and Autonomous Spaces Around Europe

Whilst all this goes on in Barcelona, activists in Holland are mobilising to defend from eviction the oldest squat of the country. The "Blauwe Aanslag" in The Hague is a former tax office that has been open for the past 23 years, grewing into a vibrant D.I.Y. living-working environment containing a concerthall, cinema, food-kitchen, professional offset printingplant as well as livingspace for more than 70 people. But on Friday 3rd October, and after a long judicial procedure, a judge decided that the squat can be demolished… The eviction has started [Report | Pics | Squat's history]
At the same time, in Brussels squatters activists and neighbourhood groups are preparing a "squat action week" in the city called "Une Semaine à Bruxelles" due to start on the 15 of October.

Links:
[Kasa de la Muntanya | Les Naus | IMC-Barcelona (eng) | Info in English]

Legal Update 16th September here.
Samba player in deep trouble after having been badly beaten by police and spending two days at Charing Cross police station; Witness appeal.

Liberty are asking for reports from people who were stopped and searched, ASAP. An email list has been set up for people who were arrested / beaten etc..

Since the 1st of September, 144 people have been arrested in protests against the Defence Systems and Equipment international arms fair (DSEi) that has been taking place in East London. Policing tactics have been condemned by a wide range of people and Liberty is have won the right to seek a High Court injunction over use of Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000; they have also offered to provide legal representation for anyone stopped or detained under this legislation. Bindmans Lawyers have also requested information or witnesses from DSEi.

• Legal resources:
  
• Activists' Legal Project
• Legal Defence & Monitoring Group
• free B.E.A.G.L.E.S. legal resource centre
• Urban75 legal page

Numerous requests for witnesses have been made on the UK indymedia newswire [1 2 3 4 5 6]. There have also been several videos posted showing police violence against demonstrators which may provide evidence [ 1 2 - more can be found on the full reports from the 9th, 10th and 11th September].

Meanwhile, Anti-War demonstrators are still being threatened with - and receiving - harsh sentences. Protestors from Fairford come to trial next week while some are still fighting to get the charges reduced before they come to trial (Background to the case). Yet others are still looking for witnesses and some, like Ulla Roder (who was arrested for damaging a Tornado war-plane), have had their trials delayed numerous times.

Further afield, Simon Chapman and the Thessalonikki 7 remain imprisoned in Greece (solidarity website). Simon's first appeal has failed (against the charges) and he is currently awaiting the results of a second appeal. Key evidence such as the video have been re-submitted. In the United States, webmaster of raisethefist.com Sherman Austin has been imprisoned for 1 year; he has since been subject to death threats and is being kept in solitary on the grounds of safety as a reason.

Summary reports, links, activities and timeline from Anti-WTO protests in Cancun, Mexico

Thousands of protesters, peasant and farmers organization, workers, environmentalists, trade unionists and many other groups opposing the World Trade Organization, corporate globalisation and militarism from around the world and Latin America are converging in Cancun, Mexico this week, the location for this weeks WTO meeting.

On Wednesday, Korean farmer Kyong Lee took his life in protest against WTO policy, while demonstrators tore down the fence surrounding the summit but refused to enter the summit grounds. The Mexican president Vicente Fox had ordered a police-led campaign of misinformation and barricades (Report) and prevented a teach-in organized by the International Forum on Globalization. Police repression is high. At least 8 protesters have been seriously injured during the Thursday march. Many other protesters throughout the week have been injured, threatened with deportation, banned from Cancun and refused entry to the country.

Breaking news:
Saturday report
Radio report
Starhawk
Photos [1][2]

A timeline of up-to-date events as well as ¡Radio Hurakán! (Mirrors 1 2 3) are also available.

Background: UK IMC article

A general strike and a mass demonstration of a hundred thousand people in Bogota against the American free trade contract ALCA paralyzed Colombia on the 12th of august during the visit of Bush's trade delegate Zoellick to Colombia. [timeline of events.]
At the demonstration and from then on, repression in Colombia has increased, consisting of mass arrests of trade unionists, community and social workers and assassination attempts [AI statement].
As the conflict intensified, Juan Carlos Benavides, a journalist at the community radio Manantial Stereo in Putumayo, was murdered on the 22nd of August at a road-block set up by the guerrilla organization FARC.

"Juan Carlos was a well known community communicator in the region, always trying to support community participation and social journalism. He was an active member of the CRIS campaign, coordinated in Colombia by the local NGO Planeta Paz." From a statement of the campaign Communication Rights in the Information Society.

The Sardar Sarovar Dam on the lower Narmada River is just one of 30 projected large dams of India`s Narmada mega-dam project, an area prone to earthquakes. In May 2003, three Indian federal states had given clearance to increase the height of the dam to 100 meters, which caused the submergence of several villages and devastation of standing crops, after monsoon rains started at the end of July. The clearance was given inspite of a legally binding Supreme Court Order and the Narmada Water Dispute Tribunal Award, which had stipulated the previous resettlement of all project-affected persons. But at least 13 500 families suffering from the present monsoon floods are still waiting to be resettled. So far they haven’t been granted any compensation for the destruction of their property. The inhabitants of Chimalkhedi village in Maharashtra resisted Police Forces, who attacked and forcefully evicted them, arresting 74 plus 40 temporarily. 20 houses of this hamlet were also demolished.

On the 18th of July hundreds of workers occupied an area of 42 acre in size in Sao Bernardo do Campo in Brazil. The area is owned by Volkswagen.

The terrain was public land donated in the 50s by federal government to corporations to "create jobs". It has been an unused land for four years and Volkswagen workers are on strike caused by job cuts in the factory.

Meanwhile up to 7000 persons - including about 2000 children, were in the camp.

Negotiations with the city council and the company's representation have failed, a court decided the eviction. Yet the workers want to show resistance.

Here is a translation of a personal report posted on Imc Brasil about the eviction of the camp.

Wednesday, the 13 th of august a general strike took place in Chile, it was called for by the CUT, an union umbrella organisation, and students organisations.
But, although the CUT has a high level of support particular in the area of transport, the resonance was not quite overwhelming.
A translation of an article about a demonstration in Santiago de Chile from Indymedia Chile + Indymedia Germany.

The Noborder Camps have reached Germany. From 31st of July till 10th of august, the city of Cologne was "Out of Controll."
Many of the camps successfull activities to highlight institutional racism, worldwide and local oppression and opposing organised neonazis would have gone unnoticed, but the police repression on Saturday caused an international outcry and drew attention to the camp [pics 1,2,pics on IMC Istanbul,feature on Global IMC, feature on Italy IMC,IMC Poland, IMC Sweden,IMC Athens,IMC Paris,IMC Lille,collection of videoclips, see also Statewatch Report].
A Forum with discussions and workshops was accompanying the noborder camp. [invitation,program]
The next noborder actions are announced for Sept.11-14th when anti-rascist activists will be gathering in Nuremberg and Fürth.

For more information about the police repression and the activities at and of the camp, please read the entire feature.

Coca-Cola stands accused of violence, intimidation and murder in Columbia. A new global boycott and direct actions looks like the Real Thing...

"If I go to jail, then I will go to jail not based on my actions, but based on what I think" - Sherman Austin.

The shut down of Raise The Fist website was first reported on LA Indymedia and San Fransisco Indymedia when the heavily armed FBI raided the home of the webmaster in February 2002.

Now, on August 4th 2003, the court ruled one year in prison, exceeding everybodys expectation. Sherman took a plea bargain because he feared his case was eligible for a terrorism enhancement, which could have added 20 years to his sentence. The plea deal had called for him to serve four months. more info.

An Audio report is available on Radio4all.

For a year now, Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists have been calling attention to the building of the Separation Wall by Israel in Palestinian areas. Although it is the most acute threat to Palestinians, getting bigger as we speak, the US sponsored Road Map to peace nor the corporate media paid attention to their pleas. But, it seems that this month the world is finally starting to listen. Dozens of pictures on the mainstream newswires and heated debates on Indymedia UK, and yes, protests too!

The 20th of July will mark the second anniversary of the murder of Carlo Guilani by the Carabinieri (Italian paramilitary police force) during the protests against the G8 summit of Genoa 2001. In those remarkable days, where Berlusconi's goverment gave orders to stop protesters by "whatever force necessary", the independent media centre was brutally attacked by police, resulting with the arrests, tortures, assaults and beatings into coma of many protesters.

Update Saturday 19: Simon, thessaloniki prisoner, has just phoned and said that letters, which DO NOT have a return address on the ENVELOPE will not be delivered to prisoners.
If you want to send a card Simons 30th birthday is the 24th of july.
This new procedure applies to all prisoners.

Update Sunday 13: The greek government has seized the account at the Pireus bank which had been opened to receive fundings for prisoner solidarity (concerning the last EU summit in thessaloniki). It's important to avoid depositing any money into it, and to wait for more updates before sending more funds. Meanwhile for financial support please contact: financial2003@disobey.net

Update Saturday 12: On Thursday, 10th of July Solidartiy actions so far known of, were taking place in London, Brussels, Graz, Athens, Thessaloniki, Madrid, Bilbao, Torino, Rome, and Buenes Aires.

Update Friday 11: Letter received from Simon Chapman from Thessaloniki's prison.

Thursday, July 10, will mark an international day of solidarity with the eight protestors arrested and imprisoned after demonstrations against the European Union summit in Thessaloniki three weeks ago. In London, supporters will gather at 3 pm at the Greek tourism office and the Greek airline, on Conduit Street, to raise awareness about the injustice being perpetrated by the Greek government.

On the 30. Juni 2003 a demonstration took place against borders, deportations and the new visa-regulations in Warsaw, Poland.
This noborder demo in Warsaw on June 30 ended with 16 arrests for a short time.
A website with templates for appeals to authorities and more info was prepared.

The demo ended a noborder conference and an International Anarchist Meeting preceding the Krynki bordercamp which started on June 2nd.