blessed britons

On his arrival at Belmarsh in 2001, G was put together with the other detainees in what is known as "the unit", a prison-within-a-prison built for IRA prisoners during the Troubles. "We were kept a minimum of 22 hours in the cell and never saw the sky," says G, who did not see his wife for six months. "When she was finally allowed to visit, there was a screen and we had to communicate by phone." The then home secretary, David Blunkett, declared that he and other detainees could not be deported to Algeria because they would be tortured. "But it was apparently OK to keep us in prison indefinitely here. In Britain, animals have rights; I have fewer rights than an animal."

— Paul Donovan

mad world

In Cuba, life expectancy is 6 years longer than the rest of the continent. Under-five mortality is 4 times below the average. If Latin America could show the same results as Cuba, 250,000 children's lives could be saved every year. There are 5.7 million working children in Latin America. For the whole continent, there are 50 million street children. None of these situations are to be found in Cuba, where all children go to school.

— Jean Bricmont

Humanitarian Imperialism

activism

how many razor blades, Officer?

Submitted by antarchi on August 12, 2008 - 11:29.

I've been living in a cage in rural England. The cage was a field was a camp site for concerned environmentalists, and had barricaded gates and sentinels inside and out.

the war on terror at climate camp

Submitted by antarchi on August 4, 2008 - 02:06.

Kent Police, Medway Council and other organisations that provide services to you are working together to ensure the camp causes the least disruption possible to your daily lives.

From the Kent Police website

crap arrest of the week

Submitted by antarchi on July 29, 2007 - 00:21.

It was a case of getting seriously unjust desserts for one Plane Stupid activist last week. On Sunday 8th, cycling along a cycle path close to Heathrow in West London, she was randomly stopped and searched by police for no apparent reason. Although not carrying anything apart from a recipe for avocado ice cream and a cycle map, she was arrested under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and held, along with another campaigner, for over thirty hours before being bailed on charges of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. Must have been the threat of green ice cream.

it's time to withdraw

Submitted by antarchi on May 14, 2008 - 23:31.

What we need is to withdraw—don’t be afraid to withdraw and think. You know, Marx thesis eleven: philosophers have only interpreted the world; the time is, we have now to change it. Maybe, as good Marxists, we should turn it around. Maybe we are trying to change it too much. It’s time to redraw and to interpret it again, because do we really know what is going on today?

...Don’t be - don’t feel guilty for withdrawing from immediate engagement and for trying to understand what’s going on.

you mustn't feel like a martyr

Submitted by antarchi on October 15, 2007 - 01:11.

The only kinds of fights worth fighting are those you are going to lose because somebody has to fight them and lose and lose and lose until someday, somebody who believes as you do wins. In order for somebody to win an important, major fight 100 years hence, a lot of other people have got to be willing -- for the sheer fun and joy of it -- to go right ahead and fight, knowing you're going to lose. You mustn't feel like a martyr. You've got to enjoy it.