Photographer Marcus Bleasdale shows us a remarkable Congolese symphony orchestra.
Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Anonymous Could Unleash “Literally Explosive” Material on Bohemian Grove
Paul Joseph Watson, Prison Planet.com
The hackers’ collective Anonymous may have obtained “literally explosive” information concerning Bohemian Grove, an annual gathering of power brokers from the US and Europe set to meet this week in California, which many see as a nefarious avenue through which elitists secretly manipulate world affairs.
Bohemian Grove is a privately owned 2,700 acre compound in Monte Rio, California surrounded by giant old-growth redwood trees. Once a year it plays host to a bizarre confab attended by some of the most powerful people in the world, including many US politicians and government officials, during which participants embroil themselves in a heady mixture of plutocratic plotting and occult pagan ritual ceremonies.
The Anonymous hacking group, which has already announced its intention to occupy the entrance to the Bohemian Grove compound as a protest against the group’s secrecy, may also be about to leak a whole treasure trove of information about the organization as part of what has been dubbed “the biggest day in Anonymous’s history”.
~ more... ~
In this new video release, Anonymous has called for the occupation of Bohemian Avenue and Railroad Avenue, the roads leading to the entrance of Bohemian Grove on the dawn of July 13th.
Aerial Map view of Bohemian Grove area. - http://bit.ly/k3bHAD
FB Event Page -
Aerial Map view of Bohemian Grove area. - http://bit.ly/k3bHAD
FB Event Page -
~ See also: Anonymous Hacks Military Megacontractor ~
David Graeber on Democracy Now!
Amy Goodman and David Graeber discuss the protests in Britain over austerity measures. In this clip, Graeber talks about the historical roots of debt, what it is, and how we came to view it as sacred.
Is Facebook a Liberator or The Man?
Vanessa Miemis blogs for Forbes:
This post is highlighting content areas for The Future of Facebook project, a six-part video series exploring the impacts of social networking technologies on our lives and business.
Social networks are a tool for activism and civic engagement, as well as a means of control, manipulation, and surveillance.
What is the role Facebook will play in local and global political processes?
As futurist Chris Arkenberg put it, “Facebook really represents a battleground for ideas. It’s becoming an area for propaganda, for influence, for memetics, for advertising, for marketing. It is like any other public square: highly diverse and opinionated, potentially volatile and easily influenced by third parties.”
In an aspirational future scenario, we can imagine Facebook as a place that would encourage political transparency as well as civic engagement.
~ more... ~
"The global problem is Debt, the IMF chief says add more Debt, clearly the words of a Debt Whore!"
Max Keiser - "Like a crack whore she will do anything for debt"
The IMF former chief was a financial rapist, now he has been replaced by a debt whore"
Video credit ~ Presstv July 10, 2011
The International Monetary Fund's Chief Christine Lagarde says debt default of the United States would jeopardize the global economic stability. Presstv interviews journalist and broadcaster Max Keiser who calls it how it really is.
The IMF former chief was a financial rapist, now he has been replaced by a debt whore"
Video credit ~ Presstv July 10, 2011
The International Monetary Fund's Chief Christine Lagarde says debt default of the United States would jeopardize the global economic stability. Presstv interviews journalist and broadcaster Max Keiser who calls it how it really is.
Trickle-Down Cruelty and the Politics of Austerity
By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout
There is a certain irony in the fact that the party of debt has now become a flock of austerity hawks. This is the same Republican Party that gave us two wars, an increase in military spending and whopping loss of tax revenues due to tax breaks for mega-rich corporations and the wealthy Americans. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman raises the question of what happened to the federal government budget surplus of 2000 and insists that the answer is, "three main things. First, there were the Bush tax cuts, which added roughly $2 trillion to the national debt over the last decade. Second, there were the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which added an additional $1.1 trillion or so. And third was the Great Recession, which led both to a collapse in revenue and to a sharp rise in spending on unemployment insurance and other safety-net programs."(1) All told, President George W. Bush added $4 trillion to the national debt - and there was no debate about raising the debt ceiling at that time, which was raised seven times.(2) What is often missed in these discussions is that deficits have always been the objectives of hard right-wing Republicans and some equally conservative democrats who see them as an excuse for cutting social benefits and generating massive amounts of inequality that benefit the rich.(3) Michael Tomasky further legitimizes this claim with the charge that "the Republican Party cares nothing about the public debt. In fact, it wants more ... It is the party of debt. It is the party of deficits. It is the party of recession. It is the party of unemployment. It is the party of inequality. And it is the party of middle-class stagnation and slippage.... They scream about crisis because what they desire is to use the crisis as an excuse to do things to this country that the hard right has wanted to do for 30 years."(4)What Tomasky leaves out is that the current crop of right-wing Republicans controlling the shots in Washington and various states appear to revel in "a deep urge to inflict pain."(5) How else to explain that during recent debt negotiations between leaders of both parties, the Republican leadership walked out as soon as the Democrats suggested the need to talk about not only cutting programs that benefit the poor, but also limiting tax breaks for corporate jets, hedge-fund managers, the obscenely wealthy and corporations.
According to the children of Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman and Ronald Reagan, "neoliberal economics," individual interests and market driven needs trumped social needs; brilliant individuals were more qualified to run government and largely blossomed within institutions committed to making money; freedom was largely defined as freedom from regulation; and any government that passed policies to provide social protections, regulate corporations, or lessen inequality were either grossly authoritarian or unwise. In this scenario, especially under the administration of Ronald Reagan, government was declared the enemy and the market was turned into a form of casino capitalism as a series of policies were inaugurated in which there was a sustained assault on the working and middle classes through "the busting of unions, the export of millions of decent-paying jobs and the transfer of enormous wealth to the already rich. The tax rates for the wealthiest were slashed about in half. Greed was incentivized."(6) Accordingly, the ideologues of casino capitalism believed that as the rich and corporations paid less taxes and inequality was left unchecked, society as a whole would benefit, wealth would trickle down. Of course, what has actually happened in the last decade with the unchecked, Wild West, Bush-type casino capitalism is that wages for workers have stagnated; the top 1 percent of the population has gotten fabulously wealthy; health care has deteriorated for the vast majority of the population; schools have been turned into test centers; the nation's infrastructure has been allowed to rot; and, more recently, millions of people have lost their jobs, homes, and hope. Moreover, two-thirds of US corporations paid no taxes. For example, Bank of America has not paid any taxes for the last two years.(7) At the same time, increases in inequality in the United States dwarf the rest of the world, while increases in executive pay undercuts any claim we might have on democracy.
Greece set to default on massive debt burden, European leaders concede
Ian Traynor reports for the Guardian:
European leaders bowed to the inevitable and conceded that Greece is likely to default on its massive debt burden, which would be a first among the 17 countries using the euro.
They also abruptly shifted tack in the eurozone debt crisis by raising the possibility of using the eurozone's bailout fund to buy back Greek debt on the markets, meaning sizeable losses for Greece's private investors and reduced debt levels for Athens.
Following 12 hours of fraught negotiations in Brussels haunted by the risks of contagion in the eurozone spreading to Italy, now being targeted by the financial markets for the first time in the 18-month crisis, the 17 governments of the eurozone pointedly failed to rule out a sovereign debt default by Greece.
A statement that at the meeting the European Central Bank "confirmed its position that a credit event or selective default should be avoided". There was no declaration of governments' support for the ECB position. Both Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg, president of the Eurogroup, and Olli Rehn, EU commissioner for monetary affairs, declined to offer one.
"That does not mean that the Eurogroup as such would do everything to provoke a credit event," quipped Juncker.
~ more... ~
Mexico’s State of Morelos: "We've Been Trained in the Art of Resistance"
By Hanna Nikkanen, Narco News Bulletin
From General Emiliano Zapata to poet Javier Sicilia, something in the Mexican state of Morelos breeds rebellion. After years of social and environmental struggles, the people of Morelos believe they have the blueprint for successful civil mobilization. Will their knowledge change Mexico?
What does golf have to do with civil resistance? Everything, at least in 1995 in the town of Tepoztlán, state of Morelos, south of Mexico City.
“The siege was a time of parties,” María Rosas reminisces. “At three o’clock in the morning, the central square of Tepoztlán was so full of people that it looked like 10 a.m. There were banners, food and newspaper murals everywhere, and everyone had a role to play in the defense of the town.”
[ ... ]
[ ... ]
“Seen from the outside, we were outlaws,” Rosas says. “Seen from the inside, it was the most beautiful thing.”
It was a time between two important eras. The influential former bishop of Cuernavaca, Sergio Méndez Arceo – also known as “the Red Bishop” for his role in bringing liberation theology to the country – had died in Morelos in 1992. In the southern state of Chiapas, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN, in its Spanish initials) had just launched a campaign that would soon bring in a flood of revolutionaries, journalists and human rights observers from around the world to Mexico.
The movement in Tepoztlán identified closely with the Zapatista insurrection. Even the embroideries in carnival costumes declared solidarity: “We are all TEpoZtLáN,” they spelled out, with the letters EZLN bigger than the others. The inspiration went both ways. Tepoztlán was an autonomous municipality before any were formed in Chiapas.
The link with the emerging Zapatista movement, Rosas remembers, helped Tepoztlán overcome a sense of isolation. For a moment the struggle was about something bigger than a golf course.
“Tepoztlán is made of social networks formed by neighbors, families, coworkers, housewives. During the autonomy they became stronger night by night as we sat in the square and talked about what we had been doing, what we would do next, and how we would get the tamales we needed to survive. It was a form of organization that dates from a time before political parties.”
María Rosas clearly loves these memories of her town’s successful mobilization, but one can’t miss a certain sadness in her voice when she talks about the all-night vigils and the way her little son learned to talk and march at the same time.
“Tepoztlán is made of social networks formed by neighbors, families, coworkers, housewives. During the autonomy they became stronger night by night as we sat in the square and talked about what we had been doing, what we would do next, and how we would get the tamales we needed to survive. It was a form of organization that dates from a time before political parties.”
María Rosas clearly loves these memories of her town’s successful mobilization, but one can’t miss a certain sadness in her voice when she talks about the all-night vigils and the way her little son learned to talk and march at the same time.
Rosas would’ve wished for Tepoztlán to remain autonomous. It didn’t.
After eight months of autonomy, in April 1996, the police killed a local campesino, Marcos Olmedo, near the spot where Emiliano Zapata was shot exactly 76 years earlier. The man’s death was followed by the cancellation of the construction plan. The townspeople, exhausted and mourning but also pleased with their victory, gradually allowed the police and political parties to return to Tepoztlán.
Tepoztlán’s struggle is not the only of its kind. The eviction of the golf course marked a renaissance of resistance movements in the state of Morelos. During the almost 17 years that have passed since Tepoztlán first declared itself a free town, autonomous municipalities have popped up in different parts of the state. They have an impressive track record of winning most of their battles, but those victories have often been, like the one in Tepoztlán, tinged with sadness: many of the movements have failed to bridge the gaping class divisions that characterize Mexican society. Many times autonomy has lasted only a fleeting moment.
Often victory has come with a great cost. Morelos is a state where both the police and organized crime seem to have no qualms about using overwhelming force to maintain the status quo.
That has now become the issue around which Morelos’ inhabitants are mobilizing, hoping that their rebellion will spread outside the state’s borders.
A warning to Troika, banks and investors.....
International Meeting - Real Democracy and Austerity Plans Stella Papadaki, Alex Theodorakis, Labros Moustakis (Syntagma Square - Greece)
Warning against the Troika, the banks and local or foreign prospective investors who covet Greece's public property.
The revoked and dictatorial Greek government that does not represent the people of this country has just voted for bills, with which it intends to sell Greek public property and land against the will of the majority of the people.
We would like to inform those who consider this a potential investment opportunity that we shall not delay overturning this government which will soon account for its crimes against the people and the country. The government's signatures and bills are legally void. The Greek people have not ratified them and by all means do not recognize them.
We warn every prospective investor not to even think of approaching an auction or sale of public property or land, and not even to consider buying it. Besides the fact that, as soon as we regain our country's sovereignty, the investor will lose all purchased, the money spent for the illegal trade will not be reimbursed.
We also warn every prospective investor that until we regain control of our country, we will recur to all necessary actions via our self organization to annul and sabotage every investment, so that we defend our rights as these stem from the Greek Constitution and the internationally recognized rights of the people.
Therefore, we warn all prospective investors not to dare go bargain shopping for our public property and land in Greece, unless they realize the high risk of their investment. In the above case, the investment will be considered "welcome" in the country where, when somebody deprives the people of their freedom, they can give birth to a Kanaris¹ or demolish a bridge in Gorgopotamos².
The People's Assembly of Syntagma Square 03/07/2011
1) Constantine Kanaris (or Canaris, Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Κανάρης) (1793 or 1795 -- September 2, 1877) was a Greek Prime Minister, admiral and politician who in his youth was also a freedom fighter, pirate, privateer and merchantman.
Warning against the Troika, the banks and local or foreign prospective investors who covet Greece's public property.
The revoked and dictatorial Greek government that does not represent the people of this country has just voted for bills, with which it intends to sell Greek public property and land against the will of the majority of the people.
We would like to inform those who consider this a potential investment opportunity that we shall not delay overturning this government which will soon account for its crimes against the people and the country. The government's signatures and bills are legally void. The Greek people have not ratified them and by all means do not recognize them.
We warn every prospective investor not to even think of approaching an auction or sale of public property or land, and not even to consider buying it. Besides the fact that, as soon as we regain our country's sovereignty, the investor will lose all purchased, the money spent for the illegal trade will not be reimbursed.
We also warn every prospective investor that until we regain control of our country, we will recur to all necessary actions via our self organization to annul and sabotage every investment, so that we defend our rights as these stem from the Greek Constitution and the internationally recognized rights of the people.
Therefore, we warn all prospective investors not to dare go bargain shopping for our public property and land in Greece, unless they realize the high risk of their investment. In the above case, the investment will be considered "welcome" in the country where, when somebody deprives the people of their freedom, they can give birth to a Kanaris¹ or demolish a bridge in Gorgopotamos².
The People's Assembly of Syntagma Square 03/07/2011
1) Constantine Kanaris (or Canaris, Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Κανάρης) (1793 or 1795 -- September 2, 1877) was a Greek Prime Minister, admiral and politician who in his youth was also a freedom fighter, pirate, privateer and merchantman.
A Die-Hard Communist Viewpoint
As found on You-Tube. Not an endorsement, just posting for historical interest.
Socialism - The Future of Humanity
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