Wednesday 30 March 2011
Tuesday 29 March 2011
'I cried when I saw them marching'
The Hungarian far right looks set to roll out a campaign of Roma intimidation after meeting little resistance to its vigilante "law and order" mission in Gyongyospata, a Hungarian village of 2,800 people 80km north-east of Budapest.
For A Better Future, a paramilitary organisation deriving its name from a Nazi youth movement slogan, entered the village at the start of the month. It conducted foot and car patrols, followed Roma around and stopped them from entering shops.
On March 10, the intimidation reached its peak when 1,000 black-uniformed neo-Nazis marched through the village, some reportedly armed with dogs, whips and chains.
Many Roma were afraid to leave their homes or take their children to school. The local mayor, Laszlo Tabi, who is not officially allied to a political party, allegedly offered his seal of approval, while the police sat on their hands.
"I cried when I saw them marching," says Janos Farkas, the spokesman for the village's 450-strong Roma community which centres around a dirt road in a shallow valley at the edge of the village. Many of the dilapidated homes do not have mains water and few of their occupants jobs.
"I can't see how this could happen in a democratic country? The police are now present, but why did they let it go on for three weeks?" asks Farkas.
Nothing has been done to stop the vigilantes from restarting their activities here or to prevent them springing up elsewhere.
A national 'example'
"This looks like a local conflict, but it is a national one," says Kristof Szombati of Politics Can Be Different, a liberal green party. On this, if nothing else, the far right agrees with him.
Gyongyospata provides an "example for future situations" says Gabor Vona, the leader of the extreme-right Jobbik party, which is behind the uniformed intervention, at a press conference in the village council chamber. His party hopes to use the vigilante campaign to mark the first anniversary of its entry into parliament, with 17 per cent of the vote, next month....
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Phil Cain @'Al Jazeera'
Peasant Seeds: Dignity, Culture and Life. Farmers in Resistance to Defend their Right to Peasant Seeds
Farmers throughout the world are the victims of a war for control over seeds. Our agricultural systems are threatened by industries that seek to control our seeds by all available means. The outcome of this war will determine the future of humanity, as all of us depend on seeds for our daily food.
One actor in this war is the seed industry that uses genetic engineering, hybrid technologies and agrochemicals. Its aim is the ownership of seeds as a source of increased profits. They do this by forcing farmers to consume its seeds and become dependent on them. The other actor is peasants and family farmers who preserve and reproduce seeds within living, local, peasant and indigenous seed systems, seeds that are the heritage of our peoples, cared for and reproduced by men and women peasants. They are a treasure that we farmers generously place at the service of humanity.
Industry has invented many ways of stealing our seeds in order to manipulate them, mark them with property titles, and thereby force us, the farming peoples of the world, to buy new seeds from them every year, instead of saving and selecting them from our harvest to plant the following year. The industry’s methods include genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and hybrid seeds, which cannot be reproduced by farmers, as well as industrial property over seeds, including patents and plant variety certificates, all of which are imposed through international treaties and national laws. These are but different forms of theft, as all industrial seeds are the product of thousands of years of selection and breeding by our peoples. It is thanks to us, peasants and farmers, that humanity has at hand the great diversity of crops that, together with animal breeding, feeds the world today.
In their drive to build monopolies and steal our natural wealth, corporations and the governments who serve them place at risk all of humanity’s food and agriculture. A handful of genetically uniform varieties replace thousands of local varieties, eroding the genetic diversity that sustains our food system. Faced with climate change, diversity is a strength, and uniformity a weakness. Commercial seeds drastically reduce the capacity of humanity to face and adapt to climate change. This is why we maintain that peasant agriculture and its peasant seeds contribute to the cooling of the planet.
Our communities know that hybrid and genetically modified seeds require enormous quantities of pesticides, chemical fertilizers and water, driving up production costs and damaging the environment. Such seeds are also more susceptible to droughts, plant diseases and pest attacks, and have already caused hundreds of thousands of cases of crop failures and have left devastated household economies in their wake. The industry has bred seeds that cannot be cultivated without harmful chemicals. They have also been bred to be harvested using large machinery and are kept alive artificially to withstand transport. But the industry has ignored a very important aspect of this breeding: our health. The result is industrial seeds that grow fast have lost nutritional value and are full of chemicals. They cause numerous allergies and chronic illnesses, and contaminate the soil, water and air that we breathe.
In contrast, peasant systems for rediscovering, re-valuing, conserving and exchanging seeds, together with local adaptation due to the local selection and reproduction in farmers’ fields, maintain and increase the genetic biodiversity that underlies our world food systems and gives us the required capacity and flexibility to address diverse environments, a changing climate and hunger in the world....
One actor in this war is the seed industry that uses genetic engineering, hybrid technologies and agrochemicals. Its aim is the ownership of seeds as a source of increased profits. They do this by forcing farmers to consume its seeds and become dependent on them. The other actor is peasants and family farmers who preserve and reproduce seeds within living, local, peasant and indigenous seed systems, seeds that are the heritage of our peoples, cared for and reproduced by men and women peasants. They are a treasure that we farmers generously place at the service of humanity.
Industry has invented many ways of stealing our seeds in order to manipulate them, mark them with property titles, and thereby force us, the farming peoples of the world, to buy new seeds from them every year, instead of saving and selecting them from our harvest to plant the following year. The industry’s methods include genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and hybrid seeds, which cannot be reproduced by farmers, as well as industrial property over seeds, including patents and plant variety certificates, all of which are imposed through international treaties and national laws. These are but different forms of theft, as all industrial seeds are the product of thousands of years of selection and breeding by our peoples. It is thanks to us, peasants and farmers, that humanity has at hand the great diversity of crops that, together with animal breeding, feeds the world today.
In their drive to build monopolies and steal our natural wealth, corporations and the governments who serve them place at risk all of humanity’s food and agriculture. A handful of genetically uniform varieties replace thousands of local varieties, eroding the genetic diversity that sustains our food system. Faced with climate change, diversity is a strength, and uniformity a weakness. Commercial seeds drastically reduce the capacity of humanity to face and adapt to climate change. This is why we maintain that peasant agriculture and its peasant seeds contribute to the cooling of the planet.
Our communities know that hybrid and genetically modified seeds require enormous quantities of pesticides, chemical fertilizers and water, driving up production costs and damaging the environment. Such seeds are also more susceptible to droughts, plant diseases and pest attacks, and have already caused hundreds of thousands of cases of crop failures and have left devastated household economies in their wake. The industry has bred seeds that cannot be cultivated without harmful chemicals. They have also been bred to be harvested using large machinery and are kept alive artificially to withstand transport. But the industry has ignored a very important aspect of this breeding: our health. The result is industrial seeds that grow fast have lost nutritional value and are full of chemicals. They cause numerous allergies and chronic illnesses, and contaminate the soil, water and air that we breathe.
In contrast, peasant systems for rediscovering, re-valuing, conserving and exchanging seeds, together with local adaptation due to the local selection and reproduction in farmers’ fields, maintain and increase the genetic biodiversity that underlies our world food systems and gives us the required capacity and flexibility to address diverse environments, a changing climate and hunger in the world....
Continue reading
BBC footage identifies (alleged) police agent crossing line during cuts protest
Footage shot by the BBC inadvertently catches an unidentified man walking up to police constables during a fracas, showing his identification, and quickly walking off beyond police lines.
The man is unlikely to be a journalist since he’s dressed in gear that covers his face and head, while carrying nothing that looks like a notebook or a camera.
The video was shot by a BBC News helicopter during coverage of the protests away from the main TUC march on Saturday.
In January this year the Met Police admitted that it had posted covert officers at the G20 protests last year, despite initially saying it had not.
(above video edited with Political Scrapbook. Found via @aaronjohnpeters)
The full video shot by the BBC is here (the necessary segment is 5m50s in).
Sunny Hundal @'Lib Con'
The video was shot by a BBC News helicopter during coverage of the protests away from the main TUC march on Saturday.
In January this year the Met Police admitted that it had posted covert officers at the G20 protests last year, despite initially saying it had not.
(above video edited with Political Scrapbook. Found via @aaronjohnpeters)
The full video shot by the BBC is here (the necessary segment is 5m50s in).
Sunny Hundal @'Lib Con'
Jonny Faith - Beats From Mars Mix
Tracklist:
01. Mars Intro
02. Meteor Shower (Ital Tek Remix) - Jonny Faith
03. Skulltaste - Mux Mool
04. Greatest Silence - Lorn
05. 1685 Bach - Nosaj Thing
06. Kiara - Bonobo
07. Neon Beams - Take
08. You and I Both Know - Alex B
09. Stay Blazed - Darkhouse Family
10. Full Moon - Jonny Faith
11. Cant Fathom This (Om Unit RMX) - Freddy Todd
12. I Miss Your Brains - Take
13. Soul Stew - Leonard Dstroy
14. Are You The One - Bullion
15. You - Gold Panda
16. Mahjongg - Charles Trees
17. OK Luv (Eprom rmx) - Starkey
18. Battlestar Terror - Harmonic 313 Vs Demolition Man
19. Blue Sky on Mars - Jonny Faith
01. Mars Intro
02. Meteor Shower (Ital Tek Remix) - Jonny Faith
03. Skulltaste - Mux Mool
04. Greatest Silence - Lorn
05. 1685 Bach - Nosaj Thing
06. Kiara - Bonobo
07. Neon Beams - Take
08. You and I Both Know - Alex B
09. Stay Blazed - Darkhouse Family
10. Full Moon - Jonny Faith
11. Cant Fathom This (Om Unit RMX) - Freddy Todd
12. I Miss Your Brains - Take
13. Soul Stew - Leonard Dstroy
14. Are You The One - Bullion
15. You - Gold Panda
16. Mahjongg - Charles Trees
17. OK Luv (Eprom rmx) - Starkey
18. Battlestar Terror - Harmonic 313 Vs Demolition Man
19. Blue Sky on Mars - Jonny Faith
(Thanx Audiozobe!)
Mark Kennedy: Confessions of an undercover cop
After seven years spent living as an environmental activist, Mark Stone was revealed to be policeman Mark Kennedy. He talks to Simon Hattenstone about life on the outside, with no job, no friends and no idea who he really is.
Read it HERE
Monday 28 March 2011
Radioheads 'The Universal Sigh' Newspaper
UPDATE:
D/load NO longer available but you can see it HEREalong with photos from Melbourne yesterday and video of Thom himself handing the paper out at Rough Trade in London.
Reuters Reuters Top News
FLASH: Qatar recognises rebel Libyan national council as sole, legitimate representative of Libyan people - Al Jazeera
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