The People's Record

An ongoing chronicle of communities of resistance around the world: anti-racism, anti-zionism, anti-imperialism, the Arab Spring, anti-austerity protests in Greece and across Europe, student movements all around the world, the Occupy Movement, anti-capitalist movements, anarchist movements, socialist movements, leftist communities and other relevant international news.

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Austerity cut: Italian miner slits wrist on TV to protest coal mine shutdown (GRAPHIC VIDEO)

August 30, 2012

A Sardinian miner has slashed his wrist in a live TV address, in protest against the closing of a local facility. Some 100 workers barricaded themselves in front of the mine, which is packed with almost 700 kilograms of explosives.

The incident took place during a press conference held underground.

“If someone here has decided to the kill miners’ families, ladies and gentlemen, we’ll cut ourselves, we’ll cut ourselves,” 49-year-old Stefano Meletti said as he slashed his wrist in front of reporters.

“We cannot take it anymore. We cannot! We cannot! It’s what we have to do,” Reuters quoted him as saying.

The workers have staged a sit-in 400 meters underground since barricading themselves in the mine on Sunday night. The mine contains an estimated 700 kilograms of explosives, and the miners have vowed not to leave until the government promises to assist them.

The miners are protesting a shortage of funding for the coal industry, which has left them unemployed. They are calling for Italian energy corporation Enel to halt the shutdown of the last coal mine in the country.

The workers are pressing the government to combine a mining and a carbon-capture project to save their jobs, but authorities have already denied their pleas, claiming the project would cost some 250 million euros a year.

“That’s almost 200,000 euros per miner. It’s an unsustainable cost,” government Undersecretary of Economic Development Claudio De Vincenti told La Republica.

Sardinia has been Italy’s main mining region for decades, but the deep recession gripping the country has devastated the industry – the unemployment rate in the region is 16 percent.

Italian leaders are set to meet later this week to discuss the Sardinia’s economic plight.

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I realized I should probably clarify: July 17, 2012 You probably know this, but just in case the point of the image wasn’t clear from the picture alone, Al Jazeera is better than the New York Times not because the title was more well-written or funny or anything like that. Rather, the point of the image is that the New York Times is a biased, problematic tool for the corporate media to represent and propagate a neoliberal perspective on important world events. So we see something like the protests that have broken out in response to the self-immolation in Israel and read the titles from two publications covering it and the stories are two entirely different stories, representing incompatible accounts of what is happening in the world. I think that disparity is rooted in the fact that the New York Times is consistently biased and partial toward the ruling class. The pun in the Al Jazeera title is pretty bad but I think it’s cool that they’re actually covering the news and what is happening in the world and not intentionally downplaying the growing unrest in Israel. Russia Today is the only international news provider that I prefer to Al Jazeera. -R.Cunningham EDIT: Reading the responses to this is really interesting. I’m learning lots, thanks tumblr friends! There is obviously no room for unproblematic media within capitalism. Still, Al Jazeera and Russia Today tend to represent facts in a way that seems more consistent with reality, in my humble opinion - at least in terms of international protest news.

I realized I should probably clarify:

July 17, 2012

You probably know this, but just in case the point of the image wasn’t clear from the picture alone, Al Jazeera is better than the New York Times not because the title was more well-written or funny or anything like that. Rather, the point of the image is that the New York Times is a biased, problematic tool for the corporate media to represent and propagate a neoliberal perspective on important world events.

So we see something like the protests that have broken out in response to the self-immolation in Israel and read the titles from two publications covering it and the stories are two entirely different stories, representing incompatible accounts of what is happening in the world. I think that disparity is rooted in the fact that the New York Times is consistently biased and partial toward the ruling class.

The pun in the Al Jazeera title is pretty bad but I think it’s cool that they’re actually covering the news and what is happening in the world and not intentionally downplaying the growing unrest in Israel. Russia Today is the only international news provider that I prefer to Al Jazeera.

-R.Cunningham

EDIT: Reading the responses to this is really interesting. I’m learning lots, thanks tumblr friends! There is obviously no room for unproblematic media within capitalism. Still, Al Jazeera and Russia Today tend to represent facts in a way that seems more consistent with reality, in my humble opinion - at least in terms of international protest news.

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Sudan students continue to hold major protests July 16, 2012 Sudanese university students armed with sticks and stones have staged perhaps their largest protest since unrest sparked by inflation began nearly a month ago, a witness said. Security forces fired tear gas, said the witness, adding the students at the University of Khartoum were shouting and throwing stones after the protest began mid-afternoon last Wednesday. “Compared to other demonstrations it’s… bigger,” said the witness who asked not to be identified. With protesters scattered around the central campus, it was hard to determine their numbers, the witness said. The university is where an unprecedented month of national protests began on June 16, when students first voiced their opposition to high food prices. Source

Sudan students continue to hold major protests

July 16, 2012

Sudanese university students armed with sticks and stones have staged perhaps their largest protest since unrest sparked by inflation began nearly a month ago, a witness said.

Security forces fired tear gas, said the witness, adding the students at the University of Khartoum were shouting and throwing stones after the protest began mid-afternoon last Wednesday.

“Compared to other demonstrations it’s… bigger,” said the witness who asked not to be identified.

With protesters scattered around the central campus, it was hard to determine their numbers, the witness said.

The university is where an unprecedented month of national protests began on June 16, when students first voiced their opposition to high food prices.

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Bahrain imprisons protester for being critical of the prime minister on Twitter. July 09, 2012 A prominent Bahraini protest leader, Nabeel Rajab, was sentenced to three months in prison for a tweet criticizing the prime minister,Khalifah ibn Sulman al-Khalifah. (al-Khalifah is the uncle of King Hamad bin Isa who is depicted in the picture above. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any pictures of al-Khalifah getting punched.) Rajab has been a central figure in organizing protests during 16 months of unrest in the Gulf Arab state. Majority Shi’ite Muslims have spearheaded calls for democratic reforms to limit the powers of the ruling Sunni Muslim Al Khalifa family. Source Photo source

Bahrain imprisons protester for being critical of the prime minister on Twitter.

July 09, 2012

A prominent Bahraini protest leader, Nabeel Rajab, was sentenced to three months in prison for a tweet criticizing the prime minister,Khalifah ibn Sulman al-Khalifah. (al-Khalifah is the uncle of King Hamad bin Isa who is depicted in the picture above. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any pictures of al-Khalifah getting punched.)

Rajab has been a central figure in organizing protests during 16 months of unrest in the Gulf Arab state. Majority Shi’ite Muslims have spearheaded calls for democratic reforms to limit the powers of the ruling Sunni Muslim Al Khalifa family.

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