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Fast food strike wave spreads to Detroit, St. Louis
May 10, 2013St. Louis, and last month’s in New York and Chicago, today’s work stoppage is backed by a local coalition including the Service Employees International Union, and the participants are demanding a raise to $15 an hour and the chance to form a union without intimidation.
Organizers say that over a hundred workers joined the St. Louis strike between Wednesday and Thursday. That included a group of Jimmy John’s workers who alleged that management humiliated them by requiring them to hold up signs in public with messages including “I made 3 wrong sandwiches today” and “I was more than 13 seconds in the drive thru.”
“Sometimes I walk for more than an hour just to save my train fare so I can spend it on Ramen noodles,” St. Louis Chipotle worker Patrick Leeper said in an e-mailed statement Thursday. “I can’t even think about groceries.”
A spokesperson for Jimmy John’s declined to comment on Thursday’s strike; McDonald’s and Wendy’s did not respond to inquiries last night.
As I’ve written elsewhere, the fate of the fast food strike wave carries far-reaching implications: Fast food jobs are a growing portion of our economy, and fast food-like conditions are proliferating in other sectors as well. Organizers say the fast food industry now employs twice as many Detroit-area workers as the city’s iconic auto industry. These strikes also come at a moment of existential crisis for the labor movement, a sobering reality that was brought into sharp relief in December when Michigan, arguably the birthplace of modern US private sector unionism, became the country’s latest “Right to Work” state.
Along with a shared significant supporter—SEIU—the campaigns in New York, Chicago, St. Louis and Detroit have apparent strategies in common. Rather than waiting until they’ve built support from a majority of a store’s or company’s workers, they stage actions by a minority of the workforce designed to inspire their co-workers. Rather than publicly identifying the campaign and its organizers with a single international union, these union-funded efforts turn to allied community groups to spearhead organizing. Rather than training all their resources on a single company, they organize against all of the industry’s players at once. And—faced with legal and economic assaults that have weakened the strike weapon—these campaigns mount one-day work stoppages that are carefully tailored to maximize attention and minimize, but not eliminate, the risk that workers will lose their jobs.
Whether these strategies can ever compel a fast food giant to negotiate with its employees remains to be seen.
“After what I would consider well over three decades of wage suppression, workers in this particular industry—and then I think it’ll go to others—are realizing that their only way up the wage ladder is through their own organizations,” CUNY labor studies lecturer Ed Ott said Wednesday. Ott, a board member of the community organizing group that spearheaded the New York fast food strike, added, “The only way these workers are going to be able to advance these jobs is through unionization. And I think that idea has finally gotten traction.”
Update (9:15 AM Friday): According to the campaign, a walkout by twenty workers at Detroit’s 10400 Gratiot Avenue McDonald’s prevented the store from operating. Some workers brought in as strikebreakers to replace those striking workers chose to join the strike instead.
Organizers say that by day’s end, today’s strike could be the largest fast food work stoppage yet, topping last month’s 400-strong strike in New York.
Fuck yeah.
I have to say, considering Jimmy John’s is featured here, I’m disappointed the IWW hasn’t been remotely mentioned, but of course I’m also not surprised. (I’m furthermore hoping this doesn’t get picked up by the SEIU or any trade unions because not even SEIU has a concept of total militancy…) But still, this is a fantastic development. Solidarity with all the strikers!
Fill our inbox and/or email with information about the IWW. I’ve heard bits and pieces about the organization (things I’ve heard that may or may not be true: was syndaclist, now isn’t; was problematic, now isn’t). Anyway, ya’ll’ve got a strong enough internet presence to peak my curiosity.
Guatemala declares emergency after Canadian private-interests spark protests as they try and destroy the lives of Guatemalans, despite loud & clear objections
May 3, 2013
The Guatemalan government has declared a state of emergency in four areas after clashes between police and anti-mining protesters in the south-east of the country. The interior ministry banned public gatherings and sent troops to four towns near a controversial silver mine.
Residents fear the Canadian-owned mine will drain their water supplies. They have not consented to the construction of the mine, have been ignored, and have taken to the streets in desperation to stop the Canadian private-interests from destroying their lives.
Protests have turned increasingly violent after it gained an operating permit in April. One police officer was shot dead on Monday, according to local media, and six protesters were reportedly wounded by gunfire from security guards a day earlier.
In another confrontation, protesters captured 23 police officers who were later freed, according to La Hora newspaper.
The owner of the Escobal mine, British Columbia-based Tahoe Resources, tried to frame the protesters as “aggressors armed with machetes, turned hostile”, and security guards fired tear gas and rubber bullets in response to the public’s cry for autonomy. The capitalist Tahoe Resources outright lied when they tried to claim that complaints that the mine could affect the springs were “totally unfounded”.
The mine, which is not yet operating, is in the district of San Rafael Las Flores, about about 70km (40 miles) east of Guatemala City.
The corrupt government said on Thursday it was outlawing gatherings in the towns of Jalapa and Mataquescuinlta, and the areas of Casillas and San Rafael Las Flores. A decree allows them temporarily to make detentions, conduct searches and question suspects outside the normal legal framework.
No Consent = No Mine
Even if the government tries to lock the people in their houses, the people have been abundantly clear – they do not want this Canadian capitalist ruining their lives & their communities. They decide. Not lawmakers. Not Canadian capitalists. The community has a choice and they have chosen to protect their homes or die trying. Support them in any & every way you can!
Thousands of opponents & supporters of Egypt’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood clashed Friday near the group’s Cairo headquarters, where riot police guarded the building, and the corrupt politicians inside of it.
April 2, 2013
In another Cairo neighborhood, young protesters broke into the Brotherhood party’s office in Manial and stole some items, according to security officials. More than a dozen such attacks on the Islamists’ offices took place late last year across the country during violent protests over the drafting of the constitution and temporary power-grabbing decrees by the president.
The opposition charges that the Brotherhood’s leadership is influencing Morsi, and that they are trying to monopolize power through the presidency. The Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, denies that.
Friday’s protest is also symbolic because it followed a week of demonstrations outside Brotherhood’s doorstep en masse.
One sign held aloft by a protester outside the headquarters read: ‘‘Who is ruling Egypt?’’ The scene was reminiscent of clashes that took place late last year outside the presidential palace in Cairo between Morsi’s supporters and opponents. Ten people died in those clashes.
Protesters on Friday were demanding the Brotherhood apologize for an assault on journalists and activists last week outside the group’s headquarters. The Brotherhood says its guards were instigated by the protesters. The anti-Brotherhood protesters are also demanding the resignation of the attorney general and the interior minister, both appointed by Morsi. The interior minister authorized security forces to use excessive force against protesters. More than 70 people have been killed in protests with police since he was appointed in January.
Fatima Khalifa, 30, said she was demonstrating to send a message to the Brotherhood that they are the aggressors. ‘‘Morsi must be tried for killings of protesters just like Mubarak,’’ she said, referring to Morsi’s predecessor Hosni Mubarak who was ousted in a popular uprising in 2011 after nearly 30 years in power.
Clashes also broke out Friday in Egypt’s second largest city of Alexandria, when several thousand anti-Brotherhood protesters came under attack by unknown assailants who threw rocks and fired birdshot at them outside a military area in Sidi Gaber where anti-government protests often take place.
In the sprawling Cairo neighborhood of Muqattam, where the Brotherhood’s headquarters is based, roads were littered with rocks. There was no traffic and shops had been closed beforehand in preparation for the violent clashes.
An Associated Press correspondent saw members of the anti-Brotherhood camp beating with their fists people in the crowd suspected of being members of the Islamist group. The Brotherhood’s website claimed the incident, saying that ‘‘thugs’’ were attacking anyone heading toward the Brotherhood office.
Several anti-Brotherhood protesters were seen bloodied and being rushed to ambulances.
Clashes erupted at a nearby square after a large pro-Brotherhood march approached the headquarters. The protesters moved a few blocks away to Fountain Square after being hit with rocks from rooftops of nearby buildings. The square lies at the entrance of Muqattam, which overlooks the city.
It was not immediately clear how the clashes broke out around Fountain Square, but drops of blood marked the area. Some of the protesters covered their faces with black masks as ambulances evacuated the wounded from the site.
Anti-Brotherhood protester Hussein el-Sayyid said he saw three people with their faces slashed, suggesting some blades or knives were being used in the fighting.
‘‘We are Egyptians eating one another when we should be one hand,’’ he said.
Elsewhere in Egypt, protesters took to the streets to demand the dissolution of the Brotherhood, which has emerged as the most powerful political group in the country since the 2011 revolt.
Bahrain police attack anti-government woman protesters with stun grenades and tear gas
April 1, 2013
Tensions are once again high in Bahrain after police dispersed anti-government protesters with stun grenades and tear gas. The police intervention came after a demonstration by women was banned.
They were on the streets of the west coast town of Malkiya in support of jailed political prisoners and against the upcoming Formula One race in April.
It is the latest in a series of protests on the Gulf island, led mainly by Shi’ite Muslim groups demanding equality with the Sunnis, as well as political reforms.
There were major turnouts two weeks ago on the second anniversary of the intervention by a Saudi-led force which helped crush a pro-democracy uprising.
Bahrain’s opposition and government negotiators resumed reconciliation talks last month for the first time since July 2011, but little progress has been reported.
Morocco’s labor unions launch mass demonstrations against the government & economy
March 31, 2013
Thousands of members of two of Morocco’s largest labor unions marched through the capital on Sunday to protest the Islamist-led government’s planned economic and labor reforms and its failure to stem unemployment and inflation.
Described as a “national march of protest” pushing for greater freedoms and rights, the few thousand demonstrators, brightly attired in yellow baseball caps and smocks, were smaller in number than past anti-government demonstrations by this North African nation’s labor movement.
The protesters were particularly irate over government plans to reform laws dealing with labor unions, including docking the pay of strikers and measures that the government says would increase transparency in union finances.
Chanting, the “people want the fall of the government” and calling for the departure of Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane, the activists marched through the colonial-era streets of downtown Rabat in a light rain.
Benkirane’s moderate Islamist party won the most seats in elections following pro-democracy uprisings in 2011, and he took the helm of the government promising to fight corruption and address the North African country’s huge gap between the rich and the poor.
His fractious coalition has achieved little, however, and is currently embroiled in the sensitive process of reforming the massive subsidies and pension systems.
“The government has done nothing so far, not for the economy, not for social reforms and not even for the fight against corruption,” said Bouchra Sandeel, a teacher from Marrakech marching in the demonstration.
She expressed fear that efforts to reform the subsidies on fuel and food staples would hit the poor hardest in this country of 32 million.
Talib Ait Ahmed, a cannery worker from the southern coast city of Agadir, said he was protesting for a better life for workers in the face of the rising food prices and widespread unemployment.
Ait Ahmed acknowledged that the government faces constraints, but complained that the prime minister wasn’t doing anything to improve economic mobility and expand the small middle class.
“He’s not reacting. He sees the problem but hasn’t taken it in hand yet,” Ait Ahmed said.
Cypriot “no” inspires Greeks to rail against austerity
March 20, 2013
Greeks and opposition parties inspired by the Cypriot rejection of an unpopular bailout deal urged Athens on Wednesday to stand up to foreign lenders whose demands have resulted in repeated rounds of austerity that have made Greek life a misery.
Cyprus’s parliament on Tuesday rejected a levy on bank deposits demanded in return for aid, raising the spectre of a default for the island nation that could mean enduring wave after wave of spending cuts and tax rises, just like Greece.
“See what Cyprus did? We are proud of them,” said Fey Papadopoulou, 22, a university student. “They should be an example for our politicians, who have succumbed to every demand.”
Cyprus pleaded with Russia on Wednesday for a five-year extension and lower interest on an existing 2.5 billion euro ($3.22 billion) loan and 5 billion euros in new loans after voting down euro zone plan for a 10 billion euro bailout.
“The Cypriots set an example to follow,” left-leaning Eleftherotypia said in its leading editorial. “How can the Cypriots say ‘no’ and we can’t even reject a single property tax?”, ran a headline on Greek television channel Antenna.
Greece which first sought aid from European Union and the International Monetary Fund in 2010, has yielded to demands for harsh austerity measures that have slashed household income by almost a third and sent unemployment up to a record 26 percent.
“Cyprus said ‘No’ on our behalf too,” said Odysseas Panagiotou, a 45-year old clerk. “It’s about time that our traitors - politicians - say a big ‘No’ to the troika demands.”
The “no” vote from Nicosia comes just days before Athens and its lenders resume delicate talks on the implementation of the country’s bailout, with creditors pushing Athens to respect past pledges to fire civil servants and stick to unpopular tax rises.
Merkel’s Strategy
Whether Athens - which in the past has ignored riots and mass protests to approve austerity packages and avert bankruptcy - will be swayed by the latest outcry depends on whether Cyprus ends up bankrupt or finds a solution elsewhere, analysts said.
“If Cyprus goes bankrupt, then the government’s argument that we must stay on the austerity path will be reinforced, but if it wins better bailout terms the main opposition’s arguments will be stronger,” said Thomas Gerakis, head of Marc pollsters.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s government - which has been scrambling to assure Greeks that their bank deposits are not at risk due to the Cypriot crisis - said late on Tuesday it supported Cyprus’s choices.
But Greece’s anti-bailout opposition, including the radical leftist Syriza party, rushed to accuse him and Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras of bowing to the austerity demands of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“After the Cypriots’ proud ‘no’, Mr. Samaras and Mr. Stournaras are the most faithful adherents of Ms. Merkel’s strategy,” said a statement from Syriza, Greece’s most popular party according to a MARC/Alpha survey published on Tuesday.
“The Cypriot parliament shows the way of real negotiation, which no pro-bailout government in Greece even considered.”
Syriza also interpreted a statement late on Tuesday by the European Central Bank to continue funding Cypris banks within existing rules, as a sign of weakness on the part of creditors.
“And just like that, we found out that another way is possible,” Syriza deputy Rena Dourou tweeted a few minutes after the ECB statement was release.
![Protests erupt over NYPD murder of Kimani Gray in FlatbushMarch 12, 2013
A candlelight vigil to mourn a 16-year-old boy who was fatally shot by police turned violent Monday evening, as frustrated attendees threw bottles at cops, broke shop windows and looted a Rite Aid, officials and sources said.
The 7 p.m. vigil started with heartfelt remembrances of Kimani Gray — who was shot and killed by two police officers in East Flatbush Saturday night after he allegedly pointed a .38 caliber pistol at them — but soon some of the teens at the vigil grew violent and began throwing trash cans, people who attended the event said.
By 8:30 p.m., “a large, disorderly group [began] throwing bottles at police” at Church Avenue and East 48th Street, a few blocks from the vigil, an NYPD source said.
As riot police filled the streets, the crowd also surged into the Rite Aid on Church Avenue near Albany Street and trashed it about 9:15 p.m., pulling items off the shelves and attacking the store manager, clerks and security guard, the FDNY said. The group stole some items from the store and cash from the register, sources said.
One man who had been assaulted and was bleeding from the head was rushed to Kings County Hospital in unknown condition, the FDNY said.
Some surrounding shop windows were smashed, sources said, as were the windows of a B35 bus, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said, adding that no one connected with the bus was hurt.
Sandra Mitchelin, 42, a community member who helped organize the vigil and said Gray was “like my son,” said the teens grew violent because they were disappointed that no elected officials initially attended the vigil.
“The kids, they retaliate because they want their voice to be heard,” Mitchelin said. “They’re frustrated. Not even the police commissioner or the mayor. Nobody came out… And he was a baby!”
After the violence broke out Monday night, City Councilman Jumaane Williams raced to the scene to try to calm the crowd.
“I’m in the middle of the riot action at Church and Snyder in my district,” Williams tweeted. “Right now, things are tense. Young people have expressed anger.”
Williams estimated the crowd at 60 to 100 people and said he was “trying to defuse the tension.”
“Tonight was a peaceful vigil [for Gray] that devolved into a riot,” Williams added. “The youth in this community have no outlets for their anger, no community center.”
One person was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, an NYPD spokeswoman said. No police officers were injured, the spokeswoman added.
Gray, of Crown Heights, was with a group of teens on East 52nd Street near Snyder Avenue about 11:25 p.m. Saturday when two anti-crime patrol officers approached in an unmarked car, the NYPD said.
The officers noticed that Gray was acting strangely and fidgeting with his waistband, police said. (Note: Witnesses say he was buckling his belt) When they got out of their car and tried to speak to Gray, he turned on them and pointed a pistol at them, police said. Both officers fired, striking Gray in the legs and torso, the NYPD said.
Gray was rushed to Kings County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“The whole community is fed up,” said Mitchelin, who has a 14-year-old daughter who went to school with Gray. “They come out and attack these kids like they’re gang bangers…. These were 13, 14, 15-year-olds at a party. It never deserved to go down how it went down.”
“We need to have an investigation,” Mitchelin added. “We need somebody to say something.”
On Monday night, the violence just a few blocks away from where Gray was shot had ended by about 10:15 p.m., but the crowd remained for at least another hour, until organizers announced that the protest was over for the evening and would resume the following day.
The next demonstration is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Tuesday at East 55th Street and Church Avenue.
(“Riot” seems to be media hype. This community is outraged that this is a reoccurring incident.)
Source
Be there. Demand justice for victims of police murder & brutality.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/6d0e1972585bbc3959599c2a2dc77e6b/tumblr_mjk9d2jb7C1r6m2leo1_500.jpg)
Protests erupt over NYPD murder of Kimani Gray in Flatbush
March 12, 2013
A candlelight vigil to mourn a 16-year-old boy who was fatally shot by police turned violent Monday evening, as frustrated attendees threw bottles at cops, broke shop windows and looted a Rite Aid, officials and sources said.
The 7 p.m. vigil started with heartfelt remembrances of Kimani Gray — who was shot and killed by two police officers in East Flatbush Saturday night after he allegedly pointed a .38 caliber pistol at them — but soon some of the teens at the vigil grew violent and began throwing trash cans, people who attended the event said.
By 8:30 p.m., “a large, disorderly group [began] throwing bottles at police” at Church Avenue and East 48th Street, a few blocks from the vigil, an NYPD source said.
As riot police filled the streets, the crowd also surged into the Rite Aid on Church Avenue near Albany Street and trashed it about 9:15 p.m., pulling items off the shelves and attacking the store manager, clerks and security guard, the FDNY said. The group stole some items from the store and cash from the register, sources said.
One man who had been assaulted and was bleeding from the head was rushed to Kings County Hospital in unknown condition, the FDNY said.
Some surrounding shop windows were smashed, sources said, as were the windows of a B35 bus, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said, adding that no one connected with the bus was hurt.
Sandra Mitchelin, 42, a community member who helped organize the vigil and said Gray was “like my son,” said the teens grew violent because they were disappointed that no elected officials initially attended the vigil.
“The kids, they retaliate because they want their voice to be heard,” Mitchelin said. “They’re frustrated. Not even the police commissioner or the mayor. Nobody came out… And he was a baby!”
After the violence broke out Monday night, City Councilman Jumaane Williams raced to the scene to try to calm the crowd.
“I’m in the middle of the riot action at Church and Snyder in my district,” Williams tweeted. “Right now, things are tense. Young people have expressed anger.”
Williams estimated the crowd at 60 to 100 people and said he was “trying to defuse the tension.”
“Tonight was a peaceful vigil [for Gray] that devolved into a riot,” Williams added. “The youth in this community have no outlets for their anger, no community center.”
One person was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, an NYPD spokeswoman said. No police officers were injured, the spokeswoman added.
Gray, of Crown Heights, was with a group of teens on East 52nd Street near Snyder Avenue about 11:25 p.m. Saturday when two anti-crime patrol officers approached in an unmarked car, the NYPD said.
The officers noticed that Gray was acting strangely and fidgeting with his waistband, police said. (Note: Witnesses say he was buckling his belt) When they got out of their car and tried to speak to Gray, he turned on them and pointed a pistol at them, police said. Both officers fired, striking Gray in the legs and torso, the NYPD said.
Gray was rushed to Kings County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“The whole community is fed up,” said Mitchelin, who has a 14-year-old daughter who went to school with Gray. “They come out and attack these kids like they’re gang bangers…. These were 13, 14, 15-year-olds at a party. It never deserved to go down how it went down.”
“We need to have an investigation,” Mitchelin added. “We need somebody to say something.”
On Monday night, the violence just a few blocks away from where Gray was shot had ended by about 10:15 p.m., but the crowd remained for at least another hour, until organizers announced that the protest was over for the evening and would resume the following day.
The next demonstration is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Tuesday at East 55th Street and Church Avenue.
(“Riot” seems to be media hype. This community is outraged that this is a reoccurring incident.)
Be there. Demand justice for victims of police murder & brutality.
On this day in history: On March 7, 1930 ‘red’ assemblies in the U.S. protested against unemployment. Masses of people in New York and Washington, led by communists, demonstrated against high unemployment, and broke into riots.
New York, Thursday.
Despite extraordinary precautions taken by the police throughout the United States, a number of minor disorders and rioting took place in various parts of the country today. In Washington the police were obliged to use tear gas to disperse a gathering on “Unemployment Day” demonstrators in front of the White House, and several communists were injured in a struggle with the police when the leader of the demonstrators climbed the iron railing of the Presidential grounds and attempted to speak.
President Hoover had previously sent out word to the police not to interfere with the meeting provided there was no disorder and the demonstrators confined themselves to the public thoroughfares. The police considered that the leader of the demonstrators had violated the President’s instructions and forced him to get down on the ground.
A boy of eighteen, wearing a flaming red sweater, grasped one of the policemen from behind, and a general mêlée started. Youth and police fell to the pavement together, whereupon another policeman drew his revolver and fired a charge of tear gas at the demonstrators, who fled in all directions. About twenty persons, including several girls, were immediately arrested. Throughout the demonstration President Hoover was working in the office only a hundred yards away.
In New York, a mammoth demonstration was staged in Union Square – the Trafalgar Square of New York. A crowd estimated at more than 75,000 was present. The square was jammed to overflowing, and traffic had to be diverted. The roof tops and windows were lined with curious onlookers. More than one hundred detectives moved among the crowd.
Considerable resentment was caused in newspaper quarters when it was discovered that [Police Commissioner] Mr Whalen had disguised a number of his detectives as reporters, even equipping them with special press badges. Two bags full of tear-gas were held in readiness. Scores of speakers addressed the crowd from various rostra and the audience joined lustily in singing the “Internationale.”
Later, however, when the demonstrators wanted to form a procession to march to the City Hall they found the way barred by Mr Whalen and his men and the trouble began. The Police Commissioner first attempted to parley, and offered to take the leaders in his car to City Hall to see the Mayor, Mr “Jimmie” Walker, but the offer was refused and the Reds attempted to rush Mr Whalen and his bodyguard. A “riot call” was at once sent out, and militia, fire brigades and riot squads appeared as if by magic.
The police rallied and charged the demonstrators, eventually succeeding in dispersing the meeting. Several policemen as well as a number of Communists were injured. The ringleaders were arrested on a charge of inciting to riot.
Outraged about poverty & corruption, 50,000 demonstrate in Varna - tens of thousands more across dozens of cities in Bulgaria
March 3, 2013
Tens of thousands of Bulgarians furious over poverty and corruption protested in more than a dozen cities on Sunday, as a lack of clear support for any political party mired the country in limbo days after the government was toppled.
Prime Minister Boiko Borisov quit along with his centre-right government on Wednesday after two weeks of sometimes violent protests. He remains in office until an interim government is appointed, most likely next week, which will take Bulgaria to elections due on May 12.
However Bulgarians are still struggling to unite behind a single political leader or give voice to a clear set of demands.
Polls suggest neither Borisov’s rightist GERB party nor the opposition Socialist Party has enough support for an overall majority, and whichever wins the election will have to try to assemble a coalition to form a working government.
Thousands of people took to the streets of cities including the capital Sofia, Plovdiv, Burgas, Blagoevgrad, Ruse and Sliven on Sunday - a national holiday. In the biggest rally, about 50,000 protested in the Black Sea city of Varna, local media reported.
“It is obvious that the protesters are not united and this could very quickly destroy the enthusiasm of the people,” said Georgi Trendafilov, a demonstrator in Sofia downtown.
Six years after joining the European Union, Bulgaria trails far behind other members. Its justice system is subject to special monitoring and it is excluded from the passport-free Schengen zone because of other members’ concerns about graft.
The country’s public debt is one of the lowest in the bloc but business cartels, corruption and wages that are less than half the EU average, have kept many from feeling the benefit.
It also has the cheapest electricity costs in the EU but an increase in prices since last July under an energy market liberalisation has made it harder for Bulgarians to heat their homes through a cold winter.
Power Protests
The demonstrations began with a handful of youngsters protesting against high electricity bills. Eventually, hundreds of thousands of Bulgarians took to the streets, angered by their low living standards.
President Rosen Plevneliev said an interim government would aim for stability by sticking to the 2013 budget, which foresees a deficit of 1.3 percent of GDP, and implementing previous commitments such as a 9 percent increase in pensions from April.
He also said he would set up a 35-member public council to advise the interim government and re-present the people’s interests. But consultations for the establishment of the council at the presidency collapsed on Saturday.
Representatives of protesters, objecting to the inclusion of some wealthy businessmen, walked out of the talks. They said they could not “sit at the same table with those they were fighting”.
“We are going out to fight until the end, we will not negotiate with oligarchs,” said Angel Slavchev, one of the leaders of the demonstrations. A trade union leader also quit, objecting to the composition of the council.
Earlier this week, Borisov, described as “a lone player” by analysts, dismissed the idea of a governing national unity coalition and said such a move could benefit nationalist parties such as far-right Attack.
Support for Borisov’s rightist GERB party has fallen over the last year, and it is now neck-and-neck with the opposition Socialist Party.
Just before resigning, Borisov had proposed to cut electricity prices by 8 percent and alarmed investors by saying the government would revoke the distribution licence of the Czech utility CEZ, risking a diplomatic row with the Czech Republic and EU.
The energy regulator proposed a smaller, 6.4 percent cut on Friday, a few days after CEZ and the other two distributors, Austria’s EVN and the Czech firm Energo-Pro, said they had done nothing wrong.
Guinea protesters continue to clash with oppressive security forces
February 28, 2013
Guinea security forces fired live ammunition and tear gas at thousands of anti-government protesters in the seaside capital Conakry on Wednesday in clashes that wounded more than two dozen people, sources said.
The violence in the West African state is a result of soaring tensions ahead of a parliamentary election the opposition says is being rigged by the administration of President Alpha Conde.
“We don’t know how it started, but the security forces charged the crowd and fired tear gas,” said Ousmane Camara, a Conakry resident at the protest in the city’s Hamdallaye neighborhood, an opposition stronghold.
Another witness said security forces had wounded at least two people, including a child, with live rounds and were using truncheons to push back other demonstrators, who threw stones and chunks of concrete, and set fire to tires.
A security official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that 16 police and gendarmes had been admitted to hospital with wounds after the initial clashes. Sources said injuries among the protesters were likely higher.
It was unclear if there were any dead, and witnesses said demonstrations were ongoing.
Guinea’s opposition coalition had called for widespread protests in Conakry after announcing last week it would boycott preparations for long-delayed legislative polls, claiming the run up to the vote was flawed.
The election set for May 12 is intended to be the last step in Guinea’s transition to civilian rule after two years under a violent army junta following the death of long-time leader Lansana Conte in 2008.
President Alpha Conde won a 2010 presidential election in the world’s top supplier of bauxite, the raw material in aluminium, but delays in the legislative vote have deepened a political deadlock and led to intermittent violence.
The opposition says the elections commission chose the poll date unilaterally and that two companies contracted to update voter rolls have skewed the lists in Conde’s favor. They also want Guineans living abroad to be allowed to vote.
Thousands of people had participated in peaceful protests across Guinea last week in support of opposition demands. The parliamentary poll was originally due to be held in 2011 but has already been delayed four times.
Israel ‘demands Palestinian leaders quell unrest’ following the series of human rights violations that have led to another tipping point in the struggle to end Israel’s racist apartheid system
February 24, 2013
Israel has sent an “unequivocal demand” to the Palestinian Authority to reduce tensions after thousands of detainees staged hunger strikes in Israeli prisons and violent protests erupted in the West Bank following the death of an inmate.
“Israel has conveyed to the Palestinian Authority (PA) an unequivocal demand to calm the territory,” Reuters cites the Israeli government as saying.
The official added the message was delivered to the PA by one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top aides.
Netanyahu also put forward an apparent incentive to the PA by promising to go ahead with the transfer of some $100 million in tax revenues which Israel collects on Palestine’s behalf, but had been withholding.
“In order that the non-payment of taxes that Israel collects for the Palestinians should not serve as an excuse for the Palestinian Authority not to calm the territory, Netanyahu instructed the money for January to be transferred,” a government statement read.
A senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, was not forthcoming on how the PA would react to the demand, though he blamed Israel for the recent surge in violence.
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) were placed on high alert in the West Bank and east Jerusalem following clashes, which erupted after Arafat Jaradat, a 30-year-old Palestinian inmate, reportedly died of a cardiac arrest on Saturday in Megiddo prison.
Israel’s internal intelligence service, Shin Bet, said Jaradat had been arrested on Monday for his involvement in a stone-throwing incident last November in which one IDF soldier was injured.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) holds Israeli officials responsible for Jaradat’s death.
“This is not an isolated case. This is the case of the rights of all the prisoners - rights that are being violated by the occupation. This requires quick action to open Israeli prisons to the world,”said PA Minister for Prison Affairs Issa Qaraqaa.
“Our information was that Jaradat was being interrogated and then he died. Therefore we call for an international investigation into his death, that may have resulted from torture,” Qaraqaa continued.
Following the autopsy of Jaradat in Israel on Sunday, Saber Aloul, chief pathologist of the Palestinian Authority who was present at the procedure, said marks on Jaradat’s body showed he had been tortured during his interrogation, Haaretz reports. Aloul further said there were no signs of heart failure.
Israel’s Health Ministry said it was not yet possible to determine the cause of death, and no signs of injury were discovered with the the exception of those received during the admission of CPR and scuff marks.
Hundreds of Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Hebron and nearby villages on Sunday.
Some 200 Palestinians hurled stones and set tires ablaze in central Hebron, as IDF troops responded with rubber bullets.
Sources in Ramallah also said the 15-year-old son of a Palestinian security services chief was wounded by IDF gunfire in a protest near the Beitounia Crossing, Haaretz reports. Another 20-year-old protester was also wounded by live fire, the sources say.
More than 4,500 prisoners also held a one-day fast on Sunday to protest Jaradat’s death.
Four other Palestinian prisoners are in the midst of a hunger strike which has already inspired a wave of violent protests in the West Bank over the past week.
Palestinian leaders have warned that the death of any of the four hunger strikers could spark a wave of unrest which might be beyond their power to control.
‘Basta!’: Femen activists attack Berlusconi at polling station
February 24, 2013
Three topless members of the feminist movement FEMEN tried to attack Silvio Berlusconi in a polling station in Milan, where the leader of the center-right coalition was casting his vote.
The three women pulled off their clothes, remaining only in jeans, as soon as the former prime minister appeared at the polling station.
They shouted ‘Basta Berlusconi’ (‘Enough With Berlusconi’); the same slogan was painted on their bare upper bodies.
The activists broke through a line of journalists at the polling station at the Dante Alighieri School and tried to reach Berlusconi, but they were immediately seized by bodyguards and dragged away.
The three women, Inna Shevchenko, Oksana Shachko and Elvire Duval-Sharle, were quickly detained by police. The women resisted as officers struggled to put jackets and handcuffs on them and seat them in a police car.
The 76-year-old politician’s reaction to the incident was calm.
“It’s an exaggeration. Those who think with their mind and intelligence can vote only in one direction and behave consequently,” Berlusconi said, as cited by International Business Times.”Then, there are situations like this outside the boundaries of reason and we cannot do anything to avoid that.”On Sunday Italy started early parliamentary elections. As a result of the two-day vote the winning party will form a new government. The former four-time Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is one of the candidates, despite being on trial on charges of having sex with a minor. He denies all the charges. Berlusconi’s trial is postponed until after the elections with the next hearing set for March 4.
Berlusconi has previously been involved in fraud and sex scandals. He has an extensive record of criminal allegations, including mafia collusion, false accounting, tax fraud, corruption and bribery. He has been tried in Italian courts several times, though never found guilty.
On the official internet page of FEMEN Movement the activists urge to “make a ‘political’ killing” of Berlusconi.
‘Italy, do not vote for the one who should be in prison!’
The FEMEN activists gained notoriety by conducting impromptu topless protests. The last protest was in the beginning of February 2013. FEMEN activists got naked in Notre Dame de Paris to mark the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. The activists are reported to have attacked ‘homophobic propaganda’ in the Vatican.
FEMEN movement activists have conducted protests during major international public events in different countries against sex tourism, religious institutions, international marriage agencies, sexism and other social and international issues.
Egypt’s culture minister, Mohammed Saber Arab, has resigned in protest of police abuse of protesters.
February 5, 2013
In one notorious incident, police were filmed dragging and beating a naked activist during a rally against President Mohamed Morsi.
The recent upsurge in unrest in Egypt comes on the second anniversary of the January 25 revolution that ousted Mubarak.
Dozens have been killed and hundreds injured in eight days of violence.
A man who was beaten and dragged across the ground naked by Egyptian riot police during a demonstration on Friday was shown on state television blaming the incident on demonstrators.
A video of Hamada Saber, 48, being beaten with truncheons by helmeted police has infuriated the opposition, which accuses President Mohamed Morsi of ordering a harsh crackdown on protests two years after the uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Morsi’s government has announced an investigation into the incident, which came at the end of eight days of violent protests that saw nearly 60 people killed, the deadliest unrest of his seven months in office.
State television aired overnight a recording of Saber, lying on bed in a police hospital, giving his account of the incident, in which he blamed protesters for stripping and robbing him.
It was not clear how his account could be reconciled with the widely seen footage, which clearly showed police beating him with truncheons and dragging him naked across a road.
Saber said he had seen a crowd running and then felt himself shot in the leg.
“I fell over, I failed to stand up again, then they surrounded me in a circle and attacked me,” he said. The interviewer asked if he was referring to the demonstrators, and he answered: “Yes I am. They took my clothes off, maybe they were looking for money in my pockets. Then someone among them shouted: ‘He is not a soldier. He is not a soldier, he is an old man and you are going to kill him.’
“The soldiers ran towards me. I was afraid of them, but they were saying, ‘We will not beat you’. I swear to God this is what happened. I kept on running. They said again: ‘Do not be afraid.’ I kept running away and they said, ‘We are exhausted because of you’.”
Egypt’s prosecutors’ office has released a statement saying Saber denied that police had hit him. That statement was received angrily by the opposition which suspects the authorities of intimidating him to exonerate the police.
“That a citizen be dragged in a public space is a crime against humanity. That he be forced to amend his testimony before the Public Prosecution is tyranny. It has dire consequences for justice,” Nasser Amin, a prominent lawyer and campaigner for judicial independence said on Twitter.
Cairo: police use tear gas to disperse crowds opposite President’s Palace
Police on Saturday night used tear gas against hundreds of protesters attempting to attack the presidential palace in Cairo.
They had approached flush up to the walls of the residence, pelting stones and Molotov cocktails. The crowd chanted slogans against the head of state, demanding dissolution of the Islamic movement “Muslim Brotherhood” and the resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs.
Earlier, several thousand people rioted near the palace; there was a fire inside caused by several firecrackers thrown onto the compound.
Armored vehicles were introduced into neighboring streets.
According to Egypt’s Ministry of Health, one person died and dozens were injured in yesterday’s clashes.
Egyptian opposition getting radical
Egypt’s main opposition bloc, the National Salvation Front, has ruled out a dialogue with the authorities and urged its followers to topple the regime of President Morsi and bring him and his Islamist allies to justice for killing anti-regime demonstrators.
On Friday night, opponents of President Morsi clashed with police outside the presidential palace in Cairo. The clashes left one protester dead and some 100 injured.
Belgian police fired water cannons to disperse striking ArcelorMittal workers in Namur yesterday.
The world’s largest steelmaker factory slashed more than 1,300 jobs by shutting down a cola plant & six finishing lines. Thousands of people have flooded the streets protesting job cuts & austerity measures throughout the country. Protesters have been met with riot police firing water cannons & pepper spray since Friday.
(Source: rt.com)
