Anarchic update news all over the world - 27 januari 2017

Today's Topics:

   
1.  wsm.ie: After the coup - a visit to Istanbul & north
      Kurdistan - interview with activist researcher 
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
2.  France, Alternative Libertaire AL Decembre - The Libertarian
      Communist Archive Fund (FACL) was born! (fr, it, pt) [machine
      translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
3.  call for solidarity -- Autonomous spaces in Slovenia under
      attack, support the struggle! (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
4.  Class War: Britain's most unruly tabloid is back! The
      newspaper returns... (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
5.  Britain, glasgow anarchists: Glasgow Events ~~Glasgow
      Autonomy Update~~ 21.1.17 (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
6.  wsm.ie: A referendum on the 8th or #strike4repeal on March
      8th (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
7.  France, Alternative Libertaire AL #268 January - Content +
      Editorial (fr, it, pt) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
8.  verba-volant: Anarchist-anti-authoritarians - Alimos,
      Athens: Demonstration against the International Organization for
      Migration (ca, gr) [machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
   
9.  anarkismo.net: False hope, broken promises: Obama's
      belligerent legacy by Jakob Reimann - ROAR (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
  
10.  class war: Harrods Breaking News: Victory! Victory! Victory!
      (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
  
11.  anarchist affinity org: Why you should boycott Australia Day
      by Jacqui (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)


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Message: 1



Farah recently visited Istanbul and Northern Kurdistan around Amed / Diyarbakir to 
interview feminist and Kurdish activists.  In this interview on her return to Ireland we 
talk about the massive repression against the left and Kurdish movement that has seen tens 
of thousands fired from their jobs and thousands including many of the HDP MPs jailed. 
---- We also talk about how Istanbul still remains a hub for internationalists on their 
way to Rojava and on the very different ways Istanbul and Amed are policed.  We move on to 
a discussion of the impact of the repression of the Kurdish movement in Turkey and where 
the future may lie both there and across the border in 
Rojava.[Listen]https://www.mixcloud.com/workerssolidarity/after-the-coup-a-visit-to-istanbul-north-kurdistan-interview-with-activist-researcher/

Subject: Turkey, Rojava, Kurdistan, International solidarity
Topics: Imperialism
Geography: International
Multimedia: Audio
Source: Opinion
Type: Interview
Author: Andrew N Flood

http://www.wsm.ie/c/after-coup-istanbul-north-kurdistan-interview

------------------------------

Message: 2



By releasing forty years of archives, Alternative Libertarian seized the opportunity to 
open a resource center for the history of a whole political current and its struggles: the 
Libertarian Communist Archives Fund.
One hundred twenty cartons carefully classified, inventoried and numbered, collections of 
newspapers, posters, leaflets, photos, audiovisual material, all covering the activity of 
the libertarian (and related) communist current in the Francophone space of 1944 To the 
present day ... It is the Libertarian Communist Archive Fund (FACL).
To know all about the genealogy of the project, its purpose, its means ... and the 
inauguration of January 29, 2017, click on the image below.
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Le-Fonds-d-archives-communistes

------------------------------

Message: 3



Call for solidarity actions for INDE squat in Koper, Slovenia ---- In the last few years 
we have seen new autonomous spaces emerging in Slovenia, joining the struggles of older 
squats all over the country. ---- Along the Slovenian coast, two enormous buildings were 
occupied until recently. The occupations brought radical politics and different social 
relations to their environment. Both squats were always open to a variety of projects and 
initiatives, but had strong anarchist presence and activities as well. The spaces used to 
be factories, which were destroyed by the brutal privatization. ---- Right after New 
Years, ARGO squat in Izola was forcefully evicted. Eviction was preceded by a series of 
harassments from police and security company, that in some cases resulted in serious 
bodily injuries and fines for comrades there. The second coastal squat, called INDE, got 
an eviction notice just a few days ago. We are supposed to leave the premises on January 30.

Both squats are currently owned by so-called Bad Bank. This is a state
institution under the management of the Ministry of Finance, created to
resolve debt by big failed speculative financial investment that crashed
during the economic crisis. In other words: they are there to sell
buildings cheap and open them to further financial speculations, by
which the rich will once again profit, while all of us will lose.

The eviction of INDE is going to happen under a pretense of cleaning up
dangerous material at the site. ARGO was also declared a dangerous zone
by authorities, but the only thing they are trying to clean out of it
are comrades who are bringing life into these spaces.

This is another blow in a hard year for the squatting movement in
Slovenia, since all of the spaces are facing attacks, either by Nazis
or/and police, private security, and state institutions. We understand
this kind of pressure as a part of increased repression that the
so-called migrant crisis has justified. More is at stake than just our
building. We are a hope of a different world, where solidarity, mutual
aid, anti-authoritarianism, and non-hierarchical relations are still
possible. Just few months ago we prevented the eviction of Rog squat in
Ljubljana. We know we can do that again.

We call for comrades all around the world to show us solidarity. We will
welcome you here, but will be happy if you fight where you stand. Send
us a letter of support, or raise a banner! Or squat something yourself!
They can never hold us back if we stand together strong. Everything you
do will keep our spirits up.

If we go down, we are going down in style. Join our struggle!

Local Group Alternativa Obstaja, Koper (part of FAO-IFA)

BAD BANK:   http://www.dutb.eu/en/default.aspx  (info@dutb.eu)
Security Company that is in charge of eviction: http://www.galekom.si/
(info@galekom.si)

INDE: http://www.indeplatforma.org/
            https://www.facebook.com/indeplatforma/?fref=ts

ARGO: https://www.facebook.com/argoplac/

------------------------------

Message: 4



The Class War newspaper will blast back into existence soon! Articles, ideas, cash and 
photos will be needed.
You want more "Hospitalised copper of the week" pix? Get those pix!
We'll be looking for news from the front lines of working class struggles worldwide.
More info coming soon.
Contact Class War if you want to contribute or have old copies of the paper or old posters 
to help build our archive: contact us here

http://www.classwarparty.org.uk/contact/

------------------------------

Message: 5



Hi everybody! ---- Here we have a massive Glasgow Autonomous Space celebration update - 
almost all the events listed here are taking place in Glasgow's coolest free space! If you 
haven't been along to check it out yet, here you will find plenty of opportunities. You 
can read more about GAS at http://glasgowautonomous.weebly.com/. ---- On another note, the 
Spirit of Revolt Archive have contacted us with a message about their need for scanning 
volunteers, here is their message: ---- SPIRIT OF REVOLT is the archive for the West of 
Scotland, covering anarchist, libertarian socialist and grassroots community material. It 
is located in the Mitchell Library. ---- A priority is to digitise by scanning most off 
the donated archives. At present we have a need for more volunteer scanners. With the 
possible exception of early Tuesday evening, all the scanning has to take place between 
approx 9.30-4.30 in the SOR room.

If you support the aims of SOR, work part-timer or are unwaged or have a flexi shift, 
contact me, as the Scanning Coordinator in order to arrange an Induction session. Most 
scanners do a 2 hour stint either weekly or fortnightly.
Keith Millar via hereandnowscot http://spiritofrevolt.info/collection/

https://glasgowanarchists.wordpress.com/

------------------------------

Message: 6



Feminists in Ireland are upping their game against the 8th amendment and indeed against 
the Irish state. The newly formed group, Strike for Repeal, are preparing to ‘strike' if a 
date is not set for a referendum to repeal he 8th Amendment by International Women's day 
on March 8th. ---- In a press release the group has said "The strike will not be an 
industrial strike in the traditional sense but could include taking an annual leave day 
off work, refraining from domestic work for the day, wearing black in solidarity or 
staging a walkout during your lunch break. We also encourage any business owners in a 
position to close their services at no cost to workers, to do so for all or part of the 
day as a solidarity action." ---- In the context of the farcical attempt of the government 
to delay any efforts to Repeal the 8th through the Citizens Assembly a strike should 
certainly cause concern for our anti-women TD's. The strike is the greatest source of 
leveraging power that workers have; as workers we are exploited, as women workers we are 
exploited further. A gendered pay gap of 20% currently exists in Ireland, meaning that for 
every euro a man makes a women earns 80 cent. Outside of the workplace women still do the 
majority of the house and care work. This work is unrecognised, often termed an invisible 
form of work and it means women are working a double shift for the wage of one.

The 8th Amendment is barbaric, forcing 9 people a day to travel for an abortion, countless 
more taking illegal pills at home, one women given a forced c-section at 24 weeks, another 
who was brain dead being kept on a life support machine despite her families wishes 
because she was pregnant, and resulting in the deaths of Bimbo Onanuga and Savita 
Halappanavar. It is a tool used by the state to control women and pregnant people; to 
force either pregnancy or exilt upon them. Having control of our reproductive systems, 
choosing if and when we have children is fundamental to our freedom. Having control over 
our bodies is essential to gaining control over our lives, not having them dictated to us 
by bosses or politicians.

Support for the Repeal the 8th has grown exponentially in recent years. Aoife Francis from 
the group stated: "We call upon the Government to take direct responsibility for what is a 
violation of human rights. We believe a national strike is not only possible, but an 
incredible opportunity to show the sheer power of our movement, and to put pressure on the 
government to call a referendum. In the past 5 years, support for repeal has grown to a 
level that the government can no longer ignore."

We have them surrounded, now imagine winning!

Subject: Repeal 8th, Pro-choice
Topics: Gender
Geography: National
Source: News alert
Type: News
Author: Fionnghuala Nic Roibeaird

http://www.wsm.ie/c/referendum-strike-march-8th

------------------------------

Message: 7



candidates "anti-system" , Marine Le Pen, François Fillon, ZEP schools, Traore brothers, 
Notre Dame des Landes, Mujeres Libres, Iraqi Kurdistan , Nuclear Weapon, animal welfare, 
Eating organic Software Free, René Berthier, Master Chief ---- Editorial: Magic Potion 
---- Full-Lights: The scam candidates "anti-system" ---- The "anti-system" in the service 
of the dominant capital and ---- Marine Le Pen: False Feminist ---- Fillon: The rebel sand 
---- Fight ---- The ultimatum of the ZEP schools min Ministry ---- 's Traoré brothers 
sentenced the executioners released ---- Notre Dame des Landes Vinci airport wants to make 
a laboratory of the law work ---- Trade Union Unity against airport ---- Antipatriarcat 
---- free women against machismo libertarian ---- International - Report from Iraqi 
Kurdistan ---- A Maxmur, self-management is a combat sport

Ecology
   nuclear weapon: the rififi in the international community
  Meeting with the Var farmer: "The animal welfare is a pernicious notion"
  Eating organic does still changing the world?
  Support: The conquest of bread is not for sale

Idea
  Software Free: librisme articulate and decay

Culture
   Response to the book by René Berthier: "Affinity nevertheless"

History
   There are 30 years: No Master Chief in our schools


Edito: Magic Potion

"Antisystemism", here is the latest politicard gadget in vogue.

The one that makes it possible to make a billionaire fascist a defender of workers and 
forgotten workers of Iowa or a former minister fayot a cantor of cheap dressespierrism. 
That which allows a dynasty of millionaires to denounce the inter-of the political class 
or to a xenophobic and omniscient journalist to accuse, on all the airwaves, the 
censorship of which it would be the object.

This hypocrisy is only a product of fear. For all know that this magic potion is 
indispensable to them in a world of which they are the incarnation and which arouses a 
growing hatred among the exploited. They know that the motor of electoral rituals is no 
longer adhesion but rejection. May this magic potion be their last resort. But the greater 
the lie, the more violent the fall.

In the meadows of Cannon Ball, in the streets of Warsaw or Thessalonica, in London in the 
struggles of the uberized wage-earners or in the Kurdish villages, the real paths of 
change are built behind these illusions, always ephemeral. Here, no false pretenses or 
marketing "antisystem" driven by advertisers, but the truth and courage of those who know 
that this world needs a revolution.

Alternative Libertaire, December 24, 2016

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?-No268-janvier-2017-
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Edito-Potion-magique

------------------------------

Message: 8



On December 17, 2016 about 150 people took part in a demonstration against the role of the 
International Organization for Migration, in the Athens suburb of Alimos. During the 
demonstration slogans were painted on the outside of two buildings of the Organization and 
in several vehicles of his. Also, painting was thrown to the facade of the central 
building of the Organization. The text that follows is the one that was distributed during 
the demonstration. ---- International Organization for Migration means repression, 
deportation and institutional racism ---- 1. The International Organization for Migration 
(IOM) was founded in 1951 and calls itself the best organization in the field of 
migration. It has close collaboration with (inter) governmental and "non-governmental" 
organizations. It was established (founded) as an Intergovernmental Committee for 
Migration in Europe, however, since 1989 is called the International Organization for 
Migration, under the aegis of the UN. 155 countries participate, including Greece.

Recently the role of IOM changed its level, when it officially joined the UN. It already 
has more jurisdictions in the sector of the materialization of the anti-migratory 
policies. IOM is the organization which together with other "experts" in 
Europe-for-strength and "global security" (EUROPOL, FRONTEX, European Border Police and 
Coast Guard, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, The European 
Asylum Support Office) carry out the policy of closed or well-controlled borders, 
deportations and detention in detention centers.

These anti-migration policies constitute a part of the policies of Sovereignty in general. 
European states and inter-state and military formations worldwide, with military 
operations and the economic plunder of societies in various parts of the world, first 
force entire populations to emigrate and those who can not exterminate or imprison as 
leftovers use them As cheap and disposable human potential in several dungeons. 
Illegalization and criminalization of immigrants is a process that results in lower labor 
prices, intensifies racist reactions in "receiving countries," and presupposes not only 
state aggression but also the supposed humanitarian management of immigrants. That is why 
organizations like the IOM are the ideal mechanism for the beautification of the barbarity 
of sovereignty, along with many other tools available to States and patterns ( NGOs , mass 
media disinformation, e.tc.). Because they can call repatriations to the deportations, 
because they can call projects of social assistance and of humanism to the programs of 
imprisonment. Because they can call voluntary immigrant deportations, if they are the 
result of diachronic policies of their detention, intimidation and criminalization.

2. This organization appears with a humanitarian mask, some of its main activities being 
the distribution of basic necessities in the internment centers of immigrants, legal 
support and participation in "inter-frontier and inter-scientific meetings" against 
trafficking in human beings humans. It also participates in the resettlement program in 
Italy and Greece to other European countries, with a major partner in the program since 
2011 , and having received hundreds of thousands of euros. Simultaneously, this profile is 
responsible for larger projects, such as the supposedly voluntary return of immigrants to 
their countries of origin. However, how voluntary is this return? Immigrants, after paying 
everything they have to traffickers, risk their lives to leave their countries, and once 
past the fenced borders, guarded by NATO contingents and frigates, they are confined in 
detention centers, being Trapped in these miserable quarters for months, because only then 
will their asylum claim be met. This is the only way that IOM's 
humanitarian-anti-immigration policy calls for voluntary repatriation, along with "legal" 
deportations. It is obvious that in both cases it is a coercion to return, either with 
psychological or violent means. Immigrants are forced to return to countries from which 
they have chosen to flee or were forced to flee, since for European states 
"philanthropists" are "useless" and unwanted. At the same time, this strategy acts as an 
intimidation, so that immigrants who stay in the "receiving" countries are subjected.

The hypocrisy, however, of IOM is not limited to the aforementioned. It begins in its 
statute, which "recognizes the right to free movement", and even calls immigrants 
"beneficiaries" of their programs. Obviously, when it says "free circulation", it refers 
to the displacement that leads to the modern slavery of the western metropolis and to the 
quarters of "hospitality" or seclusion. And "beneficiaries" will benefit if they return to 
their crushed countries. This intentional disorientation by IOM is something that 
fervently promotes the new government, which seems to invest in the ideological and 
material work (and the "experience") of this organization, trying to materialize all 
political and anti-migratory agreements Provided with the necessary humanitarian 
packaging. IOM's "humanism" is the necessary recipe of social consensus for the plans of 
the police and military management of immigrants, and the incorporation of any voice that 
opposes them.

3. On May 27, 2016 was signed an agreement between the Ministry of Public Order and the 
International Organization for Migration, to "facilitate the process of return and support 
reintegration measures" of more than 20,000 immigrants to their "Countries of origin" over 
the next three years. This agreement clearly shows the policy to be followed by the Greek 
State during the next period, especially after the recent change in the legislation 
concerning the composition of the asylum committees to certain categories of applicants. 
Those who fail to reach these committees will have to return (to their countries), and the 
organization that can now proceed to massive repatriations is IOM. The economic dimension 
of this agreement (€ 11 million a year over the next three years) confirms the fact that 
during the next period the Greek State will be the point of management of the prevailing 
anti-migration policy.

In addition, at the end of September, the old dungeon of Amygdaleza (as Syriza called it 
when he was in the Opposition. At that time his main electoral promise was his closure) he 
painted, inside it a children's park was built, and began To function again as a 
"pre-departure detention center", in which the "renounce the right to asylum" or 
"voluntarily request repatriation" will be detained. "Prison barracks -" hospitality ", as 
well as" pre-departure detention centers "that have been known for many years, have been 
added to a prison that has been renovated aesthetically and communicatively, whose 
management here IOM will now have it. In this way he will be able to carry out his 
charitable work of the "logistic souls", according to the saying "Migration is not a 
problem to be solved, but a reality to be managed" (migration is not a problem that has to 
be solved, but a reality that has To be managed). This is a principle of fundamental 
agreement between IOM, the UN countries and UNESCO, consolidated in the World Convention 
for Migration, held in the same period (late September) in New York. It is clear that 
IOM's cooperation with the other mechanisms of detention and repression of immigrants has 
risen so much that any pretext of humanism is already addressed only to innocent people. 
These mechanisms and their various partners (security agencies, catering companies, 
contractors, airlines, non-governmental organizations, etc.) are here transforming the 
military management of immigrants into investment and profit-making opportunities. 
Currently the Greek government, in addition to developing a project to create more 
concentration centers on the border islands, has hired the American consulting firm Mc 
Kinsey, one of the largest in the world, to change The processes necessary to request 
asylum, and to accelerate the deportations of refugees and islanders.

4. In the face of the barbarity of States and the limits (limits), we propose the free 
passage by the borders for all those who choose to emigrate or for all those who are 
forced to do so. Immigrants rebelled in internment centers and those who cross borders to 
the western world, resist this nonsense. In front of them lies the whole front of 
capitalist barbarism. It is a matter of all the oppressed, of all communities of struggle, 
to confront such organizations and their policies. It is a matter for everyone to deny 
States and borders, to break false illusions about charity, and to release all those 
detained accused of being illegal human beings. Solidarity opens up the steps of freedom 
when it fights against the source of the uprooting, when it proposes the destruction of 
all the transnational military machines that sow death with "humanitarian interventions" 
and anti-terrorist campaigns, when it proposes the free circulation of the uprooted people 
of this Against murderous repatriations. Solidarity with the oppressed, native and 
immigrant, is the link between our struggles. When confronted with the world of power, it 
opens the way and confers on our struggle for a world without states, borders, roles and 
patterns, a real meaning.

To end the humanism of the deportations and the barracks. For a world without states, 
borders, papers (documentation). Solidarity with immigrants.

Anarchist-anti-authoritarian-fighting communities self-organized by solidarity with 
immigrants and refugees

http://verba-volant.info/es/alimos-atenas-manifestacion-contra-la-organizacion-internacional-para-las-migraciones/

------------------------------

Message: 9



When Obama received the Nobel Prize in 2009, the committee acknowledged his commitment to 
peace. He has since bombed eight countries. ---- Gigantic hopes were pinned on Barack 
Obama when he moved into the White House in 2009. Not just in the US, but across the globe 
people were simply fed up with eight unspeakable years of George W. Bush - with his 
nepotism, his belligerence and, yes, his sheer stupidity. The world was sick and tired of 
the "Cowboy from Texas." ---- And then there came this highly intelligent, charismatic, 
eloquent - black - civil rights attorney from Illinois and everything was set to change. 
"Yes We Can" infected the whole world. "Hope and Change" were almost physically tangible 
to many. Yet Barack Obama has bitterly disappointed the world.

DIALOGUE AND NEGOTIATIONS

In 2009, Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize - not for any concrete action but rather for 
his effusive optimism and, eventually, for his Yes We Can campaign. The Nobel committee 
acknowledged Obama's commitment to peace and admired his diplomacy-focused aspirations: 
"Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most 
difficult international conflicts."

Furthermore, the committee appreciated the fact that Mr. Obama had given people everywhere 
"hope for a better future." The president himself felt "deeply humbled" and considered the 
award a "call to action."

The outgoing president has since bombed eight countries, trumping his predecessor George 
W. Bush by two.

Bush infamously held his pathetic Mission Accomplished speech on an aircraft carrier, only 
a few weeks after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. In October 2011, Obama finally declared 
the end of the war in Iraq and withdrew US troops from the country. While we shouldn't 
shed any tears over Saddam, pre-war Iraq was a reasonably stable country back in 2003. In 
2011 it was left behind by Obama as a failed state, a country in total chaos, deeply 
drowned in the bloodiest of violence. Today the country is a jihadist breeding ground par 
excellence. It is no longer possible to deny that the rise of the so-called Islamic State 
was a direct result of the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003.

And so Obama, in 2014, after an absence of 2.5 years in Iraq, set out to "ultimately 
destroy" the jihadist legacy of his predecessor Bush - first with air strikes, then with a 
few hundred special forces, and now with approximately 6,400 soldiers and private 
mercenaries back on the ground.

Similarly, in Libya in 2011, the US and its NATO allies France and the UK misused UN 
resolution 1973, which aimed to establish a no-fly zone, and turned it into a pretext for 
an illegal war of aggression against Muammar Gaddafi. This led to the overthrow of the 
dictator, who was sodomized and executed by a lynch mob in the streets of his hometown of 
Sirte.

With his push for regime change Obama not only violated International Law, but US law as 
well, since the mandate for his campaign in Libya had already been withdrawn by US 
Congress in June 2011. Again, Libya was a reasonably stable country - until then the most 
advanced in Africa - that was thrown into turmoil and a bloody civil war. The so-called 
Islamic State used this chaos to their advantage as a way to build up its third biggest 
troop contingent, after Iraq and Syria. Post-invasion Libya has degenerated into a 
melting-pot of terrorists from across Africa and the Middle East.

As in Iraq, Obama once again used the terror threat generated after the orchestrated 
overthrow of an unpopular dictator to establish a permanent US commitment: renewed arms 
shipments, conventional air strikes, illegal drone killings, and, since May 2016, even US 
troops on the ground.

In Yemen, Obama not only bombed the country on his own - both with conventional and with 
drone attacks - but since March 2015 Washington has also actively supported a Saudi-led 
coalition with intelligence, logistics and massive arms shipments in its illegal war of 
aggression against the Houthi rebels. More recently it was revealed that there are US 
troops on the ground in Yemen, and that for the first time the US not only attacked 
al-Qaeda members but bombed facilities of the Houthi rebels as well.

The perfidious and shameless manner in which the Obama administration peddles falsehoods 
about its military misadventures is exposed particularly when looking into its activities 
in Syria. Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Obama has supported 
different rebel groups in their fight against Bashar al-Assad. "Non-lethal aid" quickly 
gave way to the supply of heavy military equipment. Among the groups favored by the US 
there have been elements of he Free Syrian Army that later defected to ISIS or to 
al-Qaeda, taking Obama's arms and money to their new masters.

Since September 2014, the US Air Force has been launching air strikes against ISIS troops 
in Syria. Obama, however, has repeatedly uttered the mantra that there would be "no boots 
on the ground in Syria." Yet when US ground forces were eventually deployed to Syria - 
initially a few dozen, then hundreds - the government was so bold as to simply deny 
Obama's previous promises: as the spokesman of the State Department put it, "there was 
never this ‘no boots on the ground.' I don't know where this keeps coming from." Obama has 
actually been publicly quoted saying precisely that on at least 16 occasions.

THE RULE OF LAW IS OVERRULED

But that's not all. Every Tuesday, known as "Terror Tuesday," a list of terror suspects 
from around the world is submitted to President Obama by his intelligence advisors. As 
former CIA and NSA Director Michael Hayden ostentatiously admits, quite often the entries 
do not even have names, but are based solely on metadata, like which SIM card is calling 
whom, when, and for how long.

Once a week, Obama signs this so-called "kill list" - leading to the extrajudicial 
execution of foreign and even US citizens through the president's dramatically expanded 
drone program. The bitter irony herein is self-evident: the studied constitutionalist 
Obama is acting as prosecutor, judge and executioner at the same time, thus abandoning the 
separation of powers - the cornerstone of a constitutional democracy.

Since the beginning of the US drone program in 2004, up to 8,000 people have been killed 
by drone strikes. The vast majority of them were authorized by Obama himself, and a few by 
his predecessor George W. Bush. Most victims were located in Pakistan (up to 4,000), 
Afghanistan (up to 2,300), and in Yemen (up to 1,300), plus around 400 more in Somalia.

In full knowledge of the consequences, Obama authorized the execution of people who often 
happened to be in their family circle or in public places when the drones struck. Time and 
again, the US has bombed wedding parties, as well as, most cynically, a funeral ceremony 
of drone victims. As an act of retaliation, the children of alleged terrorists are also 
killed by drones. As former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs once so despicably 
declared, "I would suggest that you should have a far more responsible father."

The proportion of civilians killed in drone strikes is inevitably extremely high. In 
Pakistan, for example, only 4 percent of casualties were confirmed al-Qaeda members. 
Because of this blatant injustice, drone killing are widely regarded to be the main 
recruiting tool for new terrorists. This is Obama's legacy: he has made the illegal drone 
war the norm, and firmly entrenched it as an integral part of the "War on Terror."

THE CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS

So far, we have discussed seven of the eight countries attacked by Obama. The eighth 
country is the Philippines. In 2012, a US drone killed 15 people in the country, thereby 
further escalating the ongoing conflict between rebel groups and the government in Manila.

If we include cyber warfare in our list, we could even add Iran as a ninth country. In 
fact, from the very outset of his presidency, Mr. Obama waged an "increasingly 
sophisticated" cyberwar against the civil nuclear program of Iran, thus becoming the first 
president in US history to use "cyberweapons to cripple another country's infrastructure," 
as The New York Times reported in 2012.

Seven of the eight countries physically bombed by Obama are predominantly Muslim. The 
Philippines is the exception, but the 15 people killed there were all Muslims. Clearly 
this track record sits very uncomfortably with Obama's carefully crafted image as a 
reconciler of religions. Just in February he made his acclaimed speech at a mosque in 
Baltimore.

Obama certainly did not initiate America's ongoing war on Muslim countries - he is merely 
following a decades-old US tradition in that respect. But what Obama has done is to make 
the so-called "clash of civilizations," which has long been a staple of foreign policy 
hawks in right-wing Washington think tanks, socially acceptable to liberals, normalizing 
it to an extent that would have been unimaginable under someone like George W. Bush. This, 
too, is his legacy.

THE VISION OF A NUCLEAR-FREE WORLD

In his history-making speeches in front of the Siegessäule in Berlin in 2008 and in Prague 
in 2009, Obama proclaimed his goal of a "world without nuclear weapons," an announcement 
that was followed by frenetic applause: "Yes, we can!" In his policy plan, he extensively 
addressed the issue of nuclear disarmament. To the Nobel Peace Prize committee, this point 
was extremely important - the announcement of his award specifically invoked his "vision 
of a world without nuclear weapons."

But while the number of nuclear warheads worldwide was dramatically reduced from its peak 
of more than 70,000 in the 1980s to just over 15,000 today, with both Russia and the US in 
possession of about 7,000 each, the lion's share of this disarmament took place 
immediately at the end of the Cold War.

During his presidency, Obama has only minimally reduced the US nuclear stockpile. Even 
George W. Bush kept his word and halved the US nuke arsenal. Added together, Bush Sr and 
Bush Jr dismantled a total of 14,801 nuclear weapons, while Obama managed to dismantle no 
more than 507.

"It's a funny thing," Hans M. Kristensen, the luminary of nuclear disarmament research, 
says: "the administrations that talk the most about reducing nuclear weapons tend to 
reduce the least." President Obama has decommissioned fewer warheads than "any 
administration ever."

But it gets worse. When assuming office in 2008, Obama pledged that he would "not 
authorize the development of new nuclear weapons." Then, in 2014, he announced the largest 
single item in the US budget for the coming decades: a jaw-dropping $1 trillion to be 
spent on a mammoth program to "modernize" the US nuclear arsenal. To put this in 
perspective: this means the US will spend roughly $4 million on nukes every hour - for the 
next 30 years.

The particular danger with this "modernization" of America's nuclear infrastructure, the 
New York Times remarks, is that "the upgrades could allow a future president to rapidly 
expand the nation's atomic forces." With the megalomaniacal and unpredictable Donald Trump 
soon in the Oval Office, this danger looms especially large.

Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, signed by 191 countries including the 
United States, obliges the signatory countries to pursue "effective measures relating to 
cessation of the nuclear arms race" and to "complete" nuclear disarmament. The milestone 
UN Resolution 1540 of 2004 reaffirms again that all member states are to "fulfil their 
obligations" to disarm all weapons of mass destruction. Obama's trillion-dollar nuclear 
armament program blatantly violates both of these international treaties.

During the Cold War, there was a trend towards ever larger, more apocalyptic nuclear 
bombs. Under Obama's administration that trend has been reversed with the development of 
so-called mini-nukes - small atomic bombs capable of destroying strategic targets instead 
of entire cities. One of the heads of Obama's modernization plan called mini-nukes the 
"more ethical approach." The misanthropy underlying this statement is difficult to bear. 
Reducing the size of nuclear warheads actually removes some of the deterrent in using 
them. Due to their small size, US generals have fantasized that the use of nukes is "no 
longer unthinkable." This, too, is Obama's legacy.

WAR HAS LOST ITS INDECENCY

There is no denying that Obama has made some positive achievements in his foreign and 
security policies during his tenure. In some fields he has actually advanced the US and 
the whole world. Here the nuclear deal with Iran comes to mind, which I have previously 
called "one of the most important global diplomatic agreements of the young century."

Obama also pursued the normalization of diplomatic relations with Cuba and, after almost 
90 years, he was the first US president to actually travel to the Caribbean country - a 
historic milestone.

But at the same time, Obama has failed to close the concentration camp at Guantanamo; he 
has presided over the intensification of military tensions with China in the Pacific 
region; he holds a shameful record on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and his management 
of the Ukraine crisis has been disastrous, contributing - together with his intervention 
in Syria - to the emergence of a frightening new Cold War scenario, involving the largest 
build-up of US troops in Eastern Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

All of this clearly goes to show how Obama blatantly squandered the opportunity to pursue 
peace, and instead has handed down the very opposite: a world of escalating conflicts and 
tensions. Obama may have started out with good intentions, but as John Pilger so 
strikingly put it, "his most consistent theme was never change - it was power."

In a classified CIA analysis published by WikiLeaks in 2010, the Agency bemoaned the 
waning support for war among the population of America's European allies. After eight 
miserable years under Bush, the Global War on Terror desperately needed paint job. Obama 
arrived as a godsend. With the Nobel Peace Prize laureate as commander-in-chief, America's 
perpetual state of war lost its indecency. It was even raised up a notch under the 
illusion of progressiveness and wrapped in an aura of necessity.

This is Obama's belligerent legacy.
Related Link: https://roarmag.org/essays/obama-legacy-war-conflict-peace/

http://www.anarkismo.net/article/29916

------------------------------

Message: 10



from @UVWunion, 20 JAN 2017: "We have beaten Harrods, the richest and most prestigious 
department store in the world! 100% of the service charge will now go to staff! Thank you 
to everyone for your support and a big congratulations to the resilience and courage of 
our members, the Harrods restaurant workers, who have achieved this victory by joining 
United Voices of the World, getting organised and standing up to their employer's 
outrageous practices. ---- Bit of background: ---- After Harrods' chefs and waiters joined 
UVW we immediately submitted a claim for 100% of the service charge to go to staff. 
Harrods had previously been taking up to 75% for themselves, without admitting the exact 
percentage, or around £5000 per worker per year. ---- After helping the chefs and waiters 
build towards a potential strike and mobilising 100s of people including staff, for a 
massive demonstration which ended up shutting down Knigtsbridge and much of Harrods, and 
threats of regular and even bigger demonstrations to come, Harrods finally gave in and 
agreed to give over 100% of the service charge to staff.

They also agree to our other demands of appointing an independent tronc master to 
administer the service charge and allowing staff to sit on the tronc committee.

This victory sends out a clear message to the rest of the restaurant and hospitality 
industry that workers are no longer going to accept anything less than 100% of the tips 
and trade unions are ready to help them get organised and fight.

The success of the campaign at Harrods offers a powerful model to follow for other workers 
across the industry. We will now continue to push Harrods to improve the conditions and 
pay of their workers and demand proper union recognition.

Here's an article by Natalie Bloomer on politics.co.uk

Guardian: Harrods stops taking cut of tips in its restaurants after protests

Here's a video of the demo (facebook)

Photos of the demo (facebook)

http://www.classwarparty.org.uk/harrods-breaking-news-victory-victory-victory/

------------------------------

Message: 11



The National Australia Day Council describes Australia Day as "a day to reflect on what we 
have achieved and what we can be proud of in our great nation," and a "day for us to 
re-commit to making Australia an even better place for the generations to come". ---- But 
for many January 26 is no date to celebrate, and to fully understand why, we must 
recognise the price of this "great nation's" achievements over the past 229 years. ---- 
The 26th of January 2017 will mark 229 years since the British invaded what is now known 
as Australia. It was on this date in 1788 that Captain Arthur Phillip raised the Union 
Jack for the first time in Sydney Cove, symbolising British occupation. ---- When 
Australia was invaded, British colonisers declared this continent terra nullius: "nobody's 
land"; a law which describes territory that has never been subject to the sovereignty of 
any state. Terra Nullius was granted despite the land already being occupied by Aboriginal 
and Torres Strait Islander nations for over 60, 000 years.

Despite acts of resistance, Australia was brutally colonised as British settlers stole 
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land and enacted massacres through state policy.

The Frontier Wars spanned the first 140 years of colonisation. When the invasion 
commenced, there were approximately 750,000 people living in 350 distinct nations on the 
Australian landmass. By 1900, only 93,200 Indigenous people survived. At least twenty 
thousand Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were killed or murdered in untold 
battles and massacres from Hobart to the Kimberley. Approximately two and half thousand 
invaders were killed as Aboriginal people resisted extermination.

Throughout the twentieth century, the Australian state continued to dehumanise Aboriginal 
and Torres Strait Islander peoples and commit acts of genocide under new laws. A policy 
called ‘Smooth the Dying Pillow' allowed indiscriminate killings well into the 1930's 
under the assumption that what was left of the Aboriginal population would die out.[1]

In 1901 the Australian state introduced ‘the White Australia policy', making Anglocentric 
whiteness the ultimate marker of citizenship. This meant Indigenous Australians could not 
vote, own property, receive wages for work, travel, or receive legal representation[2]. 
Prior to the 1967 Referendum, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were viewed as 
‘sub-human' and weren't counted as citizens for the census, but rather were categorised as 
part of the national flora and fauna.

Until 1970 Aboriginal workers were for all intents and purposes enslaved. They sold their 
labour power to white men but were denied access to their wages which were often stolen by 
the state[3].

To those who think colonisation and structural racism are a thing of the past, or that 
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people need to ‘get over it', take a look at recent 
statistics:

Despite a formal apology to the Stolen Generations in 2008, the Australian state continues 
to dehumanise Aboriginal peoples through institutionalised racism and state violence. 60 
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are taken from their families every month, 
making the number of removals higher now than during the Stolen Generations period. 48% of 
juveniles in detention are Aboriginal, and like Dylan Voller, many experience physical 
abuse and trauma.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are massively over represented in Australia's 
criminal justice system. Though only representing 3% of the total population, more than 
28% of Australia's prison population are Aboriginal. In the Northern Territory, Aboriginal 
and Torres Strait Islander prisoners make up 86%  of the prison population.

Between 2000 and 2007 there were 701 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander  deaths in 
police custody. The recent release of CCTV footage at the time of Ms Dhu's death highlight 
the disregard for her welfare and right to medical treatment.

This year the continued forced closures of Aboriginal communities is creating higher rates 
of homelessness and poverty for those affected. The removals also sever an intrinsic 
connection to country known to be important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 
health and wellbeing.

Day of Mourning, Invasion Day, Survival Day

In 1938, on the 150th Australia Day celebrations, the first ‘Day of Mourning Protest' was 
held. Activists marched silently through the streets and held a conference for equal 
rights and citizenship for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. ‘Australia Day' 
has since been rejected and renamed by many as either ‘Invasion Day' which mourns the 
invasion of British colonisers, or ‘Survival Day' which recognises the continued survival 
of First Nations people.

How does this position you?

If you are a non-Indigenous person living in Australia, regardless of your family history 
or the colour of your skin, you directly benefit from the dispossession of Aboriginal and 
Torres Strait Islander people. Any privileges you enjoy living in this country come at the 
expense of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

"To different degrees every colonizer is privileged, at least comparatively so, ultimately 
to the detriment of the colonized...this can be read by the relation of each group's 
concrete economic and psychological position within the colonial society."[4]

Celebrating Australia Day, a day which rejoices in the European invasion, is only 
appealing to those who do not know, or those who do not care, about Australia's black 
history. It is absurd and insensitive to hold a day of patriotic celebration on a day that 
marks the beginning of the genocide and dispossession of the owners of this land.

Having a choice to celebrate Australia Day is a marker of settler privilege. As a 
non-Indigenous person living on stolen land, I acknowledge my privilege and choose to 
reject this day. I am not proud and I will not celebrate.

The National Australia Day Council recognises this day as a day to recommit to making 
Australia better for generations to come. Celebrating this day however, no matter the 
pretense, eradicates history and identity.

The recent lamb advert shows a fictitious Australia that is founded on both 
multiculturalism and nationalism, but pointedly leaves out the brutal massacres of 
Indigenous peoples and the dispossession of land and culture. Many Australians see this ad 
as a step towards inclusivity, but it is just another platform for the whitewashing of 
Australian history.

Celebrating more ‘inclusively' on the day by not calling your event an ‘Australia Day 
Party' or making a quick acknowledgement of country is not enough. Though these gestures 
recognise the extreme inappropriateness of holding a celebration on this day, they do 
little to raise the issues of continued oppression of Indigenous Australians or call for 
treaty.

I ask you to join me in completely boycotting this day. Instead, show solidarity and stand 
alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and demand justice.

What can you do?

As a non-Indigenous ally to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, I propose the 
following strategies to show your solidarity:

Educate yourself and other non-Indigenous people. Learn about Aboriginal and Torres Strait 
Islander history, the colonisation of Australia, the Frontier Wars, and the ongoing 
struggle for self-determination.

Explain to your friends and family why you won't be celebrating Australia Day this year 
and ask them to join you. Lessen the burden on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 
people to do this educating.

When possible, listen to and respect the stories and opinions of Aboriginal and Torres 
Strait Islander people. If you have questions, ask them, but recognise that you are not 
entitled to this education. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people may not want to 
do this labour. It is not their responsibility to educate you.

Don't interrupt or whitesplain racism. If you get called out for problematic behaviour or 
language don't get defensive, listen. Acknowledge what happened and apologise, if needed, 
for any harm caused. Move forward and use this experience to help others learn too.

Attend a Survival or Invasion Day event in solidarity. Respect that the terms of the event 
are at the discretion of the organisers and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 
in attendance.

ACT

Invasion Day Callout - 9am @ Aboriginal Embassy

http://nationalunitygovernment.org/content/invasion-day-callout-canberra-26-january-2017

Victoria

Invasion Day march - 11.00am @ Parliament Steps

https://www.facebook.com/events/215071755620856/

Share The Spirit Festival 2017 - 11am @ Treasury Gardens

https://www.facebook.com/events/150077532149401/

Belgrave Survival Day "Learn Local Culture - 12pm Borthwick Park

https://www.facebook.com/events/553168944882354/

New South Wales

Invasion Day Protest: Change the Date!!! - 9.30am @ Ballina

https://www.facebook.com/events/235105183604169/

Yabun - 10am @ Victoria Park

https://yabun.org.au/

Invasion Day rally - 11am @ The Block, Redfern

https://www.facebook.com/events/236690090088950/

Queensland

Survival Day Walk - 7.30am @ Mabo Monument Victoria Bridge

https://www.facebook.com/events/353730851676384/

Invasion Day March - 10am @ Parliament House

https://www.facebook.com/events/1234064616670638/

Survival Day Townsville 2017 - 11am @ Perfume Gardens

https://www.facebook.com/events/869855686479156/

South Australia

Survival Day 2017 - 11am @ Semaphore Foreshore

http://www.eventfinda.com.au/2017/survival-day-2017/adelaide/semaphore

Invasion Day Resistance & Mourning Shave (Kaurna Country) - 6pm @ Elder Park

https://www.facebook.com/events/373858919632754/

Western Australia

Invasion Day Rally - 1pm @ Perth

https://www.facebook.com/events/703178789841962/

We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land that we organise on, the Wurundjeri 
people of the Kulin nations, and pay our respects to elders both past and present, and 
also extend that respect to any Aboriginal people reading this article. We also 
acknowledge that this land was stolen and that sovereignty was never ceded.

Citations:

[1]Foley, G. (1999). Whiteness and Blackness in the struggle for self-determination

[2]Moreton-Robinson, A. (2004). Whiteness, epistemology & Indigenous representation. In 
Morton-Robinson, A. (Ed.). Whitening Race: Essays in social and cultural criticism.

[3]Korf, J. (2016). Stolen Wages. <www.CreativeSpirits.info>

[4](Memmi, A. (1965). The colonizer and the colonized. p77, 79

http://www.anarchistaffinity.org/2017/01/why-you-should-boycott-australia-day/