IT ISN'T ABOUT THE MONEY, WHITE MAN

About ten days ago, Ottawa offered 125 million dollars to the Mohawk Nation with the condition that aboriginal protesters end their 15-month occupation of the Caledonia site. In return, Ottawa asked for a release from the Six Nations on four Ontario claims. The money was offered for the lands known as Block 5 (Moulton Township), the Welland Canal and the Burtch Lands on the Haldimand Tract.

The Moulton Township parcel is over 30,000 acres and is an acknowledged Crown debt going back to the 1830’s when the lease expired! Ottawa’s offer is about $3,200.00 an acre. The Henning brothers who were given a phony deed by Ontario got about $160,000 an acre. [The standard was set]. It’s not about the money! It’s about the land. The people said, “put em back in their boat and tell them to take their $125 million with them”!

Protesters said the offer by federal land-claim negotiators is not enough to address a number of outstanding claims, and warned that if Ottawa continues to offer financial compensation rather than land, talks could go south. Negotiator Janie Jamieson said that in offering the money, Ottawa was ignoring aboriginal demands. She said if that continues, First Nations protesters will have no choice but to pull out of peaceful talks.

Nathan Isaacs said no amount of money could ever convince him to leave the land he maintains belongs to his people. "I want my kids to scrape their knees on dirt, not pavement," he said. "I want them to seek shade under a tree, not next to a building."

(For earlier articles and background put "Caledonia" in the search box at the top of this page and click on "search this blog" and you'll find a plethora of OD articles.)


The following is taken from Mohawk Nation News.

“Indian time” has begun

It’s not the amount of the offer. It’s the principle that counts. Canada tries for a quick cash fix with “conditions” otherwise known as “veiled threats.” $125 million cash for 38,000 acres amounts to $3,289.47 per acre for prime land. If it was saleable, it is worth anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 an acre.

by Kahentinetha Horn
June 8, 2007


Murray Coolican and Ron Doering presented the offer on behalf of Ottawa for the land but nothing for the environmental damage. It’s to settle claims involving the former Moulton Township, flooding of lands in Dunnville, Ont. to build the Welland Feeder Canal in 1829 and the unauthorized investment of our money in the Grand River Navigation Co. (GRNC), in the 1830s. The value of the loss on the GRNC scheme alone would be in the billions in modern terms.

Canada took our lease money without asking us and spent it on building the "nation" of Canada, as well the Law Society of Upper Canada and McGill University, to name a few, and maybe even the “steal” road that crosses Canada.

Ottawa put the validity of our claims in writing and the world now knows. The Haldimand Tract that arches around Toronto and the “Golden Horse Show” is one of the most important and valuable areas in Canada.

The Six Nations spokesperson, on behalf of the people, dismissed the offer. We always said that we want our land. Mohawk Confederacy Chief Allen MacNaughton basically said, "It's a recognition that it’s ours and they owe us." When we get everything back, then we can start talking.

Our decisions are based on the Kaianereh’kowa, the law of Onowarekeh (Turtle Island). The Two Row Wampum governs our relationship with the colonists. We want respect for the natural owners and our natural laws. We want to exercise our jurisdiction over our land, to manage it, to control education, health care, roads, infrastructure, business management, courts and all aspects of social order. Canada is a foreign entity and is not entitled to collect any taxes on our territory. We also want a say in the immigration of people onto our land. They have to stop poisoning our land, clean it up and put it back the way they found it.

They want to give us money so that we will cease to exist. They have not understood our message. No generation can sell the land we are given by our ancestors to hold for our future generations. As long as there is one of us who adheres to our natural philosophy, the colonists can never claim Onowarekeh.

One of their conditions/threats is for us to get off our reclaimed land of “Kanenhstaton.” Do they want us to live in the air? Or to retreat back into the few trees they left behind on our land?!

They want this to be a “full and final settlement” of the land claim. Dream on! When we get all of our land, resources and possessions back in our hands under our control, then we can start talking about a “settlement”! They want “a strong and significant consensus” (which they will define) from the Six Nations. We do have a consensus. We all agree that you robbed us blind and now you have to give everything back to us. Can a criminal that is caught with the goods demand a “consensus” from those he robbed as a condition for returning the stolen goods? We don’t think so.

They don’t want us to sue them ever again over any of the lands in the dispute. So, stop trespassing and development on our land. Stop encroaching on our jurisdiction. Supposing someone stole your car, you find out about it and they say, “I’ll give you a hundred bucks if you promise not to sue me about it.” Just like Ottawa’s residential school “trick” settlement where people are being coerced into taking money and then can’t sue. Canada is looking for a “cookie cutter” precedent to deal with the other Indigenous lands they’re claiming.

Can they convince us to take this offer? If we turn this down, will they come back with a bigger one, like double or triple the money? Is this what it’s all about? We have conditions too! Get off our backs and stop trying to colonize us.

Stop telling us how to live and conduct our business. Colonialism and abuse is over! Get used to it. Caledonia is not a dispute between the Six Nations and the federal government going back before Confederation, as Caledonia Mayor Marie Trainor would like to think. Disputes about Six Nations at Grand River started long before that. The root of the problem is theft of our land by the colonists and refusing to even admit it. Then when they’re caught, they point their gun at us trying to make us accept a few dollars for it.

Trainor says Six Nations will be permitted to keep the former Burtch Correctional Facility in Brant County. She can’t permit us to do anything! Get real, Marie! How would Canadians feel if George Bush told them he was going to permit them to keep their Parliament? Can criminals make these kinds of demands? Only by threats of violence! Ottawa still has “control freak” fantasies. As part of the Kanehsatake/Oka settlement, Ottawa wanted me to sign an agreement that I would never say anything against Canada for the rest of my life. I refused to sign. It’s amazing the kind of illegal conditions Ottawa’s carpet-bagging lawyers come up with. Can we be ridiculous too? We could require all Ottawa dogs, provincial puppets and town criers to wear Six Nations certified muzzles.

Recently, Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Ramsay threatened to pull Ontario from the “talks” if new “protests” (assertions of our rights) such as the one in Hagersville, Ont. continue. "This lawlessness breaking out is not acceptable," he said. "It will not be tolerated." Yes, stop breaking the laws. We will not tolerate it. We’ve been objecting to colonial lawlessness since day one. As one Six Nations resident said, “Holy crap, that's a real bargain for them! $125 million to construct the biggest farce in the world! Well maybe not THE biggest. You gotta consider the USA, too!” Oh yeah, the feds can't produce a valid sales receipt. The offer barely covers fixing our water problem here at Six Nations caused by the toxins they’re dumping upstream!

We are in the driver’s seat. We have always been in the driver’s seat. We are the eyes and ears of eastern Onowarekeh. Respect us. Give us what is ours. We will decide what we will do.

What about giving us back the past, present and future royalties on anything built on our land? How about a seat at every development table? How about lands being set aside for us anywhere we want and guaranteed university education forever? We want to run the affairs of our land.

We want the fox out of hen house. Indians Affairs has to go! The myth that we can’t manage our own resources is a fabrication. We have to be a part of any development that involves our people and our resources. From now on we do all the surveying and registration. All illegal entities have to go, like the band councils and tribal councils. The colonists have to deal with the original entities that were here.

We will not be confined to penitentiaries without walls. We can live anywhere on our land without paying “foreign” taxes.

We demand a seat in the UN as an independent nation. We will not allow the colonial powers to appoint museum Indians to represent us. Get rid of those colonial borders and colonial place names.

This mess could have been avoided. When the “visitors” came they should have abided by the agreements, rules and regulations with each of our nations. Canada just ignored us.

We are looking out for the interests of everybody. We have over 300 alliances with our brothers and sisters. We have many friends and supporters in Canada. It has always been our custom that when Indigenous people come from another area to our territory we have the duty to comfort, feed and house them. This we shall continue to do.

We are considering the natural principles and philosophy of all the Indigenous People of Onowarekeh. There are people on every territory who maintain the knowledge and obligations.

Ottawa’s conditions are veiled threats telling us to take their offer, or else! This kind of negotiation is a violation of international law. They are telling us they will give us back our stolen land, and if we don’t do as they order us to, they will re-steal our land and our freedom! Colonists, if you made such a threat, if you act on that threat, we will take it for what it is, a declaration of war! Our ancestors did not negotiate with our enemies with their guns and weapons at hand. They set their weapons and hostilities aside. We want to create peace, harmony and to stop all hostilities. The only weapon we have is the truth.

We remind the colonists that our mother, the earth, is not for sale. She has to stay intact. If any of our people has no desire to remain connected to our mother, we will continue to keep our obligation to protect her and the future generations. Should any of them come to their senses and decide they cannot continue to live on the earth motherless, they can always come home.

Kahentinetha Horn is editor of Mohawk Nation News. An avid writer, Kahentinetha works on her own material and edits the works of others. Mohawk Warriors Three - The Trial of Lasagna, Noriega and 20-20, the account of the first trial of the warriors arrested after leaving the compound, is Kahentinetha's first published book. She lives in Kahnawake with her children and grandchildren.

ULTRANATIONALIST SKINHEADS RIOT IN STAVROPOL, RUSSIA

The St. Petersburg Times (Russia) is reporting fifty-one people were detained during an overnight protest in Stavropol in which 1000 young people took part in denouncing non-Russians and brawling with police. Most were skinheads and members of ultranationalist organizations such as the Movement to Stop Illegal Immigration. Ostensibly the protest was to denounce the killing of two students.

The slain students, Viktor Chadin and Pavel Blokhin, were stabbed to death Saturday night in what ultranationalists call an ethnic hate crime. The deaths came less than two weeks after an ethnic Chechen student, Gilani Atayev, was killed in a street brawl in the southern city.

But a prosecutor said ethnic hatred was not even being considered as a possible motive. “There is no basis for that,” Andrei Vlasov, prosecutor of the city’s Leninsky district, said by telephone.

Stavropol prosecutors said Thursday that they had detained a suspect in the weekend murder of the two students.

The suspect, who was not identified, was detained early Wednesday and fits the description given by witnesses of the man who stabbed the two ethnic Russian students to death Saturday, a prosecutor said, Interfax reported. The prosecutor did not elaborate. Police said the suspect has Slavic appearance "which denies the persistent rumours that the students were killed by extremist-minded highlanders, in revenge for the tragic murder a week ago of Chechen youngster Gilani Atayev, a student of the Stavropol Humanities Institute."

Gilani's uncle, Ibragim Gunoyev, is astonished by the revenge theory, when he believes the true culprits are OMON police officers. This version is also backed up by Gilani's friend Zaurbek, who was with him in the police car that evening. He talked about this to Radio Liberty:

"That evening we'd had a call from some Chechens we knew asking us to come and join a 'scrap' with the local skinheads. Earlier a Chechen had been beaten up, and then an Ingush also beat up a Russian in a one-to-one fight. The Russians went on the attack and we had to withdraw. When I looked back I saw that they were beating a Chechen. It was Gilani. He was being badly beaten, and two policemen, holding handcuffs, were watching. I ran up and tried to help him. I managed to get one of the attackers off Gilani, but after that somebody shot at me with a pistol," Zaurbek said.

"Then we were thrown into a small police jeep. Gilani lay on the bottom, then they threw a Dagestani in with him, and I was on the top. They put a Russian into the vehicle, and he started to beat up Gilani. Gilani was panting and gasping. I knocked on the door and shouted and asked them to open the door, take off his handcuffs and give him first aid. They refused and said that if he died it would be one less wailer of Allahu akbar! They drove the jeep around Stavropol for about an hour and then brought it back to where the incident had taken place. There they made us get into another vehicle. They hurled Gilani straight from the jeep face down on the asphalt. After about 40 minutes a doctor arrived, examined Gilani, and said he was dead," he added.

Zaurbek is convinced that if the policemen had not incited the youths, the clash would have ended without casualties. "The policemen were egging the locals on, saying things like 'Go on, there's more of you than there are of them. There's not enough of them. On you go.' If they hadn't incited them there would only have been a one-to-one fight, and then we'd have dispersed," Zaurbek concluded.

Itar Tass reports a Presidential envoy in the Southern Federal District Dmitry Kozak warned that those trying to incite ethnic tensions after the events in Stavropol would be held responsible.

"I want to warn all false politicians that the law bans these actions, the law persecutes those who fan ethnic strife; and we'll be doing it," Kozak told a news conference in Makhachkala on Wednesday.

The envoy refused to call the events in Stavropol "political extremism."

"It's rather madness by certain false politicians who are trying to make a name and earn political dividends," he said.

"Given the multi-ethnic composition of the Stavropol territory, it's not the local public or political movements that are fanning the situation, but those from outside, from Moscow in the first place. They've tried to use it, to heat up ethnic relations, making them hotter," the official said.

I think once before I printed an article from Radio Free Liberty, but it's pretty damn rare. This one however I am printing after checking a multitude of other sources to confirm what it says.

Russia: Ethnic Tensions Mounting In Restive Stavropol

June 7, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Tensions are high in the southern Russian city of Stavropol, where hundreds of locals are calling for the expulsion of ethnic Chechens and other non-Russians from the city.

Many residents in the town, which is populated primarily by Slavs, believe Chechens are responsible for the slaying of two Russian students, possibly in revenge for the fatal attack on a young Chechen man during ethnic skirmishes in late May.

Officials in Stavropol have claimed that student Gelani Atayev died as a result of injuries sustained during the May 24 clashes between Slavs and Caucasians.

Eyewitness Account

But Zaurbek Akhmadov, a fellow Chechen student, witnessed the circumstances surrounding Atayev's death.

He told RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service that skinheads were responsible for the vicious beating that ultimately killed Atayev. But they didn't act alone, he claimed, saying that OMON riot troops and local police, who had been called out when the clashes began, played a role as well.

"The police officers were standing right there when the three skinheads started beating up Gelani. They put handcuffs on him and handed him to [the skinheads]." -- Zaurbek Akhmadov

"They [the OMON] cheered on the [skinheads]," Akhmatov said. "They yelled, 'Kill the [Chechens!]' And the policemen cheered them on too, saying, "Come on! There's more of you and there are only a couple of them! Come on!'

"If they hadn't done that, everyone would have gone away calmly. The police officers were standing right there when the three skinheads started beating up Gelani. They put handcuffs on him and handed him to [the skinheads]. When I turned around and saw the three of them beating Gelani, I ran and threw one of the skinheads to the side. As soon as I went after the second one, they shot me," Akhmadov added. "The bullets went through both of my legs, and I fell on my knees. Then they kicked me in the face while I was lying on the ground. Then they threw us in a UAZ patrol jeep. They put Gelani in at the bottom. He was still breathing at that time."

Atayev's body showed indications he had been handcuffed (courtesy)Akhmadov said Atayev, who was unconscious, had been struck several times in the throat with a truncheon. As they were taken on a rambling drive through the city, Akhmadov says, Atayev's breathing became more and more labored.

"He was breathing, but he was wheezing. I called for help, and pounded on the window and door [of the jeep]. I asked for them to take off at least my handcuffs, so that I could help him. I asked them to bring a doctor. They answered, 'Don't worry. He won't be shouting 'Allah Akbar' anymore. There'll be one less of you,'" Akhmadov said.

"They drove us around the city in that jeep for an entire hour. Gelani was lying down below, because they had put us in a pile. They brought us back to the place where everything happened. They started to put us in another car. They hurled Gelani onto the ground, face first. Then they tried to stand him on his feet, but he just slid down. He died. Then they threw him back in the car."

RFE/RL has obtained a series of graphic photographs of Atayev's body that show obvious signs of injury to the throat and head. Marks on his wrists appear to show that his hands had been tied or restrained with handcuffs.

Suspicious Circumstances

At the police station, Akhmadov was told he would act as a witness. But after refusing an appointed lawyer, saying he preferred to hire his own, he learned that he was now under suspicion for attacking a police officer. It is, he said, what officials in Stavropol "usually do with Chechens."

Akhmadov was speaking on June 5, after being released from detention. He is the first -- and so far the only -- witness to speak about the case.

Gelani Atayev's father, Ruslan, had earlier told RFE/RL he didn't expect any witnesses to step forward, because they were all hiding from officials for fear of arrest or harassment.

"The murder was committed entirely by authorities, and this fact is indisputable," he said. "That is why investigations aren't being conducted."

A screenshot from amateur video shows riot police arriving on the scene in Stavropol on May 24 (RFE/RL)Atayev's death was just the start of the violence. Nine days later, on June 3, two ethnic Russian students, Dmitry Blakhin and Pavel Chadin, were stabbed to death in a nighttime attack.

Police, who say the attack was recorded on videotape, announced today they had detained a suspect in the case.

They had earlier released a sketch of one of the alleged assailants, who was Slavic in appearance.

Many locals, however, were unconvinced. They said the killings were the likely work of Chechens seeking revenge for Atayev's death.

Law-enforcement officers have repeatedly dismissed the vengeance claim. Stavropol Krai Governor Aleksandr Chernogorov vowed to personally oversee the investigation, and called on local officials to prevent "destructive forces" from "fanning interethnic discord."

His orders weren't enough to prevent hundreds of ethnic Russians from gathering on the evening of June 5 -- the day Blakhin and Chadin were buried -- to attend a so-called "Slav rally" to protest the killings.

One participant was recorded shouting, "We didn't [kill] enough of you in Chechnya" while another yelled "We'll make another Chechnya here. Glory to Russia!" Others were heard chanting "Glory to Russia! Glory to Russia! Russia! Russia!"

Many of the protesters were skinheads and members of ultranationalist groups such as the Movement to Stop Illegal Immigration, a group whose stated goals include nationwide expulsion of non-Russians.

Police eventually rounded up 51 protesters. Two remained in detention the following day.

Police Roundup

The spokesperson for the regional Interior Ministry directorate, Viktor Ignatyev, said the police had brought in protesters who appeared to be violent or otherwise disruptive.

"Fifty-one people, including eight minors, were not detained, but delivered to the Leninsky district department of internal affairs (ROVD) for investigation," Ignatyev said. "We followed administrative protocol. In relation to one other citizen, a criminal case has been opened according to the article on 'Inciting hatred or enmity or denigration of human dignity.' The group disrupted public order -- they were shouting out slogans. It took some physical force to round them up; some of them were handcuffed. It wasn't anything terrible."
The year 2006 saw 540 recorded cases of violent hate crimes throughout Russia, including 54 slayings.

Stavropol Krai, a region in the North Caucasus predominantly populated by Slavs, has long been considered a potential powder keg as ethnic and religious discrimination rises throughout Russia.

The recent unrest in Stavropol is reminiscent of riots in the northwestern Russian town of Kondopoga in 2006, in which local Slavs and ethnic Chechens working in the area staged violent clashes.

The year 2006 saw 540 recorded cases of violent hate crimes throughout Russia, including 54 slayings.

Rizvan is an ethnic Chechen who has lived in Stavropol all his life and says he doesn't intend to leave now.

"There have been attacks on Caucasians here before. Some time ago, a Karachayev was killed after suffering knife wounds," Rizvan said. "Here and there Chechens and Karachayevs and representatives of other ethnic groups were beaten up. Usually this happens when there are a lot of [attackers], and they're sure that a potential victim can't stand in their way. What happened is 100 percent a provocation that was probably planned in advance."

Officials from Russia's Southern Federal District, which includes Stavropol Krai, in April called together a conference of regional experts to discuss the issue of interethnic tensions.

Their reported conclusion was grim: relations between the territory's ethnic and religious communities are tense and may grow even worse during the next two years.

(RFE/RL's correspondent in Stavropol, Lada Ledeneva, contributed to this report.)

"WE ARE RESISTING!"

La Via Campesina is an international movement which brings together millions of peasants, small producers, landless people, rural women and agricultural workers and rural youth from around the world. It is made up of 132 member organisations active in 56 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.

Via Campesina farmers and farm workers, women and men, have come from Germany, France, the Basque Country, Belgium, Quebec, Austria, Norway, Nicaragua and Nepal to take part in the massive anti-G8 demonstration in Rostock. They are there to call on these world "leaders" to put an end to neoliberal policies destroying people lives and livelihoods and to implement alternatives.

La Via Campesina proposes Food Sovereignty to reverse global exploitation, global warming, and global devastations by free trade policies. Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations.

Ingeborg Tangeraas of Via Campesina grew up in a farm in the western part of Norway. She is an educated agronomist living in Bodoe in the north of Norway. Her background is teaching, research, journalism; all connected to agriculture. Now she is working in the international youth organisation 4H, with responsibilities of city farms and youth clubs. www.4h.no. She is a member of NBS international committee and one of the two European members of the Via Campesina international coordination committee.

Yesterday she spoke in Rostock.

The following is from La Via Campesina : International Peasant Movement.

Speach of Ingeborg Tangeraas, Rostock, Thursday, 07 June 2007

Dear friends,

My name is Ingeborg Tangeraas (pictured here) and I am representing the small peasants union in Norway and Via Campesina international coordinating committee as a representative from Europe. Via Campesina is an international movement with millions of peasants, landless and agricultural workers – we are men, women and youth from 132 organisations in 56 countries all over the world.

How was your day? Did you all get breakfast after your sleep, did you get lunch to give you strength after your activities and will you most likely have dinner together with some friends after this event? I think you agree with me; agriculture is not only about farmers, but about food for all of us. But 854 millon people do not share this luck with us to day, but have to go to bed hungry. And 2/3 of this people are farmers and food producers.

For some decades now we have been told that free trade would put an end to hunger and poverty. We have been cheated. Transforming agrarian resources into commodities is only in the interest of transnational companies and big corporations. Corporate interests have been stealing the resources that belong to the whole humanity. With the help of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization, the transnational companies have been able to take over our land, our water, our seeds and now our knowledge. These companies have destroyed the resources and have created huge environmental problems.

We believe very strongly that this situation can be changed. In Via Campesina we are convinced that food sovereignty is an important part of the solution. Our movement has been struggling for food sovereignty for the past ten years.Food sovereignty is the right of the people to healthy and culturally appropriated food, produced ecologically and by sustainable ways. This means the right to choose what food we want to eat and how this food is produced. This is the right for people to define their own food and agricultural systems, and important; without harming the food production in other countries! This includes the right for countries to protect their market. This right applies for Northern as well as for Southern countries. But this totally excludes any export subsidies and other policies aiming at gaining market power abroad.

Food sovereignty is the grassroots alternative to the ongoing free trade policies. 50 percent of the population in the world are food producers. But the struggle for food sovereignty can only be won if not only farmers, but also all citizens join this struggle. Particularly in Europe, where farmers represent only a small part of the population, citizens have a key role to play in the struggle for food sovereignty. What kind of agriculture do you want? Its a highly political question and there should be a much stronger and wider debate than it is today. Where, how and by whom do you want our food to be produced? We have to decide this together! The struggle against GMOs has shown us that farmers and citizens united we can oppose the power of transnational companies. Nowaday, Austria has declared a moratorium on GMOs. We can win!

My daughter of 14 years old has showed me a t-shirt saying “If you love me, dont feed me junk”.This is a choice of civilization. All over the world, farmers are facing a massive war of destruction. Millions have to give up farming because their land are taking over by the corporations or because the agricultural prices don't allow them to make a living out of agriculture.

But we are resisting! We are struggling and achieving victories! Connecting our struggle to the ones of the workers, the ecologists and the consumers is not only necessary to achieve food sovereignty, but also to build alternatives that work for all of us. In Seattle, Cancun and Hong Kong, we, Via Campesina farmers, struggled with our allies from other social movements to put down the WTO. In Porto Alegre and Singapore, we struggled against the World Bank and the IMF with our friends. Everywhere in the world, we struggle with consumers to keep our food free of GMOs. And we are achieving victories!

We know farmers will not win alone, but we are sure with our allies we can get rid of coporate control over our lives!

Thank you all very much

ANNOUNCEMENT MINNEAPOLIS: RIDING BIKES TO SAVE THE WORLD

This is a good thing, plus I found this groovy image to go with the article. On top of which I got to use the word "groovy."

G8 Critical Mass in Minneapolis

On June 8, we will be having a solidarity Critical Mass bike ride to coincide with the International Day Of Action against Climate Change called for on the last day of the G8 summit in Germany. Meet at 5:30 pm at the fountain in Loring Park. Ride against Climate Change and show support for our friends that are there. We will visit a Climate Criminal, so bring banners, noisemakers and costumes!

We all know the terrifying statistics: a million species extinct by 2050, 19 of the 20 hottest years on record since 1980, Greenland and Antarctica melting, droughts, floods, famines … the G8 have had over 30 years to address climate change and only succeeded in providing trillions in subsidies to the very industries that are destroying our planet and our future. And while the G8 continues to line their pockets, island states disappear and hundreds of thousands die as a result of the freak weather conditions caused by their irrational and uncontrollable obsession with never ending economic growth. We have a ten-year window to act. As the megalomaniac G8 leaders meet in Germany, masked behind a barrier of fences and soldiers, intent on leading us further towards catastrophic and irreversible climate chaos, we must shout, scream and roar ‘no more’. Now is the time to take direct action and shut them down, them and their climate criminal industry friends!

Their recipe for catastrophe will be met with our global resistance!

COPS OUT MANEUVERED IN ROSTOCK

Police in Germany were out foxed on Wednesday as thousands of G-8 protesters, many concerned about global warming and climate change, made their way through fields and forests to penetrate security lines to demonstrate near the massive security fence erected for the event and to block roads leading to the summit.

'We just walked over the fields where the water-cannon couldn't follow us,' said a spokeswoman for the protest group Block G8.

Despite the presence of more than 16,000 cops and helicopters Groups of demonstrators appeared almost out of nowhere to block important roads. Thousands of protesters blocked roads leading from the airport in the northern city of Rostock to the summit venue 60 km away, although the G8 leaders. Summit leaders were able to fly by helicopter from a nearby airport into the exclusive Heiligendamm beach resort, but lesser staff in cars and buses were caught in traffic jams on the ground.

Also, the protesters, including a 'clown army', targeted support staff and the 4,000 journalists accredited to cover the summit, cutting off a steam train link between the media centre and summit hotel. The journalists were eventually taken in by sea in German navy boats.

The cops were also forced to admit that some 10,000 protesters even managed to make it as far as the 12-kilometer-long security fence built around Heiligendamm for the summit.

One of the leaders of the protests at the G8 summit told a television interviewer Wednesday that a sit-down blockade around the summit compound would continue for three days.

Asked if the protesters would withdraw at night, Sven Giegold of Attac, one of the main protest groups, said on N24 television, "We'll stay here as long as this summit stays here."

An activist group said police had used tear gas and water cannons against demonstrators. Several protesters were injured.

Reporters said the situation was tense, amid the pounding noise of helicopters coming and going with police reinforcements.

The United States said Wednesday that it opposes setting firm targets for greenhouse gas cuts at the G8 summit.

The following is from German IndyMedia

G8 Blockade On Main Road To Heiligendamm

Thousands of people left Reddelich camp early this morning to take part in the first day of blockades against the G8 summit. The main group which consisted of well over 5000 people moved towards the fence through fields and country roads. Other smaller affinity groups also left towards the fence 'protecting' Heiligendamm. Here there are a few photos of the main blockade which managed to break well inside the designated 'no-protest' zone, and successfully occupied the main road leading to Heiligendamm from the town of Bad Doberan, and just a few hundred meters away from the fence that protects the so-called 'red zone'.

At the time of publishing this report the blockade is still on, and growing in numbers as protesters from an earlier blockade of a military airport nearby are joining in. Police are bringing in water cannons and small tanks, but the protestors are staying put and resisting the blockade, some of which planning to stay overnight.

JUNTA FIGHTS AIDS ACTIVISTS NOT AIDS

The military junta ruling Burma has taken into custody several activist (including Ko Tin Ko pictured here) who are living with HIV. This comes as no big surprise in a county whose rulers have no use for activists or people with HIV.

As IPS has reported, the junta's unsympathetic stance towards people with HIV in Burma adds to a growing list of concerns that have earned it notoriety. The current estimates by UNAIDS and other international agencies of people with HIV in Burma range from 360,000 to 610,000 people. The adult prevalence rate stood at between 1.3 percent to 2.2 percent people infected of the country's 50 million people.

‘'Myanmar has one of the most serious epidemics in the region,'' UNAIDS stated in its 2006 annual report earlier this year. The infection rates exceed those in the two other South-east Asian countries that had long been viewed as the epicentre of the deadly virus in the region -- Cambodia, which has a 1.6 percent adult HIV prevalence rate, and Thailand, which has a 1.4 percent adult prevalence.

In August last year, the junta succeeded, after imposing tough internal travel restrictions, to force the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to quit the country.

‘'Rather than helping people with HIV, the military regime tries to isolate them and create problems between them and the rest of the people who do not have HIV,'' Bo Kyi, a former political prisoner, himself told IPS. ‘'It does not want anyone to speak loudly about AIDS. If you do, you get into trouble.''

Just a few weeks ago five male and two female police officers who identified themselves as belonging to the Ministry of Home Affairs took Phyu Phyu Thinn, an outspoken critic of the country's AIDS policy, into custody at her home in Rangoon.

In January, Phyu Phyu Thinn publicly complained that Rangoon facilities treating HIV/AIDS patients had stopped providing antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for new patients because supplies were exhausted.

In an interview before her detention, Phyu Phyu Thinn suggested that mortality among AIDS patients in Burma could be far higher than the official tally-and climbing since NGO clinics had stopped giving out ARVs.

"Currently, we are sending many patients to hospitals and clinics. We are constantly in touch with the patients," Phyu Phyu Thinn said May 15. "When patients learned that they weren't getting more ARVs, many people became discouraged and died."

Throughout Burma, she said, "we know that the death rate from this disease is high."

"ARV medication is no longer distributed in NGO clinics. Because of that, we are seeing an increase in the number of deaths.People don't know that there are medicines like these, and they don't know how to treat [this disease] either," she said. "We find in some places that they are treating it with Burmese herbal medicines. When it is treated this way, not only is it ineffective, they spend a lot of money, and it endangers their lives."

"We can't reduce the death rate with such little help. Many people still need ARV medicines that can control HIV. Until these medicines can be put directly into the hands of patients throughout the country, the death rate will be high."

The ruling junta doesn't keep a record of AIDS deaths, she said, suggesting mortality may be far higher than reported. "For some, when they die at home, on the death certificates, they list all kinds of other diseases but do not mention that it is from HIV/AIDS. In some regions, there are many who didn't go to the hospitals or clinics. They didn't know they had HIV/AIDS and so they died from it. Actually, the authorities should be working on it systematically-what is the rate of those dying from HIV and the cause of death? They're not doing these things.There are no instructions, and they don't want people to know about it, so they are not paying attention to this matter. Whatever the cause of death is, they just leave it be."

Phyu Phyu Thinn's younger sister, Ma Sabeh Oo, said her sister's previous detention turned her into an activist. "In the year 2000, she traveled with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, there was some commotion, and she was arrested and put in prison."

"In prison, she saw the opposition government. She realized that everyone had sacrificed for this work. She saw many people in prison like that. It outraged her, and she made a decision right there in prison that she would become involved in politics. She was imprisoned for more than four months. Then she was released. She began to do this work after her release."

Phyu Phyu Thinn is a member of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, whose ranks have been decimated in recent years by arrests and harassment.

The following is from the Democratic Voice of Burma.

Eleven HIV-positive activists detained by military

Eleven activists living with HIV in Burma were detained by police yesterday after being lured to the Weibagi hospital in Rangoon with promises of free treatment.

The activists, including high-profile campaigner Ko Tin Ko, have reportedly angered the military over the past few weeks by repeatedly calling for the release of detained aid worker Ma Phyu Phyu Thin.

Phyu Phyu Thin, who was arrested by the authorities on May 21, worked for the National League for Democracy and ran a small clinic that provided free antiretroviral treatment and accommodation to a group of at least 30 HIV-positive people from around the country.

Phyu Phyu Thin’s sister, Ma Sabai Oo, told DVB that the group of activists had been told by the authorities to be at Weibagi hospital at 9am yesterday to receive free medication.

“After they were taken, they never returned . . . so we rang the hospital and we were told that [the authorities] evacuated a room at the hospital yesterday and as soon as Ko Tin Ko and his friends arrived they locked them in that room and told them they were detained,” Ma Sabai Oo said.

She said the group had been invited to the hospital by a man claiming to work for the Ministry of Health but that it was not clear which arm of the government had ordered the group’s detention.

NO MORE BORDERS

Two people were arrested after they chained themselves to the gates of the Immigration Detention Center in Houston in an immigrant protest timed to coincide with the G-8 Summit in Germany, where immigration is on the list of issues to be discussed.

To be discussed...what does that mean anyway? Who is discussing what?

The detention center in Houston is privately run and is owned by the notorious Corrections Corporation of America.

Oh yeah, in Rostock at the G-8 Summit about 1000 demonstrated outside Rostock's immigration office this morning demanding "global freedom of movement and equal rights for all," including refugees and asylum seekers.

As a sign of tribute, the demonstrators passed by a home for refugees in the Rostock-Lichtenhagen where neo-Nazis had terrorized Vietnamese asylum-seekers in 1992. In that incident event, the so-called "Sunflower House" was set on fire as neighbors stood watching.

Eventually, as expected fighting broke out between police and the protesters.

Police said by late afternoon they had made around 50 arrests.

Later in the day, nearly 10,000 demonstrators marched peacefully through the centre of the city and briefly blocked access to the immigration office. Riot police delayed the march for a few hours, demanding that masked militants remove balaclavas and empty their rucksacks of stones and potential weapons.

The following is from Houston IndyMedia yesterday.

Protest of Immigration Detention Center
by no more borders! Monday, Jun. 04, 2007 at 4:59 AM

This week the leaders of the richest and most powerful 8 countries in the world are meeting in Germany for the Group of 8 (G8) conference. During the G8 gathering these leaders will continue to strategize and promote the economic and political policy of neoliberal "globalization". These 8 nations, which compose 65% of the global economy have pushed for an economic system which impacts the whole world, making the rich richer, and impoverishing millions.

These meetings have been met with resistance from workers, youth and social movements from developing countries as well as inside rich countries, who object to the global machine that feeds on blood and defecates dollars. Today, June 4th, the Dissent! Network in Europe has called for a Global Day of Action for freedom of movement and equal rights for all! We here in Houston, Texas, USA have heard this call to action and share the same concerns as our brothers and sisters in Europe and all over the world who are taking action today in solidarity with migrants and refugees of the global economy.

Here in the United States, a rising xenophobic sentiment in large parts of the population is being fed and exploited by politicians who are scapegoating immigrants and this system that is stratifying the working class.

To this end we have chosen to commit an act of civil disobedience, blocking gates to the "Houston Processing Center"; an Immigrant Detention Facility in North Houston run by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). CCA is a company that turns a profit of over a billion dollars a year by administering prisons for state and federal governments. They run the notorious Don T. Hutto Facility in Taylor Texas, a converted jail that imprisons asylum seekers and children. These children are subject to inhumane treatment and ICE/CCA denied access to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants this past month as he tried to investigate the conditions at the Hutto Facility. By the fall of 2007 ICE will spend an estimated 1 billion dollars a year to detain over 27,500 people. ICE operates eight Service Processing Centers and seven contract detention facilities such as Hutto, Raymondville and the Houston Processing Center, all three run by CCA.

We decided we had to put our bodies on the line in an effort to slow down and expose the oppression and exploitation of immigrants by the capitalist economic order, the US Government and the US Prison Industrial Complex. We condemn the policies of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Corrections Corporation of America. We recognize this escalation of raids and deportations are not a fundamentally new development, but part of a continued effort to terrorize our communities for the sake of maintaining an unjust social order.

We stand for globalization from below; equal social, political, and cultural rights for all, and the right to freedom of movement. We want a political and economic system that puts people before profits. On June 4th we stand with oppressed people and those all over the world taking action for human freedom and against the encrouching borders between our peoples.

"FORTY YEARS IS ENOUGH"

Several hundred Israeli demonstrators on Tuesday gathered in Hebron to mark the 40th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1967 Middle East War, urging the government to remove all Jewish settlers from the biblical city.

Meretz MK Chaim Oron participated in the demonstration. "We should have come here next week, since it was on the seventh day of the Six Day War that this war that has lasted for 40 years began. On that day a group of settlers came here and forced the settlement of Hebron onto the State of Israel. We call on the Israeli government to enter negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. They say they want to talk, we must talk with them and we will also have to evacuate the settlers from Hebron."

Substantial IDF and security forces were on hand to maintain order in case of disturbances, but the protest passed peacefully.

However, the Jerusalem Post says local Palestinians threw stones at the Peace Now bus and a police vehicle after the demonstration. No one was hurt in the incident.

The following is from the Middle East Times and AFP.

Israeli rallies demand end to 40 years of occupation
Mehdi Lebouachera

HEBRON, West Bank -- "Forty years is enough," Israeli peace activists urged Tuesday as they staged rallies demanding an end to Israel's occupation of Palestinian land since the 1967 Six-Day War.

A series of demonstrations was taking place across the occupied West Bank, with more scheduled for later in the day in Israel, on the anniversary of the first day of the 1967 war that reshaped the Middle East.

"End, end the occupation!" shouted some 250 activists from Israel's main anti-settlement group, Peace Now, as they gathered near the Tomb of the Patriarchs, holy to both Jews and Muslims, in the flashpoint town of Hebron.

"Forty years is enough," "Stop the settlements," "Two states for two people," read banners held by the protestors gathered in a parking lot near the holy site.

"We came to protest not only against the settlements in Hebron, but all over the West Bank," the head of Peace Now, Yariv Oppenheimer, said. "Israel missed an opportunity during 40 years to get peace agreements with the Palestinians and the Arab world," he said. "We came to protest against the policy of settlements in general."

In Ramallah, several hundred protestors called for an end to Israeli checkpoints and restrictions that impede freedom of movement and feed resentment.

"We want to live freely and without checkpoints," said Farha Ezzat, 62, dressed in traditional Palestinian dress, as others around her waved Palestinian flags and maps of British-mandate Palestine before Israel's creation in 1948.

In Hebron, 60-year-old Peace Now activist Noemi Rinat said that the Jewish people's connection to places in the West Bank like Hebron did not give Israel the right to occupy land that has been promised to the Palestinians for a state of their own.

"The Jews have a 1,000-year history with Hebron, but that doesn't give us the right to occupy the city because now it is Palestinian," Rinat said.

"The occupation in the city makes life impossible for the residents. There is no freedom, curfews all the time, roads are closed, Palestinians cannot move freely ... It is in our interest to leave the West Bank."

Hebron has long been a flashpoint between Palestinians and Israelis. Several hundred hardline settlers currently live in the city under army protection, often clashing with their 170,000 Palestinian neighbors.

Around 30 of the settlers came to the parking lot Tuesday, accusing the peace activists of collaborating with Arab countries. "This is our land!" "Peace Now are collaborators of Arab countries!" they shouted.

One of the settlers yelled through a loudspeaker: "The nation cannot be occupied because this is our land! Israel is not the occupier. Arabs are occupying Eretz Israel [Greater Israel] and we just came back home. Our roots are here!"

Nearly half-a-million Israeli settlers today live on Arab land captured in the 1967 war - around 260,000 settlers live in the West Bank, another 200,000 in East Jerusalem, and 15,000 in the Golan Heights, according to various estimates by anti-settlement groups.

WE DON'T WANT YOUR LOUSY ROCKETS

President Bush is getting a raucous welcome to Prague where citizens are not too excited at his plans to build a missile shield in Eastern Europe. Demonstrations are underway and you can read AP and other reports about them, but I wanted to give you a more inside look so all my info comes from Czech sources.

Polls say that more than 60 per cent of Czechs oppose the idea of hosting the radar system, which would be built inside the sprawling Brdy military zone southwest of Prague, and surveys in Poland suggest just one in four Poles wants the missiles.

Reports in the Prague Post say protesters promised mass demonstrations in three locations around the city, including Wenceslas Square, which saw about 2,000 radar base protesters Saturday. Those in the crowd said they had gathered more than 100,000 signatures calling for a referendum on a radar base Bush wants to build west of the capital.

“I am not here because I am a communist voter or anything like that,” said demonstrator Pavel Bacha. “I am not against the U.S. as a whole, I just detest what Mr. Bush is doing.”

Don't we all.

Monday evening, with the U.S. president's arrival pending, the No to Bases coalition, which organized the demonstrations, was planning to ramp up its rallies for the June 4–5 Bush visit.

“We believe at least 10,000 people will attend the June demonstrations,” said Jan Tamáš, spokesman for No to Bases.

Many protesters voiced concern over the Russian response, and fear the radar base could be targeted in a conflict with Iran or North Korea. “I’m afraid we won’t be safe here,” said protester Simona Linhartová. “One Cold War finished recently; another one is about to start.”

Milan Krajča, chairman of the Communist Youth Union, says Bush’s visit mainly presents an opportunity to speak out against the radar base. Still, the protests will express dissatisfaction with the Bush administration on other hot-button foreign policy issues. “The Bush government and policy [represent] the war against Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries,” Krajča says.

The following is from Radio Praha.

Prague set for arrival of US President George W. Bush

Tourists who chose this Monday and Tuesday for quick stopovers in Prague picked the worst possible time if they were hoping to see the area of Prague Castle. To put it bluntly, they won't. The Castle and more immediate surroundings have been closed off as part of intense security in place ahead of the arrival of US President George W. Bush. In terms of security, Prague has rarely seen anything like it (the closest perhaps being a NATO Summit in 2002).

Czech Gripens and L-159s as well as military helicopters will be on stand-by as Prague awaits the arrival of Air Force One. On the ground, 1,500 police officers as well as members of Czech intelligence will then cooperate with Mr Bush's own security team in terms of guarding the president.

Regarding Mr Bush's visit, Tuesday will see the most important meetings: the US president will meet at the Castle with his counterpart Vaclav Klaus and with Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek. Among issues to be discussed one of the most important will no doubt be US missile defense. The US is negotiating with the Czech government the possibility of deploying an American radar base in the Czech Republic as part of a broader defense shield.

But although the proposal has gotten initial backing from the government opinion polls suggest that around 61 percent of Czechs are against. Monday will also see a demonstration on Hradcanske namesti or square next to Prague Castle. I spoke about that with one of the main organisers, Jan Tamas, of the "No to Bases" initiative:

"We want to make sure that our political leaders hear the message that the majority of Czechs oppose the system and we also want to use the opportunity of Mr Bush's being here to make sure he hears it too. The majority of Czechs oppose the system; we [as an initiative] do not think it is going to make us, or Europe, or the whole world safer. We believe the contrary: that if we want to have a safer world we need to begin disarming."

RP: Given that security around the Castle is so heightened, do you have any
concerns that things could get out of hand?

"Well we certainly hope not.
None of the demonstrations that we organised in the past were ever violent and
there weren't any problems at all. We hope that this one will be in the same
spirit. In case there are any problems we will of course cooperate with the
police. We are still negotiating with them right now as to how the whole thing
will go, making final arrangements. I would say that we are hoping for the best
and that it will be non-violent like all the demonstrations that have come
before."

RP:You mentioned the police: have you been given any special
instructions this time?

"It seems that the police are much more heavily
prepared and we almost feel that we are going to be 'encircled' in sort of a
cage. That's not a good feeling. There have also been reports that some people
will not be able to get in because of various streets being closed, but we will
do our best for people to get in and hope that the demonstration will be a
success."

Organisers say they originally expected a crowd of around 5,000 but now say the number may be smaller given difficulties of getting to the location.

REPORT FROM ROSTOCK

This will be a little different. You've probably all read about what is going on in Rostock, Germany at the G8 Summitt. Below I'm pringing the latest from IndyMedia (Germany) of what's up.

G8 Ticker
04.06.2007

Repression
20:45:
A police check point has been set up by the detention centre on Industrie Str and people's ID's are being checked when passing through there.


Repression
20:15:
According to the Legal Teams, 53 people were arrested today, 17 of whom have been released already. Since Saturday, there have been at least 315 arrests, the greater part of which were for "violation of the laws of demonstration"/the "ban on disguises". There have been also 10 arrest warrants. Nine cases are supposed to be brought in front of a court this week in a fast-track trials. Most of these will take place on Wednesday.


Repression
20:00:
German borders: Border controls into Germany are reportedly being tightened against anti-G8 activists. Cia.bzzz.net, a Polish activist website, reported earlier that a train carrying Polish anarchists was stopped by German border police at Gumience-Szczecin. They were told that they would be arrested immediately if they continued their journey. In response, the anarchists occupied the train and hung banners out of the windows. A while ago 5 German activists joined the occupation and it sounds like a party atmosphere. More police are also arriving. The train has been totally removed from the timetable and, since the activists have tickets valid for one day, it is expected that the occupation will go on till 3:30am.Earlier today, 18 activists on a bus from Poland were stopped and sent back home. Later on, another 3 people were stopped at a gas station just after passing the border from the Netherlands. Two of the three have been declared 'safe', but have not got their passports back yet. The third is still being investigated and might be sent back to the Netherlands.


Migration
19:35:
Despite police provocations, thousands of protesters have arrived at the final rally point of the demo, the city harbour. Music is playing, the mood is high and participants apparently did not let the long stopping of the march bring their hopes down.


Migration
19:15:
Rostock: About a thousand of the demonstrators spontaneously marched down to the harbour, accompanied by a sound system and lots of riot police. At the harbour, they are being joined by many more activists.


Migration Repression
18:10:
The organisers have called the demonstration off because it was simply not possible to go on. They found the change of route proposed by police unacceptable. Cops is standing very close all around the demo; at front and back there are water cannons. The organisers have also announced that they want to try and continue the closing rally at the city harbour as planned, but police have announced that it won't tolerate any spontaneous protests.


Migration
17:00:
Rostock: The march has reached Park Str. and the police are now saying that it can't go through the inner city because the number of protesters has exceeded the "2000 limit". The police figure is 8,500, although people on the march say it's probably less. Riot police are arriving.


Migration
16:00:
Rostock: After hard negotiations with the police, the demo has finally started to move towards the harbour, but 'escorted' by lines of police on either side. Some 50 meters later, however, it was stopped again. Approximately 5,000 are on the March. A small spontaneous demo, with some 200-300 participants, has also started and is marching down Wismarsche Str. towards the main march.


Migration
15:15:
Rostock: Police have just announced that the rally and march can carry on as long as people don't cover their faces and carry 'weapons'. The mood is positive and colourful, with a Samba band and clowns dominating the picture.


Migration
14:50:
Rostock: The organisers of the "Global Freedom of Movement and Equal Rights" demonstration have just announced over the sound system that police have declared the rally and march as illegal because there are some "500 potentially violent protesters" and that they will not allow it to continue. Organisers, however, are not accepting this and are trying to negotiate. Music is still playing.


Migration
14:10:
The rally has just started, although the international speakers are still being 'processed' by police.


Repression
13:50:
The Grey Bus from Theaterstraat (a bus carrying protesters from Amsterdam) was stopped-and-searched by cops for about 3 hours at Hamburgerstrasse earlier this morning. Eight people from several countries were arrested and taken to the detention centre in Industrie Str. Charges are probably related to carrying things like caps, gloves and lemons. A 15-minute solidarity protest was held outside of the detention centre. The bus is now on its way to the Migration rally.


Migration
13:30:
Rostock: Between 2000 and 3000 people are waiting at the Fluchtelingslager. Police have just arrived and started checking everyone, including the speakers from Africa. The organisers are waiting for that to finish to start their rally.


Camps Repression
13:30:
A train from Reddelich only goes as far as Bad Doberan. Replacement buses are being used. In Sievershagen, buses are being stopped by police and people's bags are being searched. Buses then continue their way.


Migration Repression
12:30:
On their way back from the Sonnenblumen House demo, protesters were attacked by cops again. Police pushed people onto the train and then hit some of them while they were all inside.


Camps Migration
12:30:
Rostock: People coming from Reddelich going to the migration rally got off at the Thiefelder train station to find a lot of riot police waiting for them. They were put back on the train again to be sent back, then let go a while later and are now heading to the main Migration Rally.


Repression
12:00:
Rostock: A bus carrying protesters was stop-and-searched at Holbeinplatz. Police said they are looking for "weapons". The Legal Team was hindered in its work and told to leave the square. So far three arrests have been been made.


Migration
11:45:
The Sonnenblumen House protest seems to be over now. People are heading to the station, slightly pushed by police.


Migration Repression
11:35:
Sonnenblumenhaus: A protester from Cameron has been seriously injured by cops (probably broken nose). He apparently happened to be standing in the middle of the Black Bloc, so cops charged in and snatched him violently. An ambulance has just arrived and he's been taken to hospital.


Repression
11:30:
Rostock: Violence seems to have died down a bit now. Three or four arrests were made, allegedly because people were covering their faces. A journalist was injured when his camera was pushed violently into his face. Medics and legal observers are on the site. Police CCTV vans have arrived. Police have blocked the road and are standing in groups some a few meters away from protesters. People are not penned in or kettled yet.


Migration Repression
11:00:
Rostock: Riot police started to charge into the protest at the Sonnenblumen House and snatch certain people after filming and observing them for a while. 3 Arrests have been reported so far but the legal observers were pushed away and not allowed to get their details. Police are reportedly being very aggressive for no apparent reason.


Migration
10:50:
Rostock: About 1,500 have already gathered at the Sonnenblumen House in Lichtenhaben to remember the 1992 Nazis attack on the refugee 'reception centre' and a hostel for Vietnamese workers. More people are expected to arrive. Speeches started a while ago and the atmosphere seems to be relaxed.


Migration
10:00:
Rostock: Some 2,000 had gathered at the Immigration Department in Werftstraße (where refugees and migrants are dealt with) since 8am. The atmosphere was nice, with a Samba band and street theatre, who performed, among other things, a show called “Germany looks for the super German”. The Department was closed, allegedly for a "sudden software breakdown". People are now heading to the Sonnenblumen House in Lichtenhaben, where a remembrance called “3 Days in August” of the 1992 neo-Nazis attack on the refugee 'reception centre' and a hostel for Vietnamese workers will be held.


Repression
09:10:
Rostock: A fleet of 20 or so police cars, with their sirens and flash lights on, was seen passing by the Rostock Convergence Centre, probably heading towards the Sonnenblumen House, where a rally is supposed to take place from 10am.


Camps Repression
09:00:
Rostock: A group of 200-300 people coming from Camp Reddelich found over 100 cops in riot gear awaiting them at Rostcok's central station. They are now being searched one by one, some having their personal details taken. The hallway, where the process is going on, had been cleared from people so that there's no eye witnesses.


03.06.2007
Repression
23:15:
A group of concert goers were suddenly and, seemingly, groundlessly attacked by a police unit on their way back to Camp Rostock. One person received a hard blow to the head and remained laying on the ground for around 10 minutes without moving, but still conscious until an ambulance came. Meanwhile another person was taken into custody. A journalist was only let through after putting on a lot of pressure.


21:20:
After being let free a while ago, three German clowns went back into McDonald's to translate for the foreign Clowns but they were arrested straight away. The legal observers don't know what the charges are yet.


20:50:
The Clowns are being let free, having been held in a police pen for several hours following their action at a McDonal's. They all, of course, had their personal information taken and the rest of it.


19:20:
Rostock: A new police unit has taken over from the old one, which had assured the protesters at Industrie Str that they can carry on as long as they don't block the road, and gave them 10 minutes to desperse or... The are between 20 and 30 cops and 10 to 15 protesters.


17:30:
The Star Marsh coalition is tomorrow lodging a constitutional complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court against the general ban on demonstrations around Heiligendamm.


17:15:
Rostock: All those who had been kettled (surrounded by cops) at the detention centre on Industrie Str. have been freed now. One group was kept for about 2.5 hours and were not given any food or drinks. The reason, police said, was breaching of the law of carrying "disguise objects" (things you can cover your face with). Besides, they said that you breach this law if you carry a cap, a scarf and a hoodie at the same time, but if you have only one of these, then it's OK. Everyone was filmed while being made to wear their 'disguise cloths', and the footage was compared with older police footage.


17:00:
Rostock: The "Move Against the G8" festival has started at the harbour. There are some 1,000 people. Some 50 cops are stop-and-searching people and taking their personal details if they had anything on them that "could be used as a weapon" (chains, spikes etc.).


17:00:
Groß Lüsewitz: The Agriculture Day of Action rally has arrived at the biggest GMO test field, just before Groß-Lüsewitz. Most of the 300 or so participants had gone there by bicycles after the demo in Rostock ended. While some stayed behind in the field, others carried on for the rally in Groß-Lüsewitz. Police presence is very high, with dogs and horses. In the morning, a 1,000 square meter GMO field was "harvested".


16:15:
Rostock: The spontaneous protest in front of the court in Werder Str. drew about 150 participants, who tried to block the court entrance by sitting down. Reports say the protest has ended.


15:45: On the B105 road, near Alt-Sievershagen, about 10km before Bad Doberan, some 30 clowns were dancing in McDonald's. A big police unit, with about 30 vehicles and riot gear, are surrounding the clowns and their cars and preventing them from moving.
15:30:
Rostock, 15:30: The Agriculture Day of Action day has finished now with closing speeches, with speakers from Brazil, Mali and Nicaragua among others. The demo had grown to about 5,000 participants. Police has been mostly calm, although they have been checking rucksacks. Cops kept running but because people reacted sensibly they didn't give them any excesses for escalation. Some participants are now driving to Groß-Lüsewitz, where a rally is supposed to take place.


15:30:
Groß Lüsewitz: A protest against Groß Lüsewitz-based AgroBio-Technikum, a centre for agro-biotechnological research opened in 2004, and its controversial GMO research and field trials is taking place. Beside the locals, about 50 activists are present. The rally from Rostock not arrived yet.


15:00:
Rostock: Police are carrying out stop-and-searches in different places throughout the city on people who look 'suspecious'.


14:40:
Some 20 'normal' people who were just arriving their to join the protest were stopped by the police and kettled. Negotiations ongoing.


14:35:
Police got into their cars again and started chasing people in their cars.


14:30:
Some 15 people are doing a sit-down in front of the court on Neue-Werder Str, where the arrestees from yesterday are supposed to appear before a judge. More protesters are expected to arrive.


14:30:
Some 10 police cars with lots of cops, all in riots gear, just arrived and started to chase the 'people in black' down the streets.


14:15:
A group of 20-25 people from Camp Rostock have just joined the solidarity protest in Industrie Str. The cops immediately started to put their riot gear on as most of the new arrivers are wearing black. Protesters, who now number about 60, are standing on the pavement in front of the detention centre.


13:30:
Rostock: People are starting to leave the solidarity protest outside the detention centre in Industrie Str., some just wandering about. There is still 40-45 people. Cops said as long as they are not blocking the road, the protest will be allowed to continue peacefully.


12:30:
Rostock: Following a rally at the Faculty for Agricultural and Environmental Science, approximately 3,000 people started marching around the city centre as part of the Agriculture Day of Action. Many big puppets and one huge puppet monster can be seen, and many international banners. A small rally at a Lidl supermarket was held on the way. There is a large police presence but the situation is still quiet.


12:25:
Protesters have been moved away onto the pavement.


12:15:
Rostock: The bigger group of protesters joined the smaller one outside the prison's door. More cops with dogs.


12:10:
Rostock: There are 3 police cars and some 15 cops. A small group of protesters, who arrived before the cops, are standing immediately outside the prison's door, while the rest, who arrived after, are not allowed to go nearer.


12:00:
Rostock: Some 60-70 people have gathered outside the detention centre in Industrie Str. in a solidarity protests with the people who were arrested yesterday and are still held there. There is some police presence but the situation is still calm.


08:30:
The Legal Team said 164 people were arrested yesterday, 17 of whom will be charged. Two of cases are said to be fast-tracked.


01:50:
Rostock: After being kettled for a short while, people have been released and are heading back home.


01:35:
Rostock: Cops are chasing people down the streets. They have also broken into the place where the music was coming from, Anker. They are trying to shove people to Doberaner Platz at the end of the road.


01:15:
Rostock: A Reclaim The Streets party in Doberaner Str., which was so far going nicely, is being violently repressed by police at the moment. 5 police units in riot gear arrived and stopped the party very violently for no apparent reason, beating the 500 or so party goers with batons.


02.06.2007
21:50:
Camp Rostock: Police are said to be retreating now.


21:15:
Camp Rostock: About 30-40 cops, 4 or 5 water cannons and one sweeping tank outside the camp, but no violent confrontations at the moment.


20:45:
Camp Rostock: About 200 people from Camp Rostock wanted to go and hold a solidarity protest at the prison where the people who were arrested earlier today are held. However, they were confronted with police and water cannons a few hundred meters outside the camp.


20:00:
Rostock: According to the Legal Teams, at least 100 were detained on the Rostock demo today.


20:00:
Schwerin: According to the Legal Teams, as of 6:00pm over100 nicked at the Schwerin central train station were still detained without being charged. More recent reports, however, say most of them have been released now.


19:35:
The concert organisers want to continue with the concert anyway. The situation is calm now.


19:20:
Irie Révoltés are playing now. People are dancing the police out of the place.


18:45:
The concert is interrupted again.


18:40:
The concert resumes. A lot of arrests and water cannons in action.


18:25:
A cloud of tear gas could still be seen in the harbour area. Two water cannons are still there but not in action. Snatch squads are trying single out people from the crowd or leaving groups to arrest them. Accesses and exits from the harbour area are only from the front and back, but not the lanes to the city centre any more.


18:15:
The situation calms down somewhat. There are bigger groups of people in front of the stage and towards the Speicher. In between, police and water cannons. All roads to the city centre are closed in both directions. Polices forces from several federal states as well as the federal police

STRIKING NURSES FIRED ON IN SOUTH AFRICA

Police in Durban, South Africa opened fire with rubber bullets and hurled stun grenades at striking nurses today. Several of the demonstrators, who were taking part in a nationwide strike over pay, were wounded and 20 nurses were arrested in the incident, reports said. The nurses were part of a group of striking workers that had blocked entrances to Addington Hospital in Durban, SAfm public radio reported.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports Monday was to be a crunch day in the four-day-old strike after the government on Sunday warned essential services workers, including nurses, to go back to work Monday or face being fired.

Nearly half a million workers downed tools on the first day of the strike Friday, including large numbers of nurses, an estimated 80 per cent of teachers and an estimated 22 per cent of national and provincial government workers. Analysts say it is one of the biggest strikes in the history of South Africa and workers say they will only return to work once a resolution is found.

The strike, supported by 17 unions representing over one million public service workers, was called to press demands for a 12-per-cent pay increase. Their plea for a 12% increase in their pay is not that much when you consider higher up officials in the government have recently received a 30% increase or more to their salary.

The government, which is attempting to link improved wages with improved performances, is offering 6 per cent plus extra benefits for some workers.

South Africa`s inflation rate has risen to 5.5%.

"As a teacher I`m earning peanuts," a 40-year-old teacher from Dr B W Vilakazi High School in Soweto told the BBC`s Network Africa programme.

"I teach many students but soon after they complete their studies, they earn way more than I do."

The strike seems to have been observed in all nine of South Africa`s provinces. "Reports so far indicate a very, very good turnout," a spokesman for the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) Patrick Craven told Reuters.

A press release today from Cosatu read:

COSATU condemns attacks on strikers

The Congress of South African Trade Unions fully supports the decision of the public service trade union negotiators who have boycotted this morning's negotiations at the Public Sector Coordinated Bargaining Council in protest at the brutal attacks on striking workers. They were absolutely correct to register such a forceful protest.

COSATU condemns in the strongest terms the firing of rubber bullets at nurses outside the Addington Hospital, Durban, by police, and the arrest of 20 workers who were picketing at the hospital.

We send our best wishes to all the injured workers for a full recovery. We demand an immediate investigation to identify and discipline those responsible for ordering the shootings and we insist on the immediate, unconditional release of those arrested.

It is highly disturbing that these attacks follow the firing of stun grenades at demonstrators outside the Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, which COSATU condemned on Friday.

We shall be demanding an urgent meeting with the Minister of Safety and Security to find ways to prevent any more confrontations like these.

COSATU also deplores the government's threats to sack health workers who do not return to work. We fully endorse the view of Fikile Majola, General Secretary of NEHAWU, that "if government fires health workers, the negotiation process is not going to work".

The government should know that just dismissing workers in the middle of a strike means that you are actually compounding the problem. Attitudes will simply harden and in the end the real victim will be the system of collective bargaining itself.

The unions will defend the right of all workers to exercise their constitutional rights to strike, with the exception only of workers covered by an agreement on essential services. We shall vigorously oppose the government's moves to interdict broad categories of health workers from striking, including those whose work is clearly not essential.

The Central Executive Committee in session from 4-6 June 2007 will debate the strike and these worrying developments. We shall look at ways to ensure solidarity between the public- and private-sector based workers.

In the meantime we are calling on workers in the public sector to intensify the strike and to remain united in the face of the employers' intimidation and bullying antics.

The following is from the Mail and Guardian (South Africa).

Cops fire at striking nurses in Durban

South African police on Monday fired rubber bullets to disperse a crowd of nurses taking part in a nationwide strike over pay, wounding several, state radio reported.

Police also arrested 20 nurses in the incident at a hospital in Durban, the radio said. It quoted police as saying the nurses were blocking entrances to the hospital.

Police were not immediately available to comment on the report, but the South African Press Association (Sapa) quoted a police spokesperson as saying there were no shootings, only the arrests of 12 striking workers at Durban's Addington Hospital.

Since the start of the strike on Friday, tensions have risen between the government and public workers, increasing fears the mass action will cripple services and hurt South Africa's economy -- the biggest on the continent.

Fikile Slovo Majola, general secretary of the National Education Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu), said government threats over the weekend to fire striking nurses would only undermine efforts to reach a resolution.

"The Department of Health's threats to fire nurses is only going to put negotiations in jeopardy," he told Reuters.

The strike was organised by the powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), a key force in a political alliance with the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

Cosatu's affiliated unions make up about 60% of public service employees, including doctors, nurses, police and teachers. So far, the strike has mainly hit the health sector.

Union leaders have said they will not end the mass action until the government agrees to double its pay rise offer to 12%.

South Africa's economy is booming but civil servants complain they have not had a pay rise since one that ended a major public service strike in 2004.

President Thabo Mbeki's government fears that significant wage increases could further raise inflation.

Anger boiled over after an official body recently recommended Mbeki receive a 57% pay rise.

Unions have accused Mbeki of favouring big business over the poor in his efforts to attract foreign investment.

Negotiations to end the strike and reach an agreement on pay were due to resume on Monday. - Reuters