Nicolas Sarkozy - un Horngois chez le Gaulois

Burkina Faso based reggae band Zedess made this great song and video about Nicolas Sakozy the anti immigration minister in French government who drastically increased deportations and who called the unemployed immigrant youth in France "scum". Sarkozy might become the next president of France leading polls for presidential elections in May.
Nevertheless this video gives the right answers and a strong African point of view concerning this right wing chauvininist man by posing the question: Nicolas Sarkozy, why did your father leave Hungary?



Even if you don't understand French. This video is worth to be watched, the music is great.

Ibrahim Avcıl must be released!

Stopp the state terror in Turkey!

Ibrahim Avcıl must be released!

Some of the journalists, trade unionists, youth and female activisists and activists of the ESP (Socialist Platform of the Oppressed), who filled the prisons due to the Turkish state`s raids on the newspaper Atilim, the ESP, the Socialist Youth Association (SGD), the trade unions Limter-Is and Tekstil-Sen, the Labourer Women`s Association (EKD), the cultural and art institute BEKSAV, the Association Sanat ve Hayat, the radio station Özgür Radyo in whole Turkey and Northern Kurdistan and on the homes of the people working at these institutes, have been taken to court in Istanbul on April 13, 2007. This has been their first trial. Among those arrested, there were many delegates who took part in the 5th International Conference Agaist Disappearances, organised by ICAD together with YAKAY-DER in May 2006 in Diyarbakir.

Ibrahim Avcil, who works for the British Section of ICAD, has been one of the delegates from the UK, as there were many delegates from other foreign countries to come and watch the trials on April 13. On this day, the whole world has been witnessing the brutal attacks of the police on the masses gathering in front of Beşiktaş Court, Istanbul, where the trial was taking place. The Turkish police, who could not accept the demands of hundreds of people requiring the release of the prisoners in a peaceful way, attacked them brutally with gas bombs and truncheons. Thıs attack proofs that the Turkish state stills maintains its fascist structure which is an enemy of human rights.

On April 13, the Turkish state attacked as well as took 114 people under arrest. Among those 20 people taken to prison is also our activist Ibrahim Avcıl. Whilst the Turkish state had to release 10 prisoners at the April 13 trial, it opted for replacing them by 20 other people.

ICAD strongly protests against these attacks and the detentions by the Turkish state and demands the immediate release of its activist Ibrahim Avcıl.

ICAD demands the release of the ESP activists arrested and detained on April 13 and the punishment of the police who were brutally attacking the people waiting in front of the court.

ICAD declares that the Turkish state with its recent attacks on intellectuals and democratic institutions is violating international law and basic human rights and demands an end to Turkish state’s attacks.

April 17, 2007

ICAD

International Office

Mumia Abu-Jamal on Oury Jalloh

Mumia Abu-Jamal's Radio Broadcasts

Higher Quality Audio files available info@prisonradio.org

Copyright 2006 Mumia Abu-Jamal/Prison Radio

"Death in Cell #5 "

Rec. 4-2-07 1) 1:36 Radio essay Mp3

Mumia Abu-Jamal is an award-winning journalist who chronicles the human condition. He has been a resident of Pennsylvania’s death row for twenty-five years. Writing from his solitary confinement cell his essays have reached a worldwide audience. His books "Live From Death Row", "Death Blossoms", "All Things Censored", “Faith of Our Fathers” and the recently released “We Want Freedom” have sold over 150,000 copies and been translated into nine languages. His 1982-murder trial and subsequent conviction have been the subject of great debate.
Free Mumia Now!

Oury Jalloh agonizingly burned to death on the 7th of January, 2005, tied at his hands and feet in Cell Number 5 in Dessau/Germany. He was a 21 year-old refugee from Sierra Leone. The smoke and fire alarm were simply ignored by the supervising police officer; the communication system connected directly to the cell was turned off, supposedly because the police officers felt bothered by the "burbling noises" while they were talking on the telephone. Since his death to this day, the State Prosecutor, responsible for carrying out the investigations, has exclusively promoted the theory that Oury Jalloh committed suicide.
Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh

Call that humiliation? Terry Jones about the British captives in Iran

Call that humiliation?
No hoods. No electric shocks. No beatings. These Iranians clearly are a very uncivilised bunch

Terry Jones
Saturday March 31, 2007
The Guardian

I share the outrage expressed in the British press over the treatment of our naval personnel accused by Iran of illegally entering their waters. It is a disgrace. We would never dream of treating captives like this - allowing them to smoke cigarettes, for example, even though it has been proven that smoking kills. And as for compelling poor servicewoman Faye Turney to wear a black headscarf, and then allowing the picture to be posted around the world - have the Iranians no concept of civilised behaviour? For God's sake, what's wrong with putting a bag over her head? That's what we do with the Muslims we capture: we put bags over their heads, so it's hard to breathe. Then it's perfectly acceptable to take photographs of them and circulate them to the press because the captives can't be recognised and humiliated in the way these unfortunate British service people are.

It is also unacceptable that these British captives should be made to talk on television and say things that they may regret later. If the Iranians put duct tape over their mouths, like we do to our captives, they wouldn't be able to talk at all. Of course they'd probably find it even harder to breathe - especially with a bag over their head - but at least they wouldn't be humiliated.

And what's all this about allowing the captives to write letters home saying they are all right? It's time the Iranians fell into line with the rest of the civilised world: they should allow their captives the privacy of solitary confinement. That's one of the many privileges the US grants to its captives in Guantánamo Bay.

The true mark of a civilised country is that it doesn't rush into charging people whom it has arbitrarily arrested in places it's just invaded. The inmates of Guantánamo, for example, have been enjoying all the privacy they want for almost five years, and the first inmate has only just been charged. What a contrast to the disgraceful Iranian rush to parade their captives before the cameras!

What's more, it is clear that the Iranians are not giving their British prisoners any decent physical exercise. The US military make sure that their Iraqi captives enjoy PT. This takes the form of exciting "stress positions", which the captives are expected to hold for hours on end so as to improve their stomach and calf muscles. A common exercise is where they are made to stand on the balls of their feet and then squat so that their thighs are parallel to the ground. This creates intense pain and, finally, muscle failure. It's all good healthy fun and has the bonus that the captives will confess to anything to get out of it.

And this brings me to my final point. It is clear from her TV appearance that servicewoman Turney has been put under pressure. The newspapers have persuaded behavioural psychologists to examine the footage and they all conclude that she is "unhappy and stressed".

What is so appalling is the underhand way in which the Iranians have got her "unhappy and stressed". She shows no signs of electrocution or burn marks and there are no signs of beating on her face. This is unacceptable. If captives are to be put under duress, such as by forcing them into compromising sexual positions, or having electric shocks to their genitals, they should be photographed, as they were in Abu Ghraib. The photographs should then be circulated around the civilised world so that everyone can see exactly what has been going on.

As Stephen Glover pointed out in the Daily Mail, perhaps it would not be right to bomb Iran in retaliation for the humiliation of our servicemen, but clearly the Iranian people must be made to suffer - whether by beefing up sanctions, as the Mail suggests, or simply by getting President Bush to hurry up and invade, as he intends to anyway, and bring democracy and western values to the country, as he has in Iraq.

· Terry Jones is a film director, actor and Python
www.terry-jones.net

Call that humiliation? | Guardian daily comment | Guardian Unlimited

The Blue Nightmare - LA PESADILLA AZUL

Documentation about the massive human rights violations in Oaxaca (Mexico) on november 25th


Link: sevenload.com

After police repression against the people of Oaxaca and APPO (People ’ s Popular Assembly of Oaxaca) on November 25, more than 200 people were unjustly and illegally taken to varioius jails, suffering beatings and rape.

"The Blue Nightmare" contains testimony of some of the people that were detained.

Download MPG4 / 58mb

THIS IS THE ENGLISH SUBTITLES VERSION OF "LA PESADILLA AZUL "

Newroz 2007

Newroz Piroz Be


Millions celebrated the Kurdish new year Newroz on 21st of March worldwide. As you can see here on the videos from Bremen.

In Kurdistan itself up to one million people have come together close to the city of Amed (Diyarbakir) to celebrate Newroz and to express their cultural self determination as Kurds. This years Newroz was overshadowed by the news of the Poisoning of the Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan imprisoned on the island of Imrali and by the attempts of the Turkish army to invade Southern Kurdistan / Northern Iraq.

Some days before Newroz hundereds of Kurdish politicians, and social activists have been arested.
More news will follow soon...


Link: sevenload.com


Link: sevenload.com

Observe the Oury Jalloh trial in Dessau | The Caravan

Come to Dessau on March 27th - 30th and April 19th-20th of 2007

Observe the trial and participate in the permanent vigils, events and rallies during this time

Break the silence!

On the 7th of January, 2005, Oury Jalloh agonizingly burned to death---tied at his hands and feet in Cell Number 5 in Dessau. He was a 21 year-old refugee from Sierra Leone. The smoke and fire alarm were simply ignored by the supervising police officer; the communication system connected directly to the cell was turned off, supposedly because the police officers felt bothered by the "burbling noises" while they were talking on the telephone. Since his death to this day, the State Prosecutor, responsible for carrying out the investigations, has exclusively promoted the theory that Oury Jalloh committed suicide.

Nevertheless, there are simply too many contradictions in their theory: Why does a lighter first appear in a second inventory taken of the items found in the cell? How did a lighter enter into the cell when two police officers carried out a body search of Oury Jalloh? How do they explain the broken nasal bone and the injuries to the middle ear as found in the second autopsy organized by the Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh? What role did the racist attitude of Dessau's police play, which was recorded on tape before and during the fire and made partially public?

On the basis of the ascertainable facts regarding the death of Oury Jalloh and until it is proved otherwise we will continue to believe and make our opinion known: Oury Jalloh was murdered.

That all of these contradictions have even been made known to a wider public has only been possible thanks to the mobilization and engagement of friends and acquaintances of Oury Jalloh as well as diverse migrant, refugee and anti-racist organizations, who in spite of the attempts at criminalization and the persecution of several activists have never given up in fighting for an exhaustive clarification of the circumstances surrounding the death of Oury Jalloh as well as justice and reparations. All of these groups have come together to form the Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh.

Finally, after two years of mobilization and public campaigning of the Initiative, court proceedings are to be held in March against two of the police involved in the crime. Although we find this to be an important step in the direction of shedding light on the death of Oury Jalloh, we have serious doubt as to whether the proceedings will bring either justice or an exhaustive clarification of the circumstances.

Since Oury's murder, neither the court nor the State Prosecutor has shown interest in discovering the truth behind the events in Dessau. Rather, the case has been plagued by two years of impediments, cover-up and the denial to cooperate with the lawyers of Oury's parents. Only for the recognition of the mother and father as co-plaintiffs in the case did the court need 17 and 15 months to come to a decision, respectively. In addition, the State Prosecutor refused to allow an x-ray of Oury Jalloh's corpse to be carried out with the justification that it simply wasn't necessary. The second autopsy, carried out independently in the name of the Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh, demonstrated then demonstrated the serious injuries to Oury's nose and middle ear.

But Oury Jalloh was not alone. Dominique Koumadio, for example, was shot and killed by the police on the 14th of April, 2006. The General Public Prosecutor has already absolved the police of any crime. The justification? Self-defense. Indeed, crimes by the police enjoy almost complete impunity, especially when those crimes are committed against refugees and migrants. Indeed, German police abuse refugees and migrants on a daily basis, and physical mistreatment is widespread, though punishment is seldom—if it even comes that far. In general, it is fair to say that the police, just as society, is dominated by a racist, inhumane consensus that sees refugees and migrants in general as sub-humans.

In general, Europe has made it known and enforced the fact that refugees and migrants, but especially Blacks, are not welcome here. Alone in 2006 more than 7,000 HUMAN BEINGS were forced into their death by a system which has systematically and eternally robbed them of their most basic right: the right to life. Who will pay the price for these murders? Who can give their families and friends back their loved ones?

These are just some of the reasons why we totally distrust the German legal system.

It is our responsibility to Oury, his family and all victims and survivors of racist police violence and even murder to come together and demonstrate to the court, to the society and to the world that we will not stand silently by while they continue their crimes in impunity. If we do not come together to stop this now, how many will follow? Who will be next?

A wide public and political mobilization to accompany the trial and assist the proceedings as independent observers is of extreme importance. We therefore call on all progressive sectors and people of solidarity to join us in Dessau for the entire length of the court proceedings. Vigils, events and rallies will be organized during the whole duration of the events.
Come to Dessau on March 27th-30th and April 19th-20th. Observe the trial and participate in the permanent vigils, events and rallies during this time.

Landgericht Dessau, Willy-Lohmann-Str. 29, 06844 Dessau

Stay informed at: http://oury-jalloh.so36.net/ or
contact our Info-phone at: 0176-65977644

Donations can be made to: Antirassistische Initiative / Bank für Sozialwirtschaft / Konto-Nr.: 3039600 / BLZ: 100 205 00 / Stichwort: Dessau.

COME TO DESSAU!

BREAK THE SILENCE!

Observe the Oury Jalloh trial in Dessau | The Caravan