Copenhagen in a Nutshell

From Climate Code Red.

This figure from the Washington Post and statement by Jose Barroso sums up what we can expect from the current Copenhagen process.

As Prof. Prof Schellnhuber, the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Change, said this week the chances of the getting a deal that could keep warming below two degrees was "pie in the sky".

Philippines: Flood relief appeal from Partido Lakas ng Masa

By Reihana Mohideen, international desk, Partido Lakas ng Masa (Party of the Labouring Masses)

September, 28, 2009 -- Typhoon Ondoy swept through the Philippines on September 26, displacing some 250,000 people and, according to the most recent reports, has left some 86 people dead. Urban centres, such as Metro Manila, were also badly affected with more than 80% of the city under water. In some areas the water was around 4'-5' deep. Apparently one month’s rainfall poured down in a matter of a few hours.

We are conducting relief operations through our own networks and we are appealing for funds to support our relief work. The typhoon has now cleared and today we will be assessing the situation based on reports from our organisers on the ground. This will also include getting information on the state of the government's disaster management response. Reports are coming in about the inadequacy of the government's response -- in some areas people are still waiting for rescue operations to get to them and in other cases people are still waiting for food assistance.

According to one of our organisers around 30 people are buried in the mud in an urban poor community in Payatas and there is still no sign of assistance. This means that the media reports of the casualties are clearly under-reported. We are also receiving reports of some children of one of our members having perished in the floods as a result of electrocution – an especially dangerous problem during flooding. Our hearts go out to Alin Linda.

We will also be conducting local mobilisations over the next few days to ensure that people get adequate relief support.

We are appealing for donations from our overseas friends and networks to assist with our relief operations.

Please send donations to the following NGO.

Transform Asia

Account Number: 3042304004562

Swift Code: MBTCPHMM

Bank Name: Metro Bank

Address: Anonas Branch, Caly Building, Aurora Blvd cnr Castillo St, Project 4, Quezon City, Metro Manila

The office address for Transform Asia is 25 F Calderon St, Project 4, Q.C. Metro Manila, Philippines.

Please indicate that this is for ``Flood Relief'’’.

VIDEO: Salvadoran Solidarity Rally with Honduras

Salvadorans Demonstrate Solidarity with Honduras
by Kara Newhouse and Laura Taylor

SAN SALVADOR—Fourteen buses loaded with FMLN supporters barreled out of Morazan's mountains yesterday and into the capital, where the passengers joined with others from across the country in a show of solidarity for the people of Honduras. Thousands converged on Juan Pablo II, a street normally home to government buildings, but which now displayed all the trimmings of a carnival—strings of FMLN pennants, “FUERA LOS GOLPISTAS” signs, vendors selling snacks and beer, and music ranging from the national anthems of El Salvador and Honduras to pop rock .

On stage the FMLN general coordinator responded to accusations from conservative media that the party supported Zelaya's return. “To the question everyone is asking—they are asking if we, the FMLN, are supporters of the resistance. I can only say, of course.” Party leaders maintained that they would continue to resist foreign interventions and support true democracy in Honduras.

The 617 members of Morazan's delegation arrived to send the message that organized communities denounce repression and will not allow a coup to succeed, in Honduras or El Salvador, said the Secretary of Women for the National Council of the FMLN, Maria Luisa Avigil Hernandez.

Another coordinator from the women's commission, Margarita Rodriguez, said that the people of Perquin have a special relationship to injustice in Honduras because the Salvadoran resistance of the 1980s originated in Perquin. People there endured much suffering and repression during the war, and many sought refuge across the border in Honduras. This history, Rodriguez said, creates a strong sense of solidarity and consciousness about organizing: “Here the community is ready for anything.”

Hundreds of Salvadorans too young to have experienced the war also joined the demonstration, claiming a broad concern over human rights abuses in the neighboring country. Twenty-year-old Victor Chevez commented, “I hope that the feeling of support reaches those in resistance, and gives them the energy to keep fighting.”

AUDIO: The Siege of Honduras - Ricardo Salgado, update September 30

12.7 Mb 128 kbps. mono 14 minutes

Ricardo Salgado has just returned from the Brazilian Embassy where President Zelaya is defying three police lines and attempts by the coup regime to dislodge him and his supporters in contravention of international law. The Honduras Resistance movement is planning mass marches for tomorrow, and will attempt to retake Radio Globo that was shut down by the coup regime yesterday. Radio Globo is still broadcasting through the internet, and a network of smaller community radio stations. Will the resistance movement cause the de facto coup regime collapse under its own weight of repression sooner, or later?

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Original audio source (rricardo.salgadobonilla_30_Sep_2009.mp3)

George Monbiot: The Population Myth

It’s no coincidence that most of those who are obsessed with population growth are post-reproductive wealthy white men: it’s about the only environmental issue for which they can’t be blamed. The brilliant earth systems scientist James Lovelock, for example, claimed last month that “those who fail to see that population growth and climate change are two sides of the same coin are either ignorant or hiding from the truth. These two huge environmental problems are inseparable and to discuss one while ignoring the other is irrational.” But it’s Lovelock who is being ignorant and irrational.

A paper published yesterday in the journal Environment and Urbanization shows that the places where population has been growing fastest are those in which carbon dioxide has been growing most slowly, and vice versa. Between 1980 and 2005, for example, Sub-Saharan Africa produced 18.5% of the world’s population growth and just 2.4% of the growth in CO2. North America turned out 4% of the extra people, but 14% of the extra emissions. Sixty-three per cent of the world’s population growth happened in places with very low emissions(2).
--George Monbiot

Read more..

AUDIO:Siege of Honduras -- Andre Conteris from inside the Brazilian Embassy

5.5 Mb.128kbps mono 6 minutes

Andres Conteris, journalist for "Democracy Now" is inside the Brazilian Embassy in Honduras with President Zelaya who has taken refuge there until restored to his legitimate role. The Brazilian Embassy is under siege by the Honduran armed forces who have attempted to cut food supplies, water and electricity, jam communications and set up sound boxes designed to emit high pitched, irritating high decibal noise inside the Embassy grounds.

A week later, and the coup regime has declared a suspension of all constitutional rights and put an ultimatum to the Brazilian government. International reaction to this disturbing move has been disappointingly slow, especially from the US. The toll of casualties is mounting, the latest a woman who died from the effects of the teargas assault on the Brazilian Embassy. Radio Globo is no longer transmitting, but has maintained its internet stream. The Honduran coup regime is reacting hysterically and with typical excessive force against the popular outrage that has only grown over the last three months, with hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions, of people out in the streets in protest on a daily basis.

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Original audio source (AndresContrenasEmbassy29_Sep_2009.mp3)

AUDIO:As Honduran crisis continues, de facto government suspends civil rights

As the standoff between the two presidents of Honduras continues, Roberto Micheletti´s de facto government has suspended a number of civil rights, including the right to assembly and freedom of transit. The de facto government says it is doing this to maintain peace and public order. It also used the military to shut down two broadcast outlets that reported on anti-government protests. FSRN´s Tim Russo has more.

Source Free Speech Radio News

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Original audio source (20090928TR.mp3)

AUDIO:Honduras ousted President Zelaya remains in Brazilian embassy

Ousted President Manuel Zelaya remains inside the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa and this morning, Pacifica's Mitch Jeserich had the opportunity to ask Zelaya a question through Andres Conteris, director of the Program on the Americas for the non-profit group, Nonviolence International and contributor to Democracy Now.

Source Free Speech Radio News

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Original audio source (20090928TwoWayMitch.mp3)

Fidel Castro: A revolution is being born there

By Fidel Castro Ruz

ON July 16, I stated textually that the coup d’état in Honduras "was conceived of and organized by unscrupulous individuals on the extreme right, dependable officials of George W. Bush and promoted by him."

I quoted the names of Hugo Llorens, Robert Blau, Stephen McFarland and Robert Callahan, yanki ambassadors in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua, appointed by Bush in the months of July and August of 2008, the four of them following the line of John Negroponte and Otto Reich, both of a shady history.

I indicated the yanki base of Soto Cano [Palmerola] as a central support point for the coup d’état and that "the idea of the a peace initiative from Costa Rica was transmitted to the president of that country from the State Department when Obama was in Moscow and stated, in a Russian university, that the only president of Honduras was Manuel Zelaya." I added that "the Costa Rica meeting called into question the authority of the UN, the OAS and other institutions which had committed their support to the people of Honduras and that the only correct thing to do was to demand that the United States should end its intervention in Honduras and withdraw the Joint Task Force from that country."

The response of the United States in the wake of the coup d’état in that Central American country has been to draw up an agreement with the government of Colombia for the creation of seven military bases, like the one in Soto Cano in that sister country, which are a threat to Venezuela, Brazil and all the other nations of South America.

At a critical moment, when the tragedy of climate change and the international economic crisis is being discussed in a summit meeting of heads of state of the United Nations, the coup perpetrators in Honduras are threatening to violate the immunity of the Brazilian embassy, where President Manuel Zelaya, his family and a group of his followers who were forced to take shelter in that building are to be found.

It has been confirmed that the government of Brazil had nothing whatsoever to do with the situation that has been created there.

It is therefore inadmissible, moreover inconceivable, that the Brazilian embassy should be assaulted by the fascist government, unless that government is attempting to be the instrument of its own suicide by dragging the country into a direct invasion by foreign forces, as was the case in Haiti, which would signify a direct invasion of yanki troops under the flag of the United Nations. Honduras is not a distant and isolated country in the Caribbean. An intervention by foreign forces in Honduras would unleash a conflict in Central America and create political chaos in all of Latin America.

The heroic struggle of the Honduran people after almost 90 days of incessant battling has placed in crisis the fascist and pro-yanki government that is repressing unarmed men and women.

We have seen a new awareness emerge in the Honduran people. An entire legion of social fighters has been hardened in that battle. Zelaya fulfilled his promise to return. He has the right to be reestablished in government and to preside over the elections. New and admirable cadres are standing out among the combative social movements, capable of leading that nation along the difficult roads that await the peoples of Our America. A revolution is being born there.

The UN Assembly could be a historic one, depending on its correct decisions or errors.

World leaders have expounded issues of great interest and complexity. They reflect the magnitude of the tasks that humanity has ahead of it and how scant the time available is.


September 24, 2009

Where CNN comes from

A report by the British Cabinet Office released this summer offers stark evidence of the disappearance of the working class from the journalism profession, and the study offers some relevant observations for American media as well. The report, Unleashing Aspirations, notes, among other things, that journalists born since 1970 predominantly come from middle class to upper middle class backgrounds. And Journalism ranks third in the list of the most socially exclusive professions, just behind doctors and lawyers.--The Costs of Becoming a Journalist

The Silent Revolution -- video editing

Without Lenin, we wouldn't enjoy Hollywood half as much. The one idea the October revolution definitely gave us was the notion that a film is made in the editing suite as much as on the set. Think of the end of The Godfather, cutting between a baptism and the brutal assassinations of the heads of the five families - pure Eisenstein montage -- Johnathan Jones, The Guardian
Read more...

HONDURAS: Among the possible scenarios for tonight are genocidal acts

I have translated the following short piece by some comrades involved in the website Aporrea.org an important centre of news and discussion within the Bolivarian revolution. There are many reports that a bloodbath is being prepared for tonight. One thing not mentioned in the article is the shutdown of a key radio and TV station, both of which have played a crucial role in the resistance and denouncing the repression of the coup regime. Here in Venezuela a solidarity actions has been called for tomorrow morning. Now is the time to raise our voices as one in defence of the Honduran people. -- Fred Fuentes

September 27 - Today, the team at Aporrea.org was in communication with representatives of the resistance against the coup in Honduras and with special envoys from Venezuelan alternative media outlets, among those Radio Negro Primero.

These sources informed us of a worsening of the current situation in the country, several days after the arrival of the constitutional president Manuel Zelaya at the Brazilian embassy, and an upsurge of repressive actions and violations of human rights on the part of the dictatorial regime. To which can be added the death of a resistance activist, product of the inhalation of toxic gases launched by the repressive forces into the embassy (which in these moments is being surveyed) and the deportation of an Organisation of American States (OAS), sent back to Costa Rica by the coup regime, with the except of a sole member of US origins.

The “Goriletti” regime has sent an open and generalized challenge to all international factors and institutions, although its is perceived that behind this emboldened and quarrelsome posture is the covert support of the US, a key element in the attitude taken by the usurper government.

According to the information obtained, a state of siege has been declared and all constitutional guarantees suspended, following the 10 day ultimatum given by the coup government for Brazil to define the status of Manuel Zelaya, with the threat of carrying out possible military actions, such as a raid of the Brazilian [embassy].

Among the scenarios that were being talked about at this time, is the possibility of genocidal actions, house raids and selective or mass arrests in the next few hours and days. The resistance has adopted preventive measures in the face of this repression, especially for tonight and in light of the call for a mobilization tomorrow, that will be accompanied by solidarity protests in many other cities of the world.

The people in resistance have decided to remain on the streets, holding peaceful protests.

They are also awaiting the response that the people and government of Brazil could give in defence of the dignity and integrity of their embassy.

VIDEO:The siege of Tegucigalpa

LATINRADICAL AUDIO: Honduras coup ups the ante

Andres Conteris, journalist for "Democracy Now" is inside the Brazilian Embassy in Honduras with President Zelaya where he has taken refuge until he is restored to his legitimate role. The Brazilian Embassy is under siege by the Honduran armed forces who have attempted to cut food supplies, water and electricity, jam communications and set up sound boxes designed to emit high pitched, irritating high decibal noise inside the Embassy grounds.

Andres speaks with community radio station 2NimFM and Latin Radical
describes the situation there just a few hours after the Honduran military pumped some kind of noxious gas into the Embassy grounds.

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Original audio source (Andre_Contrinas26_Sep_2009.mp3)

VIDEO: Dziga Vertov -- Man with a Movie Camera

Man with a Movie Camera, is an experimental 1929 silent documentary film, with no story and no actors, by Russian director Dziga Vertov. While an unashamedly 'art film' it is very powerful experience which utilizes a range of cinematic techniques designed to feature the star -- the Soviet Union itself.

You can watch the whole film on the Internet Archive but that file is without a soundtrack. So I've pulled all the segments available on YouTube together here which also includes a brilliant sound track -- the composer of which I cannot as yet discover as several scores have been written for the movie since its release.

I find the whole film mesmerizing...

"The film Man with a Movie Camera represents
AN EXPERIMENTATION IN THE CINEMATIC TRANSMISSION
Of visual phenomena
WITHOUT THE USE OF INTERTITLES
(a film without intertitles)
WITHOUT THE HELP OF A SCRIPT
(a film without script)
WITHOUT THE HELP OF A THEATRE
(a film without actors, without sets, etc.)
This new experimentation work by Kino-Eye is directed towards the creation of an authentically international absolute language of cinema – ABSOLUTE KINOGRAPHY – on the basis of its complete separation from the language of theatre and literature."

VIDEO: From Eisenstien to YouTube Cinéma vérité via Marx

A Very Public Sociologist offers a informative introduction to early Soviet cinema.

Phil's post touches on the great film directors such as Sergei Eisenstein and references this sequence (below) which is the famous scene on the Odessa Steps. To my knowledge the sequence has been replicated in part a few times -- by Akira Kurosawa and Brian De Palma (The Untouchables), to name two.

The summary of Eisenstein's cinematic approach is very useful:

Eisenstein mounted his shots and joined them along various formal and thematic conflicting parameters - straight shots juxtaposed to diagonal ones, light/dark shots, and conflicts in the direction and rhythm of motion (right-to-left to left-to-right), camera distance conflicts (long shots to close-ups, etc). Through these juxtapositions of brief shots, which had a physiological effect on viewers, Eisenstein forged emotions and ideas. For him the illusion of continuity and the focus upon individual heroes encourage an anti-revolutionary false consciousness.

His most comprehensive and effective use of the conflict montage can be found in the Odessa steps sequence in Battleship Potemkin.The scene consists of a dazzling series of conflicting shots and editing that powerfully convey the horror caused by Tsarist troops walking in formation down the Odessa steps while shooting and dispersing a crowd of protesters. Such cinematic attractions over thematic concerns lead the spectator in the direction desired by the director.

He then goes on to compare Dziga Vertov to Eisenstein in a descriptive summary passage:

Vertov's oeuvre was different. He believed only documentary shots of real-life situtations in revolutionary societies can the truth be revealed. He tried to follow Marx and Engels who wrote "the turning of history into world history is not indeed a mere abstract art on the part of the self-consciousness, the world spirit or of any other metaphysical spectre, but a quiet material, empirically verifiable act." For Vertov "we hold the ability to show and elucidate life as it is, considerably higher than the occasionally diverting doll games that people call theatre. Vertov constantly compared the fiction film to witchcraft and drugs since for him fiction was nothing but a reflection of ideologies whose function was to turn the spectator away from his awareness of the real processes of production and from truth. He therefore disliked Eisenstein's fictional recreation of events, and called for the allocation of funds to documentary rather than fictional films. In shooting, Vertov preferred the use of candid cameras in places where his presence would go unnoticed. Only in such a manner can the filmmaker make "the invisible visible, the unclear clear ...; making falsehood into truth."

This may seem to suggest that Vertov was a bit of an ideological nutter. Nonetheless, his influence has been massive and if you watch the opening (many) scenes in Man with a Movie Camera (see clip below)-- driven by a powerful musical score -- it's easy to see why.

I guess you can call this 'revolutionary cinema' on several levels -content, style, influence -- but now that we are in the YouTube age and we all can so easily become men or women with our own movie cameras (and video editing programs that are many times easier and more powerful than any thing the Soviets ever had) , what are we supposed to think about these early cinema radicals, imbued as they were with a desire to make Marxism aesthetically practical ?

This was a preoccupation for many artists in the twenties and thirties and the quest extended to Erwin Piscator and Bertolt Brecht in theatre, Kurt Weill and Dmitri Shostakovich in music -- to name but a few.

So when we come to today's digital options I wonder if we can draw any inspiration from Marx via these pioneering and so influential originators? Is the pursuit of style and form just an indulgent wank? Or is there some new conjuncture possible as we embrace the digital age online and learn to master its tools?

I think there is. Just as the 1936 essay by Walter Benjamin -- The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. -- predicts the democratic potential the digital universe offers us, maybe it's time we began to think this issue through with a bit more verve than simply marveling at the creative era that was ushered in by the 1917 Russian Revolution.

What we need to do , I guess, is create our own version of Cinéma vérité even if its just for the sake of 10 minute grabs on YouTube. All we need do is develop an attitude and style that ticks all the boxes we want to tick.

What could be easier? So off you go: go shoot some cinema.


The Odessa Steps sequence from Battleship Potemkin

Man with a Movie Camera : Opening

AUDIO: LatinRadical's Honduras Coverage

I have had an opportunity to listen again to LatinRadical's coverage of the situation in Honduras. I think Warwick Fry has outdone himself.I play a supplementary role in LatinRadical's web presence but the network of correspondents that Warwick has been able to generate -- in Central America especially -- has ensured that the interviews he has published are second to none in capturing the import of the political situation there in English.

Tony Solo's five part interview is especially rich source of considered analysis of the political consequences of the coup and what that means for the forces of reaction in Latin America.

So make sure you check out these reports:

• LatinRadical's Honduras coverage.

Toni Solo 5 part Interview



Toni Solo (of Tortilla con Sal Nicaraguan web magazine) analyses the 65th day of continual protest in Honduras, by hundreds of thousands of protesters almost daily. They are protesting in a non violent way, against the coup regime who abducted their legally elected President and preventing his return. Police and military repression against the non violent protesters is mounting, but going unreported in the mainstream media. The popular resistance has grown so strong that by now, the reinstatement of President Zelaya is just one aspect of a massive demand for social justice. Honduras will never be the same.

Part 1

Original audio source (TortillaPt1270809.mp3)

Part 2
Original audio source (TortillaPt2_270809.mp3)

Part 3
Original audio source (tortillaconsalPt3_27_Aug_2009.mp3)

Part 4
Original audio source (tortillaconsaPt4l_27_Aug_2009_11_57_06_2.mp3)

Part 5
Original audio source (tortillaconsaPt5_27_Aug_2009.mp3)

VIDEO:Honduras solidarity rally in Sydney, Australia

Honduras solidarity rally held in the Latin America Plaza in Sydney, Australia, on September 24, 2009.



July Rally
Solidarity from Australia for the rebellion of the Honduran people against the military coup. Emergency protest against the military coup, Sydney July 1, 2009.

Left Fracture: The British disease?

I guess there is whining aplenty here in Australia about the state of the left. There's certainly much to be annoyed about in way of its marginalisation and disunity. While I've been very acerbic about the failure of almost all the far left groups to commit to a regroupment project -- any regroupment project -- I think one of our successes here nonetheless is that we've been able to keep the worst excesses of the British disease at bay and still pursue a regroupment agenda.

"The British Disease" is a cynic's joke as it is a name I use for the dead hand of sectarianism which seems to have found fertile ground esp in Ol' Blighty. In fact, along with pork pies and English grammar, it is one of the UK's most pervasive exports.

A good swag of the far left groups in this country are, or have been, local franchises of London based toy internationals. This certainly has its advantages in way of reducing ideological start up costs, but it has meant that London has to sneeze first before the colonials catch cold.

And catch cold they certainly will. As the snide joke goes. (actually it was mine):

Q:How many far left franchise members (put selected party name here) does it take to change a light globe?
A:Sorry. They won't know until after they ring London.

Maybe that's unfair. But you only have to monitor trends in England to predict what's likely to be on the political agenda soon enough down here in the antipodes regardles of local conditions of indigenous politics.

Of course maybe the mother lode across the way is the font of political wisdom and tactical smarts? Maybe it's really only a case of paternal political mentoring after all...? Maybe there is a lot we can learn from the experience of the English far left parties...?

Then, maybe not.

In a piece just published in the Morning Star -- a left wing British daily newspaper -- Liz Davies attacks Britain's Fractured Left for being dedicated to disunity. Davies articulates, what seems to be, a general backlash against Britain's far left groups for failing to work together and allowing space for the British National Party -- the local right wing neo Fascist (arm) brand -- to advance at the recent Euro poll.

With a General Election due in 2010 and with the prospect of a Tory victory and further BNP gains, Davies writes:

The left's inability to offer a realistic alternative at the ballot box means that it has failed those who reject neoliberalism. It's nothing short of a tragedy.

Davies chronicling of the British left's mastery of fracture is wrist slitting stuff. As far as I know, her story is sadly true. She writes (on her Socialist Alliance experience):

I watched the so-called revolutionary political parties destroy any chance of effective left co-operation and flout principles of democracy and accountability.

Then, after still more tales of fractious wow, she writes:

You couldn't make it up. It's deeply tragic.

And so it is. As one English left activist told me recently, the left in the UK is at its worse state in decades.

We can't gloat over this state of affairs because we don't have the runs on the board either -- even credits that can compare with some of the ready achievements of the British left both today and through a proud tradition of struggle.

But we are not in tragic mode-- in the way they seem to be. We have not recklessly spent all our opportunities to come together as they seem to have.That doesn't make us any better -- only, I guess, more careful and perhaps a tad more consistent in our pursuits.

And not so tragic perhaps?

VIDEO: AlbaTV -- videoing peoples power in Latin America

I was searching for some recent video footage online about Honduras and came upon Alba TV on BlipTV.

I don't speak or read Spanish but the content was obvious. That aside, the way the medium is harnessed and used to advance a perspective is both exciting and stimulating.

I mean if you wanted to package a POV about the advance of peoples power in Latin America this is a great way to do it.

You can check out the ALBAtv web site here.

AUDIO [FSRN] Honduras stand-off continues; Zelaya remains in Brazilian embassy

A stand-off between the ousted President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya and Interim President Roberto Micheletti continues to generate civil strife, with several clashes reported Tuesday between Zelaya supporters and government forces. FSRN´s Tim Russo Reports.

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Original audio source (20090923TR.mp3)

GLW Honduras Updates: Street battles rage, coup tries to repress pro-democracy uprising

Green Left Weekly is planning to run ongoing coverage on the dramatic developments in the struggle for democracy and justice in Honduras over the coming days. Four reports, from September 21 and 22, are published below.

Federico Fuentes, Caracas

September 24 — Street battles are continuing to rage late into the night of September 23 in the poor neighborhoods of the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, after a day marked by a brutal military and police attack on a massive demonstration in support of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.

Zelaya, whose pro-poor policies outraged the Honduran elite and US corporations, was overthrown in a June 28 military coup and exiled to Costa Rica. On September 21, Zelaya stunned the world by announcing he had re-entered Honduras and was inside the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.

This announcement — after 88 straight days of resistance to the coup with strikes, protests and road blockades by the poor majority —set off a renewed wave of mobilisations across the country to demand Zelaya’s reinstatement as the legitimate president.

Read more...

AUDIO:Honduras insurrection against the coup - Assassination attempts against President Zelaya.

5.2Mb. 64kbps. mono 11 minutes

Ricardo Salgado from Honduras - 88th day of the coup, protest, and now insurrection, with people defying the coup regime's attempts to impose a round the clock curfew. 50,000 people are still demonstrating in the capital Tegucigalpa, and the military have taken over two sport stadiums to hold the people they have arrested and held. The popular media (radio globohonduras and Canal 36) are holding out despite attempts to shut them down, and announced and frustrated two planned attempts to assassinate President Zelaya within the Brazilian Embassy.

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Original audio source (ricardo.salgadobonilla_24_Sep_2009.mp3)

Australia must act for democracy in Honduras!

Below is an open letter from the Socialist Alliance to Australia's foreign affairs minister, Stephen Smith, calling on the Australian government to act for the immediate and unconditional reinstatement of President Manuel Zelaya, and the restoration of democracy in Honduras.

Please assist the Honduran people's struggle for justice by inserting your own contact details and signing it, then emailing or faxing it to the minister as soon as possible.

Australia must act for democracy in Honduras
An open letter to the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (download this letter as a PDF or Word document, )

To: Stephen Smith
Minister for Foreign Affairs
PO Box 6022, Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Tel: (02) 6277 7500 Fax: (02) 6273 4112
Email: Stephen.Smith.MP@aph.gov.au

Cc: Electorate office
953A Beaufort St
Inglewood WA 6932
Tel: (08) 9272 3411 Fax: (08) 9272 3477

September 24, 2009

Dear Minister Smith,

The people and nation of Honduras urgently need the support of democratic governments and peoples around the world.

The current military dictatorship in Honduras, which on June 28 overthrew the elected government of President Manuel Zelaya Rosales in a coup d’etat, has unleashed a wave of repression against tens of thousands of people who have taken to the streets demanding Zelaya’s immediate restoration as president.

Zelaya re-entered Honduras on foot on September 21 and was given asylum by the Brazilian government in its embassy in Tegucigalpa. However, on September 22, as thousands of people assembled outside the embassy to welcome Zelaya home, the coup regime headed by Roberto Micheletti cut electricity and water to the embassy and tear-gassed, pepper-sprayed and fired on the president’s supporters, seriously injuring some.

With Zelaya’s return, the incessant violations of human rights and fundamental liberties perpetrated by the dictatorship over the last 85 days have significantly increased. Hundreds more civilians have been arrested and images have emerged of large numbers of protesters being rounded up and detained in a sports stadium in Tegucigalpa. The military has now imposed a total curfew in the country – an attempt to prevent the Honduran people from expressing their wish for the restoration of democracy in their country.

Speaking to international media on September 21, Zelaya called on Honduras’ armed forces to “respect the human rights of the Honduran people … To the commander general of the armed forces ... I peacefully make a call for sanity, so that there is no violence on the streets. The people here are unarmed, shouting for joy.”

It is a fundamental human right of all peoples to determine their own government and political future and during the last three months the people of Honduras have made very clear what they want with peaceful protests, strikes and road blockades, on a daily basis. On September 15, three million people rallied in more than 20 cities and towns across Honduras demanding an end to the coup.

We join with the nine governments of Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, the Organisation of American States, the UN General Assembly and the Rio Group in their call for Zelaya to be immediately reinstated as the legitimate president of Honduras and for the democratically elected government to be able to resume its duties. We note also that the European Union and almost every government in the world have officially condemned the coup, and call on the Australian government to urgently:

* Demand that the coup leaders respect the integrity of the Brazilian embassy and immediately stop the repression against civilians;
* Actively support the reinstatement of democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya, including supporting all calls for his reinstatement made at the 64th meeting of the United Nations General Assembly this week;
* Demand the immediate release of all political and social movement activists who have been detained by the military;
* Support President Zelaya’s and the Honduran people’s rejection of the terms of the “Arias agreement”, which would legitimise the coup leaders’ actions, and work for the reinstatement of Zelaya to the presidency without conditions of any kind, in accordance with the will of the people of Honduras.
* Not recognise the results of Honduran elections in November if those elections are carried out while the coup government remains in power, the position of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).
* Support the calls of the Honduran people for the coup leaders to be arrested and tried for their crimes.
* Pressure the United States administration to end its training of the Honduran military.
* We applaud the millions of courageous Hondurans who have peacefully protested for three months to defend democracy, despite severe intimidation and assault by the military, and pledge our active solidarity with them until the coup is overturned and democratic rights are assured in Honduras.

Yours in support of the democratic rights of all peoples,

Bea Bleile, Margarita Windisch, Dick Nichols
National Conveners, Socialist Alliance

NATIONAL OFFICE
2nd floor, 23 Abercrombie Street, Chippendale NSW 2008
PO Box A2323, SYDNEY SOUTH NSW 1235
Ph: 02-9690 2508 Fax: 02-9690 1381
Email: ne@socialist-alliance.org
Web: www.socialist-alliance.org ABN : 56 785 914 257

VIDEO: Honduras -- resistance in the barrios

Honduras footage of popular resistance in barrio Hato de Enmedio

Dust storms & climate change

Good review of the meteriologcial genesis and possible consequences of dust storms like the one we've experienced these last few days.

Dust Storm started2 months ago
By ABC Science Online's Darren Osborne

The spectacular dust storm that swept through most of eastern Australia may have had its origins 12 months ago, an Australian expert says.

And with climate change set to bring more variability, Australia may experience more large scale dust storms in the future.

This week's storm covered a large area of eastern Australia, with PM10 (particles less than 10 micrometres) levels in most Australian cities being well above safe levels.

"They're classed as dangerous at levels above 200 micrograms per cubic metre," ABC weather forecaster Graham Creed said.

"In Sydney's east they're recording about 256, in the north-west 919 and in the south-west 1719. But Sydney is not the worst, Bathurst at the moment is 2665."

Severe weather forecaster Dr Deryn Griffiths of the Bureau of Meteorology says the dust storm started two days ago when 100 kilometre per hour winds whipped up dust from the central region of Australia.

"It started in South Australia and has since extended across all of New South Wales and into Queensland."

She says extremely dry conditions throughout the interior of the country, along with strong winds, provided the perfect recipe for the dust storm.

"The township of Moomba in South Australia has had only 11 millimetres [of rain] this year - it's very, very dry," she said.

Dr Griffiths says the dust storm is the biggest to hit the city of Sydney since the 1940s.

"In 2002 and 2003 we had a few dust storm events. In 1994 we had a couple and also in 1982," she said.

"So it happens about a couple of times each decade, but this density hasn't happened in 50 years in Sydney."

Outback origins

Associate Professor Michael Box of the School of Physics at University of New South Wales says the most likely source of the dust is the Lake Eyre Basin, which a few months ago was a wetland oasis.

"The Lake Eyre Basin area of central Australia is a dusty place, especially in early spring. Dust storms originating in this region are common, although it is far less common that the dust is carried the 1,500 kilometres to Sydney and beyond," he said.

"However, with winds of sufficient strength and the right direction dust may be carried off the Australian coast - even as far as New Zealand."

Climatologist Dr Samuel Marx of the University of Queensland says the fine particles in this dust storm were probably laid down during after the flooding rains that occurred in outback Queensland late last year.

"You often get these dust storm events after you've had wetter years," he said.

"After you've had decent rains like we had last year, you get flood waves moving through central Australia. These deposit lots of fine material and once this dries out it easily gets entrained by the wind."

Dr Marx, who has looked at Australian dust storms that have occurred over the last 10,000 years, says these events occur more often when there are greater oscillations between wet and dry periods.

Climate change

He says future climate modelling by the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests this may happen more often in the future.

"One of the predictions of the IPCC is that the Australian climate will be more variable and this should probably result in more dust storms," Dr Marx said.

But he says the role of dust in climate modelling is still a large unknown.

"It changes the thermal structure of the atmosphere. Dust particles can absorb radiation and reflect radiation - it really depends on the characteristics of the dust and where it is being transferred," he said.

Dr Marx says previous studies estimate the amount of dust in a storm of this size between 8 and 40 million tonnes, most of which will be deposited in the ocean, which could result in a explosion of phytoplankton.

"There has been quite a bit of work that has shown that these dust plumes are actually linked with phytoplankton blooms in the Southern Ocean. That's a good thing in some ways," he said.

New Zealand is also set to experience dust from this storm, having only just recovered from a similar dump last week when the city of Christchurch experienced high levels of dust blown over from Victoria's western districts.

But Dr Marx says the greatest effect from this dust storm could be felt on New Zealand's ski slopes.

"Most of the dust gets rained out on the west coast," he said.

"It's quite common to see red dust deposited through the New Zealand snowfields."

Intervention Walkoff Speaking Tour

Sydney~Canberra~Melbourne~Brisbane

Richard Downs (pictured right), spokesperson for the Ampilatwatja community, will be speaking in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane. Members of the Ampilatwatja community left their homes in protest at the Northern Territory intervention and the Government's housing program.

SYDNEY

PUBLIC FORUM
NT INTERVENTION IN CRISIS: WHY MACKLIN MUST RESIGN

Wednesday 7th October, 6.30 PM
UTS Building 4, Level 2, Room 36, 745 Harris St Ultimo

Speakers include:

* Richard Downs
Alywarra People’s Walk-Off, Ampilatwatja NT

* Larissa Behrendt
NAIDOC Indigenous Person of the Year, 2009

* Chris Graham
Editor, National Indigenous Times

CONTACT: Mon Wiseman 0415 410 558 / Jean Parker 0449 646 593

Stop the Intervention Collective meetings are every Monday, 6pm at the Teachers Federation, Level 1, 33 Mary Street, Surry Hills.

www.stoptheintervention.org

Download Sydney poster here

CANBERRA

Friday 9 October , 6pm

Manning Clark Lecture Theatre,

Australian National University, Canberra

——————————————

MELBOURNE

Friday 16 October, 6pm.
‘Resistance to Invasion: the Aboriginal walk-off and protest against the Northern Territory Intervention’.

Melbourne Youth Sport and Recreation centre (MAYSAR) 185 Gertrude St Fitzroy
Speakers are: Richard Downs, Harry Nelson and leading Melbourne Aboriginal activist Robbie Thorpe who will provide a local perspective on the policies of the Rudd Government.

BRISBANE

Kurlipa Hall, 174 Boundary Street, West End
With Reverend Aunty Alex Gater, Aboriginal Women For Change

Monday 19th October, 1pm

Room 214, Gordon Greenwood Building (32)
University of Queensland.

CONTACT: Sam Watson 0401 227 443 or Mark Gillespie on 07 3891 5385 / mgillespie3@gmail.com

Downoad Brisbane poster here

SUPPORT THE SPEAKING TOUR!

Help in building networks of active supporters, fundraising to support the walk-off protest camp, promotion of events and much more.

VIDEO: Honduras -- Resistance outside the Brazilian embassy

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, overthrown in a military coup on June 28 and is currently held up in the Brazilian embassy in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa. Outside the crowds has gathered to defend Zelaya from being taken and murdered.

ONE ASSESSMENT: Significant sections of the country are now in open insurrection, with many barrios erecting barricades and driving police and army out.
Meanwhile, it looks increasingly likely that the desperate coup regime could physically attack the Bazilian embassy in a bid to kill Zelaya.
The situation has no gone so far that either the government is overthrown or the coup regime holds on to power through bloody repression that physically crushes the resistance and the insurrection breaking out.

• For updates -- see Green Left Weekly

SATIRE & VIDEO: Star Wars - The Environmentalists Version

From: http://endciv.com Tip: Red Wombat

END:CIV is a film that examines our culture’s addiction to systematic violence and environmental exploitation, and probes the resulting epidemic of poisoned landscapes and shell-shocked nations. Based in part on Endgame, the best-selling book by Derrick Jensen, END:CIV asks: "If your homeland was invaded by aliens who cut down the forests, poisoned the water and air, and contaminated the food supply, would you resist?" END:CIV is currently in production

Honduras Updates: “There is a people’s insurrection”

Green Left Weekly is planning to run ongoing coverage on the dramatic developments in the struggle for democracy and justice in Honduras over the coming days. Two reports, from September 21 and 22, are published below. In Sydney, there will be an emergency action in solidarity with the Honduran people on Thursday, September 24, 5pm at the Latin American Plaza (next to Central Station at the Devonshire Street side).

Direct from Honduras: “There is a people’s insurrection”

Federico Fuentes, Caracas

September 22 — Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, overthrown in a military coup on June 28 and currently in the Brazilian embassy in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, has told Telesur TV that the coup regime is planning to take over the Brazilian embassy at 11pm Honduran-time. He says they plan to assassinate him.

Ricardo Arturo Salgado, a social investigator and activist in the Honduran anti-coup resistance based in Tegucigalpa, told Green Left Weekly over the phone from the capital that, “the decision we have all taken is to fight with everything we have”.

He reiterated the information revealed by Zelaya, insisting there is “a plan to cause blackouts at 11 tonight”, which will be the pretext to take over the embassy and possibly kill Zelaya.

Read more...

VIDEO: Yesterday in Broken Hill -- dust storm blocks out all sunlight

This is really scary.

VIDEO: Dust Storm blankets the Australian East Coast

Blogger ponders the Apocalypse

If you live in Sydney or Brisbane -- today you are in a dust storm.The outback has come to town in trillions of bits and pieces. Here in suburban Brisbane the sky turned red a half hour ago and I'm sitting in a orange haze . I can feel the grit under the mouse and my glasses are veiled with dust.

This is sub tropical Brisbane -- not the tinder drying south during the height of Summer. And it is only September!

So you have to go listen to Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads (below) to get the social measure of these storms.

There is also an anecdote I marvel at which is sure to put the grit between your teeth. During the Federation Drought(s) (and the Australian east coast is not currently officially in drought) -- between 1896 and 1902 -- the snow covered peaks on the South Island of New Zealand were stained red from Australian dust that had ben blown across the Tasman.

So all that dust now -- blowing east or south east past your nose when not going up it -- is Australia heading out to sea. (Photo above is DeeWhy this morning a Sydney beach suburb) No doubt taking tonnes of superphosphate back to the islands from whence it originally came.

(Stay where you were Nauru. The bird shit is coming back home.)

And that dust is topsoil where all the stuff in way of farming goodness is supposed to be located.

As for the meteorological significance of such a storm as this -- the onward rush of Climate Change is really beginning to look like a Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse type scenario.

I'll see you in Hell...just outside my door.

Cuba Undertakes Reforms in Midst of Economic Crisis

By Roger Burbach

September 20, 2009

Carlos picks me up with his dated Soviet-made Lada at the Jose Marti International Airport on a hot sweltering day in Havana. It’s been eight months since I’ve seen him, last January to be precise, when I came to the island on the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. “How’s it been?” I ask him as we begin the 20 minute drive to central Havana. With a scowl, he replies: “Not so good, nothing seems to get easier.” He goes on to say that foodstuffs are as difficult as ever to come by, necessitating long waits in line for rationed commodities.

I am not surprised, as I had been reading in the international press that Cuba has been compelled to curtail its food imports. Hit by the global economic crisis, spending by tourists dropped off while the price of nickel, Cuba’s main mineral export, fell by more than half. This meant that Cuba has no choice but to cut agricultural imports from its main supplier, the United States. Credit purchases are not an option, as the U.S. legislation in 2000, opening up agricultural sales to Cuba, requires immediate payment in hard currency.

Read more...

Graph-- Cuban figures:Source: EarthTrends, 2008

SATIRE & VIDEO:High Stakes Intelligent Designing

• Watch more at NonStampCollector

SATIRE: Workplace health and safety gear

I couldn't resist this...

Listen to LatinRadical

Due to physiological complications I haven't been posting e3psidodes of LatinRadical --
podcast & radio show -- to this blog. Well, LatinRadical is back in LeftClick s patch in cyberspace and you can catch up by checking out some recent episodes by visiting the revamped web page.

GALLERY: Venezuelan People's Power tour 2009

Daniel Sanchez & Yoly Fernandez brought a grassroots view of the people's power experiment - Comuna Renacer del Sur - they are involved in in the South of the city of Valencia. They visited Melbourne, Geelong, Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Newcastle & Sydney. The tour was organised by the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network, which organises solidarity brigades to Venezuela. Join a brigade and visit the Comuna!