Brussels, 12-12-2001 - In connection with the EU summit of Laeken, an
international coalition of activists promoting a
different globalisation have this morning occupied the
offices of CEFIC, the European lobby group of the
chemical industry. The group of activists with roots
in the radical environmental movement wants to
denounce the role of the chemical industry in blocking
any effective European environmental policy, in a
direct and nonviolent way. CEFIC constitutes a symbol
of the undemocratic character of the EU, where
corporations have a major influence on policy via
their lobbygroups. The activist wish to focus on the
informal power centres instead of the official one.

hydrarchist writes: "According to yelah.net, Swedish Police have been accused of copyright infringement by two national television stations. The allegations arose subsequent to a documentary screened last week on the alteration of evidence in a trial against a demonstrator who was shot and seriously injured during the European Union Summit in Gothenburg this summer. The 19 year old youth, Hannes Westerburg, was prosecuted for rioting offenses and convicted last month.

The incident was captured by a number of video cameramen on the scene. Both prosecution and defense received the materials on tape. As the video footage documenting the shooting of Hannes Westerberg did not adequately support the police's version of events, they manipulated the evidence, creating a montage which made it appear that a sole rioter was in fact part of a mob. They also replaced the sound track with audio recorded elsewhere to once again give the impression that Westerberg was part of a large and threatening crowd. State justification for the shooting rests upon the claim that it was necessary in order to protect an injured policeman from further attack, a claim squarely refuted by the evidence.

Anonymous Comrade writes:

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Appendix 1

THE IAC AND THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST SANCTIONS: HELPING THE IRAQI PEOPLE OR SADDAM HUSAYN?

One of the IAC's best-known campaigns is aimed at lifting all economic sanctions against Iraq. By raising this issue, the IAC is trying to appeal to many people who have no sympathy for Iraq but who are rightly concerned that the way sanctions are currently imposed only ends up punishing ordinary Iraqis, particularly children, who are deprived of food and medicine while the ruling elite remains unharmed. UN agencies involved with Iraq believe that as a result of the way the sanctions policy has been implemented, thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians are needlessly dying every month. The sanctions policy has also been seized upon by Saddam Husayn to generate sympathy for Iraq, both in the West and especially within the Muslim world. Husayn, of course, wants an end to all sanctions so that he can go about rebuilding his war machine. From his point of view, humanitarian concerns about sanctions serve as a perfect "wedge" issue to force an end to any UN-imposed restrictions on Iraq's sovereignty, restrictions that were heightened after he violated his promise to allow UN inspectors to freely examine potential nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare sites on Iraqi soil.

Columbus, GA - Twenty-nine committed citizens from across the United States are currently in their third day of incarceration in the Muscogee County Jail in Columbus, GA. They are fasting and refuse to disclose their names since their arrest on Sunday, November 18. The group was part of last weekend's protest actions to call attention to the School of the Americas (SOA). A Global Village, made out of wood, paint and cardboard was erected on Sunday evening directly in front of the gates of the US Army base Fort Benning, GA - home of the SOA.

The SOA is a military training school for soldiers from Latin America and has been linked to hundreds of crimes and human rights atrocities throughout the Western Hemisphere. Graduates of the school have been involved in torture, massacres and military coups. (for more information check www.soaw.org)

The Global Village, which included a mosque, a shrine, a church and a school for peace and democracy stood in fundamental opposition to the SOA and everything it embodies.

After 5 hours of solidarity, community, friendship and peace, armed police squads in riot gear moved in, handcuffed, and dragged the villagers into a police bus. Fort Benning soldiers in fatigue uniforms moved in and destroyed the village as well as the memorial for victims of SOA violence in which the fence of the military base had been transformed throughout the day. (for more information and pictures check www.atlanta.indymedia.org)

The group of twenty-nine is engaging in Jail/Court Solidarity to challenge the injustice that nonviolent citizens are getting punished while those responsible for torture, rape and murder are going free. Jail/Court Solidarity is combining non-cooperation techniques and collective bargaining. (for more information check www.lawcollective.org)

While all of the women are together in one big group, two men have been singled out from the group of the male prisoners. The prisoners are asking supporters on the outside to call the jail to demand the return of the two males to the group. (Muscogee County Jail, Major Terry Ezell: 706-653-4258, Sheriff Ralf Johnson: 706-653-4225)

SHUT DOWN THE SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS!

FREEDOM FOR ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!