Lookout, Obama! The Peace Train Goes Sailing Around Martha's Vineyard

Martha's Vineuard is abuzz over a presidential visit for which locals are even sporting caps featuring an image of the presidential pooch.

But according to The Times of London, the presidential vacation comes at a time when Obama is also catching "a cold wave of unrest".

Three of the top five titles on the New York Times nonfiction hard-back bestseller list are currently anti-Obama screeds ...

and of course they are all attacking Obama from the right:

Currently topping the bestseller list is Culture of Corruption, the latest right-wing outpouring from Michelle Malkin, a popular conservative columnist who recently declared of her book: “What I have done is to help shatter completely the myths of hope and change in the new politics in Washington by scouring every inch of this administration, and showing how in a very short span of six months they have betrayed every principle and every promise that they have made.”

That's from Michelle Malkin? Am I the only one who thinks that's funny?

Also selling well is Dick Morris’s new book, Catastrophe, which is summarised as: “Stopping President Obama before he transforms America into a socialist state and destroys the health care system.” Third on the list is Mark Levin’s Liberty and Tyranny, yet another conservative manifesto taking aim at “Barack Nobama”.

Out of the discussion, as always, are much more reality-based criticisms coming from the left, which in my cold opinion are far fewer in number than they ought to be.

I do not expect the corporate media news to mention anti-war protests in conjunction with the presidential family's vacation -- or in any other fashion, for that matter. Nonetheless:

Cindy Sheehan is inviting other proponents of peace to join her for a sail!

It's to be a "shipboard peace summit" and if you read anything about it at all, it'll probably be at some low-traffic blog or another.

Excerpts from Cindy Sheehan:

"I am calling in the Peace Movement to encircle our country with our united demand for an immediate return of all U.S. forces around the globe. Bring every one of our troops home NOW! We need them in our families and towns. We need our troops back to help us fix our broken country. Our ships of state must make their voyage home, with our countrymen out of harm's way."

NOW! Imagine that!!

"This is our time to finally draw an end to America's wars. We must abide by the saying of ancient scriptures: Let peace and peace and peace be everywhere. I declare this to be our new national defense policy."

If only our national defense policy could be so declared.

Want to join Cindy Sheehan aboard a sailing ship of peace?

Sheehan will co-captain daily excursions ... aboard the grand sailing vessel dubbed the SS Camp Casey ... [and invites] peace movement leaders, international news 'anchors' and pro-peace members of the public to sail around Martha's Vineyard [with her] as she holds this seaside peace summit. ...

For information, contact:
Laurie Dobson
[email protected]
207-604-8988

or Bruce Marshall
[email protected]
802-767-6079

The full details are here.

To comment on this post, please click here and join the Winter Patriot community.

please help to put this article on Scoop's front page!

Police Use "Extensive Force" Against Protesters In Tblisi; MP Says "They Called For Violence"

Protests against pro-US policy have encountered violent resistance in Tblisi, Georgia.

Riot police with batons used tear gas and a water cannon on Wednesday to clear thousands of demonstrators from the streets of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, using extensive force in the face of protests against the country's pro-Western government.

People who fled the clouds of tear gas reported that police had rushed through Rustaveli Avenue, the city's main boulevard, and had beaten demonstrators who had not managed to escape. There were no immediate reports of the extent of injuries, but many protesters were seen bleeding.

We're reading C. J. Chivers via the International Herald Tribune:

Georgia protests erupt in violence as police try to clear demonstrators

The police also scuffled with journalists covering the confrontation, and confiscated or shattered some of their equipment, witnesses said. The police sweep cleared Rustaveli Avenue at least temporarily, but the violence marked an intensive challenge to the government and reputation of President Mikheil Saakashvili, who rose to power with peaceful protests in 2003 and has cast himself as the most democratic ruler in the Caucasus.

The opposition has accused him of running centralized government intolerant of dissent and undermined by high-level corruption and abuse by police and prosecutors. Opposition leaders appeared undeterred after the clashes. They labeled the action a political crackdown and mass punishment, and called for Georgians to gather in renewed protests.
...

The protestors, who first gathered in front of Parliament last Friday, had initially demanded early Parliamentary elections and other measures that might relax what they regard as the government's centralized hold on power and allow a degree of political plurality.

But after Saakashvili ignored the demonstrators for nearly three days, and then publicly belittled their leaders on national television and said they were doing the bidding of the Kremlin, the demonstrators roundly demanded that he resign.
...

"The authorities have used weapons against the peaceful demonstrators, and therefore the authorities will get what they deserve from the people," Kakka Kukava, an opposition member of Parliament, told journalists, according to the Interfax news agency.
...

"What happened this morning was very regrettable," Giga Bokeria, a prominent member of Parliament and close ally of President Saakashvili, said by telephone. He accused opposition leaders of urging the protestors to rush the police, which he said triggered the violence and bedlam that ensued.

"They behaved very badly," he said. "They just openly called for violence."

Yeah, sure! They did! They wanted to get hurt! Really!!

There's more here.

Police Battle Lawyers In Protest Against Pakistan's Emergency Rule

Continuing coverage of Pakistan's imposition of emergency rule.

NYT:

Police armed with tear gas and clubs attacked thousands of protesting lawyers in the city of Lahore today, and rounded up lawyers in other cities as the government of the Pakistani president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, faced the first signs of concerted resistance to the imposition of emergency rule on Saturday.

The opposition to emergency rule, which many here are describing as military rule, was led by lawyers, students and journalists. The main opposition political parties, however, mounted no immediate large-scale rallies or protests. The next few days will show whether they can organize in the current highly restrictive atmosphere.
...
Pakistan officials said an estimated 500 opposition figures have been arrested since emergency rule was imposed at the weekend, although lawyers and analysts said the figure could be far higher, probably around 2000.

ABC:

Several thousand protesters, mostly lawyers who have led much of the opposition against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, continue to clash with police in Pakistan today.

In Lahore, police used tear gas and stones in an attempt to quell the protesters. Dozens of them were arrested, but they remained defiant...

NYT:

Today, the Musharraf government deployed police forces and threatened political opponents with more arrests.

An estimated 150 lawyers were arrested in Lahore after a pitched battle between police and lawyers who stood on the roof of the High Court throwing stones at the police below. Some of the lawyers had bleeding heads as they were shoved into police vans, and some fainted in the clouds of tear gas. In Multan, another city in the province of Punjab, two new judges who had taken the oath of office under emergency rule Sunday were forced to leave the courtroom by hundreds of angry lawyers.

"We threatened them, saying: ‘You’ve taken an unconstitutional oath, if you don’t go we will throw eggs at you.’ They left,” said a lawyer from Multan, Riaz Gilani.

Lawyers in the capital, Islamabad, and the nearby garrison town of Rawalpindi said they did not go to the courts because they were warned they would be arrested and possibly beaten.

AP:

Police fired tear gas and battered thousands of lawyers protesting President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's decision to impose emergency rule, as Western allies threatened to review aid to the troubled Muslim nation. More than 1,500 people have been arrested in 48 hours, and authorities put a stranglehold on independent media.
...
Though public anger was mounting in the nation of 160 million people, which has been under military rule for much of its 60-year history, demonstrations so far have been limited largely to activists, rights workers and lawyers. All have been quickly and sometimes brutally stamped out.

ABC:

In Pakistan's capital of Islamabad, the scene was much calmer, but lawyers gathered outside the district courthouse to plot their next move. Meanwhile, busloads of Pakistani police were brought in and machine gun positions set up.

"We have decided to struggle and fight until the registration of judges, until the registration of basic and fundamental rights, until the withdrawal of martial law," lawyer Hanuna Rashid told ABC News' Martha Raddatz. "We will fight in the streets, we will fight in the roads."

Outside the court, police appeared to be leading away the head of the country's bar association, but when ABC News arrived with cameras, the police disappeared. The protesters say, however, that arrest could come at any time.

"Every lawyer is expecting to be arrested," Rashid said.

For more background, please see the following posts:

Emergency In Pakistan: Destroying Democracy In Order To Save It

Protecting Democracy : Hundreds Of Pakistani Lawyers And Activists Arrested As Clampdown Continues

And for a look at these developments in a larger context, please see this remarkable post from Chris Floyd:

Loss Leader: Terror War Dividends From Pakistani Breakdown

Myanmar: Thousands Of Protesters And Hundreds Of Monks Killed And Dumped In The Jungle

A former Myanmar intelligence official, who defected and headed for Thailand after being ordered to take part in a massacre of monks, has reported that hundreds of monks and thousands of protesters have been killed in recent days, and that their bodies have been dumped in the jungle, according to the UK's Daily Mail. The regime has been cracking down on protests in the last week or so, and has admitted about a dozen deaths. But

the most senior official to defect so far, Hla Win, said: "Many more people have been killed in recent days than you've heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand."
...

At his border hideout last night, 42-year-old Mr Win said he hopes to cross into Thailand and seek asylum at the Norwegian Embassy.

The 42-year-old chief of military intelligence in Rangoon's northern region, added: "I decided to desert when I was ordered to raid two monasteries and force several hundred monks onto trucks.

"They were to be killed and their bodies dumped deep inside the jungle. I refused to participate in this."

The massacre of monks and protesters has been hidden from the world for the last few days as the government has cut phone and internet services. Refugees are now virtually the only source of news.

Reports from exiles along the frontier confirmed that hundreds of monks had simply "disappeared" as 20,000 troops swarmed around Rangoon yesterday to prevent further demonstrations by religious groups and civilians.

Word reaching dissidents hiding out on the border suggested that as well as executions, some 2,000 monks are being held in the notorious Insein Prison or in university rooms which have been turned into cells.

There were reports that many were savagely beaten at a sports ground on the outskirts of Rangoon, where they were heard crying for help.

Others who had failed to escape disguised as civilians were locked in their bloodstained temples.

According to Swedish diplomat Liselotte Agerlid,

the Burmese people now face possibly decades of repression. "The Burma revolt is over," she added.
...

"Now the military has cracked down the revolt, and the result may very well be that the regime will enjoy another 20 years of silence, ruling by fear."
...

"We were informed from one of the largest embassies in Burma that 40 monks in the Insein prison were beaten to death today and subsequently burned."

The diplomat also said that three monasteries were raided yesterday afternoon and are now totally abandoned.

Although international agencies have not managed to provide any protection for the pro-democracy advocates in the nation formerly known as Burma, the UN is seeking a meeting with the rulers.

The United Nations special envoy was in Burma's new capital today seeking meetings with the ruling military junta.

Ibrahim Gambari met detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon yesterday. But he has yet to meet the country's senior generals as he attempts to halt violence against monks and pro-democracy activists.

It is anticipated the meeting will happen tomorrow.

And a fat lot of good it's gonna do.

VIDEO: The Washington DC Protest, September 29, 2007

Check this out! There were massive protests in DC yesterday, and there's been no media coverage. Our friend Big Dan was there and he's posted some video clips at YouTube. Here are a few samples:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 14

This is the one Big Dan likes best. "Listen how loud", he says.

Big Dan also said:

It seemed small at first, then it grew and grew and grew and grew, until we were packed in like sardines!

There's much more and you can find it all here!

Many thanks to Big Dan for these videos!! You can read more comments from him on this thread.

It sure is nice to post some good news for a change.

Pakistani Police Batter Protesting Lawyers; Journalists Protest

Protesters led by lawyers in business suits were attacked by Pakistani police on Saturday, and the backlash on Sunday has been led by journalists. Think about that for a moment.

Carlotta Gall reported on Saturday's violence in the New York Times:

Lawyers Battle Police Over Election Ruling in Pakistan (mirrored here)

Riot police officers fought with batons and tear gas against lawyers protesting President Pervez Musharraf’s bid for re-election outside the Supreme Court and Election Commission on Saturday. Dozens of lawyers and some journalists were beaten and a number arrested in the clashes, witnesses said.

As the mood grew uglier, the state minister for information, Tariq Azim Khan, was badly beaten by angry journalists as he was leaving the election commission building.

The lawyers were protesting a Supreme Court ruling Friday that cleared the way for General Musharraf’s re-election as president while he is still in uniform. They tried to march on the Election Commission, which was examining nominations for the Oct. 6 presidential election on Saturday morning. It was the first time since July that the black-suited lawyers, who campaigned for months against General Musharraf’s dismissal of the chief justice in March, have come out in force on the streets here in the capital.

Indeed.

The lawyers led a popular movement to reinstate the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, after President General Musharraf attempted to dismiss him. This move was widely seen as an attempt to manipulate the Supreme Court into allowing him to run for re-election this year as Army chief of staff. The Court ruled against Musharraf and reinstated Chaudhry, pacifying the popular democratic forces with the expectation that the Court would rule against allowing Musharraf to run again.

But the Supreme Court made the opposite decision on Friday, and the action led by the lawyers, though swift and courageous, was no doubt anticipated by Musharraf and his advisers. As I wrote Thursday,

A former Prime Minister who returned to the country to participate in the electoral process was promptly arrested and deported. Hundreds of opposition leaders have been imprisoned. The roads leading to the capital have been closed, military police have barricaded the area around the palace in order to prevent any disruptions by the nation's lawyers, and the process of re-electing the General has begun.

In other words, this clash was entirely expected and there is certainly more to come; there was a general strike in May, and now the "election" is imminent.

Carlotta Gall continues:

As they marched the hundred yards from the Supreme Court down Constitution Avenue to the Election Commission, police officers with helmets, shields and long sticks blocked their way. Lawyers began hurling stones, and the officers retaliated, throwing the stones back and firing tear gas, and then charging and beating protesters.

Plainclothes officers hauled lawyers off to police vans, including one of the leaders of the movement, Ali Ahmad Kurd. Aitzaz Ahsan, another leading member of the lawyers’ movement, was bludgeoned by a policeman who hit him with a heavy brick in his stomach.

Despite the commotion outside on the street, the Election Commission approved General Musharraf’s nomination for the presidential election, as well as those of two of his opponents, the former Supreme Court judge, Wajihuddin Ahmed, and the Pakistan Peoples Party politician, Makhdoom Amin Fahim. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Mr. Khan, the information minister, were present as supporters of General Musharraf’s nomination.

Lawyers representing Mr. Ahmed lodged objections to General Musharraf’s candidacy, in particular that he holds the position of chief of army staff, has already served the limit of two terms, and should not be elected a second time by the same assembly. But the Election Commission did not accept the objections, and the lawyers emerged saying they would now take the matter to the courts on Monday.

There's more from Carlotta here (or here).

Sunday the journalists reacted to Saturday's attacks, as Reuters reports:

Pakistani journalists protest police "brutality" (mirrored here)

Pakistani journalists protested on Sunday against police violence against colleagues covering a protest against President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad a day earlier.

About 400 journalists and human right activists chanted anti-government slogans and condemned police "brutality" as they marched from a press club in Islamabad to the parliament building.

More than a dozen lawyers, several journalists and a cabinet minister were injured in clashes on Saturday outside the Election Commission, where Musharraf's nomination was accepted for a vote on Oct. 6, which is expected to secure him a fresh term.

Police launched a baton charge and fired tear gas to disperse black-suited lawyers and opposition activists, who have been at the vanguard of a pro-democracy movement.

"They want to snatch our freedom which is unacceptable. We'll fight, we'll fight for our independence and freedom," Mazhar Abbas, president of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), told the marchers.

Similar rallies in support of press freedom were held in other cities including Karachi, Peshawar, Multan, as well as tribal areas where the army is fighting pro-Taliban militants.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on Sunday ordered Islamabad's top administration and police officials to provide explanations to the Supreme Court on Monday to explain why force was used against lawyers and journalists.

The Supreme Court dismissed on Friday challenges to General Musharraf's bid to seek re-election while still army chief, removing a major obstacle to his securing another term.

Opposition parties say they will resign their seats before the presidential vote, even though Musharraf has vowed to quit the army, his main source of power, if he wins.

The closing paragraph from Reuters misses the point, of course.

As Carlotta Gall phrased it [with my comments in brackets]:

"He holds the position of chief of army staff [and therefore should not even be allowed to serve as President, much less run again], has already served the limit of two terms [and therefore should not be allowed to run again, general or no], and should not be elected a second time by the same assembly [there should be a general election first, then the newly elected assembly should elect a new president]."

That's the way it's supposed to work; I didn't make it up. But there are some factors in play here which weren't anticipated by the drafters of Pakistan's Constitution. Among them, Pakistan's status as an ally of the United States has changed considerably since the attacks of 9/11/2001; and Musharraf is now (in some ways) in a much more precarious position than any of his predecessors.

Paul Alexander of the AP provides some more context here:

Pakistan Cracks Down on Election Protest (mirrored here)

Despite dwindling popularity and increasingly bitter opposition, Musharraf, a close U.S. ally, seems set to win the election. The ruling coalition says it has the numbers it needs, and even the general's main challenger, retired Judge Wajihuddin Ahmed, has admitted he has little chance.

The Election Commission approved only six of the 43 candidates, including Ahmed, who was nominated by lawyers, and Makhdoom Amin Fahim, vice chairman of ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party. Fahim's party earlier said he would only run if Musharraf were disqualified.

The opposition alliance has said its lawmakers would quit Parliament on Tuesday to protest the general's candidacy, a move also aimed at depriving the election of legitimacy.

Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, has pledged to give up his powerful post as army chief if he wins the election and restore civilian rule in a country that has lurched between unstable elected governments and military regimes during its 60-year history.

But he has faced growing opposition since his failed attempt to oust Pakistan's top judge in March. He is also struggling to contain growing Islamic militancy and growing public sentiment that his alliance with Washington has fanned extremism.

Still, he has been trying to retake the initiative while clamping down on his most vociferous opponents.

I thought this part was funny:

He is also struggling to contain growing Islamic militancy and growing public sentiment that his alliance with Washington has fanned extremism.

Paul Alexander apparently cannot say

Musharraf is also struggling to contain the growing Islamic militancy his alliance with Washington has fanned.

The French press agency AFP provided more detail on the demonstration:

Pakistani police baton-charge, teargas anti-Musharraf lawyers (mirrored here)

Pakistani police used batons and teargas to disperse hundreds of lawyers protesting against President Pervez Musharraf's candidacy in next week's presidential election, officials and witnesses said.

Several lawyers were injured and around a dozen arrested during the noisy protest outside the Election Commission as Musharraf's nomination papers and those of other candidates were being scrutinised.

Around 900 lawyers rallied near the commission despite tight security and road blocks, a day after the Supreme Court ruled that Musharraf could stand in the October 6 poll while keeping his role as army chief.

Chanting "Go Musharraf, go" the lawyers tried to approach the commission building from the Supreme Court but riot police with shields and helmets blocked their way and scuffles broke out.

"Police beat up lawyers mercilessly and several of them were wounded," an AFP photographer said. At least two were seen with blood coming from head wounds.

Aitzaz Ahsan, the main lawyer for Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry during Chaudhry's battle against Musharraf's attempts to sack him earlier this year, said he was among those beaten.

"The brutality of General Musharraf is being seen worldwide. Only the blind governments of the United States and Britain cannot see it," Ahsan told AFP.

"I was targeted, the police were waiting for an opportunity. I tried to crouch down for safety but they started beating us viciously with batons," added Ahsan, who was a minister under Benazir Bhutto in the 1990s.

Plainclothes police were seen taking into custody Ali Ahmad Kurd, another senior leader of the lawyers' movement.

Police also arrested nearly two dozen opposition party activists in a raid on an apartment block for parliamentarians as they prepared to head to the Election Commission, they said.

"There is a ban on gatherings of five or more people in the capital territory and we are not going to allow anyone flout this law," a senior Islamabad police official told AFP.

Meanwhile, back at the Carlotta NYT, Carlotta Gall and Salman Masood have some more on the Supreme Court's decision:

Pakistan Court Clears Musharraf’s Path to Election Day (mirrored here)

The bench of nine judges dismissed the two cases by a vote of 6 to 3 on a technicality. The cases were “not maintainable,” said the senior presiding judge, Justice Rana Baghwandas, citing an article of the Constitution that specified cases that should be heard by the provincial high court rather than by the Supreme Court.

The terse ruling was met by an audible gasp, and then shouts of “Shame! Shame!” from lawyers, politicians and others gathered in the high-ceilinged chamber, as the judges filed out.

“It is despicable,” said Roedad Khan, a retired senior civil servant and former federal secretary, who attended all 10 days of hearings. “We reject it. They are lackeys of General Musharraf,” he said angrily.

The Supreme Court had shown a newfound independence after its chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, fended off an attempt by General Musharraf to dismiss him earlier this year.

But Chief Justice Chaudhry did not preside over the two cases decided Friday, removing himself in order to ensure the impartiality of the court, and, according to opposition lawyers, to avoid another direct confrontation with General Musharraf.

Some of the protesters on Saturday carried a fake coffin symbolizing the death of democracy in Pakistan.

The Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported on some of the other reactions to the Court's ruling:

The day of the General: Musharraf to run for president in uniform, Petitioners, lawyers’ leaders livid (mirrored here)

Reacting to the judgment, PML (N) acting president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi said the infamous doctrine of necessity, under which all military rules had been validated by the apex court, was still continuing. “We thought the judiciary has become totally independent, but this impression proved to be wrong,” he deplored.

He announced that a campaign would be launched against the regime and for complete independence of the judiciary.

MMA parliamentarian Farid Paracha said the judgment did not reflect the aspiration of the people, rather it strengthened the rule of a military dictator. He said the people of Pakistan had rejected it, adding that the MMA would file a review petition. He said that the struggle for restoration of genuine democracy in the country would be intensified.

Supreme Court Bar Association president Munir A. Malik said it was not a verdict which had been unexpected. “Though the July 20 judgment of restoring Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was a step ahead, we still have a long way to go for complete independence of the judiciary. Although the judgment is disappointing, our battle is not over,” he added.
...

Senior Advocate Hamid Khan said judges had abdicated their jurisdiction in deciding the matter, adding that the order was a continuation of the Tameezuddin and Dosso cases (in which the concept of the doctrine of necessity was introduced).

However, he said, the judgment would not dampen lawyers’ struggle which would continue till the end of dictatorship.
...

Advocate Hamid Khan said President Musharraf’s holding of two offices derogated the constitutional provision of equality before the law because he was holding the gun.

And this of course is the point that Reuters missed. (Remember Reuters?)

It is definitely not "equality before the law" if one of the candidates is holding the gun.

But that's not the point; these two points are much more important: Pakistan is America's number one Asian ally in the global war against international terrorism (and the wellspring of international terrorism -- isn't that convenient?), and American democracy has nothing to do with equality under the law. It wasn't an accident when the State Department sent Richard Boucher to Pakistan to say "thou shalt have an election".

Richard Boucher did not say "thou shalt have a free and fair election", and that was a signal. What does it mean? It means the cops can beat up the lawyers and the journalists for another week, if they can hold out that long. If they do, and if the cops get tired of beating on them, they can start shooting them.

I certainly hope it won't come to that. But there will be no free and fair election in Pakistan this time around, and that suits Pakistan's number one ally just fine.

All of which it leaves me with this entirely hypothetical question:

If there were a pro-democracy movement in the United States, would our lawyers and journalists be leading it?

Myanmar: Protest Crackdown Leaves At Least Nine Dead

Troops cleared protesters from the streets of central Yangon on Thursday, giving them 10 minutes to leave or be shot as the Myanmar junta intensified a two-day crackdown on the largest uprising in 20 years.

At least nine people were killed, state television said, on a day when far fewer protesters took to the streets after soldiers raided monasteries in the middle of the night and rounded up hundreds of the monks who had been leading them.

One of dead was a Japanese photographer, shot when soldiers cleared the area near Sule Pagoda -- a city-centre focus of the protests -- as loudspeakers blared out warnings, ominous reminders of the ruthless crushing of a 1988 uprising.

Aung Hla Tun of Reuters reports:

The army, which killed an estimated 3,000 people in 1988, moved in after 1,000 chanting protesters hurled stones and water bottles at troops, prompting a police charge in which shots were fired and the Japanese went down.

Soldiers shot dead three more people in a subsequent protest outside the city's heart as crowds regrouped and taunted troops. Their bodies were tossed in a ditch as troops chased fleeing people, beating anybody they could catch, witnesses said.

Another Buddhist monk -- adding to the five reported killed on Wednesday when security forces tried to disperse huge crowds protesting against 45 years of military rule -- was killed during the midnight raids on monasteries, witnesses said.

Monks were kicked and beaten as soldiers rounded them up and shoved them onto trucks. Some of the monasteries were emptied of all but the very old and sick, people living nearby said.

And ...

"Doors of the monasteries were broken, things were ransacked and taken away," a witness said. "It's like a living hell seeing the monasteries raided and the monks treated cruelly."

After darkness fell and curfew hour loomed, sporadic bursts of automatic rifle fire echoed over the city of five million people.

Nice. Reuters has much more.

TIMELINE: 45 years of resistance and repression in Myanmar

U.S. demands immediate halt to Myanmar crackdown

Myanmar's people take desperate measures to survive

People in Myanmar were already living on the edge before the government doubled fuel prices, raising the cost of just about everything and shoving many over the precipice.

In a country where more than a quarter of the 56 million people live on less than a dollar a day, the sudden announcement of fuel price hikes on August 15 became the tipping point of a crisis that had been building for a long time.

For retired headmaster U Sein, 82, and his wife Daw Nu, 80, the plunge in their quality of life has been nightmarish.

"My monthly pension now buys only two cups of tea although it used to be enough for the monthly subsistence diet for my wife and me when I first retired over 20 years ago," U Sein told Reuters in May, months before fuel prices went up.

The cost of living had soared since the failed uprising of 1988, residents say, but has really rocketed the past year.

Myanmar information window closing, says dissident

A "window of information" is closing in Myanmar as the military junta battles networks of disaffected citizens by restricting mobile phones and Internet access, a leading dissident journalist said on Thursday.

The biggest anti-junta protests in two decades in one of the world's most closed states has been broadcast around the world thanks to exiled journalists in countries such as Thailand and India and their clandestine contacts on the inside.

So far, citizen reporters have managed to send information and photos across the Internet, even using the social networking site Facebook or hiding news within e-greetings cards to outwit the military government.

Pictures of marches of monks and civilians and the response by security forces is on TV screens around the world in hours.
...

It could soon change.

"The window of information is closing," said Soe Myint, Editor-In-Chief of the Internet-based Mizzima News Agency and a former hijacker of a Thai International Airways plane in 1990.

"It's getting more and more difficult," Myint added in an interview with Reuters. "Many blogging sites are now blocked and opposition activists have had their mobile phones cut."

Thousands March, Scores Arrested, In Washington Anti-War Rally

Thousands of people marched in an anti-war rally yesterday in Washington, and 189 were arrested after crossing a barricade, according to the Washington Post.

Iraq war veteran Geoff Millard, 26, of Columbia Heights wore fatigues and clutched an American flag as he lay on the ground before he was arrested. "It's time for the peace movement to take the next step past protest and to resistance," said Millard, president of the D.C. chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
...

The march opposing the war was led by about 50 veterans who served in Iraq, according to Iraq Veterans Against the War.
...

Organizers of the antiwar event said tens of thousands turned out. A law enforcement official, who declined to be identified because authorities no longer provide crowd counts, estimated the gathering at closer to 10,000; the march permit obtained in advance by ANSWER had projected that number.
...

Juan Torres Sr., 52, of Chicago held a large photo of his son, Juan Torres Jr., in Army uniform. Torres said his 25-year old son died while serving in the war in 2004. Military officials, he said, told him that his son committed suicide, but Torres said he doesn't believe it. "I continue to fight for justice," he said. "I don't want to see other families [lose a son] like mine."

Supporters of the war also marched, showing their opposition to the anti-war marchers and showering the anti-war crowd with obscenities and insults.

The pro-war group was

organized by Gathering of Eagles -- a group of Vietnam veterans -- and the D.C. chapter of the conservative group Free Republic.

Despite covering only three blocks along the route, the pro-war people insisted they represented the majority of America.

"We just want a chance to show America we don't agree with the vocal minority," said Deborah King-Lile, 55, of St. Augustine, Fla.

It's been a long time since any independent poll showed a majority of Americans supporting the president or his war, so it is entirely fitting for the pro-war marchers to call the opponents of the war a "minority". Like the administration they so fervently support, they have nothing to offer but lies and abuse., as amply documented in the same WaPo article:

Their message: The Iraq war can be and is being won, and the troops need unqualified support.
...

"I've seen how leftist politicians hate the military. It's disgusting. We're fighting a war not in Iraq but with them," said Lt. Col. Robert "Buzz" Patterson, a retired Air Force pilot.

Some people never learn. In polite company, such people are known as "conservatives".

A neurobiological study recently reported by the LA Times showed that people who identify themselves as conservatives tend to suffer from a mental defect which caused them to respond inappropriately during the study. The Times tried to spin it differently, but there's no arguing with the data. I hope to have more on this shortly.

The study may help to explain why Lt. Col. Patterson thinks it's the leftist politicians who hate the military, despite the years of abuse heaped on the military by the Bush administration, which has sent troops into battle with insufficient equipment, forced injured soldiers back to active duty, cut the training periods of new recruits, extended their tours of duty and cut their leave, armed them with depleted uranium even though its gruesome health effects are well-understood, deprived injured vets of medical treatment, and on and on. No leftist politician has been responsible for any of these abusive policies, but conservatives such as Lt. Col. Patterson are not about to let the facts get in the way of their stories.

This obstinate refusal to admit facts, and the reliance on talking points that goes with it, may also explain why Patterson denies that we're fighting a war in Iraq, and why he imagines we're fighting a war at home.

So let's recap:

This is the peace we are bringing to Iraq.



This is the democracy we are establishing in the Middle East.



This is the war we are "winning".

Baghdad Residents Protest Against Dividing Wall

Hundreds of Iraqis marched on Wednesday in a non-sectarian protest against the building of a concrete wall separating their Baghdad neighborhoods.

AFP reports:

Hundreds of Shiites and Sunnis marched on Wednesday in protest at the building by US troops of a tall concrete wall separating their northwest Baghdad neighbourhoods, an AFP photographer said.

The protesters complained that the wall would promote sectarianism and demanded its removal.

Residents said that US forces last week began building the two-kilometre (1.25 mile) wall along the border of the mainly Shiite al-Shuala and adjoining Sunni-majority al-Ghazaliyah neighbourhoods without consulting them.

The demonstrators -- tribal leaders, clerics and local residents -- marched from one neighbourhood to the other carrying banners reading "No to the dividing wall" and "The wall is US terrorism."

Perhaps it's not "terrorism" in the sense we are used to seeing the word. It's not Muslim extremists with box-cutters and hydrogen peroxide. But the wall imposes extreme difficulties on innocent people who have had more than enough imposed on them already.

The protesters demanded in a statement that the government intervene to halt the wall and ensure that the section already completed is demolished.

"The wall is in accordance with Al-Qaeda's plans," the statement said, adding that the barrier was being built to "separate family from family."

"The wall is dividing small neighbourhoods and will lead to the partitioning of Iraq," said Hassan al-Taii, a leader of the large Taii Sunni tribe.

He demanded that the Baghdad government destroy the wall and act against those "planting division and sectarianism among Iraqis."

Unfortunately the only thing propping up the government is the military force planting division and sectarianism among Iraqis -- in accordance with Al-Qaeda's plans!

It's eerie how often George Bush's plans and Al-Qaeda's plans coincide.

Since early this year, US and Iraqi forces have been erecting walls around or between some Baghdad neighbourhoods in what their commanders call a "concrete caterpillar" designed to protect residents from sectarian violence.

In April the military came under flak when it began constructing a ring of six-tonne (14,000 pounds) concrete blocks around the Sunni Adhamiyah neighbourhood to prevent it from being mortared from the nearby Shiite areas.

This is, a preposterous excuse if there ever was one: are we supposed to believe nobody has artillery that can lob shells over the wall?

No, we're probably not supposed to believe that. We're not supposed to think about it at all.

Many Iraqis argue that the barricades will only heighten tensions between Sunnis and Shiites by segregating the once mixed city.

This is indeed part of the plan -- a plan of divide-and-conquer which the president and his courtiers are pleased to call "democracy".

This is the democracy we are bringing to the Middle East. This is the noble cause for which more than 3700 Americans have now died. This is the grand scheme for which more than a million Iraqis have been murdered, and millions more have been made homeless -- and stateless!

Do the millions of dispossessed Iraqis count for nothing? Or is their plight what General Petraeus refers to when he talks of "progress"?

During Wednesday's protest, demonstrators carried Iarqi flags and chanted, "No, no to terrorism", and "Yes, yes to unity."

"This wall does not provide security and stability," said Shiite cleric Abdul Baqir al-Subaihawi.

"The government must maintain security in Baghdad rather than separate its neighbourhoods," he added.

What are they doing? They're painting the wall.

Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr has urged artists to paint the concrete barriers springing up around Baghdad with murals showing what he dubbed the "ugly face" of the US military in Iraq.

The Baghdad council has employed professional artists to paint the walls with calming landscapes and scenes depicting Iraq's natural beauty, but Sadr -- a firebrand preacher and militia leader -- had something more dramatic in mind.

"I call on you to draw magnificent tableaux that depict the ugliness and terrorist nature of the occupier, and the sedition, car bombings, blood and the like he has brought upon Iraqis," he said.

And what are we doing? Anything?

For more background, please see these two excellent pieces from Chris Floyd:

In the Ghetto: Bush Begins Forced Ethnic Partition of Baghdad

Ghetto Blaster: Bush Accelerates Concrete Cage Plan for Baghdad

Conspiracy Theorists In Very High Places; Undercover Cops Trying To Start A Riot

The New York Times reports

President Bush met with Prime Minster Stephen Harper of Canada and President Felipe Calderón of Mexico [in Montebello, Quebec] on Tuesday at a gathering that focused primarily on strengthening ties and some thorny trade and border issues, but which produced no breakthroughs.

The three laughed off what they called conspiracy theories in the United States and Canada that they were planning to build an American Union with a common currency.

“A couple of my opposition leaders have speculated on massive water diversions and superhighways to the continent — maybe interplanetary, I’m not sure, as well,” Mr. Harper deadpanned.

Deadpan is right.

According to the Los Angeles Times,

Bush and his fellow summit participants, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon, pretty much sneered at the complaints and speculation.
...

Bush chalked up the criticism to "political scare tactics" used by "some who would like to frighten our fellow citizens into believing that relations between us are harmful for our respective peoples.

"If you've been in politics as long as I have, you get used to that kind of technique where you lay out a conspiracy and then force people to try to prove it doesn't exist," Bush said.

All in all, it's quite likely that the undercover cops who were caught trying to foment violence in Montebello were simply trying to preempt all the conspiracy theories that keep popping up about the SPP and the NAU.

Bluebear2 has more.

German Protests Turn To Riots, Nearly A Thousand Reported Injured

Germany's worst riots in decades erupted on Saturday, leaving almost a thousand people injured ... A spokesman for the security forces said on Sunday that approximately 430 police officers were injured ... Organisers of Saturday's rally said on Sunday that around 520 protesters had been injured ... 125 arrests were made, police said.

This according to Hugh Williamson, reporting from Rostock Germany for the Financial Times:

The clashes, in which protesters threw stones and set cars alight, occurred after a largely peaceful march through Rostock by tens of thousands of anti-globalisation protesters. Police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse the crowds, but also appeared to provoke the protesters by hitting protesters not directly involved in the violence.

Note well: This is the Financial Times, not normally known as an anti-globalisation rag, saying the "police appeared to provoke the protesters".

Organisers apologised to the police for the violence and distanced themselves from the estimated 2000 militant activists involved.

Some or all of the so-called "militant activists" may well have been affiliated with the German police.

What? Tin-foil hat? Bah! It happens all the time. How else do large peaceful protests suddenly turn violent?

The organisers also criticised the police for using heavy-handed tactics, and for departing from their pledge ahead of the demonstration to remain in the background during the march and rally.

Many protesters from anti-poverty and environmental groups were shocked to see packs of police charge through crowds to pick out alleged troublemakers. Police were also seen kicking and hitting protesters with truncheons.

The enmity between German citizens and police has been brewing for quite a while.

Campaign groups criticised police raids last month on dozens of anti-globalisation organisations.

Strains increased further last week when a court ruled that protesters were banned from going within five kilometres of Heiligendamm.

Heiligendamm, site of the G8 summit which begins Wednesday, is a luxury resort 20km west of Rostock.

That's the overview: for the details we turn to NYC's Indymedia for a complete timeline of yesterday's events:

12:30: The demo coordination group said that all buses carrying protesters have arrived in Rostock without any police controls.

13:15: The big demo has started to march from the Rostock central train station.

13:45: Demonstrators at the Rostock central station are still preparing to march and will continue to do so for at least another 20 minutes. There are about 40 big puppets and two samba bands at the front of the march. A black bloc of several thousand people are on the march too. It was announced from the rally stage a while ago that Nazis are heading towards Rostock but not to worry.

15:00: Confrontations have kicked off on the Rostock march as it arrived in Am Strande street by the Harbour, where the concert is supposed to be held. Blocs of riot police rushed into the crowd for no apparent reason and split the mass into two parts, hitting people randomly. Some demonstrators reacted back by throwing stones, bottles and sticks. At least 5 injuries and over 10 arrests have been witnessed so far.

15:10: A group of 40-50 riot cops, who had charged into the demonstrators, were surrounded by people putting their hands up peacefully, while pushing towards them, until they drove them out of the crowd, but then the cops turned around and started hitting with their batons again. This hands-up pushing was repeated again a while later.

15:20: An ambulance was seen taking someone with injuries. Several injuries have been reported but no details yet. It is not only the so-called Black Bloc that is being attacked but also other 'normal' protesters.

15:30: Police have retreated to the edge of the harbour along the trees line, but are still charging into the crowd every now and then on that side of the demo. Several more people have been arrested and more injuries.

15:40: The situation seems to be calming down a little. There was an announcement from the stage that the music will be stopped until the police retreat and police have allegedly said they will.

16:10: Riot police units have charged into the crowd near the stage again and are now surrounded by people. Bottles and stones are being thrown at them.

16:15: Some 20 cops were seen at the Bramow train station, near Camp Rostock, and more police cars driving in that direction, presumably to conduct controls or arrest demonstrators coming back from the Rostock demo.

16:40: Police are withdrawing from the harbour area and water cannons are being taken away too.

17:30: Snatch squads in black gear with dogs were seen in Rostock shopping centre following a group of demonstrators who dispersed into the inner city. A 'check point' and stop-and-searches on Rosa Luxemburg St. and other main streets.

17:30: A water cannon and tear gas are being used by cops against the remaining demonstrators at the only exit from the rally area, so people are not able to leave although the speeches and music have stopped.

17:45: The demo organisers say some 80.000 people took part in the international demo today.

18:00: Police are using 5 water cannons in the festival area, and three additional ones in the streets, to extinguish on a burning car and burning barricades (made of garbage containers). A bigger group of people is being pushed away in the direction of the Speicher. The concert on the stage goes on with an audience of several thousands.

18:05: The concert has stopped.

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 are involved.

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 to 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.

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

18:45: The concert is interrupted again.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

For more details and photos, click here.

Violence Reported From G-8 Protests In Germany -- But Some Reports Seem Very Fishy!

[Updated below]

We've had somewhat conflicting news accounts of protests in Rostock, Germany, near the resort of Heiligendamm where the G-8 meetings will take place beginning Wednesday.

From Canada dot Com:

Thousands stream to Rostock to protest upcoming G-8 summit

Buses and trains from across Europe streamed into the northern German port city of Rostock today, bringing thousands of protesters to the largest-yet demonstration over the upcoming G-8 meeting of industrialized powers.

Some 13,000 police were on hand, and organizers said they expect up to 100,000 protesters ...

The 100,000 expected protesters didn't materialize -- it was more like 20,000 according to more recent reports, including one from EUX TV which also mentions a much smaller number of police:

Anti-G8 demonstration in Rostock smaller than expected

The largest of the planned demonstrations against this week's G8 summit got underway in the northern German port of Rostock Saturday with fewer than 30,000 anti-globalization protestors taking part, well down from the 100,000 expected by the organizers.

Some 5,000 uniformed officers were on hand to supervise two streams of marchers passing through the ancient Hanseatic port on their way to an evening rally at the harbour.

Many of the demonstrators, who include peace activists and environmentalists, arrived at two main gathering points on special trains or by bus, while others had camped near the city overnight.

The violence that police feared extremist groups would cause had not materialized by early afternoon.

The protest, under the slogan, "Another world is possible," was being held to oppose the G8 summit being held from Wednesday to Friday in the resort of Heiligendamm some 25 kilometres away.

In the city itself, shopkeepers and traders had battened down the hatches, protecting display windows with wooden boards.

Heiligendamm has been completely cordoned off amid concerns that democratic rights to demonstrate are being infringed.

Here's a bit more from Canada dot Com:

Thousands stream to Rostock to protest upcoming G-8 summit

Hours before the official start of the demonstration, authorities said more than 20,000 protesters had arrived.

Police helicopters hovered overhead as thousands of demonstrators danced to protest songs and waved flags outside the city’s main train station.

A later report from Reuters AlterNet was the first to mention violence:

Protesters attack police after Rostock anti-G8 demo

Protesters threw stones and bottles and attacked police officers with sticks in the German port of Rostock on Saturday after a largely peaceful demonstration against next week's Group of Eight summit.

A group of demonstrators set upon police after a series of marches in the town. Reuters witnesses saw demonstrators throwing bottles and cobblestones at riot police, who fired tear gas in response. Several people were detained.

"There was a massive outbreak against police officers. Stones were thrown and they used sticks too," said a police spokeswoman. She could give no details on injuries or the number of people detained. According to police around 20,000 people gathered in the Baltic port city to protest against the G8 summit in Heiligendamm on June 6-8. Police said around 500 potential troublemakers were among the crowd.

A more recent report comes from the AP Wire via Ohio's Beacon-Journal and has the protesters throwing not only sticks and stones and bottles, but also flagpoles!:

G-8 protests turn violent in Germany

Demonstrators protesting the upcoming G-8 summit meeting hurled stones and flagpoles at police on Saturday, a spokeswoman said, describing a scene of chaos in the harbor of this northern port city.
...

"There are massive assaults on police officers at the city's harbor right now," said Cordula Feichtinger, a police spokeswoman. "The situation is currently very chaotic and we have to get it under control before I can tell you how many people have been arrested."

Police helicopters hovered overhead as thousands of demonstrators marched behind a truck streaming out soap bubbles and carrying a rock band that played anti-globalization songs.

Some protesters covered their heads and faces with black hoods, sun glasses and scarves, while others chanted protest slogans through megaphones, blowing whistles and waving flags. Riot police videotaped the demonstration.

I'll be watching the net for photos or videos of protesters throwing flagpoles, but somehow I don't think I'll find any.

From Turkish Press we see that the protesters' weaponry is still escalating; now it includes not only flagpoles but also Molotov cocktails and fireworks too:

Protestors clash with police at anti-G8 demo in Germany

Several hundred protestors taking part in a demonstration against next week's G8 summit hurled Molotov cocktails, bottles and fireworks at police Saturday.

The stone-throwing demonstrators, many wearing black masks and hoods, appeared to be from far-left groups, AFP reporters at the scene said.

A police spokesman said: "They were definitely seeking a confrontation with the police."

Police brought the situation in Rostock, a northeastern port near the G8 venue of Heiligendamm, under control.

Eyewitnesses said some demonstrators appeared to have been injured in the clashes.

Earlier, a group of a dozen demonstrators smashed the windows of a police car.
...

The Rostock demonstration kicks off a week of protests against the three-day summit of the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States, which starts on Wednesday.

Pretty soon they'll be throwing the cars whose windows they smashed ... picking up buildings and tossing them over their shoulders ... sinking the ships anchored in the harbor ... you know, all the standard protest stuff.

Does anybody believe this?

~~~

LATER: Things got a lot worse than they appeared when this post was written. For an update on the situation, please click here.

Labor, Peace Activists Shut Down Military Port

In Oakland, labor and peace groups managed to shut down -- at least for a while -- a small yet vital cog in the monstrous, bloated war machine. Here's a report from S F Bay dot Indy Media dot org:

On May 19th, work activity at the Stevedoring Services of America (SSA) gates was successfully halted [...] after the ILWU locals chose not to cross the community picket lines. Three ships sat at the SSA docks, and cargo did not move. Pickets continued.

The picket was a direct action to stop the war. Currently, military shipments through the port enable and support the ongoing occupation of Iraq. Through this picket, activists aimed to stop war shipments with the intention of forcing the immediate return of US troops. Moreover, picketers also demanded community control of the port, insisting that port money be used to fix schools and social services in Alameda County.

Thanks to FOX NEWS for this ... uh, just kidding! ...

Seriously, a couple of tips of the frozen cap to the anonymous "a" who mentioned all this in the comments, and who kindly provided some additional information:

Sunday, May 20:
Evening community picket again shuts down Oakland port

For the second time today, Longshoremen honored an anti-war community picket line at the SSA Terminal in the Port of Oakland. Three ships sat at the SSA docks, and cargo did not move.

Organizers accuse American President Lines (APL) and Stevedoring Services of America (SSA), which are both served by Eagle Marine Services, with war profiteering. Eagle Marine Services has a contract to run the Concord Naval Weapons Station which brings in $975 Million annually. Organizers also claim that the Port does $33 Billion in business a year, yet contributes nothing to local schools and social services.

Picket line organizer Jonathan Nack explained, “It's very important to understand that the union members knew they were risking losing their pay. Yet member after member told me that there is no way they that they would cross the picket line. These workers took a stand to end the war, and demand the Port give more money to fund local schools and social services. One worker told me, "twe have to stop this war. My family has children in the Oakland schools. If they think I'll cross this picket line they're crazy.””

The picket was called by the Port Action Committee, an ad hoc grouping of anti-war, labor, and community organizations. Port Action organized a rally on April 7th in front of the Port office building which commemorated the four year anniversary of the day Oakland police attacked non-violent anti-war protesters at the Port. (Oakland Tribune article)

Saturday, May 19:
Port of Oakland Has Been Shut Down!!!!

The Ports of Oakland have been shut down by a small group of antiwar protesters and organized workers.

Although union arbitrators did not “We did not succeed in winning the arbitration for them, what people saw today was a much more powerful demonstration of solidarity than we had a right to expect,” said Port Action Committee organizer Chris after Longshoremen agreed to walk off the job in honor of the picket.

“The IWU gave up. [longshoremen] gave up hundreds of dollars, time and a half [weekend pay] to respect our picket lines. You need to realize that the IWU stood by us. They didn't win the arbitration [so] each one of them is taking a personal loss to help us here today, to stand with us today.”

PEOPLE ARE NEEDED TO CONVERGE ON THE PORT OF OAKLAND TO CONTINUE THE PICKET AT THE NEXT SHIFT AT 5PM TODAY (Saturday May 19th)

“I think the message is loud and clear,” said one union leader today at the port. “If longshoremen at the Port of Oakland can honor picket lines against the war in Iraq, then they can do that in other ports.”

War profiteer shut down--picketing to continue

Longshoremen honored a community picket line this morning at the SSA Terminal in the Port of Oakland. Three ships are now sitting at the SSA docks, and cargo is NOT moving today. Our picket line will resume this evening to meet the next shift of dock workers.

Join this afternoon's picket line! We'll meet at the West Oakland BART station at 4 p.m. From there we'll shuttle to the SSA Terminal in the Port.

SSA (Stevedoring Services of America) has profited in an ugly way from the war in Iraq. And, it was at the gates of SSA that peaceful protesters were attacked by police on April 7, 2003. (Oakland Tribune article)

MAP OF PICKET LOCATION:

http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2007/05/1733992.php

Pictures from Port of Oakland Picket

Audio and interviews from Port Picket Line

Cynthia McKinney Speaks At The Pentagon: 'Voting for Complicity'

My friends! Some great things are happening and I want to update you on them all -- or at least the ones I can remember right now!

First of all, St. Patrick's Day is my birthday and I received a wonderful message from my son saying how atypical his mom is: she spent her birthday protesting the government! Well, the message was wonderful because he at least remembered it was my birthday! We're making progress here . . .

But that day was incredible. First of all it was so darn cold my mouth was freezing as I was trying to give my remarks!!! However, the crowd was enthusiastic. They had to be. The march organizers told me that 60 buses couldn't make it out of the north because of the weather! Yes, the night before it was snowy and sleeting. Driving was treacherous. So the ones who did make it, braved the elements to be there. People came from Texas, Indiana, and all over to be there. I went up with my contingent from Georgia! I'm renaming my remarks, "Voting for Complicity" because that's exactly what the Democratic vote to fund the surge and Bush's wars is. Here's a youtube link of my remarks.

As you know, I participated in the Malaysia Peace Commission and it was mentioned in an article describing how Bush and Blair have opened themselves up for prosecution. Believe me, the international community has established the mechanism for justice and we must demand that justice be served to the international community and the American community betrayed by its leaders. The March 18, 2007 London Sunday Telegraph article starts out: "The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said in an interview that he can envision a scenario in which President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair could one day face war-crimes charges at The Hague." The article goes on to mention the Malaysia effort organized by former Prime Minister Mahatir.

I have been asked to join the Hurricane Katrina Tribunal and to take its findings to the Malaysia effort as a crime against humanity. And as I mentioned before, I have accepted the invitation to join the Brussells Tribunal on Iraq, too. I promise I'll send more information on these efforts!

I will continue the work for justice. I invite you all to please visit my website All Things Cynthia McKinney dot Com and if you can, please make a donation to help us retire our 2006 campaign debt. All donations are greatly appreciated and much needed. It's difficult to move forward for 2008 if we haven't settled our responsibilities for 2006. Here's the donation page. Thank you in advance for your help and support!

I am meeting such committed Americans as I travel around the country. Please feel free to drop me a line at this e-mail address. For those who are not on my regular list, just tell me to put you on my updates list. For those of you who are, please share these updates with your internet circle of friends. Let's get the word out that the hard work of taking our country back is being done every day by a small, but committed core group who are not afraid of the machinery of intimidation being hurtled at all Americans on a regular basis. Think about that the next time you find yourself undressing at the airport. Only we can save our country from what it is becoming.

Once again, thank you for your support! Here are my birthday remarks in front of the Pentagon:

"Voting for Complicity"

Cynthia McKinney
Remarks in front of the Pentagon
March 17, 2007

Well, it seems that George Bush and Democratic Leaders were right.

They confidently told us that not only would Democrats fund the surge, but that the Democrats would not stop action in Iran, too.

Now, we are not surprised when the unelected, illegitimate Administration of George Bush ignores us, but we are shocked that the Democratic majority in Congress chose war over us as we say Bring our troops home now!

The answer is clear: Our country has been hijacked.

What about a livable wage for America's workers?

What about the right of return for Katrina survivors?

What about repealing the Patriot Act, the Secret Evidence Act, and the Military Tribunals Act?

Why is impeachment "off the table"?

Our country is bankrupt yet this institution, the Pentagon, has "lost" 2.3 trillion dollars!

I want that money back . . .

For jobs . . . for health care . . . for education . . . for our veterans!

The Democrats have become so timid they won't even repeal the Bush tax cuts as a strategy to deal with a bankrupt nation.

Seems the story is the same: more money for war, but we can't feed the poor.

It's hard to believe, but now the Democrats are full partners in George Bush's wars.

And by funding his wars, the Democratic Congress is explicitly complicit.

Complicit in war crimes!
Complicit in torture!
Complicit in crimes against humanity!
Complicit in crimes against peace!

The FBI spied on us;
Condoleezza, Dick, and George lied to us.

In 1957, Dr. King observed that "Both political parties have betrayed the cause of justice."

And so it must be repeated today.

Our beloved America is dividing again into two Americas. Our struggle is for nothing less than the soul of our country.

We want an America that is respected in the commonwealth of man; we want our values to shine like a beacon throughout the world.

As an American of conscience, I hereby declare my independence from every bomb dropped, every threat leveled, every civil liberties rollback, every child killed, every veteran maimed, every man tortured.

And I sadly declare my independence from the leaders who let it happen.

We will not stop. We will win. We will take our country back!