‘It’s a dream-sharing’: Can Occupy Wall Street spark a broad-based movement?
October 5, 2011 No Comment“More and more people are joining the Wall Street occupation,” an article in the Occupied Wall Street Journal, the new house organ of the nascent protest movement, reports.”They can tell you about their homes being foreclosed, months of grinding unemployment, or minimum-wage dead-end jobs, staggering student debt loans, or trying to live without decent healthcare.”
Continue reading …The anti-Wall Street protests that started three weeks ago in New York have spread to other major cities–including Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Chicago. But the protesters in Los Angeles scored an institutional coup yesterday, with a visit from several members of the L.A. city council. Kate Linthicum of the Los Angeles Times reports that
Continue reading …In an effort to combat widespread absences, Alabama’s top education official is urging parents not to fear a new immigration law requiring students to provide a birth certificate when they enroll in school. State Superintendent Larry Craven told parents in a notice in Spanish and English that Alabama schools would not turn away any children
Continue reading …‘A Bitter Pill for Italy to Swallow’: Global Press Reacts to Amanda Knox Verdict
October 5, 2011 No Comment
An Italian court freed Amanda Knox from prison, and newspapers from Perugia to Seattle warmed up the presses. Media coverage of the sensational trial over who killed British student Meredith Kercher reached new heights in the hours after Knox’s acquittal. A photograph of Knox, overwhelmed by the verdict and in a flood of tears as
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Price Tag singer is big winner at 16th annual ceremony, with Adele, Tinie Tempah and Rihanna also honoured Critics had complained about Jessie J leading the nominations for this year’s Music of Black Origin awards, but the 23-year old – who is white – was the big winner at the ceremony in Glasgow on Wednesday night. The singer, whose hits include the No 1 single Price Tag, triumphed in four of the five categories for which she was nominated at the Mobos, including the prize for best UK act. In the buildup to the event, now in its 16th year, questions had been raised about the preponderance of white acts among the nominees. Another winner on the night was Adele, for best R&B/soul act. She had been nominated for a further three awards. A recent editorial in the Voice newspaper asked whether the Mobos were “doing a disservice to black artists” by using white singers to promote the awards, but Kanya King, who established the Mobos in 1995, said before the show started at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre that “most forms of pop” have their heritage in black music. “The awards reflect what is happening in the UK music scene right now,” King added. “Now more than ever, urban music is prevalent.” The most disappointed artist at the Mobos was Wretch 32. The rapper from Tottenham had been nominated in four categories but failed to win in any. The award for best hip hop/grime act was won by Tinie Tempah. Jessie J also won the awards for best newcomer, best song for her hit Do it Like a Dude, and best album for Who You Are. Released in March, Who You Are has already sold 600,000 copies in the UK. Earlier this week, it was announced that the Redbridge-born singer is to be a coach and mentor on the BBC1 show The Voice, which is billed as a rival to The X
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Atlantic Bridge dissolved by trustees after Charity Commission criticism raises questions over Fox’s link with Adam Werritty A charity set up by Liam Fox, the defence secretary, has been dissolved by its trustees after criticism by the Charity Commission. The Atlantic Bridge, which had already been suspended for promoting Conservative party policies in defiance of regulations, was founded by Fox and run by his close friend Adam Werritty. Fox’s relationship with Werrity was drawn into question when the Guardian revealed Werritty had visited Fox at Ministry of Defence offices 14 times in the past 16 months. Fox installed Werritty, his best man and former flatmate, as the executive director and sole employee of the charity in 1997. The charity was wound up by its trustees on Friday, following the commission’s demand last summer that its “current activities must cease immediately” because “the activities of the charity have not furthered any of its other charitable purposes in any way”. The trustees decided to dissolve the charity rather than address the commission’s concern that its primary objective appeared to be “promoting a political policy [that] is closely associated with the Conservative party”. A string of senior Tories, including George Osborne, William Hague and Michael Gove, have served on the advisory board of the charity, which was closely linked to neocons in America. Baroness Thatcher was the honorary patron. The Atlantic Bridge hosted the New York launch of Hague’s biography of William Wilberforce. The charity said its mission was to promote the “special relationship” that flourished between Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Kevan Jones, a Labour MP and former armed services minister, said the dissolution of the charity raised serious issues. “We need to know who funded this organisation and exactly what Liam Fox and Adam Werritty’s roles were,” Jones said. “David Cameron has talked about transparency and openness but that is being undermined by Liam Fox. “This raises yet more questions about the connection between Fox and Werritty and people will expect full answers sooner rather than later. We need to be clear that the activities of the Atlantic Bridge had nothing to do with Liam Fox’s activities as secretary of state for defence.” MPs questioned whether Werritty, who has falsely presented himself as Fox’s official adviser, had sought to financially gain from the pair’s close relationship. Official records show a trust run by billionaire hedge fund manager Michael Hintze donated £29,000 to The Atlantic Bridge last year. The register of members’ interests show Fox travelled on Hintze’s private jet from Washington to the UK earlier this year, after giving a speech at an event to mark the 100th anniversary of former President Ronald Reagan’s birth. Hintze, who is one of the Tories’ biggest donors, runs the hedge fund CQS and is the world’s 880th richest person, according to Forbes magazine. The commission said its investigation concluded that the charity was established for charitable purposes and was “capable of operating for public benefit. However, its charitable purposes have not been advanced by any of its activities.” It said it asked the charity’s trustees to complete a review and later met them to discuss their progress. “During the meeting, the trustees raised concerns about the future liability of the charity and whether, after the review was completed, it would be able to continue to operate,” it said. The trustees later confirmed to the commission that it was “their intention to wind up the charity as they considered that it could no longer continue to operate”. The charity was removed from the commission’s register of charities on Friday. Fox and Lord Astor of Hever, a junior defence minister, resigned as trustees of the charity in May 2010. The trustees at the time of the dissolution were Andrew Dunlop, a former adviser to Baroness Thatcher, Patrick Minford, a professor at Cardiff Business School, and Kay Ord, a friend of Fox who serves with the defence minster on the committee of the Royal British Legion’s poppy ball. Liam Fox Charities Voluntary sector Conservatives United States Rupert Neate guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …A huge turnout Tuesday in Philadelphia to plan Occupy Philly’s sit-in in City Hall’s courtyard, and attendees decided it will begin at 9am this Thursday. I’m so thrilled that this is finally happening in the city that was the birthplace of our nation – and I’m pretty sure they’re going to need pizza : “This is what democracy looks like.” That was the thunderous chant of about 1,000 protesters who packed the Arch Street United Methodist Church Tuesday night as they voted to begin Occupy Philadelphia at City Hall at 9 a.m. Thursday. Supporters young and old turned out for the meeting to plan the next steps for Philadelphia’s extension of New York City’s Occupy Wall Street protests. Some said they foresee the movement catching on across the nation. “This is the first time in my adult life I feel there’s some hope,” said Carol Finkle, 69, of Philadelphia. “This will grow. Watch what’s gonna happen, in [young people's] lifetime and in mine.” Like some of New York’s protesters, many of Philadelphia’s plan to occupy City Hall 24/7 for its duration, pitching tents and camping there. Here’s an interview with Justin Harrison , an Occupy Philly organizer who works at Verizon as a splicing technician, and is a unit secretary for Communications Workers of America (CWA), Local 1300: In New York, they’re occupying Wall Street. In DC, they plan to occupy the the infamously lobbyist-ridden K Street. Will Occupy Philly be Philadelphian in some particular way? I think that Philly vs. New York, Philly is overwhelmingly a working class town. There’s been a strong consciousness to reach out into the communities. North, south, east, west, it’s the same stuff: jobs, housing, food and education. We don’t have Wall Street to occupy, but Philadelphia has a special flavor of its own. Is Occupy Wall Street a progressive response to the right-wing tea party? Or is it something completely different? I think that Occupy Wall Street is filling a vacuum that could have and should have been filled by the left. For example, the AFL-CIO. A lot of us feel that they dropped the ball in Wisconsin this spring [when there were weeks of mass protests against Governor Scott Walker’s attack on collective bargaining rights]. People came out in the streets and occupied the capitol, but AFL-CIO put it into the Democratic Party and elections. I’ve been saying look, we need to pay attention to this. They’re doing stuff that we could have been doing and should have been doing. And we should help out, and we can learn from it. On the right, the tea party’s an expression of the vacuum. And with Occupy Wall Street, most people would identify as leftists. Many, including some on the left, have criticized Occupy Wall Street for not having a clear set of demands. If there isn’t a program, how do you deal with all the Ron Paul types talking about the gold standard and abolishing the Federal Reserve? Libertarians are for letting corporations do whatever they want–so how do they fit into this? I don’t think they’re overwhelming–but they’re there. If they’re gonna’ participate, they’re gonna’ participate. As a socialist, I believe overall that it’s a weakness because a movement is stronger if it has demands that it can put forward. The New York group released a statement; and it’s a pretty strong critique. Some say it’s not anti-capitalist, but that’s how I read it. You have a whole new layer of new activists, and they’ll need time to sort things out. I don’t think there’s a problem with having time for discussion. No one group should be able to dictate how things should be. You work at Verizon and just finished one of the largest strikes in recent history. Does Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Philly relate to what you were fighting for there? Absolutely. The unions have a role in defending the interests of the working class, and not just their own members. Unions are strongest when they reach out and speak socially. That’s how we got education, the 8-hour day, and the weekend in this country. Unions in their best moments have always been concerned about clean water, education and public services. The stronger the working class movement as a whole is, and the stronger the unions are, the better able we are to defend ourselves. It’s a continuation from Wisconsin this spring. The bosses and the ruling class are emboldened and on the offensive. They’re trying to take it out on the people who work for 8 dollars an hour at Wal-Mart, and they’re trying to take it out on our pensions. We’re seeing a unified attack by Wall Street against our people: against unions, against public services, against public education, against the fabric of working class life in the United States that comes out of the New Deal, through the middle class lifestyle of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Do you think that Occupy Wall Street, come 2012, will impact the presidential campaign? Hard to say. It’s a year away. I think that the Democratic Party will probably try to ride the wave a little bit, maybe try to move in. I think that’s something we’ll try to guard against. But that’s still an open book. Right now there’s other stuff to deal with: the congressional super committee is meeting this fall and may push cuts to Medicare and Social Security. So that could be another fight .
Continue reading …NY Times Claims Illegals ‘Vanishing’ in Alabama ‘Like the Aftermath of Some Sort of Rapture’
October 5, 2011 No Comment
Campbell Robertson cranked the melodrama up to eleven in his New York Times story on Tuesday on the upholding by a federal judge of a tough new immigration law in Alabama: “ After Ruling, Hispanics Flee an Alabama Town – Fears Rise Over a Tough Law on Immigrants .” Robertson talked of “the vanishing” and dabbled in a little Creative Writing 101: “In certain neighborhoods the streets are uncommonly quiet, like the aftermath of some sort of rapture.” Illegal immigration is prehaps the issue most likely to trigger the paper’s liberal bias, and Robertson doesn’t disappoint. In his dramatic telling, the flight from the town of Albertville, Ala., was like something out of a science fiction movie: The vanishing began Wednesday night , the most frightened families packing up their cars as soon as they heard the news. They left behind mobile homes, sold fully furnished for a thousand dollars or even less. Or they just closed up and, in a gesture of optimism, left the keys with a neighbor. Dogs were fed one last time; if no home could be found, they were simply unleashed. Two, 5, 10 years of living here, and then gone in a matter of days, to Tennessee, Illinois, Oregon, Florida, Arkansas, Mexico — who knows? Anywhere but Alabama. The exodus of Hispanic immigrants began just hours after a federal judge in Birmingham upheld most provisions of the state’s far-reaching immigration enforcement law. …. For many immigrants, however, waiting seemed just too dangerous . By Monday afternoon, 123 students had withdrawn from the schools in this small town in the northern hills, leaving behind teary and confused classmates. Scores more were absent. Statewide, 1,988 Hispanic students were absent on Friday, about 5 percent of the entire Hispanic population of the school system. John Weathers, an Albertville businessman who rents and has sold houses to many Hispanic residents, said his occupancy had suddenly dropped by a quarter and might drop further, depending on what happens in the next week. Two people who had paid off their mortgages called him asking if they could sell back their homes, Mr. Weathers said. Grocery stores and restaurants were noticeably less busy, which in some cases may be just as well, because some employees stopped showing up. In certain neighborhoods the streets are uncommonly quiet, like the aftermath of some sort of rapture. …. Not far from the plant, in the Hispanic neighborhoods, it is hard to differentiate the silence of the workday, the silence of abandonment or the silence of paralyzing fear.
Continue reading …The rest of the NBA preseason is officially canceled, and the first two weeks of the regular season will be as well if players and owners can’t work out a deal by Monday, Commissioner David Stern announced yesterday, after negotiations to end the league’s lockout fell apart. Players’ union president…
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Steven Greenoe bought weapons from US gun shops and smuggled them into the UK, Liverpool crown court hears Guns smuggled into the UK on commercial flights by a former US marine captain were used to carry out crimes on the streets of Britain, including a fatal shooting, a court was told. Steven Greenoe, 37, bought weapons from American gun shops, broke them down to their component parts, and smuggled them into the UK in his luggage, Liverpool crown court heard on Wednesday. Two British men were also said to have been involved in the alleged conspiracy: Steven Cardwell, 31, and Neil Copplestone, 32, both from the north-west, who, the prosecution claims, sold the guns on to criminals. The court heard that Greenoe, who is awaiting sentence in the US, bought 81 firearms from gun shops in North Carolina, and that some of them were smuggled and used in serious criminal offences in the UK. The prosecution said most, if not all, the firearms purchased by him were intended for or are now in the hands of criminals in the UK. Security staff at Raleigh-Durham airport in North Carolina found a cache of 16 weapons in his luggage when he was stopped while in transit on 25 July 2010. Neil Flewitt QC, for the prosecution, said experts had proved that guns purchased by Greenoe were used in a fatal shooting, the details of which cannot be reported for legal reasons, as well as an attempted murder in Manchester and an attempted robbery in Liverpool. The trial also heard that undercover police officers in Liverpool bought three pistols linked to Greenoe for £3,600 each. Greenoe had paid £300 per gun in the US. The court heard that between December 2009 and his arrest last year more than £67,000 had been paid into Greenoe’s bank account, mostly in cash. Greenoe has indefinite leave to remain in the UK because his wife, Elizabeth, is a British citizen. When in the country they lived in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. US authorities were carrying out undercover surveillance of Greenoe and identified 15 separate dates on which 81 firearms were purchased by him or on his behalf. Officers witnessed him dumping the boxes that held the guns and test-fired rounds which come with each weapon. These rounds were forensically matched to firearms used by UK criminals. Flewitt said Greenoe was arrested as he was about to board a flight to New York, flying on to Manchester. “At the airport he checked in four bags,” the prosecutor said. “However, when his luggage was searched the US authorities found a total of 16 firearms broken down into their component parts and wrapped separately in plastic bags, together with 32 pistol magazines.” When officers searched Greenoe’s home in Shropshire after his arrest in the US, they found a Glock pistol and two magazines stored in a canvas bag in a safe. Cartridges found at a shooting in Manchester matched guns bought by Greenoe in America, the jury was told. A gun used in the attempted robbery of a Liverpool taxi driver in March 2011 was matched to two guns bought by Greenoe in America. Cardwell, of Aintree, Merseyside, and Copplestone, of Ormskirk, Lancashire, both deny conspiracy to import, sell and possess prohibited firearms with intent to endanger life. The trial continues and is expected to last for up to six weeks. Gun crime Crime United States Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
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