2008-12-22

December 22nd 2008 Strasbourg/ Baden-Baden

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We need an Independent Media Centre!

Callout for the organisation of an IMC during the protests against the NATO-Summit 2009 in Strasbourg

On the 3rd and 4th of April of 2009 the NATO is going to give it’s own birthday party in Strasbourg/France and Baden-Baden/Germany. We shouldn’t miss this date, of course. Already since April 2008 people in the region, in France and Germany and in many other countries are working on the organisation of protests against this jubilee of warmongers.

Up to now an important part of the infrastructure is still missing: an Independent Media Centre! Could you imagine this protest without an IMC?

We don’t want to have to rely on the bourgeois press, we don’t want to “read” about our actions only in the german tabloid paper “BILD”.

We want grasroots reporting.

We want reports and pictures coming from “the movement” and making a stand. A stand for our visions! Who beside than us for ourselves could be able to do this?

We as local activists are of course busy doing thousands of other things. We neither have the know-how, nor the equipement for setting up an IMC. At the moment there is not even a place for it…

Because of this we invite all media-activists, computerfreaks, organization-talents and all others interested in setting up an IMC for this event, to get in contact with us, take it in their hands and just do it!

Sink NATO 2009!

with solidary greetings, resistance des deux rhives / widerstand der zwei ufer (resistance of the two banks)

http://natogipfel2009.blogsport.de

Source: http://natogipfel2009.blogsport.de/images/CalloutIMC_01.pdf

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Informal meeting of NATO Defence Ministers Krakow, Poland, 19-20 February 2009

1. Information

Defence Ministers will hold informal meetings in Krakow, Poland, on Thursday 19 and Friday 20 February 2009, under the chairmanship of the NATO Secretary General, Mr Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The Minister of Defence of Poland, His Excellency Mr Bogdan Klich, will host the meetings.

2. Programme and pools

The detailed Media Programme will be available upon accreditation. All media events will be transmitted live to the Media Centre via closed circuit TV. Via a system of pools, a restricted number of visual media will be invited to cover events with limited access. By accepting a pool card, cameramen and photographers agree to share their material with colleagues who have not had direct access to the venue. Pool cards will be available for pick-up from the Media Centre Information Desk from 10:00 on Thursday, 19 February.

A Conference will be held on 19 and 20 February and will be open for coverage by the media. The event to be organised by the Kracow-based Institute of Strategic Studies, a forum on Euroatlantic Security, will focus on “NATO before the Jubilee Summit – Does the Alliance need a New Strategic Concept?”.
Further information can be obtained from the ISS Project coordinator Tomasz Ozog or Media Assistant Ewa Bienkowska. For details please contact :

Tomasz Ozog
Projet Coordinator
Tel : +48 12 421 97 04
Fax : +48 12 421 62 50
E-mail : t.ozog@iss.krakow.pl

Or

Ewa Bienkowska
Media Assistant
Tel : +48 12 421 97 04
Fax : +48 12 421 62 50
E-mail : e.bienkowska@iss.krakow.pl

3. Venue

The Sheraton Hotel (ul. Powiśle 7, 31-101 Krakow) will be the venue for the ministerial meetings. The Media Centre will be located at the Auditorium Maximum of the Jagiellonski University (ul. Krupnicza 35, 31-123 Krakow). The Media Accreditation Office will be located in one of the designated media hotels, the Novotel Centre Hotel (ul. Tadeusza Kościuszki 5, 30-105 Krakow).

4. Accreditation and security checks

All Media representatives wishing to cover the ministerial meetings need to request accreditation. Applications for accreditation can only be made electronically on-line via internet, by clicking on the following link: https://my.hq.nato.int/jas.

The accreditation process is summarised on the NATO Website at the following link: http://www.nato.int/docu/pr/2008/p08-147e.html. It requires interested media representatives to create a user name and password and to provide a digital picture (3.5 x 4.5 cm passport-size photograph in JPEG format). Applications for accreditation should be made no later than noon on Monday 16 February 2009. Applications received after that date may encounter delay or be rejected. Media representatives having completed the request for accreditation on the internet must bring a print-out of the request confirmation. Late requests will not be considered for pools.

Access to the Media Centre requires a media pass. Media passes will not be mailed to applicants and must be picked up in person at the Media Accreditation Office upon presentation of a valid I.D. card or passport and a valid press card (or letter of accreditation from a recognised media organization).

Passes must be worn visibly at all times and secondary identification may always be asked for by security personnel. Media representatives are informed that security personnel will examine and may test equipment and personal effects carried onto the site, and they are advised to arrive with sufficient lead time to clear security checks.

Television and radio broadcasters, wire services and photo agencies bringing bulky equipment are particularly urged to bring it into the Media Centre prior to 12:00 on Wednesday, 18 February 2009.

5. Hours of operation

Accreditation Office
Media Centre
Wed 18 Feb 10:00 – 18:00 08:00 – 20:00
Thu 19 Feb 08:00 – 20:00 08:00 – End of operations
Fri 20 Feb 07:00 – 14:30 07:00 – End of operations
6. Broadcasting

Twelve television (each with Internet and phone) and 8 radio editing booths (each with ISDN, Internet and phone) are located in the Media Centre. A TV studio, a radio interview room and 2 TV stand up positions are also available.

Satellite uplink trucks and O.B. vans will be parked next to the Media Centre.

The Host Television Broadcaster, Telewizja Polska SA (TVP SA), will provide live coverage of arrivals of delegations, the public sessions of all meetings, and major international news conferences. If live transmission of events is not possible, it will be broadcast as soon as possible via CCTV.

For enquiries or to book a TV studio or TV editing booth, please contact:

Piotr Lenarczyk
Telephone: +48 601 600 260
E-mail: tv_nato2009@tvp.pl

The Host Radio Broadcaster, Polskie Radio SA (PR SA), will provide the signal and technical assistance. For enquiries, or to book the radio studio or a radio editing booth, please contact:

Anna Godek
Telephone: + 48 508 011 383
Fax : + 48 22 645 53 57
E-mail: anna.godek@polskieradio.pl

7. Communications

Laptop computers will need to be equipped with RJ 45 plugs in order to be able to connect to the LAN high-speed communication network in the Media Centre. Five ISDN lines will be available in the press working area for radio transmissions.
Please check if you need to use a Euro ISDN standard adaptor. Electricity supply in Poland is at 220 volts and plugs have two round pins.

8. Accommodation

Media representatives are encouraged to book their hotel rooms as soon as possible. The two recommended hotels (see below) are next to each other, and the Novotel will host a reception for the media on 19 February in the evening.
Hotel Novotel Center
Tadeusza Kościuszki 5
30-105 Krakow

Point of contact :
Sabina Kowal
Telephone : + 48 12 299 29 17
Fax : + 48 12 299 29 99
Email : H3372-SB1@accord.com
Use this hotel reservation form to book your room.

Hotel Ibis Center
Syrokomli 2
30-105 Krakow

Point of contact :
Katarzyna Leszczynska
Telephone : + 48 12 299 33 00
Fax : + 48 12 299 33 33
Courriel : H3710@accord.com
Use this hotel reservation form to book your room.

9. Transport

Transport for the media representatives will be provided from the recommended hotel to the event sites and back. Transport from the airport to the recommended media hotel is the responsibility of each media representative.

10. Enquiries

* Mr. Dariusz KRYSZK

Polish Media Coordinator
Telephone: +48 607 279 822
Fax: +48 22 6 879 850
E-mail: dkryszk@mon.gov.pl

* Mr. Damien ARNAUD

NATO Media Coordinator
Tel.:+32 2 707 50 38
Fax: +32 2 707 50 57
E-mail: press-at-krakow@hq.nato.int

Tel: +32 (0)2 707 50 41 - Fax: +32 (0)2 707 50 57
press@hq.nato.int - http://www.nato.int
Source: http://www.nato.int/docu/pr/2008/p08-160e.html

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IMF warns of economic riots

Ariz. police say they are prepared as War College warns military must prep for unrest

A new report by the U.S. Army War College talks about the possibility of Pentagon resources and troops being used should the economic crisis lead to civil unrest, such as protests against businesses and government or runs on beleaguered banks.

“Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security,” said the War College report.
The study says economic collapse, terrorism and loss of legal order are among possible domestic shocks that might require military action within the U.S.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned Wednesday of economy-related riots and unrest in various global markets if the financial crisis is not addressed and lower-income households are hurt by credit constraints and rising unemployment.

U.S. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., and U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., both said U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson brought up a worst-case scenario as he pushed for the Wall Street bailout in September. Paulson, former Goldman Sachs CEO, said that might even require a declaration of martial law, the two noted.

State and local police in Arizona say they have broad plans to deal with social unrest, including trouble resulting from economic distress. The security and police agencies declined to give specifics, but said they would employ existing and generalized emergency responses to civil unrest that arises for any reason.

“The Phoenix Police Department is not expecting any civil unrest at this time, but we always train to prepare for any civil unrest issue. We have a Tactical Response Unit that trains continually and has deployed on many occasions for any potential civil unrest issue,” said Phoenix Police spokesman Andy Hill.

“We have well established plans in place for such civil unrest,” said Scottsdale Police spokesman Mark Clark.

Clark, Hill and other local police officials said the region did plenty of planning and emergency management training for the Super Bowl in February in Glendale.

“We’re prepared,” said Maricopa County Sheriff Deputy Chief Dave Trombi citing his office’s past dealings with immigration marches and major events.

Super Bowl security efforts included personnel and resources from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. military’s Northern Command, which coordinated with Arizona officials. The Northern Command was created after 9/11 to have troops and Defense Department resources ready to respond to security problems, terrorism and natural disasters.

Northern Command spokesman Michael Kucharek and Arizona Army National Guard Major. Paul Aguirre said they are not aware of any new planning for domestic situations related to the economy.

Nick Dranias, director of constitutional government at the libertarian Goldwater Institute, said a declaration of marital law would be an extraordinary event and give military control over civilian authorities and institutions. Dranias said the Posse Comitatus Act restricts the U.S. military’s role in domestic law enforcement. But he points to a 1994 U.S. Defense Department Directive (DODD 3025) he says allows military commanders to take emergency actions in domestic situations to save lives, prevent suffering or mitigate great property damage.

Dranias said such an emergency declaration could worsen the economic situation and doubts extreme measures will been taken. “I don’t think it’s likely. But it’s not impossible,” he said.

The economy is in recession. Consumer spending is down, foreclosures are up and a host of businesses are laying off workers and struggling with tight credit and the troubled housing and financial markets. The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank and U.S. Treasury Department have pumped more than $8.5 trillion into the economy via equity purchases of bank stocks, liquidity infusions, Wall Street and bank bailouts and taxpayer rebates. U.S. automakers are seeking more than $14 billion in federal loans with fears they could fall into bankruptcy without a bailout. The U.S. housing and subprime lending-induced recession also has hit economies in Europe, Japan and China.

Gov. Janet Napolitano’s office declined comment on emergency planning and possible civil unrest. Napolitano is president-elect Barack Obama’s pick for secretary of Homeland Security, an agency that oversees airport security, disaster response, border security, customs and anti-terrorism efforts.

As governor, Napolitano sent National Guard troops to Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in 2003 in response to terrorism threats.

Glendale Police spokesman Jim Toomey said the West Valley suburb developed new emergency plans with the approach of Y2K computer changeovers leading up to the year 2000 and police have updated those plans several times including after 9/11. Toomey said strategies to deal with public unrest usually involve deploying personnel and equipment to deal with specific incidents while still providing usual services.

Source: http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/12/15/daily34.html

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THERE'S NO PEACE WITHOUT JUSTICE

The police impunity

Unfortunately, the brutal assassination of Alexis Grigoropoulos was not a bolt out of the blue. It was a killing in cold blood, insane, unprovoked, and constitutes a foretold death, regardless of what the assassin cop and his 'godfather' atorney say. And this, precisely because the hand of the killer was armed by the pervasive, impune, and legalized police violence against immigrants, drug addicts, gypsies, "restless" youth, the indiscriminate police state, the consolidation of the policial cannibalism and the Rambo-cop figure, who bloats about how many immigrants he's beaten up and how many "junkies" he has humiliated.

Unfortunately, Alexis was sacrificed upon the altar of "security", that has the cities filled with uniform-clad assassins, that has immigrants drown in the Aegean, that tries to convince the employed and unemployed man, the potentially employed, the man who just got sacked, that no, he's not threatened by the rich, the capital, the state and the multinationals, but by the poor, the hunted, the bulies, the homeless, the other.
However utopian and paradoxical, we insist:
-Dissolve Riot Police and Special Guards.
-Disarm the police.
The looting of our lives

Neo-liberalism does not just mean uncontrolled markets. Nor does it just constitute greater exploitation and repression of the poor. Above all, neo-liberalism is the rampant domination of the poor by the rich, the absolute contempt to the individual and collective human rights, and even worse, their daemonisation, that constitutes in that they're the reason of the poverty and abjection, that rule the earth.
Fortunately, the myth of "the End of History" has collapsed. The ideologeme of the "prosperity of the free markets" is ridiculed. The global economic crisis leaves no margin for illusions in the light of the masters' lies.
The Karamanlis government took the public sector apart, let prices soar, looted the state property, robbed the social security funds, he doomed hundreds of thousands of people to insecurity, poverty and social disqualification. And to succeed in this, they worshipped the omnivoracity of the Church, the cannibalism of Justice and the Police. It is the government of looting everything, a government that deprived itself of the right to talk about "looting" and "protection of property".
Off with this government, that damages the environment, that sells the public sector out, that dishonors human labor, that kill refugees and assassinates children! Not for the purpose of having it replaced with PASOK, that killed Kaltetzas and voted for the law against terrorism. But because we cannot stand them, because we deserve a decent life.

The uprising

The brutal killing of Alexis triggered off the greatest uprising since the political change-over of 1974. Broader, more massive, geographically more dispersed and harder than 25 May '76 against Law 330, than the eighties Polytechnic movement, the movement against the assassination of Michalis Kaltetzas in 1985, and the explosion that followed the assassination of Nikos Temponeras in January 1991. What stands before us is a majestic uprising against the police.

This killing is not just the result of the brutal execution of Alexis Grigoropoulos. It expressed the suffocation, the rage, the hate of a whole world ("precariato" they call it), that, on daily basis, goes through the reality of the virtuous world of the rich: Insecurity, employment roaming, daily humiliation, police violence at the square, in the stadium, in the streets, suppression of every hope for a better life.
Among the thousands of people that exchange stones (but also break anything from banks to - wrongly so, but, unfortunately so explicably, small shops) are to be found great parts of our youth, underemployed, unemployed, students, school children, native and foreign, public spirited or not, that find an opportunity to express their hate for the cops and the rich, the symbols of power, wealth and consumerism, but also for what they desire but do not possess in this system of false luxury and the "prosperous hypocrisy".
To their credit, great parts of the radical Left, apart from the anarchist-antiauthoritarian gamut, that has been taking part in the confrontations out of principle, despite their disagreement to the damages and the destruction, they did not line up with the order, they did not condemn the riots, they got out in the streets, they protested together with the masked, they screamed "they talk about profit and loss, we talk about the life of a child lost", they understood that "practice precedes theory" and raised their fists up high against police brutality. We hope they carry on....

When the young get shot, the Left apologizes not!
Disobedience and confrontation

>From Brixton to Los Angeles to Genova, and the riots in the suburbs of Paris, in reality howsoever it is proved that the paths and ways of social resistance are determined by the general conditions of the society and the movement. What can we do? The state of the society, the movement and the Left (and all its constituent forces) propels us out in the streets by the thousands in rage for the assassination of the 15 year old boy but does not suffice for the development of a spirited movement with a coherent political plan. Would you prefer anniversary protests? Isn't it better to consider how this social potential that is looted and suffocated can express itself in effective ways?
We, the Network of Civil and Social Rights, unconditionally support and take part in this uprising against the government, the rich and the police.

We salute the collective rage against the governmental looting and terrorism, the wrath of millions of people in the light of the assassination of Alexis Grigoropoulos, the participation of tens of thousands of teenagers and youngsters in the assaults against police stations.

Against the prime minister's statements of power, and the oppositions' worship of lawfulness, the "operations of virtue" by cops, "disgusted citizens" and fascists, the worker's union bows to lawfulness and order, the "class-inexorable" Communist Party, the perversion of reality and defamation by the media, mainly television, we declare the there can be only one answer:

Social struggles are neither innocent nor guilty, social struggles are just.
When thousands wear hoods, they have a face!

Athens, 9 December 2008

Network for Political and Social Rights

Source: email