All posts tagged: protests

The Silence that Absolves

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Philip Farruggio A few years after the illegal and immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq, my 84 year old pal John and I would stand each Tuesday outside the local library with our protest signs. We had been out there, one hour each week, for over a year; and before that for six years on a busy street corner during rush hour. One day, this German lady approached us. She thanked us for taking the time out and added “You know, Americans don’t like to get out and protest. If this was Germany, and our government did what yours did, we’d have thousands outside this library, not just two people.” How correct she was. The Germans, the French and all the European peoples remember, or are taught, what it was like to be occupied and threatened by the Nazi police state. We Americans are lucky that our nation has never been occupied by a foreign power. Never! Thus, you would think that it might have been more difficult for us Americans to accept the propaganda …

10 reasons the Gilets Jaunes are the real deal

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Ontological security, everybody needs it, but right now it’s in short supply especially in big metropolitan cities. No wonder people are confused and afraid, walking backwards into the future, stuck knee-deep in mud dreaming that somehow, through some miracle, everything will, “Please!”, return to normal.

So amidst of this Tower of Babble, let’s resolve one conundrum for you.

Here are ten reason the Gilets Jaunes (unlike US sponsored colour revolutions) are the real deal, by which I mean the direct expression of the people of France.

A Spiritual Special Ops Team’s Christmas Gift

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It was snowing hard in the days before Christmas in 1972 as I sat at my writing desk looking out the back window toward the woods that were filling up with snow. I felt trapped by the heavy snow that made the roads impassable, but even more so by the contemplation of the barbaric “Christmas Bombing” of North Vietnam carried out by Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and their associated war criminals. I was filled with despair and imagined the snow turning red with blood.

The Indiscreet Charm of the Gilets Jaunes

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CJ Hopkins So it appears the privatization of France isn’t going quite as smoothly as planned. As I assume you are aware, for over a month now, the gilets jaunes (or “yellow vests”), a multiplicitous, leaderless, extremely pissed off, confederation of working class persons, have been conducting a series of lively protests in cities and towns throughout the country to express their displeasure with Emmanuel Macron and his efforts to transform their society into an American-style neo-feudal dystopia. Highways have been blocked, toll booths commandeered, luxury automobiles set on fire, and shopping on the Champs-Élysées disrupted. What began as a suburban tax revolt has morphed into a bona fide working class uprising. It took a while for “the Golden Boy of Europe” to fully appreciate what was happening. In the tradition of his predecessor, Louis XVI, Macron initially responded to the gilets jaunes by inviting a delegation of Le Monde reporters to laud his renovation of the Elysée Palace, making the occasional condescending comment, and otherwise completely ignoring them. That was back in late November. …

Tory Conference protests overseen by police snipers

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by Kit The Conservative Party Conference (CPC) drew 80,000 out on to the streets of Manchester to protest government’s austerity policies. The expected parties were all in attendance. The People’s Assembly, The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, various unions were representatives. Billy Bragg sang, Charlotte Church spoke, Jeremy Corbyn will be speaking. Oh, and there were police snipers on rooftops: Just a police Sniper on roof of tory party conference, which resembles a prison #CPC15 pic.twitter.com/RPCYt1YIeH — Ben Whittingham (@BenWhittingham2) October 4, 2015 View this post on Instagram Just your average sniper team on the roof. #manchester #toryconference A post shared by Matt Richardson (@mrmattrichardson) on Oct 4, 2015 at 2:58am PDT A representative of the Manchester police had this to say, by way of explanation: It is an ongoing observation of the biggest march that has ever been in Manchester because of the Tory Party conference. But they are there purely for observation and supporting the police at the march as it’s a major public event. They are high up for that reason, to observe. …

German protests against TTIP

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Reuters reports: Thousands of people marched in Berlin, Munich and other German cities on Saturday [April 18] in protest against a planned free trade deal between Europe and the United States that they fear will erode food, labor and environmental standards. Opposition to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is particularly high in Germany, in part due to rising anti-American sentiment linked to revelations of U.S. spying and fears of digital domination by firms like Google. A recent YouGov poll showed that 43 percent of Germans believe TTIP would be bad for the country, compared to 26 percent who see it as positive. [….] In Munich, police put the crowd at 3,000, while organizers Attac estimated it at 15,000. Hundreds also marched in Leipzig, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and other European cities on what Attac hailed as a “global day of action” against free trade, though the protests appeared to be largest in Germany. “I think this deal will open the door to genetically-modified foods here,” said Jennifer Ruffatto, 28, who works with handicapped people and was …