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Florence of Arabia | Oil Junkies | Crap Arrest | Nunsense | War briefs | Mapuche | ScNEWS in brief | Corporate Corpse | Positive Schnews | Inside Schnews | and finally...

FLORENCE OF ARABIA

"Bush, Blair, Belusconi - they don't speak for the people. We speak for the people. And we the people are going to stop this war.” - Speaker at European Social Forum, Florence.

Last Saturday over half a million people marched through Florence in Europe’s biggest demonstration yet against the forthcoming US invasion of the Middle East. Maybe it was a million as some reports have said, but SchNEWS ran out of fingers and toes to count on after four hours of seeing people stream along the well-reclaimed city bypass that was the only road in town big enough for the protest.

The march took place during the European Social Forum meeting in Florence and was always going to be a big march, with communists and anarchists, unions and peace groups, and social forums from across Italy taking part. But it was more than that. It was another example of the growing, often unreported movement against Bush and Blair’s war plans that is sweeping the US and Europe.

While Britain was represented by everything from Essex Students to Dundee Trades Council, the march was largely Italian, young and unaligned. Local residents clapped and cheered, hanging out anti-war banners. The conference before the march saw meetings in aircraft hangers overflowing with people – 60,000 turned up for the Forum instead of the expected 20,000 - wanting to discuss anti-capitalism and the coming war. At one meeting of 2,000 people, a Vietnam war veteran told the crowd, “We didn’t start protesting about the Vietnam war until it had been going on for years. This movement is much bigger, and you can stop them too”. During the conference, a local Caterpillar factory that makes vehicles used to crush Palestinian homes was occupied and its contents rearranged. Demos, discussions and direct action are all part of the growing global movement against this war and the crazy system that is making it happen.

OIL JUNKIES

In order to regain control of Iraq’s oilfields, the US is willing to let the Iraqi people pay a very high price. According to a new report by British health professionals, a war against Iraq could kill half a million people, mostly civilians. 260,000 are likely to die in the conflict and its immediate aftermath, with a further 200,000 dying later from famine and disease – the US will target bombs on water systems and other infrastructure to cripple the country and will ensure these deaths. In the report’s worst case scenario, nuclear weapons are fired on Iraq in response to a chemical or biological attack on Kuwait or Israel, leaving a massive 3.9 million people dead.

But all that’s just for starters. US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz has said that a US-imposed regime in Iraq would “cast a very large shadow, starting with Syria and Iran, but across the whole Arab world”. Iran is a country with a population larger than that of the UK and was described by Bush as part of the “Axis of Evil”, perhaps making it the next country to be made safe for “US vital interests”. The brutal Israeli occupation of Palestine could become the norm for the rest of the Arab world as a foreign power imposes its will by military force. The people of the Middle East are about to pay a very high price for capitalism’s addiction to oil.

The diverse, growing movement against war knows all this. A new generation of activists in the rich countries of Europe and North America who want to live in a sustainable and just world are challenging their own governments and finding friends and allies in the countries attacked in their name. There have been over 400 major demonstration in the US against an attack on Iraq. This was described as “a burgeoning national anti-war movement,” by the Washington Post, “with protesting by people who have never protested before”. Many US and European activists, often Jewish, have gone to Palestine, risking their lives in order to provide Palestinian families with some protection from Israeli attacks. In Florence, groups discussed blockading US airbases across Europe, jamming airbase radar systems with balloons and tinfoil, taking direct action to stop the supplies necessary for war. As one protester told SchNEWS, “If Bush and Blair think this movement is going to write letters, march politely and then go home, they’re in for a fright.”

* To read about the report on Iraq deaths www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993043
* Recommended reading ‘War Plan Iraq’ by Milan Rai (Verso 2002)

SchNEWS poser of the week:
How come Neo-Labour has got enough money to bomb Iraq, but can’t afford to pay striking firefighters a decent wage?
* The Brighton Firefighters support group is meeting Wednesday 20th at St. George’s Community Centre (Crypt of St. George’s Church), St. George’s Road, Kemptown 7.45pm to discuss what steps they can take to support the strike.
* For more on the strike www.30kfirepay2.co.uk www.labournet.net

Crap Arrest of the Week

For praying!
Veteran peace activist Lindis Percy totted up yet another arrest at the beginning of this month. Lindis was peacefully praying at a Quaker meeting outside Fylingdales airbase (soon to be part of the Americas Star Wars programme) when the MOD cops swooped in and arrested her for breaching her bail condition of not going within 50 yards of the base. www.caab.org.uk

* The peace camp at Fylingdales is facing eviction and they need more support!! 01947896481

BASS Alliance of Sound Systems
presents
SchNEWS’ 8th BIRTHDAY PARTY
with DJs and films
Sunday 17th November, 9pm-1am @ The Ocean Rooms, Brighton.
Tickets £2.50 in advance from
Klick-Klick Records, Trafalgar St.
Or £4 on the door.

NUNSENSE

On 6th October, three American nuns disabled a US nuclear missile silo in northern Colorado. Dressed in white boiler suits with ‘Disarmament Specialists’ written on the front and ‘CWIT’ (Citizen Weapons Inspection Team) in big letters across the back, the Dominican sisters bashed up the silo lid and the tracks that carry the lid to its firing position, cut cables, and cut through the surrounding fence. The action, which took place on the first anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan, is the 79th ploughshares or related disarmament action since 1980 in the United States, Europe, and Australia. In a statement carried with them onto the site, Carol Gilbert, Jackie Hudson, and Ardeth Platte stated that they had “come to Colorado to unmask the false religion and worship of national security... We hope in the light of [God’s] Word to name things what they are, to unmask the lies, abuses, and racism hidden in the rhetoric of patriotism, security and moral superiority.” All three have been charged with Sabotage and Malicious Destruction of Property of the United States and each faces up to 30 years in jail. Write to them at: Clear Creek County Jail, Box 518, Georgetown, CO 80444, USA. For more info email: disarmnow@erols.com or visit http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display_printable/2065/index.php

REBEL ALLIANCE The get together of Brighton’s Direct Action Groups. With a discussion and short film about the Brighton Halloween action against the war on Iraq - where police attacked protesters sitting in the road with batons and pepper spray. Plus a speaker from the Middle East. Monday 18th November, 7pm @ Brighton Unemployed Centre, 6 Tilbury Place

War Briefs

Groups in a number of places including Brighton, Leicester and Bristol are planning Stop the City, Stop the War demonstrations if war is declared on Iraq. Check out the full listings on the Party and Protest section of our website and if we don’t have your event listed, let us know what your plans are. ** The Stop the War group at the School of Oriental and African Studies have launched a new website: www.soasstopwar.org ** Disobedience Anti-war Benefit –with Citizen Fish, P.A.I.N. and Subsister, plus DJ’s, Food & Stalls. 23rd Nov. 7pm, Chats Palace, 42-44 Brooksby’s Walk, Homerton, E9. £5/£3.50 www.disobedience.org.uk ** Discussion on war coverage and the risks faced by journalists. In memory of BBC journalist Mylvaganam Nimalarajan who was killed two years ago reporting from the war torn Sri Lanka. NUJ, 308 Grays Inn Road, London WC1. 25th Nov, 6pm. www.rsf.org ** NATO war-mingers will meet in Prague, Czech Republic (21st-22nd Nov) to discuss, among other things, the so-called “War on Terrorism” and the expansion of NATO into Eastern Europe. Actions are being planned against the Summit. Border actions are also planned in the likely event that protesters are stopped from entering the country. Latest info: www.antinato.cz

MAPUCHE

Since the late 90s the Indigenous Mapuche people, whose ancestral lands have been occupied by the states of Chile and Argentina since 1885, have been occupying land and engaging in other forms of nonviolent direct action to defend their communities. More recently they have been involved in campaigning and land occupations to defend the environment from forestry companies and large dams. These actions have sparked a violent response from the state at levels that would make General Pinochet proud! Hundreds of Mapuches have been arrested under State Security and Anti-terrorism laws. Two community leaders have been murdered, and last week 17-year old activist Edmundo Alex Lemun Saavedra was shot in the head when police attacked a non-violent land occupation of the Mininco forest. He later died in hospital. www.mapuche-nation.org or
www.chile.indymedia.org (in spanish)

SchNEWS in brief

• ScHelp! SchNEWS needs people to help with the mailout on Friday afternoons for a couple of hours. And with desk top publishing on Thursday evenings. There will be a DTP training evening Thursday 28th, give the office a call if yer interested in either.
  
• Aspire have opened a new social centre in Leeds and promise a week packed with workshops, film shows, food and other groovy stuff. Buckingham House, Otley Road, Leeds. Also a free shop where you bring anything that you don’t want and take things you do.
• Woodside Caravan Park, the travellers who brought their own site, have managed to delay eviction. They have lodged an appeal and are safe until then (although the appeal date has yet to be set). www.f-f-t.demon.co.uk/fft/WOODSIDE.HTM If you want to be on their Red-Alert list ring 01206 523 528
• Undercurrents BeyONd TV 3rd Annual Video Activist Festival. 23rd Nov. noon-9pm, Swansea Environment Centre, Pier Street, Swansea. www.undercurrents.org/beyondtv/
• Mad Pride have a benefit night Tuesday 19th, Bull And Gate, 389 Kentish Town Road, London NW5. 7.30 pm. £5 on the door with performers and comedians 020 7388 8679
• Good SchNEWS – McDonald is closing lots of its restaurants! Many of these are in the Middle East, where a boycott of US goods and services is having an impact. A total of 175 restaurants in 10 countries are closing, and McD shares worth £31 two years ago are now worth only £10!
• Anti-Capitalist Social Night, Nov 19th, 9pm upstairs at the Princess Louise, 208-209 High Holborn, London. 07944 586416 www.temporary.org.uk
• On November 7, over 2500 people in Chicago marched in protest of the annual meeting of the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue (TABD). TABD is yet another ‘government in bed with big business’ think tank and is made up of the 100 most powerful captains of industry from the EU and America. Their mission is to “remove obstacles to trade” between the EU and US, including such nuisances as the restrictions on marketing GM products. According to US officials, up to 80% of TABD’s recommendations have been turned into official policy. www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news284.htm.
• Women Speak Out Gathering next weekend (22-24). A gathering of women activists from all kinds of movements and backgrounds to meet and exchange experiences, views and ideas. MERCi Centre, 22a Beswick Street, Manchester. Children are welcome and there’s even crash space. £10 donation requested for the weekend including vegan food. 0161 227 8086/07753 606723 www.bellow.org.uk
• Sweatshops, Globalisation and International Solidarity Sat 23rd Nov. Conference to bring together campaigners and campaigns from the anti-sweatshop movement. 12-6pm, School of Oriental and African Studies, London. £5. 07904 431 959 www.nosweat.org.uk
• Say no to US training of terrorists!! The US Army School of the Americas has been training Latin American soldiers in counter-insurgency (read: torture, oppression, and genocide) since 1946. Protest against the School of the Americas Sat 16th from 1-4pm at the US Embassy, Grosvenor Square, London.
• Week of action against Newchurch Guinea Pigs (who breed them for vivisection) 18th-24th Nov. www.guineapigs.org.uk or 01902-564734
• The new Sussex Anti-Corruption Alliance want groups and individuals to get involved www.sac-a.human-rights.org
• “Riding the Dragon”, a new book highlighting the abuses that Shell oil company have committed, was published on Tuesday accompanied by protests outside some of Shell’s worst refineries. The book and other facts about Shell can be seen at www.shellfacts.com

Corporate Corpse

Neo-Labour promised to get tough on criminals this week - but if you happen to be a company director who kills one of your workers, you’re in luck! This so-called ‘justice for all’ doesn’t include you. Five years ago, the Labour Government promised that it would do something about corporate crime. Unsurprisingly, victims and their families are still waiting. Chris Jones, father of Simon who was killed at work 4 ½ half years ago, told SchNEWS, “This is the same old Blairite crap: go for soft targets and easy results. Graffiti artists haven’t killed or injured anybody. Yes, paedophiles are nasty, but corporate cowboys killed Simon at work, and at least 1500 people since him. Neo-Labour has done nothing about it. The Home Office is fast becoming the political wing of the CBI. Apart from ratting on their promise to bring in the corporate killing bill, they are also trying to sneak in the removal of compulsory inquests into work-related deaths, and have specifically excluded victims of health and safety crimes from the much-hyped ‘Victims’ Charter’. The cover-up goes on.”
So remember - tough on chewing gum and spray paint, but not on corporate crime.
Centre for Corporate Accountability 020 7490 4494 www.corporateaccountability.org
www.simonjones.org.uk

Positive SchNEWS

Another node of international resistance has sprung up in Caracas, Venezuela, with the opening of the Libertarian Social Studies Centre. The centre – which runs along the lines of promoting self-organisation, anarchy, and solidarity free from party politics – has opened a vast library and hopes to buy a printing press for some pamphleteering. But it needs donations (in US$$) for rent and resources! centrosociallibertario@yahoo.com www.nodo50.org/ellibertario/ellibertario

Inside SchNEWS

Robert “Seth” Hayes, a former member of the Black Panther Party and in prison for the past 30 years, has been moved from the hospital ward where he was receiving treatment for Hepatitis C and Diabetes and has been transferred to the general prison. He is suffering from dizziness, weakness, headaches, and loss of feeling in his extremities. The prison has cut off all monitoring of his medical status, claiming that it is no longer needed. They have also refused to purchase personal blood sugar testing units for Seth or any of the 40-50 other diabetics in the prison. Please write to Dr. Lester Wright, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Correctional Services, Albany, NY, 12226, USA, to demand Seth be given adequate medical care. Letters of support to: Robert “Seth” Hayes #74A-2280, Clinton Correctional Facility, Box 2001, Dannemora, New York, 12929, USA. Full details: www.wildgreens.ca/110402-3.htm

...and finally...

Security services in German who’d been secretly tapping the phones of 50 people got caught out recently after the people whose phones they were eavesdropping on got charged for the privilege! One confused customer complained to the phone company about a mysterious phone number on his bill that he was supposed to have made calls to. But when he called the number he was told by a message that he did not have authorisation! Oops! The security services admitted there had been some error and said it was caused by a software glitch. Any geeks out there know how to cause the same “problem” in Britain?

Disclaimer
SchNEWS warns Florence not to mess around with Dougal or else Zebedee will go boing!

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