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Palestinians mark Berlin Wall anniversary by breaking through West Bank barrier


RT
Sun, 09 Nov 2014 21:46 UTC
Image
© AFP
Palestinian youths, one holding a national flag, appear through a hole they dug in the controversial Israeli separation wall in the West Bank village of Bir Nabala -between Jerusalem and Ramallah- on November 8, 2014 as celebrations today mark 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
A group of Palestinian activists dug a hole through the Israeli separation barrier in the West Bank on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

A small group of activists associated with resistance movements in villages around northwest Jerusalem hacked away at the barrier, known by Palestinians as the "Apartheid Wall," on Saturday as a symbolic gesture to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall and to draw attention to their plight.

"No matter how high walls are built, they will fall. Just as the Berlin Wall fell, the wall in Palestine will fall, along with the occupation," the activists' said in a statement Saturday.

Image
© AFP
Israel began constructing the expansive barrier, which divides the West Bank village of Bir Nabala, situated between Jerusalem and Ramallah, in 2002. Israelis argue that the wall serves a crucial defensive purpose, indicating a drop in attacks since its construction as proof of its efficacy.

The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B'Teselem) decries the wall as a source of suffering for the Palestinian people. "[The wall] cut social ties and isolated villages from their farmland and citizens from their livelihoods," the organization said.

Comment: Although this was symbolic for the Palestinians, it will do little to slow down or stop Israel's wall building efforts for "defensive purposes".

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People

Facing up to the capitalist within

Georgie Wingfield-Hayes
Common Dreams
Sun, 09 Nov 2014 17:56 UTC
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As with the social changes that were necessary to end the African slave trade, a transformation of modern capitalism requires that we step outside of ourselves and examine our own roles within the system objectively.
John Newton (1725-1807) is best known for penning the hymn "Amazing Grace" in the later years of his life as a minister in the Church of England. In 1788 he published a pamphlet entitled "Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade", in which he spoke out strongly against what he called "a disgraceful branch of commerce." But for much of his life Newton worked on slave ships, including four years as captain of his own vessel taking stolen African men and women to the American colonies.

Newton's transition from slaver to minister and activist was inspired by one particular event. On a return journey to Liverpool in 1748, a great storm had threatened to sink his ship, and the fear he was forced to face affected him profoundly, changing his views about the people who were imprisoned beneath his feet. He referred to this event as his "great deliverance," and afterwards gave up the slave trade to campaign against it from his new position in the church.

What had happened to Newton to cause such a change? Did he suddenly develop a new sense of empathy with others, or was it always there, suppressed by the social norms of the time - the collective stories that were told to justify the enslavement of a different race?

We live our lives through stories that reinforce certain values and beliefs. What's true or false, acceptable or not, are constructs that are held aloft like a scaffold in the collective psyche. But when a critical mass of individuals lets go of these stories, a tipping point is reached, and the scaffold collapses. So it was when the slave trade was abolished.

A cascade of individuals like Newton let go of the story that slavery was acceptable, and change rapidly accelerated. As the historian Adam Hochschild has written, "If you had proposed, in the London of early 1787, to change all of this, nine out of ten people would have laughed you off as a crackpot. Yet by 1807 the British Parliament had banned the slave trade."
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Quenelle

Remembrance day farce: Wear a black poppy instead

Resist Militarism
Stop the War coalition
Sun, 09 Nov 2014 20:51 UTC
Image
© Unknown
There were over 16,000 conscientious objectors in the First World War, many of whom, like these, were imprisoned.
On 6 November 2014, counter-militarism activists pasted 16,000 black poppies around the city of Glasgow to appeal to the public to consider what Remembrance Sunday means.

Each poppy represents one of the conscientious objectors, making up 16,000 war resistors who took a stand against their enlistment during the First World War.

The black poppies, which can currently be seen in clusters along streets, appeared in anticipation for the WW1 centenary Remembrance Day commemoration that will take place this Sunday to provide an alternative message to the remembrance industry which is choked on red glorifying poppies, nationalism and militarism.

The black poppy is a symbol which commemorates all those who have died, and are still dying, due to imperialist war and its legacy. It remembers dead soldiers, dead civilians, dead conscientious objectors. It remembers those who have fallen victim to invasion, occupation, gender-based violence, starvation and poverty. It remembers the maimed, the wounded, those made homeless or afflicted with physical and mental illnesses due to war.

Comment: Remembrance day is like a sick joke played on us by the bloodthirsty elite who are ultimately behind all wars.

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Question

To vote or not to vote? It depends

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
Fri, 07 Nov 2014 21:38 UTC
uncle sam
© Dees Illustration
On November 5th, upon waking to discover the results of the 2014 elections, Conservatives and Republicans gloated in rapturous revelry, Democrats and Liberals pined and lost their cool on social media, and the vast majority of Americans didn't really care one way or the other. In fact, one would hazard a guess that many Americans had absolutely no clue as to what actually happened on November 4th.

Despite the reactions of American voters - either elated or dejected after the election results came in - the truth is that the results don't actually matter in terms of how the country will be run. My proof for this claim? Democrats and Republicans were elected. That should be proof enough.

Every election cycle, parties change positions and immediately begin to enact the very same policies they were elected to stop. Democrats support war, GMOs, Wall Street and the police state and Republicans pretend to oppose it (sort of). Elect Republicans and Republicans then support war, GMOs, Wall Street and the police state while Democrats pretend to oppose it (sort of). The American people, baffled by television programs, mainstream news, entertainment, and sports, scarcely recognize the fact that the entire political paradigm that they have bought into, as well as their own ideals, did an about face right before their eyes.
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Megaphone

Human decency prohibited: Police arrest 90 year-old homeless advocate for feeding the homeless

Lesley Kinzel
XOJane.com
Thu, 06 Nov 2014 15:56 UTC
Being hungry and without a place to live shouldn't be a criminal offense.

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My dad, managing to look awesome even in a hairnet.
When my dad retired a couple years ago, I was terrified.

My dad is a keeping-busy kind of guy, rarely content to sit around the house, not a tremendous fan of television that's not basketball or football (excepting the occasional "I just discovered 'Game of Thrones'!" binge-watch), and he gets prickly with nothing to do. We're alike in that way. So when he stopped working, I worried: would he be bored? Would he be unhappy? What on earth is he going to do all day?

In the absence of an office and desk, however, he rapidly adopted two new activities: golf, which he had barely played in his life but which follows in the great tradition of recent retirees, I suspect in part because it is a slow game that takes forever; and working at a local soup kitchen.

My father volunteers at the Jubilee Center of South Broward, a rare five-days-a-week operation that feeds between 120 to 160 homeless people a day. It's located in an older part of Hollywood, Florida, a city that lies just between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, originally founded in 1925 and named after Hollywood, California by a man who dreamed of creating a similar movie-making hub on the east coast. It is also where I was born.
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Better Earth

Aphex Twin wants you to wake up the truth about 9/11

Noyzelab
The Guardian
Tue, 04 Nov 2014 15:58 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Aphex Twin
Aphex Twin has returned to the theme of 9/11 in a new interview, saying those who believe the official story about the attacks on the twin towers are "absolutely gullible".

In a recent interview with Q, Richard James had said he believed in conspiracy theories because they are more fun. Speaking to his friend Dave Noyze at Noyzelab, he went further when asked if there was anything he wanted to say that he hadn't said in other interviews. "I keep forgetting that most people are totally friggin' oblivious to how they are being programmed and controlled from birth upwards from your name, being a 'citizen', which basically enters you into a contract, it goes on from there."

He continued: "Recently, when some journos were saying, 'So you actually believe 9/11 was an inside job?' attempting to paint picture of me bein' a crackpot, I was totally shocked - they were intelligent people but still they didn't get it ... I'm really, really sorry to all folks who might be reading this but if you believe the ridiculous story that is being pedalled about 9/11 from the mainstream media then you are absolutely gullible ... Not believing the mainstream media is very hard for some folk who have put their trust and faith in the state and press, breaking that faith will not be an easy process for many."

Comment: For the interested reader who may not be acquainted with all the facts surrounding 9/11, we recommend 9/11 The Ultimate Truth by Laura Knight-Jadczyk and Joe Quinn

There's also the Pentagon Strike video which has a lot of the evidence and holes gathered together in a very short, easy to view format.

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Camcorder

Caught on Video: Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, 22, abducted in Philadelphia


ABC News
Tue, 04 Nov 2014 23:48 UTC




The woman kidnapped from a Philadelphia street had moved to the city to find a career and be with her family, who made an impassioned plea for her safe return today. The father of Carlesha Freeland-Gaither urged at a news conference today that whoever took his daughter should contact him directly.

"Just release her, we're not asking for anything else. If you want somebody, come get me," Carl Freeland said. "Whatever you're asking for just get into contact with me and my family. All we want back is my daughter."

The missing woman's sister spoke to Freeland-Gaither through the news cameras."If you see me or hear me out there, just know that I love you and we want you to come home," she said.

Comment: Update, thankfully she was found alive and the kidnapper arrested.

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Heart - Black

Missing Mexico students: Gang members confess to mass killing, incineration


Al Jazeera
Fri, 07 Nov 2014 07:03 UTC
mexico missing students
© AFP
The 43 students have been missing since September 26
Three suspects confess to killing more than forty missing students and incinerating their remains.

Suspected gang members in Mexico have confessed to killing more than 40 missing students and incinerating their remains in a case that has shocked the country, Mexico's chief prosecutor said.

In a somber, lengthy explanation of the investigation, Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam played video on Friday showing hundreds of charred fragments of bone and teeth fished from the river and its banks.

He said it will be very difficult to extract DNA to confirm identities of the victims of a horrific mass murder and incineration that lasted 14 hours.

"I know the enormous pain the information we've obtained causes the family members, a pain we all share,'' Murillo Karam said at a news conference.

"The statements and information that we have gotten unfortunately points to the murder of a large number of people in the municipality of Cocula.''

"International experts have said they can't give a time frame for when they will get results,'' he added.

Comment:

Mexico's missing students: Yet another mass grave uncovered

Mexico: New graves found in hunt for missing students

Students and teachers set state capital building on fire in Mexico over rampant police crimes

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Pistol

Police officer accidentally shoots 7-year-old girl on school trip to police headquarters

John Vibes
The Free Thought Project
Fri, 07 Nov 2014 04:27 UTC
A seven-year-old girl was accidentally shot by a police officer in front of a group of children while she was on a school trip to the Nottinghamshire Police department in the UK. The incident occurred last week and is currently being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

However, according to Wikipedia, A parliamentary inquiry set up in the wake of the death of Ian Tomlinson, the girl who was shot, found that the Independent Police Complaints Commission "has neither the powers nor the resources that it needs to get to the truth when the integrity of the police is in doubt."

The children had reportedly visited the police department as part of a prize for winning a coloring competition.

According to BBC, the girl suffered a "minor injury to her lip" after a shot was accidentally fired at the ground and ricocheted around the room. The incident occurred after an alleged firearms expert gave a presentation to the students that included a firearms demonstration.

"The officer involved is currently not on firearms duties, pending the outcome of the investigation," a spokesman for the police department said.

Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping told the BBC that, "I'm shocked, concerned and alarmed at this serious incident. I have received assurances from the chief constable that it won't happen again."

According to Assistant Chief Constable Simon Torr, police department representatives personally apologized to the parents of the children involved in the incident.
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Penis Pump

Disgusting sexual predator: Julien Blanc, the 'female attraction' expert, glorifies sexual violence

Somayya Ismailjee
The Guardian
Tue, 04 Nov 2014 01:22 UTC
The dating coach giving conferences worldwide on 'pick-up artistry' sanitises and normalises sexual assaults. Refusing him yet more platforms to spread his message is essential
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Julien Blanc, a "dating coach" working for US company Real Social Dynamics, is visiting Australia this week to host a series of pick-up artistry seminars.

Through a program comprising online videos and in-person classes, the company has built a business model which preys on lonely desperate men, offering them the promise of female sexual attention through force when it doesn't exist by will. The instruction and promotion of abuse and the total violation of consent is this company's stock in trade.

Blanc's "PhD in female attraction" involves a disturbing fixation with physical violence. Blanc proudly posts photos across social media of him propositioning women in chokeholds using the hashtag "#ChokingGirlsAroundTheWorld".

In a video that has amassed over 50,000 views (and since switched to "private"), he teaches men how to sexually assault women in Japan, where he is apparently headed in two weeks. "Just go through Tokyo, grab girls and yell 'Pikachu' and put her head on your dick", Blanc instructs his audience before showing footage of himself doing just that. This is nothing short of a lesson teaching how to rape.

Comment: Another example that the world has gone completely mad is when a psycho like Julien Blanc can teach "pick-up artistry seminars", which equates to sexual violence towards women. No wonder rape culture is so prevalent in society today. Bring on the comets!

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