Communique from the Mexico Anarchist Black Cross
December, 2012 – libcom.org

In recent days, following the events of the demonstrations on December 1st for the presidential inauguration of Enrique Peña Nieto, during which the police forces, both of the Federal [national] and Federal District [Mexico City] forces, brutally repressed demonstrators – officials of the Federal District government, amongst whom were the head of government of the FD and the capital’s attorney, have made statements declaring that those responsible for the clashes are anarchist groups.

Faced with this, we want to clarify:

The Mexican Anarchist Black Cross is a libertarian initiative, our work is aimed to extend solidarity with prisoners, both the so-called ordinary ones and those imprisoned for their ideas and political actions and anarchists, supporting them in their legal processes, distributing their letters and doing outreach events to publicise their situation: we organise anti-repression workshops, promote self-organization in our neighborhoods and communities, as well as knowledge of legal defense strategies, based on the idea that repression is a mechanism inherent to Capital and the State, which does not hesitate to use it to maintain the domination and exploitation which sustains this system; we also disseminate anti-prison ideas and thinking, to prompt debate on the social control nature of the prison, and its function in maintaining the capitalist system.

As an initiative, our efforts are aimed at these tasks, which have always been done in the open. All the activities that we organise and participate in are called for via our webpage or by email, and are signed.

In the mass media, it has been mentioned that amongst the detained were persons belonging to anarchist groups. Faced with these assertions it is necessary to declare that none of those detained belonged to the Mexican Anarchist Black Cross. Nonetheless we declare our absolute solidarity with all the people detained and demand they be freed immediately.

We understand that these declarations, along with the allegations of instigating the events that occurred during the demonstrations, are part of a campaign of criminalisation and persecution against anarchist groups and individuals. Marcelo Ebrard has distinguished himself by the targeting and criminalisation of anarchist groups, during his tenure as Secretary of Public Safety of the City, so this campaign is no surprise to us and we see in these statements a revenge against us because of the work we have carried out, principally in solidarity with the young anarchists that the Government of the Federal District has confined in its prisons in recent years.
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Prisons in Mexico on Verge of Collapse
By Daniela Pastrana – 28 December, 2012 – IPS

MEXICO CITY – Edgar Torres Castillo, 21, has spent two years in the prison of Gómez Palacio, in the Lagunera district between the northern Mexican states of Durango and Coahuila – an arid zone known as one of the most dangerous parts of the country.

Amparo Castillo, the mother of Edgar, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing a cell-phone, last saw him during a Dec. 18 visit to the prison. “I thought he was acting strange, he seemed really sad and as if he had been hurt,” she told IPS by phone. “We spent just an hour together before they started to shoo us out – things were really tense,” she said with anguish in her voice.

In the wee hours of the morning on Dec. 17, the police transferred 137 prisoners from the Gómez Palacio prison to federal penitentiaries.

The next day, at the end of the visiting hours, people living in nearby homes heard loud bursts of gunfire and cries inside the prison. The authorities reported that 25 prisoners and six unarmed guards had been killed during an escape attempt.

In a communique, the Durango police said the prisoners had opened fire on the guards when they were thwarted in their attempt to escape.

Later, the federal government emptied out the prison, where 78 people have been killed in the past three years and several major prison escapes have been staged. At the time it was emptied, there were 500 inmates left in the prison.
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Like other family members, Castillo went to the prison after the reports of gunfire, to find out what happened. When little information was offered, the prisoners’ relatives held protests and set up roadblocks. “We didn’t even know if they were alive or not,” she said.

The bloody clash between prisoners and guards was one more illustration of the crisis plaguing Mexico’s prison system, which experts say is on the verge of total collapse.

There are 429 prisons in Mexico, according to the latest report by the ministry of federal public security. Of that total, 15 are run by the national government, 10 by the authorities in Mexico City’s Federal District, 91 by municipal governments, and the rest by the states.

Studies indicate that the prison population is 22 percent (around 40,000 prisoners) over capacity. In addition, four out of 10 inmates are still pending sentencing. But prisoners awaiting trial are held in the same cells as convicted inmates.

Those charged with or convicted of federal crimes, generally for involvement in organised crime like drug trafficking, make up just one-fifth of the prison population. …more

National: Reactions by federal and state governments to the Zapatista mobilization of 21 December
SIPAZ blog – 27 December, 2012

On different occasions, both the federal government and the Chiapas state government have expressed comments about the mass-mobilization of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) that took place on 21 December in 5 cities in Chiapas, as well as on the communique released by the rebel group that same day. In the name of the federal government, Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, secretary of Governance, declared that “they still do not know us; we hope they do not come out too soon, given that President Enrique Peña Nieto has a great commitment to the indigenous peoples.” In comments published by La Jornada, Osorio Chong added that “President Peña knows of the problems, and for that reason he will support the indigenous peoples and particularly examine the demands of the people of Chiapas.”

For its part, the Chiapas state-government released a press-bulletin affirming that the Zapatista mobilization was carried out peacefully and respectfully. Furthermore, it reported that it was aware of the communique published by the Zapatista leadership, indicating that on that day “all police units in the State were garrisoned so as to allow for the free flow of mobilization.” …source

The FBI and other federal agencies coordinated with banks and local authorities in reacting to the Occupy Movement, which was put in the category of a domestic terrorist threat despite the group’s advocacy of nonviolence, Dennis J. Bernstein reports.

How FBI Monitored Occupy Movement
31 December, 2012 – By Dennis J. Bernstein – Consortiumnnew.com

Newly obtained secret FBI documents show that the Feds treated the Occupy Movement as a criminal terrorist threat even though the movement rejected violence as a tactic, a fact that the FBI acknowledges in the files.

Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, the executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, which obtained the documents, discussed the FBI disclosures in an interview with me on Pacifica Radio’s “Flashpoints.”

An Occupy poster, urging protests on behalf of the “99%”

DB: Before we get into some of the specifics talk a little bit about what motivated the request and your initial response to these heavily redacted documents that you did obtain.

MVH: The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund filed a series, or maybe more accurately a barrage of FOI [Freedom of Information] requests in the fall of 2011. At the point at which we could see, and the movement could see, that there was a coordinated crackdown against Occupy happening all over the country.

And we issued FOI demands against federal agencies including the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, the CIA and others, as well as against municipalities and police departments around the country. When we received these documents, which then have taken more than a year to obtain from the FBI, it was very clear to us and clearer, I think, to anyone reading these documents the very intense role that the FBI played in surveillance, mass surveillance operation against the peaceful Occupy Movement.

DB: Alright, let’s talk a little bit about the documents that you received, despite the fact that they were blacked out, in many instances. Let’s go through some of the information … You got a document that was as early as Aug. 19, 2011, and what was the FBI doing? They were getting ready for this movement?

MVH: Yes. It says a lot about the FBI’s conduct in the role of the American intelligence agencies that the FBI, before a single tent was put up in Zuccotti Park in New York, was meeting with the New York Stock Exchange to discuss the plans and upcoming Occupy protests and that was as early as August, 2011. And of course, the OccupyWallStreet started officially on September 17th.

And while, as you said, the documents are heavily redacted and it’s very clear, too, from the redaction that it’s a limited redaction. There’s obviously a lot more out there that we are working to get. That they were working with private entities, as well, meeting with businesses to alert them that they were the focus of protests.

And the documents, throughout, show the FBI, in cities around the country, different field offices, different joint terrorism task force networks communicating with the private banks, private security entities, really themselves acting as a private security arm of corporations, banks and Wall Street.

DB: That’s pretty extraordinary. It really did have the feel that they were working in concert, in conjunction, with some of the major banks. And it was interesting …. Well, talk a little bit about what happened in terms of Indianapolis and the potential criminal activity alert, whatever that is.

MVH: Right. There’s a potential criminal activity alert put out by the Indianapolis Office of the FBI, even though they are saying that they are aware of the Occupy Movement, they don’t have a date specific for demonstrations or activities in Indiana. But, nonetheless, they are putting out these, you know, warnings, these alerts. Their documents acknowledge that the movement is peaceful.

And it raises these questions, that of course, so many have been asking, you have the FBI granted, you know, mass license since September 11th under the claims of the need for national security, you know, millions, billions of dollars poured into the FBI, Homeland Security and what are they doing?

They are turning their sights on a peaceful social justice movement and doing it at the same time that they are working, hand in hand, with the banks and Wall Street, the very focus of peoples’ demonstrations and organizing because of the economic crisis caused by the corporations, banks and Wall Street. And there you have American intelligence agencies acting as their partners.

DB: And we know that the Occupy Movement had a great deal of students involved, young people involved. What did you learn in terms of spying on campuses?

MVH: There’s a, the Campus Liaison Project of the FBI has been very controversial. Many student groups, campuses, activists have protested against it, saying that it was, you know, going to be an abusive program. And you have plain evidence of it here. You have evidence in New York, and in Albany, that the FBI was communicating outward to many campuses. The documents reference, at one point, that they were communicating information, and this was all just from the New York location, the 16 campuses, I believe it is, and then there’s another six.

And then a representative from SUNI Oswego, from the State University of New York in Oswego communicating information back, reporting to the FBI on the Occupy Movement on campus made up of students and professors. And, you know, in that instance and in many other instances around the country, the documents show this intense collaboration, not just with the banks and Wall Street, but also with state and local law enforcement entities, and the fusion centers.

So here you have this, you know, mass apparatus collecting huge amounts of information, a completely lawful, First Amendment protected — I mean cherished first amendment protected — conduct in the United States and putting it into these completely unregulated, and I think, very dangerous databases and data warehousing centers. …more

US: Defense Bill Signing Backtracks on Guantanamo
3 January, 2013 – Human Rights Watch

(Washington, DC) – US President Barack Obama’s refusal to veto a defense spending bill restricting detainee transfers from Guantanamo undercuts his pledge to close the prison, Human Rights Watch said today. On January 2, 2013, Obama signed the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), even though his advisers had said they would recommend a veto if it contained detainee transfer restrictions.

“The administration blames Congress for making it harder to close Guantanamo, yet for a second year President Obama has signed damaging congressional restrictions into law,” said Andrea Prasow, senior counterterrorism counsel and advocate at Human Rights Watch. “The burden is on Obama to show he is serious about closing the prison.”

In a statement Obama made along with the authorization act, he criticized Congress for renewing the restrictions he said were intended to “foreclose” his ability to shut down Guantanamo.

“I continue to believe that operating the facility weakens our national security by wasting resources, damaging our relationships with key allies, and strengthening our enemies,” he wrote. However, he claimed the need to sign the legislation, saying the demand for funding was “too great to ignore.” Obama issued a similar statement when signing the NDAA the previous year.

In fact, the NDAA authorizes funding for most Defense Department operations, but it is not essential for the US armed forces to function, Human Rights Watch said. It does not actually fund the Defense Department, but authorizes the allocation of appropriated funds. If Obama had vetoed the 2013 authorization act, last year’s NDAA authorization would still have been in effect. Four of five presidents preceding Obama vetoed a defense authorization act. …more

In silence, they occupy the central plazas of Ocosingo, San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Palenque, Altamirano and Las Margaritas. Later they disappear in an orderly way.

More than 40,000 Zapatistas Mobilize in 5 Chiapas Municipalities
Hermann Bellinghausen – 21 December, 2012 – edinchiapas.org.uk

More than 40,000 Zapatista support bases filed silently this morning in five Chiapas cities, which results in the most numerous mobilization of said organization since the Zapatista National Liberation Army’s (EZLN) armed uprising on January 1, 1994.

Coming from the five Zapatista Caracoles in the Lacandón Jungle, Los Altos and the Northern Zone, the Maya peoples in rebellion (Tzeltales, Tzotziles, Choles, Tojolabales and Mames) and Zoques of Chiapas occupied the central plazas of Ocosingo, San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Palenque, Altamirano and Las Margaritas; in each case, in complete silence.

At 6:30 in the morning, about 6,000 indigenous Zapatistas, the majority young, concentrated near the University of the Jungle, near the Toniná archaeological site. From there they marched to the central park of Ocosingo, where they stayed for a space of three hours in front of city hall, which the EZLN’s insurgents and milicianos took over with arms 19 years ago upon declaring war on the Mexican government.

On this occasion the action was civilian and peaceful, and the only ones that spoke were the raised left fists of all the Zapatistas, who filed in order onto a platform that they installed for that purpose. Toward 10:30 AM, the last of the demonstrators abandoned the plaza, on their way back to the Jungle.

In the same fashion, at the other plazas mentioned the Zapatistas placed platforms that all mobilization participants mounted with raised fist, in a parade of impressive brevity.

Some 20,000 Zapatista men and women paraded in San Cristóbal de Las Casas. According to reports, at least 7, 000 indigenous congregated in Las Margaritas, and 8, 000 in Palenque. The number in Altamirano is not known. According to the testimony of a transport worker (driver) from the zone of Ocosingo, double the number of indigenous that arrived in the municipal headquarters of Ocosingo could have left from the Caracol of La Garrucha, but there were not enough vehicles, therefore only 6,000 people were transported.

Intermittently, throughout recent weeks, the Enlace Zapatista electronic portal has been announcing “the word” of the EZLN’s Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee-General Command (Comité Clandestino Revolucionario Indígena, Comandancia General del EZLN), as well as of the Sixth Commission and International Sixth Commission. It is foreseen that these communications could be announced soon, but that has still not occurred.

On the date on which many unwary in the world believed that the world would end, according to the opportunist interpretation of the “prophesies” (in reality, mathematical calculations) of the ancient Mayas, the EZLN’s support base communities, belonging to the contemporary Maya peoples, which in their languages are named “true men,” with face covered carried out a powerful demonstration of power and discipline, perfectly formed under a persistent rain (unusual in this time of the year) that accompanied the mobilizations in the different localities all morning long.

Able to “appear” quickly, the indigenous rebels “disappeared” as neatly and silently as they had arrived in the early morning in this city that, two decades after the EZLN’s traumatic irruption here on New Years 1994, received them with bewilderment and curiosity, without any expression of rejection. Under the arches of city hall, which suspended its activities today, dozens of Ocosingoans congregated to photograph with cell phones and cameras the spectacular concentration of covered faces that filled the park like in a game of Tetris, advancing among the gardening with an order that seemed choreographed, to go up to the platform installed rapidly since early on, raising their fist and saying, silently, here we are; one more time. …source

Saudi society most ripe for change: Analyst
2 January, 2013 – Islamic Invitation Turkey

Political commentator Daoud Khairallah says the Saudi society is probably the most ripe for change and the people have the best chance to rise against their ruling regime now.

Khairallah, a professor of law at Georgetown University, told Press TV in an interview on Wednesday that Saudis desperately need institution of democracy and respect for human and civil rights.

“The Saudi society is in a bad need for that (democracy) and the ruling authority in Saudi Arabia is the least susceptible to changes like this.”

Khairallah stated that he would not be surprised to see “more repercussions” given the Saudi government’s incitement of sectarian violence across the kingdom.

As recently as Tuesday, people held demonstrations against the Al Saud regime in the holy city of Mecca and the central city of Buraidah. They called for the downfall of the royal family and demanded the release of political prisoners.

“Among all Arab societies, the Saudi society is the most ripe for change, the most anxious to have some kind of participatory government, some kind of respect of [for] human rights, some kind of respect for citizens’ rights, civil rights, some kind of control on corruption and what is happening with the Saudi wealth,” Khairallah noted.

Since February 2011, protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in Saudi Arabia, mainly in Qatif and the town of Awamiyah in Eastern Province, primarily calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination.

However, the demonstrations have turned into protests against the Al Saud regime, especially since November 2011, when security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in the province.

Amnesty International has called on Saudi authorities to stop using excessive force against the protesters.

According to Human Rights Watch, the Saudi regime routinely represses expression critical of the government. …source

FSA can make chemical weapons in Syria: FSA member
3 January, 2013 – Islamic Invitation Turkey

tahmasebi20130102233244483A member of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) says the militant group has the ability to produce chemical weapons.

Bassam al-Dada, a political adviser to the FSA, made the remarks in an interview with Turkey’s state-run Anatolia news agency on Wednesday.

Dada stated that the group would use chemical weapons if necessary, and would use them only against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“If we ever use them, we will only hit the regime’s bases and centers,” he was quoted as saying.

He also stated that the know-how comes from defected army officers.

On December 23, 2012, a commander of the Syrian Presidential Guard said that seven Syrian soldiers were killed after they were attacked by chemical weapons, which produced a toxic yellow gas.

Foreign-backed militants have repeatedly threatened to use chemical weapons against the army and pro-government civilians in recent days.

Earlier in the day, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the conflict in the Arab country has claimed over 60,000 lives since it began more than 21 months ago.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Damascus says outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists are the driving factor behind the unrest and deadly violence.

The Syrian government also says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the armed militants are foreign nationals. …more

Nicolas Sarkozy ordered the assassination of Hugo Chavez
Voltaire Network – Caracas (Venezuela) – 3 January 2013

The Venezuelan Minister of Correctional Services, Iris Varela, has announced on her Twitter account the expulsion of a French citizen known as Frédéric Laurent Bouquet, December 29, 2012

Mr. Bouquet had been arrested in Caracas on June 18, 2009, with three Dominican nationals in possession of an arsenal. In the apartment he had acquired, forensic police seized 500 grams of C4 explosives, 14 assault rifles including 5 with telescopic lenses, 5 with laser sighting and one with a silencer, special cables, 11 electronic detonators, 19,721 cartridges of different calibers, 3 machine guns, 4 hand guns of different calibers, 11 radios, 3 walkie talkies and a radio base, five 12-gauge shotguns, 2 bulletproof vests, 7 military uniforms, 8 grenades, one gas mask, one combat knife and 9 bottles of gunpowder.

During his trial, Mr. Bouquet admitted he had been trained in Israel and was an agent of French military intelligence service (DGSE). He admitted planning an attack to assassinate Constitutional President Hugo Chavez.

Mr. Bouquet had been sentenced to four years in prison for “illegal possession of weapons.” He served his sentence. He was taken from his cell by Ordinance No. 096-12 of trial judge Yulismar Jaime, then was expelled for “undermining national security” under Article 39 paragraph 4 of the Migration and Foreigners Act. …more

Israel arresting Palestinians to preempt uprising: security
3 January, 2013 – By Steve Weizman – Agence France Presse

JERUSALEM: Israel plans to step up arrests of suspected militants in the occupied West Bank to prevent a rising tide of low-intensity conflict and civil unrest from turning into an uprising, security sources say.

“There is a certain (Palestinian) awakening,” one source told AFP.

“As a consequence a decision was taken within the security establishment to increase intelligence activity and arrests among members of Hamas or activists against Israel,” he added. “It started in the past few days and will increase.”

Recent events, however, suggest that such a policy could backfire.

On Tuesday, undercover Israeli troops attempting to arrest a suspected Islamic Jihad militant were pelted with rocks by an angry crowd.

The squad made their arrest, but Palestinian security sources said dozens were lightly injured when soldiers fired rubber bullets, live rounds and tear gas at their attackers.

Israeli public radio’s military affairs reporter quoted military sources on Wednesday as saying the arrest operation was routine, but the Palestinian response was anything but so.

“What is exceptional is the grave disturbances,” she quoted her sources as saying. “An operation like this would not in the past have brought disturbances of this kind.”

“There is a certain rise in disturbances in the territories but talk of a third intifada is premature,” she added.

Earlier this month, troops in a southern West bank village were forced to abort an attempt to arrest a Palestinian policeman suspected of militant activity when crowds of local residents pelted them with rocks.

They seized the man later at a military checkpoint near Hebron.

The Palestinians have twice risen up against their Israeli occupiers in so-called intifadas (uprisings) — in December 1987 and September 2000.

But neither movement succeeded in ending the Israeli occupation of the West Bank that began in 1967. Now, with direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians on hold since September 2010, observers have raised the spectre of a third uprising breaking out.

Ghassan Khatib, a veteran of the first intifada, who later became a Palestinian cabinet minister and now teaches at the West Bank’s Birzeit University, does not see a guiding hand in the current round of clashes.

He considers as “spontaneous” the daily confrontations between Palestinian farmers and Jewish settlers, the hurling of rocks and petrol bombs at Israeli motorists in Palestinian areas and the clashes with troops.

“I don’t think that it can be connected to any specific event; it’s been building up gradually,” he told AFP.

“I think it’s a result of the dangerous combination of a complete absence of any political horizon together with serious economic and financial crisis that is leading to increased unemployment and poverty,” he added, noting an increase in settlement activity.

“In my view the situation is not sustainable,” he said.

Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security service tied an upswing in clashes to November’s eight-day battle between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

“In response to the operation, Jerusalem and the (West Bank) also saw an increase in the level of violence,” Shin Bet said in its monthly summary for November.

It recorded 122 Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the West Bank, compared with 39 in October, and 44 incidents in Jerusalem, up from 31 the month before.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Palestinian youngsters seemed to be heavily involved in the unrest, which some Israeli media are already calling “a mini-intifada.”

“In general there’s been an increase in the number of incidents that have taken place, stone-throwing incidents as well as Molotov cocktails on the main highways,” he told AFP.

“The majority of incidents take place in the morning when Palestinian children are on their way to school and in the afternoon when Palestinian children are returning from school,” he said.
…source