03/23/2012 Niel - O.T.R.O

INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER MARCH 9-16

News

dear all,
here’s this week’s international newsletter. hope you enjoy it 🙂
london international

INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER MARCH 9-16

1. Occupy NATO Action in Brussels, 1st April
2. InterOccupy calls for the week
3. Brazilian working group organising for 12M
4. 198 methods of non-violent action
5. Occupy London Corporations WG to focus on Xstrata and Glencore
6. March to Athens arrives in Greece
7. ESM protest in Amsterdam March 17
8. No to ACTA campaign continues
9. Invitation to Milan 4^th – 6^th of May
10. Call for a European Day of Action March 25th
11. Joint Social Conference, Brussels
12. Rio +20
13. Protesters in Chinese village vote in independent elections
14. Worldwide Hug March 21st
15. GA on Mumble on Saturday 17th – TODAY
16. Blockupy Frankfurt 17th – 19th May
17. 22nd of March: We are all Portuguese!
18. Occupy London joined student walkout March 14^th
19. Occupy Wall Street to start weekly marches to Wall Street
20. Occupy targets Bank of America
21. Police storms legal residence of Occupy Miami protesters
22. 12M in Russia
23. 12M in Chile

1. Occupy NATO Action in Brussels, 1st April

Sat01Apr – BRUSSELS – ‘Game Over’ Occupy NATO Headquarters:
A peace coalition known as the European Antimilitarist Network is planning a nonviolent humanitarian intervention at the NATO headquarters in Brussels this April 1st, 2012. This network of antimilitarist groups is fed up with NATO using the “humanitarian” excuses to justify aggressive military intervention in sovereign nations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cndYV4fLL98
http://www.activistpost.com/2012/03/

Organisers include group that was behind the march to Brussels last year: http://www.actionpourlapaix.be/

They will try to livestream the event 1^st of April: http://www.youtube.com/user/actionpourlapaix/videos

2. InterOccupy calls for the week

Interoccupy.org is a channel of communication between Gas, working groups and occupiers across the Occupy movement in the US. This site has a good summary of events.

3. Brazilian working group organising for 12M

https://www.facebook.com/groups/378641685480678/

https://n-1.cc/pg/groups/1176104/12m12-dia-de-ao-global/

(links in Portuguese, sorry)

4. 198 methods of non-violent action

http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations103a.html

5. Occupy London Corporations WG to focus on Xstrata and Glencore

The Corporations Group’s following Second Statement reached consensus at the London General Assembly on 10th March 2012

We live in a world where some people and corporations have more power and influence than entire nations. According to Forbes 500 magazine, 64% of the top 175 economic entities in 2011 were corporations. With its relentless pursuit of profit at all cost, the present corporate system fits the definition of a psychopath, driving the rapid destruction of our society and the natural environment.

Two of the worst corporate criminals, Xstrata and Glencore, are attempting to merge into one $90 billion commodities juggernaut. These companies have been accused of grossly unethical and illegal activities, such as complicity in the deaths of activists and indigenous peoples protesting against their mines, aggravated corruption and the theft of billions of dollars in revenue from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo etc. This “soiled wedding” must be stopped.

Occupy London Corporations Working Group is embarking on a full-scale offensive to bring these corporations to justice and end the increasing centralisation and capitalisation of multi-national corporate power. We call on all protesters and occupations around the world who have information or wish to be involved in this campaign to contact us at corporationswg@gmail.com

Upon request we are happy to maintain confidentiality over any material sent to us (alternative contact details can be set up once communicating with the above email address)

—————————————————————————————————–

Note: the above statement was endorsed by the London General Assembly on March 10th 2012 http://occupylsx.org/?cat=21 and is their second GA endorsed statement.

6. March to Athens arrives in Greece

March reaches Greece on the 15^th of March and will arrive in Athens the 5^th of April.

http://www.march2athens.tk/2012/03/13/march-arrives-in-greece/

7. ESM protest in Amsterdam March 17

Facebook event in Dutch: https://www.facebook.com/events/302843316446302/

If you don’t know what ESM is, you’d better find out 😉 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Stability_Mechanism

8. No to ACTA campaign continues

As you may know, the european Commission has decided to ask the European court of justice (ECJ) if ACTA is compatible with the EU treaties. It is clearly a way to save time, and this have been confirmed when La Quadrature visited the européan Parliament, where we have been told that if ACTA was voted now, it would be rejected.

The Commission is trying to bring the EP in that strategy, probably to “legitimize” its move. If the EP falls in this trap, the ACTA procedure will be postponed for one or two years, a perfect timing to defuse thedebate and make ACTA come back through back door.

It is absolutely necessary that you call your representative at the EP and ask them to NOT seize the ECJ and, on the contrary, to keep working on a political analysis of ACTA.

We count on you !

The difference with previous call campaigns :
– This one targets each and every member of the European Parliament
– You now have the possibility to call your representatives for free : you can use the PiPhone : https://piphone.lqdn.fr/campaign/go/acta-mep-201203?setlang=en

To help you: https://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/ACTA:_to_keep_in_mind

Our last press release : http://www.laquadrature.net/en/dont-let-the-european-parliament-freeze-acta

Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any question, and to give us your feedback !

La Quadrature du Net: https://laquadrature.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/notoacta

9. Invitation to Milan 4^th – 6^th of May

INVITATION IN ITALY – MILAN, MAY 4th-6th

TO AN OPEN AND INCLUSIVE EUROPEAN SEMINAR
a contribution to reconnect resistance and alternatives
and to rebuild from below
a European public space

Dear all,

in such a dramatic moment for democracy and rights in our continent, we hope you will accept our “double” invitation to Italy for the coming months.

From the 4th to the 6th of may, we invite you to come to Milan for a European seminar, aiming to share our agendas of campaigns and mobilizations, to discuss about the common challenges and to start together the preparation of Florence 10+10. We are planning a meeting that gives us the chance to discuss and really deepen the issues, in terms of contents, methodology and promotion. We expect about 200 participants be involved.

Florence 10+10 will take place in November, on the 10th anniversary of the first European Social Forum in 2002. It is not intended as a celebration of the Florence ESF, but we hope it will offer a space – more and more urgent because of the deep economic, social and environmental crisis we are living in – to rebuild links, actions, thoughts, and to project together another Europe.

In the last ten years the social movements have been changing: sometimes weakened, other times renewed and strengthened; nevertheless they have been able to build up practices and campaigns aiming to dismantle the dangerous neoliberal system: the origin and cause of the current systemic crisis.

We wish Florence 10+10 will help the reconnection of struggles, resistances and alternatives and the re-building from below of a popular and democratic European public space.

We are facing one of the worst moments of the European history. Greece is the most dramatic example! EU austerity policies together with employers’ attacks to workers’ rights and employment aim to destroy democracy and rights in our continent.

Many networks and movements are going to promote meetings, conferences, and coordinate mobilizations and campaigns, In the next weeks and months, in order to provide answers to the demand of a common struggle and a common agenda in Europe.

It is an evidence of the need to reconnect our territorial, thematic, social and political, gender and generations differences, using plurality as a strength. Nobody can do it alone.

Florence 10+10 will be something new, if this very plural connection will succeed!

We will send you shortly the program of the seminar in Milan and the logistic details.

Now, save the date! From the 4th to the 6th of May in Milan.

In solidarity
The Italian Network for the World Social Forum
The promoting committee of Florence 10+10

(NOTE from editor: Please don’t confuse this with another invitation to Milan which is to the Hubmeeting March 30 – April 1: http://bcnhubmeeting.wordpress.com/)

10. Call for a European Day of Action March 25th

Call from Greece: http://realdemocracygr.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/greece-colony/

11. Joint Social Conference, Brussels

Invitation to a social conference in Brussels March 29th – 30th: http://www.jointsocialconference.eu/?lang=en

12. Rio +20

Some relevant dates and events around the theme of Rio +20 (http://rio20.net/en/)

14-17.3 Alternative World Water Forum (AWWF) – in French, the Forum Alternatif Mondial de l’Eau (FAME) http://www.fame2012.org/en, against privatization of water with preparation for movements against green economy/green capitalism towards Rio+20 as one theme

28.3 Change Now! and Danish TUC (LO) conference in Copenhagen on Green jobs, green growth against socially unjust austerity politics, http://gnbo.klimaforum.org/gnbo/the-initiative-change-now

29.3 Change Now! demonstration in Copenhagen at the EU financial summit

18-20.5 Scandinavian Rio+20 – Stockholm+40 conference in Gothenburg with participation from Peoples summit organizer, http://openfsm.net/projects/rio20/project-home

5.6 International action day for social and environmental justice against commodification of Nature

15-23.6 Peoples summit for social and environmental justice, Rio, http://cupuladospovos.org.br/en

18-20.6 G20 Summit, Los Cabos, Mexico

20-22.6 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio

13. Protesters in Chinese village vote in independent elections

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/world/asia/residents-vote-in-chinese-village-at-center-of-protest.html?_r=1

http://juanmerkader.blogspot.com/2011/12/wukan-el-15m-chino.html?spref=tw (in Spanish)

Background from last December:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/world/asia/local-chinese-officials-seek-to-end-village-revolt.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8954315/Inside-Wukan-the-Chinese-village-that-fought-back.html

14. Worldwide Hug March 21st

Join the worldwidehug on march 21st!

This is a call for the 15m, 15o, occupy and all other squares movements to join in with the Worldwide Hug!

On Wednesday, March 21 focus together on peace and unity in yourself. You can share your personal stories, sing, dance and meditate. Make a human chain, do free hugs or a flash mob in the streets!

We are all part of the collective consciousness, connecting everything with all. We are able to heal our planet and unite everybody with each other in peace and tolerance. So let us demonstrate our unity, showing our fellow-men that we are all One, no matter what kind of religion, race or culture we represent. We are able to love and respect each other.

Let’s show the world that Peace is possible. By opening the heart and show compassion, by doing instead of talking, by holding hands and hug from the heart. Because when you do that love will flow like sweet nectar. That is its only true purpose. That is the true meaning of the Worldwide Hug.

Send your message for peace into the world. Use a camera or webcam and be connected to a worldwide network of people who join the Worldwide Hug! In this way the togetherness will be even stronger.

We ask you to contact all your friends in the world in order to join a Worldwide Hug in their own place.

You can organize it as movement, group or solo: Every individual person can participate in the Worldwide Hug.

Just invite some friends on the streets, in your home, club, gallery or community center, in your city, town, neighborhood, living-room….

Please stream it on your own Livestream, Ustream, on your Occupy group, facebook, N-1, youtube or connect through www.facebook.com/groups/worldwidehug or skypegroup worldwidehug

The moment of the Worldwide Hug will be march 21st at 17:00 (5 pm) West European time in Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne and Rome. Simultaneously it will take place in Jerusalem (18:00), La Paz (12:00), Hiroshima (01:00 March 22nd), Australia. Do it in your timezone whenever it feels right or find out which time is in sync with the Europe Worldwide Hug and join us!

May Peace prevail on Earth

facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/245126968915254/

15. GA on Mumble on Saturday 17°

Dear comrades,

This is the friendly reminder about our next general meeting http://international.democraciarealya.es/12m/next-meeting/ will be held on Saturday March 17th at 19:00 UTC (UK time or GMT) on the DRY’s mumble server.

Here is how we connect: http://mumble.democraciarealya.es/index.php?lang=en The Channel is “ROUND TABLE” please join, you are all welcome.

You can access the summary of the last meeting that took place last night through this link:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c6PaxpERea-R6npynK7U57bybwNd6tQJEy0V6LmH4N8/edit?pli=1

The calendar of all future meetings: https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=dinamization12m15m%40gmai...

You can download the recording of our last meeting: http://dev.democraciarealya.es/12m-3m.zip

Please spread this information through all your mailing lists and contacts. Any doubt especially related to using mumble and the process, please email:dinamization12m15m@gmail.com we’ll be glad to help.

We will once more counting with the support of http://translatorbrigades.org/ for translation

In order to find your Local time for the meeting, please check: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

If you have no experience using mumble, please show up at least one hour in advance, we all be happy to help you with the set up/config/ sound check, and give you also some advice on basic participation rules. This way we will not be interrupting the Assembly.

Talking about the assembly: it would be great if we keep our interventions short, as we expect to be almost a hundred, we all need to have the chance to speak and the GA can not last too long (2-3 hours tops?).

Thank you!

16. Blockupy Frankfurt 17th – 19th May

The 400 participants of the Action Conference from February 24th to 26th in Frankfurt/ Main, Germany, have decided to call for days of protest from May 17th to 19th against the crisis dictatorship of the European Union. We resist the disaster that is applied to Greece and other countries, against the impoverishment and denial of rights of millions of people and the practical abolition of democratic procedures resulting from the decisions of the Troika consisting of ECB, EU and IMF.

The days of protest in Frankfurt directly succeed to the International Action Day on May 12th and the anniversary of the first assembly in Madrid on May 15th. We are therefore sending a visible sign of solidarity to those people in Europe who have been and are resisting against the debtocracy of the Troika and the attacks on their livelihood and their future. Simultaneously, protests are being organised in the US against the G8 Summit in Chicago.

The choice of Frankfurt for the protests results from the role that the city has as headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) and of powerful German and international banks and corporations.

On May 17, we will occupy parks and main squares of the city to create spaces for discussion and exchange. On May 18, we will block the running business of banks in Frankfurt and turn our anger about the Troika’s policies into action. We will gather for a large demonstration on May 19 and visualise the broad base of the protests.

From many countries and regions of the world people will travel to Frankfurt and participate in the days of protest.

The success of the protests requires a mobilisation that is actively supported by as many as possible. The period of mobilisation includes the European action day against capitalism on March 31st and international Mayday.

17. 22nd of March: We are all Portuguese!

Please fin below this call (with several translations) for mobilisations in solidarity with general strike in Portugal on the 22th of March (thanks to coorditrad and other translators for translations).

It is an initiative of the Portuguese from the movement 12 march in Paris (there will be a demonstration from the embassy of Portugal to the embassy of Greece), and the assembly of Paris supports it (as well as the collectif of Greek students and workers in Paris).

The international facebook page is here : http://www.facebook.com/events/340570839322920/ (where you can post events)

Thank you if you can spread it!

18. Occupy London joined student walkout March 14^th

“Wednesday (14 March) as thousands of students take part in a national day of walk-outs, Occupy London will join the NUS, NCAFC, ULU and many others, in solidarity.”

Before the student march in London, Occupy’s Tent City University organised a teach-out to discuss the future of Higher Education: http://occupylsx.org/?p=3907

19. Occupy Wall Street to start weekly marches to Wall Street

On Friday, March 16, 2012, at 2PM, Occupy Wall Street will converge in the streets once again and launch the first in a series of spring training marches from Liberty Square to Wall Street in preparation for May Day, a day of massive economic non-compliance and strike. These marches will occur weekly and will allow occupiers to practice various street tactics and theatrics. For the first march, participants are encouraged to wear athletic gear, don their game face, and prepare to make the 1% feel the burn!

occupywallst.org/article/weekly-marches-wall-street/