International Newsletter #29J #occupyNewsLetter

Uprisings. The wave goes on: Sandstorm Friday in Sudan

Democracy. Pre and post-elections: Mexico, Egypt  and Greece

Housing. #stopeviction campaigns: anti-bankia actions across Spain, Sevilla, Minnesota  Occupy Homes

Repression against Occupy and solidarity actions: Pussy Riot in Russia, convicted in Italy 10 years after Genoa, London: #Xtrata16 court case

London:Climate Siren, London: Bread and Circuses

As Sudan approached its first week of continuous protests triggered by recently announced economic austerity measures, a country-wide call for protest was made for Friday (June 22) after prayers. The protest was called “Sandstorm Friday” and it asked citizens to move out of mosques into main streets and bridges.

Information is crucial in democracy. That is why thousands of protestors have been taking the streets against Televisa, Mexico’s main television network. The protestors claim that the network is manipulating information in favor of Peña

Nieto, the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) presidential candidate

Their claim is supported by wikileaks documents

Egyptians are clinging onto hopes that their first civilian president  will right Egypt’s political ship, as it veers off course into uncharted  and dangerous waters

Morsi from the Muslim Brotherhood has officially won Egypt’s presidential elections

The newly elected greek government is already falling apart. Firtly it gave rise to a wave of indignation because of the ties of the appointed finance minister to the banks

However the finance minister almost immediately resigned and was quickly followed by another member of the cabinet

The new finance minister was directly involved in Greece’s negociations to join the euro.

All  over the world banks have their huge financial debts repaid by taxpayer  money. But nothing can stop the banks when they are the creditors and  families can’t pay their mortgages. Because of the very same financial  crisis caused by the bank system, many workers have found themselves  unemployed and often can’t afford their mortgages anymore. In the last  year the occupy movement has organized actions under the #stopeviction  campaign to prevent the authorities to carry on the evictions

on  the 22 of june, about 40 activists staged a protest about Bankia,  asking for public money to be used to support families  under financial  stress

36  families are resisting in the occupied building La Utopía without water  and electricity. The building was left abandoned for several years. The  chairman of the company which owned the building is now under trial  with charges of corruptions, in one of the many scandals which followed  the bursting of the  spanish house bubble. Electricity and water have  been cut, despite the willingness of the occupiers to pay the bills

Over  the past months hundreds of activist, including neighbors and community  members, have been protecting 24/7 the Cruz family from the eviction  demanded by the PNC bank. On the 21 of June a national day of action  against PNC was organized

Pussy Riot is an Art-Protest punk band, specialized in performances to raise awareness about human rights, gender equality and democracy. Three alleged members of the group are currently detained in Russia and facing up to 7 years of jail for participating in a punk-prayer

Videos:  http://freepussyriot.org/video

Ten years after the G8 protest in Genoa in 2001, after the brutality of police repression, the death of Carlo Giuliani, the tortures in the Bolzaneto barracks and the beatings in the Diaz school, all the officers in charge at the time are continuing indisturbed their careers. Only 10 protestors, randomly picked among the tens of thousands which took the streets on those days, are under trial and facing a total of 100 years of imprisonment. Court to decide on the 13th of July. Solidarity call:

On 30 November 2011, Occupy London staged a highly memorable action with a banner drop from the roof of mining giant Xstrata?s London offices and sent a message to Mick Davis, CEO of Xstrata and the highest paid director of all FTSE 100.

Occupy London activists who were arrested that day were in court this week. The case will continue on August 6th and 7th.

More details on the action: http://occupylsx.org/?p=1755

Four members of the group Climate Siren, which included Occupy London supporters, chained themselves to Buckingham Palace gates on Saturday 23 June to highlight the biggest threat to our planet, climate change.

Protestors occupy property owned by Olympic Orbit designer Anish Kapoor and transform it, for one night, into a space for talks, art and music.

The protest wanted to highlight how the grand “Spectacles” occurring in London in 2012 are not only facilitating a hostile corporate assault on public space, right to protest, art and communities, but are also a clear attempt to distract the population from the austerity measures.