Demonstration in downtown Detroit June 26, 2010

 P.O. Kata-Ante Taylor snatched Aiyana’s body from home despite her family’s pleas; he previously executed teen in 2008, not charged in either case

Federalist Society member WCCC Judge Timothy Kenny was “one-man grand juror” for Weekly, A&E photographer

WCCC Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway, married to a law enforcement officer, is to preside over their trials 

By Diane Bukowski 

Oct. 21, 2011 

Killer kop Kata-Ante Taylor

DETROIT – Killer cop Kata-Ante Taylor was the officer who snatched Aiyana Stanley-Jones away from her family after she was shot in the head by Detroit cop Joseph Weekly May 16, 2010. Taylor ran the child out of her home “like a rag doll,” in the words of Attorney Geoffrey Fieger, thus depriving Aiyana in the last moments of her conscious life from being held by family members who loved her. 

Attorney Jonathan Marko of the law firm of Fieger, Fieger, Kenney and Giroux, P.C.. who represents Aiyana’s parents in a civil lawsuit against Weekly, provided this information to VOD. He said he has taken depositions of several of the other officers involved in the raid, but cannot release any other details at this point because the process is still ongoing. 

Artrell Dickerson, 18 at time of death

Taylor and his partner Aubrey Wade shot 18-year-old Artrell Dickerson to death as he ran from them after a friend’s funeral at the Cantrell Funeral Home on Mack in Detroit, in 2008. (Click on http://michigancitizen.com/police-executed-teen-at-funeral-say-witnesses-p4173-1.htm to read article by this reporter.) No charges were ever brought against them, despite the fact that eyewitnesses said the cops shot the teen in the back as he lay on the ground, already wounded. 

“One officer stood over him and executed him,” a relative of the family of 24-year-old Dontell Martin, who was being buried that day, said at the time.  “I saw this because I was on the street corner watching. There was no gun nowhere near him. His hands were visible, he was face down, and the officer shot three times. He executed that boy. He didn’t have to do him like that. All he had to do was put handcuffs on him.” 

Worthy’s treatment of killer kops, Aiyana’s dad, differs drastically  

Joseph Weekly, Aiyana Jones, depiction of killing after second autopsy

This new revelation starkly illustrates the disparity between Worthy’s treatment of Aiyana’s father and that of killer cops Weekly, Taylor and the police command involved. 

She directly brought first-degree murder charges against Jones in the killing of Je’rean Blake May 14, for “aiding and abetting” defendant Chauncey Owens, not for shooting Blake. But she brought no “aiding and abetting” charges against Taylor or other Detroit police involved in Aiyana’s death. 

Heckler & Koch MP5, gun indictment says Weekly used to kill 7-year-old Aiyana

“Are they going to charge the cops that threw the flash bomb and the ones that tried to cover it up?” Aiyana’s grandmother Mertilla Jones asked Oct. 5 after her son was arraigned. 

Ducking police criticism which has come anyway, Worthy said she used a “one-man grand jury” to bring only involuntary manslaughter and reckless use of a firearm charges against Weekly, the actual shooter. Allison Howard, a  photographer with A&E’s “The First 48,” faces perjury and obstruction of justice charges. She is allegedly the only person on the TV show’s crew who had enough compassion for the family to show the video to Attorney Fieger. 

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy

Weekly was released on a $100,000 personal bond, Howard on a 10 percent $50,000 cash bond, while Jones was remanded to jail without bond. 

Weekly and Howard will not have a preliminary exam in 36^th District Court under the grand jury proceeding, but will first appear before Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway Friday, Nov. 11 for a “calendar conference.” 

Jones’ preliminary exam is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 18. He will be represented in his criminal case by Fieger’s firm, which asked for time for discovery before the exam. 

Worthy claimed that under state law she cannot comment on the alleged “grand jury” proceedings which resulted in charges against Weekly and Howard. 

Federalist Society member WCCC Judge Timothy Kenny was “one-man grand juror” 

WCCC Judge Timothy Kenny, "one-man grand juror"

However, a review of the court files for the two shows that Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Timothy Kenny, who is presiding judge of the Criminal Division, brought the “grand jury indictment” Oct. 4. There is a separate case file for the “grand jury” proceedings, #11-501-GJ, but Kenny told VOD that the file is not open for public review. 

Kenny is a member of the Federalist Society, “a well established network of right-wing lawyers, politicians, pundits, and judges [who] advocate a rollback of civil rights measures, reproductive choice, labor and employment regulations, and environmental protections,” according to “Right Wing Watch.” 

Howard’s indictment for perjury says that on May 21, 2010, she “testified that she did not show third parties the video recording, and/or that she did not provide third parties with copies of the said video recording,” and that that “slowed the investigation.” 

Allison Howard at arraignment

It further states that she “committed the crime of obstruction of justice by providing false testimony under oath at an Investigative Subpoena requiring redirection and expenditure of law enforcement resources to uncover the falsity of the testimony and the truth of the underlying matter.” 

Marko said a video he alluded to in the civil proceedings which is in the Fieger firm’s possession is not the A&E video, but another murky film that was shot from a distance away. 

What does “The First 48” lead to? Former First 48 Detroit cop Ed Williams shot and killed himself and wife Patricia

Worthy’s media representative, Assistant Prosecutor Maria Miller, said she could not comment on the date testimony was taken by the “grand juror.” Worthy had announced shortly after Aiyana’s killing that she was turning the investigation over to the Michigan State Police. It is thus unclear WHO took her allegedly perjured testimony May 21, 2010. 

During the civil suit, it was “The First 48” TV series and its producer Kirkstall Rd. Enterprises of New York who refused to provide their videotapes of the Jones homes raid.  However, no corporate representatives have been charged with “obstruction of justice.” It is unknown whether the A&E tape is in the prosecutor’s possession. 

Abbe Raven, CEO of A&E: why isn't she charged for "wantonly" causing Aiyana's murder for the sake of profit?

Weekly’s indictment for involuntary manslaughter and reckless use of a firearm says he “did because of carelessness, recklessness, or negligence but not willfully or wantonly cause or allow a certain firearm under his/her immediate control, to wit, a 9 mm. submachine gun, to be discharged so as to kill another person.” 

The phrasing leaves open the opportunity for his defense to claim, as have city attorneys in the civil suit, that Mertilla Jones caused the gun to go off by having contact with Weekly, a charge she has vehemently denied. 

Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway, married to cop, to preside over Weekly trial  

Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway with husband DeWayne Hayes

Whether Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway was picked by blind draw to preside over Weekly’s and Howard’s trials is another matter open to question. 

According to her official biography, “Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway is married to Rev. DeWayne R. Hayes, Wayne County Deputy Sheriff and Founder of The DeWayne R. Hayes Law Enforcement Officers and Youths Support Foundation. 

The State of Michigan “business entity” site listed the foundation is listed as a non-profit corporation created first in 2008 and dissolved, then re-created in 2009. There are however no tax returns or other financial statements available for it on guidestar.org, which receives documents for non-profits from the IRS. 

Gray Hathaway is divorced for WCCC Judge Michael Hathaway but has maintained the well-known Hathaway name, likely  for electoral purposes. 

Jason Gibson with his attorney Susan Reed in Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway's court

Hathaway presided over the trial of Jason Gibson in March for the killing of police officer Brian Huff in May, 2010, and the wounding of three other cops. The improbable scenario presented at that trial was that Gibson shot Huff in the living room of what many believed to be a drug house operated by the police. 

Cops testified he then jumped out on the front porch, gun blazing, and shot three other cops, among dozens who were aiming their guns at him. Mysteriously, Gibson ended up with only one bullet in his buttock, rather than shot dozens of times as normally would have been the case. 

Hathaway facilitated the guilty verdict by allowing the testimony of   police officers involved in two prior arrests of Gibson, in 2007 and 2009, over the strenuous objections of his attorney. 

Gibson had never even been tried and convicted in the second case. VOD interviewed eyewitnesses to the second arrest who completely contradicted the cops’ testimony. (Click on http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/03/22/%e2%80%9cfree-jay-bird-gibson-trial-continues-mar-15-18-wrap-up-due-mar-22/ .) 

The City of Detroit has fought Aiyana’s parents’ lawsuit every inch of the way. Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Daphne Means Curtis shot down Weekley’s request to seal all materials related to the suit Sept. 1. (http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/09/02/judge-shoots-down-killer-cop%e2%80%99s-request-to-seal-file/) 

 On Oct. 11, she denied Weekley’s motion to stay proceedings pending the outcome of criminal charges against both himself and Aiyana’s father Charles Jones. (http://detnews.com/article/20111011/METRO01/110110393/Judge-won’t-halt-research-into-wrongful-death-lawsuit-in-Aiyana-case#ixzz1aUzYZMfD.)

Means-Curtis sealed depositions of both Weekly and Jones in the civil proceedings. The family’s brief contended, “Charles Jones’ criminal proceeding has absolutely nothing to do with how and why Defendant Weekly shot Aiyana. This Court should recall that it already ruled Charles Jones’ conduct was not relevant to the gross negligence claim in this case. . . This court should not allow the City to dictate the direction of this action through nothing less than executive fiat.”

Hillary Clinton called for execution of Qaddafi

by Quoriana

During a meeting with members of the NATO-rebels’ TNC in Libya on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington wants to see Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi captured or killed.

In a comment on Clinton’s bloodthirsty statement, Professor Paul Sheldon Foote from the California State University explains that the Obama administration believes this killing would be a justified one:

“Warmongers in the Obama administration will argue that Gaddafi is a former leader and therefore he’s fair game. Don’t forget who Hillary Clinton is. In 2008 as a candidate for president she threatened to kill every man, woman and child and turn Iran into a waste basket.”

U.S. Pres. Barack Obama behind the execution of Col. Qaddafi and the devastation of Libya and its poeple.

Foote says that behind this unannounced visit there is the desire of the Obama administration to put some American ‘fingerprints’ on the so-called ‘success’ of NATO in Libya.

“In addition to saying that they’ve killed Bin Laden, they want to say next year in Obama’s campaign for re-election that they’ve brought a great ‘victory’ in Libya,” he says.

Keith Harmon Snow, a war correspondent and independent investigator, says that killing Gaddafi would be an illegal targeted assassination and that there is obviously a hidden agenda behind Hillary Clinton’s apparently spontaneous visit.

“There is a lot of fighting in Libya at present and almost everything we’ve been told, everything we’ve seen, is false. We are getting just a complete propaganda story of what’s going on in Libya,” he says.

“Why is she there? Clearly to make it look to the American public like the U.S. is in absolute control of Libya. Cover up the atrocities, put a white, clean, shiny, happy, lovely face on the death and destruction.”

However, judging by comments, few are those who would think Hillary Clinton herself has a white, clean, shiny, happy, lovely face. Typical of comments on Pan-African websites are hostile reactions to her call, such as the below (with spelling corrections):

“Yes Hillary Clinton was courageous enough to call for the death of an African Hero. Now we will see between her and Qaddafi who will be dead the first. She just called for her own death as well. Qaddafi is not Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden. Qaddafi is an African Hero and our Leader. Hillary just called for her own death. I know she is a monster as Samantha Powell told us. But she crossed the red line. She must count her days from now. She will be killed before she killed Qaddafi. The African Muslim Ummah just issued a fatwa for her death. Yes African people will never let her get away with this call. She did not see the protest movement in Mali lately…”

The commenter was referencing this protest in Mali, with similar taking place across other parts of Africa but going largely unreported.

Not only are African citizens venting their anger in online posts and mass demonstrations but also some European media that are outside the clutches of the warmongers, such as Russia’s collective publication Pravda, are responding vehemently against the ugly persona of Clinton.

In Wicked Witch of the West goes to Libya, Lisa Karpov asks from the USA:

Does the female have sufficient gray matter to realize that what she hopes about Gaddafi, millions of people around the world also express the same hope about her and her filthy, genocidal cohorts? – Source

Contains Mathaba Editing of a Russia Today article.

About Quoriana

Visit Quoriana on twitter or at www.eccleza.net.

http://www.mathaba.net/news/libya

Drones kill Somalians as Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama celebrates

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
Tue, 10/18/2011 – 20:53

“The overlapping entanglements have allowed the U.S. military to achieve deep penetration of the armed forces of most African nations.”

Africa, under President Obama, is an expanding theater of war for the United States. There are few points on the African map where the U.S. military does not operate, independently, through proxies, or by agreement with local governments and militaries. AFRICOM has penetrated the armed forces of the continent to a degree no single European power could have ever aspired. Indeed, “the U.S. has so thoroughly infiltrated African armies, many, if not most, would be of no use for national defense against the Americans.”

Scores of Somali civilians have been killed in U.S. drone attacks in the southern region of the country, as Washington tightens its military grip on much of the continent. The current offensive involves thousands of Kenyan troops that are threatening the major Somali city of Kismayo. The American drones are supporting the Kenyan invasion. The drones’ origins are officially secret, but it is known that the U.S. operates drone bases in Ethiopia and Djibouti, which is home to a huge American base.

For all practical purposes, the U.S. has made proxies of Ethiopia and the five member states of the East African Community: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda. The Ugandans and Burundians safeguard the airport that is the lifeline for Somalia’s puppet regime in Mogadishu, where the CIA operates a major facility. In September, the militaries of the East African Community held joint exercises with AFRICOM, the U.S. Africa Command.

Such exercises with American forces have become commonplace. The U.S. Defense Department is busily training the militaries of Mali, Chad, Niger, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Gabon, Zambia, Uganda, Senegal, Mozambique, Ghana, Malawi, and Mauretania. ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, is considering asking the U.S. navy to help it out with its pirate problem. Most of the militaries of the African Union already communicate with American command-and-control equipment, requiring U.S. advisors. The overlapping entanglements have allowed the U.S. military to achieve deep penetration of the armed forces of most African nations.

“Most of the militaries of the African Union already communicate with American command-and-control equipment.”

In such a web of dependency, few standing African armies are capable of defending themselves – if the aggressor is the United States. But in most cases, the U.S. would likely get its way without a fight, since the officer class of so many African militaries have direct ties with their American counterparts. The U.S. has so thoroughly infiltrated African armies, many, if not most, would be of no use for national defense against the Americans.
The Americans are almost everywhere, but the French never left Africa. Although France and the U.S. were longtime rivals in Africa, waging proxy wars against each other through their African flunkies, their joint actions against Haiti and Libya, and in bringing down the government in the Ivory Coast, signal that the French and Americans are full partners in neocolonialism.

Now President Obama has officially sent 100 U.S. Special Forces troops to Uganda and neighboring countries, (click on http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/10/18/obama-sends-us-troops-to-uganda/) ostensibly to track down a rebel force. They will also operate in the new nation of South Sudan.

Meanwhile, the NATO attack on Libya threatens to set the whole northern tier of Africa ablaze, a pretext for further U.S. and French operations. American penetration of Africa has reached the point that any nation – such as Eritrea – that does not have a military relationship with the United States is marked for regime change. Instead of the pan-Africanist dream of a United States of Africa, we are seeing an Africa under the military thumb of the United States. For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to http://BlackAgendaReport.com.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com

Black Libyans captured in Sirte

The Black defenders of Sirte and Bani Walid fight like lions because they have no choice

By Glen Ford

Both NATO and their Libyan rebel surrogates express wonder at the fact that loyalist forces continue to fight so fiercely in the contested cities of Sirte and Bani Walid, despite being vastly outnumbered on the ground and unceasingly pummeled from above by the world’s largest air armada. But one look at a picture of Gaddafi loyalist prisoners, captured at a hospital in Sirte, tells the story: they are all Black. The assault on Libya has largely devolved into a race war, and the Black soldiers are fighting for survival against the world’s biggest lynch mob, armed to the teeth by the United States and Europe.

Bulldozer in Tawergha digging mass grave

Where are the people of Tawergha, the mostly Black Libyan city that was wiped from the face of the earth by the rebels? Many of those who were not killed or captured have clearly made their way to Sirte and Bani Walid, to make a last stand against the racist killers that westerners like Amy Goodman, of Democracy Now! call “revolutionaries.” The rebels are brazen – absolutely without shame – in their determination to cleanse Libya of its Black population. They are like Arab Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, backed by a European and American air force, a racist militia whose fighters have vowed to “purge Black skin” and who scrawl the Arabic equivalent of “nigger” on the homes of their vanquished Black countrymen.

Their rationalizations for ethnic cleansing and summary executions of Black prisoners are quite familiar to the American ear, identical to our own practitioners of White Terror. The Tawerghans raped women, the rebels claim, even as international observers report that it is the rebels and the riff-raff that surrounds them who have systematically raped and captured Black girls and women. The Tawerghans, say the rebels, tried to “slaughter all the Misuratans” – and “this is something they have to answer for.”

Many of those who were not killed or captured have clearly made their way to Sirte and Bani Walid, to make a last stand against the racist killers.

Of course, the town of Tawurgha, with only 30,000 mostly Black Libyan citizens, could not possibly have terrorized Misurata, the third biggest city in the country, 25 miles away. But racists always claim to be the victims of crimes in which they, themselves, specialize. So, the Tawurghans – standing in for all Blacks – are labeled rapists, to justify the racist rampages of the Misurata Brigade.

According to a report by none other than the Voice of America, one-third of all prisoners of the rebels are Black. And they appear to be the lucky ones. The captured Tuwarghan men are nowhere to be found, an indication that the rebels don’t give them a chance to surrender, or keep them long after they do. Wounded Blacks that have made their way to hospitals are snatched from their beds, to an unknown fate.

NATO says it will keep bombing until the last resistance to their Libyan rebel surrogates, is crushed. That appears to mean, until the last free Black men in Libya are captured or killed, their families caged at the mercy of racist brutes and sexual marauders. Black civilians are clearly not the kind of people that the Euro-Americans had in mind, when they claimed to be on a mission to protect civilians.

No wonder, then, that the defenders of Sirte and Bani Walid fight like lions, against all odds. They are heroes, but they also have no choice. The racist death squads will have no mercy. Black skin will be purged, Black women raped and then killed. The First Black President of the United States has unleashed a hell on Black Libya. No decent person can ever forgive him.

http://www.mathaba.net/news/libya

Tens of thousands of people take a part in a demonstration in Puerta del Sol square in Madrid on Saturday, part of the global movement against corporate greed. Photograph: Arturo Rodriguez/AP

‘Occupy’ anti-capitalism protests spread around the world

Thousands march in Rome, Sydney and Madrid as Occupy Wall Street protests go global

• Adam Gabbatt in New York, Mark Townsend and Lisa O’Carroll in London
•  guardian.co.uk, Saturday 15 October 2011 16.26 EDT

Protests inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York and the “Indignants” in Spain have spread to cities around the world.

Tens of thousands went on the march in New York, London, Frankfurt, Madrid, Rome, Sydney and Hong Kong as organisers aimed to “initiate global change” against capitalism and austerity measures.

There were extraordinary scenes in New York where at least 10,000 protesters took their message from the outpost of Zuccotti Park into the heart of the city, thronging into Times Square.

Only 36 hours earlier, police were preparing to evict the protest from Zuccotti Park. On Saturday they escorted thousands of marchers all day as they made their way uptown through Manhattan, and looked on as they held a rally at a New York landmark.

Occupy Wall Street protesters take part in a demonstration at Times Square in New York/Photo:Eduardo Munoz /Reuters

Dave Bonan, who was at Occupy Wall Street on the first day of the protest a month ago, said it was “a little surreal” that the protest had spread. “I didn’t expect it to last more than 15 minutes,” he said. “The fact it lasted more than a day inspired people all over the world to capitalise – no pun intended – on our success.”

In Madrid, tens of thousands of people take a part in a demonstration in Puerta del Sol square in Madrid, home of the “Indignants” movement, which has been building through the summer as Spain’s economy faltered. 

 John Domokos and Mustafa Khalili video of London protest at http://gu.com/p/32kxv.

 In London, dusk fell on more than 2,000 protesters assembled in front of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, earlier addressed by the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Protesters who are part of the "Indignants" movement based in Madrid burned police cars and otherwise rose up in defiance

There was civil unrest in Rome, where police turned teargas and water cannon on the crowds. Smoke hung over Rome as a small group broke away from the main demonstration and smashed windows, set cars on fire and assaulted television news crews. Others burned Italian and EU flags. “People of Europe: Rise Up!” read one banner in Rome. Fights broke out and bottles were thrown between demonstrators as some tried to stop the violence.

Occupy solidarity demonstration in Berlin, Germany October 15 AP photo

In Germany, about 4,000 people marched through the streets of Berlin, with banners calling for an end to capitalism. Some scuffled with police as they tried to get near parliamentary buildings. In Frankfurt, continental Europe’s financial capital, some 5,000 people protested in front of the European Central Bank.

In the Bosnian city of Sarajevo, marchers carried pictures of Che Guevara and old communist flags that read “Death to capitalism, freedom to the people”.

Another 500 people gathered at a peaceful rally in Stockholm, holding up red flags and banners that read “We are the 99%” – a reference to the richest 1% of the world’s population who control its assets while billions live in poverty.

“There are those who say the system is broke. It’s not,” trade union activist Bilbo Goransson shouted into a megaphone. “That’s how it was built. It is there to make rich people richer.”

Occupy Manila, Philippines

Asian nations, where the fallout from the banking crisis has been less severe, saw less well attended protests – 100 turned out in the Philippines.

A group of 100 prominent authors including Salman Rushdie, Neil Gaiman and Pulitzer prize-winning novelists Jennifer Egan and Michael Cunningham signed an online petition declaring their support for “Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy movement around the world”.

Occupy Sydney, Australia

Police in London made seven arrests and contained the crowd near St Paul’s. Assange made a dramatic appearance, bursting through the police lines just after 2.30pm, accompanied by scores of supporters.

Occupy Stockholm, Sweden

To clapping and some booing, he climbed the cathedral steps to condemn “greed” and “corruption”. In particular he attacked the City of London, accusing its financiers of money laundering and tax avoidance. “The banking system in London is the recipient of corrupt money,” he said, adding that WikiLeaks would launch a campaign against financial institutions.

Occupy Lisbon, Portugal

Assange is on bail as he fights extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over claims of rape and sexual molestation made by two women.

Police in New York said they made 70 arrests. These were mostly at two flashpoints: 42 were detained near Times Square when attempts to disperse a crowd led to confusion; 24 Citibank customers who attempted to close their accounts in protest were led away for trespass after they opposed an order by the branch manager for them to leave.

Barbara Quist, 67, was pushed around by police in Times Square. Quist, who used to work in the pharmaceutical industry but described herself as unemployed, said the treatment would not put her off further action. “I’m just another person that’s just been run over by capitalism and greed.”

Ethan McGarry, 18, who had travelled to New York from Boston for the day, said it was “fantastic” how the occupy movement had spread. “People identify with us, then hey will find reasons in their own community for action.”

Lauren Zygmont had travelled from the Occupy Denver protest to New York a week ago ago. “Borders don’t matter at all,” she said. “Were all human beings, were all in this together. This is a global movement.”

World news

• Occupy movement ·
• Occupy Wall Street ·
• Italy ·
• Spain

UK news

• Occupy London

Business

• Financial crisis ·
• Global recession · 

More on this story

• Occupy Wall Street: second senior NYPD officers faces investigation
• Occupy Wall Street: protests spread around the world
• Occupy protests around the world: full list visualised
• Occupy Wall Street assault: lawyer demands action on policeman’s punch
• Occupy Wall Street protesters claim victory in Zuccotti Park standoff
• Occupy London protest: on the steps of St Paul’s cathedral
• Occupy the London Stock Exchange protest
• Occupy movement goes global
• Occupy London

Occupy Athens, Greece in Syntagma Square Oct. 15; the country is in the throes of mass strikes and walk-outs over austerity measures

Rampage, tear gas in Rome

Alessandro Bianchi  /  Reuters

October 15, 2011  

Hundreds of hooded, masked protesters rampaged through Rome in some of the worst violence in the Italian capital for years Saturday, torching cars and breaking windows during a larger peaceful protest against elites blamed for the economic downturn. 

Police repeatedly fired tear gas and water cannon in attempts to disperse them but the clashes with a minority of violent demonstrators stretched into the evening, hours after tens of thousands of people in Rome joined a global “day of rage” against bankers and politicians.  

Smoke rose over many parts of the neighborhood between the Colosseum and St John’s Basilica, forcing many residents and peaceful demonstrators to run into buildings and churches for shelter as militant protesters ran wild. 

After police managed to push the well-organized radicals away from the St. John’s area, they ravaged a major thoroughfare, the Via Merulana — building barricades with garbage cans and setting the netting of the scaffolding of a building on fire. 

Athens: protesters call for world revolution to overthrow the global capitalist system

Discontent is smoldering in Italy over high unemployment, political paralysis and 60 billion euros ($83 billion) of austerity measures that have raised taxes and the cost of health care.

The violence at times resembled urban guerrilla warfare as protesters hurled rocks, bottles and fireworks at police, who responded by repeatedly charging the demonstrators. 

Around 70 people were injured, according to news reports, including one man who tried to stop the protesters from throwing bottles. 

Protesters from France, Spain and Portugal participated in Occupy Paris Oct. 15

Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno blamed the violence on “a few thousand thugs from all over Italy, and possibly from all over Europe, who infiltrated the demonstration.” Some Rome museums were forced to close down and at least one theater canceled a show.

Protesters also set fire to a building, causing the roof to collapse, reports said. The Defense Ministry denied reports it was one of its offices. 

Premier Silvio Berlusconi called the violence a “worrying signal,” and added that the perpetrators “must be found and punished.” 

Occupy Seoul, South Korea

Berlusconi barely survived a confidence vote Friday, with many questioning his leadership. Italy’s debt burden is second only to Greece in the 17-nation eurozone and the country is rapidly becoming a focus of concern in Europe’s debt crisis.

At one point radicals surrounded a police van near St John’s Basilica, pelted it with rock and bottles, and set it on fire. The two occupants managed to escape, television footage showed. 

Occupy London

Some peaceful demonstrators also clashed with the militants and turned some of them over to police.

 A day of worldwid protests inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States began Saturday with the hundreds of people gathering in cities from Japan and South Korea to Australia. 

Organizers had hoped to see non-violent demonstrations in 951 cities in Asia, Europe, South America and Africa in addition to every state in the United States. 

Frankfurt

In continental Europe’s financial capital, some 5,000 people protested in front of the European Central Bank , while in London, around 500 people marched from St. Paul’s cathedral to the nearby stock exchange. 

A website called 15october.net urged the people of the world to “rise up” and “claim their rights and demand a true democracy.” 

“Now it is time for all of us to join in a global non violent protest. The ruling powers work for the benefit of just a few, ignoring the will of the vast majority and the human and environmental price we all have to pay. This intolerable situation must end,” the website says. 

Sydney
About 2,000 people, including representatives of Aboriginal groups, communists and trade unionists, protested outside the central Reserve Bank of Australia. 

“I think people want real democracy,” said Nick Carson, a spokesman for OccupyMelbourne.Org. “They don’t want corporate influence over their politicians. They want their politicians to be accountable.”

 The crowd cheered a speaker who shouted, “We’re sick of corporate greed! Big banks, big corporate power standing over us and taking away our rights!”

OCCUPY TOKYO JAPAN (below)

Occupy Detroit packs plaza in front of Coleman A. Young Municipal Center Oct. 14

Most diverse crowd of protesters seen in years

 By Diane Bukowski 

October 18, 2011 

DETROIT – Occupy Detroit hit the city like a thunderclap Oct. 14 as hundreds of marchers packed the plaza in front of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center chanting “The people united will never be defeated,” and “Bail out Detroit, not the banks.”  

Long-time schools activist and former board member Marie Thornton's sign demands moratorium on city's debt to banks

They brandished signs condemning foreclosures, DTE shut-offs, unemployment, public bank debt, corporate greed, U.S. wars, and the entire capitalist system.  Banners sponsored by Moratorium NOW! demanded that President Barack Obama issue executive orders establishing a national jobs program and banning foreclosures. 

“It’s not one thing, it’s everything!” one protester’s huge cardboard sign read. 

Numerous rank and file Detroiters from the Black community joined young white protesters new to the movement, as well as seniors, filling the sidewalks all the way to Grand Circus Park a mile away. There they began an occupation they said will last as long as possible, joining people in 900 cities across the country who have allied themselves with Occupy Wall Street. 

Marie Butler (l) campaigns against DTE shut-offs, street light elimination

“It’s always about the children,” said Marie Butler, a member of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization. “DTE turns our lights off at home, and they’ve dug up street light poles in Highland Park. We don’t have cars, the buses are late, it gets dark by 4 and 5 p.m. now. The children can be accosted going to school, their parents’ homes can be broken into. DTE could have given Highland Park a waiver with a plan to work out their debt. This is ridiculous.” 

Occupy Detroit wasted no time with plans to target those it says are enemies of the people, marching first on Bank of America Oct. 17 to demand that it declare a moratorium on foreclosures or face a mass demonstration Oct. 21. (See accompanying story.) 

Numerous other targets populate the area around Grand Circus Park, including the DTE headquarters on Bagley, the Detroit Water Board building on Randolph, and various court buildings. U.S. District Judge Sean Cox is poised to sever Detroit’s possession of its primary jewel, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, which serves 400 million customers in southeast Michigan, on Nov. 4. 

Marchers take the street; youths are joined by AFSCME Local 207 (Water Department) officer Mike Mulholland (behind man in blue jacket)

Detroit’s casino workers, who were on the verge of a strike over stalled contract negotiations, planned to rally at Campus Martius Oct. 19 at 5 p.m. Across the country, unions have joined Occupy Wall Street protests in a rejuvenation of the earlier mass occupations in the Midwest that they sponsored earlier this year. 

“This is long overdue,” Wallace Hoskins, a slot machine field service technician who works all over the state. “The people have been sleeping a long time, addicted to Facebook and video games, but it’s finally coming to a head. Detroit is the worst hit city in the country. I want to see a future for everyone. Even though I’m working, if I ignore this like nothing’s happening, then I’m a fool, because it’s going to come to my doorstep too.” 

Occupy the Hood leader Ifejohari Uhuru; instead of police (at right) occupying the hood, they want the people in control.

The occupation notably included many people like Hoskins, not the usual dedicated protesters from many organizations who have held the fort in smaller numbers for many years, but fresh new faces. 

Anne Kabel, a Southfield librarian, campaigned to keep libraries open. 

“Everything on both sides of the aisle is wrong,” she said, referring to the Democrats and Republicans. “They need to listen to the people who elected them.” 

Librarian Anne Kabel

As she was speaking, a contingent of Black youths sporting shirts demanding “Good Jobs Now,” and carrying signs declaring “Fight Racism,” positioned themselves in Grand Circus Park and  began a cadence of chants. 

“When I say good jobs, what do you say?” a leader of the group shouted. “Good jobs NOW,” the youths declared in unison, over and over. Many young people from the Black community were present at the protest, a heartening sign in a city that has been devastated by youth unemployment, government-sanctioned drug trafficking, police brutality, and violence triggered by the overwhelming lack of hope many young people experience. 

What do we want? Jobs! Good Jobs NOW!

Ifejohari Uhuru represented “Occupy the Hood,” a national movement that has sprung from Occupy Wall Street. 

“We began three weeks ago in solidarity with the Wall Street occupation,” she said. “We seek to encourage people of color to get involved. We have over 10,000 supporters now and have been joined by people like Cornel West and [U.S. Congresswoman] Maxine Waters.” 

Tax the Rich MORE

By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), a national organization largely composed of  Black students, has fought school closures, privatization, and state takeovers of Detroit Public Schools for years. They recently won a court victory against Michigan’s anti-affirmative action Proposal 2 and plan to rally at the University of Michigan Nov. 16 to oppose the state of Michigan’s appeal of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision.

Tabrion Joe was there with BAMN

They were present as well to welcome the addition of many other Black youths to the movement. 

Tabrion Joe, who has grown up with BAMN,  said he wished the marchers had taken Woodward as well as the sidewalks and Grand Circus Park. 

At one point, chanting, “Whose streets, our streets,” they began to do so, but were reined in both by Occupy Detroit marshals and Detroit police. Students who occupied Catherine Ferguson Academy in February took Woodward in during a march to Detroit Public Schools headquarters at the Fisher Building in April. 

A contingent of marchers carried signs opposing Proposal C, the city charter revision on Detroit’s ballot this November. 

Part of Vote NO on C contingent

“This represents a corporate takeover of the city of Detroit,” said Dempsey Addison, president of the Association of Professional and Technical Employees, representing city workers. “They are using the charter to take over and retrofit the city for their profits.”

A man who did not give his name but said he was born in India carried a sign decrying the fact that only 18,000 students graduated from medical schools in the U.S. last year. He blamed the American Medical Association, which he said deliberately limits the number of physicians in the country, despite the crying need in cities like Detroit for health care.

Occupy Detroit is online at Occupy Detroit: http://twitter.com/#/OccupyDetMI

Occupy the Hood: http://twitter.com/#OccupyTheHood

 Website: http://occupy.detroit.us  (in solidarity with http://www.occupytogether.org) 

Monetary donations to be sent to: https://www.wepay.com/donate/17751

 Physical donations to be sent to:

Workers World Party

5920 Second Ave.

Detroit, Michigan 48202 

Link for protesters rights from Detroit NLG  (which will be present for legal defense):

http://bit.ly/NLGdet

National Lawyers Guild – Detroit and Michigan Chapter

450 W. Fort St. Detroit, MI 48226

MORATORIUM NOW!

US Major General David Hogg inspects Ugandan troops/ Photo: 1st Lt. Ryan Sutherland

Nobel Peace Prize-President quietly opens 8th US battlefront

By Tony Cartalucci  www.mathaba.net/news/?x=629005

October 16, 2011

While America occupies Iraq and Afghanistan, wages covert war on Pakistan, conducts drone attacks on Yemen and Somalia, bombards Libya, and positions for a wider confrontation with Iran and Syria, Nobel Peace Prize Laurette President Obama has now quietly, without much fanfare, sent 100 US troops to help Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni crush rebels threatening his 25 year dictatorship. 

In what is essentially a “reverse-Libyan-style” intervention, the US is sending troops to crush, not assist rebels rising up against their despotic ruler. Ironically, just as with Libya’s rebels, Uganda’s rebels are also listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the US State Department. Instead of the corporate-financier contrived International Criminal Court issuing fictitious warrants for Uganda’s head of state, as was done with Qaddafi in Libya, it is the Ugandan rebel leader, Joseph Kony, who is being targeted. 

Both the Ugandan government (with US assistance) and the rebels, known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), are accused of perpetrating heinous atrocities against their enemies and civilian populations in their decades long conflict. In particular, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has just recently presided over the mass murdering and displacement of 20,000 of his own people on behalf of British corporations who sought to construct tree plantations on their land. US and British military assistance and business deals with the Ugandan government have been a ubiquitous feature throughout Museveni’s perpetual, unending term as president. 

While mutilated victims of the LRA are just now being paraded in front of the public to frame the recent US troop deployment as another “humanitarian intervention,” it is more than likely that geopolitical aspirations, not humanitarian concerns, are driving this agenda. This is especially so considering just how equally abhorrent the Ugandan government’s human rights record is. 

First Natural Fire 10 flights arrive in Uganda – US Army Africa – 091011 from US Army Africa on Vimeo.

The LRA has often been harbored by the Sudanese government (now the South Sudanese government). Sudan has served as a proxy battlefield between the West and China for control over of its vast oil holdings and ultimately as part of a greater battle to control Africa’s resources. Sudan appears to have used the LRA as a sort of armed buffer between them and their neighbors, in particular, Uganda, ruled by an eager servant of the Anglo-American agenda. 

U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, daughters, on safari in Africa: hunting for new resources for faltering U.S. economy?

Surely, as Africa, a forsaken continent, is already written off in the minds of many Americans, little concern and few eyebrows will be lifted as their Nobel Peace Prize-wearing president sends yet more troops off to war there, in a global military expansion quickly and alarmingly approaching the scale and scope of Adolf Hitler’s expansion across Europe and Northern Africa during World War II. 

This is difficult to deny when the final tally is done – the United States is conducting either covert or overt military operations in at least 8 nations – Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, Iran, Libya, Pakistan, and now Uganda – and has 820 military installations in at least 135 countries. As Wall Street and London seek global hegemony, the price Americans pay as this tally grows will only increase. However far flung Uganda may seem, every inch of expansion by the globalists is one inch less for free humanity. 

Identify the corporate-financier interests engineering and driving this agenda, boycott and replace them. 

 

Why U.S. military in Uganda? Soros fingerprints all over it! Obama’s billionaire friend has interests in African country’s oil

Posted on October 15, 2011 at 1:50 PM EST

By Aaron Klein http://kleinonline.wnd.com/2011/10/15/212-4/

TEL AVIV — An influential “crisis management organization” that boasts billionaire George Soros as a member of its executive board recently recommended the U.S. deploy a special advisory military team to Uganda to help with operations and run an intelligence platform.

The president-emeritus of that organization, the International Crisis Group, is the principal author of Responsibility to Protect, the military doctrine used by Obama to justify the U.S.-led NATO campaign in Libya.

Soros’ own Open Society Institute is one of only three nongovernmental funders of the Global Centre for Responsibility to Protect, a doctrine that has been cited many times by activists urging intervention in Uganda.

Authors and advisers of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine, including a center founded and led by Samantha Power, the National Security Council special adviser to Obama on human rights, also helped to found the International Criminal Court. Continue reading →