Politics

The call for Real Democracy Now led to campsites being formed in the largest squares of the largest cities of Spain with the name the “M-15 Movement” calling for a new democracy, political transparency and reform of the electoral law. Now the movement takes to the roads building a momentum of activism that will converge on Madrid on the 23rd of June.

There have been many expressions of non-violent protest by students which have spread via social networks. The educational crisis has manifested in several institutions which are on strike. Activities are expanding the debate on an issue which is one more symptom of a violent and inhuman system heading for total breakdown, with a crisis that is growing stronger every day.

After six years of non-violent struggle against the Israeli separating wall by the people of Bil’in, the army has begun to dismantle a section of the West Bank Wall. In turn, the demonstrations continue to pressure for a new route which will not separate farmers from their land.

On June 19th in Madrid, as in many other places, people gather to denounce and express their rejection of the many situations of economic violence they are being subjected to: the euro accord, cuts in health and education, corruption … The demonstration was cheerful and enthusiastic like all other multitudinous events of the 15M movement.

The resounding victory of “yes” to the referendum to repeal the privatization of water, the nuclear plants and a shameful law “ad personam” which would allow Berlusconi to not present himself at trials against him under the guise of a “legal impediment” was an act of civil disobedience, which involved 27 million Italians.

Here we publish a summary of the measures repealed by great majority during the Italian referendum.

Nuclear:

The repeal of the rules on nuclear power has prevented the installation of new plants in Italy, preventing a return to a kind of energy that had already been rejected in the referendum of 1987, shortly after the Chernobyl accident.

New Yorkers are escalating protests against austerity measures contained in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s latest budget. In a major protest Tuesday, thousands of New York City union members rallied at City Hall demanding an end to layoffs and cuts to social spending. Sam Coleman is a third grade teacher at a public school in Brooklyn.

In a referendum vote held on last Monday, 95 percent of Italians voted in favor of blocking a nuclear power revival in Italy. The vote comes less than a month after Germany announced it would phase out nuclear power over the next decade. Italians also voted against water privatization and against Belusconi’s special privileges.

More details have emerged today about the Obama administration’s plan to wage a secret war inside Yemen. In what the Wall Street Journal describes as a major expansion of the United States counterterrorism efforts in Yemen, the CIA is preparing to launch a complete secret program to kill al-Qaeda militants in the country.

A caravan of Mexican anti-violence protesters arrived in the United States over the weekend. Mexican poet, Javier Sicilia, led the traveling protest, which began last week south of Mexico City and ended in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday. Sicilia demanded the United States end the Merida Initiative, which provides training and support for the Mexican army in its “war on drugs.”