Scores of Civilians Shot Down, Including 43 Children at Gaza Great March of Return 80

PCHR Gaza: 95 Civilians Shot And Injured, Including 43 Children, At 80th Great March Of Return

by Staff - Imemc.org 

via Popular Resistance

October 31, 2019

In Gaza on Friday, 95 Palestinian civilians, including 43 children, a woman, 2 paramedics and a journalist, were shot and injured by Israeli forces, who fired live rounds against peaceful Palestinian protesters at the 80th Great March of Return. 

Photo: Imemc.org

Israeli forces continued to use excessive force against peaceful protesters, wounding 36 civilians with live bullets and shrapnel in addition to other injuries in the upper body due to direct targeting with rubber bullets and tear gas canisters.

Thousands of civilians took part in this week’s peaceful protests entitled: “For our Prisoners in Israeli Jails and al-Aqsa Mosque”, raising the Palestinian flag and chanting national slogans.

A Cowardly Press Averts Its Eye: The Taking of Max Blumenthal

Mainstream Journalists Who Refuse To Defend Dissident Journalists Are Worshippers Of Power

by Caitlin Johnstone - Rogue Journalist

October 31, 2019

Alternative media circles have been buzzing for the last two days ever since news broke about the arrest of Grayzone journalist Max Blumenthal, who was reportedly jailed for two days after a SWAT-style police team showed up threatening to break his door down last Friday.

Blumenthal is charged with simple assault alleged to have taken place five months ago during the notorious standoff when the US government was working to remove the official Venezuelan government from its DC embassy and replace it with diplomats from the Guaido-led puppet government it was attempting to force into power. Dissident journalists, including Blumenthal, stationed themselves in the embassy in opposition to the illegal eviction and to document the behavior of the evictors. Blumenthal calls the assault charge “a 100 percent false, fabricated, bogus, untrue, and malicious lie.”

I watched the news of the embassy standoff with much interest, largely because the obnoxious, oafish behavior of the anti-Maduro counter-protesters on the scene were a perfect reflection of the obnoxious, oafish behavior I’d experienced from anti-Maduro accounts online.

I’ve argued with every major political faction in America at one point or another, and some of them can be downright vile, but I’ve never run into such an intellectually dishonest, crude, nasty group of people in my three years on this job as those who’ve been cheering on the Trump administration’s regime change agenda in Venezuela.

Chile Rising: “It’s not about 30 pesos; it’s about 30 years.”

Chilean Protests: A Revolt against Neoliberalism the Media Refuses to Acknowledge

by Alan Macleod  - MintPress News

October 29th, 2019  

“Neoliberalism was born in Chile and will die in Chile” has become a rallying cry for the movement. Yet few in the West are aware of the country’s tumultuous history as an experimental laboratory for free market economics imposed on Chile by the United States.

photo: Susana Hidalgo | Twitter

Santiago, Chile — “We are at war with a powerful, relentless enemy that respects nothing nor anyone” thundered Chilean President Sebastian Piñera during a speech to the nation, deliberately echoing the infamous catchphrase of fascist military dictator Augusto Pinochet.

The “enemy” he was referencing were Chilean citizens, more than one million of them taking to the streets Friday afternoon in a revolt against the neoliberal system Piñera was implementing against their will, demanding his resignation.

The spark for the revolt that started October 14 was a 30-Peso increase to the subway fare in Santiago, the country’s capital and by far its largest and most important city. But demonstrations quickly escalated into a general protest against the decades of neoliberal economic policies carried out by successive governments that increased the cost of living and marginalized and disenfranchised the population, leading to greater social and economic inequality. As a popular slogan of the protest goes: 

“It’s not about 30 pesos; it’s about 30 years.”

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, David Boudinot, Daniel Kovalik, Janine Bandcroft October 31, 2019

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

October 31, 2019

Everyone knows plastic, the stuff almost all of us use daily, as the greatest bane modern civilization has bestowed upon the natural environment. Destined by design to outlive both humanity and the rest of biological life, it seems hardly a day goes by without a new and more destructive facet of this ubiquitous material being unearthed.

My first guest discovered this firsthand when he found "nurdles" while taking part in a Surfrider beach cleanup at Victoria's picturesque Willow's Beach.

David Boudinot is the lead Plastic Pellet Researcher at the Surfrider Foundation Vancouver Island Chapter.

David Boudinot in the first half.


Listen. Hear.

And; those believing the Bolivarian Revolution down for the count following the death of its most emblematic spokesperson, Hugo Chavez will just have to keep counting.

Though it looked for a while in Latin America, with the wave of corporate cadres and military strongmen brought into power, that the Pink Tide had ebbed, perhaps forever, but the people long benighted by death squad dictators and their Yankee bank backers are risen again.

From Mexico to Argentina, Atlantic to Pacific, there is a groundswell of activism determined to throw off again the yolk of tyranny.

Daniel Kovalik is a lawyer, educator, labour, peace, and justice activist, democracy defender, journalist and author. He teaches international human rights law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and was until recently Senior Associate General Counsel for the United Steel Workers Union. Kovalik has observed elections in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Colombia, where he too witnessed the 2016 peace plebiscite promising an end to the generational war there.

Dan’s also served as an attorney for Colombian plaintiffs in cases alleging corporate human rights violations, and is co-recipient of a Project Censored Award for chronicling the murder of trade unionists in Colombia. Some of his many book titles include: ‘The Plot to Scapegoat Russia: How the CIA and the Deep State Have Conspired to Vilify Putin’, ‘The Plot to Attack Iran: How the CIA and the Deep State Have Conspired to Vilify Iran’, ‘The Plot to Control the World: How the US Spent Billions to Change the Outcome of Elections Around the World, and his latest, ‘The Plot to Overthrow Venezuela: How the US Is Orchestrating a Coup for Oil.’

Dan Kovalik and the rising waters of justice south in the second half.

And; Victoria-based activist and long-time Gorilla Radio contributor, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with some of what’s good to get up to in and around our town in the coming week. But first, David Boudinot and the trouble with nurdles.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.ca.  He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Suscríbete al canal oficial de Victor Jara aquí http://bit.ly/VictorJara

The Trouble with Nurdles: Virgin Plastics Despoiling Pristine BC Waters

Solidified Oil Spill (S.O.S.)

by Surfrider Foundation Vancouver Island

October 2019

Pre-consumer plastic production pellets (nurdles) are being discharged into British Columbia waterways by plastic manufacturing facilities

The plastics manufacturing industry uses plastic polymer pellets to manufacture bags, bottles, containers, packaging, and other plastic products for commercial and industrial uses.

Over the last three years we have been researching pre-consumer plastic production pellet spills happening at plastics manufacturing industry sites. We have found direct evidence that these plastic pellets are entering the marine environment from plastic production facilities in the Lower Mainland, particularly along multiple arms of the Fraser River.

We have identified and mapped locations around Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, San Juan Islands, Sunshine Coast, and the Lower Main-land where pre-consumer plastic pellets are washing up on waterfronts.

Fighting Wad Guano's War: US Journalist Arrested in Washington for Exposing Venezuela Coup Plotters' Paymaster

‘This charge is 100% false’: Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal arrested months after reporting on Venezuelan opposition violence

by Ben Norton - The Grayzone

October 28, 2019

The Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal has been arrested on false charges after reporting on Venezuelan opposition violence outside the DC embassy. He describes the manufactured case as part of a wider campaign of political persecution.

Max Blumenthal, the editor of the news site The Grayzone, was arrested on the morning of October 25 on a fabricated charge related to the siege of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC that took place between April and May.

A team of DC police officers appeared at Blumenthal’s door at just after 9 AM, demanding entry and threatening to break his door down. A number of officers had taken positions on the side of his home as though they were prepared for a SWAT-style raid.

Blumenthal was hauled into a police van and ultimately taken to DC central jail, where he was held for two days in various cells and cages. He was shackled by his hands and ankles for over five hours in one such cage along with other inmates. His request for a phone call was denied by DC police and corrections officers, effectively denying him access to the outside world.

Blumenthal was informed that he was accused of simple assault by a Venezuelan opposition member. He declared the charge completely baseless.

“This charge is a 100 percent false, fabricated, bogus, untrue, and malicious lie,” Blumenthal declared.

“It is clearly part of a campaign of political persecution designed to silence me and the The Grayzone for our factual journalism exposing the deceptions, corruption and violence of the far-right Venezuelan opposition.”

The arrest warrant was five months old. According to an individual familiar with the case, the warrant for Blumenthal’s arrest was initially rejected. Strangely, this false charge was revived months later without the defendant’s knowledge.

“If the government had at least told me I had a warrant I could have voluntarily surrendered and appeared at my own arraignment. I have nothing to fear because I’m completely innocent of this bogus charge,” Blumenthal stated.

“Instead, the federal government essentially enlisted the DC police to SWAT me, ensuring that I would be subjected to an early morning raid and then languish in prison for days without even the ability to call an attorney.”

[For complete article, please see source at The Grayzone here.]

The Revolutions Not Being Televised: Some Movements Bear Watching, While Others Disappear

The Revolution Isn’t Being Televised

by Alan MacLeod  - FAIR

October 26, 2019

Media uninterested in protest movements around the world

Protest march in Ecuador (photo: Voice of America, 10/11/19)

It’s all kicking off everywhere in 2019. Haitians are revolting against a corrupt political system and their President Jovenel Moïse, who many see as a kleptocratic US puppet. In Ecuador, huge public manifestations managed to force President Lenín Moreno to backtrack on his IMF-backed neoliberal package that would have sharply cut government spending and increased transport prices (FAIR.org, 10/23/19).

Meanwhile, popular Chilean frustration at the conservative Piñera administration boiled over into massive protests that were immediately met with force.