The Liberation of Iraq

From Ten Percent:

Some 50 refugees held at Campsfield immigration prison, near Oxford, are on hunger strike in protest at their continued detention. The hunger strike was started on August 9th by 13 Iraqi-Kurdish detainees, who demanded that forcible deportations to Northern Iraq are stopped. This is the second such protest at Campsfield this year and one of many throughout the UK detention estate.

Oppose Neo-Nazi march through Berlin immigrant district on 23rd August 2008

From the Facebook group:

The Neo-Nazis have announced that they will march on 23rd August to protest at the proposed building of a Hindu Temple in Berlin. They have decided to march through the largest immigrant district of Berlin (Neukoelln) ending at the proposed site as they believe that “symbols” of this nature attack ‘German’ culture.

Curiously this ignores the fact that the swastika is an ancient hindu symbol which was hijacked by the Nazi Party as its’ official emblem. It’s ironic that the neo-nazis themselves don’t see this ‘foreign symbol’ as an attack on their fragile identity and may even use it during the march.

We stand in opposition to the objectives and attitudes of this march and stand in solidarity with the immigrant communities of Berlin. We seek to take action to minimise the negative impacts of this march.

So what does that do to the graph?

Inca Kola News has the breakdown and analysis of the referendum in Bolivia.  Their conclusion:

As for the autonomy rebel movement, once you leave the city of Santa Cruz (not the larger department that actually voted for Morales), those who oppose Morales are few and far between.

Last Sunday’s vote was called “exemplary” by the overseeing international neutral observers, and very few if any serious incidents were reported. It was undoubtedly an overwhelming victory for President Morales. However it also showed that the much talked about autonomy movement is not a nationwide curse, but in fact centred very much on one single city.

Once these figures are looked at closely, it becomes difficult to understand the ostensible claim of Santa Cruz and its push for autonomy. It cannot claim the backing of the wider department, because without the regional capital Evo Morales won the popular vote. By demanding some sort of breakaway from the country of Bolivia, a single city would be trying to usurp a geographical area many times larger than itself. The city of Santa Cruz has, of course, the right to vote the way it prefers. But if it pushed for the autonomy it demands, it would have to leave behind the greater region and become a sort of Bolivian Vatican City!

This is, of course, ridiculous. We should therefore see the call for autonomy for what it is; a single city’s complaint against its national government, something that is common worldwide and not any reason to continue ignoring national laws. The time has come to recognize Santa Cruz for what it is, namely a city bent on anti-democratic behaviour and not the centre of some oppressed nation that deserves the world’s attention.

True enough.  Although the numbers don’t tell the whole story; the autonomist movement is involved in far more than just a complaint.  They’re fascists, really, who intimidate the peasants and the natives through violence and Nazi symbols, and they recently stormed an airport to prevent other Latin American leaders from visiting the country.  Although that last article is interesting for a good reason too: it shows the opposition from the left, with the militant labour movement centred around the tin mines confronting the president it brought to power.  Trade union supporters of New Labour, take the hint.