World News: Clashes Follow Oppression in Israel, Blockades Strike Bolivia

1,000 protesters clashed with police at the Israel-Palestine “security fence,” with protesters insisting that this was “the fence’s last day.” click here for more. This comes three days after the sentencing of Anarchists Against the Wall cofounder, Yonatan Pollak, to three months in jail for participating in a 2008 Critical Mass bikeride in Tel Aviv.Click here for more.

In other news, major disruptions occurred throughout Bolivia as President Evo Morales lifted gas subsides, sending fuel prices soaring over 80%. Morales claims that lifting the subsides means shedding previous neo-liberal economic programs. While making fuel less available may also lead to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, trade unions and neighborhood associations have lead strikes and blockades against the government in protest against Morales’s decision. Click here for more.

Scott DeMuth’s Sentencing Delayed

Animal liberation defendant Scott DeMuth’s pre-sentencing hearing, which had been scheduled for December 29 after getting postponed once already, got canceled today because of bureaucratic issues in the court system. His actual sentencing is now scheduled for January 14th in Iowa. Click here for more.

Victory in Tokyo Two Scandal

“Greenpeace welcomes the Fisheries Agency of Japan’s decision to discipline its officials who had been receiving free whale meat from the whaling operating company. However, FAJ only punished 5 officials while the corruption in the whaling program is much bigger and institutionalized. Greenpeace demands a third-party investigation on the whale meat scandal to reveal the true face of the whaling program.” For more, click here.

Suspects Arrested for Assaulting Activist

Authorities announced arrests in an assault on Konstantin Fetisov, who campaigned against construction of a highway through Khimki, a Moscow suburb. Click here for more.

In other news, several utilities companies in Florida are suing the EPA for increasing water standards. The EPA’s move could affect nearly all of the state’s wastewater treatment plants, many of which complain they won’t meet the federal standards once the rules are enforced in 14 months. Click here for more.

On the other side of the continent, a hearing has been scheduled to protect the Big Sur River. “The Big Sur River is designated as Critical Habitat for steelhead under the federal Endangered Species Act,” said Bill Jennings, chairman/executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. “The hearing will provide a critical opportunity to restore flow, water quality and habitat for these endangered species.” Click here for more.

Obama Rejects Polar Bears, plus More Wikileaks

According to Censored News, Wikileaks has revealed US spying on Mapuche activists and other indigenous peoples in South America. “The most disturbing aspect of the US State Department cables on Indigenous Peoples is the haughtiness and white privilege that bleeds through the print.” Click here for more.

In other news, Obama refuses to list polar bears as endangered. Environmentalists from the Center for Biological Diversity insist that this rejection is purely political, because the protection of polar bears’ habitat would mean taking further steps to halt climate change. Click here for more info.

Academics Protest Arrest of Indian Activist

“We are deeply shocked by the judgment of a Chhattisgarh court holding the human rights activist Dr. Binayak Sen to be guilty of sedition, and sentencing him to life imprisonment.
Dr. Binayak Sen never resorted to violence against any other person, never incited anyone else to resort to violence, never entered into any conspiracy against the Constitutional order of the country, and never entered into regular service of any organisation that was involved in any such conspiracy, for furthering its cause. On the contrary, as a doctor he served the people with devotion and helped to save many lives; as a human rights activist he stood up in defence of the rights of the downtrodden. And yet he has been handed down this sentence whose savagery is unbelievable.”
Click here for more.

First Armenian Dolphinarium Protested, plus more

Around 50 Armenian and international organizations protest against the opening and exploitation of the dolphinarium.Click here for more info.

In other news, Italy announced yesterday plans to build a particle accelerator with parts from an old US made atom smasher. Sounds dangerous? Click here for more…

International Solidarity with Mapuche Media

Several Mapuche communities in the Lleu Lleu lake region are coming together to build a radio station as a source of counterinformation that comes from a Mapuche cultural worldview. The Mapuche have been struggling for over 500 years against invasion and colonization. They were not conquered until 1880-1883, when the Chilean state invaded Walmapu in violation of hundreds of years of treaties. Since the 1990s, the Mapuche struggle has intensified with land reclamation actions recovering thousands of acres of land from the logging companies or wealthy landlords who have usurped them.
The Lleu Lleu is one of the cleanest lakes in South America, precisely because it is surrounded by Mapuche communities. An anonymous group of investors is currently looking to start mining in the Lleu Lleu region, endangering the health of all the land that has been won back. Because land transportation is so slow in the region, a radio station would be an especially effective means for coordinating resistance, spreading information, and revitalizing the Mapuche culture. Mapuche resistance has already blocked the construction of a tourist hotel on the banks of the Lleu Lleu, and postponed the initiation of the mining project. Now an unknown consortium of capitalists is again trying to advance the mining project, and the Mapuche in struggle are asking for international solidarity. Click here for more. Click here to donate to the Mapuche.

Tis the Season…

Tis the season to plan an event for the Day of Direct Action Against Extraction!
For a stable climate, clean air and water, we must stop the extraction of fossil fuels and other “resources.” From the tar sands of Alberta to the Gulf Coast, people are fighting back against the extractiveindustries that have declared war on our planet. Rising Tide is calling for a day of direct action against extraction on the 1 year anniversary of the BP oil spill.
On April 20th take it to the point of production. Shut down a well site, occupy a mine, take over an office, blockade a bank. Nobody’s community should be a sacrifice zone.
click here for more…

Mozilla Gets ALF Snitch to Design Firefox Browser “Security” plus more

The mink farm raider turned FBI informant, Justin Samuel, has appeared on a video promoting the latest update of the Firefox browser. According to Peter Young, who was implicated by Samuel’s testimony, “In August I wrote about the curious micro-trend of Animal Liberation Front informants going into the computer security field. Darren Thurston, who implicated several people in Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front arsons, is now a computer security consultant. Justin Samuel, on his UC-Berkeley graduate student profile, posts several articles he authored on computer security before surfacing on the Mozilla Firefox 4 team.” Samuel’s work with Firefox throws into question activist security and the credibility of Mozilla, the group that first innovated Firefox browser.

In other news, the animal rights group, Voice of the Voiceless, has obtained a recent copy of the reactionary newsletter, “Extremist Watch,” brought to you by the private investigation firm, Information Network Associates, which profiles animal rights activists and groups. Click here for more info.