From IMC's main site, we'll note "IMC Italy threatened by Italian government:"
A public prosecutor from Rome, Salvatore Vitello, charged Indymedia Italy with crimes of offence to catholic religion and personal offences to the Pope, asking for the shutdown of the IMC, for having published in the open publishing newswire a fake picture of the pope in a Nazi uniform. At the moment, Indymedia Italy site can be accessed even if the italian press agencies are claiming the site has already been seized. In a separate incident, the FBI seized the hard disks of the server that hosted IMC Italy in October, 2004, but those disks have been returned. Indymedia's investigation into that seizure continues.
From Ireland's IE Indymedia, we'll note Paul Baynes' "Bringing Nature to Man's Domain by Paul Baynes:"
It was a cold, wet April evening when a small group of us gathered by the canal in order to open the Dolphin's Barn Community Garden. It had been a dull day, and by the time we made our way into the garden, the full moon was hanging overhead. On the bank of the canal opposite the public library, close to the bridge at Dolphin's Barn, behind the walls of a factory, stood a disused area of grass. This area contained three billboards, 6,000 square metres of grass, and very little else.
At the recent Grassroots Gathering workshop it was decided to take over the space to plant trees and vegetables rather than to see it wasted. And so, on April 12th, in co-operation with a week-long 'tree walk', through Dublin city, we made our way down the canal in the rain, armed with hazel trees to plant in our new garden.
Why are we doing this? Well, there are several of us involved, each for our own reasons, but I suppose the idea is centred around the two ideas of environment and community. The project is an attempt to address the lack of green spaces in our city. We are using the garden to grow food. We intend to engage with the local community. The garden is also a social space, giving us a chance to engage with other like-minded people. Some of us have a vision of an unbroken greenway through Dublin City, encompassing the two canals, the Botanic Gardens, and the Phoenix Park. The idea of the garden is not an original idea: there are community gardens in Cork, and in Belfast , and around the world. This garden fits into a bigger picture of community activists trying to improve the urban experience.
From Bristol Indymedia, Caitlin e-mails MH's "Peace march, police state, eyes opened:"
A strange thing happened in the town of Carterton today – a peace march, believed to be the very first ever protest march through the town. And was it surreal…or just a reflection of how far down the road of authoritarian control we have travelled under New Labour?
Carterton is the town next to RAF Brize Norton, a fairly new town largely constructed to support the RAF base. The base is the location for peace camp, organised by independent
peace activists from Bristol, running from 21 to 25 April
(see http://bristol.indymedia.org/newswire/display/22447/index.php).
The camp is on the outskirts of the town, on the very fringes of the RAF base, no doubt at the state’s insistence – out of sight, out of mind. The camp is very well organised, and according to one occupant was home to around 10 campers on Thursday night; 20 on Friday, with more expected to stay tonight. As of 4pm today there had been only one, pointlessly absurd, arrest – of a well known peace activist & climber, whose bail prevents her rejoining the camp.
Today there was a peace march & rally in Carterton to support the peace camp, and highlight the role of the air base – as a weapon of mass destruction, and the location for dead armed forces personnel returned from Iraq. They don’t like dissent in Carterton, and the almost hysterical over-reaction of the police to the march was evidence of this. The town centre before the march had a very visible police presence, that contributed to the buzz around town, that something strange, and new, was happening today.
From UK Indymedia, Gareth e-mails "Spodden Valley: Developer's Ignore Local Concerns:"
Rochdale. In Rochdale's Spodden Valley a huge quantity of asbestos may lie buried on the land where the world’s largest asbestos factory once processed the killer fibres. There are no plans to clear up this hazard, but there is a lot of interest in digging up the site. Developers Countryside Properties want to build on it. However, their controversial planning application has been put on hold.
Concern has already been raised about the way large piles of crushed rubble are being disturbed by a JCB digger and driven through Rochdale in open wagons.
Campaigners are now asking that the plans be "called-in" to the ODPM. Meanwhile, in an apparent bid to sabotage the campaign to save Spodden Valley, Countryside Properties have bought up internet domain names that include combinations of the words "save" "spodden" and "valley".
From Paris Indymedia, Bernado e-mails "Mini-ministerial secret and illegitimate of OMC, with the embassy from Australia in Paris:"
The national Network of elected and communities except AGCS (rises against the secrecy) denounce the "mini-ministerial" meeting of the World Organization of Trade (OMC), accomodated with the embassy from Australia, in Paris, tomorrow, May 04, 2005.
One of the principal topics of this meeting is the General Agreement on the Trade of Services (AGCS). Elected are indignant, that has one month of the official deposit of the "lists d¹offres" of liberalization of services, those are maintained secret (for which the Member States, whose France and l¹Union Européenne, must return their offers of liberalization of services (public) from here the end of May.) Thus, twenty States (whose United States, l¹Union European, France, Australia, China and Asie[), inter alia (and which lobbies commercial), on the a hundred and forty eight members with OMC, will judge blow of collar to be given during the next weeks, to stop what l¹OMC estimates to be weak the quantity and quality of the known as offers recorded to date.
[. . .]
It is unacceptable. The national Network of the elected officials and communities except AGCS alerts all the mayors, presidents de General and Regional Conseil, all the elected resulting ones from the vote for all, this company dévastatrice of the specific republican values to their History, specific to their Nation - of which the system of equalization interdependent forms part. The Network national of elected and communities, except AGCS, given than ever, require the suspension of the negotiations of OMC, the publication of the lists of services before their deposit, the recognition of the concept of service and the concept of public utility and prohibition of the application of the rules of competition to the public services.
[Note: The link and the text are from a Google translation. If you read French, good for you, check out the original text here.]
From Syndey Indymedia, we'll note gang-watch's "Armed Gang Distrupts Sydney May Day:"
Bored gang-members were seen hanging around at the outskirts of the May Day demonstration yesterday. They were dressed in paramilitary apparel, displaying their "gang colours", possibly waiting for the demonstration to become radical, or violent so they could participate in militant "clashes". A homeless man was quietly passing by the May Day demonstration when the gang members began to intimidate him. He was pushed to the ground. The gang members stood around him, holding him down on when he tried to get up. These so-called blue-bloc members represent a dangerous section of working class militants. Instead of working positively for community progression and peace, they engage in mis-directed violence and intimidation. Shame shame shame.
Australia? Of course we have to check in our friend Luke (wotisitgood4), Natalie e-mails this:
Aipac Shakur
* "Fred Fleitz was in a position to know about Plame and disliked Joe Wilson's findings. Fleitz was a top-notch "cherry-picker" of intelligence and combined in league with Bolton, the pair made a Dynamic Duo in pounding the intelligence establishment to give them the intel they wanted for ideologically pre-determined policy positions they wanted to articulate and pursue.Was Bolton's office responsible for initiating the leaks of Valerie Plame's identity?" LINK * "The FBI arrested a Pentagon analyst Wednesday on charges that he illegally passed classified information about potential attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq to employees of a pro-Israel group... The people at the lunch were employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee... a search of Franklin's West Virginia home that turned up 83 classified documents... He formerly worked in the office of policy undersecretary Douglas Feith... The case appears to bear no resemblance to that of Jonathan Pollard, the former civilian intelligence analyst for the Navy who pleaded guilty to conspiring to spy for Israel in the 1980s." LINK ha ha - thxn AP - gotta love that last sentence.
* watch out for media that uses 'American Israel Public Affairs Committee' rather than the more familiar AIPAC
* " A raid on (frankilns) home turned up 83 classified U.S. government documents [.pdf]. According to the indictment, "approximately 38 were classified 'Top Secret.' 37 were classified 'Secret,'" and "approximately 8" were marked "Confidential." The real stunner: "The dates of these documents spanned three decades."This, I think, gives us some indication that Franklin's arrest is about to dredge up something much larger than anyone now imagines. Remember, the FBI counterintelligence stumbled on Franklin in the course of a much more extensive investigation that has been going on for at least two years... " LINK
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