Wednesday, July 10, 2013

More on the Zimmerman Trial, the Coup, Etc.


When you research more into the 2013 Egyptian military coup, the more evil that you witness what it was. The U.S. backed military was created as a means to strife the sincere, real portion of the protest movement in Egypt. There have been snipers firing into the crowd of pro-Morsi demonstrators in Egypt. You have puppet leaders and the military temporarily running Egypt for the time being. It is not a secret that the West has been hypocritical in claiming to be a champion of democratic governance. This funding of extremism by the U.S. has occurred in Guatemala, Iran, South Vietnam, etc. This was when the West supported the eliminated of democratically elected leaders in exchanged for more fascist or reactionary political leadership. So, we have the coup against Egypt's first democratically elected government. The White House refuses to label the action a coup since it would hold into jeopardy the 1.5 billion dollars in U.S. aid to Egypt. Many in the White House gave consent to the coup before ex-President Mohamed Morsi was arrested. This makes free elections very weak in the midst of violence. Now, the military and the bureaucracy continue to run Egypt not the common people. Radicals like the Al Nour party (which makes the Muslim Brotherhood look moderate) supported the coup and want more political power in Egypt. As for Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei and the others who claim to be human rights advocates, they stand condemned by their silence in the face of the president's arrest, the shutting down of an elected parliament, and the banning of media that might be the slightest bit critical of the military's seizure of power. When we have massacres of civilians at prayer by the armed military, the once interim Prime Minister ElBaradei equated the unarmed victims with the armed military. It is hypocritical for the West to lecture on democracy when they actively support the monarchical, harsh theocracy of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are now funding the new government of Egypt. Defense Minister Abdel Fatah el-Sisi said that he would not allow any interference with the interim government's road map into democracy. This is an Orwellian message since it was al-Sisi that overthrew a democratically elected government completely. An undemocratic military junta in Egypt is blatantly immoral and evil. The military police have killed dozens of real activists fight for progressive freedoms in Egypt. 650 Morsi supporters have been arrested without cause and they are in places that we do not know about. Many of them are being tortured. Now, we see that Mansour's ruling document wants to restrict human rights like the freedom of expression and religious freedom rights too according to Abdel Tawab. His declaration replaces the nation's suspended constitution that was approved in 2012. Heba Morayef or the Egypt director of Human Rights Watch said that the new document has wording which is similar to a constitutional declaration issued in March of 2011.  The extremist Salafis want some theocracy in the land. The Egyptian military has fought against the working class as well. The junta has named free-market economist Hazem El-Beblawi as prime minister. El-Beblawi believes in cutting subsidies for grain and fuel prices in Egypt. The army’s constitutional declaration also continues, and even expands, the Islamist legal foundation of the state. According to state-run Egyptian daily Al Ahram, “The declaration states that the Arab Republic of Egypt is a democratic system based on citizenship, Islam is the religion of the state, Arabic is its official language, and the principles of Sharia law derived from established Sunni canons are its main source of legislation.” This is a new dictatorship ruled by the military. Though Monday’s massacre of pro-MB protesters outside the Republican Guard barracks in Cairo was provoked by the army, prosecutors are now preparing charges including murder, thuggery, and undermining general security against 650 pro-Muslim Brotherhood protesters who survived the massacre. That is why Morsi supporters are planning to hold a mass rally today in Cairo to protest the coup and commemorate the victims of the massacre. Liberation is needed in Egypt without an Egyptian junta.

 

The George Zimmerman trial is an important trial. It deals with the family of Trayvon Martin and them having the right to receive closure including justice. For centuries, our people suffered through oppression and murder (especially by crooked cops and fake cop vigilantes). The prosecution and the defense teams in this case have fought each other tooth in nail as a means to find information that validates each other's own positions. I think that the Newsone website is doing a great in showing information about the case and they ought to be given praise in their actions of showing the world about the numerous facets of the George Zimmerman trial. A denial of justice for Trayvon Martin means that more police and other evil souls will try to execute potentially more extrajudicial murders against human beings.  We know that after the trial, we have to cause a revolutionary change in preventing not only police brutality, but racial profiling including the murder of innocent black human beings. The fact is that George Zimmerman was told by the operator to not follow Trayvon Martin. He did followed the young teenager still, a fight came about, and Travyon Martin was murdered with one bullet wound to the chest. Trayvon Martin was murdered by George Zimmerman on February 26, 2012. Zimmerman was called by the defense as being soft, but he was trained for a while in MMA (in 6 hours a week in fight school. The defense is trying to portray Zimmerman as totally weak physically, which is not the case at all) and he assaulted a woman before. Well, he is soft morally for assaulting a woman though. George Zimmerman had an old Myspace page where he wrote a racist rant, which falsely linked Mexican Americans collectively to crime. He said that every Mexican he meets pulls knives on him, which is racial profiling. They found no skin, bruises or blood on Trayvon Martin during the autopsy, which is evidence that Trayvon Martin was not the aggressor according to the family of Trayvon Martin. Samford, Florida is the location of Martin's death. George Zimmerman is a 21st century vigilante like the old slavery era patrollers. We know the truth about the case. Trayvon Martin violated no laws while he was walking from the store. The unarmed Martin tried to flee Zimmerman. Zimmerman pursued him and a fight came about. Trayvon Martin had every right to defend himself from being assaulted by Zimmerman. Zimmerman should be found guilty of many charges and Zimmerman had no reason to stalk Trayvon Martin at all. Now, we see that Trayvon Martin is put on trial not Zimmerman by some in the media including the defense team. Zimmerman had a gun and Martin was unarmed. Rachel Jeantel was attacked in the most vicious fashion, but Zimmerman's contradictory testimonies and views has been ignored by the defense and others. It was by the strength and courage of Sabryna Fulton and Tracy Martin, Zimmerman would never have been charged. How can you curse a young teenage on the phone and then deny you have any malice intent on the shooting of Trayvon Martin? Zimmerman said that the screaming doesn't sound like him is very interesting. Later, he says that it is his voice explicitly, which makes him a liar. It seems like the switching of views by some is making the case more apparently clear. George Zimmerman is the type of sociopath that thinks that it is the will of God to murder a child. We know that the reactionary Florida Stand Your Ground law is a throwback to the laws of the 18th century militia that harmed black communities in early America. We must never give the enemy the right to shoot anyone for almost any reason. The tactic of the enemy is to make the victim the criminal and the criminal the victim as Malcolm X said decades ago. That is why the enemy obsesses with Martin's grades, possible drug use, education, etc. which has no relevance in the case. The case is about the incident at hand not Trayvon Martin's grades at all. Trayvon Martin's murder was an open attack on the black community. According to the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, about 300 black people have been murdered in the same manner of extrajudicial murder since Trayvon Martin was killed.

 

Adam Kokesh's home was raided by the police. The police smashed into his residence after he made a protest in Washington, D.C. This is a tragic situation. It signifies that we still live in a police state and that our rights are violated all of the time via a militarized police system and other injustices. Regardless of how I feel about all of his views, I wish nothing evil to happen to Adam Kokesh. This police action was unwarranted, excessive, and fruitless. Adam Kokesh staged an open carry protest by loading a shotgun in Washington, D.C. He did not harm anyone or threaten to harm any innocent human being at all. Kokesh's home was raided last night. The police smash his door and used a flash grenade before arresting Kokesh. This action was meant to intimidate Americans and other freedom loving peoples of the world point blank period. There was a press release about the incident made by Kokesh's Adam vs. the Man media team. They mentioned the following information, "...Numerous police vehicles, including a light armored vehicle and two low-flying helicopters barricaded Adam’s street. More than 20 armored SWAT team members surrounded the house, as well as a number of detectives, and plainclothes officers. Assault rifles were aimed on all members of the team as they were handcuffed without being told why they were detained. Masked and armored police in full “Storm Trooper” gear flooded in and ransacked the residence. The team was cordoned in a front room, while Adam was pulled aside for questioning.” Many roads around Kokesh's home were blocked off. This area included his broadcast studio. The raid was done by the Herndon police including the U.S. Parks Police, which is an arm of Homeland Security. Herndon is in northern Virginia. The cops searched his home to confiscate cellphones and person items with force. A safe inside his home was forced open and the contents seized. At around midnight, over four hours after the raid began, police left the premises and Kokesh was taken to Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. Kokesh was arrested because of an act of civil disobedience. I don't agree with all of his political views, but this act was definitely wrong. We have every right to have liberty, and human self-ownership. The police did not announce that they had a warrant at all. The raid followed the publishing of a YouTube video on July 4 in which Kokesh is seen to load a 12 gauge shotgun before announcing “We are the final American revolution. See you next Independence Day.” The video was filmed at Freedom Plaza, just down the street from the White House. Under DC law, it is illegal to carry firearms in public and Kokesh could face up to five years in a federal prison. Kokesh’s roommate Darryl Young pointed out that whereas Virginia allows open carry, in DC only politicians are allowed to protect themselves with guns. “The point is we have the right to bear arms in all states,” he said. “We shouldn’t set standards of laws by imaginary lines called borders. In the state of Virginia, it’s an open carry state where you can legally open carry, but in the District [of Columbia], the only people allowed to walk with firearms are the criminals themselves.” In June 2008, the Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Heller v. District of Columbia, ruling that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to keep and bear arms and that the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975 is unconstitutional. However, authorities in DC have largely ignored the ruling and still impose draconian measures on anyone who wants to own a firearm. In May, Kokesh was arrested for exercising his First Amendment rights in a pro-marijuana legalization rally in Philadelphia. It is one thing to have health care, economic rights, and human rights, which I will always support. Yet, when the state violates human rights via immoral drone strikes, immoral violations to human civil liberties, and other evil actions, then we have stand up for truth and justice. For oppression affects all of us not just one human being. We should have solutions in the world. These solutions should be self-determination, having a more peaceful society, standing up for our freedom, and to place checks and balances on the actions of the government (while allowing the government to advance the general welfare in society). The federal government has been infiltrated by corporate interests and globalist extremists. America is being exploited as a means for the Western criminal elite to advance neoliberal globalization and tyrannical policies under the guise of "democracy" or "freedom."

 

The immigration bill is being hashed out in Congress now. Folks hope that it will be passed later in the year. The bill is called S.744 or the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. The bill has been watered down as a means to suit the reactionary Republicans in Congress. Corporate America loves many portions of the bill indeed. The bipartisan Gang of Eight Senators drafted the bill. The bill has 844 pages. When you look at it, it has punitive measures, disqualifications and exclusions, and rampant enforcement. This is not amnesty at all. Anyone saying that this bill is amnesty is a liar and I said so. Some feel that the bill is a continuation of the attacks on immigration workers. This bill is advanced by the ruling class as a means to give concessions, but not revolutionary reforms in society. The bill S.744 deals with immigration as a national security issues filled with militarization and the criminalization of migrants. The rights of workers should not be bounded under the needs of big business at all. A low workforce expansion of a guest worker program, a merit based visa system, and a long, arduous legalization process are things that we don't need. Some in the GOP claim that we have massive immigration in America when according to a Pew Hispanic Research Center, the net cross border migration feel to zero in 2011. That means that an equal number of migrants were returning to Mexico as coming in. The reason is because of the recession. So, the militarization of the border has increased for decades in America. Further militarization of the border is not necessary. We have 71 traffic checkpoints and 21 permanent checkpoints in eight of the nine border region sectors. The immigration wants to have a collection of biometric data on all immigrant workers and it could extend to all workers. This is a violation of human civil liberties. A national biometric database is immoral in my opinion.  E-Verify can be prone to error and can lead into mass firings.  The bill represses many human movements and their ability to work including to participate in the legal process (for the sake of big business). Many sincere human beings support the bill for the purpose of rather having something than nothing. S.744 is intended to be a token measure not a revolutionary immigration reform bill. More reactionary bills like the Sensenbrenner bill have been rightly defeated.

 

We know that austerity is evil and it is part of the mainstream capitalist agenda. Some workers take home pay has decreased. Austerity is about cutting government spending for social benefits and or raising taxes on even the middle class to guarantee loan payments to banks. Austerity is an article for faith not only for reactionary Republicans, but it is for centrist Democrats (even in some of the proposals from the White House). Many European nations love the evils of austerity. There has been an increase in the payroll tax which has a far greater negative impact than the legitimate increases in taxes on the very rich. The reactionaries and the rest of the ruling class lie that Social Security is responsible for the large deficit, so cuts to Social Security are necessary. We know that Social Security has $2.6 trillion in its trust fund, enough to adequately fund it for at least the next 25 years, according to Jack Lew, President Barack Obama’s former budget director and new nominee for secretary of the Treasury. (Forbes.com, July 13, 2011). Social Security should not even included in the federal budget and it ought not to be cut at all as a means to "reduce the deficit." The trust fund of Social Security has existed because of the millions of workers who have done their jobs. To reduce the benefits of workers as a means to reduce the deficit via the harm to Social Security is the robbery of the working class. Capitalist governments have inadequate revenues to cover costs because of many reasons. In America, we have the outrageous military spending (over a trillion dollars on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars alone), tax cuts for big business, and the wealthy including gigantic bailouts for the banks. There is the worldwide economic crisis. This crisis has impoverished the working class by removing permanently millions of jobs. This reduces the tax base of humans too. There has been no capitalist upturn massively or in a radical fashion following the 2008 crash. New production with new technology has killed jobs as well. The action by the ruling class of austerity has exacerbated the overall capitalist crisis (by making governments to guarantee loan and interest payments to banks). For example, an International Monetary Fund study of 17 countries that implemented austerity plans in the last 30 years showed that alleged debt-reduction plans aimed at reducing debt and leading to prosperity, on the whole failed to do so. (Allvoices.com, Jan 29). Moreover, says the IMF, “Income and employment don’t fully recover even five years after the austerity program is enacted.” (Washington Post, May 7). Still, the IMF tries to continue such measures in Africa, Latin America, and southern Europe. They want to do this action as a means to please big capitalists and imperialists, especially the big banks. Multinational corporations also weaken unions and lower labor costs. For years, we see that the IMF wants to increase the power of capital over labor not the growth any economy (in trying to grow imperialist countries and allies over oppressed nations). Austerity failed in Greece. Greece has great economic depression and more misery for Greek workers. The Greek gross domestic product, which is a measure of the value of the total goods and services produced in a country, stands at only 70 percent of what it was before the European Union and IMF imposed austerity measures on Greece. The severe austerity in 17 Eurozone governments has harmed nations. The latest official estimate of U.S. economic growth, released Jan. 30 by the Department of Commerce, has provided further proof that budgetary austerity depresses the economy. According to this report, “the just-completed fiscal cliff deal … is expected to trim anywhere from 1 to 1.7 percent from economic growth this year. With economic growth averaging 1.8 to 2.4 percent over the past three years, the impact of the just passed budget package… may bring economic growth to a standstill.” (Beforeitsnews.com, Feb 1, 2013). We know that the modern capitalist system is at a dead end. The ruling class knows that laissez faire capitalism can never end poverty, so they still want draconian cuts in health and social services (as a means to harm the human race. They want to maintain economic inequality. When you have income inequality and it is growing, you harm the human race point blank period). Workers should not pay the price by the crises caused by capitalism.

 

 

By Timothy

 

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