Naming the Dead (11/09/2009)

On September 11th 2009, some of us met in the Guildhall square for an understated Naming the Dead ceremony. We read out names of those killed on both sides in the Iraq war, and reaffirmed the human cost of this ongoing war for oil.

We placed a wreath at the memorial to the dead of World War II and held a minute's silence.

Below is a montage of speakers and the wreath laying.

Find Vestas – and organise a protest on or before Wednesday

On the Vestas website there is a handy little map that helps you to find their offices nearest to you (admittedly, in some parts of the world, that could be several hundred miles away). See their global reach and maybe organise a protest… they are taking the Newport, IoW occupiers to court this Wednesday 29 July.

The occupiers – or, more likely, their representatives appear at Newport County Court at 10.15 am. There will be a support demonstration outside the court.

Wherever you are, if you do hold a protest or a meeting or just get together with a group of friends to talk about this, please send us a picture or a report. You can email it to savevestas@googlemail.com or post it as a comment.

Don’t forget to sign the petitions: 10 Downing Street website and Friends of the Earth website.

[Republished from Save Vestas blog]

Anti-Fascist Day of Action

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Meet by the fountain in Commercial Road, at 12:30 on Saturday the 24th of May.

There will be a rally, then we'll get into groups to leaflet the city against the BNP.






(If I can
get hold of a
copy of the
leaflet, I'll
post it here.)

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And Our Friends are All Aboard

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Footage of some members of Pompey Resistance at the protest against Israel's bombing of Gaza. January 10th 2009.

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anti-terror billboard

anti-terror billboard
Originally uploaded by Robbie G1

What Would Socialism Look Like?

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This is an audio recording of a public meeting on April 2nd 2009, on "What Would Socialism Look Like?".

John Molyneux outlines what a future socialist society might look like, then there questions and discussion from the floor, and finally John summarises the issues, giving his answers to the questions.

This was intended to be a video record of the event, but there were serious problems synchronising the audio stream with the video. As time was short, it was decided to publish as audio only.

Click the play button to stream the recording.


Click here to download the audio in MP3 format.

Discussion begins at roughly the 30 minute mark, and John's summing up at 55. This is an experiment, and somewhat rough. If it works, we'll do more, and get it better.

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The Jewish Holiday of Purim, Hebron, Palestine, 10/3/2009.

The Jewish Holiday of Purim, Hebron, Palestine, 10/3/2009.
Originally uploaded by activestills

A Jewish settler girl, dressed as an Arab woman, points a fake gun towards A Jewish settler, dressed as an Israeli solider and holding an armed gun, during a parade in celebration of the Jewish holiday of Purim in the West Bank city of Hebron on March 10.
About 300 settlers marched threw the empty streets of Hebron, surrounded by Israeli soldiers and riot policemen, forcing the Palestinian residence of the city to stay at home.

Photo by: Activestills.org

Important events announced

• Portsmouth SWP branch meeting
  HOW THE WAR ON TERROR
  BECAME A WAR ON CIVIL LIBERTIES
  Guest speaker: Jonny Jones

Wednesday, 18th March 2009, 8pm

@ Southsea Community Centre

St Paul's Square, Southsea, Hants PO5 4EE

• Socialist Worker Student Society meeting
  Guest speaker: Steve Henshall
  LATIN AMERICA and REVOLUTION

Wednesday, 18th March 2009, 5pm
@ The Union
Cambridge Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 2EF

• TUC demonstration - March for Jobs, Justice, Climate
  Victoria Embankment, London
  

Public meeting on Obama announced.

Obama2
Originally uploaded by Peekok

ISRAELI GOODS SEIZED IN TESCO's AND COVERED IN BLOOD

Disclaimer: John Molyneux has got nothing to do with it



Full article on Undercurrents Alternative News. Video to follow soon.

Free market clapper

Astonishingly annoying Flash animation removed
due to overwhelming demand.

Join Facebook group to support John Molyneux

One of the most popular digital information mining centers, Facebook, evil as it is, runned and owned by neocons, has showed some support for our very own John Molyneux.
Sure, group page can benefit from some editing, but hey, it's all about the cause.

Click here to go to John Molyneaux should have not been arrested just because he supports GAZA. Facebook group.

To see why John Molyneux was arrested, check out this article from The News, as archived by Socialist unity

The News has also followed the story and printed an excellent article on 15/1/09 about the erosion of civil liberties, featuring John's arrest.
It can be found here

John Molyneux's case will be heard on Friday 17th April 9:30am (ready for 10am)
It will be a political trial and John will present (if the court allows) a political defence.

The BBC: Eyeless in Gaza

Palestinians "die" but Israelis are "killed" (the latter implies agency, the former could have happened of natural causes); Palestinians "provoke," and Israelis "retaliate;" Palestinians make "claims," and Israelis "declare." Moreover, schools, mosques, universities and police stations are part of the "Hamas infrastructure;" militants "clash" with F-16s and Apache helicopters. "Terrorism" is inextricably linked to Palestinians but Israelis merely "defend" themselves -- invariably outside their borders. All debates, irrespective of fact or circumstance, are framed around Israel's "security" -- Palestinian security is irrelevant. If Israel's wall annexing land in the West Bank is mentioned, it is in terms of its "effectiveness."

Read rest of the article on Electronic Intifada

Israel: Boycott, Divest, Sanction

It's time. Long past time. The best strategy to end the increasingly bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa.

From the article "Israel: Boycott, Divest, Sanction" by Naomi Klein. Read rest of it here

Public meeting announced

The Children of Gaza

SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY
Public Meeting

STOP THE GAZA SLAUGHTER
Free Palestine Now

Guest speakers:
Angus Geddes
(Portsmouth Network for a just settlement
to the Arab-Israeli Conflict)

John Molyneux
(Portsmouth SWP)

Wednesday 7 January 8pm
St.Paul’s Square, Southsea

The Slaughter in Gaza: Strong Portsmouth Response

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The appalling Israeli assault on the people of Gaza which in one week has killed more than 450 and left over 2000 injured met with a strong response from the people of Portsmouth on Saturday (3 Jan)

Over 400 people assembled in the Guildhall Square at a Rally called by Portsmouth Stop the War Coalition and Portsmouth Network for a Just Settlement of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. This was a superb turn out at short notice – the largest Rally in Portsmouth since the day they invaded Iraq - and the crowd was an excellent mix of young and old, students andtrade unionists, black and white, muslim and non-muslim.





The rally was chaired by John Molyneux (Sec. Stop the War and SWP member) and Angus Geddes (Convenor of the Portsmouth Network) and heard strong speeches from among others Suleiman Shaik, a Palestinian lecturer at Southampton University who has family in Gaza at this moment, from another Palestinian, Osama, who defended the right of the Palestinians to resist and Dave Fysh who delivered a powerful critique of media bias.





After the speeches every one marched through Commercial Rd to chants of ‘Free, Free Palestine’ and ‘In Our Thousands and Our Millions we are All Palestinians’, to the area by Tesco and Marks and Spencer, where leaflets were distributed urging a boycott of Israeli goods.





Outside Tesco the police arrested John Molyneux and have charged him under Section 11 of The Public Order Act 1986, with organising a demonstration without providing the require 6 days notice to the police. We in Portsmouth SWP consider this arrest a direct attack on the democratic right to protest and ask concerned people to send letters/emails of protest to The News (copies to Hampshire Police, Portsmouth City Council).

As this is being written the Zionists are invading Gaza with ground troops, thus creating an even worse catastrophe. There is clearly going to be need further protest.

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