In a new wrinkle instead of breaking, this time the storms just bring my connection speed down to dialup like levels (and intermittent flicking off and on at that). So talk amongst yourselves, as far as today is concerned I give up.

The people of Wrexham were already hostile to the EDL, but tensions increased after the racist demonstrators unfurled a large English flag, sang God Save The Queen, and chanted racist slogans such as “kill the Muslims”.

One woman, laden with shopping bags, summed up the feelings of the whole town when she stood her ground as the EDL tried to rush the much larger, and by this stage extremely hostile, audience of working people and shouted; “This is our town and you are not welcome here”!

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Human Rights Watch- British Complicity in the Torture and Ill-treatment of Terror Suspects in Pakistan

Guardian on it (ht2 D-Notice)

• It is inconceivable that the UK government was unaware of the systematic use of torture in Pakistan.

• UK officials engaged in acts that virtually required they knew about the use of torture in specific cases.

• UK officials supplied questions and lines of inquiry to Pakistan intelligence sources in cases in which detainees were tortured.

Declan Walsh in the Guardian has done some more reporting on Dr Aafia Siddiqui, I would not say he has come to any definitive answers and reports official sources too uncritically (quite why you would take the word of US medical personnel when we know doctors & psychologists have been an integral part of an organised torture program I don’t know, or the story of ex husbands and an uncle under the watchful eye of the ISI), many questions remain, not least where are her two children Mariam & Suleman? But still, it gives further colour to the shadow world of the war-on-terror which has been a wholesale cover for increasing state power, demolishing judicial process and basic human rights. However if this is the way the corporate media are going to report on The Inquisition’s in New York then indeed this is the next chapter in destroying human liberty and protection from torture under the guise of lazy media reporting adminstration spin that it is restoring it.

Previously
Prisoner 650- The Grey Lady of Bagram
Grey Lady Revealed?
Thugs & Child Kidnappers Charge Gray Lady of Bagram

GUATEMALA: A Tax Code by and for the Oligarchs? Eli Clifton (IPS) – Taxation and government spending are the targets of a new report on Guatemala that argues the government is failing in its fiscal commitments to food, health and education.

The report, issued earlier this month by the Guatemala-based Instituto Centroamericano de Estudios Fiscales (ICEFI) and the United States- and Spain-based Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR), attempts to tackle the difficult question of why Guatemala has experienced consistent levels of inequality and deprivation despite having the largest economy in Central America.

The decision to focus on government spending and taxation is a relatively new method of addressing human rights and development.

“I think looking at a budget as a human rights issue is fairly new and looking at taxation is an important element of a budget,” Ann Blyberg, director of IHRIP, which supports budget analysis by human rights groups around the world, told IPS.

“I know of efforts to look at taxation but looking at it from a human rights lens is newer,” Blyberg said.

Low levels of social spending – and failure to realise economic and social rights – are attributed to “the lack of political will by democratic governments to invest more in upholding those rights, and ensuring that resources reach the most vulnerable population”, said a statement by CESR and ICEFI.

A combination of a social budget that, as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is one of the lowest in the region and an inability to enact fiscal reforms has led Guatemala to its current situation of being unable to leverage its wealth into meaningful improvements in economic and social rights, the report says.

Guatemala exhibits some of the worst poverty in Latin America, with half of children under five suffering from malnutrition; one-third of children not completing primary school; and 290 women dying from complications in pregnancy or childbirth for every 100,000 live births.

Particularly, Guatemala has failed to address health, education and nutrition disparities along the lines of the lines of gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status and geography, finds the report.

It emphasises that in the context of Guatemala’s recent civil war – armed conflict ended in 1996 – addressing economic, social and cultural rights was a crucial component of the plans put forward for post-conflict stability and development.

At the time of the 1996 Peace Accords, both land and taxation reforms were identified as important steps to be taken, but vested interests have blocked these reforms for the past 13 years.

CESR and ICEFI claim that the failure of Guatemala to implement a “fair and progressive” tax policy violates the social and human rights of its citizens and has led Guatemala to fall behind on human development indicators – some indexes put Guatemala on par with sub-Saharan African countries.

“Guatemala has one of the lowest tax burdens in Latin America, as well as one of the most generous regimes of exemptions and tax breaks. The study attributes the low tax collection and expenditure to the state’s historic control by elite sectors of the economy,” say the report’s authors.

“This makes health, nutrition and education privileges of the few instead of universal rights,” said Ignacio Saiz, executive director of the CESR.

The report made several recommendations for how to improve Guatemala’s public spending and enact the tax reforms that have been promised since 1996.

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Police officers are now routinely arresting people in order to add their DNA sample to the national police database, an inquiry will allege tomorrow. The review of the national DNA database by the government’s human genetics commission also raises the possibility that the DNA profiles of three-quarters of young black males, aged 18 to 35, are now on the database. The human genetics commission report, Nothing to hide, nothing to fear?, says the national DNA database for England and Wales is already the largest in the world, at 5 million profiles and growing, yet has no clear statutory basis or independent oversight.

After the on the spot reportage now the Daily Post weighs in-

FOUR people were arrested at an anti-Muslim demonstration amid a strong police presence in Wrexham. Around 40 members of a group calling themselves the Welsh Defence League (WDL) shouted racial abuse and gestured towards locals, saying they were protesting against plans for a new mosque. Four people were arrested for public order offences, and North Wales’s Temporary Deputy Chief Constable, Ian Shannon said the day passed without “significant incident”. Meanwhile Unite Against Fascism held a counter-protest, near where the WDL gathered on Saturday.

And a Wrexham Communities Against Racism festival attracted around 200 people. Residents were joined by faith groups, the Wales TUC, Searchlight, Unison and members of Wrexham Council. Searchlight Cymru secretary Ian Titherington said none of the WDL protestors were Welsh, and they appeared to be members of the English Defence League (EDL). He said: “This was the final humiliation for the EDL’s disastrous visits to Wales. The only way they could hold an event was to bus in 30 from Bolton, who on arrival went to the nearest pub, got drunk and bawled out racist chants.

The EDL gathering did not exactly sell any local links, by displaying a Bolton Wanderers FC English flag and singing God Save the Queen.” The WDL was formed in June 2009 as an off-shoot of the EDL, which claims to campaign against Islamic extremism. The group insists it is not fascist. But at a march in Swansea in October, onlookers were confronted by jeering men giving Nazi salutes, and one was arrested for a racially aggravated public order offence.

An EDL supporter posted a short video (subtitled ‘Outnumbered and we still stand our ground‘ thus admitting their low numbers and it’s not so much ‘stand our ground’ as milling around where the cops said to stand so your small group doesn’t disrupt the traffic or any passing badgers) in which you can hear no Welsh accents, they chant EDL not WDL, plus the worst/funniest murdering of God Save The Queen I have yet to hear (a piece of music that is so droning, joyless & plodding it is almost impossible to wreck it, yet somehow…they do!). You almost feel sorry for them, I don’t think this is endangering any kind of no platform policy, propaganda’s meant to improve your image, not demolish it. Comedy gold-

A News of the World reporter who suffered from a culture of bullying led by former editor Andy Coulson, who is now David Cameron’s head of communications, has been awarded almost £800,000 for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination.

Matt Driscoll, a sports reporter sacked in April 2007 while on long-term sick leave for stress-related depression, was awarded £792,736 by the east London employment tribunal. It is believed to be the highest payout of its kind in the media, and legal costs could take News International’s total bill well over the £1m mark.

The award will cause fresh embarrassment for Coulson, who resigned in January 2007 from the newspaper after the former royal editor, Clive Goodman, was jailed for hacking into the phone messages of aides to the royal family.

Earlier this year, Coulson faced renewed pressure, after the Guardian revealed that the News of the World’s owner, News International, had paid out £1m to settle claims from Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, and other victims of phone hacking.

Driscoll, who has not been in a full-time job since his dismissal, said the award reflected the severity of the case. (ht2 Anton Vowl)

So the Tories have a problem, their top spin doctor is shown in court to be a bully, not just an also ran but the ring leader, how can any schools operate an anti bullying strategy under a Conservative government that employs a proven bully in a senior position? What message does it send, for all the fine words Cameron and chums might speak over bullying, until he fires Coulson his actions clearly say- bullying is ok with me and I reward, at the highest level and value, bullies in my team, bullying will get you where you want to go. Not to mention bugging.

Just how many ’second chances’ will Cameron give, and anyway a second chance is what you give someone who shows genuine remorse and contrition, none so far has been forthcoming from Coulson. Now this is all pretty well much unsurprising, people are not shocked Conservatives are bigots, crooks and bullies. Yet it is unfair and wrong to hold that as a prejudice, so here’s a chance for Cameron to show they are not unremittingly awful human beings by firing Coulson, however I would advise him to ensure Coulson has proper medical help. We can’t know why Coulson has this problem, maybe his mother abused him or his father hated him, maybe he is a sociopath, superficially charming yet unable to feel empathy or a wide range of normal human emotions. Maybe a physical malformation of parts of his brain are its cause. While he is in positions of power his personal failings are a source of concern and great potential harm to those affected by his actions, when properly kept in a situation where he cannot harm himself and others he should have our sympathy. Perhaps this will lead to Cameron committing to tax the vast unearned wealth of his supporters to fund proper mental health provision under the NHS, so that Andy might no longer cowardly victimise others, avoiding responsibility for his actions while his underlying personal and mental problems go unaddressed. For those having to work with Coulson, solidarity is the key tactic for deterring bullying, forming strong supportive co-operatives or unions will defeat the bully.

Who said satire was dead?

Not just Tom Waits but the wonderful Mark Eitzel of American Music Club fame/infamy has a new album out Klamath, no free tracks but you can Spotify here and buy direct in the US or EU (scroll down) or the usual Amazon, iTunes (UK) suspects. His voice and poetry are as scintillating as ever, the music a warm friend complete with hopes, failures and dreams, heartbreak and wit. And I haven’t even been sent a free review copy (hint)!

Charities could take over post offices, pubs and parks, says shadow communities secretary Caroline Spelman. The Conservatives have pledged to introduce a ‘community right to buy’ that will allow not-for-profit groups to take control of struggling local facilities, such as post offices, pubs and parks. Under the scheme, community groups would have first refusal to bid for publicly owned assets as well as failing privately owned ones, such as post offices, pubs and shops.

Also ‘failing privately owned ones’ will include previously privatised assets, so just how stupid do the Tories think people are? Election as national IQ test will be an amusing phenomenon. It’s better than just selling them off to their chums in business but the road to hell is paved with lesser evil good intentions. But where do charities & communities get the money (hmm maybe a loan from a bank, hey there see how that works)? They are creating the distinction that government and local councils are not ‘us’ they are neoliberal governance entities and so have no responsibility to the public and what they own on our behalf…is not ours, but hey lovely Davy boy will let us have first refusal on buying our own property. Ooh, have I just summed up Red Toryism?!?!? Privatisation but with the words *community*, *charity* plastered all over it?

And todays missing words from this report are ‘framed‘ and ‘lied‘, as in- the government, police, FBI and CPS framed Lotfi Raissi and lied about the evidence. Yet as we know the powerful do not have the such words used about them that’s just for the likes of us guv’nor. Even the prospective covering up of a massive war crime is called a whitewash. Yet one word appears frequently ‘independent‘ in respects to all manner of official doings, no words are missing here but we must remember definitions change, independent means- a really super extra special effort at Public Relations to convince the chumps we didn’t do the crimes we did.

Apparently the ‘retiring’ (yep there’s another) Met Chief Blair is getting more as a pay off (warning D**ly M**l) than the family of the man he had killed, Jean Charles de Menezes. After an independent inquiry pressed no charges in a whitewash. Always worth a re-read, LRB- ‘Make sure you say that you were treated properly’ Gareth Peirce writes about Torture, Secrecy and the British State & The Framing of al-Megrahi.

Better late than never, oops. GodlessLiberalHomo has a post that both reminded me and meditates on loss from the structural violence that bigotry can quietly and sinisterly rely upon. It’s up to every person to rigorously examine their own thoughts, attitudes and assumptions and for us to challenge ourselves if we are to break with historical, religious and cultural traditions that are imbued with hatred and lies and the privilege of one group over others. Such change is vital, morally right and rewarding, it is page one of human rights and as a human, that works for me.

We will tax the rich a tiny tiny bit but only in order to kill foreign subjects of our crusades.

(Bloomberg) — Higher-income Americans should be taxed to pay for more troops sent to Afghanistan and NATO should provide half of the new soldiers, said Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Imagine if nurturing people, schools, hospitals, welfare carried the same moral impetus, you can imagine that but as long as an Empire must be fed a dream will be all it is. Oh yeah and fuck NATO, it should have been dismantled along with the Berlin wall.

Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary will tell MPs that the independent investigation will seek to establish whether the Army committed war crimes after the gunfight in 2004. Families of the Iraqis claim that some of men survived the exchange of fire only to be tortured and killed afterwards at Camp Abu Naji, a British base.

The Ministry of Defence denies the allegations, but earlier this year Mr Ainsworth accepted the need for a new inquiry after High Court judges said they did not have enough information to assess the Iraqis’ claims. In a 20-day hearing, lawyers for the Iraqis presented evidence that they said supported their contentions that captives were taken to base, where they were killed and their bodies mutilated.

Five of the six applicants say they were themselves mistreated by British forces after being caught up in the fire fight and detained. They say they were punched, threatened with violence, thrown violently against a wall, hit by guards if they fell asleep, denied water and subjected to other forms of mistreatment.

Independent?

PS. Plus, no shit Sherlock…

Tony Blair, the former prime minister, misled MPs and the public throughout 2002 when he claimed that Britain’s objective was “disarmament, not regime change” and that there had been no planning for military action. In fact, British military planning for a full invasion and regime change began in February 2002.

The need to conceal this from Parliament and all but “very small numbers” of officials “constrained” the planning process. The result was a “rushed”operation “lacking in coherence and resources” which caused “significant risk” to troops and “critical failure” in the post-war period. (ht2 Bloggerheads on Twitter)

Thanks to Proper Tidy for this report from comments:-

Fantastic day. Several hundred attended the communities festival throughout the day – atmosphere was positive, peaceful and fun all day long! Andy H, the young drummers from Flintshire, and Chris from Sinnermen/The Mayors did us proud, along with all the speakers from Socialist Party, SWP, Plaid Cymru, Labour, Youth Fight for Jobs and various faith & community groups. Thanks to Peter, who MC’d throughout the day, and Pol Wong for his excellent martial arts exhibition. Kids enjoyed the carousel, but it was a very wet day!

Around 40 EDL (mostly Bolton hooligans) stayed in Wetherspoons for most of the day – and when they came out on to the street they were opposed by 150+ working people (not anti-fascist campaigners but ordinary Wrexham folk) who made it clear that they did not welcome the EDL – in the words of one lady: “These are my streets”. The EDL responded by unfurling a St George’s Cross and chanting racist slogans but were heavily outnumbered by Wrexham people outraged at the EDL.

The community festival in Queens Square was entirely peaceful and was such a positive place to be, with people from all walks of life, some excellent music, some rousing speeches, and people dancing in the streets! A 100% success today – the only thing that went wrong today was the weather! We demonstrated the true face of Wrexham; a peaceful, proud, tolerant and diverse working-class town; and we did it the right way – by having a good time together. Proud of everybody involved and proud of Wrexham.