Refreshing protest in Vienna highway outside the Chinese Embassy

With its action against the Chinese embassy was the Association Against Animal Factories to point out that would be imported from the Middle Kingdom loads of furs to Austria. Monika Springer of the VGT “Countless dogs, cats and other animals are killed for fur in China – but not only that even the transport is animal cruelty.”
VgT: 80% of the furs come from China

The VgT also reveals just why the Chinese Embassy for the action is selected: “While in Austria since 1998, no animal should be kept or killed for fur, and even other countries like Great Britain, Sweden and Switzerland enforce their fur farm ban with high sanctions , the fur industry continues to adhere to its anachronistic trade. Most animals are now getöten for embellishments such as tassels, collars or hoods on – products where the price does not reveal that it is animal fur. For what is cheap is probably good for the fur industry. Thus it is clear why China has become the main exporter – not only the conditions under which animals are lowest level, and the exploitation of cheap labor has become attractive for the fur industry. “

Maybe you are remember that news Naked Girls Protest in Davos World Economic Forum 

and also

Model Sophie Barrett Naked for Peta Protest Against Animal Rights Activist in London

Dylan’s music career was in decline by the mid 1970’s. Going electric had lost him much of his folk and acoustic fan base and his overt Gospel influences further alienated many of his fans. Hurricane was a tremendous return to pure anger and protest.

The song was inspired by a true story, based on the sorry fate of US boxer, Rubin Carter, nicknamed Hurricane. Carter was one of two men arrested for killing three people, and severely wounding a fourth  (a man was blinded in one eye) during a robbery at an American grill-diner in 1966.  Many at the time, felt that Hurricane and alleged accomplice, John Artis, were framed, and that the evidence and eyewitness testimonies against them were flawed, etc.

Hurricane-Carter maintained his innocence and his stance made a profound impression on Dylan, who met with him in prison.

Dylan exaggerates Hurricane’s status and chances of attaining the world championship in boxing. Though he had been in the ascendant, many boxing pundits did not see him competing for champion status. Even so, his conviction obviously ruined his sporting career.

No witnesses identified Carter as being at the scene of the shootings, but described two armed black men approaching the bar, and a white getaway car that seemed similar to Carter’s own car. A survivor of the attack said Carter didn’t look like one of the attackers, and a gun found in Carter’s car did not match the calibre of the murder weapon. No fingerprints were taken at the crime scene and other forensic procedures were also neglected and / or botched.

Initially, Carter and Artis were released after a few hours of questioning, only to be re-arrested months later as they had been implicated in the case by the testimony of a man called Alfred Bello, arrested near the New Jersey Diner on the night of the murders for robbery. His presentation of evidence was probably an attempt to reduce his own pending conviction. Bello identified Carter and Artis as the killers, and this evidence led to the first trial and conviction for the men. Carter’s life as a boxer was ruined on the basis of it. 

Despite much focus on the evidence inconsistencies the suspects were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, narrowly avoiding the death sentence.

Protests, and the chief prosecution witnesses, including, Bello, recanting their claims, led to calls for a retrial. Carter drew a great deal of celebrity support and his case became a modest media sensation. Dylan’s song was released and heavyweight champion boxer, Mohammed Ali also offered public support for Carter. The 1976 retrial was a bitter one, with Rollo’s evidence heavily challenged by the defence, but with several people from the 1967 defence defecting to the prosecution side to claim that Carter had talked them into offering him a false alibi for the night of the murders. The convictions were upheld to considerable public outrage. An appeal was issued for Carter’s name to be cleared and in 1985, after serving 18 years (and ten years after Dylan’s spirited song was released), Rubin Carter was finally granted his freedom. He now works for prison reform bodies and as an aid to victims of wrongful arrests and convictions.

Dylan’s song, a single of eight minutes and thirty-three seconds, identifies the witnesses, and makes Bello in particular into a rather shady character. Carter’s arrest is just a routine shake-down of a black driver by a white racist cop – as Dylan observes, black people go out knowing that the New Jersey police will target them as a matter of routine.

Dylan highlights the one-eyed survivor of the shootings pointing out that Carter was not his attacker. The police had only the assertion that the attackers were black and big men, looking like they ought to be in boxing. Dylan emphasises the police fixing deals with the white men responsible for other crimes in order to get a conviction on Carter (Dylan largely ignores fellow innocent victim, Artis).

The song captures Dylan’s genuine anger and passion superbly, and creates a chilling picture of corrupt racist cops rigging a case, and Dylan’s view is upheld in hindsight now that Hurricane Carter has finally been granted his freedom and the right to declare himself innocent.

The lyrics http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bobdylan/hurricane.html

Arthur Chappell

Taking a look back, I wonder if it has all been worth it.  Has it been worth being out there away from home, family and our personal obligations?  What have we gained by the action we have taken?  Is our government really listening to the voice of the “people,” we the people that make up the voting populous of America and in other places around the world who are also protesting the economic and social conditions found in today’s society?  It is a question we will not have a real answer to until some future date.  Despite our outcries, we still have to sit and wait and watch.

The Occupy protest began  as a protest movement by the general populous called the 99% as a protest against the high unemployment and the greed, corruption and the undue influences of large corporations on our government and the social and economic inequality in the United States between the wealthiest 1% of the U.S. population and the other 99% being pushed down and smothered by these powers and their influences on our governing bodies establishing an unfair global economy that is literally foreclosing on our future as businesses downsize and have major layoffs because they can’t afford to keep everyone employed or they are forced into bankruptcy and close their doors.  The general public loses their income and in the process their homes and livelihood while taxes, medical expenses, insurance, the cost of food and basic necessities have doubled and are crushing the life right out of the 99% represented in these protest movements that began on September 17, 2011 at Liberty Square in New York City’s Wall Street financial district and fanned protest all across the United States and around the world as the populous of nations banned together in protest against corrosive leadership in both government and big business. 

The economic and social conditions need to be re-evaluated to reflect equality for all 100% not just the elite few and not allow our rights to become tarnished or infringed upon by others through unfair laws, regulations and business practices.  No one is or was asking for a handout; just a hand up out of the mess the 1% has made and we allowed to happen by not speaking up sooner.  These protesters were asking the 1% to play fair and do their share.  The majority of Americans are willing to work for a living, pay their fair share of taxes to keep our Nation strong and running but things have got so far out of balance the “people” (that 99%) finally have had to say enough. 

We need to re-evaluate and repair the condition our condition is in and do it in a way that is fair to everyone.  You cannot get out of debt by borrowing more money or foreclosing on the 99% who are trying to do their fair share.  We can’t keep our own Nation strong and competitive when we give it away to other Nations or we become an aristocracy or socialist republic.  History has already proven that over and over again.  The only thing that works is when people pull together as a united front and do not succumb to the dictations of one or the few.    

We all want change and we all have our personal and community reasons for desiring change but change only comes if we make it happen and to make it happen we have to begin on a personal level.  The change has to begin at home and with each of us personally.  We need to ask our self what we can do to make things better for our self.  What can I personally do, change about my own circumstances that will in some way improve the situation I am in. 

Life isn’t always fair or easy.  There will always be someone who has more.  There will always be those who others consider to be poor.  There will always be those who will cheat and lie and scam and con to get what they want to fill their own pocket of greed.  There will always be users and abusers and some will actually get away with it for a time.

From Occupy Wall Street to all the other such places including Washington DC the voice of the people has spoken.  They original intent was good and meaningful but as I have looked back I think the whole Occupy thing got out of hand and not everybody was there for the right reasons.  Too many got caught up in the excitement, came for all the wrong reasons and crimes were committed on both sides and the whole thing seemed to go a little crazy. 

Instead of forming a truly united front, too many personal agendas, gripes and disagreements came to the surface and it has all ended with too much shouting and too many loud and angry voices screaming for their “rights” so that even if some who could make a real difference, were trying to listen, they couldn’t hear the words above the roar.  

On the surface it seems that all it has really amounted to is a lot more “sensationalism” in the news headlines with little to no real accomplishments achieved.  We are left right where we were when it all began, to sit and watch and wait to see what our government will really do.  Maybe some heard.  Maybe they can convince others to see the error of our way.  Time will tell.  For now we wait, we hope and we can all begin to make the changes this Country needs by beginning with our self and better governing our own personal behavior, and our attitude toward others.  

In an ongoing duel of videos, Oakland police released footage showing Occupy Oakland protesters breaking into City Hall on Jan. 28, and then burning a U.S. flag.

Police posted the video online early Wednesday evening, following a noon Occupy Oakland news conference in front of city hall earlier that day.

Videos showing police and protesters on Jan. 28 have been online for days, posted by Occupy supporters, who say they back up their claims that authorities provoked confrontations. The police claim their footage shows unacceptable criminal behavior that goes beyond First Amendment rights of free speech.

Most of the city’s footage posted Wednesday comes from a security camera aimed at the lobby of city hall.

Investigators are attempting to identify the individuals responsible and are encouraging anyone with information to contact the Oakland Police Department at 510-238-3268.

Black-and-white freeze frames show a crowd coming through the doors. Papers litter the ground.

Another camera captured a few minutes of the crowd on the front stairs. They are yelling while someone holding a large U.S. flag, taken from the second floor landing, sets it on fire.

Police also released a photo of a historic model of city hall on the ground, severely damaged, and photos taken during flag burning by the Associated Press.

Investigators asked anyone with information about who was responsible for the incident to call 510-238-3268.

Occupy_nov17_PM_DSC_0083 (Photo credit: Sunset Parkerpix)

On the eastern side of our fine country a demonstration to show support for the “Occupy” protesters in Oakland began around 7pm est in Washington Square park NYC, where hundreds of peaceful friendlies assembled near a fountain beating drums, waving flags and singing song’s of a world without greed. That soon turned ugly when the reported crowd of 300 surged into the street and someone threw a bottle that police report was “intentionally aimed at officers” who accompanied the march on foot and in cars. Police had to fight off angry protesters several times before charging three men with assault and one with criminal weapons possession.
Police said most of those arrested were charged with disorderly conduct. Three of the 12 people arrested were women who were doing nothing more then standing up for what they believe in…..
Nigel C Willis

    This rioting has kept the police on edge, and city officials have started to complain that it has begun draining city resources. I can see why that might happen, since these rioters have occupied a YMCA building, and broke into city hall and burned a few flags. The police had to ignore more 911 calls “then usual”, and truthfully this has made a lot  of trouble for everyone. I’m not sure if I can really blame the rioters for being angry, since it is probably not pleasant to have an officer of the law throw some tear gas at you.

     The original Occupy Oakland organizers wanted to use a vacant building for a two day party. The city officials didn’t want that party to happen so they “legally” prevented them from using it. Then 250 protesters went  the Frank H. Ogawa plaza and then soon after that there was a crowd of 450 protesters. However when the marchers went into the campus of Laney College the police started firing tear gas at them. Things began to escalate when protesters started tearing down fences near a convention center, and the police considered it a unlawful assembly and ordered them to disperse, they decided “not to comply with that order” and police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at them according to witnesses.  From that point the police had all hell break loose around them, as they attempted to stop the vandalism of cars and private property while at the same time having bottles thrown at them. There was even an incident of a protester hitting an officer in the face with a bicycle. 

      Truthfully in these last few years I realize there has been a gap that has been growing between the American Government, and the people they are ” supposed” to protect. In any other situation I would praise the rioters for standing up to authority, however these protests and riots don’t seem to have an exact purpose. The only reason I could find for the riots, was a simple “no” given by city officials who didn’t want to give up one building. Perhaps there was some tension before that, maybe there has been some other things that the City Officials did to provoke this violence, but I have found no evidence of it. It is really hard to take sides in this situation since I have very little information on it. I just hope that these rioters  have an actual reason for rioting. Otherwise this is no better than the riots in the U.K.

I first came across this deeply moving folk song when I saw the film of the 1969 Woodstock concert, with Baez’s version of the song moving me to tears even though I knew nothing of the song’s history beyond her own brief introduction to it before singing.

Originally written as a tribute poem rather than a ballad, by Alfred Hayes in 1930, the song version has been performed many times by human rights activists and singers, including Pete Seger and Paul Robeson.

Joe Hill (1879-1915) was a Swedish man who migrated to the States and became heavily involved in trade union Labour politics. He was a leading activist in the International Workers of The World Federation, a Socialist group known as The Wobblies. Though often unemployed, due to his politics and foreign national roots, he was a writer, and a musician as well as a cartoonist.

In 1914, Hill was arrested over the alleged murder of a Utah policeman and the policeman’s son. Two assailants had been seen as they fled the murder scene.  That same night, Hill staggered to the home of a Salt Lake City doctor in search of emergency treatment over a gunshot wound he had received. He claimed a friend had shot him in a moment of jealousy as both men admired the same girl. Hill refused to identify the woman concerned, and no one has identified her since. 

Hill had no knowledge or connection to the victims he had allegedly killed, and therefore no reason to wish to attack them. Policemen obviously made enemies among those arrested, and the general criminal fraternity. Hill’s defenders pointed out that several other men had been injured by gunshots that night in incidents unrelated to the cop killing.

Eyewitnesses to the policeman shooting identified Hill as resembling one of the masked assailants they had seen leaving the murder scene, though at least one had previously stated that Hill did not resemble the killers. The Jury found Hill guilty. His left wing politics were cited as evidence of his guilt, which rallied labour activists and liberal minded radicals to his defence, but to no avail. Despite appeals from many, including Helen Keller, Hill was executed by firing squad in 1915.

He seems to have had something of a martyrdom complex. His stoic, Socrates like refusal to name the woman or rival lover who could have come forward to save him may have been down to stubborn pride or a desire for veneration. When the firing squad took aim at him, Hill himself barked the order for them to fire at him – his last ever spoken word.

The song adds to the Labour / Socialist and radical protest movements seeing Hill as just the kind of martyr he seems to have wanted to be. The singer sees Hill, not as a ghost but alive and well. Pointing out to Hill that he died a decade before (the song is set in 19250, gets his reply that he never died and that no good innocent man ever can die. As with Alan Moore’s V Joe Hill survives as an idea and an ideal, gaining immortality. The song makes clear it’s composer’s belief that Hill was framed for his political activism. The singer sees him in the eyes and dreams of many radicals. Baez’s resurrection of him was for the anti-Vietnam Woodstock generation.

Arthur Chappell

The title song to a Springsteen / East Street Band album, rightly regarded as one of the greatest rock numbers off all time, but extremely misunderstood. More than any of my essays on the meanings and stories carried by songs, this one shows what can happen when listeners take lines from a song out of their original context.

Written three years before its release, the song deals with the aftermath of the Vietnam conflict and disillusionment / shame in America by a working class hero.

Despite this, right-wingers have praised the song as a patriotic American Anthem. This usually involves taking interest only in the chorus, a four line repeat of the title. Even then President, Ronald Reagan naively praised Springsteen for his national pride in presenting such an anthem, embarrassing Springsteen who is far from Republican in his liberal democratic political outlook.

The song tells of a man born in a town that is past its prime, where his father beats him a lot in his childhood, presumably. He becomes a juvenile lawbreaker and on arrest, being enlisted for the Nam punishes him. He has little understanding of the need to go and kill foreigners. He just does it.

The song moves between his experiences in the Nam and the negative reception he faced upon his return home, finding that no one could or would employ a war hero or offer him adequate welfare benefits.

He reflects on a friend who died in the fighting at Khe Sanh and a photo he still carries of the man with his Vietnamese daughter. This verse contains one of the songs few mistakes, as the US enemy at Khe Sanh was not the Viet Cong but the official Vietnamese army. 

A dark, bitter song – its chorus is really a protest – how could this happen to men born in the States? The hero struggles to retain a love for his country even when he has gained little from it. His love for America becomes shallow and empty – the song in effect becomes a reflection of the mindless patriotism holding many in thrall – only to be taken up by patriots as a rallying cry for the very thing it protests against. Jingoists sadly hear only the chorus and not the rest of the 4 minute and 39 seconds song lyrics.

Arthur Chappell

Very few people took the president’s comments seriously, but a group of conservative political women were determined to take the opportunity a make headlines.  These politicians joined to take out of context the president’s words.  Most of people do agree, the president should be more careful with his speech, but let’s leave that aside and take a closer look to this situation of some aged women making a lot of noise because of some kind of sexist insult.

This kind of movement against sexism is the first one of this kind in recent history in the mind of many.  It was in 1997 that president Bucaram was taken out of office, therefore the vice president was in the position to take office.  At the time Rosalia Arteaga was vice president, but she served as president only two days since the congress took Arteaga out to put the congress president at the time, Fabian Alarcon.  Many considered this as blatant sexist act, but no movement or group made any major effort to protest. The same group that is complaining today, were also active back in 1997, but did not do anything.  In addition, president Correa has enlarged women participation in politics, but not just in number, but also in power level.  Ecuador is one of the most sex even democracies at the government level.

Now, I want peace, but I recognize that peace has one distinct disadvantage. If you have peace long enough, say for 100 years, you get used to it. And what, you might ask, is so wrong with that? Just this. Well, you start to let your guard down. It’s a funny thing but in order to have peace, you need to be perceived to be strong. And it helps if in fact we are strong. The enemy must know that if they fight against us, they’re going to get hurt and it’s going to be painful. That understanding keeps the peace much more effectively than any protest, or any peace talk, can ever do. That’s because strength is like a common language that everybody understands.

War also keeps your army much more prepared. Armies fight better if we have a recent war experience. Imagine if we suddenly get into a major war after 250 years of peace. Every war hardened soldier that we rely on to train and lead our young men and women has passed on and what were left with is essentially an inexperienced force. But that doesn’t hold for the enemy. While we were at peace, probably due to our strength, the enemy was at war with other countries, and they’re now battle hardened. A big advantage for them.

Now, if I were the enemy, and I knew that the citizens of my enemy (that being us) were protesting the war, I would try to use that to my advantage. I would send agents to the USA and infiltrate the protest movement so I could stir things up some more. I would also try to push my agenda and try to gain some converts. I would try to find those among the protestors that could be pushed further and would be willing to become our agents, who would do our work for us. Yeah, war protests are useful things if they’re happening to your enemy.

The fact is that there are just some really bad people in the world. People who want to cause trouble and hurt others. These are the evil among us. They’re all around the world. People are basically good and honest. But some people are evil. The Hitlers among us. And they’re looking for opportunities to start wars. And try as you might, you cannot negotiate peace with them because usually peace does not work out to their advantage and does not help them to obtain their goals.

So pray for peace. But also pray for the enemy, that they see the world as you see it. That they see that a peaceful world is a better world. A more harmonious world.

Just don’t hold your breath.

*****

Please see my Haiku poetry, also called Peace and War (Haiku).