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Lessons on overcoming fear from the overlooked 2003 global justice victory in Cancún

Waging Nonviolence -

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The following excerpt is from Lisa Fithian’s new book “Shut It Down: Stories From a Fierce, Loving Resistance” and is reprinted with permission from Chelsea Green Publishing.

The 2003 global justice mobilization in Cancún, Mexico, is a relatively untold story, though the ministerial conference there collapsed, just as in Seattle. At that time in the United States, there was a debate about local versus global activism, with some making the argument that international summit-hopping was just for the privileged few. Many chose to stay home. This was unfortunate, because local organizers in the Global South could have benefited from material support from the Global North, and organizers from the Global North could have benefited from the wisdom of the indigenous resistance.

I became involved via my participation in the Root Activist Network of Trainers, or RANT, a small trainers collective founded in 2000 by Starhawk, Hilary McQuie and myself. Star and I attended an international planning meeting in Mexico City in November 2002 that included representatives from 89 Mexican organizations and 53 international ones from 16 countries [spanning Central and South America, Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States.]

There was a general consensus that agricultural and environmental policy, including GMO policy, protection of forests, and energy extraction, should not be governed by the World Trade Organization, or WTO. The call to defend the water, forests and food sovereignty — defined as the right to eat, produce and decide agricultural policies locally — was very strong. An overall strategy was articulated that included support for developing countries to resist the WTO, breaking consensus between the European Union and United States on key issues, national civil society campaigns, and mass mobilization and street protest.

Starhawk and I traveled extensively to support the mobilization. We worked with a group of youth from Mexico City who formed the Global Alliance S9. Their slogans were “We Say No to Institutional Violence” and “We Support Legitimate Self Defense.” We did a big training with them, and Star and I still remember the dirty, sweat-filled wrestling mats we slept on in a gym. RANT raised over $10,000 to pay for buses to take them to Cancún. These students were inspiring and experienced, sophisticated organizers. We also met with organizers and local activists in Cancún, many of whom were working with a global network of NGOs called Our World Is Not for Sale, along with Puente a Cancún (Bridge to Cancún), a collaborative of Mexican, Irish and U.S. activists. La Vía Campesina, the international peasants movement, was a big player, bringing thousands of campesinos to the mobilization.

Cancún mirrors many problems and realities that the neoliberal world brings, especially the extremes of wealth and poverty. This land, on the northeast tip of the Yucatán Peninsula and historically inhabited by Mayan people, was mostly undeveloped prior to the 1970s, when the Mexican government decided to develop this lush, tropical region as a tourist destination. Today it is comprised of Cancún Centro, a city center on the mainland, and a resort area along a narrow strip of land that juts into the Caribbean. The former is a poor working-class city while the peninsula is a playground for the rich.

In advance of the mobilization, we rented a four-story white building near Parque de las Palapas, the main city center park, to house our art making, meetings and legal support — along with a nearby house for the medics and a big space for the media center. Another location, Casa de Cultura, had large meeting spaces and was where the La Vía Campesina contingent would be sleeping. Together we partnered with a group of young punks from Mexico City to construct a model eco-village in the open fields to the north of Casa de Cultura. (In advance of the summit, they had given us a tour of their permaculture projects in the south of Mexico City.) In the fields we constructed solar showers, a solar oven, an educational display, and ingenious handwashing stations that used collected rainwater and a bike pump with funnels for basins that recycled that water back into the soil. This was real infrastructure that supported La Vía Campesina during their stay in Cancún, while also educating the thousands of people who came through that space about low-cost, simple systems to reproduce in their own communities.

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[The first day of the ministerial was marked by the death of Lee Kyung-hae, president of the Federation of Farmers and Fishermen of Korea, who took his own life in protest of the WTO’s trade policies on South Korean farmers.] On the second day, we went forward with a powerful, youth-led, fiery night march filled with the clanging of pots and pans. It was called a cacerolazo, which was first used in Chile in 1971 during protests against food shortage. When this march approached Kilometer Zero and the memorial [to Brother Lee that was] under way, it went dead silent as everyone raised their fists in the air.

We were more determined than ever to get into the Hotel Zone. The unique geography of Cancún made it easy for the government to keep us out; there were only two roadway entrances to the narrow strip of beach, one coming from the airport to the south, the other from the mainland to the north. It was nearly impossible for us to figure out an effective action from the south, and the government erected not one but two security fences to the north. The first, at Kilometer Zero, was breached the first day. The second, more elaborate fence was about a third of a kilometer farther down the road. We did not think we could break that fence or actually get to the ministerial itself. We were wrong.

It didn’t seem realistic to enter the Hotel Zone en masse, but a smaller, disruptive action seemed possible if we could get into the zone. Our planning meetings were exhausting. Ideas arose, then fizzled out as the tactical impossibilities were discussed. Then a plan emerged — Operation Ballpark! What if we went into the zone as tourists? We could enter in small groups of just two or three, dressed the part, then converge around the Hard Rock Cafe and blockade the road next to the convention center. We would do this at dinnertime, when the ministerial’s delegates would be out and about at nearby restaurants.

Early that evening Star, Juniper, our friend Brush and I drove in our rental car down Boulevard Kukulcan, easily passing through the checkpoint. We watched as the beautiful jungle scenery gave way to hotels, sparse at first, then densely packed. We parked near the Hard Rock Cafe and got some ice cream — great cover, and one of Star’s favorite things. Looking around, I saw others from our group milling about, staging as tourists, getting out of taxis, browsing at souvenir shops. So far, so good.

Abruptly, as planned, a group of young folks bolted into the road. Taking their lead, the rest of us flowed into the streets. Out of inconspicuous tourists’ bags we pulled drums and bags of seeds. Some drummed and chanted, some sat down across the road, some danced in a spiral around two fruit trees, calling on the elements of earth, air, fire and water to be with us. We called on spirit to help in the healing of the environment against the ravages of globalized corporate industry. The road was blocked.

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I called our media team to let them know we had taken the road, and they called some of our friends inside the ministerial, including Antonia Juhasz from the International Forum on Globalization who joined us in the street. She and other representatives with mainstream NGOs were credentialed to attend the meetings. Soon the media arrived and the sidewalks filled with onlookers. The police stood at the periphery, not making a move. As the evening grew dark, we gathered in an impromptu spokes council to decide our next move. Luke Anderson, a writer and organizer from California, urged everyone to acknowledge that we had achieved our goal and that it was wiser to be part of another action tomorrow than to go to jail. Part of the art of action is knowing when to end an action, and to me, this was a clear ending point. Much to our surprise, the police offered two luxury buses to transport us back to wherever we wanted to go. Those without cars took the buses back to Kilometer Zero.

That night, we gathered together and worked late with the Koreans, discussing plans to tear down the second security fence. I was skeptical, but the Koreans were confident it could be done. They were unyielding, carrying a fierceness I can only describe as the spirit of Brother Lee working through them. They presented the plan of using ropes to tear down the fence, and a Mexican woman proposed that the women should go first, cutting the fence to weaken it before the ropes. I was thrilled. We had been dealing with a lot of sexism, part of the Mexican culture and also deeply rooted in some of the international male organizers, including some from the States, who had arrived in Cancún full of arrogance, assuming leadership in pretty unskillful ways. There had been growing frustration among the women.

We presented our plan to the delegates assembly at La Casa de Cultura the next morning, and much to our surprise they all agreed. I raced to the nearest hardware store and bought every bolt cutter they had, along with wire cutters and heavy-duty pliers.

By 10 a.m. we were ready. Thousands of us marched toward Kilometer Zero, including thousands of indigenous people in their beautifully woven clothes. The Koreans wore their tan vests and floppy sun hats, the students sang and banged on drums, and the Infernal Noise Brigade, from Seattle, brought great energy to the march. Several pushed the giant puppet my friend Gan Golan had built of Chac — the Mayan god of rain, thunder and lightning — and we asked for Chac’s support as we traveled the road that led to the ministerial.

At Kilometer Zero we paused to honor Brother Lee, then walked toward the new fence that had been erected 100 meters closer to the Hotel Zone. The women coalesced into formation, row upon row of us wearing bandannas around our foreheads or as masks. We had learned from the Zapatistas that masking your face is a way to be seen. Before reaching the fence, we linked arms, feeling happy, excited and free. There was a crack of thunder and a brief rain poured down, cooling us all. The gods were with us! We were in our full power as we chanted “Bella Ciao,” an Italian anti-fascist song of resistance. Years later, I realized how appropriate it was in light of Lee’s suicide.

The fence was just ahead, and it was formidable. Massive sections of thick, chain-linked metal were reinforced from behind with eight-foot boxes of steel and topped with barbed wire. Behind that were barricades, then battalions of riot police. I passed the tools out to the women and, singing our hearts out, we cut and unscrewed. The police did nothing, perhaps having confidence in the steel wall between us. Little by little, section by section, we weakened the chains and the links. As we worked, the men behind us kept pushing forward, wanting to break through the fence before it was ready to come down. Other men held the impatient ones back until we had completed our work.

Lisa Fithian pulling the ropes attached to the police barricades. (Chelsea Green Publishing)

Next it was the Koreans’ turn. Several of them came forward and tied the rope to the fence, then stretched the long ropes out into the crowd. When the ropes were tied tightly to the fence and secured in everyone’s hands, the man at the front yelled, “Pull!”

The road was wide open before us, along with hundreds of riot police with their water cannons, tear gas, and Darth Vader suits, plus the brown-clothed, unarmed peasants the police had conscripted to add to their numbers. There was a moment of stillness, as nobody, police and demonstrator alike, had planned for what would happen next. We all sat down, forming rows as the Koreans lit candles in the road. We held this space for about an hour, then the Koreans led a chant, “Down, Down, WTO,” as we all rose together, drumming and singing. We marched back to Kilometer Zero, marching with joy, giving all we could to say “No Más, No More, the WTO Must Go.”

The ministerial itself was several kilometers away. We would not get there, but we didn’t need to. We had opened the way, a political space that the state had closed.

The next morning, news came that the Kenyan delegates — representing the desires of the Group of 22 developing nations — refused to go along with the WTO’s agricultural deal. They walked out, and the ministerial collapsed, again. There would be no deal. It was an overwhelming sight to behold as our beloved community at Kilometer Zero broke out in joy, hugging, singing, crying and dancing.

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In Cancún, we demonstrated peacefully and powerfully with our humanity, our creativity and our hearts. Unlike in Prague and Genoa, the police did not attack, and therefore there was no violence. We voiced our opposition to the WTO through action, and the delegates inside the ministerial were emboldened to step away from deals that would have continued to do harm to their people and their lands.

A few months later, in November, we mobilized again against the Free Trade Area of the Americas, or FTAA, at a summit in Miami. This led to the final unraveling of the deal we had first protested in Quebec. Bolstered by our street actions and emboldened by the growing collaborations and solidarity within the global justice movement, delegations inside the negotiating rooms from Central and South America said no. The FTAA was finished for good.

These lessons from the global justice movement are needed now more than ever. With the rise of right-wing populism, many are afraid of violence, and fear leads to confusion and division. It is the empire’s most powerful tool for social control. We may be afraid, but we can still act. We don’t all have to agree on the best way forward, and we can work together with respect and agreements. There is no one way; there are many ways. This is what the Zapatistas have taught us: “One no, many yeses.” Our solidarity despite our differences in the midst of courageous, creative and collective action is the sweet spot where the greatest changes are possible.

Thousands protest in South Africa over rising violence against women

The Guardian | Protest -

President promises to do more after the most deadly month for violent crimes against women country has ever seen

Thousands of South African women took to the streets on Thursday to protest at the government’s failure to deal with rising violence against women in the wake of a string of brutal attacks that have shocked the country.

Women from across South African society marched to parliament in Cape Town dressed in black and purple in commemoration of those who lost their lives in August, the most deadly month for violent crimes against women the country has ever seen.

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Hong Kong’s protesters have scored one for democracy, but the struggle is far from over | Simon Tisdall

The Guardian | Protest -

Despite Carrie Lam withdrawing the proposed extradition bill, Beijing may be planning another crackdown

Hong Kong’s courageous demonstrators have won a significant victory – but the struggle to halt stealthy, long-term Chinese efforts to curtail legally guaranteed freedoms in Britain’s former colony is by no means over. Their protest campaign has come to symbolise the wider, global confrontation between authoritarian and democratic, law-based forms of governance – and that epic battle, too, has a long way to run. By agreeing on Wednesday to officially withdraw the proposed extradition bill that first sparked the protests in June, Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, has finally done what she probably wanted to do weeks ago – but was prevented from doing by Beijing. In leaked remarks last week, Lam admitted making “unforgivable” mistakes that plunged Hong Kong into an unprecedented post-1997 crisis.

Yet it is clear that her freedom of action was severely limited. Lam would almost certainly have resigned by now, had her Communist party masters let her. But they feared that any attempt to quit would be seen around the world as a sign of their weakness and indecision – and so are insisting, for now at least, that she stay in post. But Lam’s position has been fatally weakened. If and when calm returns, Beijing is expected to replace her.

The many-headed protest movement must now decide whether to continue to pursue its broader aim of deepening and broadening Hong Kong democracy

Related: The Hong Kong Way protest shows enchantment is a powerful weapon | Antony Dapiran

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I have been called a traitor and worse, but I know I must fight a no-deal Brexit | Layla Moran

The Guardian | Protest -

As an MP in these angry times, it is easy to feel intimidated but I will continue doing what’s best for our country

Westminster feels like a cauldron of fraught emotion. Not just in the chamber, the corridors, and the streets surrounding parliament, but among colleagues, with individual consciences wrestled over with increasing regularity. I was elected in 2017 on a staunch “stop Brexit” mandate by the people of Oxford West and Abingdon, so my voting decisions are straightforward, but I sympathise with those like Ken Clarke, Sir Nicholas Soames and my new colleague, Dr Phillip Lee. It is not easy to walk away from a party that you have aligned yourself with for decades. Many of them say their parties have left them, the moderates, behind. That’s a feeling echoed by much of the electorate.

Anxiety permeates the areas in which all MPs work and live. Protesting is a fundamental aspect of our democracy, and I will always encourage this course of action, but it can be intimidating. MPs put ourselves at the behest of the British people, certainly, but we are not infallible or devoid of sensitivity. Though the Liberal Democrats have been clear and consistent, while walking between appointments in Parliament Square, I have been called a traitor, and worse. We are often warned not to exit the parliamentary estate unaccompanied and we are besieged with threats and abuse online. It is not a healthy environment in which to work, but it does reflect the strength of emotion that is splintering our society. What provides me with the strength and conviction to walk proudly among protesters so angry about the policies I endorse is the support I absorb when I am in my own constituency. Whenever I am at home, I am met with smiling faces, and words of thanks, even hugs.

Stopping a no-deal Brexit is about protecting my constituents' livelihoods and their futures

Related: Boris Johnson may relish the street protests, but here’s why they must go on | Zoe Williams

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'My home got raided seven times': the Criminal Justice Act 25 years on

The Guardian | Protest -

Labrynth promoter Joe Wieczorek looks back at a career of antiestablishment mischief-making, and the moment 25 years ago when British dance music was politicised

Joe Wieczorek, long-time rave promoter and serial thorn in the side of the establishment, is marking the 25th anniversary of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (CJA) by cheerfully miming the insertion of a solemn legal document into a sensitive part of a policeman’s anatomy. The founder of the east London rave Labrynth, Wieczorek remains one of dance music’s most unique characters, all spiky irreverence, Cockney enthusiasm and relentless disdain for authority. Many of his peers have settled comfortably into rave’s middle age, but Wieczorek gives the impression that the culture’s real value lies in putting powerful noises out of joint.

“We employed someone called Brian: Mr 10%,” he remembers. “Drove a turquoise and grey Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, and he’d managed to get ‘the Right Honourable’ and ‘Sir’ put on his driving licence, so his sole purpose at Labrynth parties was to front the police when they showed up.”

Related: The month's best mixes: blood-pumping beats and meditative techno

Related: Sign up for the Sleeve Notes email: music news, bold reviews and unexpected extras

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Greece: We stand against state repression

House Occupation News -

The state and capitalism continue to target the freedom of the social base and appropriate its labour and resources. In recent years we have experienced some of the most violent attacks on this freedom through the mass impoverishment of the already oppressed and exploited. At the same time, a widespread social resistance and solidarity movement has formed. People have created a variety of self-organized spaces such as housing infrastructures, social medical centers, community kitchens, open parks and public spaces. In spite of setbacks, the movement has created a solid social ground and accumulated considerable knowledge and experience. Through squats, political groups, base unions, squares and neighbourhood assemblies we have formed communities of struggle with strong social bonds. Communities oriented towards society, with a critical eye all the same. At times, the movement has had to use violence as a means of defending and expanding free spaces against state repression, capitalist interests and fascist attacks. It is a movement that grows in diversity and vibrancy, despite the ongoing criminalisation of solidarity and mobility.

In the context of this socio-class conflict, on Monday 26/8, the state, armed with police forces, seized Exarchia and evicted four squats. Two of these squats were migrant homes—Transito and Spirou Trikoupi 17, from where the police abducted 144 migrants, uprooting them from their places of residence for a second time and isolating them in what the state calls detention centers. Evictions were also carried out in an ongoing housing and political squat in Assimaki Fotila street, and the Gare squat, where three arrests were made. Police also invaded the homes of comrades from Gare. In the next days, police kicked out homeless persons from Strefi hill, beat up a homosexual couple, attacked the steki of anarchist immigrants and the squatted social space of K’ BOΞ. The movement gave multiform answers with gatherings, actions and demonstrations. In addition to the squats and the movement, this repressive operation targets migrants. These are some of the most oppressed people in society, since their very existence is considered illegal. In a state of ‘illegality’ there is no access to health and education, and working conditions are like slavery. Many choose self-organisation and solidarity structures in order to survive and resist. Together with locals and internationals they build communities and claim visibility, posing a direct threat to political and economic power. The solidarity we are—all of us together—building is antithetical to the humanitarian aid of NGOs that can be seen to manipulate migrants and make money off their problems. Real solidarity is at odds with state ‘humanitarianism’, which covers up deaths at the borders and deflects from the violent conditions in concentration camps. Prisoners do not receive adequate medical care and therefore suffer from potentially fatal diseases. These concentration camps lack basic hygiene, people live with bed bugs and miserable food and are frequently beaten, all to force them to flee Greek and European territory. Transferring migrants from the squats where they have chosen to live undermines their dignity and self-determination. The excuse that these camps are safer and healthier is a shameful lie of the state, an absolute reversal of reality.

Throughout these years, the solidarity movement has responded to a variety of needs and desires. The most important achievement of the movement is that people of different backgrounds have organized into squats and formed collective bodies to create projects that reflect the world of equality and freedom we desire. Squats are free spaces where social relations can be developed free from state control and economic exclusion. These spaces transgress national, gender and other systemic discrimination and answer basic needs such as housing, breaking out of rent coercion and wage exploitation. In times of mass forced migration, they offer shelter and hope to thousands of people by making inclusive and active spaces. Squats in collaboration with other grassroots forces defend neighbourhoods and public spaces from corporate and political power. The political agenda of New Democracy is a continuation of Syriza’s policy. It aims to transform the whole territory into readily exploitable land for local and foreign capital. The result is further exploitation and destruction of the environment and the aggressive gentrification of urban space that transforms neighbourhoods inside the city into areas of touristic consumption, displacing residents and carrying out an informal “social cleansing”. The militarisation of public space, the imprisonment of those who rise up, the subjugation of workers, students, the unemployed, migrants, women and LGBTQI+ people is essential for implementing such a plan. Some of New Democracy’s first moves were to integrate the correctional system and the immigration ministry under police jurisdiction. At the same time, they hired 1,500 new people to the police force, expanding the state’s army of repression. They further criminalised the means of struggle and abolished university asylum in preparation for the new social and class struggles. The struggles that Syriza assimilated and disintegrated paved the way for an even more aggressive totalitarian state that we saw with the rise of New Democracy.

We call all people of the struggle–the rebels, squatters, collectives and individuals–here and abroad, to join in strengthening our efforts towards a common front against police and state repression. Our primary aim is to defend the squats and our social achievements against the state and capital.

Don’t let the struggle be absorbed by any force of the regime! Let’s expand the already existing self-organised structures and create new ones, let’s escalate our class and social struggles. It is time to crush the oppressive forces, to debunk systemic media propaganda, and to bring out the truth of the struggle of the oppressed.

SOLIDARITY TO SQUATS AND ALL SPACES OF STRUGGLE
LOCALS-MIGRANTS WE STRUGGLE TOGETHER

Some squats in Greece: https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/country/GR/squated/squat
Groups in Greece: https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/country/GR
Events in Greece: https://radar.squat.net/en/events/country/GR

Indymedia Athens https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1599770/

Hong Kong's leader withdraws extradition bill that ignited mass protests

The Guardian | Protest -

Chief executive did not concede to other demands including an inquiry into police violence

Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, has said her government will formally withdraw an extradition bill that has ignited months of protests and plunged the territory into its biggest political crisis in decades.

In a five-minute televised address on Wednesday, Lam said her government would formally withdraw the controversial bill to “fully allay public concerns”.

Why are people protesting?

Related: Hong Kong on brink of recession as protests and trade war take toll

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Hong Kong students sing Les Misérables song instead of national anthem – video

The Guardian | Protest -

Hong Kong students have protested by singing the Les Misérables song Do You Hear the People Sing? over the national anthem during a secondary school assembly. Class boycotts continued on Tuesday after massive a student turnout for pro-democracy rallies on Monday. Video also emerged of police chasing students entering schools to participate in, or encourage, protests

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Magdeburg (Germany): Four at a stroke, solidarity greetings to Exarchia

House Occupation News -

In the night of 4 september 2019, we squatted four houses in different city districts of Magdeburg. We want to express our anger on the brutal attacks in Exarchia where more than 140 people have been jailed in refugee camps or directly imprisoned. At the same time, we want to show our solidarity with the free and rebellious spirits of the district here and of all other resisting places.

Today, several people in Magdeburg came together to appropriate different houses temporarily – with that we are saying: We can take the rooms if we want. Exarchia lives on!
It has been pronounced long time ago, but now Kyriakos Mitsotakis, newly elected prime minister and his riot police MAT striked with full violence. His aim was and is the autonomous district Exarchia in downtown of Athens. In this district which is shaped by self-organisation and the spirit of resistance, Mitsotakis wants to “tidy up”, as it depicts a stain for the gentrification project in Athens. They want to impose a metro station in Exarchia so it subjects itself to mass tourism and real estate speculation. So far they tried to harass the inhabitants of that district through repression, controls and expulsion, now the methods have been intensified.

Immediately after taking over the government, there has been attacks on two squats of migrants, Notara 26 and Hotel Oneiro. They tried to cut the water and electricity supply which lead to that fact that hundreds of people had fear of their lives and freedom. On 26th August 2019, a police eviction started at 6 o’clock in the morning in Exarchia.

The police invaded two squats in Spirou-Trikoupi street and the anarchists squats Gare and Rosa de Foc. They detained 134 migrants which have been distributed to different refugee camps. The deportation of some of the people are being executed now. The images of crying children was spread worldwide. Amnesty International complained about 35 minor refugees who have been detained. Moreover, they jailed three anarchists who have been released of detention on the following day. On 27th August, the police broke the door of the squat Omokentro in Tsamadhou street 32 in Exarchia and searched everything. On 28th August, the homeless people on the districts’ mountain of Exarchia have been expelled. On 30th August, the MAT forces attacked festival visitors on Exarchia place from three sides with tear gas. After that, they tried to trespass K*Vox, battered the glass door and threw inside tear gas grenades while the room was full of people. The people from K*Vox could hinder the police forces to enter the building. One person was hospitalised with serious head injuries…

1985 and 2008, two young Athenian activists were murdered by police. And also now, the all-day repression and attacks against self-organised rooms, migrants and local activists raises suspicion that police will not abstain from acting as brutal as possible. In the last days, a weapon has been drawn two times. In North-West of the police occupied district, the situation got more difficult, especially for the squat Notara 26 which is in the middle of the concerned area and is almost fully surrounded by police. “In this area, a gay couple has been attacked by police. In this area, fascists have been spotted doing small talk with cops, they were wearing t-shirts of the neo-Nazi ultras of “Lazio Rom” and the Identitarian Movement of “Defend Europe.” (from: Exarchia – mon amour, by Yannis Youlountas) Fascists and counter-insurgency units are besieging the district together. On Monday, 2nd September, shots have been fired and shortly after, military police has been seen. The situation in Exarchia is escalating dramatically. A television channel was announcing that a direct and simultaneous attack on 11 squats is approaching to break resistance in the district as soon as possible.

The peoples’ resistance in Exarchia will get bigger and more intense – at the same time, international solidarity is in demand. Because: “The defence of Exarchia is defending our possibility to show that other ways are possible out of the current deadlock in which the world is situated.” (Yannis Youlountas)

Solidarity with those people who have been brutally evicted from the houses in Exarchia – Solidarity with the people who have been jailed in refugee camps and prisons by the Greek state – Solidarity with the squats in Exarchia and all other places of resistance!

Some groups from Magdeburg in Solidarity.

Some squats in Germany: https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/country/DE/squated/squat
Groups (social center, collective, squat) in Germany: https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/country/DE
Events in Germany: https://radar.squat.net/en/events/country/DE

Indymedia Germany https://de.indymedia.org/node/37098

History will be kind to Heathrow climate protesters who stop us flying | George Monbiot

The Guardian | Protest -

Activists plan to release drones near the airport. Their possible arrest is a small price to pay for fighting the climate crisis

Obedience is dangerous: it has facilitated every form of institutional oppression and violence. Every advance in justice, peace and democracy has been made possible by disobedience. Ethical progress is unlikely when we do only what we are told.

We owe our right to vote, our freedom from servitude and subjection, our prosperity and security to people reviled in their time as lawbreakers and reprobates. Breaking the law on behalf of others is a long and honourable tradition. Next week, a few dozen unaffiliated activists intend to start something they call Heathrow Pause. They will each fly a toy drone within the restricted zone around Heathrow airport. The drones will fly nowhere near the flight paths, and never above head height, ensuring they present no risk. But any drone activity forces the airport to suspend all flights. The activists know they face arrest and possibly long prison sentences.

We are told that flying is about freedom. It is: the freedom of the rich to destroy the lives of the poor

Related: Activists to fly drones at Heathrow in attempt to ground flights

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Anti-fracking trio given suspended sentences for breaking protest ban

The Guardian | Protest -

‘The fight goes on,’ say activists after ignoring injunction at Cuadrilla site in Lancashire

Three anti-fracking activists have been given suspended prison sentences after breaking a ban on demonstrations which their lawyers argued “severely curtails the right to protest”.

The trio were convicted after ignoring an injunction brought by the energy company Cuadrilla to protect its Preston New Road site near Blackpool, Lancashire.

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Headset mics: latest tactic in TV news's battle with Brexit protests

The Guardian | Protest -

Westminster protests are also forcing broadcasters to invest in extra security and build higher platforms for presenters

TV news channels camped outside parliament are having to resort to innovative methods to block out the cacophony of screaming protesters, people playing bagpipes, and the largely inexplicable presence of a man with a glockenspiel playing the Imperial March from Star Wars.

Both pro- and anti-Brexit protesters have been attempting to hijack live broadcasts to make their point, forcing television news producers to invest in extra security and build ever-higher platforms for programmes.

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Anti-racists turn out en masse as far right gains new ground in Germany

Waging Nonviolence -

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Following parliamentary elections on Sunday, the far right party Alternative for Deutschland, or AfD, became the second strongest party in the East German states of Brandenburg and Saxony. This means that two-thirds of the population living in Saxony, for example, have chosen strongly conservative to far right wing values.

By taking a substantial number of votes from the two leading parties — the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union — AfD will receive more state funding for its anti-immigrant initiatives. This outcome is far from surprising, as AfD’s support base has steadily increased since it was founded in 2013.

The AfD’s new role is a major win for the right in Germany. After emerging onto the electoral scene with a strong anti-immigration position, the AfD has come under sharp criticism in recent years. From campaigns against feminism and LGBTQI struggles to controversial coalitions at the local level, the AfD has consistently raised questions about the party’s connection to violent and extremist groups.

For instance, in August 2018, representatives of the AfD joined with anti-Muslim organization Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West and neo-Nazi party The Third Way in a series of racist riots in the city of Chemnitz. Citing the fatal stabbing of a German man allegedly by a refugee, groups of men chased down people they perceived to be refugees or immigrants. “Germany for Germans” and “Foreigners out!” became unifying positions for a range of white supremacist groups. While these messages and coalitions persist, Saxony has seen a 38 percent increase in violent attacks since 2017.

Far right group PRO-Chemnitz organized a demonstration on August 25, one year after a German man was allegedly killed by a refugee. (Henrik Merker)

The ground that AfD gained on Sunday did not go unchallenged. On Saturday, August 24, over 40,000 people took to the streets in Dresden, the East German capital of Saxony, sending a preemptive message to AfD and the neo-Nazi network supporting it. Protesters declared the anti-racist majority to be “unteilbar,” or indivisible, and said “solidarität verteidigen”  — defend solidarity.

In reaction to the 2018 events in Chemnitz, people began organizing “unteilbar” demonstrations in order to build a strong anti-racist movement. In October 2018, 240,000 people took over Berlin. In July 2019, 7,500 people kept the momentum going in Leipzig. This time in Dresden, churches, migrant organizations, artists, young people representing Fridays for Future, the youth climate movement inspired by 15-year-old Greta Thunberg, and even German pop musicians were in attendance.

Previous Coverage
  • Anti-fascists won’t let Germany return to normal after weak verdict in neo-Nazi trial
  • Of the 40,000 people who came to challenge the politics of hate, 10,000 took part in the Parade-Power-Block, an explicitly anti-racist and anti-fascist contingent. Welcome United, Nationalism is Not an Alternative, the NSU-Komplex Tribunal, Iuventa 10 and Initiative of Black Germans set the tone that anti-racism and anti-fascism are intersecting struggles, desperately needed under the influence of the far right. Thousands of “Migrantifa” stickers were plastered along the demonstration route, making the connection that migration is a normal part of society, as is resistance to fascism. 

    “I’ve been living in Dresden for 10 years,” said Hannah Zimmerman, a staff member of the Chemnitz-based Offener Prozess, or Open Process — a political education nonprofit dedicated to fostering global perspectives. “I’ve been to many demonstrations here. Mostly we were a social minority and often criminalized or discredited by the media because we were disobedient and opposed to the Nazis. Taking to the streets with so many people and demonstrating together for an open and plural society was a strong sign [that our movement is being taken seriously].”

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    Moving forward, activists and organizers concerned with democracy and the safety of all people are asking important questions, such as: How will the AfD shape the discourse of the parties in the governing coalition? What compelled several hundred thousand new voters to mobilize for AfD? What will the next five years bring? And how do anti-racist struggles stay visible and connected, especially in areas that have fewer resources or are located in smaller towns and villages?

    “It will be a really difficult five years, but I have no plans to leave,” said Anne Gersch, a staff member of Courage — a project that facilitates anti-discrimination trainings in schools throughout Saxony. “There are many of us who are staying and [who will] keep on working to discuss discimination in our society.”

    For many living in eastern states, the work will continue. Yet, longtime anti-racist organizations working in Saxony anticipate new challenges. For instance, SUPPORT, a project that provides counseling to victims of right-wing violence, expects that the new government will favor projects less critical of far right violence to do their work. “It might deter victims to report incidents,” said Andre Löscher, a counselor with SUPPORT. This means staying visible and available to victims, especially in smaller villages or towns, is incredibly important.

    Despite the election results, the fight against racism is growing. The shift in political terrain has created new anti-racist formations. For instance, the pressure of racist attacks has increased refugee self-organization. Groups like the Arab Association for Culture and Integration are working to establish a positive image of refugees in the area, by offering language courses, tutoring for children and public dialogue events. Initiatives formed by refugees are an important part of establishing networks, which help increase the likelihood of recent immigrants staying in Saxony and Germany.

    As is true in the United States, an important question for those involved in the anti-racist struggle in Germany is how to stay visible and connected. Despite shifts in the electoral field, anti-racist movements have shown that they can leverage their vast networks to mobilize for large demonstrations, as well as the on-going, everyday work against racism and fascism.

    “It is particularly frightening that the AfD could become the strongest party among 18-24 year olds, who now make up 21 percent of their votes,” Zimmermann explained. This challenges the idea that most AfD voters come from older generations that lived in the former German Democratic Republic. “Nevertheless: We continue! Our struggles here are important, and we know there is a country-wide solidarity network that stands behind us.”

    Why are all the motherhood memoirs so white? | Huma Qureshi

    The Guardian | Protest -

    It’s a naturally inclusive experience, yet books on the subject by women of colour are hard to find

    I am more than a little obsessed with reading memoirs about motherhood. It is not inexplicable, for I have three young children of my own, aged five and under. In this intense period of parenting, whereby my tired head spins sometimes from simply trying to remember to call the right one by the right name and endlessly loading the washing machine, reading these individual experiences of mothers has helped me feel less alone. Less afraid.

    I’ve been spoilt for choice – you can’t help but browse a bookstore without stumbling upon yet another first-person account of motherhood. In the last year especially, motherhood memoirs have become as much of a trend as thrillers with the word “Girl” in the title once were. I’ve certainly noticed, and read, many more memoirs on motherhood since expecting my youngest child, now two, than when my eldest child was born five and a half years ago.

    It has taken publishers so long to see there is a place in non-fiction beyond tips on sleep training or weaning

    Related: Ruth Davidson departs to focus on family. That decision is only hers to make | Gaby Hinsliff

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    Athens: MAT entered inside the steki of anarchist immigrants (Tsamadou 19) and destroyed everything

    House Occupation News -

    The night of 1th September, the event of solidarity gathering had taken place in the steki of anarchist immigrants (Tsamadou 19). After the event of solidarity, there was a riot against military check point of the MAT next to the steki, which molotovs burned MAT hardly; after the riot, MAT destroyed the door of steki, entered inside and started to smash everything. At the moment, the door of steki of anarchist immigrants is open and MAT are next the steki.
    We have said it, the resistance is still alive and resistance will exist, even if the streets of Exarchia become red from our blood.
    The state is try to terrorize the society in order to control it, this is the plan of all the state but we should not fear and we have to throw the fear in the body of the system.
    Steki of anarchist immigrants (Tsamadou 19) will be still the center of radical immigrants.
    Long live resistance

    Steki of anarchist immigrants (Tsamadou 19)
    https://squ.at/r/7bac
    2th September 2019

    Some squats in Greece: https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/country/GR/squated/squat
    Groups in Greece: https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/country/GR
    Events in Greece: https://radar.squat.net/en/events/country/GR

    https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1599751/

    Greece: First they take Exarcheia…

    House Occupation News -

    Recent evictions of several squats, some housing refugees and migrants, mark the beginning of a new chapter of repression and dissent in Greece. In the autonomous Athens neighborhood of Exarcheia on the morning of Monday, August 26, hundreds of masked riot cops with tear gas at hand cordoned off an entire block. Overhead, helicopters circled the scene.

    No one would be blamed for thinking a civil war, or worse, was about to erupt. But no, the Greek state led by the new conservative government was mobilizing its full repressive armada to evacuate several squats occupied by refugees and migrants. Theorist Akis Gavriilidis weighed in:

    This affair is a scandalous waste of public funds, for a result that is not only zero but negative in every respect: moral, legal, practical, economic and whatever you can imagine. To detain dozens of refugees — including children — who have committed no crime, to evict them from places where they have lived a dignified life they have helped to shape themselves, with the only prospect of being imprisoned in a hell where they live in much worse conditions, forced to passivity and inactivity.

    I cannot see who derives joy from these actions, apart from racists and bullies. As a Greek citizen, I demand an explanation as to why public funds have been wasted on such an unethical, illegal and ineffective outcome.

    One of the occupiers explained, “The fascist state expelled us today at six o’clock in the morning and they are taking us to the Petrou Rali police station. They took us out of our house. They take our things out of the building, closed the door and blocked the entrance and the windows. They try to bury us. They don’t know that we are seeds.”

    Four squats were evacuated in Exarcheia that morning, two of them housing refugees and migrants: Spirou Trikoupi 17, Transito, Rosa de Foc and the anarchist occupation Gare. The raids were concentrated in the north-western part of the neighborhood, which is also home to Notara 26, Greece’s first housing squat for refugees and migrants. Better guarded and symbolically important for the neighborhood, Notara 26 has thus far been left untouched.

    From two buildings in Spirou Trikoupi 17, 143 people were detained and taken to the Attica’s Aliens Department to check their immigration status. Of the 143 people from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Turkey, 57 are men, 51 are women and 35 are children.

    From another building in Kallidromiou Street, three people were taken into custody and brought to the Athens police headquarters. The fourth building, on Fotila Street, was empty at the time of the eviction. The operation involved units of the MAT riot police, various special identification and forensic units and the DIAS motorcycle patrol. Apparently no drugs or weapons were found in the buildings — there was no trace of “danger”. A police spokesperson stated nonetheless that “We are the new silent vacuum cleaner that will suck in all the garbage.”

    Since last week’s offensive tensions have been rising in Exarcheia. Local residents are unsettled by the continuous police presence in the streets and their violent, homophobic and sexist behavior. Police have been seen drawing their weapons on several occasions.

    Last Thursday, on the first night of the “Beautiful Exarchia” book festival, organized by local publishing houses and bookstores on the neighborhood’s central square, the police attacked the crowd with teargas and batons. Later that night, MAT units were spotted marching towards the square in the middle of the night, shouting to local residents: “You assholes, you’re going to experience this every day!”

    On Saturday around 2.000 people joined a demonstration in Exarcheia in response to the crack down on the refugee and migrant squats and the police presence in the neighborhood. Resistance is resurfacing for sure.

    Our Exarcheia, Their Exarcheia

    If it were up to the wealthy, Exarcheia would finally be transformed into the showcase quarter of Athens, boasting yuppie cafes, mass tourism and beautiful vantage points. Fortunately, this vision, which has been on the minds of urban planners and local government on and off since the 1990s, is still far from reality.

    There are 23 occupations in Exarcheia and 26 others in the wider district, for a total of 49 occupations concentrated in a relatively small area. In addition, there are other types of self-governing places, some of which are rented — such as the Nosotros Social Center — and dozens of private residencies housing activist groups.

    Exarcheia, known as an alternative neighborhood with a tradition of left-wing and anarchist organizing and a site of all kinds of illegal activities like drug trafficking, has always been a sore spot for the state and its rulers. In the public security discourse, it is reviled as a “state of emergency.” In recent years, conservatives have often picked up on the rising number of riots — mainly small groups of people attacking police with molotov cocktails — in order to accuse the previous Syriza government under Alexis Tsipras of losing control of the area.

    In a parliamentary debate and during TV interviews in 2017, Kyrgiakos Mitsotakis, the head of the conservative opposition — and now governing party — Nea Demokratia (ND), claimed that he would “clean up Exarchia” if he took office. Now that Mitsotakis is prime minister, he is following through on his threat. At the time, Syriza retorted that Mitsotakis was touting a classic “law-and-order policy” based only on “repressive police operations and the incitement of hatred,” regardless of the fact that Syriza itself had already began evacuating the squats housing refugees and migrants in Thessaloniki the previous summer.

    Exarcheia is a historic neighborhood nested between two hills in the heart of Athens. Named after a grocer, the neighborhood was built at the end of the 19th century. Since the 1960s, it has developed into a student hotspot and meeting place for the alternative political and cultural scene. Today, the district is characterized by its many cafes, print shops, independent publishers and small bookstores.

    The history of the neighborhood is closely linked to the development of left-wing radicalism and anarchism following the end of the dictatorship in 1974. During the 1973 Polytechnic uprising, a banner made clear that the resistance was directed “against state and capital.”

    In 1985, there was nationwide unrest after 15-year-old Michalis Kaltezas was killed by security forces. Decades later, in December 2008, when the 15-year-old student Alexandros Grigoropoulos was killed by the police in the center of the neighborhood, a revolt broke out that quickly spread to all corners of the country. The 2008 violent revolt is the culmination of this long-standing meeting of students, the politicized and the precarious — the 2006-’07 student protests against the neoliberalization of universities were a stopover.

    The district itself is constantly changing. On the one hand, it is the place where many self-organized initiatives come together, where new social movements are born and met with repression. On the other hand, it is a place of contested socio-economic interests. Its central geographic position in the city makes it attractive for real estate sharks who wish to gentrify the area and ultimately displace the unruly population and import high earning yuppies of all kinds and countries.

    Before the outbreak of the sovereign debt crisis in 2009, the gentrification was already evident; the cityscape changed with the arrival of high-end and yuppie cafes and other facilities and services targeting middle-class consumers. The crisis put a spanner in the works for the gentrifiers. With the real estate sector in red, no more loans were given out, drug gangs took over the area and the police once again lost control.

    At the same time, the number of political squats in the neighborhood increased, first as a result of need and self-organization, then as a solidarity structure for the arrival of thousands of refugees and migrants. The response of the local population and activists to the closing of the borders was to open dozens of residential squats, organize education, and distribute clothing and food.

    More than an “autonomous stronghold”

    Is Exarcheia today a “problem district”? Spending a day in the neighborhood shows that it is more than just an “autonomous stronghold.” It is a historical site of social conflict in Greek society, but also a culmination of alternative processes. It is a networked neighborhood that has been defending itself for years against organized drug trafficking and gentrification processes.

    Many left-wing and anarchist groups operate their own centers — including the Center for Migrants run by the Diktyo network for political and social rights, or Nosotros, a social center of Athens’ anti-authoritarian movement.

    Making Molotov cocktails is an important part of street culture, but people also meet for events to criticize capitalism or build collectives. Within the framework of crisis management in recent years, other projects have emerged, such as a social medical practice at the anarchist center K*Vox, and refugees and migrant housing. Notara 26 and the City Hotel Plaza squats — the latter now defunct because of fear of a violent eviction by the new government — provided thousands of refugees and migrants with housing, food and other services.

    According to a plan that was developed and implemented with the participation of various departments of the Athens city administration, such as the environmental and infrastructure departments, Exarcheia is to be purged of illegal drug trafficking, sex work, refugees, and “anti-state elements” such as anarchist groups. The vision envisages the construction of the Exarcheia subway station within five years, the removal of graffiti, and the installation of new street lamps.

    This summer, the first phase of the large-scale action plan kicked-off with increased police controls. Phase one is clean up, phase two is to maintain the area and make the first superficial changes to the district, and phase three is to build the Athens Montmartre. In this first phase, the police found 42 grams of marijuana, which they presented to the public as a major heist. Further evacuations will follow ahead of the ultimate confrontation with the revolutionary group Rouvikonas, Mitsotakis’ personal archenemy.

    Named after the river Rubikon, Rouvikonas has gained popularity among locals by carrying out spectacular direct actions against private companies, government agencies and embassies in recent years. During Thursday night’s attack the riot police even tried to invade the occupied social center K*Vox on Exarcheia square, which the media has painted as the “operation center” of the group.

    The Rollback

    The new conservative mayor of Athens and nephew of Prime Minister Mitsotakis, Kostas Bakoyannis, was sworn in on Sunday, August 25. The next day’s police actions were also the first mark of Mitsotakis as the new prime minister — perfectly timed for the return from summer vacation and seasonal work.

    The rightwing clamp-down is emboldening: Mitsotakis also announced in the Greek parliament that he would lift the capital controls that had been plaguing Greece since 2015. It was a success for him, thanks to his friend Yannis Stournaras, the President of the Greek Central Bank, a success that the Syriza government was denied by pressure from its “international partners”.

    This week’s evictions in Exarcheia should not only be seen as part of a local action plan, but as part of an even larger scheme. The government of the Nea Dimokratia is a mixture of capital-hungry, conservative and neo-fascist elements that will tackle several fronts — lifting capital controls, handing out some money to small businessmen to supposedly make their lives easier, and setting the social catastrophe in motion.

    The abolition of university asylum — a rule that has applied since the military dictatorship and that prohibits the police from entering university campuses — is only the first step in the final neoliberalization of Greek universities. The creation of private universities will draw investments from the private sector, inevitably turning them into profit-driven institutions.

    Students and professors are organizing against this neoliberal turn, but on a smaller scale than the 2006–07 protests during the last round of education reforms. Years of crisis have destroyed the social networks, and political organizing processes ground to a halt after widespread disappointment with the Syriza government.

    Solidarity as defense

    But resistance will soon resurface in Greece, not because of “rebellious Greek blood” or other mystical nonsense, but because of the continuous history of social struggles since the beginning of the last century. It is not the history of instigated world wars or peaceful revolutions, but the history of great resistance against both foreign and homegrown fascism and of revolts that have moved above and beyond the realm of subculture politics.

    In Exarcheia, the struggle for the territory will only be successful if it is framed as part of a larger counteroffensive, one rooted in the desire to change the world. For this, solidarity must first be rebuilt and threat of gentrification processes combined strategically with other upcoming social fronts like the student protests.

    After the return from summer holidays and hit by the first blows of state repression, the neighborhood has turned to each other. The occupiers of Notara 26, for example, have drafted and distributed an open letter to their neighbors, calling for support and solidarity actions. The first local solidarity demonstration in Exarcheia gathered around 2.000 people on Saturday, followed by some clashes with police. For September 14, many groups and squats are mobilizing under the slogan “No Pasaran” for a big demonstration in central Athens.

    For those of us abroad, it is time to be vigilant once again after years of relative inactivity in our solidarity work during the Syriza government. It has been a long time since we have visited the Greek embassies and company branches. Some are already reacting to the call of solidarity: according to activist and filmmaker Yannis Youlountas, in the past few days declarations of solidarity and action reports have arrived from nearly two dozen countries.

    Exarcheia will fall if not for solidarity. If it remains, it will be a beacon for all of us in our unfinished adventures.

    Some squats in Greece: https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/country/GR/squated/squat
    Groups in Greece: https://radar.squat.net/en/groups/country/GR
    Events in Greece: https://radar.squat.net/en/events/country/GR

    John Malamatinas, ROAR https://roarmag.org/essays/first-they-take-exarcheia/

    A journey in search of the American left: fragile and feisty, hopeful and fearful

    The Guardian | Protest -

    The first in a five-day series where our writer gauges the mood of US progressives during a 10-day trip across the country.

    A few months after the 2016 election, 29-year-old Emily Marburger posted an update on a private Facebook group, Pantsuit Nation, that had been set up to support Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential bid.

    “Like the rest of us last November, I woke up to a situation I didn’t know existed,” she wrote. “I knew I had to get involved. I felt driven to help. But I never imagined I’d find myself, at 29, running for Mayor in the heated Democratic primary in my tiny square mile borough of 8,000 (just outside Pittsburgh).”

    It was really only after I won the primary that I began to feel like there was someone bigger happening and that this might be part of it

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    Carrie Lam says she would quit as Hong Kong CEO if she had a choice – audio

    The Guardian | Protest -

    The embattled Hong Kong leader, Carrie Lam, said she has caused ‘unforgivable havoc’ by igniting the political crisis engulfing the city and would quit if she had a choice, according to a leaked audio recording of remarks she made last week to a group of businesspeople.

    Lam admitted she now has ‘very limited’ options to resolve the crisis because the unrest has become a national security and sovereignty issue for China amid rising tensions with the United States.

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    Australian tech company Atlassian urges business to support climate strikes

    The Guardian | Protest -

    Future Super, KeepCup and clean energy retailer Amber among 20 firms to join Not Business as Usual alliance

    Australian tech company Atlassian is encouraging its workforce to take part in global climate strikes this month that will be held to coincide with the United Nations climate summit.

    The software company is among an alliance of Australian and global companies urging businesses to support employees who want to strike in solidarity with students on 20 September.

    Related: Hundreds of young people join Greta Thunberg in climate protest outside UN

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