textfiles/politics/SPUNK/sp000470.txt

Welcome to Counter Information No.41.

The broadsheet is now 10 years old having ben founded 
during the Miner's Strike in 1984. We appeal for your 
support both in terms of financial assistance - money, 
stamps etc - and by supplying stories, extending the 
circulation of CI etc.. Thousands of CI are sent abroad, 
to countries as diverse as the USA, latin America, Australasia, 
most European countries to far east & African contacts. Most 
of the CIs ,however, are given out at demos or distributed via 
friendship networks, cafes, fanzine/groups etc. Thousands are 
sent in either bulk or non-bulk (3 or under)packages to contacts 
throughout the 'British Isles'. Stories from CI are reprinted 
in a variety of publications from Bad Attitude to Blast(Sweden) 
to Anarchy (US) to Umanita Nova (Italy) etc.. 

CI isn't confined to strictly 'anarchist' circles but find's 
a welcome in autonomist, libertarian communist and radical 
environmental networks.

For a 'hard' copy of CI send a request/donation/ SAE for 
sample to:

Counter Info c/o 11 Forth St., Edinburgh EH1.

UP TO 700 refugees are being detained in detention centres and jails 
every month, up to 200 being deported monthly.  The 1971 Immigration 
act allows people seeking asylum from oppression to be held indefinitely, 
without charge. 

At Campsfield House Detention Centre in Oxfordshire 99%  of the detainees 
are black.  A clear attempt to divide the working class along national 
boundaries, the refugees have suffered racial abuse, attacks from staff, being 
moved at short notice' and in 1991 Omasasi Lumumba was murdered by 
officers in Pentonville. However detainees have fought back, with country-wide 
support.  In March a hunger strike by detainees spread to 10 other jails 
and detention centres.  On 26 March demonstrators chained up the centre 
gates and then broke into the grounds. In June hundreds attended a national 
demo and a riot inside caused £20,000 worth of damage while 6 people escaped. 
The Campaign to close Campsfield demands no detentions and no deportations 
- write c/o 111 Magdalen Rd., Oxford OX4. 

Despite the state's attempts to criminalise them communities continue 
to defend themselves against racism and police brutality.  In May a 
group of 20 white men threatening people with baseball bats and 
bars were driven out of the area by young Asians in Downall, Sheffield.  
The police response was to drive the 
racists around the corner and release them. A spontaneous demo 
against a planned BNP meeting in the area, however, found the police 
descending in riot vans and arresting 8 anti fascists.  Hundreds of 
people from the local community formed a defence campaign and organised 
a public meeting and pickets; demanding an end to police harassment, 
all charges dropped and successfully forced an independent enquiry 
into Altercliffe police.  The charges were eventually dropped or reduced.
In July local Asians came to the defence of a cab driver in Rotherham who 
was beaten by a gang of white men.  As the racists got away 6 young people 
were arrested.  Locals marched on the police station and 2 nights of rioting 
followed. 

In Scotland opposition continues to BNP activists Gavin Robertson, a 
Scottish Office employee, and Gus McLeod , employed at prestige Burrell 
Collection Info : CARF magazine  ADDRESS   See Contraflow.  St A's day 
demo end of Nov.


Defend the Occupation!

THE first application of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act may be by a 
Labour Council against community activists, the majority unemployed, some 
homeless.

The Centre, in Broughton Street, Edinburgh is barricaded and awaiting attack 
by sheriff officers.  On 16 September the Labour Lothian Region - the Centre's 
landlord - obtained a "move to eject" decree. The Region has no other use 
planned for the building.  They are refusing to grant a lease to the local 
community council - a proposal which would enable the Centre to continue.  
The Region are out to destroy an autonomous space which has long been 
a base for direct action and grass-roots struggles. Ironically the 
Centre - formerly Edinburgh Unemployed Workers Centre - has never been 
busier, with a thriving cafe and busy creche, well-used meeting spaces, 
a darkroom, a reading room, community arts space, music workshops, 
claimants' resistance and benefits advice, frequent socials and so on.  
During the occupation the Centre remains open to the public and all 
activities continue. The attack on the Centre is part of a general 
attack on self-managed community resources the world over.  The 
attack must be resisted, and we need help to keep the Centre open.  
Write, phone, turn up, join the occupation!  Viva La Centre!

The Centre, 103 Broughton St., Edinburgh EH1.  Tel. 031 557 0718.


Dan Dare Direct

ON 28 September hundreds of disabled people and their supporters 
demonstrated in Oldham town centre.  They were protesting about 
their civil rights bill being thrown out of parliament and 
calling for an end to discrimination and equal rights for all.
Following the march members of the disabled Peoples Direct 
Action Network (DAN) handcuffed and chained themselves to
buses on the main street.  Traffic was at a standstill for 
an hour as demonstrators fought off attempts by the police 
to remove them.  They are demanding accessible public transport 
for all. DAN are committed to non-violent confrontation 
as a way of highlighting the discrimination and prejudice  
faced by disabled people and bringing about liberation. 
 
DAN 081 889 1361 and 061 301 2695.

Sign of the times ?

The selective industrial action by signal workers organised 
in the RMT union and their new bosses, Railtrack dragged on 
through the summer causing rail chaos.

      The dispute, as with those in the health service etc, 
highlighted the creeping privatisation of former State 
enterprises.   The solidarity of the signalworkers ensured 
little scabbing but despite the efforts of a few Solidarity 
Groups such as in Dundee there has been no community involvement.  
Likewise other railworkers in the RMT and Aslef, the traindrivers  
remained separate from the dispute. This meant that the militant 
actions  seen  in  France, involving  both unionised and  
non-unionised  rail and airport workers wasn't repeated  
here, as industrial action was subordinated to a public 
relations 'chess game', encouraged by Labour & the TUC, 
to "settle" rather than win the dispute.


THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY

Time to save our beautiful planet is running out. We need to match 
the bravery and determination with which Glaswegians are fighting 
to stop the  proposed M77 that would carve up the 1018 acre Pollok 
Estate in Glasgow.. The creation of a rapidly growing camp in the 
Pollok woods goes some way to drawing the often divided movements 
for social justice and an undamaged environment together. If the 
road goes ahead the people immediately hit will be, as usual, the 
already exploited; folk from the surrounding council estates 
will suffer from the raised levels of pollution and traffic danger. 
The camp began with just one or two people sitting round a fire. Now 
the fire is still burning, the camp has about 20 permanent residents 
and there is a sign saying Pollok Free State flying defiantly as you 
enter. Living communally means that people have got together for the 
first time and are learning from each other. The personal is political 
and living together cooperatively is a challenging political act. 
Direct Action demands that you trust the people you do it with - 
that's one of the reasons it's a force for real political and social 
change. It often works ; in Britain the government has delayed one 
third of its road plans due to the  powerful Anti-Roads campaign. 

Another long established (12 years) Free Zone is Faslane Peace camp 
where the struggle against the nuclear menace continues. Constant 
direct action and  Mass Actions such as the Spiral and Rust Actions 
physically defy the convoys and security guards. I was told a moving 
story of a security guard who cried when the obscenity and danger of the 
nuclear industry was explained to him.  

In Gorleben, a small German village, the 20 year fight of its residents 
-with the support of grassroots enviromental groups- continues. 
The government want to build a reprocessing plant or to bury high 
level radioactive waste in the area. The nuclear industry has been 
foiled by demonstrators building a hut village on the proposed site. 
1000 people have taken up residence in the village and 300 people 
blocked a railway line likely to be used by the convoy. Mysterious 
tunnels have appeared underneath roads which would cause them to 
collapse if the 120 ton transporters were to drive over them. Next 
came a police eviction of the village and a ban on all demonstrations. 
Now after continued campaigning the ban has been lifted and the 
transporter containers plan has been delayed due to ' technical difficulties'. 

And lastly - its that time of year again! The Earth Liberation Front 
(Germany) has declared the time from 31/10/94 and 6/11/94 an 
International Action Week. Its a time of independent sabotage and 
mischief... its a time for secret actions that hit exploitative 
bastards where it hurts! Inflict economic sabotage on road construction, 
vivisection labs, corporations with poor workers rights track 
records (ie. all of them) and oppressive state legislation. ELF say 
"It is hoped that with enough imagination groups can create enough 
chaos to disrupt whole transport, power and communications networks". 
Plot the downfall of corruption! 


Sorting the Bosses Out

80,000 POSTAL workers have walked out unofficially in the 
last year to resist attacks on their wages, conditions and 
organisation. Post Office bosses are preparing for privatisation.  
To make the postal service an even juicier prize for the fat cats 
in the city they aim to shut many sorting offices and cut 6,000 jobs.
The trade union (UCW) has been doing deals with management and trying 
to control and stop any effective action. But workers' direct action 
has won victories.  In late June P.O. counter workers across 
E.London struck without a ballot after workers were suspended for 
refusing to accept cuts in mealbreaks.  Now management have 
restored the lunch breaks.  Also in June 30,000 sorting staff in 
SE England took unofficial strike action.

See Class War 64 for a longer report.


DON'T TAKE VAT 

ACTIVISTS opposing the imposition of VAT on fuel are increasing
their activity in the run-up  to the November budget, which will 
decide whether VAT on electricity and gas bills will double  
to 17.5% in April 1995. Lothian Communities against VAT on Fuel 
and Water Privatisation have published an excellent leaflet 
detailing how people can collectively refuse to pay VAT.  
As they say, light  and warmth are "basic human needs which 
should be free." 

Leaflets and posters from 

-  Stockbridge New Town Solidarity Network, 
c/o Peace and Justice Centre, St. Johns, Princes St., Edinburgh. 
Tel. 031 557 0718 (Mike). 

- Tottenham Solidarity  Group, Box 12, 72 W.Green Rd.,London N15.  
Tel. 081 802 9804. 


Welcome to Counter Information No.41.

The broadsheet is now 10 years old having ben founded during 
the Miner's Strike in 1984. We appeal for your support both 
in terms of financial assistance - money, stamps etc - and 
by supplying stories, extending the circulation of CI etc.. 
Thousands of CI are sent abroad, to countries as diverse as 
the USA, latin America, Australasia, most European countries 
to far east & African contacts. Most of the CIs ,however, 
are given out at demos or distributed via friendship networks, 
cafes, fanzine/groups etc. Thousands are sent in either bulk 
or non-bulk (3 or under)packages to contacts throughout the 
'British Isles'. Stories from CI are reprinted in a variety 
of publications from Bad Attitude to Blast(Sweden) to Anarchy 
(US) to Umanita Nova (Italy) etc.. CI isn't confined to 
strictly 'anarchist' circles but find's a welcome in 
autonomist, libertarian communist and radical environmental 
networks.

For a 'hard' copy of CI send a request/donation/ SAE for sample to:
Counter Info c/o 11 Forth St., Edinburgh EH1.
An edited version of this text appears in Page 3 of CI No.41.

CANDID CAMERAS CONTESTED

By the end of this year, Glasgow will have joined the growing 
number of towns and cities with closed circuit television 
cameras. Four square miles of the city centre will be 
under constant 24 hour surveillance. 32 cameras will produce 
5,000 hours of footage every week.

   Justified to the public as deterring crime and assaults,  Glasgow's 
Chief Superintendent states it is being "installed to protect valuable 
businesses". The experience of Airdrie, Hexham and other experiments 
only prove that crime is exported to other areas. By watching our 
every move, the cameras will also be used to monitor direct action 
and other revolutionary action.

   In Glasgow, the anarchists among others, are highlighting 
"Who watches the watchmen ?"* 

We welcome reports of activity from home and abroad on the 
surveillance society. 

(*Article in Scottish Anarchist Magazine1, 
1 pound from POB 1008 G42 8AA; see also 9 page article in 
Here and Now 15, pound 1.20 from POB 109  Leeds LS5 3AA.)

Act of Defiance

THE LAST 2 months have witnessed many more protest actions, demos, 
benefits, etc., against the Criminal Justice Bill which is shortly to 
be passed regardless - which is when the real fight begins.

Most towns of any size now have groups with more people getting 
involved all the time.  "DIY week" (September 19 - 26) saw various 
demonstrations in Northampton, Manchester, Bath,  Croydon, Huddersfield, 
Brighton, Canterbury, Brixton, Leicester, Guildford, Lowestoft, Norwich, Nottingham, Sheffield, Oxford, and Hastings.  The week before saw a 
largish demo in Edinburgh and more recently the big demo in London 
on 9 October.

Particularly encouraging was the opening of the massive community 
squat against the CJB in Brighton during September.  This old 
courthouse has dozens of rooms including an infoshop, bookstore, 
vegan cafe, gig and theatre spaces, creche, art gallery and more 
and is always busy with events and people.

More depressing and dangerous is the unfortunate point that in 
most areas the Freedom Network and their newly found pacifist 
allies, mostly discovered in the "hippyish" elements within the 
environmental movement and the festival/techno scene, are 
growing in numbers and influence.

 Fluff OFF !

They encourage people to "keep it fluffy" - join hands, sing songs, 
sit down and in some cases grass on "violent agitators" to the 
co-operative boys in blue.  Many of us thought with relief that 
libertarian politics had mostly rid itself of such naive and 
deadend ideology back in the mid-1980s, we must now struggle 
once again to destroy this bullshit, it's even more of a pain 
than the SWP/Militant/RCP trying to sabotage/take over our activities.  
Of course we dislike violence, but recognise it as an often necessary 
tool in the class war against our oppressors by any means necessary.  
In any confrontation watch out for these people - they are not on 
our side.

The real fight against the criminal justice bill will start when 
it becomes law, don't be intimidated, together in strength we can 
resist it on many fronts making it unworkable.

Contact : Brighton Squatting Centre against the Criminal Justice 
Bill, The Old Courthouse, 17 - 19 Princes St., opp. Royal Pavilion, 
Brighton.  Sou'siders Against the CJB, c/o Larkfield Centre, 
39 Inglefield St., Govanhill, Glasgow.


David v McGoliath

TWO unwaged people are taking on the mighty McDonalds multinational 
in a libel trial. McDonalds have sued Dave Morris and Helen Steel, 
alleging that a London Greenpeace fact-
The trial in London is expected to last till at least March 1995.  
The opening weeks saw Helen and Dave grilling 'Big Mac' - McDonalds 
UK president Paul Preston.  Denied legal aid and refused a jury, Helen 
and Dave have still forced damaging admissions from McDonalds witnesses.
It is clear that McDonalds exploit their workers, destroy rainforests, 
produce polluting packaging, cruelly rear and kill animals - all to
 make millions from unhealthy junk food. McLibel Support Campaigns 
are active in Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Italy and the USA.  
McDonalds have been picketed Britain-wide.  15 October sees a 
national demo in London.

Show solidarity by - distributing "What's wrong with McDonalds" leaflets - 
attending the court - making a donation - picketing your local McDonalds. 

Contact : McLibel Support Campaign 
c/o London Greenpeace, 
5 Caledonian Rd., London N1 9DX.  Tel./fax 071 713 1269.  
Leaflets £12 per thousand  - 0602 585666.  

McDonalds Workers Support Group, 
c/o TU Support Unit, Colin Roach Centre, 10a Bradbury St.,
London N16 8JN.

US Protects Haiti Ruling Class

The so-called restoration of democracy to Haiti is a total fraud. 
The same 5 rich  families who bankrolled the junta, and ousted
Aristide after his populist election victory, will be protected 
by the US 'invasion'. 

   A few fall-guys in Fraph, the death squads encouraged by 
US Intelligence 2 years ago, will take the wrap for the 
hundreds of thousands of poor haitians wiped out, or driven 
to become 'boat people' . US investment in the island based 
on wage rates as low as 14 cents an hour will become respectable 
again, and if Aristide and his supporters don't  toe the line, 
the US will throw it's support behind Emanuel Constant, whose 
role in past Fraph atrocities is well documented. The crowds 
who welcomed the US troops will be driven to oppose their 
role which as always is to protect capitalism using the  
smokescreen of democracy.


STOP THE STRIP-SEARCHES

LAST YEAR 40 women workers at Asda in Barrow, Cumbria, were 
stripped and searched for a missing £10 note.  This was a frightening 
widening-out of strip-searching which is deliberately degrading and 
humiliating and frequently used on prisoners.  In Maghaberry prison 
in Ireland 22 women prisoners were brutally strip-searched by male 
and female screws.
publicise and 
has leaflets, info, 

SSSC, PO BOX 104, SHEFFIELD 1.


ACTIVISTS NEED SUPPORT

For some years now Inside Info has reported the relentless struggle 
of IWW prison union organiser John Perotti.  Recently, after another hungerstrike, John Was freed from solitary and transferred to 
general population in Lucasville prison, Ohio, scene of a recent 
bloody riot. Almost immediately, he was stitched-up by 2 screws 
against whom he'd won a lawsuit years ago.  Flung back into 
solitary, John has also lost visiting rights and access to legal 
materials.  John is a self-taught, qualified lawyer and helps 
other cons to fight their cases. Andy of the John Perotti 
Defence Fund says "A major problem seems to be that John's name 
has become so well -known over the years that people don't notice 
it any more.  Nearly everyone seems indifferent these days, but 
John needs our help just as much as he ever did.  Please help"

A Danger to Whose Society?

Originally jailed for belonging to the revolutionary underground, 
Salvatore Cirincione was recaptured in December 1992 after 8 years 
on the run.  Frequently beaten and tortured by screws, Salvatore 
now suffers from haemorrhage and serious infections.  His left 
testicle has been removed, his pelvic bones are smashed and his "genital apparatus is dead". After a hungerstrike Salvatore's current 
state of health is precarious.  The Italian Ministry of Justice 
is refusing him medicine and treatment.  The prison authorities 
justify this savage treatment by 
active Anarchist is a danger to our society".  Obviously they 
intend to let him die as a warning to others.

SALVATORE NEEDS MONEY TO STAY ALIVE.

DONATIONS; Huddersfield ABC, 31 Manor Rd, W. Yorks BD1

SUPPORT: Salvatore Cirincione, Carcere di San Vittore, Milano, Italy.

Bowden Unbowed

John Bowden is another campaigner for prisoners' rights and a 
frequent contributor of in-depth supportive articles on prison 
resistance.  John escaped from prison and was recaptured after 18 
months in Scotland last June.  His escape was motivated by a 
knowledge that, after 12 years inside, he would never be released 
until he was "broken, subdued or murdered". Like Salvatore and John 
Perotti, John Bowden is classed as a "dangerous subversive" and as 
such is, like the others, kept in solitary and at the top of the 
screws' hit-list.  He needs letter of support.

John Bowden 1273/94, HMP Perth, 3 Edinburgh Rd, Perth , Scotland.

CAN'T JAIL THE SPIRIT

IN TOP-SECURITY Perth Prison in September cons gave the screws a 
lesson in mutual aid. Prisoners in C-Hall set off the staff alarm 
and when the screws 
E-Hall broke into the canteen and liberated all tobacco, tea, 
sugar, sweets, groceries and soft drinks. "The whole thing was 
planned and executed like a military operation" said one con. 
"It went like clockwork.  We must be the best-fed prisoners 
in the system.  It's the biggest feast we've had since getting 
locked up!". Source; Daily Record

NO COMMENT 

IF YOU get arrested you have the right to remain silent.
By keeping your mouth shut and giving nothing away, your chances 
of getting off the supposed charges increases greatly, when or if the 
matter gets to court.  Ignore all threats and intimidation, the right to 
silence is a legal right.  In the police station the police have only as 
much power as we give them.

Read No Comment for more info and advice about being arrested.  

>From AK Distribution, 22 Lutton Pl., Edinburgh for 70p.
In spite of proposed law changes in the Criminal Justice Bill, 
no comment is still the best policy.

 NO JUSTICE! NO PEACE !

The I.R.A. cease-fire may offer Peace. Will it bring justice ? A 
propaganda battle, largely fought on American TV,has yet to alter 
the way people live in the north of Ireland. The British troops 
are less battle ready, yet plastic bullets have been used in  
catholic Belfast, and,  the infamous Paratroop Regiment is about 
to be "deployed" in West Belfast. The European Union wants to 
bring down the huge dividing wall between loyalist and catholic 
ghettos and substitute "environmental improvements", yet in North 
Belfast a new wall is planned to keep apart battling revellers in 
a park.Early September saw local people in Co. Fermanagh, Ireland, 
taking action to open roads across the border which the British 
army had closed for "security reasonsS. The army closed the roads 
again but locals came back and reopened them again - even using 
a bulldozer.  The British state is torn between promises to the 
Unionists at Westminster, the US role and the financial dividends 
of "troops out".

     One of the groups in Ireland which has consistently opposed 
the presence of British troops, while recognising that  Republicanism 
is nationalism rather than revolutionary socialism, is the Workers 
Solidarity Movement. We reprint part of their recent "Statement".

 "We welcome the cease-fire. Over the past 25 years over 3,000 people  
have been killed and 40,000 injured. Thousands have been through 
or are still in prison. The primary blame for these deaths and all 
the associated suffering belongs to the British State. No cease-fire 
has as yet been declared by the  British State. Likewise the loyalist paramilitaries have not yet declared a cease-fire, and have killed 
Catholics and bombed a Sinn Fein office since the IRA ceased their 
military campaign. In these circumstances the IRA cease-fire will 
not bring peace, much less justice.

A Compromise with Imperialism   

Some on the left will see the IRA cease-fire as a sell-out. We don't. 
The politics of nationalism were always going to lead to a compromise 
with imperialism, it was only  those with illusions in the republicans' 
"left turn" that thought otherwise. It has been clear for a decade, 
even to the 
republicans, that the armed struggle was going nowhere. 
Britain could not be defeated militarily, and Sinn Fein could not 
expand on its vote either in the North or South. With the reaching 
of a compromise in El Salvador, South Africa and Palestine it became 
no longer a question of  "if"  but one of "when" , and the logical 
conclusion of the republican strategy.

The "peace process" will not deliver a united socialist 
Ireland or significant improvements apart from those associated 
with "demilitarisation". In addition, it represents a hardening 
of traditional nationalism and an alliance of all the 
nationalists, Fianna Fail, SDLP,Sinn Fein and the Catholic 
Church. Republican statements have focussed on the need for a De Klerk 
type figure to lead the Protestants to compromise.

Depending on developments,it may be also become easier over the 
next few years (for revolutionaries) to begin a more sustained 
approach to Protestant workers. To date this has been almost 
impossible due to the fact that loyalist death squads have 
targeted and even killed revolutionary socialists and anarchists 
who attempted to work in their community while maintaining 
a principled opposition to imperialism.         

Building on Sand

If the peace holds, the next few years will be a test of 
our ability to build a viable alternative to the bosses, 
north and south. But we are aware that 25 years ago the 
British State smashed something (the Civil Rights movement)  
much more modest than what we propose, with armed force.

In the short term it would be possible to build workers 
unity on day to day economic issues without mentioning 
partition but it would be building on sand. In the past, 
working class unity has been swept aside on a tide of 
bigotry. This will be a real test (and) it is where the 
cease-fire assumes its international dimension. All over 
the world the authoritarian left has collapsed due to the 
inadequacies of its politics. Our success or failure 
depends on our ability to convince people of our politics, 
demonstrate the ability to fight and win, and give people 
the confidence to change society.

This is the process that can lead to a lasting peace with justice."

The full version of this can be obtained from POB 1528, Dublin 8 
or via e-mail an64739@anon.penet.fi  

Read an alternative view in Organise, magazine of the A.C.F.. 
Send large SAE for sample, address on p.4

Balloch Blockade

Activists from the Faslane Peace Camp, supported by large crowds 
of local people, blocked the 
nuclear convoy for 45 minutes at 
Balloch Roundabout on the 29th July.  15 people were arrested.

Hostel under Attack

Workers who have occupied the  Peterloo Housing Association 
hostel for the homeless in Manchester to prevent its closure 
are under threat of eviction by the hostel's management.  
The occupation, made necessary after the Labour controlled 
city council slashed its funding, has received large public 
support.

Solidarity Works

York postal workers went on lightning strike on the 1st July 
after a shop steward was suspended - he was reinstated the same 
day.  And on the 20th July a bus driver, sacked after arguing 
with his boss over proposed roster changes, was reinstated when 
his colleagues staged an immediate one-day strike.

The Girls and Boys Done Well

Tabriz, Iran: late August saw demonstrators attack public 
buildings, radio and TV headquarters and set fire to buses and 
bank offices after the Basijis volunteer police attacked women 
leaving a football (soccer) match (women are banned from attending 
matches). 1,000s came onto the streets chanting "death to this 
oppressive regime".

Watteau Riot!

Milan city centre was transformed into a battleground on 
10th September.  Clashes erupted bewteen police and 20,000 
demonstrators opposing the eviction of the long standing 
Leon- cavallo Social Centre.  5 days later the independent, 
self-managed social centre was granted a legal lease to 
their newly squatted premises in Via Watteau.  Direct action 
pays!  Meanwhile spontaneous strikes hit Turin, Bologna and 
other northern Italian cities on the 8th September, as 
workers opposed the Berlusconi government plans to cut 
pensions.

Blitz Blitzed

Over 2,000 people demonstrated their support for the 
Blitz squatted community centre in Oslo, Norway on the 
24th August following the 'fascist' bomb attack on 
it three days before.

East Timor

Protests have been held in Darwin, Australia and London 
following the attack by Indonesian police and military 
on an unarmed demonstration in the campus of East Timor 
university on the 14th July.  Three students were later 
killed in custody in military barracks.  The demo followed 
harassment of students by military intelligence agents. 
Since invading East Timor in 1975, the  Indonesian military, 
supplied with arms by the US, UK and France has brutally 
suppressed the East Timorese people.

South Africa

300 striking miners staged  an underground sit-in at the 
Anglo-American owned mine in Carelton near Johannesburg.  
They were later attacked with rubber bullets and stun grenades 
by security guards.

Feral Fights Back

Croatia's government has failed to suppress the Feral Tribune, 
an anarchist paper which regularily exposes political corruption 
and generally makes life difficult for the HDZ's (ruling party's) 
attempts at strangulating the free press.  The minister for culture, 
Vesne Giradi-Jurkic, has resorted to branding the paper "pornographic", 
forcing its taxes to the high levels the state collects from pornographic 
publications.  Reports in the mainstream press, which commonly does 
contain pornography but has avoided any hassle due to its comfy 
relationship with the government, stated that the Feral Tribune 
had folded but the new issue is already in the kiosks.

Info: ZAGINFLATCH (English language newsletter), 
c/o ARK-ZAPO, Tkalciceva 38, 41000 Zagreb, Croatia
email: 72500.2176@compuserve.com

Food not Bombs

WITH over 735 arrests since 1988, San Francisco's Food not Bombs 
continues serving free vegetarian food and advocating the rights of 
the poor.

Since former police chief Frank Jordan began his "Quality of Life" 
MATRIX programme to "clean  up" San Francisco for tourism, the 
homeless have seen their blankets/belongings tossed into 
rubbish trucks and been ticketed for "camping", public 
urination, and simply existing as homeless people. Food not bombs 
volunteer Frank McHenry has been singled out and been stalked 
and assaulted by Jordan's cronies , arrested 92 times since 
1988, held on bails up to $75,000, and given such trumped-up 
charges as "felony possession of  a milk crate" and 
"felony assault".  The assault charge occurred when the 
artery in Frank's hand was severed attempting to stop a 
City Hall glass door being slammed on himself and his 
71 year old companion.

The ideals and vision of the 'anarchist' influenced group and its 50 
N.American sister groups are spreading rapidly and gaining 
support....no doubt this frightens the powers that be.

PROPOSED INTERNATIONAL GATHERING THE WEEK PRIOR TO 26  JUNE 1995!  

On the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations in 
San  Francisco, protest and organise for human rights!  Contact 
Food not Bombs, 3145 Geary Boulevard no.12, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA.  
Tel. (415) 330 5030.  Frank Jordan's tel. no. is (415) 554 6113.