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Your Happening World (23)

GLBT rights, Linky Linky, Sleaze, UK politics
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The ‘charging threshold’, ridiculous as it may sound, was to try those who had 20 or more UK Uncut leaflets on them at the time of arrest. I guess we will never know if this was a deliberate manipulation of the evidence, or just incompetence – neither of which reflect very well. It being clear that I was 4 leaflets shy of what the prosecution deem as guilty – they had to let me go. Well lucky me, but the remaining defendants are still there. Those 4 flimsy leaflets are what stand between me and my friends who are still on trial.

How the police decide who to prosecutefor the occupation of Fortnum & Mason last year during the anti-cuts demonstrations in London.

The power network behind the Murdoch phone hackings.

Christ, what kind of douchenozzle worries about his icecream being pro-ay marriage?

As a healthy antidote to the last link’s idiocity, have an oral history of The Brixton Fairies and the South London Gay Community Centre, Brixton 1974-6, courtesy of Urban75.

Your Happening World (22)

Activism, Linky Linky, Race, Sleaze
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What happens in Austin, Texas when you babysit your black grandchild as a white grandfather. Hint: not a happy story.

NHS “reform: “Cameron’s put his political credibility on the line, not for ideological or populaist reasons, but to ensure McKinely’s bottom line”. Do read the linked Daily Mail article to show how even a reliable rightwing newspaper is opposed to this tomfoolery.

Why is birth control the Catholic Church’s last stand?

“That no anarchist ever taught us to play Smear the Queer is entirely besides the point.”

“The actual circumstances of the raid on the Sun’s hacks may be up for debate. I think they’re pretty standard for today’s exciting world of high profile send a message coppering, but that may be because I’m a bit too used to living in the kind of authoritarian pro-business society that the Sun has always campaigned for. This is also why I’m a bit baffled by the people who seem to think that we’ll ‘lose something’ when it goes. ‘What will remain’ is the problem.

Your Happening World (20)

Kittens!, Linky Linky, UK elections, UK politics, Video
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The perfect Daily Express cover.

“Labour is facing a deep crisis that threatens its survival as a party of power, Ed Milibandwill be warned, on Wednesday as he is told to avoid the “politics of protest” and to focus on establishing political credibility.” Better not rock the boat Ed, or your masters might get upset. Play the game using the proper rules and don’t get so uncouth as to actually take it seriously.

The humilation of the Yes campaign: an analysis of why the AV Yes campaign failed, from a supporter: “From the outset, the YES campaign was all about the tiny coterie of people who feel strongly about electoral reform. The emphasis was on these people “having fun” and being invited to comedy evenings. In email after email from the YES campaign, the quirky behaviour of this “producer set” was celebrated and the “consumer set” ignored. So, some bunch of local activists who had written the letters Y, E and S in big letters on a beach were hailed as creative geniuses. Others were highlighted for running a particularly successful street stall. From the point of view of any observer, it was all about “them”(the micro-percentage of constitutional reform obsessives) never about “us” (the people). None of this self-indulgent madness won a single vote for the YES side, but it probably lost thousands.” OUCH!

One example of why any political activist should stay away from Facebook. It has been very good at conning people into thinking Facebook is just like the Internet, but you’re at the mercy of an unsympathetic commercial entity that’d rather you’d Farmvilled. Real activists get their own servers.

Clearing out the weeks old tabs on my browser, here are two articles on the Bristol Stoke Croft riots from OpenDemocracy: an eyewitness account and an analysis of how the police and media spun it.

Read all your links? Then have a kitten as a treat:



Wisconsin, Libya and Beyond — Your Happening World (19)

Linky Linky, Real Life Revolutions, Unions, Video
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Wisconsin state representative Gordon Hintz on the Budget repair bill and the dirty tricks the Republicans have been using to undermine the democratic process.

As I’ve said before, the revolution is global and the support for the Wisconsin strikers from Egypt is not just symbolic:

MADISON, Wis. — Someone in Egypt has been paying attention to what’s happening in Madison and wanted to send a message of solidarity from across the globe — so they ordered a pizza.

It might seem like a small gesture, but it’s overwhelming to the staff at Ian’s on State Street — a campus staple mere blocks from the Capitol — where in the last few days, they’ve fielded calls from concerned citizens of 12 countries, and 38 out of 50 states looking to donate money to provide free pizza to the Wisconsinites who have congregated here.

At Unfogged, more suggestions for how to support the Wisconsin unionists:

If any commenters with some disposable income would like to donate something for the protesters, here are some helpful numbers:

To supply protesters with WATER contact (Capitol Center Foods at 608-255-2616). To supply protesters with FOOD contact (Burrito Drive at 608-260-8586, Silver Mine Subs at 608-286-1000, Ian’s Pizza at 608-257-9248, Pizza Di Roma at 608-268-0900, or Asian Kitchen at 608-255-0571

(Ian’s seems like it’s at capacity, so I suggest giving some of those other places a little love.)

(If anybody has a suggestion of how to support the pro-democracy forces in Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain et all with a little monetary love, let me know.)

This is our revolution too. What’s happening in Libya and Egypt and Bahrain and Yemen and even Wisconsin is important to us too. Their struggle is our struggle.

Someone has been missing in action in the Middle East wave of democratisation…

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Linky Linky
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Finally the law goes after the criminal credit-ratingsmongers:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is launching an investigation into some of Wall Street’s top firms to determine whether they provided misleading information to credit rating agencies.

A total of eight firms are part of the probe, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse (CS), Citigroup, UBS, Credit Agricole and Merrill Lynch, which has since been acquired by Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500).

Schnews interviews Richard Stallman

Squid sex man faces charges

Dry but fascinating: A history of attempted reforms of the House of Lords

Nature: Weird wonders lived past the Cambrian

The fossils prove that the famously bizarre creatures of the Cambrian (542 million to 488 million years ago) didn’t die out at the end of that period — something that fossil hunters had suspected, but could not back up with evidence until now.

Website sells crabs to angry lovers out for revenge

FT/Alphaville blog: Towards a United States of Europe – Are we witnessing the first steps toward a fiscal union in the eurozone?

One for Pseuds Corner – from the Advertising Age:

Gurus Should Spend Less Time Talking, More Time Listening : Passing of Gang Starr Iconoclast Brings Supposed Experts of Marketing Matters Into Sharp Relief

*facepalm*

That should be enough to be going on with.