Thousands march in Romania against cyanide poisoning plans by Canadian mining company

All the last week there have been protests in the European country against the intention of Gabriel Resources, a multinational mining company with see in Canada, to exploit a gold mine in, Rosia Montana, Transylvania by means of cyanide.

The toxic corporation plans to contaminate with nothing less than 12,000 tons of cyanide per year. Naturally Romanians are outraged. 

Only this Sunday some 8000 people marched in Buchares, while 6000 did the same in Cluj against cyanide poisoning and capitalist corruption. 

Source: Webguerrillero[es].

Argentina: anti-fracking protests in Neuquén

Thousands protested before the Neuquén Parliament against fracking concessions to Chevron. As usual police attacked the citizens in defense of capitalist interests. Several were injured. 

Source: Webguerrillero[es].

Spain: major retailer corporation El Corte Inglés lead again by a Fascist

El Corte Inglés is a very large and particularly infamous Spanish corporation that, shamelessly and with total impunity, practices extreme anti-worker policies and persecutes all kind of union activity among its employees. It was of course one of the companies who imported clothes from the Bangladesh factory that collapsed earlier this year. Pretty much like the local version of Wal Mart but even worse if that is possible. 

In order not to be singled out in the media, El Corte Inglés regularly contracts LOTS of publicity, making the media heavily dependent on this brand and effectively unwilling to criticize the mafioso corporation. 

Their sees are usually a central battle in all general strikes, as pickets attempt to force the corporation to guarantee their workers the right to strike, while police serves the interests of the capitalists.

It was founded under Fascism by a client of the Franco dictatorship, Isidoro Álvarez, and it seems it continues under openly fascist control. The new Director General of the all-powerful corporation, Dimas Rodrigo Gimeno Álvarez, has been in the lists of Falange (the classical Fascist party in Spain) in at least three occasions: 1996 and 2000 at state level and also in 1999 in Catalonia. 

While he denies to be affiliated to Falange, his father and brother are. His father, Miguel Ángel Gimeno married the daughter of the El Corte Inglés' magnate, being therefore grandson of Isidoro Álvarez. Álvarez was of course a prominent member of Falange in the dark age of Francoism. 

So essentially: El Corte Inglés = Fascism... today as yesterday. Boycott El Corte Inglés. 

Source: El Diario[es].

Japan's first astronaut on Fukushima catastrophe

Japan Times has an extensive interview with Toyohiro Akihama, the first ever Japanese astronaut, who was also the first journalist in space. Some time after his adventure, he moved to the countryside to experience the agricultural life, with the bad luck of ending up just 60 km from the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The whole interview is of interest but he has something to say in particular about the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe and how Japan mismanages it:

In the world of engineering, you can’t have “absolute safety” — that’s why the “nuclear village” engineers can’t be trusted. How can they say nuclear power plants are absolutely safe? That’s not possible. Experts who call something safe when it can’t possibly be safe are living in a world of religion, not science.

(...)

I had reported on the fifth anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster (in present-day Ukraine) and the Three Mile Island accident (in Pennsylvania in 1979), so I knew all too well what the governments of the U.S. and Russia had done. 

I had read books on how the Japanese government has dealt with nuclear accidents in the past. When there’s an emergency, what the authorities try to do is to maintain “law and order.” What is order? It’s protecting the system presiding at the time. (...) What does maintaining order mean to them? To maintain the order of the existing “nuclear village.”

(...)

What gave me the best pointer was the fact that President Barack Obama ordered all Americans to evacuate from within a 50-mile (80 km) radius (of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant). There was no better message than that. The government was bound to lie.

(...)

In Kyoto (where he now lives) we had a welcoming outcome (in July 21′s Upper House elections), with a member of the (antinuclear) Japanese Communist Party winning a seat. I don’t particularly like the JCP and I’m not a communist — if anything, I’d be more black than red (laugh). But when I read the statements by all the candidates running for the Upper House from Kyoto, nobody except for the JCP candidate said they were clearly opposed to the restart of nuclear reactors.

So the antinuclear voice was clearly expressed in the election. But the mass media failed to inform the voters. They treated the nuclear-power issue almost like a good luck charm. And Tepco only announced after the election that radioactive water from the Fukushima plant had seeped into the groundwater and flowed into the sea — but they should’ve known that already! Isn’t this media control? So my biggest theme at the moment is to stop the restart of nuclear reactors in Japan.

Bulgaria: 50,000 march through Sofia against mafioso totalitarian slide

The protest began gathering 7000 people but soon their numbers soared to 50,000. The protests before the Bulgarian Government have been going on for four days already. 

Protesters denounced the government as "mafia" and "trash", demanding their resignation. They also blocked a major road junction. 

The protests were triggered by the appointment as top chief of the secret services of the controversial capitalist and deputy Delyan Peevski, who controls most of the mass media in the Balcanic nation.

Peevski soon resigned but this has not calmed the popular anger, which perceives the government as a mafioso gang opposed to the popular interest. 

Source: Webguerrillero[es].

Mapping the corporate 'pirate nests'

Among the many protest activities in Great Britain and Ireland against the G8 summit, a quite interesting one is the online tool Mapping the Corporations, which offers the ability of geographically mapping the headquarters of many, if not all, major corporations, particularly in London. 

See also: Stop G8. 

Bilderberg meeting 2013: who attends?

Groove Hotel, where the meeting will take place

The secretive Bilderberg Group will meet this year at Watford, England on June 6-9. This is the list of participants (from Webguerrillero[es], which cites The Telegraph):

IMF:

• Christine Lagarde.

Europe:

EU:

• José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Comission.
• Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission.
• Olivier de Bavinchove, Eurocorps top commander (small military corps of the EU, former French top commander).
• Thomas Enders, EADS (military corp.)

Germany:

• Paul M. Achleitner, Deutsche Bank.
• J. Kurt Lauk, CDU politician.
• Christian Lindner, LDP politician.
• Ulrich Grillo, Grillo-Werke AG (mineral corp.).
• Roland Koch, Bilfinger (construction, engineering, etc.).
• Peter Löscher, Siemens (industrial corp.)

France:

• President of the meeting: Henri de Castries, AXA (investment and insurance corp.)
• François Fillon, UMP politician, former Prime Minister.
• Valérie Pécresse, UMP politician. 
• Paul Hermelin, Grupo Capgemini (lobby, consulter, outsourcing corp.)
• Jean-Dominique Senard, Michelin (industrial conglomerate)
• Nicolas Barré, Les Echos (economic newspaper). 
• Thierry de Montbrial, French Institute of International Relations.

Britain: 

• George Osborne, Minister of the Treasury.
• Kenneth Clarke, Minister without portfolio.
• Ed Balls, Labor Party politician. 
• Lord Peter Carington, posh, right-wing politician. 
• Lord John Kerr, (posh-politician). 
• Baroness Williams of Crosby, (posh-politician, Britain).
• Marcus Agius, Barclays (bank, former president).
• Douglas J. Flint, HSBC (bank, Britain).
• Stuart Gulliver, HSBC (bank, Britain).
• Simon Robertson, Partner, Robertson Robey Associates ("law firm") and HSBC (bank).
• David Wright, Barclays (bank, Britain).
• Helen Alexander, UBM (media corp.)
• Sherard Cowper-Coles, BAE Systems (miltary corp.).
• Robert Dudley, BP (oil, energy corp.).
• Simon Henry, Royal Dutch Shell (oil, energy, Britain-Netherlands).
• Jorma Ollila, Royal Dutch Shell (oil, energy corp., Britain-Netherlands).
• Peter R. Voser, Royal Dutch Shell (oil, energy, Britain-Netherlands).
• Matti Apunen, EVA (think tank).
• John Bell, Oxford University.
• Omand, King’s College.
• Hélène Rey, London Business School.

Italy:

• Mario Monti, former Prime Minister, Goldman Sachs former fellow.
• Alberto Nagel, Mediobanca (bank).
• Enrico Cucchiani, Intesa Sanpaolo (banking corp.).
• Franco Bernabè, Telecom Italia. 
• Gianfelice Rocca, Techint (industrial and mining conglomerate, Italy-Argentina).
• Lilli Gruber, La 7 TV (journalist).

Spain:

• Luis de Guindos, Economy Minister. 
• Pablo Isla, Inditex (textile corp.).
• Juan Luis Cebrián, Grupo Prisa (media corp.)

Poland:

• Jacek Rostowski, Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of the Treasury.

Netherlands:

• Mark Rutte, Prime Minister.
• Klaas H.W. Knot, De Nederlandsche Bank.
• Jean François van Boxmeer, Heineken (beverages).

 

Belgium:

• Princess Beatrix (posh).
• Viscount Etienne Davignon, posh, right-wing politician, Brussels Airlines, IHEC Brussels Management school, etc.
• Thomas Leysen, KBC (bank). 
• Victor Halberstadt, Leiden University.

Sweden:

• Carl Bildt, Foreign Affairs Minister.
• Anders Borg, Minister of the Treasury. 
• Stefan Löfven, Social-Democratic Party.
• Börje Ekholm, Investor AB (financial corp.)
• Jacob Wallenberg, Investor AB (speculator corp.)

Portugal:

• Paulo Portas, Foreign Affairs Vice-Minister.
• António José Seguro, Socialist Party.
• Francisco Pinto Balsemão, IMPRESA (media corp., former Prime Minister).

Greece:

• Ulysses Kyriacopoulos, S&B Industrial Minerals (mining corp.).
• Alexis Papahelas, Kathimerini newspaper.

Austria:

• Andreas Schieder, Minister of the Treasury.
• Rudolf Scholten, Oesterreichische Kontrollbank (bank).
• Oscar Bronner, Der Standard newspaper.

Denmark:

• Bjarne Corydon, Minister of the Treasury.
• Ulrik Federspiel, Haldor Topsøe (chemical and energy corp.)
• Jakob Haldor Topsøe, AMBROX Capital (speculator corp.)

Finland:

• Jutta Urpilainen, Minister of the Treasury.

 

Ireland:

• Paul Gallagher, former Attorney General.

Non-EU countries:

Turkey:

• Ali Babacan, Vice-Prime Minister of Turkey for Economic Affairs.
• Şafak Pavey, CHP politician.
• Haluk Dinçer, Sabancı Holding (financial corp.)
• Mustafa V Koç, Koç Holding (industrial conglomerate).
• Soli Özel, Kadir Has University, Habertürk newspaper (opinion writer).
• Asli Aydintasbas, Milliyet newspaper (opinion writer).

 

Switzerland:

• Felix Gutzwiller, member of the Swiss Council of States. 
• Thomas J. Jordan, Swiss National Bank.
• Josef Ackermann, Zurich Insurance (financial corp.)
• Martin Taylor, Syngenta (genetic engineering, agro-pharma corp.).
• Daniel L. Vasella, Novartis (bio-pharma corp.)
• Mark C. Fishman, Novartis (bio-pharma corp.)
• André Kudelski, Kudelski Group (informatics). 

Norway:

• Espen Barth Eide, Foreign Minister.
• Kristin Skogen Lund, capitalist syndicate of Norway.
• Svein Richard Brandtzæg, Norsk Hydro (aluminum and energy corp.)

 

North America:

USA:

• Institutional:
• David H. Petraeus, former CIA Director, former top commander in Iraq and Afghanistan, former CENTCOM proconsul (USA).
• Robert E. Rubin, Council on Foreign Relations and former Secretary of the Treasury (USA).
• Timothy F Geithner, former Secretary of the Treasury.
• Companies:
• Roger C. Altman, Evercore Partners (investment banking).
• Nicolas Baverez, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher ("law firm").
• Jeff Bezos, Amazon (online trade).
• Ian Davis, McKinsey (lobby, "management consulting" corp.)
• J. Michael Evans, Goldman Sachs (financial corp.)
• Kenneth M. Jacobs, Lazard (bank).
• Vernon E. Jordan, Lazard (bank).
• Peter Mandelson, Lazard (bank) and former British minister.
• James A. Johnson, reported as CEO of Johnson Capital Partners (probably this James A. Johnson).
• Alex Karp, Palantir Technologies (Internet research corp.)
• Klaus Kleinfeld, Alcoa (mining corp.)
• Henry R. Kravis, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (financial corp.)
• Craig J. Mundie, Microsoft (USA).
• Andrew Y.Ng, Coursera (online studies, USA).
• Eric E. Schmidt, Google (Internet services).
• Peter D. Sutherland, Goldman Sachs International (bank, USA).
• Tidjane Thiam, Prudential (finance, USA).
• Peter A. Thiel, Clarium Capital, PayPal co-founder. Thiel is deeply involved in the neocolonial exploitation of Honduras and is an ideologue of ultra-capitalist fascism under the misleading label of "libertarianism".
• Craig B. Thompson, Memorial Sloan-Kettering (major cancer hospital and research center).
• James D. Wolfensohn, Wolfensohn & Co. (speculator, consulter), former World Bank president.
• Think-tanks and similar:
• Henry A. Kissinger, Kissinger Associates, former US Secretary of State.
• Richard N. Perle, American Enterprise Institute, former assistant Secretary of Defense under Reagan.
• Robert B. Zoellick, Peterson Institute for International Economics, former World Bank president.
• Robert D. Kaplan, Stratfor ("global intelligence company").
• Nicholas N. Eberstadt, American Enterprise Institute. 
• Olli Heinonen, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Univ.
• Marie-Josée Kravis, Hudson Institute.
• Jessica T. Mathews, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace .
• Emanuele Ottolenghi, Foundation for Defense of Democracies .
• Kevin Warsh, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
• Michael Gfoeller, political consulter.
• Universities:
• Susan Athey, Stanford University Business School.
• Robbert H. Dijkgraaf, Institute for Advanced Study.
• Martin S. Feldstein, Harvard University.
• Lawrence Lessig, Harvard University.
• Anne-Marie Slaughter, Princeton University.
• Media: 
• Donald E. Graham, The Washington Post newspaper.
• John Micklethwait, The Economist newspaper.
• Martin H. Wolf, Financial Times newspaper.

Canada:

• Brad Wall, Prime Minister of Saskatchewan province.
• Edmund Clark, TD Bank Group (financial corp.).
• Frank McKenna, Brookfield Asset Management (speculator corp.)
• J. Robert S Prichard, Torys ("law firm").
• Heather M. Reisman, Indigo Books & Music (commerce), wife of the owner of Onex Corp., (speculator corp.)
• Galen G.Weston, Loblaw Companies (commerce corp.)

Guatemala: farmers shot by sugar cane multinational

Five farmers were injured as private guards of the Nicaraguan sugar cane multinational Grupo Pellas violently attempted to expand their holdings in the Central American state at the expense of small farmers.

On May 25, a hundred of mercenary personnel of the Grupo Pellas (heavily armed security guards and other workers) attacked the land of some 90 families of the Q’eqchi’ people shooting indiscriminately, injuring five, one of them severely.

The five victims of Capitalist terrorism are Arturo Chun, Santiago Ical, José Ical, Marvin Mendoza and Héctor Pop.

On February 13, the same corporation destroyed several hectares of rice, beans, squash and banana. Prior to the sale to Grupo Pellas, the former owners of the aggressive ranch Ingenio Chabil Utzaj, managed to evict some 14 Q’eqchi’ communities (more than 4000 people).

None of these terrorist actions have been persecuted by the Guatemalan authorities. 

If you want to show your discontent you can boycott any of the many business that the terrorist businessman Carlos Pellas Chamorro owns or has alliance to: Flor de Caña rum (best known produce of SER Holding, chairman), BAC Florida Bank (chairman), GBM Inc. electronic produce (chairman), IBM (associated to GBM Holding), real state by the Pellas Development Group (chairman), Toyota, Hino, Suzuki, and Yamaha (all of which are associated with this terrorist) or oranges by FRUTAN (chairman).

Belgium will restart two dangerously cracked reactors

The government claims to have "no power" to stop that atrocity from happening, alleging that regulatory agency and owner corporation, GDF Suez, are "independent". 

Obviously the government has all the power to intervene but they clearly prefer to risk the health and safety of the people of Belgium and much of Europe than rein on the Nuclear Mafia. 

It would be pathetic would not be for the fact that the lives of millions are at risk because of this daredevil decision.

Greenpeace will sue the Belgian government. However for when the judicial decision comes, if ever, it may well be too late. 

The two Belgian nuclear reactors, Doel 3 and Tihange 2, were stopped last year after thousands of small cracks were detected in them (c. 8000 and 2000 respectively). They represent a third of Belgian nuclear energy capacity. 

Source: Ex-SKF (citing Reuters, Euronews and Asahi Shinbun).

Spanish banksters: rise taxes to the poor, lower taxes to the rich

The BBVA's think tank BBVA Research claims that, in order to get out of the crisis, taxes on consume like VAT (which are equal for all, regardless of income) should be raised, while the taxes on income, very especially for the highest echelons, should be reduced. 

Spain already has extremely low taxes for the high incomes, a mere fraction of what advanced and stable EU countries like Sweden or Finland or even Germany do, as well as ridiculously low taxes on financial transactions and corporate profits. 

Also a major cause of the economic collapse is the collapse of purchasing power, which is directly related to direct taxes like VAT (21%), energy taxes (>50%), etc. Never mind that such high direct taxes encourage buying elsewhere when possible (this again applies especially to the wealthy, who often live with one foot overseas). 

The BBVA corporation also demands further demolition of workers' rights, of the pension system and of municipal government.

Source: Kaos[es].