A Punky Churchill Round-up w/ Marcus+EU+S america

what´s going on like.

lots is going on. this week: South America...Venezuela, Colombia, French Guyana,Argentina. EU...enlargement, constitution, "alledged terrorist tactics of anarchists", Italy. Spain...Galizia, letters from Marcus. Ireland...a litle thought on zadik.

I often leave a funny comment, "who is this lad Marcus?". No-one ever answers. So let´s presume everyone knows that Marcus, is a sub-commandant of the Zapatista movement who with 23 commandants of that movement fighting for the rights of their indiginous people has issued some of the most inspiring statements to our generation.

I perhaps know more of Marcus than most of you in the land of Erron. I can tell you that his english is good, that one of his teachers was Irish (no not myself) and that he spent time working in a large department store in Madrid without a mask. I can tell you that when he went to Mexico he was a marxist and that now he is well "that lad Marcus".

This week Marcus has been exchanging letters with Garzón, the head of the Spanish judiciary. Garzón is the man responsible for implementing Aznar´s criminalisation of the political wing of ETA.

Marcus and Garzón, for reasons better left unsaid have now through a variety of interlocutors been exchanging thoughts on the current attacks on the base notion of democratic societies "freedom of speech and freedom of association".

Today´s spanish press have been treated to little quotes, I´ll give you some, but hope that others on the newswire will follow this story up.
these quotes are from La Vanguardia today´s edition. They are trustworthy. I vouch for their accuracy.

Marcus...."tras hacer el ridículo con ese cuento engañabobos de agarrar a Pinochet [....] demuestra su verdadera vocación fascista al negarle al pueblo vasco el derecho de luchar políticamente por una causa que es legítima"

Garzón...."Le confieso que para mí señor Marcus, usted representaba algo differente: una especia de rayo de coherencia. Ahora advierto mi gravisimo error".
¿??¿?¿?¿?
translation:
Marcus...."you have made a ridiculous situation with that story out of the Pinochet case[.... ] and demonstrated a true facist vocation in denying the Basque people the right to fight politically for a cause that is legitimate " Garzón...."I confess to you sir, that for me Marcus, you represented something different: a ray of coherence. Now I must note my most grave error.
translations really bad word for word with lots of errors at http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr.

Well I´ll leave you to ponder that exchange.
with one thought, the Basque peoples want a referendum on the relation of the Basqu lands to the Spanish state. This is their wish. The wish and mandate of their peoples as expressed through "constitutional" nationalism and that "armed force" tradition which is now an illegal grouping.

Venezuela:

Two nights ago, I had the extra-ordinary privelage of sharing a table with one of the veterans of the Argentinian trade union movement. Several times through the evening tears were shed in memory of the past, mixed with laughter, youngish activists from Barcelona mixing with veterans of sixty years or more, discussing tactics and the constant need for change, the palimpset which at times appears to be the socail norm throughout the world. Exploitation of the poor. We discussed YoMango! and other more modern ways of communicating to people in Europe that realities of life for normal people in ARgentina and South America. We discussed the "ray of coherence" which we agreed was and is and long may be Subcommandant Marcus.
This man supports and offered the support of the main constitutional parties on the Argentine left to the present direction of anti-globalist campaings in Europe. "If we never speak again, if we never hold hands and raise wine again, know that I do not change, you do not change, people do not change". He asked that europeans support the two day actions in memory of ARgentia last year and use "these ingenious ways of communicating the message of hope".

The general strike which has taken hold of Venezueala is now beyond a week, the military are studying ways of ensuring a change of government without staging a "coup d´etat". This last week I also reported the memoires of an 87 year old Irish man who fought with 35,000 other volunteers in the Spanish War. Against Franco and his fellow falangist fascist officers of the Spanish Army who attençmpted to change government with a "coup d´etat". For over forty years that was how their bloodbath was remembered. "an intervention by the miltary to save the nation".
Over the border in Colombia, Mr Uribe president of Colombia one of the many "Bolivarian fraternal republics of South America" has accused the principle armed struggle opponents of his government and main left wing protagonists to the Colombian civil war of recieving assistance from the IRA and ETA.
A senator of Colombia has been victim of a letterbomb attack this week. The U.S. secretary of State made a two day visit to Colombia earlier this week, no mention was made of humag rights, prison conditions or suprisingly the ceasefire offer of the main right wing "armed struggle" protagonists to the Colombian Civil War: AUC.
There are three Irish citizens in Colombia.
They ought not be there.
Bring them home, and bring the debate on Colombia home.
So South America has seen it´s oil and gas supply under extra-ordinary strain this week. One discredited regime has recieved US support. What else has been happening? The French are offering military assistance to Nicuragua. a story which will break for you in about two weeks. I let you wait¿?¿?¿?
French Guayana, ther has been an accident for the new version of ESA/French Space agence launch craft. the Hotbird7 sattelite has been lost. Keen readers will know that www.sherwood.it use a hotbird sattelite to relay 24/7 radio and TV services on behalf of the European anti-globalist movement. We in BCN had hoped to obtain access to the new satelite being launched with non-specified military sattelites this week. So far there is no information on readioactive contamination from any accidents in the past. But we wait, oh yes we wait.

Europe has met in Copenhagen.
Chirac, de Villepin and the old "where are the diamonds" Giscard have offered the 15 states of the EU a French vision of 25 states and shared constitution. And they have suceeded in having that project accepted.
Italian spokepeople of the "disobedienti" movement were arrested without reason and detained. Other Italian disobedients became spokespeople. "as long as we have one voice left we may speak out".
The Spanish state and the Italian state are exchanging police intelligence to stop a letter bomb campaign alledged by the FIES [Spanish police agency that monitors political dissidents such as anti-globalists and proscribed political parties] has claimed that the recent spate of letter bombs in Italy and Spain are the work of a grouping CCCCC which is led/inspired by Lavazze who is serving 50 years in prison for killing two women police officers in 1995. The first letter bomb arrived at El Pais, this week, 50 grammes of explosive passing through two spectograph xray facilitated postal sorting offices in two states supposed to be on high alert. As I have asked [I who seem to always ask questions without hearing credible answers] are those spectograph xray machines working? or was the investment data falsified?
Burloskoni whose name I hate to spell properly, spoke to the Italian nation on the eve of the March election in 1995. He promised "liberty of expression for Italy". He has fought many election campaigns since, but that speech broadcast simultanously on three of his TV stations sticks in my mind, for I watched it last night again. This week the man who controls the Italian media a situation that would be unthinkable for a politician in many other democratic states has unveiled his plan to change the Italian constitution. He has suggested an executive presidency. Himself as President. I some weeks ago wrote an obituary for Senator Dr. Di Martini who was made in 1995 a life senator of the Italian Republic, a man who had contested and won elections on a combined PSI/PCI socialist and communist platform. Before his death in mid.nineties he warned that Burloskoni would attempt to rubbish the Italian constition and witrh a mere veneer of democratic legality legitimse his ambitions to be life executive president.
It is my feeling that he has waited for his most formidable critics to die, before continuing with that ambition. Incidently so that you may put these things in persepective, those of you who think "well the disobedients are delinquents, and CCCCC are terrorists and Burloskoni is only an unpopular right wing politician you lefties and anarchists are so easliy upset and all paranoid", this last week a friends band from Germany played a gig in Italy. THeir songs are middling to fair [sorry paul] but one includes the line "Burloskoni Burloskoni fascisti fascisti".
It is I may inform you illegal to broadcast this song on Italian radio. The gig was recorded but that song was beeped. What type of democracy is Italy, where the prime minister controls the media and has enacted laws that prohibit description of himself as fascist? he that has entered into government with Mussolini´s grnad daughter?

In Spain, Aznar has finally gone to the beaches of Gallizia. He has not stood where weeks ago his King stood to hear a Belgian anarcho-syndicalist green ecologist doctor of science Antwerp university ask "and your majesty when will Madrid send help, we are volunteers and foreigners".

No he has stood infront of a map.
and admitted his errors.
too late Mr AZnar.

this morning 50,000 mostly galizian families resident in Barcelona took part in a march through this city. Most of the Galizian people are migrant, they carry their beaches in their memory alone.
The Madrid government now chooses to release the information on toxicity and the exact sequence of events that led to the sinking of the Prestige in 3000 metres. I will you recall pointed out that stupidity of that decision two days after the Prestige had been reported as being in trouble. It was the considered advice of all ecological organisations and the salvage company. In the usual spirit of "hide the shit" present day european governance the prestige was brought to deep water and allowed sink.

In Ireland thoughts on Zadik.
There are those in Limerick who would make political issues on the charitable deeds of members of young Fine Gael this last week.
Those young people have collected a sum of money for a constant problem which has never been addressed in Irish society, homelessness.
They ought not be criticesed for their naivite, in doing such a good deed under a political banner, but rather the people of Limerick should be debating the relationship between political policy and such problems.
I intend to write on "Zadik" in a few days.
Have a good week.
keep your voices.
heart and mind.

~"a mask is powerful weapon against the state which would seek to control, count, edit your thoughts before they even leave your mouth, but if such happens then know a mask put aside is also a powerful weapon against the state which before could seek to control, count, edit those thoughts".
~that´s a bit of Marcus and Iosaf.

"we do not steal
we are not the disobedients
we do not live underground in burrows"
thoughts anonymous of
YoMango-disobedienti-wombles
"we are counted amongst the enemies of capital
for we are the friends of the poor"