AWSM website is going again

Just a quick note to say the Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement website is up and running again. We had a few technical crises all at once but we seem to be getting everything sorted now.
http://awsm.noblogs.org/

Hoping Roger Douglas is next

Imperial Elections

News just in, about half of the citizens of the worlds largest super power have voted and it appears that the candidate who represents US corporate interests and endless war has been narrowly defeated in favour of the other candidate representing corporate interests and endless war.

Phew, that was close!

I wish I had thought of that name.

I have just discovered a radical history blog in Australia, called Hatful of History. If I didn't have so much school work I would write more historical rants on this blog but you will have to wait a week or two, until my next break.

Support Anarchist Grand Jury Resisters in the USA

Three young anarchists in the North West of the United States have been jailed this month for refusing to answer questions about their political beliefs and the people they work with
For more info on this disturbing case, click on the links below

Green is the New Red article by Will Potter.

Statement by Leah Lynn Plante the day before she was taken to prison.




Spread the word about this case, and write to the prisoners, they will appreciate it. Here are their addresses:

Matthew Kyle Duran #42565-086
FDC SeaTac,
P.O. Box 13900
Seattle, WA 98198

Katherine Olejnik #42592-086
FDC SeaTac,
P.O. Box 13900
Seattle, WA 98198

Leah-Lynne Plante
#42611-086
FDC SeaTac
PO Box 13900
Seattle, WA 98198

In the Shadow of the Sword

I just finished reading In the Shadow of the Sword by Tom Holland. It was all about the origins of Islam, and described how all the various strands of religious thought in Iraq and Arabia at the end of the Roman and Persian Empires in the early 7th century AD led to a new religion. Holland talks about how the Qur'an and everything we know about the life of Muhammad are based on sources that were written many years after the death of the prophet. Which is not surprising at all. I thought the book was quite good and I had read some of Hollands other books too, so I googled him to see what he was up to now. It turns out that Channel 4 had made a doco based on the book, and this had led to protests and complaints by some Muslims who object to people looking into the origins of their religion.

And now some idiots from the bigoted fringes of Christianity have made a film deliberately designed to insult and provoke identical idiots on the bigoted fringes of Islam and violence has erupted all over the place, including in Sydney. Recently, a planned repeat screening of Hollands documentary has now been cancelled by Channel 4.
All of this is obviously outrageous bigotry and I haven't got any to say that others haven't already said. Instead you should all go and read The Pensive Quill, which has re posted a couple of statements by Maryam Namazie from the beautifully named "Council of Ex Muslims of Britain".

Maryam Namazie: On Islam Demanding Film Censorship

More indepth ranting will resume when either:
A: I have time to write something original;
or
B: I am provoked into outrage by some authoritarian idiot claiming to believe in freedom (see the rest of my blog for examples).

Justified and Ancient

Reading the Maps spends a lot of time trawling through strange racist and conspiracy websites so that you do not have to. Scott's latest discovery is that a package tour for loonies looking for lost continents visited New Zealand earlier this year. Obviously the first person I thought of was Tammy Wynette . .