NEWS,10.08.2012

Alleged US 'mercenary' held in Venezuela

President Hugo Chavez said Venezuelan authorities have detained a US citizen and are interrogating him, suspecting he could be a "mercenary" plotting to destabilise the country if the opposition loses the upcoming presidential election. Chavez did not identify the man on Thursday night nor detail the accusations against him. But the case has the potential to ratchet up longstanding tensions between Venezuela and the US less than two months ahead of Venezuela's presidential election.Chavez said the Hispanic man was detained on 4 August while crossing into Venezuela from Colombia. He said the man was carrying a US passport with entrance and exit stamps from countries including Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.A US state department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorised to speak publicly, said the US government as of Friday morning had not been notified of the arrest by the Venezuelan government.He said that if the detained man is in fact a US citizen, American officials expect "Venezuela will uphold its obligations under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and grant US consular officials access to any detained US citizen without delay".Opposition lawmaker Pedro Pablo Alcantara scoffed at the president's allegations that government foes would attempt to stir up trouble if Chavez is re-elected to a new six-year term.Alcantara accused the government of encouraging violence against its adversaries in the past while backing groups that have attacked opposition marches."It's the president who has promoted violence," he said.Chavez has repeatedly accused the US government of plotting against him during the past decade, though he usually has provided few specifics of such claims."He has all the appearance of a mercenary," Chavez said of the detained man, speaking during a campaign rally in the coastal state of Vargas on Thursday. "We are interrogating him."The man tore up part of a notebook in his possession when he was detained, Chavez said.Chavez suggested, without offering evidence, the American might have been recruited by government opponents to instigate violent protests if opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles loses the 7 October election.

From Global Pariah to Green Giant: Does Germany Hold a Key to Our Sustainable Future?

 

If you aren't scared by climate chaos predictions, you aren't paying attention. Last month Bill McKibben told us that if we use up fossil fuel reserves we'll overshoot five times over what a livable Earth can withstand. This month climate scientist James Hansen tells us the "grim picture" he painted 25 years ago "was too optimistic."So, the task of multiplying what is working to keep fossil energy in the ground seems more urgent than ever. And what is working? Within my lifetime  i.e. since the 1940se the German state, an international pariah silencing citizens and perpetrating mass murder, has become an international hero, showing a path to freedom from fossil fuels that relies on widespread citizen participation.In the early 1990s, Germany had virtually no renewable energy, so I was astonished to learn that in 2010 Germany  slightly smaller in area than Montana and hardly a Sunbelt  generated almost half the world's solar energy. How could this happen? In part the answer is Germany's innovative public policy called the Feed-in Tariff. It rewards households for becoming renewable energy producers by obligating utilities to buy electricity from installations like a solar panel or small windmill at a price guaranteeing a good return. And the approach is going global. Germany's rapid expansion of renewable energy reflects not only its state policy but also citizens mobilizing on a large scale. Consider the vision and courage of one Ursula Sladek.In the Black Forest community of Schönau, Ursula, mother of five, was deeply shaken by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident. But instead of just fighting nuclear power, she chose to create an alternative. By 1997, she and neighbors had raised the millions of euros needed to buy out the area's private power grid and turn it into a clean-energy co-op. Now with over 1,000 owners, the co-op uses and supports decentralized renewable power like solar and wind for 120,000 customers, including households and factories. It's shooting for a million customers in three years. And as of 2011, all of Germany got on board with Ursula, as it joined about a dozen countries that oppose nuclear power. Something is working in Germany. But why is it working? For me, Germany demonstrates that sane steps to carbon freedom are possible where democracy functions -- where private industry is not in control of public policy.Consider this: In a recent global study of the effectiveness of laws governing money's role in politics, on a scale of 100 Germany scored highest at 83. And the U.S.? We tied Tajikistan for the sad score of 29. Several key elements of the German system reduce the power of concentrated wealth:Since 1958, political parties have received government funding. Private donations are encouraged as well, in part by tax breaks: Individuals may deduct from taxable income half their donations below €3,000 (twice that for joint returns). Or they may claim a tax credit of €825 (€1,650 for joint returns). Private and corporate contributions are not limited but transparency laws are strict: Contributions of more than 10,000 euro per year must be disclosed. Moreover, in Germany, corporations and large private donors (who, if like the U.S., would typically represent corporate interests), don't wield the power over media messages they do here. As in most of Western Europe, Germany prohibits paid political advertising. Citizens learn about issues mainly from media interviews and discussions with politicians because "broadcasters have the mandate to inform the public on political matters...," notes a Library of Congress, Law Library summary. Over six decades, Germany's political rules have evolved to reduce three conditions -- concentrated power, secrecy, scapegoating -- proven to bring out our species' worst, whether throughout our long history or in lab experiments where we've been the guinea pigs. Rules like those above help to enhance their opposites: dispersion of power, transparency and mutual accountability. Of course, no system is perfect, and democracy has no endpoint anyway. But in this example, and so many others, we have glimpses of what works to create democracy that includes citizen voices.Bringing the lesson home, we realize that we can and we must place every urgent call to block fossil fuel exploitation and to reward renewable development within the frame of democracy itself.We can rally each other to credible steps to create real, accountable democracy now -- steps that can succeed in the foreseeable future. Since we can't wait for a Supreme Court majority that grasps that democracy depends on politics freed from corporate dominance, we must move now for legislation enabling public and/or citizen-financed campaigns so that candidates don't have to use any corporate money. The approach has worked for three state legislatures. At the same time, we can vote for those supporting measures that mandate disclosure of the sources of money in political contests: DISCLOSE Act and the Shareholder Protection Act. Among proposals to enable candidates to run for office un-beholden to corporate funders, I am working to figure out where to put my energies. If you want to know where I land, please e-mail us at infoATsmallplanetDOTorg with "money in politics" as the subject line.For me, Germany is a powerful reminder of how rapidly positive change can happen. Its dramatic transformation during my lifetime tells me that that solutions, whether to genocide or ecocide, require democracy.

NEWS,07.04.2012

Hundreds attend funeral of Greek pensioner

Hundreds of people shouting defiance have attended the funeral of retired pharmacist Dimitris Chrisoula, who shot himself in central Athens this week saying government austerity cuts had left him in penury. "Forward the people, heads high, the only answer is resistance" they shouted, applauding as the coffin arrived at Athens' main cemetery, television pictures showed.Chrisoula's daughter said in a farewell speech that his act had been "deeply political," while a message from composer Mikis Theodorakis, an icon of defiance against the junta that ruled Greece in the 1970s, was also read out.Unusually for Greece, the ceremony had no religious component and the remains were to be taken to neighbouring Bulgaria for cremation, a practice forbidden by the powerful Greek Orthodox Church.Chrisoula shot himself in Athens' central Syntagma Square on Wednesday, leaving a note saying his pension had been wiped out and that "I find no other solution for a dignified end before I start sifting through garbage to feed myself".His death prompted new protests and clashes with police over the government's measures aimed at resolving Greece's massive debt crisis.Athens has been forced to cut state spending drastically, and has slashed civil servant salaries and pensions by up to 40 percent to secure bailout loan payments from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.Hundreds of thousands of Greeks have lost their jobs in the past year, and unemployment currently tops one million, a quarter of the workforce.Greek protesters marching in memory of a man who killed himself over financial woes have attacked a policeman. The policeman was left bloodied and his bulletproof vest was stolen.The demonstrators marched after a memorial service for Dimitris Christoulas, 77, a retired pharmacist who shot himself on Wednesday in the Greek capital's Syntagma Square. He left a note blaming politicians for his money problems and calling on "young people" to kill their elected leaders.His death has further galvanised Greeks angry over their leaders' implementation of tough austerity measures that are aimed at bringing the country out of its fiscal crisis but which have caused hardships for many ordinary citizens. Greece's economy is now also heavily dependent on international loans.Hundreds attended the memorial service for Mr Christoulas, singing and chanting slogans. Afterward, about two hundred people, escorted by bikers, marched through central Athens, ending their march at Syntagma.There, some of the demonstrators spotted two policemen who had just finished their patrol. About a dozen protesters quickly put on balaclavas to hide their faces and pursued the policemen.One managed to escape. The second was dragged down some steps, shoved to the ground and punched and kicked for about three minutes.The attackers took his bulletproof vest, as well as a bag containing a belt, a uniform and handcuffs. The attackers placed some of the items on the spot where Mr Christoulas shot himself, adding them to a makeshift memorial.The policeman, his face covered in blood, managed to make his way to a police van that had arrived on the scene. A police official said the policeman was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The official did not give his name in line with agency rules.According to a text of Mr Christoulas' note published by local media, the man said the government had made it impossible for him to survive on the pension he had paid into for 35 years. "I find no other solution than a dignified end before I start searching through the trash for food," read the note.Mr Christoulas' daughter, Emy, told media that her father, who had taken part in several protests at Syntagma Square, had intended to send a political message with his suicide. He had incurred no debts, she said."Father, you could not grasp it when they took away our democracy, our freedom, our integrity, " Emy Christoulas said at her father's memorial service."You could not grasp it when they surrounded us with a harsh social and economic apartheid."Mr Christoulas' body will be cremated at a later date, in Bulgaria, because Greece lacks cremation facilities.