WE DEMAND THAT THE IRRESPONSIBLE AND THE UNPUNISHED GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, BANKERS AND CEO’S WITHDRAW FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS WE ARE CREATING AT THIS MOMENT IN SLOVENIA.

We know exactly what we don’t want. Let us speak to each other what we want; what we desire as individuals, what we desire as a community. We need to open all the possibilities, all channels, all flows to talk about pain, oppression, violence, as well as hopes and visions. We need to listen to each other and to know that we are able to take the steps and enter the path of building such a democratic society, where even the weakest voice is heard, and one’s pain everyone’s pain.

Violence, injustice, intimidation and arrogance can no longer find refuge in our country. Theft and economic looting must be punished, and undue oppression of the people put to an end. We have to put the concepts of equality, reciprocity, fairness and dignity into action. Only through action and activity we can find our way to where we want to go and how to get there. Strategy and vision development can not be generated or delegated by the few; we must all make an effort to determine our collective future.

We have risen! We have conquered fear. In exactly two weeks, Slovenia has had a total of 54 uprisings in 28 cities: Maribor, Ljubljana, Ptuj, Gornja Radgona, Jesenice, Kranj, Bled, Koper, Nova Gorica, Novo mesto, Velenje, Ajdovščina, Trbovlje, Celje, Dravograd, Ravne na Koroškem, Krško, Brežice, Izola, Murska Sobota, Bohinjska Bistrica, Lendava, Trebnje, Slovenske Konjice, Litija, Kočevje, Radenci. Over 77,500 people took the streets, according to reports from all over Slovenia, though of course media, police and politicians counted our numbers several thousand less. They trivialize our fight and they will continue to do that. They can’t hide our numbers, because the streets belong to those who care about the country and want to change what has been forced upon us over the last 20 years. In order not to lose the future, we have to take back the freedom and power of our votes!

Repressive authorities have detained 254 people in Slovenia, some of them still remain in custody. Young people are locked in jail because Minister of Interior Gorenak claims they will return to the protests. Thousands return regardless, for we are not all in jail! We are the mothers of the arrested children, we are all the friends, families and supporters who will return to the streets and participate in the uprisings until we achieve change. As long as there are children confined, no one is free! Young people can not be criminalized by the very people who have stolen all the prospects of their future, by those that violently choke the protests that are the only channel available for the people to express their collective will. The never ending violence of capitalism goes unchecked, and meanwhile the attacks of rulers and marshals continue in impunity, without responsibility or accountability. What they call riots have emerged from the state of fear and poverty, into which we as citizens were pushed. We demand tears of joy, not tear gas!

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This is a call to unemployed and precarious people, workers, retired, students, undocumented migrants, homeless… Let us all demonstrate together on the same day all over Europe against poverty-inducing policies in order to build transnational solidarity and to move forward in the convergence of our various movements.

In the wake of the European general strike on November 14, Agora99, a European conference of social movements meeting in Madrid in November (http://99agora.net/) calls for a European day of action against precariousness on December 1 as well as to the drafting of a new charter of social rights.

What new chart can we imagine and how to defend our rights together? On December 1 let us organize public debates, popular assemblies, cacerolas, marches, direct actions, occupations, etc.

http://europeanstrike.org/1d-european-day-of-action

http://www.facebook.com/events/274694712632997

via http://europeanstrike.org [with minor edits -- see below an extensive list of General Strike actions]:

Update

See #14N: millions join largest European strike ever on ROAR magazine for reportback!

European Strike: people of Europe, rise up!

On November the 14th, Portugal, Spain and other peoples will engage global strike to say "NO" to austerity measures. Everywhere in Europe, activist social movements are organising themselves to say "STOP" to austerity, "STOP" to those ultraliberal politics serving finance. Portugal and Spain will be on global strike the 14th November, many countries prepare to join them to maximize rejection to austerity mesures. ETUC, responding to popular pressure, decided to call for strike demonstrations and meeting for November the 14th.

People have to rise up against the austerity politics, organized social fractures that are used to pay back some debt that is not theirs… People have to fight politics that protect, encourage a minority part of the class who gets richer and richer with this increasing austerity and these illegitime debt interests. Yes, this debt is illegitime, contracted by the financial world against people’s real interests: jobs, housing, education, heathcare, and a world that can survive the century. This debt is not our own, we owe nothing to them and we’ll pay nothing.

This day of global strike won’t be a one-time action. It must mark the the start of a rapport de force built by people against politicians, banks, the market and industrial trusts. After this day of struggle, it is an absolute necessity to build together a global unlimited strike. People of Europe, rise, up, struggle together for a Social Europe, full of equality where none will be left aside.

NYC Solidarity Action at the United Nations

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In a move sure to send shivers down the spines of activists and civil liberties advocates everywhere, the Spanish government is taking steps to prohibit the filming and photographing of on-duty police and security forces, the New York Times reports. Described by Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria as a reaction to the recent shocking clashes between police and demonstrators – such as the Madrid anti-austerity actions – this ban is necessary, they claim, to strike a balance "between citizens' right to protest" and the need "to uphold the integrity of state security forces."

The deputy prime minister made his announcement a day after Spain's director general of police, Ignacio Cosido, said that said that draft legislation for such a ban was already in the works.

This position is in direct conflict with European laws governing the freedom of the press and human rights and an affront to all the dedicated citizen journalists putting themselves in harm's way in the service of transparency. The proposed new legislation also makes it illegal to disseminate photos and videos of security forces over social networking sites such as Facebook.

Angel Casana, a lead writer for the national newspaper El Mundo, weighed in on the plan via an online editorial: "If this proposal goes ahead, it is going to be impossible to know about events as they occur on the streets just at a time when streets are at boiling point due to the dire economic situation of many families."

Video livestreamers, in particular, have reason to worry that they will be prohibited from doing their work. There already exists a vast amount of video evidence collected by citizen journalists across Spain that documents indiscriminate police violence during protests that resulted in grave injuries against people who were exercising their constitutionally protected right of political expression.

These streams are not only reliable news footage, but also contribute to historical record of our time and therefore belong not only to Spain, but to the entire world. The idea that a government feels it has to erase part of it's record to ensure it's own safety indicates an awareness that its actions, if documented, will provoke public disapproval and increase dissent.

Igancio Cosido specified that the new rule would prohibit "the recruitment, reproduction or processing of images, sounds or information of members of the security forces in the exercise of its functions as may endanger their life". If they really believe that the routine actions of police officers in dealing with protesters would evoke such an extreme reaction by the general viewing public, perhaps they should review their use of tactics instead of trying to suffocate the evidence. Another world is possible.

Photograph: Chema Moya/EPA

This short film chronicles recent events in Spain where hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets to demand the resignation of the government and an end to police brutality. Many of the protests ended in clashes with the police. Since the stand off began on September 25th, the images of police brutality have travelled the world over, shocking and inspiring people across Europe and leading to an international day of action on September 29th. This film tells the story of why so many people took to the streets and follows these events as they unfolded.

Go to globaluprisings.org for the full series of mini-documenaries about reactions to the economic crisis around the world.