“Madrid Will Be The Grave Of Fascism:” Demo Against State Repression Ends In More Repression

[BelgianMadCow]

Antifascist demonstrators took it to the streets to stop the gag “order” law which simply turns people’s freedom of expression into a State crime. “The voice of the people is not illegal,” chants echoed on the streets.

Protesters Twitted that there were cops everywhere around them – on the ground and also in the air – surveilling them from helicopters. “It feels like we’re in a war against (this) State repression,” wrote one of the demonstrators. But if you protest State repression, what you get from the State is even more repression. “This is what “democracy” looks like,” protesters said.

“We’re done with the political repression and with the institutional violence,” wrote another one. Antifascist demonstrators were called on the streets by dozens of organizations from the anti-repression Solidarity Network, but other groups like 15-M, 25-S and Stop Evictions also attended the march.

Activists are defending their liberties against a government law which will be used as a political police tool to deny people the right to oppose the ruling elites. While the right to tell the government “no” is denied to Spaniards, the police are encouraged to spy on them and frame them. In fact, what happened last night in Madrid will become the new normal and the new standard. Cops, the executioners of the State, will get all the power over people, but will still have none. Protesters demand the government’s resignation.

from Revolution News.

Compare & contrast with the coverage of Ukraine.

Note that "15-M" are the indignados, they enjoy 70% + popular support. The OWS of Europe. Estoy orgulloso de los españoles! I'm proud of the Spaniards!

[pampango]

1. "Demo against state repression ends in more repression."

How often have we seen that? States use repression to maintain the elite in power and almost always use more repression when confronted with massive protests against the existing repression. It never seems to occur to the entrenched elite that they do not have a 'right to repress' in order to stay in power. Perhaps the elite are born with the 'knowledge' that they have a 'divine right to rule' and repression is just what humans have to use to govern other humans.

Obviously state repression has existed throughout history. We have seen it recently in many countries during the Arab Spring, Occupy protests, Greece and Ukraine.

[BelgianMadCow]

2. The list is getting really long

for example: Gezi park in Turkey. Bosnia in uproar in over 20 cities. Romania uniting against mining companies. Pitchfork protests in Italy. Renewed bus fare protest in Brazil. Massive protest in Bangladesh and Thailand.

[BelgianMadCow]

3. into the stream kick

no worries, it's just a pebble.

[Dawson Leery]

4. Southern Europe(the homeland of fascism) police are actually significantly worse than

our police.

[BelgianMadCow]

5. Guardian and RT coverage at LINK

Protesters rally for 'the day we fight back' against mass surveillance

Tens of thousands of people and organisations were participating in a protest against the NSA’s mass surveillance on Tuesday, bombarding members of Congress with phone calls and emails and holding demonstrations across the globe.

Dubbed “The day we fight back”, the action saw scores of websites, including Reddit, BoingBoing and Mozilla host a widget inviting users to pressure elected officials.

The online demonstration saw more than 18,000 calls placed and 50,000 emails sent to US congressmen and women by midday Tuesday. Physical protests were planned in 15 countries.

“The goal of the day we fight back is to stop mass surveillance by intelligence agencies like the National Security Agency,” said Rainey Reitman, activism director at the non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation, which helped organise the events.

RT: ‘The day we fight back’: 6,000 websites protest surveillance, honor Aaron Swartz

More than 6,000 websites, including Reddit, Tumblr, Mozilla, are taking part in an online protest against government surveillance. The action marks two years since website blackouts against SOPA and PIPA and commemorates Aaron Swartz’s death.

The February 11 online protest, going by the title ‘The Day We Fight Back’, is supposed to see around 6, 200 websites each host a large banner at the top reading “Dear internet, we’re sick of complaining about the NSA. We want new laws that curtail online surveillance.”

The banner enables US internet users to contact members of Congress directly via email or a computer telephone call link using Twilio Voice. They would then be able to ask legislators to oppose the FISA Improvements Act, which would strengthen the NSA surveillance legality and to support the USA Freedom Act, that would, conversely, curb the domestic surveillance power of intelligence agencies.

As for website visitors from outside US, they are urged to sign a petition in support of the principles against mass surveillance. The petition has already been signed by more than 26,000 people.

Petition stands at 130 k signatures atm.