His successor promised London Underground cleaners a better deal and didn’t deliver. Now Tory Mayor of London, barmy Boris Johnson, has reneged on his promise made a year ago to pay them £7.60 per hour.

Yes you read that right – £7.60 per hour is considered to be the London Living Wage. Thousands of workers throughout London exist on the Statutory Minimum Wage of just £5.73. This is £1.87 under the declared London Living Wage. Both figures are disgraceful! It should be in excess of £10 per hour.

To expect people to live on such a low hourly rate anywhere in the UK is taking the piss – big time. The RMT and other other unions in the capital are putting pressure on London’s employers to meet their obligations to pay a fair wage. A victory for cleaners on the tube is a start, it will become a benchmark for claims for a better wage by cleaners in other industries.

Cleaning the Underground is no picnic for only £5.73 per hour they are expected to clean up vomit, urine, excrement and even blood and gore after suicides. They are paid no extra for working through the night or weekends.

The RMT says to the London Mayor – Boris Keep Your Promise! Give the cleaners the London Living Wage of £7.60 an hour. The Duck Shoot tells Boris to Stop Taking the Piss!

Sources:
The London Living Wage
The Statutory Minimum Wage (PDF)
RMT YouTube Channel

The Israeli Defence Force repeatedly used white phosphorus against populated areas of Gaza during their disproportionate response to the equally illegal rocketing of civilian areas of Israel by Hamas combatants. While I condemn all actions of aggression against civilians and civilian homes and facilities I cannot help but largely come out for the people of Gaza and Palestinians in general.

I do not support Hamas but I do acknowledge that they are the democratically elected government of Gaza. Their actions against their own constituents and the actions against Israeli civilians cannot be sanctioned however. They murdered and tortured anyone who they considered were in opposition to them. They should answer for those crimes.

But, Israel’s crimes against Gaza dwarf anything that was directed at them by Hamas. Human Rights Watch says this. “During Israel’s 22-day military operations in Gaza the IDF repeatedly exploded white phosphorus munitions in the air over populated areas, killing and injuring civilians, and damaging civilian structures, including a school, a market, a humanitarian aid warehouse and a hospital.”

Israel’s Gaza war crimes should be investigated and it’s leaders and the IDF commanders should be on trial along with all the other scumbags that have tossed morality and International law aside in their pursuit of power and money. No prizes for guessing who they are.

Here’s a video report from Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch

Un informe de Amnistía Internacional

España tiene uno de los regímenes de detención más rigurosos de la Unión Europea.

La legislación española permite que las personas detenidas por cargos relacionados con el terrorismo estén recluidas en régimen de incomunicación durante un máximo de 13 días. Estas personas no tienen acceso efectivo a un abogado ni a un médico de su elección. No se informa a sus familiares de que han sido detenidas.

Muchas personas recluidas en régimen de incomunicación denuncian que fueron torturadas o sufrieron otros malos tratos. Las autoridades rara vez investigan sus denuncias.

Mohammed Fahsi fue detenido cerca de Barcelona en 2006 como sospechoso de delitos relacionados con el terrorismo. Estuvo detenido en régimen de incomunicación durante cuatro días, periodo en el cual su familia no supo dónde estaba.

Mohammed Fahsi afirma que estuvo con los ojos vendados en todo momento y que agentes de la Guardia Civil lo insultaron y amenazaron. Afirma que mientras estaba en su celda se vio obligado a permanecer de pie con las manos apoyadas en la pared, o a hacer flexiones de brazos hasta el agotamiento. Cada vez que intentaba sentarse, un agente de la Guardia Civil lo obligaba a ponerse de pie de nuevo y afirma que lo sometieron a técnicas de privación de sueño.

Durante los interrogatorios, le dijeron que su esposa y sus hijos serían enviados al desierto de Marruecos y que no volvería a verlos. Poco antes de que Mohammed Fahsi compareciera ante el tribunal, un abogado designado por el Estado se personó en el centro de detención para representarlo, pero no se le permitió hablar con su cliente. Una doctora lo examinó pero no hizo caso de sus afirmaciones de que lo estaban torturando.

Más de tres años más tarde, Mohammed Fahsi continúa recluido en espera de juicio. Sus denuncias de tortura nunca se investigaron.

Amnistía Internacional YouTube canal

Here is a report from Amnesty International:

Spanish law allows terrorism suspects to be held incommunicado for up to 13 days. Incommunicado detainees have no effective access to a lawyer or to a doctor of their choice. Their family is not informed that they have been detained.

Many detainees held incommunicado report that they were tortured or otherwise ill-treated. The authorities rarely investigate their allegations.

Mohammed Fahsi was arrested near Barcelona in 2006 on suspicion of terrorism-related offences. He was held incommunicado for four days, during which time his family had no idea where he was.

Mohammed Fahsi says he was blindfolded at all times and insulted and threatened by Civil Guard officers. He said that while in his cell he was forced to remain standing with his hands on the wall, or to do press-ups to the point of exhaustion. Every time he tried to sit down a Civil Guard officer would make him stand again and he says he was subjected to sleep-deprivation techniques.

During interrogations, he was told his wife and children would be sent out to the desert in Morocco and he would never see them again. A state-appointed lawyer arrived to represent Mohammed Fahsi just before he was taken to court, but he was not allowed to speak to his client. A doctor examined him but did not follow up on his claims that he was being tortured.

More than three years later, Mohammed Fahsi remains in detention awaiting trial. His complaints of torture were never investigated.

Amnesty International YouTube Channel

Al Jazeera’s Alireza Ronaghi is back on the streets of Tehran to see for himself the effect the protests have had. Reporting in Iran has been difficult as the government banned journalists after the disputed elections.

Thousands of protesters once filled the streets and the city is scarred from everywhere. Patches of the tarmac are burnt, banks are gutted and ATM machines smashed.

The regimes thugs are no longer visible and the streets are quiet and burnt vehicles moved. Here’s the report.

Al Jalzeera English

Millions of words have been written about the tragic death of Michael Jackson so ’something different’ is hard to write. Well here is something very different and I didn’t get there first. I found this in the Huffington Post.

Filipino inmates who exercise with dance made this tribute to Michael Jackson. They learned the routine in a grueling nine hours and the result was uploaded to YouTube Saturday.

Read a full account here.

I bring you this harrowing account from a tearful student who witnessed the brutality of the Iranian security forces, a euphemism in terrorist states for thugs, in which she describes their thuggery. She saw people thrown of bridges, women beaten to a pulp and shooting into the crowds. The religious leaders of Iran are murderers and thieves. They certainly are not Muslims!

They are hanging on to power in order to rob from the people. They have millions of dollars stashed away in foreign banks already and will run from the country with as much as they can carry when the regime they have created finally falls. This money should be confiscated and returned to a future government that rules by permission of the majority of Iranians.

The Iranian people are heroes and need help from the International community. Every avenue should be explored to help these people. While it would be a mistake to invade the country everything should be done to help the people. Sanctions against the regime should be strengthened and the people armed so that they can defend themselves for starters.

Here is a video report about the pain the Persian people are experiencing because they are fighting for freedom and democracy in Iran. Hundreds of Iranians have killed, thousands injured by the criminal security forces.

Cenk Uygur host of The Young Turks expresses the feelings and anguish that all lovers of freedom feel. His report is emotional and genuine. Cenk we are with you man.

Here’s the clip.

The Young Turks
CNN
The Guardian

A young Iranian woman with a promising future is murdered in cold blood by a government thug. Neda Agha-Soltan was on her way to protest against the illegal Iranian regime who remain in power despite losing a recent election.

Neda Agha Soltan

She was deliberately targeted by a Basij — an Islamic volunteer militiaman and shot through the heart. I bet he’s proud of himself.

This is the account told to BBC Persian TV by her fiancé, Caspian Makan.

“She was near the area, a few streets away, from where the main protests were taking place, near the Amir-Abad area. She was with her music teacher, sitting in a car and stuck in traffic.

She was feeling very tired and very hot. She got out of the car for just for a few minutes. And that’s when it all happened.

That’s when she was shot dead. Eyewitnesses and video footage of the shooting clearly show that probably Basij paramilitaries in civilian clothing deliberately targeted her. Eyewitnesses said they clearly targeted her and she was shot in the chest.

She passed away within a few minutes. People tried to take her to the nearest hospital, the Shariati hospital. But it was too late.

We worked so hard to get the authorities to release her body. She was taken to a morgue outside Tehran. The officials from the morgue asked if they could use parts of her corpse for body transplants for medical patients.

They didn’t specify what exactly they intended to do. Her family agreed because they wanted to bury her as soon as possible.

We buried her in the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery in southern Tehran. They asked us to bury her in this section where it seemed the authorities had set aside spaces for graves for those killed during the violent clashes in Tehran last week.

On Monday afternoon, we had planned to hold a memorial service at the mosque.

But the authorities there and the paramilitary group, the Basij, wouldn’t allow it because they were worried it would attract unwanted attention and they didn’t want anymore trouble.

The authorities are aware that everybody in Iran and throughout the whole world knows about her story. So that’s why they didn’t want a memorial service. They were afraid that lots people could turn up at the event.

So as things stand now, we are not allowed to hold any gatherings to remember Neda.”

Neda isn’t the only death, there have been many, but partly because of the manner of her death and partly because the evidence was filmed and uploaded to YouTube she symbolizes the hope of the people. Her death will, I believe, accelerate the demise of this terrible regime.

The Times Online
BBC News

Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the founders of the National League for Democracy in Burma and the winner of the 1990 general election. The military regime refused to accept the peoples choice. She committed no crime and yet she was arrested and held in detention because of her political activities and peaceful opposition to the unelected military regime. Until recently she was kept under house arrest isolated from her family, followers and the world.

Aung San Suu Kyi is currently on trial for “violating the conditions of her house arrest”. Its outcome is not expected to end the detention she has endured for thirteen of the past 19 years. She is one of more than 2,100 political prisoners in Myanmar.

Until she is released unconditionally, there can be no genuine improvement in the human rights situation in Burma. Through her courage and commitment to non-violent protest, she has become a symbol of hope and inspiration in her own country and around the world.
Take action for Aung San Suu Kyi now.

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/Action For Aung San Suu Kyi

Amnesty International