Dilma Rousseff

As we argue inside, 2012 should be better for Latin America than 2011, if only because the region’s two biggest economies, Brazil and Mexico, will probably grow a bit faster than they did in 2011. Brazil will do better because its policymakers organized a gentle slowdown in the second half of 2011 to avoid upsets later on in President Dilma Rousseff’s four-year term. In Mexico, the stronger economic tone of the U.S. economy is already beginning to act as a locomotive.

CELAC: New Community of 33 Latin American and Caribbean Nations

­by Alfredo G. Pierrot
(Taken from The Havana Reporter)

CARACAS – The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) was officially founded in an early December summit attended by the leaders of the region´s 33 nations.

The new pro-integration bloc, heir to the Latin American and Caribbean Summit (CALT) and the Rio Group, will be led by a troika of countries, with Venezuela as the outgoing president pro tem (summit host), Chile as the current president (to host the 2012 summit) and Cuba as the future president (the 2013 summit host).

The United States and Canada were the only countries in the Americas not invited to be part of the new bloc, which was formed after the heads of state at the summit approved the Caracas Declaration by consensus, with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez presiding. The declaration was the result of meetings held by foreign ministers and other officials in the days leading up to the summit.

The summit also approved two other founding documents by consensus, the 2012 Action Plan, and Procedures for the Organic Functioning of the CELAC.

When the procedural document was put to a vote, Chávez noted that meetings previous to the summit had not reached agreement on one of its points. The document stipulated that all CELAC decisions would be made by consensus, but Ecuador proposed that in cases where consensus was not achieved, an agreement could be reached by a qualified majority of four-fifths of the bloc´s members.

The Ecuadorian delegation argued that decisions that are important for the majority of countries should not be blocked by the disagreement of one or two countries, as sometimes happens in the UN Security Council, for example. Opinions remained divided on this issue, and it was finally agreed – by consensus – to refer the issue to the troika for further discussion and a subsequent proposal for future CELAC meetings.

Two other matters referred to the troika were a proposal made by Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli to create a general ­secretariat, offering to host its headquarters in his country, and the proposal of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of Trinidad and Tobago, who said the troika should include a representative of the CELAC´s 14 English and French-speaking Caribbean member countries.

Eighteen special communiqués also were approved by the meeting, addressing issues such as the Malvinas Islands, food and nutritional security, financial speculation and food prices, the human rights of immigrants, solidarity with Haiti and a security strategy for Central America. Other issues included the defense of democracy and constitutional order, the battle against drug trafficking and terrorism, and the struggle against the U.S. blockade of Cuba.

by Mike Adams
NaturalNews

East Bay Millionaire John Nady has begun building his vacation home on Rattlesnake Island, the ancient political and religious center of the Elem Tribe, in Lake County. Nady bought the island 8 years ago, reportedly for $2.5 million. Using his wealth and influence, he has already strong-armed his way through the planning regulations. He began laying foundations for his vacation home at the end of November. John Nady is part of the 1%.

Nady is one of the wealthiest people in the East Bay, amongst his houses, is the vast Sweetland Mansion in the exclusive neighborhood of Piedmont. On Saturday December prom17th, Elem Tribal members and their supporters will participate in a spiritual walk from the Grand Lake Theater, Lakepark & Grand Ave, into Piedmont. They hope to show Nady that from Lake County to the Bay Area people will oppose this desecration.

Businessmen from San Francisco stole the island in the 19th Century.

­They used their money and connections to fraudulently claim the island under the Homestead Act. Since then the island has changed hands several times, as one wealthy elite after another bought it. Despite not having legal ownership of it, the Elem have continued to use the island in many of their traditional ways. No non-native person has ever lived on the island or built on it until now. Nady is building a vacation home on top of a site where people have prayed for at least the last 6,000 years.

Now the Elem Tribe calls on the people of Oakland to support them to stop the desecration. Whether it’s for gold, silver, coal, uranium or leisure, John Nady is part of a long history of the 1% who have exploited Indigenous lands.

Much of the Elem’s traditional land was promised to them under a treaty signed by the American government in 1851. But Congress refused to ratify the treaties, a decision Tribes in Lake County, didn’t hear about until more than 50 years later. Meanwhile, tribal land, including Rattlesnake Island, was claimed by settlers. In the end, it was the US Government which enabled the 1% to steal their land.

Jim Brown, a traditional cultural leader of the Elem Tribe, says: ‘We, the 99% are tired of the 1% controlling everything with their wealth, with their greed, and with the hypocrisy they brought to the United States. We need to chase these foreign governments out of our land and turn it back over to the people. We need everyone to support our aboriginal rights”.

On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Oct. 10, more than 100 people marched with Elem Tribal members to Nady’s offices in Emeryville to deliver a letter asking him not to build on their most sacred site. Now that he has begun construction work on the island, they will take to the streets again to demand he stop, this time closer to home.

A march was held on Dec. 17 and then met on the grass outside the Lakeview Branch of Oakland Public Library.

Elem Pomo assert aboriginal title to Rattlesnake Island http://www.elemmodun.org/2011/nady-systems-closes/.

by Will Potter

The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force has kept files on activists who expose animal welfare abuses on 2011factory farms and recommended prosecuting them as terrorists, according to a new document uncovered through the Freedom of Information Act.

This new information comes as the Center for Constitutional Rights has filed a lawsuit challenging the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) as unconstitutional because its vague wording has had a chilling effect on political activism. This document adds to the evidence demonstrating that the AETA goes far beyond property destruction, as its supporters claim.

The 2003 FBI file details the work of several animal rights activists who used undercover investigation to document repeated animal welfare violations. The FBI special agent who authored the report said they “illegally entered buildings owned by [redacted] Farm… and videotaped conditions of animals.”

The animal activists caused “economic loss” to businesses, the FBI says. And they also openly rescued several animals from the abusive conditions. This was not done covertly in the style of underground groups like the Animal Liberation Front — it was an act of non-violent civil disobedience and, as the FBI agent notes, the activists distributed press releases and conducted media interviews taking responsibility for their actions.

Based on these acts — trespassing in order to photograph and videotape abuses on factory farms — the agent concludes there “is a reasonable indication” that the activists “have violated the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, 18 USC Section 43 (a).”

The file was uncovered through a FOIA request by Ryan Shapiro, who is one of the activists mentioned. The file is available for download here. [Please note that this document has additional redactions in order to protect the identities of the other activists, at their request.] Shapiro is now a doctoral candidate at MIT.

“It is deeply sobering to see one’s name in an FBI file proposing terrorism charges,” he said in an email. “It is even more sobering to realize the supposedly terroristic activities in question are merely exposing the horrific cruelty of factory farms, educating the public about what goes on behind those closed doors, and openly rescuing a few animals from one of those farms as an act of civil disobedience.”

When I testified before Congress against the AETA in 2006, one of the primary concerns I raised is that the law could be used to wrap up a wide range of activity that threatens corporate profits.

Supporters of the AETA have repeatedly denied this, and said the law will only be used against people who do things like burn buildings. So how do we explain that such a sweeping prosecution was being considered in 2003, under the law’s somewhat-narrower precursor?

One possibility is that FBI agents lack training, education, and oversight. They are spying on political activists without understanding or respecting the law.

Another explanation is that this document is no mistake, nor is it an isolated case. It is a reflection of a coordinated campaign totarget animal rights activists who, as the FBI agent notes, cause “economic loss” to corporations. Learn the full story of how corporations are targeting activists as “terrorists.”

At the state, federal, and international levels, corporations have orchestrated an attempt to silence political activists, and a key target has been undercover investigators. For example: An “Ag Gag” bill has been introduced in Florida to criminalize investigations. Its lead sponsor calls these investigations “terrorism.” Four similar attempts failed in other states this year. These state bills are similar to model “eco-terrorism” legislation drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate front group.

A recent EUROPOL report on international terrorism includes a section on undercover investigations by animal rights and environmental activists. 12 Spanish activists have been charged with terrorism  for their investigations.

Two activists in Finland faced similar charges.

The FBI makes clear that the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act is not ­about protecting public safety; it is about protecting corporate profits. Corporations and the politicians who represent them have repeatedly lied to the American public about the scope of this legislation, and claimed that the law only targets underground groups like the Animal Liberation Front. The truth is that this terrorism law has been slowly, methodically expanded to include the tactics of national organizations like the Humane  Society of the United States. This document illustrates how the backlash against effective activism has progressed within the animal rights movement.

However, if this type of legislation is not overturned, it will set a precedent for corporations to use this model against Occupy Wall Street and anyone else who threaten business as usual.

­by Yashenka Baca

Occupy Oakland protesters arrive at the Port of Oakland  (PHOTO BY THAN STARK FOR TURNSTYLE NEWS)

The “Occupy Our Homes” national day of action called by the Occupy Wall Street movement nationwide, had a strong impact on the main banks planned foreclosures Tue. Dec. 6. Hundreds in San Francisco, and thousands nationwide gathered to defend the homes of hundreds of families that were schedule to be evicted, “demanding -the banks- negotiate with homeowners instead of foreclosing on them.”

According to Calorganize, an Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, banks had planned to foreclose 60 homes only on Wed. Dec. 7, despite Attorney General Support for a Holiday Moratorium that would allow families to have a home at least during Christmas.

The news website Huffington Post (HP) also informed that in San Francisco’s Bayview District there are about 3,500 foreclosed homes.

The total of homes affected in the city reach 12,600 which adds to the 2.1 million California homes that saw their owners being evicted since the 2008 crisis started. The movement has tried hard to remind the communities that although homes are being taken away, and families are evicted daily, not one person from Wall Street main banks has being held responsible for the economic crisis.

HP reported that Occupy Our Home supporters, and eviction protesters, gathered around Vivian Richardson’s home in San Francisco Tue. Dec 6. “Richardson became a local symbol of the foreclosure crisis when her bank tried to seize her home despite months of unsuccessful loan modification attempts” the website explained. Protesters ‘shield’ the property with a human chain and made it impossible for the sheriff to get in and evict the family.

esinformed the organization.The Rebuild the Dream Innovation Fund also reported on the day of action. The fund established that the human chain strategy is working nationwide, and more people are taking a stand. “Just last week police and movers refused to carry out a bank-ordered eviction of a 103 year-old woman and her daughter, from her home in Atlanta” informed the organization.

Winter plans for Occupy

Filmmaker Michael Moore shared on his website a video of Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur from 2009 regarding foreclosure policies. In the video a passionate Kaptur tells people who might face foreclosure in the future be squatters in their own home and not to leave.

“Don’t leave your home, because when those companies say they have your mortgage, unless you find a lawyer who can put his of her finger on it, then they don’t have your mortgage” said Kaptur.

Moore, who shared the video -from his film Capitalism a Love Story- as part of his proposal for Occupy Wall Street (OWS) during the winter season, called the message ‘encourage to open rebellion’. The filmmaker looks to continue presenting alternatives for the straggling families that might lose their houses in the upcoming weeks.

The OWS movement has been repeatedly raided nationwide, specially in the last few weeks. Occupy San Francisco -at Justin Herman Plaza- was raided Wed. Dec. 7 at about 2:00 am. According to Bay Area radio station KCBS dozens of police cars and about 200 officers wearing riot gear surrounded the encampment and took occupiers by surprise.

­Police was seeing taking down tents, but some protesters were spotted packing and moving out of the plaza on their own. A local TV channel website informed that 85 people were arrested during the raid and while occupiers stayed in the surroundings of the plaza determining what their next steps would be.

by Ethan A. Huff Natural News

(NaturalNews) Patients suffering from nerve damage or paralysis may soon be able to better regain function, thanks to a new electrical stimulation technique developed by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, Mass., and engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Science Daily reports that the new method of functional electrical stimulation (FES) reduces electrical output by 40 percent and better protects surrounding nerves and tissues from damage by focusing energy directly to the damaged site.

Published in the journal Nature Materials, the findings reveal a method of stimulating neuronal activity in patients with nerve damage that is superior to traditional FES technologies. By reducing the amount of electrical current emitted and better concentrating it into damaged areas, scientists have successfully developed a safer and more efficient method of helping nerve-damaged patients regain function with less damaging side effects.

“This new device works by manipulating the concentration of charged ions surrounding the nerve,” said Samuel J. Lin, MD, a surgeon at BIDMC’s Divisions of Plastic Surgery and Otolaryngology, Assistant Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, and co-author of the study. “This could potentially mean reduced risk to surrounding nerves because less electrical current is required to stimulate the affected nerve.”

Since sensory nerves and the nerves that control movements are located very closely together, reducing both the amount of electrical current as well as its spread is crucial to maximizing the benefits and reducing the side effects of FES treatments. And after experimenting with the various ions in the fluid that surrounds nerves, the research team discovered that removing the positively charged calcium ions helps to focus the electrical current on the damaged nerve areas while protecting the healthy areas.

“Nerve fibers fire their signals based on the message they receive from the interaction of ions, or charged particles,” added Lin. “The nerves that control movements and the sensory nerves that carry pain signals are extremely close together, so existing FES therapy has had limitations. This (new discovery) is an important step towards the design of a device to help patients suffering from nerve paralysis and chronic neurological conditions.”

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034362_nerve_damage_repair_electromedicine.html#ixzz1g1CRIoXE

­by the El Reportero’s news services

Rafael Correa­­

We are a continent, a region, a nation of peoples heading for the future with determination, said Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, after saying that Latin American integration and change cannot be stopped by anyone.

Now that we have signed the birth certificate of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), we confirm that we are a giant people, diverse peoples, that will never be alone again, and have charted our united path, he said.

Last night, at the end of the solemn session of Quito’s Metropolitan Council for the 477th anniversary of its foundation, the President reviewed the investment of some two billion dollars by the Citizen Revolution in works of social benefit in the capital.

This is the new era of the homeland. We need to move with urgency, we cannot afford to lose time, we must build a new Ecuador and we have already lost too much time; Correa said.

We are building a future of freedom, security, trust, a future of Good Living, solidarity and shared joy. We are building on the ideal city that does not exist yet but it is already prefigured in the dreams of all the inhabitants of Quito, he said.

Finally, he recalled Simon Bolivar, “that remarkable Latin American who thought in centuries and in a continent-wide panorama,” in whose dreams he discerned our Patria Grande (Great Homeland) of peace and solidarity, with only one huge heart in the shape of a continent.

­Mass turnout for Colombia’s ‘Freedom March’

On 6 December hundreds of thousands of people marched in 60 cities across the world (40 in Colombia and 20 in the US and Europe) under the banners of “no more Farc” and “free them now”.