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November 26, 2001
Alexander
Cockburn
Harry
Potter and Terrorism
November 25, 2001
Ralph Nader
The Crisis
in Leadership
Sam Bahour
Israel's
Choice
November 24, 2001
Patrick Cockburn
He Who
Has
the Guns Rules
November 23, 2001
Phyllis
Pollack
Long
Live The Clash
Cockburn/St. Clair
The Press
and
the Patriot Act
November 22, 2001
Oscar
Gonzalez
A
Homeland Thanksgiving
November 21, 2001
CounterPunch Wire
Rep. Chambliss
Calls for Arrest of Every Muslim That Enters Georgia
Tom Turnipseed
Broadcasting
and Bombing
David Price
Academia Under
Attack
Molly
Secours
Modern
Day Witch Trials
Tariq Ali
Killing
Mr. Biswas
November 20, 2001
Sam Bahour
Plain
Truths About Palestine
Michael Ratner
Moving Toward
a
Police State
A Photographic Journal of Life
in an Afghan Refugee Camp
By Judith Mann
November 19, 2001
Edward
Said
Suicidal
Ignorance
November 18, 2001
John Farley
Shame on You,
Chelsea!
Kalpana
Sharma
Flower
Power:
A Blow for Peace
Tony Mauro
The Quirin
Ruling:
FDR's Horrible Precedent for Bush's Terror Courts
C.G. Estabrook
American
Crusades
November 17, 2001
Zoltan Grossman
It Ain't
Over Til It's Over
November 16, 2001
Rick Giombetti
Rep.
McDermott and
the Decay of Liberalism
Fawzia Afzal-Khan
The Voices
of Muslim Feminists
Mokhiber/Weissman
Kill,
Kill, Kill
November 15, 2001
George
Monbiot
Blasting
Our Way
Toward Peace
Jack McCarthy
Hitchens
Mind-Meld
and Hot Bodies
Steve
Perry
Afghan
Puzzle Palace
RAWA
We Do Not Accept
the Northern Alliance
November 14, 2001
Jensen/Mahajan
The
Press Must Press Harder on Afghanistan
David Vest
The Great Unificator
Harry
Browne
Preventing
Future Terrorism
November 13, 2001
Peter Mahoney
Veteran's
Day, 2001
Rep. Ron
Paul
Expanding
NATO
Is a Bad Idea
November 12, 2001
Robert Jensen
Goodbye to
All That...
Patriotism
Nancy
Oden
My
Day at the Airport
CounterPunch Wire
East Timor
10 Years
After the Massacre
C.G. Estabrook
Instead
of Terror
Alexander Cockburn
Wide World
of Torture
November 11, 2001
Douglas
Valentine
Homeland
Insecurity: The Politics of Terror in America
November 10, 2001
Grover Furr
Seeking an Opposition
to the Afghan War
Bruce
Kyle
Anatomy
of a Green Smear:
Backstabbing Nancy Oden
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
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War Diary
CIA's Assassination Plan a History of
Torture in US Prisons
bin Laden and Bush
Business Connections
Aisha Ikramuddin on the Hidden Hype
of US Food Bombs
Peter Linebaugh on
Pakistan
Christopher Hitchens' Love for Mrs. Thatcher
Jiang Zemin Tells Bush:
Nuke 'Em
Search
CounterPunch
Read Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
A User's Manual
by Cockburn
and St. Clair
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Reviews of Gore:
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November 26,
2001
The
Peaceful Atom?
International Team Observes Human Rights Violations during Radioactive
Waste Shipment to Gorleben
CounterPunch
Wire
The Gorleben International Peace Team (GIPT) was
established in 1997 to report on the human rights and civil liberties
situation in the Wendland region of Germany during high-level
atomic waste transports. The November 2001 GIPT observed that
by placing the interests of the nuclear industry above the Constitutional
rights of its own citizens, the German government violated the
human rights and civil liberties of anti-CASTOR demonstrators
and local residents.
Examples of these violations included
the occupation of the Wendland region by very large numbers of
police, the excessive use of force (such as batons, attack dogs
and horses) against non-violent demonstrators, police anonymity
and lack of accountability, the politicization of the police
and the criminalization of the protestors, and the suspension
of basic human rights such as freedom of movement, assembly,
association and personal security and freedom from arbitrary
detention, search, and seizure.
The November 2001 GIPT included members
from seven nations: Julio Bosque, Costa Rica; Jürgen Schütz,
Germany; Ben Kinross, Scotland; Gabriela Bulisova, Slovak Republic;
Umut Pulat, Turkey; Kevin Kamps, John LaForge and Bill Mills,
U.S.A.; and Marija Belic,Yugoslavia.
GIPT members expressed some initial observations
about their experiences:
"Police attack dogs biting non-violent
demonstrators is as shocking now in Splietau as it was 40 years
ago in Alabama during Martin Luther King`s civil rights movement,"
said Kevin Kamps of the U.S.A. "GIPT wholeheartedly agrees
with the Lower Saxony State Police slogan "Show Civil Courage,"
so whether citizens are protesting against racism or atomic waste
dumps, their basic human and constitutional rights must be protected."
"I saw a situation in Splietau which
was very brutal," said Julio Bosque of Costa Rica. "A
police dog was attacking a person, so we ran there, as did media
people, first aid people, and some other demonstrators. It was
obvious that the police horse commander did not want anyone there
to observe what was happening. He tried to take the video tape
from a woman who was filming. The horse commander then gave the
order to charge the horses right into the people. We all tried
to jumped aside, but some of us were caught right in between
the charging horses. It is very disturbing that the police commander
refused to give his name and where his unit came from. Is this
proper police behavior?"
"Having followed the political discussion
in Germany about the dangers of Right-wing extremism from the
UK, I was shocked by how freely neo-fascist groups can demonstrate
as compared to the police state introduced when non-violent CASTOR
opponents wish to exercise their right to protest," said
Ben Kinross of Scotland, GIPT`s volunteer coordinator.
"The German government, hand-in-hand with the nuclear industry,
is blatantly violating the civil liberties and basic human rights
of its citizens, by placing nuclear waste over the constitutional
rights and the voice of the affected local population, and irrevocably
stigmatizes the Wendland region as a nuclear sacrifice zone,"
said Gabriela Bulisova of the Slovak Republic. "Like a destructive
addiction, the German government is willing to sacrifice anything,
even democracy, for the needs of the nuclear industry".
"Even though I was an international
human rights observer standing some distance from the action,
I was almost kicked by a police horse," said Umut Pulat
of Turkey. "The commander of the police horse team suddenly
decided to charge his horse right into people. I cannot understand
the use of huge, fast, and strong horses against demonstators
who are just sitting non-violently in the road."
"As a citizen of this area as well
as an observor for GIPT, there is no way to understand how such
police actions can be allowed to override the legal rights of
protest," said Jürgen Schütz of Schreyahn. "I
myself have seen that police horses were not only "protecting"
the road to prevent demonstrator actions, but were ridden by
police men and women directly into people who were standing aside,
not moving or acting at all. So I clearly observed that at least
one person was hit hard by a horse. Within the same scene, a
man was attacked by a police dog while he was standing on the
"Landgrabenwall" (wall) east of Splietau. This wall
is about 300 meters south of the road, so this happened at least
250 meters beyond the "forbidden zone". It is unbelievable
that these police men and women will not be held accountable
for overstepping their responsibilities or for their unnecessary
actions against legal human rights."
The final goal of GIPT is to publish
a report and analysis of its observations, and to distribute
this document around the world. The report is due to be published
by February, 2002 and can be obtained by contacting KURVE-Wustrow
at: Kirchstrasse 14, D-29462 Wustrow, Germany; phone 05843-9871-0;
fax 05843-9871-11; e-mail: info@kurvewustrow.org.
"GIPT believes in, utilizes and
supports the ideals and methods of nonviolence", said Marija
Belic of Yugoslavia. "Nonviolence as both a philosophy
and strategy provides an essential safeguard against the
degradation of human rights, individual dignity and the environment."
GIPT maintains its international character
because nuclear waste and the violation of human rights are global
problems that demand the attention of the international community.
GIPT is also a vehicle for raising international awareness about
the dangers of nuclear energy, awareness that can help prevent
radioactive waste from being dumped in areas that are politically
and economically vulnerable.
GIPT was established in response to an
appeal from the Wendland region for international support before,
during and after the on-going, controversial high-level nuclear
waste CASTOR transports to the temporary radioactive waste storage
facility at Gorleben, Germany. GIPT is dedicated to protecting
human rights, civil liberties, and the natural environment.
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