Friends Of The Heroes

Articles

Persian Paper Tiger
Pakistan already has nuclear warheads and missiles capable of delivering them with a 1,500 km range and recently began test launches of cruise missiles which can also mount nuclear warheads.

Historic Deals
Everyone wants to make poverty history these days – and it’s a very positive aim to have. The question is - how can we do it?

The "Sunny Delight Generation"
come the next election day, the party leaders are enlisting the help of figures from the world of pop music in the hope that their endorsements might spark some activity in what remains of the brains of the "Sunny Delight Generation"

Not In My Name!
On a sunny a day at the end of September protestors young and old, from a wide range of ethnic groups marched peacefully blocking the busiest roads in central London.

What the fire fighters strike really means
I want to tell you how I wake up each morning and sift through a media conspiracy of lies, corruption, and yet more lies, and I shake at the very real thought of our democratic process pummelled to a shadow of any former self, submerged under the jackboot

'Free Trade'
Politicians like Tony Blair are still promoting 'free trade reforms' as a way to reduce poverty and spread democracy around the world - and even 'save Africa'. What have the results been so far ?

Taking the Michael and the Tony out of Parliament
Many voters in the British elections on the 5th of May might be forgiven for fearing that Tony Blair is right that it's a choice between him or Michael Howard - with more wars , poverty and higher taxes for cuts in public services whichever of them become

Only One More Vote Than God - My British General Election 2005
This is an account of my election campaign. I campaigned for Rose Gentle in East Kilbride and Craig Murray in Blackburn - and stood myself as an independent candidate. Read all about it and about the wider election results in the UK.

Beacons of Liberty
The Bush administration have been very supportive of the overthrow of dictators in Georgia and Ukraine - but not in Uzbekistan , whose dictator Islam Karimov is responsible for torture and massacres. Here's why and what you can do.

The Rough Guide to the G8 Summit and the MakePovertyHistory Campaign
There will also be a giant march in the afternoon, which will encircle Edinburgh with a human white band, and it is hoped, send a message to the G8 countries that they cannot ignore.

How can something so sweet taste so wrong?
A Dutch television journalist is trying to draw more attention to this subject and has set up a petition for him to be arrested. Since he believes he is aiding and abetting crimes against humanity by purchasing chocolate, he wants to be incarcerated for h

Make Poverty History, Edinburgh, 2nd July
Their messages were written in brightly coloured felt tips. They were forthright and to the point and written with a simple naivety and wisdom that only a child can have. Most of all they were written by people who were probably sick to death of being tol

Not justified – but caused
The murder of innocent people can never be justified by the killing of other innocent people

Shooting to Kill
If you saw someone you thought was acting suspiciously would you be more likely to report it if you know that if you are wrong it might still end with that person being killed by the police?

Thickly Padded Stories
Jean Charles de Menezes – a Brazilian born electrician – was shot 7 times in the head without warning by police in London on the 22nd of July 2005.

When Dick Met Katrina
In the words of one Afghan it looks more like Africa than America – most of the victims are black and the government response was so late and badly organised that it’s hard to believe that these poor suffering people could be citizens of the country boast

Iraq: Should we stay or should we go?
Some argue that the majority are not always right. That may be true – but if we believe in democracy we support the majority view prevailing as long as the fundamental rights of every individual are protected.

Here is the news - but where did it come from?
Many journalists and reporters are also so heavily briefed by government and military press officers that they start to see the government or military line as the objective , balanced one.

The tills have eyes
For him to say that he felt he had virtually got the job is a miracle akin to George Bush knowing that France is in Europe and China is not.

The tills have eyes - part 2
You didn't have to even be a member of the Communist Party, or even the Labour Party...

Remains of a day/All you need is love
On the 15th of Februaury 2003 people in more than 600 cities and towns all over the world marched to say no to the war against Iraq.

Blood
Did you ever love us? Did you? There was a time that I thought you did.

Momento
When you asked what capitalism was he would tell you it was the exact opposite of what he was and that, for you, was enough to detest it more than anything else on this earth.

War on terror, war for profits or World War Three?
That’s Bush and Blair, our modern day Griswalds, lost in the desert of Iraq, seeing ‘weapons of mass destruction’ where there are none, and linking the former Iraqi government to September 11th and anthrax attacks despite the FBI's (yes, that FBI) insiste

War on terror, war for profits or World War Three? (Part Two)
However democracy isn't just a system - it's an ideology. If people don't believe in it they'll overthrow it or vote it out of existence. Occupation and repression only strengthen nationalist and fundamentalist movements.

Unhappy Second Birthday for the War on Terror
'If you choose to respond to this incomprehensible brutality by perpetrating violence against other innocent human beings you may not do so in the name of my husband'.

One Hundred Percent Red
this was no group of pseudo-socialists, or knitting circles wanting the Bomb banned, or middle-class students hollering about globalisation; This was Glasgow, this was 35,000 very angry men from deprived Glasgow housing estates.

The Anti-War Candidates - Phony and Genuine
If American voters are left with a choice between Wesley Clark and George W Bush it will be no real choice - only a choice of which rhetoric they want to cover the same murderous 'war on terror'.

It Happened This Week Too, You Know...
Whilst the whole world no doubt trips over itself in reams of uber-orgasmic hyperbole at the Friends of the Heroes birthday party, there is another reason, another anniversary that should make any decent citizen of this here world walk about the rest of t

The Gaza Bombings and The War on Terror
The main obstacles to peace are those who remain in power by promoting further conflict - Arafat, Sharon and the Bush administration.

Beginning of the End of the Age of Endless Greed and Endless War
people have had enough of the 'There is no alternative' line at home and the bogey man abroad. As British and American soldiers and reservists continue to die in wars which are of no benefit to anyone but a tiny handful of corporate executives and shareho

The Anti-War Movement , Political Strategy , The Media and The Intelligence Services
The only way to defeat Bush and Blair is to undermine them politically to the extent that they lose elections - that can only be done peacefully and won't happen till new elections are held (probably next year on both sides of the Atlantic).

Enjoying Freedom - At Home and Abroad
The 'war on terror' is supposedly about defending our freedom at home and providing freedom and human rights to the victims of tyranny abroad - 'humanitarian intervention' just like the Kosovo war. This is a lovely story and sometimes, by coincidence, it

Some Taxing Questions-Our countries become wealthier every day - so why is life getting harder for the majority?
Of course both camps are talking bollocks. The public, as usual, are far more perceptive and progressive than smug newspaper columnists.

It is white
"Cod are not very good swimmers so they are easily overtaken by trawlers and nets." - British government report on why cod fish are disappearing from the North Sea.

Anthem for doomed pagans
It seems ironic that the oft-spoken reason for war, in America, is for 'freedom and liberty' and to protect American values and the Constitution; yet the freedom and liberty to choice one's own religion, and to have that religion respected should you pay

Tortured use of the word 'democracy'
According to President Bush 'The torture chambers and the secret police are gone forever' from Iraq. Now this is 'double-speak' - stating the exact opposite of the truth as in Orwell's book '1984' - since both secret police and torture cells remain but t

I did not have Sexual Relations with that Dossier
Saint Tony went unto the Media and he was very Wroth saying 'Lo I appointed the Judge and decided what charges I should face and Behold has there not been a Miracle for I have been found Not Guilty on all charges.

Butler - Will Wash Whiter Than Hutton or Your Backbench Rebels
Blair believes he has been 'vindicated' by the Hutton report but the public disagree.

Arming the Axis of Evil -Are British and American Intelligence involved in promoting nuclear proliferation?
The notorious Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) went bankrupt after it's involvement in massive fraud and the laundering of drug money was revealed in 1992. Now it has been linked to funding Pakistan's nuclear programme

Natural Causes and No Third Parties?
Internal investigations by the MoD frequently come to the conclusion that the cause of death was 'natural causes' or 'suicide' whether the deceased are Iraqi civilians or British soldiers.

A Furious Cycle of Killing
A new poll of Iraqis has been reported as showing that a majority want the occupying forces to stay. If you actually read this poll in full you find out it says something very different.

Bring Me Sunshine: A Short History of the Weathermen
Published in the 18 June 1969 edition of the SDS's newspaper New Left Notes, "You Don't Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows..." (a lyric borrowed from Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues") was the founding statement of the Weathermen o

Who's afraid of a peaceful world?
On the 22nd of March, in a scene which sounds more like some science fiction of a horrific future conflict than reality, an unmanned drone fired missiles which blew a 67 year old man in a wheelchair to pieces as he returned from his daily prayers

An Endless Spiral
“More violence will cause more violence and this will be an endless spiral” - Adnan Pachachi, Iraqi Governing Council

Selective Condolences, Unremarkable Genocides
if American soldiers are killed in combat that is held to justify killing civilians. How well would that defence hold up if the accused were Serb or Iraqi forces rather than Americans?

Denial all over again
Revelations about American and British torture in Iraq echo the shock over the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. Then as now the American government and military claimed that the atrocity was the result of a few soldiers out of control. In both cases senior

El Salvador in Iraq
Some of the Americans and Iraqis now running Iraq have a long history of organising torture and massacre - in some cases going back as far as El Salvador and Chile in the 1980s - and Vietnam in the 70s

Reagan's mantle
After the death of former US President Ronald Reagan the current President Bush has attempted to take on Reagan's mantle - and in many ways he genuinely is following in Reagan's footsteps in terms of policies, rhetoric - and the gap between the two.

Land War
The people of the Darfur region of Sudan need protection and agricultural assistance - not inaction, sanctions or regime change.

Child Killers
Would there have been 4 major terrorist attacks in the Russian federation including Beslan within 2 weeks of each other if Russian troops were not killing Chechen civilians regularly?

Opposites?
President Bush claims that the enemies US troops face in Iraq are 'the exact opposite of Americans'. Are they really? There's a White Man's Burden myth on Iraq that claims our troops are still there to help Iraqis build a democracy.

Hunting them Down
Who could oppose this? Terrorist killings of civilians are wrong - no-one could deny that or that those responsible for them should be brought to justice. The only problem is it doesn't work that way.

Done Deals - Presidential election rigging methods in 1960, 2000 and 2004
"Columbus (Ohio)...Franklin County's unofficial results had Bush receiving 4,258 votes to Democrat John Kerry's 260 votes in a precinct in Gahanna. Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct.”

"Pacifying" Falluja, Again
In the end arguments over to what extent different war crimes are ‘comparable’ and whether the killing of civilians by coalition forces is deliberate or not are completely academic.

Exit poll discrepancies and other Electoral Irregularities
Exit Poll discrepancies and other electoral ‘irregularities’ in the Ukrainian and American Presidential elections are being covered very differently by most of the media.

David Aaronovitch and Tony Blair – Conspiracy Theorists
The truth is that they are two of the most imaginative writers and speakers of the 21st century who would never allow themselves to be tied down by anything so tedious as providing enough of the facts to spoil a good story.

News they missed
Most of the media avoided reporting what should have been some of the biggest news of 2004. This is an attempt to give a round up of ten major events that didn’t get the coverage they should have.

The Tsunami and Foreign Aid
UN officials doubt whether governments’ aid donations for Tsunami relief are as generous as they appear. Conditions put on aid and debt relief by the G8 countries, the IMF and the World Bank could make things worse. The Sri Lankan and Indonesian governme

Beautiful Lies - Bush's Inaugural Speech
President Bush’s speech on his inauguration for a second term was certainly full of uplifting and positive rhetoric about freedom. Unfortunately his policies continue to do little to extend freedom – and much to take it from people worldwide.

Bogus - Thirteen Myths about Asylum Seekers & Immigrants
There are endless myths about immigrants spread by politicians and newspapers.Most of them relate to supposedly ‘bogus asylum seekers’. These claims are usually ‘bogus’ and untrue. This is an attempt to give the actual facts about some of them.

The Elections in Iraq
The Iraqis who turned out to vote despite bombings and mortar attacks by Islamic fundamentalists did show amazing bravery. That's only half the story though.

Record Breakers
Did you know when you make a donation to a charity a bank or credit card firm may be taking some of it?

The Global Gulag Archipelago
Most people will have heard of Guantanamo Bay but it, like the camps Solzhenitsin describes, is just one jail among many. They span not just an entire country but much of the world.

Prevention of Terrorism
The British government claim they want a new 'prevention of terrorism' bill to protect us and our democracy from terrorist attacks – but will it really do either?