Two Swiss human rights organisations, Trial and Pro Juventute, have criticised computer games featuring warfare for not requiring players to adhere to international war legislation. Inspired I am sure by the recent outcry over Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 requiring players to massacre civilians in order to get support for anti-terrorism measures(or some such thing). The bee that is apparently rattling around in these folks bonnet is that by allowing players to carry out what would constitute war crimes without getting punished does not reflect reality. Really? (NSFW)

It said games were sending an “erroneous” message that conflicts were waged without limits or that anything was acceptable in counter-terrorism operations.

I’m sure I can find some people who would disagree with this.

A retreating Iraqi soldier on the road to Basra

An Afghani wain breaking international regulations on not getting killed in a war.

 

some depicted interrogations that involved torture or degradation and a few permitted summary executions.

Really?

Yeah they got caught but how many did not?

The researchers also said.

In particular, it said, few games it studied reflected the fact that those who “violate international humanitarian law end up as war criminals, not as winners”.

These people should really have a word with Israel then eh? I mean what kind of human rights organisation is so disconnected from what actually happens in the real world? Fannies.

Another kid, Palestinian this time, breaking the rules of war by getting itself killed.

Maybe these people should spend a little bit more time having a go at the states which wage war and cause the deaths of untold millions around the world rather than complaining about video games. Are they going to start calling out Pinewood studios on James Bond not behaving above board on his missions or of how characters in Hollywood films break all sorts of laws during the course of a movie?

Tools.

Original story on the BBC.

]]> http://penseenoir.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/computer-games-censured-for-reflecting-the-dark-side-of-warfare/feed/ 1 welshboi road to basra afghan kid abu-ghraib-leash http://penseenoir.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/despite-uk-governments-machinations-the-web-is-going-to-become-a-brighter-better-place/ http://penseenoir.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/despite-uk-governments-machinations-the-web-is-going-to-become-a-brighter-better-place/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:50:29 +0000 welshboi http://penseenoir.wordpress.com/?p=392 ]]>

According to the Financial Times Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp and Microsoft have been in talks to create an exclusive deal ensuring that only Microsoft’s own “Bing” search engine carries Newscorp content. Microsoft obviously intend this as an attack on Google who are their main competitor in the developing cloud/distributed computing field. For Newscorp it’s more the bellow of a dinosaur confused and frightened and by the new world it finds itself in, similar to the repeated wailing and gnashing of teeth that has been coming from the entertainment industry ever since its attack on Napster and 12 year old girls failed to quench people’s desire to share. What neither company realises however is that far from hurting Google they are simply going to be improving the quality of the service it delivers.

Imagine a world where you are searching for news and no longer have to deal with the right wing garbage spewed forth by such wonderful resources as Fox News or The Sun! A world where should you want to look for the opinion of a right wing bigot you actually have to specifically go and look for it.! It will be like Daily Mail Island but in reverse. As tie goes on and people are exposed to less and less of the ignorance, bigotry and hatred that Newscorp loves so dearly we will enter a new age where people respect one another and don’t live in fear of one another.  A world with no Richard Littlejohn…

So Microsoft and Newscorp I salute you for your valiant attempt to commit sepuku in order to preserve the future for our children.

Oh and please don’t take the Glenn Beck videos off youtube, he’s funny as fuck.

The Grusome Twosome.

Reposted from Boing Boing.

The British government has brought down its long-awaited Digital Economy Bill, and it’s perfectly useless and terrible. It consists almost entirely of penalties for people who do things that upset the entertainment industry (including the “three-strikes” rule that allows your entire family to be cut off from the net if anyone who lives in your house is accused of copyright infringement, without proof or evidence or trial), as well as a plan to beat the hell out of the video-game industry with a new, even dumber rating system (why is it acceptable for the government to declare that some forms of artwork have to be mandatorily labelled as to their suitability for kids? And why is it only some media? Why not paintings? Why not novels? Why not modern dance or ballet or opera?).

So it’s bad. £50,000 fines if someone in your house is accused of filesharing. A duty on ISPs to spy on all their customers in case they find something that would help the record or film industry sue them (ISPs who refuse to cooperate can be fined £250,000).

But that’s just for starters. The real meat is in the story we broke yesterday: Peter Mandelson, the unelected Business Secretary, would have to power to make up as many new penalties and enforcement systems as he likes. And he says he’s planning to appoint private militias financed by rightsholder groups who will have the power to kick you off the internet, spy on your use of the network, demand the removal of files or the blocking of websites, and Mandelson will have the power to invent any penalty, including jail time, for any transgression he deems you are guilty of. And of course, Mandelson’s successor in the next government would also have this power.

What isn’t in there? Anything about stimulating the actual digital economy. Nothing about ensuring that broadband is cheap, fast and neutral. Nothing about getting Britain’s poorest connected to the net. Nothing about ensuring that copyright rules get out of the way of entrepreneurship and the freedom to create new things. Nothing to ensure that schoolkids get the best tools in the world to create with, and can freely use the publicly funded media — BBC, Channel 4, BFI, Arts Council grantees — to make new media and so grow up to turn Britain into a powerhouse of tech-savvy creators.

Lobby organisation The Open Rights Group is urging people to contact their MP to oppose the plans.

“This plan won’t stop copyright infringement and with a simple accusation could see you and your family disconnected from the internet – unable to engage in everyday activities like shopping and socialising,” it said.

The government will also introduce age ratings on all boxed video games aimed at children aged 12 or over.

There is, however, little detail in the bill on how the government will stimulate broadband infrastructure.

 

Tomorrow we will again be showing an anarchist inspired film. This month it’s Lucio the story of Spanish anarchist bricklayer and bank robber Lucio Uturbia.

Sunday 22nd November, 7.30pm, Upstairs Lounge, Dow’s Bar, 9 Dundas Street

There are plenty of anarchists in the world. Many have committed robbery or smuggling for their cause. Fewer have discussed strategies with Che Guevara
or saved the skin of Eldridge Cleaver, the leader of the Black Panthers.
There is only one who has done all that, and also brought to its knees the most powerful bank on the planet by forging travellers cheques, without missing a single day of work in his construction job. He is Lucio Urtubia, from a tiny village in Navarra in North of Spain. Lucio, 75, now lives in Paris, still raising anarchist hell. Lucio has been protagonist and witness to many of the historic events of the second half of the 20th century. His family was persecuted by Franco’s regime, he was on the streets of Paris for the phenomenon of May of ‘68, he actively supported Castro’s revolution, he helped thousands of exiled people by providing false documents to them. But without a doubt, his greatest triumph came in the second half of the seventies. The press called him “the good bandit”, or the Basque Zorro. He managed to swindle 25 million dollars from the First National Bank (now Citibank), to later invest the money in causes he believed in. Miraculously, he spent no more than a few months in jail throughout his career.

Review from imdb.com

Lucio is a great documentary about a great man: the movie is just as passionate, inspiring and honest as the person it is based on. Saying more would be spoiling the fun of getting to know the incredible life of a bricklayer from Navarre, but seeing this guy challenge (and eventually defeat) the most powerful bank in the world is a delightful experience for the anarchist we all have inside. It is really hard to believe that such a good story had not been told before: Lucio Urtubia overcomes Frank Abagnale Jr. in charisma and authenticity, making ‘Lucio the movie’ a more rewarding film than ‘Catch me if you can’. Obviously, Abagnale/Spielberg were in it for the money, while you can see that Urtubia/Arregi/Goenaga have a much higher aim. The movie is technically brilliant, and the music, the graphic design and the editing are all outstanding. A must see, if you want to get a new perspective on life, bricklayers and traveller’s cheques.

Sunday 22nd November
7.30pm
Upstairs Lounge
Dow’s Bar
9 Dundas Street
(opp. side entrance Queen Street Station)
Glasgow
G1 2AH

Projector Fund -
Recently we have been borrowing a projector from Edinburgh for film shows, but this is for a limited period only.
If you want further Anarchist Film Shows please make a donation. The projector fund currently stands at £150.
If everyone at this screening chips in a a couple of quid we will be able to buy one.

HO ref: M1369020

Florence Mhango and her daughter Tionge, known to her friends and family as Precious, (10) were detained this week when they went to sign at the Home Office. They have been given removal directions for a flight to Malawi from Heathrow at 19.00 on Monday 23rd November.

Florence and Precious moved to the UK in 2003 with Florence’s husband – Precious’ father. Florence left her husband in 2006 after suffering years of domestic violence and abuse. Florence is terrified of returning to Malawi because of what her husband and his family may do to her and her daughter. Florence’s mother has already been threatened by her husband and his family and if she is returned there is a real danger that Florence and Precious will face harassment and violence. Precious will also be at risk of Female Genital Mutilation if she returns to Malawi. Florence is active in her local church and she and Precious are important members of the Cranhill community in Glasgow. The UKBA have said that Precious would be able to adjust to living in Malawi despite that fact she has lived here since the age of 4 and doesn’t speak Chichewa, the native language of Malawi. Florence’s friends and supporters in Scotland are shocked by the UKBA’s attempt to forcibly remove them from their home in Glasgow. We are calling for them to be returned to live in peace in Glasgow where they belong.

*WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP*

Please

fax Kenyan Airways to tell them you do not want them to participate in deportation flights and that you want Florence and Tionge Mhango to stay in Glasgow where they belong. Please quote flight number KQ101, Heathrow to Malawi on Monday 23rd November at 19:00.

Kenyan Airlines: World Business Centre 3, Heathrow Airport, Hounslow, Middlesex, TW62TA

Tel :* +44 20 82831800

Fax:* +44 020 8283 1880

Also contact Alan Johnson, Home Secretary, asking him to exercise his discretionary powers to stop the flight and release Florence and Tionge from detention. If you are writing your own letter or email, please include their Home Office Reference number: M1369020.

*Phone: +44 (0)20 7035 4848 _or_ 0870 606 7766*

*Fax: + 44 (**0)20 7219 5856* *

By Email* : johnsona@parliament.uk __ Or: public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

Keep up Hope!

UNITY!

I like how when they were designing the SDL t-shirts they simply changed the colour of the cross of St George from red to blue. I suppose the ‘Scottish’ defence league were a bit too dense to notice…

Spot the difference between the pillocks

Yesterday, 14/11/09, saw the English Defence League, in their guise as the ‘Scottish’ Defence League, attempt to hold a rally in Glasgow. This was to be a rally ‘against Islamic extremists’ and not against Muslims in general… honest guv! According to their propaganda they are merely concerned about the spread of radical Islam and the implementation of Sharia law in the UK. A fairly reasonable standpoint; Islam is after all, like it’s Abrahamic siblings Judaism and Christianity, a vile and contemptible ideology of misogyny, homophobia, intolerance and hatred and the thought of its edicts being implemented as law should make all right headed people shudder. This writer would be more than happy to see all mosques, synagogues and churches recycled into socially useful buildings. A friend of mine suggested recently that churches would make excellent climbing centres what with all that wall space in the nave and the steeple for abseiling! This however is not, despite their rhetoric, the aim of the so called Defence Leagues.

However the tactics of the Defence Leagues belie their true intent for all to see. The group, formed from an amalgamation of football casual firms associated with the far right, calls for confrontational marches on mosques/Asian areas in order to provoke confrontation with the local Asian population. This was clear when their very first outing, as the ‘United People of Luton’, in May of this year resulted in racist attacks and damaging of Asian businesses. This was in response to demonstrations against returning British troops by a tiny yet extreme Islamic sect, Al Muhajiroun, that thrives on the outrage sparked by stunts like this. The group also held meetings praising the 9/11 attackers.

The aim of the confrontations created by the *DLs is exactly the same as the actions of Al Muhajiroun; that is to drive a wedge into British society in order to usher more young people into the waiting arms of Islamic extremists like Al Muhajiroun and Anjem Choudary. This is sought after by Al Muhajiroun et al for obvious reasons but the reasoning behind the DL’s actions are slightly more subtle. Subtlety not being a word you will hear me apply to their type very often. By driving young people into the arms of extremists the *DLs heighten the chances of there being another terrorist outrage in this country that will be associated with Islam. This will in turn increase support for right wing politics in reaction to the perceived threat from Islam. (I say perceived because over the last decade there has been more terrorist activity from far right British nationalists than there has from Islamic extremists. We don’t hear about it so often though, I wonder why that may be?)

SDL being bussed from Glasgow City Centre for their own protection

Whilst this may not lead to mass support for groups like the *DLs and other similar, more traditional, right wing groups such as Combat 18 or the National Front, it is likely to lead to support for either the British National Party or, more likely, for more draconian policies from whichever mainstream party is in power. This alone is reason enough to oppose them and to not allow them to organise. It is also true that cases of racist violence increase where groups like this are allowed to be active unopposed and as such it is in all our best interests that they be stopped at every turn.

Stopping the DLs and protecting our communities from racism and bigotry brings me back Glasgow and yesterdays SDL demonstration, the counter demonstration and the extremely bizarre Scotland United event on Glasgow Green.

Shortly after the EDL announced that they intended to march in Glasgow as the SDL meetings began to be held at the University of Glasgow with a broad spectrum of concerned folk wanting to prevent the SDL from having their march/rally/demo. At around the same time more liberal organisations such as the Socialist Wankers Workers Party, Unite Against Fascism(the SWP in disguise) and the mainstream political parties formed ‘Scotland United‘.

The intent of the group organising out of the university was to stop the SDL from marching. The intent of Scotland United was however far from clear. The university group called for anti-fascists to meet at 10:00 am in St Enochs Square, a sensible and central location as the SDL were not announcing their meeting point until the day. Scotland United however called for a rally on Glasgow Green at 12:00, despite the SDL announcing they would begin their event an hour before this at 11:00, which would consist of a rally, speeches and music before a march at 13:30 to George Square???? Well after the SDL would have had their rally and fucked off!

This is absolutely bizarre.

Stranger still were the speakers invited to talk at the rally including Conservative and Labour politicians! Two groups that are far more of a threat to our communities than the SDLs and that have both implemented policies that would make Nick Griffin have a wet dream!

Realising during the week before the SDL demo that they couldn’t even pretend to be concerned with stopping the SDL being as they were starting everything so late they decided to ’support’ the university organised counter demo at 10:00.

By support they, this being the SWP, obviously meant hijack.

Hundreds had gathered at St Enochs and as soon as word came through of where the SDL were, a pub on Cambridge Street, the group marched off to have stern words with said DL. The SWP/UAF however decided that this was their march despite not having worked towards it nor even supporting it until the last minute. The UAF jumped to the head of the march with their head penis Weylan Bennet on the megaphone slowing the march down for photo opportunities. By the time the group reached the pub the police had cordoned the area off to protect the DL from the people of Glasgow. This caused the UAF to decide to lead the march AWAY from the DL to the other side of town to listen to politicians and the great and good like Amar Anwar having a circle jerk about stopping fascism whilst allowing fascists go unopposed on the other side of town!

Luckily a number of anti-fascists stayed in town to ensure that the DLs were not unopposed and succeeded in chasing them from the city centre. I’m sure there will be full reports of the days events on Indymedia Scotland over the next couple of days but I just wanted to highlight the behaviour and insanity of Unite Against Fascism in taking people away from the enemies they were there to oppose.

This is not the first time that the SWP/UAF have behaved in this manner. Ignoring their behaviour around other issues and only looking at their behaviour with regards the DLs a worrying trend becomes apparant. In Manchester their stewards worked with the police to protect the DLs from the people of Manchester, this is shocking itself. In Leeds however at the EDls next outing they allowed police intelligence gatherers to use the speakers platform to film the gathered anti-fascists as well as handing over a member of the Anarchist Federation to the police. This level of collaboration should not be tolerated and we must recognise that UAF are nearly as big a threat to the cause of the working class as the Defence Leagues themselves. The Anarchist Federation released the below statement about the incident in Leeds.

The Anarchist Federation condemns the group Unite Against Fascism (UAF) who, on Saturday 31st October at a mobilisation against the English Defence League (EDL) in Leeds city centre, openly handed one of our members over to the police. Several UAF stewards, including the head of UAF Leeds, physically prevented our member from rejoining the cordon, and then called the police over to arrest him. We will not tolerate collaboration with the state to halt  the activity of genuine anti-fascists and ask other progressive organisations to do the same. UAF’s policy of negotiating with the state for its public protests is well known, as is its alliance with religious leaders, trade union bureaucrats and politicians. UAF, apart from being nothing more than a front group for the Socialist Workers Party, has never been an effective means to combat the rise of fascism in Britain nor does it offer anything to working class communities.

If we are going to prevent these scum, both the DLs and Al Muhajiroun and their ilk, from destroying our communities we need an active and militant working class association to deny these groups soil from which to grow and to physically smash them in places they take root. We need an organisation for all the working people of Glasgow that serves the sole purpose of protecting ourselves from threats be they threats from fascism, from our bosses, from the council or from the government. An organisation we can use to look out for ourselves and that isn’t concerned with being ‘respectable’ and hob-nobbing with the great and good of the city or wasting time with the electoral system or party politics. If we don’t build an organisation like this then we are at risk of attack from all angles and the SDL will be the least of our problems.

I can’t believe that I missed this story. It seems the Hate Mail managed to shoot itself in the foot by pissing off the Twitterati (if it’s not already a word then it is now!). It seems that to mark the end of Refugee week the Hate Mail, from hereon in to be known as the Daily Fail, placed a poll on it’s website asking “should the NHS allow Gypsies to jump the queue?” in relation to an article by that bastion of human decency.. sorry I mean utter cunt rag, Richard Littlejohn. In his article he espouses the usual racist bile that we have come to expect from the fetid little man yet with which he still manages to shock us.

Anyhoo. In relation to this rather disgusting, and ever so slightly leading, poll question the Twitterati swung into action and before long the poll was showing that over 90% of the Daily Fail’s readership supported gypsies getting special treatment from the NHS. This show of decency from its readership led to the Fail removing the poll from its website and replacing it with one asking “Should Commons Speaker Michael Martin resign?”. Does anyone want to tell them he resigned a month ago!

I know this is already a week old but I really wanted to add my wee voice to the hordes already laughing their arses off at the Daily Fail – FAIL!

Yesterday, 27/06/09, marked the first in a worrying new state organised annual public festival. Armed Forces Day is being touted as a day to ‘celebrate’ the nations armed forces and, according to their website, “show our support for the men and women who make up the Armed Forces community: from currently serving troops to Service families, and from veterans to recruits.”
This event is an attempt to, once again, place the military out of bounds for criticism following the coming to light over recent years of the ineptitude of the military top brass in keeping the troops alive and the barbarity of the culture on military bases. The leaving of military veterans, particularly those injured in the course of duty, on the scrap heap as soon as they have served their purpose is something the military has also been criticised for of late.
The rhetoric of Armed Forces Day, and military apologism in general, is phrased in such an emotive way as to make those who would criticise it out to be inhuman monsters. Similar to the ‘with us or against us’ false duality of George W Bush’s pro Iraq invasion speech it is insinuated that those who stand against celebrations of violence and rabid nationalism wish to see the streets flow with the blood of squaddies.
This is, without a doubt, true of an insignificant minority. The vast majority of those who criticise not only the state but the existence of the armed forces at all want to see the disbanding of the army. I mean why would we want to see harm come to the lads and lasses of the British armed forces? They are after all our friends and relatives, partners and lovers. The armed forces, well those who do the dying anyway, are almost exclusively made up of working class boys and girls so why would other members of the working class want anything other than their safety.
For many of our class the military is an attractive option for a seventeen year old on the dole queue or working in McDonald’s for minimum wage. A far higher wage than anything you’re likely to get in civy street and the promise of travel and adventure. What an attractive deal. The risk of death isn’t a real risk because, lets face it, at seventeen you’re immortal.
The Afghan and Iraq wars have however done a great deal of damage to this appeal. The obviousness of the lies spun by the state coupled with the number of coffins draped in the union flag returning from the deserts has led to a drop in the number of young men and women willing to sign up to fight and die.
The military has always been an active recruiter with nationwide advertising and recruitment stalls on the street and a, rather sickening to be honest, presence at jobs fairs at high schools. This move though from the military recruiting as an independent entity to a public festival, organised by the state, aimed at celebrating its very existence and recruiting yet more meat for the grinder, displays an attempt to militarise our culture.
Public festivals to celebrate military prowess are nothing new and have been used by the vilest of regimes as a cultural event that reinforces nationalistic sentiment and subordination to the power of the state. From Nazi Germany through Stalin’s USSR to modern day North Korea these celebrations of the states power to murder the citizens of other parts of the globe have been an integral part of the psychological remodeling of their societies. The reinforcing of the connection between cultural identity and the military will be an even more efficient recruitment tool than even national service. With national service you have a large force of, mostly, unwilling troops. By making military service part of a persons identity means that you have ready and willing troops. It’s not this generation that will see the effects of this cultural militarisation but future generations who will see a psychological shift towards accepting that a persons role is to serve in the armed forces.
Unless that is we can stop this in its tracks.

The other thing is, did noone think of the historical significance of putting tanks on George Square?

(click picture to learn more)