Three Short News Items: U.S. Boat to Gaza; Report from CELAC;
Greek Communists protest

===
1.
U.S. Boat to Gaza Responds to Reports Israeli “Lawfare”
Group Filed Complaint Delaying Departure of U.S. Boat

Passengers on The Audacity of Hope Now Confident Greek
Authorities Will Allow U.S. Boat to Leave

http://ustogaza.org/latest/u-s-boat-to-gaza-responds-to-reports-israeli-lawfare-group-filed-complaint-delaying-departure-of-u-s-boat/

For Immediate Release – Monday, June 27, 2011

Contact: In Athens: Donna Nevel 30-694-266-3713 In New
York: Leslie Cagan 845-688-5646

Athens – Passengers on the U.S. Boat to Gaza, The
Audacity of Hope, said news reports that an Israeli
“lawfare” group, Shurat HaDin, is behind the complaint
delaying the departure of the U.S. boat from Greece
substantiate the Americans’ assertions that the
complaint is frivolous. The passengers expressed
confidence that Greek authorities will now quickly
dispense with the complaint and allow The Audacity of
Hope to sail.

On Sunday, June 26, the Jerusalem Post reported: 
[1]
“Sources in the Shurat HaDin (Israel Law Center) on
Sunday took responsibility for lodging an anonymous
civil complaint against the American-flagged ship, The
Audacity of Hope, which is a part of the flotilla
expected to sail towards Gaza later this week, Army
Radio reported.” The Israeli group is known for making
frivolous legal complaints against the Gaza Freedom
Flotilla, a form of political harassment known in the
U.S. as “lawfare.”

“We reiterate that the boat we are leasing for this
journey, after its refitting for the voyage to Gaza,
was surveyed by a professional surveyor and
successfully completed its sea trials,” said Ann
Wright, an organizer and passenger on the U.S. boat.
“There is no reason for any further delays on this
matter, we are ready to sail.”

References: 1. “Report: Group says its responsible for
flotilla complaint,” Jpost.com, 06/26/2011 21:45,
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=226663


===
2.
GRANMA INTERNATIONAL Havana. June 23, 2011

Venezuelan Vice President closes 4th Conference of
African Descendants  Participants to ask CELAC to
recognize their contribution to nationality

CARACAS.Vice President Elías Jaua made a call this
Wednesday to break the structural conditions which
generate exclusion and racial discrimination.

Jaua made this exhortation during the closing session
of the 4th Conference of African Descendants and
Revolutionary Transformations at the Alba Caracas
Hotel, with the participation of approximately 600
delegates from the region and the African continent.

"We have to become more profound every day and
accompany President Chávez, pushing time and time again
until we effectively break the structural conditions
which generate exclusion, which generate discrimination
among our people," he said.

The Vice President highlighted the need to consolidate
a broad-based popular force which will make possible,
within the next decade, "the definitive construction of
a society which is a space for everyone. That society
has to be socialism."

The meeting approved a final statement which proposes
that the Community of Latin American and Caribbean
States (CELAC) recognize the contributions of Africans
and their descendants "to the constitution of the
nationality of our homelands and includes us in plans
to respond to social needs," Aristóbulo Istúriz, first
vice president of the Venezuelan National Assembly,
noted.

The legislator recalled that the conference was
organized in the context of the International Year for
Peoples of African Descent and the Bicentenary of
Venezuelan independence.

"Today, we reaffirm our proposal for the Decade of
African Descendants, instead of one year. Moreover, our
African-Venezuelan organizations are making a
commitment to fight on the side of those who wish to
conclude the independence process under the leadership
of Hugo Chávez Frías, which implies our joining the
Polo Patriótico," he stated. (AVN)

Translated by Granma International

===
3.
Greek communists storm the Acropolis in bailout protest

'Power to the workers' banners erected as Greece
debates bailout conditions

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/27/greek-communists-storm-acropolis-bailout

* Helena Smith in Athens 
guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 June 2011 

Acropolis protest Protesters from the Greek
Communist-affiliated trade union PAME have erected a
huge banner in front of the Parthenon at the Acropolis
hill in Athens, complaining about the effects of a
second bailout for Greece. 

Photograph: Yiorgos Karahalis/Reuters

In a dramatic start to a week dominated by one of the
most crucial parliamentary votes in modern Greek
history, communist militants stormed the Acropolis on
Monday morning unfurling huge "power to the workers"
banners from the monument's ramparts.

As tourists ascended the hill to the fifth-century BC
site, they were greeted by gigantic protest banners
proclaiming: "The peoples have the power and never
surrender. Organize - Counter attack."

"We call upon working people, youth, women to join our
popular uprising," the All Workers Militant Front
(PAME), an adjunct of the powerful Greek communist
party, the KKE, declared in a statement.

"We will strengthen our struggle with people from all
over the world against capitalist brutality in order
for the brutal measures that bankrupt the people not to
be applied."

Although described as a symbolic move, the stunt
reinforced the level of popular hostility to economic
policies now seen as crucial if Greece is to avoid a
possibly disastrous default.

Upping the ante, unions have declared a 48-hour general
strike starting on Tuesday - the first two-day walkout
since the collapse of military rule and the return of
democracy in 1974 - to coincide with parliament's
debate on the measures. Mass rallies have been
scheduled in 65 towns during the two days that Greek
politicians will discuss the belt-tightening policies.

"It will be two days that have never seen before," said
Stathis Anestis of the General Confederation of Greek
Workers, the country's largest labour force.

The debate on the austerity programme, which includes
O28bn (#25bn) of fresh spending cuts and higher taxes,
begins on Monday with a vote expected on Wednesday.
Talks will also take place in Rome on Monday evening
between EU officials and European bankers over the
vexed question of the role of private creditors in a
second rescue package for Greece.

___________________________________________

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