Dedication of Martin Luther King memorial coincides with movement that echoes the activist's teachings

The national memorial to Martin Luther King Jr was dedicated last Sunday. President Barack Obama said of Dr King: "If he were alive today, I believe he would remind us that the unemployed worker can rightly challenge the excesses of Wall Street without demonizing all who work there."

The dedication occurred amid the increasingly popular and increasingly global Occupy Wall Street movement. What Obama left unsaid is that King, were he alive, would most likely be protesting Obama administration policies.

Not far from the dedication ceremony, Cornel West, preacher, professor, writer and activist, was being arrested on the steps of the US supreme court. He said, before being hauled off to jail: "We want to bear witness today that we know the relation between corporate greed and what goes on too often in the supreme court decisions ? We will not allow this day of Martin Luther King Jr's memorial to go without somebody going to jail, because Martin King would be here right with us, willing to throw down out of deep love."

West was arrested with 18 others, declaring "solidarity with the Occupy movement all around the world, because we love poor people, we love working people, and we want Martin Luther King Jr to smile from the grave that we haven't forgot his movement."

Over the same weekend as the dedication, the US military and CIA's drone campaign? under commander-in-chief Obama ? launched what the independent, non-profit Bureau of Investigative Journalism, based in London, called the 300th drone strike, the 248th since Obama took office. According to the BIJ, of the at least 2,318 people killed by drone strikes, between 386 and 775 were civilians, including 175 children. Imagine how King, Obama's fellow Nobel peace prize laureate, would respond to those grim statistics.

Back in 1963, King published a collection of sermons titled Strength to Love. His preface began: "In these turbulent days of uncertainty the evils of war and of economic and racial injustice threaten the very survival of the human race."

Three of the 15 sermons were written in Georgia jails, including Shattered Dreams. In that one, he wrote: "To co-operate passively with an unjust system makes the oppressed as evil as the oppressor." King revisited the idea of shattered dreams four years later, eight months before his assassination, in his speech called Where Do We Go From Here, saying: "Our dreams will sometimes be shattered and our ethereal hopes blasted ? Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."

Earlier in that year, 1967, a year to the day before he was killed, King gave his oft-overlooked Beyond Vietnam speech at Riverside Church in New York City. King preached: "I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today, my own government."

With those words, with that speech, King set the tone for his final, fateful year. Despite death threats, and his close advisers urging him not to go to Memphis, King went to march in solidarity with that city's sanitation workers. On April 4, 1968, he was shot and killed on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.

Deeply impacted at the time by the assassination, we can follow two young men along King's arc of moral justice all the way to Occupy Wall Street. One was John Carlos, a US Olympic track star. Carlos won the bronze medal in the 200m at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Carlos and his teammate Tommie Smith, who won gold, raised their black-gloved fists in the power salute on the medal stand, instantly gaining global fame. They both stood without shoes, protesting black children in poverty in the United States.

Last week, John Carlos spoke at Occupy Wall Street, and afterwards he told me: "I'm just so happy to see so many people who are standing up to say: 'We're not asking for change. We demand change.'"

The other person is the Rev Jesse Jackson. He was with King when he was assassinated. Late Monday night, the New York City Police Department seemed to be making a move on Occupy Wall Street's first-aid tent. Jackson was there. Just days past his 70th birthday, Jackson joined arms with the young protesters, defying the police. The police backed off. And the arc of the moral universe bent a bit more toward justice.

? Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.

© 2011 Amy Goodman; distributed by King Features Syndicate

Source: http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/commentisfree/rss/~3/FFqhPA4CQnw/martin-luther-king-protest

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Supporters say HS2 will reduce the number of domestic flights in the UK, but critics say it could increase net emissions

When I travel through places such as France I always think, "Why can't we have high-speed rail like this in the UK?" So, I was excited when I first heard about plans to build HS2 from London, up through the Midlands, to Scotland, but is it really true to claim that it will help to bring down net emissions? The high-speed network in France uses electricity from its nuclear power stations. How will we power our network? And will it really reduce domestic flights? I find myself increasingly torn about whether it's a good or bad thing for the environment.

T Johnson, by email

You're right: on paper, HS2 would appear to offer environmental benefits, based on the theory that moving as many people out of cars and planes onto trains is a "good thing" if reducing emissions is the goal.

But HS2 is a complicated brew of various environmental issues. How much localised environmental damage will be caused - and emissions created - building the network of rail lines? Will it really lead to fewer people flying between, say, London and Manchester? How do motoring and aviation emissions compare to those created by trains travelling at up to 400km per hour? And, in the decades ahead, how will the electricity used to power the trains be produced?

Back in July, as part of the consultation process, the Institution of Engineering and Technology said that it had "uncovered a number of flaws in the proposals, some of which question the claim that HS2, as proposed, will reduce carbon emissions...For example, not considering the effects of aerodynamic drag from environmental mitigation measures such as tunnels, which could lead to an increase in carbon emissions."

Stop HS2, the national campaign aimed at blocking the scheme, points to the conclusion of HS2 Ltd, the company set up by the government to "consider the case for new high speed rail services between London and Scotland", as proof that any emissions claims made in favour of HS2 are questionable. HS2 Ltd's findings concluded that "the impact of HS2 on carbon emissions is both complex and highly uncertain".

The Department of Transport - which has a brand new secretary of state in Justine Greening - currently says that HS2 would be "broadly carbon neutral".

So, it would appear that no one really knows the answer yet. But, perhaps, you've seen some clearer, more conclusive calculations? Or done some yourself?

More widely, do you think HS2 can be justified on environmental terms? Do you accept the "business case" made on its behalf, namely, that it will benefit the economy by reducing journey times between our city centres?

This column is an experiment in crowd-sourcing a reader's question, so please let us know your own thoughts below (as opposed to emailing them) and, if quoting figures to support your points, please provide a link to the source. I will also be inviting various interested parties to join the debate, too.

? Please send your own environment question to ask.leo.and.lucy@guardian.co.uk.
Or, alternatively, message me on Twitter @LeoHickman

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2011/oct/20/high-speed-rail-london-emissions

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There are plenty of places a short hop away where summertime lingers, from Tenerife and Mallorca to South Africa and Jordan

Tenerife

Average high: October 24C, November 21C
If Tenerife conjures up images of 18-30 package holidays and high-rise hotels, you haven't been for a while. The seedier side of the island does still exist, but a new wave of ecotourism is attracting a more discerning visitor, and it's a great place for whale-watching, hiking, and trips to the rugged island of La Gomera.

The Green Traveller website has just launched an online guide to sustainable tourism in Tenerife (greentraveller.co.uk/sustainable-tourism-tenerife), highlighting organic restaurants, nature-based activities and cultural sites. Best of all, the guide has a great selection of rural hotels and holiday lets, such as Casa Las Pérez, a two-bedroom cottage in the southern Granadilla de Abona district, where temperatures seldom dip below 20C, even in the depths of winter. Surrounded by ravines and well off the beaten track, it costs from around £68 a night, minimum stay three nights.

In the less developed north-west, Hotel El Patio in Garachico (i-escape.com/hotel-el-patio) is a rambling coastal estate where doubles cost from ?74 a night (minimum four-night stay). It has a pool and 26 simple, cheery rooms with terracotta floors and views of a banana plantation or a lush courtyard.

Or splash out on Abama (+34 902 105600, abamahotelresort.com, doubles from ?275 a night), one of the island's flashest hotels, with a funicular train that transports guests down to its private cliff-backed beach.
? Monarch (08719 405040, monarch.co.uk) flies to Tenerife from Birmingham, Gatwick, Luton and Manchester from £110 return

Algarve, Portugal

Average high: October 22C, November 19C
A bit like with Tenerife, the accommodation available in the Algarve may surprise you. Muxima (+351 91 601 2830, muxima-montesferreiros.com) is an African-accented, family-friendly eco retreat where guesthouses are encircled by a cork forest and the beach is close by. The rooms have porches or terraces for soaking up the autumn sun. There is 20% off breaks in October, taking the cost for a week to £244pp.
? Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies to Faro from 11 British airports from £146 in October

Costa del Sol, Spain

Average high: October 23C, November 19C
The heatwave may be over in Britain, but it has been a great autumn so far in southern Europe: temperatures were approaching 30C this week on the Costa del Sol. In Málaga, you could stay in the city with its old town and art galleries ? try the stylish Hotel Palacio Blanco (+34 952 549174, palacioblanco.com, doubles from ?75 a night) ? or 15 minutes out of town in Alhaurín de la Torre. Here you'll find Rancho del Ingles (+34 699 414544, ranchodelingles.com), a self-contained retreat with pool and a choice of characterful villas. Villas cost from ?62 a night, minimum two nights, and are full of quirky reclaimed furniture. The area may be overdeveloped, but you'll be blissfully unaware of that, holed up in your stylish garden. You can rent the whole complex (five villas) or individual buildings. Another delightful property, next door Finca Cardo (holiday-rentals.co.uk/p832968, from £700 a week), sleeps four.

Alternatively, autumn is perfect for walking in the Alpujarras, an hour-and-a-half from Málaga by car. Responsible Travel (01273 600030, responsibletravel.com) has £50 off short walking holidays in Andalucía in November. The group hikes pass through pine forests and narrow gorges and are fuelled by plenty of regional food and wine. With the discount a five-day trip costs from £349, including traditional accommodation, all meals and activities, but not flights, departing 3 and 24 November.
? Thomson (Thomsonfly.com) flies to Málaga from nine British airports from £135 return

Mallorca

Average high: October 23C, November 18C
Mallorca is now a serious rival to Ibiza for its gastronomic restaurants, hip bar scene and fashionable crowd. L'Avenida (+34 971 634075, avenida-hotel.com), a super-stylish townhouse hotel in Sóller, north-west Mallorca, is offering winter sun mini-breaks from about £114pp a night for a three-night break in November. The building is a temple to contemporary luxury, especially the bathrooms: Philippe Starck details and roll-top baths. It is two minutes from the town square and 20 minutes by taxi from Palma.
? Easyjet (easyjet.com) flies from nine British airports to Palma, Mallorca, from £71 in November

Malta

Average high: October 25C, November 21C
If you wait until next month to go to Gozo, a small island off Malta, you may lose a few degrees in heat but you'll save more than a few quid. HomeAway.co.uk (holiday-rentals.co.uk) has a cosy 300-year-old farmhouse sleeping five that is much cheaper in November than October (about £354 a week). The weather will be mild, so you'll still be able to make the most of your private pool and roof terrace. There is a wealth of history on your doorstep, from caves where the first inhabitants of Gozo settled to what's said to be the oldest freestanding temple in the world. For those with more mundane concerns, there's a bakery selling freshly baked Gozitan bread within walking distance and the restaurants and bars of the capital, Victoria, are just 2km away.
? Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies to Malta from six British airports from £82 return

Morocco

Average high: October 28C, November 22C
For a short, sunny adventure, north Africa (the peaceful bits) is a great choice. Marrakech is popular, as is the fun coastal town of Essaouira, but some say the city of Fez is more authentically Moroccan. Riad Le Calife (+212 535 762608, riadlecalife.com) is an atmospheric riad in the medina, with a very good restaurant. For a gang or large family, you could rent Dar Tamazerte (01948 770509, marrakechholidayvilla.com) from £250 a night including breakfast and maid service (minimum three nights). This private villa with pool in the Ourika valley near Marrakech sleeps eight.
? Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies to Marrakech from Bristol, East Midlands, Luton and Stansted from £62 return

Jordan

Average high: October 27C, November 20C
Unlike its neighbours, Jordan experienced very little unrest during the Arab spring. It's a stunningly beautiful and historically fascinating country, quiet and small and easy to travel around, and still very warm and sunny at this time of year.

Those seeking a last-minute family half-term break could book one of a few remaining places on Explore's (0845 867 9434, explore.co.uk) group family trip there, departing on 22 October. It's educational but exciting, featuring Petra, crusader castles and Biblical settings. Children will love floating in the Dead Sea and camping out in the desert in a goat-hair tent. The trip costs £1,185 for children and £1,250 for adults, including flights, accommodation in modern mid-range hotels and a desert camp, breakfasts, one lunch and one dinner.
? BMI (flybmi.com) flies to Amman from Heathrow from £200 return in October

Tunisia

Average high: October 26C, November 21C
It's 27C in coastal resorts in Tunisia right now! Whether you want to collapse on a beach, explore historic sites such as Carthage, or shop and stuff your face in a souk, now is a great time for a trip. Lots of companies offer package deals. Seven nights half board at the small Vincci Flora Park in Enfidha, costs £307pp including flights from Doncaster on 19 October through Direct Holidays (directholidays.co.uk).

Or set up your own trip: try Dar Fatma (+216 71 981284, darfatma.com) is a charmingly simple guesthouse in lovely Sidi Bou Said, 20 minutes up the coast from Tunis. All-white rooms, grouped round a blue-and-white patio, cost from ?96 a night B&B.
? British Airways flies from Gatwick to Tunis from £195 return in October

South Africa

Average high: October and November 24C
Now is a great time to go on a South African safari: autumn here is spring there, which means warm weather, reasonable prices and, most importantly, baby animals! If you're lucky you'll spot newborn elephants, hippos, buffalo and impala. Fleewinter (020-7112 0019, fleewinter.com) has a week in October or November in the Kruger region, from £1,180pp including flights, car hire, safaris and three nights in a four-star guesthouse near the Kruger national park, three nights in a lodge near the north of the park, and one night in Tzaneen, Limpopo.
? Qatar Airways (qatarairways.com) flies from Heathrow to Johannesburg from £498 return in November

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/oct/14/autumn-late-summer-sun-deals

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Vicky Frost: The brilliant Radio 4 panel show is to get a run of 10 episodes on BBC2 to celebrate its 45th birthday. Will you be watching?

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/poll/2011/oct/20/just-a-minute-television

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Yingluck Shinawatra asks country to 'set aside politics' amid the battle to stem the waters and keep the public informed

Thailand's new prime minister has acknowledged that the flood crisis has overwhelmed her government and pleaded for solidarity from the country in the battle ahead.

In an emotional appearance before the press, Yingluck Shinawatra said her administration was doing all it could and trying to be clear about where the flooding could strike next.

Mixed messages from officials in recent days about whether the floodwaters would enter Bangkok appeared to have caused confusion among the public.

A poll by ABAC, associated with Bangkok's Assumption College, found that 87% of 415 people questioned did not trust information from the government's flood command centre.

"We have been doing everything we can, but this is a big national crisis," Yingluck said. "I'm begging for mercy from the media here."

Bangkok's city government, led by the opposition, urged residents in seven northern districts to move belongings to safe places because of likely flooding. The warning came days after some officials had indicated that the worst threat had passed.

Meanwhile, flooding in areas directly north of the city worsened, despite government efforts to stave off the water.

The death toll from the flooding is 317 nationwide. Nearly 9 million people have been affected and 27 of the country's 77 provinces remain inundated.

The initial estimate of the economic cost of destroyed shops, closed factories and swamped farmland was $3bn, but this figure has since risen. Floodwaters in northern parts of the country began in August; then more southerly areas, toward the Gulf of Thailand, were affected.

The government has heightened the urgency of flood-control efforts in the past two weeks.

"The government said over and over again they were able to handle the situation, then what happened? It got flooded from there to here," said Puntip Susuntitapong, a 61-year-old retired banker in Bangkok.

Yingluck had no previous government experience when she came to power in August as the standard-bearer for the party aligned with her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, who is a fugitive on corruption convictions but still widely popular.

A distraught Yingluck appealed on Wednesday to reporters to stop asking whether Bangkok would be inundated.

"The more you ask questions like this, the less useful it is going to be," she said, adding that her role was to co-ordinate, not disseminate, information. She said experts were more qualified than her to give information, and that her own personal views "might lead to lack of confidence and confusion among the people".

She added: "We are telling the truth, not concealing anything from the people. We have been doing everything we can, but this is a big national crisis. On our own, we can't get it done. We need unity from every side, and today we must set politics aside."

On 13 October the science minister, Plodprasop Suraswadi, issued a spur-of-the-moment order, live on television, for the public to immediately evacuate an area north of Bangkok. Within 20 minutes, he and colleagues from the government's flood emergency team were back on air rescinding the order.

"I'm confused every time I hear the warning from the government," said Somjai Dokkam, a 51-year-old recycling worker in Bang Kradee, north of Bangkok, whose house was flooded on Wednesday morning.

Adding to the discontinuity in the public message are the discrepancies between the government and that of Bangkok's governor, Sukhumbhand Paribatra, who belongs to a rival party.

Sukhumbhand has consistently said Bangkok faces flooding, even as Yingluck's government expressed confidence that the city's defences would hold up. The governor mobilised citizens to build sandbag levees on Tuesday, saying flooding in many neighbourhoods was imminent.

The city so far has escaped substantial flooding, thanks to dykes, underground tunnels and other defences, though floodwaters have been seeping into some northern neighbourhoods.

In Bang Kradee, 49-year-old Prasit Thamnita, a worker at Thammasat University, said he thought the best approach was to rely on his own judgment. "I've lived here my whole life, so I knew the water was definitely coming. The government doesn't know better than the locals. I only rely on myself and the local municipality for any news about the water."

In Bang Kradee defenders were making a last stand at an industrial park threatening to become the sixth such park in Thailand to be swamped. Flooding of five other industrial parks north of Bangkok has slowed down hundreds of factories and affected 200,000 workers, as well as disrupted regional supply of computer hard drives and vehicles.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/19/thailand-pm-flooding-overwhelmed-government

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GlaxoSmithKline research head Moncef Slaoui explains how change of focus to cellular immunity was key to breakthrough

Moncef Slaoui was on holiday with his family when he heard the results of the first small trial, involving African infants, of the malaria vaccine he helped invent. It was a day he would never forget.

"It was 9 August 2004," he said. "I'm on vacation with my kids, driving between Chicago and Indianapolis and my phone rings and it's the team calling from Mozambique. I had to stop for at least an hour. I couldn't drive any more. That was a big, big moment."

The vaccine had been classed as around 55-60% effective. It was the first sign that Slaoui, now chair of R&D at GlaxoSmithKline, and his colleagues, were going to be successful in cutting the terrible toll of malaria in Africa. Halving the 200m cases a year would save lives and prevent a huge amount of harm.

It had been a long haul. Slaoui had joined the Belgian lab of what was to become GlaxoSmithKline 23 years ago with a background in immunology. "I brought a fresh perspective in what was then modern immunology," he said. Some of his new colleagues had started work on a malaria vaccine but "it was more or less stalled conceptually".

No one then had managed to make a vaccine against a parasite infection. Many in the scientific community thought it impossible. "We heard that a lot. There were many controversial discussions on whether we would be able to achieve success," said Slaoui.

But his ideas drove the effort in a new and successful direction.

Scientists had been attempting to kill off the parasites injected by malarial mosquitoes as soon as they entered the bloodstream. But any vaccine attempting that has only minutes to work because the parasites quickly go to the liver, where the next stage of their life cycle occurs. After five days there is a burst of new parasites in to the blood cells and that is when the child falls ill.

Slaoui suggested using cellular immunity. "Rather than using antibodies that can kill bacteria or a parasite, we used T-cells that recognise [a] cell is not normal because it is infected by a parasite. It opened the opportunity to find the parasite where it [hid] in the liver and kill it there."

It was easy to say, but hard to do. They needed to find the right adjuvant, a substance that would stimulate the immune system's T-cells to mount a response against the malaria parasites.

It was in 1996, eight years after Slaoui joined the vaccine effort, that they became sure they were on the right track ? during experiments in conjunction with the Walter Reed army medical centre in Washington DC.

Slaoui said: "It was the first demonstration of the proof of concept that we were able to make a vaccine that killed the parasite in the blood and also in the liver."

The approach used would later be employed in GSK's pandemic flu and cervical cancer vaccines, which would make money. Slaoui said GSK would not have dropped the malaria vaccine programme, which was solely for the benefit of people too poor to pay, but that the proftable spin-offs undoubtedly helped.

He said: "GSK Biologicals' leadership was always totally committed to continue the work on the malaria vaccine for two equally good reasons. The malaria vaccine was a great vehicle to advance our platform of adjuvants for many other vaccines, [ones] that were more able to give us a return. But secondly there was truly a commitment to public health in general and our responsibility to society to make vaccines for those who would most benefit, even when they could not afford it."

This was a stronger motivation in the vaccine community than in the pharmaceutical industry. He added: "Vaccines are associated with public health and the developing world and babies that you save from major infections, and therefore the idealistic motivation is very strong."

It remained the case, he said. "Yesterday in Seattle [when the results were published] I was with some of the first core-team members ? we all started together. It was very emotional."

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/oct/19/malaria-vaccine-immune-parasite-key

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The actor's excuse for using the word 'mong' won't wash

Ricky Gervais may be among the tiny band of celebrities who have cause to mourn the days when phone-hacking provided daily episodes of Sex Lives Of The Rich And Famous. He made the front page of the Sun this week, the scandal being his use of language that some people call "politically incorrect" and others call "rude, crass, childish and repellent". How refreshing ? high-profile people being criticised for what they say and do in their public lives, rather than their private lives.

Gervais has been taken to task by some critics because of his fondness for using the word "mong" as a derogatory term. He does not accept that it is short for "Mongol", a word that has itself become infradig as an alternative to Down's syndrome because it was so often used contemptuously. The comic actor insists that the word's meaning has changed, and that it's now just as jolly and polite as any other deliberate and provocative insult, and nothing whatsoever to do with people who have chromosomal disorders.

What a moron Gervais is, if I can use a term that once described a person of scientifically small mental capacity and now just means anyone who is being foolish.

Perhaps it was obvious all along that Gervais was able to create The Office, his sitcom vehicle for the bumptious and unlovable David Brent, because at heart he was just that sort of man himself. Still, it's certainly obvious now, and the only way Gervais can refute the impression is by doing something that his alter ego would never do, and making a sincere and intelligent apology for his repulsive verbal thuggery.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/oct/19/ricky-gervais-a-verbal-thug

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As a Gypsy child I faced countless evictions, so I'm filled with dread over Dale Farm's ostracised Traveller community

On Tuesday night I fell asleep with a heavy heart after hearing the news that the clearance at Dale Farm was likely to start the following morning. I hoped that, overnight, common sense would prevail and a forced eviction would not take place, but I awoke to the inevitable sight of riot police storming the camp at dawn.

For the residents of Dale Farm, and Gypsies and Travellers all over the world, their worst nightmare was finally coming true. "They're breaking the law," I hear many of you cry, "It's green belt land." And you are right: it is an illegal camp, and if we want to live in a civilised society we must all uphold the law, no matter what background or culture we come from.

But the law is not black and white, and these people have certainly been let down by the system. Legal wrangling aside, the reality is that hundreds of human beings are about to be dragged from their homes and forced on to the roads.

My overriding emotions are sadness and confusion. I'm writing this from a caravan on my father's land: it is parked here legally, but the memories of countless evictions from my childhood are etched in my mind. When I look up I expect to see the men in Day-Glo coats walking towards me and I'm filled with a sense of dread. I know how the Irish Travellers at Dale Farm feel as their life crumbles around them and they have nowhere to go. Hopeless is the only word that can describe it.

Most people in the UK don't want them at Dale Farm or anywhere else in the country. Over 90% of those who responded to a recent poll believe a forced eviction is the right outcome. I won't use many of the sensationalist terms being thrown around by some of the activists and Travellers involved in the eviction, and I don't think this is a case of ethnic cleansing; but do I know first-hand how unaccepted the nomadic lifestyle is today. It doesn't matter how quiet, clean or law-abiding you are, if you live in a caravan you are scum in the eyes of most of the British  population.

Gone are the days when the government actively tried to defuse the tension and hostility between settled and travelling people. Sites are not being created, and budgets given to councils to do so are being used for other "more pressing" issues. It is a case of: "Not on my patch."

Basildon council leader Tony Ball pulled out of discussions with the Homes and Communities Agency ? who offered land to rehouse the Dale Farm families within Essex and within a suitable distance to the children's school. In my opinion that was because keeping them within his borough would lose votes, and votes seem to be more important than human welfare.

A peaceful solution was never going to be found because Ball apparently believes that Basildon already has more than its quota of Travellers. Swap the word Travellers with any other ethnic group and ask yourself if that is an acceptable position to take.

For the Dale Farm community the tragic reality remains: they have nowhere to go. As they exit the site they will be greeted by blocked-up tracks and barricaded lanes, parks with trenches dug around them, and car parks with a heavy security presence. They'll end up in laybys, the children will have no chance of an education, and their quality of life will be appalling. But at least they won't be in Basildon.

People all over the country cheer the enforcement officers on, relishing the scenes of distress and trauma. I ask: whatever happened to human compassion?

Source: http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/commentisfree/rss/~3/CGEiAG9xKFw/dale-farm-community-nowhere-to-go

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The partners offer five tips to help consumers stay safe online

Google and Citizens Advice have launched a website offering consumers advice on online security and privacy issues.

The Good to Know website features information on a range of issues, from creating a strong password to understanding how cookies work, and is aimed at computer users of all levels. It is being run alongside a series of adverts, which also offer advice on protecting personal data online.

Recent research by Ofcom's consumers communications panel showed that 26% of UK internet users had concerns about the safety of their personal details, 14% were worried about privacy and 13% about fraud.

Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: "We are delighted to be working in partnership with Google.

"Citizens Advice is all about straightforward, simple advice on the issues that matter, so helping people take control of their safety and privacy online is right up our street."

The two partners have come up with five tips for consumers who want to stay safe online:

? Pick a strong password. One idea you can try is to choose a line from your favourite song, film or play, such as "To be or not to be, that is the question". Then use numbers, symbols and letters to recreate it: 2bon2btitq. The more unusual the phrase you choose the better.

? Never reply to suspicious emails with your personal or financial information, and never enter your password after following a link from an email you don't trust.

?Look for "https" and a padlock in the URL bar to check a site is secure. When you go into a branch of your bank you recognise the official staff by their name, uniforms and the services they offer. Having this level of reassurance shouldn't be any different for online banking or other sensitive services.

?Always sign out and shut down your browser. Ever gone out for the day and left your front door wide open? Exactly. The same principle applies when you leave yourself signed in to online accounts on the computers you use.

? Use two-step verification for accounts that offer it, such as Google and Facebook. Two-step verification adds an extra layer of security to your account by requiring you to have access to your phone ? as well as your username and password ? when you sign in. This means that if someone steals or guesses your password, the potential hijacker still can't sign in to your account because they don't have your phone.

On Sunday, journalist Rowenna Davis told how she had had her email account hijacked, with the hacker demanding £500 to return it.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/oct/17/google-citizens-advice-online-security

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Arresting a middle-aged writer in an evening gown for peaceable conduct is a far cry from when America was a free republic

? Naomi Wolf condemns 'Stalinist' erosion of protest rights

Last night I was arrested in my home town, outside an event to which I had been invited, for standing lawfully on the sidewalk in an evening gown.

Let me explain; my partner and I were attending an event for the Huffington Post, for which I often write: Game Changers 2011, in a venue space on Hudson Street. As we entered the space, we saw that about 200 Occupy Wall Street protesters were peacefully assembled and were chanting. They wanted to address Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was going to be arriving at the event. They were using a technique that has become known as "the human mic" ? by which the crowd laboriously repeats every word the speaker says ? since they had been told that using real megaphones was illegal.

In my book Give Me Liberty, a blueprint for how to open up a closing civil society, I have a chapter on permits ? which is a crucial subject to understand for anyone involved in protest in the US. In 70s America, protest used to be very effective, but in subsequent decades municipalities have sneakily created a web of "overpermiticisation" ? requirements that were designed to stifle freedom of assembly and the right to petition government for redress of grievances, both of which are part of our first amendment. One of these made-up permit requirements, which are not transparent or accountable, is the megaphone restriction.

So I informed the group on Hudson Street that they had a first amendment right to use a megaphone and that the National Lawyers' Guild should appeal the issue if they got arrested. And I repeated the words of the first amendment, which the crowd repeated.

Then my partner suggested that I ask the group for their list of demands. Since we would be inside, we thought it would be helpful to take their list into the event and if I had a chance to talk with the governor I could pass the list on. That is how a democracy works, right? The people have the right to address their representatives.

We went inside, chatted with our friends, but needed to leave before the governor had arrived. I decided I would present their list to his office in the morning and write about the response. On our exit, I saw that the protesters had been cordoned off by a now-massive phalanx of NYPD cops and pinned against the far side of the street ? far away from the event they sought to address.

I went up and asked them why. They replied that they had been informed that the Huffington Post event had a permit that forbade them to use the sidewalk. I knew from my investigative reporting on NYC permits that this was impossible: a private entity cannot lease the public sidewalks; even film crews must allow pedestrian traffic. I asked the police for clarification ? no response.

I went over to the sidewalk at issue and identified myself as a NYC citizen and a reporter, and asked to see the permit in question or to locate the source on the police or event side that claimed it forbade citizen access to a public sidewalk. Finally a tall man, who seemed to be with the event, confessed that while it did have a permit, the permit did allow for protest so long as we did not block pedestrian passage.

I thanked him, returned to the protesters, and said: "The permit allows us to walk on the other side of the street if we don't block access. I am now going to walk on the public sidewalk and not block it. It is legal to do so. Please join me if you wish." My partner and I then returned to the event-side sidewalk and began to walk peacefully arm in arm, while about 30 or 40 people walked with us in single file, not blocking access.

Then a phalanx of perhaps 40 white-shirted senior offices descended out of seemingly nowhere and, with a megaphone (which was supposedly illegal for citizens to use), one said: "You are unlawfully creating a disruption. You are ordered to disperse." I approached him peacefully, slowly, gently and respectfully and said: "I am confused. I was told that the permit in question allows us to walk if we don't block pedestrian access and as you see we are complying with the permit."

He gave me a look of pure hate. "Are you going to back down?" he shouted. I stood, immobilised, for a moment. "Are you getting out of my way?" I did not even make a conscious decision not to "fall back" ? I simply couldn't even will myself to do so, because I knew that he was not giving a lawful order and that if I stepped aside it would be not because of the law, which I was following, but as a capitulation to sheer force. In that moment's hesitation, he said, "OK," gestured, and my partner and I were surrounded by about 20 officers who pulled our hands behind our backs and cuffed us with plastic handcuffs.

We were taken in a van to the seventh precinct ? the scary part about that is that the protesters and lawyers marched to the first precinct, which handles Hudson Street, but in the van the police got the message to avoid them by rerouting me. I understood later that the protesters were lied to about our whereabouts, which seemed to me to be a trickle-down of the Bush-era detention practice of unaccountable detentions.

The officers who had us in custody were very courteous, and several expressed sympathy for the movements' aims. Nonetheless, my partner and I had our possessions taken from us, our ID copied, and we were placed in separate cells for about half an hour. It was clear that by then the police knew there was scrutiny of this arrest so they handled us with great courtesy, but my phone was taken and for half an hour I was in a faeces- or blood-smeared cell, thinking at that moment the only thing that separates civil societies from barbaric states is the rule of law ? that finds the prisoner, and holds the arresting officers and courts accountable.

Another scary outcome I discovered is that, when the protesters marched to the first precinct, the whole of Erickson Street was cordoned off ? "frozen" they were told, "by Homeland Security". Obviously if DHS now has powers to simply take over a New York City street because of an arrest for peaceable conduct by a middle-aged writer in an evening gown, we have entered a stage of the closing of America, which is a serious departure from our days as a free republic in which municipalities are governed by police forces.

The police are now telling my supporters that the permit in question gave the event managers "control of the sidewalks". I have asked to see the permit but still haven't been provided with it ? if such a category now exists, I have never heard of it; that, too, is a serious blow to an open civil society. What did I take away? Just that, unfortunately, my partner and I became exhibit A in a process that I have been warning Americans about since 2007: first they come for the "other" ? the "terrorist", the brown person, the Muslim, the outsider; then they come for you ? while you are standing on a sidewalk in evening dress, obeying the law.

Source: http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/commentisfree/rss/~3/djVHB6FdRIU/naomi-wolf-arrest-occupy-wall-street

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