Up to 15,000 people have taken to the streets of the Greek city of Thessaloniki to protest against a planned Canadian gold mining project.

The demonstrators say the mine will cause irreversible environmental damage to the area.

Al Jazeera's John Psaropoulos reports from Thessaloniki.

Activists: Air raid on Petrol Station in Damascus Suburb Kills 30

At least 30 civilians were killed on Wednesday when Syrian warplanes bombed a petrol station in a rebellious suburb on the eastern edge of Damascus, two opposition campaigners on the scene said. A new video(Above) shows the extent of the damage in the town of Maaret al-Numan in Syria's northern Idlib governorate, following attacks by government forces.

Seven Charity Workers Killed in Pakistan

Seven charity workers, six of whom were women, have been shot to death in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday. A male colleague was also killed when their vehicle was hit by gunfire near a center run by Pakistani charity Ujala in the Swabi district. The vehicle’s driver was also injured in the attack. The district police chief said, “Four men came on two motorbikes. They attacked their van. They opened fire to the right and left of the van and fled on their motorbikes.” No one has claimed responsibility for the killings. Last month, nine health workers were killed while participating in a national polio-vaccination drive.

60 Killed in Ivory Coast Stampede

At least 60 people were killed and more than 200 were wounded in a stampede during a fireworks display early Tuesday morning at a stadium in Abidjan, the main city of the Ivory Coast. The stampede occurred near the entrance of the 65,000 seat Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium when thousands tried to leave the stadium after the fireworks as another crowd was still trying to get in. Most of the dead were children between the ages of 8 and 15, but the death toll is expected to rise. Singer Chris Brown performed at the venue the night before the stampede occurred.

Greek debt crisis 'far from over'

Politicians predict backlash from austerity-weary Greeks as unemployment reaches record 26%.

Continue reading »

From conflict in Syria to the new politics of Egypt; from protests in Greece to the Olympics in London.

As the year draws to a close, Al Jazeera looks back at 2012 and some of the events that changed our world.

Reflection on a Revolution (ROAR) presents “Utopia on the Horizon,” a documentary on the Greek debt crisis and anti-austerity movement, dedicated to those who chose to struggle.

In May 2011, hundreds of thousands of Greeks swarmed into Syntagma Square in Athens to protest against the firesale of their country, their labor rights and their livelihoods to corrupt domestic elites and foreign financial interests. In a matter of days, a protest camp was set up – organized on the principles of direct democracy, leaderless self-management and mutual aid – providing a glimpse of utopia in the midst of a devastating financial, political and social crisis.

On June 28-29, during a Parliamentary vote on further austerity measures, the state finally responded with brutal force, eventually evicting the protesters from the square and crushing the radical potential of their social experiment.

A year later, Leonidas Oikonomakis and Jérôme Roos – PhD researchers at the European University Institute and co-authors of the activist blog ROARMAG.org – returned to Athens to speak to activists involved in the movement and the occupation of Syntagma Square, as well as WWII resistance hero Manolis Glezos. What follows is this dramatic portrait of a country veering on the brink of collapse; and the people who chose to struggle in order to build a new world on the ruins of the old.

Thousands of people protested across Greece on Thursday against the next round of spending cuts, required in return for another bailout installment.

The 24-hour strike is the country's 20th national stoppage since the debt crisis erupted two years ago and comes as EU leaders met in Brussels.

Taxi drivers, doctors, teachers and air traffic controllers were among those taking part in the rallies.

Athens police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators throwing petrol bombs.

Syntagma Square was temporarily shut down but has since reopened to traffic; it was quite a small protest as Greek protests go and remained mainly peaceful,

Protesters threw petrol bombs and stones at police blocking off parts of the capital's main square before parliament. Officers responded with tear gas and stun grenades.

A 65-year-old man suffered a fatal heart attack during the demonstration, which was said not to be linked to the protests.

Continue reading »

Protests in Athens have turned violent as protesters clash with police on Wednesday. A demonstration outside of Parliament deteriorated when anarchists began throwing gasoline bombs and pieces of concrete at riot police. Police in turn fired tear gas at demonstrators. An estimated 50,000 people have joined the strike, which is the first trade union–led action since a conservative government came to power in June. Protesters have been demonstrating against planned spending cuts of $15 billion, which are required if Greece is to receive its next round of bailout funds, without which the country could go bankrupt in weeks.

Over a year has passed since anti-austerity protests and mass riots threatened to ignite full-scale revolution in Greece. Photographer Yiannis Biliris takes us back to those heady days of June 2011, walking the haunted streets of Athens, reminding people that a worse fate than uncertainty is things staying the same.

In today's On the News segment: Scranton, Pennsylvania's mayor cuts police and firefighter pay to minimum wage, record-breaking heat wave can no longer be dismissed as "just summer," corporations continue to gobble the commons from Michigan's public schools to Greece's airports and other state properties, and more.

In screwed news...Republicans want police and firefighters to only make minimum wage and no more. Last week – the Mayor of Scranton slashed the pay of hundreds of city workers, including cops and firefighters, to $7.25 an hour – the lowest hourly wage currently allowed for by law. The Mayor says that his city is broke and, because he's unwilling to raise taxes on business or millionaires, can't afford to pay its workers anymore money. That's the problem in several cities across America, which have seen their revenues dry up during the Bush Great Recession. President Obama offered a clear solution to this problem with his American Jobs Act, which gave emergency federal relief to states to help struggling cities avoid massive layoffs or pay cuts to public worker salaries. Unfortunately, Republicans have blocked the American Jobs Act – so police and firefighters across America are joining Wal-Mart workers in the ranks of the working poor. To add insult to injury, Republicans are also fighting a Democratic effort to raise the minimum wage – which currently has less buying power today than it had in 1968.

Transcript of the full video report at Truthout.

Everybody is now talking about the student debt crisis, but nothing is being done about it. Thanks in large part to the great public amplifier of the Occupy movement, this year’s presidential contenders have been forced to embrace student loan reform as a talking point in their respective campaigns. But the debt relief being pushed by the Obama administration is a token gesture, aimed at getting some traction on the youth vote–especially the more disillusioned or alienated student constituencies. Recent bills introduced in Congress–Student Loan Forgiveness Act (H.R. 4170) and the Private Student Bankruptcy Fairness Act (H.R. 2028)–have zero chance of passing in anything like their current form. Practically speaking, no reform program of any substance is on the legislative horizon, least of all one that would regulate the predatory lending practices of Wall Street banks.

The truth is that student debt relief is too important to be left to elected officials. They are chronically dependent on the financial backing of the lending industry, and are structurally incapable of addressing this crisis, let alone resolving it. As a result, reform initiatives such as Student Loan Justice and Forgive Student Debt (to Stimulate the Economy) that have been aimed at petitioning lawmakers have very little to show for all their hard effort. The recent federal modifications in payment schedules are micro-cosmetic compared to the sea-change that is required to free debtors of their intolerable burdens and rescue higher education from its increasing use as a profit engine for financiers, asset speculators, and real estate developers. The pathway to this outcome does not lie in futile pleas for economic reform, but through a political movement, driven by self-empowerment and direct action on the part of debtors.

The Occupy Student Debt Campaign was launched at Zuccotti Park in November 2011 with the goal of building a student debt abolition movement. Our campaign is based on principles for which we believe there is widespread support:

1) Free public education, through federal coverage of tuition fees.

2) Zero-interest student loans, so that no one can profit from them.

3) Fiscal transparency at all universities, public as well as private.

4) The elimination of current student debt, through a single act of relief.

These are interlocking principles, and should not stand on their own. Imagine a world in which lawmakers were to respond positively to the current calls for debt “forgiveness” (an unfortunate term that implies the debtor has sinned). Such a measure would offer much-needed relief, but it would still disadvantage future debtors if it were not complemented by remedies that brought to an end the practice of compelling students to privately fund higher education by going into debt bondage. So, too, a singular focus on reducing interest rates (even to zero) is more likely to encourage colleges to increase their fees than to open up equitable access to education.

Continue reading »

A Greek police band and passes by walls filled with writings about insurrection. Faithful people walk next to immigrants, homeless and forgotten ones while praying for the salvation of their soul. Mourning the present state of society, anonymous jammers dream of its revolutionary resurrection. Video by Antidocs