Collective Punishment of ‘Rioters’ Families and the Geneva Convention

From No One To Vote For, August 13, 2011
By Kevin Boyle


An interesting exchange on Facebook is reproduced below regarding some Councils’ determination to evict persons convicted of involvement in the recent UK riots. Wandsworth Council want to evict an entire family whose son was found guilty of involvement in the Clapham Junction looting.
One wonders what long-term good such a local authority imagines will come from this. Will they make an underclass intimidated into passivity and obedience, however grudging?
Is satisfying the understandable cries for punitive action from shopkeepers and a rattled middle class wise if this action strays into the realms of collective punishment, a point Jim Murphy fairly raises below?
For myself, even if a convicted person is the only one evicted, this strategy makes no sense. Deprive the underclass of even a place to live? I can think of no better way of creating genuinely terrifying psychopaths.
Anyone paying attention to the crimes of the elite (and the cover-up of these crimes by parliament and the media) knows very well that the sickness at the bottom of society is a manifestation of a much greater sickness at the top.
Bearing in mind the unwillingness of our entire parliament, even the old icons of the left like Diane Abbott, who rose to prominence on the back of the Hackney riots, to see itself as part of (never mind the source of) the problem, might we not expect with absolute certainty that a similar sickness will manifest itself later….more than likely on a much larger scale. The middle classes, whose children cannot afford to get a mortgage on a place to live and who are being inducted into massive debt before they even start their working lives will become heavily involved.
When this time comes, and it will, more than sports and mobile phone shops will have cause to worry.
Here is the Facebook extract referred to:

Jim Murphy

Collective punishment is classified as a war crime under Geneva Convention. Wandsworth Council is trending on Twitter because they have served an eviction notice on the family of a young guy who was involved in the riots (1st offence). Politicians are idiots. When they were sitting around discussing their facist tactics, the people were out on the streets cleaning up after the riots. Politicians serve Bankers not citizens and we no longer need them. #DirectDemocracy now
11 hours ago · ·

Philip S******

The Geneva Conventions though only apply in times of war, including civil war. What happened at the weekend was neither despite some of the participants believing so apparently. Tenancy agreements however, were almost certainly broken.

Jim Murphy

It is less about the applicability of the legislation and more about the moral imperative. The ban on collective punishment in the Geneva Convention is designed to combat the once widely accepted concept of reprisal or revenge to look at it in its proper context. An eye for an eye is not part of the Christian tradition which has been the bedrock of our laws and culture for centuries. In short, this is anti-Christian and should be recognised as such.
Watch this black man point the finger and put his case very well during Boris Johnson’s visit to Clapham Junction: 

Separa

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Related:

Insurance Giants Will Use Taxpayers to Bail Out Cost of UK Riots: After the smoke clears, elites will receive windfall profits from the UK riots

Decentralization and Secession as a Viable Alternative to the Tyrannical Status Quo

From Activist Post

By Scott Lazarowitz

Because of the continuing fiascos in Washington; activists on the left and on the right, libertarians and socialists, will have to begin to face the fact that looking to the central planning elites in Washington for answers is futile . . . even counter-productive.

The debt ceiling will be raised for the 75th time since 1962, no real spending cuts will happen, taxes will again be raised, and happy days are here again for the politicians, the life-long bureaucrats, the industrial lobbyists and lawyers, and, especially, the Wall Street fat cats.

 “Well, the next time they will implement their promised reforms,” say those who are still faithful in the central planning bureaucrats. But our chosen representatives do not fulfill their promises, and they never will.  Sooner or later, we are going to have to face the reality that central planning is a promise that can never be kept.

I have been trying to get that message across, especially in my March 2010 prediction that the 2010 elections would be just another rearranging of deck chairs (and I was right).

But it appears that too many people just have blind faith in central planning and the fantasy that “reforming” an inherently flawed system could ever work.

Faith in central planning, despite all the destruction the U.S. government has wrought, is something that needs to be overcome.

Food  activists  have begun to understand the benefits of decentralization, as have those promoting thedecentralizing of money and  banking.

Many people are sympathetic to the idea of decentralization/state secession, similar to the corrections made in Eastern Europe in the early 1990s with the breakup of the Soviet Union. However, many people are unnecessarily concerned about their Social Security future, and with national security. And it has been a mistake to rely on the U.S. Supreme Court to ensure justice.

But in the long run, freedom and independence are far preferable to our current tyrannical centralization.Compromise is impossible.

First, we must confront the truth about Social Security, and ask whether a government-controlled, government-mandated retirement scheme even has any moral legitimacy, let alone whether it makes any economic sense.

People need to understand how they and future generations have been cheated by a government that takes your earnings and savings, and forces you to forfeit your right to control your own retirement future. Yes, these are distressing truths to many people, but if we can never get back what was stolen from us in our first several decades of adulthood, the people need to demand – at the very least – the restoration of their children and grandchildren’s right to keep what they earn and save.

Second, Americans need to let go of their faith in our constantly bumbling national security central planners. For a century now, our national security central planners have been corrupt, incompetent, warmongers, and imbeciles – anything but adept at keeping us safe.

If people actually think about it, they might then realize the absurdity in giving professional

bureaucrats and politicians a monopoly on protecting a territory of thousands of square miles with a population of 300 million people from foreign aggression. Instead, what has happened is that such central planning rulers have used that monopolistic government and military apparatus to act aggressively against foreign nations, which is what has provoked the foreign nations to act against us, thus making us less safe.

And third, giving such a centralized bureaucracy a monopoly in ultimate judicial decision-making has not protected the people from injustice. Decisions by the Supreme Court have increasingly exemplified those of a banana republic. Most recently, the Supreme Court, in an 8-1  decision, backed the power of the police to break into the homes of innocents without a warrant and with impunity.

Moreover, such a powerful compulsory centralized bureaucracy has tended to attractthe worst amongst us; those who are lacking in moral scruples. Of course giving such an agency the power to seize wealth and property from the people is bound to attract those who have no problem with coveting others’ wealth and property. And of course giving some people the privilege of being above the law, and the power to initiate acts of aggression against others, will attract those of an anti-social bent.

The distasteful reality is, as with the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, centralizing power and especially consolidating more power to the executive is destructive and dangerous. The U.S. has become increasingly totalitarian, with more centralized government control over the people -- from FDR’s New Deal and his stealing gold from Americans, the Federal Reserve and Richard Nixon’s closing the gold window, to more recently George W. Bush’s police state DHS, TSA and the retaliation from Bush and Obama’s aggressions overseas.

People need to face the reality of central planning’s destruction of America, and do what the states of the Soviet Union did: Not “reform” but abolish that central power altogether.

Activists who are serious in their intention of freeing themselves and their families and their progeny from the tyranny of the Washington Leviathan, should advocate that states secede and regain their independence and sovereignty that is their right to have.

No central government has any moral authority to compel any individual or groups of people to belong to any association which they did not voluntarily join.

With independent states and no central power, the people’s right to control their own retirement

savings and their medical matters would not be infringed, and neither would their right to bear arms. In the case of any one state in which a government violates such rights of its population, the people have the freedom to move to a better, freer state. Currently, with all Americans under the compulsory authority of the federal government, it is difficult or impossible for people even to actually move to a different country to escape from the U.S. government’s further intrusions and tyranny.

And with independent states and no central power, the people’s right to self-defense would not be usurped by such a central power. The people of the states would have the right to arm themselves, have militias and whatever weaponry they believe is necessary to protect them from foreign aggression.

With independent states and no central power, there would be little to no ability (or desire) for any one American state to deliberately act aggressively against and provoke foreigners.

And, economically, what would happen if we got rid of all the compulsory, monopolistic federal bureaucracies – the Federal Reserve, IRS, HHS, FDA, EPA, TSA and DHS to name just a few – and required that all people live under the rule of law and that no one individual or business receive any extra privileges from the State?

The people of the states would have the freedom to discover and make use of natural resources that exist within their own territories, and not be compelled to be “dependent on foreign oil.”

There would be no federal raw milk raids, no drug raids, and no S.W.A.T. teams breaking into homes and murdering people for student loan defaults. And no Big Farms would get any special privileges at the expense of smaller family farms.

And the people would have the freedom to do business with whatever medium of exchange suits them -- The Bernank be damned.

Americans need to have faith in the kind of free-market capitalism that raised the standard of living of all people of all walks of life.

The ruling class is expressing the same kind of fear-mongering with the debt ceiling issue that they expressed during the Wall Street Bailout fiasco, with the mainstream media acting as their obedient stenographers.  This should be seen as yet another example of how self-serving the elites in Washington really are – Republicans as well as Democrats. Because the truth is, they will never make things better, only worse.

Among the painful truths of the day is that central planning doesn’t work; it is immoral, and it’s destroying America.  We need to get rid of it.

Scott Lazarowitz is a libertarian writer and cartoonist. Please visit his website Reason and Jest.

The greatest elected body that money can buy (UPDATED)

From foreignpolicy.com

By Stephen M. Walt

Just when you think your contempt for Congress could not get any higher, our elected representatives manage to do something to ratchet it up another notch. After congressional shenanigans helped spark a major market sell-off and sparked fears of a double-dip recession, you’d think every single one of them would be heading back to their districts to figure out what their constituents wanted and to try to explain how they were going to help make things better. Or maybe a few of them would even spend the recess taking a crash course in macroeconomics and public finance, so that they could start exercising their public duties more responsibly.

But what did 81 of them decide to do instead? You guessed it: they are off on junkets to Israel, paid for by the American Israel Education Foundation, an AIPAC spinoff that has been funding such trips for years. That’s right: during the August recess nearly a fifth of the U.S. Congress will visit a single country whose entire population is less than that of New York City.  

Such behavior is especially disturbing in light of our current woes; even Greta Van Susteren of Fox News found it appalling (h/t Mondoweiss here and here). But it’s not really a new pattern: in recent decades about 10 percent of all Congressional trips overseas have been to Israel, even though it is only one of the nearly 200 countries in the world.
Why do Congresspersons do this, especially at a moment when it is obvious that they ought to be worrying about conditions here at home? Mostly because such junkets burnish a legislator’s ‘pro-Israel’ credentials and facilitate campaign fundraising. Such trips also expose these visitors to the policy preferences and basic worldview of Israel’s leaders, which is of course why AIEF pays for them. 
I suppose I ought to be grateful that AIPAC and its sister organizations continue to work overtime to prove me and my co-author right. But there are bigger issues at stake here, which is why I hope that every one of those eighty-plus Congressmen faces a lot of nasty questions from their constituents upon their return.
And in a related story, the Israeli government has just announced a new round of settlement building in occupied East Jerusalem. (For apt commentary, see Matt Duss of the Center for American Progresshere.) If you’ve been wondering why most people have lost faith in U.S. stewardship of the peace process and are turning to other strategies–such as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement or the push for a Palestinian state at the UN –well, I think you have your answer. And if “two states for two peoples” is never achieved and Israel ceases to be either a Jewish majority state or a true democracy, you’ll know exactly which misguided or feckless Americans helped bring that about.

UPDATE:  American taxpayers will be pleased to know that Representative Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) has reassured Israelis that financial challenges “will not have any adverse effect on America’s determination to meet its promise to Israel.”  Translation: we may be cutting Medicare and Social Security for U.S. citizens, but Israelis–whose country has the 27th highest per capita income in the world–will continue to get generous subsidies from Uncle Sucker.

The Unfolding EU Crisis

From The Victory Report:

EU Crisis Coming into FocusEarlier in the year I warned of a pending EU crisis that has now arrived in full force. I have been writing about the EU problems over the past month to bring them back into focus, because I believe this is the next, biggest, event on the timeline. While everyone was watching Washington Theater, the EU crisis was raging. This is a real risk to banking, currencies, and sovereign debt that is not easily fixed. Sadly, the public has very little understanding of what shapes their world, content to live ignorant until directly impacted. The majority of my writing has been about the US Money Market Mutual Fund exposure to the EU banks (in the area of 50% for some of the largest). I write about these problems not to scare, but to warn.


Funding Issues within the EUOver the past few years, the banking industry has funded the majority of sovereign debt buying to keep the EU going. Now that this unsustainable process is coming to an end, interest rates are rising in Spain and Italy – big decisions need to be made soon. Remember the EU banks didn’t get their TARP, yet. Spain’s bond market is bigger than that of Greece, Portugal and Ireland’s combined, at about $900B. Italy’s debt market is roughly 3x the debt market of Greece, Ireland, and Portugal combined, at about $2T. The ECB will need to backstop these debt markets or else face a breakup of the EU. Ultimately the EU will cease to exist, but not yet.
Early Monday morning, August 8th, the ECB promised to “actively implement its Securities Markets Programme.” This decision was made at a time when the banking system was closer to failure than most recognize. One source involved in the talks stated, “I don’t see how we can survive another week like this one.” SocGen, France’s second largest bank, and UniCredit Banca, Italy’s largest bank were both on the brink. While the ECB’s intervention helped stabilize European markets and banking system for now, they will need to significantly expand their efforts in the near future.


Short Selling BanSimilar to the ECB intervention on Monday, the recent ban on short selling financial stocks is a temporary stop-gap measure (15-days). The ban, introduced by Belgium, France, Italy and Spain on Friday, was in response to extreme pressure being applied to EU banks. They are in the midst of a bank run. People are sensing the risk in banks that have approximately 20-1 leverage on assets that are egregiously overvalued. Big money is taking deposits out of EU banks and running scared.
While the Spanish ban included derivatives, the French and Belgium bank did not apply the ban to derivatives. One side note, Germany implemented a ban of naked short selling last year, which did include credit default swaps. Nobody should expect this short-term policy to have any lasting impact or resolve the current issues. In simple terms, the damage within the banking system is too severe and there is no way to contain the derivatives. I agree naked short-selling and CDS are destructive to markets, along with government sponsored manipulation (policies), but the partial ban on short selling will not save the Eurozone markets or banks.


Crossing the RubiconI will offer my view on how this will play-out, but I ask that you take prudent actions to prepare for alternative outcomes. My expectation is that markets will soon pressure the EU to commit to additional and significant steps to keep the EU intact. As I’ve mentioned in the past, these steps are part of the global QE agenda. Before any decision is made, markets (or maybe more appropriately men who walk with canes) will make their case to the ECB loud and clear. The EU sovereign debt market and the banking system will be taken down unless more credit/debt is created. In comes the EFSF. This outcome was decided long ago, the politicians just haven’t informed the underclass/uninformed yet.
This is where my concern regarding the mmkt funds comes into play. If the ECB doesn’t jump quickly enough to their demands, you could have a situation where some banks are sacrificed. Since US mmkt Funds are so heavily weighted in EU banks, it is quite conceivable that some will “break the buck”. Just as we hit the lowest point, the US investor could encounter a “freeze” in mmkt redemptions, unable to move out of the fire storm surely to hit western currencies. This is not high on the list of concerns of our “masters”.


Defined Contribution Retirement AccountsDon’t blame retirement plans, blame the corruption and greed. Unfortunately retirement accounts are at the mercy of a broken system. Paper markets are a collapsing inverted pyramid. As the Ponzi system implodes, it will be difficult to hide within plans that limit investment options to mmkts, bonds, and general stock funds. Money will be running to safe havens, such as PMs.
Global stock markets will continue their downward move until more credit/debt is pumped in. As this unfolds (it is now), you can try to hide retirement assets (that have limited investment choices) in short-term treasuries or mmkt funds. If you are vigilant, nimble, and have a little luck, you’ll be able to exit these positions before they collapse. If you can navigate this mine field, you’ll then take refuge in a stock fund that will not keep pace with real inflation rates and will see many bankruptcies. The other option within these limited investment accounts is to sit in general equity funds and ride out all storms. Your choice should be based on your individual circumstances, and in either case, keep your fingers crossed that you’ll be able to salvage something in the end. Within an IRA, where you have alternative investment options, my preference is to have positions in funds that hold a physical asset, such as Sprott’s physical gold & silver along with resource and mining stocks.


Protective MeasuresAdditional credit/debts will fix nothing. The ECB and US Fed will continue to place a bid under the massive new debt issuance, leading to rampant price inflation for items of necessity. We will see lower growth, employment, wages, and cuts in entitlements, while cost of living will increase. The ugliness and ungodliness in our society will be on full display. At risk of sounding like a broken record, I am suggesting 30% of your assets be stored in physical gold & silver and holding a portion of your assets in physical cash. The main thing I want to reinforce is the purpose of holding cash. Although the outcome may be abundantly clear, current laws enforce currency which should be held for expenses, emergencies, purchases and so forth. By exiting cash completely, you forfeit your ability to protect other holdings or take advantage of future opportunities. Don’t give up your financial freedom or your ability to protect yourself – in my opinion it’s worth the potential cost of devaluation.


~David Freedom