Music and songs have always been very important in wars and revolutions. The one below are from the youth generation of the Middle East.

To my brothers and sisters, on this Thursday night…ahead of a Friday of new violence and repression in the middle east on fire in search of freedom….when all the capitalistic eyes are towards a barely recognizable London – turned into a capital of mass hysteria inhabited by flag-wielding crazies…Keep on rising Keep on resisting!

Sout Al Horeya (Song: Voice of Freedom/in Egypt)

Bayan Ra2am Wa7ed (English Subs) from Syria

Shofaa Nubakaa Huna (We Shall Stay Here) Nasheed on Libya

El général, the voice of Tunisia, english subtitles

Italy prepares for the high profile trial of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, accused of paying for sex with an underage nightclub dancer. Aspiring Italian starlets and Oscar-winning actor George Clooney are being called to make appearances in Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s trial on charges he paid for sex with an underage prostitute, then tried to use his influence to cover it up.

Unlike Berlusconi’s other trials, Wednesday’s court appearance puts the premier’s personal life under scrutiny, and a conviction could end his political career. TV crews from around the world will be on hand for the opening session — even though Berlusconi himself is not attending.

“This time it is not about offshore, secret accounts and tax havens but about sex, money and power,” the Turin-daily La Stampa wrote this week.

Italy celebrated yesterday (17 March) the 150th anniversary of its unification. But the country has never been so divided, with separatist forces gaining ground in the north and south alike. Anniversary celebrations took place all over Italy. The government decided to call a national holiday to mark the special occasion.

Separatist movements are gaining ground and the government itself is dominated by a party (Lega Nord) which began its political life by explicitly calling for the secession of the wealthier north from the rest of the country.

Lega Nord’s anti-national stance was blatantly confirmed during yesterday’s celebrations. In addition to four ministers, just one of the right-wing party’s 85 MPs was present at a solemn ceremony in the packed Italian Parliament in Rome.

A gallery of pictures is here

Sior Rioba has last night spoken, when few hundred posters appeared overnight on statues, bridges and lamp posts in Venice ahead  of a national mobilization of Italian women which will take place in cities across the country on February 13 for the Giornata Nazionale di Mobilitazione delle Donne

Mr. Rioba is portrayed in a corner of the Campo dei Mori, originally he came from Morea along with his two brothers, Sandi and Afan. They arrived in Venice around 1112 and were traders of spices.
Signor Antonio Rioba, spokesman of the Venetians in the satire against the Republic, was for a long time for Venice what Marforio and Pasquino were for Rome,

Yesterday was the rehearsal and today it’s the real thing. Keep on rising, keep on resisting – world is watching Meanwhile: Where’s Mubarak? …. possibly already hiding in London!
The Arab world’s sleeping giant has finally woken from its slumbers after years of being drugged and mugged by the West. Over the years, dictator Hosni Mubarak has traded on their fear using some of the foulest methods of intimidation imaginable. But like their counterparts in Tunisia, the Egyptian people are losing their fear and tearing away the chains of oppression.

In cases where every thing is understood, and measured, and reduced to rule, love is out of the question.
William Godwin

William Godwin (3 March 1756 – 7 April 1836) was a British journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism, and the first modern proponent of anarchism.

Related articles

• The Conservative Anarchist (lewrockwell.com)
• Utilitarianism: What The Heck is It? (socyberty.com)
• 65 reviews of Anarchism (rateitall.com)

Last week, ThinkProgress broke the news that both senatorial candidates Sharron Angle (R-NV) and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) used the same racially-tinged image in separate attack ads against their opponents and described the subjects in the photo as “illegal aliens.” Besides invoking offensive anti-Latino stereotypes, the photographer of the photo, Chris Floyd, later informed the Washington Post that the “illegal aliens” in the picture were actually Mexicans still in Mexico.

Now it appears both ads have been removed from YouTube. Vitter’s is marked as “private,” and Angle’s video has been pulled down due to a “copyright claim by Getty Images, Inc.”

In a phone interview with ThinkProgress, Floyd indicated that he’s still waiting to hear himself what, if any, legal actions Getty Images is pursuing. Floyd explained that he has a contract with Getty which means that they have the “first right to pursue legal action in the event of a copyright violation.”

However, Floyd did seem confident that the Angle and Vitter campaigns are at the very least morally, if not legally, culpable:

I think this is a question of principle. The only legal place they could’ve obtained that image [on the Getty Images website] clearly printed out that the people in the photo were not illegal aliens, but Mexicans in Mexico. That means they either purposefully deceived their audience or they stole the photo from somewhere else.

Whether it was done intentionally or not, Floyd maintains that “they [the Vitter and Angle campaigns] completely distorted the reality of my photo.” ……..  Full article is here

No self-respecting NGO and campaign group would be seen these days without a Twitter account to spread the word (Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and WWF have over 200,000 followers between them for example). But Monday’s day of mass action by the Climate Camp protesters showed just how badly Twitter can backfire. Read the full article

I think MIA Paper Planes song is really nice

Revelling in victory, President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed into law the most sweeping overhaul of financial regulations since the Great Depression, a package that aims to protect consumers and ensure economic stability from Main Street to Wall Street.

via Barack Obama Signs Sweeping Wall Street Reform Bill.