Battered by budget cuts and burdensome tuition costs while facing an indifferent administration, students at the City University of New York (CUNY) will hold a three-day gathering to chart a course for reviving campus activism.
Over a month after the conclusion of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, the FBI continues to harass and intimidate activists who chose to voice their opinions about the status quo. In the last ten days, five activists in Houston and Austin have received subpoenas to appear before a Federal Grand Jury in Minneapolis on October 21. Several other activists have had their homes, or those of parents and friends, visited by the FBI. According to the FBI, the Texas activists, like the RNC Welcoming Committee, fell victim to an FBI informant. As a result, two Texans, David McKay and Bradley Crowder, remain incarcerated in Minneapolis, facing ten years each for allegedly possessing Molotov cocktails. Because the Grand Jury in the McKay–Crowder case has already returned an indictment, it is suspected that the current subpoenas relate to a separate case. Read More | | | Related: Love & Rage: An RNC Reportback from Rogue Valley IMC | First Lawsuit From RNC Raids to be Announced Friday from Twin Cities IMC
The October 2008 episode of Chicago Independent Television documents a summer of activist efforts in Chicago in 2008, including protests at the Taste of Chicago and at the Chicago Air and Water Show. The episode also features protests against a possible U.S. bombing of Iran, and a commemoration of the famed 1968 Chicago protests against the Democratic National Convention. Read more | Watch online | CIMC Video Collective
A record television audience of almost 70 million people viewed the vice-presidential debate last Thursday night at Washington University's Athletic Complex in St. Louis. But nearly a mile out of view of the complex lay an example of what corporations, the media, and the state have together tried to quell in increasingly forceful ways: public dissent.
From Los Angeles Indymedia: Clouds grayed the sky, but did not hamper attendance at either of the two anti-Sarah Palin rallies. Hundreds of activists arrived at both events to denounce the vice-presidential hopeful for her misogyny, ignorance, pettiness, and anti-democratic tendencies. A diversity among attendees and willingness to communicate characterized the day, particularly in Costa Mesa. Story/Photos: Women denounce Sarah Palin in Carson and Costa Mesa
BOSTON/Government Center - A coalition of over 30 religious and community organizations held a rally Tuesday calling for an end to raids, mass arrests and deportation of thousands of undocumented immigrants around the nation by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. About 250 people participated in the event - which was coordinated by members of the Arlington Street Church Unitarian Universalist. [REPOSTED from Open Media Boston]
HR 1424 passes — Bush announces he will sign it into law immediately, thanks Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank and other Congressional leadership for their cooperation. Final vote total: Democrats: 154 yes; 58 nays — Republicans: 86 yeas; 103 nays — 31 Reps not voting... Read More: Wall Street to Democratic Party - Thanks, Suckers
Philadelphia Student Union holds Rally on October 2, 2008, in front of Masterman High School, to address the unequal distribution of teachers across Philadelphia, during the secretive Teacher Contract Negotiations. Where are the students in this equation? read more by Marina Sáenz-Luna
On Saturday, September 13th, members of Class Action Alliance, a regional anarchist organization, traveled from across the Northwest United States to Seattle, WA, for our second general assembly. Members representing the cities of Bellingham, Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia and Portland were in attendance.
Battle in Seattle Playing in the Bay Area Reviewers familiar with anti-globalization protests have both praise and criticism for the film. Among the latter are concerns about accurate portrayal of protesters, although director Stuart Townsend said he chose not to take sides and that the film is a work of fiction based on real events. Bay area activist and arts organizer David Solnit worked with the director to help recreate scenes from 1999. He and others who participated in the Seattle protests had limited influence on the script. Some activists also called on people to speak up and reclaim history and to not allow the movie to tell an untrue story of the WTO demonstrations.
On March 7, 2008, Senior Airman Blanca Adriana Luna of Chicago was found stabbed to death in her hotel room on Shepherd Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. Blanca was due to graduate from her training course and return to Chicago in three days. Since then a veritable Kafkaesque tale has been emerging. Members of the Air Force visited Blanca's mother, Gloria Barrios, to inform her that her only child had been the victim of a homicide, "but not to worry - she had a $400,000 life insurance policy"! Now there have been intimations of suicide even though her body displayed signs of a defensive struggle. The Air Force's Office of Special Investigation fails to provide straight answers to anything. Moreover, they have refused to release any personal property, a death certificate, or a police report (the claim is there is none!). This case fits into a pattern of violence against members of the military - particularly, women - being swept under the rug. The Air Force would rather explain a suicide than receive the negative publicity of a homicide on base; plus, the family would lose beneficiary rights to Blanca's insurance payout. However, for Gloria, it is about justice, not money.
Mrs. Gloria Barrios, mother of US Air Force Senior Airman Blanca Luna has requested to met with officials of the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) at Sheppard Air Force (in Witchita Falls Texas) base on Friday, October 3, 2008 to determine the status of the investigation into her daughter’s death. read full article | Justice for Blanca Luna Campaign | Justice for Blance Luna Benefit from Chicago IMC
In the early morning of Friday, September 26, 2008, Mayor Fenty shut down the only downtown Washington DC shelter for homeless men. These photographs document the process of shutting down the shelter between 6:30AM and 8:30AM. Read More | Photos
Marcella "Sali" Grace Eiler, solidarity worker with the people's struggle in Oaxaca and Chiapas, was found dead last week in a deserted cabin with signs of a brutal rape and murder. A native of Eugene, OR, Sali had helped with documentation accompaniment, and gave reportbacks on the movement in Arizona. To the left is one of her photos taken in Oaxaca, which reads: "You can not call somebody dead who fought for life." Read on for more links to Sali's photos and stories.
In response to a federal judge's decision overturning the conviction of Albert Woodfox, one of the two 'Angola 3' members who remain in prison, lawyers for the men called on the State Attorney General's office to drop any further charges and release the men immediately.
The Bush Administration has proposed that the federal government provide $700 billion to buy bad debt from financial institutions. The financial bailout comes in response to a "credit crisis" largely caused by a drop in housing prices combined with defaults on home loans caused by shady and often illegal lending practices. While the bailout will help financial institutions that own derivatives based on mortgages, it will do little to help the more than 2 million Americans who lost their homes to foreclosure last year.Join us for a fun night of community building Saturday, Oct. 25th @ 7:30 PM on Capitol Hill.
Discuss current state of anarchist movement in Seattle and organize upcoming events/actions/projects such as: womyn's diy heal collective, protecting Seattle's 3 remaining urban forests, food not bombs, anarchist cafes, benefit shows/events.
http://portland.freeskool.org with more details and often with new or updates classes so make sure to check there too. http://www.georgeandjulius.com ). Beside George, Jim Page, the Seattle Labor Chorus, Citizens Band and Patriot Act are scheduled to perform.
On October 18th, 7:30pm at the Rice Media Center [map] Houston Indymedia, Sedition Books and other Houston grassroots media projects will be hosting the Grassroots Media Justice Tour as it rolls though the south and into the southwest. The tour started in North Carolina and has made its way to Florida [full schedule].
When it winds up in Houston on Saturday October 18th and starts at there will be an evening full of grassroots media goodness including more than a dozen local organizations tabling, a short film from TEJAS and Undocumented Productions about Galveston recovery after Ike. We will hear from speakers including; Houston native Jesse Muhammad of the Final Call newspaper, Jordan Flaherty of Left Turn Magazine, and Hadassah Hill of $pread Magazine, who will get us talking and thinking about independent media and how it can help us in our struggles. [more info] | Older Flier and info.
On Wednesday, October 1st, Cleveland Jobs with Justice participated in a National Day of Action with 12 other local Jobs with Justice Coalitions. Community, faith and labor advocates conducted rallies, street theater, bake sales and ‘billionaires for bail-outs’ actions to tell Congress and Wall Street that people are fed up with corporate greed and demanded a “Main Street Recovery Plan.” In solidarity our message was clear! We were telling Congress “No Bail-out!” unless they addressed the following: