Barack Obama benefitted from widespread anti-war sentiment when he won the 2008 presidential election. Yet, he launched an escalation of the war in Afghanistan soon after taking office. In February 2009, Obama ordered an additional 17,000 combat troops to Afghanistan, more than doubling the size of the U.S. occupation. That deployment raised the level of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to 55,000. This Tuesday, December 2, Obama is expected to announce plans to send 34,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. Ironically, this announcement will come less than 2 months after Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

November issue of Public i out!

With stories on the "Battle in Seattle by Dave Johnson, Low Power Radio by Danielle Chynoweth, and 10 years of Indymedia by Brian Dolinar.

Also included is a wrap up of the GEO strike by Rich Potter.

Gary and Jamie Storm report back on their trip to Palestine.

And more!

Next Tuesday morning, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (a part of the Department of Public Safety) is hosting a presentation for legislators and law enforcement to attempt to round up support for the 'Criminal Intelligence Data' bill (Senate File 1103) that would vastly expand their authority to collect, retain and share secret files on Minnesotans, crucial to expanding powers of Minnesota's 'fusion center,' the Minnesota Joint Analysis Center (MnJAC). SF1103 got halted by civil liberties advocates in 2009, but will be back in January. As budget pressures increase(now pegged around a missing $1,200,000,000 statewide), will authorities face data mining cutbacks, or else get support from politicians for locking down and tracking society further?

This week saw a huge defeat for the authorities' data mining & tracking agenda in the state mainstream media, as Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher's hazily defined GangNet (overview PDF) and the smaller BCA Gang Pointer File were both ripped apart by a report by the University of St Thomas School of Law Community Justice Project and the St. Paul NAACP, led by associate professor & St. Thomas Community Justice Project director Nekima Levy-Pounds. 55% of the people in Pointer File and 42% in GangNet are black, and the corrupt, halted Metro Gang Strike Force was evidently deeply involved in these.

More coverage: PioPress: Mara Gottfried | TCDP: Sheila Regan: Labeled for life | Strib | Grace Kelly notes | Download St. Thomas report (PDF) | Event: Tues. BCA meeting

Below the fold: More on SF1103, Rich Stanek's Facebook patrol, Minnesota's homeland-security industrial complex, Sprint's 8 million GPS queries for the Man, and bonus links to leaked law enforcement compliance manuals for Internet Service Providers!

Ivan was a founding member of RASH Moscow and a beloved part of the antifascist community and the anti-racist skinhead scene in Russia. Ivan was a graduate of law school, and since his father died last year he supported his family by working at a center for street children named “Juvenile State Abandonment, Crime, Drugs Use and AIDS Prevention Center“. He was a skilled martial artist and an award-winning arm wrestler, and worked security to ensure the safety of many left-wing demonstrations and cultural events. In the end, his enemies were too cowardly to face him and ended his life with two bullets to the back of his head.

The text of the letter which Texas RASH members today delivered to the Russian Consul in Houston is as follows: [read full article with photos] RASH Russia: R.I.P. Ivan [KOSTOLOM] Khutorskoy

When there's something strange in the neighborhood... Who ya gonna call?
COPBUSTERS-- volunteers who bust open police and court misconduct in their community.

In Minneapolis, volunteers are busting open police brutality cases for all of Minnesota through a group called Communities United Against Police Brutality.  They staff a 24-hour hotline for anyone to call and document cases of police brutality: 612-874-STOP. They listen to victims' stories at weekly meetings, held Saturday afternoons at Walker Community Church in Minneapolis, and refer them to good lawyers.

CUAPB's actions take place even in the unlikeliest places, like Newport City Council and downtown Hastings, where this video of a demonstration against the police killing of Brandon Rodriguez was taken this summer.

See all TCIMC stories tagged "police brutality" | Civilian panel reviews police complaints, but gets little response (MinnPost) | Minneapolis pays again for police misconduct (TCDP) | In Minneapolis, costs of police misconduct add up (MPR)

A panel comprised of both members of the Kiwane Carrington family and CU Citizens for Peace and Justice, addressed the media cameras. Rhonda Williams, Kiwane’s aunt, said she was appalled that Officer Daniel Norbits, who shot Carrington, was back on the job. “It was a slap in the face,” she said, “and a pat on the back.”

Longtime community activist Terry Townsend pointed out how information about the shooting has been kept from the public. As he put it, “We have been unable to construct a theory of what happened because they have not released the information." READ MORE | VIDEO

Soon after it became clear that the Obama administration was going to send another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, the Western New York Peace Center and other anti-war activists began preparing their response. On Saturday afternoon, around 30 anti-war activists gathered in Bidwell Park for a short rally that then became a roving car-caravan protest throughout the city.

While many of the protesters were traveling throughout the city spreading their opposition, a number remained in Bidwell Park chanting and talking with passerby's. They challenged the notion that an increased troop presence could bring a sustainable peace to Afghanistan or even be an effective anti-terrorism measure. With an estimated 100 Al-Qaeda agents remaining in Afghanistan and the US troop presence soon to reach 90,000, the protesters challenge the anti-terror pretenses of the dramatic increase in soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan.

With this troop surge mirroring the strategies of the Bush administration in Iraq, many protesters questioned the change that the Obama administration claimed to represent, even equating the policies of the two presidents. Many questioned the Democratic Party's willingness to abandon their base once in power. Recent decisions regarding gay marriage in New York State, opening the Alaskan Arctic to further drilling, and the relatively vague standards of health care reform have led many of the activists at the rally to discuss the need for some alternative to the Democratic Party as an instrument for progress.

read more

By Jenna Piasecki

30 people gathered at Lafayette Square on Main Street tonight to show support for the Public Option. Senators Schumer and Gillibrand have been fighting for the public option and organizer Diana Cihak encouraged everyone who attended the rally to call and have their friends and family call into Schumer and Gillibrand's offices as well as the rest of our representatives in the House and locally to show support for the Public Option. This rally was coordinated with hundreds more across the country.

Speakers at the rally stated that 2,547 people file for bankruptcy daily because of health care-related debt. Health care companies pour $5 million a week into crushing the public option in order to keep their profits high and keep middle class Americans in debt.

Diana Cihak urged Buffalonians to speak out against the closing of clinics locally and the bullying of politicians by health care companies. Cihak is planning another rally for the 17th.

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By Victoria B. Ross
Source: The Buffalo Activist

The SOAWatch gathering was a memorable and moving event. Four activists crossed the line and got arrested, including Father Louis Vitale of Pace y Bene who spoke in Buffalo recently, and Nancy Gwin of Syracuse. Hundreds of us also “pushed the envelope” by passing the police barricade into the streets of Columbus – far enough to register the resistance but not to get arrested. The Puppetistas and Cakalak Thunder (which I was privileged to be part of) led the way in both directions.

Four Buffalonians traveled to Cleveland (thanks to our donors!) to take one of three full busses to the event, courtesy of Inter-Religious Task Forc. The average age of bus passengers was 20, with many high school and college students; and many first-timers (as all four of our Buffalo contingent was). The crowd at the event itself was diverse – full of young and old, and there were another almost 20 other Buffalonians there, mostly students from Canisius.

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If you believe in the following statement, join us Friday, Dec 11 from 1-2 for another opportunity to sign Clark and Worcester's own National Registry for Conscientious Objection.

I Hereby Affirm That: Because of my deeply held beliefs about peace, justice and non-violence, I am opposed to the use of violence to settle disputes. Furthermore, I wish to make public my decision not to participate in any group, organization or agency of government that would require from me acts of violence against a fellow human being.
I sign The Registry for Conscientious Objection to have my position on peace, justice and non-violence duly recorded as a way of life that I embrace and am totally committed to.
For those of you that were not able to make the Oct 30th event, this is
another opportunity to sign the registry, or just learn more about it. We
are not having a formal event or discussion.

It only takes a few minutes to sign the Registry but it is best to have
everyone get there at the same time so we can all support each other.

Tell everyone you think may be interested in signing or learning more
about living a life devoted to nonviolence.

Meet in Jonas Clark near the Peace Studies Department, seminar room 201.

Questions? Need more info, Just send me an e-mail.
Check out the Facebook event, http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=213457406680&index=1

By Ed Kinane

Why did over 200 people from all over upstate New York recently converge on the NY Air National Guard Base at Hancock Airport to protest the MQ-9 Reaper Drones operating from there?

The MQ-9 Reaper is a hunter-killer unmanned aircraft designed for long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance. Developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., it is also used for bombing and assassination – for extrajudicial execution.

That drone is a high-tech, high-flying robot. Via satellite it communicates with “pilots” on the ground. It can operate in radioactive environments. Its sensors can see in the night. It can hover for hours, invisibly, over a target. With uncanny accuracy, God-like, the Reaper’s missiles and bombs can obliterate that target.

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A new coalition is forming between many activist groups in Rochester to push for greater police accountability in the city. Initially started by Rochester Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the coalition immediately grew to include members from Activists Against Racism movement (AARM), Rochester International Socialist Organization (ISO), Rochester Against War (WAR), Rochester Declaration of Peace, and more. I talked with members of the coalition about why they joined, what their goals were, and how they view the police.

The name of the coalition is "RPAC", Rochester Police Accountability Coalition. To see what the group is about, come down to the next meeting, Saturday Dec. 12th, 2pm at the Flying Squirrel Community Space, 285 Clarissa St.

The imperial aspirations of Governor Patterson will not solve the budget crisis. Recently, he has proposed emergency measures that would give him unilateral power to create the next state budget; which was “was rejected practically instantly” (11/25/09, Buffalo News). Public services do not have to suffer, yet the solution requires restructuring and redistribution of funds from the top to the bottom; something that the powers that be have never done without political demands being made by grassroots motion and calling on whatever political insurgency (i.e. progressive legislators) can be mustered.

According to the Buffalo News, on Dec. 3rd, “New York's Senate has joined the Assembly in approving a measure to reduce the state's budget deficit by about $2.8 billion” (“NY Lawmakers Approve Deficit Cutting Plan”) and thereafter, the article cited the Governor’s specific desire to cut education and hospital funding. These two sectors are extremely vital to the lives of everyday people, and it is extremely dire when the health and the intellectual growth of a population are sacrificed when according to word of mouth, in the wake of 2008 SUNY tuition increase, the governor ordered thousand dollar wine glasses.

What’s to be done? In Berkeley, CA at UC Berkeley on November19th, the Regents board announced a tuition hike by 32% and the cutting of 38 custodial jobs, and in response according to the San Francisco Indymedia the students occupied the University. The occupation ended on the 21st amongst three days (18th-21st) of planned demonstrations with a tuition freeze and 38 custodial jobs (11/21/09, San Francisco Chronicle). Their occupation was complemented by a 250 strong mass lobby here, in Manchester, England. Under the banners of Unions and the newly formed Manchester for Jobs and Education, we stood against 127 job cuts and the £180 million in education de-funding ($296 million). Across the board, acts of student militancy and organization of both workers and students have begun. To defend our interests, especially in a city with three big universities (UB, BSC, and Canisus College) and a sizeable Community college (ECC) we have to invest our energy towards movement at the bottom.

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ST. PAUL, Minnesota — Following their October 8, 2009 hearing before Judge Teresa R. Warner, the RNC 8 received word [Wednesday] that they will face a single joint trial, not the eight or three separate trials favored by the office of Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner. The defendants were preemptively arrested before the Republican National Convention began last year, following many months of police infiltration and surveillance of their group, the RNC Welcoming Committee, which helped organize lodging, food, and medical and legal aid for those protesting the convention.

“This is an affirmation from Judge Warner of what we’ve argued all along: that separation for trial would have undermined the interest of justice in this case,” says co-defendant Luce Guillen-Givins.  ”Our best defense comes through standing in solidarity with each other, both inside and outside of the courtroom.”

RNC8.org | RNC '08 Report | Related: Jesse James Released After Delay

> To: Schweighart_Jerry
> From: Stephen Kaufman
> Subject: Chief Finney

Dear Mayor Schweighart and Members of the Champaign City Council,

Champaign Police Chief Finney is free to to be on any side of any debate.  However, when Finney is on duty as a public police officer, his wearing a U of I chief logo demonstrates a profound disregard and ignorance of issues of race that have confronted the CU community for two decades.  Moreover, it rightly raises the question,whether Finney is fit to lead the Champaign Police Department and how his attitudes on race contributed to the killing of Kwame Carrington.

The African American community provided extraordinary leadership and was instrumental in bringing the Illinois mascot issue to its conclusion.  The local NAACP led the national NAACP to unanimously vote to end the use of Native Americans as sports mascots. Finney's persistence in wearing the chief logo speaks loudly to his lack of the concerns of all communities for racial equity.

RELATED: Philadelphia events for Mumia Abu-Jamal this week

Photo from December 2008 Report

In the spring of 2008, after years of getting p.o.'d at Microsoft on almost a daily basis, I switched over to Linux (free, non-proprietary software). I had just gotten a new computer, and a friend who was setting it up for me, offered Linux as an option. This seemed a bit risky since Linux sounded less user-friendly than Microsoft, and I am not a technically-savvy person. Yet I loved the idea of being free of Microsoft and proprietary software. I took a chance and went with Linux. In the ensuing year, my computer sessions became markedly less stressful--it was usually at zero.

. . . On February 19th of this year, I attended the 2009 Linux Expo in L.A. Below are conversations I had with a few of the vendors. Story and photos: Transitioning to Linux and a (Late) Report on the 2009 Linux Expo L.A. by RP | RELATED: LA IMC 10th Anniversary - Technology Workshop by Mallory Knodel

For the whole of 2009, there’s been one constant in People United For Sustainable Housing’s interactions with people in the West Side. When told that the organization is combating the problem of high heating bills (the 3rd highest in the nation, in a city rated the 3rd poorest in the U.S.) many residents first thought was that there was an upcoming action against National Fuel.

It wasn’t that simple. From the start of the Green Jobs, Green Housing Campaign in March, to the passage of the New York State Green Jobs, Green Homes Act in October, PUSH and its allies had to target the state government in order to ensure that Federal stimulus funds actually made it past the backpockets of politicians and state bureaucrats and towards their intended purpose: sustainable job creation in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

For impoverished inner-city neighborhoods, the solution to the energy crisis is simple-local job creation through the renovation of every house, so that precious heat doesn’t simply escape through ancient (or cheaply constructed) walls and windows. Whereas for many the notion of “going green” is seen as an upper class lifestyle involving expensive solar panels and strange foods, for Rust Belt neighborhoods going green is literally a matter of survival. For every elderly person that is found frozen to death in their apartment every year, there are thousands who have to decide whether to pay their heat or their rent. This is the real face of the climate crisis and the economic recession.

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Symbolically placing his camper under a wind data tower, Sazue has committed to remain on this parcel of land as long as it takes to achieve justice.  The land is part of the 7,112 acres recently stolen by the United States government in what amounts to a 21st century land grab.  Because the land is not currently held in trust, on December 4, 2009, the Internal Revenue Service used that as an opportunity to claim it and auction it off as a means to settle what they assert is a delinquent $3,123,790 tax bill.  Read More | Portland Indymedia Coverage | Related: Who Turned Off the Lights for the Residents of Crow Creek? -- Mankato Memorial Ride Dec. 13-26

The free showing of "Warrior: The Life of Leonard Peltier" will take place on December 17 at the National Center for Preservation of Democracy in Little Tokyo at 7pm. Carnes, who will present the film, believes it is one of a few documentaries that explains and clarifies the circumstances surrounding Peltier's imprisonment. (Another film he mentioned was Incident at Oglala by Michael Apted.)

At the time of Peltier's alleged shooting of an FBI agent (June of 1975), Carnes said that "they just wanted to arrest a group of AIM (American Indian Movement) people and have a big media riff because there was such a propaganda campaign that was going on against the American Indian Movement—that they were being trained by communists in Cuba, all kinds of derogatory things to help discredit them. But on the day of that shootout there were just strange things that happening that day that screwed their plans up. When the agents went in, there was another agent."

Interview: Ben Carnes on the film "Warrior: The Life of Leonard Peltier" by RP

Activists are urging people to contact their congressional representatives and urge them to support the bill You can send an email at this link, and in particular they want folks to contact Al Green, and encourage him to cosponsor the bill.

The Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act (CIR ASAP) represents an important step in getting Congress to act to fix our broken immigration system next year. Click here for a thumbnail sketch of the contents of the bill from the National Immigration Forum. [Read full article with photos]

The activists have been organizing foot patrols and handing out whistles to women who are sleeping outside to use in the event that they are being abused or attacked. If you hear a whistle blowing go towards it and see / help / etc.... The Right 2 Survive group is asking for community solidarity in offering protection to folks (women) who are without any source of security to be free from rape and abuse while they just try to get through the night. The Right 2 Survive activists are not only seeking protection and organizing whistle handouts and networking on the street level, they are also asking and demanding the city takes a responsible role as well. They are showing up in city offices and working for real changes. They need the greater PDX community's support and their solidarity.
VIDEO Filmed at the recent Portland WTO D5 protest.
right2survive.blogspot.com

More Info: unitedmountaindefense.org | dirtycoaltva.blogspot.com | tennesseecoalashsurvivorsnetwork.com

Wade Rathke is the co-founder of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 100. He was ACORN's chief organizer from its founding in 1970 until he stepped down 2008. He is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Social Policy, a quarterly magazine for scholars and activists, and he is the author of two books published in 2009. Rathke and his wife, Beth Butler, live in New Orleans, Louisiana. (wikipedia)

Link to mp3

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About 2 dozen protesters gathered on Greens Road and walked a picket line with chants about immigrant rights including; "What do we want? Immigrant Right! How do we get it? Melt the ICE!" "Immigrantes, Escucha, estamos en su lucha" "Immigration is not a crime, why are people doing time?" and "Ariba, Abajo, migra al carajo!" We had a powerful soundsystem that may very well have permeated the thick concrete walls of the detention center. People spoke and sang songs, we did interviews with television reporters, and we then marched to the other side of the facility. The south side of the facility is the visitor entrance, where during specified hours people can visit their loved ones locked up in the detention center. We sang and chanted more, and then called it a day and left. [Full article with photos]

RELATED: Rally to support Comprehensive Immigration Reform

By Irene Morrison
Source: The Buffalo Activist Online

Last week, Wade Rathke, the founder of ACORN, came to Buffalo to promote his new book, Citizen Wealth: Winning the Campaign to Save Working Families. The book makes the case that organizing around homeownership is one of the most effective ways for low- and moderate-income (LMI) families to gain economic stability, what he terms citizen wealth, and discusses the successes and challenges which organizers around these issues experience. Rathke also discusses the need for unions at a time in which they are increasingly under attack, as well as the need to continue to pressure corporations to end predatory lending and tax preparation practices.

At a time when much of the left-leaning and progressive media seems to be too negative (though I don’t disagree that there is plenty to be negative about), Citizen Wealth provides an optimistic but not overly-rosy look at the future of the working class. He maintains that we must reframe an argument that has been driven by ideology on the right rather than facts. A key term in this argument is the concept of wealth, which includes income but also includes home ownership, savings, health insurance, and any other asset that has the potential to create opportunities for family members.

Rathke believes that corporations can be pressed to change business practices not only at through legislation but through negotiations with grassroots organizations as well. Citing several examples with smaller community banks as well as corporations like H & R Block, Rathke highlights successes, primarily at the community level, which organizations like ACORN have won.

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"Food Not Bombs is one of the fastest growing revolutionary movements and is gaining momentum throughout the world. There are hundreds of autonomous chapters sharing free vegetarian food with hungry people and protesting war and poverty[...] throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia." More Info: foodnotbombs.net | New Jersey Chapters

Related: Mantua Food Not Bombs (video)

. . . The California Coalition For Workers Memorial Day and the Peninsula Raging Grannies will be having a press/education/musical event in conjunction with the Detroit Auto Show which opens in Detroit on January 8, 2009.

Story: Google/Paypal Owners Building "Green" Electric Car On Downey Toxic Dump Site?1/9 by California Coalition For Workers Memorial Day

RELATED: Is Tesla Nuts? by by California Coalition For Workers Memorial Day | | IATSE Local 44 Movie Propmaker Steve Basile At Tesla Motors To Report On Downey Toxic Dump by Labor Video Project

Locations of our December 25 vigil have changed over the years. Yesterday, we had it in Eagle Rock. Six of us turned out. While many passersby were non-committal, many others gave us peace signs (and we exchanged waves with a police car). A few even thanked us for being there.

Many of ours signs addressed the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, but support for same-sex marriage was also prominent. Story and photos"Peace on Earth" vigil 2009 by R of the Northeast LA Radical Neighbors

On November 3, 2009, several people spoke before Champaign city council about the police killing of Kiwane Carrington and demanded that Police Chief R.T. Finney, who was at the scene, be fired. After public comments, City Manager Steve Carter responded by saying that he had conducted his own investigation, talking to the state police and State’s Attorney Julia Rietz, and concluded that Finney had done nothing wrong. “He is an excellent police chief,” Carter said.

Ryan is currently being held at a deportation facility in Ramle, where his request for release has been rejected by the prison judge. His lawyer is working on submitting an appeal to the District Court in Tel Aviv this Sunday, 27 December.

Ryan was visiting the al-Kurds in the tent the Palestinian family built in their own backyard, after the recent setter take-over of a section of their house. At 1.15pm, on Friday 18 December, 6 Israeli police walked into the tent, where Ryan was talking to the family members and drinking tea, and took him for questioning at the Russian Compound police station in west Jerusalem. (For more information about his arrest click here.)

Ryan was released without charges the following Saturday, 19 December, before the beginning of a trial with 26 Israeli activists arrested in Sheikh Jarrah, only to be illegally re-arrested by immigration police right outside of the same police station that told him he was free to go. Now Ryan is facing illegal deportation after being held in Israeli prisons for a week.

Earlier: Minnesota activist arrested, to be deported | Related: Gaza Freedom March - Minneapolis Solidarity March December 30, 2009 | Minnesotans to Join Freedom March Through Egypt and Gaza | Israel's Palestinian Prisoners - America's Other Guantanamo

On December 4, 2009, Cheyenne-Arapaho artist Edgar Heap of Birds gave a talk at the YMCA on the University of Illinois campus for the closing of his “Beyond the Chief” art exhibit. He spoke publicly for the first time about the State’s Attorney’s failure to fully prosecute a former student who was caught stealing two of his art works.  

The “Beyond the Chief” exhibit opened in early 2009 and consists of twelve panels that were installed along Nevada Street on campus. Several of the metal sign panels were bent in separate incidents. In April, two of them were stolen. Of the dozen panels, a total of seven were vandalized. These incidents were clearly part of a reaction to the University’s retirement of its racist mascot in February 2007.

On the afternoon of October 31st, 2009 — a night that would go down in Bash Back! TC history as “Halloqueen”– a crew of radical queers dressed in our most fabulous costumes and convened at the Lake Street light rail station. Scary costumes abounded,  with folks dressed as clipboard-wielding HRC representatives, Hillary Clinton/Barrack Obama worshipping liberal lesbians, and camo-clad DADT military gays!

Once our posse assembled, we boarded a train bound for the most terrifying place in the Midwest -the Mall of America- the setting for a racistly named event called “Nick or Treat” put on annually by Rosie O’Donnells childrens media conglomerate Nickelodeon. Read More | First Diary Entry

On December 17 and 18, demonstrators gathered in Tucson and Phoenix to demand human rights for prisoners and sex workers in Arizona. Participants held memorials for and focused on the case of Marcia Powell, a prisoner of the state of Arizona who was left in a cage in the desert sun last May and died. She was serving a 27-month prison term for prostitution.

Worcester Peace Works has since its founding in 2001 sought healing for 9-11, sponsored dialog between Jewish and Muslim communities; fought racism, anti-Semitism, and oppression against immigrants; opposedthe Iraq and Afghanistan Wars; In November 2009 we rallied against the Afghanistan War escalation and in December we vigiled against the hate crimes in Worcester. Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. we not only talk the talk; we walk the walk. Racism, gender discrimination, and economic oppression in all of their forms should be opposed. Unjust wars should be be opposed. Worcester should be a welcoming place.

Worcester Peaceworks
Eighth Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration

January 16, 2010, Saturday, 1:30 PM
Green Roster Coffee House, 6 Institute Rd., Worcester

Keynote Speaker:
William Green, Civil Rights Attorney and Activist
Music:
Political songsters Professor Looie and Fast Eddie,
singing "Hurricane" and "Dreams"

http://www.myspace.com/professorlouienyc

Peace Prize: Stone Soup
Pot Luck Dinner
Free and open to the public

On December 26, Dora “Alicia” Recinos Sorto, age 32, was assassinated, the second anti-mining activist killed this week in the small community of Nueva Trinidad in the department of Cabañas, El Salvador. Recinos Sorto was eight months pregnant and carrying her two-year old child when she was shot on her way back from doing laundry at a nearby river. She and her husband, José Santos Rodriguez, were outspoken opponents of the non-operational El Dorado mine which Pacific Rim, a Vancouver-based mining company is desperate to reopen despite widespread community opposition.

Additional Information: Rights Action | Mining Watch | Who Killed Marcelo Rivera?

By Irene Morrison
Source: The Buffalo Activist

About 30 people gathered in Buffalo on December 27th, a wet and snowy Sunday, to remember Israel's assault on Gaza, which began one year ago, a boiling point in a conflict that has been ongoing since 1948.

Internationally, the Gaza Freedom March is attempting to break the blockade on Gaza's border with Egypt, and to send in some badly needed humanitarian aid. Though they have not yet been successful and have now called for a hunger strike, should they be allowed into Gaza, the aid they bring is only a drop in the bucket compaired to the aid Gazans really need. The March is intended to call attention to this, as well as to pressure Egypt to fully open its border and lift the siege on Gaza.

How you can help the Gaza Freedom March:

Contact your local consulate here.

Contact the Palestine Division in Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cairo:

Ahmed Azzam, tel +202-25749682

Email: ahmed.azzam@mfa.gov.eg
In the U.S., contact the Egyptian Embassy, 202-895-5400 and ask for Omar Youssef or email omaryoussef@hotmail.com

read more

RELATED: Radio Reports from Mexico City protest II Statement about Mumia by Jacobo Silva Nogales II Zapatista Statement about Leonard Peltier

On Wednesday, December 30, about 100 people marched through the Minneapolis skyways in solidarity with the Gaza Freedom March. During the demonstration, some people spoke on the phone with Minnesotans in Cairo, Egypt, where the Gaza Freedom March is being obstructed from entering Palestine. Nearly 2,000 internationals have intended to enter Gaza through Egypt to join an estimated 50,000 Palestinians on a march ending a mile from the Israeli border wall.

At the same time and place on Wednesday in Minneapolis, SEIU local 26 held a similarly-styled rally promoting green jobs and justice for downtown janitors. (See photos of both marches below.)

Related at TCIMC: Tuesday: Five Minnesotans Detained in GFM | GFM Update from Minnesotan in Cairo | Stop the Deportation of Ryan Olander, Minnesotan Arrested in Sheik Jarrah | Minnesotans to Join GFM | All stories tagged Palestine, Gaza | Buffalo IMC: As Buffolonians Protest, Gaza Freedom March Attempts to Enter the Strip | More: GFM featured on KFAI evening news (Audio) Were you at one of the marches in Minneapolis? Publish your own photos or video or add a comment to this article!