Tens, possibly hundreds of thousands of people allowed themselves to be herded like cattle through checkpoints and double fences. When the fireworks began to peak, hundreds of geese that normally use the reflecting pool fled in terror, running as fast as they could on the ground. VIDEO: Cattle pens on the Mall, fleeing geese by the reflecting pool

For the 5th year running, the burning of American flags will take place on Friday, July 3rd at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz. Organizers say they raise the burning flag up as a sacred symbol representing their highest ideals as Americans, and that the "American Flag is so great a symbol that it represents the right to burn it."

Robert Norse comments, "Burning a flag in solidarity with the Honduran people on July 4th makes more sense to me than burning a flag as a celebration of the First Amendment. Divorcing flag-burning from its visceral ('Yanqui, go home!') content is a way of stripping the action of its force."

There seems to be a great divergence of opinion among liberals and leftists about what is really happening in Iran. There are those who think Iran is in somewhat of a vacuum and is only trying to have a democratic election against theocracy and a repressive attitude to women's rights. Other leftists think because the Bush administration in the past had contemplated military action and also covert actions by the CIA against Iran that these facts, among others, argue for an attempted coup taking place, especially given the enormous number of successful and unsuccessful CIA coups which have occurred in the past 60 years. I have an excellent book entitled Killing Hope-US military and CIA interventions since World War 2 by William Blum. I would say that the only countries or continents not to have at least CIA spies in them would be places like Greenland or Antarctica that have little interest for multinational corporations because they are covered with huge ice sheets. Of course, this could change with global warming. You might be served a burger and fries by an Eskimo at the grand opening of McDonalds in Greenland.

Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan featured testimony from U.S. veterans who served in those occupations, giving an accurate account of what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground. We were able to catch most of the testimony from 2 panels of IVAW members and others with direct experience with the War in Iraq and "War on Terror." It took place in the Central Austin Presbyterian Church in downtown Austin. The sanctuary of the church was full with around 200 people.

There were a number of people from Houston including folks with Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak Out and Houston IVAW. Brandon Neely of Houston IVAW was on the first panel and spoke on his experience as a military police officer at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Cuba. While much of the testimony was sad and distressing, the room was full of positive energy with frequent outbreaks of clapping and cheering, and many people sharing amazing work being done to show non-military options for youth, help people in active duty get out of the military and show opposition to the war.

At the end of the testimony, at 5pm we undertook a brisk and loud march through downtown Austin with banners, signs and loud chanting that ended at City Hall for a rally. [full article and photos] More photo

Washington, DC Resident Luis Wolf put the School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC) on Trial. More Jan 26: Father Luis Barrios, 56, from North Bergen, New Jersey, sentenced to 2 months in federal prison and a $250 fine Theresa Cusimano, 40 Denver, Colorado, 2 monthes in federal prison and $500 fine Kristin Holm, from Chicago, Illinois, sentenced to 2 months in federal prison and a $250 fine Sr. Diane Pinchot, OSU, 63, from Cleveland, Ohio, sentenced to 2 months in federal prison Al Simmons, 64, from Richmond, Virginia, sentenced to 2 months in federal prison Louis Wolf, 68, from Washington, DC, 6 months housearrest and $1000 fine

CLAREMONT - Over 300 justice activists detained Republican mastermind Karl Rove for over an hour yesterday in Claremont, demanding he be brought to justice for crimes against humanity, democracy, and general moral sensibility. Despite fervent efforts, they were unsuccessful in executing a citizen's arrest.

Ever since his college days, when he snuck into the campaign headquarters of a Democratic candidate and stole 1000 letterheads to distribute false messages about the campaign, Rove has been involved in subterfuge, chicanery, theft, and subversion--and not in a good way. In fact, he has been using these tactics in the worst way possible: to get corrupt politicians elected so they can enact murderous, genocidal policies and enrich the richest of the elite's upper crust.

Full coverage: Karl Rove detained for crimes against humanity in Claremont by Rockero

The Radical History Series, Tuesday nights at Laughing Horse Books, continues, and will feature some nearly-lost bits of anarchist history, reclaimed in the context of current struggles. Shawn says: I'm just recently back in Portland, after 18 years in NW Ohio, where I worked as a bookseller and taught (cultural studies, philosophy, women's studies, intellectual history) at Bowling Green State University. I'm currently an independent scholar and archivist, affiliated with the Anarchist Studies Network, the Movement of the Libertarian Left, and, of course, Laughing Horse. I'm actively archiving public-domain material, as well as translating anarchist material from French. If you're interested in helping with that sort of project, or if you are interested in more focused study in radical history, stop by one of the sessions and we can talk.

I'm blogging now from what can only be called “The Occupied Twin Cities”. As the Minnesota National Guard marches through the streets of downtown St. Paul tonight in a display reminiscent of the old Soviet May Day parades, those who made it past the mass arrests of the day try to find a place to rest their weary heads and scrub the pepper spray off.... read more

The first day of the Republican National Convention opened in a scaled back version, ostensibly out of respect for the anticipated sufferings in the Gulf Coast Region. However, other factors seemed to have been in play. Outside the convention hall, protests against the Republican agenda overtook downtown St. Paul. First there was the “authorized parade route”, which drew an estimated ten thousand protesters and was for the most part just another peace parade. However, off the parade route and throughout the downtown area of St. Paul a very different kind of protest erupted. The sector tactic of “swarm, seize, stay” protest was meet with extreme police violence. There are reports of beatings, tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets being used on unarmed demonstrators, the arrest of legal observers, medics and journalists including Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! (video) and mass arrests which included children and the elderly.

Latest reports are that close to 300 arrests have been made, and that some arrestees being held without bail or hearing. Police have sealed off a 4 block zone around the convention hall and are blocking entrance and exit to entire regions of the city. Police also stormed a peaceful outdoor concert at Harriet Park and detained an estimate 200 people. No explanation has been given for this police action. There are also reports of arrests of Code Pink Women for Peace members who took part in civil disobedience actions against the war. [for more media click Read More]

Tuesday, Apr 22nd, :00 PM - 08:00 PM
Rm 296 Smith Student Union
The SPP: The North American Corporate Coup'de'tat
(organized by North American Solidarity, Students for Unity)

A teach-in followed by a strategy/organizing meeting in opposition to the anti-democratic and fascist North American Leaders Summit in New Orleans, which is the fourth meeting of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. Be there if you want to learn about this overwhelmingly quiet organization that is directing our future.

http://rootfoce.org

The confluence of two forces--a massive military expansion in Hawai'i and Congressional legislation that will stymie the Kanaka Maoli [Native Hawaiian] sovereignty movement--will expand and consolidate the use of Hawai'i for US empire. We are calling on the US left to join our movement opposing these threats and to add our quest for independence as a plank of the broad US left strategy for a nonimperialist America. If you support peace and justice for the United States and the world, please support demilitarization and independence for Hawai'i.

On March 13-16 in Washington, DC, the Iraq Veterans Against The War conducted the "Winter Soldier" hearings on the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war. Former US military who were in Iraq and Afghanistan testified about US war crimes in the 2 wars and dramatically condemned the Bush administration and Pentagon for starting the wars. The DC hearings were broadcast live on the internet and they were seen by the public at many locations organized by anti-war activists in multiple states. In Boston local media, including the Boston Globe, covered the event; however, the IVAW Winter Soldier was largely ignored by most corporate media. "Winter Soldier" hearings were first held in 1971 in DC by the Vietnam Veterans Against The War and were pivotal in bringing the Vietnam War to an end.

NY Indymedia report back from Silver Spring, MD:
Turner and other soldiers on the Rules of Engagement panel depicted their tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan as horrifying events, in which civilians were indiscriminately killed, both accidentally and intentionally, soldiers wantonly destroyed property, including mosques, conducted house raids, planted weapons on civilians killed by the U.S. military in order to be able to classify their deaths as insurgents, and mutilated the dead. “I want to apologize to all the people in Iraq,” said Sergio Kochergin abruptly, breaking off the end of a story about a friend who had shot himself in the shower, four days after arriving in Iraq. “I’m sorry and I hope this war is going to be over as soon as possible.” >> Read More and Photos

WATCH/LISTEN TO ARCHIVES: Iraq Veterans Against the War | War Comes Home | Video of Testimony from Iraqi people

Local Actions: Boston Photos and Video | Washington D.C.: Winter Soldier Eyewitness Accounts event in Silver Spring | Indybay: Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan | Pittsburgh: Rustbelt Radio Winter Soldier coverage | Los Angeles: Iraq Soldiers to Testify about War Crimes at Winter Soldier | Urbana Champaign: Support Iraq Veterans Against the War

Related article: Iraq Winter Soldier Hearings: Victory for Independent Media by Jeff Cohen

The greatest threat to the neo-liberal political economy is not terrorism, nor armed insurgency, nor drugs. It has always been and continues to be, grassroots community based organizing for self-sufficiency, self-reliance, self-determination, self-empowerment, and self-defense. In Mexico, as throughout the growing popular movements brewing all over Latin America, this type of organizing can be broken down to just one word: “autogestion”. Autogestion is the greatest threat to neo-liberalism, and the benefits of its global atrocities to the American population. When communities whose role within the neo-liberal political economy is that of a slave, a servant or worse yet, a disposable variable, begin to organize for self-sufficiency, self-reliance, self-determination, self-empowerment, and self-defense, that is the greatest threat to the security of the United States of America. In fact it is the only thing that has ever truly been considered a threat. Read More >>

$500,000 in Department of Defense Funding to Kansas University for Mapping of Communally Held Indigenous Lands in La Huasteca and Oaxaca, Mexico

$500,000 in Department of Defense funding is being made available to the Department of Geography by the Foreign Military Services Office (FMSO), based out of Fort Leavenworth in Lawrence, Kansas. Geography professors Jerome Dobson and Peter Herlihy explicitly acknowledge the security and intelligence ramifications of their project, the Bowman Expeditions, citing the geo-political and cultural effects of the “neo-liberal property regime.” The home of the FMSO, Fort Leavenworth, was the command center of the western front during US expansionism into native lands in the early 1800s as well as the epicenter of the War Departments “control” over native populations after the civil war. Today, the FMSO focuses on emerging and asymmetric threats to the national security of the United States of America, which is a red flag as to their intentions in funding the Bowman Expeditions.

US military intervention in Mexico has seen a steady increase in the last decade, and now is set on a fast track through Plan Mexico, which like Plan Colombia, justifies further military funding for the “war on drugs.” The racist history of colonial rule and territorial occupation continues with a whole new set of conspirators seeking economic gain and academic notoriety. The maps produced by this project are not just of the physical landscape, but rather more intentionally of the cultural resistance to displacement. Through the rhetoric of unbiased science, and geographic exploration, the Bowman expeditions are actively paving in Mexico, the road to hell.

"We Are the Troops! Bring Us Home!"

WASHINGTON DC, September 15, 2007 – Thousands marched to the Capitol building today and staged acts of mass civil disobedience to protest the ongoing US war on Iraq. Veterans of the Iraq war led the march to the Capitol. The protest culminated in about 175 arrests as the veterans and supporters jumped the fence/police line at the Capitol.

Indymedia.Org feature: Iraq Veterans Against The War Lead March and Civil Disobedience in Washington DC | WSQT Radio Report | Photos

Congress Will Decide the Fate of the former School of the Americas this Wednesday June 20th, 2007.

On Wednesday, May 9, raids took place against approximately 40 apartments, offices and social spaces associated with leftist or radical projects in Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen and other locations. Approximately 900 police were involved in this wave of raids. This repression arrives in the run-up to the summit of the G8 nations, set to take place in Heiligendamm from June 6-8.

The German federal police seemed especially concerned about shutting down the so36.net server, which hosts many alternative and activist mailing lists and internet sites. The raids, targeting a hodge-podge of those who have voiced opposition to the G8, are seen as an attempt to discourage active opposition to the summit. Some of the searches were justified by section 129a of the German criminal code, which involves "forming a terrorist association." This has given the authorities wide-ranging powers of data gathering and intimidation against their targets, although conviction under this section is rare.

UPDATE: Bicyclists targeted by German Police (Infoshop.org)
Background: Portland Indymedia articles from May 9 and May 11.
Infoshop.org post on wave of repression here.

While there was no definative large march or rally to mark the 4th anniversary of the US Invasion of Iraq in Houston, there were a number of smaller events and observances that took place across the Houston Metro area as well as across the state.

Here is a review of coverage from the Houston Indymedia open publishing newswire (if something is missing, publish a report):
Houston Peace Events on 03-18 | Galvestonian Poet Against War | 4 years 2 many (3,300 KIA) | Pasadena Flag Memorial Shows Physical Cost of War | Freeway Blogging on 59 | Photos-Freeway Blogging for Peace, US-59 | focus on peace | Progressive Day of Action at UH

National coverage from Indymedia.us | Global coverage from Indymedia.org

LOS ANGELES, November 19, 2006 - Six UC students and three community members were forcefully dragged from the UC Regents board meeting on Thursday by police after they informed the Regents that they would not allow the board to convene its DOE lab oversight committee, the Regents’ body in charge of UC’s nuclear weapons research, design, and manufacturing labs in Los Alamos, New Mexico and Livermore, California. The civil disobedience action was conducted by The Coalition to Demilitarize, a group of students and community activists who seek to end the University of California’s participation in the production of nuclear weapons. From the Newswire Students arrested for blocking UC nuclear labs

VAPPOR OAXACA Rally
(Vencera la -samblea Popular del Pueblo de Oaxaca en Resistencia)
2PM Sunday November 19
Mexican Consulate, 1549 India St. Little Italy

The Oaxaca Solidarity Camp has continuously occupied the sidewalk outside the Mexican Consulate in San Diego, 24/7, for 21 days, since the invasion of Oaxaca by Mexican federal troops on October 29, in solidarity with the Oaxacan resistance's demands put forth by The Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO): that the murderous governor Ulises Ruiz be removed, that the federal troops leave Oaxaca, and that all political prisoners be released and disappeared be returned.

WW4 Report [en]: Oaxaca prosecutor: APPO killed Brad Will. Currently the best short roundup of what PRI appointed Prosecutor General Lizbeth Caña Cadeza said at her press conference. Cadeza claims that there is "growing evidence that Indymedia cameraman Bradley Will was killed at point-blank range by supporters of the Popular People's Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) as a "deceitful confabulation" to "internationalize the conflict" in the state." Links to ...

E-Oaxaca.net [es]: La muerte de Bradley Will fue “confabulación” de la APPO, dictamina PGJE.