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Activists Imprisoned in Italy Following Raids
15.11.2002 19:48
November 15th, early morning: 42 people have been arrested with charges of conspiracy and "subversive association" (art.270 bis c. p. Italy). The charges against them are of political conspiracy to disturb government activity, subversive propaganda aimed at subverting economic order. They are directly connected to the G8 protests in Genova and the Napoli Global Forum. The arrested have not been allowed to consult their lawyers. Today's events constitute a violent attack on the right to dissent. For the government, jailing activists is their only response to protests against unemployment, poverty, and oppression. The movement to struggle for and create a real alternative with housing, water, and other social rights is being criminalized. Protests have already taken place at the prison in Trani and new ones are being organized across Italy and around the world. Coverage in: Italian, Spanish [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ], Portuguese, French, Dutch [ 1 | 2 | 3 ], English, and German
Bush to Gut Northwest Forest Plan: Citizen Comments Due Nov. 20
15.11.2002 13:52
Until November 20th, the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are accepting "scoping" comments to help define "issues and alternatives" for their proposal. This is an important opportunity to tell the U.S. government that Survey and Manage must be retained. Read: entire article
As the first step in its goal of gutting the Northwest Forest Plan [ official documents | citizens' alternative ], the Bush Administration is proposing to dispense with the "Survey and Manage" component, which requires the Forest Service to seek out and protect rare and sensitive species before allowing logging. After being sued by environmentalists for neglecting to implement the surveys, the Forest Service has already drastically revised the plan twice, severely decreasing the number of species listed. Survey and Manage is a vital tool for activists who want to protect trees and endangered species; by groundtruthing, one can find and identify species that are protected and force the Forest Service to buffer the habitat or even cancel a timber sale. At risk are animals like the red tree vole and spotted owl, which are native to mature and old growth forests. 90% of logging on U.S. public lands targets mature and old growth forests.
Activists Prepare for SOA Protest/Vigil
15.11.2002 13:42
Activists, artists, students, families and religous groups begin to gather in Columbus, GA in preparation for the annual School of Americas Protest. The events begin Friday, November 15 and continue through Sunday, November 17. During this period thousands of people from all walks of life will gather outside the gates of Ft. Benning, with the goal of closing the training facility for Latin American soldiers. One of the higlights of the weekend is the political street theater, including a colorful puppet display that all can participate in.
Contempt Charges Against Squatters Dismissed
15.11.2002 13:40
Civil contempt proceedings against 54 squatters arrested at the Woodwards building in Vancouver on Sept. 21 have been dismissed in the British Columbia Supreme Court on Nov. 7. In a decisive legal victory, the presiding judge ordered B.C. Housing (the prosecutor) to pay the defense's legal costs, plus $100 to each of the defendants. The tent city of homeless people continues to grow on the sidewalk surrounding the Woodwards building in downtown Vancouver, despite continued threats of a new injunction against occupying the sidewalk. A sense of community has developed as up to 180 people have made the tent city their home. Read: entire feature
Five Thousand Take to Streets Against WTO
15.11.2002 04:24
Read: entire feature
Over five thousand people took to the streets on Thursday in the first day of actions against a mini-ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization in Sydney, Australia. Actions included much-loved antics such as the Loki Pokey outside Sydney Town Hall, as well as general frolicking and a peace convergence, a group aum on Clarence Street, other aums around the place, mobile sound systems bringing music to the people, burning effigies and flags, brilliant costumes, and chaos bubbles. Several streets were blockaded at different times. There were between 10 and 20 arrests [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | audio ] and a journalist from The Australian was badly injured when a horse fell on her. More protests are planned for Friday.
Previous coverage: Nov 13 introduction from the Melbourne IMC
Two Thousand Families May Be Ousted from Camp
15.11.2002 01:37
Read: entire feature | original feature (pt)
Two thousand homeless families who are occupying disused land in Osasco, Sao Paulo, may be ousted in the next few days. The land, 50 hectares, had been a trash dump and a secret cemetery, although it lies alongside a golf course in a nice region of the city. MTST organized the occupation at the end of July with the aid of other movements such as Resistencia Popular and Movimento de Luta Popular (Movement of Popular Struggle). At the beginning of August, an order of eviction was granted but then suspended. The order of eviction was re-imposed on November 4. The families could be removed at any time.
Previous coverage: August 23 | July 28
Resisting a Disposal of Basic Rights
14.11.2002 15:49
The last (de) six shipments of high level radioactive waste to Gorleben in Lower Saxony, Germany, were only possible due to a decrease in our fundamental rights. Despite intimidation attempts, the diverse (de) and decided resistance in numerous actions against this atomic insanity could not be held back. Read the entire feature.
Read the original feature.(de)
Anti-Eviction Campaign Continues in South Africa
14.11.2002 14:13
As demonstrations were held across the globe on October 26 against war in Iraq, about 1200 persons rallied at a stadium in Khayelitsha, Cape Town in support of the growing social and human rights movements across South Africa. Focusing on the campaign for housing rights, the crowd gathered to listen to speeches from Max Ntanyana of the Mandela Park AEC, Roger Ronnie, General Secretary of the South African Municipal Workers' Union (SAMWU), Trevor Ngwane of the Gauteng Anti-Privatisation Forum and Palestinian activist Anis Saleh. Attention centered on the recent arrest and release of Ntanyana, and the continuing targeting of housing activists in Cape Town by police, who have threatened AEC supporters that "we will pick you off one by one." Past global Indymedia coverage: [ Sep 20 | Sep 16 | Sep 13 | Sep 9 | Jun 29 ].
Protests Against the WTO Under Way
13.11.2002 23:31
With the World Trade Organisation's "mini ministerial" commencing, Sydney is in the grip of anti-WTO fever. Dozens of actions, forums and meetings are under way. Some of the major events planned include a freedom of movement march on Wednesday night, a Unity march and roving actions throughout the city on Thursday (the highlight of which will be the "spin the bottle" bloc's action), and a mass protest at the WTO ministerial on Friday. Read the entire feature: Melbourne IMC
For breaking news see: Sydney IMC
IraqJournal.org on the Air: Interviews of Iraqi Parliament Officials
13.11.2002 18:02
Update: Iraq accepts UN Resolution Iraq Journal (IJ) is broadcasting daily updates about the possibility of imminent war and ongoing anti-war activities on Democracy Now! radio and TV. Democracy Now's outreach is growing: syndicating coverage to 130 TV and radio stations nationwide. Tuesday, IJ journalist Jeremy Scahill interviewed Iraqi Parliament officials about their rejection of the UN resolution (See Democracy Now!'s summary and webstream from November 12). Saddoun Hammadi, Speaker of the Iraqi parliament, said that by rejecting the resolution Iraq is not inviting a war. Rather, Hammadi stated, "This is a rejection of allegations which are not true, of information which is false and of a bad intention which is behind this resolution... Iraq has fulfilled all the requirements of the previous resolutions. There are no mass destruction weapons in Iraq at all." The parliament qualified its position, noting that the final decision about the UN resolution lies with the Iraqi leadership, essentially meaning Hussein. On Wednesday, Iraq accepted with "no conditions" the U.N. resolution on the return of weapons inspectors. Previous Indymedia feature on IJ: Oct 7. For more information about Iraq and the anti-war movement, see these previous Indymedia features: Nov 11 | Nov 10 | Nov 9 | Nov 6 | Nov 3 | Oct 30 | Oct 26 | Oct 25 | Oct 22 | Oct 12 | Oct 10 | Oct 9 | Oct 9.
Police Shoot Mapuche Youth
12.11.2002 16:40
This week, Chilean police shot 17-year-old Mapuche activist Edmundo Alex Lemun Saavedra in the head, critically wounding him. The shooting was part of an attack against a nonviolent occupation of the Mininco forest by the indigenous Mapuche. The police violence comes on the heels of the murder of two community leaders in Alto Biobo and the arrest of another under dictatorship-era terrorist laws being used by the current, 'democratic' government to repress social and political movements. The Chilean government and military are holding dozens of Mapuche political prisoners.
5000 contre la guerre avec Stop-USA
11.11.2002 21:23
Un bon 5,000 personnes ont manifesté à Bruxelles ce dimanche (10 novembre) contre les "United States of Agression". Une manifestation bien dynamique, grâce à la présence de nombreux "immigrés". Il était clair et évident que la majorité des participant/e/s se sont radicalement positioné/e/s contre la guerre américaine contre l'Irak. Enormément de manifestants ont aussi marqué leur soutien à la Palestine.
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Massive Peace Demonstration in Florence
10.11.2002 15:31
Eyewitness report and protest overview. See photos: [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]. Watch video, or listen to listen to Radio Gap from Florence.
Reportedly, up to 1 million people (police estimate 450,000) took to the streets of Florence to demonstrate their opposition to the War during the European Social Forum on Saturday. Witnesses say that demonstrators at the end of the march have yet to begin marching while those in front reached the end point long ago. Support for the peace marchers along the route was high and the event created a lot of regional and international media attention. Earlier reports of activists being stopped at the border seem to have had little effect.
3 Arrested at UN as Iraq Resolution Passes
09.11.2002 21:34
Visit the Twin Cities IMC and Richmond IMC for reports on Saturday's demonstrations. Future demonstrations are planned in Sydney and Belgium. In Florence, Italy more than half a million people protested against the war today. Others, including international coalitions of students and of activists as well as an organization called World Peace Now, are waging the antiwar with petition drives.
Three activists were arrested Friday morning at the United Nations shortly after the Security Council passed a US-sponsored resolution imposing new inspection terms on Iraq. They were with No Blood For Oil, which was protesting the UN's support for US aggression in the Middle East. [ Read the feature from NYC IMC and past coverage: Nov 6, Oct 22 ]
Forest Activists Crash Timber Baron Conference
09.11.2002 15:29
Friday, November 8, was the opening day of the 110th annual conference of the North American Wholesale Lumber Association (NAWLA) in Dallas, Texas. Member companies of NAWLA log old-growth forests in the United States and around the world, despite popular disapproval of such practices, and have been called "North America's real ecoterrorists" for doing so. The conference was joyfully disrupted by forest activists from Texas and Cascadia, who hung a banner from the seventh story of the hotel's atrium, and then crashed a fancy luncheon with "a twelve-piece revolutionary marching band", where they threw sawdust in the air and leafletted. Outside the hotel, bridges, boxes and billboards were plastered with poster-sized wheatpastes declaring, "NAWLA = Blood Timber". One forest defender said, "There is no reason to believe the action this round is over yet." Stay tuned.
New Yorkers Watch Ashcroft Watch New Yorkers
09.11.2002 14:22
This past Tuesday, pedestrians in downtown New York City saw the demonic specter of a 20-by-50-foot (6-by-15-meter) image of Attorney General John Ashcroft staring at them from what is usually a giant advertisement for a clothing store. The sign bore the message "Ashcroft Is Watching You." A member of the Complacent Organization responsible for the culture jam said, "We wanted to remind people that while everyone — especially activists — has been distracted by the war on Iraq, Ashcroft has hidden himself away and pushed further and further with his agenda… We wanted to remind people of our lost civil liberties." Meanwhile, the New York Civil Liberties Union handed out copies of the Bill of Rights as Ashcroft visited Buffalo on Thursday.
Reports From Day One
08.11.2002 18:56
With a large presence of international media, organizers of the parallel events, the Social Forum and the Euro@action Hub, each held a press conference in their own style, one more formal than the other. Read an attendee's first impression and a report from the Hub discussion of citizen income. View photos of the antiwar demonstration at Camp Darby, a U.S. Army base: [ 1 | 2 | 3 ] There have been rumours of the borders being blocked, and reports are coming in of a UK participant being turned back.
Actions against Corporate Vampirism
08.11.2002 18:50
On Thursday, November 7, over 2500 people marched to protest the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialog, meeting in Chicago this weekend. Before the march, protesters applauded various antiwar, anti-Boeing and pro-worker speakers who addressed the crowd outside of Boeing headquarters in downtown Chicago. Demonstrators expressed grave concerns with TABD corporations' bloody thirst for profits at the expense of bombed civilians and laid-off workers. Protesters were spirited and peaceful, but the streets were lined by thousands of police officers. There are multiple reports of police pushing away people who were trying to join the march in progress.
Building Alternatives in Florence
08.11.2002 15:51
The European Social Forum is taking place in Florence, Italy this week, November 6-10. An offshoot of the World Social Forum that occurs annually in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the ESF is billed as "an open meeting space for in-depth reflection, democratic debate, free exchange of experiences and planning of effective action among entities and movements of civil society engaged in building a planetary society centred on the human being." Before the Forum even started, demonstrators were in the streets to protest U.S. foreign policy on the fiftieth anniversary of the American military base Camp Darby. Then the discussions began. Many initiatives and activities are planned for both inside and outside the convention hall.
Traverse City Passes "Resolution In Support Of Water Protection"
08.11.2002 03:17
Resistance to the Ice Mountain-Perrier bottling plant in Mecosta County, Michigan, has been ongoing since early 2001, when Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation was formed in order to take legal action over Nestle-owned Perrier's lack of environmental studies and necessary permits. While the lawsuit filed by MCWC awaits its May 2003 court date, the battle for Michigan's water has not slowed. Recently, a resolution on Water Rights authored by the Sweetwater Alliance North, and endorsed by several other environmental groups was adopted by Traverse City, a victory for local resistance against corporate privatization supported by international trade agreements. Read the resolution here. Read a commentary on the resolution here.