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In the Streets

March 26, 2004 - 3:28am -- jim
News
In the Streets

FTAA Federal Lawsuit Challenges "Miami Model"


Miami Activist Defense (MAD) and National Lawyers Guild (NLG) attorneys
filed a lawsuit in federal court today accusing the City of Miami,
Mayors Diaz and Penelas, Police Chief Timoney, Homeland Defense
Secretary Ridge, US Attorney General Ashcroft and others of violating
people's Constitutional Rights during last November's FTAA protests and
implementing a plan to unlawfully arrest hundreds of people.

March 23, 2004 - 8:45am -- jim
News
In the Streets

"Protests, Even Buttons, Verboten in Crawford"

Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive

If you're ever thinking about going down to Crawford, Texas, to protest against Bush, beware. The police do not take kindly to demonstrators there -- or legal observers, for that matter. And even if you're just wearing an anti-Bush button, you could get arrested. That's the message a local jury sent last month.

March 23, 2004 - 1:53am -- jim
News
In the Streets

San Francisco Action Shuts Down Bechtel Headquarters on Anniversary of Iraq Invasion

DASW (Direct Action to Stop the War)

San Francisco, March 19, 2004 -- Over 500 Bay Area
residents marked the anniversary of the U.S. invasion
of Iraq by taking direct action at the headquarters of
the Bechtel corporation to protest their exploitation
of the Iraqi people and misuse of U.S. tax dollars. Two
marches converged on Bechtel's offices, one led by
teachers holding a banner reading "Education Not
Occupation," and one led by healthcare workers marching
with banners reading "Healthcare not Warfare" and
"Democracy Not Empire". The march was flanked by a
marching band, yogis for peace, colorful puppets,
cyclists, and banners protesting the US occupation of
Iraq. While the crowd occupied the street, several
dozen people engaged in civil disobedience by blocking
the entrances to the building. By noon over twenty-five
people had been arrested. The actions were organized by
local grassroots mobilization Direct Action to Stop
the War (DASW) and will be among the first of hundreds
of anti-war actions happening this weekend in 250 U.S.
cities and over 50 countries.

March 22, 2004 - 2:11pm -- jim
News
In the Streets

Chicago Cops Upset by Plans to Name Park for Lucy Parsons

Associated Press

March 22, 2004 -- The Chicago Federation of Police is trying to dissuade the
Chicago Park District from naming a small Northwest Side park in honor of a
woman described by one 19th century police official as "more dangerous than
a thousand rioters."


In a letter to Park District board members, FOP president Mark P. Donohue
said he was "disappointed and disheartened" by plans to name the park after
Lucy Ella Gonzales Parsons, the widow of a man hanged in 1887 for his
purported role in the Haymarket Square bombing of the previous year.

March 20, 2004 - 10:05am -- jim
Events
In the Streets

hydrarchist writes:

"Alternative Economic Summit"

Warsaw, Poland, April 28-30, 2004


to coincide with
The World Economic Forum European Economic Summit,
Warsaw, Poland April 28-30, 2004

On the eve of accession to the European Union (significantly planned for May 1 to change the nature of that holiday), the European Economic Summit (which was cancelled in Dublin due to planned protests) is coming to Warsaw. On this occasion, we would like to greet the Summit not only with protest but with criticism and alternative visions. It is with this aim that we are calling for participation in an Alternative Economic Forum.

March 19, 2004 - 3:01pm -- hydrarchist
Analysis & Polemic
In the Streets

hydrarchist writes:

"The First London Social Forum:
What Have We Achieved?"

Massimo De Angelis

Achievements and Ways of Seeing

At the end of the first London Social Forum (LSF) meeting on October 4th, we were challenged to answer the question: what have we achieved? Judging from some e-mail correspondence and comments circulated after the meeting, some of our "revolutionary" critics believe we have achieved nothing at all. How should we assess the achievements of our action? By comparing the results of our actions to the intended results. Of course, we all share the aim to create a world of peace and justice without exploitation. Among our movements, however, there are different understandings of what are the intended results of concrete moments like the LSF. Depending on your political outlook, you’ll interpret it differently.

March 19, 2004 - 12:59am -- nolympics
Events
In the Streets

Lon Cayeway writes


International Day of Action

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Saturday, March 20

Featuring Noam Chomsky.

Peace Flame Park (south end of Burrard Bridge)

Gather: 11:00am

Rally: 1:00pm at Sunset Beach (off Beach Ave at Bute)

More information: http://www.stopwar.ca/

What a great way to start the spring; with mobile dance music by "The Carnival Band"

http://www.thecarnivalband.com/home.html

March 18, 2004 - 1:19pm -- nolympics
In the Streets

Their goal is to intimidate and to eliminate dissent...

Ours is to remain free!

ON MARCH 20TH IN NYC…

DO NOT GO INTO THE METAL PENS!

According to a recent report, (NYT  3/12/04), the
NYPD plans "to use containment pens to handle protest on March 20." The pens are used to disempower and discourage protest. Police head Ray Kelly has "denied a request" from legal and advocacy groups to refrain from using the interlocking metal structures which are the object of a currently pending NYCLU legal challenge stemming from last years' February 15th peace demo.

“Containment pens" are tantamount to portable detention facilities. The use of these “pens” stems in part from police "protest management" techniques derived from military sources, specifically from US Army Field Manual 19-15, Civil Disturbances (1985). The manual advises that "when employed to disperse, contain or block a crowd, they are particularly effective in urban areas because they enable the control force to split a crowd into smaller segments." They have also been used as battering rams, used to herd people from one area to another, or to encircle folks in preparation for mass arrests.

This overt violation of our collective right to dissent must
stop! It is time we stood up and affirmed our human dignity, our right to protest and not to be enslaved, endangered and imprisoned in these "pens”. Their use is unprecedented, arbitrary and selective. No other municipal police force in the entire nation uses them. In fact, no where in the world are protesters herded into metal cages! It is time that we stand up to uphold our right to free speech, the right to have our grievances heard!
Therefore, because we will no longer be dehumanized, degraded and dominated into meek subservience, we will not enter into these pens!

Our right to free speech is fundamentally tied to our right to assemble. And although the First Amendment guarantees our right to "peaceful assembly", the powers that be recognize that ultimately the battle for "hearts and minds" will be played out in the streets, the contested terrain of protest. We must not allow these counterinsurgency techniques to undermine our ability to have our voices heard, to undercut our collective power and emotional solidarity. Join the march, protest, make your voice heard, yes, but do not go into the pens!

OUR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH AND ASSEMBLY "SHALL NOT BE ABRIDGED"

March 3, 2004 - 12:33pm -- hydrarchist
News
In the Streets

Update of the Genoa trials

via Otted (IMC-Italy).

The protesters against G8 are to stand trial on 2nd of March in Genoa. 26 persons were accused, based on photos and filmed material of single episodes, of a crime of which people are rarely charged in Italy : devastation and plunder. The penalty? From 8 to 15 years in prison. It is a "limping" preliminary investigation because it separates the "crowd management" from the actions of the demonstrators. All of the charges and accounts on what tens of thousands of people had seen in those days on the streets of Genoa have been archived and so, as lawyer Laura Tartarini explains, Nobody investigated, and at this point noobody will ever investigate - about the direction of public order".

March 1, 2004 - 3:17am -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
In the Streets

Morpheus writes:

"Historic Roots of the Haitian Civil War"
Morpheus

The present civil war has brought Haiti back into the news again, along with its many problems that have afflicted the country for over a century. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and now is stricken with a civil war that threatens to bring about a humanitarian catastrophe. The civil war has also prompted the Bush administration to consider military intervention in Haiti. Haiti’s problems to a great extend are due to interventions by foreign powers, mainly France and the United States. Further interventions cannot fix Haiti’s problems; they are one of the main sources of its problems.

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