July 27, 2008 - Some News, Views, and Info

No Human Being Is Illegal: In April 2006, hundreds of thousands of immigrant rights protestors marched in cities across the United States. They countered prolonged debates about the pros and cons of comprehensive immigration reform with a short but sweet affirmation, scrawled on placards: "No Human Being Is Illegal." It's time for all of us to march with those immigrant rights signs. (MR Zine) July 22, 2008

Wind Farm Puts Tiny Mo. Town On Alt-Energy Map: When it comes to alternative energy, little Rock Port, Missouri - population about 1,400 - is a pioneer: it's the site of a wind farm that's projected to generate more electricity than the town uses in a year. (Belleville News-Democrat) July 25, 2008

VIDEO: Permanent Peoples' Tribunal On Occidental Petroleum: Film of the July 22, 2008, Los Angeles, California, rally in solidarity with the People of Colombia. (LEFT IN LA LA) July 25, 2008

It's Time For Wind and Wave Power: George W. Bush is right in one sense: We need to maximize our offshore assets. He just has the wrong energy source in mind. Instead of endless oil derricks that bring polluted beaches and rising seas, it's time to move to wind and wave power. (Baltimore Sun) July 23, 2008

After Years of Struggle, California Hotel Workers Make Gains (Labor Notes) July 2008

First Tidal Power Turbine Gets Plugged In: An underwater turbine that generates electricity from tidal streams was plugged into the UK's national grid. Tidal power isn't 20 to 30 years away and a dream. It is something that, if we get the right resources around it, could become a significant reality and contributor much quicker than that. (The Guardian UK) July 17, 2008

Total Recall in Bolivia: Divided Nation Faces Historic Vote. In early July in Sicaya, Cochabamba, Bolivian President Evo Morales announced that if he wins the August 10 recall vote on his presidency, "I'll have two and half years left." But if he loses the vote, "I’ll have to go back to the Chapare" to farm coca again. Though the recall vote is likely to favor Morales, it’s unclear if it will resolve many of the divided nation’s conflicts. (Toward Freedom) July 23, 2008

People to Ratchet Up Climate Heat: Teams of people concerned about climate change are planning to take to the streets over the coming weeks to put the spotlight on policy makers who they say are prioritizing corporate interests in the coal and oil industries over the impending threat of global warming. (OneWorld) July 25, 2008

June 21, 2008 - Some News, Views, and Info

500,000 Flee Iraq: Half a million Iraqis fled their homes last year creating the worst refugee crisis in the world, a new report says. The US took 1,500 - less than half the number it promised to resettle. (Mirror UK) June 20, 2008

Medical Tests Prove Abuse, Torture In Iraq, Gitmo: Medical examinations of former terrorism suspects held by the US military at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, found evidence of torture and other abuse that resulted in serious injuries and mental disorders, according to a human rights group. (Jerusalem Post) June 18, 2008

Nationalise Big Oil, Enemy of People and Planet: The union and environment movements must fight side by side against the devastation the Shells and Exxons are wreaking on our planet and the livelihoods of its peoples.
(Socialist Alliance) June 2008

Charges Finally Dropped Against Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste in Haiti: The Court of Appeal of Port-au-Prince has announced the dismissal of all remaining charges against Father Gerard Jean-Juste. The Catholic priest is a prominent supporter of Famni Lavalas, the political party of ousted Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide. (HaitiAnalysis) June 19, 2008

Ice on Mars: Excited scientists have hailed the discovery of water ice on Mars as a major breakthrough in the search for life on the planet. (Press Association) June 21, 2008

EU Treaty Rejected in Ireland: The pro-corporate European Union Lisbon treaty has been rejected by voters in a referendum in the Republic of Ireland. (Green Left Weekly) June 14, 2008

June 14, 2008 - Some News, Views, and Info

Kucinich Vows New Round of Impeachment Articles Against Bush if Measure Dies (Online Journal) June 13, 2008

The Myth of the Market: The increasing injustice and environmental destruction of recent years has been justified by the alleged 'efficiency' of the market. But both theory and evidence show that markets are economically inefficient, wasteful of human and natural resources. (21st Century Socialism) June 11, 2008

Three Cheers For The Irish "No" Voters!: Irish voters torpedoed the Lisbon Treaty Friday. In the face of an almost united political establishment, a majority of voters decided to vote in favour of Irish independence and neutrality and against the nefarious plans of the European Business elite and their paid political agents. (Greenman's Occasional Organ) June 13, 2008

Only Nuclear Dreams Mushrooming: The proposal by the Paris-based International Energy Agency for more than 1,400 nuclear power plants to be built over the next 40 years is unfeasible, environmental activists say. (Inter Press Service) June 13, 2008

Hunger Strike by Bhopal Victims in India: The three organisations of Bhopal survivors leading the 111 day-long campaign in Delhi, along with participants from more than 18 countries announced the launching of a global hunger strike from June 10. (Business Standard, India) June 9, 2008

Activists Launch Protests Against Corporations in 8 Brazil States: Thousands of landless rural workers invaded dams, railways, plantations and corporate headquarters in a wave of protests across eight Brazilian states on Tuesday. (International Herald Tribune) June 10, 2008

How Europe Underdevelops Africa And How Some Fight Back (Counterpunch) June 13-15, 2008

Racism in the Tar Sands: Exploiting Foreign Workers and Poisoning Indigenous People in Canada (Oil Sands Truth) June 12, 2008

May 30, 2008 - Some News, Views, and Info

The global biodiversity crisis that threatens life on Earth is driven by economic policies that fail to value nature, a new report finds. (Inter Press Service) May 30, 2008

Loss of Biodiversity Threatens Livelihoods of World's Poorest (London Independent) May 30, 2008

The Climate Change Threat To US Crops and Water (The Guardian UK) May 29, 2008

Greem Party candidate Cynthia McKinney Statement on Hunger Strike to Oppose US Star War Deployment in Czech Republic, Poland: Cynthia McKinney today sent a letter of solidarity to citizens activists in the Czech Republic who's hunger strike is focusing attention on efforts by the Bush Administration to escalate a new arms race with its deployment of Star Wars installations in Eastern Europe. (AllThingsCynthiaMcKinney.com) May 30, 2008

Cynthia McKinney & The Green Party Option (Nadir's Blog @ Think MTV) May 8, 2008

Statement by Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions to 2008 Chevron and ExxonMobil Shareholder Meetings (ZNet) May 30, 2008

Florida Farmworkers Chop Up Burger King (MR Zine) May 30, 2008

May 26, 2008 - Some News, Views, and Info

Her Voice, Our Voices: Roslyn Zinn R.I.P. (Rebel Frequencies) May 22, 2008

Utah Phillips R.I.P. Some Thoughts From David Rovics (Songwriter's Notebook) May 25, 2008

Billions Wasted on UN Climate Programme: Energy Firms Routinely Abusing Carbon Offset Fund, US Studies Claim (The Guardian) May 26, 2008

Discredited Strategy: Increasing allegations of corruption and profiteering are raising serious questions about the UN-run carbon trading mechanism aimed at cutting pollution and rewarding clean technologies (The Guardian) May 21, 2008

South Africa is All of Us: The situation is the culmination of policies that have made the rich richer, and the poor poorer. But "the ruling elite is not South Africa. There are many within South Africa who are in solidarity with those under attack, and are opposed to the conditions that feed xenophobia." (Pambazuka) May 22, 2008

Moles Wanted: In preparation for the Republican National Convention, the FBI is soliciting informants to keep tabs on local protest groups (Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages) May 21, 2008

ILO: Workers In Israeli-Occupied Gaza And West Bank Suffering (Workers Independent News) May 26, 2008

Unionists Granted Bail in Zimbabwe (Green Left Weekly) May 23, 2008

May 16, 2008 - News, Views, and Info

US Naval Fleet To Be Positioned Off the Coast of South America (Upside Down World) May 13, 2008

John Cusack’s War: The Actor Battles to Un-Embed Hollywood With His New Film, ‘War, Inc.’ (Common Dreams) May 16, 2008

The Horrors of ICE: Dangerous Forced Psychotropic Drugging, Frightening Lack of Medical Care (American Leftist) May 14, 2008

California Supreme Court Strikes Down Same Sex Marriage Ban (365Gay.com) May 15, 2008

China's All-Seeing Eye: With the help of U.S. defense contractors, China is building the prototype for a high-tech police state. It is ready for export. (Rolling Stone) May 29, 2008

Species are dying out at a rate not seen since the demise of the dinosaurs, according to a report published today – and human behaviour is to blame. (The Independent UK) May 16, 2008

May 13, 2008 - News, Views, & Info

Perceived as “Dykes, Whores, Bitches”: 1 in 3 US Military Women Experience Sexual Abuse (The WIP) May 7, 2008

Bolivia: Fraud, Violence and Mass Resistance Marks Right-Wing Push (Bolivia Rising) May 11, 2008

Food Crisis (Part One): The Greatest Demonstration of the Historical Failure of the Capitalist Model (Socialist Voice) April 28, 2008

FOOD CRISIS (Part Two): Capitalism, Agribusiness, and the Food Sovereignty Alternative (Socialist Voice) May 11, 2008

Exposing 'Juan Crow' in the state of Georgia: the matrix of laws, social customs, economic institutions and symbolic systems enabling the physical and psychic isolation needed to control and exploit undocumented immigrants. (The Nation) May 8, 2008

Antiwar Marine's Mother Elaine Brower Reports From March's Winter Soldier
(Against the Current) May/June 2008

A Report on Winter Soldier 2008 (Against the Current) May/June 2008

Amazon's Future in Delicate Balance. 75% of Deforestation in Amazon is to Create Cattle Pasture (BBC News) May 12, 2008

"We Are Workers, Not Criminals"

By David Bacon, IRC Americas Program, May 5, 2008

In the big immigrant marches that swept the country on May Day in 2006 and 2007, one sign said it all: "We are Workers, not Criminals!" Often it was held in the calloused hands of men and women who looked as though they'd just come from work in a factory, cleaning an office building, or picking grapes.
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Deportations, firings, and guest-worker programs all make labor cheaper and union organizing harder. They contribute to a climate of fear and insecurity for everyone.
Instead of making work a crime and treating immigrants as criminals, we need equality, economic security, jobs, and rights for everyone.

Read all of '"We Are Workers, Not Criminals"'. . .

The Border Wall and Jaguars

No Border Wall, May 1, 2008

The Center for Biological Diversity is bringing suit to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a recovery plan for jaguars in southern Arizona. Listed under the Endangered Species Act, the jaguar is one of the first species that will be driven to extinction by the border wall. If the walls that are on the books for 2008 are built, the Sonoran pronghorn, cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, ocelot, jaguarundi, and a number of other species will follow the jauar into oblivion.

Continue reading 'The Border Wall and Jaguars'. . .

May Day Immigrants Rights March in Los Angeles

By Jacob Adelman, Press-Enterprise, May 1, 2008

Immigration-reform advocates gathered Thursday for downtown demonstrations one year after peaceful marches on the issue ended violently when police officers used batons and fired so-called non-lethal rounds to clear people out of a park during the day's closing rally.

Continue reading 'May Day Immigrants Rights March in Los Angeles'. . .

May Day Protests To Challenge ICE Raids

By Lee Sustar, Socialist Worker, April 25, 2008

Vowing not to be intimidated by a wave of immigration raids, activists from coast to coast are mobilizing for May Day marches and protests for immigrant and workers' rights.

Continue reading 'May Day Protests To Challenge ICE Raids'. . .

Mexican-Americans Stand Up to Jim Crow

Justin Akers Chacón tells the hidden history of Mexican-American workers.
By Justin Akers Chacón, Socialist Worker, April 4, 2008

"Placing a premium on interracial and interethnic collaboration as a central component of unionization, the CIO [Congress of Industrial Organizations] served as a center and training ground for activism for thousands of Mexican-Americans."
So unfolds Zaragosa Vargas' seminal work, Labor Rights Are Civil Rights, which concludes that the mass strike movement of the New Deal era not only toppled capital's resistance to industrial unionism but forged a generation of Mexican-American working-class fighters whose struggles against racism laid the basis for the Chicano civil rights movement and the eventual overthrow of legal segregation.

Continue reading 'Mexican-Americans Stand Up to Jim Crow'. . .

Toward a Better World: Interview with Mike Davis

By Ben Terrall, Dissident Voice, March 10, 2008

Mike Davis is a veteran writer and activist who cut his progressive teeth in the 1960s civil rights and anti-war movements.
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Davis’s lively prose style, combined with an intellectual curiosity and ease with science, the humanities, radical history and much else, makes for engaging writing chock full of eccentric, surprising information. Davis’s fellow Lannan Foundation award winner Susan Straight recently said, “he writes everything [and] he knows everything about everything.”
Mike Davis was good enough to give me a phone interview in early February. In the background, Mike’s twin toddlers scurried around his San Diego home as he graciously let me pick his brain for an hour.

Read all of 'Toward a Better World: Interview with Mike Davis'. . .

Immigrant NY Foodstuffs Workers Organize Industry-Wide IWW Campaign

By Maria Rodriguez Gil, Infoshop, March 16, 2008

Although the Industrial Workers of the World pioneered industrial unionism 100 years ago, it hasn’t seen a significant organizing drive in the United States for decades—until a recent drive among short-haul truckers on the West Coast and an ongoing campaign by the IWW Food and Allied Workers Union, New York Local I.U. 460/640, to organize food industry workers (the vast majority of them undocumented immigrants) in New York City.
The two-year-old organizing drive has reached about 500 workers in dozens of food industry companies and has significantly improved, directly and indirectly, wages and working conditions across the industry in the New York City area.
Proving wrong those who claim that you can’t build a union with undocumented workers, the IWW has succeeded where traditional unions failed, becoming the only union in the country with 90% undocumented members (more than 70 have joined Local I.U. 460/640).

Continue reading 'Immigrant NY Foodstuffs Workers Organize Industry-Wide IWW Campaign'. . .

LA Labor Steps Up to Defend Undocumented

SARAH KNOPP describes the strong response to an ICE workplace raid in Southern California.
By Sarah Knopp, Socialist Worker, February 22, 2008

LOS ANGELES--The labor movement here, in cooperation with immigrants' advocacy groups, has stepped up the effort to defend unorganized workers from workplace raids.
On February 7, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents burst into the Micro Solutions printer-cartridge factory in Van Nuys, Calif., and about 150 people were arrested and detained.
According to the ACLU, every worker was handcuffed even though they posed no threat. Workers were prevented from using their cell phones to call family members to arrange child care, and ICE agents held their hands to their guns to threaten workers.
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On February 14, CHIRLA, UNITE-HERE, SEIU, National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC), the ACLU and many other immigrants' rights groups like the South Asian Network, the Emergency Response Network and Frente Unida Contra Las Redadas organized an emergency response protest at the Los Angeles Federal Building. Some 250 people attended, many of them factory workers.
The protest was remarkable for the way that it brought together so many immigrant rights groups that have been working on separate projects since last May Day.

Read all of 'LA Labor Steps Up to Defend Undocumented'. . .

Repress U

By Michael Gould-Wartofsky, The Nation, January 10, 2008

Free-speech zones. Taser guns. Hidden cameras. Data mining. A new security curriculum. Private security contractors. Welcome to the homeland security campus.
From Harvard to UCLA, the ivory tower is fast becoming the latest watchtower in Fortress America.

Continue reading 'Repress U'. . .

Interview with Cynthia McKinney on Why She is Running for President and More

San Francisco Bay Area Indy Media, January 8, 2007

Note: The following interview with former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is reprinted from issue No. 268 of the ILC International Newsletter (Jan. 8, 2008), published weekly in multiple languages in Paris. The interview was conducted for the ILC International Newsletter by Alan Benjamin on Jan. 5.
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Question: Sister McKinney, as someone who is running for president of the United States on behalf of the Power to the People electoral coalition, how do you view the recent Iowa caucus?
Cynthia McKinney: I just received a three-page letter from a woman in Tennessee -- a veteran who did three tours of duty in Vietnam. She wrote to say how dissatisfied she is with the level of political discourse in our presidential election, with none of the Democratic or Republican candidates addressing the real issues that she and her family are facing in terms of health care, job offshoring, declining public education, stagnation of wages, and more.
She is looking for real answers and is not getting any from politicians and a media more interested in hype and hot-button issues (such as the "war on terror" or the "war on drugs") than in promoting any serious discussion of policy, much less offering any serious political alternatives.

Read all of 'Interview with Cynthia McKinney on Why She is Running for President and More'. . .

Divided Communities and Split Families: Planning the War on Immigrants

By Tom Barry, Counterpunch, December 17, 2007

Politics can be an ugly affair, and it doesn't get any uglier than when politicians try to best one another in the politics of hate and scapegoating.
That's what is happening in America, as politicians and political candidates at all levels of government join the anti-immigration bandwagon. Meanwhile, immigrants who do the dirtiest work in America are living in fear as they face a generalized immigration crackdown and stepped-up immigration raids.
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As this war against the country's most vulnerable population deepens, the American people will need to ask themselves if they feel any safer or more secure, if they have more hope to find better-paying jobs, if their neighborhoods and town economies are more or less vibrant as immigrants leave, and if they are proud of themselves and their country.

Read all of 'Divided Communities and Split Families: Planning the War on Immigrants'. . .

Romney the Hatemonger

By Richard Estes, American Leftist, November 30, 2007

As governor of Massachusetts, he pandered to the religious right in anticipation of his run for the presidency by opposing gay marriage and civil unions. Confronted with competition from former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, he criticized Huckabee for providing in-state tuition to the children of undocumented workers who were in the process obtaining citizenship. Most recently, he has made it clear that Muslims need not apply for a Cabinet position in his administration if he becomes President, but that they might be acceptable at lower levels of my administration.
At this point, despite the polls, you'd have to say that Mitt Romney is in trouble. He hasn't even gotten to the Iowa caucuses, and he's already played the cards of scapegoating gays, immigrants and Muslims. Who's left? Probably just African Americans and trial attorneys. No wonder Huckabee is now the flavor of the month.

LINK

Seeing Through the Smoke: Mike Davis, Justin Akers Chacón, and Enrique Morones on the California Wildfires

This was recorded on November 1 in San Diego, California.
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5