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From Mumia Abu-Jamal: Free the Atenco 13!

"As economies crumble around the globe, states are becoming increasingly repressive, especially against those who are its political opponents and resisters. This isn't a regional observation, but a global one. That tendency is seen in the prosecution and unjust sentencing of men and women from Atenco, Mexico." Audio, Video & Photos | Audio Download

For more, visit the Atenco 13 website. Watch the video about The Atenco 13, "Romper el Cerco" (Breaking the Siege), viewable in parts at Salón Chingón. Also watch Manu Chao's visit to Atenco.

RELATED: View photos from the April 19, 2008 solidarity protest for Mumia, outside the US Embassy here. | | Dec. 6 Intl. Day of Action for Mumia | | Statement from San Romero de Las Américas Church | | FreeMumia.com

Election Day in the United States Prompts Both Joy and Rage

Celebrations over the historic election of the first black president have been interspersed with emotional protests against a series of bans on bay marriage, and calls to remember the bigger picture.

In California, voters approved a proposition by 52.5 percent to amend the state constitution to ban same sex marriage. Similar bills also passed in Arizona and Florida. Since then, protests against the measure have surged in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and civil rights organizations have banded together to attempt to block the implementation of the measure

On other fronts, animal rights activists are also calling the passage Proposition 2 in California a victory, and an anti-choice measure failed in California. Reports of celebrations over Barak Obama's victory continue to come in from Hollywood, New York, and New Orleans, while activists are working to keep the issues in the forefront:
» Rochester, NY — a coalition of anti-war and veterans organizations banded together to make the following statement: "For nearly two years, major polls have shown that a majority of Americans want an end to the war in Iraq. The war has not "brought democracy" to the Middle East. It has not improved the lives of the Iraqi people, nor has it reduced the violence in the region. In fact, it has done exactly the opposite." Read More: Rochester Anti-war Movement Responds to 2008 Election
» New York, NY — On the morning after election day, hundreds of newspaper boxes had their covers changed to read "Capitalism Wins at the Polls." Read More: Corporate Media Targeted in Actions Across the US
» Fort Collins, CO — In the early morning, a banner was displayed from the rooftop of a downtown building, exclaiming “our dreams won’t fit in their ballot boxes.” Read More: Banner Drop in Fort Collins on Election Day
» Chicago, IL — Rahm Emanuel, who since 2003 has been the Illinois' 5th district representative in Congress, and has been the focus of repeated activist efforts and protests for many years, has been named White House Chief of Staff for the forthcoming Obama administration. Read More: War-mongering anti-immigrant NAFTA-pusher named White House Chief of Staff

Commentary: Deciphering Barack: Obama’s Mama Drives His Desire to Redeem by Nicholas Powers || The Illusion of Post-Racial America by Aman Gill || Election reactions & arguments against bipartisanship by Rich Gardner || A Letter To The People Regarding The Election

The Soul of the Moment ~ Election Night, USA

"I haven't seen so many Americans smiling - in the street, on the bus, at the stores, in school, even smiling at work so early in the morning - not since the seventies".

"Homemade fireworks broke out all over the neighborhood last night, just as the news were reporting the final vote counts", said TT., a New York born Hellene Cypriot of the Diaspora, presently in Oregon.

A moral victory - if not a social~political victory - is beginning to dawn within the awareness and the self-perception of Americans this morning: that tens of millions of "white" Americans actually voted for a Black presidential candidate, an African American who during the campaign was accused of everything from being a secret Al Qaida supporter, a "secret Jew", a crypto-terrorist, and even a Socialist (heaven forbid). And that the millions of socially disenfranchised African Americans, in alliance with all of the ethnic, religious and cultural "minorities", all of whom together plus progressive Euro-Americans constitute the real majority of the US, can be empowered through unity, organization, common mobilizations and campaigns.

All of a sudden, the mood of the people and the joyous feeling of a symbolic multi-racial unity, even despite the fact that Obama has clearly shown that as Head of State he will be the best servant of the Corporate Empire's ruling class, makes the previously unthinkable perhaps possible:
that America might regain its moral compass, that the people might actually begin to recreate their social reality.

Well, the world needs that new social reality - desperately. In this last decade, the US Government and its global Corporate Empire have driven the globe closer to the precipice of catastrophe than ever before. Millions of people put to the slaughter and the planet's ecology turned to ruin are testimony enough. If social and political changes are going to help the world turn again to Peace and Justice, the people of the United States are going to have to start making fundamental and effective changes well beyond electoral and symbolic gestures. But those are important, too, and they are welcome.

Here's what our correspondent reports from the US:


Election Night, USA
Special to Cyprus IndyMedia, by Mitchel Cohen
November 5, 2008

Direct Action Breaks the Blockade of Gaza - International Palestine Solidarity Volunteers Enter by Ship ...Again

Third Ship Breaks the Gaza Blockade
Israeli Gunboats Open Fire on Palestinian Fishing Boats

LARNACA, Cyprus, Oct. 29 - The Free Gaza Movement is delighted to announce that our third boat, the Dignity, carrying 27 crew and passengers, arrived in Gaza at 8:10 Gaza time, in spite of Israeli threats to stop them. In the pouring rain, the boat pulled into port amid cheers from the people of Gaza and tears from the passengers.

David Schermerhorn, a crew member called an hour before the boat entered Gazan waters to say, "There is a rainbow stretching across the Mediterranean from where we are right now."

Anti-War Veterans and Supporters Arrested and Trampled While Trying to Enter Final Presidential Debate

HEMPSTEAD, NY — Ten members of the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), a group of military veterans who are calling for immediate withdrawal from Iraq, were arrested along with at least five civilians outside the final presidential debate at Hofstra University on Wednesday, October 15. The group had been trying to get answers for their questions from the candidates. "Neither of the candidates has shown real support for service members and veterans," said Jason Lemieux, a former Sergeant in the US Marine Corps who served three tours in Iraq, and member of IVAW.

The veterans and their supporters were met by riot police as well as police on horseback. After a tense standoff for five minutes, police used their horses to attack the crowd, knocking over and trampling several — including Army Sergeant Nick Morgan (pictured), who suffered a broken cheekbone. Read Reports by Ben Dean-Kawamura | by Alex Kane | Photo by Bill Perry

The questions IVAW wanted to ask were:
* (To Obama): "As President of the United States of America, are you prepared to back up your own words [about the illegality of the Iraq War] and the U.S. Constitution by supporting service members refusing to participate in what you describe as an illegal occupation?"
* (To McCain): "What promises are you willing to make, as a veteran, as a senator, as a presidential candidate, to the veterans of the United States, to prove that you will ensure the V.A. is fully funded, staffed and capable of preventing troops from suffering as they are now?" Demands in full: IVAW Send Letter to Schieffer, Plan Protest at Hofstra Univ. Debate

MORE COVERAGE: Photos by Jamie Lehane | Video from DN! | Video from IVAW | IVAW Press Release

RELATED: Will YOUR vote count? State's polls lack uniform standards | Anti-War Sentiment Still Strong Six Years After Congressional War Vote

Free Gaza Movement Continues To Break Israeli Siege

After a successful initial breaking of Israel's siege on Gaza on August 24th when the Free Gaza Movement's boats, "Liberty" and "Free Gaza", both reached their destination greeted by thousand of welcomers in Gaza the struggle continues to open all borders as promised.

While the boats returned to Cyprus August 29th carrying a number of Palestinians out of Gaza a few activists stayed and continue to support Palestinians who are breaking the siege by land and sea. In the Northern Strip at Erez checkpoint activists joined a 64 years old Palestinian woman in her courageous attempts to cross into Israel in order to receive emergency medical attention preventing impending paralysis; she is now receiving treatment in Jerusalem. In the south, a demonstration was held in Rafah to replant olive trees uprooted by the Israeli military.

Most of the efforts focus on the waters as activists join Gaza's fishermen on a daily basis in their struggle to fish for a living while Israel's military attempts to keep them on the shores using arrests, bullets and other explosives, along with boat destruction. On September 17th, Vittorio Arrigoni, an Italian Human Rights worker was injured when shards of glass broke off of the boat he was accompanying by the Israeli Navy's water canon. "I have 10 stitches in my back", he says, "but by Friday or Saturday I'll be back at sea".

The Voice of Resistance Persists Over Startling Repression at Democratic and Republican Gatherings

The Republican National Convention (RNC) wrapped up Thursday, September 4, with a sharp escalation in brutal arrests outside the Xcel Center in St. Paul, MN — and a still small voice of resistance inside. After being denied access to convention delegates, at least one member of the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and two members of Code Pink were able to sneak into the Convention Center and disrupt Presidential Candidate John McCain's acceptance speech with an anti-war message. In contrast, the IVAW had some success in getting their message to Democratic presidential nominee Barak Obama in Denver, CO the week before.

Both weeks saw sustained, peaceful protests and a constant stream of civil disobedience expressing consternation at both parties' continual pursuit of war and imperialism, coupled with the mass incarceration and economic human rights violations of its own residents. In response, police rounded up over one thousand in the streets.

Over 800 of these arrests were at the RNC. Although hundreds of protesters had been arrested the week prior outside the Democratic National Convention (DNC), the scale of repression at the RNC was literally unparalleled — and significant enough to even the attention of Amnesty International. Those arrested included dozens of media workers, both freelance and affiliated, as well as volunteer street medics, who were on hand to assist with unintended injuries. Moreover, reports have surfaced of brutality and torture and racial profiling by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agents at the Ramsey County Jail where protesters were being held.

Many of the arrestees were taken in "pre-emptive" roundups the weekend before the convention began. On Saturday, multiple house and office raids took place and people were detained for hours, most prominently members of the I-Witness Video Collective and the RNC Welcoming Committee. Eight members of the Committee have been charged with “conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism” based on a Minnesota law that was shaped after the Patriot Act. Their group was infiltrated by at least two undercover police officers and the sheriff has admitted that his office spied on local activists.

Many were also taken in mass roundups during protests, such as Tuesday Night's violent police attack on people who had converged from the Poor People's March and a multi-act outdoor concert where "Rage Against the Machine" was prevented from playing. This led to dozens of arrests and "crowd dispersal" tactics involving the use of allegedly "non-lethal" weapons, including concussion grenades, tear gas and pepper spray. Outside pressure and jail solidarity countered these abuses of power somewhat, resulting in improved prison conditions, including some detainees receiving needed medical attention by Wednesday.

Through all of this, activists continued to raise up messages of resistance to the Republican agenda, and independent media workers from around the country documented them. READ ON for archive of roundups & selected dispatches from the streets | | | IMC-US DNC/RNC Organizing Page | Indybay Conventions08 Page | | | Staying Plugged in PostRNC and beyond: a mini-update | Demonstrators Do It with Humor at Republican National Convention from Indybay | Conventions are over, ramifications still unclear from Houston Indymedia

Global day of action against state terror in Aotearoa / New Zealand

Demonstrations and protests were held around the world on August 30th for the global day of action to 'Drop the Charges' against the 20 people arrested in the nationwide State Terror Raids of 15 October 2007 in Aotearoa / New Zealand. The deposition hearing (i.e. the pre-trial) starts in the Auckland District Court on Monday, 1 September 2008. [ Report | Photos ]

On Monday, October 15th 2007, more than 300 police carried out dawn raids on dozens of houses all over Aotearoa / New Zealand. Police claim the raids were in response to 'concrete terrorist threats' from indigenous activists. The reality, however, included heavily armed police terrorising an entire township. To date, no evidence of the so-called terrorist plot has been revealed.

Police arrested 17 indigenous, anarchist, environmental and anti-war activists, including people from T¨±hoe, Te Atiawa, Maniapoto, Ng¨¡ Puhi and Pakeha. Police wanted to charge 12 people under the Terrorism Suppression Act (TSA), however the Solicitor-General denied the police permission to proceed. After four weeks in jail everyone was released on bail. On Tuesday, February 19th 2008, police raided further properties, arresting 3 more men. All were released on bail with strict conditions that same day. A woman was arrested on Thursday April 17th, 2008, and also faces charges under the Arms Act.

Links: October 15th Solidarity | Te Mana Motuhake o Tuhoe | AoCafe | Civil Rights Defence | Te Kotahi a Tuhoe | T¨±hoe: History of resistance | Tu Kotahi - Freedom Fighting Anthems

Rejection of new sentences in Atenco case

“We demand security against kidnapping, too!”

On Tueday August 26, demonstrators accompanied lawyers presenting an appeal against the new sentences handed down last week in the Atenco case without one piece of solid evidence against anyone. Judge Alberto Cervantes, who admitted that the determination of the sentences "came from higher up" has suddenly been replaced. At the same time, there's a buildup in the harrasment of the prisoner support camp outside Molino de Flores prison. The Peoples' Front in Defense of the Land has announced a series of actions.

Former Indymedia Journalist Among Ten Foreigners Detained in China

Former Boston Indymedia journalist and media activist, Bryan Conley, founder of grassroots media videoblog Alive in Baghdad, is one of six US citizens detained in China for covering actions of Students for Free Tibet during the Olympics. The other five pro-Tibet activists are Jeffrey Rae, Jeff Goldin, Michael Liss, Tom Grant, and James Powderly. On August 21, the Chinese government handed them and four other European activists a 10-day detention sentence.

Related: Statement by Eowyn Rieke, wife of Brian Conley | Interview with Eowyng Reike | Free Tibet 2008

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