Activism

Activists Launch Referendum Over Future Of Monarchy

June 16, 2014 Ashifa Kassam, www.theguardian.com Resist! Activism, Elections, Monarchy, Spain

Emboldened by the tens of thousands of Spaniards who have taken to the streets to demand a say in the future of Spain's monarchy, activist groups have announced they will be holding their own referendum in the five days leading up to the coronation of Prince Felipe. The idea came about on the night King Juan Carlos announced his abdication, after an estimated 20,000 people dressed in the red, yellow and purple of the former Spanish republic descended upon the Puerta del Sol square in Madrid calling for an end to the monarchy. "It seems absurd to us that in a democracy nobody is asking the citizens if they want a monarchy or a republic," said Kike Castelló of ¡Democracia Real Ya! (Real Democracy Now!), one of the dozen or so collectives involved in organising the referendum. The referendum will begin on Saturday morning and run until 19 June, the day of the coronation. About 60 polling stations staffed by volunteers will be set up along major streets in cities across the country, with voting also taking place online.

Monkey Wrenching The Frackers

June 12, 2014 Cole Stangler, www.inthesetimes.com Strategize! Activism, Direct Action, Fracking, Gas

“All right, motherfuckers! This is an unlawful assembly!” A group of five “police” charge at a mob of milling “protesters,” throwing several to the ground and playfully beating them with rolled-up pieces of old newspaper—the “batons.” “Fucking hippies!” someone shouts from the tussle. The make-believe cops have been supplied with blaze orange construction vests, plastic badges and faux police caps, which combine with their many tattoos and piercings to make them look like a punk version of the Village People. This mock police ambush was part of a three-hour crash course in “Responsible Direct Action” held at last week’s Energy Exports Action Camp in Maryland’s Jug Bay Natural Area, a county park some 25 miles southeast of Washington, D.C. The week-long camp was designed to train, connect and energize activists gearing up to take direct action to stop Dominion Energy’s Cove Point project, a natural gas export terminal planned in Lusby, Md. Opponents say the plant will encourage more fracking, spur Maryland to drop its state-wide moratorium on the practice, and exacerbate global climate change.

Cecily McMillan Interview From Prison: Even More Committed

June 12, 2014 Chris Arnade, www.theguardian.com Educate! Activism, Bankers, Cecily McMillan, Poverty, Prison

A former banker visits the only member of Occupy Wall Street to receive a prison sentence: it sounds like the set-up of a joke or a parable of the modern age. Instead, it was a real scene last Thursday, when I went to see jailed OWS activist Cecily McMillan at Rikers Island. That the opposite would never have happened was not lost on Cecily or me: bankers don't get sent to jail, and, when they rarely do, they certainly don't get sent to Rikers. Rikers is New York City's largest jail, housing a population that is overwhelmingly poor – mostly people who can't post bail, which in some cases is as low as $50. It has become a short-term holding facility for those who can't muster $2,000 in a pinch, or who don't have the 10% of bail to lose to a bondsman. Since her 19 May sentencing for an assault on an officer, Cecily McMillan has lived in a barracks-like room with close to a hundred other women. Cecily herself is a banker-like rarity in Rikers: she has resources, both from the media obsession with her case and the OWS movement that she has come to partly symbolize.

Civil Rights Champion Yuri Kochiyama Dies

June 7, 2014 Portside, www.portside.org Educate! Activism, Civil Rights, History, Japan, Socialism

Japanese-American activist and Malcolm X Ally, Yuri Kochiyama, has died at the age of 93. She spent two years in an internment camp and helped win reparations for Japanese-Americans. She was with Malcolm X when he was assassinated. She inspired generations. Tributes from 18 Million Rising and the Asian American Studies Center at UCLA; links to some of her writings and interviews. In the wake of her passing, 18MR is honoring Yuri by gathering stories about the ways she impacted individuals, our communities, and the movement. Tell us how you will remember her. BOLD I'll always remember Yuri as a compelling, inspiring leader who urged me to be my best radical self. I was a just a young, angry 20-year old student activist when I first met her - and I thought I knew everything there was to know about racism and injustice. Yuri listened to me at a time when I felt no one else would. Instead of lecturing me about my youthful foolhardiness, she affirmed my experience and agitated me to think bigger, be braver, and act more boldly. Nearly two decades years later, Yuri Kochiyama's words still guide me.

Walmart Moms On Strike

June 6, 2014 Making Change At Walmart, www.makingchangeatwalmart.org Resist! Activism, Labor, Moms, Strike, Walmart

Walmart moms—members of OUR Walmart—have been walking off the job since Friday in protest of the company’s illegal silencing of their co-workers who have been calling for better pay. Walmart mom Evelin Cruz of the Pico Rivera, CA store says: “I’m striking for Barbara, for Tiffany and for other moms who Walmart has tried to silence. Our families cannot continue to struggle on Walmart’s poverty pay and constantly changing schedules while Walmart and the Walton family make billions from our work.” The majority of Walmart moms are paid less than $25,000 a year – forcing many to rely on food stamps and other taxpayer-supported programs to survive. Working women – increasingly the breadwinners and decision makers in households – make up the majority of Walmart’s workforce and are often hit hardest by the company’s poverty pay. Walmart moms walked off the job this morning in Orlando (see photo), joining moms who have already walked off the job in Dallas, Pittsburgh, Southern California and the Bay area. More are expected to strike outside their stores in 20 cities today, including Tampa, Miami, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and the Bay area. The National Labor Relations Board’s historic trial prosecuting Walmart – which includes the illegal firing of moms like Barbara Collins – is currently underway. Barbara was trying to get more hours to put a few dollars aside for her daughter to go to college – when she was fired for striking against Walmart’s illegal retaliation against workers.

Roadmap To Personal Empowerment From Metta Center

June 5, 2014 Staff, www.mettacenter.org Strategize! Activism, Nonviolence, Revolution

While creating a nonviolent future is a serious undertaking, one thing remains encouraging: we are not alone. There are countless organizations, groups and individuals already doing the great work, all striving for a shared goal. If you are reading this issue of Emergence, it is very likely that you are one of them. And it is precisely because it is not an easy task, we must join our hands together. The “Roadmap” is Metta Center’s attempt to offer three things to help create an unstoppable movement of movements: unity, strategy, and nonviolent power. One very appealing aspect of the Roadmap is that we all can identify ourselves with it - we all belong here. Roadmap illustrates the interconnectedness of our work, and many issues that are often seen as separate. It also shows the trajectory of “peace from within,” starting from our “Person Power” at the center.

Lockdown At The Burnaby Chevron Refinery

May 31, 2014 Derrick, www.westcoastnativenews.com Resist! Activism, Chevron, Climate Change

Early Friday morning the 30th of May 2014, three activists (Dan Wallace, Mia Nissen and Adam Gold) locked themselves to the gate of Chevron in North Burnaby to protest exploitative resource extraction in Canada. They used bicycle D-locks and chains to secure themselves to the metal posts of the gate to stop truck traffic into the Chevron North Burnaby in order to draw attention the Federal and Provincial government’s complete disregard for the earth, Indigenous sovereignty, and the reality of climate change. The activists are not associated with any organizations but are ordinary citizens that have decided that enough is enough. “We want to demonstrate the extreme measures that ordinary citizens are willing to take. We want to show that each person has the ability to act, and that we must act for the sake of ourselves and future generations. Like many others taking a stand, we feel a moral obligation.” stated one of the activists.

Walmart Moms’ Plan Strikes In 20 Cities Nationwide

May 31, 2014 Karen McVeigh, www.theguardian.com Resist! Activism, Moms, Strike, Walmart

Walmart workers and supporters in the trade union movement say they intend to stage a new series of protests over wages and conditions at America's largest private employer, in which they will target the firm's family-friendly ethic ahead of its annual shareholders meeting next week. Hundreds of so-called “Walmart moms” who work at stores across the US plan a number of strikes in 20 cities nationwide. Others will travel to Arkansas, the company’s home state, to provide a visual presence to shareholders, workers’ rights groups said on Thursday. The actions will follow a series of “Black Friday” rallies last year, which came after a House of Representatives committee report found taxpayers were subsidising workers at just one Walmart store to the tune of $1m a year in food stamps and other public-assistance programmes, because of the low wages they took home.

Big Tent Activism: On Why I Painted Kevin Zeese

May 31, 2014 Robert Shetterly, www.commondreams.org Educate! Activism, Arts, Kevin Zeese, Painting

To explain why I painted Kevin Zeese as part of the Americans Who Tell the Truth portrait project I want to tell two stories that would seem to have nothing to do with Kevin. The first involves hearing Rev, Joseph Lowery, the great civil rights activist, speak at Camp Casey in Crawford, Texas in April of 2006 -- seven years before I had even heard of Kevin. Camp Casey was established in 2005 to support Cindy Sheehan's heroic struggle, as she camped in a ditch outside President George W. Bush's Crawford ranch, demanding that the president come out and explain to her what "noble cause" her son Casey had died for in Iraq. People came from all over the US to support Cindy. The President refused to appear. It's a sad day when a leader responsible for war cannot tell a grieving parent why her sacrifice was necessary. The encampment grew and grew, becoming a nexus of anti-war activity, networking, community building, and activist education. A stage had been built at one end of a huge circus tent for speakers & musicians. Over the few days I was there, I heard Cindy speak, as well as Diane Wilson, Ann Wright, Robert Jensen, Eliza Gilkyson, and Rev. Lowery.

Pentagon Bracing For Public Dissent Over Climate And Energy Shocks

May 29, 2014 Nafeez Ahmed, www.theguardian.com Resist! Activism, Climate Change, Pentagon, PRISM, Surveillance, Terrorism

Top secret US National Security Agency (NSA) documents disclosed by the Guardian have shocked the world with revelations of a comprehensive US-based surveillance system with direct access to Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft and other tech giants. New Zealand court records suggest that data harvested by the NSA's Prism system has been fed into the Five Eyes intelligence alliance whose members also include the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. But why have Western security agencies developed such an unprecedented capacity to spy on their own domestic populations? Since the 2008 economic crash, security agencies have increasingly spied on political activists, especially environmental groups, on behalf of corporate interests. This activity is linked to the last decade of US defence planning, which has been increasingly concerned by the risk of civil unrest at home triggered by catastrophic events linked to climate change, energy shocks or economic crisis - or all three. Just last month, unilateral changes to US military laws formally granted the Pentagon extraordinary powers to intervene in a domestic "emergency" or "civil disturbance": "Federal military commanders have the authority, in extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization by the President is impossible and duly constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances." Other documents show that the "extraordinary emergencies" the Pentagon is worried about include a range of environmental and related disasters.

Moms To EPA: End Monsanto’s Poisoning Of America

May 29, 2014 Andrea Germanos, www.commondreams.org Resist! Activism, Moms, Monsanto

It's time for Monsanto's Roundup to stop poisoning our food. That was the message brought to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday by a group of concerned mothers who say that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the widespread herbicide made by the chemical and biotechnology giant, is putting public health in jeopardy. The group of 11, which included scientists, a lawyer and health worker, urged the agency to look at the results of a recent pilot study commissioned by their group, Moms Across America, and Sustainable Pulse. Their study found glyphosate present in human breast milk, indicating — contrary to industry claims — that the herbicide may build up or "bioaccumulate" in women's bodies. The results of that study were "considerable and shocking," Zen Honeycutt, Founder and Director of Moms Across America, told Common Dreams. Honeycutt pointed to a previous study which looked at Roundup's negative effects on gut bacteria and pointed to possible links between those effects and a number of diseases. She said that in her group's breast milk study, the sample with the highest levels of Roundup detected had levels that were higher than was shown to destroy gut bacteria in the earlier study.

In Complaint, Activists Seek Audit Of New York Police Surveillance

May 28, 2014 Marc Santora, www.nytimes.com Resist! Activism, NYPD, Police, Surveillance

Several groups plan to file a formal complaint on Tuesday seeking an audit of the New York Police Department’s intelligence gathering operations, after recent revelations that the department had been monitoring political activists, sending undercover officers to their meetings and filing reports on their plans. The groups said the complaint would be the first over surveillance to be filed with the department’s new office of inspector general; it is likely be a closely watched test for the office, whose duty is to oversee the tactics and the policies of the police. The City Council, despite opposition from former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, created the office last year after complaints about the overuse of stop-and-frisk tactics and surveillance of Muslim communities. The complaint being filed on Tuesday follows the release of documents by The Associated Press this spring revealing that undercover police officers had attended meetings of liberal political organizations and kept intelligence files on activists. Several of the groups mentioned, including Friends of Brad Will, worked together to draft the complaint.

Why Americans Become Activists When Fracking Comes To Town

April 29, 2014 Alex Halperin, www.america.aljazeera.com Resist! Activism, Fracking, Texas

The process of extraction turns the land into an industrial landscape: There’s the noisy drilling and 18-wheeler trucks that transport millions of gallons of chemical-infused water that’s later shot into wells. After the frack they carry “flowback” from the wells that can contain radioactive matter. That waste fluid is stored indefinitely in injection wells, which some believe increase the risk of earthquakes. The industry’s position is that after the nuisance of drilling and fracking, gas wells quietly pump money and fuel into the economy. Fracking’s supporters argue that natural gas burns cleanly and will reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. The gas industry says that fracking supports well-paying jobs. This is a controversial assertion in some states, but less so in Texas, where the importance of oil and gas to the economy is an article of faith. The most contentious questions around fracking involve whether air and water pollution resulting from the process endangers public health. Activists say too little is known about the risks, and are pressing for additional research. The gas, after all, isn’t going anywhere. The many studies done so far are not conclusive. David Brown, a toxicologist who consults for the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project, a nonprofit, says the gas industry hasn’t provided health data on its own workers who labor on gas pads and bear the greatest risk of exposure to toxins. That’s where a proper health study would begin, he says.

Persecuted And Imprisoned For Environmental Activism

April 28, 2014 Samantha Sarra, www.truth-out.org Resist! Activism, Environment, Political Prisoner

As the world celebrated Earth Day on April 22, we also marked a half century of environmental resistance and recrimination. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was published in 1962 and is widely regarded as the genesis of the environmental movement. It also marked the beginning of persecution for those trying to protect planet Earth. A naturalist and prolific author who warned against the effects of synthetic pesticides, Carson's work was met with aggressive opposition, and she was labeled a communist with sinister intentions employed by the Soviet Union. The peasant women of the Chipko Movement in India in 1974 helped stop rapid deforestation and reclaim traditional forest rights by surrounding and literally hugging trees to stop them from being felled. Their efforts - which were ultimately successful - came at a cost, as they were abused and threatened with guns by the loggers. Since the beginning, activists have been met with consequences for their environmental conviction, and those consequences increasingly include arrest and imprisonment.

Chris Hani’s Political Legacy

April 27, 2014 Sean Jacobs, www.africascountry.com Educate! Activism

The American political scientist Adolph Reed Jnr. once wrote about Malcolm X that “… he was just like the rest of us—a regular person saddled with imperfect knowledge, human frailties, and conflicting imperatives, but nonetheless trying to make sense of his very specific history, trying unsuccessfully to transcend it, and struggling to push it in a humane direction.” Like Malcolm X, Chris Hani, who was also assassinated (Hani was murdered on this day in 1993), should not be made into an ideal type or used to settle political scores in the present. Yet, any observer of contemporary South Africa can’t help noticing that while Chris Hani is still lionized and his name invoked in speeches and songs, the principles he stood for no longer animate the political project of the liberation movement he laid down his life for or that his erstwhile comrades in the ruling party, its Communist ally and the main trade union federation have been disappointing.

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