Direct Action

Open Letter From Ferguson Protesters & Allies

October 18, 2014 Ferguson Protesters and Allies, www.scribd.com Educate! Direct Action, Ferguson, Protests, Racial Justice

We are living an American Horror Story. The unlawful slaughter of black bodies by the hands of power has continued day after day, year afteryear, century after century, life by precious life, since before the first chain was slipped around blackwrists.Black youth, brimming with untapped potential, but seen as worthless and unimportant. Black activists,stalwart in pursuit of liberation, but perceived as perpetual threats to order and comfort. Black men,truly and earnestly clinging to our dignity, written off as the ravenous, insatiable black savage. Blackwomen, always unflinchingly running toward our freedom, dismissed as bitter and angry after longdenial and suffering.

“Hands Up! Don’t Shoot!”: Gesture, Choreography, And Protest In Ferguson

October 15, 2014 Anusha Kedhar, www.thefeministwire.com Strategize! Direct Action, Ferguson, Protests, Racial Justice

Unlike other slogans, though, “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” is not just voiced. It is also embodied. Contained within the phrase is both a plea not to shoot, as well as the bodily imperative to lift one’s hands up. Since Michael Brown’s murder, we’ve seen photos of young black men and women in Ferguson, Tibetan monks from India, black Harvard law students, school children in Missouri, young people in Moscow, and a church congregation in New York City with their hands up. What does this gesture mean for the different bodies that enact it? How do protesters assign new meanings to such a codified bodily gesture? How can we read these protests as choreographic tactics and gestures of resistance? Why is the deployment of the body in the case of the Ferguson protests so significant? I want to offer five ways of reading this gesture in the following list, which is by no means exhaustive...

Walking 400 Miles To Get Money Out Of Politics

October 14, 2014 Occupy SoapBox, http://www.occupymysoapbox.com/ Resist! Campaign Finance, Direct Action

Meet Rhana Bazzini. She is 81 years old and was inspired by Granny D’s walk across the country for campaign finance reform. Rhana decided to walk across the Sunshine State from Sarasota to Tallahassee, talking and listening to folks along to the way. She is promoting campaign finance reform, and declaring Corporations are NOT People & Money is NOT Speech Jim Hightower entertained us all at the kickoff event on Sunday. But if you want to hear what Rhana herself has to say and you are in Florida, come walk with her or join her at a potluck. Tuesday (Oct. 14) she walks through Bradenton. If you want to walk or break bread with Rhana further north on her journey to Tallahassee, you can find out where she will be on her Facebook page

Protesters Condemn Senators’ Israel Support

October 7, 2014 Clifford Michel, www.capitalnewyork.com Resist! Direct Action, Government, Israel, Palestine, US

Approximately 50 demonstrators gathered outside the offices of U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer Monday morning to condemn the officials' support for Israel. The protesters called on Congress to end military aid to the Israel Defense Forces through enforcement of the Leahy Law, a human rights law that prevents the United States from aiding foreign militaries that commit war crimes. “Senator Schumer has repeatedly supported Israeli government aggression against the Palestinian people, including the latest assault on the Palestinians of Gaza,” said Candace Graff from Jewish Voices for Peace-NY.

Global Frackdown: October 11, 2014

October 7, 2014 #GlobalFrackdown, www.globalfrackdown.org Organize! Climate Change, Direct Action, Energy, Environment, Fracking

While the oil and gas industry is working hard to protect its profits and drown out the worldwide demand for clean, renewable fuels, there is a tremendous global movement afoot to protect our air, water, climate and communities from fracking. Over 200 partner organizations around the world are coming together for an international day of protests on October 11, 2014, calling for an end to fracking. Enter your postal code to find an event near you or create your own! In conjunction with the Global Frackdown, there is a major day of action against international trade agreements in Europe. A number of groups who work against fracking are participating in this event, which includes an anti-fracking platform.

Mexican Students Block Highway, Demand Justice For 43 Missing

October 6, 2014 TeleSurTV, www.telesurtv.net Resist! Direct Action, Mexico, police brutality, Student Activism

Hundreds of students of the Teacher Training College of Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, are blocking the Mexico-Acapulco highway to demand justice for their 43 colleagues who last week were allegedly kidnapped by local police and gunmen. The highway is a key road, linking Mexico City with Acapulco Port, one of the most frequented destinations for both domestic and international tourists. According to several media reports, the students are now allowing all cars to pass through Palo Blanco tollbooth for free. The students are joined by relatives from the 43 youth who have been missing since Friday September 26, when police agents from Iguala, Guerrero, along with unidentified gunmen shot at several buses being used by the students, and kidnapped 43 of them.

Demonstrators ‘Disrupt’ St. Louis Symphony For Mike Brown

October 6, 2014 Rebecca Rivas, www.stlamerican.com Resist! Art, Direct Action, Ferguson, Racial Justice

Just after intermission, about 50 people disrupted the St. Louis Symphony’s performance of Brahms Requiem on Saturday night, singing “Justice for Mike Brown.” As symphony conductor Markus Stenz stepped to the podium to begin the second act of German Requiem, one middle-aged African-American man stood up in the middle of the theater and sang, “What side are you on friend, what side are you on?” In an operatic voice, another woman located a few rows away stood up and joined him singing, “Justice for Mike Brown is justice for us all.” Several more audience members sprinkled throughout the theater and in the balcony rose up and joined in the singing.

Federal Court Upholds EPA Veto Of Spruce Mountaintop Removal Mine

October 3, 2014 Earth Justice, www.earthjustice.org Organize! Climate Change, Direct Action, Energy, Environment, Law, Mining

Today Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s veto of a permit for one of the largest and most extreme mountaintop removal coal mines ever proposed in Appalachia, the Spruce No. 1 Mine. The court found no merit in the coal industry’s case, and found that EPA’s decision to veto the Clean Water Act permit for this mine was reasonable and fully supported by the scientific record. Statement from Emma Cheuse, Earthjustice counsel who argued on behalf of several Appalachian groups in defense of the EPA’s veto: “Today’s court victory is a win for all Americans who believe our children deserve clean water and healthy lives without facing the increased threats of cancer, birth defects and early mortality associated with mountaintop removal coal mining."

When NOT To March (Or Rally)

October 3, 2014 Andrew Willis Garces, www.wagingnonviolence.org Strategize! Climate Change, Direct Action, People's Climate March

But too often we use marches and rallies in place of any other public action to put pressure on decision-makers and build support for our campaign. They’re good for partying or as a mass mobilization after grassroots support is built — but there are many more effective ways to create low-risk opportunities for gathering people together. On the heels of the People’s Climate March last weekend, where more than 300,000 people gathered to demand international action on climate change, it’s important to take the time to reflect on what marches can accomplish — and what other tactics can be used instead.

4 Things We Need To Do To Win The Climate Fight

October 1, 2014 Harvey Wasserman, www.ecowatch.com Resist! Civil Disobedience, Climate Change, Direct Action, Energy, Environment

1. Local organizing is our ultimate source of power. The green movement has the great luxury of tangible targets. The King CONG corporations (Coal, Oil, Nukes, Gas) need actual land on which to do their dirty work. So we can fight them inch-by-inch, at the source. 2. But our planet as a whole is now infected with a lethal mega-virus—the global corporation, a metastasized cancer that usurps human rights but shuns human responsibilities. 3. As we work this through, there are inter-related issues we can’t avoid. 4. For each of us there’s also a deep internal dimension to this work. Being an activist is itself a great leap of faith.

Demonstrators Arrested In Sit-In To Save Dyett High School

September 25, 2014 Chicagoist, www.chicagoist.com Resist! Direct Action, Education, Law

Nearly a dozen demonstrators were arrested late last night in City Hall after chaining themselves to the statue on the 5th floor in front of Rahm Emanuel’s office. The protesters staged their sit in— beginning in the late afternoon— to request Emanuel take their demands surrounding the looming closure of Dyett High school seriously. According to DNAInfo, Dyett students and their supporters state that CPS and the Mayor have slowly starved the school to death after it was slated to be phased out in 2012. Presently, only 13 students are enrolled in the school, which is one of the only open-enrollment schools in the area. CBS2 reports other nearby schools— King College Prep High School and Kenwood Academy High School— are selective enrollment.

Global Day Of Action Against Drones

September 25, 2014 Global Day of Action, www.globaldayofaction.nationbuilder.com Resist! Direct Action, Drones, Peace, Wars and Militarism

We demand that all governments cease the production and acquisition of armed drones, as well as their research and development, and work towards a worldwide ban of these weapons. We further demand that our governments prohibit the use of drones for surveillance and prohibit using space satellites, ground stations, and military bases to enable drone surveillance and to trigger drone killings. We call on people all over the world to join us in the Global Day of Action on October 4. If you or your group are planning an action or event for October 4 and would like to post information about it on this website, please email a brief description to Anastasia of CODEPINK at anastasia@codepink.org.

Factory That Makes Drones For Israel Shut Down

September 24, 2014 Sarah Lazare, www.commondreams.org Resist! Direct Action, Israel, Palestine, Scotland

Activists in Scotland were arrested Tuesday for blockading and shutting down Thales UK, renowned Govan, Glasgow-based weapons manufacturer, to protest the company's role in producing drones used by Israel against Palestinian people. Early Tuesday morning some protesters climbed onto and occupied the factory roof while others obstructed the building's entrances by lying on the ground and attaching to each other by arm tubes. The six blockaders on the ground were arrested first. Then police attempted to starve out the roof occupiers by cutting off their food and water supply, as well as their blankets, for approximately five hours, Blair Poutney, a supporter of the direct action, told Common Dreams by phone.

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