Local

Local Foods, Local Places Program Helping Revive Rainelle

April 5, 2016 Alison Wickline, www.wvva.com Create! Food and Agriculture, health, Local

By Alison Wickline for Multimedia Journalist - Rainelle's "Local Foods, Local Places" newly-assembled steering committee is hoping to get the ball rolling for a healthier community. "This gives them an ability to be able to do a '360' with food here," says Peggy Crowder, with the Greenbrier Valley Economic Development Corporation. Some Rainelle leaders are looking to revive the economy and help residents live a healthier lifestyle. In January, Rainelle was granted assistance from the Local Foods, Local Places program.

Spain: Welcome To The Post-Party Political Era

July 18, 2015 Bernardo Gutiérrez, www.occupy.com Resist! Local, Podemos, Politics, Spain

By Bernardo Gutiérrez in Occupy - Madrid, Barcelona and other major Spanish cities are now governed by independent citizen fronts called “confluences.” Ahora Madrid, Barcelona en Comú, Zaragoza en Común and La Marea Atlántica (A Coruña) are confluences weaved together by the M15-Indignados social ecosystem. Other political parties, like Podemos and Equo, have joined these confluences while leaving political party logic at the door. The results from Spain’s latest local elections, which saw the decline of the conservative Partido Popular, have the potential of modifying the course of European politics. The municipalist effort was well underway before the Podemos tsunami – a new political party cobbled together for the European elections of May 25, 2014 – surprisingly gained five seats in European Parliament. Here's why.

Local Ohio Officials Reclaim Right To Protect Citizens From Fracking

July 11, 2015 Candice Bernd, www.truth-out.org Resist! Environment, Fracking, Local, Ohio, Politics

By Candice Bernd in Truth Out - More than 100 local Ohio officials, including mayors, county commissioners and city councilors, have issued a letter to Governor John Kasich petitioning him for the right to ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking) - or simply regulate drilling activities - within their own borders. The letter, organized by Environment America, states: "Fracking … imposes particular burdens on local communities, from strained services to ruined roads. As with other extractive booms, the arrival and expansion of fracking operations has been correlated with a wide range of social problems, including increases in domestic violence, drug use, traffic accidents and civil disturbances."

Where Are Mayors Opposing Police Militarization?

July 1, 2015 Chelsea Byers, Janet Weil and Michelle Pineiro, www.codepink.org Educate! Local, police brutality, Urban, Wars and Militarism

By Chelsea Byers, Janet Weil and Michelle Pineiro for Code Pink - In cities across the United States, we have seen how the militarized mold of policing and the supply of armored vehicles, assault weapons and the like have resulted in police forces who no longer see their role as one of protecting and serving, but as an occupying army. These localized armies -- backed by racist laws, upheld by stagnant leadership and fueled by the war machine itself -- are battling it out to the death with the very civilians they swore to protect in our own streets. Confrontation with this war-ready mentality is a daily lived experience for black and brown citizens across the country, and the implications impact us all. It is incumbent to get weapons out of our streets, and take the necessary steps to change the current mentality and methods of police and civilian engagement.

Urban Electoral Revolt In Spain Leads To New Urban Agenda

May 29, 2015 Carlos Declós, www.roarmag.org Resist! Elections, Local, Populism, Social Change, Spain

In Barcelona, the prominent anti-evictions activist Ada Colau won the city’s mayoral race. In Madrid, once a stronghold of the Popular Party, the former judge Manuela Carmena also has a chance to govern, depending on whether her platform and the deteriorating Socialist party are willing to strike a deal. In the four largest cities, it is quite possible that the mayor will belong to neither of the two major parties. The same is true in Galicia’s major cities, Santiago and A Corunha. In Cádiz, Spain’s unemployment capital, another new, anti-austerity platform finished a close second. Much of the right-wing Spanish press is already attributing these spectacular results to a cult of personality around the people leading these platforms, accompanied by the typical references to populism and Venezuela, with an occasional shout-out to North Korea for extra flavor (as if the resort to these arguments weren’t the epitome of populist rhetoric).

The Wars Come Home

May 6, 2015 Michael Gould-Wartofsky, www.tomdispatch.com Educate! Baltimore, Local, usa, Wars and Militarism

Last week, as Baltimore braced for renewed protests over the death of Freddie Gray, the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) prepared for battle. With state-of-the-art surveillance of local teenagers’ Twitter feeds, law enforcement had learned that a group of high school students was planning to march on the Mondawmin Mall. In response, the BPD did what any self-respecting police department in post-9/11 America would do: it declared war on the protesters. Over the course of 24 hours, which would see economically devastated parts of Baltimore erupt in open rebellion, city and state police would deploy everything from a drone and a “military counter attack vehicle” known as a Bearcat to SWAT teams armed with assault rifles, shotguns loaded with lead pellets, barricade projectiles filled with tear gas, and military-style smoke grenades.

U.S. Cities Fight Back Against Washington’s Secretive Trade Deal

April 25, 2015 Dana Liebelson, www.huffingtonpost.com Resist! Free Trade, Local, National, TPP

As the trade debate heats up in Washington, city councils are fighting back against controversial legislation that would grant the president the authority to fast-track international trade deals without congressional amendments. On the Hill, lawmakers are pushing full steam ahead on legislation the Obama administration is seeking in order to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade deal with Asian-Pacific countries. Some Democrats don't support the deal, arguing that certain trade provisions are worrisome and haven't received enough scrutiny. Nonetheless, a key Senate committee moved the bill forward on Wednesday. Across the country, city officials are making their own concerns about the legislation crystal clear. This week, San Francisco adopted a resolution opposing fast-track, following similar efforts in other cities, including Seattle and Bellingham, Washington and Fort Bragg and Richmond, California.

The Critical Fight For Locally Owned Broadband

March 6, 2015 David Morris, www.ilsr.com Create! FCC, Local, Net Neutrality

On February 26th the Federal Communications Commission issued two decisions. One concerned net neutrality, the other municipal broadband. The first garnered by far the most attention, as it should. Net neutrality affects everyone and locks down a fundamental principle for Internet access. But as another presidential campaign looms the FCC decision on municipally owned broadband may offer more fertile ground for a vigorous political debate on the role of government and the scale of governance. The decision arose from a petition to the FCC by Chattanooga, Tennessee and Wilson, North Carolina asking it to overturn state laws that prevent them from extending their highly successful publicly owned networks to surrounding communities eager to connect. The FCC’s decision affects just those two states’ laws but will undoubtedly become a precedent to evaluate most of the other 17 states’ restrictions on municipal broadband.

Daily movement news and resources