From May Day to May 12th

by: Mae Singerman

Wed May 04, 2011 at 17:16:20 PM EDT

The annual NYC May Day rally is train wreck of every progressive issue you ever have (and haven't) heard about that spews pamphlets, Communist newspapers and poorly amplified speeches.

On the heels of the sense of frustration that the May Day rally can create, it's great to see the May 12th Coalition pulling together a strong coalition to propose a unified and practical message.

They're proposing a budget that replaces cuts to human services with measures to eliminate tax breaks for banks. Lots of great community organizations, some local politicians and good press will hopefully move this plan along.  More here.

How Much Racism is Too Much?

by: Mik Moore

Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 00:58:58 AM EDT

I was intrigued by this headline of a Salon column: Too Much Tea Party Racism.

The piece in Salon focuses on several racist and homophobic incidents that occured at yesterday's anti-health care rally at the Capitol, which seems to be anchored by tea partiers. In part:

...it's worth more of my time to say what many resist: The tea party movement is disturbingly racist and reactionary, from its roots to its highest branches. On Saturday, as a small group of protesters jammed the Capitol and the streets around it, the movement's origins in white resistance to the Civil Rights Movement was impossible to ignore.

Leads me to wonder, how much racism is too much? How do you determine if racism is fundamental to the movement or just attracts racists? 

3 Fasters Go To Hospital

by: Mae Singerman

Thu Jan 14, 2010 at 15:24:46 PM EST

Geez, my posts have been depressing the past few days. But it's serious times right now. Here is an update from Quaker activist Jeanette Smith about the fasters in Miami who are fasting until they get a meeting around immigration issues 

"The doctor came today. Sebastien, the sixth faster who joined on Day 4, may have diabetes. He’ll be leaving the fast after 9 days. He’s quietly talking with Ana right now. He says that he doesn’t want to leave the fast. He must. He can stay in solidarity but this is serious.

Ana’s sugar is low. We’re waiting to see what the doctor says. She’s sitting in a bright yellow FIU sweatshirt and trying to comfort Sebastien, explaining to him how he’ll need to change his diet in the future.

Jenny looks the worst that I’ve seen her with circles under her eyes and no vibrancy at all. Jenny is usually so “vivo” but what else could we expect on Day 14 of a fast? Her son, Jacinto, turned 13 yesterday. His 15-year-old sister, Stephanie, made him a cake. I can’t help but wonder, if Jenny is sent back to Honduras, how many other birthday cakes will she miss with her children?

The doctor is here. Three fasters are going to the hospital. Francisco may have had a heart attack – the after symptoms point that way. He needs tests. He quietly asked me if he could come back to the fast after they do the tests. “I won’t let them give me food and I can come back, right?” It broke my heart.

Jonathan says he feels fine but the doctor insists that he go to the hospital as well. He has shortness of breath and an issue with his electrolytes that could point to something more serious. He’s determined to come back.

The doctor is recommending that Jenny and Ana go to the hospital as well. Jenny’s pulse and blood pressure are very low. Ana’s sugar is dangerously low. They pressure the doctor. “It’s my baby. It’s my life. You have to understand,” Jenny is declaring. I have tears in my eyes. The fast could cost her life and leaving her children could cost her life. How does one even begin to fathom that choice? How does it even come to that?

Ana is sitting quietly in the corner, swatting away a bee with one hand. The bees started to come about a week ago. Apparently they are attracted to the fruit smell that the fasters give off. The bees really bother Ana. She was swarmed by bees in the desert on her way back to her children.

We just said good bye to Francisco, Sebastien, and Jonathan. Ana, Jenny, and Wilfredo are still here. Please don’t forget them. Call Janet Napolitano (866-587-3023). Now is the time for her to come to Miami. Our community is in pain. Haitians can’t locate their families. People are fasting in tents to stay with their families. Now is the time to speak out – speak out for the families in our community. They need you. We need you.

Jeanette
South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice
305-598-1404
Fastforfamilies.org"

The Atmosphere as a Private Commodity

by: Mae Singerman

Thu Jan 07, 2010 at 12:53:10 PM EST

Heard about a protest that is coming up during the 2nd Annual Carbon Trading Summit. I don't know much about the nuance of the conversation, but protest promoters bring up the compelling argument that carbon trading is an effort to privatize the atmosphere, as corporations buy and sell the rights to pollute it.

Corporations are claiming the atmosphere as a private commodity and buying and selling "rights" to pollute it. Manipulation of these "rights" - in combination with so-called "offsets" (projects that claim to reduce emissions on their behalf, but most often do not) - will allow the industry to stonewall real pollution reductions for another 15 to 20 years, with devastating consequences for all life on earth. Carbon markets in the European Union have proven extremely volatile, prone to manipulation and gaming, and they do not help reduce emissions.

They've got a week of events planned that look really interesting. 

Saturday, Jan 9, 10am-5pm: Nonviolent direct action workshop and strategy session

Sunday, Jan 10, 6:30pm-8:30pm: Panel discussion "Selling the Sky: Carbon Trading and the Failure of Copenhagen"

Monday, Jan 11, 7 pm - 9:00 pm: Presentation: "From COP 15 to Climate Justice Movement"

Tuesday, Jan 12, noon: Press Event: Featuring renowned climate scientist DR. JAMES HANSEN, and FATHER PAUL MAYER, of the Climate Crisis Coalition

Wednesday, Jan 13, 12 noon: Rally and protest action outside of the 2nd Annual Carbon Trading Summit

For more details about these events and the issues- CLICK HERE!

Williamsburg vs. Williamsburg Part 2

by: Mae Singerman

Tue Dec 22, 2009 at 12:45:40 PM EST

Bike Snob NYC has written a great commentary on the planned, but unexecuted plan to do a naked bike ride through the Hassidic community that got bike lanes removed from their street. 

"This underscores a fundamental requirement of outrageous protest, which is that if you say you're going to do something crazy you need to at least follow through with it."

Full article here

Tea Bagging, Antisemitism, and Jewish Silence

by: Mik Moore

Wed Apr 15, 2009 at 16:27:50 PM EDT

Well, it's tax day, a non-event made more interesting each year by protesters or activists. This year, the big push is a Boston Tea Party-esque series of protests called, despite the sexual connotations, tea bagging.

I won't get into how all of this got started; The Progress Report has a good summary. Their point is to protest Obama's future tax increases on the highest income earners and to generally bemoan the impending socialist state.

For the most part, the protests are attracting the kinds of far-right wackos we haven't heard much from since the Clinton years. But the imagery and the rhetoric being used is pretty disgusting. For anyone with any knowledge of antisemitism, much is familiar here, starting with focus on bloodsucking elites. Dana Houle at DailyKos has an interesting post that connects the dots between Timothy McVeigh, far-right antisemitism, and Glenn Beck of Fox News.

Glenn Beck has emerged as the lead provocateur and promoter of the tea bagging protests. He is also likes to compare the Obama administration with... you guessed it! The Nazis! This video is particularly creepy. So is this one.

The former video include Nazis on the march, then a giant image of Ben Bernake as Big Brother. The latter, about bloodsucking, includes an image of Barney Frank (D-MA) with fangs.

I am not the type to see antisemitism around every corner. But I'd say a few lines have been crossed here; at least enough to warrant some kind of statement. Although it has been in fashion among those who track antisemitism to point to the left, the folks who do the most damage - particularly in this country - are on the right.

So, why has this story gotten no attention from either the ADL or the Jewish press? JTA has eight articles about antisemitism in April alone, yet nothing about tea-bagging, or Glenn Beck. It's been two years since the ADL even mentioned Glenn Beck, when he was criticized for another Nazi analogy.

What is it exactly that makes Durban II so important and tea-bagging so unimportant?

Update: Will this photo from the teabagging protests catch anyone's attention?

Police Violence in Twin Cities

by: Kerr

Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 14:50:47 PM EDT

The sound of wind and thunder in the south and the yammering about Governor Sarah Palin have all but covered up the sounds of police kicking in doors in Minneapolis and St. Paul this weekend. Police have been arresting activists, protesters, and anyone who looked like they might be an activist or a protester, on the thinnest of excuses, in the process holding groups of people including four and five year old children at gunpoint. Some people gathered to watch a film in their home were burst in on, thrown to the ground and held at gunpoint while police searched the home for "bomb-making materials". Finding nothing remotely suspicious, they had to release everyone, but not before a five year old boy learned what it's like to spend three hours at the wrong end of a peace officer's weapon. A family of environmental activists traveling the country in a permaculture van, demonstrating composting and recycling techniques for schoolkids, had their van—their home—impounded by police "just in case we want to search it later." Among the organizations affected have been such peaceful groups as Food Not Bombs and the Poor People's Campaign, and a group of pagans gathering to protest the Iraq War on the grounds of their religious consciences. If you haven't heard about it, it's because they've been arresting journalists for committing journalism too. Democracy Now's Amy Goodman was detained, and Nicole Salazar was thrown to the ground and dragged and marched off in handcuffs, and members of I-Witness Video, who videotaped arrests at the GOP convention in 2004, were held and intimidated for several hours. And I heard an account from some bystanders caught in a teargassing on a city street.

It's not entirely clear to me who has and has not been released at this point, but it is becoming clear that the Federal Government has been using classic union-breaking tactics in planning these raids, over months, targeting such dangerous terrorist groups as vegans and peace activists for infiltration and information about their activities—and even with full knowledge that they were not committing any acts of violence or terrorism, the police determined to stop them from exercising their rights to free speech and assembly. 

I spent my Labor Day calling the mayors' offices and registering my shock and anger. I'll call again today, and I hope you will too.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman
651-266-8510

Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak
(612) 673-2100

RNC info line
(612) 673-3000 outside Minneapolis

"What the hell is wrong with these people?"

by: Mik Moore

Mon Jul 07, 2008 at 13:53:05 PM EDT

From The New Yorker, Shouts & Murmurs, titled Animal Tales:

DALMATIANS

“Hey, look, the truck’s stopping.”

“Did they take us to the park this time?”

“No—it’s a fire. Another horrible fire.”

“What the hell is wrong with these people?”

As a parent I have to wonder, does this apply to me? If so, it might go something like this...

Mik's Kids

"Hey, look, the subway is stopping."

"Did they take us to the playground this time?"

"No - it's a protest. Another angry protest."

"What the hell is wrong with these people?"

Sensationalism: ALL Wrong vs. Tasteful

by: Alana Krivo-Kaufman

Thu Jun 05, 2008 at 13:26:44 PM EDT

ALL Wrong vs. Tasteful.

Where is the line between using protest slogans and personal vignettes which abuse and manipulate our instinctual, emotive and subconscious reactions (linked to our own fears and pain) and utilizing persuasive arguments or portraying (other people's) personal experiences?  A couple of examples which snagged me today while wandering around the blogsphere after the jump.