St. Paul, MN – On February 28, the Minnesota Anti-War Committee organized a protest at the Eastcliff Mansion, where Governor Tim Walz currently resides. On the eve of the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) meeting, a crowd of over 100 people rallied to demand that the Minnesota governor, also the chair of the SBI, divest from apartheid Israel and weapons manufacturers.

Speakers addressed how their specific struggles relate to the state investments in Israeli apartheid. Simultaneously, 14 people participated in civil disobedience on the governor's front lawn to demand that he meet with his constituents and promise to divest.

The Minnesota State Board of Investments has $3.2 billion invested in Israeli entities and corporations complicit in Israeli apartheid. This includes weapons manufacturing companies, pharmaceutical companies, the tourism industry, heavy machinery companies and even investing $25 million in bonds directly into the Zionist state of Israel. Some of these companies, such as Elbit systems and Boeing, make cluster bombs and surveillance technology. Others, such as Caterpillar, produce armored bulldozers that are used to collapse the homes of Palestinians. The Minnesota State Board of Investments has been a political target of the Palestine solidarity movement for years.

Since the issue of funding Israel affects all Minnesota tax-payers, divestment is a unifying demand to organize around. Members of Students for a Democratic Society, AFSCME 3800, FLAGS-JP, American Muslims for Palestine, and MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee spoke at the protest.

Jasper Nordin from Students for a Democratic Society explained, “We refuse any longer to be complicit in Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people! We will not allow you, Tim Walz, to continue to use our money to carry out this slaughter. We will not relent, we will not stop showing up until you listen to the people of Minnesota and you end Minnesota’s complicity in this genocide!”

As the death toll in Gaza increases every single day, the demand to divest from Israel becomes more urgent. Additionally, as the Anti-War Committee and many other organizations have been targeting Governor Walz with no response, they saw a need for more escalation. After the first speaker, , a group of 14 activists jumped the fence and began occupying the lawn of the Eastcliff mansion, risking arrest. The activists were accompanied by bloody child-sized body bags, red poppies, and a large check stating the amount Tim Walz has “made out” to Israel.

As the rally and speeches continued, the activists remained on the lawn, at times getting on the microphone and demanding that Walz “come out and face them,” drawing attention to their demands for the chair of the SBI to divest. Many state troopers and security officers came and stationed themselves right next to the activists, preventing them, some with hostility, from moving closer towards the house.

One of the arrestees, Lina Jebara from the Anti-War Committee stated, “If Governor Walz, the chair of the board, sees issue with anti-apartheid activist sitting in close proximity to his temporary home, perhaps he can find issue with the apartheid regime slaughtering thousands of refugees in their displacement camps. As Israel’s genocidal campaign on the people of Palestine is allowed to escalate, we will also continue to escalate.”

After two-and-a-half very cold hours, the 14 activists were publicly arrested with the support of chants and drums coming from observers and attendees.

The Anti-War Committee showed up to the State Board of Investment meeting the next day and plans to continue a campaign to target the board and demand for divestment from apartheid Israel.

#StPaulMN #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #MNAWC #GovWalz #Divestment #MNSBI #CivilDisobedience #SDS #UMNSDS #MIRAC #FLAGSJP #AFSCME3800 #Feature

AWC – Chicago issued the following statement about their participation the action. AWC has gone after Boeing for almost two years for their role as the second largest arms manufacturer. Kait McIntyre, one of the protesters, is a candidate for Boeing’s board of stock holders. Also among the AWC protesters are Joe Iosbaker, Newland Smith, and Bonnie Coyle.

Anti-War Committee – Chicago statement

In our campaign against Boeing we have routinely exposed their company as a key element of the U.S. war machine, which profits off the sale of weapons for U.S. wars and U.S. allies. Boeing reaps billions from the sale of weapons for use in the Israeli attacks on Gaza as part of its eight year old siege of Gaza. Boeing has provided the Israeli air force with several hundred F15 and F16 fighter planes and thousands of tail kits designed to make dumb bombs into “smart bombs,” improving accuracy. More recently Boeing designed a laser seeker to add to the nose of a bomb equipped with their tail kit, giving the ability to engage moving targets.

In addition Boeing has provided at least 60 of the Apache attack helicopters to Israel, as well as their payloads of “pinpoint accurate” Hellfire Missiles.

In observing the precision of Boeing’s products, we learn something about Israel’s bombing and missile strikes on Gaza. As these weapons are so precise, then the deaths of civilian men, women and children – the vast majority of the 186 killed by Israel – are premeditated. The Israeli pilots know who is in their gun sights. They launch their weapons with full knowledge.

This means that the Israeli pilots are no different than the criminal settlers who burned Mohammed Abu Khdeir alive. They are killing in cold blood. They are killing civilians – men, children, women, and old people. They bomb food stores, hospitals, and even a center for the disabled.

The men who killed Mohammed Abu Khdeir have the sounds of their victim in their minds, but Israeli pilots have killed hundreds since Israel’s operation “Protective Edge” began, and thousands more throughout the history of the occupation.

Finally, Chicago is home to one of the largest Palestinian communities in the U.S. Chicago is also home to the Boeing Company, whose stock price soars from the slaughter of countless Palestinians. This is a slap in the face we cannot abide.

End the siege of Gaza now! End U.S. aid to Israel! Free Palestine!

More information at the Anti-War Committee – Chicago website.

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #Gaza #Palestine #civilDisobedience #BoeingCorporation #AntiWarCommitteeChicago #MiddleEast

Raleigh, NC – 84 people were arrested today, June 17, during the 7th wave of Moral Monday protests, while over 1000 rallied outside the North Carolina legislature to protest the right-wing policies being carried out by the Republican majority. While police loaded up buses with the arrested protesters, hundreds chanted, “You're gonna need another bus, 'cause baby there are more of us!”

With devastating efficiency, the Republican majorities in the House and Senate and Republican Governor Pat McCrory are rolling back progressive laws and regulations across the board: workers’ rights, equal access to education, unemployment benefits, environmental protection, health care access, voting rights and racial justice are all under unprecedented attack from a legislature that is dominated by ‘free market' ideology.

The June 17 protest was the seventh in a wave of weekly protests organized by Reverend William Barber and the North Carolina NAACP. The theme of this week's protest was on environmental and health care justice. Thousands have mobilized from across the state to protest the legislature since the first Moral Monday on April 29. To date more than 480 people have been arrested for acts of civil disobedience.

Evan Kolosna, an organizer with the University of North Carolina-Asheville Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the North Carolina Student Power Union, told Fight Back!, “This is directly affecting us as students – the budget cuts are targeting our schools, so I would say to other fellow students: 'Come out here and fight for your education and your future.’”

There were about two dozen health care workers at the demonstration today, holding signs saying “Health care is a right” and “GOP Rx for NC = Bad medicine.”

“What is happening with the legislature now, with the Republican majority, is a travesty of justice,” said Mohan Chilukuri, a health care worker, “because they are denying healthcare to 500,000 people that would have been eligible under the Affordable Care Act.” Chilukuri called on physicians to come out and protest the legislature and Governor McCrory.

With next week's demonstration focused on workers’ rights and the attacks on organized labor by the legislature, the Moral Monday protests are set to continue for the coming weeks. The rallying cry of the demonstrators is, “Forward together, not one step back!”

#RaleighNC #civilDisobedience #workersRights #MoralMonday

St. Paul, MN – On May 11, members of ADAPT Minnesota and up to 20 of their supporters challenged politicians to not accept any of the Republicans’ health and human services cuts to people with disabilities. While the supporters stood outside the Senate chamber doors with signs, four members from ADAPT MN – Galen Smith, Chris Bell, Nikki Villavicencio-Tollison and Darrell Paulsen – went to the senate gallery intending to send a clear message to the politicians below. As soon as the session’s gavel struck down, the four ADAPT members shouted, “I'd rather go to jail than die in a nursing home!” The session came to a halt while the four were briefly detained and removed from the gallery.

ADAPT MN members decided to disrupt the floor session because of the proposed budget cuts by the hands of the Republican leaders. People fear these cuts go through, it will send them to expensive and unhealthy nursing homes and institutions.

All four demonstrators were still chanting, “Our homes, not nursing homes!” and “Cuts kill!” as they were removed one by one by the capitol police. Nikki Villavicencio-Tollison described looking down from the gallery to see the reactions of the legislatures. “Most of them looked stunned while some looked curious.”

###Activists Speak

Villavicencio-Tollison said, “What we accomplished today was to show the GOP, especially the Senate GOP, that people with disabilities are not going to allow these devastating cuts to happen. We want them to understand that our independence costs less. We shouldn’t have to fight to stop these cuts. Disability services are human rights!”

Galen Smith said, “I am here as a queer, transgender and a person with a disability. What the GOP is doing right now hurts our communities and families. The GOP is trying to restrict marriage [referring to the anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment that was slated to hit the floor that day] and making major cuts to people with disabilities. The proposed cuts will kill people. Thousands of people will end up in institutions. This is not acceptable!”

Chris Bell stated, “The GOP believes some human beings are worth more than others. That’s a sin. The GOP is willing to have all kinds of human beings – whether they are people with disabilities, the poor or the elderly – all to be put in a boat and they would pull the plug. Only the wealthy people are more worthy than other people and the cuts in the budget prove it. They are balancing the budget on the backs of the poor and middle class. The DFL [Democrats] in Minnesota need to get a moral clarity on this.”

Darrell Paulsen wanted to send a clear message to the Republican caucus and the powers that be, “People with disabilities are tired of being pushed down and having to endure devastating cuts. They need to rethink the budget and not to balance the budget on people with disabilities.”

Another part of the Republican proposal is to give counties block grants so they decide how to split up the money and services. Paulsen added, “Giving all the power to the counties to decide how to spend the state money for people with disabilities isn’t the solution.”

All four were escorted out of the capitol by the police and were given a no trespassing ticket. They were warned that if they come back into the capitol anytime that the day, they would be arrested. However, they vowed that they will not stop protesting.

#StPaulMN #BudgetCuts #Healthcare #civilDisobedience #ADAPT #disabilityRights

This essay was written by one of five people arrested at the Move the Game protest in Minneapolis on August 11, 2010. The protest confronted a meeting of Major League Baseball (MLB) team owners and league Commissioner Bud Selig, demanding that they move the 2011 All Star game out of Arizona unless the anti-immigrant law SB1070 is repealed. The essay focuses on part of the arrestees’ jail experience, bringing to light this largely hidden site of large numbers of immigrant deportations.

What city were you born in?

8/12/2010

Minneapolis, MN – Expecting to hear a question about country of origin, I was thrown off. On August 11th, 5 of us had been arrested during a “Move the Game” protest organized by The Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc) and their Boycott Arizona Minnesota Campaign (BAM!) demanding that the 2011 All-Star Game be moved out of Arizona unless the state repeals it's racist, anti-immigrant law, SB1070. Arrested for attempting to present a 110,000 signature petition to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, during an MLB owners meeting at a downtown Minneapolis hotel, we prepared to refuse to state our birthplace during the booking process in jail, since that question that is used to determine whether someone might be an undocumented immigrant. ICE can then interview people and put them into deportation proceedings.

Given the nature of our initial protest for immigrant rights and our personal political beliefs, we had decided not to answer that question.

I asked if it was necessary to answer that question and was met with a forceful threat that if we did not answer we would be unable to complete the booking process and be returned to the holding cell. That is exactly how the system is arranged. Clerks and deputies shoot off questions at you in order to catch you off guard. It is extraordinarily easy to be lost in the process, and that is used to their advantage.

If these questions were purely used for identification purposes it would be one thing, but files of those who are undocumented are flagged, opening them up to questioning by ICE and the possibility of deportation. Three of us who had not been charged refused to answer any question that inquired about place of birth. We were each held in solitary confinement for varied amounts of time until we agreed to go through with the booking process.

My 12 hours in custody and 6 hours in solitary confinement is nothing compared to the years of separation that families face when a loved one is deported. I do not kid myself that my night and the nights of my fellow protesters in jail will by itself greatly impact the system, but I believe in this movement, in the strong organizers in our communities, and hope to use our story to further the fight for immigrant rights. What happens in jails is largely invisible to the outside world. Yet it is precisely this process of asking a seemingly innocent question about city of birth during the booking process (before people have even been convicted of a crime), that has contributed to the skyrocketing of deportation over the past year under the “Criminal Alien Program”. By telling our story, I hope to shed some light on this largely invisible source of deportations and tearing apart of families, so we can organize to stop it.

Molly Glasgow is a member of the Minnesota Immigrant Righs Action Committee (MIRAc).

#MinneapolisMN #InJusticeSystem #civilDisobedience #MIRAc #Arizona #BoycottArizona #SB1070 #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #BoycottArizonaMinnesota #MajorLeagueBaseball #BudSelig #MoveTheGame #CriminalAlienProgram

Minneapolis, MN – Chanting “Move the game! Move the game!”, 100 immigrants and supporters confronted a meeting of Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Bud Selig and team owners at a ritzy Minneapolis hotel on August 11, 2010. The protest was part of the national movement demanding that Major League Baseball move the 2011 All Star game out of Arizona unless the state repeals its recently passed anti-immigrant law, SB1070. Losing the All Star game would be a big blow to Arizona, resulting in an estimated $60 million loss of revenue. Thirty percent of MLB players are Latino, and many have spoken out against SB1070.

A delegation of five of the protesters – members of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc) and U of M Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) – entered the hotel where the baseball owners were meeting in an effort to deliver 110,000 petitions directly to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig. As the delegation entered the hotel the police quickly handcuffed and arrested them, refusing to let them bring the petitions to Selig. Police also refused to allow Minneapolis City Council member Cam Gordon, who was present at the protest, to deliver the petitions to Selig in their place. As the five were arrested inside the hotel, the rally outside grew more spirited, with chants of “let them in!” and more chants of “move the game!”

Niger Arevalo of MIRAc spoke about the need to fight racist, anti-immigrant laws like SB1070 in Arizona, and also to fight anti-immigrant laws in Minnesota like HF3830 (the SB1070 copycat bill), 287g, and the recently-passed English-only law in Lino Lakes, MN. Carlos Roa from MoveTheGame.org said, “It is obvious that Commissioner Selig cares more about the profits of baseball than protecting the human and civil rights of players and fans. We won’t rest until Commissioner Selig and MLB team owners stand on the right side of history.” The other speakers at the rally were Minneapolis City Council member Cam Gordon (Ward 2, Green Party), American Indian Movement (AIM) leader Clyde Bellecourt, and Victor Contreras from Centro Campesino, who mobilized a bus load of people to the protest from Southern Minnesota.

The August 11 protest was organized by MIRAc and the Boycott Arizona-MN (BAM!) campaign. It was endorsed by MoveTheGame.org, Centro Campesino and SEIU Local 26.

Video from the August 11 “Move the Game” Protest (from Twin Cities Indymedia)

#MinneapolisMN #civilDisobedience #MIRAc #Arizona #BoycottArizona #SB1070 #MinnesotaImmigrantRightsActionCommittee #BAM #BoycottArizonaMinnesota #MajorLeagueBaseball #MLB #BudSelig

Phoenix, AZ – Over 500 activists and community members gathered here on the morning of July 29 to protest SB1070 on the day the law was going into effect. The law has lost some of its teeth due to pressure from the immigrant rights movement, which resulted in the long overdue federal injunction. On July 28, a judge struck down the part of the law that required all Arizonans to carry their proof of legal status constantly, as well as the part that legalized and mandated racial profiling, declaring these parts unconstitutional. However, most of the law remains intact, including the parts that criminalize day laborers and target families with mixed immigration status.

Chis Newman, an immigrant rights lawyer, rallied the activists July 28, in a meeting just before the protest saying, “This struggle did not begin with SB1070 and it will not end with it. SB1070 is a manifestation of the racist cancer that is affecting our Latino communities.” This means that the struggle for Chicanos and immigrants in this country is far from over.

Protesters rallied in front of the office of Sheriff Arpaio, one of the main figureheads of the racist, anti-immigrant movement. Not only does Arpaio wrench thousands of families apart with his excessive raids and deportations, he also commits human rights violations with his humiliating treatment of undocumented prisoners. An estimated 20 activists were arrested in the street, including members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), heroic local community organizers from Puente Arizona and others, as supporters chanted, “Arrest Arpaio” and “Down with 1070! We will not comply!”

Later, protesters blockaded the county jail, forcing sheriff department deputies to remain inside for over an hour. As a result of this blockade, Sheriff Arpaio was forced to cancel his raids and deportations for today. The July 29 demonstrations were a victory for the oppressed peoples of Phoenix and the rallies will continue across Arizona and the nation.

Grace Kelley is a member of University of Minnesota Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

#PhoenixAZ #SheriffJoeArpaio #civilDisobedience #Arizona #SB1070

The janitors' union is preparing for a strike and is also mobilizing supporters to take action. Civil disobedience is part of that plan. According to SEIU Local 26 janitor Maristella Chimbo, “We are fighting for justice – for good, clean green jobs. We have a lot of support from other unions, from immigrant communities, from religious groups, from students. If the employer won't move at the negotiating table, janitors and our supporters are prepared to take the actions necessary to win our demands.”

#MinneapolisMN #SEIU #civilDisobedience #SEIULocal26 #janitors

Chapel Hill, NC – A 16-day sit-in at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) administration building came to a dramatic close on Friday May 2, when Chancellor Moeser ordered UNC police to arrest five of the protesters. It was the longest sit-in protest in UNC’s history. Dozens of students had occupied the lobby of South Building, the administrative headquarters at UNC, in a protest against the university’s use of sweatshops for the manufacture of UNC apparel (Sit-in at administration building demands end to UNC sweatshop clothing, Fight Back!, April 2008).

The students, members of the Carolina Sweatfree Coalition, had demanded that Chancellor Moeser and the UNC Licensing Labor Code Advisory Committee sign on to the Designated Suppliers Program, which would ensure that university apparel is manufactured in factories where workers earn a living wage and have the right to organize. In contrast, most UNC apparel is currently manufactured in Central American and South Asian sweatshops, where workers are routinely harassed on the job, denied the right to organize and earn pitiful wages that fall short of what is needed to support a family.

After 16 days of sitting in, members of the Carolina Sweatfree Coalition were granted a meeting with the licensing committee and the Chancellor. Commenting on what took place at the meeting, Student Action with Workers member Salma Mirza said, “Chancellor Moeser demonstrated at that committee meeting that he had no intention of taking any moral leadership on the fact that our apparel is manufactured under sweatshop conditions.”

After the meeting, the Carolina Sweatfree Coalition held a press conference in South Building. A dozen students then entered Chancellor Moeser’s office to inform him that they would continue to occupy the administration building until he entered into a genuine dialog with the Coalition. In response, Moeser ordered the students arrested. The police arrested one student without warning, and then told the others to leave if they did not want to be arrested. Four remained and were arrested on charges of failure to disperse, while one student was charged with resisting arrest.

“We knew our arrests would join with the 46 others that have taken place across the U.S. around this campaign, and that we would be contributing to the deep history of struggle at UNC,” said Tim Stallmann, a graduate student at UNC and a member of Student Action with Workers. “This was an anti-sweatshop fight, but we were putting our bodies on the line for all workers involved at UNC: the clerical and campus workers, the student workers and the workers manufacturing UNC apparel in sweatshops around the world.”

The statement from the Coalition on the arrests said, “The Chancellor stated that he was disappointed by our actions. We cannot begin to express our disappointment in the Chancellor of a university that calls itself the ‘university of the people,’ who would prefer to arrest peaceful student protesters instead of ensuring that there is justice for the workers who make this university run.”

Members of the Coalition and Student Action with Workers, the group that led the protests, promise to continue the struggle the next year. “The campaign for justice for all workers in the Carolina community will not end with the arrests of peaceful student protesters,” explained Salma Mirza. “Though we were the ones arrested, we must ask -which is more criminal, our act of peacefully occupying an office of a public institution that our tuition pays for, or Chancellor Moeser allowing our Carolina apparel to be made under sweatshop conditions that violate international and domestic law?”

For more information, and to support the campaign, please visit: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/uncsitin

#ChapelHillNC #ChapellHillNC #News #WorkersAndGlobalization #civilDisobedience #CarolinaSweatfreeCoalition #sitin

Those arrested were part of a larger group of more than 100 student demonstrators from across the UC system that attended the meeting to protest the proposed fee increases.

“Every year that the UC regents increase student fees, thousands of low-income students, and especially students of color, are denied access to higher education,” said David Chavez, a UCLA student among those arrested. “Myself and others are tired of the economic oppression that our communities face, which the regents take part in with their efforts to privatize the UCs. The levels of poverty and harm in our communities will not shrink so long as higher education continues on the current track towards a homogeneous and elitist institution.”

From May 14-16 UCLA was host to a quarterly meeting of the UC regents – a group of ten people, appointed by the governor, which has final say over all decisions affecting the University of California. While the meeting took place, student activists at UCLA hosted a counter-meeting of their own to agitate for greater democracy in the UC system as well as an end to practices like investment in war profiteering, nuclear weapons research and the constant increasing of tuition and fees.

In a statement released after their arrest, the 16 said that the fee increase, “would mean more out-of-state students...because they bring more revenue for the school, thus limiting space for California residents. It would mean less diversity, as the poorest students – overwhelmingly of color – are effectively excluded from a public education because they simply can’t afford it. It would mean families most vulnerable to fee increases would be forced into a false choice of accruing massive debt or not sending their children to school. It would mean pushing the California Dream farther and farther off the coast for much of the state’s truly diverse population, as the UC student body becomes both richer and whiter.”

The fee increase will raise costs for students by 7.4%, or about $500 per year for resident undergraduates. The slogan “7.4% = 1 month’s rent!” could be seen at a display set up by some of the protesters on the UCLA quad.

Thirty years ago, resident students paid nominal registration costs and virtually no tuition, making the cost of a public education almost free. But all this has changed in the era of Republican cutbacks and Democrat ‘reforms.’ Under the new fees, in-state undergraduates will pay around $8000 each year, a cost that is already far out of reach for many working families in California who are struggling to cope with astronomical prices for rent, gas, food and healthcare.

The only beneficiaries of the constant UC fee increases (which have gone up 91% since 2001) are California’s rich. By fighting tooth and nail against any taxes on their enormous incomes, the richest segment of California’s population has worked to force the costs of public services on to those least able to afford them. This also pushes public institutions like the UC ever closer to full privatization, directly benefiting the same wealthy interests.

By voting in favor of continuing fee increases, the regents (with the exception of a small minority that opposed the hike) have embraced these trends and chosen to settle the university budget crisis on the backs of the students.

The May 14 civil disobedience action was one of many such actions that have interrupted recent meetings of the regents, as students continue to demand a say in the way their universities are run. In the face of such willful disregard for the needs of the people they are supposed to represent, the regents can expect more frequent – and more militant – actions in the future.

#LosAngelesCA #News #BudgetCuts #civilDisobedience #UCLASDS

Mumia Abu-Jamal, an African American journalist and revolutionary, is on Pennsylvania's death row for a crime he did not commit.

These protests are a move to increase the pressure on the government while Mumia's attorneys make what might be their final bid to have new evidence heard, and to win a new trial based on that evidence.

Organizer Zeno Wood stressed, “Now that Mumia's case is in the Federal courts, there are clear targets in every city across the country. Every city has a Federal building that we can organize rallies, protests and even civil disobedience at. We can send a clear message to Judge Yohn who is reviewing Mumia's case and to the Federal government that we aren't going to allow Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge to execute Mumia.”

In New York, a broad coalition of organizations participated in the planning for the D.C. action, including the Student Liberation Action Movement, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), anti-death penalty activists, Crusaders for Mumia, and Refuse and Resist. They were joined by contingents from across the country including the Howard Law School, Amnesty International, and student groups from Vassar, Bard, George Washington and American Universities along with high school students from many locales.

Following their arrest, 10 women from Crusaders for Mumia (a lesbian, gay, bi, and transgender affinity group) were singled out and strip-searched, which is against standard police procedure and court rulings.

One activist from New York, who participated in both the D.C. action and a July 4 civil disobedience stated, “These actions are vital contributions to raising the stakes against the death penalty and winning a new trial for Mumia.” She continued, “But it's also essential for us to continue reaching out to churches, block associations, and trade union locals, educating them about the racist nature of the death penalty and how Mumia's case warrants a new trial.”

#WashingtonDC #News #AfricanAmerican #MumiaAbuJamal #civilDisobedience #federalBuildingProtests #PoliticalPrisoners

The May 6 protest was the follow-through on an open letter calling on President Obama to sign an executive order declaring a moratorium on immigration raids and deportations within the first 100 days of his administration. This event was preceded by several public civil disobedience trainings, the last of which was held at the May 1 immigrant rights march in Minneapolis.

This action was an escalation in response to the silence of the administration demonstrated by the continuation of raids and deportations which have torn families and communities apart, resulting in numerous human rights abuses and over 90 deaths in ICE detention centers since 2003. Over the past several years, the immigrant rights movement has organized marches, hunger strikes, petitions and lobbied for change, all with the goal of ending these human rights abuses – yet the raids and deportations have continued.

President Obama has said, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” Community members have decided to take matters into their own hands to realize this message. Phillip Lickteig, one of the dozens of community members who participated in the action, states, “President Obama, we take you at your word. We are non-violent because we wish, through contrast, to expose the system of violence and fear that pervades the communities, workplaces, schools and homes of the undocumented and their children. We are disobedient because the law is unjust.”

#BloomingtonMN #News #ICE #civilDisobedience #ImmigrationAndCustomsEnforcementICE #detentions

Sundin, along with other RNC protest organizers spoke at a Sept. 20 community discussion in Minneapolis, Minnesota hosted by Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #RepublicanNationalConvention2008 #civilDisobedience #StPaulPrinciples #massArrests #solidarity

The of civil disobedience was organized by the Anti-War Committee, and included participants from many local peace groups, including the Anti-War Committee, University of Minnesota Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Women Against Military Madness, and Youth Against War and Racism.

The protests come on the heels of a month of activities that have marked the five year anniversary of the war, and the grim milestone of 4000 U.S. soldiers dead in Iraq. More than a thousand anti-war actions were organized around the country. Some of these protests included acts of civil disobedience, leading to the arrests of more than 200 anti-war protesters nation-wide.

Minneapolis protesters were challenging Army National Guard recruiters on the lies that are told to convince young people to enlist. Katrina Plotz, of the Anti-War Committee, explains, “Military recruiters entice young people to enlist with false promises of money for college, job training and assurances that they won’t see combat. We’re here to educate people about the lies recruiters tell and to protest a system that uses and abuses its soldiers. We want the war to end now and for the troops to come home.”

The action at the recruitment office followed a 400-person rally and march organized by the University of Minnesota SDS and was coordinated with an action by Macalester SDS as they shut down another nearby military recruitment center.

“A powerful student movement against the war on Iraq is coming into being,” says Tracy Molm of University of Minnesota SDS. “We will continue to confront the war makers at every opportunity.”

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #StudentMovement #News #Iraq #civilDisobedience #StudentsForADemocraticSocietySDS #militaryRecruiterLies #4000USSoldiersDeadInIraq

Sarah Buchner, of the University of North Carolina at Asheville SDS said, “The costs of the Iraq war in human life, and even in dollars spent are outrageous. Students are fed up with the war and with the empty rhetoric from the presidential candidates about ‘timelines’ and ‘phased withdrawals.’ These nationwide simultaneous demonstrations are great because we, as students, can focus our efforts and create a big impact.”

The illegal imperialist war has at this point caused 1.2 million Iraqis to lose their lives. Soon the 4000th U.S. soldier will be killed, with 30,000 wounded. $275 million per day are going to fund the war while people are suffering at home because of lack of services. With protests taking place in communities across the U.S. and large rallies planned in some cities, the actions of SDS and other student organizations will make an important contribution to the broader movement to end the occupation of Iraq.

For more information: http://www.newsds.org/march20

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #News #Occupation #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #Iraq #civilDisobedience #fifthAnniversaryOfInvasionOfIraq

Minnesota saw a wave of dramatic anti-war protests at military recruitment centers, April 23. The call of the Twin Cities based Anti-War Committee for April 23 to be Zero Recruitment Day was taken up by a host of anti-war groups that joined together, visibly opposing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, exposing recruiter lies and preventing military recruiting that day.

Despite Obama’s promise to end the war on Iraq, he has committed to keeping 50,000 troops there through 2011. Meanwhile he plans to greatly expand the U.S. occupation in Afghanistan and send an additional 17,000 troops. These war plans depend on new recruits for the armed forces. The current economic crisis makes it easier for recruiters to prey on poor and working-class youth who are given false promises of economic benefits.

Marie Braun, an activist with the Twin Cities Peace Campaign explained the purpose for the day’s actions, “We are here to say that we are sick of war. We are sickened by the news coming out of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan about continuing death and destruction at the hands of our government. We are appalled by the tactics of recruiters who use lies, innuendo and false promises to get our young people to fight, kill and die in wars that have little or nothing to do with democracy, national security or the welfare of our citizens.”

Six Zero Recruitment Day actions occurred at military recruiting stations throughout Minnesota, five in the Twin Cities metro area and one at the Minnesota State University in Mankato.

In Brooklyn Center, four activists locked themselves to a station, disrupting business for over half the day. Police were forced to cut the door handles in order to arrest the protesters.

Three members of Grandmothers Peace Brigade were arrested after claiming to want to enlist in place of young people in Saint Louis Park. Afterwards, supporters continued to disrupt business. Arrestee Sarah Martin explained their action. “When we went into the Knollwood Plaza recruiting office, the Grandmas Peace Brigade wore t-shirts which said ‘What would grandma do? Pack for Iraq and send the children back.’ We were there to protect our grandchildren from the deadly demands of U.S. imperialism.”

The Anti-War Committee held an all day picket of an Army Career Center in Minneapolis, which culminated in a redecoration of the recruiting station with anti-recruitment posters and foreclosure signs. This led Minneapolis police to cordon off the station as a crime scene and call in the fire department. Three fire engines came to check whether the glue was a ‘hazardous material’ and blocked traffic at the busy Lake and Lyndale intersection for close to an hour.

AWC member Jess Sundin reports, “It’s ironic that the Minneapolis Police declared the recruiting office a crime scene. Our message was that sending young people off to war in Afghanistan and Iraq is a crime. Clearly the police agreed with us.”

Across the river, The Twin Cities Peace Campaign and Alliant Action picketed at a recruitment center in West Saint Paul. Their day-long protest included educational outreach through flyers on cars in the parking lots of surrounding big box stores.

At the University of Minnesota, the lengthy rally organized by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) closed the recruiting station there, while College Republican counter-protesters held signs – many were racist and some advocated torture – nearby.

Stephanie Taylor, a University of Minnesota SDS organizer, explained, “Even in the face of overt racism from the College Republicans and signs that read ‘Free waterboarding tickets,’ students proved to be successful in shutting down the recruitment center and maintaining their political line, chanting, ‘Recruiters lie, students die.’”

Minnesota anti-war groups who came together to organize protests around the Republican National Convention are continuing to work together to build a movement of opposition to U.S. imperialism. Zero Recruitment Day maintained the pattern of using a variety of tactics, including civil disobedience and direct action to get the message across: “Don’t enlist. Resist.”

#Minnesota #MN #AntiwarMovement #News #civilDisobedience #militaryRecruiters

Washington, D.C. – Thousands of people from across the United States marched here, Sept. 29 against the war in Iraq and the pro-war policies of Congress. The crowd gathered in response to a call put out by the Troops Out Now Coalition. Many nationalities and all age groups were represented. The demands included support for the Iraqi people, the release of the Jena Six, ending the U.S. intervention in the Philippines, justice for Katrina survivors and an end to the occupation of Palestine.

Everyone participating was united in opposition to the policies of the Bush regime. Many expressed their frustration with the unwillingness of Congress to stop the war. Along the march route residents of D.C. showed solidarity with the demonstration through gestures of approval.

A large group of youth and students participated in the march. At the end of the march around 50 people, many who were members of SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) and FIST (Fight Imperialism Stand Together), engaged in civil disobedience, blocking traffic in the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Constitution. The intersection was blocked for several hours.

Jess Handy of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte SDS participated in the civil disobedience. Describing the situation, she said, “It happened in a moment, we were running into the intersection, linking arms, our voices and our bodies united as one mass, in protest of the system that oppresses us. The sacrifice didn’t occur to me until [I was approached by another demonstrator] in the line and told that I would be arrested. In that moment I had to choose and I knew I couldn’t get up – I couldn't break the line.”

Erika Zurawski, an SDS member from the University of Minnesota, said, “With major elections coming up we’re at a critical point for the Bush administration. One of the most important aspects of the Sept. 29 demonstration was to make our voices heard that we are very dissatisfied with the direction the country is taking. We came together on the 29th to say no to the war in Iraq, and we also came together to oppose the entire Republican agenda. We are going to continue this pressure until the Republicans come to Saint Paul, Minnesota for the Republican National Convention in September of 2008 when we will once again appear at their doorstep en masse to oppose their destructive agenda. We are going to hold this administration and future administrations accountable.”

The Sept. 29 actions in Washington D.C. show the continued opposition from the public to the criminal war in Iraq and the willingness of those who want the U.S. out now to move from protest to resistance.

#WashingtonDC #AntiwarMovement #StudentMovement #News #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #Iraq #TroopsOutNowCoalition #JenaSix #civilDisobedience

David Price voted against going to war in 2002, but only after he was forced to take a stand by the pressure from protests, petitions and an office occupation by students that led to three arrests. Since then, Price has repeatedly stated he has always been opposed to the war, but like many other Democrats, refuses to take any effective action to end it. Specifically, Price says he will not vote to cut off war funding as this would “not support the troops.”

A statement from the organizers of the protest, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), said: “The Democratic Party won the 2006 midterm elections on the basis of mass opposition to the war. Now, three months later, they are betraying the anti-war mandate handed down by the people on November 7th and escalating this criminal war, which has already resulted in the deaths of over 650,000 Iraqis and 3,000 young Americans. Any politician who claims to be against the war has to prove it. We demand concrete, immediate, effective action – not lukewarm resolutions about “phased withdrawal” or “troop redeployment.” We want all funding cut off and the troops out NOW, and we will hold the politicians’ feet to the fire until the will of the people is met!”

Inside the office, David Price’s aides talked to the student protesters, took notes during the discussion and asked questions. When the students refused to leave without a guarantee that Price would vote against funding for the Iraq war, the aides called the police. Within 30 minutes the police began to haul away the students, one at a time. Meanwhile a banner that read, “Closed for business” was unfurled from the roof of Price’s office while protesters on the picket line chanted loudly in support of the detained protesters.

Alisan Fathalizadeh was reading the SDS statement to the press and Price’s aides when Chapel Hill police broke her lock with the other activists and handcuffed her. It was Fathalizadeh’s first time being arrested at a protest. Asked how she felt about the demonstration afterwards, she said, “This is the least we can do. It’s nothing compared to all the anguish and suffering that people in Iraq are dealing with, the people who are seeing others die everyday.”

Fathalizadeh continued, “We are fed up with the system – and with the old tactics. We’ve petitioned, we’ve done rallies; we’ve even had members of the community go directly to Price and talk to him, to express our concerns in a more ‘civil’ manner. But this demonstration shows how much we are fed up with what’s going on. It’s horrible that it’s come down to this, but it shows how big the problem is and how it needs to be changed now. We won’t wait any longer.”

All six students were released on bail and are scheduled to appear in court on March 26 at 9:00 a.m. in Hillsborough.

In the meantime, UNC-Chapel Hill SDS and antiwar activists in the area plan to increase the pressure on David Price and other elected officials until they respond to the people’s demands.

#ChapelHillNC #ChapelHill #AntiwarMovement #StudentMovement #Iraq #civilDisobedience #sitin