Chicago, IL – 150 protesters confronted the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago as it rallied in support of the murderous Israeli war on Gaza, Aug. 21. Palestinian flags flew alongside a big cardboard sign that read, “Occupation is a crime, From Ferguson to Palestine.”

The Students for Justice in Palestine organized a die-in on the sidewalk in front of the Hilton and Towers hotel. Meanwhile, a dozen activists with Jewish Voice for Peace, the Anti-War Committee, and others repeatedly disrupted the speeches by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and an Israeli Defense Forces soldier who had participated in the attacks on Gaza.

Hatem Abudayyeh of the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine and the U.S. Palestinian Community Network reminded the crowd at the end of the protest of the victory scored in Oakland, California when Palestinians and their supporters, along with the members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union stopped an Israeli ship from unloading at the docks. Kait McIntyre of the Anti-War Committee urged people to come to court Aug. 26 at 9:00 a.m., 555 W. Harrison, to support those arrested at the protest against Boeing Company in July.

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #Palestine #MayorRahmEmmanuel #AntiWarCommitteeChicago #JewishVoicesForPeace #MiddleEast

Chicago, IL – Sarah Chambers, a teacher at Saucedo Academy in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, was exhausted but happy when Fight Back! reached her Tuesday night, Sept. 18.

A member of the bargaining committee and the House of Delegates (HOD) of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), she had been on strike for the past week and a half; been in meetings in the morning with her coworkers at Saucedo, and then in the afternoon attended the HOD meeting, discussing the offer from management; and had been fighting hard against the corporate agenda of Mayor Emanuel and the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) for two years.

When the HOD met on Sept. 16, Chambers had said she wouldn’t vote for a contract unless it included “a win for the kids.” Tonight she said the contract was a victory for teachers and students.

According to Chambers, the wins for the students included:

“Books on day one.” Hard as it is to believe, it has been common for Chicago classrooms not to receive text books for a month or more after the start of classes each year.

“Music, art, and language positions, which will continue throughout the contract.” The tentative agreement requires that the board will hire more than 600 additional teachers in those areas.

“The contract includes increased funds for resources for the kids.”

And finally, “They have to prove the teaching staff has increased diversity.”

For the teachers, the contract includes a 7% raise over three years; CPS lost its move to force ‘merit pay’ into the contract; and one half of all CPS hires must be displaced members.

A prominent issue in the past days was teacher evaluations. The CTU defeated a move by the School Board to evaluate teachers based mainly on test results.

For Chambers, one final victory was that, “We won language that principals cannot bully teachers and teachers have the right to design their own lesson plans.”

All of this was made possible, ultimately, by the unity of the members. According to the statement from union president Karen Lewis, “We feel very positive about moving forward. We feel grateful that we have a united union and that when a union moves together we have amazing things happen.”

#ChicagoIL #ChicagoTeachersUnion #MayorRahmEmmanuel #teachersStrike #Strikes #TeachersUnions

Chicago, IL – On Sept. 16 the members of the House of Delegates of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) received the contract offer from management of the Chicago Public Schools. The Bargaining Team, made up of the four officers and the CTU lawyers, presented a 23-page summary of the 180-page tentative agreement.

The mood of the House of Delegates was distrustful of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s school board. No surprise, given that Emanuel declared war on the teachers from the moment he announced his run for mayor in 2010. Therefore, they voted to give themselves an extra day to present the summary to members back at their respective schools.

In retaliation, Emanuel threatened the CTU with an injunction. The city’s lawyers are bringing charges that the strike is illegal. If a judge grants the injunction, the teachers would be forced back to work without a contract.

The injunction was filed today, Sept. 17, and it claims that the union was striking over matters such as layoffs and class sizes that the union cannot legally strike over. CTU stated, “The Chicago Teachers Union is striking over mandatory subjects of bargaining such as compensation, evaluation procedures and the conditions within our classrooms.” The Chicago Teachers Solidarity Campaign, an organization of supporters of the CTU, issued a statement in response as well: “…compensation and other ‘legally strikable’ issues are still part of the negotiations. But the CTU has been fighting to get these health and safety issues into the contract because they know that this is the only way to hold Chicago Public Schools and the mayor accountable.”

The mayor lectures teachers and parents that his attack on the CTU is in the interests of the children. In fact, teachers and parents are united to fight to defend public education against attacks that are coming from exactly the wealthy class that includes Emanuel. The mayor backs Tax Increment Financing zones (TIFs) – which funnel hundreds of millions in tax dollars to real estate developers at the expense of the schools – and he increased funding up to $75 million this year to private charter schools.

#ChicagoIL #ChicagoTeachersUnion #MayorRahmEmmanuel #teachersStrike #Strikes #TeachersUnions

Chicago. IL – Over 25,000 striking teachers and supporters converged on Union Park on Chicago’s Westside, September 15. Allies and supporters from throughout the Midwest traveled here to support them. Labor leaders and community supporters spoke powerfully from the stage fully backing the strike and the fight for public education. In polls taken during the week, the parents of public school students overwhelming supported the strikers. 87% of the students are African American or Latino.

Saturday was the sixth day of the strike that has idled over 600 schools in Chicago. On Friday, there was much talk in the mainstream press that there was a deal between the union and management. The union was clear – we are on strike until you hear from CTU. The union’s House of Delegates (HOD) is scheduled to vote on a deal September 16.

Coming from internal divisions that stifled this union, Chicago Teachers Union Local 1 has come a long way. Just last year the politicians in Springfield were patting one another on the back about how they had hamstrung the teachers in Chicago from striking. “This Union has proven the Chicago labor movement is neither dormant nor dead,” CTU President Karen Lewis said in a statement about the tasks of the HOD meeting on Sunday.

Student leaders from University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, who had fought against the attacks on unions by Governor Walker in the past two years, travelled to Chicago to march with the CTU. “This union should be congratulated for their bold challenge to Rahm Emanuel’s union busting agenda,” said Danielle Meyer of Occupy Milwaukee. “He and his right wing buddies want nothing less than the privatizing of public education.”

#ChicagoIL #strike #ChicagoTeachersUnion #MayorRahmEmmanuel #teachersStrike #TeachersUnions

Milwaukee, WI- 100 people protested Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in Milwaukee as he spoke at a $400 dollar-a-plate fundraiser for Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s run for governor. Community members drove from Chicago and across Wisconsin for a chance to bring their anger over Rahm Emanuel’s policies to him directly.

Laid off Chicago nurse Timothy Hudson spoke out against Mayor Emanuel’s privatization attacks on Chicago’s mental health clinics. Also representing the Chicago Mental Health Movement was Diane Adams, a patient of Auburn-Gresham Mental Health Center on the Southside of Chicago, one of the six mental health clinics scheduled to be closed by Emanuel’s administration on April 30. Members of dozens of community groups planning to protest the NATO convention in May joined the protest to demand Emanuel fund healthcare, not a crackdown on civil liberties during the NATO convention.

Many Wisconsinites at the protest were also protesting Barrett’s anticipated run for governor. Like Emanuel, Barrett has stood with the 1% business owners in Milwaukee to privatize community infrastructure. Barrett is extremely unpopular amongst progressive voters for crushing the Paid Sick Days ordinance that passed by voter referendum with a 69% majority. Since Governor Scott Walker destroyed collective bargaining for public employees, Barrett has done nothing but continue the attack on public workers, using Walker’s legislation to his advantage.

While Rahm Emanuel is closing and privatizing schools and health clinics, he is simultaneously handing out millions without oversight to his corporate sponsors, such as Motorola, in anticipation of the NATO Summit in Chicago on May 20. Emanuel’s administration has spent nearly $1 million on face shields alone for riot police, yet he denies the city has enough police to allow The Coalition Against NATO/G8 a permit to protest on May 20.

For over two 2 hours, protesters marched outside the high-dollar fundraiser, forcing Emanuel and Barrett’s corporate sponsors to drive through the protest into the event. Members of Occupy Milwaukee, Occupy Fon du Lac and the Milwaukee Coalition to Protest NATO held a large banner that read “Money for healthcare not warfare!”

Standoff

Trying to take their message directly to Rahm Emanuel, the entire protest caught police by surprise when they rushed onto the property of the private club. Police wielding batons demanded that the protesters immediately leave the private property. Led by the Chicago organization Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP), protesters refused to back down and advanced further toward the police line. An intense standoff occurred between protesters and police for nearly a half hour. Protesters demanded police send out a representative of Emanuel’s office, but they refused.

Diane Adams from the Chicago Mental Health Movement appealed to the police by telling them how mental health clinics had helped her personally, adding, “If you police keep on dealing with us like this you will need those resources someday too, and they won’t be there.”

After police gave the final warning for protesters to leave the property, Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle of STOP called out the police for protecting the 1%, saying, “We’re giving you your final warning! This is your last chance to protect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and stand with the 99%!” After the standoff, protestors vowed to return and have further plans in the works to confront Rahm Emanuel wherever he goes.

Organizers from the Coalition Against NATO/G8 in Chicago continue to fight Emanuel’s attacks on civil liberties and plan to hold a mass march on the opening day of the NATO war makers’ convention in Chicago on May 20.

Other sponsors of the protest included Occupy the Hood-Milwaukee, Occupy the Hood-Chicago, Occupy Chicago, Occupy Riverwest, Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society, Peace Action Wisconsin, Progressive Democrats of America, Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement, The Milwaukee Graduate Assistants Association and the International Action Center.

#MilwaukeeWI #MayorRahmEmmanuel #NATOG8Summit2012

Jim Fennerty: On March 20, 2003 almost 800 anti-war protesters were arrested on Chicago Avenue in Chicago. Prior to the arrest between 10 and15,000 anti-war protesters who were protesting the start of the Iraq war were escorted by the Chicago Police as they marched from Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago over to Lake Shore Drive where they proceeded to walk north on Lake Shore Drive and then exited on Oak Street.

When the protesters exited on Oak Street they were met by a line of police at Michigan Avenue and were not allowed to cross Michigan Avenue or march down Michigan Avenue and return to Federal Plaza. After waiting over an hour the police told some marchers that they could go back the way they came. Others in the march, who could not hear the police, on their own started marching back to Inner Lake Shore Drive and eventually on to Chicago Avenue after being allowed by the police. The marchers again marched to Michigan Avenue where they were met by another police line preventing them from crossing Michigan Avenue or marching down Michigan Avenue and back to Federal Plaza.

On Chicago Avenue the protesters were surrounded by the Chicago Police and detained up to three hours. In the detained crowd, besides protesters, there were joggers, people who just got off the bus, workers who just got off of work and shoppers. The protesters were peaceful and some were chanting that they just wanted to go home. None of the people detained were ever given orders by the police to disperse or an opportunity to leave.

Eventually the police started to arrest people and to put them into police wagons or buses. Hundreds were taken to jail where many were charged with misdemeanors and had to attend court. Hundreds of people taken to jail were released, some spending 40 hours in jail because they could not be identified by a police officer that they were at Chicago and Michigan Avenues. Several hundred others were detained on the street up to three hours before being released.

The Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild called for volunteers to represent everyone who was charged with a crime. After several appearances in court all the people who the Guild attorneys represented had their charges dismissed.

At the same time several of these same Guild attorneys filed a class action law suit challenging the unconstitutional arrest of the people who were arrested or detained on Chicago Avenue. After almost nine years of litigation where over 100 people were deposed, the City of Chicago decided to settle the class action on the eve of trial for $6.2 million.

Fight Back!: Why did the city settle?

Fennerty: Because they knew that they were going to lose big time at trial. Two years earlier a federal judge agreed with the city that the police were immune from suit because the law was not established in this federal district that before you could arrest non-violent protesters you had to give them an order to disperse and an opportunity to leave. Also the judge held that the protesters could be arrested because they were marching without a permit.

On appeal to the 7th Circuit the court reversed the district court judge and held that the law was that protesters could not be rounded up and arrested without giving them a notice to disperse, which all could hear, and an opportunity to leave. The court also held that since the protest was a spontaneous demonstration, they could march without a permit.

Also the police defended the case on their statements that the protesters were violent, destroyed property and were charging the police lines. Nothing could be further from the truth. The police videos showed peaceful demonstrators who, when they got to Chicago Avenue just wanted to go home.

Fight Back!: Does this impact on the plans for the May 19 march against the NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda and other protests during the NATO/G8 summits?

Fennerty: Already the City has stated that they have changed their procedures for mass arrests. Recently during the arrest of Occupy Chicago the police have given individual orders to disperse and opportunity to leave before making arrests. Will this mean that during the NATO/G8 protests the Chicago Police will follow the constitution remains to be seen.

Note: the Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda (CANG8) won permits from the City of Chicago to rally in Daley Plaza and march to McCormick Place. While the Secret Service is threatening to revoke the permits in service of the National Special Security Event, CANG8 is determined to go forward with a family friendly, permitted march on May 19. CANG8 continues to demand that Mayor Emanuel stop vilifying protesters as violent; that Police Superintendent McCarthy stop threatening protesters with mass arrests and that the Obama administration and Homeland Security Director Napolitano, who is over Secret Service, respect the permits granted by the City of Chicago.

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #NationalLawyersGuild #MayorRahmEmmanuel #rightToProtest #NATOG8Summit

The Interfaith Committee intends to continue to gather the support of faith leaders to defend the right to protest war and austerity.

The text of the statement follows:

A PETITION TO THE GOVERNMENT FOR A REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES

WHEREAS the founders of our American democracy, when debating the freedoms that should apply to “we the people,” rejected the proposal that these freedoms be “tolerated,” and affirmed that these freedoms are “rights – even unalienable rights – that the government must always honor; and

WHEREAS the Bill of Rights – not the Bill of “Toleration” – of the United States Constitution places the freedom of religion first, but associates it with the essential freedoms of speech, of the press, of peaceable assembly, and of petition the government for redress of grievances; and

WHEREAS religious leaders and their communities have a long and continuing tradition of defending these essential and interconnected rights whenever the government has sought to compromise or deny them as a means of exercising control, exploiting fear, and imposing unreasonable physical and expressive restrictions on persons and groups; and

WHEREAS the political and community leaders of the City of Chicago have determined that benefits will be realized by inviting the G8 and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to hold their scheduled summits in May of 2012 in the City, and that these invitations have been accepted; and

WHEREAS the political leaders of the City of Chicago have now used the occasion of the forthcoming summit meetings of the G8 and NATO to rewrite and make significantly more restrictive and oppressive those ordinances applying especially to the freedom of speech and the freedom of peaceable assembly, and to threaten and intimidate with massive police action, arrest, and exorbitant fines those who are planning to assemble and speak in protest against the policies and actions of the G8 and NATO as well as other matters of national and international concern; and

WHEREAS these political leaders of the City of Chicago have taken steps to unreasonably limit the hours and places for free speech and peaceable assembly during the G8 and NATO summits, including spaces that are officially acknowledged to be “public” in character, and even to discourage non-protesting persons, groups, and institutions from their presence in these public areas; and

WHEREAS, we as leaders of faith communities of the greater Chicago region and other parts of the country have a religious and public responsibility for demanding that political and community leaders meet their assigned duties ethically, legally, and in keeping with the Constitution of the United States of America;

WE, therefore, the undersigned religious leaders petition the Mayor of the City of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, and members of the City Council, to cease and desist from the enactment of any and all laws and ordinances, policies and practices that, in word or in spirit, violate, compromise, and undermine the clear and consistent meaning of the United States Constitution and it Bill of Rights.

Signatures (Institution/Religious affiliation is for identification purposes only)

• The Rev. Thomas Aldworth, Pastor, Morgan Park Baptist Church, Chicago
• The Rev. Luis Alvarenga, Iglesia Unido de Cristo, Berwyn
• The Rev. Jacki Belile (ABC – USA); Founder and Director, Living well Ministries
• Fr. Bob Bossie, SCJ
• John Cassel, First Church of the Brethren
• Joyce Cassel, First Church of the Brethren
• The Rev. Ann Coburn, Episcopal Church
• Dr. Pauline Coffman, Middle East Task Force of Chicago Presbytery
• The Rev. Daniel Dale, Senior Minister, Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ, Chicago
• The Rev. William Exner, Vice-Chair, National Executive Council, Episcopal Peace Fellowship
• The Rev. Sarah Fisher, Rector, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Chicago
• The Rev. Dr. Cotton Fite, Priest Associate, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Evanston
• The Rev. Lee A. Gaede, Deacon, St. Giles Episcopal Church, Northbrook
• Dr. Linda Gaither, Chair, National Executive Council, Episcopal Peace Fellowship
• The Rev. Larry Greenfield, Executive Minister, American Baptist Churches of Metro Chicago
• Dr. Marshall Elijah Hatch, Senior Pastor, New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church; The Leader’s Network, Chairman
• Rafeeq Jaber CFP, Treasurer, Civil Rights Education Center
• The Rev. Damon R. Jones, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church of Berwyn, American Baptist Churches of Metro Chicago
• The Rev. Jackie Lynn, Executive Director, Episcopal Peace Fellowship
• The Rev. Loren McGrail, Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ, Chicago
• Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, Chair, Board of Parliament of World Religions
• The Rev. Emeka P. Nwachuku, Vicar, St. Andrew’s Pentecost Episcopal Church, Evanston
• Fr. Robert H. Oldershaw, Pastor emeritus, St. Nicholas Parish, Evanston
• Ahmed Qadeer, Co-Vice Chairman, DuPage United Secretary, Naperville Interfaith Leaders Association (NILA), Ex-President, Islamic Center of Naperville)
• The Rev. Bonnie Perry, Rector, Rector/Senior Pastor, All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Chicago
• The Rev. Primitivo C. Racimo, Vicar, St. Margaret of Scotland Episcopal Church, Chicago
• The Rev. Elizabeth Ritzman, American Baptist Churches, USA
• The Rev. Dr. Douglas R. Sharp, Interim Minister, Lake Street Church of Evanston, American Baptist Churches, USA
• Swami Shraddhananda, Yoga Chicago (magazine)
• Mr. Newland Smith, Librarian Emeritus, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary
• The Rev. Dr. Jerome A. Stone, Evanston
• The Rev. Linda Tossey, Pastor, Community Baptist Church, Warrenville
• The Very Rev. Kara Wagner Sherer, Rector, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Chicago
• The Rev. Robert T. Yeager, Oak Park

#ChicagoIL #civilLiberties #FirstAmendment #MayorRahmEmmanuel #CANG8 #NATOG8Summit2012 #BillOfRights

At 12:30 today, Rahm Emanuel officiated over the death of the Bill of Rights in the City Council chambers.

Ordinances designed to severely restrict First Amendment rights of speech and assembly were presented on December 14th. The stated target was to prepare to repress protesters during the summits of NATO and the G8.

At first, aldermen and the media all agreed that no one would oppose Emanuel on this.

In response to mayor's attack on civil liberties, the Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda (CANG8) joined together with Occupy Chicago and several unions to unite our efforts to defend of civil liberties in Chicago. By last week, aldermen had felt so much pressure from constituents that they had to speak out.

Emanuel then moved to withdraw first one, and then another, of the most criticized pieces. Protests continued to grow; Emanuel retreated further; the protests mounted, and he retreated even further.

Finally, a version was reached that the council opposition could vote for, hoping that the movement would not condemn them. The final version is still a significant attack on democratic rights; its passage is a defeat for our movement.

The mayor has not achieved his true objective, though. Emanuel looks at the new Chicago he has inherited, with protesters in so many places, and he wants to put the genie back in the bottle. It’s not possible.

We have the right to protest against war, austerity, and inequality. Mayor Emanuel, you’ll see us in the streets of Chicago: our streets.

#ChicagoIL #civilLiberties #FirstAmendment #OccupyChicago #MayorRahmEmmanuel #CoalitionAgainstNATOG8WarPovertyAgenda #CANG8 #NATOG8Summit2012 #BillOfRights

Chicago, IL – Over 50 people gathered in City Hall, Jan. 17, to speak out against plans by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to restrict the right to protest. They held a press conference, and then proceeded to pack into two consecutive hearings held by City Council committees.

CANG8 (Coalition Against NATO/G8 War and Poverty Agenda) called the press conference. It bought togather union officials, community activists, faith leaders, anti-war activists and members of Occupy Chicago. CANG8 and Occupy Chicago called for people to stop what Occupy folks termed the “Sit Down and Shut Up” ordinance.

The headline-grabbing restrictions in the ordinance included greatly increased fines for those arrested in protests. (Charges of “Resisting or Interfering with a Police Officer” are among the most common in arrests during protests. In Chicago, “going limp” is considered resisting arrest.) Fines were to be increased from $25 to $200 at a minimum and doubling of the maximum fine to $1,000. Also, the fines for violations during a permitted march would be increased by a multiple of 20, from $50 to $1000.

The ordinances also said that organizers would be required to provide the city with “a description of any recording equipment, sound amplification equipment, banners, signs, or other attention-getting devices to be used in connection with the parade” at least a week in advance of the any march. Plus activists would have to guarantee one parade marshal for every 100 participants, and officials wanted to decrease the amount of time from two hours fifteen minutes to two hours that a march could be in the street.

Why these restrictions now?

Mayor Emanuel is trying to deter protest against NATO and the G8. He is also trying to clamp down on the Occupy Chicago movement that emerged this fall. Since the announcement of the NATO/G8 summits, there has been an intimidating, well publicized build up for heavy handed policing; a campaign to demonize those who might protest, both in the press with the story line that “protests lead to violence,” but also through presentations of “security assessments,” warning of the same thing in private meetings with schools, churches and cultural agencies in the downtown area; an effort at the same time to obstruct permits for rallies/marches; and finally ordinance changes that both further the intimidation of potential protestors and place greater restrictions on those planning permitted assemblies.

Response to Public Opinion

Emanuel’s move to restrict the right to protest caused a fire storm of civil liberties complaints. When his ordinances were first introduced one month ago, city council leaders were said to be in the “yes” camp, supporting the mayor. But CANG8 stood against it, and prominent civil liberties voices were raised. Occupy Chicago, the Teachers Union and SEIU joined in; and then an outpouring of grass roots folks gave the city council the courage to take a stand against these restrictions of constitutional rights.

In the middle of this debate, the City of Chicago granted permits to CANG8 for a family friendly rally and march on May 19. Mayor Emanuel responded to public opinion, which clearly supported the right to protest against NATO’s wars and the poverty that the G8 is pushing onto working people through its cutbacks.

In response to the pressure, the most egregious of the restrictions were reduced: increased fines for arrests in protests were dropped; the fines for march permit violations were reduced from$1000 each to $200 each; the requirement for one marshall for every 100 marchers was dropped; the requirement for amplification was reduced to informing them of any equipment too large to be carried by an individual; and the time limit for marches was left at two hours and fifteen minutes. The revised ordinance language has dropped the requirement that those applying for parade permits during the summits provide detailed information about the signs they planned to carry.

Any restriction on the right to protest is wrong

Organizers with CANG8, Occupy Chicago and organized labor are still urging members of the council to look at the intent, and think about the context: Mayor Emanuel invited the bankers and the generals here before Tahrir Square; before the protests in Madison, Wisconsin; and before Occupy Wall Street. He wants to deter protest in Chicago. The Emanuel administration has engaged in a campaign of vilification: “protests lead to violence” is how it is expressed. The superintendent of police and the mayor have threatened mass arrests from the moment CANG8 stepped forward to talk about a family friendly protest.

The mayor looks at the new Chicago he has inherited, with protestors in so many places, and he wants to put the genie back in the bottle. It’s not possible.

Any restriction on democratic rights is wrong. The city should not restrict its majority—workers, students, low income folks—as they find their voices. The city has voted in the past against war. Most people in Chicago are against the agenda of the NATO and G8 summits. Protestors have a right to deliver the message: “Jobs, Housing, Healthcare, Education, the Environment, our Pensions: Not War.” At the NATO / G8 summit.

On Wednesday, activists will pack the city council chambers during the vote on the ordinance changes.

The ordinances still quadruple the minimum fine from $50 to $200 for any violations of the parade permit; they give Chicago Police Superintendent McCarthy the power to hire private security companies to video protests, forging agreements with “public or private entities concerning placement, installation, maintenance or use of video, audio telecommunications, or other similar equipment. McCarthy is still allowed to deputize out-of-state law enforcement personnel during the summits. Protestors are still required to provide the city a description of large signs.

#ChicagoIL #civilLiberties #OccupyChicago #MayorRahmEmmanuel #CANG8 #NATOG8Summit2012 #rightToProtest

Joe Iosbaker of the Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty (CANG8) agenda said, “All the signs were pointing to McCormick Place.” He added, “Now Mayor Emanuel has one less excuse to refuse to grant us permits for the protest marches we are planning.”

CANG8 organizers are frustrated in their dealings with the city. “Mayor Emanuel pretty clearly wants the politicians, generals and bankers coming to Chicago to leave here without having heard from the 99% of the people who oppose them,” said Iosbaker.

The city blew off meetings they set up with the activists throughout the fall. A meeting finally happened in November, but the officials there would not meet the demands of the coalition: to publicly commit to provide permits for marches within sight and sound of the summit.

Iosbaker continued, “The U.S./NATO war in Afghanistan is continuing and expanding into attacks on Pakistan and the wealthy G8 countries are forcing changes on the workers of Europe, such as raising the retirement age, cutting social spending and privatizing jobs.” The Occupy Wall Street movement has led hundreds of thousands to protest these same kinds of attacks on the 99% in the U.S. in recent months.

“The meetings of the 1% will be inside the McCormick Place and the 99% will be marching there, with permits in hand,” promised Iosbaker.

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #NATOG8Summit #MayorRahmEmmanuel #CANG8

Chicago, IL – Mayor Rahm Emanuel has again refused to guarantee the First Amendment right to protest in Chicago.

Organizers from the Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda (CANG8) met with city officials on Nov. 16. They were there with a message that Pat Hunt of CANG8 said was simple, “that the city publicly commit to provide…permits that meet the internationally recognized standard for the right to assemble; that we be within sight and sound…” of the meeting of NATO and the G8 in May, 2012.

Hunt continued, insisting that “Police Superintendent McCarthy refrain from making threats of mass arrests.” She was referring to the many times since July that Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has announced in the press that Chicago’s 13,000 police officers are being trained to repress dissent when the generals, bankers and heads of state convene here.

Representing the city were officials from the permit office of the Transportation Department and Commander Debra Kirby of the Chicago Police Department, the police department point person for the NATO/G8 summit.

Andy Thayer of CANG8 pointed out that the business group that is the host committee for the NATO/G8 summit has been given $1 million in taxpayer money to prepare for the event. The representatives of the city wouldn’t even promise the activists that they would be permitted to gather in the Loop during the week of May 15-22, when the summit occurs.

In June when the summits were announced, a group affiliated with CANG8, the United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC), submitted a permit application for Daley Plaza, one of the few large venues for protest in the Loop, as Chicago’s downtown is known. Last week, MB Real Estate emailed Joe Iosbaker, Chicago spokesperson for UNAC that, “Unfortunately we are not approving any permits for the use of the plaza May 15th-22nd.”

Iosbaker responded that, “We have the right to march against NATO’s wars, such as Afghanistan and Libya, and against the G8 agenda of imposing poverty on working people from Greece to Chicago.”

Joining CANG8 were speakers from the National Lawyers Guild, SEIU Local 73, the American Friends Service Committee and Pat Hill of the African American Police League. All committed to keep the pressure on the city for permits and to organize to bring tens of thousands of Chicagoans and others from around the country to march on May 15 and 19.

Iosbaker reminded everyone gathered, “Our front banner will read: ‘Jobs, Housing, Healthcare, Education, Pensions, the Environment, Not War’. This is what the 99% are going to march for.”

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #NATO #UNAC #G8 #NATOG8Summit #MayorRahmEmmanuel #CANG8 #UnitedNationalAntiWarCoalition

Chicago, IL – The Occupy Chicago movement and the Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda (CANG8) came together 150 strong, Oct. 26, to defend the right to protest against war and corporate greed.

When the Chicago Police Department started mass arrests of people occupying Grant Park two weeks ago, cops remarked to those being arrested that this was practice for NATO and G8 in May 2012. After the second round of mass arrests in Chicago Oct. 22, the media were saying it, too.

Now Occupy Chicago has embraced the need to oppose NATO and the G8 when they come to town next year.

While Occupy Chicago has been dealing with over 300 arrests, CANG8 has faced verbal threats of mass arrests and FBI repression from Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, nine months before the NATO/G8 protests are to occur.

In response, on Oct. 26, the two groups together decided to occupy City Hall. The raucous crowd marched in at 2:00 p.m., picketing and chanting, “It’s called the First Amendment,” and “What do we want? Permits! When do want them? Now!”

The first chant supported the demand that all charges be dropped against the more than 300 arrested in the past two weeks. The second chant refers to the demand raised by anti-war organizers since July for a guarantee of their first amendment right to assemble and march against the generals, bankers and heads of state when the NATO/G8 summit occurs, May 15-22, 2012. CANG8 delivered letters and attempted to meet with the city, meeting with silence from the mayor’s office. Then, repeated calls to city officials in charge of the permitting process were met with a run-around and then, with continued silence.

The occupiers moved to the 5th floor outside of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office. Andy Thayer, speaking for CANG8, explained that organizers expectations are “for permits to take marchers to within ‘sight and sound’ of the NATO/G8 summit.” The immediate demands are for the mayor to publicly commit to giving permits to march to the venue of the summit; for Police Superintendent McCarthy to cease making threatening statements against NATO/G8 protesters; and to respond to the protesters within two weeks.

“The ball is in Emanuel’s court,” said Thayer, challenging the city to break with the stigma of repression which has haunted Chicago since the violent police attack on anti-war students during the Democratic Convention in 1968.

Joe Iosbaker of CANG8, and an anti-war activist whose home was raided by the FBI last year, spoke about breaking news that Northwestern University Law School was moving its graduation earlier by a week in May at the direction of the FBI and Chicago Police. Using the call and response known as “the people’s mic,” or “human microphone,” he said, “We all know the FBI lies. They are telling the law school to be afraid of us. I know personally that the FBI lies, because they raided my home last year based on lies.”

The protesters held the first and then the fifth floors for about one hour before ending their occupation, promising to return in two weeks if Emanuel doesn’t meet the demands.

“The G8 and the NATO military alliance are two of the institutions which bear some of the greatest responsibility for the wars and economic violence traumatizing millions of people around the world,” said Pat Hunt of CANG8. “Previous meetings of NATO and G8 in other cities have seen massive violations of civil rights by police, resulting in millions of dollars of successful lawsuits against the host city governments. As such, the city should forthrightly commit to upholding the First Amendment rights of protesters and rein in the verbal threats coming from police brass.”

“In addition to dropping the charges against Occupy Chicago participants, we will also be demanding that the city allow a permanent First Amendment encampment for the Occupy movement, just as many other major cities now do.”

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #OccupyWallStreet #OccupyChicago #MayorRahmEmmanuel #CoalitionAgainstNATOG8WarPovertyAgenda #CANG8

Chicago, IL – Registered nurses from across the U.S. today condemned Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel for his decision to arrest nurse volunteers, as well as peaceful protesters, in a late night crackdown, Oct. 22 at the Occupy Chicago protest.

National Nurses United is asking supporters to call Mayor Emmanuel’s office at 312-744-5000 and demand they immediately drop all charges against the nurses and other protesters and stop the harassment and arrests of the nurses and others peacefully exercising their free speech rights. Nurses will also picket the mayor’s office at 10 a.m. on Oct. 24 at City Hall at the LaSalle entrance.

Nurse leaders of National Nurses United who set up a nurses’ station to provide basic first aid to Chicago protesters – as NNU as done in five other cities across the U.S. – were among the some 130 people arrested by Chicago police. The police also tore down the first aid station and arrested scores of others who had peacefully assembled to support the station.

“Even in wartime, combatants respect the work of nurses and other first responders. Yet Mayor Emmanuel and Chicago seem to care as little about that tradition as they do in protecting the constitutional rights of free speech and assembly.” said NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro. “These arrests are disgraceful and unconscionable and will not deter our nurses from continuing this mission, setting up the station again, and continuing to support the protests.”

Emmanuel has been perhaps the most aggressive mayor in the nation in repression of the occupy Wall Street movement, with mass arrests on at least two occasions now. The Chicago Tribune reported on Oct. 22 that city officials are trying to send a message to world leaders of being ‘tough’ on demonstrators in advance of upcoming meetings of G-8 and NATO leaders in May 2012.

#ChicagoIL #Labor #OccupyWallStreet #OccupyChicago #NationalNursesUnited #MayorRahmEmmanuel