Global Voices » Gina Cardenas

United States: The Art of the Occupy Movement

Gina Cardenas — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:14:52 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide.

The creative cadre of the Occupy Wall Street movement envisions a world where people are free to express their ideas of freedom, equality, and outrage at the system of greed interlocking corporate interests and government. Actors, artists, writers and musicians pay homage to the #Occupy muse and are calling for an international day of creative action on February 12, 2012.

Occupy Visual Arts

The Los Angeles Occupy movement erected a mural depicting a monstrous octopus representing the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States with tentacles reaching into people's lives and homes. The tentacles are so long, they reach across global borders. No one's home can escape its grasp.

'Fed Monster Mural' in Los Angeles. Photo by Mikey Wally on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND)

While the actual encampment has met its end and is prohibited from occupying public space, the mural has gained the protection of Los Angeles city officials, including the mayor, who have designated the mural as a historical artifact. There is currently a bidding process to find a new public viewing space for the mural through the sponsorship of a cultural organization.

Feeding of the 320 Million: The Revolution Will Not be Privatized by Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung.

Occuprint.org is archiving posters created for the different occupy camps across the nation and the world.Artist Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung’s interpretation of the movement (see right) includes “Feeding of the 320 Million: The Revolution Will Not Be Privatized” and is available for download from his website.

The vivid language of the poster is a chaotic amalgamation of American icons. Lady Liberty walks forward ready to face any challenge. The systems of all-consuming power do not hold her back. She is thankfully wearing comfortable shoes, since it may be a long journey!

Artist Paul-Felix Montez is campaigning online to build a 40-foot monument in New York's Zucotti Park based on his own Occupyface design that he has reproduced in posters, masks, sculptures and paintings.

Occupy Literature

The People’s Library is a collective, public, open library coordinated by OWS. They posted an online poetry anthology (PDF) which contains written impressions by the movement’s supporters in no particular hierarchy or arrangement. Among the works in their most recent anthology is Lost Highway by author Masha Tupytsin. The author speaks about the movement in a more subtle and nuanced tone: two lovers in a world where it's OK to express emotion without fear of judgement.

In sleep, in love, we dozed in and out of each other, in and out of the world, lanes criss-crossing, like characters in Lost Highway, except I wasn’t the dark playing off the light, or the the dark playing off the blonde (you). And for the last forty minutes, after the coast was clear, when all the bullies were finally gone, we cruised along the asphalt and held hands under the music. The astral road was stripped of cars, lit up and silver, like the path in the Redwood forests of E.T. or the moon over Elliott’s levitating bike, and it was just us, a punk-rock version of Adam and Eve, us against everything, us there first, or last, except I didn’t come from you or any garden.

Occupy Music

A compilation of musicians supporting Occupy Wall Street is available through the Music for Occupy site. One of the bands, Aeroplane Pageant, sings about greed symbolized as the “Little Bad Wolf.” The band My Pet Dragon sings a “Love Anthem” as an antidote to class warfare. They also feature the work of singer songwriter Jackson Browne who performed in Washington, D.C. last December. His interpretation of the song “I Am a Patriot” is featured on YouTube.

Occupy tunes browsing is also available on the @OccupyMusic Twitter feed where independent musicians post links to their edgy lyrics and recordings on an ongoing basis.

Occupy Theater

Independent theater groups and performance artists staged a 24-hour demonstration on Friday, December 2, 2011 in New York City’s Paramount Plaza (a.k.a. the “People’s Performance Plaza”) located in the Broadway theater district. The video Occupy Broadway by GammaBlog, a blog on New York politics, architecture and street art, offers a glimpse of the thespian dissent.

This post is part of our special coverage #Occupy Worldwide.

USA: Protests in Support of Labor Rights (Videos)

Gina Cardenas — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 20:02:28 +0000

Across the United States words of solidarity for workers rights and concerns about a union-busting wave are circulating through popular social media sites. The Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill Protests began on February 15, 2011 in response to Republican-led measures to balance a projected 3.6 billion state budget shortfall by diminishing union-based public employee benefits and collective bargaining rights.

This proposal has sparked a people's movement against the conservative agenda - that within the United States - has led to many comparisons with ongoing uprisings in the Middle East and especially Egypt.

Since February 20, the protesters have been camping inside and outside the state Capitol building in Wisconsin 24-hours a day. The following video by Stew Fyfe on Vimeo depicts protesters singing the national anthem “The Star Bangled Banner” inside the Capitol building at around 10 p.m. on February 21.

Three weeks into the protests, Capitol security began to crack down on the protesters bunking down in the building and have restricted additional public access.

On February 28, The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin wrote a letter to the Department of Administration Secretary, Michael Huebsch pointing out that closing the state house to the public is unconstitutional. Democratic representatives have moved their desks outside of the building in order to be able to meet with their constituents.

Protesters continue to camp out on the Capitol grounds in what they now call “Walkerville.” The following video by Stew Fyfe on Vimeo shows some of the protesters just after midnight on March 1, 2011.

Additional protest video footage includes Matt Wisniewski's piece which has been viewed by tens of thousands. His video demonstrates the passion and high energy of the protesters in Wisconsin.

National Support

Lawmakers, celebrities, activists and union organizers across the nation are also rallying around the Wisconsin protest ideals. From the West Coast to the East Coast to the Southwest, people are outraged regarding the recent anti-union measures in Wisconsin and are organizing to protect their states from similar fates.

Maryland

Advocates met in Annapolis, Maryland on February 22, 2011 to express their views regarding the recent anti-union events in Wisconsin. Speakers commented that they would not allow the recession or budget deficits to be used as an excuse to eliminate collective bargaining rights in their state.

California

The California Nurse's Association organized a rally on February 22,2011 on the steps of the state Capitol. Speakers expressed that the recent anti-union legislation in Wisconsin was an assault on the working class values of America and signals a fight for democracy.

Texas

Austinites gathered on February 26, 2011 and demonstrated at the state Capitol with the charismatic Jim Hightower leading a discussion about how Washington is not going to save them, that it was up to the people to solve their own problems and stand up for the very idea of America. He also said it was no longer enough just to be “progressive,” and is now time to be “aggressive.”

Egypt: Protesting Women Celebrated Online

Gina Cardenas — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 13:37:02 +0000

Women’s roles in the ongoing Egyptian anti-government uprising have captured the attention of bloggers and citizens spreading information on social networking sites. The massive number of protesters taking to the streets demanding government reforms has created a tipping point for women’s civic participation in a country where it is risky and dangerous to demonstrate against the authorities. Their efforts have had limited coverage in the mainstream media.

Woman leads protesters with Egyptian flag in Batal Ahmed street. Photo by Nour El Refai, © copyright Demotix (27/1/2011)

In “Women Are A Substantial Part of Egyptian Protests“, blogger Jenna Krajeski writes that the turnout on the first day of the protests (January 25, 2011) included an unprecedented female attendance. The grassroots nature of the organizing seemed to inspire a sense of safety.

So why are women so much more involved in this protest, called “The Day of Anger,” than in previous demonstrations against the Egyptian government? The Facebook-initiated groups are unaffiliated with a major opposition group. These protests also seemed safer. Organizers urged those attending to make it a peaceful one, and this became a rallying cry in some areas of the city on Tuesday. Moreover, Egypt’s educated youth, men and women, were fed up with a government that had not changed at all in most of their lifetimes, and which cuts even the educated off from any opportunity. And then there was Tunisia. Suddenly, attending the protest seemed not only worth the risk, but capable of inciting real change.

The following YouTube video The Bravest Girl in Egypt posted by iyadelbaghdadi features a young woman voicing her dissent against the Mubarak regime. Her words are subtitled in English.

Daily Beast journalist Mike Gilgio writes that while it is not uncommon for women to be sexually harassed during public demonstrations in Egypt, this time around men were behaving in a more respectful manner towards women in what has been dubbed the Purity Protests - where the idea of rallying around a unifying struggle against The State is more important than gender-based conflicts.

Nour El Refai also echoes the idea of women and men as allies in his blog post “Men and Women Equal in Peaceful Protest Against Mubarak“. The unifying struggle also includes people from diverse walks of life.

For the first time, Egyptians from all walks of life with different socio-economic backgrounds have joined the protests.

Yet women’s courage to step out of the shadows has not been given enough media attention, according to Megan Kearns who writes in ”Taking It to the Streets: Egyptian Women Protest the Government Alongside the Men Yet Few Images of Women“:

Night after night, women and men have defied the government imposed curfew in Cairo, gathering in Tahrir Square, aka Liberation Square. A “Million Person March” towards the presidential palace is planned for tomorrow and a nationwide strike planned for Wednesday. Egyptian civilians say they won’t stop protesting until President Mubarek steps down from office. And women in Egypt will be advocating for justice too. But when the media doesn’t show images of women involved, it appears as if they aren’t entrenched in rallying revolutions; they are written out of history.

Women's participation is being documented through social networking sites, such as the Women of Egypt Facebook page created by Barcelona-based Leil-Zahra Mortada. As of January 31, 2011 at 6:00 pm US Eastern Standard Time (EST), the material on the page included four albums with more than 130 images portraying women of varying ages, including some dressed in burqas, others wearing head scarves and some in more western attire. A common theme is an expression of anger and confrontation with the police.

A number of these photographs are also making the rounds on photo-sharing websites. Twitpic users Kardala, Farrah3m and sGardinier retweeted some of the images of the women protesters, whilst photo-sharing applications Plixi and Picasa were also utilized for similar purposes. The blogs Subterfusex and Seilo@GeekyOgre are also circulating the images.

Independent photographer Monasosh posted photographs of the women protesters on Flickr.

Woman protesting -

USA: Hunger Strike of Border Women at White House Ends

Gina Cardenas — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 19:10:23 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Mexico's Drug War.

Eleven women from the organization La Mujer Obrera (Working Women) who advocate for community-led economic development along the United States-Mexico border, ended a ten-day hunger strike in front of the White House in Washington, D.C today.

The hunger strike began on November 8.

"Huelga de Hambre-La Mujer Obrera" by cfpereda, Nov. 2010, CC-AT-ND-NC on flickr

La Mujer Obrera is critical of the Obama administration's border initiatives which they claim do not address the needs of the community or working women, and instead favor construction and security industries.

In their campaign against poverty and violence along the border, the women use social networking tools such as a campaign blog, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to share their message and generate support for their demonstration. Their efforts have been noticed by bloggers from the U.S. and Mexico.

U.S. Blogger Jennifer Cooper author for the Poverty in America Channel on Change.org wrote about the border women’s hunger strike:

At a time when billions are being spent on construction and security at the border, La Mujer Obrera is demanding that women not be left out of the equation, and rightfully so. According to a position paper (pdf) released in August by La Mujer Obrera, the majority of both documented and undocumented immigrants in the region are women and children, many of whom are fleeing domestic violence in their own countries.

Another U.S. blogger, Border Explorer, writes about their campaign and points to a poster designed by El Paso artist Francella Salgado. It depicts the iconic image “Rosie the Riveter”with a different twist: a skeletal semblance echoing day of the dead folk art skeletons.

But this skeleton symbolizes the border women workers who are working themselves to death…but not advancing despite all their toil. Nevertheless, they say: Yes, we can! Yes, it can be!

: “Si Se Puede” by Francella Salgado. Used with artist's permission.

Mexican Blogger Barbaros del Norte [es] (Barbarians of the North) writes about the group's dissatisfaction with the Obama administration's response to the needs of people living in the border regions, and their questioning of the $600 million earmarked for border security of which grassroots groups such as theirs will not see a dime.

“Ya nos cansamos de pedir ayuda allá. Ahora esperamos que el presidente Obama escuche nuestra súplica, queremos que sepa que en la frontera no sólo hay muerte y violencia”, afirmaron las mujeres mientras mostraban mensajes en inglés pidiendo “Justicia y desarrollo en la frontera” y acciones gubernamentales contra el crimen organizado y el desempleo en esa violenta zona de México.

“We are already tired of asking for help over there. We now hope that President Obama will listen to our supplications, we want him to know that on the border there isn't only death and violence,” said the women while they demonstrated with messages written in English asking for “Justice and development at the border” and government action against organized crime and unemployment in that violent zone of Mexico.

Community development by border women

La Mujer Obrera has launched several economic development projects along the U.S. Mexico border, notably in El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico where women's lives are especially in danger, not least throughout the femicide mass killings that have kept happening since 1993. In these areas, La Mujer Obrera have transformed abandoned garment industry warehouses into socially focused businesses including a marketplace, a restaurant, a day care center, a museum, a media center, and adult vocational/education sites.

Their vision is explained in more detail in the following YouTube video uploaded by Ixtlixolotl.

La Mujer Obrera advocates for community-led development projects along the U.S.-Mexico border region.

The reception to the protests by community groups and student organizations in the Washington, D.C. area has been warm. The women were honored at a Community Welcome at St. Stephens and the Incarnation Episcopal Church on Friday, November 12.

Students from the Georgetown University chapter of MEChA participated with the women on Saturday, November 13 infront of the White House and voiced their support.

The D.C. area community group Black is Back Coalition welcomed the women and communicated their solidarity with their cause and struggle. A YouTube video posted by Mujeres en La Lucha [Women in the Struggle] documents this meeting.

Black is Back Coalition member welcomes the Mujer Obrera group and voices solidarity with their cause.

Support was also generated thousands of miles away by their friends in El Paso, Texas as Twitter users spread the word about a rally in support of the hunger strike which was scheduled on Friday, November 12, 2010 in the El Paso Federal Square area.

@RiotGrrrlEP:

Rally tomorrow in solidarity w/ La Mujer Obrera's hunger strike in Washington D.C.! 11am downtown @ federal square! RT!

@2Latina:

The915Eye [EP News] Friday rally in El Paso will support La Mujer Obrera Washington D.C. hunger strike

"Huelga de Hambre-La Mujer Obrera" by cfpereda, Nov. 2010, CC-AT-ND-NC on flickr

The California-based independent media outlet, Pacifica Radio (www.kpfk.org), interviewed the women on Thursday, November 11, 2010 about their demonstration as part of the Spanish-language program Nuestra Voz [es] (Our Voice). A podcast of the program is available in Spanish. The interview focuses on the negative impacts NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Agreement) wreaked in their community and the women's desire to achieve a better quality of life crafted from their own self-determination to break free the bonds of the maquila industry.

They also seek federal funding to support grassroots groups currently operating along the border, as well as the development of a Southwest Border Regional Commission, modeled after the Appalachian Regional Commission, where a partnership between local, state and federal stake holders enable sustainable economic solutions.

This post is part of our special coverage Mexico's Drug War.

USA: Oil Spill Generates Swell in Creative Expression

Gina Cardenas — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:29:37 +0000

Finally BP seems to have found a solution to stop the massive oil spill that has wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast since mid April. On Wednesday, August 4, operation “static kill” is reported to have pushed the gushing stream of oil back to its underground source by injecting 2,300 barrels of mud into the blown out well. Efforts to seal the well permanently continue.

The oil spill has left in its path a multi-layered disaster that has affected local communities, ecological stability and the economic future of the Gulf Coast region. The struggles, pain and loss that many people experience has led to a swell in creative expression. Art is a refuge where people can envision a less bitter finale to the tragedy unfolding in their backyards. It is also a means to dialogue about a profound sense of loss no amount of money can ever remediate.

These works are available through different social media websites, and include performance and visual arts. Symbolic communication flows in lieu of words, and themes grasp at the ludicrous, ephemeral, grim, rage-inducing, and on occasion hopeful.

Ephemeral perspectives

On photo-sharing website, Flickr, photographer Lance Cheung shares a photo of an oil saturated feather on a rubber boom at a small bayou in Bartaria Bay, Louisiana where many birds are affected by the spill. It is an abstract representation where minimal details captivate the attention with a strong message.

“Gulf Oil Disaster-Oiled Feather on a Boom” by Lance Cheung, June 2010, CC-BY-NC-ND on Flickr

Ludicrous tunes

Musicians Mos Def, Lenny Kravitz, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Trombone Shorty teamed up to perform and record a song titled “It Ain’t My Fault.” Written by Mos Def and Ben Jaffe, who is the tuba player for Preservation Hall, the song is a remake of a standard New Orleans tune with new lyrics reflecting the recent disaster. Funds generated from sales of the single (99 cents per download) and benefit concerts are directed towards recovery efforts organized by the Gulf Relief Foundation. The song has become a hit on the internet.

Citizen media producer 2 Cent uploaded footage of a benefit concert on Youtube.

Mos Def sings “It Ain't My Fault” at The Gulf Aid fundraiser in New Orleans on May 15, 2010. Over $300,000 have been raised through the Gulf Aid Foundation. The money is earmarked to provide relief to affected fishing communities as well as restore and conserve coastal wetlands.

Blogger Hip Hop Law writes about how the song reflects the political posturing where those responsible for the disaster resorted to shameless finger-pointing in order to minimize the toll of liability.

This watercolor painted by Olivia Bouler appears on her Facebook page, Save the Gulf: Olivia's Bird Illustrations

Hopeful watercolors

Olivia Bouler, an 11-year-old painter from the state of New York created a stir with her art project to help the Audubon Society. Online, she sells water color paintings of birds to help the organization raise funds for Gulf Coast wildlife relief efforts. She has so far helped raise close to $200,000. Her work can be seen on the Facebook page Save the Gulf: Olivia’s Bird Illustrations. Her artistic campaign also caught the attention of America Online, a major internet and email service provider, who gave the Audubon Society a $25,000 gift in her name and added her to their roster of featured artists. She speaks about her experience in a video posted on Youtube by the Audubon Society.

Grim imagery

A self-described eclectic, piwacket33 posted a video montage on Youtube depicting the impact of the oil spill disaster on wildlife. Titled “Black Tears: The Saddest Video in the World - BP Killed the Planet” the collage of images focus on death and cruelty to animals resulting from BP’s incompetence.

Pickwack33 organized a video montage composed of photography depicting the impact of the BP Oil Spill on Gulf Coast wildlife.

Demonstrators at a BP gas station in Manhattan on May28, 2010 by Michael Dolan CC-BY on Flickr

Theater of rage

Another creative form of protest against the oil spill disaster has been street theater. Among the first to organize a protest were a group of activists in Manhattan who protested in front of a BP Gas Station on the corner of Lafayette and Houston Streets. Some wore white clothing and poured black paint over themselves - symbolizing gushing oil. Information about the demonstration was spread through the Facebook page Protest BP. On Flickr, Michael Dolan shares photos he snapped as he was passing by. Video footage from the event was posted online by Youtube user Leeifac. Activists can be heard chanting: “BP Your Heart is Black, You Can Have Your Oil Back.”

The sentiment against BP has fueled multiple protests across the United States and the world. On Indymedia London, Tim Dalinian Jones published photos from one protest at a BP gas station in Shepard's Bush on April 10, Party at the Pumps, where he says people danced to live and recorded music for over an hour.

Party at the Pump Demonstrators in Shepard

USA: Rallying Cries for Immigration Reform

Gina Cardenas — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 20:07:22 +0000

In the United States, immigration reform activists have taken to the streets - and the internet - in order to create momentum for comprehensive changes in immigration law. A key hope is for the government to create a path to legal citizenship for the estimated 12 million undocumented people already living in the country. Fixing the broken immigration system is something groups on opposing sides of the political spectrum agree requires critical attention.

Arizona in the eye of the storm

This month, Arizona enacted a controversial law - S.B. 1070 - that gives police powers to demand to see immigration documents from anyone in Arizona that appears not to be American. President Obama himself called the measure “misguided” during a naturalization ceremony at the White House on the same day S.B. 1070 was signed into law on April 23.

Outcries of civil rights infringements are making the rounds in the blogs and on social networking sites. The hashtag #LegalizeAZ surfaced on Twitter for information-sharing regarding S.B. 1070 protests. Several twitter posts are also spreading the message to petition Eric Holder the U.S. Attorney General to step in and put a stop to S.B. 1070. According to the Washington Post, Holder said the federal government may be taking Arizona to court over the new law.

Citizens on social networking sites are also encouraging people to participate in widespread Arizona boycotts. Latinunionchicago uploaded a video on YouTube chronicling the boycott of Arizona’s baseball team the Diamondbacks during a game against the Chicago Cubs. Demonstrators even compared S.B. 1070 to discriminatory laws of Nazi Germany.

Activists boycott Arizona's baseball team the Diamondbacks due to recent immigration law S.B. 1070

Others are finding moments of creativity amidst political unrest. Zitherguy read a poem titled “Goodbye Tenochitlan” on YouTube in deference to activists and artists Zack de la Rocha and Ernesto Yerena. Both have spent considerable energy defending the rights of vulnerable immigrants and indigenous Mexicans through music and art.

Goodbye Tenochitlan poem makes a reference to activists voicing their dissent against S.B. 1070

Challenges to the Arizona law

Supporters of S.B. 1070 argue that the federal government is taking too long to fix a broken immigration system and that national security is at stake, especially in U.S. states along the southern border area where rampant drug smuggling is an issue. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer who signed the bill into law on April 23, said the measure would help put a stop to the “murderous greed” of the drug cartels. Previous highly controversial measures to stop the flow of drug cartel related trafficking along the southern border, includes the construction of a border wall between the southern U.S. border states and Mexico. The wall has yet to be completed.

Pumas Unleashed, a blog that focuses on free speech issues, writes about the new law in Arizona, and puts forth an argument that it appears to be constitutionally invalid. Phoenix, Arizona mayor, Phil Gorman also plans to challenge the constitutional validity of the Arizona law . He believes the new law leaves the city vulnerable to expensive racial profiling lawsuits. The mayor of Flagstaff, Arizona mayor, Sara Presler, is considering joining forces with Gorman. She is concerned the additional policing responsibilities would overwhelm their cash-strapped budget. Another official concerned with the costs of the bill is Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Homeland Security Department. She has argued against S.B. 1070 because it siphons limited resources from her budget.

The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders stepped forward on April 29 to challenge S.B. 1070, filing one of two prominent lawsuits against the new law. The second lawsuit was filed by a veteran police officer from Tucson, Arizona. Additional lawsuits are planned by MALDEF, the ACLU and the National Immigration Law Center.

Latina Lista writes that S.B. 1070 may have functioned as Obama’s tipping point for action.

Whatever the source, President Obama seems to have gotten the message that as long as Congress and his administration put immigration reform on the backburner, the chasm of racial tension in this country is only going to get deeper — and potentially deadly violent.

That concern to head off any further volatility, fueled by states adopting their own immigration laws, may have been the motivation for Pres. Obama to call the Senate's newest member today, Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown. Not to chitchat but to tell him to get ready — Democrats will be moving forward with immigration reform in a month.

The March for America

Many immigrant rights groups are concerned President Obama is not following through on promises made during his presidential election campaign. On March 21 there was a rally in Washington D.C. — The March for America — on a day that healthcare reform took most of the political and media spotlight. Despite the difficulty getting their cause heard, thousands of immigrants from different parts of the world were present. Smaller rallies have followed in cities with large immigrant populations including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Seattle and Miami.

StephenNielsen18, a producer of citizen media from the D.C.-metro area, attended the rally on March 21 and interviewed a Catholic group about their concerns and hopes regarding immigration reform.

Catholic activist speaks about immigration reform at The March for America

Carlos in DC, a blogger who writes about his life in the nation’s capital with an emphasis on race, community, and immigration reform, also attended the rally on March 21. He interviewed notable participants including the Civil Rights Leader Rev. Jesse Jackson and Congressman Xavier Becerra, a Democrat from California’s 31st District based in Los Angeles. Carlos in DC also interviewed several grassroots organizers among them members from Dreamactivist.org who carried and displayed a Dream Quilt: a large quilt constructed of colorful patches where undocumented students inscribed their dreams for a brighter future through access to higher education.

March for America Rally in the Nation's Capital on March 21, 2010

USA: March 4 Day of Action to Defend Education

Gina Cardenas — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:39:21 +0000

The March 4 National Day of Action to Defend Education is underway at several United States universities. Students are protesting against tuition fee hikes and racism, and for free publicly-funded education.

The focus of activity is in California where a statewide protest is underway from UC Berkeley to Oakland campuses. Participants are encouraged to use any tactics they deem effective or appropriate. This includes strikes, walkouts, marches, rallies, occupations, sit-ins or teach-ins. The rallying cry is public outrage at recent increases in tuition rates—up to 32%—at state public universities in California.

On Twitter, the #March4 hashtag is being used by people with updates about events. @Lavika shared information regarding the participation of California State Superintendent Jack O’Connel at a rally scheduled at Colton Hall in Monterey. Colton Hall is a symbolic building since it was the site of the first publicly funded school in California.

The website Fightback! News has an article about mounting restlessness in different California college campuses. The UC Irvine Campus Administration Building was occupied by students and workers on February 24. One of their demands included financial aid for undocumented students.

Race relations is another issue which is boiling to the surface as part of the March 4 event. The UC San Diego and Berkeley Black Student Unions and the UCLA Afrikan Student Union have engaged in demonstrations against hate crimes and the lack of diversity in the UC System. A recent Blackout was held at UC Berkeley campus on March 1^st.

The following Youtube video uploaded by rgiwaproductions highlights some of the demonstration activities.

Blackout Demonstration at UC Berkeley on March 1st 2010

There is East Coast participation from Hunter College, New York University and The State University of New York (SUNY), and The New School where many students have announced their solidarity in blogs and social networking sites. The state of New York saw a 14% hike in tuition rates last fall. On one blog, Takethecity, there is a manifesto of sorts, saying they have had enough of paying for, “a ‘crisis’ created by the rich and the bureaucrats that serve them.”

Occupy Boston writes that Massachusetts has seen their share of public education budget cuts also, and about a US$400 hike in fees per semester. They are organizing a teach-in from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. where they will address issues such as public education funding in Massachusetts, democracy in the educational system, accessibility and affordability of public education in MA.

The March 4 Day National Day of Action stems from a meeting held on October 24, 2009 at the UC Berkeley Campus where teachers, students, parents, organizations, unions and anyone interested in education were invited to participate in an open dialogue to discuss the increases in public education costs. More than 800 people attended the meeting, their main concern being that tuition increases will negatively affect working class students and communities of color. They expressed solidarity with demonstrations and people united against the tuition rate increases, and democratically decided on the March 4 Day of Action.

About a month later, UC Berkeley students occupied Wheeler Hall, a main lecture hall, and made demands for a free public education. A YouTube video uploaded by OccupyEverything2009 follows the students through their direct action efforts.

Other signs of solidarity include the dropping of pro-March 4 banners across college campuses in the U.S. The New School Reoccupied Blog has posted several photographs of banners dropped in the California area and the U.S. that depict language supporting the March 4 event.

USA: Clashes with Police at Pittsburgh G-20 Summit

Gina Cardenas — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:41:31 +0000

Anti-capitalists, anti-war groups, anarchists, environmental rights groups, and concerned citizens congregated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Thursday, September 24, to protest the negative effects of global corporate capitalism during the G-20 Summit of world leaders.

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Arrested in Pittsburgh. Creative Commons photo by Flickr user america.gov

The G-20 is comprised of 19 leaders of the world's wealthiest countries and representatives the European Union. President Obama is hosting the meeting this year, and the topic of discussion is the global economic crisis. Critics say the meeting is undemocratic and secretive. A common refrain is a demand to put “people before profits”.

One group that calls itself the The Peoples Caravan Across Pennsylvania traveled and blogged their way across the state of Pennsylvania before the Summit inviting supporters to join them for the marches in Pittsburgh. They prepared this audio report of the people they met along the way, describing their own economic hardships.

Police crackdown

Protesters were met by tough riot police who utilized tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and sound deterrents. Around 19 protesters were arrested on Thursday. Additional demonstrations are planned for Friday September 25, according to information posted on the Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project’s website.

The Pittsburgh Indymedia G-Infinity project is chronicling the events through ongoing citizen media input, including a radio stream, twitter feeds, mobile phone and video reports. They are also tracking clashes with police on a Google map that shows activity all over the city.

The following YouTube video by Soul Pitt TV, a channel run by an African-American community website in Pittsburgh, shows a celebratory spirit among the different people who showed up to the protest on the 24th which was dubbed The People's Uprising:

Soul Pitt TV describes the video:

Raw video of G20 protesters as they leave Arsenal Park in Lawrenceville at 40th and Penn and make their way down to downtown Pittsburgh to protest the G20 summit. Unfortunately these protesters didn't make it past 34th street as tear gas was thrown and the crowd forced back to the park

YouTube user thetwos has posted a number of videos, including the one below, which Marc Parent (@mparent77772) and many others on Twitter described as a “military sound weapon”. A NYTimes article said this is the first time a sound cannon has been used for crowd control in the USA.

In defense of civil rights

The American Civil Rights Union is collecting complaints about law enforcement surrounding the G-20 on their website.

They ACLU also have a telephone hotline offering legal support to protesters on the grounds that their civil rights to peaceful assembly may have been violated. Police are claiming that many of the protests are “unlawful assemblies” while organizers of the main demonstrations say they have followed the official protocol for obtaining permits. The ACLU of Pennsylvania even sued the city government to force them to issue permits for several groups.

Mexico: Protests Against Nomination of Arturo Chávez for Attorney General

Gina Cardenas — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:30:43 +0000

Human rights activists in Ciudad Juárez are opposing the recent nomination of Arturo Chávez Chávez as the Attorney General of Mexico. He was nominated by the Mexican President Felipe Calderón. Protesters claim that Chávez’s track record regarding human rights work leaves much to be desired and point to the time when he was the Attorney General of the State of Chihuahua in the early 1990s. This was a time when Ciudad Juárez erupted in a violent wave of femicides—mass murder of women. Most of the protesters and activists are the mothers, family members, and friends of the deceased or missing women. They claim that public officials from Chihuahua have been involved in covering up the crimes and have not done much to solve them.

As chief prosecutor for the state of Chihuahua, Chávez has been denounced by Mexican and international human rights organizations, as described by The Rag Blog, which writes about Fear and Loathing in Mexico: A Pandemic of Paranoia. These organizations include the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (CIDH), members of the European Parliament, and others from the international human rights community.

Concern about the deaths of the women from Juárez has attracted international attention, and feminist activists like Eve Ensler, creator of the Vagina Monologues and actress Sally Field have led marches through the industrial city.

The blog Resistencia Hasta el Fin [es] makes reference to sexist and misogynist comments made by Chávez [es] about the murdered women, such as “If they raped and killed them (the women) it wasn't because they were going to Mass” and “They are at fault for being attacked, for the provocative way that they dress.” It is comments like these that make activists say that Chávez is unqualified for the job for which he is nominated.

The death toll continues to climb and many crimes remain unsolved, leaving the community with little recourse but to take matters into their own hands by forming grassroots non-profit groups to shed light on the issue of the border city femicides. Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa A.C. [es] (May Our Daughters Return Home, Civil Association) is at the forefront of the current protests which have taken the streets in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, bordering the city of El Paso in Texas. They also held protests in Chihuahua's state capital and nation’s capital, Mexico City. Protesters who traveled to Mexico City on September 14, 2009 were unsuccessful in their attempts to speak directly with members of the Senate regarding Chavez’s negligent human rights track record.

Carolina of the blog Zapateando [es] writes about the Mexico City protest and how family members of the murdered women have mobilized against Chávez.

“¡No pasará!” gritaron alrededor de 50 manifestantes frente a la sede del Senado de la República, para exigir que los legisladores voten en contra del nombramiento de Arturo Chávez Chávez como procurador general del país.

“He won’t pass!” shouted about 50 protesters in front of the Senate building to demand the legislators vote against the nomination of Arturo Chávez Chávez as Mexico’s Attorney General.

Chávez met with the Senate on September 21, 2009. Blogger and twitterer Jesús Robles (@roblesmaloof) is a self-described human rights activist and witnessed the Senate hearings. He took pictures and videos of some of the testimony against Chávez from some of the witnesses who were present.

Mothers of some of the murdered women from Ciudad Juárez testifying in the Senate. Photo by Jesús Robles and used with permission.

He also took this video of protests outside the Senate:

However, the PAN political party has already nodded in his favor regarding the nomination. Ganchoblog writes that Chávez is likely to pass since three Senators who would be vital to derailing his nomination as Attorney General will not stand in his way.

USA: Latinos on the passing of Ted Kennedy

Gina Cardenas — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 05:12:51 +0000

Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy’s passing on August 25, 2009 has stirred a flurry of blog posts among the Latino community in the United States. Words of sadness and remembrance surface in the midst of the eulogizing.

United Farm Workers - a grassroots, immigrant rights group for improved farm labor conditions and legal reforms - posted a memorial on their blog in honor of Kennedy's friendship and support, entitled “Remembering our Long Time Friend, Senator Edward Kennedy“, saying:

Year after year, Sen. Kennedy stood shoulder to shoulder with the farm workers in good times and bad during marches and rallies, political campaigns and legislative battles from the halls of the United States Senate to the dusty farm fields of California:

As United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta once said, Robert and Ted Kennedy “didn’t come to us and tell us what was good for us. All they said was, ‘What do you want? And how can I help?’ That’s why we love them.”

The departure of a trusted political ally in Washington also stirs anxiety given the pending Comprehensive Immigration Reform slated for review sometime in 2010. Latina Lista writes about Kennedy's role as more far-reaching than one of an ally:

…to an older generation of Latinos his death signals the end of an era when “honorary Latinos” were entrusted with championing the voice of la gente in Washington.

Kennedy's landmark Immigration Reform Act of 1965 ended national-origin immigration quotas that set a preference for European immigration and opened the doors to immigrants from Latin America and Asia.

His more recent contributions include participation with the DREAM Act, AgJobs, CHIP and Violence Against Women Act.

He also pursued the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill of 2007 which did not pass. It lays the foundation for current immigration reform considerations. CHIP and VAWA enable social service provisions which assist immigrants currently residing in the country. The DREAM Act and AgJobs would both provide paths to citizenship for undocumented immigrants through labor and education-based programs.

Current ideas regarding Comprehensive Immigration Reform seek to change the manner in which immigration is handled on a systemic level by focusing on enhanced border security, removing incentives for hiring undocumented immigrants, assisting current undocumented immigrants residing in the country with a path to citizenship, assisting Mexico with economic development projects and improving the immigration bureaucracy.

While Kennedy has notably influenced the course of immigration reform, historic organizations involved with immigrant rights policy include the National Council of La Raza, League of United Latin American Citizens and the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

The National Council of La Raza released a report on Labor Day, September 7, 2009 that focuses on the Latino worker experience. It portrays a grim reality: low wages, lack of benefits, dangerous working conditions and high mortality rates. Latinas are affected in larger numbers writes Leigh Graham the Poverty blogger in the Change.org network. Graham says the report sets a precedent for addressing improved labor conditions in the larger immigration reform agenda:

The report shows that smart, ethical immigration reform is the “first step” towards reducing worker exploitation and improving the job market for all low-wage workers.

Kennedy's impact in the Latino community is also tied to an endearing character trait: he never referred to immigrants with an us vs. them attitude. And he never forgot the humble origins of his Irish immigrant background. His introduction to the book: A Nation of Immigrants written by his brother John F. Kennedy, is a poignant testament to the Kennedy family values, which are rooted in the immigrant experience.

Zoraya Tapia-Alfaro who blogs at NDN, a Washington DC think tank, shares the introduction to a A Nation of Immigrants in her post “Edward Kennedy: A Man Who Saw Wrong, and tried to Right it”:

“A century and a half ago all eight of our Irish great grandparents successfully crossed the Atlantic in the famous vessels that were known as ‘coffin ships' because so many failed to survive the arduous voyage…immigration is in our blood.”

USA: Activism to Stop Human Trafficking

Gina Cardenas — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:47:36 +0000

Human trafficking in the United States is an often undetected problem because the victims are usually hidden from the public view. The victims are enslaved into illegal jobs often in the sweatshop labor or clandestine sex services. Frequently the victims are minors brought into the United States by organized crime cartels.

The organization Stop Child Trafficking Now estimates that over 2.5 million children—most of them girls—are sold into the sex trade every year. Victims can be as young as 4 or 5 years of age, who often are abducted from their homes never to be heard from again. Human rights groups and individuals are working towards educating the local community about this issue as well as making efforts to combat human trafficking in the U.S. and helping victims caught up in the human trafficking networks.

Photo of solidarity protest in Los Angeles by aclu.socal and used under a Creative Commons license.

In her recent blog post titled “Who’s Stealing Little Black Girls?” blogger and human trafficking activist, Amanda Kloer, writes about the problem with child abduction within the African-American community in the United States:

Across America, about 800,000 children are reported missing each year, 33% of which are African-American. In New York City last year, half of reported missing children were black and 60% were female. And these aren't 17-and-a-half-year-olds; most of the girls were between 13 and 15. Other urban areas like Atlanta, Washington DC, Chicago, and Los Angeles with large African-American populations also have high instances of young black girls being kidnapped or “running away”. But what's happening to these girls? Surely they don't vanish into thin air?

They vanish, in fact, into pimps' pockets; these girls end up as trafficking victims in the commercial sex industry. Some meet pimps on the street and are deceived or coerced into street prostitution. Others are forced into strip clubs or filmed for pornography. Still others are advertised on Craigslist, escort agency websites, and other corners of the Internet. They are just as much human trafficking victims as the Vietnamese women enslaved in brothels in Thailand or the Guatemalan girl held in a home in El Paso.

The U.S. Department of State Ambassador Luis C deBaca who heads the blog from the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons writes about the dangers facing youth in the United States. He recently conducted a training aimed at professionals who work with children, such as school teachers.

All who work with young people should be aware of the dangers that threaten their students. Technology increasingly has become a trafficking tool, with internet fora used not just to exchange apartments or furniture, but to make prostitution assignations. Offenders use chat rooms, message boards, and specialized websites to obtain information about where vulnerable young victims can be found. The most vulnerable girls are those considered “throw-away” or runaway youth from dysfunctional families. They are at risk of becoming prey to pimps who lure them with the promise of love and security, only to expose them to a world of cruelty and violence.

deBaca also mentions in his blog a list of international offices where one can report human trafficking abuses or suspected incidents of human trafficking to the designated global NGO and governmental partners.

To raise awareness, some individuals are taking action through the legislative process, such as documentary filmmaker Tara Hurley, who is heavily involved in the state of Rhode Island. In her blog, she adds her opinion on what can be added to make laws much more effective:

I testified in favor for the bill. I hope that Senator Perry’s bill is the one that gets the support with the full house and senate vote. I think that the most important thing in the Trafficking bill is the training. How do we expect the police to identify the victims if they have not been properly trained? We need to set standards for how we will deal with the victims. We need to deal with the victims as victims and not criminals.

She also disagrees with some media and how they do not use certain terms to describe the situation, and points to a recent story about a 16-year-old victim:

What I can’t understand is why do they (the media) never use the word human trafficking now? For years they media has been hounding on how they need to change the prostitution law because of human trafficking in the Asian massage parlors. Now when they actually find a human trafficking victim they don’t refer to her a human trafficking victim but as a runaway?!?!

In addition, there are many community and grassroots groups across the country such as previously mentioned Stop Child Trafficking Now that are utilizing citizen media to spread the word about efforts to raise awareness about the issue. Organizers for the DC Stop Child Trafficking Now Walk say this will be the largest anti-human trafficking event in the city’s history. The Austin-based Child Trafficking Now Walk is using Twitter to invite people to join their 5K walk.

From a more personal perspective, Tina Frundt, a human trafficking activist in the Washington, DC area shares her personal story as a former trafficking victim. Her experiences have motivated her to run her own grassroots organization: Courtney’s House where she assists youth rescued from the human trafficking networks.