Author
Amoshaun
Please Edit these stories, and cut stories as you see fit. I decided to go with a general as well as FTAA related headlines (ie i included slave ship in africa and uranium in food amoung others). Please Help Edit!!!
As the Summit of Americas approaches, poets from throughout the Americas will converge on Quebec city to protest the FTAA and speak their words at Free Verse of the Americas on April 20th in Quebec city. The event will encourage open participation from all different voices and hopes to unit poets to find common ground on the mass struggle against corporate globalization. The event will take place on the evening of the 20th at the cafe of CEGEP Limoulou, 1300 8th Ave Quebec City. Come to attend an evening of Free Verse in opposition to global capitalism. Free Verse of the Americas: CEGEP Limoulou, 1300 8th Ave. April 20th. for more information contact: Stefan Christoff 514.938.2672 Montreal Shawn Whitney
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Greetings, Here are some things the authorities at the Canadian border will be looking for, and which can be grounds for turning you away: when you go through customs: According to the terminal manager of Vermont Transit in Burlington, you can be denied entry if: 1. You are not properly documented. (no proof of citizenship, etc.) 2. Vague or inconsistent replies with respect to destination, or hesitancy in responding, indicating you're not sure of your actual arrangements, or cannot give them a number of someone to call in Canada to verify where you're staying. Example: A person was turned away this week because he had a one way ticket and could not give them the name or telephone number of the person he would be riding back to the US with. Another person said he was going to "a conference", but could not provide details about the time or location. "I'm going to the museum" or "to the casino" or "to a concert" as a response might elicit a question about how much tickets cost, what exhibit? ("show me your concert tickets"), etc. Any hesitancy in your answer which might suggest you're making it up as you go along, would be reason for rejection. 3. If you fit the "profile" (of a protester/terrorist/troublemaker). 4. If you have on your person or in your bag or suitcase any paraphenalia that might identify you as an activist, are wearing a political button, or if they find ANY kind of material advocating resistance to the FTAA, or FTAA protest material generally, they can reject you. 5. If they smell vinegar in your bag. (They will be looking for this.) If you enter the border and are questioned and turned away, they will have your name in their computers and the fact that you were turned away. They may share this information with other agencies. Canadian border authorities have expressed interest in learning what buses might be chartered from Burlington at the time of the FTAA protest. Bus drivers, this week, report no undue delays at the border. A busload of 30 breezed through customs in 12 minutes yesterday. Next week may be a different story.
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Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2001 11:45 AM Subject: PORTLAND ACTIVISTS FACING FELONY CHARGES > POLICE ATTACK PARTY IN PORTLAND, OREGON > THREE PEOPLE FACING FELONY CHARGES > They need your support, both monetary and moral! > > On March 30 in the early morning, police attacked a Portland, Oregon house > party, escalating their attack against so-called "anarchists," and > continuing the patterns of oppression that communities of color have been > subject to since this country's inception. > > The party was filled with people dressed in black, "metal heads" and "crusty > gutter punks." Some are active in anti-authoritarian actions. > > Two police cars showed up around one am, supposedly responding to a noise > complaint. The police began pepper spraying people and using compliance > holds on them. > > Within minutes, 43 squad cars and an empty public transportation bus were on > the scene to cart away people. Dozens of people were detained, at least nine > of them were taken to a detox center, where they were refused breathalyzer > tests when they tried to insist they were not drunk. > > Three people, Chad Hapshe, Bjorn Einertsen, and Michael Ray, were arrested > and charged with Riot, Assault, and Kidnapping, which is a mandatory minimum > charge. If convicted, they will have to serve out all of the seven year > sentence. And because they are being charged with mandatory minimums, they > have to pay the entire bail before being released. That bail is now at least > $260,000. > > Money is needed for the three defendants for legal defense and general > direct support work, such as canteen money. You can send support to the > Anarchist Prisoners' Legal Aid Network (APLAN), 818 SW 3rd Ave PMB 354, > Portland OR 97204. Make checks payable to G. Grantham. > > You can write to the prisoners at the address below: > Chad James Hapshe #630542 > Bjorn Einertsen #649121 > Michael Ray # 649122 > 1120 SW 3rd Ave > Portland OR 97204 > > One of the defendants says that he was beaten by jailers when he urinated on > the cell floor, because they would not let him use the bathroom anywhere > else. One party attendant said that when he started telling people to get > the names and badge numbers of the police arresting them, he was thrown to > the ground and got a knee to the back of his head. > People say that while police where pepper-spraying and using compliance > holds on individuals at the show, they were also questioning people about > their political beliefs, and taking photographs of their tattoos. Anyone > refusing to be photographed was physically forced by officers. And at the > arraignment, anyone who looked mildly "anarchist" was photographed by > police. > > One supporter was ticketed for jay walking as she left the arraignment. She > was detained by two plain-clothes cops, one of whom had minutes before > claimed to be off-duty. When the crowd approached them, they called for > backup, bringing five more uniformed cops, including a Lieutenant. A crowd > formed, including some Copwatch people, and the officers let her go. > > It is not just politically active people or anarchists being targeted, it is > anyone who fits into the police profile of what an "anarchist" is: punk, > patches, white kid dreadlocks, etc., the same image they have been > portraying since the WTO. > > This incident was not just a random act of police violence, but a piece of a > pattern of intimidation and brutalization that communities of color across > the country and throughout history have suffered, and to much greater > extents. > > April 2, a Latino man was shot and killed by police officers in a > neighboring town to Portland because he was having an epileptic seizure but > supposedly no one spoke Spanish or Mayan to understand what was happening to > him. He was shot inside a psych ward of the local mental hospital by police > called by hospital staff. He had been picked up because he was 20 cents > short for the bus. His father attempted to give the attendants the man's > doctor's name, as well as the medication he needed, but he too did not speak > English. The man, in the throes of his seizure, grabbed a metal bar off a > door and threatened staff and patients. The police shot him fatally in the > head and the chest. No one knows why a Spanish-speaking officer wasn't > called in, or why he was taken to a mental hospital in the first place. > > Two years ago, a 68 year old black woman was dragged out of her van by a > white police officer. Two weeks before the incident, that complaint was > appealed to the City Council, which was acting as a police review board, and > it ruled there was insufficient evidence to determine if police misconduct > occurred. > > The activist and punk communities has to see this recent attack by police > within the continuum of police violence, and organize with the communities > of color who are under constant attack just for their very existence. > Activists get attacked for what they say, but people of color are shot for > who they are. > > While it is important to see the connection, punks and anarchists can not > allow themselves to fall into the mindset of "we wear black, you ARE black, > our oppression is the same," can not allow themselves to equate their > oppression with the historic genocide against people of color, can not > forget that they still, most of them white, have privilege in this society. > > Radicals can not allow themselves to be isolated from the communities whose > struggle this really is. Without the support of communities of color, > activists will be very easily picked off in COINTELPRO manner, locked up for > long prison sentences and villianized by a system that makes dissent a > crime, just as it makes melanin and poverty a crime. The very act of people > of color demanding to be treated as humans, respected as people, and to be > able to create their own cultures is seen in this country as an act of > treason.
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From: VT Mobilisation for global justice > Reply-To: > Last night the Spokescouncil for the Vermont Mobilization For Global Justice (VT MGJ) consensed to the concept of Peoples' Assemblies. The following is from the VT MGJ's Scenario Committee: To People Attempting to Cross the Border: A Call for Peoples' Assemblies! This is What Democracy Looks Like! We hope all those on the road to Quebec City to voice their opposition to the FTAA have a safe trip and we encourage and support that journey. However, word is spreading that the Canadian Border Authorities will be preventing many activists from crossing the border into Canada when they attempt to cross to express their opinion about the FTAA. In the Northeast, organizers have called for Peoples' Assemblies to ensure that everyone will be empowered to have a voice against the FTAA whether they can cross the border or not. These directly democratic assemblies will be gatherings of concerned citizens assembled to discuss the FTAA and decide what next steps to take and how to oppose it from the US side of the border. The threat of an impenetrable border is also a large part of why the Vermont Mobilization for Global Justice came together to organize a convergence center in Burlington, VT including housing, meals, trainings, and educational events to provide for the needs both of people just stopping through on the way to Quebec City, as well as for those who have been turned away at the border yet still want their opportunity to exercise their right to speak out against an atrocious trade deal that will impact their daily lives if passed. Convergence Centers are also being organized in Jackman, Maine (Rte 201) and Derby Line, VT (I-91). Other centers are in Plattsburgh and Buffalo, NY. The VT Mobilization for Global Justice has put the call out for Peoples' Assemblies to occur at key locations all along the border. From Jackman to Derby Line, from Burlington to Plattsburgh to Buffalo, Peoples' Assemblies will come together to discuss the FTAA and make decisions about how to proceed in opposing the FTAA. Canada believes it has the right to exclude whomever it pleases. However, some believe that Canada gave up that right when they agreed to host a meeting that would discuss a pact with the power to affect the lives of everyone, human or non, in this hemisphere. If Canada agrees to host representatives from 34 nations to discuss the finer points of legalizing massive human rights and environmental violations, then they must also invite opponents from those 34 nations. That is only fair, after all. But the FTAA is anything but fair. Beyond the Summit of the Americas, the FTAA will ensure that borders are locked down to people and opened wide to corporations. No more barriers to "free" trade, greater barriers to critics of free trade. It is this reality which has made the concept of Peoples' Assemblies at the border against the FTAA for those denied entry into Canada so attractive. What better example of what is wrong with Free Trade and the FTAA than people being locked out of the debate over Free Trade merely because they oppose it. Come to the border! If you cannot get across, join the Peoples' Assemblies and decide how to deliver an even more powerful message about opposing the FTAA! Show them that no border will prevent us from speaking out!
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Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2001 8:06 PM Subject: MOVE Alert!
Attention All MOVE Supporters and Sympathizers,
There will be a court hearing on April 10 th at Family Court in Philadelphia.
This has to do with the ongoing custody battle between MOVE and the city.
MOVE is asking that people be outside of the courthouse to show support for
justice. They are also asking that people who cannot attend outside the
courthouse to be on alert to come to Philadelphia at a moments notice.
This custody situation should not be taken lightly. Anyone who is concerned
with MOVE or justice at all should take a stand against this ongoing
harrasment and persecution of MOVE people.
The custody hearing will be at:
Family Court
34 South 11th Street
at 11:00 am in Philadelphia
Call 215.387.4107 for more detailsh
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In This Update Tuesday, 4/10/01 -Mattole Seige Continues -Activist Injuried & Flown Out in Helicopter -This Mornings Press Release -Needs + Contact Info 4 Arrested - Tuesday Evening 04/08/01 The weekend quiet at the Mattole Free State was shattered last night and again this morning with a large contingent of Humboldt County Sheriffs storming the Mattole Free State. At 6:30am this morning 15 Sheriffs and Fish & Game vehicles loaded with ATVs drove into the area. The blockades were dismantled and burned along with everything the law got a hold of, including plastic tarps, buckets and sleeping bags. One lockdowned activist had to be jackhammered out of her cemented lockbox to take her into custody. 3 other activist were run down in the woods by Sheriffs and cameoed Fish and Game officials. One of these activist was being chased by a Fish & Game law enforcement officer and he slid off a cliff falling 40-50 feet into a creek drainage. He had to be air-lifted out of the area by CDF Fire & Rescue to a hospital in Eureka. Later x-rays and cat scan revealed no broken bones or internal injuries, only a bruised hip. The forest defender was being held overnight and expected to be released in the morning from the hospital. Still no logging has been attempted but law enforcement will likely keep a presence all night and escort logging crews in the morning. Our other three brave lockdowners from last Thursday - Verbana, Osprey and Acorn were released last night from custody. All three are charged with 602j tresspassing and 148a resisting arrest. Forest defenders still occupy the woods waiting for the return of Maxxam Sheriff's and Maxxam hired Columbia logging crews. Mattole residents and forest defenders have pledged to keep a presence at the outer gates to slow law enforcement's progress and support the brave forest defenders in remaining in the woods. Please call to help (707)-825-6598. For Immediate Release Tuesday April 10, 2001 Mattole Forest Defense (707) 825-6598 www.mattoledefense.org Mattole Forest Again Under Siege Activists Block Logging Crew Access The forest defenders protecting the endangered old-growth Douglas Fir forest of the Mattole again came under siege as a large contingent of Humboldt County Sheriff's vehicles, Pacific Lumber Security, and heavy equipment rolled into the Long Ridge area at 6:30am this morning. Early reports from the woods indicate that one woman is locked down and likely to be arrested as the Sheriffs work to extract her from her cemented lockbox. The Humboldt County Sheriff, acting on behalf of Maxxam/Pacific Lumber, aim to clear the seasonal road that leads to Timber Harvest Plan (THP) 475 that clearcuts 50 acres of old-growth Douglas-Fir. At this time no Columbia Helicopter logging crews have been seen entering the area. Today's raid comes on the heels of last week's Tuesday and Thursday raids that saw three Mattole Forest Defenders arrested for locking down to blockading devices that have prevented logging crew's access into the area. All three activist have been charged with misdemeanor trespass (602j) and resisting arrest (148a), they were released yesterday by Humboldt County Courts on their own recognizance. A large committed crew of people remain on Long Ridge, determined to stop the desecration of the amazing old growth Douglas Fir forest. This non-violent direct action, nicknamed the Mattole Free State, has been successful in halting logging in the Mattole watershed for more than 133 days. Activists lives were endangered on November 27th and 28th when Maxxam logging crews, shadowed by Humboldt County Sheriff deputies, cut 50 trees dangerously close to non-violent activist in THP 1-99-475. During the past year, Maxxam/Pacific Lumber has initiated an onslaught of timber harvest plans in the most sensitive regions of its holdings: the Mattole river watershed. These THPs are clearcuts, exclusively in old growth Douglas Fir forests, and are planned in drainages which have extreme seismic activity (1992 saw 7.1, 6.9, 7.2 earthquakes in a 24 hour period,) intense rainfall (up to 200 inches per year,) and easily erodible soils on steep mountainous terrain. Maxxam calls for the near liquidation of their Mattole holdings within the next eight years. The 3,000 acres of old-growth Douglas Fir is the largest unprotected coastal old growth Doug-Fir forest left in the Pacific Northwest. It is a crucial habitat that link between the old growth refuges of the Kings Range, Humboldt Redwoods State Park and Gilham Butte. Essential Forest Defender Needs (recently updated) > Ground coffee (organic is preferred) > Hydrogen Peroxide > Chocolate (vegan if possible) > Dried soup mixes > Hummus & Falafel mix > Organic oats & Rice > Trail mix > Tofu > Fresh Fruits and Vegetables > Dried fruit/raw nuts > Fleece tops and bottoms > Nokia 5100/6100 Cell phone batteries > Bivy Sacs > Sleeping Bags > Waterproof Tarps (preferrably camo) > Static Line > Walky Talky's > UHF/VHF radios > Video Camera's > Still Camera's > Waterproof Hiking Boots > Wool Socks > Raingear (gortex or rubberized) > Gift Certificate to Ace Hardware, Arcata Coop, Costco or Picky, Picky, Picky > Paid work for activists who come out of the woods > Monetary donation can be made out to "Mattole Forest Defenders" and >mailed to POB 28, Arcata, CA 95518. People Needs: Please come to the Mattole for a few days and help defend the 3,000 acres of incredible old growth Doug-Fir forest. We prefer those with nonviolent direct action experience. Please call the hotline first at 707-441-3828. Come prepared for very wet, cold and snowy conditions. The hike to the Free State is over 12+ miles. There is no basecamp so please call the hotline to get involved. Please contact: John Campbell, Pacific Lumber Co., 707-764-2222, FAX - 707-764-4269 Charles Hurwitz, Maxxam Corp, 713-975-7600, FAX- 713-952-4795 Ask them to hold off logging in the Mattole for one year so the community can assess and raise the funds to purchase the entire 14,000 acre holding. Also demand that they treat nonviolent activist as humans beings and stop endangering their lives with falling trees. Please Note: We just opened a new office in Arcata. (707)-825-6598 is now a working phone number not a voice mail, please call us during buisness hours. For more information: Direct Action: Mattole Forest Defenders,(VM) 707-441-3828 POB 28, Arcata, CA 95518 North Coast Earth First!, 707-825-6598, 822-3771(fax) ncef@humboldt1.com http://www.mattoledefense.org/ Images at http://www.earthfilms.org/ Article at http:/www.indybay.org/
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> My Groups | csn-web Main Page > URGENT ACTION! > PREVENT NEW MASSACRE AT PEACE COMMUNITY > > > > In recent weeks, the community has received increasing threats of >military-paramilitary violence, including the threat of an impending massacre. > "" > *On both March 7 and March 17, five bombs were thrown at the community >(for a total of ten bombs), killing three horses and terrorizing residents. > There they told a local woman " Now that people had chosen to stay, they >would have to destroy everything" > *On March 18, Army troops along the path from the trading post to La Union >told several peasants that if the peasants were still mad about the murder >of six men last summer [in the joint paramilitary-military La Union >massacre], then it was too bad because the Army troops were on their way to >do it again. > *On March 26, Paramilitaries convened a meeting in the Policarpa >shantytown on the urban edge of Apartadó at 4:00pm """" They told people >not to worry if they saw bodies or heard shots because it was only them. > > Take Action! > > >Contact the people listed below to: > *Express your CONCERN for the residents of the Peace Community of San José >de Apartadó in light of recent threats. > *Emphasize that such threats are SERIOUS and CREDIBLE, given that many >acts of violence against the community have followed similar threats. > Demand that the Army work to COMBAT PARAMILITARY ACTIVITY around San José >de Apartadó. > > (WISCONSIN RESIDENTS: Please contact Senator Feingold and Rep. Baldwin to >remind them that San Jose de Apartado is the sister community to Dane County) > > CONTACTS: > Calls placed using the 10-10-834 code cost $0.22/minute to Colombia. > > 1) General Fernando Tapias Stahelin > Comandante de las Fuerzas Militares > > Avenida el Dorado con Carrera 52 > Santafé de Bogotá > Colombia > Phone > +57 (1) 222 2935 > Fax > +57 (1) 222 2935 > mapi_7@mixmail.com > > 2) Gustavo Bell Lemus > Vice Presidente de la Nación > Consejería Presidencial de Derechos Humanos > Calle 7 No 6-54 Piso 3 > Santafé de Bogotá > Colombia > Phone > +57 (1) 336-0311 > > 3)General Pablo Alberto Rodriguez Laverde > Commander of the 17th Brigade in Carepa (covers Apartado) > Phone > or > 222-6952 > > Your Senators and Representative(s) > > >Phone > Capitol Switchboard: +1 (202) 224-3121 > > -- > Colombia Support Network > P.O. Box 1505 > 53701-1505 > 608/257-8753 (voice) > 608/255-6621 (fax) > csn@igc.org > http://www.colombiasupport.net
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>U of Rochester Students Begin >Human Rights Encampment > >At 5:00PM, Tuesday, April 10th, students from the >University of Rochester and alumni began a permanent >encampment on the Academic Quad of the campus. On >Tuesday night, 70 students from UR, St. John Fisher, >Roberts Weslyan, Nazareth, RIT, and Syracuse >University occupied the Academic Quad, having a >cook-out, a five-hour concert, and a campout. Eight >tents were set up and covered with cardboard in order >to symbolize a shanty town similar to those in which >indigent UR sweatshop workers currently live. Nine >students and one alumnus spent the night in these >tents, and more will soon follow. > >This protest is in reaction to the University’s >reluctance to take responsibility for its contribution >to sweatshop labor used in making UR apparel. >Students demand: >1. That the University request Full Public Disclosure, >or the release of the names and locations of factories >producing UR apparel. >2. That the University adopt a Code of Conduct to end >its connection to child labor, starvation wage levels, >and the physical and sexual abuse of women, among >other measures. >3. That the University sign onto the Worker Rights >Consortium (a nonprofit human rights organization that >monitors apparel-making conditions in factories, >employing Full Public Disclosure and a Code of >Conduct). >The demonstrators have been and are currently speaking >out against the University’s contribution to sweatshop >labor, as apparel at the UR bookstore bearing the >University logo is made under “sweatshopâ€
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