Saturday, April 26, 2008

NYC: Killer Cops Acquitted! Time to Fight Back!/ Nueva York: Dejan Libre Policias Asesinos! Es Hora de Pelear!







Sean Bell, was shot and killed, November 25th, 2006 by NYPD detectives who pumped 50 bullets into the car Bell was driving. On April 25th 2008 Judge Arthur J. Cooperman acquitted the three indicted Detectives on all charges, claiming that the police officers actions were ‘careless but not reckless’.

Although this ruling is shocking we were not shocked. What can you expect from a case tried by the Queens District Attorney, an ally of the NYPD? What kind of ‘justice’ can we expect from the state? What was shocking was that there was not an immediate explosion of rage. The police cockily assured the ‘public’ that although they were prepared for disturbances they didn’t expect any to break out. As of this point they more or less seem to be correct.

As the news of the acquittal spread distraught and angry Bell supporters poured out of the courthouse into the streets outside. A brief scuffle ensued as a fistfight briefly flared. After this brief confrontation tempers cooled while the Rev. Al Sharpton and others escorted the Bell family from the courthouse.

Later that day the people’s justice campaign organized a ‘speak-out’ at the Queens County courthouse. Several hundred people assembled to hear speakers ranging from right-on radical youth of color talking about their experiences with the NYPD, to bland ‘activist’ organizers talking about the need to register to vote and how the next step is to ask the federal government to get involved (!). People seemed angry but more than listening to speeches there was little offered until finally a march got together to heading to Jamaica, Queens the neighborhood where Sean Bell was murdered.

The march was very diverse and certain sections were much more militant than others. The organizers made it clear as we were leaving that it would be a ‘peaceful’ march, complete with marshals whom did little besides try and keep the march away from the police following the procession. There was much energy especially as we entered Jamaica with a huge showing of support from locals, honking horns, and joining the march. A couple of masked men stood on top of their car with their fists in the air.
As the march reached the spot where Bell was killed the speakers started again and we were told the march was over and that we should disperse. A smaller group however continued marching to the public housing projects where they spoke with local youth and then continued, growing in numbers as they made their way to the 103rd precinct. At the precinct the march was met with lines of riot cops. There were reports of bottles and bricks thrown at the police, newspaper stands were thrown in the streets, and police charged the remainder of the crowd. There are reports of a few arrests.

Hopefully the spirit of the second half of the march will continue and future demonstrations will allow people to express their rage freely without the need for marshals and speeches.
Let fury have the hour!
video:

Monday, April 14, 2008

MILITARIZATION IN CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO/ MILITARIZACIÓN EN CIUDAD JUÁREZ, MÉXICO



On Wednesday April 3rd, elements of the Federal police arrested activist Cipriana Jurado leader of the Non-Governmental Organization, Centro de Investigacion y Solidaridad Obrera and the comrade Carlos Chavez of the organization Agrodinámica Nacional. Agents of the Federal police stopped by force comrade Cipriana and forced her into a car without registration plates, alleging that there was an arrest warrant against her which was never shown during the arrest, nor when she was transferred to the county jail.

At the same time, in the town of Casas Grandes, Carlos Chavez was arrested, he is a co-founder along with Armando Villarreal Martha, the activist who was murdered four weeks ago, of the organization Agrodinámica Nacional. Comrade Cipriana was released on April 4th opening a preliminary inquiry against her for her involvement in a demonstration on October 12, 2005 at the Santa Fe international bridge when she participated in a mobilization in support of rural workers. Carlos Chavez was moved to Ciudad Juarez in the afternoon and handed over to the Attorney General and accused of the same offences. Since the time of arrest numerous organizations have mobilized to demand the release of the comrades and to denounce the intervention and their harassment by the Army and the Federal forces, making the state responsible for the integrity of the detainees and calling for an end to the criminalization of social movements and community activists, as it is rumoured that there is a list of 40 comrades who have an arrest warrant out against them and that the army came to the city with a photographic archive of social activists of the border.

Pedro Paulino Nain, a comrade from the anarchist social center "Kasa de Kultura para Todxs" was arrested in February of this year for his participation in a mobilization in 2003. He has been harassed and scared off attending the social center, and on the same day of the detentions, Sunday, April 3rd, the activists from the social center were informed by an unknown person that the the army had a photographic archive of the members of Kasa de Kultura para Todxs.

Since last April 28 more than 2,000 Mexican Army troops patrol the streets of Ciudad Juarez, they have set up dozens of roadblocks and even helicopters flying over the city as the Federal Government's alleged response to the wave of organized crime-related violence on this border. These actions are part of the so-called “Joint Operation Chihuahua”.
Military elements move through the streets of this city, aiming their long arms at pedestrians, and intimidating the community, besieging the city and violating human rights. Although the army’s advance through the country is justified by the calederonista government as part of the combating of drug trafficking, we know that this argument is only a screen to militarize the country and criminalize social struggles. The patrolling military forces have brought only misery and violence for the Juarenses. For weeks there have been a growing number of complaints against the armed forces, ranging from the torture of members of the municipal police, abuse of power opening fire on a police patrol car, and raping a policewoman of 22, inhuman kidnappings and robberies at the roadblocks, requiring citizens to remain squatted for over half an hour with their hands behind their neck. The state of terror and siege is such that the Municipal police have refused to patrol the city.

PARA LEER EL COMUNICADO EN ESPAÑOL

Nazis in Chile: A Growing Threat?


Recently Frontline did a slideshow report about Neo-Nazis in Chile. While the report is from a centrist/liberal point of view and seems even mildly sympathetic to nazi youth it is an interesting english language evaluation of what seems to be a growing trend in South America especially in Chile and Ecuador.

Info about the history of fascism in Chile (spanish)/ Historia del fascismo en chile

Friday, April 11, 2008

English information about recent repression in Oaxaca.

Teresa Bautista and Felicitas Martínez, 22 and 20 years old respectively, reporters and announcers for the community radio La Voz que Rompe el Silencio (The Voice that Breaks the Silence) of the popular government of San Juan Copala, were killed in an ambush yesterday at Llano Juárez on the highway from Joya del Mamey to Putla de Guerrero, as they were traveling by car to the state capital along with several other people.
Read the report in english

Repression en Oaxaca: Dos mujeres periodistas asesinadas/Repression in Oaxaca, 2 female journalists killed.


7 de abril.
- Dos indígenas triquis de la Radio Comunitaria "La Voz que rompe el silencio" del Ayuntamiento Popular de San Juan Copala, región de la Mixteca, fueron asesinadas hoy por la tarde con disparos de arma de fuego durante una emboscada en un camino local cuando se dirigían a esta ciudad a participar en el Encuentro Estatal por la Defensa de los Derechos de los Pueblos de Oaxaca. Las víctimas, fueron identificadas como Teresa Bautista Merino y Felícitas Martínez Sánchez, locutoras de la estación, de 24 y 20 años de edad, respectivamente. Mas info...
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April 7th, Oaxaca
Two indigenous women from "the Voice that Breaks the Silence" community radio from Saun Juan Copala in the Mixteca region, were murdered this afternoon, shot during an ambush on a local road while they were on their way to participate in The State Meeting for the Defense of the Rights of the Oaxacan People. The victims were identified as Teresa Bautista Merino and Felicitas Martinez Sanchez aged 24 and 20 years respectively.

-We will hopefully have more info as we translate reports from Oaxaca, These women were involved with a group called CACTUS which works to set up radio throughout the Mixteca region of Oaxaca. The following is from a friend who works with CACTUS:

"Just yesterday I got that word that two young women who were radio
show hosts for the station were assassinated. FELICITAS MARTINEZ
SANCHEZ y TERESA BAUTISTA MERINO were 20 and 22 years old.

My friend has been working with CACTUS to set up stations and he
personally worked with Felicitas and Teresa to train them how to run
the station and how to produce audio pieces.

I'm shocked. I'm outraged and frankly I don't know what to do. I'm
still waiting to hear from CACTUS folks exactly what's going on.

What do we do?"

Thursday, April 10, 2008

NYC: Anarchist Bookfair Saturday 4/12


Come by Judson Church right off of Washington Square Park in NYC for the 2nd Annual NYC Anarchist Bookfair. Love and Resistance/ Amor y Resistencia, will have a table, stop by and say hi!

Sunday, April 06, 2008

the Olympics: bloodshed and destruction


Munich

Mexico 1968

Germany 1936


As Olympic time comes around again we wish to remind you that rarely do these games really lead to brotherhood[sic] and international unity. It is often used by authoritarian and repressive governments as an excuse to crack down on dissidents as in Mexico City, as we are seeing in China and Tibet, and as many are expecting in Vancouver 2010 as indigenous lands will be siezed and the games are used as an excuse for 'Development'. We also remind you how Hitler used the 1936 Olympics as propaganda for Naziism as well as the Bloody Black September massacre in Munich.

Friday, April 04, 2008

Chile: Jhonny Presente!




Mapuche Anarchist Jhonny Cariqueo Yañez died March31st, 2008 after suffering a heart attack while being beaten by the Carabineros (chilean police) during protests commemorating the Day of the Youth Combatant, in Pudahuel, Santiago. Jhonny was in the company of two comrades from the collective "Raised Fist" leaving the scene of clashes between police and protesters when a van full of special riot police intercepted them. The police beat and arrested Jhonny and his friends who were brought to the 26th Precinct in Pudahuel where they suffered constant verbal and physical assault...

Jhonny suffered from heart problems and as a consequence of the brutal beating he recieved from the Carabineros he began to have intense chest pains as well as pain in his arm. The police refused his pleas for medical attention claiming (falsely) to not have vehicles available to take him to the hospital. Finally after much insistence by his friends Jhonny was later taken to the emergency room where he was given injections to better him. He was then returned to the jail where he was beaten again, and released the next day. Monday the 31st around 2pm Jhonny laid down in his bed and had a heart attack, minutes later he was dead. The death of our compañero Jhonny Cariqueo Yañez was the consequence of his treatment by the Carabineros, and their subsequent negligence. The death of Jhonny is one more on the long list of radicals who have fallen in their fight against those who profit from our oppression. Are response will be to continue on the path that Jhonny made an effort to construct, the path of revolution, until we achieve our true liberation.

En Español Aqui.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

D-Q University Raided in California


On March 31st at 9:45 am, the Yolo County Sheriff's Department raided D-Q University, California's only Tribal college. 18 elders, students and community supporters were arrested after police stormed onto campus with guns drawn. In a similar in0cident on February 20th, Sheriff's deputies came onto the sovereign campus and arrested three Native students. Their court date will be on Wednesday, April 2nd at 7:30 am at the Woodland Courthouse. Supporters are asked to contact the CA Office of the Attorney General Jerry Brown in defense of the students and to denounce the abuse of power by the Board of Trustees and police.

D-Q U was born of struggle in the 70's when people occupied an abandoned Army facility and retained it for the purpose of providing traditional and formal education for Indigenous people. The Board of Trustees who legally preside over D-Q U have become corrupt, betraying the true purpose of the university and abusing their power. In 2005, D-Q U lost its accreditation and the board demanded the school be shut down. Students who condemn the board's negligence have been holding classes themselves and have taken up residence on campus. They are dedicated to protecting D-Q U for the benefit of future generations and the education of all Native people.
Read more