Posts Tagged ‘Activism’
Anti-war Soldier Faces 10 Years in Jail
From the Sydney Morning Herald:
A British soldier who faces up to 10 years in jail for speaking out against the war in Afghanistan will go before a military judge this week to discover if he will remain in an army jail while he awaits trial.
In an escalation of the Ministry of Defence’s legal action against him, Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, 27, was arrested and charged last week with five counts of disobeying lawful commands and standing orders in relation to his public opposition to the war expressed at an anti-war rally last month.
He had already been charged with desertion for refusing to return to fight in Afghanistan.
[Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald]
Liberation Psychology for the U.S. Are we too demoralized to protest?
From Z Magazine:
The term “liberation psychology” was popularized by Ignacio Martin-Baró (1942-1989), the psychologist, priest, and activist who was assassinated in El Salvador by government troops. Martin-Baró focused on the oppression of his fellow Salvadorans, Central Americans, and Latin Americans. It is increasingly apparent that U.S. citizens need Martin-Baró’s insights along with their own special kind of liberation psychology.Why, in the United States, when the majority of people oppose the taxpayer bailout of the financial industry and the military occupation in Iraq, are the streets not regularly occupied with large numbers of protesters? Given 47 million people in the U.S. without health insurance and many millions more who are under-insured or a job layoff away from losing their coverage, and given the current sellout by their elected officials to the…
No, It’s not Elitist to Think the Tea-Baggers Are Idiots
From Alternet:
A post over at the Seminal is taking “liberal elitism” to task for not taking the Tea Party people seriously, and that that will lead to the election of Sarah Palin and other such ilk.
To quote our vice president, malarkey.
While I have long argued that there is too much elitism on the left for my tastes, there’s a wide gulf between holding your nose in the air for no good reason and dumbing yourself down in order to appeal to the lowest common idiotic denominator. Suck is the case with the Tea Party group and their leaders like Palin.
Far from the liberals in the ’70s who were clearly not responsive enough to the middle class, leading to the rise of Nixon and resentment politics, today’s left has gone to great…
EyeWriter Source Code Released To The Public
This technology is pretty incredible. via wooster collective
The Eyewriter from Evan Roth on Vimeo.
Members of Free Art and Technology (FAT), OpenFrameworks, the Graffiti Research Lab, and The Ebeling Group communities have teamed-up with a legendary LA graffiti writer, publisher and activist, named Tony Quan, aka TEMPTONE. Tony was diagnosed with ALS in 2003, a disease which has left him almost completely physically paralyzed… except for his eyes. This international team is working together to create a low-cost, open source eye-tracking system that will allow ALS patients to draw using just their eyes. The long-term goal is to create a professional/social network of software developers, hardware hackers, urban projection artists and ALS patients from around the world who are using local materials and open source research to creatively connect and make eye art.
This week the team behind the EyeWriter project released all the Source code, free software, DIY instructions, and eye tags by Tempt1 to the public at eyewriter.org
Ford Workers Lead The Way Forward
From Nick P. at Black Sun Gazette
Ford workers, under economic blackmail from the federal government and the UAW “union” rejected a concession contract two weeks ago. The vote represented the first rejection of a national contract since 1982. For anyone seeking evidence that the American working class is still a highly militant force- and that their “unions” are little more than a management organization of the bosses- the struggle at Ford provides an excellent case study.
Feds’ Search of Twittering Anarchist Upheld
Ryan Singel writes on WIRED’s Threat Level:
Federal authorities can resume combing through the notebooks, memory cards and computers of a twittering anarchist being investigated for violating an anti-rioting law, a federal judge in Brooklyn ruled Monday.
U.S. district court judge Dora L. Irizzary found no reason to throw out the government’s search of the home of a 41-year old social worker who used the micro-publishing service Twitter to help anti-globalization protestors at the recent G-20 convention, clearing the way for the feds to look through the evidence they collected. Madison and his attorney sought to have his possessions returned unexamined, on the grounds the search violated his constitutional rights to free speech.
The Joint Terrorism Task Force raided Elliott Madison’s house in a dawn raid on October 1, seizing myriad computers, unpublished…
Reverend Billy Is Glad He Ran (And I’m glad I voted for him)
In local politics, as well as national, we needs third party voices to be heard. Now more than ever.
November 3, 2009
I feel closer to solving the riddle of activism in 2009. We’ve known how conservative the Democrat/Working Families and the Republican/Independence Parties are. It’s Coke and Pepsi, it’s McDonalds and Burger King. The two party system enforces a strict censorship. We had to experience first-hand the harsh silence of it.The hundreds upon hundreds of articles in the New York Times that never mention a third party… we had to experience this first-hand. It goes hand in hand with the arresting of people in small groups, such as peace vigils in the parks, surrounded by police and surveillance. The criminalizing of dissent goes hand in hand with the $50 million built environment of electronic ads. The imitation of democracy continues on our televisions and computers, but you can’t practice it yourself in public space…
Remember, Remember the 5th of November
Please join us this November 5th for the largest one day multi-candidate donation event in history.
Pledge via feedburner here for the candidates of your choosing. Help spread the word.
A Beginner’s Guide to Fascism, Part II
From Chris M. at Black Sun Gazette
At first, Mussolini opposed World War I. He was a socialist and raised in radical working class family who named him after Benito Juarez. Later, he joined joined the pro-war socialists who advocated Italy joining France and Great Britain against the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires. They argued that these empires were more oppresive and by fighting a “revolutionary war” they could create new opportunities for the Italian working class and liberate the subjects of the evil empires. Italy was victorious in battle, but was swimming in debt due to the war. Italy also failed to get the former German colonies in Africa or any of Austria’s former possessions in the Balkans.
Lawsuit Accuses Psychologist of Ignoring Guantanamo Torture
From Truthout: 
The state board responsible for licensing – and disciplining – psychologists in Louisiana is “fighting awfully hard to turn a blind eye to serious allegations of abuse” brought against one of its members, who is being accused of complicity in beatings, religious and sexual humiliation, rape threats and painful body positions during his service as a senior adviser on interrogations for the US military in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.
That is the view expressed to Truthout by Deborah Popowski, cooperating attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), part of the legal team representing Dr. Trudy Bond, an Ohio-based psychologist, who is suing the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists to compel it to investigate the behavior of Louisiana psychologist and retired US Army Col. Dr. Larry…
KFC’s Colonel Sanders tricks his way into UN to pose for ‘official’ photo
From The Telegraph:
A man impersonating the Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Colonel Sanders managed to dupe his way into the UN headquarters in New York and shake hands with a senior official.
Dressed in the fast food icon’s familiar white suit and black bow tie, the actor evaded tight security to gain access to the restricted areas of the complex. He even posed for a photograph with Ali Treki, the new president of the UN General Assembly, before the alarm was raised and he was ejected. A spokeswoman for Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, yesterday said that an investigation had been launched into the security breach, which was dreamed up by KFC as a promotional stunt.
“It should not have happened – that I will stress, and very strongly,” Michele Montas told Canwest…
Protesting Against U.K. Police Tactics
From The Guardian:
Worried about police surveillance? Then use data protection laws to take action – we only have the rights we assert.Today’s Guardian splash revealed that the police are gathering and storing the personal information and images of thousands of activists who attend political meetings and protests. This wasn’t news to me and my case offers a “how to”, for any individuals interested in discovering what data the police hold on you.
I was shocked and a little afraid when I first noticed the police taking photos of me on demonstrations, back in 2000. There were police officers outside public meetings and benefit gigs too, in uniform, photographing and seemingly taking notes on my arrival and departure. I wondered why were they gathering all that information on me, just for showing up…
Protests Against ‘Illegal Alien’ Costumes Have Driven Up Their Sales
Meredith Woerner writes on io9.com:
Immigrant rights activists are asking all Halloween retailers to stop supplying this controversial illegal alien costume — but the drama only seems to be improving their hype.
This adult Halloween costume shows an alien in a prison suit, holding a green card. Get it???!!!! The second illegal alien hat has a dark mustache and baseball cap over space alien features. And you can tell our space friends are pissed.
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles explained that it had been receiving many complaints about the costume:
Jorge-Mario Cabrera, the director of communications for CHIRLA, said he initially thought the costume was a stab at harmless satire. But when he saw the Green Card, he realized it was an swipe at illegal immigrants.
Even though the costumes have…
