DC

On the 1st of March, several protesters were arrested while blocking a door of the Washington Convention Center during the start of the convention of AIPAC, the "American Israel Public Affairs Committee." At first conventiongoers bypassed the blockade by other doors, leading to a determined attempt tp get into the building. Some protesters managed to sneak in while others tried to re-establish the door blockade on the inside of the doors. They were dragged outside by cops, who the conceded the top of the steps to protesters. Finally several protesters were arrested while blocking a door open so the sounds of the protest could be heard more clearly from inside.

Video of the blockade, attempt to set an inside blockade, and later arrests at a blockade holding door open

On the 24th of February, US President Obama vetoed the Republican Party's bill attempting to force him to approve the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Members of 350.org showed up outside the White House to celebrate this veto and demand that Obama take the next step and refuse to approve the pipeline itself

On the 18th of February, Obama began his "countering violent extremism" summit, which is mostly an event to coordinate police efforts to spy on and infiltrate Muslim communities. Outside, both Muslims and DC Ferguson activists called out this event for hypocrisy. The US itself was called out for the drone strikes used for extra-judicial executions throughout the Muslim world. This was compared to the routine and never punished street executions of African-Americans by killer cops, often by jump-outs in DC. Lastly everyone was reminded that the profile of almost every terrorist in the US has been an angry, armed white male. This includes last week's murder of three Muslims by a terrorist in North Carolina. No doubt Obama's summit will pay little attention to the ongoing drumbeat of mass murders by angry white men in the US.

Selected video highlights of the protest

On the 13th of February, there were Global Divestiment Day actions in over 200 cities just on Turtle Island demanding that institutions divest from fossil fuel corporations. Here in DC, AU students and many others demanded that American University withdraw all of their investments from the fossil fuel industry. One speaker bluntly invoked the sucessful divestment campaign that forced South Africa to dump Apartheid. Another model, not mentioned at the protest would be the campaign against Huntingdon Life Sciences that made them too hot for almost all financial institutions to handle.

Video highlights of the rally