August 2014

On the 29th of August, Critical Mass bikes rides around the US were transformed in part or in whole to Ferguson solidarity events. Here in DC, the ride made a pit stop at the National Police Memorial, where "hand up don't shoot" photos were taken and the NWA song "Fuck Tha Police" was at one point played by a rider from a portable sound system. A second and more somber stop was at the Martin Luther King memorial.

Video of the ride

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA), a group of banks and investors, will call Friday for reforms aimed at preventing repeats of the Argentina/NML Capital debt dispute. The ICMA's plan would reduce the ability of hold-out creditors to litigate and undermine debt restructuring, in part by using contract clauses to bind all bond-holders to debt restructuring that 75% of all holders agree on.

Hey Folks! We have just finished writing a zine on living in an activist collective intentional community. It was written as a practical guide with tools and references to assist in achieving a more sustainable approach to strategies and tactics for reaching goals. We approach this work from the experience in our shared collective narrative in an effort to ground much of the theory in our practice.

On the 27th of August, the film Above All Else, about the Texas tree sitting blockade against the southern leg of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline was shown for the first time in DC at the E St Cinema. The film showing was followed by a panel discussion about the pipeline and the tar sands blockade, featuring landowner Julia Trigg Crawford who recounted in person the bullying tactics TransCanada and their lawyers used to deter landowners from refusing to sell them easements to build the pipeline

Trailer on Vimeo for Above All Else

Landowner Julia Trigg Crawford speaks about TransCanada's brutal bullying tactics

On the 26th of August, reports emerged that a long-term ceasefire has been reached in the Gaza War of Summer 2014. Israel has agreed to open it's borders to "humanitarian aid" to Gaza, and to allow Gaza fisherman to fish from a larger area in the Mediterranian Sea. Israeli demands for Palestinian disarmnament have been put off for later talks. If this ceasefire holds, the people of Gaza will not only have suceeded in forcing Israel to the table but may have won their demands in this war. There are a lot of #VictoryForGaza tagged posts on Twitter right now, and it appears Gaza may have won this war. though at a huge price.