Protesters at DOJ lay flowers for those tortured to death in US custody

Submitted by Luke on Fri, 06/26/2015 - 23:37

On the 26th of June, Amnesty International, Witness Against Torture, and others showed up at the Dept of Justice to denounce continuing US torture. The DOJ was called out not only for refusing today to prosecute torture at Guantanimo Bay and elsewhere but also for explicitly authorising it during the Bush years. During the protest, flowers were laid on the concrete barrier planters outside DOJ memorializing those who died under torture in US custody.

Video of protesters laying flowersat DOJ and of the tools of force-feeding at GITMO

Anti-War/Peace
Police/Legal/Prisons

Museum Square tenants rally against mass eviction in Chinatown

Submitted by Luke on Tue, 06/23/2015 - 15:58

The residents of Museum Square, one of the last Section 8 rentals in Chinatown are facing mass eviction followed by demolition and condo construction. Bush Companies (of Williamsburg, Va.), the landlord, offers only an option to buy the building for nearly ten times what the DC government assessed it as being worth for property taxes. On the 23ed of June, the tenants staged a mass protest against the planned evictions. They were backed by the National Alliance of HUD Tenants.

Video highlights of the rally (2 min)

Housing/urban Issues/Gentrification
Local News/Neighborhoods

DC Ferguson marches in solidarity with Charleston, S Carolina against racist terror

Submitted by Luke on Sun, 06/21/2015 - 23:32

On the 21st of June, DC Ferguson marched in solidarity with African-Americans in Charleston, S Carolina. On June 17, a white supremacist invaded the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston and opened fire. Nine people were killed and one more person wounded. Signs in the DC march read "Stop the war on Black America."

Video of the march-1 min 27 sec

Race/Racism

DC Food Justice Bike Tour enters Gtown Ben and Jerry's with labor demands

Submitted by Luke on Sun, 06/21/2015 - 22:37

On June 21, the DC Food Justice Bike Tour visited a number of locations with economic and food justice significance. The first was a Ben and Jerry's outlet in Georgetown, where the Milk with Dignity campaign is seeking higher wages for dairy workers in Vermont. This campaign is following in the footsteps of the sucessful Coalition of Immokalee Workers campaign for higher wages in tomato fields. Ben and Jerry's is a major customer of the dairy factory farms in Vermont, just as Burger King is a major customer of tomato producers.

Video of activists entering Ben and Jerry's

Environment/Food/Health
Labor/Economics/Business

Entering the Ben and Jerry's in Georgetown with a letter concerning worker conditions in Vermont's dairy factory farms

DC Ferguson shuts down Chinatown demanding Lanier actually end jump-outs

Submitted by Luke on Wed, 06/17/2015 - 00:29

On the 16th of June, DC Ferguson returned to the streets and shut down Chinatown, demanding not only that Police Chief Lanier keep the de facto promise she just made to end jump-outs, but also an end to gentrifcation and homelessness. The 16th of June was the 39th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising that marked the start of the movement that ultimately ended Apartheid in South Africa.

1 min 30 sec video of DC Ferguson march in Chinatown

Police/Legal/Prisons
Race/Racism

Marchers on Capitol Hill stand against TAA bill critical to TPP fast-track

Submitted by Luke on Tue, 06/16/2015 - 14:26

On the 15th of June, protesters from a number of groups marched on Capitol Hill, demanding NO COMPROMISE on the TAA "Trade Assistance Authority" bill without which passage of TPP/TTIP/TISA fast track is considered impossible. Both Flush the TPP and Feminist Majority Foundation were well represented. Not long after, the vote on TAA was put off to an unspecified time between now and July 30 in an attempt to keep the deal alive. This was because Boehner now fears that an actual vote will be a no vote, ending almost any chance that the TPP trade deal will be finished or ratified while Obama remains in office.

Popular Resistance Youtube video of the march

Globalization/Anti-globalization

Still from the Youtube video

Climate activists demand Smithsonian remove David Koch from Board of Regents

Submitted by Luke on Mon, 06/15/2015 - 22:45

On the 15th of June, the Smithsonian's Board of Regents met at the museum's "castle." Outside were climate activists demanding the removal of David H Koch from the boards of both of the Smithsonian's Museums of Natural History (DC and NYC). In addition, they demanded the Smithsonian reject financial contributions from the Koch Brothers, who have spent billions on climate change denial. The activists delivered four boxes filled with petitions asking the Smithsonian to cut ties with the Koch's to the board meeting, they were accepted by Smithsonian staff.

Video-protest demanding the Smithsonian dump the Koch Brothers

Environment/Food/Health
Right Wing

National Climate Mobilization march demands WWII level mobilization against climate chaos

Submitted by Luke on Sun, 06/14/2015 - 22:44

On the 14th of June, Climate First! hosted one of a national series of Climate Mobilization marches demanding that the same level of effort put into the Second World War be applied to climate change. Activists marched from the WWII memorial to the White House, some with WWII style "Rosie the Riveter" posters concerning climate change.

Video of the march-version 2

Environment/Food/Health

Corporate/assimilationist contingents at Pride clash with message of Stonewall

Submitted by Luke on Sat, 06/13/2015 - 22:06

Capitol Pride 2015 started out with well over a hour of corporate and assimilationist floats. The first mention of Stonewall came about 15 minutes from the end of the parade, courtesy of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Certainly the Wells Fargo contingent, whose sponsor invests in private prisons, was not about to mention Stonewall. That is especially true now that people from Ferguson to Baltimore to Texas are once again fighting the police.

Video contrasting traditional contingents and message of Stonewall with corporate contingents

Related Video: Fundamentalist Christians jeered for threatening Pride festival with Hell

Gender/Sexuality/Identity

Pride celebrates the June 28,1969 victory where Gays fought back and forcibly repelled a police raid on a Gay bar. This contingent was near the end of the parade

Evaluating School Reform in the District of Columbia

Submitted by repost on Sat, 06/13/2015 - 11:19

The National Research Council Makes Its Report, Finally

It feels like forever that DC Public Schools have been known as one of the worst (if not the worst) public school systems in the nation. Low test scores and high dropout rates back up the perception. Twenty years ago, DC School Reform Act of 1995 (a gift from Congress, not a District initiative) gave us charter schools. Many Washingtonians with an investment in the school system (i.e. parents, students, teachers, etc. ) believed that this was the answer. But after ten years, the numbers hadn’t improved—not in the new charters or in the traditional public schools.

Youth Education

#JusticeForMuslims protests police shootings, FBI entrapment

Submitted by Luke on Thu, 06/11/2015 - 23:54

On the 11th of June, both Muslim activsts and DC Ferguson activists showed up at the Dept of Justice to protest the recent spate of police shootings of Muslims in the US and the FBI's well-worn resort to entrapment. The tactics now in use by the FBI are essentially those of the Green Scare coupled to a quick willingness to open fire. African-American activists against police brutality fear they are next in line for FBI entrapment and murder, this has happened before.

Video of some of the speakers

Philosophy/Religion
Police/Legal/Prisons
Race/Racism

DC Bike Party takes to the street for Pride Week

Submitted by Luke on Thu, 06/11/2015 - 01:46

On the 10th of June, a special Pride Week edition of the DC Bike Party took to the streets with the usual hundreds of riders. Some were in bright colors and even a few in fairy wings for the occasion, and the ride finished at the 17th st bar area.

Video highlights of the Bike Party

Gender/Sexuality/Identity

Wal-Mart associates, allies protest punitive store closures over wage demands

Submitted by Luke on Mon, 06/01/2015 - 14:35

On the 1st of June, labor activists and Wal-Mart associates protested outside the Ga Ave Wal-Mart. They were demanding that Wal-Mart re-instate the over 2,600 associates fired when five stores across the US were closed for "plumbing repairs." Pico Rivera, CA, one of the offending locations, was the target of Our Wal-Mart's very first walkout over wages. The closings appear to have actually been illegal retaliation for the demands for better wages and full-time or at least predictable schedules.

Related video-how Wal-Mart is killing small business on Ga Ave by taking away their parking

Labor/Economics/Business
Local News/Neighborhoods

Protesters at the Ga Ave Wal-Mart

Calvert County residents march from Solomons to Cove Point against gas export

Submitted by Luke on Sat, 05/30/2015 - 12:05

On the 30th of May, residents of Calvert County backed by environmentalists marched from Solomons at the southern tip of the county to Cove Point. The ending point was a park close to Dominion's LNG plant, the target of the protest. Dominion has begin construction to convert the old LNG import plant into an export facility for far larger quantities of fracked gas.

We Are Cove Point video of the march

Environment/Food/Health

The march begins-photo by We Are Cove Point

Fracking protesters storm Spectra, ANGA, NPR

Submitted by Luke on Fri, 05/29/2015 - 18:39

The 29th of May was the last day of the third round of daily protests at FERC by Beyond Extreme Energy(BXE). This time around, activists marched from FERC and stormed into the office buildings housing some of their friends. First up was Spectra, builder of the "AIM" pipeline project FERC rubber stamped. Next up was ANGA, "America's Natural Gas Alliance," the notorious gas and fracking lobby. Finally came a suprise: the headquarters of NPR, known for promoting gas fracking with what can only be called public disservice announcements.

Video of the storming of Spectra, ANGA, and NPR

Environment/Food/Health

Activists from Beyond Extreme Energy inside Spectra's building

Circus act at FERC lampoons revolving door w/ gas industry

Submitted by Luke on Thu, 05/28/2015 - 16:47

On the 28th of May, the Third Siege of FERC continued with the FERCus-go-round, a circus act that emphasized the revolving door between FERC commissioners and the gas/fracking industry. The commissioners were called weasels, images of their faces mounted on mock carousel horses, a turkey, even a seahorse. Meanwhile, very few FERC staffers tried to run the door blockades, one speaker estimated only a tenth of the normal workforce showed up.

Video of the FERCus-go-round

Environment/Food/Health

Five arrested in blockade of FERC

Submitted by Luke on Wed, 05/27/2015 - 17:03

On the 27th of May, five activists were arrested while blocking access to FERC on the 4th day of actions by Beyond Extreme Energy (BXE). They stood their ground when the Federal Protective Services/Homeland Security cops gave the "three warnings" and were arrested after a blockade lasting nearly an hour. Afterwards protesters held a silent vigil lasting until Noon in front of FERC's headquarters. BXE is demanding that FERC stop acting as the gas industry's rubber stamp for seemingly every gas/fracking infrastructure permit to cross their desks.

Video of the FERC rubber stamp brigade running the gauntlet of protesters

Environment/Food/Health

This blockade at FERC's backdoor turned away their staff for nearly an hour before 5 activists were arrested

Fracking/gas export protesters block N Cap st with Tripod near FERC

Submitted by Luke on Tue, 05/26/2015 - 15:53

On the 26th of May, protesters from Beyond Extreme Energy (BXE) returned to FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission), blocking all known doorways with banners and seeking to shut down this rubber stamp of the fracked gas industry. Everywhere there were calls for reinforcements but none to send-because activsts had quietly slipped away to set up a tripod in the middle of N Capitol St. The resulting road closures and traffic jams effectively barricaded the whole area around FERC.

Video of the tripod raising on N Cap st and surrounding context

Video Planet Media's Youtube video of the tripod sit

Environment/Food/Health

March on Monsanto hugely outnumbers counterdemonstrators

Submitted by Luke on Sat, 05/23/2015 - 18:42

On the 23ed of May, the annual March on Monsanto encountered something new at Monsanto's DC lobbying headquarters: a tiny group of counterdemonstrators. Some were reported to hjave been paid by Monsanto to be there. Their presence is proof that the global campaign against Monsanto's patented "Roundup Ready" seeds and glyphosate herbicides is becoming effective.

Video of the march showing how many more protesters than paid Monsanto counterprotesters

Environment/Food/Health

In front of Monsanto

BXE stages sit-in at Dept of Interior against Shell's arctic drilling

Submitted by Luke on Fri, 05/22/2015 - 17:05

The 22nd of May was the second day of Beyond Extreme Energy's series of daily protests against fracking, gas export, and other forms of extreme energy. With FERC heavily guarded by cops, protesters diverted across town to the Department of the Interior. Just as FERC rubberstamps fracking and gas export infrastructure permits, DOI rubberstamps oil drilling permits, including Shell's permits for offshore arctic driling. This protest had originally been planned for later in the day, but this way activsts got inside DOI unopposed for the sit-in while all the cops were still at FERC.

Video of the sit-in

Environment/Food/Health

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