Newswire

Labor activists march on Walton Foundation, blockade K st; 16 arrested

On the 16th of October, labor activists and Wal-Mart "associated" gathered in front of the AFL-CIO building at 16th and H sts. From there they marched on the offices of the Walton Foundation, where a sign bearing a petition for $15 an hour and full time hours for Wal-Mart workers was refused. The Walton Foundation sent building management to negotiate with protesters who entered the building, claiming the Walton Foundation office was closed and empty. This was a lie, people were sighted inside. With the petition refused, activists moved just north to the intersection of 18th st and K street and blocked the intersection for the next hour and a half. Eventually cops moved in, arresting 16 particpants in the civil disobediance.

Video of the march, Walton Foundation action, and K st blockade

The view from inside the building housing the Walton Foundation's offices

Maccabe Haifi vs Washington Wizards basketball game draws pro-Palestine protest

On the 15th of October, the Israeli basketball team Macabee Haifi was defeated 105-95 by the Washington Wizards at the Verizon Center. Both inside and outside, protesters denounced Israel's aggression against the people of Palestine. One protester re-used the former name of the Wizards, calling Macabee Haifi the "Israeli Bullets." This protest was part of the cultural boycott of Israel. That boycott, in turn, is part of the Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions campaign inspired by the sucessful campaign that overthrew apartheid in South Africa.

50 sec video of the protest

Protesters march around World Bank after Civil Society walkout

On the 11th of October, opponents of the World Bank's roles as a global loan shark to predatory governments and corporations rallied in Murrow Park and marched all the way around the Fall meetings. This came after civil society groups from Ethiopia walked out of a meeting with the World Bank due to their reversal on a promise to strengthen environmental protections.
Video of the march

Marching around the Fall meetings of the IMF and World Bank as the World Bank meets in their HQ

Rev Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping lead march on World Bank

On the 10th of October, Rev Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir led a funeral march on the Fall Meetings of the IMF and World Bank, The march went to a delegate entrance checkpoint to the World Bank, where a mock funeral for the Bank was staged as people from South Asia and Africa reminded those inside just how much damage the Bank's programs had done to their countries.

Video Highlights of World Vs Bank march and street theater

Rev Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir

Pa residents challenge EPA officials to drink fracked well water, bags searched at Metro in response

On the 10th of October, anti-fracking activists and a resident of Dimock county in Pennsylvania challenged EPA officials to drink from either of two samples of discolored, contaminated well water from a fracking-damaged well. The response they got was the expected and understood refusal to drink the water, and an acceptance by an EPA official of their petitions. Meanwhile, the EPA building behind them was guarded by a counted 20+ cops-and bag searches at the Metro station entrance there. As soon as the protest ended, the DHS bag search checkpoint was withdrawn from the Metro station.

Video-offering the "frackwater challenge" to drink the contaminated well water

Offering a drink of fracked well water to an EPA official

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