6/28/10

Press Statement - Toronto Community Mobilization Network


June 27, 2010
For Immediate Release

Press Statement - Toronto Community Mobilization Network

The G8/G20 are anti-democratic illegitimate institutions that inflict daily violence on our communities. Everywhere the G8 and G20 have met to further their exploitative agendas – from London to Pittsburgh to Toronto they have faced huge opposition from local communities. The kind of mass resistance we have seen in Toronto has and will continue to follow them wherever they go.

For several months, communities across Toronto have been coming together to resist the imposition of austerity measures advanced at the G8/G20 summits. The Harper government spends 1.2 billion taxpayer dollars to host the G8/G20 summits while it cuts social spending in ways that have drastic impacts people in the Toronto area and other parts of Canada.

Since these communities have come together, the police have been using intimidation tactics to repress and silence people in the Toronto community. Police and intelligence officers went to community organizers' homes and harrassed them in the streets. Now they have arrested many of these people, many of them young organizers of color, and charged them with conspiracy.

These people hold the Harper government to account and they speak out against policies that are making ordinary people poorer, sicker and more desperate. As a result, they have been intimidated, harassed, and imprisoned. They are political prisoners in this country, where the police repression shows that its claims of democracy are simply window dressing.

While police continue to intimidate people, individuals and community members keep going out in the streets to show that they are not afraid and stand with political prisoners as well as oppressed peoples – first nations communities, immigrants and refugees, poor people, people of color, women, trans people, people with disabilities and queer communities.

The police intimidation and repression added to the anger and frustration people have with the G8/G20 policies and leaders that destroy their lives and the lives of people around the world. This is why people targeted banks and multinational corporations, and the property of police.

Ultimately, 1 billion dollars were spent on beating people who were demonstrating throughout the week, on intimidating community members in the streets, on arresting organizers of color and indigenous solidarity organizers, on sending demonstrators to hospital with broken bones, and on using tear gas on those in the so-called designated “free speech” zone. 1 billion dollars has not been used to protect people and to keep the city safe. Instead it has been used to repress the people who are working to make this city, and planet a fairer, more just, and more humane place.

Toronto Community Mobilization Network

6/25/10

Mo Ake



Music Video for "Mo Ake", track 4 from Dubstep / Drum & Bass album TOHE by Upper Hutt Posse, released July 2010. Footage taken from "Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou" music video by Upper Hutt Posse

6/24/10

Bobby Seale Speaking Across America (Part 1)



Bobby Seale takes to the stage with his charismatic and activist eloquence, illuminating the true sixties birth and youthful intelligentsia of the BPP. Mr. Seale transports the audience back to the mini-civil-war turbulence of the late sixties and early seventies. Defining himself as "revolutionary humanist" Mr. Seale brings the 60's protest movement era full circle showing how times have changed. How we must reach for the future: Protest, organize peoples programs and evolve a greater direct [participatory] community control democracy.

Bacon Bitz



http://submedia.tv

Day three of subMedia.TV's G20 Rebellion coverage. Today we bring you updates on the Canadian Police State and we follow the Toxic Tour of Toronto.

6/22/10

Escape the Freedom Fence



Our first day in T-Dot and already shit's hectic. If you plan on being here and have a bike, make sure it's equipped with front and rear lights and a bell. Helmets are not mandatory in Toronto. For info on the days of actions visit the Toronto Community Mobilization Network http://attacktheroots.net/ . Stay tuned tomorrow seems for more updates from the streets of resistance.

6/19/10

6/13/10

Palestine/Gaza: The Siege




The three year old siege on the Gaza Strip and its 1.5 million inhabitants is a testament to the Israeli regime's disregard of law, decency and morality. This siege amounts to collective punishment, an action outlawed by various conventions and humanitarian laws. This is not to mention the suffering and humanitarian crisis caused by this law. This siege has been disgracefully condoned by the "international community" and justified by the "free world" as a measure that safegurads the security of the Israeli regime.

The same position was applied to the various humanitarian aid ships that were attacked and abuducted in international waters, and the aid carried by those ships confiscated. The killing of 9 Turkish activists on the the Freedom Flotilla on 1 June brought an abrupt end to international silence regarding the siege. It is unfortunate that the world needed to see the blood of those brave men to realize the brutality of the siege and of the besieger.

Nevertheless, it is our duty to finish what the brave men and women of the Freedom Flotilla and the campaigns that preceded it. It is time to break the siege

Aamer Rahman (Fear of a Brown Planet) - Free Gaza



Supporting Ahmed Ahmed at the Anahita Persian Basement in Sydney

A Good Day to Die




Dennis Banks co-founded the American Indian Movement (A.I.M.) in 1968 to call attention to the plight of urban Indians in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The film presents an intimate look at Dennis Banks' life beginning with his early experience in boarding schools, through his military service in Japan, his transformative experience in Stillwater State Prison and subsequent founding of a movement that, through confrontational actions in Washington DC, Custer South Dakota and Wounded Knee, changed the lives of American Indians forever.

A Good Day To Die is

Produced & Directed by: David Mueller & Lynn Salt (Choctaw)

Executive Produced by: Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation

Co-Produced by: Tashina Banks (Lakota-Ojibwa), Takeo Koshikawa
Associate Produced by: Bob Hicks (Creek-Seminole), Matt Martinez (Ohkay Owingeh)

Edited by: Robert McFalls

Trailer Edited by: Garrett Castillo

Music Composed by:Michel Tyabji
Music Supervisor: Michel Tyabji
Sound Mixed by: Rosa Costanza Tyabji
Poster & Website Design: Adil Tyabji

For more info go to the website: http://www.agooddaytodiefilm.com/

6/8/10

Drop the charges against political activists

Media Release:

Date: 8 June 2010

From: October 15th Solidarity Wellington


The case of the 18 defendants arrested in the nation-wide raids of 15 October 2007 is in the Court of Appeal in Wellington this week.

"The Crown is persisting in this case to encourage the climate of fear arising from 9/11 and pushed with Operation 8. Most sensible people in this country can see that these are politically motivated charges targeting political activists and aimed at silencing dissent" said Peter Steiner, a spokesperson for the Wellington October 15th Solidarity group.

"At present all of the 18 accused face minor firearms offences - something that might ordinarily be treated by police with a warning. However, in this case, the crown are desperately trying to save face for invading and terrorising communities around the country. They have added the charge of 'participation in a criminal group' to five of the defendants, in order to justify the existence of these so-called 'anti-terror' police, and the huge waste of resources" said Mr. Steiner.

"The crown and police have wasted more than $20 million in this ridiculous farce already. They spent millions surveilling activists all over the country in Operation 8. It is time to pull the plug on this travesty - these charges should be dropped immediately" concluded Mr. Steiner.

ENDS

NOTES

1. The Court of Appeal hearing is set down for two days, 8/9 June 2010. Due to suppression orders, we can't say what the Court of Appeal Hearing is about. The Court is open to the public though.

2. A trial is currently set down starting 30th May 2011, lasting 12 months in the Auckland High Court.

3. The Wellington October 15th Solidarity group was formed in the days after the nation-wide raids in 2007. Our organising objectives are:

- To drop the charges
- To repeal the Terrorism Suppression Act
- To seek justice for those affected by the raids
- To support Te Mana Motuhake o Tuhoe and Tino Rangatiratanga
for all Maori

4. www.October15thSolidarity.info for more information

6/7/10

Celebrating Merata Mita

Compose

Come celebrate the life of Merata Mita!

Former students and friends will be hosting a tribute to the extraordinary life of this amazing woman, mentor, teacher, colleague, friend, mother, and filmmaker:

Purpose: Share a meal and remember Merata through our stories and footage

Date: Wednesday, June 9, 2010...


Time: 5:30pm – 8pm

Place: Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, Halau o Haumea 2645 Dole Street

Parking is $3 in the adjacent structure

Please bring a potluck dish and your fondest memories of Merata to share. There will be a receiving table for anything you would like to send to the family (her youngest son will be in Hawaii later this month). Please extend this invitation to anyone you deem appropriate.

Email Punihei Lipe at kaiwipun@hawaii.edu with any questions

6/6/10

6/2/10

Protests in Gaza

G8 G20 CRASH THE MEETING TORONTO 2010

'Israel is a Lunatic State' - Finkelstein on Gaza Flotilla Attack

Gaza and Flotilla Solidarity Action Melbourne



Gaza and Flotilla Solidarity Action in Melbourne Australia 1st June 2010 Video by Izzy Music by Monkeymarc

We Are The Pacific's Best Frenemy






6/1/10

CTU Calls for Stronger Action over Gaza

CTU media release

1 June 2010
...


The CTU has called for stronger action over the Israeli attack on the  humanitarian flotilla attempting to breach the blockade of Gaza.

Peter Conway, CTU Secretary, said: “It is not enough for our Government to simply call the new Israeli ambassador Shemi Tzur in for a chat. The new Israeli embassy in Wellington should be closed and the special  arrangement for young Israelis to travel to New Zealand should be revoked.”

“The Government should also call for an end to the blockade.”

ENDS

For further information contact:

Fraser Pettigrew, Communications and Campaigns Advisor

04 802 3817 / 027 243 7031 / fraserp@nzctu.org.nz

Peter Conway, Secretary, CTU

04 802 3816 / 027 493 9748