West Michigan ACLU and the Patriot Act

Tonight the West Michigan ACLU will be awarding local activist Karen Henry their annual “Civil Libertarian of the Year” award tonight at a reception at Fountain Street Church. Karen Henry is a longtime activist who has been a strong proponent of civil liberties, with a particular focus on defending the rights of Arab Americans. She also has been one of the most outspoken local voices calling for an end to the occupation of Palestine and Iraq. The ACLU is awarding Karen their annual award for her work with Citizens for a Safe and Free Grand Rapids, a local organization that successfully lobbied the Grand Rapids City Commission to adopt an anti-PATRIOT ACT resolution in early 2004.

On April 28th the West Michigan ACLU will be hosting a debate on the PATRIOT ACT between U.S. Attorney Hagen Frank and former Congressman Bob Barr. Frank, who has defended the PATRIOT ACT in other local public debates, will again be defending the PATRIOT ACT. Bob Barr will be arguing against the PATRIOT ACT. Unlike previous local debates on the PATRIOT ACT, this time Mr. Frank will be debating a conservative, as Barr was one of the most rightwing members of the House during his tenure there. Unlike many republican lawmakers, Barr dislikes the PATRIOT ACT, claiming it goes against “traditional conservative principles” of small government

Tags: government, grand rapids

Beehive Collective in Grand Rapids March 31st and April 1st

The Beehive Design Collective, a group of activists using art to teach about globalization and militarism, will be in Grand Rapids on Thursday March 31st and Friday April 1st. The two events will feature their interactive Plan Colombia presentation during which they will use their six foot tall Plan Colombia poster to explain the connections between colonization, militarization, and resource extraction in the Andean region of South America. They will also be showing the film “Plan Colombia.”

Presentation Dates and Locations:

• March 31 – 7:00pm
  Global Infusion (143 Diamond SE)
• April 1 – 7:00pm
  Wealthy Theatre Annex Building (1110 Wealthy St SE)

More on Information on the Beehive Collective:

• Clamor: Discussing Global Economic Policy through Pictures
• Ashville Global Report: Cross-pollinating the grassroots with the

  Beehive Design Collective

• In These Times: The Beehive Collective

Tags: globalization, grand rapids

Book Reviews: The People’s Business and All the Power

Two new book reviews have been added to the book reviews section of the site. The two reviews are of longtime Washington DC activist Mark Andersen’s book, All the Power: Revolution without Illusion, and The People’s Business: Controlling Corporations and Restoring Democracy by Lee Drutman and Charlie Cray of the Citizen Works Corporate Reform Commission.

Additional book reviews are available in the book review section.

Tags: announcements

Corporations Rewarded for Helping Bush Reelection

According to a new report published in The Seattle Times, the Bush administration is rewarding its corporate donors with an extensive list of pro-business legislation. Corporations such as MBNA, Exxon-Mobil, and Wal-Mart are all among the companies that have received or are soon to receive substantial rewards for their monetary contributions to the Bush reelection campaign and other Republican electoral races in 2004.

The recent passage of class action lawsuit legislation is a gift to large corporations who may be held monetary liable for problems with their products or as consequences of their production. The legislation is designed to steer lawsuits into Federal Courts where the courts are less likely to award multi-million dollar settlements. The US Chamber of Commerce made passing this legislation its top priority for the 109th Congress and spent some $16 million in lobbying the federal government in 2003. This legislation is likely to benefit corporations such as Wal-Mart, who contributed several million dollars to both the US Chamber of Commerce and the Republican Party after realizing, along with technology and pharmaceutical companies such as Intel and GlaxoSmithKline, that the class action legislation will protect them from potential lawsuits.

MBNA, Bush’s fifth largest campaign contributor and one of the major credit card companies in the United States, was joined by other banking institutions such as Credit Suisse First Boston, Bank of America, and Wachovia in donating to the Republican Party in an effort to drastically alter bankruptcy law in their favor. The proposed legislation (which is almost certain to pass) will require people to pay back more of their debt while making it harder to file for bankruptcy in the first place, in addition to including provisions that reward specific industries for their contributions. Some of these industries, like the auto industry via Ford Credit Co., donated large amounts of money to secure industry-specific legislation, which in the case of the auto industry, requires people to pay back the full value of automobile loans or have their vehicle repossessed.

Proposed legislation that would allow drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) has also made significant gains in the early days of Bush’s second term. Drilling in ANWR would provide significant benefit to companies such as Exxon-Mobil, who have given $5.2 billion to Republicans over the past decade, while the oil and gas industries contributed $2.6 billion to the Bush re-election effort in 2004. The oil and gas industries have spent a considerable amount of money to gain access to ANWR, using billions of dollars to influence politicians on the state-level in Alaska as well as at the national level.

The corporate lobby is again looking towards their Republican and Democratic party allies to pass the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), another piece of legislation that will primarily benefit US-based corporations at the expense of workers in the United States and elsewhere in Central America. Business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have been pushing hard for CAFTA, and sensing that there is strong opposition to the agreement both within and outside of the United States, have resorted to distorting the record of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in order to hide potential costs of CAFTA. With the difficulty facing CAFTA and the growing movement against it, a defeat for CAFTA could make it harder for the Bush administration and their corporate backers to continue passing pro-corporate legislation.

It is also worth noting that many of these issues have depended on the support of the numerous pro-business Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Senate, demonstrating that rather than being an exceptional case of a pro-business party being elected and using its power to institute unpopular legislation, the problem is of a more systemic nature and that the entire system of financing elections in this country must be examined and reformed.

Tags: elections, government, national

Local STOP CAFTA Campaign has kick-off event

On Monday, March 28 a Press Conference was held at the Kent Ionia Labor Council Hall to kick-off a Stop CAFTA Campaign that to date includes 18 local organizations. (See list below) Mark Gaffney from the state AFL-CIO spoke about what they are doing around CAFTA, as did Jeff Smith, who was in Guatemala from mid-December through mid-January to interview people about CAFTA.

Marilyn Momber with the Michigan Farmers Union also spoke about a recent trip to DC to lobby against CAFTA. They are part of a growing national farmers union against CAFTA. Not surprising the local corporate media didn’t show up. The Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy looked at what was reported on in the local news and found that crime, a new Burger King sandwich, and condos on fire in Georgia were more important news to the local TV stations. GRIID has a Media Alert they put together to pressure the local news on its lack of coverage around CAFTA.

Most of the meeting was lively with lots of discussion on the local campaign. Some ideas that were shared were confronting Rep. Ehlers at an April 23 town hall meeting, growing the list of organizational support for the campaign, creating new educational materials, and using the local World Trade Week events to bring worker, environmental and human rights perspectives on the economy to light. For updates on this local campaign or information on how to get involved send an e-mail to media mouse.

Groups endorsing the STOP CAFTA Campaign

• Kent-Ionia Labor Council
• Michigan Farmers Union
• UAW Region 1D
• Clean Water Action
• Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council
• West Michigan Building Trades Council
• Confronting Empire Group
• Electrical Workers IBEW Local 275
• Media Mouse
• Ironworkers Local 340
• GVSU Students Against Sweatshops
• Teamster Local 406
• Mexican Cultural Patriotic Corporation
• Fair trade Awareness Initiating Relationships
• West Michigan Stagehands IATSE Local26
• Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy
• Sheet Metal Workers Local 7
• Michigan Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees

Tags: antiwar, grand rapids

Critical Mass “Criminalized” in New York

According to the New York IMC, on Friday March 25 the NYPD arrested 37 people participating in the New York City Critical Mass bike ride. This effort to “criminalize” Critical Mass in NYC started last August when the NYPD arrested hundreds of bikers during the protests surrounding the Republican National Convention. On Monday, Democracy Now! reported that the city filed a lawsuit last week seeking to prevent the group TIME’S UP! from promoting or advertising events which the city claims are illegal. The lawsuit states that TIME’S UP! and the general public cannot participate in riding or gathering at the NYC Critical Mass bike ride, nor can more than 20 people participate in any event in a city park without a permit.

Tags: national, protest

Children Used to Promote “Pro-Troop” Message in Local Billboards

A local organization dedicated to “supporting the troops” is using billboards featuring local children to get their message across. Calling themselves America’s Voice/Children Expressed, the group has put up two billboards with one more scheduled for early April. The billboard features four children, each saluting while dressed in the uniform of an armed service. When asked why they chose children for the billboard, project creator Susan Townsend said “There is no purer form of expressing something than through a child.” Before deciding to exploit children in creating propaganda, the primary activity of this group was raising funds to provide soldiers with postcards, phone cards and care packages. According to the groups founder, she was inspired to start the organization after her teenage daughter wrote a poem praising U.S. troops. The two existing billboards are located on 36th Street SE just east of Eastern Avenue SE, the west side of Northland Drive just north of 10 Mile Road in Rockford, and the third is to be at Burton Street SW just east of Burlingame Avenue SW.

Tags: antiwar, grand rapids

New Essay Examining Recent Militant Protests in the US

The folks over at the Crimethinc Collective have published an essay examining the recent history of militant protest in the United States and their continued relevancy to activism on “the left.” The essay, titled “Demonstrating Resistance: Mass Action and Autonomous Action in the Election Year,” contains a lengthy analysis of mass protest in the United States beginning with the protests against the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle in November of 1999 that successfully shutdown the trade meetings and ending with the January 20, 2005 protests against President Bush’s inauguration.

While the essay is primarily written by and for anarchists associated with the more militant groups involved in mass demonstrations, the discussion of tactics and protest strategy provides an important analysis for activists involved in planning demonstrations and street protests, especially with regard to recent disagreements about the direction and tactics in the antiwar movement. A number of important issues are examined–the efficacy of mass actions versus decentralized actions, the question of mass protests versus community-based actions, and the seemingly tired question of the role of property destruction and disruption in opposing global capitalism. The questions, however relevant, are largely focused on the more “destructive” aspects of anti-capitalist movements, there is little discussion of the importance of community-based organizing and work designed to build institutions that are capable of showing that a better world is possible. As such, the essay is an important look at militant tactics, but it is necessary to remember that however appropriate those tactics may be at certain times, they must be combined with serious efforts to build viable alternatives to capitalist institutions.

Tags: national, protest

Iraq Watch for 3/25/2005

Media Mouse has posted this week’s Iraq Watch news update. This week’s update looks at the following topics:

• 800 Anti-War Protests Across Nation – This last weekend, tens of thousands of people turned out for anti-war protests across the country, marking the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
• Divisions Within the Anti-war Movement – While the anti-war and occupation in Iraq movements have reached out to new communities and groups, divisions have appeared within the movement itself.
• New Information in Attack on Italian Journalist – On Friday March 25 Democracy Now interviewed noted author and activist Naomi Klein about the case of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who was wounded by U.S. forces after her release by Iraqi insurgents.
• U.S. and Iraqi Commandos Claim to have Killed 80 Insurgents – Mainstream news outlets reported on Thursday that Iraq government commandos backed by U.S. forces had decisively engaged and destroyed an insurgent camp killing 80 rebel fighters on Tuesday.

Read More: Iraq Watch.

Tags: antiwar, grand rapids

Iraq Watch: Antiwar Protests in the United States, Divisions in the Movement, New Infromation in Attack on Italian Journalist

800 Anti-War Protests Across the United States

This last weekend, tens of thousands of people turned out for anti-war protests across the country, marking the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The protests, of which there were approximately 800, took place in over 600 cities and consisted of a variety of different events, including rallies, marches, civil disobedience actions, silent vigils, theatrical performances and art exhibits. Fayetteville, North Carolina. While none of the protests garnered the huge turnouts that centralized protests from two years ago had attracted, the actions of the last weekend represented a more diverse and varied movement than had been seen previously. One of the largest protests on Saturday was near Fort Bragg. Some 4,800 people gathered in what was the largest protest of any kind in Fayetteville since a 1970 protest against the Vietnam War. Represented at this protest were numerous veterans, military families, and soldiers.

Despite the variety and number of events, the protests were largely ignored or downplayed in the mainstream press. The New York Times, the self-styled “national paper of record” focused on one small civil disobedience protest at military recruiting office in Times Square, just down the street from the Times office. The local paper, the Grand Rapids Press, did not report on the protests at all in their Sunday, March 20th edition. This despite the fact that there were anti-war protests in downtown Grand Rapids as well as actions at Woodland and CentrePointe Mall. The Grand Rapids Press did run several articles about the war in Iraq to mark the second anniversary of the war. None of the articles discussed anti-war actions or ideas, instead offering the usual assortment of simplistic and sanitized Associated Press articles common in American newspapers.

Divisions Within the Anti-war Movement

While the anti-war and occupation in Iraq movements have reached out to new communities and groups, divisions have appeared within the movement itself. The two largest anti-war groups, International ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice are in open disagreement over the issue of whether or not to they “support” the Iraqi insurgency. International ANSWER. is in favor of the “absolute and unconditional right of Iraqi people to resist the occupation,” regardless of the insurgents’ methods or fundamentalist ideologies, a platform that UFPJ has been unwilling to adopt. This division is not new as UFPJ, which gained popularity in part as a less radical or less dogmatic (depending on ones interpretation) alternative to ANSWER, has had various differences with the more strident positions advocated by ANSWER.

Beyond the two large anti-war groups, numerous voices within the left have been heard from lately, voicing various criticisms and concerns of the anti-war movement. In CounterPunch.org, Ron Jacobs has a scathing indictment of the effectiveness of the current anti-war movement entitled “End the Damn War“. Several writers have contributed pieces recently discussing the Democratic Party’s role, or lack of a role, in the current anti-war movement. Joshua Frank discusses Howard Dean’s supposed anti-war credentials in “The Selling (Out) of the Antiwar Movement” while Lance Selfa asks whether or not the Democrats realistically can be moved to the left. Locally, in a brief speech at the WMJPC rally in downtown Grand Rapids, Tom Schwallie cast a critical eye on the current state of the movement.

New Information in Attack on Italian Journalist

On Friday March 25 Democracy Now interviewed noted author and activist Naomi Klein about the case of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who was wounded by U.S. forces after her release by Iraqi insurgents. In the interview, Klein, who has been in Iraq and met with Sgrena, states that Sgrena was wounded more severely than the U.S. admitted and that many contradictions in the official version of events as put forward by the U.S. have yet to be answered. The U.S. has been less than forthcoming in this incident, reportedly blocking two Italian policemen from examining the car that Sgrina had been in.

U.S. and Iraqi Commandos Claim to have Killed 80 Insurgents

Mainstream news outlets reported on Thursday that Iraq government commandos backed by U.S. forces had decisively engaged and destroyed an insurgent camp killing 80 rebel fighters on Tuesday. According to Maj. Richard Goldenberg, a spokesman for the 42nd Infantry Division,” Here, they organized into a large group in a remote site, perhaps under the impression that coalition forces wouldn’t look for them there.” The attack is being touted as a victory for Iraqi government forces and the U.S., discrepancies are appearing in the official story. According to a story in Al Jazeera, a ATP correspondent who went out to the site of the camp on Wednesday, the day after the attack, and found 30 to 40 insurgent fighters there. The insurgents claim to have never left and that they had only suffered 11 deaths due to air strikes. Local hospitals have told AFP they had received no casualties from the battle.

Tags: antiwar, international