The Official Student Insurgent Blog

Wikipedia will blackout tonight in protest of SOPA

2012-01-17T20:05:00.000-08:00

In addition to Reddit, Boing Boing and a few other monster sites, Wikipedia English is going dark tonight to raise awareness about the looming Stop Online Piracy Act.

SOPA is currently snaking its way through the US House of Representatives. The impending PROTECT IP Act is also under scrutiny.

The enormous free encyclopedia site will be out for 24 hours.

SOPA is a bill that threatens directly enforced action against sites that host user-uploaded content which may have been copy-righted. The bill threatens to facilitate a U.S.-intelligence-led crackdown on information flow by providing legal barricades to slow and/or stop the flow of information on high-traffic sites. Anonymous posted a video reply back in November here.

Wikipedia released a statement saying today's blackout was made "through a consensus decision-making process." It quoted from a recent statement from administrators that indicates that the decision to go dark was "the largest level of participation in a community discussion ever seen on Wikipedia."

Some thoughts on this MLK day

2012-01-16T16:00:00.000-08:00

We don't exist.

by Joel DeVyldere

We don't exist in a vacuum, as convenient as that might be. Because we're alive and co-habitating on earth, any disconnection we can conjure tends to be of the artificially motivated and anti-humanitarian bent.

You might hear writers, thinkers and speakers articulating a particular human condition as an 'inter-mingling of destinies.'

It's true.

Schisms turn to rifts, and erupt into chasms. Gravity has a way of working with gale-force winds, and tree-clingers fall, limbs ripped from the icy branches in an awesome display of 'just because.'

Source: endhomelessness.org

Houselessness and poverty are states of being which are becoming increasingly ciminalized in the U.S. In cities like Boulder, CO, sleeping outside is a crime punishable by ticketing. In trendier cities like San Francisco and Berkeley, California, it is a punishable crime to sit on the sidewalk.

CNBC reported "18.4 million vacant homes in the U.S." last year, while the Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress recently reported the documented the emergency shelter stays of 1.6 million houselesss human beings in the States.

There are least eleven open and available houses for every person freezing on these streets.

Houseless people are often considered a problem for which the government is constructing creative solutions - Yet survival fires, urban gardening and unlicensed makeshift shelters are almost universally illegal in the States. Houseless folks are not hitting bad luck in nature; It's society that's kicking them out and holding them back.

It's true that in the States there are not enough jobs. Money is tight; and yet resources are far from scarce.

Even though there is enough food to feed them, enough clean water for them to drink and enough sewers to carry away their waste, the poor and houseless are subject to a cycle of supply and demand engineered to maximize profits for landowners.

Worse than any economic condition, the enforcement of property ownership has separated those who could not (literally or figuratively) inherit land and scattered many into hiding. A commonly voiced isolationist maxim advocates for living "off the grid," but...

Dec 30: With violent crime still on the rise, the Oakland Police
Department owns up to its true priorities and mobilizes to evict
houseless people from a foreclosed house. Flickr: @geekeasy

We cannot continue to trust and invest in a system that causes this kind of division. We cannot continue to endorse and proliferate capitalism:

Because in our system money is no longer "facilitating exchange" in a manner that is beneficial to human beings.
Because our trees and our soil are not, in fact, capable of withstanding infinite expansion.
Because the token American export is swiftly detonated explosives.

War and poverty are not so different; both are inflicted by the rich and powerful on the poor and disenfranchised through forcefully insistent intermediaries.

What these two oppressions have in common may be the US Empire's ultimate undoing: Because the rich insisted on agitating the poor, the class war has already begun.

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." - Martin Luther King Jr. (1967)

Music Spotlight: Bright Eyes

2011-12-31T16:15:00.000-08:00

by Joel DeVyldere

I hope the coming of the New Year evokes thoughts dreams of revolution in every young heart. And here's a classic to help with this:

Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning made it's berth almost seven years back, an aching mid-war critique of the pro-war States.

The lead single First Day of My Life may have garnered the most publicity, but the album is far from a one-hit sideshow; it's brilliance speaks to all stages of 21st-century war-mongering and its less-than-willing supporters.

More than that, Morning is honest, the half-hearted confession of the disaffected and aching American public. Give it a listen, kids, but don't stay depressed forever.

West Coast Port Shutdowns

2011-12-13T11:51:00.000-08:00

Protestors march toward the port in Oakland, Ca.

by Joel DeVyldere

Ports were shut down yesterday all up and down the West coast of the United States by members of the Occupy movement.

Key motivations include solidarity with the Longshore workers unions' struggle against the import company EGT and retaliation against police violence against protestors on the West coast.

There were reports of police violence at the port shutdowns in Seattle and San Diego, a condition which inspired members of Occupy Oakland, who first called for the West Coast blockade, to extend their port-blocking action into late Monday night.

The following was shot at the Occupy Houston port-blocking action:

In Oakland, protestors shut down the port at 5:30 a.m. and held it through the start of the 3 a.m. shift. You can read one insurgent's eyewitness account here. Insurgents were also present at the Occupy Portland port shutdown. You can also a see a complete list of the Occupations involved on the West Coast Port Shutdown website here.

+
check out the latest on the port shutdowns on Twitter.

Music Spotlight: Joe Pug

2011-11-21T18:53:00.000-08:00

by Joel DeVyldere

"I've come to meet the sheriff and his posse, to offer him the broad side of my jaw..."
The declaration of defiance, confrontation and autonomy named Hymn 101 is a rambling man's lament and celebration.

It's music to get assaulted by the police to, and with it Joe Pug opens his classic 2008 EP Nation of Heat.

The lyrical qualities of Nation of Heat consist in subtly displayed insight and a curious talent for detachment. Pug paints a sepia-tone world in which one might imagine first-amendment rights have always been hypothetical for the working man, the traveling man. It seems obvious that he is critically examining the content and context of the United States. But he's critical of its dissidents too.

In I Do My Father's Drugs, Pug portrays anti-nationalistic protest as oftentimes containing a culturally compulsory element and not necessarily the effect of reflection and self-examination. "You will see me at the protest, but you'll notice that I drag. I burn my father's flag."

Pug also seems to take a tact critical of systemic hyper-consumerism in the track Hymn 10I: "The more I buy, the more I'm bought; and the more I'm bought, the less I cost."

In light of all this, should you really buy Joe Pug's music? That, dear reader, is entirely in your discretion. But you should definitely at least give it a listen. The Nation of Heat EP is streaming on his website here.

+ Check out this fan-created video for the title track of Nation of Heat.

The Darknet Project: netroots activists dream of global mesh network

2011-11-10T23:37:00.000-08:00

By Ryan Paul

A group of Internet activists gathered last week in an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channel to begin planning an ambitious project—they hope to overcome electronic surveillance and censorship by creating a whole new Internet. The group, which coordinates its efforts through the Reddit social networking site, calls its endeavor The Darknet Project (TDP).

The goal behind the project is to create a global darknet, a decentralized web of interconnected wireless mesh networks that operate independently of each other and the conventional internet. In a wireless mesh network, individual nodes can relay data for other nodes, ensuring that the routing of data remains robust as nodes on the network are added and removed. The idea behind TDP is that such a network would be resistant to censorship and shutdown because there would be no central point of control over the infrastructure.

"Basically, the goal of the darknet plan project is to create an alternative, more free internet through a global mesh network," explained a TDP organizer who goes by the Internet handle 'Wolfeater.' "To accomplish this, we will establish local meshes and connect them via current infrastructure until our infrastructure begins to reach other meshes."

TDP seems to have been influenced in part by an earlier unofficial effort launched by the Internet group Anonymous called Operation Mesh. The short-lived operation, which was conceived as a response to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and its potential impact on Internet infrastructure, called for supporters to create a parallel Internet of wireless mesh networks.

The idea is intriguing, but it poses major technical and logistical challenges, and it's hard to imagine that TDP will ever move beyond the conceptual stage. The group behind the effort is big on ideas but short on technical solutions for rolling out a practical implementation. During the IRC meeting, they struggled to coordinate a simple discussion about how to proceed with their agenda.

Still, despite TDP's dysfunctional organizational structure and lack of concrete strategy, their message seems to resonate with an audience on the Internet. And enthusiasm for mesh networks and decentralized Internet isn't isolated to the tinfoil hat crowd; serious government programs aim at producing similar technology. Earlier this year, the New York Times reported on a US government-funded program to create wireless mesh networks that could help dissidents circumvent political censorship in authoritarian countries.

As repressive governments continue to get better at thwarting circumvention of their censorship tools, dissidents will need more robust tools of their own to continue propagating information. The US State Department seems to view decentralized darknets as an important area of research for empowering free expression abroad.

A growing number of independent open source software projects have also emerged to fill the need for darknet technology. Many of these projects are backed by credible non-profit organizations and segments of the security research community. Such projects could find a useful ally in the TDP if they were to engage with the growing community and help mobilize its members in a constructive direction.

Unlike TDP, the original Operation Mesh coordinators had specific technologies in mind: they highlighted the I2P anonymous network layer software and the BATMAN ad-hoc wireless routing protocol as the best prospective candidates. Both projects are actively maintained and have modest communities, though the I2P website is currently down. Promising projects like Freenet develop software for building darknets on top of existing Internet infrastructure.

Another group that might benefit from broader community support is Serval, a project to create ad-hoc wireless mesh networks using regular smartphones. The group has recently developed a software prototype that runs on Android handsets. They are actively looking for volunteers to help test the software and participate in a number of other ways.

TDP members who are serious about fostering decentralized Internet infrastructure could meaningfully advance their goals by assisting any of the previously mentioned projects. The growing amount of popular grassroots support for Internet decentralization suggests that the momentum behind darknets is increasing.

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2011/11/the-darknet-plan-netroots-activists-dream-of-global-mesh-network.ars

Protests and Riots

2011-10-26T22:59:00.000-07:00

by Seth Manzel

Before struggles evolve into open warfare, they often manifests themselves in the form of protests and riots. People who feel that the political system is not responding to their grievances sometimes take to the streets to demonstrate to the establishment and public at large they are unhappy with the current situation. The objective of a protest is to bring about change through a symbolic show of force.
The road to political significance is long and winding for the protester. The activist is depending on many things to be in line for his/her message to be effective.
The protester's message must be clear and powerful. With all the advertising that the general population is exposed to, it is unreasonable to expect them to pick up on a convoluted or obtuse argument. The real world operates off of sound bites. If protesters can't get their message across in one concise sentence then they should not expect anyone to understand or care.
The message must be picked up by the media. The effect of a demonstration is very local. Only people in the area of the demonstration will be exposed to the message unless the media chooses to cover the event. Intelligent agitators will understand the need for mainstream media to cover their event. While they may try to compensate for a lack of media coverage through their own, small scale media, the end product will have much less impact.
Activists also have to worry about what the media will do to their message. It is very common for the media to cover a protest, but not say what it is about, or twist the meaning of the movement into something it is not. This is why a concise and message is so important.
If the media does successfully transmit the agitators ideas to the people, it is quite likely that they will not care. In a world of distractions like sports, Internet, video games, and music, it is easy for people to ignore the world's problems. An apathetic public is the largest obstacle that an agitator faces. Most people in the United States will not be troubled to vote. If the simple act of voting is too much work for most people, then it is an uphill battle for the activist who hopes for people to lobby their representatives for change.
Because demonstrations are not very effective, the establishment is well served to let them take place. A peaceful protest that will not bear fruit in the form of change is an opiate to the small segment of the population that cares enough to act. It is far better that they exert their energies marching, chanting, and holding signs than through direct action or some other, more effective means.
It is also a good way to gather information on dissidents. If a government doesn't allow peaceful protest, then drives activists underground. Their activities become hard to monitor under such conditions. Many resources are required to form intelligence networks that will infiltrate and gather information on the activities of malcontents. If the establishment allows peaceful protest, it needs only to observe the crowd to identify key players in a movement.
Still, the government will always respect the power of people in large numbers. Even at a pro-establishment rally, one will find police, ready to react to signs of unrest. Crowds, regardless of their purpose, are inherently dangerous. Volumes have been written on crowd psychology. When part of a crowd, individuals will act in ways that they never would alone. In this way, a crowd is an organism all to itself.
Savvy agitators will capitalize on this, whipping the crowd into a frenzy with chants, drums, angry music or even bagpipes. Dissidents will usually place cadre at strategic points in the group to control their movement, initiate or discourage actions, and maintain their focus. Without these key figures the throng can dissipate, loose momentum, or go out of control- causing much destruction.
Police responding to crowds face a number of challenges. They must maintain order, which is a fine line between allowing the crowd to have their way and dispersing the crowd. An unchecked crowd that is bent on destruction must be dispersed. At the same time, a rapidly dispersing crowd can cause as much damage as they were when they were rioting.
In a crowd control situation, police must isolate the area, protect likely targets, and maintain control. In countries like the U.S., UK, France and Germany, police are somewhat accountable for their actions. In situations where accountability is an issue, police mitigate liability by applying best practices. In places like Burma or Occupied Palestine, protesters should expect no quarter. This writing will cover the former, in the latter, police will use whatever force they deem necessary.
The first priority for police is to isolate the area. They must prevent the disorder from spreading to unaffected areas. This way the destruction will be minimized. It is important that they move uninvolved people from the area. In this way they can insure that innocent people are not harmed by their actions against the crowd. Police will also prevent unauthorized people from entering the area to keep late comers from adding to the crowd's strength or possibly introducing weapons. Finally, they have to prevent the escape of people who are bent on expanding the disturbance area.
Police will identify and protect likely targets of destruction or looting. Key buildings like courthouses, jails, banks, and armories will get special attention from establishment forces. This may entail utilizing existing private or proprietary security forces already assigned to these places. In some municipalities, security guards are deputized by local authorities, giving them the same powers as law enforcement agents.
Extra patrols will also concentrate on protecting utilities. If demonstrators were to knock out power to a city, it would draw people out of their homes who would normally never dream of taking part in a protest. It would also promote civil unrest amongst the general population and ensure media coverage for the malcontents. Police cannot allow agitators to take advantage of this obvious force multiplier.
Critical services like hospitals and cellular towers also warrant police attention. Taking a radio or television station would be a major victory for dissidents as they would not only interrupt the message of the establishment, but they could broadcast their own propaganda. Police must place a high priority on preventing this.
VIPs like government officials, police administrators, and statist figures also deserve protection. They could be targeted by anti-establishment forces who want their voices heard.
Maintaining control of the situation is key. Control activities include monitoring, dispersal, and containment of the crowd. Once police have lost control, any number of evils may be predicated by the malcontents without consequence. However, by judiciously applying a combination of controlling activities, this will not happen.
Monitoring can include any number of methods. Video surveillance is by far the most effective means of crowd control. Individuals will sharply curtail their activities once they realize that their shenanigans are being preserved for posterity, and possibly a jury. For this reason establishment forces have nothing to gain by hiding their video cameras. In fact, Special Response Corporation, a private security firm, goes out of its way to purchase large 1980's era video cameras to record crowd behavior because of their unmistakable silhouette.
It may be advantageous for police to infiltrate the crowd to identify leaders and eavesdrop on their conversations. Specialized surveillance equipment like parabolic ears, or microwave listening devices may be employed for that same reason.
Dispersal is also a means of control, however it can be dangerous to members of the crowd and to bystanders in the direction that the crowd is driven. Smart incident commanders will ensure that the crowd always has a safe and open route or routes of egress. Sun Tzu warns against hindering a fleeing enemy. Rightfully so- if a crowd is completely encircled by obstacles and police, it is a dangerous situation for all involved. A errant gunshot, the deployment of riot control agents, or the close proximity of the rioters could spark a panic. When a crowd is panicked, it will disperse, even if it involves trampling its own participants or going through police officers. There are many cases of soccer riots where crowds have pushed people through chain link fences like cheese through a grater.
It is also possible that the dispersing crowd will reform somewhere else to continue its mayhem where police are not present. For this reason, it is important for police to identify and neutralize insurgent leaders before the crowd is dispersed. It is important to realize that the resolve of individuals is amplified by the crowd, and the crowd is directed by its cadre. Once the cadre are removed from the equation, the crowd will act as it is directed.
Once the conditions for dispersal are right the incident commander should issue dispersal proclamation. It should give specific instructions on what is expected of the crowd. If it imposes a time limit, the amount of time allotted should be reasonable. A commander who gives a large crowd five seconds to disperse should expect casualties on both sides. The proclamation should be in a language that the crowd understands. Giving a dispersal proclamation to a crowd of immigrants in English would be a misguided step. There should be clear consequences for malcontents who do not comply. The consequences should be terrible enough that only the most hardened among them would stay.
If the crowd refuses to disperse the incident commander has many tools in his/her arsenal to impel dispersal. Crowd control agents are an effective way to force evacuation. I use the word evacuation because dispersal implies an organic and peaceful exit. Riot control agents will cause a panicked sprint by many members of the crowd. Because of this, the incident commander faces a double liability in that the agents will injure some people in the crowd and the resulting stampede to escape will cause more injuries. However, when no other options exist, the controlled use of these weapons can bring about the desired effect.
At this point it is important to mention the proper use of force. Almost all agencies employ some variation of an escalation of force policy. The idea is that law enforcement agents should use the minimum amount of force necessary to accomplish their objectives. The escalation of force is: shout, show, shove, shoot. Often times, the first two, shout and show, are transposed, but it is of little consequence.
On an individual level an officer may shout by issuing instructions like "Stop. Put your hands up." The officer shows when he/she demonstrates his/her ability to employ violence like producing a baton. Shove is the application of nonlethal force like actually shoving a person, hitting them with a baton or mace. Shoot is the use of deadly force. Ideally less lethal weapons like the tazer or rubber buckshot should be used in lieu of deadly force, however they are often used in place of a baton.
The incident commander's actions should also embody escalation of force policies. The dispersement order would qualify as shout. The aggressive posture that riot control officers assume as well as the formations they employ would be a show of force. The employment of batons, tear gas grenades, or mace would be the shove level of force. If all else fails, the use of rubber buckshot, or beanbag rounds would be appropriate.
If it becomes clear that a police department is not following some escalation of force policy, protesters should realize that they are in a very dangerous situation. Murphy's Laws of Combat state that "professionals are predictable, it is the amateurs that you have to worry about." Police will only behave as professionally as they have to. If a department is not held accountable for its actions it will commit any number of evils. Especially when the media isn't looking.
Batons are an indispensable riot control tool. Their presence is a strong psychological tool of subjugation. Guns, mace, fire hoses, and large bore launchers are intimidating, however the fear they produce in people's minds is somewhat abstract. Most people have never been shot or maced and the idea of a fire hose isn't all that terrifying. Everyone has been struck by a blunt object before and the pain is quite real to them.
While in the normal course of their duties, police often use extendable batons or side handle PR-24s the longer wooden batons are more desirable for riot control as they provide longer reach and a wider force block. They can be held in two hands and used to push back rowdy throngs.
Fire hoses have become somewhat passe` as they have the potential to produce many casualties and do not produce the same terror in crowds that teargas or shotguns loaded with less lethal rounds might. One only needs to look at Martin Luther King's march through Birmingham, Alabama to see how dangerous they can be. Fire hoses are hard to control and require several officers to use. They are, however, quite effective at pushing large numbers of people.
Chemical munitions are very effective at challenging a crowds resolve. These agents come in many forms but all have similar effects- they bring about pain compliance by irritating the eyes, airways, and skin. They do carry with them a fair amount of liability. While modern chemical agents are not flammable, they can kill people who already have breathing problems like asthma. Their overuse can send healthy people into convulsions.
There are many methods of employing these agents. The hand thrown CS grenade is much like the military smoke grenade in that it utilizes a pull pin, safety spoon, and internal burning fuse. These are pyrotechnic devices. That fact discourages protesters form throwing them back as it can cause severe burns. It also precludes them from being used in structures or around flammable materials.
A non-pyrotechnic alternative is aerosol area denial devices. These are similar to bug bombs. To use them one removes the cap, depresses the valve which locks in place, and throws it. Since these do not burn, there is a risk of them being thrown back.
37, 38, and 40 mm launchers can be used to project chemical munitions further than any officer could throw them. These are usually single shot large bore launchers. The launchers themselves are made by many companies like Arwen, Ramo, Heckler & Koch and Defense Technology. The rounds are produced by Smith & Wesson Labs and Fox Labs. 37 mm launchers and ammunition are available to the public for use as signaling devices. The 40 mm launchers or and ammunition are considered destructive devices by the BATFE and require registration and transfer fees when in the hands of citizens.
Some of the large bore tear gas projectiles are made for crowd dispersal and some are meant for use against barricaded suspects. Care should be taken not to use barricade penetrating rounds on crowds as there is a significant risk of causing casualties.
Large bore launchers are not limited to gas rounds. They can be used to launch rubber buck shot, flares, padded batons (affectionately referred to as Nerf rounds) and bean bags. Solid projectiles are considered destructive devices in the hands of civilians.
Shotguns can also be employed to launch less lethal projectiles like rubber buckshot or bean bags. The shotgun is the most versatile weapon in the police arsenal. In addition to less lethal rounds, the shotgun can be used to breach doors, fire lead buckshot and slugs.
The most common shotguns found in the hands of police are the Remington 870 and the Mossberg 500. Both are well made pump action shotguns. One reason that police would use pump shotguns in lieu of a semiautomatic is that the reduced power less lethal rounds might lack the recoil and pressure to work a semiautomatic action.
The possibility of a crowd employing violent tactics is always weighing on an incident commander's mind. The use of deadly force is in these situations opens up a whole new world of liability. In the best of cases it will be unseemly to fire live ammunition into a crowd of mostly unarmed people. The media will undoubtedly call any slaying a massacre which is an automatic win for the protesters. At the same time it would be irresponsible to take away individual officer's ability to defend themselves against deadly force.
Individual officers will usually carry side arms unless some department regulation prevents them from doing so in crowd control situations. At one time these policies were common as officers engaged in melees with protesters ran the very real risk of having their pistols taken away from them in the confusion. However, modern riot tactics coupled with triple retention holsters have largely done away with that risk. Triple retention holsters prevent a pistol from easily being stolen by someone who is facing the officer. They typically employ a snapping retention strap like other holsters, but still will not relinquish the pistol without the butt of the pistol being pushed towards the officer's body and rotated back, then drawn smartly.
The most common police pistol is the Glock. Available in many different chamberings, 9 mm, .40 Smith & Wesson, 10 mm, .357 Sig, .45 GAP and .45 ACP, the Glock design is as versatile as it is reliable. The Glock has no external safeties, save a small lever on the trigger that discourages discharge while reholstering. Some can accept high capacity magazines that hold as many as 33 rounds.
The Glock is what is referred to as a Safe Action, meaning that its striker is held in a half cock position. When the trigger is pulled the striker is drawn back the rest of the way and released, firing the weapon. The lack of external safeties, coupled with the consistent trigger pull makes the Glock very user friendly for untrained or poorly trained people.
The trigger pull is long, but light ( about 5 lbs). This perceived deficiency has been blamed for many accidental police shootings. As a result, the New York City Police Department began requiring a 10 lb pull on their pistols. This trigger system, known as the New York Trigger, is mandated by many departments. Liability has also impelled some departments to install a trigger with a pull greater than 10 lbs, known as the New York Plus Trigger. While this information may seem overly technical I include it because it illustrates the burden that liability places on some police departments.
As I said earlier, it is bad PR for police to shoot live ammo into crowds. However, in the past armed people have infiltrated crowds, using them as cover and concealment. Snipers have also been known to use demonstrations as an opportunity to prey on police or demonstrators. To avoid having the riot line unloading their service pistols into the throng Police Snipers can be utilized. These specially trained officers will often be armed with a scoped bolt action rifle or semiautomatic rifle to observe and if necessary, kill armed threats in the crowd.
They will observe the crowd from a hide and report back on the crowd's activities. Often times they will be visible on the rooftops as a show of force to discourage the rabble from any shenanigans.
Police face many obstacles in crowd control situations. If the crowd is large, it is likely that they will outnumber the police. This is a dangerous situation for establishment forces. They must maximize their effectiveness by utilizing good tactics.
By making good use of choke points they can limit the frontage of the crowd that they are exposed to. The people in the middle of a crowd are irrelevant to the conflict unless they are throwing rocks or firing weapons. Following along this line of thinking, if police position themselves where the terrain forces people to bunch up, they can be more effective than they would in an open space, because they will only have to deal with a limited number of people at a time.
The ability to determine where a free speech zone is a boon to police. If police know or can dictate where a demonstration will take place they can arrange barriers in advance to maximize their advantage. They can make the protesters occupy places that will put them at a disadvantage. Downward slopes will allow the police to be on high ground looking down at protesters. Muddy fields will hinder the movement of the malcontents and discourage them from staying long. Forcing protesters to stand in linear danger areas like roads allow the police the ability to fire into a narrow and captive area without worrying about hitting bystanders or doing property damage.
Protests are taxing on a police department. They require extra man-hours. This costs the municipality money in the form of overtime pay (not to mention property damage). It fatigues officers, making them less effective. It also diverts police resources from important matters. Oftentimes police from neighboring jurisdictions have to be brought in to fortify a department's numbers.
This is not necessarily a good thing, unless the police are the object of the protest. During a protracted conflict, overworked officers or commanders can make bad decisions that will jeopardize the safety of protesters, police, and bystanders. It is important for protesters to note that in a demonstration, the police, being better armed, control the situation. They hold in their hands the lives of everyone present by virtue of the fact that they are able to bring lethal force to bear. If a demonstration is taking place, it is because the police are exercising restraint. Malcontents should not assume that reliance on best practices is a constant. Police are human beings, when stressed, they can make bad decisions that can result in casualties.
In addition to being well armed, police have many advantages. They can choose the place where conflicts happen by designating free speech zones. They are mobile, and can project force remotely by virtue of a well established communications system. They have a unity of purpose, while the crowd is disunited. They also have on their side legal authority, the veneer of legitimacy, and established doctrine.
They do suffer some shortcomings. They are often outnumbered. They have constraints on the use of force. Reliance on a rigid command/control structure slows their reaction time. They rely on a form of communication that can be jammed and doesn't work without electricity and batteries. They are constantly burdened by tort liability and the need to maintain a positive public image.
Protesters are not burdened by these things. They are not limited by rules of engagement. Demonstrators can act spontaneously and autonomously. They can also blend in with the population if they don't dress like Sid Viscous.
They are poorly armed and lack cohesion. They also have to deal with the criminal liability that stems from their actions.

Friends of the Forest Rally to save some of the last old growth!

2011-10-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

If you haven't already, I hope that you block off the first half of your
day on*Tuesday, October 11 and dedicate it to change for Oregon's State
Forests*. The State Land Board, made up of Governor Kitzhaber, Secretary
Brown and Treasurer Wheeler, will be making a final decision on a
proposed 40% clearcutting ramp-up on the Elliott State Forest
. A dire situation is about to get
worse as the land board is expected to adopt the new forest plan that
will sanction clearcutting of 850-1,000 acres of complex rainforest each
year. This is troubling as the Elliott is a lifeboat for the federally
listed Marbled Murrelet, Northern Spotted Owl and Oregon Coast Coho
Salmon amidst the Coast Range.

October 11 is not just about the Elliott. The governor also plays a
critical role in overseeing the management of the Clatsop and Tillamook
State Forests, north coastal rainforests that continue to get hammered
year after year, amidst efforts to create promising new management
arrangements. It has become clear that what is happening on our state
forests is worse than any other public lands logging in the Northwest
today. It is time for change, and it needs to come from all of us. And
it needs to happen now.

*I'm writing to make sure you prioritize the State Land Board meeting on
October 11 for a family-friendly rally under the banner of Friends of
Oregon's Forests.* This is a direct opportunity to address the reckless
forest practices on the Elliott, Clatsop and Tillamook, demonstrate how
out of line with public values the logging programs are, and demand a
new way forward. I encourage you to come down to speak at the rally and
talk with the media that day.*Please let me know your organization's
interest, your ability to turn people out, and anything else related to
the event.*

There will be carpools (buses and vehicles) leaving from Cottage Grove,
Eugene and Portland (and hopefully other locations). Stay tuned for more
detailed carpooling information. Invite your Facebook network and stay
apprised: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116299758472402. Hope to
see you on the 11th.

-Friends of the Forest

Palestine and the US empire

2011-09-26T02:31:00.000-07:00

Palestine shall be the watchword for the US empire.

The creation of a Palestinian State, to be recognized by the United Nations has been the subject of some controversy. The US has never exerted such pressure to prevent human rights developments.

Currently Israel is a military powerhouse and controls the borders into the shrinking areas of Palestine. Shrinking as Israeli border settlements continue develop, being defended by the IDF, pushing Palestinians deeper into the West Bank and the Gaza strip. The borders are pushed deeper into Palestine, despite efforts of the Palestinian land owners to defend the land and groups like the 'Israeli Committee Against Home Demolition'(ICAHD) who rebuild the destroyed Palestinian homes.

The border settlement disputes caused the last breakdown of talks between Israel and Hamas. Israel refuses to stop Palestinian home demolition.

In the Middle East, Israel is a US ally. The US even pays Israel for a ally-ship status, $7 million dollars a day. Israel is in some ways an extension of US interests and policy.

As with Great Britain in South Africa, the Colonial State resists human rights to preserve a status of privilege. The striking similarities have caused the Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa to describe conditions in Palestinian as Apartheid.

Despite the oppressive conditions and aggressive behavior, the US has backed Israel. As the votes for Palestinian Statehood become more intense, the US has pledged to stop any efforts to allow this statehood. The reason for this is primarily the US and Israel's close status. As this situation continues the US s bound up in supporting a violently oppressive system- that of Israel's state security policy.

Israel desires a secure state and claims that Hamas would enact violence if given freedom. Under this pretense, Palestine remains under blockades, which have refused medical and food aid. The regular infrastructure of Palestine has been starved of construction material and other necessary supplies, since Israel claims these will be used to make bombs. This situation has created such awful conditions and deprivation.

As the world votes for human rights, there too rests the power of the US, invested at $7 million a day with Israel. All the arm twisting and power of an empire has thus far prevented human rights from taking hold, but if this fails, so too will the pretense of legitimacy for the US empire.

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation.

Occupy Wall St. Releases its one demand.

2011-09-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

This is the fifth communiqué from the 99 percent. We are occupying Wall Street.

On September 21st, 2011, Troy Davis, an innocent man, was murdered by the state of Georgia. Troy Davis was one of the 99 percent.

Ending capital punishment is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, four of our members were arrested on baseless charges.
Ending police intimidation is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, the richest 400 Americans owned more than half of the country’s population.

Ending wealth inequality is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, we determined that Yahoo lied about occupywallst.org being in spam filters.

Ending corporate censorship is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, roughly eighty percent of Americans thought the country was on the wrong track.

Ending the modern gilded age is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, roughly 15% of Americans approved of the job Congress was doing.

Ending political corruption is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, roughly one sixth of Americans did not have work.

Ending joblessness is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, roughly one sixth of America lived in poverty.

Ending poverty is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, roughly fifty million Americans were without health insurance.

Ending health-profiteering is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, America had military bases in around one hundred and thirty out of one hundred and sixty-five countries.

Ending American imperialism is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, America was at war with the world.

Ending war is our one demand.

On September 21st, 2011, we stood in solidarity with Madrid, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Madison, Toronto, London, Athens, Sydney, Stuttgart, Tokyo, Milan, Amsterdam, Algiers, Tel Aviv, Portland and Chicago. Soon we will stand with Phoenix, Montreal, Cleveland and Atlanta. We’re still here. We are growing. We intend to stay until we see movements toward real change in our country and the world.

You have fought all the wars. You have worked for all the bosses. You have wandered over all the countries. Have you harvested the fruits of your labors, the price of your victories? Does the past comfort you? Does the present smile on you? Does the future promise you anything? Have you found a piece of land where you can live like a human being and die like a human being? On these questions, on this argument, and on this theme, the struggle for existence, the people will speak. Join us.

We speak as one. All of our decisions, from our choice to march on Wall Street to our decision to continue occupying Liberty Square, were decided through a consensus based process by the group, for the group.

Prisons and Crime

2011-09-23T03:09:00.000-07:00

Pelican Bay Super-max Prison engaged in a hunger strike to improve conditions which began July 1st and was sustained until July 22nd. Thousands of prisoners across racial lines joined in and the hunger strike which spread across the California Prison system and as far as Chicago's Joliet Prison in solidarity.

"Their demands include an end to long-term solitary confinement, collective punishment, and forced interrogation on gang affiliation. The prisoners have also stated that they are willing to give up their lives unless their demands are met."- Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity website.

The Prisoners demands are a reminder that the State retains a gulag system, willing to deprive humans- supposedly in an attempt to reform 'immoral' actions. Prisoners understand for themselves the most necessary elements necessary to maintain their humanity, however for those on 'the outside', it is necessary to be critical of the justice system as a whole.

The Insurgent recognizes that prisoners are captives in an unconsentual and cruel system. Down the line from Laws, to Judgement to 'Corrections', the whole system is rooted in inequality.

The process of laws tend to focus on low-income neighborhoods, because of large population and the 'efficiency' of policing, neighborhoods composed of people of color are also especially targeted. These neighborhoods are also targeted, because they offer the least legal resistance and are most likely to feel an obligation to pay off a fine.

The Process of Judgement is given by primarily White Men, who by virtue of being judges necessarily have a significant education and usually legal career experience- in short they are out of touch. Passing judgement on the poor and people of color, is an especially insensitive and callous practice. These are no peers, nor proponents of the poor, it is hierarchical and outside the scope of the judge to understand the circumstances of judged. Furthermore the legal system is based on a dichotomy of 'guilty and innocent', this ignores the motivating factors, history and legacy of familial violence and offers only a moral judgement, which consequently, is unable to render any meaningful process of reform for its recipient.

The 'Corrections' are incapable to reform. These institutions are centers of deprivation. They are fueled today by low-wage work camps, many prisoners earning 15 cents an hour or less (~$5 a month). These low wages allow a high profit margin for corporations and a 'stable' workforce. This model of prison work is justified as 'providing work skills to prisoners'- these, skills are irrelevant for their market application is undercut by the very place where they learned them and this encourages recidivism. Furthermore the application of a moral 'right and wrong' system is a tool of deprivation.

-Furthermore the movement towards so-called 'green jobs' is occurring in the prisons- with low-wage solar cell production, 'green' goods are sold at market value- produced by a prison population. The prisoners themselves enjoy the jobs as an opportunity to escape their cells, but are unable by any stretch of the imagination to fulfill their needs for services.

Prison teaches violence not social contract.

In an Insurgent Poll of Federal Prisons, based on personal interviews a formal questioning process and volumes of correspondence, we have identified five conditions which are most desirable changes within the Prison system and why.

1) Overcrowding. This is seen as the source which all other problems stem from, it exacerbates the existing conditions and problems.

2) Medical Care. Long lines, slow services and incompetence have ensured the prolonged suffering of many inmates. Numerous horror stories of worsening injuries have been reported and ignored by the Bureau of Prisons.

3) Payment for Employment. Wages are abysmal and they do not match the costs of services at a commissary, making prisoners reliant upon outside sources for basic needs.

4) Availability of Jobs. While many jobs are not mandatory, prisoners need an activity to occupy their time, jobs provide this.

5) Accommodations for Visitors. This means the prisoner and family being able to see each other. The ending of extreme requirements for visitation and the comfort of the visitor.

The basic humanity expressed during this process was overwhelming. Prisoners are caught in a wretched system which offers little for them in terms of education, opportunity or even basic safety.

Education is limited to outside programs coming in. The only reading material which remains stocked is the law books, because of a Federal requirement to keep up-to-date law books.

Opportunity for work is a difficult, prisoners must on the one hand sell themselves for a pitiful wage and on the other be competing against one another.

Basic safety is threatened by 'the politics' on the yard. Race divisions created by guards and reinforced by gangs in prison, make even simple tasks of getting food difficult- a cut in line or a bump of a tray can quickly lead to a fight and a week in solitary confinement.

The whole questions of the prison must be thought of on a community level- what does safety mean and how do we get there. There are questions for a community, in responding to inner-community disputes and inter-community disputes. Bu the prison itself, even as it fills continues to reveal a deeply problematic system which is incapable of meeting the needs of its unwilling participants.

Thanks to:
http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/pelican-bay-prisoners-go-on-hunger-strike-to-protest-grave-conditions/

Taking ‘Take Back the Tap’ all the way to President Lariviere

2011-05-26T22:39:00.001-07:00

Eugene, OR - The Take Back the Tap (TBTT) campaign, a trademark of Food and Water Watch, being run on the University of Oregon campus by the Climate Justice League, finds support from President Lariviere to discontinue the sale, purchase, and distribution of bottled water.

“President Lariviere has final say over whether or not our policy becomes a reality on this university, so having his support is very exciting,” says Manny Garcia, a campaign coordinator.

This policy has already been endorsed by the Environmental Issues Committee and the University Senate Executive Committee and has support from over 1,700 students. During the meeting with the President, Take Back the Tap members discussed the benefits to the university from this policy and the logistics of its implementation.

“President Lariviere says that, if he had a magic wand, he’d gladly make all bottled water disappear,” says Garcia. “The President just has some reservations doing it without consulting the affected departments, which he and the rest of the campaign has been doing and will continue to do.”

President Lariviere thinks the Take Back the Tap campaign is important because it works to educate students about what is going on in the world around them and to think critically about the bigger picture, which is what they are at the University to do. Therefore, continuing education after the discontinuation will be a huge focus of the Take Back the Tap campaign.

Terra Smith, a Take Back the Tap member, states that, “policies like this one are being passed across the nation and around the world; it’s time the University of Oregon became a leader in this movement.”

The University of Oregon will be the first school in the Oregon University System and in the PAC 12 to implement a campus-wide discontinuation by passing this policy, making it a sustainability leader.

Southern Oregon University is moving to discontinue bottled water in 2012, and Stanford University has already removed bottled water from their dining halls and events. These policies mean that any exemption of athletics from the final policy or any delay of its implementation would mean that the University would not be the first in the Oregon University System or the PAC 12 to implement such a change.

“Efforts to delay or scale back the policy could eliminate our chance to the be a leader on the issue,” says Garcia “but we are sincerely excited to be first and we have the support on this campus to do the right thing.”

Every Bottle is 1/3 Oil

Bottled water production uses as much as 2,000 times more energy than it takes to produce
tap water. A 20oz bottle of water requires 1/3 its volume in oil and 3 times its volume in water for
manufacture, transportation, and disposal. When looking at the whole process it is much easier to see the quantities of oil that must go into the bottled water industry, which is a $11.5 billion a year industry.

Each year in the U.S., 17.6 million barrels of oil go into producing 29.8 billion plastic water
bottles. Of all these bottles, only 2 in every 10 are actually recycled. The rest either go into the landfill or contribute to the North Pacific Garbage Patch, which is a floating mass of plastic in the Pacific Ocean that is twice the size of Texas and has up to 40 times more plastic than plankton.

Health is also a concern with bottled water because the EPA regulates tap water, which is tested 300 to 400 times a month depending on the population being supplied. However, bottled water manufacturers do testing on their own products and sources, but are not required to submit their reports to the FDA. Tests of bottled water straight off the shelf have found toluene, styrene, and bisphenol A (BPA).

Economics is another concern because bottled water costs up to 10,000 times more than tap water. Bottled water can costs consumers anywhere from $0.89 to $8.26 per gallon, while tap water costs $.002 per gallon. In Eugene the price of tap water is $.0018 per gallon.

Other Schools and Cities Taking Steps to Ban Bottled Water
Amherst College - Amherst, MA
Brandeis University - Waltham, MA
Colgate University - Hamilton, NY
College of the Atlantic - Bar Harbor, ME
University of Colorado - Boulder, CO
University of Connecticut - Storrs, CT
Davidson College - Davidson, NC
Harvard University - Cambridge, MA
University of Houston - Houston, TX
Illinois Institute of Technology - Chicago, IL
Kalamazoo College - Kalamazoo, MI
Lawrence University - Appleton, WI
University of Mary Washington - Fredricksburg, VA
University of Mississippi - University, MS
University of Montana Western - Dillon, MT
University of Portland - Portland, OR
Radford University - Radford, VA
Stonehill College - Easton, MA
The New School - New York, NY
University of Virginia - Charlottesville, VA
Virginia Commonwealth University - Richmond, VA
Washington University - St. Louis, MI
Western Michigan University - Kalamazoo, MI
Williams College - Williamstown, MA
Yeshiva University - New York, NY
Belmont University - Nashville, TN
Oberlin College - Oberlin, OH
University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, Wisconsin
Upstate Medical University - Syracuse and Binghamton, NY
University of Winnepeg - Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada
Memorial University - St. John's, NL, Canada
Brandon University - Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
University of Ottawa - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
University of Leeds - Leeds, West Yorkshire, England

Trapper sale invalidated!

2011-05-24T16:01:00.001-07:00

May 24, 2011

EUGENE, OR - Conservation groups and community members today hailed a
district court decisionthat declared the Trapper timber sale illegal.
The timber sale, located in the McKenzie River watershed, the source
of Eugene's drinking water, would have logged 155 acres of
never-before-logged mature forest in the Blue River area of the
Willamette National Forest.

Federal Judge Tom Coffin ruled that in approving the timber sale the
U.S. Forest Service violated a basic federal environmental law. Judge
Coffin wrote:

"The public is entitled to be accurately informed of the impact of the
proposed action on the [northern spotted owl] and to have a meaningful
opportunity to weigh in on the proposalŠ[A]pproval of the Trapper
Timber Sale were based on a factual inaccuracy and the public has yet
to be informed of the actual findings."

The Forest Service cannot move forward with logging until the agency
makes a new decision that meets the requirements of the law.

"The McKenzie is Eugene's backyard recreation paradise and its old
forests filter our drinking water and shelter all kinds of wildlife,"
says Kate Ritley, Executive Director of Cascadia Wildlands. "This
logging proposal was flawed from the start when it was first issued a
decade ago, and it's high time we left it in the past."

The Forest Service first proposed the timber sale in 1998 and has
failed to address significant new information that has arisen since
the agency issued a decision on the project in 2003. In the ten years
since the project was planned, a pair of threatened northern spotted
owls has taken up residence in the vicinity of the timber sale.

The court said the agency relied on a flawed analysis of impacts to
endangered species and failed to respond to a scientific critique of
the project.

"It is past time the Forest Service permanently cancel this outdated
logging project," says Doug Heiken, Conservation and Restoration
Coordinator with Oregon Wild. "The agency has a choice between logging
mature and old-growth forests or identifying common-sense projects
that thin young forests to benefit wildlife, protect the forest, and
create jobs. It should be an easy choice."

The Trapper timber sale has been the subject of controversy before. On
two past occasions, Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild successfully
challenged the species impacts opinion issued by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (USFWS). USFWS is the federal agency in charge of
recovering endangered species and had illegally issued opinions that
would have allowed the Trapper timber sale to proceed despite negative
effects to threatened wildlife.

"The fight to protect the ancient forests and wildlife found in the
Trapper timber sale has been a long and hard one, but today that
diligence has finally paid off," says Susan Jane Brown, attorney with
the Western Environmental Law Center.

The groups believe the Forest Service should be spending limited
taxpayer dollars on projects that restore degraded landscapes, like
restoration thinning in tree plantations resulting from past
clear-cutting, decommissioning harmful roads, and enhancing fish and
wildlife habitat.

The organizations are represented by Susan Jane Brown of the Western
Environmental Law Center and Dan Kruse of Cascadia Wildlands..
###

War on Terror & War on Trafficking

2011-05-18T20:45:00.000-07:00

War on Terror & War on Trafficking:
Why Irrational Panic over 'Modern Day Slavery' Harms Women

Thursday May 19th, from 6-730pm in Condon 104, University of Oregon.

Presented by Emi Koyama, War on Terror & War on Trafficking examines “facts” promoted by the anti-trafficking groups and “experts,” and exposes how they have distorted our conversations about sex trafficking and prostitution and harmed women, sex workers, immigrants, and others.

The presentation also explores many ways in which the new War on Trafficking resembles the so-called War on Terror in its worldview, approach, and devastating impact on vulnerable communities.

Emi Koyama is a multi-issue social justice activist and writer synthesizing feminist, Asian, survivor, dyke, queer, sex worker, intersex, genderqueer, and crip politics. Her work has been published in Color of Violence: An Incite! Anthology, The Transgender Studies Reader, the companion volume to Women’s Movement Today: An Encyclopedia of Third Wave Feminism, and other books, as well as Bitch, Tikkun, Women’s Studies Quarterly and other periodicals.

Come to find out why:

• Average age of entry into prostitution is not 12-14 year old
• 300,000 children are not at risk of being trafficked
• A third of runaway youth are not trafficked within first 48 hours
• Super Bowl and World Cup did not contribute to human trafficking
• Portland is not “Pornland, Oregon”
• “End Demand” approach targeting “johns” harms women
• Anti-trafficking “experts” should not be trusted (remember Bill Hillar?)
• Trafficking is often the State’s excuse to raid immigrants and communities of color
• Anti-trafficking movement distorts reality and misleads public policy

Please spread the word!

This event sponsored by Student Insurgent!

The Student Insurgent is hosting: 'What a Man Looks Like'

2011-05-18T20:43:00.000-07:00

What a Man Looks Like: Transgender Slam Poetry by Oscar Scandal McNary!

Ben Linder Room on the lower level of the Erb Memorial Union (EMU) on the University of Oregon campus. 13th and University St. Eugene, OR.

Celebrate the Rapture with a slam poetry performance. Seattle's Oscar Scandal McNary will also be reading from his blog and other writings.

Oscar works for social justice through spoken word poetry, activist workshops, and porn. His quirky poetic style ranges from comedic musings on street harassment to vulnerable explorations of his inconsistencies. He uses his performances to promote explicit consent, celebrate queer and trans identities, and to combat oppression.

He competes weekly in the Seattle Poetry Slam, and this one time, he won it. He has been featured at trans and queer spoken word events such as Boston's Transcriptions and Seattle's Spit! He is the author of the porn zine “Hell Yeah!” and stars in the porn “Yes, Please!” with Javier Rey available soon on Q Tube.

He also writes a blog about his experiences as a polyamorous queer transman, a survivor of sexual violence loving his body, sex- positive feminism, challenging transphobia, racism and other forms of oppression among other topics. His work can be found at http://thisiswhatamanlookslike.wordpress.com/ and http://oscarmcnary.wordpress.com/

Oscar identifies as a femme transfag. He hopes to improve the visibility of non-passing trans people by looking totally gay all the time. He thinks baseball pants are sexy. He often wishes he was a 1935 drag queen.

His new chapbook “Saran Wrap Leisure Suit” will be available for purchase at the event.

Sponsored by the Student Insurgent, Survival Center, and Student Cooperative Association.

Questions can be directed to phowland@uoregon.edu

This is a Student Insurgent Event. Please come on down!

Civil Liberties Defense Center Benefit

2011-05-18T19:56:00.001-07:00

Fill this rift with Justice!

June Full Moon:16,17th
Transportation provided, Eugene meet up: 7pm. Location TBA. Return 1230-1am. Dessert and drinks served at sunset by the McKenzie before we put in.

Go to www.cldc.org to register!

Contact Jasmine: jasminum.flora@gmail.com

The Student Insurgent strongly encourages attendance.

Corporate Ownership Of Human Life?

2011-05-13T16:52:00.000-07:00

The Student Insurgent condemns the mainstream media. A recent story in Time Magazine was defending fracking- that process of pumping unknown chemicals into the ground to force natural gas up. The leftover sludge invariably leaks into local ground water and food. With news stories like that, the discourse is all wrong.

Being forced to defend clean drinking water is like arguing for your life with someone who has a knife to your throat. The discourse then is about justifying your life, while you are already disadvantaged and if you lose, it's your life on the line. That is not the premis for an rational discussion. Since human life requires food, water and sleep, threatening the source of water is like threatening one's life. To lose the debate on fracking is to lose a long debate that requires one to justify their own life. Such a premis is not the basis of a valid discussion, for to lose in courts, politics or elsewhere is to give up the health of human life.

Essentially we must ask ourselves, are we willing to sacrifice people and land, to meet the needs of a privileged, wealthy communities that use the fossil fuels?

If we cannot have control over our water, food or lands. If all that exists can be held by patent, where does this break down?

In a dystopian future of being owned, it will not require guns, whips of chains. It will be in control of our very blood, genes and ownership of our very makeup. I sure wouldn't want to be the supreme court justice that defends the private ownership of human life because 'all the legal precedent was leading that way'.

Monsanto's ownership and patenting of genes is likewise concerning. How long before human life is patented and owned? In a terrible experiment, one has to ask, if we continue to advance in prosthetics and nanotechnology. A doctor's obligation to save lives will require the deployment of this technology on a patient who cannot pay. When the treatment is administered, the company will demand their patented product back and the person will say "No" and the court will find that technology, which cannot be returned will require payment. After a pause, the horror will sink in for the patient, not yet recovered from near-death, a horror that their life just entered indentured servitude. As time goes on the technology will advance and the tech will be administered at birth, as a vaccination and later the population will be enslaved, not with a whip or chain, but by the mere threat that their technology will shut down. At which point we must ask, how much do we value human life.

If we continue to allow the ownership of genes, the clock is ticking until human life become the property of corporations.

The alternative is to respect the collective ownership of land, of the human body, of the necessities of nutritious food, clean water, clean air and shelter to sleep. So in summary, Why corporate media, do you not examine the extension of your argument- that the sacrifice of our wild areas is the sacrifice of our lives. Oh yeah, because you're sellouts. We cannot own others, we cannot own what we share with others, our ideas, our spaces and all the things necessary for our very survival.

The Insurgent stands in solidarity with resistance to the privatization of public goods. Solidarity Forever!

Blogger

2011-05-13T10:51:00.000-07:00

Well, this site was down for a few days while the blogger website was doing internal repairs, or something. Meanwhile two of our last posts were deleted. Go Ducks!

Sorry for any problems or frustrations this may cause.

UPDATE:
The stories magically reappeared this afternoon. Great!

A strong Israeli Lobby.

2011-05-12T09:07:00.000-07:00

Dear Mr. DeFazio:

As a veteran I am appalled by the long history of lawless, deceptively justified violence visited by our country both covertly and overtly upon other peoples, and visited by Israel upon the Palestinian people with our military aid and diplomatic protection. The US remains the only obstacle to justice for the robbed and brutalized, almost entirely helpless Palestinians of both the West Bank and Gaza.

I am national vice chair of the Veterans for Peace working group on Israel/Palestine, and we have drafted the following notice for distribution to our chapters nationwide to urge actions in their own communities against HR 1501, an outrageous resolution. I ask that you oppose HR 1501 vigorously.

Jack Dresser, Ph.D.
Eugene, Oregon
Behavioral Research Scientist
Political & Prevention Psychology
National Vice Chair, Israel/Palestine Working Group, Veterans for Peace
Co-director, The Al-Nakba Awareness Project

House Resolution 1501 would Provide Israel Impunity for Gaza Crimes http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=2961
In a brazen display of the political power of the Israel Lobby over US Middle East foreign policy, legislation has passed the Senate and is now pending in the House to withhold US dues to the UN indefinitely contingent on UN retraction of their Goldstone Mission report. More information is available at the above link. This is a clear effort at extortion to cover up a crime, a felony in any jurisdiction in the developed world. This represents a disgraceful capitulation by our elected leaders to the efforts of a foreign government to evade international law. Congress will be in recess next week and our representatives will be home and accessible to personal visits, demonstrations and other forms of direct communication by constituents. We urge VFP members in districts represented by House members who voted to reject the Goldstone Report to remind them that:
1. Judge Goldstone suggested that further evidence might revise only one of 36 probable war crimes documented in the report.
2. All other members of the commission stand by the report in its entirety, without qualification of any kind.
3. The UN’s McGowan-Davis follow-up committee reports no credible self-investigation by Israel.
4. The US Foreign Assistance Act prohibits foreign aid to any country with a repeated pattern of human rights abuses.
5. Israel’s inhumane blockade of Gaza includes multiple human rights abuses over four years documented by the UN and other international organizations.
6. The US Arms Export Control Act prohibits use of US-supplied weapons except for legitimate self-defense.
7. Many US weapons were used in Operation Cast Lead.
8. The cease-fire was broken by Israel on our election day in 2008, killing six Palestinians, and the retaliatory Qassam rockets launched from Gaza without explosive warheads or directional controls injured no one in Israel.
9. Israel’s subsequent attack indiscriminately killed over 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza including over 300 children and deliberately targeted the civilian police force.
10. The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment, abuse of an occupied population, and use of disproportionate force.
11. General Petraeus has reported that unconditional US support of Israel infuriates the Muslim world and endangers our troops in the CENTCOM theater of operation.
12. This action would constitute extortion to cover up a crime.
A summary of the Goldstone Mission findings is attached in MS Word and PDF formats.
A list of US representatives rejecting the report can be found at http://blog.unwatch.org/?p=511.

May is Forest Action Month

2011-05-09T00:09:00.000-07:00

Starting May 12th, the Survival Center is bringing you non-stop awesome, amazing, in-your-face events! You could learn how to climb trees, how to save wolves, how to organize and how to make guerrilla films! If you come to one of the benefit concerts, we will even teach you how to party!

The goal of Forest Action Month is to remind all of us that Oregon has a long proud history of it's citizens advocating for protection of it's wild places, often in opposition to the law or the powers that be. It is important for this history to be passed down, the skills relearned - Oregon's forests are still for sale and the wildlife is still under attack. Now, more than ever, we must be prepared to defend the forest and the wild places by any means necessary.

We also have started doing Food Not Bombs again! Planning meetings are every Tuesday at 2:30 in the Survival Center. We cook Fridays at noon at the Lorax Manner, 1648 Alder Street. Lunch is served at 2:00 PM in Kesey Square. If you are interested in joining us, come to a meeting or email us at survival@uoregon.edu. What is Food Not Bombs you ask? We invite you to follow this link - (http://www.foodnotbombs.net/)

Itinerary for Forest Action Month

May 12th - 30 Year History of Earth First! Blue Mountain Biodiversity Project - 6-8 pm - Ben Linder Room - Karen Coulter will be presenting on the history of one of the most effective and radical groups ever to work to protect the Earth. Learn the history of this ragtag band of earth warriors with an experienced activist. For more info about the Blue Mountain Biodiversity Project (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dDZ2_ZnrVA)

May 13-14th - Camping Trip to Mc Creedy Hot Springs! - N.E.S.T - all day - Want to take a camping trip out to McCredie Hot Springs with Northwest Ecosystem Survey Team! We will be camping, learning how to climb trees and explore the site of one the most intense forest defense campaigns in Oregon's history: Strawdevil. Please RSVP to survival@uoregon.edu - space is limited. We will provide transportation and some food, further details available to those who request. For more info on NEST (https://nestcascadia.wordpress.com/)

May 14th - Pirate Themed Party for the FOREST! Cascadia Forest Defense Fundraiser - Lorax Manner 1648 Alder Street - Starting at 8:00 PM - Fundraiser for Cascadia Forest Defense! Akbar, Ataghost, Cowboy and Idiots and Special Guests! $5 to get in, $3 if you call Seneca Jones at the party entrance and tell them to drop Trapper! For more info about the fight to save this beautiful forest - http://www.forestdefensenow.com/

May 18th - Role of Radicals in Social Movements - Portland Rising Tide - 6:30 - River Rooms - The workshop will look at the use of narrative and story by social movements for social change. Different types of narratives will be presented as will how to use story effectively and strategically in campaigns. Participants will also learn narrative power analysis and narrative approaches to social change.. For more info about Rising Tide North America (http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org/)

May 19th - Remixing Political Videos - B Media - 6:30 - PLC 180 -
Learn about Fair Use, how to rip movies off the Internet, why to do it, and what sort of messages you can re-message once you do. Participants will come out of the workshop with knowledge of guerrilla filmmaking and how powerful of a tool it can be. For more info on the B Media Collective (http://bmediacollective.org/)

May 20th – Northwest Ecosystem Survey Team Benefit Concert with Aeon Now! + Guests – Free Skool Warehouse on 299 Garfield - $5 (ish). Celebrate earth defenders and support continued survey efforts this summer! Music, drinks, starry nights, utilitarian architecture and fire dancing!

May 24th - Wolf Wars! - Big Wildlife and Cascadia Wildlands - 6:30 - Ben Linder. We will be watching the film Lords of Nature. Following the film we will have a panel discussion with Cascadia Wildands and Big Wildlife, two activist groups that are involved in the struggle to protect these beautiful and misunderstood animals. For more info on Big Wildlife (http://www.bigwildlife.org/) or Cascadia Wildlands
(http://www.cascwild.org/)

May 25th - The Elliot State Forest - Cascadia Forest Defense and Cascadia Wildlands - 6:30 - 115 Lawrence. The Elliott State Forest is a 93,000 acre temperate rain forest near the Oregon Coast. In Summer 2009, Cascadia Forest Defense put up blockades to try to defend the forest from logging. The result was 27 people were arrested and the slaughter continues. Join Cascadia Forest Defense and Cascadia Wildlands as they discuss what is currently happening in the forest and what tactics can be used to save it. For more info on Cascadia Forest Defenders
(http://www.forestdefensenow.com/)

May 31st - Rural Organizing Workshop - 6:30 - Walnut Room - This workshop will focus on building relationships and alliances with a diverse coalition, especially between urban and rural communities. We will look at examples of campaigns in rural Oregon, successes, challenges, and failures. The workshop will encompass forest defense, but will be applicable to a broad range of issues. For more info about the Rural Organizing Project - (http://www.rop.org/)

The Survival Center is an umbrella organization for social and environmental change. We empower activists on campus and in the community to create radical change.

Forest Action Month is cosponsored by the Climate Justice League, Students Against Empire, the Multicultural Center, Bad Egg Books, The Student Insurgent, International Socialist Organization (Eugene Branch) and the Student Sustainability Center.

If you would like to contact us, whether for media concerns, questions or to RSVP for the NEST camping trip, please contact survival@uoregon.edu.

If you made it through this entire email maybe you really love the Survival Center. Did you know that we are currently hiring co-directors for next year? That's right, you could be setting up amazing events, be an even more awesome organizer and get paid an insultingly small amount for all of the work you are going to do. Applications are available in our office, located in EMU Suite 1 (the bottom floor of the EMU, in between the Craft Center and the Non-Traditional Student Union) Hope to see you all soon!

Love,
The Survival Center

The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders. - Edward Abbey

Omar Offendum to speak on Arabic Poetry at UO

2011-05-09T00:08:00.000-07:00

Omar Offendum, Hip-Hop Artist will speak at the University of Oregon.

"Born in the KSA, raised in the USA, harassed by the TSA"

Offendum is a rising star and a political artist. His background is as a bilingual performer, rapping and reciting poetry in English and Arabic. His songs are engaging, drawing on themes of empowerment and historical struggle. Calling on his audiences to "learn from a rich history", of poetry, language and art.

Monday, May 8th, 2011, in the Ben Linder room.

The presentation will be on the influence of Arabic poetry on Offedum's songs.

The Student Insurgent strongly encourages attendance at this event, both to show solidarity with political artists and to learn about our own influences. His work is acclaimed, but kept underground, because no record label to will take his name- it is up to each of us to support real efforts towards a more conscious future.

More Valuable than Gold!

2011-05-05T21:02:00.000-07:00

"There are three resources today of critical value; electricity, oil and leaves. Electricity to power our great city's demands. Second is the oil, which burns, to create our electricity and feeds our society, through artificial fertilizers. But our oil is running out and our society is growing, demanding ever more electricity.

Today marks an epoch, which will burn our future, our society and ourselves. Watch, as leaves and organic matter are burned to power our society.

What they will not say is that as oil runs out, so will petrol fertilizers. We will need fertilizers for our food, upon which the stability of society rests. The great Ohio farmer Jim Preyther remarked " Leaves are more valuable than gold". This Seneca facility wants to burn the most valuable resources we have and that we need- for our fields and farms.

Jones' plant is telling us that when one critical resource- oil, runs out; we should burn the second- Biomass; a resource more valuable than gold, to support the third, electricity. This electricity is not demanded by our homes, or our schools. The great industry is lapping electricity like a dog drinking sea water and we the citizens, will bear the sickness of the dying animal.

This plant will chain us to a system that will justify and demand , not just the excesses of yard waste- it will demand trees, the shrubs and all the green and living things of the city. When all the city has been consumed, it will begin to eat at our forests, wildlands, preserves- eating our heritage and our future. This is an ethic of war, to kill all things that are green; an ethic that would cut off the body to save an arm; an ethic that would tear out its lungs to feed its stomach.

We do not ask for the great wealth of ecological systems to be preserved. We ask for inclusion at every democratic level, of the plant. Ff the species more ancient than our own, be granted these rights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. If a corporation is a person, then so is a tree, so is the fern, the insect and the worm. No other process can ensure human habitation of the earth.

Jones, this is not scrap, that which you burn, you are raking from the cycle of decomposition and soil nutrition. When you burn it, on who's home will those ashes fall- surely not on yours. Who will pay the hospital bills, for the families with respiratory illness and cancer- which follows this industry like a plague. It is no mistake that the externalized cost of tis industry is born by the state. For the company cares not more for human life that for plant life and is willing to kill both. This is not self-destruction, it is however, a sociopathic existence.

At some point, on some level, you must reckon with the ethical, social and economical failure that this blast furnace creates. It stands for not less, the the sacrifice of the quality of life the thereby the life itself. Remember that leaves are more valuable than gold, from the farms before petrol, to the great oaks and douglas fir forests today. Our culture and our history must value the plant and the person equally, or we risk loosing both by sacrificing either. It is from this place of understanding, deeply rooted in the history and culture fo this region and nation, that we condemn this facility, which threatens our society, our future and ourselves.

In its plave we offer the wisdom of the ages, a shared burden, which requires a shared sacrifice. We must simply use less electricity, as a people. We must value our lives along with the least of our citizens and we must have nature, all its plants mega and microfauna, to be part of all decision makein processes. Our plants deserve a vote, on behalf of our planet. To empower our people, we must empower the planet. Solidarity."

-This was a speech given on 5/1/11, during the protest of an opening Biomass facility, which burned organic matter to produce electricity. Written by: C. Gillespie.

Burning trees for electricity Lane County, Oregon?

2011-05-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

Local Timber Baron, Seneca Jones, built a 'biomass' power-plant. Burning lumber, from Oregon's timber sales and converting the energy to electricity. This facility was opened today, May 5, 2011 and from day one protests reigned in any notion that this plant was a good idea.

This lumber-fired generator was built with an exemption from air pollution regulation, over the concerns raised from the common knowledge: burning wood releases smoke. Despite the exemptions of Lane County, there has been wide-spread opposition from the Sierra Club to the Cascadia Forest Defense, that this plant will encourage the commodification, exploitation and destruction of Oregon forests, additionally degrading air quality. To put a stop to this facility, a protest of nearly forty shut the gate to the plant, by picket, banner drop and lock-down. Three were arrested in the process.

One person in lock-down was only visible from waist down, as he was locked under a station wagon with a bike lock. The whole entrance was shut down while seven police cruisers waited by and two fire crews were called in to cut out the protester. The police seemed on-edge, with assault rifles in their cars and a K-9 unit on call to protect the Seneca Jones Plant.

Lane Regional Air Protection Agency (L.R.A.P.A.) granted the exemption, it is widely known that they have been bought-off of the Jones. The plant is located just North the Eugene city limits, on highway 99. and is therefore regulated by Lane county. Lane county is already known for poor air quality, because of it's place as the un-official grass seed capitol of the world. Adding to pollen, is the common practice of field burning, these combine for an already awful hay-fever season. Adding the ash and soot from a giant furnace will not improve conditions.

The Plant was hailed by regional planners as a job building success, to bring in money and burn up the pulp from the Seneca Saw mill. What is not mentioned, is the cut logs being used to stoke Seneca's fire, state forests being cut and burned for electricity. There has been no plan for payment when respiratory diseases and cancer rates increase. The plant is located by the low income and expanding North Eugene neighborhood of River Road.

The Seneca three, shut down the plant for several hours and this is only day one.

Follow up:
The three arrested were all released separately from lane County Jail at 3pm.

Bow to no men!

2011-05-04T21:55:00.000-07:00

By: Gershom
Hiding myself deep into literature,
And forming opinions about~ "What is...?"
I'm seeing a society promoting oppression;
as I seek to stay sane from all the depression.

Oppression within the masses at large,
which are striving not for peace, but war.
The relation between all the majorities
is so contrary to they leaders oratories.

For there is no actual order in this society,
that exists. Only the order of business to buy
or sell people's souls. Every ordeal is ordained
by the casting of lots... made at a whim.

Then the rich take the dragons hoard or gold,
and leave the homeless & poor to sink or swim.

Sinking in waters so deep, there is no bottom
on which to stand. THere be monsters here who
await to leap from the burning sands.

One can not help, but gasp in horror- as
the news is played out on the television...
which is the new messiah of these days.

"Modern Day Rome"- at large upon the
worlds stage.
Creating atonement for all, by the enforce-
ment of petty laws.

Each nation has hidden flaws, which
are built inside the matrix of their
innocent white marble halls.
Tomb's... Waiting... in a moment of
time... to crumble and fall... it will fall.

Now the secret takeover can be satisfied
when the church & state unionize; not
to divide.

Forcing all parties, people's & tongues
to conform and bow to their beast...
or they will steal, kill, destroy:
Making the common people with us & die.

So... Buy or Steal. Persecute of kill.
Demand our Rights, to be free from force
upon our free wills!!

For hidden inside my mind's eye,
I can see no excuse- "To Bow To MEN!"

G.O.P. Gershom is an inmate in Two Rivers Penitentiary, in Oregon.

The Empire.

2011-05-04T01:22:00.000-07:00

The titan's madness
leaves us undone.
The worker's slaughter;
The bosses having fun.

Tall towers,
falling down.
Small soldiers,
Walking into town.

Hanging heads,
cheering crowds.
Kingdoms falling,
with king's heads in clouds.

Planes soaring,
bombs burst.
The crowds roaring,
The deathtoll's new worst.

Volunteers marching,
with paychecks in blood.
Nations Falling,
Corpses laying in the mud.

Seven million,
Dollars a Day.
For jets to make,
corpses in a new way.

The titan's madness
leaves us undone.
New Walls in Palestine,
No homes, where shall we run.

Israel holds food,
Israel holds water and land.
Palestinians hold tears;
Palestinians bury bodies in sand.

So many bodies, so many dead.
So many starving, who have you fed?
No more young men or schools; only dread;
No more bricks, mortar, or houses for dead.

Plant a tree,
No, not for me.
Plant a tree,
for seven generations to see.

But to plant a tree,
there must be land to grow.
The cement walls and checkpoints,
all the guns and fear, they simply must go.

I want my freedom,
I demand my say.
Are murders in my name?
No more, not after today.

I demand to eat,
I demand to live.
To plant that tree,
Israel, that land you must give.

Homegrown terrorist killed by own son, neo-nazis go crazy.

2011-05-02T20:28:00.000-07:00

A Prominent Neo-Nazi from California is shot dead by his ten-year-old son. Hall was a member of the National Socialist Movement (NSM- formerly the American Nazi Party).

"Jeff Hall, 32, a regional director for the National Socialist Movement, was killed in the early hours of Sunday morning by a 'known assailant' at his house in Riverside, California.
Police removed two handguns from the property and questioned one of his five children, believed to be a ten-year-old boy. They have not yet ruled out the possibility that the shooting was deliberate."-Daily Mail

Jeff Hall was the "Regional Director" according to the NSM website which opines him as "a dedicated American Patriot... on the California and Arizona Borders leading Patrols in efforts to halt illegal immigration, organized rallys, meetings, and events for the NSM countless times. Jeff was looked up to, and respected by thousands of people. He was well liked in his community where he ran for office last year, attaining nearly 30% of the vote as an open National Socialist Candidate..." A Nazi getting 30% of the vote in America... what does that say?

The Stormfront website, a notoriously virulent, violent white supremacist group responded with a thread announcing it was a conspiracy: "First David Lynch, now this guy. Both shot at their homes in Cali. Something is going down. :("
-Yes, you are Nazis, YOU are going down.

Another member posted: "Police responded to "shotS fired" but then later says that he died with a "single gunshot wound" as someone else here already mentioned... Something doesn't add up here. If it was an accident you wouldn't hear more than one shot."
-Well, if you keep guns, it's just a matter of time before you're going to have a backfire, or a drunk friend's mistake will land you in the hospital... or your ten year old pick up your gun that is lying around and shoots you.

yet Another: "The Child did NOT do it! Just wait the sexual abuse will "come out"
But the JEW do they have a motive?
Blame a child, a murder victims child for the murder, smell a JEW?"
-Clearly, because child murder is a common jewish thing, what are you even saying? Also jewish people do not have a 'group think'.

and another: "In his honor I say one word : REVENGE"
- great, violence is the answer to everything, this is why the neo-nazi ideology is invalid. Also, since his son killed him, do you want to kill his son? Really?

With names like "TechnoHimmler", "White Russian German", "Cleanse By Fire", "Disturbed Angel", "Punk Ass Gearhead", "Blood Raven" and "adolf hitlist", these cheery folks are an interesting lot.

The NSM hails Hall to be "a tremendous inspiration", the Insurgent finds him to be a bigoted terrorist. The Student Insurgent finds that resistance to neo-nazi elements leads to a more inclusive society. Because you can't really debate with a person who wants millions of 'jews', 'foreigners' and other 'undesirables' dead. That is not the premiss of any intellectual debate, because in any such discussion a member of the 'undesirable' community must justify their existence, their very life, to such a person predisposed to disliking them. That is not a discussion, that is a trial. No to bigotry, no to neo-nazis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwcKwGS7OSQ

Thanks to
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1382775/White-supremacist-leader-Jeff-Hall-shot-dead-home-young-son.html

http://www.nsm88.org/articles/InMemorium_Jeff_Hall.html

http://www.stormfront.org/forum/t798517-4/

Building Solidarity Across Geographic Regions.

2011-05-02T13:49:00.000-07:00

"With its plethora of social movements and tangled politics, South America can seem befuddling to the outside observer. Ben Dangl’s lucidly argued and dynamite book, however, goes a long way towards rectifying the situation. Though political forces on the ground have made significant gains in recent years, they still face uphill battles as they press ostensibly leftist regimes for more concessions. activists in the US can learn from movements based in Latin America. movements and actions in the US that drew from tactics and strategies of the landless movement in Brazil and water rights activists in Bolivia, for example. One major tactic is not allowing a fear of empowering the right dictate all actions as activists. In Brazil, the landless movement continues to support the lesser of two evils in elections while also occupying unused land and working it for survival, regardless of the slow pace of land reform pushed by the government. Social movements in Bolivia have been able to both defend the progressive policies of the Morales government while radicalizing his policies by pressuring him from below. Translating these tactics, in the US, will be different for each community. The past ten years in Latin America have seen a historic shift to the left in the halls of government power and the streets, so it makes sense that people in the US need to learn from these examples if we are to break out of the stranglehold of our stagnant political culture."- Upside down world.

In Brittan "anarchists in Britain have been most visibly active... The extent of the destructive social policies being forced upon us is entirely unprecedented, and they are coming at us so thick and fast that it feels impossible to keep track of them (this is no accident of course) never mind come up with a coherent alternative that everyone fighting the cuts would agree on. Instead, the way the working class is responding is to attempt to fight the cuts and salvage what we can at a local level. But at a national level, not only does no one single strategy dominate, but this is probably a good thing at this stage. No one has managed to stitch up ‘the alternative’ and so dialogue about it is not only possible but still centrally important. The main point of the march, therefore, was to make our anger known, and furiously determined people did this in various ways according to what they understand the point of protest to be."- LibCom

Tactics in Greece, "On top of EU discussion about whether the government will default on their debt or not, the Greek working class are continuing their protests against austerity... in the Athens suburb of Keratea, locals furious over the building of a new landfill site dug a two-meter deep ditch across the Lavriou Highway, leading to Keratea – permanently blocking traffic. Hours later, scuffles broke out with police who rushed to the spot. Athens' top police officer has also recently asked for his men to be removed from the area. Greece has also seen numerous strikes, occupations, demonstrations and riots, all of which are causing many to wonder if Greece is becoming ungovernable."-LibCom

The lessons of global struggles can teach us lessons on how to resist- from street theater and marches of Egypt, to the book-blocs of Italy, from the theater of the oppressed in Mexico to the street riots of Seattle we all have lessons to learn.

"There is clearly a breakdown of the rule of law, and without the rule of law there can be no economic development," said political analyst Takis Michas.

The Student Insurgent holds that lack of laws does not precipitate a lack of order. To the contrary, the greatest order of freedom is one where the people do not have a boot on their neck. The Insurgent stands on solidarity with the oppressed people of the world.

Thanks to:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/2998-latin-america-and-the-us-social-movements-are-the-engines-of-change

http://libcom.org/library/uk-unmasked-new-kids-bloc

http://libcom.org/news/lawlessness-crisis-greece-while-portugal-begin-bailout-talks-18042011

Obama claims Osama is dead.

2011-05-02T01:15:00.000-07:00

US president Obama claims that the former figurehead of the the Al Qaeda has been killed.

The Student Insurgent maintains that killing Osama will not solve 'terrorism', because Osama is only a recent manifestation of the unjust US imperialism. No matter how many Osama's or Che's the US government kills, the force that created them endures and new figure heads will emerge.

US imperialism is not to raise the US flag over a state, it is to raze governments that are resistant to corporate interests- by fomenting civil unrest and internal violence to create instability. Using this instability to justify further violence against sovereign states. Using the US military as a tool to deliver the death blows of a regime, the falling governments will be replaced with a forum in internal strife. In such forums, the pointless religious and social differences will be played against one another to prevent any meaningful resistance to corporate ownership of public goods.

In Iraq this occurred with Oil, in Libya it is occurring with Oil and it will likely continue over natural gas and control of remaining petrol.

These wars over resources and private control will continue unabated. With more military bases established around the globe, to ensure more readily accessible reserves of natural resources. Such military bases are what inspired Osama Bin Laden, the US imposition upon Muslim holy sites. Osama called for a war against the US, not because be hated the people or 'non-believers', but likely on the institution of foreign military control of religious sites.

In a report by scholar Robert Pape, the unifying and universal message behind all 'terrorist' organizations is removal of foreign troops from home soil. If the US wanted to 'fight terrorism', it would have withdrawn troops, instead it has destabilized nations and killed millions of civilians. In a minor success, after a decade, the global hegemonic superpower was able to kill one man. This minor success is overshadowed by the unification of anti-US sentiment under the banner of Al Qaeda.

The Student Insurgent does not endorse violence, ever. We do however, stand in solidarity with the people oppressed under US imperialism and we condemn the ongoing occupations of the home soil and natural resources by the US military or US corporations. We do not support global exploitation, we find that these sorts of military endeavors are not the interests of the occupied people, nor the people of the US and we disavow ourselves of any actions by the US government to perpetuate these global systems of injustice.

Eugene chapter of FOOD NOT BOMBS is starting!

2011-04-13T13:04:00.000-07:00

Food not bombs is a program to take surplus food and serve it to folks in a effort to build community while increasing awareness of issues such as homelessness, poverty, militarism and the effects of capitalism on living beings. The group is consensus based and is made up of individuals who are about their community!

"Join us" says one organizer Stefan Andreev!

The group will be planning and organizing at their first meeting on Friday, April 15th at noon at the Survival Center, the University of Oregon (EMU Suite #1).

For more info contact Stefan at: andreev@uoregon.edu

Cote d'Ivoire President surrenders.

2011-04-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

After a election showed that that Alassane Ouattara had one the presidental election; Laurent Gbagbo, decided to hold onto power. The supporters of the two forces have clashed in protests and military maneuvers. But after months of contention, the former president Gbagbo has been captured.

"Cote d'Ivoire's Laurent Gbagbo has surrendered to the forces of presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara and is being held by them, the United Nations has said."-Aljazeera

This is only days after an "offer to surrender earlier this week by Gbagbo's top three generals was a "trick" to buy time, charged the head of U.N. peacekeeping Friday, according to AP."-Global Post

"Although he is holed up in a bunker at the presidential residence, his troops have regrouped and are well armed. They are launching a new fight against forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of the November presidential election. Gbagbo's men are also fighting against the United Nations peacekeeping force and French troops."-Global Post

"After days of holding out, his compound was stormed by troops on Monday, according to Ivorian, French and U.N. sources. Gbagbo's refusal to accept that he lost a presidential election to Alassane Ouattara last year plunged the country into civil war. He was arrested "to stop these killings, this fighting," Bamba said, adding that he thinks the conflict will stop as news of Gbagbo's capture spreads."-CNN

The future of Cote d'Ivoire, is not entirely clear, but the capture of Gbagbo may mean the end of violence. If however military forces are loyal to Gbagbo, this may only be the start of a longer Civil war. For the moment, Gbagbo's capture may mean the end of violence.

The Student Insurgent will continue to monitor this situation as information is available.

Thanks to:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/110408/ivory-coast-gbagbo-ouattara-united-nations

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/04/201141113442914400.html

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/04/11/ivory.coast.crisis/index.html?hpt=T1

Pop Music

2011-04-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

By: Mark Davis
Pop music sucks when
it's 3 A.M. and your drunk
and laying on the floor of
your apartment and your
all alone and the room
is starting to spin
around and around and
your drunk and there is
vomit on your shoes and
its not even your vomit
and your out of booze and
you blew all your cash on
cocaine and some wretched
bimbo and your real drunk
and you tried to keep the
party going by calling
some friends but no one
answered and your drunk and
starting to feel sick and
the orange ashtray is
overflowing and stinks of
decay and old death and
the radio keeps playing
that shitty tune and it's
playing on and on and on
and it's an empty song
out of an empty head
about an empty life and
suddenly you realize that,
man,
pop music really sucks!

Mark Davis is political prisoner of the failed war on drugs. This was mail-in submission.

UO students demonstrate injustice of Israel.

2011-04-06T11:48:00.000-07:00

On April 6th, students at the University of Oregon set up a mock-occupation, showing the injustice of Israeli apartheid. With fake walls and a checkpoint, students are highlighting the oppressive conditions in Israel.

"The purpose of the wall is to raise awareness about the plight of Palestinians and Israeli-Palestinians under occupation" said Ben Jones, of students for Palestinian Liberation.

The walls feature pictures and informational statements on the history and conditions in Palestine . The display is taking place in the EMU Amphitheater. from 11-3 on Wednesday the 6th.

"It is really important to work as an internationalist, that alot of struggles have similar goals in different locations. It is like the struggle of indigenous rights everywhere in the world" said Lidiana Soto, of Student for Palestinian Liberation.

Student's reactions to the display ranged from 'Oh, my God' to exclamations of intrigue and joy that the issue is being raised.

Taking Academic Space.

2011-04-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

Friday, March 18, dozens of University of Oregon students conducted a teach-in on education accessibility in the John E. Jaqua building, the only academic center on campus that intentionally excluded the majority of UO students. Aside from the ground floor cafe, access to the Jaqua building and its state-of-the-art educational facilities was explicitly prohibited for 22,869 students.

“We desire academic freedom and inclusivity--the privilege to study and engage in an educational experience together,” says Cimmeron Gillespie, a UO senior in political science. “We want to see an inclusive campus which does not segregate its facilities based on student classification, but offers an equal academic opportunity for all students.”

“By denying access, non-athletic department students are being treated as second class citizens on our own campus,” says Jon Long, a UO undergraduate. “It is a disappointment that Athletic Department-funded students privileges are not provided to all students.”

After entering the space the students were informed that the building was now open to all students and community. "This is a space that's open to the public, it;s open to students and we need to do a better job of letting people know that" the University spokesman Phil Wheeler said.

The Jaqua Center's former policy of physically separating students and academic resources based on athletic ability is a violation of the University of Oregon’s stated mission, which boasts its "dedication to the principles of equality of opportunity and freedom from unfair discrimination for all members of the university community". The Jaqua building policies also violates the Athletic Department's mission of developing "a showcase for equality of opportunity.”

While the policy may be changed, the sign still rests above the staircase to the second floor stating that the second floor is for "authorized personnel only". Despite the words still hanging by the steps, the space is now open.

The teach-in challenged the Jaqua facility’s policy by convening on the restricted second floor. This was an opportunity to convene an academic gathering on campus in a publicly owned building. Dozens of determined and disaffected students will demonstrated against the injustice of the policy on the ground floor.

Universities across the country have been regularly restricting academic spaces in a larger move towards privitization, both academic and athletic spaces have often been divided. This devision highlights privilege and access in society. When many students are withheld from the vast spaces of the best equipment and services of society, while small minorities are held above, by physical separation and restrictive services- this is not only hierarchical but oppressive. Requiring the breaking of the cycles of restriction, to generate a fair academic playing field.

News Blast

2011-04-05T12:20:00.000-07:00

Back after several weeks (sorry to keep you waiting), check these out:
Libya:
After ongoing air strikes, destroying Gaddafi's armored units and air power, the resistance movement made painstaking gains Westward. But Gaddafi has been pushing back in a series of offensives. The resistance movement cannot seems to hold towns. In one incident an armored vehicle entered a town and it took two hours of small arms fire to force the vehicle out. Such scenarios indicate the uncertain power of the resistance movement.

The resistance itself, in early stages expelled british foreign secret service agents, but there are reports of US, CIA operation which have been on the ground for weeks. This raises question of how legitimate the resistance is, but undoubtedly for many in Libya the conditions were bad enough to revolt. But what remains uncertain is if they can win against Gaddafi's armor and even if they do, what will stop this from becoming just another propped up dictator or stump government for US interests.

Hungary:
"On March 1st, uniformed members of the vigilante group Civil Guard (Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület), an offshoot of the dreaded Magyar Garda, took control of a Romani neighbourhood in the village of Gyöngyöspata. They set up two checkpoints at the entrance to the neighbourhood and formed a human chain around the houses of Romani residents. The Civil Guard are supported by the right-wing Jobbik party, and now intend to set up chapters in other towns in Hungary, to expand their patrols.

The European Roma Rights Centre, Amnesty International and Human Rights First sent a letter urging Hungarian authorities to intervene and protect the Romani residents of Gyöngyöspata from the intimidation and harassment they have been subjected to by the vigilante organisation, Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület (Civil Guard Association for a Better Future), since 1 March. The Szebb Jövőért Polgárőr Egyesület patrols have been supported by the far-right political party Jobbik, which organised a march of thousands through the village in black military uniform on 6 March. According to the ERRC’s monitoring, there were at least 48 attacks against Roma in Hungary between 2008 and 2010, which resulted in at least 9 deaths. The presence of anti-Roma vigilante groups in Roma neighbourhoods adds to growing inter-ethnic tensions and fuels a climate of violence.

The ERRC called for Hungarian authorities to fulfil their domestic and international human rights obligations in Gyöngyöspata, to intervene immediately to ensure the situation does not escalate into physical violence and to protect the Roma from intimidation and harassment."-IMC

Mexico:
"The Wixarika (Huichol) indigenous people of central west México walk 500 km to the sacred land of Wirikuta, where according to legend, the sun was born. Here, they collect jíkuri (peyote), carry out rituals of purification and come into communion with their gods, who give them blessings and guidance. In this way, they conserve their culture, maintain harmony with nature, and uphold a thousand-year-old tradition.

...A Site of Cultural and Historic Heritage and an Area under Ecological Conservation”; in the year 2000 the protected area was expanded to 140 thousand hectares; and in 2001 it was declared a Sacred Natural Site by UNESCO. There is also a bird sanctuary in Wirikuta. In spite of this, it is currently under siege by First Majestic Silver, a Vancouver-based mining company that paid 3 million dollars to obtain 22 mining concessions in the area.

Majestic Silver’s intentions to reinitiate mining activities in the area. Where the Wixarika people see sacred beauty and the fountain of life, Keith Neumeyer – president and CEO of First Majestic Silver – sees an opportunity to further enrich himself and his company’s shareholders. With state-of-the-art technologies, he hopes to reopen old mines, exploit previously undetected veins of minerals, and squeeze out the last remaining traces of silver from tailings left behind by others. There are promises of job creation and social corporate responsibility, but the jobs are both dangerous and ephemeral. Moreover, it is not entirely clear how cyanide and other noxious substances could possibly be contained.

In Mexico, protected areas and environmental laws are often sidestepped in order to facilitate the activities of national and transnational corporations. The problem, though, is not just one of weak environmental legislation and corruption in Mexico; the Canadian government is also responsible, refusing to regulate resource-extraction companies operating outside of the country."-UDW

Wisconsin:
While the Republican state legislature passed a bill banning the right of collective bargaining, a county circuit court judge Maryann Sumi. This is a short stop, owing to procedure, but may lead to legal battle- "she plans to hold a full hearing on a lawsuit that accuses Republican lawmakers of violating the Wisconsin open meeting requirements to push through the bill"-NY Times.

It seems to be a rule that governments become corrupt, unless held by the people and the natural course of events is for the people to rise up in resistance the corruption. As with Hungarian neighborhood, the state of Wisconsin, or within the nation of Mexico, there is a standard appeal to the system of 'justice' however tattered it may be and if justice will not be done, then the people will rise, as with Libya. But in the case of libya, there is little organized leadership to ask for assistance, so any air strikes seem to be imposed from outside and this raises questions about the legitimacy of the resistance to either sustain itself or be an independent movement.

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with the growing resistance movements across the world, in a call for the right of self determination.

Thanks to:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barry-lando/secret-history-of-the-lib_b_844277.html
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/africa/libya-live-blog-april-2
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2011/03/946952.shtml
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/2981-sacred-indigenous-site-in-mexico-threatened-by-canadian-mining-company
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/us/19wisconsin.html

Libya & the struggle for freedom

2011-03-14T22:00:00.000-07:00

The Student Insurgent has been reluctant to publish stories on Libya without significant details of backing. The the stories during the fighting go back and forth, taking neighborhoods and towns.

The big picture is that the people rose up and defied the government, some military units then sided with the people. During the initial resistance, the spreading uprising was gunned down in the capitol. As the people's resistance was arming itself outside the capitol, a disaster of military armaments occurred, which cost lots of precious munitions.

The Libyan government, led by the Gaddafi family, has been organizing and securing tanks and has its airplanes running again. The use of small arms is ineffective against this assault. The people are being overrun.

The United Nations is debating a 'no fly zone', which would lead to air strikes on all air bases, but even this will not halt the tanks and ground movement. The situation is increasingly bleak for the rebels. Without aid, they are being ground into non-existence. Even with aid, the situation may become a civil war. The Gaddafi family has offered 'amnesty' to anyone of the rebellion willing to lay down arms, but the consensus is that anyone who turns over arms will be killed off in the long term.

Gaddafi is winning a mile-by-mile, bloody campaign. The people are trying to hold out and there are rumors of a growing counter offensive. The hope to turn things around may lead to victory of a battle of the bulge. There is no clear picture of the resistance capacity in military struggle, but the Gaddafi forces are brutal and comparatively well armed.

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with the resistance movement and all movements of liberation and self-determination. The world must intervene soon or this shinning opportunity may collapse, leaving Libya in a dictatorial dark age.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society blocks whaling (wins)!

2011-03-14T07:26:00.000-07:00

The Sea Shepherd program is a direct action network that opposes ocean based animal exploitation and they don't take no excuses from no one. They won a victory against whaling fleets of Japan, who are being recalled, following the Tsunami in that region.-

The Nisshin Maru whaling factory ship made a pivotal course change north, as the Japanese Fisheries Agency announced on February 18th that the whaling fleet had been recalled for this season.

“The Nisshin Maru made a significant course change immediately after the Japanese government made it official that the whaling fleet has been recalled,” said Captain Alex Cornelissen from Sea Shepherd's Bob Barker. “She looks like she’s going home!” The Bob Barker has been tailing the Nisshin Maru since February 9, making it impossible for the whalers to engage in their illegal slaughter in the southern ocean whale sanctuary.

The Japanese whaling fleet, engaged in commercial whaling inder the guise of scientific research, has had an extremely poor season being constantly harrassed and prevented from whaling in all but a few days.

The whaling fleet left Japan in early December, much later than usual. Perhaps a portent for the last commercial whaling season in the southern ocean. For the first time in seven years Sea Shepherd were been able to locate 2 harpoon vessels in the whaling fleet on New Year's Eve before whaling had begun.

The chase of the Nisshin Maru had begun. While the Nisshin Maru fled from the three Sea Shepherd vessels, no whaling could occurr. Sea Shepherd used it's fast intercept vessel, the Gojira, it's helicopter, and weather balloons to help locate the whaling factory ship.

Along the way, Sea Shepherd found the whaling fleet resupply vessel, the Sun Laurel and requested it's removal from the Antarctic Treaty Zone. The Captain complied and Sea Shepherd escorted the Sun Laurel out of the Antarctic Treaty Zone. The whaling fleet has breached the Antarctic Treaty on numerous occasions by refueling in the Antarctic treaty zone.

"Today we celebrate with you a victory for the oceans! Sea Shepherd has turned the tide and provoked a debate in Japan about whaling." said Paul Watson on a blog post.

Greenpeace also celebrated the recall of the whaling fleet, “This historic announcement confirms what we all know: that Japan’s whaling serves no purpose whatsoever and the fleet has no business in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary,” said Junichi Sato, Executive Director of Greenpeace Japan. “All the whaling programme has produced is a stockpile of thousands of tonnes of frozen whale meat, the waste of billions of Japanese taxpayer’s yen, and a culture of corruption and scandal. An early return of the whaling fleet is not enough – Japan’s whaling ships should never leave port again.”

Greenpeace is demanding that Japan’s government finally end its commercial whaling programme and re-open an investigation into corruption scandals inside the industry. The Fisheries Agency of Japan recently admitted that five of its officials who had sailed with the whaling fleet to oversee its activities, had accepted expensive gifts of whale meat from the fleet’s operators.

“The Japanese public doesn’t want to be force-fed whale meat or be forced to bankroll a corrupt and dying industry,” added Sato. “Greenpeace is urging the Japanese government to not only investigate the whale meat scandal we exposed three years ago, but also start taking real action towards protection of the world’s oceans”.

Tensions between Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd and their different approaches to nonviolent direct action and resourcing the campaign to stop commercial whaling have perhaps hindered the campaign at various times. Not least in the lack of co-operation in locating the whaling fleet in past seasons. Now it seems at last all anti-whaling activists can celebrate the end of commercial whaling in the southern ocean for this season and perhaps a final end.

Paul Watson summed up his earnest hope in a post on Saturday February 19, 2011:

"The Japanese government is posturing and talking big in an effort to save face. The reality is that the Japanese whaling industry is an antiquated, dying industry that has no place in the country of Japan in the 21st Century."

"In 1977, Sea Shepherd fought the Australian whalers at Cheynes Beach in Western Australia. It was a bitter and angry confrontation. In 1978, Australia ended whaling, and is now the leading nation on this planet in its defense of the great whales.

“This is my great hope for Japan,” said Captain Watson. “Like Australia, a whaling nation evolving to a state of compassion for the great whales, and I know that when the Japanese embrace a cause, they embrace it with a steadfast and determined loyalty. I predict that Japan will be one of the leading conservationist nations on the planet in the coming years, and the cessation of whaling in the Antarctic Ocean will be the place where it will have begun.”

"The whale war in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is over. The whales have won!"

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with efforts to defend endangered wildlife and preserve natural ecosystems.

thanks to:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/03/12/18674424.php

'You Fascists Bound to Lose'-Woody Guthrie

2011-03-13T05:29:00.000-07:00

Well we'll show these fascist what a couple hillbillies can do!

Well I am a gonna tell you fascists, you may be surprised, people in this world, are gettin' organized. You bound to lose, You fascist bound to lose.

All of you fascists bound to lose, I said. All of you Fascist bound to lose.
All of you fascists bound to lose, I said. All You fascist bound to lose. You Bound to lose, all you fascist bound to lose.

There's people in every nation, marchin' side by side, marchin' across the fields where a million fascists died. You bound to lose, You fascist bound to lose.

All of you fascists bound to lose, I said. All of you Fascist bound to lose.
All of you fascists bound to lose, I said. All You fascist bound to lose. You Bound to lose, all you fascist bound to lose.

All of you fascists bound to lose, I said. All of you Fascist bound to lose.
All of you fascists bound to lose, I said. All You fascist bound to lose. You Bound to lose, all you fascist bound to lose.

Earthquake and Tsunami, warning across teh pacifica rim.

2011-03-11T17:53:00.000-08:00

A massive earth quake hit japan followed by after shock after aftershock. Multiple waves of Tsunamis has been pummeling inland as far as fifteen miles and moving. Earthquake and Tsunami warnings have been advised across the pacific rim.

"On behalf of the University of Oregon, our hearts go out to everyone affected by the earthquake and tsunamis. Since the news broke last night, our International Affairs staff has been monitoring the situation in Japan and communicating with UO students in the country and our UO exchange partners and sister institutions in the Association of Pacific Rim Universities. We are also mindful of the approximately 2,000 UO alumni in Japan.

Here in Oregon we are reaching out to our Japanese students and visiting scholars and helping to make connections with their families back home. We are working with the Japanese Student Association to offer the Mills International Center as a home base for students who may wish to watch the news and connect with other students and staff during this tragedy.

As tsunamis approached the Oregon Coast, I am thankful for the immediate precautions taken by our colleagues at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in Charleston, moving all students and visitors to safe locations before sunrise. Events like this remind us how small the world is, and how much we value our family, friends and colleagues."- University of Oregon President R.LaRiviere.

This incident is made worse by industrialization and the boon of civilization. A nuclear plant in Japan may be venting toxic waste and there are floating masses burning in the Tsunami tide as they are pushed inland The water is on fire. These problems are outrageous.

The Insurgent stands in solidarity with all the families of students who are hurting and worried. This will be a hard time coming up for recovery and especially for the exchange students who have families in Japan. Take care everyone.

Pro Union Rally outside the Eugene, OR, Hilton.

2011-03-11T17:32:00.000-08:00

Insurgent reporter a union rally in solidarity with Wisconsin at the Eugene Hilton. Following a march from the University of Oregon!

"There is major rally at the Eugene Courthouse, NOW"-Steve M.(5:39pm)

With signs saying:
'Wages are too damn low'
'you bet your ass we're the working class'
'Go Democracy!!!'
'we're sick and tired of being sick and tired.'
'Union busting is killing our American dream'
'Ducks for workers'
'We are Wisconsin'

Numbering in the Dozens (plural), with these signs and speeches on a megaphone, the workers called to defend the right to collective bargaining. The crowd has swelled to hundreds! The event was organized by AFSCME and the University Graduate Student Union the GTFF

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with the protests around the world for self determination and efforts to make a better life.

Support a General Strike in Wisconsin!

2011-03-10T23:06:00.001-08:00

What Do We Face?

Walker's bill, if passed, will strip public-sector unions of the right to collectively bargain regarding all workplace issues other than basic wages. Workers would no longer have a legal say in their pensions, their healthcare plans, workplace safety, or any other pertinent issues. Without collective bargaining, we have no legally-recognized way to influence how we are treated at our jobs. Workers with access to a union have an opportunity to make their workplaces more democratic. Think about how much time we dedicate to work and work-related activities. With so much of our lives spent in undemocratic workplaces, how could we have real democracy in the rest of our lives?

The impact of Walker's bill reaches far beyond unions and public servants. Stripping public workers of their right to bargain affects the rights of everyone who works for a living. This attack on workers' rights will not stop with the public sector or with Wisconsin. These anti-union bills are spreading around the country from Indiana to Ohio to Nebraska in an effort to serve the corporate elite by lowering labor costs and weakening all labor.

What Does Any of This Have to Do With A General Strike & With Wisconsin?

In the recently released prank call by a journalist pretending to be billionaire David Koch, Scott Walker said, “All week there's been 15-30,000 [protesters] a day, but I remind our lawmakers that there's 5.5 million people in this state and just because a bunch of guys who can jump off work because of their union[s]...doesn't mean the rest of your people are with you.” The truth is that these protesters are not “guys who can jump off work” – they are students, activists, union and non-union workers from the public and private sectors, Wisconsin families, and members of the religious community. Additionally, unionized and non-unionized workers both risk job security by taking time to protest. Essentially, Governor Walker doesn't think that the protesters represent the rest of the state. He thinks that the majority of Wisconsin agrees with his attempt to strip workers of basic rights. He is wrong. Despite facing opposition from millions, Walker still won't budge from his position on this issue. It will take something bigger from the unions, and from the working-class as a whole: a general strike.

A general strike will show Walker that millions of people are willing to fight his agenda

A General Strike: The Ultimate Tool of Change

What exactly is a general strike? A general strike is a strike involving workers across multiple trades or industries that involves enough workers to cause serious economic disruption.

In essence, a general strike is the complete and total shutdown of the economy. A general strike can last for a day, a week, or longer depending on the severity of the crisis, the resolve of the strikers, and the extent of public solidarity. During the strike, large numbers of workers in many industries (excluding employees of crucial services, such as emergency/medical) will stop working and no money or labor is exchanged. All decisions regarding the length of the strike, the groups of workers who continue working, and demands of the strikers are decided by a strike committee.

Past victories won by general strikes are:

· Chicago, New York, Cincinnati, and elsewhere, 1886 – First victory in the fight for an eight-hour day

· Toledo, OH, 1934 – First successful unionization of the auto industry.

· San Francsico, CA, 1934 – Unionization of all West Coast ports of the United States.

· Poland, 1980 – Began the process of democratic reforms that led to the end of Soviet control over the country.

· Egypt, 2011 – Brought the 30-year reign of an autocratic despot to an end.

If enough of us act together, we’ll see some serious changes, and quick. That’s the “general” part of a general strike. We’re all divided up by race, religion, gender, and political affiliation. In a general strike, people come together in large numbers across those divisions and unite around our struggles as workers. If enough of us stand together and stop work, Walker’s bill will be defeated – even if it passes! If enough of us are united, WE can decide the outcome.

Who should participate and how

A general strike against Walker would begin the process of rebuilding a strong labor movement in the United States. Since the U.S. plays such an important role in the global economy and world political system, this could also invigorate workers' struggles around the planet. To make it happen will require participation from many people across industries, across unions, and across the country.

Public Workers

The South Central Federation of Labor, a federation of over 97 labor organizations representing 45,000 workers, has endorsed to educate and prepare for a general strike. If your local is part of a different federation or district council, contact their Executive Board and your members and start your preparations for a strike immediately.

Union Members and General Strikes

Trade unions enable large groups of people a powerful, unified voice, from the local and its officers, representatives, stewards, and negotiators up to the level of a union, such as AFSCME. It may be difficult to get your union officials to agree to a general strike. Labor law is set up in the United States to discourage unions from standing together. Your union’s officials will be afraid of possible legal ramifications. They will also be afraid that no other unions will endorse the call or actually carry out the strike. Your union may have contractual agreements that union officers are worried about. Be prepared for these objections. Remind everyone that if the labor movement does not take a stand to stop Scott Walker today, there may not be a labor movement tomorrow. There are risks to building a general strike, but the much bigger risk is that Walker will accomplish his anti-union agenda.

Talk to your co-workers about the general strike. If you are meeting soon, there is a sample resolution to be found at madison.iww.org that you can bring to your local. If you aren’t meeting soon, talk to your coworkers and union stewards about holding an emergency meeting; most local unions have rules that allow for these types of meetings in their bylaws. Help educate your fellow workers by sharing this pamphlet and the news. Form an education and preparation committee to help organize your local.

If it seems that your union is opposing the desires of their rank-and-file to hold a strike, it is possible to act on a general strike without the consent of these leaders, as long as enough rank-and-filers stand together. A strike committee can be formed by a few elected representatives from each participating local who then gather into a larger coordinating body. These representatives should be elected by the rank-and-file members of each local and they should be able to be recalled by a majority vote of the workers they represent at any time. This body would have to hold together when (not if, when) one group is attacked or encouraged to strike out on its own.

If your shop decides not to go out, you can still strike “on the job”, that is, slow down or halt production through clumsiness, ignorance, or “work-to-rule”: following the rules so carefully that nothing gets done.

How the rest of us can prepare

In order to successfully conduct a general strike we must fully prepare ourselves for all possibilities.

The first step is to get as many workers to commit to the strike as possible. This needs to be done beforehand; not the day before the strike, and not after the strike has begun. We need to be able to trust the commitments of other workers, regardless of union affiliation. Talk about the general strike with people at rallies, at work, online, and at home with your friends, family, and neighbors. Ask your community about practical ways that they can aid a potential general strike or pass around the included leaflet to community groups in the area. Consider preparing a phone tree or online contact list to keep your friends, family, and fellow workers connected and prepared for emergencies.

Bring cardboard, markers, sticks, and tape to make picket signs; write protest chants and songs; bring bullhorns from your workplace or home to the street. There is already a support system in the capitol building for hungry and injured protesters, but we need to be prepared to expand these systems to a larger scale. Being on strike is exciting, but it is also difficult and tiring. When a general strike happens, workers will need to push each other to stay resolute, support each other when times are hard, and be able to ask for and accept help when they need it. When you are tired, hand your sign to someone else and get some rest. Protesters at the capitol have created amazing mutual support networks over the past weeks through little more than word-of-mouth, and if we continue to work together these networks can only get stronger.

Why rank and file solidarity is important for a general strike

It is important in a general strike to support other workers regardless of their positions in the workforce (unionized, non-unionized, public or private)-- to build the kind of relationship where an injury to one group of workers is an injury to all. Within our locals & unions, personal rivalries and pettiness can erode unity and the ability to work together for common gains. Groups can be pitted against one another during a general strike―city workers versus workers in more rural or isolated areas, or, as Gov. Walker attempted (but failed) to do, police and fire departments against the rest of the municipal workforce. When one group of workers is pitted against another, the strength the movement is in trouble. In a general strike, rumors about a lack of solidarity and inappropriate acts may be circulated by our governor and anti-worker segments of the media to deliberately demoralize and divide the participating groups. We must make an effort to not believe everything we hear―to go to the source and get facts before reacting.

Solidarity means uniting everyone: union and non-union, native citizens and immigrants, men and women, white and black and brown. A labor movement that turns away any worker isn’t anything but a powerless social club. We must believe all other workers can have a higher standard of living and gain the power and respect they deserve on the workplace. We will need to seek out individuals, organizations and community groups of all colors and creed. Their fight is our fight!

Solidarity makes us stronger and it spreads quickly. People are impressed by it and drawn to learn about and support our causes. Love really is stronger than hate, and many working families throughout labor battles in the past have been inspired by positive support from all corners of the working population. “Workers united will never be defeated,” we chant―for good reason.

Ways to Know When It's Happening

T he efforts towards a general strike are just beginning and the lines of communication we use will emerge as the situation evolves.

For updates, a sample resolution for your local, and more information on the General Strike, visit madison.iww.org

To send statements of solidarity or to ask for help educating your fellow workers or community members about the general strike, contact wigeneralstrike@gmail.com

Published 2011 by the Madison IWW

PO Box 2442, Madison, WI 53703-2442

Wisconsin

2011-03-10T23:05:00.000-08:00

The state passed a anti-collective bargaining bill. The Police have shut down the capitol...

"The vote was 53-42 in favor of the bill.
"I applaud all members of the Assembly for showing up, debating the legislation and participating in democracy," Gov. Scott Walker said in a written statement.
State Senate Republicans had approved the amended version Wednesday night, despite the absence of 14 Democratic senators who fled the state to prevent a necessary quorum of 20 votes.
The amended bill stripped the spending components out of the original proposal, enabling lawmakers to pass the measure with fewer votes."-CNN

"Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker unveiled billions of dollars worth of cuts to social programs and further tax cuts to the rich today in front of a small crowd of supportive citizens and lawmakers. In Walker’s budget proposal, schools would be prohibited from raising taxes to make up for the $900 million loss of state funding. Medicaid users will pay higher co-pays and deductibles to cover $500 million in cuts to the federal health care program for low-income people. Walker’s proposal will eliminate the rules that allow non-violent prisoners to earn time off of their sentences through good behavior, as well as in-state tuition for children of undocumented immigrants. Cities and counties will lose, respectively, $60 million and $34 million in state funding. Citizens in the audience were both admiring and respectful.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of demonstrators flooded the capitol lawn, banging on noisemakers and shouting “Recall Walker!” and “Kill the Bill!” Protestors swarmed the capitol entrance on State Street demanding access to their locked capitol building during the budget address. Next, they marched towards the King St. entrance in order to find the media crews who, protest leaders said, were busy filming a much smaller demonstration. Demonstrators have been demanding entrance to the building ever since 4 p.m. on Sunday when the police first locked the doors. But according to the state’s Department of Administration (DOA) the capitol is open to the public."-Twin Cities IndyMedia.

Meanwhile Unions are calling for a general strike:
"
Fellow Workers and Supporters:

The following motions were passed by the SCFL Monday February 21st:

Motion 1: “The SCFL endorses a statewide general strike, possibly for the day Walker signs his ”Budget Repair Bill,” and requests the Education Committee immediately begin educating affiliates and members on the organization and function of a general strike.”

Motion 2: “The SCFL goes on record as opposing all cuts contained in Walkers ”Budget Repair Bill,” including, but not limited to, curtailed bargaining rights and reduced wages, benefits, pensions, funding for public education and Medicare.”

Please pass supporting motions in your council and organize committees to begin educating affiliates and members on the organization and function of a general strike."-IWW

"Cries of "Shame, Shame, Shame!" filled the Capitol building following Thursday's vote. The bill will soon be delivered to Walker's desk, who is expected to sign the bill into law. Meanwhile, at least one Senate Democrat said he has returned to his home state after spending weeks in Illinois in an effort to prevent the bill's passage. Sen. Jim Holperin said the remaining 13 absentee Democrats will be returning individually between Thursday and Saturday. But Democrat Sen. Kathleen Vinehout quickly disputed that assertion, claiming absentee lawmakers have remained in Illinois. She added that she did not know where Holperin was. The weeks-long standoff reached a fever pitch Thursday after a spokesman for Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said the leader received two death threats, which detailed the ways in which the writer claimed Fitzgerald would be killed. Both threats were e-mailed from the same address, said the majority leader's spokesman, Andrew Welhouse."-CNN

This blow is a cry for class war. You, Walker, take our rights to live healthy and fulfilling lives, can we take away yours? Our rights of economic justice and equality, if you take them there will be a specter haunting America. You, Walker will have brought it.

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with efforts for economic justice. Solidarity Forever.

thanks to:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/10/wisconsin.budget/index.html

http://twincities.indymedia.org/2011/mar/police-shut-down-wi-capitol-walker-proposes-massive-upward-redistribution-state’s-wealth-0

http://www.iww.org/en/node/5352

Keeping the flame of resistance

2011-03-10T20:25:00.001-08:00

This Picture was sent to the Insurgent, keeping resistance alive.

Forest Service's Own Scientists Question the Relevance of Contested Trapper Timber Sale

2011-03-09T01:13:00.000-08:00

Cascadia Wildlands Reports:

"Cascadia Wildlands and Oregon Wild are currently in litigation over the legality of the Trapper timber sale on the McKenzie Ranger District of the Willamette National Forest. The timber sale was originally planned in 1998 as an experiment and proposes to aggressively log 150 acres of mature and old-growth forests above Blue River. New information not considered in the environmental review, including information about imperiled species, compelled the lawsuit. The plaintiffs are being represented by attorneys at Cascadia Wildlands and Western Environmental Law Center.

While reviewing court documents in the case, plaintiffs discovered a memo from prominent scientists at the Pacific Northwest Research Station to the Forest Service questioning the relevance of the project today. From the memo: "Research investment in learning from the Trapper units has been minimal. Therefore, we do not see substantial lost research investment or research opportunity by foregoing the Trapper units."

The Eugene Weekly covered this story in its most recent edition and disclosed more details of the memo. Efforts by plaintiffs and the Forest Service to encourage Seneca Jones Timber Co., the purchaser of Trapper, to pursue less controversial timber volume in lieu of logging the timber sale has been unsuccessful. Please take action today encouraging the Forest Service to cancel the reckless timber sale."

The Student Insurgent stands in Solidarity with efforts to defend out wildland areas!

Checkout this link to Cascadia Wildlands website for more info:
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5868/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4109

ASUO President's Veto Upheld, OSPIRG chapter to be RE-Funded

2011-03-09T01:02:00.000-08:00

The President of the Associated Students of the University of Oregon (ASUO), Vetoed the ACFC Budget (Athletic & Contracts Finance COmmittee, a budget committee of the Student Senate)- a budget that did not include funding for the OSPIRG- the Student run, Public Interest Research Group.

The vote was narrow and the discussion involved threats of resignation. But OSPIRG will receive an additional hearing, almost guaranteed to receive funding. While the ACFC budget currently only contains $5,000, the committee plans to renegotiate a contract with local transportation bureau (Lane Transit District, LTD) and possibly other contracts.

OSPIRG has been a chapter without funding for three years and has continued to function with the aid of other state chapters. This funding will go towards a chapter organizer and mostly towards a office staff in Salem who advocates on public policy issues and a federal staff who lobbies in D.C.

It is worthy of note that the University of Oregon chapter of OSPIRG, was the the original chapter of the PIRGs: Public Interest Research Groups. Which operate in many states.

The stated reason for dismissal three years ago was 'repeated services'. There was serious conservative pressure against the group; but the funds which are used (student funds) cannot be allocated based on the content of action, only upon whether services were rendered or not- a 'viewpoint neutral' decision. This question of service was ignored, in the original decision, but viewpoint neutrality must govern the dispersal of student funds.

The PIRGs have been accused of being reformists, hierarchical and even oppressive. These claims are of merit in deciding to participate in such a group, but they have no bearing upon funding.

The Insurgent Stands in Solidarity with efforts of political action, generally.

Peace, Feast and Walk- a Community Event

2011-03-08T22:55:00.000-08:00

"Please join our efforts to make Eugene/Springfield a city of human security, a 'City of Peace' Walking together for a just world without war."

Saturday March 19th, 1130am -1pm, gather at First Christian Church(1166 Oak St., Eugene).
Chili provided by Church WOmen United, Additional Food Welcomed.

"Peace is more than simply the absence of war; it's the presence of Justice"- Martin Luther King

Sponsored by:
The Community Alliance of Lane County (CALC), Beyond War, Code Pink, Community Mediation Services, First Christian Church, Food for Lane County, Peace Alliance, Permaculture Guild, Peace Village, and Women's Action for a New Direction (WAND).

The Student Insurgent Stands in Solidarity with efforts to build a more peaceful world full of understanding.

Report back from a farm in Mexico

2011-03-08T22:36:00.000-08:00

The explosions call the Catholic pilgrims, the humans call the blood
sucking bugs. Circling, coming from all directions. The soul, the red
life stream. We love you.

Apparently the name of this eco-village is actually Ohmsua. Their
sponsor is Agrinac.

Things I’ve done on Ohmsua so far:
Our meals were so irregular I took initiative to cook, and have cooked
lunch and comida and sometimes dinner for five to seven people each
day (on a fire, usually beans, oatmeal, eggs, and we always have
tortillas (12 for 10 pesos ($1 USD)! ). Starting to get into more
complex foods like falafel with garbonzo beans we grind and soy milk.
I like cooking now, and will probably continue experimenting with
oddities when I return. Have to figure out how to produce my own oil
though… Let’s cook!
Dug and filled a trench.
Collected limo (organic matter that has been removed from a stream).
Created plans or done math for a stair case, making nopal paint, and a
simple refrigeration system. The stair case will be steep with very
tall steps, which seems silly to me. The nopal paint dries white and
is made by mixing nopal cactus with salt, lime, and water. I know of
two simple refrigeration systems. One uses two clay pots with one
fitting into the other. Wetted sand is put in between the two pots and
a wetted towel to cover it all which works as evaporative cooling. The
other involves digging a hole (the deeper the better) and lining the
bottom with cement and the sides with bricks. You have two lids to
create an upper chamber to trap heat. The temperature below ground
remains fairly constant not too far down, so it works well.
Painted with nopal paint.
Cut pieces of plastic for a dome that probably will not get done.
Seen glowing worms (I didn’t know where else to say this).
The work here is usually much more relaxed that at El Chuzo, but I
feel like I have much less free time and less energy. There is no
electricity so it is candle or a campfire at night (I don’t like using
my flashlights).
Jack wants to do many things with the place. He wants to plant
hundreds of roses and dry them and press the oil. He has begun raising
rabbits. First for the children, because children love their softness.
Second for the poop and urine. Third for their fur. Fourth for their
fur. In the natural foods store he wants to set up a system of food
trading.

This place is pretty negative, and it has gotten to both of us. The
owner Jack uses generalized terms to refer to us. The white people or
kids. He is stupid, and has even told me one plant can be eaten raw
which I researched and discovered can actually cause death if eaten
raw (poke weed). One of the young workers, Chucho, uses passive
aggressive language and makes fun of us like we’re in some
competition. I’m hoping to put a bad review on their WWOOF page so
WWOOFers don’t come here, but then, it’s a really cool project that I
think should be supported. The people here are just assholes. It’s
also hard to sleep when there is a chance of rain because I didn’t
bring tent poles to reduce the weight of my pack so the netting is in
my face and moisture accumulates. The bug bites start itching at
random hours too. Not to mention the explosions and rooster that start
sounding off at six in the morning…

I’ve hit my first roadblock here with everyone. It’s so apparent I
have some growing up to do and things to learn, but so badly want to
be back in Oregon reading a book or doing something mindless on the
computer. I have to confront this though. Ignoring it and putting it
away is what I’ve always done, but can’t now.
Friendship confuses me, but that’s why I’m here. Love and hatred. God
and the Devil.
If we can make it through this little bit of time, the next farm we
plan on going to sounds amazing, and the town is known for their
ice-cream! No more tents. Hot showers. Probably more bugs, but
whatever. We may just end up going to Chalma and finding a place in
the woods we can camp out until we can go to the next farm, but that
raises its own difficulties…

I want fiction so badly. I didn’t realize how important it was to me,
even when I went on my media and art fast for five months two years
ago. I am going to binge on books and games when I get back. My only
way of escaping this place is by drawing pictures, writing little
stories to go along with them, and thinking of all the stories that
I’ve heard in my life. Unfortunately my memory is not so good, but
it’s enough.
That said I did bring one book, The Little Prince. I haven’t read it
yet on this journey, but I keep seeing and hearing little relics that
remind me of it… The Little Prince and the Fox on a key chain at El
Chuzo… Hearing about a volcano… Seeing thousands of birds flying
overhead… Going through the desert… The Snake… Water… Friendship. It’s
one of those last resorts.

It was supposed to rain, but we only saw flashes of lightning every
few seconds in the distance. We’ve been dry for the past month and a
half and have been through 10 degrees Farhenheit to a high of about 90
degrees Farhenheit.

Since I left about five or six weeks ago (wow, it seems so much
longer), I’ve spent less than $300 USD. It is very cheap to travel
through Mexico hitchhiking or not, but unfortunately very difficult to
recycle things. I’ve had to throw away a lot. Most packaging has a
trashcan symbol and a recycling symbol, though it doesn’t seem like
too many people recycle here.

Sage Lisky
Corespondent, Student Insurgent.

A Communiqué from 'Radical Women'

2011-03-08T03:56:00.000-08:00

"One hundred years ago, female workers and socialists first observed a holiday that honored courageous battles by and for working women: International Women's Day. Then, as now, the questions of women and revolution were tightly interwoven. Initially marking heroic strikes by New York textile workers, March 8 has been the occasion of female-sparked revolutions and uprisings from Russia 1917 to the present day.

Sisters rise up globally, around the world, women are part of grassroots revolts against poverty and fear. In numerous Arab nations, women are instrumental to electrifying mobilizations against oppressive regimes. They have led marches, cared for the injured, defended other women, and stood their ground against government thugs. Strikes and rallies led by female workers in Egypt were pivotal to toppling the despised Mubarak regime.

These struggles are far from over. Feminists must stand in solidarity with our sisters by opposing threatened U.S. military intervention in the Middle East and North Africa, especially if the Pentagon tries to justify occupation by manufacturing panic about "defending women" against Islamic fundamentalism.

In the United States, "union maids" are key to mass actions and occupations by public workers defending living standards and collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana. As a legacy of affirmative action, the majority of public workers are women and people of color-including teachers, nurses, office staff, and social workers. National Nurses United and others are boldly standing firm against concessions. They ask why the poor and workers are expected to "share the sacrifice" while last year Corporate America raked in record profits and Wall Street paid average bonuses of $128,530. Instead of slashing social services and workers' pay and benefits, elected officials should balance government budgets by ending give-aways to big business and the rich.

In all these battles for justice, women are proving themselves militant fighters for liberation. This is no surprise. The worldwide exploitation of women has created a specially oppressed sex whose potential for revolt and capacity for leadership is second to none. Their contributions and particular needs must be recognized.

All the way to liberation
In the past, some revolutionary movements have failed when they refused to deal with women's oppression or take on capitalism. Under the guise of "unity," women in El Salvador, Guatemala and Iran were told they must wait until some distant point in the future for an end to their oppression. The chance for progress passed and conservative regimes consolidated their hold. To avoid a repeat of this history, Hoda Badran, Egyptian activist and chairperson for the Cairo-based Alliance for Arab Women, says, "We have to demand our rights. I myself am optimistic but we cannot just sit around and do nothing."

Social and economic revolution are needed to win female liberation because the insatiable capitalist thirst for profits relies on inequality and the unpaid and underpaid labor of the female sex. Women, and their allies among queers, immigrants, youth and the entire working class, have the need and the strength to build a planned, collective socialist economy to feed, house, educate, and nurture all humanity.

Celebrate the revolutionary leadership of women by getting involved with Radical Women. Check us out at http://www.radicalwomen.org/. There you can learn more about our socialist feminist ideas and organizing efforts, and order a copy of The Radical Women Manifesto.

Viva the revolutionary force of women!"

The Student Insurgent offers the only possible response to such a call- VIVA!

Libertarian Mixed Feelings on Wisconsin

2011-03-08T03:35:00.000-08:00

From C4SS- Center for a Stateless Society:

Anarchists want to abolish the state, with all functions now performed by the state being performed by voluntary associations. So naturally, we object to “public employment” — the funding of services through compulsory taxation — in principle.

The question is, how do we get there from here?

Some things currently done by tax-funded government employees are legitimate functions that would still exist in some form in a stateless society. Mail delivery is one example. Education would no doubt be different in many ways in a free society — no compulsory attendance laws, and no processing of human resources for the corporate state. But teaching children is an important function in any society, and much that public school teachers do now would probably carry over without much change. Even some of what police do, like stopping violent crime and apprehending aggressors, would still be necessary — but without laws against victimless crimes, or any of the thuggish behavior regularly chronicled by people like Radley Balko.

Many government employees perform such functions in an environment where the state has coopted the function and crowded out alternative ways of organizing it.

If we view the state as preempting necessary functions, and interposing itself between the providers of services and recipients of those services, our ultimate goal is to devolve such functions into the realm of voluntary association. Removing the parasitic middlemen, who have inserted themselves into the relationship between service providers and recipients, is an important part of this process. Anything that strengthens the hand of public sector workers against the commanding heights of the state, also weakens the hand of the state and its plutocratic allies.

It’s hardly obvious, despite Scott Walker’s rhetoric, that reduced bargaining power for public sector workers will translate directly into reduced taxes. The upper management of government bureaucracies typically justify cuts in pay, benefits and staffing levels for those actually providing services in the name of saving the taxpayers’ money — and then more than eats up any savings with management featherbedding, junkets and “motivational retreats” for themselves. To the extent that public sector unions fight attempts at downsizings, speedups and cutting corners, they may actually be defending the interests of service recipients at the expense of their bureaucratic bosses.

In the case of public schools, anything that strengthens the hands of school administrators and education departments at the expense of the autonomy of rank-and-file teachers, also serves to impose the authoritarian educationist dogma on all of them. The biggest victims of such policies are frequently, not incompetents and illiterates, but those who teach their pupils to question authority and undermine the official ideology of the corporate state. The best teachers I ever had in the belly of the beast, the ones who led me furthest astray from orthodoxy, spent most of their time looking over their shoulders. If anything’s guaranteed to weed out such mavericks, it’s removing their job security and turning them into at-will employees at the mercy of idjut principals and superintendents.

The same is true of other taxpayer-funded services. It’s often the production workers who fight hardest against senior management attempts to downsize service staff and skim off the savings for themselves. An at-will worker with no union contract is a lot less likely to stick her neck out as a public advocate against the management of a post office or VA hospital.

And frankly, Walker’s attempts to depict public sector workers as privileged leeches for their pay and benefit levels rankles me more than a little, given my own status as a blue collar worker. The compensation and bargaining power enjoyed by public sector workers were once shared by a major share of private sector workers, before people of Walker’s ilk busted private sector unions a generation ago.

So while I object to government employment in principle, I’m uneasy about the standard libertarian framing of the issue with rank-and-file government workers as the villains and Walker as the good guy. If it’s a mistake to defend government workers as such, the people who rally behind Wisconsin’s state employees at least do so on sound instincts.

They perceive, rightly, that Walker wants to break public sector unions not out of any principled attachment to free markets, but because they’re unions. Unions, such as they are, are one of the few remaining vestiges of a middle class way of life, in an age of stagnant real wages and skyrocketing CEO wages and corporate profits. Walker, like other establishment Republicans, serves the interests of an unholy alliance between big government and big business. If you want to know which master’s voice he obeys, just pay attention to who he takes calls from.

Our goal is to replace the present system with a different way of doing things — not to vilify those caught up in it.

Noam Chompsky to come to the University of Oregon.

2011-03-08T03:25:00.000-08:00

World-renowned linguist, philosopher, political theorist and activist Noam Chomsky to deliver the Collins Distinguished Lecture, “Global Hegemony: The Facts, The Images”

at 7:00 pm, April 20th, 2011 in Columbia Hall 150 @ The University of Oregon in Eugene.

Sponsored by the English Department at the University of Oregon, this event is free and open to the public.

Mark your calendars now for what is sure to be a popular event!

The Student Insurgent encourages attendance at this event.

US Uncut and the protests against Bank of America

2011-03-08T03:21:00.000-08:00

Eugene formed a chapter of US Uncut- the movement to call in corporate taxes. No more corporate tax cuts, make them pay.

Protests are starting against Bank of America's tax evasion and are happening in many areas. Bank of America paid $0 in federal income tax in 2009 but received $45 million in tax payer bailouts and a $1.2 billion tax benefit from the federal government. Actions have been happening all across America and the UK.

The Eugene chapter held a protest Saturday February 26th, holding a picket line against the bank, which takes money, exploits the public and is a tax-dodger.

Saturday March 12 at the Bank of America branch on 11th and Pearl, from 9am-2pm.

Come join in, thanks for your support.

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with the movement to demand corporate taxes and paying their share to pay for the services they and all their employees use (like roads for instance).

Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) happening now!

2011-03-03T18:27:00.000-08:00

PIELC is a long standing world renown conference. Check out the 2011 schedule here:

http://www.pielc.org/2011/panels.html

Including Keynote Lynn Henning, Thursday; Bruce Nilles & Lori Caramanian, Earl Blumenauer and Arjun Makhijani Friday; Carl Safina and Jeremy Wates, Saturday; Humberto Rios Labrada and Dr. Vandana Shiva, Sunday.

This promises to be a great event.

last minute event notice: "The Power of the Food Industry"

2011-03-03T18:18:00.000-08:00

"How decisions made in our nation's capitol impact the foods in our community, our farms, our schools, and ultimately- our bodies."
This informational panel encompasses a variety of issues such as agribusiness subsidies, the economic and physical effects of the foods that receive subsidies,
and the standard of food served in schools.
Invited will be a professor, an advocate, and a dietician to speak to these issues, followed by public Q&A.

Thursday, March 3rd , 7 PM
301 Gerlinger Hall, University of Oregon

Delay and new issue

2011-03-03T15:18:00.000-08:00

Week 8 projects have delayed the upcoming posts, check back over the weekend for our regular news. The Insurgent apologizes for the delay.

The latest issue, 22.3 (the NASCO issue) is out and in stands! Look for a free copy in a distro-box near you!

We have another issue in the printer so more will come soon!

Support Immigrants have the right to economic mobility!

2011-03-01T14:02:00.000-08:00

1190 KEX News is hosting a poll on SB845.

"Senate Bill 845 will restore access to an Oregon state driver's license for all Oregonians, regardless of their citizenship status. The thinking is if immigrants don't have a license, they can't get insurance and if they don't have insurance and get in a wreck with you, you're left paying all the cost. With that said, would you support such a bill?"

http://www.1190kex.com/pages/news_poll.html

Nuclear Information Night- Lane County's dirty dealings

2011-03-01T03:06:00.000-08:00

Free: Nuclear Information night, March 7th, 2011. from 6:30-9:30pm, Harris Hall, Eugene. 8th and Oak.

To discuss radioactive trucks on I-5, Radioactive waste in rivers and on land near you, Irradiation of your foods, Radiation for Medicines, Atomic Age Actions to take and the Solar Alternative.

Keynote speaker: Jerry Pollet, to discuss Hanford.

"What we don't know can hut us"

13 loads have already been moved through Land County.

For more info see: www.nukeinfo.net.

"We seek a world free of war and the threat of war" Is this not cultural war, environmental war and a threat to the existence of people everywhere?

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with ongoing resistance to nuclear programs.

University Women's Center celebrates International Women's day, presents: Dr. Vandana Shiva

2011-03-01T02:44:00.000-08:00

100th Anniversary
International Women's Day
March 3, 2011
Doors at 6:30, event at 7pm
UO Agate Hall (1787 Agate St )
Keynote speaker: Dr. Vandana Shiva

International Women's Day celebrates the collective power of women past, present and future. Please join us in a night of celebration with talks by Dr. Vandana Shiva, Dr. Lamia Karim, Mobility International, Guadalupe Quinn with Amigos Multicultural Services Center and performances by UO international students. Tickets available at the UO Ticket Office, 541.346.4363. The event is $5 for students $8 for general. For more information, please contact the ASUO Women’s Center at 541-346-4095.

Vandana Shiva:
Dr. Shiva is an international scientist, ecofeminist and activist focusing on the issues of agriculture and food, bioethics, globalization, gender, and the worldwide impacts of climate change. Shiva suggests that a more sustainable and productive approach to agriculture can be achieved through reinstating a system of farming in India that is more centered around engaging women. She advocates against the prevalent "patriarchal logic of exclusion," claiming that a woman-focused system would change the current system in an extremely positive manner. She is the founder and director of the Research Foundation on Science, Technology, and Ecology, and the program born out of this foundation, Navdanya.

Police join Protest in Madison

2011-02-28T10:45:00.000-08:00

"We know pretty well now, who you work for. Let me tell you who we work for- We work for all these people. We are not here Mr.Walker, to do your bidding, we are here to do their bidding"-Madison Police chief.

The police were order to perform an eviction on 2/27/11 at 4am but instead, the police camped out with the demonstrators!

"Let me tell you why we are here, every one of us took an oath when we started this job, to protect and serve the members of our community and that is exactly what we intend to do. This is not a budget issue, this is a civil rights issue."

In addition one state Republican announced that he will not vote for this bill. If 2 more join him, the bill will fail.

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with the workers and union members who are defending their rights to organize.

Speaker at University to discusses Israel-Palestine issues

2011-02-28T09:53:00.000-08:00

Jewish author Richard Forer, a former AIPAC member with ultra-Orthodox relatives in Israel, will speak on the topic of his new book, Breakthrough: Transforming Fear into Compassion –A New Perspective on the Israel-Palestine Conflict. www.richardforer.com

A spokesperson for “Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel” that inspired billboard campaigns in Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle, he recently wrote to the Eugene Human Rights Commission encouraging their proposed letter condemning Israel for its lethal May 31, 2010 attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. There will be opportunity for discussion and book signing.

The program will be held Thursday, March 10 at 7 pm in UO Chiles Hall, Room 128, sponsored by Al-Nakba Awareness Project, the UO Arab Student Union and the UO Muslim Student Association.

Chiles Hall, rm. 128, University Oregon
955 E. 13th, 13th & Kincaid
Eugene OR 97403

Libya Today

2011-02-26T02:09:00.000-08:00

The battle for Libya has turned into a war. The capital is embattled, with Gaddafi's palace secure, but the other cities are dueling the Gaddafi loyalists, who are hopelessly outnumbered- some estimates saying 5,000, plus mercenaries. But the people have far less machinery and training, excepting the military who sided with the people.

The loyalists and liberators are dueling in several cities. "Within the country, anti-government protesters said the demonstrations were gaining support, and footage believed to be filmed on Friday appeared to show soldiers in uniform joining the protesters.

The footage showed soldiers being carried on the shoulders of demonstrators in the city of Az Zawiyah, after having reportedly turned against the government - a scene activists said is being repeated across the country. Our correspondent in Libya reported on Friday that army commanders in the east who had renounced Gaddafi's leadership had told her that military commanders in the country's west were also beginning to turn against him.

They warned, however, that the Khamis Brigade, an army special forces brigade that is loyal to the Gaddafi family and is equipped with sophisticated weaponry, is currently still fighting anti-government forces.

Our correspondent, who cannot be named for security reasons, said that despite the gains, people are anxious about what Gaddafi might do next, and the fact that his loyalists were still at large.Those worries were compounded as security forces loyal to Gaddafi reportedly opened fire on anti-government protesters in the capital, Tripoli, after Friday prayers. Heavy gun fire was reported in the districts of Fashloum, Ashour, Jumhouria and Souq Al"-Al Jazeera.

There are some dangerous implications that the US may intervene, which would be dangerously close to just another imperialist occupation. "Neoconservative guru William Kristol recently advised President Obama to seize this moment in history and intervene militarily if “force is used to kill innocent civilians” in Libya. “Hundreds of millions of lovers of freedom," Kristol claims, "would salute” Obama. This escalating rhetoric from pundits and the administration toward Libya is not surprising. Libya has oil, and the West needs it.But we should not repeat the mistake of Iraq. The United States – or Europe – should not send troops to Libya except as part of a UN peacekeeping mission."-FPIF

Gaddafi is surrounded in many ways and is in a desperate plea to hold power "an uprising which was last night closing in on Tripoli after thousands of protesters braved gunfire to try to march through the capital. Standing on the ramparts of a fort overlooking the city's Green Square, Colonel Gaddafi pumped his fist and told 1,000 pro-regime demonstrators: "We can crush any enemy. We can crush it with the people's will. The people are armed and when necessary, we will open arsenals to arm all the Libyan people and all Libyan tribes."

Urging the crowd to "retaliate against them, retaliate against them," the 68-year-old President was shown on state television calling on them to "prepare to defend the nation and defend the oil. Some residents claimed there were now neighbourhoods of the capital under opposition control. Others, including the area where the dictator is thought to have a fortified bunker, remained under regime control. Witnesses claimed that armed Gaddafi supporters were also driving at speed through Tripoli's streets."-Indepenent.

The reports are varied and unclear, but what is clear is the conflict is holding and seems to be in the hands of the self-liberating people of Libya. The outcome is not certain however, owing the wide disparity of the armaments and training. But sheer numbers is on the side of the people.

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with the people of Libya to gain self-determination.

thanks to:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201122641559301766.html

http://www.fpif.org/articles/no_to_military_intervention_in_libya

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/rebels-lay-siege-to-gaddafi-stronghold-2226067.html

Report back: Randy Shaw Lecture at the University of Oregon

2011-02-26T01:49:00.000-08:00

Randy Shaw, author of a activist guide, the history of the Anit-sweatshop campaign and most recently 'Beyond the Fields'.

Shaw's presentation focused on 'Beyond the fields, a look at the volunteers and organizers of Cesar Chavez' United Farm Worker's Movement (UFW). From the rise of movement involving un-protected workers and disenfranchised people who maintained a multi-year boycott and eventually won victories in field strikes- to the fall of this great organizing feat.

Beyond the fields focuses on the unknown organizers and the difficult circumstances. With Regan as governor of California and Nixon as President of the United States, Chavez was able to organize isolated workers across huge geographical regions. "Chavez got people to overcome fear, as part of a lifetime moral struggle for justice".

"He [Chavez] brought in students and children. He said "We will change the dynamic of struggle", with women organizers. The UAW and steelworkers had no women"-Shaw.

The dedication, melded between religious symbols and phenomenal organizers, made an impossible situation a reality. "These organizers were paid $5 dollars a day, plus room and board" said Shaw, indicating the sacrifice and importance of the mission which UFW instilled in its organizers at all ages.

The great take-away lessons of Shaw's interpretation, are that we must recruit in to uncommon areas, reaching out to groups who may disagree 95% of the time but that we can work together on just this issue and that no matter how hostile the environment, we should fight and can win victories!

Eugene community has formed: Anti-Racist Action group, 'Emerald City Antifa'

2011-02-26T01:24:00.000-08:00

Eugene activists have formed an Anit-Racist Action group, to combat recent neo-nazi/White supremacist activity. Emerald City Antifa sent out this communiqué:

"unsavory characters have recently been spotted frequenting the Wandering Goat Coffee Company, a local counterculture hangout. Other white supremacists have been harassing people in the Whitaker neighborhood. There have also been multiple accounts of Neo-Nazis stopping outside of the Wandering Goat and giving the Nazi "Roman Salute" to customers.

If you see them, or any other boneheads, let them know that Fascists are not welcome in our community. Together we are strong.

If you have any information about Jimmy Marr or other Fascist activity in Eugene, please contact the Eugene chapter of the Anti-Racist Action Network: emeraldcityara@gmail.com"

The Student Insurgent stands in Solidarity with Emerald City Antifa. Defense of community is fundamental to keeping healthy living spaces for all and encourages anyone with information on racist activity to contact them at the email above.

Related to this aricle:

University of Oregon Arab Student Union Events!

2011-02-26T01:17:00.000-08:00

TODAY:

Arab Student Union Winter Hafli "Party" TOMORROW--poster attached:

With: LIVE Music, Dancing, Food, and Raffle!!!

TODAY, February 26; 7:00-10:00 PMDoors Open 6:30PM

IN: UO Agate Hall

$4 UO Students $7 Public
Buy or Reserve your tickets NOW at the UO ticket office or @ the door while quantities last or call --541-346-4363

(Fraternity and Sorority Endorsed)

Koch Brother impersonation

2011-02-25T17:41:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBnSv3a6Nh4&feature=player_embedded#at=569

This recorded conversation reveals all the corruption and how the Republican legislature will NOT COMPROMISE. The American tradition has been violated, the human tradition has been violated and the the Governor is trying to trick the Democrats into coming back to break the quorum.

Libya & the cries of a desperate man.

2011-02-25T02:41:00.000-08:00

The Libyan dictator Gaddafi, has begun making absurd assertions, that he is only a figure head and so ha cannot be held accountable for every horrendous decision. Also he makes pleas to the West, claiming the protests are fueled by the drug trade and Al-Qaeda. Maybe he is seeking aid from the US with a coded pleas against the international polices the US opposes. It is unclear what Gaddafi is thinking, but it is clear he is losing power, with his military engaging an all-out assault in secessionist towns. While making wild pleas of more money for public-sector employees, to stop the protests.

"Gaddafi argued that he was a purely "symbolic" leader with no real political power, and that citizens had "no reason to complain whatsoever". Libya's leader, has said that al-Qaeda is responsible for the uprising against him. He hinted that he would be prepared to raise salaries, but warned that protesters would be tried in the country's courts...On Friday, state television announced that every family in Libya would receive 500 dinars ($400), and that wages for some categories of public sector workers would increase by 150 per cent."-Al Jazeera

Meanwhile the resigned government officials are forming a counter-regime movement. "intensive discussions are under way between defected Libyan political leaders, including ambassadors and ministers who have stepped down, to form a political body to lead the country"-Al Jazeera.

The Libyan government has sent out mercenaries against it's people killing anyone in the streets of the capital and now trying to fight back against the growing resistance near Tripoli "Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi were yesterday said to be launching fierce counter-attacks as the Libyan uprising edged closer to the capital... Gaddafi also showed every sign of marshalling thousands of mercenaries, many from sub-Saharan Africa, and irregular forces to defend his redoubt in Tripoli, which also appeared to remain in a state of lockdown. Witnesses said that thousands of these forces were massing on roads to the capital.

One suggested that the scenes were reminiscent of Somalia with gangs of armed men in makeshift uniforms brandishing machine-guns, and unlike police, military units and army officers who have defected to join the protesters, were apparently willing to carry out the dictator's threat on Wednesday to defend the regime to "the last drop of blood"- The Independent.

Even though Libya is in a state of uncertainty, supporting this dictator will not bring stability warns a major advocacy agency "the democracy-versus-stability debate rests on a false dichotomy. Backing dictators, especially now, does not necessarily lead to more stability...This diverse, complex group, [of new leadership] which is not on the U.S. terror group list, is hard to paint into an ideological corner – it has both conservatives and progressives, often cooperates with other opposition groups, and abandoned violence and committed itself to the democratic process long ago. This is not yesterday’s Brotherhood...It would also likely split into two or more political parties if legalized... [and] that their actions are based on political incentives. When they participate in elections, they moderate their views, since religious extremism isn’t a winning electoral strategy. "-FPIF.

The Student Insurgent supports the idea of uprisings around the world, the practice of creating self-determination and the principles of human rights. As with any uncertain and changing situation there is a peril of a worse outcome, but more brightly shines the promise of a better world, a better day-to-day existence and how can anyone in any Western country deny this promise to any of the people's of the world? How long should people wait under oppression, how many unnecessary deaths must occur, before the promise for a better world can be chanced? If we say wait, we are really saying go on suffering; if we say hold back, we are really saying the oppression over you is acceptable. Oppression is not acceptable. Solidarity Forever.

thanks to:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/02/20112254231296453.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/mercenaries-gather-in-tripoli-for-final-battle-2225168.html

http://www.fpif.org/articles/democracy_doesnt_equal_stability

Racism is Real: A Quiet Cruelty

2011-02-25T00:58:00.000-08:00

UO President La Riviere was walking with two aids towards the EMU, engaged in a discussion about racism at the University of Oregon. The aids informed him that racism is not a serious issue at the University of Oregon, that "we take it very seriously, for our staff and students. Just this week I had a meeting with prospective students, almost twenty seven of them. We care about the community of DIversity, we are even letting six of them in..." Nobody questioned this, nobody was astounded that in reaching out to students, only one quarter will enroll. Why is it difficult for students of color? Why is it difficult for the University to overcome its lily white complexion?

Racism is not found in the same wide scales and dramatic blows that Bull Conner dealt in the 1960s, but we all know it exists in the wage disparity and other systematic measurable inequalities. We continue to find the situations which at their face appear full of racism, but which we can rationalize as some benign thing, but as laws can be a harbor of injustice, so too can just laws be carried out with injustice- look to the prisons for this to be evidenced. A society cannot continue to legally or socially exclude it's people, we cannot live in perpetual fear, living that fear in enclaves and pretending the world will not change around us.

We must embrace different cultures, but can still embrace our own cultural heritage; we can defend our uniqueness, but we must with the same vehemence condemn the exclusion of people from society for different religious or cultural backgrounds. We must embrace each other or we will have failed the test of time. No person need abandon their cultural heritage to appreciate another's. This is a predominantly 'white' campus, a campus that does not reach out to students of color, does not empower its own diversity. The institutions of administration tolerate differences, perhaps, but do not work towards empowerment. If even the educational circles cannot reflect empowerment, the rest of society is overwhelmingly condemned to cultural ignorance and social inhibition.

When a people are deprived of the cultural experiences different from their own, they betray their own potential. This does not exclude the opportunity of an individual's cultural expression or forming enclaves- quite the opposite, it calls for cultural celebration to explore similitude. The idea of cultural empowerment ought not exclude the growth of others and indeed should seek actively to empower other communities, building solidarity over our mutual human desires for expression and our mutual resistance to oppressive systems- like Imperialism, corporate domination of our lives and environmental racism.

As a society and for a campus, which faces the quiet cruelty, born in the numbers of students of color and lack of diversity among backgrounds. We as people must face the facts, that our behavior towards one another and as much as our attendance at events of empowerment reflects our real sentiments and that we need to examine our behavior. As a campus we charge for cultural events, impose restrictive codes and when we impose bureaucracy on cultural growth, this is racism. At the University of Oregon, all the 'ethnic' non-white identities, including international students and those of unknown status, equal less than one third of the student population (as of Fall term, 2010, according the registrar). This should be appalling, that students of color, are excluded for reasons of tuition, university outreach and support as well as a culture on the campus which other students play a role in. But it doesn't stop at the students, there are low margins of faculty, support staff and administration of color as well. How can students of color be welcomed, when the campus makes a clear statement in hiring- that persons of color will not be supported.

Reflections of racism are found on campus, as elsewhere, among its communities and networks. The lack of solidarity is appalling and there is a history of awkwardness in behavior that perpetuates this.

It takes time to acculturate one's self into unfamiliar communities, as well as for communities to trust one another, the level of understanding necessary to overcome the awkwardness and quiet racism takes longer. Make no mistake however, overcoming the sense of awkwardness is the responsibility of the empowered communities, the allies in struggle and the more numerous ‘ethnic’ group Caucasian students. Once these relationships are established, the hard work begins of collaboration and mutual empowerment.

Breaking the cycle of quiet racism, the cruel devil, which isn't the flaming rants of rabid white supremacists, is no easy task. If this university is to overcome quiet racism, it will take an increase in sheer numerical value of students, faculty and staff of color- with a focus on empowerment and retention. Early anti-oppression crash-courses, 'courses' plural, because it is all to easy to sit through a lecture and never challenge one's self to break cycles of ingrained racism. Breaking internalized racism takes time and personal, internal, confrontation. The anti-oppression courses are necessary and of critical importance to a balanced education. Simply leaving it up to students to create a desirable campus will not succeed, the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity (OIED) needs to be given the tools to make a real standardized improvement across the scholastic system. This improvement is relative to different departments, but requires concerted efforts. Efforts to outreach to students of color by peers and more institutionally with support networks is a significant key to empowerment a recently McClatchy article finds (see below).

We cannot afford to pretend that racism does not exist on our campus and be honest- in our hearts, unless we challenge it. We cannot pretend that we do not look away and may hear the stereotypes of social roles, judgments if even sometimes jokingly. This is racism. We need to challenge racism and it's legitimacy in ourselves as in those around us, to command that voice to not only be silenced but to be replaced by one of cultural embrace. We cannot continue to perpetuate an institution of quiet cruelty, we must create an environment of welcoming and supporting communities. We need to recognize the intellect, skill and sheer guts to come to the University of Oregon as a student of Color. We need to demonstrate solidarity, by attending events and meetings of one another, supporting faculty and staff of color if for no other reason than our own sense of dignity by recognizing the dignity of others as people. In attending events, deliberately not exercising white privilege, by commanding safe space, but respecting the space and its occupants. Respect is shown by not speaking over communities of color or speaking in diminutives, be respectful and show support.

What we need is Solidarity, an injury to one is an injury to all.
By: Cimmeron Gillespie
Contributor, Student Insurgent

Post Script: As the author of this article I am 'white' by heritage. I no more choose this that an African American choose their skin color. I cannot therefore speak for communities of color about their oppression, but I will speak of the oppression itself as I see it and experience it- from a position of privilege. I recognize that I cannot speak for communities of color, but I will say I can sense an almost palpable sensation of terrible awkwardness, that becomes behavior, repeated over and over. I have witnessed this again and again on campus, a sensation that I myself, in moments of cowardice, have felt. The culmination of this feeling is both disempowering to the communities it targets, it is also not empowering among the communities who perpetuate it, walking away from such interactions knowing they have not been supportive. The nauseating frequency of such events normalizes them and only allows racism to build and be perpetuated. The sum culmination of these experiences creates a quiet cruelty, not a single student is responsible, solely and that is the problem. No one person can be called out, or held accountable, unless every student, individually recognizes that this is oppression and it must be challenged. That we are perpetuating this oppression and we must challenge ourselves and others to step up and join communities of color in an effort of empowerment and solidarity. To break the silence and tolerate no longer the quiet cruelty.

1) http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/02/22/109212/can-universities-keep-the-minority.html

UO brings Randy Shaw to campus

2011-02-24T01:16:00.000-08:00

Randy Shaw is a historian, who wrote 'Beyond the Fields'- the story of the United Farm Workers (UFW) labor movement of Cesar Chavez.

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 24th.:

His presentation will be at LCC in building 17, room 309, at 1pm

Later he will present on the UO campus, in the Law School building, room 175, at 7pm.

This event is FREE and open to the public (donations welcome).

Sponsored by: the Community Alliance of Lane County, Eugene Media Action, Eugene Weekly, Lane Peace Center, UO Labor Education & Research Center and UO Multicultural Center.

The Student Insurgent strongly encourages attendance at this event, which will be informative and empowering.

Headlines from the World:News! News! News!

2011-02-24T00:57:00.000-08:00

The Israel palestine conflict can hardly be discussed without hackles going up. This is highlighted by an Israeli crackdown this afternoon killing dozens of Palestinians, which resulted in a (singular) rocket to be launched into (without guidance of any kind) Israeli territory. A speaker on the subject even beginning to suggest that Israeli and Palestinian Violence being anywhere near comparable is ludicrous.
http://www.fpif.org/articles/ian_mcewan_speaking_half-truths_to_power
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201122413827437111.html

Governing by popular demand, from Tunisia, to Egypt, Libya, Yemen, to Bolivia, to Madison- Wisconsin. The power of popular protest, can now safely be asserted as a power of popular governance.
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/bolivia-archives-31/2920-governing-by-obeying-the-people-bolivias-politics-of-the-street

In Yemen the government is falling apart, the senior leaders are resigning. Protest continue to grow each day.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201122314112793183.html

Libya is still in uproar, cities have fallen to protesters and the government has turned to the most despicable violence, of shooting anyone in public in the capital city. Resisters now occupy: Cyrenaica, Misurata, "Other towns that appear to no longer be under Gaddafi's control include Derna and Bayda, among others across the country's east.

Soldiers in the cities controlled by the protesters have switched sides, filling the void and no longer supporting Gaddafi's government. In a statement posted on the internet, army officers stationed in Misurata pledged their "total support" for the protesters."-AlJazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/02/201122445420412325.html

In Mexico Protesters are gunned down.
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/2915-mexicos-federal-police-open-fire-on-protesters-throwing-merida-initiative-accountability-into-question

In Brazil there is an economic policy of local people budgeting their municipalities. In a Chicago ward, this practice is being adopted.
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/2912-peoples-power-participatory-budgeting-from-brazil-to-chicago-

The Local University of Oregon's Food Justice Confrense last weekend, highlights the growing and justified concern about food politics- what is grown, how it is grown, who is growing it, where it is grown, what the treatment of the growers are, how much energy goes into growing, transporting and consuming food, Etc. These questions, so essential to our health are being asked the whole world over.
http://www.fpif.org/articles/food_security_and_national_security

News From Madison Wisconsin labor protests

2011-02-23T01:05:00.000-08:00

The Student Insurgent has been following closely the protests in Madison. As the cold temperatures drop and the people simply cannot bear to remain at the protest, still an enduring crowd of around 20,000 came out and Unions talking about a general strike. The Student Insurgent's very own KC has given us the latest of what's going on, with secondary confirmations from demonstrator Ryan Nelson.

"Right now in Wisconsin public workers from across the state, supported by private sector workers, students young and old, retirees, labor activists and more, are holding unprecedented protests in Madison against the utterly dictatorial move by Governor Scott Walker to gut their collective bargaining rights.

After giving $140 million to special interest groups in January, many of whom donated to Republican campaigns and to the Governor himself, Walker is now attempting to strip Wisconsin's state workers of their hard-won right to collectively bargain over the conditions of their labor under the guise of filling a claimed $137 million budget shortfall."-IWW

"The protests continue with sustained crowds of over 20,000. There are many groups working together and most are serious and organized, it's all completely non-violent. There are some student groups that are exploring the ideas of how to defend themselves and the protest if the state militia is called in, but those discussions are far from definitive and some of the students having those discussions are not experienced- with poor consensus skills and gender dynamics. But the real people, the Unions, they are serious- enough to talk and order a GENERAL STRIKE.- Now there's a conversation that hasn't been had in a long time."

"The following motions were passed by the SCFL Monday February 21st:

Motion 1: “The SCFL endorses a statewide general strike, possibly for the day Walker signs his ”Budget Repair Bill,” and requests the Education Committee immediately begin educating affiliates and members on the organization and function of a general strike.”

Motion 2: “The SCFL goes on record as opposing all cuts contained in Walkers ”Budget Repair Bill,” including, but not limited to, curtailed bargaining rights and reduced wages, benefits, pensions, funding for public education and Medicare.”

Please pass supporting motions in your council and organize committees to begin educating affiliates and members on the organization and function of a general strike."-IWW

"The Unions of Iron and steel workers are there and even the police. This is the only time I have ever gotten a solidarity fist from a cop. There is an info shop and all the food is taken care of. There was some talk of if regulating food was necessary- but what is the worst that could happen- theft, its free. In addition there is enough food going around to have a free bought- stand in the demonstration. But because it is in the middle of the capital, there are bathrooms and running water. There has been aid coming in from around the world, most notably from- Egypt, South Korea, South America and Russia, alot of Pizza."

"Nobody is kidding themselves, it is only a matter of time before the people get kicked out. We are squatting the capital. But for now, the democrats have stalled the vote and the people have control of the capital building. We don't know how long this will go on, but there are limited outcomes- either the state capitulates and drops the bill or there will be a bloody massacre."

While we wait over Wisconsin. Many other states are undergoing equally desperate situations- in Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio and other places the budget battle rages.

From Ohio, one civic employee writes "writing from the heartland of Ohio....this morning...pouring rain temp. about 40 degrees hundreds of people show up at a town hall meeting in downtown Dayton...which a Republican Ohio Senator was having by "INVITE ONLY" to inform her constitutents about SB 5 which is to strip unions of their collective bargaining rights....

Never in my life I have I witnessed anything like this...I have participated in thousands of marches, protests, etc. but this time....this time was much different...

City buses driving by with passenger's honking their horns in support....Police in cruiser's coming by and honking their horns and waving in support of the protester's....City Sanitation worker's driving huge dump trucks coming by and honking in support, Ambulance driver's giving us the peace sign....it was absolutely awesome....

It is on....really on....and I am so damn happy! People are ignited!"

This is growing nationally, there are rumors of 'tea bagger' provocateurs, pushing demonstrators in Wisconsin and bus loads of conservative opposition people coming from Utah. Busses left from Salt Lake just a day ago, to 'fight the war on unions'. Temperatures are predicted to drop to 16 degrees F. tonight and rise to 36 degrees, with showers, tomorrow. This situation is growing in intensity, despite cold and wind and weather, somehow they all stick together.

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with the demonstrators, who are defining the nation, and defending all our rights. As the IWW put it "We extend Solidarity to all workers, union or non-union, fighting back against the Capitalist class trying to return us to conditions not found since the Industrial Revolution" simply put, Solidarity Forever.

To help with strike relief, electronically donations here:
http://store.iww.org/madison-donations.html

or here mailed here:

Madison GMB Mail - PO Box 2442, Madison, WI 53703

thanks to:
http://www.iww.org/

RALLY this Wednesday to support PLANNED PARENTHOOD!

2011-02-22T21:37:00.000-08:00

The House of Representatives just voted to strip Planned Parenthood of all federal funding, including funding for birth control, cancer screenings, and STD testing and treatment. This vote put millions of women and families at risk, and we can't let it go unanswered.

Join us for a rally in Eugene in front of the old federal courthouse, on the corner of 7th and Pearl. Wednesday, 4:30 to 6:00 PM

Today’s vote reflects the pursuit of an extreme political agenda by Republican House leadership. It is an outrageous assault on the millions of Americans who rely on Planned Parenthood.

Stand with Planned Parenthood and show your support for an organization that does what no other organization does. We look forward to seeing you Wednesday!

Please respond to the Facebook event page and spread this far and wide!!!

Thank you!!!

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with self determination and the woman's right to choose.

University of Oregon EVENTS!

2011-02-22T21:35:00.000-08:00

KYR Trainer's Training
Wednesday, Feb. 23rd from 6-8pm
Knight Law School, Room 110
If you know your Constitutional Rights and ever wanted to help teach them to others, here is your chance!

Lauren Regan from the Civil Liberties Defense Center will be coming to the law school TOMORROW EVENING to teach us how to go out and give Know Your Rights trainings in the community. This will take about two hours and you should bring a computer with USB capabilities so you can save the powerpoint on your own computer. You don't have to be a law student to do this, you just have to be well informed and this is the first step.

This program focuses on interactions with police and other general rights, but we will have sessions focused on more specific areas of rights later in the semester and next year.

Thursday, 24th, @ 7:00 in the MCC (multicultural center, bottom emu)---Dabke Night: Come learn how to line/folk dance Arab Style!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=165129233539416

Fashioning Resistance to Militarism
In Agate Hall, Friday, February 25, at 7pm This fashion show is all about how the military is influencing the fashion industry. The show will uncover the high costs of militarism in terms of people’s lives, emotional wellbeing, environmental contamination, carbon footprint, war profiteering, and all the ways war is made to seem normal. Each design will be paired with an informative script; together they will tell a wider story about militarism and “counter couture” for peace and justice.

Saturday, 26th, 7-10pm, at UO Agate Hall-----ASU Winter Hafli "Party:" Live Band/Music, Food, Raffle, Amazing! Buy your tickets now at the UO ticket office. $4 students, $7 community. Spread the word ....[POSTER ATTACHED]
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=188055161227433 -- and----- http://tickets.uoregon.edu/

*International Women's Day
When: March 3, 2011 at 7:00pm, doors open at 6:30
Where: Agate Hall(1787 Agate St)
IWD celebrates the collective power of women past, present and future. A night of celebration with talks by Dr. Vandana Shiva, Mobility International and the Latin American Solidarity Committee and performances by UO international students. The event is $5 for students and $8 for general public.

*Take Back the Night
This event will take place April 28th, in spring term, but the planning is
going to be every week. This year the event will be 3 parts: the rally, march and speak out. The planning meetings are going to take place on
Wednesdays at 6pm in the Women's Center. Take Back the Night is an international event during which survivors of sexual violence and their allies have an opportunity to rally together to protest continued sexual violence in their communities and around the world. Take Back the Night is a survivor-centered event that begins with a rally and march and ends with a speak-out, during which survivors of sexual assault and their allies can share personal stories of how sexual violence has impacted their lives.Come and support your friends, neighbors, community-members, and loved ones as we work to end sexual violence and celebrate the individual and collective strength of survivors.

*Out/Loud
When: May 13-14th, Doors open at 7:30pm and the show begins at 8
Where: WOW Hall(291 W 8th Avenue)
Out/ Loud is the queer women's music festival and is the biggest in the
Pacific Northwest. This year is the 10th anniversary and it's going to be 2
days. OUT/LOUD strives to be a safe, fun, all-ages concert where LGBTQQI people and our allies can shake our booties and celebrate queer women artists/activist--from the raw to the sweet, honoring the herstory that brought us where we are today. Celebrating 10 rad years! The planning meetings will be at the Women's Center at 1pm on Wednesdays.

More on Uprisings in Libya and Yemen

2011-02-21T22:31:00.000-08:00

The Protests are sweeping across the Middle East, having started in Tunisia, the fire of reform has spread to Egypt, leading to the ousting of Mubarak, now it has spread to Yemen and Libya. The yemen protests are growing, but remain almost entirely non-violent. In stark contrast to Yemen, the Libyan protests are facing what can only be described in the muffled language of decency- horrible, dreadful and utterly terrible retribution.

In Yemen "Large crowds of Houthis have joined pro-democracy protests in northern Yemen as a wave of demonstrations against President Ali Abdullah Saleh enters its 10th day." The Yemen protests have gained religious legs "Yemeni clerics have issued a statement prohibiting the use of force against protesters. They called the violence a crime and called for a ban on arbitrary detention and torture"- Al Jazeera.

In Libya the scene is much worse. Without religious support, the government has been far more violent than protesters "It said the protests had resulted in up to 400 deaths. Human Rights Watch earlier cited a death toll of 233"-Al Jazeera. now the government is embarking on a genocidal campaign, to kill anyone seen in public. Meanwhile the president may have fled the country and much of the military is AWOL. Since the military is missing the killing is done by Merenaries,

It is impossible to get a clear picture of events, but here goes:
"pictures told the story with a grainy, fuzzed reality, fantasy turned to fire and burning police stations in Benghazi and Tripoli, to corpses and angry, armed men, of a woman with a pistol leaning from a car door, of a crowd of students"-Independent

"Libyan cities and regime stalwarts began defecting as the pillars of Moamer Gathafi's hardline rule were targeted in Tripoli amid reports he had fled the country. Benghazi in the east had fallen to demonstrators... Two Libyan warplanes with four personnel on board who said they had escaped Benghazi air base after it was overrun by protesters landed in Malta... soldiers and diplomats, other senior regime officials had also defected to the side of protesters, demanding that Gathafi go after more than 41 years in power"-Al Jazeera.

While protest are have absolute success in some regions, the demonstrators, along with anyone in the streets are being killed by "armed mercenaries have gone on a shooting spree, carrying out a massacre in Tripoli...landed from helicopters in some neighborhoods in the capital and opened fire on 'anyone in the streets,' causing a large number of deaths. There has been "a massacre" in the Tajura and Fashlum districts of the Libyan capital, with gunmen indiscriminately shooting people including women, the report added"- Al Jazeera. "Gunfire and flames and cellphone screams; quite an epitaph for a regime"-The Independent. Even if the people take over, it is unclear what path a new government would take, this is the promise and the peril of the situation.

Meanwhile the state government is in denial, ignorant or determined to confused about the situation "Libyan state television said security forces were battling "dens of terrorists" in a sweep that has killed a number of people, without specifying where this was or who was being targeted " in response "Protesters in the capital attacked the state broadcaster's offices and overnight set alight branches of the People's Committees that are the mainstay of Gathafi's regime"- Al Jazeera

As Gathafi's Regime falls into bloodshed, it has been reported that he fled the country, but this won't be known for days. Until he makes a statement on foreign media, repairs state media or his body is found. But let there be no mistake, his fall is a blessing "For decades, his opponents tried to kill him; they rose up as nationalists, as prisoners in his torture chambers, as Islamists on the streets of – yes! – Benghazi. And he smote them all down. Indeed, this venerable city had already achieved its martyrdom status in 1979 when Gaddafi publicly hanged dissident students in Benghazi's main square. I am not even mentioning the 1993 disappearance of Libyan human rights defender Mansour al-Kikhiya while attending a Cairo conference after complaining about Gaddafi's execution of political prisoners"- Independent.

The Student Insurgent mourns the losses of 22 in Yemen and perhaps more than 400 in Libya, but stands in solidarity with the people. The people who stand for self-determination and a desire for a better world.

Thanks to:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/articles/34/Houthis-join-protests-in-north-Yemen.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/cruel-vainglorious-steeped-in-blood-and-now-surely-after-more-than-four-decades-of-terror-and-oppression-on-his-way-out-2221687.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/articles/39/Libya-descends-into-unprecedented-chaos.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/articles/34/-Massacre-unfolding-in-Libyan-capital-.html

Madison Wisconsin & Solidarity Protests

2011-02-21T21:33:00.000-08:00

Two Student Insurgent Correspondents reports back, with eye witness accounts on the vigil for economic justice in Madison:

The Situation, "Basically the governor is using the current economic downturn to justify the removal of 'collective bargaining' rights. Simply put the governor want to take away the public employee Unions. Then you have jackasses like Limbagh, saying this is the battleground to end unions. The whole nation is watching because union rights here will determine union rights everywhere and the other states are considering this move. The timing and nature of the protest has the whole world watching, because this could be the United State's Tahrir square"- KC, reporting from Madison.

But the situation is nothing like Tahrir and is a remarkable show of solidarity, between unions and even states. The state democrats have fled the state to prevent quorum in the state legislature, preventing a vote and there is some danger that the state may railroad some legislation and disregard its citizens. But for now the profound demonstration for solidarity continues.

Another native Wisconsin citizen and solidarity demonstrator, Mindy Preston describes the situation this way. "I have a very hard time justifying doing anything besides standing in solidarity with our sisters and brothers. The teachers and University of Wisconsin at Madison are all in walkout and will sustain this". Many of the nation's celebrities are appearing to demonstrate support as well, Jesse jackson and others have come to give speeches and call and assure everyone that this is the right action "The crowd at the capital is small right now, because Rage Against the Machine is playing a concert nearby". The temperatures are expected to drop to 18 degrees F and it may get to a balmy, 27 degrees tomorrow. This is freezing, before wind chill. that's a little cold out there, eh? "We go between shivering and shouting in joy. But tonight we may rest easy, because the steel workers union and the Madison Firefighters union are out in a honor guard with us".

One would think the chill, the republican majority might drive the people home. Instead there is real solidarity. But the situation might not be so bad Preston explains "There are 14 senators needed to vote and the vote wont happen. We sang Kumbayah earlier and they may do some drumming now. We are getting ready to settle in for a night. For regular updates check the TAA on Facebook, they are the Teachers Assistant Association [University of Wisconsin's version of the 'GTFF' at the UO]". Remember when just a few months ago they scoffed at sitting around singing songs, now look at the power of song, strength and solidarity.

The Student Insurgent wishes Madison, WI, a good night and stands in solidarity.

Wisconsin, Solidarity.

2011-02-20T15:45:00.000-08:00

The workers in Wisconsin are going on strike, defending their rights to collective bargaining. "We're not the enemy, we are hard working people"- one worker described it. The protests have grown to over 70,000 people, calling in sick- sick of the Governor and legislature threatening their rights.

A Student Insurgent corespondent, KC had this to say about the situation:
"We are occupying the capital, tens of thousands. This is a people's movement, the police and fire fighters are here with us, because they are next on the chopping block- everyone but the tea party is behind this!

There are clothing exchanges, food supplies- one guy bought three hundred dollars worth of pizza and ordered it to the capital for the protests! This isn't like the old protests with bosses organizing, this is the people doing it themselves and it is so orderly. The IWW is active out here and they are making a key contribution, with a motivated and coordinated effort.

It is amazing to see, everything is in a state of excitement, but it's cold. I am about to go testify, that is why the people can protest here, because as long at the people keep going to testify the building must stay open. Everyone is in this together and it is all non-violent, there have been no arrests and only a few citations."- KC, COntributor, Student Insurgent.

There are also reports that several doctors are advising patients to stay healthy and avoid sickness. The are giving consultations and even providing notes to make sure the people are protected when they return to work.

To support the protests send donations to:

Madison GMB Mail - PO Box 2442, Madison, WI 53703
Right now we are working on housing and logistical issues. Please contact Marty for housing at: mjk-333@att.net

Madison@iww.org

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with the workers, seeking only safety in their jobs.

Two-state solution: A postmortem

2011-02-20T01:40:00.001-08:00

By: Sandy Tolan
Among the time-honoured myths in the long tragedy of Israel and Palestine is "the deal that almost was". The latest entry, what we might call the "near deal of 2008," comes from Ehud Olmert, the former Israeli prime minister, chronicled in excerpts from his forthcoming memoir and feverishly promoted in The New York Times as "the Israel peace plan that almost was and still could be".

Clearly, the dwindling number of promoters of the two-state solution are in a post-Cairo, post-Palestine Papers attempt to keep afloat what is, in the end, a sinking ship: A bad deal that even the weak Palestinian negotiating team would not accept. "Israel has an overwhelming interest in going the extra mile," a nervous Thomas Friedman wrote as protestors filled Tahrir Square, warning: "There is a huge storm coming, Israel. Get out of the way."

At the heart of the effort to salvage the busted remnants of Oslo is the "near deal of 2008". "We were very close, more than ever before," Olmert writes in his memoirs.

But as they say in a famous TV ad in the US: "Not exactly."

Old myths die hard

Like other such fictions - chief among them "Israel's generous offer" at Camp David in 2000 - this one is not entirely without substance. As the Palestine Papers show, the two sides did agree on various security arrangements, land swaps and some principles of the right of return, much to the alarm of many Palestinians. Just as significantly, Palestinian negotiators agreed to allow Israel to annex major settlement blocs in East Jerusalem - a fact that, in the wake of the document dump, is eroding what is left of Abbas' credibility among his own people. (As if to underscore that point, chief negotiator Saeb Erekat resigned last week in disgrace, after revelations that the Palestine Papers were leaked from his very own office.)

Yet despite the 2008 concessions, the documents also show that the negotiations did not bring the sides close to a deal. Rather, they revealed red lines that signal the end of the peace process as we know it, and - especially after Cairo - the death of the two-state solution. Nowhere is this more clear than in the discussions over two huge settlement blocs, where Israel, backed by an arm-twisting US, undermined its last chance for a two-state deal.

In 1993, at the beginning of the Oslo "peace process," 109,000 Israeli settlers lived on West Bank Palestinian land, not including East Jerusalem. That number has now nearly tripled. One of the settlements, Ariel, juts well into the West Bank, nearly half the way to Jordan from the Mediterranean coast, and is protected by Israel's separation barrier. Ariel, with nearly 20,000 people, promotes itself as the aspiring "capital of Samaria" with its own industrial park and even a university.

"There is no Israeli leader who will sign an agreement that does not include Ariel," Tzipi Livni, Olmert's foreign minister, told Palestinian negotiators in April 2008.

"And there is no Palestinian leader who will sign an agreement that includes Ariel," negotiator Ahmad Qurei replied. Qurei was not just posturing. Ariel bifurcates the Palestinian district of Salfit and helps make a mockery of US diplomats' stated goal of a "viable and contiguous" Palestinian state.

Another red line is Ma'ale Adumim. Despite the significant concessions in East Jerusalem - which Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said amounted to "the biggest Yerushalayim in Jewish history" - the Palestinians see Ma'ale Adumim as a wedge between East Jerusalem and the West Bank. For them, the settlement is another barrier to a contiguous land base on which to build their state. For Israelis, Ma'ale Adumim, founded with the support of then defence minister Shimon Peres in 1975 and now a "city" of more than 34,000 settlers, is untouchable.

In theory, the self-described "honest broker," the US, could have tried to bridge the differences. But that is not what Condoleezza Rice, the then US secretary of state, had in mind when she leaned on the weak Palestinian delegation in a July 2008 meeting in Jerusalem:

"I don’t think that any Israeli leader is going to cede Ma'ale Adumim," she told Qurei.

"Or any Palestinian leader," Qurei replied.

"Then you won’t have a state!" Rice declared.

On the wrong side of history

The US has long been hypersensitive to Israeli domestic political considerations while ignoring those of the Palestinians and the broader Arab and Muslim worlds. In 2000, Yasser Arafat turned down Israel's "generous offer," refusing to agree to a "sovereign presidential compound" in the Old City - essentially, a golden cage near the Muslim holy sites. Arafat understood that neither Palestinians nor Muslims worldwide would agree to such limited Palestinian sovereignty over the Haram Al Sharif, considered the third holiest site in Islam. "If anyone imagines that I might sign away Jerusalem, he is mistaken," Arafat told Bill Clinton, the then US president, at Camp David. "You have lost many chances," Clinton responded. "You won't have a Palestinian state .... You will be alone in the region."

The US' tone-deaf approach to Palestinian realities is a central reason for the failure of the "peace process". Rice suggested in a June 2008 meeting that one way to help solve the entrenched and emotional issue of right of return would be to ship refugees to South America. Barack Obama's team has not fared much better. In 2009, the US pressured the Palestinians to stall the release of the UN's Goldstone Report calling for an investigation into Israeli war crimes in Gaza. This was precisely the opposite of what the Palestinian public fervently wanted. The US carrot: More favourable negotiating terms for the Palestinian Authority (PA).

But the US, so accustomed to dealing with Arab strongmen like Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and Tunisia's Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, seems to have forgotten that the weak Palestinian negotiators were in no position to ignore, much less dictate to, their people. Any peace deal would have been put to a referendum among politically-aware Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. A deal as unfavourable as that the US and Israel promoted in 2008 would have been far from a sure thing. Olmert recalls telling Abbas: "Take the pen and sign now. You'll never get an offer that is more fair or more just." But it was the Israelis, and the US, who missed their chance.

In the days just before Egyptians liberated themselves, Obama tried to shore up some of the US credibility squandered since his 2009 Cairo speech by supporting the calls for democracy. But for many Palestinians, US or PA credibility is no longer relevant. In the West Bank, people regard US pronouncements with sharply declining interest. And it was the PA, in the midst of the euphoric struggle of its neighbours, that placed itself firmly on the wrong side of history by banning demonstrations in solidarity with the Egyptian and Tunisian people. "The policy," said a PA security spokesman "is non-interference in the internal affairs of Arab or foreign countries."

You could not find a more apt symbol of a corroded and irrelevant Palestinian regime, shockingly out of touch with its people and the jubilation in Tahrir Square, and structurally unable to seize the moment. Now, with the PA's negotiations team in disarray, it is hard to imagine Palestinians in the West Bank again putting their trust in the "authority," or in the wreckage of an Oslo process tied to a Middle Eastern order that no longer exists.

Even in their last-ditch attempts to forge a two-state deal, beleaguered Palestinian negotiators seemed aware that it was slipping away. "In light of these circumstances and these unrealistic propositions," Qurei told Livni in frustration in April 2008, "I see that the only solution is a bi-national state where Muslims, Christians and Jews live together".

Sandy Tolan is an associate professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at USC, and the author of The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East.

Thanks to:
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/02/201121810588471977.html

IWW: national call for aid for striking Wisconsin workers.

2011-02-19T17:50:00.000-08:00

The IWW released this call for aid. The situation is basically a crisis. They need bodies if you're in the area, they need food, money for striking workers and their families:

"At present, people are on the streets and in the Capital 24/7. The Tea Party will be at the capital on Saturday February 19 from noon-3pm. The Democrats have fled the state and a stalemate is ensuring.

Please consider coming this weekend and giving public workers the support they need. We will be making best use of the time that the Democrats have given us by holding an emergency meeting. We are expecting this situation to continue, allowing time for a deeper analysis. We are asking members to understand that we are working with the militant tendencies with-in the existing unions and asserting our perspectives when appropriate. This may be the half way point but it may also be the beginning. The situation is developing steady by itself but we need to direct it towards empowering the rank-n-filers. We will be developing short term strategies to push this forward and long term plans for support.

This will be a chaired meeting that is open to the public but you must have your red card to vote or pass motions. Delegates will be on hand to sign people up and pay dues up. There is a parking lot at the Labor Temple and the room can fit 70 people. We'll have a couple of guest speakers to brief the membership and bring them up to speed on the current events.

For those who can not come please consider supporting the Madison IWW financially.
Check:
Madison GMB Mail - PO Box 2442, Madison, WI 53703
Right now we are working on housing and logistical issues. Please contact Marty for housing at: mjk-333@att.net

Madison@iww.org"-Madison I.W.W.

More locally, the Portland IWW is fighting for fair treatment as well.

"Some workers and wobblies in Portland, OR could really use some solidarity in the form of some phone calls.

The Portland branch of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), workers at Streetlight and Porchlight youth shelters, and workers form Harry's Mother (two Janus non-profit programs) began picketing in front of Janus Youth Program's main office at 707 NE Couch on February 7th. We are doing so because Janus is in contract negotiations with these two different IWW-represented shops, and in both of those contacts, there is an employee review panel which has been in place for a decade which gives workers the right to contest firings and have a no-cost review of those management decisions. Janus is now claiming they will not sign the contacts with those time-honored panels, and is refusing to give workers their pay increases, until workers accept binding arbitration instead of the peer review panel, which would cost the workers and the union potentially thousands of dollars they don't have.

More info and a press release are available at portlandiww.org

Please call this week (2/14-2/19) in the morning between 9am and 11am west coast time.

Call Janus's Main office, request to speak with Dennis Morrow. (503) 233-6090.

Email the executive director at dmorrow@janusyouth.org

And. their negotiating team which consists of a program director and a lawyer kdonegan@janusyouth.org, andrew@portlandemploymentlaw.com

We are looking to set a tone that is both polite and firm.

Here is a sample script,

Hello,

This is ________________________. I am calling in support of the union workers at Janus Youth. They deserve both the peer review panel and a decent wage. Do not deny the democratic oversight provided by the peer review panel and replace with a process that could cost workers and the program thousands of dollars. As a non-profit, you should use your money to help youth, not fight workers." Portland I.W.w.

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity will all the workers of the world trying to build a movement to end oppression and make a better life. "Stand together and answer the call, an injury to one is an injury to all"-TchKung!

thanks to:
http://www.iww.org/en/node/5346

http://www.iww.org/en/node/5341

Minesota: The government threatens to take away collective bargaining.

2011-02-19T11:54:00.000-08:00

Wisconsin is protesting the end of collective bargaining! The Republican-led government is trying to shut workers out of fair pay, benefits and their rights to organize.

"On Tuesday, some 15,000 people massed inside the Capitol and on the grounds to oppose the Republican governor’s plan to eliminate collective bargaining rights for many of the state’s public employees...

Schools in Madison were closed Wednesday as hundreds of teachers joined thousands of people at the state Capitol to protest Governor Scott Walker’s plan to strip workers’ rights.

The largest protests in Wisconsin in years continued Thursday at the state capitol in Madison, which was occupied by upset state workers earlier this week in response to Governor Scott Walker's proposal to cut salaries, benefits and collective bargaining rights and his threat to call in the National Guard against the workers. On Wednesday, Walker's measure was advanced in committee, and the State Senate is expected to take up the measure today."-Twincities IndyMedia

On Friday night, crowds gathered in Madison, huge crowds. With the capital rotunda filled and spilling outside, the police are waiting nearby, while their union, along with the firemen are not threatened. The

"The State estimates 35,000 people alone were inside the Capitol rotunda. And judging from the photos of the simultaneous demonstration outside, the crowds on the Capitol grounds were just as big, if not bigger.

Together, the entire crowd had to be closer 70,000. And let's remember, it was literally freezing outside.

While the protest is receiving a decent amount of attention, the enormity of the crowd has not."-Al Rodgers

Meanwhile conservative talk show host says people shouldn't "bend over and take it" by keeping collective bargaining rights. Because every worker should get fucked over by themselves. Brilliant.

The organizers are determined to remain non-violent, but resistant.

"Today is NON-VIOLENT. Stay close to friends, watch out for each other, if your temper is up get out of the situation."-the labor organizers said

The Student Insurgent stands with the Wisconsin labor movement, in efforts of empowerment to make sure all the workers are taken care of.

follow on twitter #wiunion #killthisbill @DefendWisconsin

Thanks to:
http://twincities.indymedia.org/2011/feb/labor-unrest-rocks-wisconsin

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/19/947139/-70,000-in-Solidarity-(Photo-Diary)

While we wait for Egypt, From Jordan, Bahrain

2011-02-18T05:47:00.000-08:00

News from the middle East!

"Egypt's new military rulers dismantled ousted strongman Hosni Mubarak's regime on Sunday, dissolving parliament, suspending the constitution and promising a referendum on political reform.

While the civilian cabinet met for the first time since Mubarak's downfall, the generals made it clear where authority now lies, issuing a proclamation setting a six-month timetable to prepare democratic elections."-Al Jazeera

Jordan's uprising has been subject to military intimidation and violence.

"The most common demands are a new election law that would be more equal between urban and rural areas. Many are now calling for a return to the 1952 constitution. This would strip the current constitution of a lot of the measures giving additional powers to the monarchy. Everyone wants increased transparency in the budget and in the finances of ministers to decrease corruption. Lots of talk about educational reform. Many urging Jordanians to do their part in combating racism against Palestinians, to stop littering, to avoid smoking in non-smoking areas, to drive safer, to educate themselves on Jordan's history and politics. Some are demanding reform of Jordan's state-run TV and newspapers. Many want to see increased economic initiatives in renewable energy, and are urging Jordanians to support Jordanian businesses.

This isn't to say that people think that Jordan's a miserable place that needs to change everything. This guy thinks that freedom of speech is just fine. I have some evidence that there might be some reason for concern/reform. At least one student activist has been arrested. That wouldn't be especially notable except that the man's father was arrested so the young man would turn himself in. Seems like a questionable practice at best...and I'm not sure at all, to be honest, how any of that fits in with loosening restrictions on public gatherings. Or on escalations of criticism against the government that seems to be tolerated without legal action.

In sum, the last month there's just been a mood of inspiration across the region. This blog encapsulates the best of the feelings here, starting with Tunisia and amplified tenfold by Egypt. Demonstrations and online discussions aren't against the government, or against some new policy, but advocating real changes."

Meanwhile in Bahrain, the protests continue, cabinet members step down and Bahraini government threatens to use troops to quell crowds.

"Eighteen members of Bahrain parliament have resigned from their posts in a show of protest against the violent crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators in the Persian Gulf kingdom.

The lawmakers announced on Thursday that they have suspended their membership in parliament over the killings of Shia demonstrators, Press TV cited an unnamed opposition parliamentarian as saying... Armored vehicles rumbled through the capital on Thursday as the government tried to quell the protests inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt... The demonstrators are demanding a new constitution that would move the country toward democracy and limit the king's powers.

Bahrain is ruled by a royal family, who are blamed for discrimination against the country's Shia population -- comprising 70 percent of the population.

The Bahraini government has issued warnings about taking strict measures against pro-democracy protesters, amid the ongoing popular uprisings in the country... Witnesses say military forces have been deployed across Manama, as army has alerted people to avoid central areas of the city. On Thursday, at least four protesters were killed and about 230 others injured after Bahraini security forces stormed a protest camp in Pearl Square in downtown Manama and fired tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators. "Al Jazeera

The US is not a free agent here, with both interests and a military. But the might hand is not swayed against the people.

"Washington had for years backed most of the thuggish governments now under siege or anxious that they may be next in line to hear from their people. When it came to Egypt in particular, there was initially much polite (and hypocritical) discussion in the media about how our "interests" and our "values" were in conflict, about how far the U.S. should back off its support for the Mubarak regime... While negotiating madly behind the scenes to retain power and influence in Egypt, it is not likely to call the troops out of the barracks. American military intervention remains essentially inconceivable. Don’t wait for Washington to send paratroopers to the Suez Canal as those fading imperial powers France and England tried to do in 1956. It won’t happen. Washington is too drained by years of war and economic bad times for that."

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity the movements across the world for self-determination!

thanks to:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/articles/34/Egypt-military-dismantles-Mubarak-regime.html

http://betsyinjordan.blogspot.com/

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/articles/34/Bahrain-MPs-quit-to-protest-crackdown.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/articles/34/Bahrain-warns-protesters-of-harsh-steps.html

http://www.fpif.org/articles/pox_americana_driving_through_the_gates_of_hell_and_other_american_pastimes_in_the_greater_middle_east

Midterms

2011-02-17T21:43:00.000-08:00

Sorry no Posts tonight, owing to midterms. We will be back tomorrow with stellar content.

After getting shafted, some are taking their homes back!

2011-02-17T02:48:00.000-08:00

With the bailout, the Obama administration made one clear statement- we are on the side of the rich. In the classic struggle between rich and poor with systems reinforcing gender and racial oppression, the whole system seems corrupt. Corrupt, because the advisors are in bureaucracies that are so large they can hardly be understood, much less managed. The bailout marked the single largest transfer of wealth from public hands to private hands. "The rich get richer..."- Marx.

"Nobody goes to jail. This is the mantra of the financial-crisis era, one that saw virtually every major bank and financial company on Wall Street embroiled in obscene criminal scandals that impoverished millions and collectively destroyed hundreds of billions, in fact, trillions of dollars of the world's wealth — and nobody went to jail. Nobody, that is, except Bernie Madoff, a flamboyant and pathological celebrity con artist, whose victims happened to be other rich and famous people.

The rest of them, all of them, got off. Not a single executive who ran the companies that cooked up and cashed in on the phony financial boom — an industrywide scam that involved the mass sale of mismarked, fraudulent mortgage-backed securities — has ever been convicted. Their names by now are familiar to even the most casual Middle American news consumer: companies like AIG, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. Most of these firms were directly involved in elaborate fraud and theft. Lehman Brothers hid billions in loans from its investors. Bank of America lied about billions in bonuses. Goldman Sachs failed to tell clients how it put together the born-to-lose toxic mortgage deals it was selling. What's more, many of these companies had corporate chieftains whose actions cost investors billions — from AIG derivatives chief Joe Cassano, who assured investors they would not lose even "one dollar" just months before his unit imploded, to the $263 million in compensation that former Lehman chief Dick "The Gorilla" Fuld conveniently failed to disclose. Yet not one of them has faced time behind bars."-Rolling Stone

The schemes and financial rigging of 'lenders', authorized by banks, have cost families their homes. With skyrocketing bills on non-fixed mortgages. This crippling financial gamble caused knowing harm to those being lent to. Yet after major banks took federal funding, still thousands are being evicted from homes every day for inability to pay- to pay for the mistakes of the lenders.

Some people are taking action to place families in homes. Take back the land opens vacant homes to the families who have been evicted:
"The overarching objective of the Take Back the Land Movement correlate significantly with our principles:
-Fundamentally transform land relationships;
-Elevate housing to the level of a human right;
-Community control over land and housing;
-Empower impacted communities, particularly low income communities of color.

In order to achieve these movement objectives, we must design and implement a series of campaigns, whose objectives support those of the broader movement. Therefore, campaign action areas include:
-Foreclosure related evictions. In the context of the worse housing crisis in memory, evicting families and creating more vacant homes in communities is counterproductive.
-Foreclosed homes. These homes must be filled with families in need of housing.
-Vacant foreclosed and government owned buildings. At a time of such great need, these vacant structures shock the moral conscience. They must be used to housing people.
-Vacant foreclosed and government owned land. Now that “boom” times are over, vacant land must now be returned to the common good.
-Public housing. Public housing must be protected because we cannot afford to lose low-income housing.
-The right to return. Whether through gentrification, public housing demolition or the combination of natural disasters and government actions, those forced to leave their long-time communities must have the right to return."-an excerpt from the mission of Take Back the Land.

The Student Insurgent stands with the dislocated families in their right to shelter and a right of return after bank mortgages exploited them.

thanks to:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-street-in-jail-20110216?print=true

http://www.takebacktheland.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=mission

Eugene IWW: Soapbox Speaking

2011-02-17T02:19:00.000-08:00

A group of local citizens and the Lane Branch of the IWW are sponsoring a local commemoration of the 1910-1911 free speech movement because of the Lane County connection. In 1911 over 250 Northwest workers concerned about the curtailment of free speech rights in Fresno, California and other cities assembled in Portland to travel by box car to Fresno in Jan. and Feb. of 1911 with stops in Eugene and other Oregon cities. In Ashland, Oregon they were forced off the train and proceeded to walk over the snow covered Siskiyous. The event would center on Prof. Mullen's presentation will include period labor songs performed by local musicians and actual “soapboxing.”

100 Years Ago,On February 16, 1911, over a hundred members of the IWW left Portland on freight trains bound for Fresno, The group consisted of young working men willing to die for free speech. They risked being beaten by strike breakers. Nearly a hundred Wobblies made the hazardous trek south by foot through the snow-covered Siskiyous after being kicked out of the box cars in Ashland. By the end ot their trek the they had walked roughly 150 miles across the frozen Siskiyous.
Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice has a campaign to create a Wobbly Free Speech Monument be placed in the mountains along their historic route to commemorate and immortalize these workers virtuous trek.
“...men of conviction who voluntarily, for the cause of free speech, hit-the-grits and disappeared into the snowfall to confront possible death, not in the face of hostile gunfire, but in the face of an indifferent nature’s blizzard.”
~ Jay Mullen

Jay Mullen will be giving a presentation on this history. The event will take place on Thurs. March 3rd/7 pm Willamette 100/U of O campus

UO Native American Student Union fundraisers for Annual Pow Wow

2011-02-17T02:14:00.000-08:00

AN event update from the Native American Student Union (NASU):

We have a bake sale outside of the UofO bookstore this friday from 12-4pm.

We also have a basketball tournament on April 15-17 at the Morse Event Center at Northwest Christian University. It is free admission and open to the public.

Both of these events are fundraisers for our annual Mother's Day Pow Wow in May.

The Pow Wow is a major event, celebrating the heritage of indigenous peoples. This is a positive celebration which acknowledges the history and empowers the marginalized community.

The Student Insurgent encourages everyone to help support these events and and volunteer at the Pow Wow!

Valentines flowers? Sometimes roses have thorns.

2011-02-15T22:34:00.000-08:00

The flower industry is by and large exploitative, chemically hazardous and full of toxic waste. This is a system of exploitation, but not a hopeless situation, fair-trade and organic options are making room in the market for more ethical products.

"Low pay and exposure to toxins for wokers in South America flower export market - changing for the better? Talking with a customer and management of Robertson's Flowers in Chestnut Hill...

In the 2004 movie, “Maria Full of Grace,” a pregnant young woman trades the harsh conditions of a flower packing operation in Colombia to come to the United States with a friend as a “drug mule.” It doesn't turn out well.

The flower export business is big business. Large, drab greenhouses, like those in Ecuador where “Maria” was filmed, can stretch for miles. From my bus window, I knew the eerily transformed landscape would not be on any picture postcard I would be sending home to the U.S.

Beauty has its cost to both the environment and people, however, according to “The Secrets Behind Your Flowers,” a February 2011 Smithsonian Magazine report. Because it may take three gallons of water to grow just one rose bloom, groundwater supplies become depleted. The low-paying work is tedious and straining. In traditional growing operations, workers are exposed to the dangerous pesticides and fungicides that keep insects from taking the slightest nibble from an otherwise picture-perfect flower.

Public outcry in recent years has led to the introduction of fair trade practices. Nicole Serfass, flower buyer at Robertson’s Flowers greenhouses in Wyndmoor, showed off the Veriflora label on the roses they import from South America. Veriflora is one of a handful of certifying organizations that try to ensure that their growers are using sustainable agricultural methods and providing equitable, healthy conditions for their workers.

At Robertson’s showcase Chestnut Hill store, Sandy Robertson says they source their flowers locally from New Jersey, domestically from Florida when they can and even sees growing customer interest in organically or sustainably grown flowers. Serfass has been asking their growers about organic but believes it’s not yet economically worth it for them to invest the years required for organic certification.

“Aren’t they gorgeous?” Donna Beardell of Chestnut Hill asks, exiting Robertson’s with a brilliant bunch of pink tinged roses, destined for her nieces competing in a gymnastics meet. On Valentines Day, she’s hoping she’ll be the recipient."- Brian Rudnick, Philly IMC

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with the workers of the world, the growers of food and makers of the luxuries- a people who are often denied the very luxuries they produce en-mass for the Global North. May we all have the necessities of a healthy and fulfilled life.

thanks to:
http://phillyimc.org/en/valentines-day-roses-does-love-hurt

Longest Walk 3 Northern Route 2011

2011-02-15T22:25:00.000-08:00

"'Reversing Diabetes in Native America'

Portland, OR to Washington DC
February 14 - July 8, 2011
This is a 5,000+ mile Walk Across America to bring awareness of the devastating effects of diabetes and how it can be reversed by changing our entire diet and lifestyle! This disease is at epidemic levels across America, and throughout Indian Country.

We will hold community talks along the way about reversing diabetes, and heart disease. We will be advocating for major changes in our eating habits, while promoting beneficial exercise programs. Our goal will be to REVERSE DIABETES AND RAISE THE CONSCIOUS OF AMERICA THAT WE MUST HALT THE WORST DIET IN THE WORLD!

We will be leaving Portland, OR on February 14, 2011 following a ceremony, and other events, and entering Washington DC on July 8th, 2011.
PLEASE SEE NOTES [on website] FOR ROUTE MAP AND LIST OF CITIES AND TOWNS THE WALKERS WILL WALK THROUGH!

You, too, can be a part of this! Please consider donating to our cause. We are accepting gas cards and unencumbered funds to be used for support and emergencies.

We need contacts for food and and lodging in communities along the route, and runners to help with the walk.

To see a video of Day 1 on the Walk, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJiobo_RT-Y

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with the indigenous people's movements for a a more just and egalitarian world. We are on occupied indigenous territory.

thanks to:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2011/02/406163.shtml

http://earthbornproductions.com/LWNR3_P9IO.html

Longest Jailed Nuclear Resister Helen Woodson Needs Support

2011-02-15T22:19:00.000-08:00

"Over the years we have spent time in prison and/or supported other activists who have been in prison for acts of conscience. We write to you now with a special request on behalf of Helen Woodson.

Back in November of 1984, Helen was part of the Silo Pruning Hooks action. She went to a Missouri nuclear missile silo along with Larry Cloud-Morgan, Fr. Carl Kabat OMI and Fr. Paul Kabat OMI. With sledgehammer and jackhammer, the group followed the biblical mandate of Isaiah to turn swords into plowshares. They were convicted and received a varied number of years of prison time for their action.

With the exception of a few days, Helen has been in prison ever since. (A couple of times in past years when released, she immediately engaged in an action that resulted in arrest and being returned directly to prison for violating parole.)

She is scheduled to be released in September of 2011 after 27 years behind bars.

Helen is looking forward to getting out, and at the age of 67 and with health issues, has decided to now retire from activities that might return her to prison.

It's been a long time since she's lived on the outside. She'll leave prison with a sweatsuit, plus books that she's accumulated. That's it.

Since she will leave prison with no source of income or health coverage, she plans to apply for government assistance, but it can take six or so months for someone to find out if they are eligible to receive benefits. In the meantime, in addition to things like food and clothes, she'll need to purchase medications for multiple health problems, at quite a significant cost. So she has asked friends to raise funds on her behalf (not money to be used while she is in prison, but for the things she'll need once she's released).

Her living situation once she's released is still uncertain. It has been challenging for her to develop a plan that the Bureau of Prisons and Department of Justice find suitable since Helen will be subjected to many conditions and restrictions after her release. The couple who have invited her to live with them are still waiting to be contacted to answer the questions and receive the home visit needed to determine if Helen will be allowed to live there. Helen is very much hoping that they and their home will be approved. If not, she is not sure where she will be able to live, and it's possible additional money will need to be raised to enable her to rent a small place to live.

In the meantime, until this becomes more clear, it will ease her mind significantly if she can at least know that she'll be able to pay for the medicines she needs, and things like a winter coat. Can you help?"- Portland IndyMedia

Secure online donations can be made via paypal at the Nuclear Resister website at: http://www.nukeresister.org/donate

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with Helen Woodson, all military resisters and efforts to abolish militarism.

thanks to:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2011/02/406165.shtml

Fashion Resistance to Militarism Fashion Show

2011-02-15T20:59:00.000-08:00

A fashion show to challenge to status quo. This is the second annual critical analysis of the fashion industry and how the industries of oppression weave their way into daily live. By deconstructing the myths violent imagery, the show challenges the social dictates and influence of social injustice in our lives.

Agate Hall
When: Friday, February 25, at 7pm
This fashion show is all about how the military is influencing the fashion industry. The show will uncover the high costs of militarism in terms of people’s lives, emotional wellbeing, environmental contamination, carbon footprint, war profiteering, and all the ways war is made to seem normal. Each design will be paired with an informative script; together they will tell a wider story about militarism and “counter couture” for peace and justice.

The Insurgent stands in Solidarity with the resistance to the dominant oppressive culture of militarism.

Proxy From Mexico

2011-02-15T20:49:00.000-08:00

Life makes sense on the farm. There are no deadlines; only what must
get done now and what must get done later. It is as fast or as slow as
you would like, though faster is generally better. Most of you who
earn a college degree will work in fields unrelated to that degree. It
is the mark of jumping through hoops for our societal structure, but
those hoops mostly lead to unsustainable institutions which cannot
last much longer. However, the farm will always be there, and your
college degree will help, because the farm requires all forms of
knowledge. The biologist, the psychologist, the artist, the doctor,
the geologist, the writer, the mechanic, and more; they are all vital
parts of the farm. I am not sure if it is worth spending tens of
thousands of dollars to earn a degree from an institution you likely
disagree with, but in the end, many of you will end up here in the
soil, sun, and seeds. Why not do it now? You will feel more fulfilled
and happier I am quite sure. If not for the sunshine, then for the
soil bacteria which help produce serotonin and prevent illnesses. Then
for not hurting the things you love through your work. Then by eating
delicious food which you worked and worked to grow. Then by solving
every odd problem in the book. Then by being a good person.

PS: Keep the USA in line!

Sage Liskey,
Contributor, Student Insurgent

UO News Release: Intersections of Immigration

2011-02-15T01:49:00.000-08:00

9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on February 25, 2011. The symposium will be based around the intersections between immigration and other areas of law. There will be five discussion panels as well as lunch, a keynote speaker, and post-event hors d'oeuvres. Four Oregon State Bar CLE credits are pending for the event.

Registration may be completed via our website at http://oregonsymposium.weebly.com. Students must register on our website by February 20 to attend free of charge with their valid student IDs.

The panels will cover topics of family law and immigration; criminal law and immigration; business law and immigration; human rights law and crisis immigration, including asylum and domestic violence law; and nonprofit law and immigration.

There will be three to four panelists per panel. Each group of panelists will be composed primarily of immigration practitioners who specialize in the panel’s corresponding area of law. Law professors will moderate the panels and ask the panelists questions regarding practical considerations for those in immigration practice, such as daily work, types of clients served, and types of projects completed. Each panelist will have the opportunity to respond to policy questions, including questions regarding the effects of immigration on corresponding areas of law as traditionally practiced, possible areas of improvement within the immigration system, and opportunities for improved client situations and efficiency levels if immigration policies were changed.

The Student Insurgent supports efforts to engage in multiculturalism and entertain rational discussion about immigration. This event in particular will likely be a powerful and necessary discussion.

The Light of Alexandria

2011-02-15T01:26:00.000-08:00

The struggle of Tahrir square ended and while the military retains control, the dictator voluntarily left. While a world deeply embroiled in violence finds this stunning some Egyptian scholars believed it inevitable.

"For three decades, I came here to see Heikal and he predicted the implosion of Egypt with absolute conviction, outlining in devastating detail the corruption and violence of the Mubarak regime, and its inevitable collapse"- of Mohamed Heikal, the Independent

Conditions of collapse which are now dissimilar only in places of the American Landscape. While the US is considerably larger and less culturally unified, one cannot help but wonder, of the fate of the United States. But Egypt is in a region, now illuminated with the possibility of a better world.

Reports from Yemen tell the tale of struggle, that has now reigned for four days with thousands in the streets.

"Scattered clashes between Bahraini security forces and protesters were reported Sunday night and Monday amid a nationwide "day of rage" against corruption and political oppression inspired by the recent uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt."-LA Times

Now the governments have pressure not to respond with violence, the precedence has been set and governments are increasingly willing to hear and accommodate the protesters. Under pressure of the International world and even many regional neighbors.

"In a statement Monday, Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa did not refer specifically to the protests, but said Bahrain has made "many political reforms and democratic achievements" already. "These reforms, widely acknowledged and appreciated, have upgraded Bahrain's political status at international forums worldwide," he said."- LA Times.

In Beirut "Saad Hariri, whose coalition government was toppled last month, used the occasion to formally announce his opposition to the new administration now being formed. Led by his successor, Najib Mikati, the dominant partner is the militant Shiite Hezbollah movement."- C.S.Monitor

Finally as the 'Arab' world is in upheaval, 'Western' nations are not behaving so well in regards to human rights "Islamophobia in the United Kingdom, the rise of the far right, and the Prevent Terrorism initiative of the British government. we recognized that 80 percent of the oppressed around the world were Muslim, but the perception in the international community is that Muslims are perpetrators not victims. Of course, many of the oppressors of Muslims are also Muslims, but 80 percent of the victims are Muslims. We felt that this was an irregularity in facts and perceptions that had to be addressed or it would lead to greater Islamophobia.

When 9/11 happened, we saw a huge number of attacks in Britain even though 9/11 didn’t happen in Britain. When 7/7 happened, there was a huge number of attacks against Muslims in Britain, and the demonization and attacks were as far afield as New Zealand, where six mosques burned down, Compare that to Bosnia, where Muslims were attacked in name of Christianity, where some of the rape camps were in churches and were run by clergy and even some parts of the Orthodox Church announced that it was a religious duty to help Serbs implement those policies. And yet not a single church burned down in the Muslim world. Why could people in the Muslim world differentiate between those who misused a concept and the rest of the faith while well-educated Westernized societies were not able to do that? That opened up our eyes about how what happened in the 1920s and 1930s happened. That culture is still rife in the West. -Massoud Shadjareh"-FPIF

It is too easy to tell narratives of acension and declension, but the reality is more complex, with multiple layers within society, along ethnic, racial, gender, class and political lines. All of these narratives play on one another influencing each other, in no static manner. While relative self-determination and human rights are a current trend in the middle east. Not six months ago, the middle east was in hushed voices considered backwards- owing to cultural discrepancies. But we do not stand six months ago and women have lead and continue to lead protests and this is juxtaposed to the 'west's' treatment of islamic citizens.

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with ongoing protests across the Middle East and across the globe for regional sovereignty and self-determination. Every human deserves their rights and as CrimethInc. would say 'the kids will have their day', but these struggles are not just 'kids' or youth, or elderly, or religious, or gendered and that is what makes this time so hopeful- the people are united, as people.

thanks to:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/mohamed-heikal-i-was-sure-my-country-would-explode-but-the-young-are-wiser-than-us-2215070.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/02/bahrain-egypt-iran-tahrir-protest-revolution-manama.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BabylonBeyond+%28Babylon+%26+Beyond+Blog%29

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/0214/Hariri-rallies-supporters-against-Hezbollah-backed-government

http://www.fpif.org/articles/interview_with_the_islamic_human_rights_commission

Fundamentals of a Great Bike Trip

2011-02-15T00:34:00.000-08:00

By picking up the Insurgent, we've already established that you are pretty rad. So you just might be interested in this 'radical' activity; riding a bike. But I'm not talking about going for a ride on a nice day or commuting to school or work, I'm talking about multi-day long distance riding; touring.

So you find out that you will be having some free time coming up, it could be just a couple of days or a couple of years, doesn't matter, and you decide that you need to get out of town and do something different. Funds are limited, but you still want to have a great trip. When a car is not an option and the cost of a train or airplane ticket is out of reach, it can seem like there are not that many opportunities to pursue. Your bicycle, that trusty friend of yours that is with you on your errands and that takes you along the river path on one of those first days of spring, can be your ticket out of this little corner of the Willamette Valley and give you an experience unlike any other.

For some bike touring is all about being free from the use of fossil fuels while taking in the landscape, for others it is represents a challenging and rewarding physical activity, and for numerous people, it is about an inexpensive vacation. A bicycle trip is all three of those and more. There is a feeling of accomplishment when realizing that distance between you and your starting point was made entirely by bicycle. Biking through the landscape allows for time to observe all of your surroundings, as well as reflect upon your personal thoughts. Living off of a bicycle is also a minimal impact activity that allows for a great degree of mobilization without the direct consumption of precious oil. The great freedom of long distance bike riding allows for unlimited avenues to explore. Be it a trip to the coast and back or a six month venture through Central America, any multi-day bike trip can prove to be a great adventure.

So you've now decided you need to go on a bike trip (perhaps for spring break?), but have questions about what all it takes for a successful adventure. Here are the major important elements of bike touring that you may want to consider.

Bike

Almost any bike will do, really. A big thing to keep in mind is that what ever the subject, someone has done more with less, you don't need to worry about having a nice brand new touring bike for your trip. Riding a bike all day with a backpack is no fun, and can cause discomfort and damage to your back and shoulders. It is important to choose a bike that has the necessary holes in the frame to support a rack. For longer trips, a rack with three supports on either side is optimal but not necessary.

The bike should fit you. That is to say that you should be comfortable riding the bike for a long duration of time. A general rule of thumb is that the top tube of the bike (bar between seat and handlebars) should be about an inch below your groin when standing over the bike. From there, adjust seat, handle bars, brake hoods, ect to positions that are comfortable for long rides.

Ensuring that the bike is in good mechanical shape (brakes and gears function properly, seat and other adjustable components are tightened securely, ect) will leave less of a chance for trouble in the future. It's up to the individual bikers discretion as to how much mechanical work or new parts someone wants to put into their bike. Just keep thinking, someone has done more with less.

Route

While spontaneous routes that take you weaving through the country side can provide more of a sense of adventure, it is always essential to have a map of the areas you are planning on going through. Departments of Transportation and many tourism bureaus will provide you with free maps upon inquiring on their websites. Many states even employ a bicycle coordinator position that can provide you with traffic data and grade of highways throughout the entire state on a map.

A good average day of riding for many bicycle tourists starting out is 50 miles in a day, but once on the road, you will know what your preferences or capabilities are.

When there are no camping sites or motels abound it’s time to consider asking a home or business for permission to stay on their property for the night, or find a good place to ‘stealth camp’. Many locals are accepting that you are a decent-hearted traveler just needing a place to pitch a tent.

Gear

Once you establish that you have a rack, bags are necessary. This can mean bungeeing plastic bags to the rack finding used bags, or buying bags new. For DIY enthusiasts, panniers can be made from plastic buckets, crates, or sewn from cloth, but that will have to be a different article. Beyond sufficient storage capacity on your bicycle and the recommended tools, the rest of the gear reflects the personality of your trip. To bring a stove or not to bring a stove? Stay in motels or camp every night? These questions are left to the individual and gear lists should reflect personal comforts.

Clothing

Of course there will always be variability with location, season, and climate, but there are two things important things to consider when packing clothing for a bike trip: layers and synthetic fibers. You may have experienced this riding through town; you wake up and have to ride your bike to school but it's a cold January morning in Eugene and raining; you put on a heavy sweater, then a rain jacket, and start riding. Two minutes into the ride your sweating, but disrobing now would be a hassle due to traffic or being late to class. The result: you get to class sweaty with your cotton t-shirt just as wet as it would have been if you were riding with it in the rain. Solution? proper layering and never including cotton in your bike touring wardrobe.

Maintenance

Having a spare tube and patch kit are a must, as well as a few tools, however you don't need to worry about packing a whole repair shop on your rack. In addition to the tube and patch kit, it is smart to have the tools necessary to make adjustments to the different components of your bike. Usually you can get by with just one Allen wrench set, but be sure that you can adjust your seat, handlebars, and stem to get a comfortable fit. After riding for the first long day you can begin to feel where minor adjustments might be helpful. Spare spokes and a chain tool can be useful to have with you, but importance can vary depending on the type of trip you plan to embark on. Be aware of your proximity to bike shops on your route and plan accordingly.

Food

Food is another topic in which there is great variability between personal preferences. Be prepared to eat more than you usually do if you are not accustomed to all day physical activity. Be aware of the services offered on your map, and stock up to ensure that there will be no hungry stretches of your trip.

So there you have it. The basic elements of a bike trip to think about before setting off on a trip of your own. Once on the road you may think of more things would work a little better for you, or you may be too enthralled with your surroundings to be picky about what you brought with you or the maintenance of your bike. Bicycle touring can be a weekend getaway, summer vacation, or a post-graduation life plan. By combining the adventurous self propelled spirit of backpacking and the vast infrastructure of all kinds of roads across the globe, touring can prove to be an activity of limitless opportunities. Bearing these elements in mind will help facilitate a positive experience that can add more richness to you life.
Safe Travels.

By contributor: Jonathan Fryer, Bike Enthusiast

Resources

www.crazyguyonabike.com personal journals from people touring all over the world.

www.bikeforums.net go to the touring section to reach a community of people eager to discuss anything related to bicycle touring.

www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/BIKEPED/maps.shtml Oregon Department of Transportation bicycle maps.

Military seizes control in Egypt

2011-02-13T21:51:00.000-08:00

All eyes are on Egypt. The victory of Mubarak's resignation has swept the world in a powerful discussion about standing for one's rights, tactics to achieve those rights and make the world we all secretly want. The reality for the people in Egypt is already becoming frightening, the military with the police, are taking command and driving protesters from Tahrir square. The military is perilously close to becoming just another dictatorship.

"Egyptian military disbands parliament, suspends constitution
Military officials also set a timeline, vowing to rule Egypt for six months or until elections are held. Meanwhile, the army makes a sweep of Tahrir Square, ousting remaining protesters.

As the campers watched the army clear the square, a parade of police and ordinary Egyptians materialized like a flash flood. The cops in blue sweaters and berets were raised on people's shoulders and waved Egyptian flags.

"The police and army are one," they chanted. The policemen pumped their fists and converged with the protesters' stage. "God is great, God is great," the two groups roared, while cars beeped and inched forward, as if nothing unusual had happened.

Some responded in anger at the police. One young man tried to charge them. "The police killed us! Don't believe them," he shouted, before a group pulled him back.

Others looked on, bemused. Tahrir Square was slowly returning to normal. They believed the people had won.

"We are taking our freedom," said Wael Mustafa, 40. He smiled at the scene of soldiers, protesters, police and cars bumper to bumper. He predicted that if the army didn't keep its word, "the people will come back."

But he was sure better days were coming."-LA Times

What those days hold before those better days hold is unclear, but the choice for a better world is in the hands of the military. The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with the people of Egypt, condemning the military opposition of protests and holds that all power should be in the hands of the people.

Seattle: anti-police action.

2011-02-13T11:42:00.000-08:00

"On February 12th, 150 people met at Westlake Center in Downtown Seattle. Hundreds of fliers were distributed during the initial rally which had the title "Police Are The Absolute Enemy." The rally was predominately reformist and had been called by the October 22nd coalition, a front group of the Revolutionary Communist Party. However, the anarchist block, composed of 40 people dressed entirely in black, pushed the crowd into the streets and began to march.

As the march went on, thousands of the flier mentioned above were distributed. On the way to the East Precinct Police Station, barricades were thrown into the road. Several people from the street joined in as the march proceeded. When the march reached the police station, the windows of a police cruiser were smashed out. At this point, the police moved in. Several of them were hit with the thick flag poles that carried black flags. Two people were arrested. At the time of this writing, they have been charged with misdemeanors.

Solidarity to everyone fighting the police!"- Portland IndyMedia

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with efforts to repel the violent police elements from communities, but does not advocate destruction of property as the necessary means to do so (however, we do support a diversity of tactics).

thanks to:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2011/02/406106.shtml

Secure Communities Program (S-COMM) Endangers Civil Rights and Security

2011-02-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

Boston stands up for its immigrant community!

On Saturday, February 12th, 2011 at 1PM, people from across Massachusetts will come together at the State House to protest the State's intention to join the anti-immigrant and racist “Secure Communities” program (S-COM).

Under the guise of public safety, “S-Comm” endangers the civil rights and security of all and is particularly an attack on immigrants and people of color. The federal program mandates local law enforcement to cross check the fingerprints of those arrested against the Homeland Security's database in search of immigration status. While supposedly targeting “violent offenders,” the vast majority of those detained and deported are considered “non-criminals”. This would include those who have been unlawfully arrested, those arrested for minor offenses like traffic violations and those who ultimately have their charges dropped. In Suffolk County, the only jurisdiction in the state currently enrolled, 68% of those detained and deported have been “non-criminals”, the sixth highest percentage in the country.

The "S-Comm" program is part of an overall effort to target immigrants and maintain a permanent second-class status for millions of workers. The time is now for communities across the state to stand together against “S-Comm” and all anti-immigrant programs. We strongly believe that undocumented immigrants are not criminals!

Our demands are simple and clear:

* No to “Secure Communities” and all anti-immigrant programs!
* No human being is illegal—Full rights for all immigrants!
* Stop the raids and deportations now!

Partial list of endorsers (as of 2/10/11): American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts, Boston-Cambridge Alliance for Democracy, Center for Nonviolent Solutions, Centro Presente, Chelsea Uniting Against the War, Circulo Bolivariano Martin Luther King, Code Pink, Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), Community Church of Boston, Dominican Development Center, FMLN Boston, Harvard No Layoffs Campaign, Immigration Pastoral Center, Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), International Action Center (IAC), MassCOSH/Centro de Trabajadores, Mass. Jobs with Justice (MJWJ) , MataHari: Eye of the Day, MIRA, National Lawyers Guild (NLG) - Massachusetts Chapter, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Project Voice AFSC, Proyecto Hondureno, Resist the Raids Network, Stop the Wars Coalition, Student Immigrant Movement, Student (SIM), Labor Action Movement (SLAM), Union of Minority Neighborhoods (UMN), United for Justice with Peace, Veterans for Peace, Worcester Immigrant Coalition (WIC), Worcester PeaceWorks

See also:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EPTdLYD-3I
http://www.flickr.com/photos/protestphotos1/sets/72157625909534661/detail/

info (at) bostonmayday.org
www.bostonmayday.org

Americas Roundtable: African Diasporas in the Americas

2011-02-12T12:14:00.000-08:00

An event which offers a profound examination of systems of oppression. 'Rethinking African Diaspora Studies' is a valuable and necessary discussion, these are the roots of modern oppression and it especially behooves all administration, students, faculty and staff to attend.

February 18, 2011, 10am-3pm, EMU Fir Room, University of Oregon

10am - The Black Anti-Integration Movement in Topeka, KS, 1941-1955 (Charise Cheney, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of Oregon)

11am - Á Brasileira: Notes Towards a Racial Critique of Desire (Denise Ferreira da Silva, Professor of Ethics, Queen Mary University of London)

1:30pm - Domesticating Labor and the Labor of Domesticity (Priya Kandaswamy, Assistant Professor of Women's Studies, Mills College)

Moderators:

Melissa Stuckey, Assistant Professor of History, University of Oregon Irmary Reyes-Santos, Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of Oregon

Our goal is to foster hemispheric thinking on these important issues. This Friday will bring diverse work together to consider hemispheric blackness across various contexts and time periods. Also, the event will be connected to some undergraduate courses such as Latino Roots and African-American History.

You can also find more information by contacting: cllas@uoregon.edu

The Student Insurgent stands in solidarity with the critical examination of oppression and all efforts to empower diversity and multiculturalism.

Blood tests reveal chemical poisoning linked to BP Disaster

2011-02-12T03:00:00.000-08:00

By Ada McMahon and Liana Lopez
"Alarming levels of toxic chemicals from the BP disaster have entered the blood of some Gulf Coast citizens, who are showing symptoms like internal bleeding, kidney infection, muscle atrophy, pain, headaches, and bleeding from the ears.   At a community forum last Saturday in New Orleans, Dr. Wilma Subra presented these results and more based on months of testing from the Louisiana Environmental Action Network.

Several Gulf Coast residents from the study discussed their symptoms, and expressed their fear, sadness, and outrage at the lack of health care and attention the health crisis has received.

Did BP cause this man’s seizures?

Paul Doomm, a 22 year-old from coastal Navarre Beach, Florida, was one of those to speak out. He has not yet received his blood test results, but has become wheelchair-bound since swimming in the Gulf and eating seafood this summer. He attributes his ailments, which include chronic seizures, constant headaches and pain, vertigo and partial paralysis, to the BP disaster. He says that none of the 93 doctors he’s seen in the past months have found a definitive cause. [Read more about Paul from Bridge The Gulf contributor Rocky Kistner].  

Just minutes after telling his story to the crowd of roughly 100 at the First Unitarian Church in New Orleans, Paul’s eyes began to dart around in his head and the right side of his body began to seize and shake. Several men rushed to his side to help his mother carry Paul and his wheelchair off the stage.   Panelist Cherri Foytlin broke the stunned silence. “Can we get some prayers?,” she called out, then led the room in prayer.   

For several minutes Paul embodied the health crisis facing most in the audience, and an estimated 4-5 million others across the Gulf Coast."-Houston IndyMedia

The tragedy of the Gulf Oil spill cannot be measured in gallons or billions in cleanup and containment issues. The real cost is in the plant and animal species, the livelihood of many industries and now the lives of humans. How many must become sick, die? The Insurgent Stands in solidarity with efforts of resistance to the fossil fuel industry.

Thanks to:
http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2011/02/72302.php

http://indymedia.us/en/index.shtml

Local IWW chapter hosts:Free Speech soapbox event

2011-02-11T20:40:00.000-08:00

Defend Free Speech and show solidarity with a movement.

Today when free speech is a major issue as seen in Egypt throughout the world. It's imperative to take the time to honor the Wobblies who jeopardized their lives to continue honoring free speech for everyone. This event will include sharing of poetry, songs or speeches on a soapbox platform. Local artist Ellen Gabehart will be debuting her painting "free speech" at the train station. The event will take place as the 2:45 pm Amtrak arrives.

At the Eugene Train Station/4th and Willamette, Wed, February 16th/2:45 pm

"Commemorating the 1911 Wobbly Walk Through the Siskiyous, honoring the IWW free speech fighters and keeping free speech alive today". The Lane branch of the Industrial Workers of the World and the Civil Liberties Defense Center

Multicultural Dance Event

2011-02-11T20:29:00.000-08:00

Announcing a wonderful event next Friday night Feb 25th, 7:30 - 9:30 PM! Wesley Center ~ 1236 Kincaid St.
Come, Come, whoever you are!

"Don’t go back to sleep! — Rumi

We invite you to take a break from
studying and join us for an evening of
joyful dance, song and stories with
Murshida Mariam Baker.

She is a senior teacher in the Sufi Ruhaniat International and
in the Mevlevi Order of America (sometimes called “Whirling
Dervishes”). This is about experience rather than beliefs. Keep
your beliefs, no new ones required. Come and dance with us for
a heart opening experience."

Circle Dances, with sacred chants from around the world, honoring indigenous people and all spiritual traditions, with Murshida Mariam Baker, a senior Sufi Teacher and Wise Woman.

Take hands with us in the circle, for peace and harmony in the world, affirming our unity and heart connection. Simple dances, no experience necessary. Friday night at the Wesley center on campus next to the Duck Store. Everyone welcome, from any spiritual tradition or none, and all races and sexual orientation welcome.

Only $5.00 for students (no one turned away for lack of funds!) one for Friday night and one for a dance and possible hike, weather permitting, on Saturday.

Hope to see you there!

Friday night Feb 25th, 7:30 - 9:30 PM! Wesley Center ~ 1236 Kincaid St.
This event is being coordinated by a Graduate Student in Special Education.

The Insurgent stands in solidarity with efforts to Celebrate Multiculturalism.

Fascists, Neo-Nazis In Eugene Get Out

2011-02-11T20:22:00.000-08:00

The disbanded 'Pacifica Forum' have begun reorienting themselves with other hate activities and there are rumors of a Volksfront chapter starting.

The latest information is below:
Jimmy Marr: Member, National Socialist Movement (NSM- formerly American Nazi Party). Seen frequenting the Wandering Goat Cafe.

Four Neo-Nazis reported driving a pickup through the Whiteaker, in brown uniforms with swastikas and shouting racist slogans.

Barry Sommers: trying to host an 'Islam 101' course at the University of Oregon- a deeply racist and mis-informative course Sommers is not teaching as a faculty member, he is trying to reserve rooms and make open lectures. He made an earlier attempt at Lane Community College and was rejected.

Billy Rojas: hosting a 'information table' with Sommers, their literature is full of bigotry and thir premise is that all of Islam is a violent religion. This table was at the saturday market, during the on-season.

Other reports:
Released from prison, a Volksfront member is allegedly trying to form a chapter in Springfield, OR.

The Insurgent stands in solidarity with efforts to defend a community and drive out White Supremacists/Neo-Nazis. We don't need bigotry, we need solidarity.

To report white supremacist activity in the region of Lane County- email: report_hate@yahoo.com

EGYPT: Mubarak Resigns

2011-02-11T13:47:00.000-08:00

President Mubarak has resigned!!! Power is with the people and government administration in the hands of military. The people are in the streets celebrating. This is a victory of the and a non-violent movement.

We all watch to see if the military will act in a just way and return power to the people.

The Insurgent stands in solidarity with the people pf Egypt in efforts towards self determination!

Eugene: CLDC and Cultural forum shows END:CIV

2011-02-11T02:13:00.000-08:00

Eugene's Civil Liberties Defense Center and the student Cultural Forum sponsored a showing of END:CIV a SubMedia Production.

The movie, leaning heavily on Anarcho-Primitivist ideology and ethics is a must see. Featuring several premises of Derrik Jensen, noted author of the 'End Game' books. The Movie follows four of Jensen's premises. This is the most profound critique of civilization to date.

The movie was followed by a panel discussion with John Zerzan- local primitivist & radio host. Jeff Leurs- recently freed political prisoner and Frank Lopez- host of the 'Stimula7or' and a member of the SubMedia collective who produced END:CIV.

What follows is answers to questions from the panel:

"There are projects involved in restoring clearcuts, as if we know what we're doing, but they are dependent on the government, which changes".-Leurs

"We normalize the idea to waif for heros, we must be the heros"

"We Don't have the power to destroy civilization, civilization is destroying us"

"How do we build a movement and a system that will sustain us? We need more localized communities."-Lopez

"We are living off the backs of the third world"-

"We let destruction happen- just to watch our TV"-Lopez

"We aren't able to feed ourselves. Yet we have our forgone conclusion of having energy, this situation we are in is astoundingly crazy, we need to 're-skill' ourselves"-Zerzan

"We can view this in a privileged way, but the industrial world will die"

Egypt: Protests shoe-ing the way & Military set to make pronouncement

2011-02-11T01:51:00.000-08:00

In Egypt, the protests with hundreds of thousands is a movement of the people. The military of Egypt is unclear, stating that they will not fire on protesters, but they are not necessarily supporting them either. The military announced they will make a statement Friday, meanwhile it has begun working on a 'communiqué #1' and announced a state of permanent alert, this may signal a coup or the beginning of the military about to put down the protesters. The people remain unswayed in their call to unseat Mubarak.

"Protesters, streaming into Cairo's central Tahrir Square on Friday, have stepped up calls for the army to intervene against Mubarak, a former air force commander and one of its own.

The role of the military is seen as key in the outcome of the crisis.

An Egyptian army officer who has joined the protesters said 15 other middle-ranking officers had also gone over to the demonstrators.

"The armed forces' solidarity movement with the people has begun," Major Ahmed Ali Shouman told Reuters news agency on Friday. "Our goals and the people's are one."

Shouman said the officers would address the crowd after Friday midday prayers.

The army, sent onto the streets after police withdrew following their failure to crush protesters on January 28, has promised not to fire on demonstrators."- AlJazeera

"History may later decide that the army's lack of faith in Mubarak effectively lost his presidency after three decades of dictatorship, secret police torture and government corruption. Confronted by even greater demonstrations on the streets of Egypt today, even the army could not guarantee the safety of the nation. Yet for Mubarak's opponents, today will not be a day of joy and rejoicing and victory but a potential bloodbath."-FPIF

"Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak refused to step down Thursday, saying in a nationally televised speech that he would hand authority to his vice president in a move that enraged and bewildered hundreds of thousands of protesters packed into Cairo's Tahrir Square."-LA Times

"To the horror of Egyptians and the world, President Hosni Mubarak – haggard and apparently disoriented – appeared on state television last night to refuse every demand of his opponents by staying in power for at least another five months. The Egyptian army, which had already initiated a virtual coup d'état, was nonplussed by the President's speech which had been widely advertised – by both his friends and his enemies – as a farewell address after 30 years of dictatorship. The vast crowds in Tahrir Square were almost insane with anger and resentment.

Even as Mubarak was still speaking, the millions in Tahrir Square roared their anger and fury and disbelief. Of course, the millions of courageous Egyptians who fought the whole apparatus of state security run by Mubarak should have been the victors. But as yesterday afternoon's events proved all too clearly, it was the senior generals – who enjoy the luxury of hotel chains, shopping malls, real estate and banking concessions from the same corrupt regime – who permitted Mubarak to survive. At an ominous meeting of the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces, Defence Minister Mohamed Tantawi – one of Mubarak's closest friends – agreed to meet the demands of the millions of democracy protesters, without stating that the regime would itself be dissolved. Mubarak himself, commander-in-chief of the army, was not permitted to attend."-FPIF

Many movement members are showing the bottoms of their shoes to Mubarak, a sign of disrespect. The Student Insurgent wonders wow long before Mubarak falls? In Solidarity with the Egyptian People.

thanks to:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201121161511674298.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-egypt-mubarak-20110211,0,3006722.story

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-as-mubarak-clings-on-what-now-for-egypt-2211287.html