Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

Beverly Hills, November 13th: In support of disappeared Haitian grassroots activist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, 30+ people gathered in front of the Brazilian Consulate to publicly launch a 24-hour rolling fast. At least 12 of us had red ribbons on our arms signifying our commitment to forego eating. (Additional fasters, who couldn’t be there, pledged to wear red ribbons as well). Those who could not commit to fasting helped by their mere presence and holding signs to educate the Brazilian Consulate and passersby. (There has also been a call to sign a petition for Pierre-Antoine’s release, which can be accessed here. ) Throughout the event, we caught the attention of motorists, and there was steady honking. People on tour buses looked at us with interest, as did pedestrians, some of whom stopped to talk to us. There was no overt police presence.
From the newswire: Message to Brazil: Help Find and Release Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine by Ross Plesset

Several hundred people participated in the No Borders Camp in Mexicali/Calexico during the week of November 7-11. Actions during the camp included a rally and march on November 9 at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in El Centro, CA and a memorial service on November 10 at a cemetery in Holtville, CA where the remains of about 600 migrants who have died crossing the border are buried. All activities during the camp were peaceful and intended to build connections across borders. On the evening of November 11th, US Border Patrol brutally attacked activists on the US side of the wall at the end of the closing march. The demonstration was peaceful until Border Patrol agents attacked with pepper-powder pellets and batons, arresting three and injuring several.

Text: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Audio: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Video: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 Informational Poster

more info / más info: San Diego Indymedia | No Borders Camp | Centro de Medios Libres | Regeneracion Radio

More Coverage of November 5th - 11th:
Text: Comuncado del Campamento Contra las Fronteras | Communique from the No Borders Camp | Day One Zine | Segundo Comunicado | Day 1 | 2nd Letter from Mexico Side (w/ photos) | Another Day deleting borders | Comunique 2 from the NBC (South side) | Day One & Two Update (w/ photos) | Much Ado About Breakfast!: Update 11/9 | Blogger's Dispatch from a Borderless World | Breaking News from Nov. 9 | Base Camp No Borders! | No Borders Landscape | Rally and March Against I.C.E. and Border Partrol In El Centro and Calexico/Mexicali | comunicado 3 del lado sur del campamento | Comunique 3 from No Borders Camp south-side | Day Two Zine | Blogger's Second Dispatch from a Borderless World | Day Three Zine | 'Borders & Ecology' workshop | Autonomous Action Against Border Wall Construction Company

Photos: NoBc First Day/ Primer Día de Sin Fronteras | Day One | day 2 | Nov 8 | Day 2 | From the NBC | Day One, Two and Three | sin fronteras / without borders | Day 3 - Breakfast Standoff and ICE Detention Center | from the Border | Desayuno at NBC | Demo at ICE Detention Center | Surveillance at El Centro Protest | Art from the U.S. Side

Audio: Conversations at the Wall | From the NBC: What It Is And Where We Are | From the Mexicali IMC | Breakfast at the Border | Interview with NBC Participant

Video: video from day 1 | NBC Solidarity Statement | Nov. 10 | The Week In Context | The Start, Nov. 7 | Binacional Breakfast Standoff

Solidarity Actions: Montreal | Chiapas | Tacoma

SANTA BARBARA, November 14, 2007 - The CIA was scheduled to hold an “infosession” for students interested in jobs with the agency. Right as the session began, four activists entered the room and began to demonstrate waterboarding, a torture technique used by the CIA. After only one minute of the waterboarding demonstration the room was plunged into chaos by a group calling itself the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army.

The Rebel Clowns, joined by several dozen antiwar organizers took over the meeting room and began passing out information on the CIA’s use of illegal torture techniques and literature related to the agency’s long history of subverting foreign governments, assassinating foreign leaders and subverting democracy.

The CIA agents fled the room but were pursued by a crowd of protestors chanting, “C-I-A, Go Away!” The agents were caught totally off-guard by the direct action. Protestors were overheard shouting to the escaping agents never to come back to UCSB.
From the Newswire: CIA Expelled from UCSB Campus by Richard McChesney

The Semi-Tropical Spiritualists’ Tract is a hidden oasis amidst humankind’s wholesale assault on nature. “This is an uninterrupted space from Elysian Park all the way through to our hill,” says Cheryl Parisi, a resident of 25 years. “So all the wildlife is able to traverse from Elysian Park; up along the ridge, which you can see [from] Riverside; and they just come straight into this whole open area. So it’s really magnificent: there are hawks, owls. (We have an owl in the neighborhood.)” The area also has protected trees, including California Black Walnuts.

Cindy Ortiz, another long-time resident, says that one of her neighbors can hear coyotes being born every spring. She herself witnesses another spring phenomenon: “the carpet of morning doves as [they’re] feeding.”

However, this wildlife corridor would be truncated if developer and landowner Henry Nunez implements his plans for 15 two-story homes on two acres in the hillside at Allesandro and El Moran streets. This project has faced harsh opposition by neighbors, and. . .
From the newswire: Hidden Oasis Threatened by Development by Ross Plesset

[The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the LA Indymedia Center editorial staff. The article has been featured for the purpose of debate and not as an endorsement or promotion of any viewpoint or candidate.]

Six years ago, listeners to a progressive radio network called Pacifica won a lawsuit that allowed KPFK members to elect representatives to their local station board, and through them, to determine who sat on the Pacifica National Board. The demand for democracy was an eruption against a board of directors that considered selling one of the stations to finance a string of smaller Black stations in the South. The settlement instituted the first democratically-run radio network in the U.S., another groundbreaking advance in the network's long history. Such are the contradictions of democracy.
From the newswire: (another, smaller) Stolen Election by Leslie Radford
Related: Battle of the Board at KPFA in Northern CA by Daniel
UPDATES: KPFK: Welcome to the Madhouse by Leslie Radford, KPFK LSB candidate | | A Letter from the Interim GM of KPFK by Jim Lafferty | | KPFK and Pacifica Need Good Governance by Grace Aaron | | KPFK Programmer Plugged Assistant Running as Listener Sponsor in LSB election by Miles Copeland | | Response to Lila Garrett by Jim Lafferty | | KPFK is biased, still, while pretending to be "fair" by sidestepper | | Donna Warren and John Wenger are not recommended by Independents and Grassroots Greens by Jack Lindblad