Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

Protests against banks are being reported in L.A. Some have been targeting Chase Bank (as discussed here). Also, various organizations, including MoveOn, are organizing protests throughout Southern California this Monday, April 18: Tax Day Protests on April 18th! (announcement by mous). Times vary from location to location.

Also, for almost a year, a weekly demonstration has been taking place in front of Bank of America in Silver Lake (at the corner of Glendale and Silver Lake Boulevards). It is organized by the Silver Lake-Echo Park chapter of The Coffee Party, the only chapter to be engaged in such an action. (It is hoped that other chapters across the country will follow suite.) Not surprisingly, public reaction has been rather positive. Some motorists even pull over and join in. The demonstration takes place on Saturdays from 1:30pm to 3.

Report and photos: Weekly Demonstration Against Sleazy Banks by RP | | Analysis: An Expansion of Terms Used in the Coffee Party Article by RP by mous | | On the legal front: Fraud by Bank of America in the Los Angeles Court by Human Rights Alert, NGO

On March 26th, "Our Communities, Our Jobs" the largest worker solidarity march, probably, in Los Angeles history, brought together all of L.A. labor, ranging from big unions like SEIU, Teamsters, UFCW, CWA, and Carpenters, to the smaller organizations like the numerous construction unions, Hollywood unions, firefighters, the IWW, worker organizations, community organizations, and unaffiliated allies.

The march went from the convention center to Pershing Square, and stopped at a hotel to support UNITE-HERE organizing there, stopped at a T-Mobile shop to support CWA organizing T-Mobile, stopped at Ralphs to tell the supermarkets to negotiate with UFCW, and stopped at Chase to highlight the causes of this lousy economy.

Estimates on size vary from 10,000 (initial LAPD estimate repeated by LA Times) to 30,000. (Current LAPD estimate is 20k to 25k.) (Photo at left by David Sachs)

Photos: Photos by Tim H-M, Photos by Slobodan Dimitrov, Photos by David Sachs, Photos by Chris Valle, Photos by joiseyboyy Videos: Kids Protest Cuts at Labor Rally From the newswire: Downtown March for Workers' Rights by Rockero

For her book, Cunningham spent over 20 years illustrating how California might have looked before the arrival of Europeans. Her artwork often goes back centuries and even millennia (and on a few occasions all the way to the ice age).

Among her illustrations is a striking view of the San Fernando Valley (as seen on the book cover), not too long ago with a grizzly bear in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains overlooking uncorrupted land. Another local scene by Cunningham shows San Bernardino with 15-foot-tall sun flowers. These plants were thought to be extinct since 1937, but recently some were found near LA. In "State of Change," this awe-inspiring painting is juxtaposed with a modern freeway on-ramp.

While researching the book, she studied protected areas but said she also learned from studying abandoned lots and their native grasses. Nineteenth-century art was another source of reference, as was accounts by early Euro-Americans.

Cunningham also consulted indigenous elders and sometimes learned things that were contrary to what anthropologists and other scientists had stated. She seems to agree with M. Kat Anderson, author of Tending the Wild, about the critical role Native Americans could have in restoring ecosystems. One problem, though, is that indigenous people tend to be more long-term in their approaches, whereas the Federal Government tends to think in terms of months rather than centuries. Nevertheless, she is aware of cases where the government was swayed toward the long-term. This gives her hope for the future.

Story and photos: Author/artist/scientist Laura Cunningham on "Forgotten Landscapes of California" by R. Plesset

Hollywood saw in the eighth anniversary of the official start of the Iraq war with a demonstration numbering in the mid-thousands against the the American invasion. The action was organized by the ANSWER Coalition of Los Angeles and joined by groups as diverse as 911 truth advocates, CODEPINK, Iraq and Afghanistan Vets Against the War, Ron Kovich, Military Families Speak Out, Gold Star Families for Peace, California Wellness Centers, Los Angeles Jews for Peace and a wide swath of Los Angeles Social Justice groups.

Report and photos: Los Angeles Stages Hollywood Antiwar Protest for Eighth Year,Photo Set 2, and Photo Set 3 by Robert Stuart Lowden | | More: 03-19 Antiwar March in Hollywood (1 of 3), (2 of 3), and (3 of 3) by scha-la | | Photos and videos from the March 19th Anti War Rally by Give Peace a Chance | | Related: Santa Barbara Says "No!" to War by Isla Vista Chess Clique | | March 19 Anti-War Protesters Target Obama by Mark Gabrish Conlan

Meanwhile: Despite the best efforts of the City of Claremont and the Claremont Consortium of Colleges to obstruct, befuddle, and otherwise thwart a popular demonstration against fascism, the Southern California community succeeded in doing precisely that at two parallel demonstrations in response to a heavily-armed presence of a band of racist paramilitaries and their state-funded protectors. Story and photos: Claremont Authorities Promote Fascism at Hate Rally by Rockero | | VIDEO : Rally Against Hate and Nazi Rally March 19, 2011 - Claremont, Ca by NouvelleMaude

They're kicking the poor and helpless when they're down, and we're all struggling now. It's time to get up and fight back. There are political demonstrations every Saturday for the rest of the month.

March 12th - Mother's March by the Global Womens' Strike - protesting the DCFS policies that take children from poor mothers. MORE...

March 19th - Counter Demo against the NSM in Claremont. Not sure of the details. Issues are obviously racism, immigration, anti-semitism, and fascism. MORE...

March 19th - Anti-War March in Hollywood, by ANSWER. They've opened up their issues to include the economic and labor issuess. MORE...

March 26th - Labor March downtown starting at LA Convention Center. Started out being for grocery workers, but has opened up to be for general labor and community issues. MORE...