Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

LOS ANGELES, June 6, 2008 – Over 40,000 Los Angeles teachers sacrificed an hour of their pay to protest the proposed state budget cuts on Friday. The hour-long protests were held in front of the schools as students entered the campus and administrators were relegated to supervising children.

At Belvedere Elementary School in East Los Angeles, about 300 parents, teachers and students banged drums, shook maracas and hoisted bilingual signs reading "Save our schools," some hand-lettered in crayon and marker. "This affects all of us in the state. It's worth losing an hour [of school] if it gets kids Schwarzenegger's attention, because if they take everything away that would be worse," parent Lizbeth Roman, 25, of East L.A. said in Spanish as she marched with her three children, chanting, "More money for education!"

VIDEO: LA School Teachers Stage 1 Hour Walkout

6/6 Los Angeles Teachers Strike; General Strike Needed

Teachers Strike In LA by Echo Park Community Coalition

New report with photos: L. A. Teachers Fight Cuts in Education Budget by jlr - builder123

LOS ANGELES, May 31, 2008 – A group of about 50 people gathered today at Olvera Street and marched to the downtown federal building for a demonstration against the ongoing ICE raids in local communities and workplaces. The raids are tearing families apart when undocumented parents are seized and deported leaving their US born children behind. ICE raids have been increasing in scale and brutality. There are reports of violence and human rights violations by ICE officers during recent large scale raids locally and in Iowa this month. From the Newswire: VIDEO: Stop the Raids Demo | | Photos: Stop the ICE Raids Protest

The UCLA Clothesline Project is a student organization that aims to stop sexual violence. The project strives to take that first most difficult step: to break the silence surrounding sexual violence and raise awareness about a crime where it’s the victims that are made to feel guilty and ashamed.

Rape survivors are invited to make t-shirts about their experience and hang the shirts on a clothesline. For many it is a brave step they take toward speaking out about their histories with sexual violence. Families and friends of victims are also welcome to create t-shirts.

Most sexual assaults go unreported and the problem is more widespread than many realize. Even when the crime is reported the victim is often blamed for instigating the attack. Rape is also systematically used as a weapon of war by governments around the world. And the so called developed nations like the US are no exception to this.
From the newswire: Stop Rape: Breaking the Silence and The UCLA Clothesline Project by Survivors Ally

SANTA ANA, May 15, 2008 - Labor unions from Orange County and San Diego County gathered at the Civic Center in Santa Ana to protest Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new round of budget cuts. Deep cuts to public education, health care, welfare recipients, law enforcement, parks, probation departments, and the disabled are expected. Massive layoffs of certificated and classified employees in school districts throughout California have already occurred. Report From the Newswire: Santa Ana Labor Rally: HEY, ARNOLD! NO BUDGET CUTS! by df

Related article: IS CALIFORNIA REALLY BROKE? by Alex Walker

NEW VIDEO: Hey, Arnold! No Budget Cuts 4 CA Education: Segerstrom Hi Students & Teachers Speak Out by df

Related - Video: Cal state LA students protest budget cuts with sit in, Part 1 | | Part 2

The Los Angeles Independent Media Center is proud to present the film, Bastards of the Party. The film explores the creation of two of Los Angeles’s most notorious gangs, the Crips and the Bloods, from the perspective of the Los Angeles community. The documentary features interviews with gang members; historian Mike Davis, whose book "City of Quartz" inspired the film’s title; former FBI agent Wes Swearingen; and Black Panther, Geronimo Pratt. The 2006 documentary film was produced by Antoine Fuqua and directed by former Bloods gang-member Cle Sloan.

Update: LA Indymedia Film Night Report Back