Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

The LA IMC's Adalila Zelada has filed four reports (1, 2, 3, 4) from Johannesburg, South Africa this past week. The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), which runs from August 26 through September 4 in Johannesburg, is the largest U.N. conference in history. Dubbed RIO+10, the WSSD marks the 10th anniversary of the Global Environment conference in Brazil, at which the groundwork for the Kyoto Protocols were laid. Ten years on, and the conference has expanded to cover issues of global economic development as well as global environmental concerns.

Adalila's first report from Jo'burg summarized expectations at the start of the WSSD.

Adalila's second report introduces the Global People's Forum, the "counter-summit" that is also taking place in Jo'burg simultaneously with the WSSD and that has attracted tens-of-thousands of activists and representatives of NGOs from around the world.

Adalila's third report exposes how international Big Business has made a concerted effort, more-or-less successful, to co-opt the U.N. leadership. And Adalila's most recent article follows up on this theme with a report on the Summit's official "Business Day," Sept.1; during which the international corporate elite took center stage to spin pro-free market disinformation.

For more coverage of the WSSD, the Global People's Forum, and other related events/actions go to South Africa indymedia, Joburg Media, or www.indymedia.org.

On Wednesday, August 7th, the city of Tijuana bulldozed the houses of the community of "Cerro Maravilla, Puerto al Futuro" (Magnificent Hill, Door to the Future). For the past five days I have been in Tijuana, accompanying members of the community in a sit-in at city hall, documenting their struggle and their negotiations with the city. I have been with them 24/7, both at city hall and on their land, and seen first-hand the destruction wrought by the demolition. Though the city says the demolition occured to protect the resident's safety, others see it as a greedy land grab directly resulting from maquilla politics, and "free trade".
Read More.
Read about how you can help to support these residents and their survival needs.

All Angelen@s seeking radical change and justice - your support is very much needed and appreciated as local immigrant workers and community supporters are organizing numerous upcoming actions.

• Sept. 14 - Community Meeting at CARECEN
• Sept. 19 -CHIRLA & KRC Press Conference (details TBA)
• Sept. 20 - Korean Thanksgiving Action At Assi
• Sept. 22 - Assi Workers Fundraiser
• Oct. 18 - March Against Assi & Forever 21
• Oct. 26 - Protest Forever 21
• Nov. 16 - Major March through Koreatown
• Nov. 23 - Garment Workers Start Season of Conscience Pickets

Assi workers of the IWU presented all their demands to Daniel Rhee and Assi management at a preliminary negotiating meeting Thursday, Sept. 12th. Another meeting with management is scheduled for Sept. 25th. Continued support at the picket is greatly appreciated, especially on the weekend from 4 to 8 pm. A coalition of immigrant labor rights organizations on the East Coast are coordinating a national boycott of both Assi and Forever 21 brands.

Gerard Ungerman and Audrey Brohy, the filmmakers who produced the most incisive english-language documentary about the Gulf War "Hidden Wars of Desert Storm", are in the final stages of completing their new film "Plan Colombia: Cashing-In on the Drug-War Failure".

On Saturday, 11-23, the LA IMC was proud to co-sponsor an EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW SCREENING of "Plan Colombia" at Raleigh Studio's Chaplin Theater to help raise funds for film's final production costs.

"Plan Colombia" investigates the role of U.S. policy in Colombia by looking at the broader history of Colombia itself; as well as the social, economic, and political context of the United States' engagement with that South American country. Read More About the Film.

There have been hundreds of postings on the LA IMC site about the on-going crises in Colombia and the U.S.'s nefarious role there. Here's a sampling of articles from the past few months: #1 "Colombia and the New Latin America", #2 "Colombian Communists are Victims of On-going Genocide, #3 "Colombian Narcofascism Raises its Ugly Head", #4 "As US Intervention Grows, Colombian Army Seiges Medellin" , #5 "Pentagon Sends Combat Troops to Colombia", #6 "Marines Ordered into Colombia", #7 "The Political Economy of a Narco-Terror State", #8 "More U.S. Military Aids, Special Forces to Colombia", #9 "Colombia is Like Vietnam", #10 "New Colombian Governmant Slams Door on Peace", #11 Noam Chomsky Interview "U.S. is Financing Murder of Possibly Millions in Cauca (Colombia)", #12 "White House Promotes Terrorism and Drug Trafficking in Colombia", #13 "U.S. Offensive in Latin America: Coups, Retreats, and Radicalization", #14 "A Savage Attack: Massacre in District 13, Medellin", #15 "Propaganda and Plan Colombia, Perception Management of the U.S.'s "Terror War".

Listen to an interview with Manuel Rozental of the Canada Colombia Solidarity Campaign on the effects of Plan Colombia and the FTAA (Free Trade Agreement of the Americas) on indiginous people.

There are many websites that provide quality, in-depth coverage of Colombia and the U.S. intervention there. ZNET's Colombia Watch provides exceptional updates and analysis; and Rachel Gueveran had an excellent article on Colombia and Corporate Profits in Z magazine's Oct 2002 issue. Narco News Bulletin features reports on major breaking news, as well as penetrating analysis: check out the article "Toward Drug Legalization", as well as two critiques (1, 2) of Plan Colombia by Ron Jacobs. The web-magazine Counterpunch often features poignant commentaries on Colombia; here are six recent examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Detroit-based Labor Notes has reported on, and regularly comments upon, (1, 2, 3, 4) the oppresion, and murder, of Colombian labor leaders. LA-based From the Wilderness also offers regular commentaries and investigative features (1, 2, 3, 4) on the U.S. role in Colombia. NACLA is an excellent source for well-researched academic-type analysis of Colombia, and their latest magazine features an in-depth analysis of the role of drugs in Colombian society and its economy. And finally, the Center for International Policy's Colombia Project's web-page is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in investigating U.S. policy in Colombia, and it also provides regular updates and analysis of the conflicts in Colombia.

Colombia Human Rights Network is an excellent resource for information about Colombia, and about activism supporting the struggles for Human Rights and democracy there. The Colombia Support Network similarly provides updates as well as information about how to get involved in the solidarity movement with the people of Colombia.

For on-going spanish language coverage of the crises in Colombia, check out Colombia Indymedia.

On December 14, Southern Californians rallied outside the Westwood Federal Building in support of President Hugo Chavez's Government in Venezuela. See photographs from the demonstration (and check out the amazing string of comments inspired by the photographs): 1, 2, 3.

Chavez, who came to power in a stunning electoral landslide in 1998, is under attack from forces that support the traditional Venezuelan oligarchy. These forces include the managers of the country's nationalized oil industry (appointed by the pre-Chavez regimes), the heads of the established labor unions (organized by the CIA during the Cold War), the Carcas elite, the professional class that serves that elite, the oligarch-owned Venezuelan media, and, of course, the U.S. State Department (overtly during April's failed coup, slightly-less-overtly at the present moment).

Check out SF indymedia's interview with Narco News' Al Giordano about the current situation in Venezuela. Also, check out these amazing sites for updates on Venezuela: Venezuela Headlines; and the Revolutionary Popular Assembly (For the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela) Website (the Spanish Language version of the website has a page with a link to the LA IMC). Finally, Check out Global Indymedia's most recent feature on Venezuela.