Protest | VivirLatino

Posts Tagged ‘protest’

Connecting Social Justice Movements

3:25 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Environment| Immigration · Comments Off

17 Nov 2008

I’ve been wanting to post about this for a while, but kept forgetting to. In light of the total screw up of the gay community on how to organize with and across different community boundaries, I remembered and now I am posting!

From RAN comes the really important story about how two groups that seemingly have little in common, anti-ICE Latino organizations and a pro-environment organization, managed to come together and stand in alliance with each other:

But before describing the day, one may ask, what does this have to do with the climate?
(aside from bad puns about melting the ICE…)

Yesterday I felt the power of youth, and the moral legitimacy of young people speaking truth to power – of being bold and not letting injustices stand; of offering leadership; of youth organizing for a better world. A Youth Climate Movement holds this same power, and as young climate activists strive to integrate a deep understanding of power, race, class, and gender into our movement, we would do well to explore the links between our work and the struggles of immigrant youth and their families across the country.

Far too often, mainstream organizations will throw their hands up in frustration and whine about, “We’re not supposed to save everybody, we’re an organization that focuses on X!”

What alliances like the anti-ICE and pro-environment alliance does is show that you don’t have to give up your organization’s center in order to connect your fight to the fight of other social justice centered organizations. But you do need to be willing to extend yourself to people you don’t normally talk to and extend yourself to people you normally may not feel inclined to hook up with.

Protesters Arrested at RATM Concert After Impromptu March

8:02 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Music| RNC08 · Comments Off

4 Sep 2008

For those of you following the RNC, you already know about all the protests and police brutality. I, however, hadn’t heard about the Rage Against the Machine impromptu march nor the resulting arrests. Apparently, fans leaving the concert began a spontaneous march toward the RNC, and in spite of the fact that police told Minnesota Public Radio that everything seemed to be ok as people were dispersing quietly on their own, riot police eventually moved in and began arresting and shooting tear gas.

This incident follows a protest earlier in the week when police cut the power to a Rage concert because the concert apparently began too close to curfew hours. Zach De La Rocha (who can bombtrack me any time he wants!) led happy concert goers in an a capella version of “Bulls on Parade” and “Killing in the Name.” And as luck would have it, You Tube provides us with an excellent quality recording of the incident!

Viva La RAGE!

via/MTV

Should Media Report on Police Brutality

4:50 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · RNC08 · 3 Comments

3 Sep 2008

The back of 17-year-old Keith Smith-Tourville after the police were finished with him.

In spite my best intentions, I have wound up liking resident Vivir Latino Troll, EYE OF TEXAS. Don’t ask me why, maybe it’s the name. I always did like all caps in a name. Announcing your presence with authority! Anyway, Eye makes an interesting argument in VL’s post on Amy Goodman’s arrest. S/he says:

There were also protesters and incidents at the DNC, but the leftist media chose not to cover it because of the bad image it would have given the squeaky clean Demoncraps. Go figure.

Now, seeing as VL did cover incidents of police brutality at the DNC, and really complicated the very privileged space of the convention to begin with, I know that EYE is not talking about VL. But s/he does point to an intriguing idea. Republicans are positive that the media didn’t report on the violence at the DNC while reporting nonstop on violence at the RNC–and Democrats are fairly certain of the same thing.

My question, should it matter where this violence happens? Why does it matter? Shouldn’t the most important thing be that no citizen, no human being, should ever be treated like the young man above was by the people put in place to protect us? Should media report on the type of brutality that causes the the bruises and scrapes shown in the picture? Does it matter if members of the government are ‘being protected’ from 17-year-old kids by gun wielding cops that like to leave boot prints embedded on skin?

What do you think?

via/The Minnesota Independent

Chilean Teachers Protest Against Education Inequality

4:30 pm By Maegan La Mala · Activism| Chile| Education| Latin America · Comments Off

17 Jun 2008

An on-going series of public manifestations against the state of the Chilean education system came to a head yesterday as hundreds of school teachers took the streets, and at least 20 broke into the Palace of the Moneda, throwing about pamphlets expressing their opposition to the “Ley General de la Educación”. 12 teachers were arrested when they tried to submit a document with their demands to the government at the palace.

The National Organization of teachers has called for a strike which was set to begin yesterday and extend into Thursday, and its spokesperson said that 90% of the schools in the Santiago metropolitan area would stop classes, while the Chilean Minister of Education debunked the claim, saying that 1800 schools in the capital were having classes.

Meanwhile, several schools and universities have been taken over by student protesters, and according to Mexico’s La Jornada, at least two — the University of Santiago and the University of Valdivia — have been “vacated” by the carabineros.

The new Chilean education law at the center of this public backlash is said to perpetuate the breach between rich and poor with regard to education, and is costing president Michelle Bachelet some major popularity points. For some background on the LGE, check out Chilean college student-blogger Ernesto Manriquez’s analysis of the legislation and what it will change.

Via / La Jornada

Image via Arriving at the horizon on Flickr

Immigration rallies in the Bay Area: yes or no?

1:25 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism| Immigration| Internet| San Francisco · Comments Off

1 May 2007

If dueling Google News headlines are to be believed, there are no immigration rallies here in the Bay Area today and there are several immigration rallies here in the Bay Area today:

Picture%2010.jpg

The truth is there are rallies, and following is the logistical info:

San Francisco:

Tuesday, May 1, 12 noon
Gather at Dolores Park, Dolores and 18th Streets
(Mission District, 16th St. BART)
March to Civic Center
More info at IndyBay

More rally information after the jump

Thousands march to protest tortilla prices

12:19 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism| Food| mexico · Comments Off

1 Feb 2007

The anger felt by Mexicans for the past few weeks over the skyrocketing price of tortillas reached a boiling point yesterday, when over 75,000 people took to the streets in Mexico City to demand that the government do something about the crisis:

During Wednesday’s march, protesters carried one banner that read “Calderon stole the elections, and now he’s stealing the tortillas!” Others waved handfuls of the flat corn disks and chanted “Tortillas si, Pan no!” a play on the initials of Calderon’s National Action Party, the PAN, which also means “bread” in Spanish.

In a press statement, Calderon’s office said the president shares the protesters’ concerns and pledged to “continue taking all necessary actions to maintain price stability for basic goods and services, (and) punish all types of hoarding and speculation in the markets.”

Bolivia: Guaraní seize pipelines

1:11 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism| Bolivia| Politics · 1 Comment

21 Aug 2006

The Dow Jones — in a strangely translated and not very PC press release — announced today that a group of Guaranís have seized a gas pipeline in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, which provides gas to nearby Brazil:

Between about 20 to 30 Indians were still occupying the site Monday, while up to 150 people were staging protests outside the premises, the official told Dow Jones Newswires, speaking over the telephone from Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

The occupied control station is located in Parapet in Santa Cruz state and serves to compress gas to transport it to Brazil. Brazil currently imports about 25 million cubic meters of gas a day from Bolivia.
Indian leaders have threatened to close valves in the control station to stop the gas exports, but so far the gas flow is uninterrupted, the Petrobras official said.

The protesters are demanding 9 million dollars they say were promised them by Brazilian oil companies in 2005.

Via / Easy Bourse

Image via bolivia.indymedia.org

Protests begin in Mexico City

12:53 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism| Politics| mexico · Comments Off

12 Jul 2006

The mobilization called for by Mexico’s leftist presidential candidate last week will begin as planned today, reports Forbes:

Supporters of leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador headed to Mexico City on Wednesday, leaving mountain towns and sprawling industrial cities to demand a ballot-by-ballot recount.

Protesters gathered outside the country’s 300 electoral districts before heading to the capital, where a mass rally is planned for Sunday to denounce official results showing conservative Felipe Calderon as the apparent winner of the July 2 election.

Joan Baez up in a tree over L.A. real estate

12:48 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism| Celebrities| Los Angeles · Comments Off

25 May 2006

Folk singer and long-time activist Joan Baez has climbed into a tree in L.A. to protest the commercialization of a piece of farm land there, according to Spain’s 20 Minutos:

The object is to raise public sympathy to impede the eviction of 350 families that live off the land of this modest farm and who have been served an eviction notice.

The owner of the property at first accepted the 6 million dollars offered by the farmers, but later upped his demand to 16 million.

According to Los Ángeles newspaper La Opinion, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa stated that he cannot do anything else for them: “I am the only elected official who has supported them — the only one. I’ve raised 6 million dollars, but I could not raise the 16 million tat Mr. Horowitz is asking for. What can I say? We tried, we raised a lot of money to buy the land, and there are many officials that have worked against the interests of farmers. I’m not one of them.”

According to 20 Minutos, actress Daryll Hannah has also jumped on the bandwagon in support of the campesinos:

Actress Daryl Hannah asked that the owner of the property “swallow his greed” and accept the 6 million dollars being offered by the farmers. “He would not only get back the 5.1 million he paid for the land, but also the interest.”

See all related stories on Google News.

Via / 20 Minutos

San Francisco solidarity

9:53 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism| Immigration| San Francisco · Comments Off

1 May 2006

I just returned from the rally at the federal building here in San Francisco, and I was happy — though not surprised — to see the solidarity of my fellow San Franciscans with the immigrant cause. There were faces of every color united with the chants of “Sí, se puede!”Contrary to what media likes to have us believe, African-Americans were there in droves, as well as the gay community. Nice to know that in the midst of attacks people of all colors and walks of life — immigrant or not — come together. Well, at least in San Francisco they do.

Check out my photos and those of attendees in other cities on our Flickr group…more to come!

Also, our coverage of the aftermath of May 1st continues tomorrow.

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