From the open publishing newswire: [May 1, 2008] Minutes ago, I spoke with Clarence Thomas of the ILWU executive board. "The rank and file action against the war is indeed happening right now", he said. And today the workers will write history.

In an attempt to head this off last night the PMA went to court, "Employers, represented by the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), will not agree to it, and threatened union leaders with court action under Taft-Hartley if they don't call it all off."

but the judge refused to take any action, until there is concrete action by the union in violation of their contract. This is a rank and file action by union members who are united by their opposition to the war. They disagree with the decision of the arbitrator who has dis-allowed the choice of May Day, by the ILWU, as a "day for union business" for workers at all 29 ports on the west coast. A "day for union business" is allowed by their contract. Their original intent was to use this day for their official protest, but official or not, the protest is on. Protests in the Bay Area began early today, led by Direct Action to Stop the War. DASW organized the famous march on Washington that gathered 500,000 people from groups across the nation. Today, they will close down the war effort in San Fransisco. Their effort to shut down the Union Pacific Rail lines began at sunrise this morning. Indybay reported:

From the open publishing newswire: Omaha, NE - Tonight a group of Native women from the Klamath River Basin will stage a protest over Warren Buffett's fish killing dams on the Klamath River in Northern California. The event will be held during a cocktail party at Buffett's local diamond retail Borsheims.

"Wealthy women come here to shop for their jewelry. Wealthy women from the Klamath River make our jewelry from the plants that grow along the river banks and the shells of mussel and abalone," says Yurok Tribal member Georgiana Myers. "Now the river is so polluted from Buffett's dams we are worried about harvesting the plants we need for our jewelry and regalia."

The women, many of whom are mothers, hope to convince the Buffett family to consider their appeals to meet and discuss a dam removal plan that would serve in everyone's best interests.

From the open publishing newswire: The campaign against animal torture at the University of California-Berkeley continues on, despite the "terrorist" label being thrown at the activists, and the passage of AB 2296 (California Animal Enterprise Protection Act), which makes it a crime to run a campaign of this nature.

In the evening on Thursday May 1, activists demonstrated outside the lavish home of UC Berkeley primate vivisector Jack Gallant, in the hills near the Oakland/Berkeley line.

Gallant's research is especially frivolous and cruel. The macaque monkeys victimized by Gallant are confined to restraint chairs and denied the most basic freedom of movement. They are denied water. These sentient beings have holes drilled in their skulls and electrodes inserted into their brains. These animals suffer because of Gallant's greed.

This campaign continues on. No matter how many laws they are able to push through. No matter how many activists they attempt to jail.

From the open publishing newswire: FBI escalates its intimidation tactics on Marie Mason supporters We would like to make Marie's friends and close supporters aware that recently individuals who have gone to visit Marie in Michigan have been pulled over for the most minor traffic violations by local law enforcement. A situation that should result in a warning or quick ticket turns into an interrogation of the identity, intent, and associations everyone in the vehicle. We believe this to be another form of harassment and attempt to isolate Marie likely being directed at Marie's friends and supporters from the FBI or some other related alphabet soup gang. If you are planing on visiting Marie it is best to give the vehicle you are traveling in a look over for any violation that could result in a ticket. You should also have the vehicles registration and insurance papers in order. The driver should have a valid drivers license on him or her. This wont stop them from pulling you over but will hopefully make the interaction go smoother.

Thanks to a recent supreme court ruling you are REQUIRED to identify yourself to law enforcement on request. Outside of this we would like to remind everyone that they are under no obligation whatsoever to speak with law enforcement under any circumstances without an attorney present. Additionally, if you do choose to speak to law enforcement, and are found later to have been untruthful in any way, this constitutes basis for criminal prosecution. Its perfectly legal for law enforcement to lie to you but it is a criminal act for you to lie to them.

The National Lawyers Guild has established a hotline, 888-NLG-ECOL, for individuals arrested, subpoenaed or questioned for offenses related to environmental or animal activism. We encourage people to call the NLG hot line if you are contacted by law enforcement and would like to consult with an attorney on these matters.

Its all about the Struggle,
freemarie (at) riseup.net
www.midwestgreenscare.org

From the open publishing newswire: Leventhal's gruesome primate experiments have now been discontinued due to a combination of efforts - public outreach, demands for public debates, constant exposure in the media, embarrassment at his domestic violence hearings, revealing his slumlord operations, demonstrations on campus and at his home, and even two instances of nonviolent direct action.

Thanks to everyone who put so much effort into pressuring Leventhal - now fewer primates will suffer at the University of Utah laboratories. And a big thanks to all those that have recently put up with police harassment and arrests to take this message to the neighborhoods of vivisectors. This type of personal embarrassment has an effect on their morale and willingness to engage in cruelty. We will win.

www.utahprimatefreedom.com

From the open publishing newswire: On Sunday April 27, 2008, 16 animal activists held an outreach protest at the neighborhood of two University of Utah primate vivisectors to educate the neighborhood about the atrocities occurring at the University of Utah animal resource center. When activists showed up - they discovered that the University of Utah had hired 24 hour security for the homes of some of its personnel - surely with a hefty price tag!

Activists were well-aware that the city had recently adopted an anti-speech ordinance requiring activists to remain off of public property near a 'targeted residence' during a 'targeted residential protest' - so they tailored their protest with that in mind. Rather than do a targeted picket, activists continually marched around the neighborhood - never remaining stationary - to educate the general neighborhood about the barbaric treatment of animals at the U of U facilities. The march also had no targeted residence - no names were ever even mentioned as being associated with the cruelty inside labs.

From the open publishing newswire: Rebellion in Jamaica, Queens last night.

Breakaway march of hundreds of mostly Black youth took to the streets after the official march dispersed. At the invitation of local organizers, a good number of anarchists stayed on to support all the way. People from the community marched through the "40 Projects" and on to the 103rd Precinct. Street battles broke out along the way. Local youth fighting back with rocks, bottles, and impromptu barricades along Jamaica Avenue. Many arrests.

Full report and photos to come later.

We are all Sean Bell, NYPD go to hell.

 http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20080426095015291

From the open publishing newswire: Sunday 4/20/2008: An incendiary device was left under a Staples delivery truck in Garden Grove, CA.

We did this due to Staples continued support of Huntingdon Life Sciences (the notorious animal murder and torture laboratories). Unmarked Staples trucks have been spotted making deliveries to the HLS lab in the UK. Trying to sneak in with unmarked vans... shame on you Staples executives. Now you have to think about this, do you, as a company with stores and warehouses filled with paper, want to take a stand against those of us who are notorious for bringing fire???
DO THIS: Cut your ties with HLS... -ALF"

 http://directaction.info/news_apr25_08.htm

From the open publishing newswire: Marie Mason was arrested and charged with ELF activities in Michigan dating back almost a decade. As many of you already know Marie has since been released on an unsecured bond and has been under house arrest for over a month now awaiting trial. While house arrest is no where near as bad as incarceration it still has its own bag of stresses and hardships. We are encouraging folks to continue to send Marie letters of support. House arrest does not have any silly jail rules like what type of ink or paper you use so get creative. Letters, Photos, Art, videos, collages, vegan baked goods and vegan recipes are all welcome. Email letters of support are also welcome and can be sent to  freemarie@riseup.net and will be forwarded to Marie.

We want to be clear though Marie's needs and isolation in this respect are not as pressing as some of the other Green Scare prisoners who are currently incarcerated. If you are only able to write just one letter, we at Got Your back encourage you to send it to one of the following people below.

Briana Waters - www.supportbriana.org
Eric McDavid - www.supporteric.org
Sadie and Exile -  solidaritywithsadieandexile@gmail.com
Tre Arrow - www.trearrow.org

Tre has been locked up almost four years awaiting trial, Both Briana and Eric are locked down awaiting sentencing and Sadie and Exile are serving 7+ years for Green Scare related actions.

updates are being posted at www.midwestgreenscare.org

From the open publishing newswire: The Philadelphia Inquirer announced today that the three remaining MOVE 9 women (Debbie Sims Africa, Janet Hollaway Africa and Janine Phillips Africa) were denied parole by the PA Parole Board. The Inquirer quotes parole board spokesperson Leo Dunn as saying that parole had been denied because the three MOVE prisoners had "minimized or denied the 'nature and circumstances' of the offense, 'refused to accept responsibility' and lacked remorse. He said the fourth reason for the rejections was the 'negative recommendation' by the prosecutor."

video - you tube

move9parole.blogspot.com

From the open publishing newswire: The Executive Board of the Vermont AFL-CIO, representing thousands of workers in countless sectors across Vermont, have unanimously passed an historic resolution expressing their "unequivocal" support for the first US labor work stoppage against the war in Iraq. The work stoppage, [which was] being organized by the Longshore Caucus of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU), will seek to shutdown all west coast ports during the day on May 1st 2008. The Vermont AFL-CIO is the first state labor federation to publicly back the Longshoremen; other state federations are expected to follow.

The resolution, among other things, calls the war in Iraq "immoral, unwanted, and unnecessary", states that the vast majority of working Vermonters oppose the war, and contends that the war will only be brought to an end by "the direct actions of working people." Many other Vermont labor unions and organizations, including the Vermont Workers' Center, have also made official statements condemning the war.

"Workers in Vermont and all across this nation are against this war. We have already demanded that the government end it, but they have consistently failed to heed our words. Therefore working people are beginning to take concrete steps to make our resistance known. If the war does not immediately end we, the unions and working people of Vermont, will also be compelled to take appropriate action," said David Van Deusen, District Vice President of the AFL-CIO.

Related: ILWU Antiwar Shutdown of West Coast Ports on May Day is Blocked
Airline Workers to lead General Strike?

From the open publishing newswire: I am excited to announce today's release of the Journalists for Mumia newspaper, "Abu-Jamal News," published as a special emergency edition responding to the Third Circuit's unjust ruling denying Mumia a new guilt-phase trial, and just in time for the April 19 mass-demonstration here in Philadelphia.

We urgently need funds to pay for these newspapers! The International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal (ICFFMAJ) is strongly supporting this fundraising and Pam Africa (ICFFMAJ Coordinator) is personally making a special request urging supporters to help pay for this emergency issue of the newspaper by donating whatever they can. We need several hundred dollars to pay for the 10,000 newspapers, and we need this money within JUST ONE WEEK!

newspaper PDF | Abu-Jamal-News.com

From the open publishing newswire: [April 3] Its been a three weeks since clearing officially began for the NAFTA Superhighway, I-69. Trees have been felled in the first two miles (out of 142) of the route, and three out of the four homes (out of 400) which had already been seized by the Department of Transportation were demolished this week. Security is posted around the clearing sites, reflecting the state's fear of the wrath of local communities threatened by the road. And importantly, the Department of Transportation finished accepting bids for the construction of the first two miles today, April 2. So within the next weeks, the contracts for initial construction will be in place.

Meanwhile, in Bloomington and Evansville, and across Indiana, dedicated people are working to mobilize our communities to shut this road project down. The next big round of actions is already being planned for April and May, while community organizing is being stepped up to plug as many people as possible into resistance at this critical time.

We hope to see you soon in the forests and fields of southwest Indiana. Make sure you're here before they're all paved. In defense of the wild, Roadblock Earth First!

March 17th Callout |
stop I-69