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Popular rebellion in Ecuador- dispatch from the streets |
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by John Dennehy, j.a.dennehy (nospam) gmail.com |
 CUENCA, ECUADOR – By a unanimous vote Ecuador's lawmakers removed President Lucio Gutierrez from office Wednesday and replaced him with Vice President Alfredo Palacio, following days of intensifying street protests.
While the focus of media attention has been on the capital city of Quito, the southern city of Cuenca has been in open rebellion against its former president for the past week. The discontent had been simmering for some time but in the weeks and days before the ouster of Gutierrez it reached a boiling point. Daily, students manned street blockades and fought pitched battles with police over control of the streets while across town the main park overflowed every night with a diverse array of people who had come to protest the president and government. |
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20 Apr 2005
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Filed under: News / International |
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Rights to Immigration of Same-Sex Bi-national Married Couple / Derechos de Inmigración de una Pareja Casada Bi-Nacional del Mismo Sexo |
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by Hana Tauber and Miriam Morales, hana@riseup.net and <m_morales (nospam) riseup.net> |
 For many communities who have tried to plant roots in the United States, we live in a time of great uncertainty. Everyday we face more limitations on being able to continue with our work and lives in the US, and everyday people like us have to make decisions on how to leave a large part of ourselves behind in order to be able to survive the best way that we can.
We are a bi-national, married, same-sex couple who write to you to share our testimony as a couple living in exile from the United States who desire to reunite with our communities. We are looking for ways to tell our story from the other end of the continent, and we hope that you might sign on to these words as individuals or as organizations in order to support our case.
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Para muchas comunidades que han intentado plantar raíces en los estados unidos, vivimos en un tiempo de mucha incertidumbre. Hoy día enfrentamos más limitaciones para poder continuar con nuestro trabajo y vidas en los estados unidos, y cada día personas como nosotras necesitan tomar decisiones sobre como dejar un gran parte de nosotros mismos atrás para poder sobrevivir de una mejor manera.
Somos una pareja casada bi-nacional del mismo sexo que les escribe a ustedes para compartir nuestro testimonio como una pareja viviendo en el exilio de los estados unidos, que desea reunirse con nuestras comunidades. Estamos buscando maneras para contar nuestra historia desde el otro lado del continente, y esperamos que ustedes firmen estas palabras como personas o como organizaciones para apoyar nuestro caso. |
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12 Apr 2005
Modified: 02:23:16 PM |
Filed under: News / GLBT/Queer : Human Rights : International |
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The Coup in Nepal: An Interview with a Boston Eye-Witness |
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by homefries, |
 In the midst of a civil war, Nepal's king recently staged a coup, suddenly shutting down media coverage and arresting hundreds of people. Sage Radachowsky is a Boston-based ally to the struggle for democracy in Nepal. He was there on February 1st, 2005 when the king took over. Listen to this radio interview to learn more about the conflict between Maoists and the king, hear stories of what life is like there, and learn about the U.S. reaction. |
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11 Apr 2005
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Filed under: Interview / Human Rights : International |
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Rally at Mexican Consulate Demands Justice for the Women of Juarez and Chihuahua |
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by Erika Ransom, ransom (nospam) theprofits.org |
 On April 1st a crowd of about 50 people gathered outside the Mexican Consulate of Boston to demand justice for the women of Juarez and Chihuahua, Mexico.
As people sang and handed out literature, a large banner stated, “4, 857 DEAD AND MISSING WOMEN, Juarez and Chihuahua, Mexico” with a silhouette of a woman with a question mark. The rally took place on the sidewalk outside the Mexican Consulate offices at 20 Park Place in downtown Boston, at noon on Friday. |
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04 Apr 2005
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Filed under: News / Gender : Human Rights : International |
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Soft-drink Giant Benefits from Contributions to the Bush Administration |
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by Sofia Jarrin-Thomas, sofiajt (nospam) yahoo.com |
 Contributions from Coca-Cola and its enterprises to federal candidates and parties rose as much as 31% between 1998 and 2004, with the greatest concentration of funds during the 2000 election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Seventy-one percent of those contributions, or $2,483,283, went to the Republican Party and GOP candidates. Relationships between the soft-drink giant and Bush’s chums have indeed gone sweeter since many issues affecting Coca-Cola’s assets are at stake: soda consumption in schools, environmental standards, bottled water labeling, and human rights concerns overseas. |
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25 Mar 2005
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Filed under: News / Education : Environment : International : Politics |
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The Martyrdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero: 25 Years Later |
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by Tim Ledwith, saoirse1220 (nospam) yahoo.com |
 “If they kill me, I will be resurrected in the Salvadoran people.” – Archbishop Romero.
“The sad truth is that on March. 24th very few people in the U.S. will be commemorating the martyrdom of Archbishop Romero… because very few people care, and very few people know...,” - Noam Chomsky, before a packed audience at Hope Church in Jamaica Plain two weeks ago.
Archbishop Romero was a powerful voice for the poor and oppressed in El Salvador who openly spoke out against U.S.-funded government repression and mass-murder. Such preaching made him a target of U.S.-trained paramilitary death squads in his country. On March 24th, 1980, a week after the Archbishop gave a fiery sermon where he openly called for militiamen to defy their leaders and put down their weapons, he was gunned down by an assassin while he presided over mass. The following Sunday, forty more people were killed when paramilitaries interrupted the Archbishop’s funeral service with explosives and gunfire. The service had amassed thousands of supporters and mourners both in and outside the cathedral who were immediately thrown into a state of panic and chaos. Some were murdered directly from the attacks; many others had died by being trampled amidst the hysteria. |
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Thousands Rally on Boston Common Against the Occupation of Iraq |
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by Matthew Williams, plaid_baboon (nospam) hotmail.com |
 Boston City Councilor and Anarchist Youth Lead Unpermitted March--Five Unprovoked Arrests
Like many others across the world, on March 20--a global day of action--thousands of Bostonians gathered on the Boston Common to protest the continuing US occupation of Iraq in a rally organized by Boston Mobilization. The crowd size was large enough to make it difficult to estimate, with figures running between two and five thousand. Local activists, veterans of the invasion and occupation of Iraq and those with loved ones in the military spoke out powerfully against the war, mixed with a multicultural cast of musicians. The plan had been to close the rally with direct action, blockading the entrance to a near-by military recruiting station. In response, the military recruiting station simply never opened for the day. Instead, the final speaker, Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner, urged everyone still at the rally (a couple hundred people--the rally ran far over time) to join an unpermitted march originally planned by a group of young anarchists. The march snaked through the streets of downtown Boston before returning to Boston Common. There, some of the police began unprovoked attacks on activists, shoving people to the ground and arresting five. A stand-off ensued, with the police eventually pulling back. Plans are underway, with the support of Turner and Boston Mobilization, to support those arrested in court. The day’s actions managed to at least temporarily unite members of Boston's progressive community across some of the racial, ideological and generational lines that often divide them.
[UPDATE 3/28/05: Two of the detained activists, were later released without charges. Only the other three were officially arrested.] |
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20 Mar 2005
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Filed under: News / Human Rights : International : Organizing : Social Welfare |
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"Bloodbath" at Roslindale Military Recruiting Center |
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by Just1pin, christianawilliams (nospam) yahoo.com |
 BOSTON – On the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a group of local activists staged a dramatic protest outside the Armed Forces Recruiting Center at 650 American Legion Highway in Roslindale. At noon, the Boston Direct Action Project dumped five gallons of fake blood and then took up positions on the doorstep. The activists portrayed a dead Iraqi woman, her grieving husband, a dead U.S. soldier and his grieving wife.
The action lasted 90 minutes, and there were no arrests. The blood flowed forty feet into the parking lot, attracting scores of local residents. The community was largely supportive, and many onlookers stopped to talk to members of the Project, who handed out informational flyers with suggested alternatives to military service. |
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19 Mar 2005
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Filed under: News / Human Rights : International |
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