From the Houston IMC Calendar:

12/28 Tuesday @ 9pm: Soapboxing at Bill Hicks Resurrection Lab

Every Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday:Food Not Bombs!

On Wednesday 15 December Houston area Peace and Social Justice activist, Stephen Boudreaux (in the middle of the top row in the picture), was ordered by a NYC Criminal Court Judge to stand trial for 2 counts of disturbing the peace stemming from his arrest on the evening of 31 August (A31) during the Republican National Convention (RNC) protest. Stephen’s jury trial is set for January 6th 2005.

Stephen was in a group of approximately 65 activists, including an Affinity Group of 6 other members of the Tejas Bloc, who had moments before departed Union Square enroute to Madison Square Garden (MSG) to protest the criminal actions of the Bush administration. The group was stopped on E 17th Street at 5th Avenue by NYPD barricades manned by officers from the 81st precinct. Negotiations quickly ensued between the ad hock group’s leaders and the NYPD watch commander. After about a 30-minute wait, the police suddenly charged from behind the barricades, with motorcycles in the lead and forced the group onto the south sidewalk where they were arrested, hand cuffed and taken to Pier 57.

Many out-of-town activists arrested on A31 accepted an ACD (Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal), which is a deal that requires the arrestee to not get arrested again in NYC for 6 months in return for a reported espongement of their arrest records. Stephen however refused this offer and pleaded Not Guilt to the charges of Blocking Traffic and Failure to Disperse. Asked why he chose to fight the charges rather than to accept the ACD, Stephen said, “I will represent all of those who could not afford to return to New York and fight these bullshit charges. Our 1st Amendment rights to freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, and freedom to redress the government are routinely trampled upon by the fascist Bush Administration and its minions. We did not block either pedestrian or vehicular traffic, since the street was blocked off on the east end by traffic cones and on the west end by the police barricades, nor did we refuse to disperse since a dispersal order was never given.” Stephen went on to say that as the father of 2 daughters he has an obligation to set an example of peaceful resistance to the stripping of our constitutional rights and the dangerous precedence of pre-emptive arrest being set by the Bush administration. Read his full story | Houston IMC coverage of the Tejas Bloc Arrests

Meanwhile, in New York the first jury trial of a protestor arrested during the RNC ends in a dissmisal, as the District Attorney drops all charges after viewing photographic and video evidence that arresting officer Matthew Wohl may have lied numerous times under oath.

From the newswire: Many Houstonians made their way to Austin on Sunday Dec. 12 to attend a rally and march to keep this year's presidential election debacle in the spotlight. The corporate media has blacked disturbing information on wide spread voter intimidation, errors and fraud. Speakers included Houston activist Pokey Anderson, David Van Os, a democrat who ran for the Texas State Supreme Court and Radio host Alex Jones. The 150 in attendance heard warnings of an election system mechanism is owned and operated by the opposition party.

Photos: 1 | 2
Video: 1 | 2

Yes, there was some voter fraud in this last election, asserts Rep. Talmadge Heflin who lost by 33 votes to Dem. challenger Hubert Vo. But it is not that thousands of minorities were disenfranchised across the nation, it was just the fact that he lost an election. Voters across the nation, and in Austin, came together to protest a different election they believe was stolen that will not be as closely scruitinized.
Heflin's allegations include claims that 14 people voted twice, once via mail, and then again on election day. For the latest update check here. According to Texas Civil Rights Review, the case against Vo will have to be proved by identifying alleged "illegal voters" and then dragging them into a hearing where they will be compelled to testify under oath who they voted for.
Here's the tactical schedule:
--Dec. 14 (Tuesday): Deadline for submission to Vo campaign of complete list of alleged "illegal voters."
--Dec. 15 (Wednesday): Conference call between parties.
--Early January: Completion of discovery phase.
--Early February: Formal hearing on election contest in Texas legislature.

This past weekend theRadical Encuentro Camp held at MECA in Houston's sixth ward. The Radical Encuentro Camp is something of a radical Texas institution, this being the 7th camp in 4 years. Nearly 200 people from all parts of Texas as well as folks from New York, California and Louisiana showed up to learn and teach skills relating to this year's theme of post-election strategy and moving from resistance to revolutionary consciousness.

The Camp started with a filmscreening about workers control of factories in Argentina, on Friday night at the Rice Media Center. The camp continued at MECA on Saturday and Sunday with 2 days of workshops, on a variety of subjects including Anti-Racism, Bio-Diesel, Creative Action and Gentrification. Houston Indymedia held a well attended workshop on both the history and theory of Indymedia, and then broke into groups to disscuss media production in photo, video, text and audio teams.
What were your favorite workshops?

The weekend ended for some with a radical bike tour of Houston, which treated participating cyclists with some of the rich radical history of our town.

The weekend was made possible by the volunteer efforts of many people, the camp organizers, the workshop presenters, people who helped in the kitchen and with childcare and cleaning up.

Read a report on the camp from North Texas IMC | Check out the last announcements and evaluation from the REC organizers

Unlike John Kerry who folded before looking to see what cards he had been dealt, Green Party candidate David Cobb didn't concede the race in Ohio, and can complete a recount if the people can come up with the green.

David Cobb and Michael Badnarik raised $150,000 in 4 days in order to make a recount possible and now they need help in the form of 1400 additional volunteers to make it happen!
Read a Nov 22nd update from Michigan IMC on the recount effort in Ohio

On Wednesday, 17 November 2004, the state of Texas executed Anthony Fuentes, a 20-year old Latino man, for his alleged role in a shooting death during a 1994 Harris County robbery. A prominent death penalty abolitionist, David Atwood, was arrested when he crossed police barriers at the protest site.
Fuentes ' rap sheet
Evidence supports the claim that Tate was killed by bullets from what was likely a 9 millimeter weapon. However, there is no conclusive evidence as to which person -Fuentes or Vela was using which gun at the time of the robbery. A mutual friend of the two men testified that he knew Vela to own and use a 9mm gun and Fuentes a .22 revolver.

We've got brand new office hours! Stop by the physical home of Houston Inependent Media Center every Saturday from noon - 4pm to make media and more... Our fabulous computers offer a way to post on our open-publishing newswire and read stories published by others. We also feature Zapatista coffee (dark o medium) and tasty pastries. Our brand-new audio work station is up and running - it offers a handy way to do phone interviews or edit audio from minidiscs. Join with folks from our weekly radio show on KPFT and learn how to use all this stuff in our upcoming audio workshop on Saturday, November 20. This two-hour free training goes from 1-3pm.

Evidence of vote tampering include: ballot tricks, machine problems, hacking, and vote skimming. While some stew in anger towards Kerry, others are calling on him to "unconcede." While some strive to impeach Bush, others are preparing for the Counter Inauguration. Various new orgs such as Voters Unite along with the two factions of BlackBox Voting (1, and 2), both want your money and assistance to continue to probe Diebold. Meanwhile Mother Jones can say "we told ya so."

Things beneath the equator are going in a different direction, with elections in Uruguay, Brasil and Venezuela (English) further establishing a leftist opposition to IMF policies. For more info, see indymedia Brazil Indymedia (Portuguese) and Uruguay Indymedia (Spanish),

Breaking News from Fallujah:
Electronic Iraq
Constantly Updated Independent Blogs:
Dahr Jamail | A Family In Baghdad | Raed Jarrar | Juan Cole | Baghdad Burning
11/06/2004: A hospital has been razed to the ground in one of the heaviest US air raids in the Iraqi city of Falluja.
11/5/2004: Falluja is now shut off from the outside world; the U.S. military has blocked roads and have warned they will "arrest any man under the age of 45 found trying to leave or enter the city". A ground assualt on Falluja and Ramadi is expected within days.
Resistance fighters in Ramadi have been reinforcing their positions and stockpiling food and water, but civilians in Falluja are worried that they could quickly run out of food due to the US blockade. While some Fallujans have abandoned their city expecting post-election destruction, over 100,000 residents remain. Kofi Annan has warned the US and Britian about the humanitarian disaster that could come with a military assault.
The assault on Falluja appears to have been timed to come after the US election, due to a fear by Bush that high US casualties could have hurt his re-election chances. While both political parties in the US spoke in support of an attack on Falluja, the Bush election victory has worried many Iraqis since it seems to provide a popular mandate for Bush's policies in the region.

George W. Bush was re sElected president of the United States of America on November 2nd, amid widespread voter disenfranchisement, and concerns about electronic voting systems. Across the nation people took to the streets in protest. In Columbus Ohio, people stormed the statehouse, In San Fransisco, 5,000 people took to the streets, In DC a hundred people had a snake march through downtown, and in Portland police used pepper spray on the more than one thousand people who took to the streets. People protested in dozens of other American cities

Here in Houston, Beyond the Ballots called for protests on the second and third. On the third a dozen or so Houstonians meet at the Federal building. While some marched, other felt frustrated and alienated.

Much though has been put into why Kerry conceded the election so soon, who is to blame for Kerry's loss, and whether democracy comes out of the electoral system or from the streets.

People in Houston and around the world are trying to figure out what to do next. There has been a call for a community meeting on November 14th at the Diedrich Coffee Shop on Montrose, to strategize future action here in Houston. In December the Radical Encuentro Camp is going to be hosted in Houston, and activists from across Texas will be coming to share skills, and learn strategies and tactics to create a better world, from non-violent direct action, and making our own media to anti-racist tools, and affinity group organizing. The theme of this 7th REC camp, is moving beyond electoral politics. In February the Austin IMC is hosting the IndyConfrence.

Keep publishing your ideas, reports of actions and events, and announcements to Houston Indymedia. Many people are looking for ways to participate and transform our community and world.

In the end of the December of 2001 the people of Argentina took to the streets banging pots and pans, and with the cry of "Que se Vayan Todos" or “throw them all out”. Popular resistance in the streets forced 5 presidents out of office and limited the grip of the International Monetary Fund and the business class on the sovereignty of Argentina.

Here in Houston on October 28th, citizens took to the streets, adopting the tactics off the Cacerolazo and demanding that the War Profiteers Halliburton and KBR and the Bush regime be thrown out of our community and out of office. The march against the War Profiteers met on October 28th at 4pm at Midtown Park, with more than a hundred people armed with signs, puppets, chants, a Free and Radical marching band and lots of people banging pots and pans.
See Pictures: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
Quick-time Video 5.9 Mb

A group of Houstonians also brought War Profiteering to the attention of Houstonians on the 27th when they dropped 7 banners around Houston.