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News :: Civil & Human Rights |
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Stop the Execution of Hasan Shakur |
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by greg |
17 Apr 2006
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 On April 27, one day before his 29th birthday Hasan Shakur, a.k.a. Derrick Frazier, is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas. The crime for which he is convicted is an awful one involving the killing of a mother and child during burglary.
But how sure are we that Frazier did the crime, and what makes the April 27 killing any less awful when it is scheduled months in advance by the state?
According to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP): “Throughout the course of the investigation, Frazier's accomplice in the burglary changed his story from an admission that he [the accomplice] killed both victims, to a claim that Frazier killed them. In fact, the details of the crime were so uncertain that the indictment charging Frazier with capital murder was a composite of five different theories as to how he was guilty..."
Report and Action Steps from Walidah Imarisha
‘No Place to be Reborn: The Awakening" by Mumia Abu-Jamal
Hasan Shakur |
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Massive Immigrant Rights Rally Sweeps Through Austin |
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by erock and silky |
07 Apr 2006
Modified: 11 Apr 2006 |
Easily over 15,000 people gathered late Monday afternoon in downtown Austin to add their voices to the nearly 2 million people who rallied nationwide this week in support of humane immigration reform. The enormous rally and march snaked through Austin, winding past Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchinsons’ area offices. Sen. John Cornyn is a key player in the Senate’s proposals on immigration reform. As a member of the Judiciary Committee and chairman of the subcommittee on Immigration John Cornyn has been adamantly against what’s been called a path to citizenship for undocumented workers, labeling anything offering a route towards legalization “Amnesty.” To respond to this during the march thousands of letters were signed and to be delivered to Senators Cornyn and Hutchinson’s offices demanding four points: 1) a pathway to legalization for hardworking and law-abiding immigrants already in the country, 2) labor protections for immigrants and resources to protect their rights, 3) a reduction in family immigration backlogs, and 4) support for the DREAM ACT.
Earlier in the day students from the University of Texas, as well as several area high school and even middle schools walked out of class and rallied on UT campus. Nealry 1,500 students assembled and listened to speakers. Throughout the three hour rally on UT's East Mall students from Reagan, Johnston, Crockett, Akins, Garza, West Lake and LBJ high schools, as well as O. Henry and Fulmore middle schools arrived in large groups, of which marched miles from their respective schools.
Read more accounts of the days events here in Austin Respeto! The Signs of the Austin Marcha
Photos 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
US Indymedia's Immigrant Rights Topic Page
Other articles: A New Civil Rights Movement? | The War On Immigrants | Exposing the Real Culprit in the “Illegal Immigrant” Controversy | Resisting Fences | Texas Immigrant Rights Rallies Round-Up |
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Announcement :: Prisons |
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SATURDAY: Protest Texas' Abu Ghraib; Support Death Row Inmates |
by Ansel Herz
Email: ansel (nospam) riseup.net |
07 Apr 2006
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DEMONSTRATION FOR HUMANE LIVING CONDITIONS ON TEXAS' DEATH ROW
The Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, the Austin chapter of Campaign to End the Death Penalty, and other activist groups will be holding a rally on April 8, 2006 to protest the inhumane conditions on Death Row at the Polunsky
Unit in Livingston, TX. Some of the the human rights violations that inmates face day in and day out:
- Inmates are kept on 23-hour lock-down in cells with solid steel doors.
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There are no work programs or group recreation on Death Row.
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Inmates are not allowed access to television or religious services
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The healthcare and food services on Death Row are sub-par.
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Death Row inmates are only allowed one five minute phone call every six months and the Polunsky Unit staff has been known to withold their mail.
- Furthermore, all visits are non-contact, meaning that families and friends of these men will never make physical contact with them again.
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Finally, guards and administrators at Polunsky impose disproportionate punitive measures on these inmates, including gassing, taking their clothes, denying them meals, and feeding them with disgusting "food loafs."
These men are slowly losing their minds, with some giving up their appeals and others attempting suicide. |
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News :: Civil & Human Rights |
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Real Rights Tour Rousing Success |
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by baku lost |
04 Apr 2006
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 "Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed; you cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read; you cannot humiliate the person who has pride; and you cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore." -- Cesar Chavez
One year after the historic agreement with Taco Bell, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and its allies embarked on a McDonald’s Truth Tour. The caravan bought its message of real rights for farmworkers to over 13 cities in 10 days.
In 2004 Taco Bell was the first player in the crowded field of fast food to take social responsibility for its supply chain. McDonald’s is not only balking at the demand of a fair wage, only a penny more per pound of tomatoes, but actively undermining the progress of the CIW and the agricultural industry. In response to the CIW’s request that McDonald’s come to the table with farmworkers, McDonald’s proposed that the fox guard the henhouse, otherwise known as SAFE , and ignored the core demands of the CIW.
On April 1st, McDonald’s spokeswoman, Lisa Howard, told the Associated Press that “McDonald's suppliers have told the company they will implement the penny per pound increase if the study concludes wages are currently inadequate.” The study has been contracted to an “independent” research group. The façade of independence of SAFE is indicative that McDonald’s views public relations stunts as serious studies. SAFE is comprised of the Florida Fruit and Vegetables Associations, the anti-labor Florida agriculture lobbying group, and Redlands Christian Migrant Association, a daycare provider and FFVA’s favorite charity. Again, McDonald’s is ignoring one of the key demands of the CIW—that farmworkers have a seat at the table and a stake in the decisions about their lives.
The Real Rights Truth Tour invigorated the movement for social justice in the fields. After one the biggest labor agreements in recent years, the CIW is working to consolidate and broaden its gains for a fair wage and real rights. McDonald’s has rebuffed the CIW’s attempts to work with them and brushed many an activist group off its shoulder. But, this is not your run of the mill PETA campaign. McDonald’s is running scared. As the coverage below indicates this is a deep and smart social movement that demands fair food, real rights and social accountability for farmworkers, youth and students, communities of faith, and consumers. Enjoy and take action!
Video, Audio and Text
 Quien Sigue (Who’s Next) ||  Radio Free Urbana Interview
Students Turn Up Heat on McDonald’s || Brand-Busting the Golden Arches
 Daily Reports
Day 1 || Day 2 || Day 3 East || Day 3 Central || || Day 3 West || Day 4 East || Day 4 Central || Day 4 West || Day 4 West PM || Day 5 East || Day 5 Central || Day 5 West || Day 6 || Day 7
Coalition of Immokalee Workers || Student/Farmworker Alliance || Alliance for Fair Food || Indymedia US Archive || Photos by JJ Tiziou |
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News :: Government : Local Issues |
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Clean Austin campaign victorious in litigation against City of Austin |
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by JS Hatcher |
03 Apr 2006
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Judge Stephen Yelenosky of the 345th District Court declared late in the day on Thursday that the Austin City Council's proposed ballot language regarding the Open Government Online and Clean Water charter amendments was sufficiently misleading to order it changed. The judge told the City to rewrite the language by Monday at 5:00 pm. Judge Yelenosky declared that the structure of the ballot language was not descriptive but was "tantamount" to an argument. He relied on a prior ruling related to ballot language authorizing the South Texas Nuclear Project nearly 30 years ago in a case where language was ruled legal because it was not argumentative.
Yelenosky criticized the City's language for naming examples that were not representative of the amendment and that were exclusively. He also faulted the City for using the words "any" and "all" in the ballot language when the amendment included substantial privacy-protecting exceptions to the information that could go online. The judge pointed out that the City of Austin conceded during testimony the amendment would not compel a tax increase, despite ballot language approved by City Council falsely claiming the amendment would require a tax hike of $.03 on the dollar. The City's cost figures in the ballot language relied on an estimate that Yelenosky said "was not sufficiently certain." The City had claimed the Open Government amendment would cost $36 million in the near term, but the judge's ruling shows differently. This cost estimate is based on placing ALL public information online, which the amendment does not require.
The Open Government Online Amendment is a citizen-initiated amendment to the City of Austin Charter that will be on the May 13th ballot. It is a move to amend the City Charter to provide for a more open and participatory city government by primarily doing three things: (1) Creating lobby reforms for City officials similar to the proposals at the national level, (2) Increasing the scope of what is considered public information, and (3) Requiring that the City place a certain set of information online so that we can all access it quickly and easily. |
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Announcement :: Labor |
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Victory for Staff-It! Convention Center Workers |
by Lucy Parsons
Email: waterloowob (nospam) monkeywrenchbooks.org |
03 Apr 2006
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After a brief campaign with the Industrial Workers of the World, unpaid workers for Staff-It! received their full pay.
A full article will follow within a few days, but for now, the announcement: The Staff-It! workers with whom the IWW is in contact have been paid!
The IWW was contacted a few weeks ago by workers with Staff-It!, a temporary staffing agency. Though promised checks after three weeks, none of the workers had ever been paid--some for months. Wobbly organizers worked with the workers (mostly women, mostly speaking very little English) to organize a few modest but strategic demonstrations. After the final one, last weekend (25 March 2006), which brought workers into the Travis County Democrat convention to talk to politicians, Staff-It! finally delivered the compensation promised long ago.
Congratulations to the workers who stood up for themselves and demanded their rights, in this increasingly hostile social and political climate, and thanks to all supporters and allies who assisted!
Further analysis, reporting, and invitations for the next step in this broadening campaign will be posted atx indymedia. |
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News :: Indigenous Rights |
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High School Students Rally for Immigrant Rights |
by Greg Moses
Email: gmosesx (nospam) prodigy.net |
03 Apr 2006
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There I was, eating enchiladas mole at Las Manitas, trying not to make a big deal out of John D. Graham standing right next to me, when, through the window, Congress Avenue turned red, white, and green with chanting students...
500 high school students from Austin, Cedar Park, and Leander marched to the capitol Friday where they rallied for immigrant rights in opposition to a threatened federal crackdown.
Students marched up Congress Ave. shortly before 2:00 p.m. and rallied along the wide sidewalk just outside the capitol gates.
Dressed mostly in white t-shirts and carrying various sized flags of Mexico, students chanted “Me-xi-co, Me-xi-co, Me-xi-co” and “Hell No, We Won’t Go!” |
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News :: Local Issues |
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5th Annual Cesar E. Chavez March for Unity & Justice |
by Rene
Email: donrene (nospam) gmail.com |
31 Mar 2006
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 "We shall strike. We shall organize boycotts. We shall demonstrate and have political campaigns. We shall pursue the revolution we have proposed. We are sons and daughters of the farm workers' revolution, a revolution of the poor seeking bread and justice." -Cesar Chavez
Saturday April, 1 11:30 am
Rally for our rights and our dignity this Saturday at City Hall (W. Cesar Chavez & Lavaca) and march to the A.B. Cantu Pan American Recreation Center 2100 E. 3rd Street. Speakers, Music, Dance, Poetry 1-3pm
Join the growing movement against Republican House Judiciary Committee Chairman Sensenbrenner's HR 4437, The Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005. This mean-spirited bill seeks to criminalize over 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. and punish U.S. citizens and permanent residents who come in contact with them. The Sensenbrenner bill embodies an "enforcement-only" approach that will militarize our borders and broaden mandatory detention while restricting judicial review.
For More Information About the March Contact:
Barbara Caudillo-Prince Phone: 512.845.9959
Email: cchavezaustin (at) yahoo.com
Susana Almanza – PODER Phone: 512.472.9921
Email: poder (at) austin.rr.com
United without Borders – Unidos Sin Fronteras! |
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