Over 50 arrested and one killed as police violently attack a farmers market near Mexico City

As of the afternoon of May 3, Subcommandante Marcos of the EZLN (National Zapatista Army of Liberation) announced during a public act in Mexico City a new red alert and closure of Zapatista caracoles and suspension of activities of La Otra Campaña, which has now become a struggle to support the people of Texcoco, who for the past two days have been experiencing severe government repression. (chronology of events)

Protestors visited the Mexican Consulate in Tucson on Thursday morning, presenting a letter and a short list of demands.

Read More:
• Mexico Indymedia
• Chiapas Indymedia
• San Diego Indymedia

Art Show and Symposium In Flagstaff May 5-6

On May 5, the Gender Politics and Sexual Identity Art Show opens at the Hive, 319 S. San Francisco St. in Flagstaff. This is an open art show on gender and gender identity, sexuality, sexual assault, body image, and their cultural and social representations through the eyes of contributing artists.

-Show opens at 6pm. Film, Music, and Performance at 8pm.

-Film Screening by PMS Media

-Music by Red Dress Press

-Fire Spinning Performance by Flagstaff Circus Arts Collective

-Suggested Donation $5

We are still seeking more artists for this show! Contact Meya at 928-255-1054 or e-mail againstsexualviolence@yahoo.com if you would like to show your artwork.

On May 6, Addressing Sexual Violence, a Symposium, Community Discussion and Potluck takes place from 10am-6pm at the Hive. The event is divided into three parts: Survival, Transition into Healing; Roots of Sexual Violence; Creating Change. To read the program in its entirely, click here.

If you have any questions about this event, or would like to table for your organization, please contact Adam at 928-779-3227 or e-mail againstsexualviolence@yahoo.com.

International Day Without Immigrants

These are links to more information about what is planned and what's happening today. Become the media: publish your stories and photos of what you experience today to the newswire.

Tucson May Day plans | Phoenix | May Day Virtual Sit-In | US IMC Coverage | Portland IMC Radio Coverage | Bilingual Radical Context of May Day Pamphlet

Combined Coverage of the April 10 Day of Action and Aftermath

• Phoenix: Report and photos, more photos, and a long audio report.
• Report from Flagstaff
• Tucson: reports (1,2), photos (1,2), and videos(1, 2), as well as stories (1, 2) covering the aftermath of the police negligence at the event and the demands made to city officials by organizers.

Tens of Thousands in Marches Across Arizona

STUDENTS TAKE THE STREETS

Transforming the Streets into the Classroom: Students Protest in Arizona

Risking suspension and having to jump over fences after schools were locked down, students have walked out of classes and taken the streets across Arizona this week to protest national immigration legislation. Following initial walk-outs in Los Angeles, America's youth are claiming their political power and are speaking out against U.S. House Resoluation 4437 and the U.S. Senate version of the bill.

March 31 Story about Continued Tucson Protests

March 30 Photos from Protest in Downtown Tucson

Read More about Nation-wide Student Demonstrations at U.S. Indymedia Center

Democracy Now! March 29 Story

LAST WEEK'S MASS DEMONSTRATIONS IN ARIZONA

More than 20,000 people jammed the streets through central Phoenix near Senator Jon Kyl’s office on Friday to protest anti-immigration legislation that would further criminalize undocumented immigrants and build new fences along the Arizona-Mexico border. The Senate Judiciary Committee, which Kyl serves on, is planning to finish writing the Senate version of HR 4437 on Monday. The largest march in Phoenix history complements recent protests nation-wide, including more than 500,000 in Los Angeles, 40,000 in Denver, and over 100,000 in Chicago.

The fight to protect the San Francisco Peaks from the proposed Snowbowl Ski Resort expansion and snowmaking joined the pro-immigrant sentiment on Saturday when more than 1,200 people marched through downtown Flagstaff in support of sacred sites and immigrant rights for all the Americas.

Tucsonans protested a fundraiser for Kyl attended by Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday, and on Friday more than 1,000 people lined Oracle Road near Kyl's Tucson office to show opposition to his support for the anti-immigrant bill.

Mobilization for Sacred Sites and Human Rights in Flagstaff

Over a thousand people expected to converge in Flagstaff to march for Sacred Sites and Human Rights on March 25th

The March for Sacred Sites and Human Rights will be held in association with the National Conference of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (Chicano/a Student Movement of Aztlan aka M.E.Ch.A.), which will be taking place at NAU during that week. The theme of the national M.E.Ch.A. conference is “Human Rights will not be Denied” and it is expected to bring over eight hundred high school and university students from throughout the US to NAU.

"Every year, M.E.Ch.A. marches on an issue that the local chapter has been engaged with," said Kesia Ceniceros female co-chair of M.E.Ch.A., "This year we have asked the Save the Peaks Coalition and other organizations to collaborate on our march to protect sacred sites and human rights of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas.

The March will start at 3pm on March 25th at the Aquatic Center on NAU on San Francisco St. and conclude at the Flagstaff City Hall. The people will gather at City Hall to make speeches and call for the Flagstaff City Council to rescind the vote to sell reclaimed wastewater to Arizona Snowbowl. Those at the march representing the rights of immigrants want to end the dehumanization of migrants and stop anti-immigration legislation.

For more information regarding the “March for Sacred Sites – March for Human Rights” please contact Gabriel Yaiva at (928) 699-9601 or email yaiva@nativemovement.org . For more information visit the Native Movement website at www.nativemovement.org or call the office at (928) 213-9063. For More info on the M.E.Ch.A. conference visit www.nau.edu/mecha.

to view the press release in full, click here.

Daily Vigil in Memorial and Protest of Death on the Border

In preparation for the upcoming trial of Shanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss, members of No More Deaths in Tucson and Phoenix have launched a forty-day fast (to coincide with the Lenten and Passover seasons). As the U.S. Senate prepares to debate some of the most regressive immigration legislation since the Asiatic Barred Zone Act of 1917, No More Deaths joins voices around the country in protest and is mobilizing its supporters to demand a humane resolution to the border crisis.

Every day from 8am to sunset supporters are holding vigil at El Tiradito Shrine in downtown Tucson. Various individuals- including religious and community leaders- have participated in the fast since its kick-off on March 1st. Each day, supporters remember 100 of the more than 4,000 migrants who have died while trying to cross the border since 1994. Prayers are read and names recited daily at 8:30am, 12:30pm, and 6:00pm.

In addition to remembering needless suffering and death on the border, the fast is meant to protest the policies that cause this death. The militarization of the border has done little to reduce undocumented immigration. Rather, it has divided families and communities, fueled organized crime, driven millions of workers into the shadows and resulted in a daily humanitarian crisis along the border.

No More Deaths also reasserts its call that the United States drop all charges against Shanti Sellz and Daniel Strauss. Shanti and Daniel were arrested July 9th while attempting to medically evacuate three ill migrants to receive care in Tucson. They currently face up to 15 years in prison and $500,000 in fines. During July more than 78 migrants died in the Tucson Border Patrol Sector – the deadliest on record. Humanitarian aid is never a crime, and it is wrong to prosecute people for saving lives – particularly in this context.

A hearing will be held on Monday, March 13th in federal court to have the charges dismissed, in appeal of the January decision by Magistrate Bernardo Velasco to send the case to trial. Supporters are invited to join a procession from the shrine to the courthouse at 9am.

for more information, please visit www.nomoredeaths.org and Arizona Indymedia’s Special Coverage of Border Issues

Arizona Independent Media Teach-In in Flagstaff on March 11

What is media justice?

Are there alternatives to corporate media?

How do I get involved in the Independent Media movement?

**********

BE THE MEDIA! Arizona Independent Media Teach-In

Saturday, March 11

7:00-9:00 pm

Applesauce Teahouse 213 S. San Francisco St. Flagstaff, Arizona (Near the corner of SF St. and Butler Ave.)

FEATURING:

How-To Media Workshops

Reporting, Newswriting and Interviewing 101 with Arizona Indymedia collective members from Tucson

How-To Become an IMC Editor

Radical Library / Infoshop 101

Indigenous Action Media

*********

MORE INFORMATION? CONTACT: new_moon@riseup.net or info@indigenousaction.org

Rod Coronado's Detention and Removal Hearing

A hearing at the federal courthouse in Tucson this morning ended without a clear resolution on Rod Coronado's detention. Magistrate judge Charles Pyle has taken the matter under advisement after the prosecution and the defense argued back and forth on whether Coronado should remain in custody and be extradited to San Diego, where he is charged in a grand jury indictment with "distribution of information relating to destructive devices." It is unknown how long it will take for Judge Pyle to decide.

update, Friday, March 3: Coronado freed on bail, must report to San Diego court Monday. Read More>>>

update, Monday, March 6: Appearance in San Diego court

2006 Conference Brought Together Wide Range of Arizona Activists

Each year, a dedicated group of teach-in organizers, representing a wide range of groups and issues, plan from late summer through early spring in order to create the space for the critical convergence of activists that characterizes the teach-in year after year. This year was no exception. The tables of over 45 statewide activist groups lined the breezeway linking Farmer and Payne buildings, creating a human bridge of information about ways to get involved with local movements.

Read More>>>

Environmental activist Rod Coronado arrested for "teaching and demonstrating" at a 2003 San Diego lecture

Tucson environmental activist Rod Coronado was arrested Wednesday afternoon at his workplace by agents with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF). The arrest is in connection with a Grand Jury indictment in San Diego charging Coronado with "teaching and demonstrating" to others how to commit arson at a lecture he gave August 1, 2003 in San Diego . According to the FBI press release, Coronado "taught and demonstrated the making and use of a destructive device, with the intent that the device be used to commit arson" at a public gathering in San Diego's Hillcrest neighborhood. Three animal rights activists in San Diego were jailed for contempt of court in 2005 for refusing to testify in the secret Grand Jury investigation.

Coronado is not charged with setting a fire 15 hours before his lecture that caused $50 million in damages and destroyed a large apartment complex under construction in the University Towne Center area of San Diego. Neighbors observed that ATF agents searched his home in the Dunbar Spring neighborhood for several hours.

Coronado will be arraigned at the Tucson Federal Courthouse at 2 pm Thursday afternoon, and possibly extradited to San Diego soon. It is unknown at this time whether he will be released after the arraignment today, or held in custody. Coronado’s arrest is the latest in the string of arrests across the country related to environmental and animal rights related actions.

Thursday 3pm update: Coronado was formally charged with felony "distribution of information relating to destructive devices" at a 2pm arraignment hearing. He is scheduled to have a Detention and Removal Hearing Monday at 10:30 AM with a different judge, U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles R. Pyle (Courtroom 2C). Coronado will be held in custody until Monday. Twenty supporters attended the 2pm hearing. Tensions were high in the courtroom, and one supporter was asked to leave after she "made eye contact" with Coronado.

More information and background on the "green scare.">>>

Check back soon for more updates. For those interested in giving assistance, a fund is being set up for donations to help support Coronado's children. Details will be posted here when we know more.

Phoenix Residents to Vote on Controversial Bond Issue March 14th

The citizens of Phoenix will vote on a proposed $879 million bond in under a month. Let me repeat that figure, $879 million! The question that looms is who is going to pay for it in the short and long run? Recently Maricopa County re-assessed all property by a 23%, an increased assessed property value. This assessment does increase property taxes, yet the bond promoters just say, "No new taxes".

Not only is this a matter of money, but essential services and housing of the elderly and poor will be cut because of this bond. Just last year, the City of Phoenix displaced elderly and poor in (3) establishments: (70) elderly long-term residents were evicted from a Madison Street hotel to the concrete sidewalks, (40) working poor from another downtown hotel, and (167+) poor families, elderly, disabled, and children were tossed on Phoenix into the streets to make way for profiteers and economic development. Also according to reports, more than (100) residents of the downtown Westward HO are marked for displacement from their housing too. Will they also be relegated to fend for themselves, by the local and state government?

The bond and proposed projects will cost a fortune to be paid by our future generations, and people will be left in harm's way; our aged parents, relatives, and friends, dis-advantaged children, and the un-employed victims of socio-economic injustice. According to a recent report, there are (14,000) displaced people living in the streets of Phoenix, the capital city of Arizona. This is a staggering number, and has not been ignored by a national group that identified Phoenix, on its "most mean streets" in America list. Mayor Phil Gordon's tagline is he's "building a dynamic city," but at whose expense, and for whose benefit?

For more information please visit www.bondtruth.com

Tucson Raging Grannies Give Valentine to Senator McCain