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5/11-5/14, Rice Cinema, 8pm Soma - An Anarchist Therapy
5/16 Freeway Blogging
5/17 Protest Halliburton Shareholders Meeting


Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8pm, and Sunday at 7pm: Food Not Bombs 615 Louisiana in front of City Hall

On Monday May 8, The Houston City Council's Committee on Homeland Security and Public Saftey met about expanding the Civility Ordinance (other media coverage: 1, 2) to new neighborhoods. These ordinances (past coverage: 1, 2) prohibit people from sitting or lying on sidewalks between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m, and "aggressive panhandling." Currently they are in effect downtown and midtown, and may be on the verge of expanding into Avondale, Hyde Park, and Old Sixth Ward.

In the session on Tuesday May 9, the opening prayer was dedicated to the homeless, and Randall Kallinen, the President of the Houston ACLU, and Nick Cooper spoke out against the ordinance.

For more information on the war against homelessness, see the National Coalition for the Homeless website.

In response to violent police repression in San Salvador Atenco, a community with a radical history just outside of Mexico City [see photos of repression] as well as arrests of independent journalists in Oaxaca, Delegate Zero (Subcomandante Marcos) has declared a Red Alert in the Zapatistas’ Good Government Councils in Chiapas and the temporary suspension of the Other Campaign’s activities.
Cobertura en español 1, 2, 3

Protests took place across the US and Mexico and locally in Houston on Cinco de Mayo at the Mexican Consulate photos

Protests also took placein New York City and other cities througout North America. English coverage in Narco News.
If the Other Campaign stays on schedual, it will be reaching northern Mexico (Just south of Texas) at the end of May.
Can't make it to the protest? Join the virtual sit-in

Thousands of Houstonians got out of work and joined protests today to memorialize May 1st, International Workers day, and oppose repressive immigration legislation. Many Rallied in Memorial Park and marched to Senator John Cornyn's office. This past week the US Senate trimmed 1.9 billion dollars from the Iraq war and Katrina relief to buy new equipment for border "security." The Chronicle reports that Police belived this march to be larger that the April 10th demonstration for Immigrant Justice. There was at least one confirmed arrest of a cyclist who was participating in the march. There were also Rallies at University of Houston and at a Park at Hillcroft and Bissonet in Southwest Houston (if you attended one of these rallies please publish a report).

Report: kate villarreal
Photos: RoB | Trick Baby
Audio: Rachel

If you attended one of these protests, walked out of work or school, or otherwise observed Mayday; please publish your stories, and media to our newswire

Indymedia.us coverage of protests across the nation | DeleteTheBorder | HIMC feature about the history of Mayday and the 2006 protests

from the open publishing newswire:Emergildo Criollo, a chief of the near-extinct Cofán people in the Ecuadorian Amazon, spoke at Chevron’s annual general meeting in Houston, as Chevron (formerly ChevronTexaco) continued to fend off a multi-billion dollar environmental lawsuit in which the corporation is accused of dumping 18 billion gallons of toxic waste directly into the rainforest. The lawsuit asserts local communities are suffering a wave of cancers, birth defects, miscarriages and other health problems.

Mr. Criollo, who had spent several days traveling from his rainforest home by foot, canoe, bus and plane to be at the shareholder meeting, told Mr. O’Reilly: "The activities of Chevron have put the survival of our culture, our language, and our people at grave risk. Do you want our tribe to die off? I am here to ask you to live up to your ethical responsibilities and clean up the contamination that is destroying my people.”

The dramatic confrontation ratchets up the pressure on Mr O’Reilly and the Chevron management. The landmark Ecuadorian lawsuit is expected to reach a conclusion in the next 18 months with the 30,000 plaintiffs demanding environmental remediation of an area the size of Rhode Island. Cleaning up the mess has been estimated to cost at least $6 billion, not including personal damages to thousands of victims. So far, scientific evidence submitted to the Ecuadorian court by both Chevron and the plaintiffs has revealed an overwhelming pattern of toxic contamination at every rainforest site inspected. All the sites are within the former Texaco concession. [Read the full story] HIMC feature on the national day of action to clean up Ecuador

Whose choice is it to terminate life? Hospitals? Insurance companies? Under a 1999 Texas "Futile Care" law (Text of the law ), signed by then-governor George W. Bush, hospitals can unilaterally decide to "pull the plug" even though next-of-kin or the patients themselves wish to continue treatment. At least two people have been allowed to die under this law were 5-month old Sun Hudson and Tirhas Habtegris, both cases against the wishes of the family. A Houston hospital ,St. Luke's , invoked this law In April, when -- perhaps under pressure from the insurance company -- it had made plans to terminate the life of a 53-year old woman, Andrea Clarke, against the wishes of her family and against her own wishes. Her family held a protest to try to stop the hospital from pulling her off the ventilator. The woman's condition began to improve, St. Luke's retracted the decision, and then sadly, Ms. Clarke's condition again worsened and she died on May 7th.

Congressman John Culberson held a town hall meeting on Thursday, April 20th, at Stratford High School focusing on border security.

Culberson explained how nanotechnology will prevent global warming, rejected the idea of giving money to end poverty, turned down support for medical marijuana, explained how big of a threat Saddam posed to the U.S., threatened to cut off funding to White House programs in retaliation for Bush not enforcing immigration laws, initially supported and then backtracked slightly on giving federal money to the Minutemen, claimed to have seen evidence that global warming is just caused by the solar cycle, and denied that torture was occuring in Guantanamo (or "Club Gitmo" as he called it).
He was supported by a crowd ready to boo at anyone who challenged him and who shouted out things like "why do they have the Koran to begin with?"

Regarding hr4437, Culberson has stated: "I think this is one of the most important bills the House has passed since I arrived in 2001, and I am very proud to be an original co-sponsor."

past Culberson coverage

Tonight from 7-10pm KPFT 90.1fm will be doing special coverage of the Immigrant Justice protests
According to The Houston Chronicle, more than 50,000 people marched through downtown Houston on April 10 in favor of socially just immigration reform. With demonstrators carrying US flags and chanting "USA! USA!" some participants remarked that it looked like the Fourth of July. Houston Indymedia had breaking news coverage throughout the day.

Meanwhile there was a protest organized by Lee High School Students that took place after the school day. 100 students and supporters attended including Coucilman Khan [see photos and report] It seems that organizers from the April 10th Coalition deliberately tried to exclude the very students who have been at the forefront of this spontaneous movement.

Coverage from the Open Publishing Newswire:
Stories: Raj
Photos: Art Browning, CLT, Crooked Cricket, Gabriel Suárez: 1, 2, 3, Gislaine, Harbeer: 1 | 2 | 3, RoB: 1 | 2, Trick Baby
Video: Harbeer: 1 | 2

If you attended this march, please publish your media and stories to our website. We have yet to recieve any first hand written accounts of the march itself. We are all journalists.
Hemos construido un pagina de publicar en español. Si usted tiene fotos, video, audio o una cuenta que queire contibuir a este sito, por favor imprime aqui y publica sus noticas. Todos somos periodistas.

Read the breaking news as it occured on April 10th | Indymedia.us national coverage of April 10th Protests

On Tuesday, Donte Smith and Ken Crowley will begin six-month sentences (for protesting the SOA). Come celebrate their act and wish them health in prison this Sunday at Helios at 9pm, more info.

Ken, who will be serving his sentence at a Beaumont, Texas federal prison, long time peace and justice advocate with Witness For Peace, and School of the Americas Watch.
Unlike in the past when Ken has committed civil disobedience with the intention of being arrested, this year he was arrested for simply holding up the fence as a colleague climbed under.
On the eve of his sentence, Ken has this to say: "Although my act of nonviolent civil disobedience was unintentional, I feel that my prison witness is very connected to the WFP mission of speaking against the horrors of war and militarism. Of course, it is meaningless without the ongoing work of grassroots opposition to the most violent country in the history of the world. Knowing that you, and many others, understand and work so hard to bring peace to our world will be a sustaining power."
To support Ken's efforts: Witness for Peace
Past coverage: 1, 2.

Update (April 24th): Hasan's execution has been stayed! It is now very important that people continue to write letters to Governor Perry to stop Hasan's execution

Hasan Shakur has organized concerts, organizations, events and put out newsletters from a death row cell dealing with liberation of black people and all people. Now the state of Texas has set his execute date for April 27, to silence his voice.

Working with the Human Rights Coalition, a prisoner family organizing project headquartered out of Philadelphia, has met Hasan Shakur, aka Derrick Frazier ##999284. Read report by Walidah Imarisha

Please write and call the governor and ask for a stay of execution. Sign the petition to save his life at Here.

A Picture's Worth: Poem for Hasan Shakur