On June 13, 2005, Jamie Kalven received a subpoena from the City of Chicago in connection with Bond v. Utreras, et al. Kalven was subpoenaed for his involvement in writing about as well as aiding Diane Bond—a resident of Stateway Gardens—who was repeatedly assaulted and harassed by police. Kalven wrote about Bond's experience in a 17-part series called "Kicking the Pigeon."

The subpoena demanded "copies of any and all documents, notes, reports, writings, computer files, audio tapes, video tapes, or any written or recorded item" in his possession regarding any of twenty-four named individuals (members of the Stateway Gardens community and police officers, as well as the plaintiff's attorney and an expert witness) "and/or any allegations of misconduct by any police officer" at Stateway Gardens.

Kalven refused to comply with the subpoena on multiple grounds; chief among them, the First Amendment.

On May 1, 2006, the City filed two motions. One motion petitions the judge to hold Kalven in contempt for "his deliberate and intentional refusal to produce the notes and recordings in question." The other motion seeks an order forcing Kalven to answer questions he declined to answer when deposed in the Bond case.

Kalven's attorneys filed his response on May 30th. Judge Arlander Keys has said he will rule by June 12.

Audio: Chicago Public Radio on Bond Case and Kalven Subpoena
Other links: Read the whole series "Kicking the Pigeon" in .PDF format | Discuss "Kicking the Pigeon" | Article from the NewsWire | For more information check out The View from the Ground

On Mother's Day 2006, Elvira Arellano and Flor Crisóstomo launched a hunger strike for increased immigrants rights — full legalization for immigrants, a moratorium on raids and deportations, and the right of families to reunify.

On June 1, as the hunger strike continues twenty-two days after the strike's launch, supporters and organizers have launched a mass vigil at an immigration court in downtown Chicago, which includes many of the groups involved in organizing the historic Mayday 2006 immigrants' rights actions.

UPDATE: Chicago Immigrant Workers Win Delay, End Fast

Read more: Somos Un Pueblo | Chicago Indymedia announcement | CAAELII announcement

On May Day 2006, International Workers Day -over 1.5 million immigrants and their allies poured into the streets in over 200 cities across the country to demand full legalization and dignity for undocumented workers. Many, responding to the national call for "Un dia sin immigrante" - "a day without an immigrant" refused to go to work or school in order to join the marches and rallies national organizers hope will spark the biggest multi-national civil rights/social movement in U.S history. [ US-IMC May Day 2006 coverage | LA IMC | SF Bay IMC | San Diego IMC | NYC IMC | Democracy Now! ]

In Chicago, Monday's May Day march reached historic proportions - dwarfing the original 1886 march for the eight hour day. Crowd estimates varied, with Chicago police and corporate press accounts estimating the march at over 400,000 participants. But March 10th Movement organizers and activists asserted that the day's turnout topped out well over 700,000. While marchers from Chicago's Latin American immigrant communities clearly comprised a majority, the march also included large contingents from the city's Irish, Polish, Ukrainian, Indian, Pakistani, Haitian and Arab communities, along with union and neighborhood groups, churches, mosques, civil rights and social justice organizations. Feeder marches from various parts of the city converged in Union Park, spilling out into the surrounding streets. Marching down Randolph St, past Chicago's historic Haymarket Square enroute to an afternoon rally in Grant Park, the crowd erupted into chants of "Sí se puede" (Yes we can!) and "El pueblo unido jamás sera vencido" (The people united will never be defeated). Read More | Photos: [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 ]

CIMC Newswire Accounts: Black and Brown Unite and Fight - STOP Contingent in Immigrant Rights March | Account of the Anarchist Bloc at Chicago Mayday/Immigrant's Rights March | Immigration and May Day | GLN: Photos and Story from LGBT Contingent

May 1st, International Workers' Day — Dia Internacional de los Trabajadores — honors the historic struggle in 1886 for the eight hour work day and the anarchist labor organizers at its core who were murdered by the state the following year. That epic battle for workers' rights and dignity was in large part carried out by immigrant workers. Now, 120 years later, hundreds of thousands of immigrants, their families, friends, neighbors and co-workers will return to the city streets on May Day to demand full justice, equality and dignity for undocumented workers threatened with criminalization and deportation by anti-immigrant legislation now being debated in the US House and Senate.

The Chicago mobilization is part of a nationally coordinated day of action: El Gran Paro Americano 2006 - Un dia sin immigrante The Great American Boycott … A Day without Immigrants. The call appeals for a national boycott and strike — no work, no school, no buying, no selling — on May 1. Currently more than one hundred May Day actions are scheduled in sixty cities across the U.S. In Chicago, the Movimiento 10 de Marzo (March 10th Movement), a multinational coalition of community and labor groups, will sponsor a 10:00 AM rally in Union Park, followed by a unified mass march past historic Haymarket Square to Grant Park. [ See the CIMC razor wire above for a list of specific actions, feeder marches and contingents. ] Read: Support Builds for Immigration Protests, Boycott, Kari Lydersen, The New Standard

Join Chicago Indymedia as a news contributor for Mayday!.

Text: Got a story, hot tip or personal account you want to share? Post to CIMC's newswire | Photo: Post your photos directly to our media gallery | Video: Shoot on May Day — and share your tape for our TV show and our broadcast partners around the country and the world. Email our video collective to learn more.

Questions? Email imc-chicago@indymedia.org — and see you in the streets on May Day!

M1 Online Resources: Workers Defense Committee - March 10th Movement Hotline: PDF Flyer | Posters | NBN PDF Brochure: El Primero de Mayo - Mayday and Beyond | Song: El Primero de Mayo [ mp3 ] | ACLU Resource Page on Worker, Immigrant and Student Rights

Local Organizing Projects: CAAAELII Coalition | Chicago Federation of Labor | Centro Sin Fronteras | Latino Union/Union Latina de Chicago | Chicago Workers Collaborative | Industrial Workers of the World | Illinois Coaltion for Immigrant and Refugee Rights | Niezalezne Stowarzyszenie Studentow w Chicago

Related National Links: NO HR4437 Network | Immigrant Rights Solidarity Network | deleteTheBorder.org | Mexican American Politcal Association | National Council of Arab Americans

 

On April 17, United State District Court Judge Virginia Kendall granted class certification to a lawsuit filed more than three years ago on behalf of 800 peace protesters who were falsely arrested on March 20, 2003.

Cops arrested protesters in the wake of their police-sanctioned march down Lake Shore Drive as part of an emergency mobilization to oppose the beginning of the Iraq war. Police encircled more than 800 demonstrators, tourists, local workers and shoppers for hours, taking many of them into custody and charging many with crimes — which were later tossed out in court. Read More | Read the class certification (PDF)

More information: Critical information for detainees! | Video from Chicago Independent TV — Where We Stood Documentary: part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | Lawsuit Update from March 2004 | National Lawyers Guild — Chicago chapter

“Quiet, quiet!” exclaimed a smiling Ari Glazer, one organizer from the San Lucas Workers Center, as I and about 40 others, composed of day laborers, children, clergy, and community organizers, were spirited from a school bus and directed into a designer paper store called Paper Source surprising employees, management, and customers in order to draw attention to their abusive and illegal labor practices.

Three Paper Source workers were fired for speaking out against labor injustices inflicted upon them by management.

Paper Source contracts with Ron’s Staffing in order to operate the warehouses where the materials for their over 20 stores are created and packaged. Ron’s, owned by Ron Michelon, (312-654-0181) has a notorious history of abusing day laborers. According to the Illinois Department of Labor, the agency has violated Illinois labor laws over 6,000 times—accruing fines of over $100,000.

The San Lucas Workers Center was demanding that the fired workers be rehired, that Paper Source cease its business relationship with Ron’s Staffing immediately and that Paper Source change their temporary worker contracting to a code of conduct-compliant day labor agency as it said it would some time last fall.

On April 12th, more than one potential customer was turned away after seeing the store filled with media and angry day laborers chanting slogans such as “Clean it up or shut it down!” and “Fire Ron’s!” Store managers stated that the owners of Paper Source, Sue Lindstrom (312-775-6915) and Jim York (312-775-6908), could not be reached by phone.

It remains to be seen if Paper Source will do its part to end the slave-like conditions that it so uncaringly entered into with Ron’s. One thing is for sure: these workers are fired up and ready to win. Read the full article here.

Video: Working For Justice: Challenging the Abuses of Chicago's Day Labor Industry
Photos: 1 | 2 | 3

Reclaim the Commons (RTC) is mobilizing four days of grassroots events and actions in response to the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) 2006 convention in Chicago. From April 8th to 11th, activists will converge in Chicago to highlight the threat that genetic engineering poses to the livelihood of farmers, the safety of our food supply, damage to human rights and food sovereignty, as well as offer sustainable community-based alternatives to corporate strangleholds over agriculture and medicine.

Animal rights activists, in solidarity with RTC, are organizing events and protests calling for the biotech industry to end all animal exploitation including but not limited to: vivisection, animal testing, and the creation and reproduction of cloned and transgenic animals. Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), Europe's largest contract research organization, is a particular target of AR activities during the week of events because so many of BIO's members are affiliated with the torture lab. BIO has stated that they will "highlight recent advances in animal biotechnology," in addition to holding specific workshops aimed at dealing with the threat posed to biotech by the AR movement. Activists are going to be in the streets nearly every day to denounce BIO and HLS.

RTC Workshop Schedule and Descriptions for April 9th at Acme Artworks | Also check out BioETHICS 2006: "The Voice of Reason" and their schedule of events.

Videos: Nat'l Family Farm Coaltion / GMOpposition event/interviews | Bayer, BIO member, Sells HIV-Tainted Hemophiliac Drug to Europe, Asia, and Central America with Approval of FDA

Photos from Festival: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 (courtesy of People's Newswire)

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers — a worker-rights organization for migrant laborers in Immokalee, Florida — organized a campaign and boycott against Taco Bell demanding higher wages and greater accountability for laborers who picked the food used in Taco Bell products. In 2005, the campaign against Taco Bell succeeded after a four-year struggle.

Now the Coalition is taking on McDonald's to demand the same concessions as those won from Taco Bell. Chicago, home to the headquarters of McDonald's, is a key focal point in a seventeen city tour to raise awareness of the campaign. The Coalition's events in Chicago include a five-mile march to the Rock'n'Roll McDonald's on April 1 and a day full of cultural events. Read more

Updates: March details | March and rallly photos | Press advisory | Coverage from CommonDreams / Oneworld.net