"Word began to spread as we researched the school and discovered what we had here was indeed a school of assassins, a school for dictators. These soldiers came here to learn counter insurgency. Who were the insurgency? They were the poor, the religious leaders, labor leaders, and many others. And then when the torture manuals were discovered in the curriculum, that got a lot of front-page coverage. Word began to spread, and our numbers in the movement grew." -- Father Roy Bourgeois, founder, School of the Americas Watch

The story of the School of the Americas, or School of the Assassins is a disturbing tale of such organized and planned terrorism; one would never believe it was real. Every year in Fort Benning, Georgia the people protest. This year we brought it to LA. Read Reports: by LadyMadonna | by Ross Plesset and Anna Kunkin | more pics by Anna & Ross

January 1, 2008, Pasadena: At approximately 7:15am four of us began our walk along the Rose Parade route in advance of the parade. We held banners and signs calling for impeachment and urged people to text 30644 to support the impeachment of Dick Cheney.

(A block or so behind us was a contingent of people with signs protesting China’s human rights atrocities and its hosting the upcoming Olympics. A float celebrating the Beijing Olympics would be in the parade. This group had an impressive presence with many people and signs visible.)

The members of our group agreed that there was significant positive response to our message as well as considerable negative reactions and blank stares. However, some of us were rather positive in our final analyses, while I tilted toward the negative. Full Report from the Newswire: ATTACK OF THE ARCHIE BUNKER CLONES! (activism at the 2008 Rose Parade) by Self-Hating Caucasian

More Reports: 9:00 AM - Scattered Rose Parade Demonstrations Now Under Way by LA-IMC Newsroom | TV screen grabs of Rose Parade Banners by A | "Not Roses--Peaches" SoPas and Highland Park do it again at the Parade! by Linda Krausen | A Report from the Rose Parade Starting Point by Flunky

The winter 2007 AntiMall took place in Highland Park at La Culebra community space. (Other locations have included the South Central Farm, the Southern California Library, and the El Sereno Community Garden.) . . . The items on sale came from numerous places from “Chiapas to Afghanistan to Venezuela.” Food from the South Central Farmers was available as well. Live performers included In Lak Ech, Zocalo Zue, and Quincy McCrary, with DJs including Black Shakespeare, Songo Electriko, and Vampiro Fronterizo.

La Culebra has served as a community space for many years for events such as sweat lodges, poetry readings, and women’s circles.
From the newsire: Winter AntiMall (photos/report) by RP| | Winter AntiMall (additional pix) by RP

Momentum is building for a demonstration against the war on Iraq at this year Rose Parade in Pasadena. Small locally organized protests have been held in past years at the parade, but this year organizers going by the name, The White Rose Coalition, are attempting to mobilize thousands. Details from the calendar | | | From the Newswire: Cindy Sheehan Joins Activists Planning Impeachment/Pro-Peace Protest at New Year's Rose Parade | | | VIDEOS: Impeach The Dark Side - 2007 Rose Parade | 7 Little Letters

". . . They used the Southern California Anarchist show as an excuse to attack the work of the Centro. The Centro de Accion Popular has English classes for the community and does community, educational, and cultural events out of the center. They will not be able to do all that anymore until we are able to make the space 'fire safe' and add another door in the rear. . . ."
Story: Southern California Anarchist Show Shut Down by Police by Joaquin Cienfue

UPDATE: Despite police interference at Sunday night’s closing show most reports indicate that the conference was a success. No other serious disruptions of the conference’s presentations and workshops have been reported. The workshops are said to have been informative and well attended. Highlights included an animal rights activist workshop, women’s self defense classes, and special panel comprised of three founding members of the Los Angeles chapter of the Black Panther Party. Even some members of the LA Indymedia Collective were on hand for a short presentation. From the newswire: Photos from the ANARCHIST CONFERENCE in L.A. by Organic Tofu

On Tuesday December 11, 2007, I joined in a community effort to welcome and support a coalition of Native American Nations and environmental justice groups in their ongoing effort to defend Arizona's San Francisco Peaks from proposed ski area development. The coalition had traveled from Arizona in order to be present for a Federal Appeals Court hearing in which developers would challenge a precedent-setting court victory won by the coalition, which halted plans to expand the skiing business by making fake snow out of sewage waste. This case is viewed as precedent-setting in the realms of religious freedom and public health, and particularly in establishing an interpretation for the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).

As a person of faith, what struck me about the gathering is how deeply important the theme of religious freedom was.... Full report from newswire: This is how we (could) pray by Amy L. Dalton

Report on the court proceedings: Tribes & Environmental Groups Defend Religious Freedom & Human Health in Federal Court | | Report with photos: March and Vigil to Save the San Francisco Peaks by Self-Hating Caucasian | | More photos: by Raul Roa | | Related: A Native American on How Non-Indigenous People Can Stop Colonialization

People come out to the University of California Santa Barbara campus on December 3rd to support workers who remain unpaid by a contractor hired by U.C.S.B.

Ryan's Painting is a San Diego-based painting company who has failed to pay over a dozen workers for up to seven weeks. The U.C., in conjunction with the general contractor Prowest, allowed this to happen. Prowest recently admitted to some knowledge of falsified documents stating that workers are making over $30 per hour, a figure three times the actual salary of most. Workers who brought the injustices to light were threatened with deportation. Read Full Report by Laura

Passions continue to run high over the KPFK elections, as the deadline for casting votes approaches. All ballots must be received at the KPFK office or Post Office box by midnight on December 11. For more info on voting, see: The 2007 KPFK Local Station Board Elections are now on!

The LA IMC editorial collective encourages all candidates and community members to keep posting related news, information, and opinions on our open publishing newswire. Indymedia is an open platform for debate; if you don't like what others have posted here, research and write your own coverage of the controversy.

Posts from the newswire: KPFK Disenfranchised? by Leslie | | How To Rig a KPFK Election by Leslie Radford, KPFK LSB candidate | | Peter Camejo & Nativo Lopez Support Donna Warren & John Wegner for KPFK Board by Camejo, Lopez, etc | | VOTE FOR WARREN AND WENGER FOR KPFK BOARD by Mike Wyman | | Donna Warren and John Wenger are not recommended by Independents and Grassroots Greens by Jack Lindblad | | KPFK is biased, still, while pretending to be "fair" by sidestepper | | Response to Lila Garrett by Jim Lafferty | | XENOPHOBIA and the KPFK ELECTIONS by R. Salazar | | KPFK Programmer Plugged Assistant Running as Listener Sponsor in LSB election by Miles Copeland | | KPFK and Pacifica Need Good Governance by Grace Aaron | | A Letter from the Interim GM of KPFK by Jim Lafferty | | KPFK: Welcome to the Madhouse by Leslie Radford, KPFK LSB candidate | | (another, smaller) Stolen Election by Leslie Radford

The state’s cases against T. A. C. O., Aryana and Stress, which T. A. C. O. described as “b. s.” to defense attorney Guillermo Suarez, are based on the testimony of an undercover cop who alleges that he approached the Black Riders, pretending to be Lebanese and connected to freedom fighters in the Middle East. He claims that the three defendants were involved in a plot to take possession of weapons and protective vests that he claimed to be able to provide them.

No weapons were ever involved. These charges are essentially for a “thought crime” – allegedly conspiring to attempt to possess weapons.

It is no accident that the arrests took place while several of the Black Riders were up in northern California Building support for the San Francisco 8 political prisoners. Recall that in 1974 a federal court had dropped all charges against the San Francisco 8 because the New Orleans police and the San Francisco police used torture to extract a confession.

It is also no coincidence that the Black Riders were scheduled to appear in court on December 3, the same day as a hearing was scheduled in San Francisco on San Francisco 8.
From the newswire: Black Riders held on million dollars bail each, back in court Wednesday by Repost of Assata Shakur forums

The San Francisco Peaks are a unique mountain ecosystem which are managed as public lands in Northern Arizona. The Peaks are held Holy by more than 13 Indigenous Nations. A small ski area is threatening expansion and attempting to make fake snow from treated sewage effluent filled with harmful contaminants. A coalition of tribes and environmental groups have unified to prevent the environmental destruction, community health hazards and extreme desecration that would be caused by the proposed development. Although the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the ski area plan, the case will be reheard in Pasadena on December 11th, 2007. See: SAVE THE PEAKS CALL FOR SUPPORT! - Legal Battle to Protect Sacred Site Comes to Pasadena by Indigeneous
Additional coverage: Uprising Radio, Uprising (follow-up, Dec. 7)
From the Calendar: Defending the Land: Indigenous Cultural Survival

Since the late 1990s, activist Reverend Billy has been using his “surreal inventiveness” to raise awareness about the consequences of modern consumerism—including, among other things, the destruction of communities and products made with sweatshop labor.

The Reverend was created shortly after actor Billy witnessed his home, Time Square, being “turned into a mall." As he recalls: "Disney was signing this amazing Manifest Destiny deal to evict small vendors, and police were picking up anybody who didn’t look as if they were in possession of a credit card. And that was happening before my eyes. . . . I had to ask myself: 'Who’s shouting here? Who’s really getting out there raising their voice a little bit?’ It was the sidewalk preachers."

From the newswire: "What Would Jesus Buy?" (review) by R. Plesset

Set to begin this month on December 14th this year’s Southern California Anarchist Conference seeks to present creative and positive alternatives to the state, with an emphasis on people of color as well as people from the community during a weekend that will be both fun and educational.

The three day conference is open to both anarchists and non-anarchists who are interested in learning about radical ideas, options, alternatives, and support systems. Not only will alternative ideas be presented but the conference will also focus on what concrete work is being done locally and with anarchist groups in other regions and other countries. From the calendar

This 7th Really Really Free Market in Santa Barbara included not only free items and dinner from Food Not Bombs, but also an array of workshops and demonstrations, ranging from free guitar lessons to how to live off the grid through bike power. The Market was visited by the Ginger Ninjas, a group of traveling bikers who generate both the power for their own personal needs and for running sound systems completely independant of the grid! After running all the power needed for a music show at the Bicicentro the night before, they graciously volunteered to give an in-depth workshop on how to build a system of converting the energy from the spinning of the tires into volts which can be stored or used at the time to power electronics such as recharging laptop batteries and sound systems. This was certainly the main attraction of the day! Full article & pics from the newswire: Santa Barbara Hosts Another Really Really Free Market by Ang

On Tuesday, November 20, the Writers Guild of America held a march on Hollywood Boulevard in which they invited their brothers and sisters in the labor movement to come out in support of their strike, now in its third week. Three huge teamster trucks led the march, and behind them gathered members of SAG, United Healthcare Workers, the Musicians Union, Unite HERE, the United Farm Workers, and many others. Sparsely present were members of the "behind the camera" unions, who according to one disgruntled member, cannot technically support the strike due to a clause in their contract.

But by far the biggest turnout aside from WGA members and friends was the purple-clad Service Employees International Union... From the newswire: "Solidarity Works!" Purple and Red Join Forces in Writers' Guild March by Amy L. Dalton

MORE REPORTS: EEUU, GUIONISTAS Y LOCURA by J.STONE | | Video from the WGA picket line at Sony Pictures by A | | Report from a WGA Picket Line by A | | Video from the WGA strike picket lines by A | | MP3 Audio- Interview with a Writer on Strike by A

Beverly Hills, November 13th: In support of disappeared Haitian grassroots activist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, 30+ people gathered in front of the Brazilian Consulate to publicly launch a 24-hour rolling fast. At least 12 of us had red ribbons on our arms signifying our commitment to forego eating. (Additional fasters, who couldn’t be there, pledged to wear red ribbons as well). Those who could not commit to fasting helped by their mere presence and holding signs to educate the Brazilian Consulate and passersby. (There has also been a call to sign a petition for Pierre-Antoine’s release, which can be accessed here. ) Throughout the event, we caught the attention of motorists, and there was steady honking. People on tour buses looked at us with interest, as did pedestrians, some of whom stopped to talk to us. There was no overt police presence.
From the newswire: Message to Brazil: Help Find and Release Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine by Ross Plesset