On October 17th, Naomi Klein spoke at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz about her new book: The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Exposing the thinking, the money trail and the puppet strings behind the world-changing crises and wars of the last four decades, The Shock Doctrine is the gripping story of how America’s “free market” policies have come to dominate the world -- through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries.

On Oct. 19-22, the Mortgage Bankers Association, a group which represents the real estate finance industry, will be holding their annual convention at San Francisco's Moscone West. Featured speakers include the chief executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two companies that have been at the center of the financial crisis. There will be protests on Sun., Oct. 19 during the convention's opening ceremony and on Mon., Oct. 20 during its opening general session.

On October 18th, both exterior surveillance cameras at the McDonald's on Ocean Street in Santa Cruz were stolen. A post to Santa Cruz Indymedia says the action was a follow-up to a similar event in August and also states that, "McDonalds is a major sponsor of the 2010 Winter Olympics which are flooding the city of Vancouver with increased surveillance and police presence."

This November, whether the San Francisco Board of Supervisors remains pro-tenant, pro-labor, and progressive will be determined by what happens in the swing supervisor districts of 1, 3 and 11. Community activists have called for a protest on Thursday, October 23rd, to picket the realtors and landlords funding a "downtown" slate of candidates. Protesters will gather at the San Francisco Association of Realtors office at the corner of Franklin and Grove St. at 5:30pm.

Proposition 8 is an initiative measure on the 2008 California General Election ballot titled "Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry." If passed, the proposition would "change the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California." Recent polls put the initiative ahead 47 to 42 percent among likely voters. San Francisco's No on 8 office at 2278 Market St. has Saturday rallies at 10 a.m. followed by phonebanking.

In the past few weeks, activists in the UC Berkeley area have engaged in correcting pro-Israel propaganda. On the night of September 18, however, someone added an image of a Swastika, an equal sign and a Star of David, to an already stenciled ad that carried the massage "free Palestine". Zionists groups have seized the moment and used the graffiti for the political agenda of creating an atmosphere of fear, in order to silence critics of Apartheid. Additionally, local media outlets have reported on the hate speech graffiti and some have printed false accusations against Palestinian solidarity groups on Campus.

For almost two months, the teachers union in the Mexican state of Morelos rose up against the "Alliance for Quality Education", a neo-liberal plan akin to "No Child Left Behind" that would pave the way to the privatization of education, among other things. They were supported by the people of Morelos in their marches, encampments in public plazas, and blockades of interstate highways. On October 7, 8, and 9, the army and state and federal police were sent in to brutally smash the movement.

The California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA) held a conference in San Francisco on October 13th. CARA unites retired workers and community groups to win social and economic justice. Members of CARA took a bus from the conference on the afternoon of October 13th to demonstrate in solidarity with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union at a Rite Aid store at the corner of Van Ness and Market Streets.

On the night after Columbus Day 2008, eleven windows were vandalized at the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marine Recruiting Center in Capitola with a paint and acid mix. The Recruiting Center was vandalized because, "The U.S. government has always waged a war of extermination against land-based ways of life in order to impose capitalist exploitation of the earth and its peoples."

George Cadman interviews Antonia Juhasz about her new book, The Tyranny of Oil: The World's Most Powerful Industry and What We Must Do To Stop It. Juhasz, a leading industry critic and expert on corporations and globalization, investigates the true state of the U.S. oil industry—uncovering its virtually unparalleled global power, influence over public officials, and lack of regulatory oversight, as well as the truth behind $150-a-barrel oil, $4.50-a-gallon gasoline, and the highest profit in corporate history.

Neoliberalism is the economic view that emphasizes the importance of economic growth and asserts that social justice is best maintained by free market forces with minimal government interference. Author Naomi Klein called it a myth in a speech to over 600 people in a standing room-only auditorium at Stanford University on October 16th. She was rewarded with a standing ovation.

Several hundred protesters, mostly students, took to the streets of Tijuana, Mexico October 4 in remembrance of the 1968 massacre of leftist students in Tlatelolco Plaza. At that time hundreds, perhaps thousands of students were killed when troops opened fire on a demonstration protesting the Mexico City Olympics. In Tijuana, the demonstrators chanted “ni perdon, ni olvido” (no forgiveness, no forgetting).

Tariq Ali, novelist, historian, political campaigner, and editor of “New Left Review” spoke at the Islamic Cultural Center in Fresno on September 28, 2008. Ali said that Pakistan is in the throes of a new crisis: daily battles on the Afghan border, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the farcical and grotesque succession ceremony. Tariq Ali sold copies of his latest book, “The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power," also the title of his talk.

The Director General of Police of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, Vishwa Ranjan, faced intense questioning at a Conference on Indian Democracy: Justice and the Law held at the University of California, Berkeley. He admitted that arresting documentary filmmaker Ajay T.G. may have been a “mistake,” and signed a postcard supporting the release of imprisoned civil rights leader Dr. Binayak Sen.

On September 15th, the Israeli police started an investigation into whether an anti-military organization has violated the law by providing information to teens on how to avoid military service. The investigation was called by Israel’s Military Advocate General, Avichai Mendelblit, who also recommended prosecuting Mohammad Bakri, the maker of “Jenin Jenin” for libel. A few weeks later, Mendeblit was ordered by the Israeli High Court to reconsider a decision to give a light sentence to a General and a soldier who participated in shooting a bound Palestinian.

On Friday, October 10th, in Los Angeles and San Francisco, hundreds of Filipino American students, youth and veterans and supporters held rallies in front of the Federal Building in the both cities to demand Filipino veterans rights. Justice for Filipino American Veterans calls on all Filipino American organization and mainstream allies to push for recognition, justice and equity for 18,000 remaining veterans, their widows and relatives.

The subprime mortgage crisis has combined with the deregulation of the financial systems and new financial instruments called credit default swaps to cause an international crisis in the capitalist system. As everyone tries to turn their money into cash and nobody knows which company will go under next, banks are unwilling to loan and stock markets around the world are crashing.

Glen Chase, a Professor of Systems Management, has released a third report detailing the methodical fraud that the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Management perpetrated to attempt to create a bogus emergency eradication program for the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM). This third report demonstrates the fraud and deception within the program strategy that CDFA Management used and is continuing to use to qualify for $100's of millions of dollars of emergency taxpayer funds, which were intended for real emergencies.

Grand juries are one of the good intentions paving the road to our current legal system. Unlike a trial jury, which decides whether a suspect is guilty, a grand jury merely decides whether there’s probable cause to prosecute a suspect on felony charges. The goal was to create a filter to catch unjustified felony cases and stop them at an early stage, so that the suspect wouldn’t be wrongfully prosecuted (and have to spend unnecessary time in jail and unnecessary money on lawyers). But it all went very wrong.

Sarah Palin flew into San Francisco to attend a GOP fundraiser on October 5. Several hundred angry protesters gathered in front of the Hyatt-Regency Hotel in Burlingame, adjacent to the San Francisco airport, to demonstrate their displeasure with the GOP platform. Following the vice-presidential candidate's recent debate with Democratic candidate Joe Biden and her attacks on Obama's character made at a speech in Carson, California on October 4th, many protesters' signs referred to Palin as an outright liar.

The indynewswire show airs weekly on Free Radio Santa Cruz 101.1 FM, Friday mornings 10-12 noon, broadcasting news and opinion from independent media worldwide, focused on indymedia sites but also drawing from other websites. The October 3rd episode features discussion of sexual violence, patriarchy, and militarism across Mexico. This show is dedicated to Sali (Marcella Grace Eiler), found dead September 24th in San Jose del Pacifico, Oaxaca, Mexico.

On October 1st, green mesh fencing was put up again in Santa Cruz's Parking Lot #4 next to the downtown Farmer's Market. The market began at 2:30pm and by 3:00pm, many people were disappointed by the fencing around the trees and the absence of the sounds of drumming in the air. However, people eventually removed the fencing around the trees and a drum circle formed, playing music into the night.

Close friends report that the body of San Francisco activist Kirsten Brydum was found Saturday in New Orleans, where Kirsten had traveled as part of a popular education tour. Kirsten was known locally as an organizer of the monthly Really Really Free Market in Dolores Park. Kirsten's death follows closely after news of the murder of another young activist, Marcella "Sali" Grace Eiler, in Oaxaca.

Marcella "Sali" Grace Eiler, a solidarity activist with the struggle in Oaxaca and Chiapas, was found dead on September 24th in a deserted cabin twenty minutes from the village of San Jose del Pacifico, Oaxaca, Mexico. She was brutally raped and murdered. On different occasions and to different people, Sali mentioned that recently she had suffered political persecution and surveillance in Oaxaca. Many people believe that her murder is part of the widespread repression against the social movement and directed particularly at international observers.

The movie Battle in Seattle is based on real events that took place surrounding the demonstrations against the World Trade Organization Meeting in 1999. San Francisco Bay area activists were involved in the protest and contributed to the production of the film. Concerned for accurate portrayal of protesters, David Solnit worked with the film's director to give input for a more true-to-life depiction. An Indybay contributor's photos were also featured in the film.