Following a lengthy trial here last year, a National Labor Relations Board judge has found Starbucks guilty of extensive violations of federal labor law in its bid to counter the IWW Starbucks Workers Union

Thirty human rights carolers braved the cold and ice today to serenade Manhattan’s holiday shoppers with a call, for the second year, to boycott the jewelry store and companies of Israeli settlement-builder and diamond mogul Lev Leviev. Leviev’s Madison Avenue store has been the site of 12 protests since it opened in mid-November, 2007, and protests against his businesses have spread to London, Dubai and the West Bank villages where he is building settlements. Additionally, during the past year UNICEF and Oxfam have renounced Leviev, major Hollywood stars have distanced themselves from him, and the governments of United Kingdom and Dubai are under pressure to boycott Leviev’s businesses.

Students, workers, and supporters gathered by the hundreds outside the New School Thursday night. They were here to support the three-day occupation of 65 Fifth Avenue. The sit-in was reinforced, streets barricaded, traffic blockaded, President Kerrey chased down the street, and police prevented from making any further arrests. Later that night, we learned that the occupying students had won what many saw as a decisive victory in their battle with the administration.

Some of these rules of thumb can be generalized, and perhaps others cannot; nevertheless, they comment on the specific context of the student occupation that lasted two days and won important concessions from the New School, including amnesty. The students agreed to continue the struggle next semester. This is only the beginning...

Following complaints by at least four major Hollywood stars whose photos were posted on Israel diamond mogul Lev Leviev’s website, Leviev staff removed the entire celebrity photo section from his website  http://www.leviev.com this week. The photos’ removal came after Adalah-NY and Jews Against the Occupation-NYC sent letters to and spoke with representatives for Salma Hayek, Halle Berry, Drew Barrymore, Brooke Shields, Andie MacDowell, Lucy Liu, Whitney Houston and Sharon Stone, all of whose names and photos, apparently wearing Leviev jewelry, were featured in a Celebrity section of Leviev’s website.

A group of concerned New York citizens announced today that they are launching a campaign to have Governor David A. Paterson appoint long-time consumer advocate Ralph Nader to the US Senate. There are no real residency requirements for US Senate. Nader’s supporters noted that while President elect Obama has made a big point of naming many of his former Presidential opponents to Cabinet positions, he has not yet offered a position to Nader, who finished third in the general election. Obama’s first public interest job, which he credits for training him as an organizer, was with a group that Nader helped established, the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Overall, the occupation was a victory. It was a victory for a particular method of direct action politics which is sorely needed in the US. There will be no Greece in the US anytime soon but the energy and romantic leaps made by university students still hold the possibility for reviving the near-moribund political imagination of the left. Occupy-Refuse-Resist!

At approximately 3 a.m, students ended their occupation of New School University and declared victory in ongoing negotiations with university administration. While president Kerry has not been ousted, he has been forced to agree to a wide range of demands bringing greater student democracy and transparency to the functioning of the New School.

photos from today's proceedings at the new school university in exile

Photos from today's proceedings at the New School University in Exile

CUNY Students who have joined in the occupation of New School issue a statement of solidarity and unity with the Students of New School.

More than one hundred students are occupying parts of New School University, demanding the resignation of / President Bob Kerrey and other administrators, student participation in decision making processes, transparency and the immediate suspension of "capital improvement projects" that the students say take money away from financing their education. Students from CUNY schools have joined the protest as well, saying that this is the first step towards more occupations in their system as they face budget increases due to Governor Paterson's budget ax.

A press release from CUNY students at The New School in Exile announces a rally and press conference at 10:30am, Thursday, December 18th.

Photos from the cafeteria at the New School University as a student occupation enters its first night.

Wednesday, December 10th, the Radical Student Union issued several demands at a demonstration and sit-in at the Board of Trustees meeting for the New School University. With a student occupation underway in the New School cafeteria, the same demands are being brought to the fore with greater force.

Students occupying the cafeteria of the New School University released their first statement this evening, linking their struggle with student uprisings around the world and other struggles across the United States.

We must encourage democratically organized political expressions which reflect the growing anger and disillusionment of poor and working class communities. All available forms of non-violent protest – from sit-ins to occupations, from education to mass direct action – must be employed in this struggle.

A police officer who was videotaped knocking a man off his bicycle in July during a monthly cycling event in New York City has been indicted, the officer’s lawyer said on Monday.

A grand jury indictment is expected to be unsealed Tuesday in the case of a New York City police officer shown in video footage knocking a bicyclist to the ground in Times Square. Officer Patrick Pogan is expected to plead not guilty.

President-elect Barack Obama has announced a massive stimulus package to jumpstart the faltering American economy. But will it work? How is appointing Clintonite neo-liberals to be the chief economic advisers to Obama going to help?

Arun Gupta, in this issue of the award-winning newspaper the Indypendent, writes, “And like the New Deal, Obama’s stimulus plan will almost certainly fail to pull the economy out of a historic free-fall. For one, the plan is inadequate. Two, it will be drafted and overseen by Obama’s economic “dream team,” who are committed to the failed ideology that got us into this mess. Three, there’s the matter of the still-festering financial crisis. And four, there has been no national debate over economic priorities such as who controls the economy, how production should be structured and what should be produced.

Because of these factors, the stimulus plan will be designed to benefit specific industrial and financial sectors, not the public. If the downturn proves vicious and long-lived, the government will have to introduce even more dramatic economic programs and policies, just like during the Great Depression.”

Also included in this issue: a first person account of a videojournalist’s journey with an Iraqi refugee that is now living in Brooklyn; how the existence of a “tenant blacklist” is making tenants’ lives harder; a review of David Bacon’s “Illegal People”; and a report from Ecuador about President Correa’s vow to default on Ecuador’s debt is picking up steam. For more, see the links below!

Blacklist Blues: Landlords Use Dodgy Database to Fend Off Feisty Tenants || Lawsuit Takes on NYPD Press Credential Policy || Tapping the System: How to Navigate New York’s Stringent Unemployment Law || From Baghdad to Brooklyn: My Journey With an Iraqi Refugee || Wilting Wages: Money Sent Home to Mexico Declines as U.S. Economy Deteriorates || A Lesson In Class: CUNY Students Stand Up to Tuition Increase || 47 E. Third St. Tenants Concede, Take Buyout || The Indy Sweeps the Ippies || Community Calendar || Reader Comments || Obamanomics: Why the Stimulus Plan Will Not Revive the Economy || Female Priests Altar the Rules || Zeroing In On Obama’s Hawks || Ecuador Drops the Money Ball: President Correa Threatens to Stiff Banks, Pay Social Debt First || International Briefs || Climate Change Exhibit Falls Gravely Short || Returning to Lebanon: Waltz with Bashir Animates the Brutality of War || Labor on the Move: David Bacon’s “Illegal People” Explores Ties Between Repression and Migration || Fearless Cinema: Here’s the Best of This Year’s NYC Horror Film Festival || Frontline Testimonies: Winter Soldier Vets Portray the Reality of Combat