|
|
 |
 Thank Cleveland City Council for Passing the Domestic Partnership Registry!
 Support Swells for Chicago Union Workers' Factory Occupationby DR, CG, CIMC
 The worker occupation of the Republic Windows and Doors factory on Chicago's Goose Island by members of UE (United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America) Local 1110 went into its third day on Sunday, and workers have vowed to continue the occupation until they are paid back pay and benefits, or until the plant is re-opened.
The occupation was declared on Friday, the day the company moved to shutter the plant with only three days notice — in violation of federal and state labor laws. Owners have also cut off employees' insurance and failed to pay back pay. The takeover has sparked a groundswell of support across the nation, with rallies, e-mail campaigns, petition drives, fundraisers and plans for future actions. [ Updated news links ]
Company management blames the shut-down on Bank of America, which cut their credit line — after BoA received $25 billion in federal bailout money that the bank said they did not need. Since the bailout began, BoA — like big banks across the globe — has slashed credit lines to businesses, forcing a growing number of small and medium-sized companies to shut down. Workers plan to meet with company and bank representatives on Monday — and to picket BoA's LaSalle St. offices on Tuesday if Republic's line of credit is not restored.
The action at Republic Windows comes on the heels of a drive to kick out the company union, which had colluded with company owners and management for years. That effort succeeded after three years of struggle. Republic Windows' worker occupation is one of the first actions of its kind in the United States since the Great Depression, when a wave of sit-in strikes and factory occupations marked one of the most militant phases in U.S. labor history.
Accounts from the CIMC newswire [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 ] Local Blogs: [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 ] Photos: [ 1 | 2 ] Video: [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 ] Radio: Labor Express live streaming at WLUW | WINS Radio interviews UE's Leah Fried
Take Back the Tech Campaign in Central America 
A campaign called Take Back the Tech aims to reclaim “Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to End Violence Against Women,” as well as continuing the battle against AIDS. This is one of the many initiatives across the globe that are encouraging women not to be afraid of technologies and through education on how to use it to improve their lives. Today more than ever, it is important for women and girls to use technologies to improve their lives, especially in Central America.
Women in this region often make the headlines, but not for the reasons that one would like to read in the news. Instead, their news are about gender violence, extreme poverty, lack of opportunities, malnutrition, high mortality rates even gendercide. In spite of this, there are amazing women from all the region, who write primarily about technology and who try to make a difference in the lives of women.
Sweetsakura not only is a software expert, she is also a supporter of free software, sharing information and tips on her blog about software, hardware and Ubuntu from El Salvador. From Honduras, Librecaos shares with her community the importance of software in local languages and celebrates that they finally have Ubuntu, an operative system, localized in Miskito, an indigenous language of Central America. Vinculación by Ivonne Aldana from Guatemala, is quite impressive. She discusses new inventions, new models and designs, ICT clusters and the importance of development scientists. La Piensa Libre, from Costa Rica writes with charm about technology, among other important issues, since it cannot be isolated from society, the environment and others. Read Full Article
 The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised is a 2002 documentary about the April 2002 Venezuelan coup attempt which briefly deposed Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. A television crew from Ireland's national broadcaster, RTÉ happened to be recording a documentary about Cháve during the events of April 11, 2002.
Shifting focus, they followed the events as they occurred. During their filming, the crew recorded images of the events that they say contradict explanations given by Chávez' opposition, the private media, the US State Department, and then White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. The documentary says that the coup was the result of a conspiracy between various old guard and anti-Chávez factions within Venezuela and the United States.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8(Final)
 Hacking Democracy
The documentary follows Bev Harris and Kathleen Wynne, director and associate director for nonprofit election watchdog group Black Box Voting, as they attempt to discover the extent to which it would be possible to alter results on the electronic voting machines of Diebold Election Systems (now Premier Election Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Diebold). Kathleen Wynne captured live video of Harris finding voting machine records in a Volusia County trash bag, and captured video of Cuyahoga County elections workers admitting that the initial 3% recount ballots had not been randomly selected during the 2004 presidential election. Harris and Wynne then embarked on a series of five voting machine hack tests with Dr. Herbert Thompson and Harri Hursti in 2005 and 2006. During the course of the documentary, multiple methods of tampering with the votes are shown.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Latest Related Newswire Article
 Improving the Democratic Process With Free Software e-voting
As countries around the world modernize their public elections process, the big problem with electronic voting machines is that the market is moving slow to provide equipment which fulfills all of the requirements for a fully democratic election. In many cases, printed proof of a citizen’s vote is still needed, in case the machine has buggy software or if there is suspicion of fraud. This problem, amongst others, are being floated around the voting machine industry. The Secretary of State from California, Debora Bowen, spoke at EmTech (Emerging Technologies Conference) and said that if the e-voting machines used free software, they would be easier to certify as trustable.
She explains that the county decision-makers who are responsible for choosing an e-voting solution for their political jurisdiction have a hard time with proprietary, closed voting machines because they can’t see the code to certify their reliability. It has being proved, that the most popular (and proprietary) electronic voting machines have security holes. And, with a bizarre twist added by intellectual property laws, not only the code but even the voting data submitted to the machine belongs to the e-voting machine company — and not the state or the people, a problem faced in Ohio when a government audit of Diebold voting machines was attempted. What’s worse, Diebold has a proven history of lying followed by cover-up attempts through censorship (in a case that involved the Community Colo in the SF Bay Area).
Bowen believes that if the code is not closed by copyright, the government can analyze the system and certify that it is secure enough to be used during a election.
Showing that in some was the United States needs to catch up to democratic innovations, Latin America has already chosen free software for their voting machines. In Brazil, the government migrated all of its e-voting machines to free software, after months of audits by different authorities and experts and, this year, state elections will use the free software system. Read Full Article
 National Day Against Police Brutality Protest
October 22, 2008 marks the 13th Annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation. The National Day of Protest was initiated by a diverse coalition of organizations and individuals, who came together out of our concern that the peoples resistance to police brutality needed to be taken to a higher level nationwide. In Cleveland a protest is planned to begin at 4:30pm meeting at Woodhill Ave. & E.93rd, behind Fourth District police station in Luke Easter Park. Full information can be found on the Indymedia calendar. It is requested to wear black in memory of those whose lives have been stolen from us at the hands of the police who were meant to serve and protect.
 Cleveland Jobs with Justice joins National Day of Action
Junk Food for Junk Bonds
On Wednesday, October 1st, Cleveland Jobs with Justice participated in a National Day of Action with 12 other local Jobs with Justice Coalitions. Community, faith and labor advocates conducted rallies, street theater, bake sales and ‘billionaires for bail-outs’ actions to tell Congress and Wall Street that people are fed up with corporate greed and demanded a “Main Street Recovery Plan.” In solidarity our message was clear! We were telling Congress “No Bail-out!” unless they addressed the following:
- Make the people that created and profited from the mess pay for the clean-up, now.
- Any infusion of capital must have specific, binding public ownership requirements.
- Restructure and rein in the reckless private financial institutions.
- Pass a real recovery plan, for Main Street as well as Wall Street, paid for with progressive taxation,
that addresses the needs for good jobs, affordable housing, health care, pensions, infrastructure and ‘green’ economy
Cleveland Jobs with Justice, together with 40 area activists from 13 coalition partners and other social justice organizations joined us as we protested the $700 Billion bail-out. Passersby were given junk food with the message to "Stop Corporate Greed - Put Main Street before Wall Street!" Cleveland Jobs with Justice was sending the clear message to Congress and Bush that we did not want them to bail out a corrupt system. Instead, we wanted them to build a system that works before they decided to invest $700 Billion of our money by giving away a corporate handout. Photos from the local event in Cleveland.
Planning is underway with National Jobs with Justice for a Bail-out for the People.
 Prison Poster Project launches in ClevelandThursday, September 18th
7:30pm
Denison Ave. UCC
9900 Denison Avenue @ 99th and Denison (please use side entrance on 99th St.)
Free – Donations gladly accepted!
This Thursday, the Prison Poster Project launches its first national tour with a presentation in Cleveland. The PPP uses art to explain how the prison-industrial complex operates, the role of prisons in the white supremacist, capitalist, imperialist patriarchy and why prisons need to go. The PPP is a group of prison abolitionists and social justice activists inside and outside of prison, and tool the they have created is one they hope can be spread to those that need it and put to use all over the country.
The Cleveland Presentation features the Oneness village band.
Sponsored by Cleveland Books to Prisoners, Cleveland New Black Panther Party, Interfaith Prisoners of
Conscience Project, Jericho Movement, and the Cleveland Anarchist Black Cross.
Prison Poster Project site
|
|
|
|
|
