The November episode of Chicago Independent Television features the response by activists to a series of recent FBI raids in Chicago, a Chicago presentation about the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, an explanation of the controversial Chicago TIFs program, and a parody video featuring Mrs. Free Market Health Care.

Read more about Episode 62 | CIMC TV Podcast | CIMC Video Page | CITV on YouTube

On Friday, September 24, FBI agents raided houses across the midwest, including the north-side house of Chicago activists Joe Iosbaker and Stephanie Weiner, as well as that of Hatem Abudayyeh of the Arab-American Action Network. The FBI ostensibly investigated alleged financial ties with unnamed international terrorists; the FBI has issued subpoenas to force testimony before a grand jury to about a dozen activists across the midwest.

Antiwar activists, mindful of the COINTELPRO intimidation tactics that the FBI has implemented in the past against radical activists, view the raids as little more than crass intimidation. Within a day, activists organized a solidarity vigil, a press conference to raise public opinion of the matter, and after an impromptu meeting have quickly organized a rally at FBI offices in Chicago, in concert with similar rallies in 18 other cities.

Related links: Send a note re: FBI raids and CC your local media | Olympia Washington stands in solidarity with activists

Additional Coverage: Chicago Independent Examiner | Twin Cities Indymedia

Children and parents at Whittier Elementary School in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood have occupied the school in a sit-in to protest a Chicago Public Schools decision to demolish a school field house. The field house, La Casita, has been used as a community center with activities for children, although the Chicago Public Schools have opted to spend $300,000 to demolish the building, claiming that La Casita is structurally unsound. But building engineers hired by community members have found that, despite a faulty roof, La Casita is generally sound, and community members have objected to using funds for demolition and asked that the money should instead be used to fund a working library for Whittier School which the school doesn't have.

A state of siege by Chicago police has been lifted since the sit-in began on Wednesday, September 15th, but the sit-in has continued 24/7 ever since, with robust support by community members, activist groups, and concerned residents, and have made appeals to fellow Chicagoans for help.

Photos: La Voz | Pilsen Prole

Additional coverage: Coverage from Anne Elizabeth Moore | Moore's Twitter page | Campaign of support by the Chicago Underground Library | Progress Illinois coverage

Chicago activist and videographer Gregory Koger was found guilty on August 26th on three counts of trespassing, resisting arrest and battery on a police officer, despite being dragged, beaten and maced by police. Koger was recording with his iPhone a statement by New York-based activist and radio host Sunsara Taylor who was making an informal announcement at the Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago just prior to a lecture event from which she had been suddenly disinvited.

Koger was convicted without bond and was sent immediately to Cook County Jail. Koger's case has been aggressively pursued by the Cook County State's Attorney and has also been a cause célèbre of Chicago and national activists rallying to his cause, with ramifications related to police surveillance and media making. Koger's sentencing is scheduled for September 8th, and Koger could face up to three years in jail. Koger's attorney has promised an appeal.

From the newswire: "In recent years, Hilton workers in Chicago and across North America have endured staff cuts, reduced hours, and excessive injury rates. Now Hilton, run by one of the largest private equity firms on Wall Street—-the Blackstone Group, wants to take more away, add to the already burdensome housekeeping workload, and lock workers into recession contracts even as the economy rebounds.

"On Aug. 18-19, workers at four hotel properties managed by Hilton are taking a stand to stop the company from taking unfair advantage of the recession. Among those voting to authorize a possible strike are workers from some of Chicago’s most notable hotels -— the Drake, Palmer House, Chicago Hilton, and Hilton O’Hare." Read more

This follows on the cusp of a vote in July by Chicago-area Hyatt employees to strike, which resulted in civil disobedience actions and arrests. Both Chicago hotel strike votes could and would join the longest hotel strike in American history, the Congress Hotel Strike at Chicago's Congress Hotel, which has been underway for seven years and counting. See past CIMC coverage

Additional resources: UNITE HERE website | Congress Hotel Strike

From the newswire: "Puerto Rican political prisoner Carlos Alberto Torres, who was imprisoned three decades ago for his work in support of Puerto Rican independence, was paroled from federal prison in Pekin, Illinois on Monday, July 26, and returned briefly to Chicago to a hero's welcome before his planned move to permanently relocate to Puerto Rico. Spending 30 years behind bars for supporting Puerto Rican independence, he is the longest serving political prisoner in the history of Puerto Rico.

"Chicago’s Puerto Rican residents held a community celebration with Carlos to mark his return on Monday from 4-6PM at La Casita de Don Pedro Community Garden, 2625 W. Division St., Chicago. Hundreds of community residents and supporters attended the event. 'We are thrilled that he’s finally free,' said his sister Norma Torres. 'So many people of conscience have fought for years to win Carlos’ freedom – and that of all the Puerto Rican political prisoners. Now we need to bring Oscar home.'" Read more

In an historic development in the decades-old effort to win justice for more than a hundred police torture victims in Chicago, former police commander Jon Burge was found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice on Monday. To find Burge guilty of the perjury/obstruction charges, the jury clearly had to find that Burge lied when he claimed he and his henchmen were innocent of torture.

Charges first began to surface in the 1970's that Burge and his accomplices ran torture rings out of two police districts on Chicago's south side. While Burge was fired for misconduct in 1993, neither he nor any of his crime partners has ever been held criminally accountable for those atrocities. There is no law in Illinois or nationally that explicitly makes torture of people by cops a crime, and the statute of limitations has run out on crimes with which Burge COULD have been charged at the time, like assault. Now, human rights groups want criminal prosecutions for lying about the torture ring expanded to the other members of Burge's torture rings, and they're also demanding new federal and state laws that would explicitly criminalize torture by government agencies and their employees — with NO statute of limitations on those crimes against humanity. Meanwhile, dozens of Burge's victims — wrongfully imprisoned after he and his fellow criminals forced false confessions from them — remain behind bars. Read more.

Related Links: Jail Jon Burge | JJB Torture Archive: Background articles by John Conroy, (Chicago Reader) | People's Law Office | Illinois Coalition Against Torture
Video: Democracy Now: Trial Begins For Ex-Chicago Police Lt. Accused Of Torturing More Than 100 African American Men | Labor Beat: Burge is indicted.
Radio: Guilty verdict in Chicago police brutality case. Free Speech Radio News/Pacifica

World leaders have gathered for the G8 and G20 meetings in Toronto amidst a massive security crackdown that will mark the most expensive three days in Canadian history. Large swaths of Toronto’s downtown core have the appearance of a police state, with an estimated deployment of over 19,000 security personnel—nearly five times the number at the G20 in Pittsburgh last year. The security price tag is around $1 billion, and some predict the total summit cost will surpass $2 billion. More from Democracy Now!

Independent journalists and activists [1 | 2 ] seeking to cross the border have been routinely denied entry, including two Chicago Indymedia journalists who were given the option to either turn back or spend 'weeks' in a Canadian prison.

On June 2nd, 2010, the Ontario provincial government cabinet met secretly to pass a regulation which allows the police to arrest anyone who refuses to identify themselves or agree to a police search within five metres of the G20 security zone in Toronto.

Related Links: G20 ALT Media Center | G8/20 Toronto Community Mobilization Network | No One is Illegal -Toronto | Photos from G20 Protests