12/1 On Wednesday December 1st, Sarah Palin arrived in Houston to sign copies of her new book "America by Heart" at the Borders on Kirby. In addition to the Palin fans who lined up around the block since the night before, there was a lively protest with drums and signs. Coverage on Houston Indymedia, and Ch. 39.
In addition to a long history of idiotic and offensive comments, this week, we have Sarah Palin's crazy objections to childhood obesity programs, and most recently the following quote: "Assange is not a 'journalist,' any more than the 'editor' of al Qaeda’s new English-language magazine Inspire is a 'journalist.'" (source)
By Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement to the open publishing newswire: It was bright and sunny morning in Houston when war criminal George W. Bush came to River Oaks to sign copies of his book "Decision Points." Fans of Bush camped out as early as 5 a.m. to get in line. The police and Secret Service were out in force blocking off parking spaces and harassing peaceful protesters. The Houston Police department had five of it's officers on horseback and one directing traffic. Besides Abolition Movement members, Code Pink and the Revolutionary Communist Party turned out to raise awareness of Bush's war crimes and torture policies.
Bush has admitted during interviews for the book that he ordered water boarding which has long been considered torture. The large crowd of people getting their book signed was almost entirely white. During the hour and a half Abolition Movement members protested we only counted two people of color in the book signing line. Several of the people purchasing the book were angered by the protesters and yelling out comments like "Go back to your mom's house," "Get a job," "Bush is a good president." Although the corporate media (Houston Press) claimed that only seven people protested there were actually about 20 - 25 protesters, some of whom stood across the street. [Full article with photos and video]
Related: Ex-Harris County D.A. Carol Vance protest report back
By 'The People' to the open publishing newswire: On Tuesday, November 9th, 2010, in cities all across the world, people marched and rallied in support of Mumia Abu-Jamal, on the day of his final appeal and his final chance to not be murdered by the state of Pennsylvania. Houston, Texas joined Philadelphia, Toronto, Mexico City, Paris and countless other cities in holding a march in opposition to the wrongful imprisonment and the impending execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has come to be recognized as a symbol and representation of all political prisoners.
The rally and march in Houston was organized by Peoples Party III and Houston Anarchist Black Cross. Demonstrators gathered at Emancipation park in 3rd ward between 4 and 5 oclock. Many banners and signs were made by participants. At 5:00 pm, between 50 and 60 protesters began marching down Elgin towards downtown, lead by a banner that read "FREE MUMIA". Members of Peoples Party III led the crowd in chants saying "Brick by brick, wall by wall, we gotta free Mumia Abu-Jamal" and "Free Mumia, guilty or not, racist cops deserve to be shot". [read full article]
By Parce, published to the open publishing newswire: All Communities Against Brutality or A.C.A.B. is an organization that works with people targeted by cops and have experienced their true role in our communities as enforcers of white supremacy who uphold the demands of government, politicians, and business people in keep-ing the working class and poor in their place at the bottom of the social pyramid.
No Change Will Come: Police Brutality in Houston
You take these handcuffs off, and I’ll whip all of your
asses. You’re just a bunch of pigs.— José Campos Torres. With police brutality and murder running rampant in our communities here in Houston and nationally it is extremely important that we not look at these recent occurrences separately, but rather as a collective history of abuses and murders.
We need not go back that far in time to find just one instance of murder by the hands of the Houston police. On the night of May 5, 1977, HPD officers arrested José Campos Torres at the 21 Club located on Canal St. after a scuffle with the bar manager... [Read full article and download the pamphlet]
Pickett for Oscar Grant! Officer Johannes Mehserle, the cop who shot and killed Oscar Grant while he lay face down on a transit floor station in Oakland, will be sentenced on Fri., Nov. 5th. Guilty or Not, we will be showing our support for Oscar by picketing Saturday afternoon. The slogan We Are All Oscar Grant will be taken up to show solidarity with all those who have been beaten or killed at the hands of the police. [Full article and Flier]
from the open publishing newswire: On Tuesday, October 19, 2010, indigenous Colombian healer Taita Juan Agreda Chindoy was detained in the Houston International Airport. He was formally arrested by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) for possession of his traditional medicine Ayahuasca. He is now being charged as a federal criminal and is facing up to 20 years in federal prison.
Taita Juan is certified by his community and by the Colombian ministry of health as a traditional healer. He is one of the few remaining indigenous spiritual leaders in the world that holds the ancestral medicinal knowledge of an ecosystem that is rapidly disappearing. Taita Juan is a father, a husband and a godfather to more than 20 children. With more than 3000 supporters from several countries in the world, his life and work have touched many. [read full article]
From www.freetaitajuan.org: On Tuesday, October 19, 2010, Cametsa traditional healer and Colombian national, Taita Juan Bautista Agreda Chindoy was detained in the Houston International Airport. His baggage was searched and he was formally arrested by ICE (Immigration, Customs, and Enforcement) for possession of his ancestral medicine, ‘Yaje’ or ‘Ayahuasca’. Upon revealing the presence of DMT in the liquid medicine, he was charged with possession with intent to distribute a “Schedule 1 Drug”.
The day of October 22nd started with an event at Yates High School put on by the paper pushers known as the RCP. Several people attended to be in solidarity with the students of Yates (early in September an HISD cop attacked and broke the jaw of a student, story here, and also to keep the RCP in check on pushing their propaganda down the throats of the young students.
The school had a HEAVY police presence. There were plain clothes cops (about 10) with binoculars and cameras on top of the school, and in several unmarked cars taking pictures of concerned community members. As well as uniformed police (HISD and City) blocking roads and thoroughfares to redirect students out the side of the school opposite the rally.
The day moved on quickly and with great anticipation leading up to a rally and BBQ at Emancipation Park at 6 P.M.. Around 5:45 as the sun started its slow decline and the warm humid air began to ease, BBQ grills were lit up as signs (“No Peace Till There's No Police”, “Who Do You Serve and Protect HPD?”, “2.3 Million in US Prisons”, and others) and a banner (“END POLICE TERROR”, featuring a freehand spray-painting of hands in chains with a menacing blood dripping effect) were hung up facing the streets surrounding the park.
Around 7:15 People's Party 3 busted out the megaphones, speaking to/firing-up passerbys and folks in the park about different issues including re/oppression, political prisoners, getting free, and Revolution! By 8 o’clock the crowd was ready, and within 5 minutes of discussion a group of 40 were lined up, ready to march! [read the full article with photos]
From Texas Antifa: Today the crypto-fascists were at Tomball but so were we. It was less intense than last week- this week the pigs were recording everything. Good things and bad things on that, under the pretense of "protecting" us and checking out the teabaggers M.O. they are also studying us. Once again they are playing the dry branch card (a dry branch hangs low pretending to give us shade---dry branches break easily!!!). PWOC folks talked to Tomballs head pig complaiing about Barney and how the police reacted to their calls. Another good thing about this is that the city is now wasting money having to baby-sit us, so hopefully they put more pressure on the teapartiers so they just fuckoff.
From early on the crowd was different than it was last week: there were fewer women and fewer kids. One guy even brought his pitbull. This week the conservatives tried a different tactic, they were getting people to sign a petition (for i dont know what) and not scaring people away. Steve Potvin, from Borderwatch, was walking around the parking lot talking to people and talking to the group of people doing a car wash.
This of course was what was planned. Two biker guys rolled up and immediately started trying to intimidate people. One called a Chicano a "nigger" and the other was pretending to shoot people in their head. This other guy, whose affiliation we do not know yet, was being really aggressive and seemed to hang out most with the bikers and Barney (Tony Moony) and this other man who has been known to be very violent and aggressive towards our folks. [Read full article]
Announcing Texas Antifa
Today, in the international news, Muslim Nations Called for U.N. to Track ‘Islamophobia’, and here in Texas, publishers were put on notice when a divided State Board of Education vowed to reject textbooks with a pro-Islamic and anti-Christian slant. Meanwhile, on KPFT, Houston Indymedia Radio's Nick Cooper is joined in the studio with Kamal Khalil (Palestinian American Council), Musafa Carroll (The Council on American-Islamic Relations), Tayseir Mahmoud, Rachel Clarke, and Sehba Sarwar (Voices Breaking Boundaries) to discuss the rising phenomenon of Islamophobia. listen to the mp3
Mark your calendars for Sunday, September 19th and plan to be at
the Eldorado
Ballroom from 5pm to 7pm for this
fundraiser.
All through the month of August, Pakistan’s River Indus experienced heavy
flooding causing more than 1,500 deaths and the displacement of
nearly 20 million people along the 800 mile-long riverbank. Even once
the water recedes, people in Pakistan will continue to struggle to
deal with the heavy loss of lives, agriculture, infrastructure, and
growing illnesses. To provide some relief to the community, VBB is
collaborating with organizations around Houston to raise funds towards
flood relief efforts in Pakistan. The fundraiser evening, aimed at
raising awareness about the situation in Pakistan, features musical
and informative videos directly from Pakistan, including video
recordings by LAAL, a
Pakistani band who just released a new song in honor of those affected
by the floods, and audio recordings by Pakistani novelists Mohammed
Hanif and Sorayya Khan.
Journalists and artists from India, including Satyen K. Bordoloi
and Sandeep
Patey, will be sending footage. DJ A/V will spin the discs and
videos, and the Pakistani Consul General will be available to answer
questions.
As always, VBB will serve food, drinks
and there will be an opportunity to gain more information about the
situation in Pakistan and connect with the community here in Houston.
All funds from the evening will go toward Pakistani non-profits, Karachi Relief Trust, Omar Asghar Khan Development
Foundation and the Pakistan Medical Association. Please join us!
(If you cannot attend, but would like to still donate, please send a
check to VBB – and clearly mark "For Flood Relief").
This event is pay what you can; 100% of proceeds will go toward flood
relief efforts in Pakistan.
published by sedition books to the open publishing newswire: friends and supporters of sedition books, it has been a rough couple of weeks at your favorite infoshop. We've been hit with some fines from the city of Houston and we were also recently broken into and robbed. No need to be alarmed. As always, we are persevering and fighting on.
However, we could use your support. Of course, we always need and appreciate your support, but we can especially use it right now. So, if you were thinking about stopping by to pick up a book or 3, or if you were thinking about maybe coming out to some of our events this month, please do so. We recently received an order from AK Press and have lots of great books for you to choose from.
We're still at 901 Richmond. We're still open from 12-8 (closed Tuesdays) [read full article]
From the US Palestinian Community Network: The US Palestinian Community Network expresses its feelings of great sadness and grief on the loss of the Palestinian community activist and leader Abu Obeida Abdel-Salam Omran, of the village of Burin, who lived in Houston, Texas. He died on Friday, August 13, 2010 of his injuries suffered as a victim of an attempted robbery at his business in Houston. Two thieves attempted to rob his business and then fatally injured Abu Obeida with their car as they fled. Abu Obeida died in the hospital later that night.
Abu Obeida Omran was always ready to serve his people, standing in the forefront of the defense of the Palestinian people’s rights, particularly the Right to Return. He was a leader in defending the civil and political rights of the Palestinian and Arab community in Texas. He was a leading organizer of the Viva Palestina convoy in 2009, which traveled to Gaza to break the siege and worked to support and welcome Palestinian refugees from Iraq arriving in the United States. He played an active role in building Palestinian community organizations, the right of return movement, solidarity movements with the Palestinian people, and cultural groups, including a popular debkeh troupe. [read full article]
By Paul Mullan, published to the open publishing newswire: On Tuesday August 3rd, U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker struck down the discriminatory Proposition 8, a ballot measure which was passed by voters in California in November, 2008 and which banned same-sex marriages in the state. Walker declared the proposition patently unconstitutional.
In Houston, 100 members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities, and their supporters, came out the next day in front of City Hall to celebrate the victory. Many speakers at the rally noted the the need to continue the struggle.
This shows that the mass upsurge which occurred in the LGBT communities after Proposition 8 passed at the end of 2008 made a difference in how this case was ultimately decided. That upsurge saw hundreds of thousands of people in California and around the country hit the streets in anger and has reenergized the LGBT movements. [read full article]
California coverage from indybay
By John-Michael Torres to the open publishing newswire: Over the last three weeks, organizers from La Union del Pueblo Entero in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas have received more than 30 reports of Border Patrol round-ups and detentions in colonias from Pharr all the way to Mercedes. Colonia residents, many of them either undocumented or with undocumented household members, fear for their families and livelihoods. Many fear leaving their homes. Area businesses have been left deserted. Many have not even wanted to risk going to the area clinic or pharmacy.
This is the first time in recent memory that the RGV has seen widespread round-ups and detentions by Border Patrol so far north of the Rio Grande River. "We have not seen this kind of reaction from Border Patrol in the past," says LUPE Director Juanita Valdez-Cox. People are concerned in a way we haven't seen before either. In response to this general fear felt by LUPE members, the organization called for an emergency meeting between LUPE leaders and lawyer Celestino Gallegos of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid to come up with a plan of action. [Read Full Article]
Houston Indymedia has changed the wording of our Mission Statement, which sits on the about page and serves along with the Action Guidelines as the document new participants sign. The wording of the new statement is:
"The Houston Independent Media Center is an all volunteer collective committed to using media production and distribution as tools for promoting social and economic justice. We seek to provide alternatives to for-profit media not only in our coverage, but also within our collective by implementing consensus based non-hierarchical work-group models of decision making. While focusing on local social movements, we will explore connections to global systems. We believe that by reporting on dissent, by critiquing corporate, government and military domination, and by promoting art, culture and critical thinking through participatory events, we can contribute to the development of an equitable and sustainable society."
Some of the significant changes since the previous Mission Statement from early 2001 includes that we are all volunteers, that we are focusing on social movements, that we reporting on dissent, and that our events are intended to be participatory.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer with us at Houston Indymedia, please send an email to: houston at indymedia dot org
Last updated: Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800imc-houston
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Sarah Palin Book Signing Protest
11/17 George W. Bush book signing protest
11/12 Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Free All Political Prisoners!
11/1 All Communities Against Brutality organize and agitate against Police Brutality
10/30 Free Taita Juan - Indigenous Leader Detained in Houston
10/27 Houston We Have LIFT OFF - Report Back From O22
9/28 Opposing Racism in Tomball - Announcing Texas Antifa
9/24 Roundtable Discussion: Islamophobia on the Rise
9/15 Art for Pakistan Flood Relief
9/4 Trying Times At Sedition
8/18 Rice University Negotiates Secret Deal to Sell KTRU Radio
8/15 Mourning the Death of Abu Obeida
8/10 Proposition 8 Day of Decision Demonstration Celebrates Victory
8/9 Immigration Round-Ups Cause Terror in Rio Grande Valley Colonias
A round up of Houston Indymedia features from 2009
Houston Indymedia Has a New Mission Statement
