One person, a young vegan named Derek, decided that he was tired of not speaking out, and regardless of whether anyone else would join him, he was going to speak for the animals held inside labs everywhere by holding a 30-day vigil from 11am-3pm every day in front of a Tulane University animal laboratory in downtown New Orleans.
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Five young Jewish people, from New Orleans, the San Francisco area and Israel, took nonviolent direct action at a Jewish Federation Conference in New Orleans on Monday November 8, voicing dissent of Israeli state policies during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address. Following is the perspective of Emily Ratner, a New Orleans resident who was one of the five: " We would not have had to interrupt Netanyahu if the world listened to Palestinian voices"There's no getting around it: What we did during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech was shockingly rude. We interrupted a head of state, repeatedly, shouting from the tops of chairs into a darkened hall of largely like-minded people, who most likely thought their space was safe from these ever-increasing disruptions... ...It shouldn't take this kind of action to draw attention to these crimes. The media should have cared this much about the dozens of Palestinians who marched outside the GA the day before Netanyahu arrived. Palestinian voices should be heard, respected, and reflected in all coverage of Palestine. The myriad examples of Palestinian nonviolence should be better known than those far fewer examples of violence that dominate Israel's security narrative. And Israel's violence should be known fully, and properly contextualized. Most of all, Palestinians should guide us in understanding how best to address the atrocities perpetrated against them. The photo is a Israeli TV News still of Ratner as she was escorted from Netanyahu's speech.
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WTUL News & Views host Matt Olson spoke with Luisa Dantes, documentary filmmaker, and Evan Casper-Futterman, co-producer, about their film "Land of Opportunity." The film reveals the story of rebuilding in post-Katrina New Orleans from a range of perspectives--public housing resident, urban planner, low-wage workers, high school student, community activist and others. The film screened as part of the New Orleans Film Festival in October. mp3 - 24min:30 sec; 22.4 MB
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The proposed "renewal" of downtown New Orleans would come with a steep price: less affordable housing for the working poor traded for low paying service industry jobs in big box retailers. One thing history can teach us: historical patterns can stay the same, but wear shiny new clothing that makes it seem different. Sort of like the emperor got a set of new clothes, that is really no clothes at all. The latest plan for the redevelopment of Iberville and the downtown area surrounding, detailed in the Times Picayune on Sunday, October 31st, reflects an historical pattern that appears attractive. The pattern is this: co-opt the land that the poor, and working poor are living on and redevelop it for the profit needs of the capitalists. In this instance, in the midst of the worse economic downturn since the Great Depression, we are treated to what could almost be called an obscene proposal: bring in big box retailers in the area around Iberville Housing Development, more shopping options for the disappearing middle class, staffed by the working poor, with truly affordable public housing sacrificed at the altar of “urban renewal”. read more...
Two more University of New Orleans students were arrested in connection with the September budget cut protest as Louisiana State University System officials prepared a swath of mid-year cuts, finalized Friday, that will scrape funds from an already-chiseled budget. Photo of UNO student Dymphna Franklin who spoke extemporaneously at the protest on UNO's campus in September.
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 WTUL News & Views talked to Yvette Thierry, Director of Community Organizing for Safe Streets Strong Communities, about the proposal to restructure NORD as a public-private partnership, essentially removing the department from direct oversight of the mayor's office. The proposal is on the October 2, 2010 Ballot as a City Charter change. (audio: 22:38) photo of Richard Lee playground in Lower Ninth Ward from The Gambit
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The Raging Pelican, an anti-authoritarian newspaper critical of the Gulf Oil Spill, was not allowed on Tulane University's campus last month at a public meeting called by the Federal Government. A University of New Orleans student was escorted off campus, onto the public sidewalk of Freret Street, for handing copies to his friends. To the left is a photo of McAlister Auditorium on Tulane's campus where the public meeting was held on August 4, 2010. See the articles that are in the inaugural issue of "The Raging Pelican: Dispatches from the Louisiana Gulf War"Listen to the confrontation with - and reasoning of - Tulane's campus security. 6min:29sec, 1.48MB, mp3
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Like a mine explosion, an outbreak of smallpox, or a chestnut blight, BP's oil spill looked like just another disaster, a tragic mistake made by benevolent capitalists. But like those past tragedies, this oil spill is a predictable consequence of an industrial civilization where risks are not calculated by those who will face the consequences should something go wrong.
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Two weeks before the blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, the huge, trouble-plagued BP refinery in Texas City, Texas spewed tens of thousands of pounds of toxic chemicals into the skies. The release from the BP facility here began on April 6 and lasted 40 days. A 2005 explosion at the same refinery killed 15 workers and four more workers have died in accidents since then. Last year, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the company $87 million for failing to address safety problems that caused the 2005 blast.
In the July 23, 2010 issue of the Texas Observer, an editorial takes the stance that "since the Supreme Court considers corporations to have personhood, maybe it's time we see BP for what it is: an unreformed criminal." [photo by Lance Rosenfield, used without permission from ProPublica]
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WTUL News & Views interviews Wesley Ware of the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana about the release a new report, “Locked Up & Out.” According to the report, youth continue to report physical and sexual abuse, psychological abuse, excessive use of lockdown and isolation, confidentiality breaches and privacy violations, as well as insufficient post-disposition representation which results in limited access to the court system and therefore a lower probability of obtaining early release when warranted. Locked Up & Out is the first report of its kind, addressing a population usually invisible in Louisiana’s juvenile justice system while also focusing on systemic changes that would improve conditions for all court-involved youth. (30 minutes, audio)
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WTUL News and Views Interviews Malcolm Suber of Communities United for Change about recent organizing in support of Federal Investigations into NOPD, as well as the ongoing struggle with NOPD in poor communities of New Orleans. On the table are recent federal investigations into NOPD killings;
cultural disfunction within the NOPD; a brief history of white supremacy
in the police force from reconstruction times; and objections to
Serpas' role as a third-generation NOPD officer destined to continue the
disfunctional legacy. Also discussed are citizen oversight
of the many federal investigations into NOPD, the recent egregious
behavior of the 6th distict police in Central City, and the general
failure of the criminal justice system for the poor. WTUL News and Views currently broadcasts on Monday and Wednesday mornings from 8am - 9am on WTUL 91.5 FM
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 In response to the ongoing oil drilling disaster in the Gulf, at Noon on Tuesday June 15th, citizens, shrimpers, and representatives gathered at the Capitol Steps of Louisiana's legislature to call for an end to the spread of the dispersant Corexit and for full enforcement of OSHA regulations for oil cleanup workers, including full protective gear.
[7.01 min, 6.42MB]
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Last weekend's protest was part of the Right to Return Weekend in New Orleans. The Right of Return Weekend was organized in conjunction with the May month of actions called by Take Back the Land Movement (TBLM). TBLM is a network of autonomous organizations affiliated with the US Human Rights Network (USHRN) dedicated to realizing the human right to adequate housing and community control over land. Police say Ms. Sharon assaulted a Columbia Parc rental agent during her entrance into the building as part of last week's action. The rental agent did not complain about an assault and continued to work in the office the entire time of the occupation, including when police arrived. While there, police made no mention of an assault when explaining to the group why they should end their protest. The truth is that the City of New Orleans did not arrest Sharon Jasper for assault, they arrested her because she dared to tell that truth and demand that public housing residents of New Orleans have the right to return to their homes. The arrest represents a clear effort by the City of New Orleans to represent the interests of the developers of the Columbia Parc while actively working against the displaced former residents of New Orleans.
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Sheriff Scott Franklin of Jena says he is trying to rid his community of drugs. Critics say he is pursuing a vendetta against the town’s Black community. At four am on July 9 of last year, more than 150 officers from 10 different agencies gathered in a large barn just outside Jena, Louisiana. The day was the culmination of an investigation that Sheriff Scott Franklin said had been going on for nearly two years. Local media was invited, and a video of the Sheriff speaking to the rowdy gathering would later appear online. The Sheriff called the mobilization “Operation Third Option,” and he said it was about fighting drugs. However, community members say that Sheriff Franklin’s actions are part of an orchestrated revenge for the local civil rights protests that won freedom for six Black high school students - known internationally as the Jena Six - who had been charged with attempted murder for a school fight. One thing is clear: the Sheriff spent massive resources; yet officers seized no contraband. Together with District Attorney Reed Walters, Sheriff Franklin has said he is seeking maximum penalties for people charged with small-time offenses. Further, in a parish that is eighty-five percent white, his actions have almost exclusively targeted African Americans. In a town with just over three hundred Black residents, he sent his 150 officers only into the town’s Black neighborhood.
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The Cajun "paradise" lost in southern Louisiana. The entire Gulf Coast wetlands ecosystem is a delicate and profound balance of tides, winds, and ocean temperatures. It's almost cosmic. Tides push and pull vast and deep columns of water through narrow passes into lakes and bays and back out to the open ocean. This is a marine cardiovascular system on a continental scale, one supporting waters that roil with life. Winds move shallow layers of salt water toward the shore and push back with undercurrents of brackish and freshwater from lakes like Pontchartrain, Borgne, and Salvador. The coastal prairies and cypress swamps breath. Water temperatures and salt concentrations from the edge of the continental shelf and as close as the shallows of Chandeleur Sound and Barataria Bay trigger complex movements of sea life, telling them when to spawn and where to feed. Larger seasonal shifts provide signals to migratory birds, ushering them to land upon horizon-to-horizon beds of grass where they feed from the bounty all around.
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Between the glowing press reports on Burl Cain's work, there are hints that gaining access to prison programming — education programs, for example — may be conditional on whether a prisoner is willing to embrace evangelical Christianity.
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The Southern Republican Leadership Conference, featuring Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and Louisiana's own Governor Bobby Jindal, came to New Orleans this weekend and was met by at least 300 protesters in the street. The local focus of the protest: stop cutting education and social services, like health care, first when balancing Louisiana's budget. [PHOTO: UNO Professors Rachel Luft and Steve Striffler in Lafayette Square on Friday]
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Founded by New Orleans artists and activists, we are dedicated to nurturing our city’s human rights community, supporting the work of local organizers and organizations involved in these struggles, and providing a forum for artistic expression of local and international issues. March 12 - 21 2010 Film Schedule announcements
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Angola was and still is very much a plantation. At 18,000 acres, it is
the largest prison in the US—the only prison with its own zip code.
Mostly black men are still maintaining the same agricultural
activity—planting, hoeing, picking cotton and other crops by hand—that
slaves did originally. And they are doing so as captives who are
compensated for their back-breaking labor with mere pennies per hour.
While Warden Cain may not be Simon Legree, he is still a plantation
master—albeit one who uses Christianity as a means of controlling the
neo-slave labor under his watch. The very same practices and social
control mechanism that existed under slavery persist—just under a new
name. My interest in Angola is as both a paradigm of the
Southern transformation of plantations into prisons and as a prototype
for what we now call the prison industrial complex. Many old
plantations in the South became prisons after the Civil War. Angela Y.
Davis traces the initial rise of the penitentiary system to the
abolition of slavery, writing: “in the immediate aftermath of slavery,
the southern states hastened to develop a criminal justice system
that could legally restrict the possibilities of freedom for the newly
released slaves.” Slave Codes became Black Codes and
criminalized a range of activities if the perpetrator was black. The
newly acquired 15th Amendment right to vote was curtailed by tailoring
of felony disenfranchisement laws to include crimes that were
supposedly more frequently committed by blacks. And, the liberatory
promise of the 13th Amendment – “Neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude shall exist in the United States”- contained a dangerous
loophole- “except as a punishment for crime”. This allowed for the
conversion of the old plantations to penitentiaries, and this, with
the introduction of the convict lease system, permitted the South to
continue to economically benefit from the unpaid labor of blacks.
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