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What Can I Do to Break the Chains of Modern Day Slavery?
Training and Discussion Forum to Stop Human Trafficking
Awareness and Education is KEY to Saving Lives
Human Trafficking 101
Training and Discussion Forum
conducted by
Mosaic Family Services and supporting anti-trafficking coalition partners.
Sponsored by the
Dallas Peace Center –
Anti-Trafficking Committee: Stop Modern Day Slavery
The training will touch on the following questions and points of information:
* What is human trafficking sex and labor?
* Domestic and international trafficking
* Human trafficking and the Law
* Red flags of human trafficking
* Where does it take place?
* What does it look like?
* How to report tips
* Services for victims
* Pending legislation
We will define the issue, know who the victims typically are, who the traffickers are.
What tactics are used to control the victims?
What are the push/pull factors that lead to an endless supply of victims?
What is the difference between trafficking and smuggling?
To Register:
Call or email the Dallas Peace Center, 214-823-7793, or
dpc.zara@gmail.com
No Cost - All are encouraged to attend !
For more details, including time and location, please see the article on the
Dallas Peace Center website.
Comment on this feature >>
by Josh Lewis (joshlewis90@gmail.com)
Protesters numbering in the hundreds gathered for a march at Dallas City Hall on Sunday, January 30th to support the cause of the uprisings taking place across Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, and all other nations in revolt.
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20110902021320im_/http://www.ntimc.org/attachments/feb2011/josh01.jpg)
There is a Global awakening taking place, one that sees no sign of being extinguished until those forced to live in oppression are provided with the opportunity to manifest a government aligned with the interests of the masses.
The demonstrations in Dallas were a call for raising awareness to what is happening overseas with an intent to pressure the United States to take the right course of action in this time of unrest. These uprisings include:
Regime change in Tunisia
Mass strikes in Algeria
Mass protests in Egypt
Uprising in Jordan
Regime change in Lebanon
The purpose of this rally is to show support for the democratic uprisings currently underway in the Middle East.
Inspired by the successful ousting of the tyrant of Tunisia and the continued mobilizations in that country for justice, the Egyptian people have organized massive marches and rallies throughout their country for the past three days, fighting off vicious police attacks and mass arrests to call for the ousting of the hated Mubarak regime.
They have shown they will not give up - even in the face of guns, tear gas and other weapons supplied and paid for by the United States.
SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS:
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International Socialist Organization
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The People's Lunch Counter
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Workers' International League
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The Phoenix Project
(previous NTIMC article)
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El Centro College Students for a Democratic Society
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Muslim Students for Justice
For more photos and a video, see: Feature continued on newswire >>
This is a letter of remembrances in memoriam for my friend Gene Akins who passed away recently. Gene was a lifelong bonafide card carrying Industrial Workers of the World ‘Wobblie’ and a lifelong anarchist.
“Jasper: I remember the time the Wobblies…”
Mack: Wobblies!
Jasper: You said one big union!
Mack: Yes, one big union..but we ain’t annarkists an’ we don’t believe in violence. No weapons ,no force unless your attacked.”
-- Langston Hughes 1930’s play HARVEST
Hello Comrades, Friends and Allies
This is a letter of remembrances in memoriam for my friend Gene Akins who passed away recently. Gene was a lifelong bonafide card carrying Industrial Workers of the World ‘Wobblie’ since the early 1960’s. Sure he let his dues lapse for years at a time, but he always carried around that crumpled up red dues booklet in his wallet EVERYWHERE and was proud of it. He was also the first Wob I met in the 90’s down here in Texas. He was also a lifelong anarchist.
In his more raucous years he had done time at the notorious Angola Prison aka The Farm in Louisiana (which also still holds two former members of the Black Panther Party known the Angola 3) during the 60s for drugs, gotten clean and had worked towards social, environmental and economic justice pretty much since then.
He was a cantankerous agitator and old school organizer with a big heart, who worked doing community organizing with a lot of recovering addicts, adding a political foundation to their world views and understanding.
He also opened my political philosophy of what he called ‘real’ labor history and not the distortions of labor we are sold now. He also gave me tools to organize across cultural boundaries. He would say “If you want people without cars, phones, safety nets or privilege to participate then you help them to participate”. I went around with him in his old van picking up people to drag to meetings and rallies of all sorts, if they didn’t have phones then you went to check on them, and if the electricity was cut off you helped them get through that month; he showed me the value of supporting people in political organizing. Helping to build their power and self sufficiency as they also worked to help others.
He was a street philosopher who loved dialectics and always stressed the idea of little ‘a’ anarchism. He reminded me that it was freedom of thought, not dogma to be followed like a sheep. He would always bring libraries worth of things to read for people in his old van, always suggesting books, pamphlets and essays by writers many had never heard of. He turned me onto better books about anarchism, how many of the Wobblies had been anarchists, and how personal liberty was tied to collective struggle.
Gene often said “…if it describes you or your actions just claim the damn thing.” It wasn’t a label to box ourselves in with. To him it was a badge of honor, and a point of reference—an opening to possibilities. I had come home politically and philosophically to something that made sense, and wasn’t always full of ‘old dead guy’ language. It lived and spoke on many levels about us as individuals and about our worlds simultaneously especially in Dallas which was never an oasis for libertarian thought—even in its small DIY or punk circles. Gene and I didn’t always agree on issues and topics, but at least we had good debates and tried out ideas. That loaded and distorted ‘A’ word took on a positive meaning in my life for the first time.
Anarchism became just common sense thoughts or actions wrapped in political language. It became the integrated foundation I wanted to work and grow from. Gene had provided the spark for this revolutionary path with many questions --and others would fill in the gaps as I learned more. I thank him for that spark.
He was no saint and he would never want anyone to think otherwise, but he was gutsy, real and he was sincere. He struggled all his life and influenced and supported many people in making their lives better. Gene Akins deserves his place in our canons of Texas anarchist and labor heritage. You my friend will be missed by many. Your final and long struggle with death is over, please rest as you smile down on us.
You'll get pie in the sky when you die
Gene Akins
1937-2010
Still Dreaming of Collective Liberation and recognizing my roots
scott crow
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by John Garvey Addressing the questions of strategy and tactics in the anarchist movement, with specific reference to the roles the Black Block tactic, and militant direct action, play in our movement.
These questions are particularly important due to the debate that has re-erupted after the “Heart Attack” protest on Feb. 13 in Vancouver and the upcoming G8 / G20 protests in Toronto.
I take it for granted that militant direct action and revolutionary violence are a necessary part of any movement that aims to be revolutionary in practice, as well as in theory and rhetoric. I reject the idea and practice of “revolutionary non-violence” as both theoretically misleading and historically inaccurate.
This isn’t to say that non-violent political action doesn’t have a large role to play in social movements. It is to say that social movements should be both theoretically and practically prepared to accomplish their goals through revolutionary violence if that is what will be most effective. That said, we need to clarify what “diversity of tactics” means, and to continually examine both the tactics we are using and our strategy in protests and in movement building .
Let’s Keep Pushing: Physically and Analytically
At the peaceful protest in Vancouver on Feb. 12, after the black block had been asked to take the front lines against the police by the elders who were leading the march and to push through the police line in order to reach the Olympic Stadium, there was a young woman who kept insisting that we push through the police line. If everyone there had been willing to push forward, if there had been greater unity, tactically speaking, we probably could have done it and then we would have crashed the opening ceremonies…Imagine that! Sadly, there simply wasn’t enough people who were committed to pushing through the police lines to accomplish this.
All the attention that is currently focused on the issue of tactics and strategy and violence and non-violence has created an opportunity for those of us who want to see a militant movement to push back against the idea that social movements are merely a leftish “loyal opposition.” It is an opportunity to argue for a greater diversity of tactics than currently exists as well and to continue subverting the hegemony of the pacified, “non-violent” social activism that has pervaded the “radical left” in Canada for the past 4 decades.
In the last 10 years the radical left in Canada has been able to push the discussion called “diversity of tactics” far enough that it is a constant theme in mass mobilizations here. At the least it is a discussion that political activists of all stripes are familiar with, and many feel that they have to engage with, either for or against.
In addition to all of this, the discussion around the “Heart Attack” demonstration has created an opportunity for the anarchist movement to engage in much needed discussion about strategy and tactics. Articles like those by Mick Sweetman, David Rovics and others, while I strongly disagree with many points they made, both involve anarchists thinking strategically about the anarchist movement.
Feature continued on newswire >>
Join DC activists for the November vigil in Georgia.
November 20-22, 2009: Vigil and Nonviolent Direct ActionConverge on Fort Benning, Georgia
Join the Mass Mobilization to Close the School of the Americas and to Change U.S. Foreign Policy
In less than 2 weeks, thousands will converge on Fort Benning, Georgia to say no to military coups, military violence and the training of repressive forces at the School of the Americas. Join union workers, students, religious communities and grassroots activists from across the Americas from November 20-22, 2009 at the gates of Fort Benning to commemorate the martyrs and to take a stand for justice. It is up to us to change oppressive U.S. foreign policy since we can only hope for as much as we are willing to work for.
Click here to visit the new November Vigil Rideboard. (see links to transportation, hotel & other logistical information on the bottom of this posting.)
Speakers and MusiciansAmong the many featured performers on the stage at the gates of Fort Benning and in the Columbus Convention Center will be the Indigo Girls, the Hip Hop groups Rebel Diaz and Kuumba Lynx, Emma's Revolution, Candy Garcia, the lead vocalist of the Salvadoran folk band Grupo Musical Horizontes and many more.
The high-profile line up of speakers includes Bernardo Vivas of the Cacraica Community for Self-Determination, Life, and Dignity (CAVIDA) from Colombia, South Bronx community organizers and immigrant rights activists Victor Toro and Nieves Aires, Catholic Worker and Plowshares activist Liz McAllister, Bertha Oliva, the coordinator of the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras and others who are active in the resistance against the SOA graduate-led military coup.
Anti-Militarization Convergence: Panels, Workshops, Film Screening and Benefit Concerts
Throughout the weekend of the vigil, the Columbus Convention Center, the Howard Johnson Inn and the Days Inn will once again be transformed by passionate social justice energy as thousands gather to attend dozens of workshops and gatherings! Traditional workshops, films, media presentations, theatrical performances, concerts and art displays will all take place.
Here's a sneak peak at what this year's schedule has to offer:
Feature continued on newswire >>
Because of your special drive and commitment
Because of your special drive and commitment
You started before the first shots were fired in Iraq. You were planting a garden, moving stones and you opened the Crawford Peace House in order to support and offer a venue for activists who came to Crawford, and to voice an alternative point of view to the White House Peace Corps. You filled the streets of Crawford, were arrested, convicted, exonerated on appeal and initiated a suit, which made it easier for later demonstrators in Crawford.
You converged on Cindy Sheehan's Prairie Chapel Road camp, from around the country and from around the world. At some point in that August full of scorching heat and earth shaking thunder, you awoke the conscience of America and reinvigorated a movement. When you were told you couldn't camp in the bar ditches, you refused to move, were again taken to jail, were convicted and then exonerated, making it easier for future protesters to approach the Bush Ranch.
You went to Washington, showed the blood on the hands of members of the administration, and hurled shoes on the White House lawn.
You were one of the four who were the first to go to Bush's Preston Hollow neighborhood in Dallas, to demand that he be held accountable.
You have done so much to point out the misdeeds of George W. Bush, always doing it with conviction, passion and courage.
Once again, your conviction, passion and courage are needed. The University Park, Texas Planning and Zoning Commission has scheduled an open forum to discuss rezoning for the Bush Presidential Center. The presidential center will include a policy institute, whose stated mission is to promote the policies of the Bush administration. Once again, we need you, who have done so much to stand up and say NO WAR CRIMINAL ! NO POLICY INSTITUTE!
The rally will be outside (and inside) the University Park City Hall, 3800 University, University Park, Texas, at 3:45, this Tuesday, November 10.
Who else is going to do it, if not you who have already done so much!
Feature continued on newswire >>
This October and November, David Irving, a British neo-fascist and fraudulent historian, goes on the road in the United States, planning to hold dozens of speaking engagements over the course of two months. As militant anti-racists and anti-fascists, we are making a public call for resistance at each stop along the way of this tour.
In his earlier tour of July--focusing on western states--Irving encountered protest at approximately one quarter of his tour dates. Irving’s current tour contains dates on the East Coast, in the Midwest and the South. We urge all communities in which the tour passes through to send a clear message that fascist organizing is not welcome!
Who is David Irving?
David Irving is a British writer who has been involved with the fascist political scene since the 1960s. Always known for the pro-Hitler bias of his books, approximately two decades ago Irving made the transition to being a fully-fledged Holocaust-denier, when he testified at the trial of neo-Nazi Ernst Zündel in Canada, and also arranged the publication of Fred Leuchter’s widely-refuted report on gas chambers at Auschwitz. In addition to spreading blatant historical lies, Irving has publicly stated that “The Jews are the architects of their own misfortune.” Unsurprisingly, Irving was a popular speaker at neo-Nazi rallies in Germany (until he was banned from the country.)
In the British libel case Irving v. Penguin Books and Lipstadt, the final ruling in favor of the defendants confirmed that Irving “is an active Holocaust denier” and that “he is anti-Semitic and racist and that he associates with right-wing extremists who promote neo-Nazism.” In 2006, Irving was jailed in Austria after pleading guilty to a charge of “trivializing the Holocaust,” which is a crime in that county. Since his release, Irving has been marketing himself as a former “political prisoner.”
Why Oppose These Events?
Irving’s current tour focuses on “"Re-writing history, using the decoded Nazi messages" (Focal Point Publications website). The re-writing of Third Reich history--especially in relation to the Nazi “Final Solution” for Europe’s Jewish population--is a major item on the agenda of modern neo-Nazis and neo-fascists, who correctly believe that memory of the Holocaust is a significant barrier to the mainstreaming of their beliefs. The Holocaust is denied so that, paradoxically, it can be repeated. Wherever Irving appears, he is backed and promoted by virulent anti-Semites and fascist organizers.
Irving’s bogus history is both blatantly offensive and incorrect. However, we oppose Irving not for what he thinks, but rather for what he does. As the name of his own publishing project suggests, Irving serves as a “focal point” to bring Jew-haters and goose-steppers together. He is part of a political tendency that is actively organizing to tear apart communities, and in particular to persecute Jewish people. James von Brunn’s murder of a security guard at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is one example of where this anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi tendency can lead. Von Brunn moved within many of the same circles that promote Irving’s work.
We believe that fascist activism and movement-building should meet with organized resistance. As the Anti-Racist Action Network puts it in their Points of Unity:
“Whenever fascists are organizing or active in public, we're there. We don't believe in ignoring them or staying away from them. Never let the nazis have the street!”
We invite you to help this effort along, by organizing in your own community.
When and Where? related link: http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20091004133710408 Feature continued on newswire >>
Oct 2nd, 2009 by Will Potter
Green Is the New Red .com
An environmental activist has been arrested in connection with the 2006 attempted arson of homes under construction in Pasadena, California. The government says the action is connected to the Earth Liberation Front.
The FBI alleges that DNA found on cigarettes left at the scene (as part of the incendiary device) matched the DNA of Stephen James Murphy, 43. The FBI says Murphy’s DNA was in a state database for a previous arrest.
The Sept. 19, 2006, incident was unsuccessful, the incendiary device failed to ignite, but the next day “workers at the site could not start a tractor, where a note had been written in permanent marker that read ‘ANOTHER TRACTOR DECOMMISSIONED BY THE E.L.F.’”
I just talked to Murphy’s girlfriend, who said, “Steve is one of the kindest and gentlest souls I have ever met. He would never harm a fly let alone jeapordize harming people, animals, or the environment. Not only was he an animal rights activist but he also did humanitarian aid and human rights work. Steve was a friend to everyone in need. Always.”
I’ll keep you posted as more comes out about this case and Stephen Murphy. But here’s something to think about: this is a three-year-old crime that wasn’t successful, didn’t harm anyone, and only involved some vandalism to a tractor. One tractor. And this guy has been extradicted from Texas, and the FBI and prosecutors are moving forward with charges against him (of course it’s too early to say, but given the history of similar ELF cases, a terrorism enhancement penalty could come into play).
Meanwhile, prosecutors don’t have money for DNA testing in death penalty cases. But they can do it for a tractor.
Support Steve Murphy
More info on the non-violent ELF
More links are not provided at this time due to suspicions of law enforcement false fronts. For a moderately-secure search-scraper, go to Scroogle.org related link: http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/earth-liberation-front-arrest-california/2255/ Comment on this feature >>
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