Solidarity Noise Demo at Orleans Parish Prison (OPP), New Orleans, LA, USA.

A group of about two dozen protesters marched to the fences of OPP at Broad & Tulane November 9th banging pots and pans and shouting chants. The prisoners could be seen inside the prison from stories above waving their arms and pieces of clothing. The event was described as a noise making act to let the prisoners know there are others outside that stand in solidarity with them.


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Danziger Officers Found Guilty - Statements of Madison Family :

Statement of Lance Madison:

I am thankful to have some closure after six long years of struggling for justice. I am most grateful to my family, and especially my brother Romell. Without the support and hard work of my family, I might still be in prison on false charges, and the truth about what happened on the Danziger bridge might never have been known. We will never be completely healed because we will never have Ronald back.We hope that our efforts will help bring some justice not only to our family but to all the other families who have suffered, as well as our entire community.

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Opening arguments begin today in what observers have called the most important trial New Orleans has seen in a generation. It is a shocking case of police brutality that has already redefined this city’s relationship to its police department, and radically rewritten the official narrative of what happened in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina. Five police officers are facing charges of shooting unarmed African-Americans in cold blood, killing two and wounding four, and then conspiring to hide evidence. Five officers who participated in the conspiracy have already pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against their fellow officers.

This week Amnesty International launched a global campaign calling for US authorities to end the solitary confinement of Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, of the Angola 3. Amnesty is calling for people around the world to contact Governor Jindal.

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Civil rights activist Catrina Wallace, who received national attention for her role in organizing protests around the Jena Six case, was convicted today of three counts of distribution of a controlled substance. Wallace, who is 30, became an activist after her brother, Robert Bailey, was arrested and charged with attempted murder for a school fight. Bailey and five others later became known as the Jena Six. Their case eventually brought 50,000 people on a march through the town of Jena, and as a result of the public pressure the six young men were eventually freed. The six young men are all now in college or - in the case of the youngest - on their way.

The case was prosecuted by Lasalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters, who also prosecuted the Jena Six case, and famously told a room full of students, "I can make your lives disappear with a stroke of my pen."


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Faubourg Marigny, Sunday, March 6, 2011: Krewe of Eris parade attacked by NOPD

First-hand report posted to New Orleans indymedia: "The parade then moved forward, finally, following a course that took it into the French Quarter. We didn't get far; it was clear the Eighth District didn't want us there. Some neighborhoods are okay to parade in, and some, apparently, are not. The response to Eris entering the Quarter was swift and markedly more aggressive. A helicopter swept us with its spotlight-- wait, does NOPD have a helicopter now? There was definitely one present. Police cars blocked off two sides of every intersection, directing the parade into two right turns: up one block and then directly back out towards Esplanade. All the cars at the intersections had their sirens going at ear-splitting volumes, as did the now-multiple cars behind us, which accelerated and roared their engines. Many paraders broke into a trot and then an unnerved run. Some crowded onto the sidewalks."  Read more: Arrested at the Eris Parade

Also, a repost from nolaslate: "I ran back out the door and ran into a man who had been with Eris who told me that the cops had tried to blockade them at Esplanade, then Franklin, now here at Port. When I walked the half block to the intersection I saw cop cars everywhere, cops with a kid face down on the ground and all had their batons out and their attitudes in evidence. The police were very clearly spoiling for a fight." Read More: Permitting Culture Crimes

Jordan Flaherty writes for the Louisiana Justice Institute's Justice Roars blog: "On Sunday night, at least 20 officers descended on a Mardi Gras parade, arresting several costumed marchers, and repeatedly deploying tasers, pepper spray, and physical violence. The parade, which consisted of local artists and other neighborhood residents, as well as quite a few tourists, began as a stunning display of the artistic talent found in the Marigny and Bywater neighborhoods, and ended in a violent nightmare when NOPD officers rushed into the peaceful crowd."  Read more: New Orleans Police Attack Mardi Gras Parade

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What Can We Do To Support Egypt?

John Clark addresses rally at rally: Hale Boggs Federal Building, New Orleans

- Transcript -
We have all been moved by the courageous actions of the Egyptian people over the past few days. In response to their inspiring example, we might ask the following question. What effective steps can we take to support their struggle for liberation, and to support similar struggles throughout the world?

There is a very easy and very bad response to this question. Unfortunately, it is also the one that is most popular. This response is to express our great sympathy and admiration for their struggle, and then to go on acting as we have in the past. I propose that a more constructive response would be, first, to become better educated about what has made their struggle necessary, and, next, to begin to act in ways that that will make it, and similar struggles, more likely to succeed in the future.

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On what feels like the coldest day of the year in New Orleans, members of the Congress of Day Laborers and their supporters held a 24 hour vigil in front of the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office to press for their right to remain in the area. A lawsuit, Cacho v. Gusman, has been filed by a member of the Congress against Marlin Gusman, Orleans Parish Sheriff, whose governance of the prison has resulted in blatant racial profiling and constitutional violations, alleges the lawsuit.

More to come as it develops.

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On January 15, 2011 a second line was held for the victims of the December 28 warehouse fire.  On that cold night the squat housed 8 wandering musicians and artists who built a fire for warmth in a building that has not had electric or water since Hurricane Katrina.

7:56 video by FluxRostrum

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Malcolm Suber, community activist and self-described revolutionary in New Orleans, came onto the WTUL News & Views show on January 5, 2011 to talk about the 1811 Slave Revolt organized between New Orleans and plantations up river. At a minimum of 150 slaves and eyewitness estimates up to 500, this was the largest slave revolt in United States history until the Civil War.

Audio recording is 38min:40sec; 17.7 MB

Transcript of Interview Included

if you...


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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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