Saturday February 4, 2012 was an international day of solidarity for political prisoner Leonard Peltier. A call was put out for demonstrations in front of federal buildings world-wide. Such an event occurred here in Los Angeles in the proximity of the downtown Federal Building and was well-attended. Leonard Peltier, who has been wrongfully imprisoned for 35 years, has received little exposure in the mainstream media. (Although, good documentaries have been made about him.)

"He's been in prison for over 30 years for a crime that he did not commit; his health is extremely bad," said Corine Fairbanks of AIM (American Indian Movement) Southern Cal, who was involved in two of the three events on February 4. "It was wonderful to see people going out of their way to participate in these events. I believe we definitely need to continue to educate people, especially young people, as to who Leonard Peltier is. I think there's a concentrated effort made by various governments for us to forget who he is. When I say educate, I'm saying that people need to be aware of not only who he is and the sacrifice he and his family have made being that he's a prisoner of war, but people also need to put more pressure on President Obama, put more pressure on the U.S. government for his release."

The trial against Peltier have been deemed illegitimate by Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, and many others. Peltier has received six Nobel Peace Prize nominations. His activism includes selling his paintings, proceeds of which have benefited the Lakota people.

Story and photos: International Day of Solidarity with Leonard Peltier: Clemency Now! by RP, photos by Isabel Avila

February 4, 2012
WEST LOS ANGELES - Just one block South of a very urban section of Wilshire Blvd with 40 story high-rise buildings and often grid locked streets sits the Kuruvungna Springs. The Springs are on a part of the University High School campus. The Springs and the surrounding area were once the site of a Tongva village.

This last Saturday the Green Party and the Foundation hosted a tour that also included a Tongva blessing of the land. Fresh potable water is bubbling out of the ground and into small streams and pools. The water is said to have healthy restorative powers.

In 1992 a group of local environmentalists working together with Tongva descendants formed the Gabrienlino/Tongva Springs Foundation. The foundation was able to secure a lease for the land from the Los Angeles Unified School District for one dollar a year. The Foundation found funding, both private and public and has restored much of the site. The work goes on and there is still much to be done to preserve and protect the springs.

The foundation’s current lease expires next year and they are hoping to secure a new long-term fifty-year lease from the school district. Supporters are urged to contact the school district and encourage them to extend the lease and ensure the continued protection and ongoing restoration of this sacred site.

From the newswire:Protecting Sacred Sites: The Kuruvungna Springs by A

LOS ANGELES - Using the budget shortfall in Sacramento as cover, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board President Monica Garcia and LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy have recommended a draconian budget that cuts off all funding for adult education--the veritable lifelines for immigrant families, impoverished communities, and students of color. Unconscionable in any circumstances, their proposed budget is even more grievous given the hundreds of millions of dollars of public property and resources they have given away to private charter corporations over the past couple of years.

More than 345,000 students are currently enrolled in various adult education programs including English as a second language, high school graduation, occupational programs, and many others.

Efforts are underway to save these critical programs. So far thousands of signatures have been collected, hundreds of phone calls made, and various other means of trying to convince the LAUSD Board to save Adult Education have been employed. Moreover, it isn't just the students at these schools and community activists supporting adult education. Indeed, many local business support LAUSD Adult Education for reasons including providing workers from the community better prepared for positions.

Supporters are asking for signatures on the on-line petition, as well as for support at a demonstration this Thursday, February 9, at 1:30 at the LAUSD offices, 333 S Beaudry Ave in Los Angeles, 90017.

From the newswire: Even Local Businesses Support Efforts to Save LAUSD Adult Education by Robert D. Skeels

"The Kawaiisu Tribe of Tejon thanks Secretary Ken Salazar for 'Reaffirming' the Tribe to the list of Federally Recognized Tribes in the United States. 'Reaffirming of Recognition,' means that Congress and the President of the United States recognize the Tribe through the Treaty, because the Treaty represents prior Federal Recognition. The United States now is back in compliance with the Treaty, except for the Tejon Reservation and Graves issues. . . . They have been fighting a legal case for two years in California Federal Court, docket number 1:09-cv-01977, to stop development on their Indian Reservation at the Tejon Ranch near Los Angeles, that gives the corporation permission to unearth the burial remains and spiritual burial objects of thousands of their ancestors that died on the reservation. The timing of regaining recognition, while awaiting a ruling on the Federal Case is an unexpected gift that the Tribe embraces with gratitude. . . ."

More: Tribe Thanks Secretary Salazar For Righting Wrongs Of The Past by David Laughing Horse Robinson

Video: The Kawaiisu people and legal history of land by Kernvillekate | | More Information and videos: Kawaiisu Tribe of the Tejon (Blogspot)

Spring Festival, also known as Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year, is beyond a massive holiday; it impacts everyone in China. Nearly a billion people will travel back to home during the so-called 40-day Chunyun (春运) travel period, the world's largest human migration movement.This year's Chunyun will be expected to make up around 3.16 billion passenger trips means around a round-trip for every people in China (population approx.13.3 billion).

While middle classes can afford to take airplanes for the holiday, for average Chinese migrant workers and students, the less expensive railroad trip could be their only chance in a few years to return their home for the holidays. Train tickets are always very difficult to buy during the holiday seasons, and the trip could be very long. Some people could take up-to10-days trip from far nothen China to far southern China to meet their family.

Holidays also mean the need to bring year-long savings from work to families; however, not everyone is so lucky. Many workers also need to fight for their back-wages as well, right before the new year many company bosses also could cheating their worker's wages, they need to fight to get their money back.

The author also comments on the impact of international politics in China, including the steady rise of China's right wing pro-US/anti-communist neo-con/neo-liberal forces.

From the newswire: Journey to My Home--Happy Spring Festival (AKA Chinese New Year)! by Lee Siu Hin

SAN DIEGO - January 20 , 2012 - When 100 protesters from Occupy San Diego, Activist San Diego, Common Cause, the League of Women Voters and a wide variety of organizations arrived in the morning to hold a rally outside the Federal Building in downtown San Diego to protest the U.S. Supreme Court's two-year-old Citizens United decision, they were in for a rude awakening. A phalanx of agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had parked four trucks outside the building three ominously labeled Homeland Security Federal Protective Service and one, unmarked, topped with a satellite dish and stationed themselves outside the building to ensure that the rally could not take place there. Instead the Homeland Security agents unilaterally moved the rally to an alcove by the side of the building two blocks away, in a far less visible location.

The rally went on anyway, with featured speakers Marjorie Cohn, professor at Thomas Jefferson College of Law and former head of the National Lawyers Guild,; Lori Salda, former California State Assembly member and current candidate for Congress against Republican incumbent Brian Bilbray; and Tara Ludwik, a 37-year-old single mother from Point Loma who described herself as amazingly moderate politically until last September, when she joined Occupy San Diego. Full Story: San Diegans Rally Against Citizens United Decision by Mark Gabrish Conlan

RELATED: Occupy Redlands Protests Citizens United Decision by Rockero

RIVERSIDE (CA) January 19, 2012 - Thousands of students, workers, and community members gathered to participate in the governance of the UC system. When their participation was limited and ultimately shut off, they took direct action to ensure their voices were heard. For this, they were confronted by police from numerous agencies. Police violence broke out, and three arrests were made

Preparations for the event have been going on for months, and have included on-campus general assemblies and discussions of occupation. The camp began Tuesday night and immediately drew support from students and campers from Occupy Riverside and Occupy LA. By Wednesday, a food table was set up, as was an outreach table and a people's library. Students and faculty held many teach-ins and teach-outs to raise the consciousness of students.

But the action really began Thursday morning, when groups of students and unions members spoke to the regents during the public comment section of the meeting. Full Story: UCR Occupied in Defense of Education By Rockero

DOWNEY - Michael Nida was an unarmed, innocent man, who was gunned down at the hands of the Downey PD in an admitted case of mistaken identity. He was not a criminal; he was a loving husband and father of four. He was a union carpenter who worked hard to provide for his family, and also volunteered his time in his community as a coach for youth sports teams.

The Downey PD admits that they were pursuing Michael Nida because they thought that he was an armed robbery suspect. However, no non-lethal methods were used in apprehending him, and their police error resulted in his death. He was on a date with his wife and had briefly stopped at a gas station when he was shot and killed by an officer yielding an MP5 submachine gun.

The family and their supporters are asking for people to come and speak out at the next Downey City Council meeting this Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 7:30 p.m., located at 11111 Brookshire Avenue in Downey
Full article: Justice for Michael Nida II, Murdered October 22, 2011 by Downey Police by Lashonte Mayer & Lima Harris

Related Story: Tyisha Miller remembered in light of recent spate of police shootings by Rockero

[Editorial by The Journal of Aesthetics & Protest] Issue 8 of the Journal of Aesthetics & Protest is out. Its forward, recently written but conceived in the afterglow of the 2009/2010 UC occupations looks into the broad strategy of occupying everything.

The chart shows how we editors understand how each writer's article functionalizes distrust/trust of institutionality in relationship to how much mediation they understand is useful in reflecting on the complexity of culture.

With increased institutionality, the work transforms from an isolated autonomous actor towards more socialized formations, be the formations consciously organized community groups or general mass cultures operating with less conscious collective arrangements.

With increased mediation, the project of sharing dreams, ideas, critiques and meaning goes from something very intimate (a kiss, a whisper or a slap in the face) to something that is milled through various representational machines.
Full article: Towards Occupying Everything by the editors of the Journal of Aesthetics and Protest

PASADENA - Occupy joined this year's New Year celebrations by marching at the end of the Rose Parade. They carried float-sized props of the Constitution, the "corporate Constitution," and the Occupy Octopus, made entirely of recycled material rather than the plant material the Tournament of Roses requires.

As Rose Parade spectators dispersed, the Occupy movement held a rally outside Pasadena City Hall with speakers, including Cindy Sheehan, the "peace mom."

Despite recent setbacks for the economic justice movement, including the breakup of all the major encampments, occupiers in the US and the outraged worldwide are hopeful that 2012 is the year of great change.

From the newswire: Occupy the Rose Parade by Rockero | | Did Occupy the Rose Parade Get Air? by nobody | | OCCUPY roses and constitution showed up in media by one of many

This year's version of the National Defense Authorization Act, in addition to allocating massive amounts of tax dollars to war, contains provisions that will allow the president to indefinitely detain anybody he determines is part of Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, an "associated group," or has committed "belligerent acts" against the United States until such a time as he declares an "end to hostilities." The wording of the bill is vague enough to create the potential for the detention of peaceful activists for positive change, and eliminate the rights of due process and trial by jury.

The potential for the use of this act for political repression is clear, and for this reason, it has encountered widespread popular opposition. While some elements of the right have also taken measures against the bill, including an Oathkeepers group in Montana who have launched a recall of their congressional delegation for supporting NDAA, it is the Occupy movement that has taken the most militant stance against it, with actions nationwide resulting in several arrests. Southern California has seen its share of the action, as well.

From the newswire: Banner Drops Urge Veto of NDAA and Occupy Riverside Challenges Indefinite Military Detention by Rockero | | Is The Passed Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (retroactive) To Detain Americans? by Sue Riley | | Obama Year Three: Continuing His Rogue Agenda by Stephen Lendman

UPDATE: On New Year's Eve, President Obama quietly signed the NDAA from his holiday hideaway in Honolulu. Although he issued a signing statement promising that his administration would not use the law to violate the rights of American citizens, the statement has no force of law, and there is no guarantee whatsoever that future presidents will keep that promise. The ACLU has vowed to fight the military detention provisions in the courts, while Occupy and other justice advocated have vowed to take that fight to the streets.

The days of the immigrant rights movement's maintaining a safe distance from the Occupy movement are long gone as throughout Southern California, "Occupy ICE" actions have brought the movements much closer together in honor of International Migrants Day. In Los Angeles, mainline labor and immigrant rights leaders spoke alongside mic-checking occupiers as marchers the downtown federal building, which contains an ICE detention facility.

Eastward, Occupy Riverside's Latino Forum held a "Latino Day," designed to celebrate the struggle of the immigrant and highlight Latino issues in the Inland Empire.

The Occupy movement has always been sensitive to pre-existing movements, whether they were environmentalist, pro-labor, feminist, or pro-civil rights, but this is the first time that immigrants and occupiers have come together in a serious way.

From the newswire: "Dí­a del Latino" en Occupy Riverside / Occupy Riverside's Latino Forum Celebrates by/por Rockero

LONG BEACH, California - Heeding the call of Occupy Oakland, which called for a shutdown of west coast ports in response to the brutal eviction of occupy encampments nationwide, and in solidarity with expolited port workers and truckers, about 500 militant occupiers and their friends shut down Terminal J of the Port of Long Beach, the home of SSA Marine, an investment of the criminal enterprise Goldman Sachs and the main stakeholder of the US government.

The marchers were eventually split off from each other by the Los Angeles Port Police. However a group of 300 to 500 people successfully blocked a road that led to one of the SSA piers for a few hours causing traffic snarls and the like. At this point the police phalanx declared the march an unlawful assembly and threatened the Gandhian / King-inspired demonstrators with possible bodily harm from batons, percussion weapons, tasers and finally......nonlethal dog bites.

The Port Police eventually physically pushed the people back for 100 yards or so, at which point the nonviolent protesters turned and walked back to Harry Bridges Park. The rain began to fall heavily as the crowd of now about 200 began to disperse.

Some arrests were made. One for failure to disperse, one for resisting and a number of pedestrian traffic violations were issued.The well known Los Angeles organizer Kwazi Nkrumah was arrested and charged with failure to obey a police officer and walking in a roadway. He is out on bail of 10,000 dollars.

Full report: Occupy the Ports - A Day without Goldman Sachs by Rockero

Occupy The Ports Long Beach, part 1 by Robert Stuart Lowden

Occupy The Ports Long Beach, part 2 by Robert Stuart Lowden

UPDATE: Interview with Nathan, arrested at Long Beach Port shutdown by Rockero

RIVERSIDE - Tuesday, Dec. 06, 2011 – A coalition including Occupy LA, Occupy Riverside, ACCE, Refund California, and SEIU teamed up to defend two families who are facing eviction by sheriffs who protect the profits of JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo.

Fraudulent mortgages and a refusal by bankers to negotiate with families struggling to get by has resulted in a huge wave of foreclosures. As people are driven from their homes and neighborhoods, their homes are left empty for months and even years at a time. The banks and the capitalist class have shown over and over that they don't care about anything but their profits and their property.

Ana Casas Williams, her husband James, her mother, and her son reached out to community organizations for help in defending their foreclosed home in South Gate after Wells Fargo refused to modify the conditions of their mortgage. Ana has been fighting stage 4 breast cancer which forced her husband to quit his job to provide full time care for her.

Art D. and his family have been refused the opportunity to modify their mortgage by JPMorgan Chase on their home in Riverside. Art is still employed although the recession has cut into his ability to make the payments at the previous rate.

Today, people from around LA stood up for the right of all people to homes by rallying, speaking out to the media, and taking direct action by setting up their tents in the yards of people facing eviction in order to physically defend the families from the sheriffs who will come to evict them. From the Newswire:

Occupy Our Homes: L.A. Joins a Nationwide Day of Action Against Foreclosures by a wobbly

They Are Not Going to Steal Another Home! by LizardQueen

PASADENA, December 2, 2011 - Much of the San Gabriel Valley area was hit with a wind storm of unprecedented force Wednesday night. At this time 100,000s of people in the area effected are still without power. Some people are unable to leave their home by car due to fallen trees blocking the street. Wind gusts of up to 100 miles per hour brought down trees and cut power lines. Large hundred year old trees have fallen on some homes causing serious structural damage. Many cars parked on the street have also been crushed by fallen trees. No fatalities have been reported.

Report with photos: Massive Wind Storm Hits San Gabriel Valley Area