However, I wonder if these moments in the wake of mass activist arrests - specifically, when vocal activists (some of them white and middle class) are arrested by the dozen and thrust into the public eye - might be an apt time to spread awareness of the stark injustices perpetrated every minute, across the country, in the name of “criminal justice.” When folks who aren’t usually arrested (and whose friends, allies and civil liberties attorneys are enfranchised and outspoken) are subjected to civil liberties violations, institutionalized brutality, dehumanizing jail conditions and the sickening prevalence of moldy baloney sandwiches behind bars, a unique point of contact is sparked. It’s an opportunity for true empathy and empathy is the mother - or, at least, the cousin - of action.
In the interest of outing truth: I can’t claim even remote journalistic “objectivity” when it comes to this topic. I’ve had two close loved ones sent to prison in the past few years, one of whom is currently incarcerated. When I worked as a reporter, I covered prison policy and developed ongoing pen-pal friendships with prisoners, two of whom were serving life sentences and would be forever relegated to pen-pal status. I dream about the prison system. (Dream? This is one of those times that I wish “to nightmare” were a verb.) When I pass the boloney shelf in the supermarket, my stomach turns, even when its labels feature expiration dates well in the future.
(Source: truth-out.org)
Ce que nous disent pas le fameux G8: c’est que maintenant ils sont tellement pauvres qu’ils n’ont plus qu’une vieille cabane dans la forêt pour se rassembler! ;-)
What does not say the famous G8: now they are so poor that they just have an old cabane in the forest to gather…
“I am poor: I live with less than 12,000 euro per year. It is not yet extreme poverty. There are 1400 billionaires in France. There were only 400 (approximately) in 2005. With one billion, human beings could work for 12 000 euro per year just like me: 100000000: 12,000 = 84,000 people like me. So 1400 billionaires could make work 117,600,000 people like me in France. There are currently 3.24 million unemployed in France. Now you can understand the harm these people do. Now guess that there are about 30 000 billionaires in the world. (30000 : 1400)x117 600 000 = 252 000 000 000 persons could live like me if we manage to take to these 30 000 people the billion they stoled.”
— Geo”
(via fahhhawk)
Unlike the NATO 3 (or the Chicago Seven, or the Haymarket Eight), these people will go on to become part of a vast, near-voiceless crowd of 2.3 million incarcerated Americans, most of whom are visible only in the somber mugshots posted to their state’s Department of Corrections web site. On this site, friends and relatives who know to look can view their loved ones’ height, weight, race, tattoos, scars, offense, sentence length and inmate number. No phone number is listed, because these people - let’s call them the US 2.3 Million - no longer have a phone number (or email address, or blog, or Facebook message box or Twitter account) that can be reached.
In stating these facts, I in no way aim to belittle the significant civil abuses that anti-NATO activists have experienced over the past week. Both the NATO 3 and the US 2.3 Million deserve civil liberties, human rights and fair treatment. And I cannot overstate my support and admiration for the veterans and peace groups that - in the face of Rahmian threats and media scare tactics - brought thousands of people into the streets to resist the NATO doctrine of endless war. Moreover, I know that civil disobedience and a willingness to strategically risk arrest are crucial tools for the success of nonviolent movements. (My consciousness as both a journalist and activist was formed through my involvement with the direct action group Voices for Creative Nonviolence.)
Sketch by Dan V. Romer
(Source: truth-out.org)
Last Friday, the day the NATO 3 were arrested,approximately 35,948 people were arrested across the United States. On Sunday, when at least 45 protesters were arrested at Chicago’s NATO summit protests, approximately 35,948 Americans - the number arrested on a daily basis in the US, according to FBI statistics - were handcuffed, read their Miranda rights (maybe), carted off to jail and booked. The plurality of those people were arrested for nonviolent drug crimes. Some of these people will be charged, convicted, prosecuted and jailed.
When bond is posted, some of these people will have relatives or friends who are able and willing to bail them out. Many will not. For most, there’s no grassroots bail fund, no jail support team waiting on the other side of the razor wire fence.
On the doorstep.
(Source: truth-out.org, via journalofanobody)
Quebec on the verge of martial law: Canada protest spreads as arrest list hits 2,500 benchmark -
Students stage a protest against tuition fee increases on May 25, 2012 in Montreal. (AFP Photo / Rogerio Barbosa)
TAGS: Protest, Politics, Opposition, Education,North America, Police, Security
Ontario students have pledged to take to the streets in solidarity with their protesting fellows in Montreal and other cities of Quebec. The students are defying emergency laws the authorities are imposing to curb down the wave of dissent.
Students in Quebec have been protesting for more than 100 days now, with violent clashes between police and protesters reported on several occasions. The latest demo on Wednesday night resulted in a police crackdown on demonstrators.
About 700 people were detained throughout the province, which pushed the total number of detentions over the months over 2,500. That is at least five times more than during the 1970 crisis, when martial law was declared in Quebec in response to the actions of radical nationalists.
The protest against the hike of tuition fees was mainly focused in the province’s largest city Montreal, but it is now spreading outside of Quebec. A group of students the neighboring province of Ontario pledged their support of the movement Friday.
“The most important thing we can do in Ontario to support the struggle in Quebec is to bring the spirit of democracy and activism into the province of Ontario,” said student and activist Xavier Lafrance as cited by the Toronto Sun. “The spirit is in the air. Mr. McGuinty needs to be aware that it can and will happen in Ontario.”
Calling the rally scheduled for June 5 the “beginning in Ontario,” Sandy Hudson, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students – Ontario, said the group is expecting to “build a movement and have capacity.”
On May 18, Quebec provincial government issued a controversial emergency regulation called Bill 78 designed to undermine the students’ ability to impose school shutdowns. It restricts public gatherings larger than 50 people, provides fines for protest leaders endorsing unsanctioned events and forbids covering of faces on demos, among other things.
The regulation’s effect on freedom of assembly is drawing an increasing number of older protesters to join their students. The Montreal Gazette cites Henri Fernand, 65, who took part in Wednesday’s rally in his wheelchair as saying: “The youth is our future and I’m proud of them. I’m here in solidarity with the students.”
(via amodernmanifesto)
![theatlantic:
Paul Ryan Loves Class Warfare, and So Do the Democrats
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that $3.3 trillion in Ryan’s savings — or 60% of the total cuts — comes out of low-income programs. That onslaught is headlined by a $1 trillion reduction to Medicaid spending and $133 billion cut to food stamps, or SNAP. In February, the New York Times reminded me this morning, Romney said he’s “not concerned about the very poor” since our safety net is adequate. One month later, he endorsed a $3 trillion cut to the safety net.
In the Washington Post, Jennifer Rubin writes, “the House budget and my own plan share the same path forward: pro-growth tax cuts, getting federal spending under control and strengthening entitlement programs for future generations.” Strengthening, apparently, means different things to different people. The “strengthening” of SNAP amounts to $1,000 less food each year for poor families. Surely, they’ll respond by starting a slew of small businesses.
When the White House proposes new spending paid for with higher taxes for the rich, it’s class warfare. When the GOP proposes $3 trillion in cuts for low-income programs while proposing marginal tax cuts for the top bracket, it’s “getting things under control.”
The House voted on a much better budget this week. No, that wouldn’t be the Congressional Black Caucus budget, which wasn’t a budget, so much as an anti-Wall Street placard with numbers. The better budget would have cut about half as much spending as Ryan. It would have raised tax revenue by a little more than $1.2 trillion, more fairly than the president’s plan, and less than the proposal from the Senate’s bipartisan Gang of Six. It was based on the president’s deficit commission, which got a majority vote in committee from both Democrats and Republicans. It was balanced. It got things “under control.” And it failed, predictably, by a vote of 382-38.
[Image: The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1r77fVyuq1qcokc4o1_400.png)
Paul Ryan Loves Class Warfare, and So Do the Democrats
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that $3.3 trillion in Ryan’s savings — or 60% of the total cuts — comes out of low-income programs. That onslaught is headlined by a $1 trillion reduction to Medicaid spending and $133 billion cut to food stamps, or SNAP. In February, the New York Times reminded me this morning, Romney said he’s “not concerned about the very poor” since our safety net is adequate. One month later, he endorsed a $3 trillion cut to the safety net.
In the Washington Post, Jennifer Rubin writes, “the House budget and my own plan share the same path forward: pro-growth tax cuts, getting federal spending under control and strengthening entitlement programs for future generations.” Strengthening, apparently, means different things to different people. The “strengthening” of SNAP amounts to $1,000 less food each year for poor families. Surely, they’ll respond by starting a slew of small businesses.
When the White House proposes new spending paid for with higher taxes for the rich, it’s class warfare. When the GOP proposes $3 trillion in cuts for low-income programs while proposing marginal tax cuts for the top bracket, it’s “getting things under control.”
The House voted on a much better budget this week. No, that wouldn’t be the Congressional Black Caucus budget, which wasn’t a budget, so much as an anti-Wall Street placard with numbers. The better budget would have cut about half as much spending as Ryan. It would have raised tax revenue by a little more than $1.2 trillion, more fairly than the president’s plan, and less than the proposal from the Senate’s bipartisan Gang of Six. It was based on the president’s deficit commission, which got a majority vote in committee from both Democrats and Republicans. It was balanced. It got things “under control.” And it failed, predictably, by a vote of 382-38.
[Image: The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
Scooter LaForge photographed by Walt Cessna NYC 11
Taylor Lautner’s Glittering Dream