Grocery Strike Rally Called for Fri., Jan, 23
Mark Gabrish Conlan/Zenger's Newsmagazine,

UPDATE: 1-25-2004 :  http://www.sdimc.org/en/2004/01/102730.shtml

The San Diego-Imperial Counties Central Labor Council has called a mass rally for Friday, January 23, 3 to 5:30 p.m., at the Community Concourse, 202 "C" Street downtown, in support of striking and locked-out grocery workers. The rally will be followed by a march to the downtown Ralph's market at 101 "G" Street. Other upcoming actions include an organizing meeting for a Grocery Workers' Support Group Wednesday, January 21, 6 p.m. (dinner), 7 p.m. (meeting), at Activist's headquarters, 4246 Wightman Street in City Heights; a guest picket Sunday, January 25, noon to 2 p.m., at the Mission Hills Vons at 450 West University Avenue; and a fundraiser for the striking and locked-out workers Friday, January 30, 6 p.m. at the Machinists' Hall, 5150 Kearny Mesa Road.
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S.D. Girl Scouts Support Military Actions
Eric Isaacson,

San Diego Girl Scouts 2004 Cookie-Sales Kick-Off Rally at Sea World Supports "Operation Iraqi Freedom," Joining President George W. Bush in Proclaiming "Mission Accomplished"

The San Diego-Imperial Girl Scouts organization apparently drafted our children - - without our informed consent - - to participate in a public demonstration of support for a right-wing President's program of aggressive military adventurism. Adventurism that a Girl Scout spokeswoman praised as "preserving our freedoms."
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Upcoming and Recent Events in San Diego
lotus,

San Diego is buzzing with activity right now! We're off to a great new year start!

Just this week, San Diego saw an incredible speaking engagement from Fernando Suarez, and a powerful impromptu demonstration against Tom Ridge.

The coming weeks look like they will be equally great, with lots of events happening!

Saturday, January 17, 2004 - 9:30 a.m. : Join the SDCPJ contingent in the Martin Luther King Jr. Parade. See the SD Coalition for Peace and Justice website for details and a flyer.

Monday, January 19, 2004 - 3:00 p.m. : radioActive sanDiego MLK Jazz Tribute

Tuesday, January 27, 2004 - 8:00 p.m. : David Rovics, Prince Myshkins, Al Howard and The Radical Fucking Cheerleaders doing a benefit show for radioActive sanDiego. Details, flyers and directions at the radioActive sanDiego website.

Listen to the announcement here: 1 2

Friday, January 30, 2004 - 7:00 p.m. : Public Forum on the Triple Border Fence including speakers from the Audobon Society, American Friends Service Committee and the ORGANIC Collective
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Protest Tom Ridge in SD-this Thursday 6pm!
forwarded by Marion Delgado,

Funeral for Democracy at Channel 10 s Homeland Security Town Hall Meeting with Tom Ridge, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security.

Who: Anyone concerned with stopping racism, defending immigrants, protecting privacy, opposing empire, promoting peace, supporting activists, and saving our Constitution

What: Funeral for Democracy at Channel 10 s Homeland Security Town Hall Meeting with Tom Ridge, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security

When: 6-7:30 p.m., Thursday, January 15, 2004 (The event is 8-9 p.m., with doors opening at 6:30 and closing at 7:30. More event details can be found at  http://www.thesandiegochannel.com/news/2747797/detail.html)

Where: KGTV Channel 10 News Studios, 4600 Air Way, San Diego, CA 92102 near the 94 & Euclid Avenue (click here for directions and link to map:  http://www.thesandiegochannel.com/kgtv/178485/detail.html)

UPDATE: Brief recap of the protest here:
 http://sandiego.indymedia.org/en/2004/01/102625.shtml

Read more >>

Ford: Holding America Hostage to Oil
lotus,

Environmental and Human Rights Activists Scale Downtown Skyscraper and Release Giant Banner to Protest US Oil Addiction. Among those involved were several activists from San Diego.

The unfurling of the banner occurred as people entered the LA Auto Show just blocks away. The banner was designed to raise public awareness about how Ford Motor Company and other auto manufacturers are needlessly keeping the US dependent on oil by refusing to increase the fuel economy of their vehicles.

"A typical Ford vehicle on the road today gets fewer miles per gallon than the Model-T did 80 years ago," said Jason Mark, Clean Car Campaigner with the human rights group Global Exchange.

Jumpstart Ford | Rainforest Action Network | LA Indymedia
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Organizing for the New Year!
sdimc,

2004 promises to be a big year for activism in San Diego. The upcoming elections will bring new faces to the activist scene in San Diego (San Diego Alliance for Clean Elections). The March 20th International Day of Action Against War will bring new invigoration to the struggle against Bush and his allies.

There are also several local events that promise to inspire San Diegans to action. On February (21st and 22nd) San Diego Youth Action Network (part of ASD) is planning their second annual Student Activism Conference. In October, the IMC is helping to organize a conference on community media.

On the subject of alternative media, Radio Active Radio is broadcasting a selection of music and activist programming, Alternate Focus is broadcasting a strong program about Middle East issues on local public access channels, and the San Diego Free Press will be printing new issues beginning February 1st.

Links to stories for the New Year: SD, Anarchism for the New Year | "Clean Elections" Candidate Begins AD Race | organize: bicycle recycling, toolshare coop | radioActive sanDiego kickoff week | Volunteer with SDIMC

radioActive sanDiego kickoff week
lotus,

RadioActive San Diego is a new online radio station, broadcasting on the internet, started to create positive social change in San Diego. To commemorate the 10 year anniversary of the Zapatista uprising in Mexico, radioActive will be holding a kickoff week starting on January 1st, which will include interviews, music and spoken word.

Listen online at  http://radioactiveradio.org


Read more >>

Hate Crime @ Soma Venue
Bob Ugly,

Racialy motivated attack at San Diego's music venue "Soma" results in a stab wound, and two suspects who were reported shouting "Aryan Nation!" and "White Power!"
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Support Supermarket Strikers Dec. 20!
Mark Gabrish Conlan,

An important rally to support striking and locked-out supermarket workers in San Diego and throughout Southern California will be held Saturday, December 20, 1 p.m. at the Albertson's on 150 B Street in Coronado. Your participation is urgently needed to boost the morale of the workers, who went into this strike not expecting it to last 12 weeks or to tax the union movement's resources as seriously as it has.

Update:: 12/22/2003 ::
Community Groups Strike Commentary | Union Member Strike Commentary
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IndyMedia/Action Network Holiday Party! FRI.
sdimc,

JOIN FELLOW ACTIVISTS this Friday night for a PARTY at the Joyce Beers Community Center! Help us say Farewell and Thank You to the San Diego Action Network for seven years of community forums.

The San Diego Action Network and San Diego Independent Media Center (IMC) are presenting a Holiday/Farewell Party FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 7 to 9 p.m., at the Joyce Beers Community Center, Vermont Street north of University Avenue, between Terra and Aladdin Restaurants at the Uptown District mall in Hillcrest.

Admission to the party is free. Dinner and drinks will be offered for a donation of $3 to $5 and up to benefit the San Diego IMC. Music and other entertainment will be offered.

The party is being held to commemorate the San Diego Action Network, which is bringing to a close its seven-year series of informational programs on local issues affecting San Diegans.

RadioActive San Diego (  http://radioactiveradio.org ) will be broadcasting live from the party, so tune in online! (That is if you live in Chicago or somewhere and can't make it out to Hillcrest!)

Read more >>

The Information Wars Have Begun
lotus,

In the United States, the FBI is raiding homes for videotapes and computers containing contraband information, detaining people indefinitely for not divulging their personal information, and arresting people for illegally spreading information. The information wars are raging around us. In Venezuela, the media played a major role in overturning the US backed coup.

This week the UN World Summit on the Information Society takes place from December 10th-12th, 2003. As the heads of governments decide how to further restrict the flow of information to allow them to retain control, people are meeting in their own democratic, self-organized counter summit, WSIS, We Seize!.

Topics covered in the forum include migrant workers and the information society, the link between freedom of communication and freedom of movement, and autonomous media. Videos shown will include the documentary "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" and a film on infowar techniques used in Miami.

There will be live audio and video streams from the conference, and you can participate in the forums online, via chat rooms.

Update 2003/12/09 :: The polymedia lab, where many of the We Seize events were being worked on, was raided by the Geneva police this morning. They are currently looking for a new physical location.
Photos | Video

Update 2003/12/10 10:53AM PST :: The polymedia lab has found a new home and the We Seize events are continuing as planned.

Update 2003/12/11 2:29PM PST :: Highnoon audiovisual project video stream is up! Watch it here.

listen to the live stream coming out of geneva on radioActive radio.
High Quality / Broadband | Low Quality / Dialup

WSIS, We Seize! | Hub::Eur@ction Project | Official UN WSIS Website
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International Human Rights Day 2003
CCWP,

Join us in delivering thousands of petitions to Governor Schwarzenegger in this year's Human Rights Day! This event is part of statewide actions in Eureka, L.A., San Francisco, Palmdale, and other cities across California!

December 10, 2003 | 11:30am | Downtown San Diego 220 West Broadway



Read more >>

Dec 13 - Walk from Chicano Park to the Border
,

Sponsored Walk (Caminata)
To Promote the End of Operation Gatekeeper and Defend Our Human Rights

Saturday, December 13, 2003 10AM to 4PM

Chicano Park--all the way to the last US exit towards Tijuana.

Sponsor a walker!

More information: Call (619)696-9224 or  coalicionproderechos@hotmail.com
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New Counterpunch Article Covers Sherman Austin and San Diego Raids
MERLIN CHOWKWANYUN, c/o lotus,

On Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2003, Sherman Martin Austin began serving one year in federal prison under terms of a plea agreement for which he was sentenced on Aug. 4, 2003.

Austin, the 20-year-old African-American founder and former webmaster of the anarchist website www.raisethefist.com, pleaded guilty to "distribution" of information about making or using explosives with the "intent" that the information "be used for, or in furtherance of, an activity that constitutes a Federal crime of violence." Such was deemed illegal under a relatively obscure federal statute, 18 U.S.C. 842 (p)(2)(A), pushed through Congress by Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein in the late 1990s. The offending material, which Austin repeatedly has emphasized he did not author, was housed on an isolated section of Austin's web server, and a small portion of it contained amateurish instructions on how to assemble simple explosives.

Read more >>

"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"
Mark Gabrish Conlan,

When Irish TV documentarians Kim Bartley and Donnacha O'Briain went to Venezuela in late 2001 to start a film about the country's populist president, Hugo Chavez, little did they know they'd be at Miraflores, Venezuela's White House, when a plot hatched by army officers, corporate bureaucrats and the private owners of five of the country's six TV stations organized a march aimed at forcing Chavez from power. For two days the coup -- supported, if not sponsored, by the U.S. -- succeeded in setting up a transitional government and holding Chavez under arrest, until a popular uprising supported by Chavez's Presidential Guard led to his restoration. The resulting film, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," shows from Friday, December 5 through Thursday, December 11, 5:05 and 9:40 p.m., at Landmark's Ken Cinema, 4061 Adams Avenue, (619) 819-0236.
Read more >>

SOA protests report
KayDubya,

A local activist gives a summary of this year's action at Ft. Benning, Georgia, aka, the School of the Americas, aka, the School of Assasins.
Read more >>

MA Same-Sex Marriage Decision Comments
Various (posted by Mark Gabrish Conlan),

On November 18 the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued a landmark ruling stating that nothing in the Massachusetts state constitution allows the state government to offer civil marriage to opposite-sex couples while denying it to same-sex couples. The court gave the Massachusetts legislature 180 days to amend the state's laws to allow Gay and Lesbian couples to marry. Opponents of the decision, including state governor Mitt Romney (a Republican and a Mormon), vowed to amend the Massachusetts constitution to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples -- but under state law they can't actually pas such an amendment until 2006.

Full text of the Massachusetts court decision

Transcript of ABC-TV Nightline program on the issue, November 18, 2003

November 28th is Buy Nothing Day!
lotus,

In observance of what may very well be the most important holiday of the year for the anti-capitalist movement, people in at least 55 countries will celebrate "International Buy Nothing Day" this weekend. Begun in 1993 by the founders of Adbusters, the concept has taken root in diverse communities and manifested in multiple ways in cities throughout the world. In Europe, International Buy Nothing Day (BND) is celebrated the last Saturday in November (the 29th) while in the United States and Canada the event has coincided with the day after Thanksgiving. The latter date was chosen in response to the fact that the last Friday of November has become, due to intentional marketing strategies, the "biggest shopping day of the year" in the United States. BND was conceived as a protest against the religion of consumerism, and the multiple ways in which the imperative to shop is implicated in systematic violence throughout the world. In its positive aspects, BND is a celebration of life, community and local autonomy.

Meanwhile, a group of "anarcho-situationists" from Montreal have decried Buy Nothing Day as a "misplaced...notion of consumer empowerment." Seeking to raise the bar on anti-consumerist action, they have called for Steal Something Day, to be held Friday, Saturday and everyday.

Local actions are being planned for buy nothing day. Keep your eyes and ears open!

Video - commercials for BND | Global Feature
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Chargers Sue San Diego
Tom Delong,

San Diego Chargers sue the City of San Diego in a Los Angeles court.
Read more >>

National Security Is Air Tight
Bob Ugly,

While John Ashcroft and his cronies are checking your library records, the Army has its sniper and heavy machine gun manuals on the Internet.
Read more >>