Rochester Indymedia

Cultural Criticism

31 protesters arrested for blocking drone base

Submitted by Repost from the Syracuse Peace Council on Sun, 2013-04-28 22:10

(Ed. Note: This article is taken from the Syracuse Peace Council website. As soon as we get more info from Syracuse, we will update this piece. Rochester Indymedia will be posting plenty of video re: the workshops, interviews, and the march and protest today in the coming weeks.)

More than 250 protesters challenge drones, war and empire at Hancock Field Air Base
31 protesters arrested for blocking base entrance and other civil resistance

The protest started in front of the Thompson Road entrance to the base. After speeches, music and poetry, the protesters marched down East Molloy Road in a dramatic funeral procession to the base's main entrance, where several were arrested for laying down and blocking the main entrance to the base. Others were arrested for various acts of civil resistance. Sunday's rally was part of the three-day weekend event Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire: A Convergence to Action. See the Post Standard photo collection.

Police and Jails

Protest / Resistance

Bruce Gagnon: Stop the Militarization and Nuclearization of Space!

Submitted by T. Forsyth on Fri, 2013-04-26 13:52

On April 22, 2013, I interviewed Bruce Gagnon, the coordinator of the organization Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. He will be going to Syracuse, NY on April 26-28th for the “Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire" convergence. (See the FaceBook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/540569232649914/?ref=22.)

In this interview, Bruce talks about a component of drone warfare that
happens hundreds of miles above the Earth and all over the globe without much fanfare--namely the satellites and down link stations that give remote pilots real time control over drones. He calls this satellite technology "the trigger." Bruce also talked about the dangers of a nuclear space, capitalism's march toward "opening new markets" in space, the United States Space Command's vision for the future called "Visions for 2020" (a real work of dystopian, global hegemony), among other topics.

Drones are apart of US space warfare, essentially. I call the satellites the triggers on the drones because without the satellites, you essentially aren't able to shoot them; you're not able to really fly them; you're not able to see the pictures back at Creech [Air Force Base] and other places around the country where they are flying these drones from. The satellites are crucial links in the whole program.

Bruce Gagnon: Stop the Militarization and Nuclearization of Space!

For more about the upcoming, anti-drone "Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire" convergence in Syracuse, NY, please go to Upstate Drone Action dot org.

Globalization

From Solo to Seven Piece

Submitted by TheRochesterInsomniac.com on Thu, 2013-04-25 21:01

original article: http://66.147.242.195/~theroche/2013/04/11/from-solo-to-seven-piece/

So how did Paxtor get started?

I moved here from flagstaff Arizona about three years ago. For a long time I did solo performances, after a while people started trickling in and we ended up with a seven piece band.’

When you started playing did you realize it was going to turn into such a big band?

No, not at all, it has taken much of a band type feel; people can actually dance to our music. When it was me solo it was a little drone like and spacey. It has defiantly evolved over time, and a lot more samples are being used.

Do you think it is easier or harder to write music as you add band members?

Everyone in this band is so freaking good that I don’t have to tell them to do a whole lot. They catch on really easy and just play. I have been in a lot of band in my life and this band works the best with each other.

I would say it has been easier; we just finished recording a seventeen track album. We just got a rough mix of a few songs so we expect it to be out early summer.

What’s the song writing process like?

A lot of the times I will right the base of the song then we flesh the song out together. Everyone writes their own parts. It is not like I have to direct them in any way; I trust them to play good music.

What do you think of the Rochester music scene?

I really dig it, it’s different. I came from Flagstaff, and did house shows for about three years. There was a lot of punk and metal. Living here it is so different it is so diverse; there is a lot of diversity here. I got lucky by moving into the house I did, there is so much going on here and so many awesome people, it has been an awesome experience.

I come from a really quiet mountain town, people always ask “Why Rochester?” it was total coincidence but it totally worked. I moved here for music and it has really worked out.

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Arts and Entertainment

Media

Miscellaneous

Youth Culture

All Aboard The Ontario Car Ferry!

Submitted by RochesterSubway.com on Thu, 2013-04-25 20:30

original article: http://www.rochestersubway.com/topics/2013/04/ontario-car-ferry-company-rochester-to-cobourg/

I get a ridiculous amount of email here in the Rochester Subway. Most of it isn’t really worth sharing but occasionally I get a diamond in the rough. So here’s one from the mailbag…

Al from Wolcott, NY sent me this great photograph today along with a question. He writes, “Someplace on the internet I recently ran across a comment that the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg Railroad terminal was the place where people boarded a passenger train for Charlotte and then got on a boat for a trip to Cobourg, Ontario. Can you confirm this?” Yes. Yes I can. But first, let’s look closer at this photo…

The image Al sent is of a steam train at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station (formerly Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg Railroad) here external link on West Main. You may recognize the station building as Nick Tahou’s.

The photo was taken by Al’s friend and fellow Kodak employee sometime before 1965, because, he says, that’s about when Al printed it from the negative. But we don’t exactly when it was taken. There is a billboard sign for Neiman’s Liquor Store in the background. I found liquor license notices and ads for Neiman’s (at 288 West Main St.) from 1966 going back as far as 1939. And the automobile seem to be early 1940′s vintage.

Al thinks the photo was taken from the B&O freight house; but the freight house is actually in the shot, to the left of the tracks. From the angle I’d say this was taken from the Brewster Gordon and Company building on Canal Street. Today it’s known as the SoHo Center external link , and at one time it was Eastman Kodak Camera Works Building W. Maybe that could offer a clue as far as the date? When was Kodak in this building? I have no idea.

If you think you can pinpoint the date drop a comment below.

Now, back to Al’s original question: was there a passenger ferry from Rochester to Cobourg, Ontario, and did this railroad line bring passengers to the ferry?

Yes.

This page at CobourgHistory.ca external link does an excellent job detailing the history. So I’ll just list a few of the highlights…

The Ontario Car Ferry Company was a joint venture by the Grand Trunk Railway (Canada) and the Buffalo Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway (U.S.). It was set up primarily to offer speedy export of coal shipments from Pennsylvania to Montreal. Rochester was immediately chosen as the southern ferry terminus, and after some deliberation Cobourg was chosen as the northern.

ONTARIO No. 1 sailed from the Genesee Dock (where Turning Point Park external link is today) for the first time November 19, 1907, with 28 cars of bituminous coal.

The company did not immediately advertise for passengers, but in 1909, began to carry them between Memorial Day and the end of September. For the most part, the company adhered to a schedule sailing from Rochester at 9:00 A.M. and returning in the afternoon. ONTARIO No 1 was fitted with berths for 90 people, buffet facilities, a music room, and what were by the standards of the car ferries, ample public accommodations. She was licensed for 1000 deck passengers.

According to this article external link in City Newspaper, a round-trip ticket on the Cobourg ferry cost $2.30 in 1948, which is equivalent to roughly $18 today.

The Ontario Car Ferry Company was the only car ferry line on the Lakes to have a regular boat train connection. Beginning in 1909, with the opening of passenger service, the BR&P scheduled a boat train out of its Rochester station half an hour before sailing time. The boat trains, number 407 northbound and 406 southbound, were well patronized during the summer months and ran for 33 seasons.

The Ontario Car Ferry Company was financially successful and in seven years of service, ONTARIO No. 1 had logged 2,000 trips with no major accidents. Traffic had increased to a level that justified a second ferry, and in 1914, the company ordered ONTARIO No. 2 from the Polson Iron Works of Toronto for $458,000. With the arrival of ONTARIO No. 2 the company began to operate passenger service daily except Sunday from July 1st through the Labour Day weekend, with three weekly trips in June and September.

The company never carried passengers between October and May, apparently preferring the flexibility in dispatching of freight-service-only for the seasons when storms and ice descended on the Lakes. The long approach to Genesee Dock up the river was frequently an operating problem, and on January 25, 1920, both ferries were caught in pack ice for several hours. The company continued its admirable freedom from major accidents, however. The photo above is circa 1928.

Passenger excursions declined after World War II, and the aging ferry boats eventually became too costly to maintain. Service was ended in 1950 and both vessels were scrapped.

Transportation/Bicycles

Sarah AK Ahmed, an Iraqi, grew up through Two Decades of War

Submitted by T. Forsyth on Thu, 2013-04-25 20:07

sarahahmed.JPG

On April 19^th, 2013, I interviewed Sarah A.K. Ahmed who grew up in Iraq and lived through the Gulf War in the early 1990's as well as the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003. While in Iraq, she worked on a number of small projects as well as with a volunteer group, Youth and Educational Development Council. She got a full scholarship to study at the University of Rochester but had to return to Iraq because of family issues. She returned recently to the United States to speak at the United Nation's Commission on the Status of Women and to participate in the upcoming convergence “Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire” happening in Syracuse, NY from April 26^th to 28^th. Currently, when she is in the US, she calls New York her home. (See the FaceBook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/540569232649914/?ref=22.)

In this interview, Sarah and I spoke about her role in the upcoming Syracuse convergence where she will be speaking on a panel called “The Human Face of War,” her perspective on jobs and the economy in Iraq, the lack of civic awareness about what the US military is doing abroad, and paper air planes, among other topics.

People from China are coming to work in factories and for oil companies and this is sad because Iraqi people cannot work. Why are the companies bringing these people to work from outside the country? It is because they will work for lower wages than Iraqi people would accept. The percent of unemployment is sky high.

Listen here: http://www.radio4all.net/files/anonymous@radio4all.net/16-1-Sarah_Ahned_4_19_13_final.mp3 (It may take a few minutes to load, please be patient--also, editor foul, Sarah calls NY her home, not Chicago.)

For more about the upcoming, anti-drone "Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire" convergence in Syracuse, NY, please go to Upstate Drone Action dot org.

An interview with Kathy Kelly from Voices for Creative Nonviolence

Submitted by T. Forsyth on Wed, 2013-04-24 11:09

On April 19^th, 2013, I interviewed Kathy Kelly—a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, which is a campaign to end United States military and economic warfare. The website is VCNC dot org. Kathy has lived in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen and one of the roles she will play at the convergence is to relay those experiences and give a human voice to the lived reality of people over seas who deal with drone surveillance and are murdered by drone attacks on a daily basis. Kathy, and many others, will be attending “Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire" convergence, April 26 - 28 in Syracuse, NY. (See the FaceBook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/540569232649914/?ref=22.)

In this interview, Kathy and I spoke about her role in Voices for Creative Nonviolence, her travels abroad where she met individuals and families hurt by drone warfare, the connections between the Military Industrial Complex and the Prison Industrial Complex, and her entry into the antiwar movement, among other topics.

We want to always try to understand what's happening from the point of view of the people who can't escape from these wars. I'm sure many military people also feel trapped.

Listen here: http://www.radio4all.net/files/anonymous@radio4all.net/16-1-Kathy_Kelly_4_19_13.mp3 (it may take a few minutes to load, please be patient)

For more about the upcoming, anti-drone "Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire" convergence in Syracuse, NY, please go to Upstate Drone Action dot org.

Cultural Criticism

Surveillance / Privacy

Hancock Drone Resisters Found Guilty; Sentencing is April 24

Submitted by Repost from the Syracuse Peace Council on Tue, 2013-04-23 16:25

FIVE HANCOCK DRONE RESISTERS

to be SENTENCED WEDNESDAY,

APRIL 24

At 6 pm, Wednesday, April 24 in DeWitt (NY) town court Judge Robert Jokl will sentence five Hancock drone resisters for peacefully blocking the main entrance of Hancock air field last October 5, 2012.

The Judge found the five guilty of “trespass” in an April 18 bench trial. The five were among ten who had attempted to deliver a citizens’ indictment to the base commander and personnel for ongoing war crimes being perpetrated with weaponized Reaper drones over Afghanistan.

Noting that the October 5 defendants weren’t disobeying the law, but rather seeking to enforce international law, defendant Jim Clune told Judge Jokl, “We have no need to work at cross purposes here. Law is a wonderful instrument when it safeguards and promotes life, and it should be used for that purpose.”

A sixth defendant, Martha Hennessey, a New York City Catholic Worker, was found not guilty in absentia.

The October 5 action is one of a half dozen such initiatives at Hancock by Upstate Drone Action, a grassroots group opposing Reaper war crimes.

Those found guilty:

Jim Clune of Binghamton, Brian Hynes of the Bronx, Ed Kinane of Syracuse, Julienne Oldfield of Syracuse, and Mark Scibilia-Carver of Trumansburg.

Statement from drone resister Ed Kinane dated April 24, 2013:

While my remarks this evening are pre-sentencing, they are also post-verdict. So I feel a need to comment on your verdict of last Thursday evening. But first I do want to express my appreciation to you, Judgge Jokl, for, last Thursday evening, being attentive, for listening, for doing nothing to obstruct our defense. The recently deceased Constitutional scholar Ronald Dworkin once argued that a citizen has a (quote) “moral responsibility…not only to form convictions of one’s own, but to express these to others, out of respect and concern for them, and out of a compelling desire that truth be known, justice served, and the good secured.”* (unquote). I would argue that judges are also citizens and have similar responsibilities. I would further argue that while judges – indeed all citizens -- have a “moral responsibility” to express our convictions for the sake of justice and for the common good, we also all have the responsibility to act on them. Acting on our convictions is exactly what the ten of us did at Hancock air base last October 5.

If PL 140.05, the trespass statute under which you found the five of us guilty, were the highest law of our land, I would have only certain qualms about accepting whatever legal maximum prison sentence you might impose. (I’m not even going to comment on this court’s custom of levying fines, as I can see no link whatsoever between such punitive actions and justice. Similarly, incidentally,can I see any link between this court’s penchant for promiscuously issuing orders of protection and anyone’s safety.)

Sir, you and I both know that PL 140.05, is not the highest law of our land. According to Article Six of the U.S. Constitution, International law trumps both local and federal law. You surely have sworn to uphold that Constitution. So it’s likely you have studied the U.S. Constitution and Constitutional law. But since memory can be rusty, let me read aloud Article 6: This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding. I believe that in finding us guilty you chose to ignore Article 6 and you chose to ignore International Law. While I hold the U.S. Constitution and International Law in high esteem, I consider neither sacrosanct. Far higher in my mind is Ronald Dworkin’s standard of the common good and the standard of justice. And by those standards I believe your verdict last Thursday evening failed

Thank you.

Ed Kinane

*Ronald Dworkin, “The Coming Battles Over Free Speech,”The New York Review, June 11, 1992. (Cited by David Cole, page 6 of the May 9, 2013 NYRB.)

On Guard! Your Government Isn't Trustworthy! An interview with Col. (ret.) Ann Wright

Submitted by T. Forsyth on Mon, 2013-04-22 10:00

On April 19, 2013, Rochester Indymedia interviewed Col. (ret.) Ann Wright, a former US Army colonel and diplomat who resigned over the invasion of Iraq. She has since become an advocate for peace and an anti-war speaker and organizer. She will be going to Syracuse, NY on April 26-28th for the “Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire" convergence. (See the FaceBook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/540569232649914/?ref=22.)

In this interview, Ann talks about her decision to leave the government, blowback from families of people murdered by drones, the abolition of the war machine, and drone programs in other countries, among other topics. Her prefered sites of information on drones are Know Drones dot com, a Code Pink effort called Drones Watch dot org, and of course, Upstate Drone Action dot org.

It is problematic when the US leads the way in illegal use of weapon systems (drones). You can be assured that other countries will follow suit very quickly.

Watch Now!

On Guard! Your Government Isn't Trustworthy! An interview with Col. (ret.) Ann Wright

For more about the upcoming, anti-drone "Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire" convergence in Syracuse, NY, please go to Upstate Drone Action dot org.

Protest / Resistance

Blog #19: Targeted Killing

Submitted by Jalil Muntaqim from his blog Behind the Walls on Sun, 2013-04-21 17:39

Blog #19: Targeted KillingMonday, February 25, 2013

original article can be found at: http://jalilmuntaqim-behindthewalls.blogspot.com/2013/02/blog-19-targeted-killing.html

The U.S. Senate and various arms of the media are questioning the Obama administration’s use of drones for targeted killings of U.S. citizens who are members of Jihadist Islamic groups. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is quoted as stating his intent to: “pull out all the stops to get to the actual legal analysis, because without it, in effect, the administration is practicing secret law.” (NY Times, 2/7/13)

On August 25, 1967, J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBU, initiated a counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO). On page 3, the memo reads: “You are also cautioned that the nature of this new endeavor is such that under no circumstances should the existence of this program be made known outside the Bureau, and appropriate in-office security should be afforded to sensitive operations and techniques considered under the program.”

The COINTELPRO operation has been legalized under the auspices of the Patriot Act, so that the purposed of COINTELPRO as originally initiated is no longer unconstitutional. As a result of COINTELPRO, many Black Panthers during that time were targeted for killing, the most noted probably being Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in Chicago. The point is that the U.S. government has been involved in secret targeted killings of U.S. citizens for decades; many remember the bombing of the MOVE family in Philadelphia, from which collateral damage resulted in an entire community being destroyed.

So, as the Senate Intelligence Committee proclaims astonishment that the Obama would engage in a secret program to use drones to target and kill U.S. citizens deemed “terrorists,” historically the U.S. government has been engaged in this practice for decades. “The purpose of this new counterintelligence endeavor is to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities of Black nationalist, hate-type organizations and groupings, their leadership, spokesmen, membership and supporters, and to counter their propensity for violence and civil disobedience.” Given the reality that drones are now being operated inside the U.S., coupled with the legalization of “neutralizing” U.S. citizens deemed “terrorists” by virtue of the Patriot Act and the broader 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, the progressive anti-imperialist and anti-racist activists should become wary. This is especially true when considering the FBI’s March 9, 1968 COINTELPRO memorandum that specifically stated: “Negro youths and moderates must be made to understand that, if they succumb to revolutionary teachings, they will be dead revolutionaries.”

The propensity of the U.S. government to kill (neutralize) its citizens to maintain the status quo corporate profit motive, i.e. capitalist-imperialist government, should not be mistaken in any activist’s mind. The U.S. government, in its desperation to seek profits over the needs of people, will become ever more repressive. The overt development of the police state, with media acquiescence, presenting a moral imperative that members of law enforcement, by virtue of having passed a civil service exam, are heroes, creates a profound social contradiction. Whereas law enforcement personnel are to serve and protect citizens, the greater potential exists that they will operate as corporate automatons to preserve the capitalist ideal of profits over people.

Hence, there is a need for initiating a broad-based national dialogue of the relationship between poor and oppressed peoples and law enforcement. This is essential to obviate the U.S. government’s long history of targeted killing of citizens, dissenters or otherwise! (See Blog #2: Government Sanctioned Killings).

In fierce struggle,

Jalil A. Muntaqim
Attica: 2-19-13

Jalil Muntaqim/A. Bottom   77A4283, Attica C.F.
  P.O. Box 149
  Attica, NY 14011-0149

Anti-fascism / Fascism

Globalization