What's Another Columbus Day?
This past Monday was Columbus Day. How should one reflect on Columbus and the national holiday that allows children a day off from school, the closure of some institutions, and sales galore? Was Columbus the honorable sailor, adventurer, and navigator--devoid of misdeeds as the mythos states? Or were Columbus and his men responsible for the murder, rape, and brutality exacted upon an indigenous population ending in genocide? Do we want to live in a sterilized, fantasy environment? Or do we want to know the truth? Do we care?
Howard Zinn, speaking on the subject of school children learning about Columbus said, "It has to be done carefully. You don't want to crowd into their minds horrible pictures of violence and blood -- we don't want to do what the movies and television do to them all the time."
The author of A People's History of the United States continued, "And yet at the same time, we must not hide the truth from them. Because if you begin hiding the truth from them at that early age -- then it goes on and on."
James Loewen, the author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, calls Columbus a "racist killer" pointing out that the brutality inflicted by Columbus and his men through slavery, rape, and murder eventually lead to the indigenous population's annihilation. Loewen's book documents the failings of 12 US high school history textbooks citing "bland optimism, blind patriotism, and misinformation." In the case of Columbus, he found that the textbooks focused too much on Columbus the hero and downplayed or omitted his misdeeds.
"They would... take Indians from place to place with them -- as dog food -- as a kind of mobile dog food," said Loewen. "When they got to where they were going for the night, [they would] allow the dogs to tear one of them apart and eat them."
So, do we care? What's the point of making a moral judgement about a person who has been dead for over 500 years? Why worry about Columbus Day at all?
The Transform Columbus Day Alliance states that, "Columbus' actions set the foundation for legal and social policies -- still used today in United States, Mexico, Canada, South America and in many countries around the world."
It is those "legal and social policies" that continue to oppress, brutalize, dominate, and eradicate indigenous peoples today. Therefore, if we are moral people and we recognize that the foundation of the United States and its institutions were created through a tradition of aggression, domination, and colonialism and those same tendencies continue 500 years later (Iraq, for instance), then we, as citizens of the most privileged nation in the world, have a responsibility to halt the murder of indigenous peoples (indeed, all subjugated peoples) and the destruction of our earth by any means necessary. That is why we ought to care about the passing of yet another Columbus Day and the legacy it leaves in its wake.
Video/Audio c/o DemocracyNow!: Challenging Columbus Day: Denver Organizers Discuss Why They Protest the Holiday
Additional Information:
Transform Columbus Day | Bartoleme de Las Casas, Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies (1542) | Christopher Columbus and the Indians by Howard Zinn | Why the American Indian Movement of Colorado Opposes Columbus Day and Columbus Day Parades | Colorado IMC: Statue of Columbus Toppled in Caracas, Venezuela; Solidarity Actions World-wide | Boston IMC: Brookline High School Students Repudiate Columbus Day | Boston IMC: Columbus Day Celebrates Genocide | Philly IMC: Columbus Day -- another day of struggle and civil disobedience around the world. | Houston IMC: Chican@ week at University of Houston
Are you being Taken for a Ride?
On September 29th (This Friday!) at 7PM, Rochester Indymedia, in conjunction with TV Dinner, will be screening Taken for a Ride, which "reveals the tragic and little known story of an auto and oil industry campaign, led by General Motors, to buy and dismantle streetcar lines. Across the nation, tracks were torn up, sometimes overnight, and diesel buses placed on city streets."
"The highway lobby then pushed through Congress a vast network of urban freeways that doubled the cost of the Interstates, fueled suburban development, increased auto dependence, and elicited passionate opposition. Seventeen city freeways were stopped by citizens who would become the leading edge of a new environmental movement," states the website.
The film is 52 minutes long and was directed by Jim Klein. It will be showing after Critical Mass.
What: A screening of Taken for a Ride
When: September 29th at 7:00PM
Where: St.
Joseph's House of Hospitality at 402 South Avenue
Why: After event for Critical Mass
What is Critical Mass?
"Critical Mass is a monthly bicycle ride to celebrate cycling and to assert cyclists' right to the road. The idea started in San Francisco in September 1992 and quickly spread to cities all over the world. Critical Mass has no leaders, and no central organization licenses rides. In every city that has a CM ride, some locals simply picked a date, time, and location for the ride and publicized it, and thus the ride was born. CM is an idea and an event, not an organization."
Find out more at about Rochester Critical Mass here.
Duck Shot Dick and the Malcontents
[permalink] September 22, 2006--Dick Cheney, Second War Criminal in command, continues to be hounded by malcontents where ever he goes.
The Duck Shot Veep stopped by Rochester Friday afternoon to raise money for Randy Kuhl, another Republican with Guns in the proverbial [and literal?--Ed.] closet.
A Democrat and Chronicle article reported that for a mere 1000 US Dollars admirers could get their picture taken with Cheney. So from about 4pm til 5:30pm some local Fat Cats braved the near 500-member strong anti-Cheney demonstrations downtown to sneak into the Riverside Convention Center on Main Street.
There were two protest events. An anti-war protest was called for Friday afternoon, after news of the Cheney visit hit the press. An Ad Hoc group consisting of Genesee Valley Citizens for Peace, Rochester Against War, RIT Antiwar (a chapter of the Campus Antiwar Network), the International Socialist Organization and many other Rochester-area peace groups and individuals organized the event.
The event started with Speakers and Chanting in Washington Square Park on Court Street. The Throng then marched the 3 Blocks along Clinton, and Main Streets to the area accross from the Riverside convention Center.
The Rochester Police Department guarded the front of the Convention Center, but no major confrontations were reported.
The other protest event was called by ADAPT Rochester, a disability rights group.
A release sent by ADAPT reads: "While Kuhl's campaign collects $1000 from each person that wants their photo with the Vice President - our people are stuck in institutions, living on $35 per month. While Kuhl's campaign collects $150 for everyone attending the dinner fundraiser - our people are stuck in institutions, with little or no meal choice. While Vice President Cheney flies back out of town, our people still don't have accessible, affordable, integrated housing."
Photos: Bush | Cheney: A Mass Murderer | Condi and Kuhl } Folks at the Protest | More Folks at the Protest | Dying Child | Genesee Valley Citizens for Peace | The Raging Grannies | Approval | Liar! Liar! | Allegiance | No Billionaire Left Behind | No Human Being is Illegal | Occupation is a Crime! | Presidental Candidate Piss Pot | Rochester Ananrchist Forum/War Criminals Out! | Shot | Stop Wiretaps!
SHAC 7 Case Comes to a Close--Fulmer Gets 1 Year and 1 Day, Stepanian Gets 36 Months
[permalink] Trenton, NJ—September 19th was the final day of sentencing for the SHAC 7. Darius Fulmer and Andy Stepanian were greeted by 30 supporters at the Trenton Federal Courthouse that morning. Both men were convicted of conspiracy to violate the Animal Enterprise Protection Act of 1992 this past March.
SHAC or Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty is an international effort to shut down Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), Europe's largest contract research organization (CRO), which has gained international notoriety for its animal cruelty and bad science. Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Fulmer, the second to last defendant to be sentenced, spoke about his commitment to his position as an emergency medical provider and how it had turned his life around. He asked the judge for leniency and a probationary sentence.
Assistant US Attorney Charles McKenna disagreed with Fulmer’s plea for leniency by bringing up his past arrest record as well as the fact that in his statement to the court, Fulmer never apologized for the tactics used by SHAC against HLS.
Federal District Court Judge Anne E. Thompson concluded that for deterrence purposes a sentence of 12 months and one day would be sufficient punishment coupled with a year of probation and joint restitution, among other stipulations.
The last defendant to be sentenced, Stepanian, stated, “I’m very scared; I don’t want to go to jail." He apologized to his friends and family for the grief he was putting them through.
McKenna stated that, “The notion of being well intentioned will insulate you [from the law], is a notion that needs to be disused." He urged the court to grant the maximum sentence of 36 months in prison.
Judge Thompson agreed with the prosecution and sentenced Stepanian to 36 months in prison with a year of probation following his release. She also ordered him to pay joint restitution with the rest of his co-defendants.
While the judge was reading the sentence to Stepanian, he fell down into his chair, unable to stand; his mother in tears and Fulmer along with their lawyers, surrounded him and gently soothed him attempting to calm him down.
Court was adjourned. The defendants will be appealing from prison.
It was a demoralizing day as it marked the end of a process where six people, devoted to their communities, devoted to animal and human liberation, principled and passionate, were sentenced to time in prison—labeled terrorists—for speaking out against cruelty and yet the real terrorists, Huntingdon Life Sciences and the US Government, continue to murder and torture animals and humans for private gain on a daily basis.
This isn’t over though. The struggle for animal and human liberation continues as does the SHAC campaign. It will not be silenced by this act of tyranny as long as people with consciousness continue to struggle and do the right thing.
They're in there for us; we're out here for them.
Read the full story here.
Action Taken: 23 Rabbits Liberated for the SHAC 7
Video c/o YouTube.com: Time for Action | Time for Action 2 | Time for Action 3
Additional Information: SHAC 7 Support Site | Inside HLS | SHAC | the Green Scare | North American Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network | New England Anti-Vivisection Society | Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
SHAC 7 Defendants Sentenced This Week
[permalink] Trenton, NJ—The SHAC 7, who were convicted in March of 2006 under the contentious Federal Animal Enterprise Protection Act of 1992, labeled “domestic terroristsâ€, and “allegedly operat[ed] a website that reported on protests against the investors, stockholders, and customers†of Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), were in court on September 12th and 13th for sentencing.
The Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty or SHAC campaign is an international effort to shut down Huntingdon Life Sciences, Europe's largest contract research organization (CRO), which has gained international notoriety for its animal cruelty and bad science. HLS tests products by forcing animals to inhale or ingest excessive amounts of chemicals, sweeteners, designer drugs, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The CRO, with labs in New Jeresy and London, kills approximately 500 animals every day including rodents, cats, dogs, primates, and rabbits.
Part of the SHAC campaign involves a divestment strategy to eliminate support for HLS, which has been successful enough to drive the lab 80 million dollars into debt, run its share price into the ground, get it kicked off both the New York and London stock exchanges and convinced hundreds of institutions around the world to sever their relationships with the lab.
Throughout their trial, the defendants maintained their actions constituted free speech and that their 1st Amendment rights had been violated by the US government. Because of the convictions, the State now has legal precedence to go after any activist or organization that is effective in their actions and speech for social justice causes.
The seven defendants—SHAC USA Inc., Kevin Kjonaas, Lauren Gazzola, Jake Conroy, Josh Harper, Andy Stepanian, and Darius Fulmer—4 of which received sentences ranging from 3 to 6 years on the first and second days of sentencing with the last two defendants listed above to be sentenced next week, were greeted to a packed courtroom of some 150 activists from around the country with another 50 or so waiting outside at the Trenton Federal Courthouse.
All seven defendants were ordered to pay joint restitution to the “victim,†HLS, in the amount of $1,000,001.00, among other stipulations such as self-surrendering to the appropriate authorities within 30 days.
Read the full article here.
Things you can do:
Attend the sentencing next Tuesday in Trenton, NJ.
When: September 19th, 9 a.m.
Where: Trenton Federal Courthouse, 400 East State St., Trenton, New Jersey
Judge Anne Thompson's courtroom (4th floor)
Transportation: There is free parking a few blocks away and a paid lot one block away. The courthouse is transit accessible. Take New Jersey Transit, Septa, or Amtrak trains to the Trenton station. Courthouse is 2 blocks away.
Also check out the SHAC 7 support site for further information and mailing addresses of these 6 convicted activists.
Additional Links:
Inside HLS | SHAC | FBI Witch Hunt | the Green Scare | North American Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network | North American Animal Liberation Press Office
"i" Premiere in Rochester Saturday at St. Joe's
Rochester Independent Media Center and TV Dinner are co-sponsoring a Screening of "i", a Documentary dealing with Argentina IMC and the Indymedia Network.
When: September 9, 2006; 7pm
Where: St. Joseph's House of Hospitality,
402 South Ave, Rochester, NY.
Contact: 585-305-1594
sacco@riseup.net
From the website: http://ithefilm.com/about
"i" is a meditation on the relationship between media and power as it is manifested by the worlds largest all volunteer network of media activists — Indymedia. The feature-length documentary follows the first year of a small collective in Buenos Aires as it struggles amidst assassinations, a collapsing economy, and a whirlwind of political upheaval.
The film's directors will be on hand to present the film and participate in discussion.
Screening of Soma; an Anarchist Therapy
Soma, an Anarchist Therapy: Screening and Workshop
Hungerford Bldg Gallery Space
Door 7, 1115 E. Main Street
Wednesday, July 12 7pm-9:30pm
Call 585-305-1594 for more info
Soma: An Anarchist Therapy (DVD shot in Brazil subtitles in English) With difficulty walking and half-blinded from torture by the Brazilian military dictatorship, 79 year old Roberto Freire continues to develop somatherapy, completing his life's work. Incorporating the ideas of Wilhelm Reich, the politics of anarchism, and the culture of the martial art / dance capoeira angola, Soma is used by therapists organized in anarchist collectives to fight the psychological effects of
authoritarianism.
Using Art to Save Lives
By Willis Anderson
Contributing Journalist
about time magazine
How many of Rochester's young people died from acts of violence in 2005
- something like two dozen? What are we doing to make the city safer
for them in 2006? Someone once said, 'Failing to plan is automatically planning to fail.'
The Baobab Cultural Center has a plan: create a weekly forum where young people can experience culture, broaden literacy skills and have fun.
Language Arts Wednesdays is held every week at the center,
located at 315 Gregory St., beginning at 7:00 pm. The idea is to engage
teenagers in poetry slams, freestyle competitions, singing,
storytelling and other activities.
500 Demonstrate in Rochester for Immigrant Rights
On Monday evening, Rochester joined with over 100 cities around the United States as part of a National Day of Action for Immigrant rights. Demonstrators assembled downtown in front of the Federal Building , carrying flags and banners with messages like “Ningun ser humano es ilegal: No human being is illegal.†After gathering at the Federal building, the crowd listened to speakers and chanted slogans before marching roughly Two Miles to San Miguels Church at Clinton and Clifford.
No Human Being is Illegal! Ningun Ser Humano es Ilegal!
NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS!
A coalition of religious, labor, political, and service organizations in the city of Rochester have called for a march and rally in support of
Immigrant Rights, as part of a National Day of Action to be held on Monday April 10th, 20006.
The action is in response to the Sensenbrenner
Bill (HR4437), which would criminalize all undocumented immigrants and their supporters. Inspired by the recent protests in major cities such as Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago, the organizers hope to galvanize members and supporters of the immigrant community in Rochester to press for equal rights for all immigrants and their supporters.
The march will begin at 4pm at the Federal Building on State Street and culminate at
the hall of St. Michael’s Church on North Clinton Avenue. The event is free and open to the public. All who support immigrant rights are
encouraged to attend.