Close the School of Assasins!
This weekend, thousands will gather at Fort Benning, Georgia -- one of the largest military bases in the world and home of the notorious School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC) -- to confront injustice, to speak out for truth, to change oppressive US foreign policy and to shut down the SOA/WHINSEC and the racist system that it represents.
Vermont Independence Convention: Confronting the Empire
On October 28 a statewide convention on state secession and running on the theme “Vermont Independence: An Impossible Dream or a Vision of the Future?†was held in the State House in Montpelier, VT. The last time a convention similar to this was held took place in North Carolina in 1861 when the state decided to secede from the US.
Two Marches Beat As One
Joining of March Against Iraq War and March Against City Violence in Rochester, NY, on 10/29/05
Legislation in Washington Attacks Public Access TV
For three decades public access TV has provided thousands of communities around the nation with a place where ordinary people can make and air media that matters to them. It’s estimated that over 1.2 million people volunteer on a regular basis at public access TV stations. They make programming on every imaginable subject, from cultural issues to self-help programming for immigrants. From targeted programming for youth, for seniors, for women, for the disabled, to faith based programs and televised psychics. Today in America public access TV is one of the richest ‘marketplaces of ideas’ in the nation – but this under immediate threat from three Bills now pending in Washington.
Victory for Locked-out Workers at Interafce Solutions!
src="http://rochester.indymedia.org/usermedia/image/7/crowdedit.jpg" alt="STRIKE" border="1" align="Left" HSPACE=3 VSPACE=1>[permalink] "VICTORY AT INTERFACE!!!!" were the first words I read in a forwarded email sent to me on Oct. 8th by Jason Crane, a local organizer for UNITE-HERE.
The email continues, "The workers at Interface Solutions - represented by UNITE-HERE Local 701T - have agreed to a new contract that puts them back to work. The agreement is a big improvement over management's 'last, best and final' offer back in July."
Workers at Interface Solutions in Fulton, NY had been working without a contract since July 1. On August 13, workers were effectively and forcefully locked out, thrown on the street against their will. Workers on shift were removed by security guards; those not on shift were given a simple phone call and told not to come in to work. Scabs were sent in from out of town to continue with production.
Workers' grievances stemmed from a long history top-down abuse from management headed by Deborah Morris. Morris and company had been working on gutting retiree benefits, incentive bonuses, health coverage for workers and their families and cutting salaries among other things. All of these abusive and anti-worker actions were embedded in the management-created contract (before the contract was canned in August). Not one worker voted in favor of this contract.
It did not take long for the workers, all of them members of Local 701T- UNITE-HERE, to organize. Alan Bryant, a union representative based out of NYC, was called in to offer help and lend a hand. Legal actions were eventually taken – charges have been filed on behalf of the UNITE-HERE union workers and their families that the lockout is in fact illegal. As of this writing, the status of the lawsuit is unknown.
The workers demanded their jobs back, accompanied with a fair contract and won both. The future will tell if the perpetrators of crimes against workers will recieve their comeupance. To honor the victory, a rally will be held in front of the factory outside of Fulton on Route 481, Monday Oct. 10th at 6:45 AM.
The email concludes, "This lockout has lasted seven weeks - and these workers won this fight because of their solidarity and the solidarity of people like YOU! We raised over $8000 for the workers, sent many messages to the company to end the lockout, and gave support on the picket line and at rallies. Everyone
should take heart in this victory! This victory shows what labor can
accomplish when we support each other." Read the full article here.
Additional Information:
UNITE-HERE! | Lock-out of Interface Solutions workers enters fifth week - 09/12/05
Non-Profit Food Pantry Dropped as Client by Legal Aid Society
[permalink] In a letter sent to the Grievance Committee for the Seventh Judicial District, Andrew Stankevich, Director of Friends Helping Friends (FHF) food pantry, stated that the Legal Aid Society of Rochester, NY, who was representing FHF in two previous eviction hearings, suddenly and without notice, dropped the food pantry as a client citing a "conflict of interest." The conflict was not elaborated upon.
FHF exists, "To foster multi-cultural collaborations focusing on distributing food products and supplies to those in need." The web site continues, "The Community Food Distribution Program has years of experience in organizing low-income people, while receiving and redistributing perishable groceries."
FHF feeds "approximately 500 people per week."
The letter states that, "[FHF] had been involved in a 'nasty landlord-tenant' dispute that stemmed from Bruno Coccia, the owner of 367 Lyell Avenue, raising the rent on Friends Helping Friends after FHF’s lease expired in April of 2005."
The Legal Aid Society is there to "...ensure that those who seek justice have an opportunity to receive a fair and full hearing." The vision of the society states that they, "Will create an environment in our community that values access to legal counsel, so every person is treated with dignity, equality, and fairness."
It appears from Stankevich's letter that, "...dignity, equality, and fairness" have all been tossed out the window in regards to the FHF case. If the mission of the Legal Aid Society is to provide legal access to everyone as well as a chance for clients to receive a "fair and full hearing," then it would appear the Society has failed.
Since the eviciton, FHF has been looking at possible new spaces, in particular one on Child Street and could be moving-in in a few months. In the meantime FHF is asking that people write to the grievance committee on their behalf. Comment here.
2nd Rochester Anti-War Conference
The Second Regional Rochester Anti-war conference took place Saturday September 17th at the School Without Walls. The Event, was organized by R.A.W. (Rochester Against War), with the broad goal of "empowering us, ordinary people, to take a stand for justice and equality and effect the course of history, toward a more peaceful and equitable society."
The opening Panel ; "Strategies for Rebuilding the Anti-War Movement" consisted of a talk and discussion with Victor Parades, brother of Pablo Paredes a Navy War Resister and Brian Lenzo, member of "Rochester Against War" (RAW) and the International Socialist Organization (ISO)"
The participants of the conference then divided into four groups, each group addressing a different topic in a facilitated workshop. The workshop titles consited of ; "The War on Terror: Behind the Rhetoric", "Forgotten Voices: Veterans and GI Dissent", "Military Out of Our Schools" , "Troops Out Now: The Case for Withdrawal."
'Bring Them Home Now Bus Tour' Comes to Rochester
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Calls Made for Participation in Local Antiwar Conference, National March
in DC
The Bring Them Home Now Bus Tour pulled through Rochester Tuesday morning on its way from Crawford Texas to the national antiwar march in Washington, DC initially called for by ANSWER and UFPJ.
The Event drew some 300 supporters, who gathered outside the Downtown United Presbyterian Church to listen to the testimony of members of the tour.
One of the speakers, Stacy Bannerman, whose husband served in Iraq until June 2004 expressed the urgency of the situation. "The war has come home, because those National guard and reservists [in Iraq] are often school teachers and firefighters and emergency workers and ambulance drivers in our communities," she said. When our national guard soldiers are coming back from where they’ve been, after seeing what they’ve seen, and they’re not getting the care and support that they need, how well do think they’ll be able to protect and serve their communities."
Members of the tour left Camp Casey in Crawford Texas at the end of August and have been reaching out to military families, veterans, and concerned citizens in cities and towns across the country. The Tour is spreading the truth about the war in Iraq, mobilizing people to gather in Washington, DC on September 24th and asking Congressional decision-makers the hard questions Cindy has asked President Bush concerning the immorality of this war.
Peace Action and Education, a task force of Metro Justice, and Rochester Against War helped organize the tour stop. Comment here.
Additional Information: Metro Justice | Get on the bus to DC!
NYC Indymedia: NYPD Stops Cindy Sheehan Speech, Cuts Mic, Disperses Enraged Crowd
GSA Club Taken Away From Marshall High School-Sign the Petition/Take Action NOW!
In 2002 students at John Marshall High School (Part of the Rochester City School District) approached me and asked me to help them organize events that supported LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer) youth. In 2003 we started an official GSA club. The story that follows was written in June 2005. Since then I have been transferred out of Marshall High School, leaving the students with no advisor for the GSA club. Without an advisor, the club no longer exists. I was recently forwarded information about a petition which can be found at http://www.petitiononline.com/RochGSA/petition.html.
The informatin contained in the petition and website was written by an outside party, not by Erica Eaton. The following article, the petition and the URL listed does not represent the policy or opinion of the Rochester City School District.
Let's Talk About Racism: How Does It Function?
One of the most critical issues within U.S. society, which nearly everyone agrees exists, is individual and institutionalized racism, which are inseparable from each other --- but we rarely talk openly, especially across racial lines, regarding the perpetuation and functionality of racism. Lets talk.