Declaration in Support of the Indymedia Network and Against the Seizure of its Servers
On 7 October, 2004, hard drives from two Indymedia servers were seized from the London office of a US-owned web hosting company, Rackspace, at the request of the US Justice Department, apparently in collaboration with Italian and Swiss authorities.
The seizure of the hard drives in London shut down an Indymedia radio station and around 20 different Indymedia websites including those serving Ambazonia, Uruguay, Andorra, Poland, Western Massachusetts, Nice, Nantes, Lilles, Marseille, Euskal Herria (Basque Country), Liege, East and West Vlaanderen, Antwerpen, Belgrade, Portugal, Prague, Galiza, Italy, Brazil, UK, and parts of Germany Indymedia.
Although the hard drives were returned on October 13, the particular legal framework under which the seizures took place is unknown. One week after the seizures there is still an almost total information blackout from the authorities in the UK, US, Switzerland and Italy. Indymedia still has no confirmation of who ordered the seizures, who took the hard drives, why the seizures took place, or whether it will happen again.
In response, people all over the world have endorsed the following Declaration:
Peaceful Bush Protesters Attacked in Jacksonville
src="http://rogueimc.org/icon/2004/10/3335.jpg"
width="180" height="135" border=0 alt="Riot cops in Jacksonville?">
On Thursday the 14th, around 200 non-violent protesters gathered in peaceful demonstration to unWelcome George W. Bush in Jacksonville were attacked without provocation by police using pepper spray and less-than-lethal projectiles fired at close range.
Firsthand accounts: TEAR GAS & RUBBER BULLETS in Jacksonville, OR (includes original updates), Police Riot at Bush Protest in Jacksonville
Pictures: photos from Jville
Organizers, victims and witnesses will convene a press conference on Friday, October 15 at 2:00 pm at City Hall in downtown Jacksonville, 110 E. Main Street, to give testimony about the excessive use of force by police.
Eyewitnesses and anyone with photos or video documentation of police violence are encouraged to attend the press conference Friday. Please post comments or personal accounts to the IMC.
Press conference: Press Conference Called to Address Excessive Police Violence in J'ville
Read more
FBI seizes Global Indymedia Servers. Reasons Unknown
(from UC-IMC / Global IMC / Wire Reports): The FBI took the hard drives of Global IMC servers in the USA and the UK. It appears that a court order was issued to Rackspace (Indymedia's service provider with offices in the US and in London) to physically remove the hard drives from Global Indymedia servers (backup servers are now in place). Rackspace was given no time to defend against the order before it was acted upon and turned over the hard drives, both in the US and the UK. The servers hosted numerous local IMCs, including UK Indymedia, Belgium, African imcs, Palestine, UK, Germany, Brasil, Italy, Uruguay, Poland, Belgrade, Portugal and others.
During the Republican Convention, the ISP of the NYC IMC was informed that it was the subject of a Secret Service / FBI investigation into an article submitted to its Open Newswire identifying delegates at the RNC. While the FBI has made it clear to members of the press that the investigation is ongoing, there is not necessarily a connection between events in NYC and the FBI's seizure of the Rackspace servers. Currently, much of the speculation about the reasons for the FBI's move centers around photographs posted to the IMC-Nantes website.
"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"
The Labor Film Series at Dryden Theatre will present "The Revolusion Will Not Be Televised", at the Dryden Theater of the George Eastman House this Friday, Oct. 8 at 8 p.m The film is about the corparate media's attacks on popular leader Hugo Chavez and the portrayal of his 2002 kidnapping as a resignation and legitimate ousting.
Student Suspensions: What Are They Good For? Community Panel Looks For Solutions
Distinguished members of the Rochester community gathered at Frederick Thomas High on Saturday, Sept. 18, to discuss the effects of student suspensions or as Reverend Blackman of St. Luke Tabernacle Community Church put it, "to take care of family business." He noted that the problem is happening not just in Rochester but in urban communities across the country.
Navigating the border between fiction and reality
Buffalo, NYÂ Â Â Â Â Â The rain that deluged Rochester for two days let up just in time for a miraculous sunset equal in color to the stain-glass windows of Buffalo's First Presbyterian Church, for which a thousand people were packing into on the evening of Thursday, Sept. 9. They were there to hear Arundhati Roy, the poetic political essayist from India and author of The God of Small Things, take words off a page in a conversation with Amy Goodman of the popular news program Democracy Now!
Link to Audio of Interview with Rochester Indymedia
More Updates From the RNC Protests
Tuesday, August 31: Waves of autonomous, well-planned, yet unpermitted direct actions swept the streets of Manhattan today. They stopped traffic, performed street theater and crashed parties, striking fear in the hearts of delegates. While none of the actions today could claim to have brought down the walls of the Empire, they may have, through their boldness and volume erroded some of the layers of its facade. [summary],
[categorized links].
The actions on Tuesday resulted in numerous arrests, Indymedia estimates around 800. Many people reported poor conditions at the holding cell at Pier 57 where arestees were initially held, including chemical residue on the floor. Reports of jail conditions: [1], [2], [audio report],
[Christian Science Monitor report].
Wednesday, September 1: AIDS activists from ACT-UP, infiltrated the convention hall and disrupted a speech to the Youth Convention, chanting, "Bush lies. Stop Aids. Drop the debt now." [report].
Later on, over 2000 activists took the streets to for a March on Media to protest the state of mass media and to call for independant media that is unmoderated by corporate interest. [report]
Photo Summary of A29 in NYC
Today in New York City, 500,000 people marched in solidarity with the rest of the world, denouncing policies of the U.S. government from every possible angle. After a 6-hour long march, protesters did not just pack up their signs and go home. Various autonomous contingents sprawled out across the city, doing everything from a "kick the heads of state" soccer game in Central Park, to jail solidarity demonstrations for those arrested, to a relentless verbal assault campaign on Republican delegates trying to hide out in Broadway theaters. "Republican scum! Your time has come!" was a chant that could be heard up and down the avenues this afternoon.
Photos and commentary:
UFPJ march [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ]
UFPJ march anti-imperialist contingent [ 1 ]
Dragon fire [ 1 ] [ video ]
Times Square [ 1 ] [ 2 ]
Cops taping protesters in Times Square [ 1 ]
Kiss-in [ 1 ]
Central Park [ 1 ]
Mouse bloc [ 1 ]
RNC actions kick off with high-spirited entrance by DNC marchers
The DNC 2 RNC march began in Boston following the Democratic National Convention, and arrived in Manhattan today. They had been marching for over a month and for 258 miles. The reason for the march, according to the DNC2RNC, is that, "rather than representing the interests of the people, both Democrats and Republicans choose to build systems of violent exploitation." The march bridged the DNC protests in July with the upcoming RNC protests, and called attention to the overwhelming similarities between the Democrats and the Republicans.
George W. Bush, The Neocons, & The Nazis: Ties That Bind
There are numerous connections between the Bush family and the Nazis. Moreover, the philosophy of the neocons within the Bush administration has already been connected with fascism. However, no article has attempted to present an overview of the fascist connections within the Bush administration. This article will begin to outline the fascist connections between the present Bush administration and the Nazis, using a two-prong approach. The philosophical roots of Bush and the neocons can be traced back to one of America's notorious fascists.