Local News

1st Monday Mayhem: Taking a Closer Look at the Women's Equality Agenda!

Submitted by Flying Squirrel Community Space on Sat, 2013-05-04 16:42

This month we'll be discussing the Women's Equality Agenda!

The Women’s Equality Agenda will help ensure that New York’s 10 million mothers, daughters, sisters and wives get a fair shake. This groundbreaking legislative agenda will level the playing field and break down barriers so women can more fully and equally participate in society.

The Flying Squirrel Community Space collective has invited KaeLyn Rich to give a presentation about the agenda. She is the new Director of the Genesee Valley Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union and was formally the community affairs coordinator at Planned Parenthood of the Rochester/Syracuse Region, where she was responsible for legislative advocacy, government relations, coalition building and the regional campus organizing program. KaeLyn has also worked at Services to Aid Families, a rape crisis/domestic violence program in Oswego and serves on several local non-profit boards.

After KaeLyn's presentation, the community is invited to engage in conversation about the agenda.

Call for Action in Wake of Bangladesh Building Collapse

Submitted by Labor-Religion Coalition of NYS on Fri, 2013-05-03 22:36

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02548/bangladesh-collaps_2548149b.jpg

original article: http://www.labor-religion.org/2013/04/29/workers-memorial-day-stop-the-murders-of-garment-workers/#.UYj0QYJOk4A

On Wednesday in Bangaldesh, thousands of workers were trapped as the Rana Plaza building – which house six garment factories – crumbled to pieces.  These workers were denied their right to refuse dangerous work: they were told that they would lose a month’s pay if they didn’t report to work the day after cracks appeared in the walls.  Four hundred people have already perished as a result of Wednesday’s tragedy and it remains unclear how many more victims will be found as they clear the rubble.

The tragedy comes days after Sumi Abedin and Kalpona Akter met with New York State legislators and held a public speak out about deadly working conditions of the fire at the Tazreen factory, including locked doors and barred windows.  Their goal was to encourage Governor Cuomo to adopt a Sweatshop-Free Procurement Policy that included fire and building safety measures. (Read about their visit with a local high school class here).

Ending the Fabrication of the War on Terror: Lessons from Africa--a workshop by Horace Campbell

Submitted by T. Forsyth on Fri, 2013-05-03 22:30

On April 27, 2013, Horace Campbell presented a workshop titled "Ending

the Fabrication of the War on Terror: Lessons from Africa" at the Resisting

Drones, Global War and Empire convergence in Syracuse, NY.

 

Part 1 is Horace's opening remarks.

Watch Now!

Part 2 is the discussion that occurred but in audio format rather than video. It is 46 minutes and 18 seconds long, so please give it time to load.

Listen here: http://www.radio4all.net/files/anonymous@radio4all.net/16-1-Horace_Campbell_audio_part_2.mp3

Rochester Free School to Host Open House

Submitted by Rochester Free School on Thu, 2013-05-02 21:03

Rochester Free School

sharing knowledge ~ building community ~ educating each other

The Rochester Free School will host an Open House on May 4, 2013 from 11:00 am – 3:00 pm at the First Universalist Church located at 150 Clinton Avenue, Rochester, NY 14607. This event is free and open to the public and focused on adults (primarily) teaching and learning a wide variety of subjects.

Taking anarchism seriously

Submitted by Phil Ebersole on Thu, 2013-05-02 20:58

 

original article at: https://philebersole.wordpress.com/2013/04/26/taking-anarchism-seriously

rochester.red&black.logo_nI read The Conquest of Bread, the classic 1892 work by the anarchist thinker Peter Kropotkin, as part of a reading group organized by Rochester Red and Black.   Kropotkin was a revolutionary communist anarchist.  He was dead serious about eliminating government, laws, money and corporations, as well as private property over and above what an individual could personally use.

How can you be both a communist and an anarchist?  The one thing that libertarians, socialists, conservatives and liberals agree on nowadays is that equality and liberty are tradeoffs—that to get more equality, you have to sacrifice liberty, and vice versa.

Circles, violent circles, and systems.

Submitted by Kaitlin Legg on Thu, 2013-05-02 20:53

original aritcle taken from: http://upandrise.tumblr.com/post/48133452039

We experience terrible things, unimaginable things, things that are a slice of something larger. The terrible things are sliced out of other things, more violent things, more corrupt things carried out by entire institutions, by people who are voted into power, by people who have power, by people who need to feel power every single day. These slices press against other slices, slice of things that aren’t spoken. They rest next to the invisible ones; they are sliced away from the ones that don’t matter to us because we don’t think the experience could also be ours.

…and so, what does one do? And what are the things I am talking about? What does one do with blood, with words, with systems, with weapons of war (blood, words, systems)?

What do the people look like, the ones you offer to help? To whom you offer your sadness? How do we deal with violence and ugliness when the violence and ugliness interrupt our lives, or when they don’t interrupt our lives at all?

I have always made sense of life by finding circles, by feeling rhythms, and by sensing the overarching energy that connects my senselessness to the senselessness of others. I write today not because I want to silence anyone. I write because we all are hurting, and because those hurts get closer and closer to us, and because it seems as if the pain we inflict on each other is ceaseless. It is time, as it always has been, to ask WHY? And to not stop at the question but to reach for an answer.

Civil Resistance, What is it? and why do we do it?--a workshop

Submitted by T. Forsyth on Thu, 2013-05-02 20:46

On April 27, 2013, Ellen Grady and John Hamilton presented a workshop titled "Civil Resistance, What is it? and why do we do it?" at the “Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire" convergence in Syracuse, NY.

Part 1 is of John and Ellen presenting on the topic.

Watch!

This is part 2 of the workshop. Part two is the discussion portion of the workshop and it is an audio file.

Listen here: http://www.radio4all.net/files/anonymous@radio4all.net/16-1-civ_res_audio_discussion_part_2.mp3

Anti-Drone Banner Drop in Syracuse, NY

Submitted by Rochester Indymedia on Thu, 2013-05-02 19:20

April 27, 2013: Members of Veterans for Peace dropped an anti-drone banner off the top of a parking garage near Montgomery and Fayette just before the start of an anti-drone convergence called "Resisting Drones, Global War and Empire."

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

Syracuse, NY Post-Standard

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

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?

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/

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station, Rochester, NY. [PHOTO: Provide by Al from Wolcott, NY]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…

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

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

On April 19th, 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 26th to 28th. 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.)

Government Watchdog and Environmental Groups Join Call to Scrap the SGEIS

Submitted by Riverkeepers on Thu, 2013-04-25 18:34

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 25, 2013

Contact:
Susan Lerner, 212-691-6421 (Common Cause/NY)
John Armstrong, 607-220-4632 (Frack Action)
Tina Posterli, 516-526-9371 (Riverkeeper)

New Review Shows Further Revelations of Additional Disturbing Conflicts of Interest

An interview with Kathy Kelly from Voices for Creative Nonviolence

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

On April 19th, 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.)

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.

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.)

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.”

We Can Make Change - Debra Sweet Interviewed

Submitted by T. Forsyth on Sat, 2013-04-20 11:17

On April 18, 2013, Rochester Indymedia interviewed Debra Sweet, an anti-war organizer and director of The World Can't Wait. 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.)

DIY Windmill Project Kicks Off Earth Week

Submitted by AlBrundage on Fri, 2013-04-19 14:57

 

Earth Week 2013 started off at Greenovation on East Main St with the meeting of a new Group called DIY Renewables. The initial group consisted of 15 people working in conjunction with another project known as In the City Off the Grid. "The Grid" refers to the private, centrally controlled electrical distribution system; in Rochester's case that's RG&E. "We re at the end of an empire that has built itself on consumption and commodification of human lives. Poverty is not an accident and control of energy has a lot to do with it."

Plans are to convert a permanent magnet motor such as this one from an electric wheelchair into an electrical generator

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