Big Idea Rag #2 - Toledo Welcomes Nazis + WTO Hong Kong

Big Idea Rag #2
The Tabloid for Activist Scenesters

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Toledo Welcomes the Nazis + WTO Hong Kong

In This Issue:

1.Toledo Welcomes the Nazis
2. WTO Hong Kong
3. Interview with Organizers of the New West Chicago Infoshop
4. Inside AmeriCorps Orientation
5. Radical Advice
6. Vegan Recipe: Tomato Eggplant Curry

Download the full-color PDF with photos!

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1. Toledo Welcomes the Nazis

On December 10, 2005 the Nazis and White Power freaks from the National Socialist Movement (NSM) invaded Toledo, OH for the second time in three months.

The NSM drew international attention to Toledo when they attempted to march through a residential neighborhood on October 15th, 2005. Their march was aborted when the police targeted about 700 members of the community, and those standing in solidarity with them, as they voiced their resistance to the invasion of the neighborhood by racists.

Before the action, the city of Toledo stifled civil liberties and trampled first amendment rights by declaring that protests were not legal in any area of the city except the designated “protest zone” where the NSM rally was to take place.

In addition, four people were arrested on December 10 at a Toledo library while talking about organizing a protest against the Nazis. They had not yet begun to protest or taken any other action.

Several out-of-town activists were arrested in a car on their way to the protest, simply for being present in the city before the rally was to take place.

"We didn't even know that it was illegal to assemble where we did," said and out-of-town activist who was arrested. "We didn't even protest at all. We didn't have a megaphone or anything."

“In the suburb where I grew up, several men in my high school graduating class were white power advocates. They later became police officers,” says Chris Peoples, a spokesman for the Anarchist Black Cross, Cleveland branch.

“The police department and City Council of Toledo had a responsibility to speak out against the NSM, advocates of hate who came to Toledo in order to harass and demean Toledo residents. Community activists were violently assaulted by the police, and several people still remain in jail, simply for standing up and demanding that Nazis stop their campaign of hate and intimidation.”

A Toledo newspaper, the Blade, went ahead and reported the names of those arrested, even the juveniles (the Cops in Toledo didn’t bother to separate those under 18 from the general population, and even gave their names to the papers), putting them and their families at risk for Nazi retaliation.

Activists have reported that the name and home address of at least one out-of-town activist arrested at the counter-protest has been published to a Nazi web site.

A local NLG lawyer stepped up to the challenge of defending the 25 arrestees, and gave interviews to the corporate media outside the courthouse, as did several out-of-town activists who went to Toledo to support their incarcerated friends.

Resources:
NSM Web Site:
http://www.overthrow.com

Bill White, NSM Leader
(540) 798-1393 dhyphen@yahoo.com
Post Office Box 8631
Roanoke, VA 24014
_____________________

Edited Re-Post from Cleveland Indymedia
By Alex Gould, workers.org

Chanting "No Nazis, No KKK, No Police Intimidation", about 200 anti-fascist demonstrators made themselves heard in Toledo as the city rolled out the red carpet for the second National Socialist Movement rally this year.

Toledo residents opposing the Nazis were joined by groups from across the Midwest. The Nazis were far outnumbered by the anti-Nazi crowd when they finally peeked out at us from behind four massive rows of riot cops and began spewing their message of terrorism and genocide at the multinational and very unwelcoming audience below them at the City Hall plaza.

The city authorities allowed the Nazis to use a sound system but forbade anti-Nazi protestors from carrying picket signs or megaphones.

But what the Nazis lacked in numerical strength was made up for by political support from the city of Toledo, county sheriffs, state highway patrol, and cops and SWAT teams from as far away as Michigan who came to harass the anti-Nazi protestors.

Knowing that they could not guarantee the Nazis safety in the neighborhoods, the city of Toledo obtained a court order from judge Thomas Osowik, which awarded the Nazis center stage in downtown Toledo. The Nazis protested this limitation in court, and the weight of the court injunction was not aimed at them but at anti-Nazi protesters.

We were confined to a small protest pen, which was entered through a metal-detector and pat-down search with individual photographs of each protester by the cops. Protesters were not allowed to carry bags or backpacks into the designated protest area.

Even before the rally began, the police had set up an assembly-line arrest and booking operation in the police station next to the rally site, and the arrests started. In Monday's Toledo Blade, Judge Francis X. Gorman said, "We had this whole thing planned out really well", referring to mass arrests of anti-Nazi protesters.

29 people were arrested, more than one out of ten of the protesters. The cops repeatedly rode their horses into the dense crowd of protesters, stomping on at least one protester's foot, and dragged people, including this reporter, out of the crowd by their necks and into the waiting jail cells.

Elizabeth O'Brien of Lansing, Michigan says she was shocked repeatedly with a Taser by the police and has 35 welts on her left thigh. Ileana Cortez of Detroit was charged with assaulting a police horse, although no injuries to police animals were reported. No Nazis were arrested, although three local racists who infiltrated the protest were arrested.

The city of Toledo showed that they would use any means necessary to give fascists an unobstructed platform from which to spread their genocidal, racist garbage. This time, the counter-protesters were not numerous or organized enough to decisively defeat the Nazis and their cop friends, but despite overwhelming police oppression they made it clear that Nazis were not welcome in Toledo.

To view more photos and read reports from the corporate and indy media, visit Cleveland Indymedia:
http://cleveland.indymedia.org.

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2. WTO Ministerial Conference Hong Kong, 14 -18 December 2005:

Day One Report
Edited from UK Indymedia Post
By Tom Grundy

Protestors gathered last night at the Wan Chai loading bay near the Sports Centre last night, police in riot gear outnumbered demonstrators almost 2-1.

The crowd included protestors from Hong Kong, across the world and particularly South Korea. Several Korean activists jumped into the harbour and attempted to swim over to the venue hosting the WTO talks. Police stopped those involved before they could reach the Exhibition Centre, 3 of the swimmers were taken to a nearby fire station.

Some pushing and shoving began as a small number of activists tried to break through the police line to reach the Exhibition Centre. Police responded with pepper spray, injuring 9 people including Hong Kong’s best-known activist, and now politician, Leung Kwok-hung (or ‘Long Hair’). Well-known local protestor Matthew Pearce was also present, dressed as Superman.

Prominent law professor and globalization critic Jane Kelsey wrote, “The Hong Kong government is mustering all its propaganda skills to create a climate of fear as the meeting approaches, to justify cracking down on any dissent and keep the substantive issues off the front pages."

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3. EXCLUSIVE! Interview with Organizers of New West Chicago Infoshop

“We’re actually making all the decisions based on consensus”
Anonymous Organizer

For the past year, anarchists and other organizers in the Chicago suburb of West Chicago have been working together to jump through all the hoops required to find and rent a space for radical organizing.

Organizers say the biggest struggle has been finding a building with rent they can afford. They held their first meeting in the new space, unofficially being called, “The Space,” last weekend.

“The new Infoshop has lots of potential,” says an anonymous organizer.

“We’re planning to have a bookstore, a free library, a stage for bands and other events, an art gallery for local artists, free trade coffee, and free classes and workshops.”

Organizers say their collective is, “drama free,” and they plan to keep it that way!

Look soon for an announcement on Chicago Indymedia of the Grand Opening of The Space.

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4. EXCLUSIVE! Inside the AmeriCorps / VISTA Pre-Service Orientation
Rosemont, IL

This month, recipients of next year’s VISTA grants met at the Windham hotel in Rosemont, IL for orientation and indoctrination.

According to our inside source, the White Rabbit, VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) is the indirect service branch of AmeriCorps, a federally sponsored program designed to systematically end poverty.

501-C3 Not For Profit orgs. can submit work plans for a VISTA slot, which pays an individual organizer about $800 a month (or 105% of the poverty level) for healthcare and living costs.

“VISTA is a way for people who are fighting poverty through community organizing to get grant money,” says the White Rabbit. “But you have to have a good ‘face’ and interact with a lot of people at a professional level to get the grant.”

Although VISTA grant recipients are forced to swear an oath to, “defend the Constitution from enemies forign or domestic, with true faith and without any mental reservations,” VISTA is not allowed to discriminate based on political or social affiliation.

Inside the conference, new grant recipients were given lyric sheets and forced to sing the, “12 Days of VISTA,” and “Serving in America,” to the tune of James Brown’s “Working in America”.

According to the White Rabbit, there were a good number of undercover radicals in the crowd, and a general anti-Bush sentiment. Organizers of the orientation repeatedly told new VISTA members that their commitment to the program should be on a 24/7 basis, and that they must stop all of their political organizing during their year of service.

These statements were greeted by grumbling in the crowd, with the general consensus being, “Who cares what they say? We’ll organize for (or against) whatever we damn well please.”

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5. Radical Advice from Buffy the Empire Slayer and the CPF Minister of Goofy Art

Q: If I ask my boyfriend (Wait, no, my lover. Ummmm, I mean my partner) not to sleep around, does that mean I’m not an anarchist?
Signed, Confused About My Relationship Status and My Political Identity

A: Have you had an open, honest conversation with the guy/girl/trans you’re fucking about the status of your relationship (open, closed, open only if you’re both there, etc . . .) That might be a good place to start. Be clear about your feelings and needs, and discuss what type of birth control you’ll both use with each other and with those outside the relationship to make sure you’re protected from pregnancy and STDs. And you’re an anarchist . . . if you want to be!

Q: Help! I love all things not vegan. How do I survive at a mass mobilization?
Signed, Hungry Anarchist

A: Offer to help Food Not Food (No, wait, that’s Food Not Bombs) dumpster dive. You can be the one to dig through meaty piles of flesh to get to the bread and veggies underneath, and they’ll love you for it. Use your spare change to get a cheeseburger at a local, independent fast food joint.

Q: I’m an anarchist, but I don’t like punk music. Is there something wrong with me?
Signed, Anti-Lifestyle Anarchist

A: Check out the Riot Folk Collective, www.riotfolk.org. You can download songs from the site. Our favorite is, “Clearcut” by Ethan and Kate. There is nothing wrong with you.

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6. Recipe:

Vegan Tomato Eggplant Curry (Serves 10)

Ingredients: 1 large eggplant, 1 large onion, 2 green peppers, 2 cans crushed tomatoes, 2 large cans chickpeas, olive oil, fresh garlic, garlic powder, curry powder, rice or couscous.

In a large pot, sauté chopped onion and garlic in olive oil on medium heat until the onion is soft and yellow. Add cubed eggplant pieces and chopped peppers, and cook until eggplant is soft. Add tomatoes and chick peas, stir in garlic powder and curry powder to taste.

Reduce heat to low, and cook for an hour. If serving at a party or event, put the dish in a crock pot or rice steamer to keep it warm.

Serve over rice or couscous with chopped raw nuts and hot pepper powder on the side.

Yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Fair Use Notice: This publication contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of anarchism, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material in this publication is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this publication for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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Thanks for the re-posts!
Big Idea Rag#1 or D10 Toledo Media Clips, re-posted by: ainfos.ca, Indymedia.us, rockymountainresister.org, lawrencesolidarity.net

Fuck You Chicago Indymedia!
For being the only site to delete us.

Thanks for reading our tabloid! XOXOXOXO, Big Idea CSC.