SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, Saturday, March 15, 2008 – Protests were held in Hollywood, Santa Barbara, Huntington Beach today to mark the fifth year since the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. An estimated 2,000 protesters gathered at Hollywood & Vine and marched a short eight block route for rally at the CNN building on Sunset. Hundreds marched in Santa Barbara and formed a human peace sign in a local park. In Orange County there was a demonstration was held in Huntington Beach.
Latest From the Newswire: Hollywood Peace March 3-15-2008, Part 1 & Part 2 by Don Hodges | | | Anti-War March in Santa Barbara by ForestDefender | | | CFWP at the M15 March by Hugh Stegman

 

Saturday morning, March 8th, saw police barricades going up at and traffic diverted from Olympic & Broadway Streets as hundreds of women marched in the first International Women's Day mass action in Los Angeles since 1994. Scores of students from the University of Southern California, Cal State Long Beach, Long Beach Community College, University of California Los Angeles, East Los Angeles College, Cal State Los Angeles and from the Fremont, Jordan, Belmont high schools and El Sereno Middle School joined the march against the war. "We're here to let people know that we are with women all around the world who think that the war is unjust and a waste of our government's money," said USC Social Work student Kathryn Cronin. Led by the Mariposa Alliance/GABNet, the historic gathering created a buzz in the world of the U.S. women's movement, which had tended to take March 8th for granted. Ma-Al/GABNet called for the return of International Women's Day to its historic and political context, and to use 8th March as a statement against US-led imperialist wars, notably in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Philippines.
Report back: WOMEN CLOSE DOWNTOWN L.A. STREET; BRAVE NY STORM IN 8TH MARCH COMMEMORATION by Gabnet
Photos: Int. Women,s Day in LA by Marcus
NEW REPORT: Women Say Fund Caregiving Not War & Occupation by Global Women's Strike

 

As part of the International Day of Action in Solidarity with the People of Haiti, Global Women’s Strike hosted a showing of the films Haiti: Harvest of Hope (see the trailer here) and What’s Going on in Haiti? at the Eastside Café on Saturday, March 1. Margaret Prescod of Pacifica Radio and Women of Color in the Global Women’s Strike, moderated the event. "The Reports that I’ve gotten are is that things are going very well, there were events in about 36 cities around the world,” she said.
Report back: Haiti Event Marks Four Years Since the Coup Against Aristide by Weak from Fasting | | | Video: MARINES OUT! Solidarity with the Haitian People! by Bill Carpenter | | | List of Participating Cities

LOS ANGELES, March 4, 2008 - Members of the BlackRiders Liberation Party and their supporters held a press conference today in Leimert Park. Only three media outlets attended: KPFK, LA Indymedia and a reporter for the Final Call. No other media was present.

The BlackRiders are calling for the immediate release of three of their members who are currently being held on charges of conspiring to acquire automatic weapons, a charge they claim has been fabricated by the police. The court has set bail at one million dollars.

The BlackRiders are asking that supporters come to the hearing this Thursday, March 6th at the downtown courthouse located at Temple & Broadway, 15th floor, Division 131 to show support. From the Newswire: Report back from the BlackRiders press conference | | Audio: BlackRiders’ Demands | | Interview with Attorney for the BlackRiders

- Past feature: Black Riders held on million dollars bail each

 

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CA: On the 25th anniversary of the ICBM program at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, activists gathered to march and rally in support of nuclear disarmament in outer space. Organizer Bruce Gagnon, who was himself in the Air Force until protests outside of his base changed his mind towards peace activism, said, “America is addicted to war and militarism.”

Gagnon, who is the coordinator of Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, warned that the testing and other operations at Vandenberg are “moving the arms race into space.” In 1983 the first nuclear-capable Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) was tested at Vandenberg and since then the base’s mission has expanded to launching and monitoring orbiting satellites, and managing space surveillance operations, in addition to its work with missiles. The protests also began in 1983.
Full story: STAR WARS PROTEST: Vandenberg Air Force Base by df | | Vandenberg AFB Protest by Mike Wisniewski

 

A narrative film challenging the official story of 9/11 premiered in Los Angeles in January and continues to show on weekends, including President's Day. This film is a damning look at the media's coverage of 9/11, propaganda, and a piercing look at the complex search for truth. The Reflecting Pool--a narrative film that recently premiered in Los Angeles-- opens with a television interview of a journalist who has just written a book on Communist propaganda in the Soviet Union.

The journalist, Alex Prokop, is asked by his editor to review a video about September 11th and write an article comparing the official narrative--as expressed in the 9/11 Commission Report--to the facts about the event. Guided in his task by Paul Cooper, the father of one of the victims who has become an ardent researcher on the topic, Prokop spends two weeks in New York and Washington D.C., interviewing people and discovering damning information never mentioned in the 9/11 Report. The FBI becomes involved, and Prokop is attacked by a lawsuit and the media in an effort to discredit his story. From the newswire: The Reflecting Pool by Carol Brouillet

 

ISLA VISTA / SANTA BARBARA, Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - About 350 anti-war activists met to rally at Pardall Tunnel, where they were addressed by speakers at an open microphone, including a man from Iraq and a former Marine-turned-organizer. Emotions ran high and alternated between intense anger against the war, sadness over the loss of life, and hope, joy, and optimism for the future. At times, feelings were tense, and the police helicopter circling overhead made an ominous presence. The demonstrators shortly proceeded to converge on UCSB's Corwin Pavilion with the goal of shutting down the 2008 ICB (Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies) Army-Industry Collaboration Conference.

Police attempted to barricade the event against the approaching students, but the crowd forced itself through police lines and dismantled blockades. Police appeared helpless to stop the flow of demonstrators, who proceeded to occupy the courtyard in front of the pavilion, where collaborators, some in business suits and others, more honestly, in military fatigues, had been in the midst of a lunch break. From the Newswire: 350 War Resistors Blockade and Disrupt UCSB Army/Industrial Conference - 3 Arrests | | Army Biotech Conference Disrupted by UCSB Antiwar Activists | | Follow-Up: UCSB Army Conference Totally Shut Down!

 

Enrique Morones launches new caravan movement to raise awareness of humanitarian tragedies along the US-Mexico border.

On Saturday, February 2, Enrique Morones launched "Marcha Migrante III" from the US-Mexico Border in San Diego. Morones -- founder of the humanitarian group Border Angels -- brought together a coalition of groups supporting a caravan trip that heads from the southern border wall in San Diego to the Canadian Border. The caravan will take place from Feb. 2 through 17 and will make stops along the way to protest the horrific immigration policies that have led to deaths and terror among the Mexican and "Central American" community. Read full report with photos by Mexica Movement

Shouting : "CLINTON ,OBAMA YOU WILL SEE, THE IRAQI PEOPLE WILL BE FREE!” Hundreds of activists ralled outside the Kodak Theatre 6801 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles last January 31,2008. Also shouting and holding banners that said: "End the war and occupation now! All U.S. and foreign troops out of Iraq immediately! Money for jobs, housing, education, health care - not for racist war! the rallyist braved the cold weather and stayed up to 7:30 in the evening even after the debates.
Report and photos: "Democrats lie, GIs die! Democrats lie, Iraqis die!" by RP | Protesting Democrats (more pictures) | Also: Hundreds Attend Anti-War Protest & Picket in Hollywood , January 31 by AJLPP | Protesting Democrats (more pictures) by RP

On January 31st of last year, Councilperson Jose Huizar spoke strongly in favor of keeping the Southwest Museum as a full-functioning museum, not as a truncated exhibit space as envisioned by the Autry National Center (which acquired the museum in 2003 through a merger). “We know that the Autry wants to expand its Griffith [Park] site in order to possibly put more of our resources [there],” said Huizar at a public meeting. “I will be opposed to any move to expand that site until we take care of the commitments [applause] we’ve laid out today. . . . The direction I’m taking is those items that have been expressed by the Coalition.”

He described the museum as “what is arguably the heart and soul of Northeast Los Angeles.”

When Villaraigosa was running for mayor in 2005, he famously said, also in front of a large gathering, that as mayor he would “yank their chain,” to get the Autry to comply with the wishes of the community.
From the newswire: Villaraigosa and Huizar Renege on Promises to Protect the Southwest Museum by Ross Plesset