THIS BLOG is NOW RETIRED

I began this blog in May 2009 following the death of Marcia Powell at Perryville State Prison in Goodyear, Arizona. It is not intended to prescribe the path that leads to freedom from the prison industrial complex.

Rather, these are just my observations in arguably the most racist, fascist, militaristic state in the nation at a critical time in history for a number of intersecting liberation movements. From Indigenous resistance to genocidal practices, to the fight over laws like SB1070 and the ban on Ethnic Studies, Arizona is at the center of many battles for human rights, and thus the struggle for prison abolition as well - for none are free until all are. I retired the blog in APRIL 2013.

Visit me now at Arizona Prison Watch or Survivors of Prison Violence-AZ
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Showing posts with label resistance in honduras. Show all posts
Showing posts with label resistance in honduras. Show all posts

Thursday, August 27, 2009

IAC and the Bail Out the People Movement

The International Action Center in Tuscon Arizona, founded by former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, put out the following announcement about showing solidarity with the Honduran People - "the Resistance". They also have a good fact sheet on Honduras , and some good links.

On the national page there's also a Global Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed (during the G20 Summit), and a mass convergence on Pittsburgh to build a tent city for the unemployed the weekend before the G20 Summit. Here's the poster and info on the Bail Out the People Movement's March 4 Jobs:


A Global Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed September 19 - 26 (During the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, PA)

Yes to Jobs & Human Needs; No to War & Wall Street Greed

  • Sunday, September 20 - Rally & March for a Real Jobs Program
  • Building a Tent City in Pittsburgh for the Unemployed & Supporters the weekend before the G-20 Summit
  • Organizing Caravans of Unemployed People and Supporters to Converge on Pittsburgh during the week of September 19-26
  • Marches, Protests and Events Before and During the G20 Summit addressing demands such as: Bring the Troops Home from Iraq & Afghanistan Now! & Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, World-Renown Political Prisoner, Journalist, Activists and 'Voice of the Voiceless!"

In September the eyes of the world will be on Pittsburgh, where the G20 countries will meet to consider what to do about the biggest global economic crisis since the 1930s. The heads of governments, finance ministers and central bankers that will be in Pittsburgh for the summit hear the concerns of bankers and corporate executives all the time. They need to listen to the voices of the millions of people who have lost their jobs and their homes because of the crisis. The Bail out the People Movement, a coalition of community, labor, religious, and grassroots activists, wants to help dramatize the crisis of joblessness, and the need for action both in the U.S. and worldwide to the G20 summit. It is now clear that the stimulus legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in March has done little to stop the loss of jobs. There is no recovery for the unemployed, the underemployed and the poor; and things are only getting worse. This is why we're asking you to help make the idea of a Global Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed from September 19 through September 26, the week of the G20 Summit, a reality.

A TENT CITY AND MARCH FOR JOBS On Sunday, Sept. 20, the tent city will open with a rally and march for jobs. The main site for the tent city will be next to the Monumental Baptist Church in an historic section of the African-American community of Pittsburgh called "The Hill." This location is just a short walk or march from the convention center where the G20 summit will be held, and from the rest of downtown Pittsburgh. Unemployed people and their supporters will inhabit the tent city from Sept 20 through Sept. 25. Additional locations for other encampments in Pittsburgh are being considered as well. This is why we're asking you to help make the idea of a Global Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed from September 19 through September 26, the week of the G20 Summit, a reality.

IF YOU ARE STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE -- THIS IS A WEEK OF SOLIDARITY WITH YOU The Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed is also a week of solidarity with those who have lost their homes to foreclosures and evictions; those who have been forced to take part-time or temporary jobs because there are no full-time jobs; workers who have seen their wages and hours cut; autoworkers whose plants have been closed; immigrant workers who are fighting for their rights; communities that are fighting gentrification and budget cuts to social programs; students who are being forced out of school because of the debt burden and rising tuition cost; the survivors and displaced victims of the Katrina/Rita hurricanes and the government's criminally negligent response; poor and working people everywhere, especially in poor countries who are bearing the cruel brunt of the economic crisis; workers everywhere fighting for the right to organize and in the U.S. for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act in the U.S.; All who need single payer health care; retirees who need their healthcare & pensions safeguarded; and young people, especially Black and Latina/o youths whom the system has condemned to a jobless future.

IT'S TIME TO BAILOUT THE UNEMPLOYED WITH A REAL JOBS PROGRAM In the days before and during the G20 summit, events and marches will take place to emphasize this central point: More than just another stimulus package is needed. It's time for a serious, direct and massive jobs program on par with the Works Progress Administration of the 1930s. We must fight for a real jobs program for the unemployed and underemployed that pays a living wage performing socially meaningful work; and an income for those unable to work. Any claim that the resources for a serious jobs program are not available must be rejected. If governments, particularly the U.S. government, can make available trillions of dollars for bailing out banks and corporations as well as funding the Pentagon's endless wars, & Occupations, they can find the resources to bail out the unemployed and underemployed.

THIS IS A GLOBAL CALL BECAUSE JOBLESSNESS IS A GLOBAL CRISIS Mass unemployment is a global phenomenon. The right to a job at a living wage must be a global demand. Instead of being pitted against each other, unemployed and working people across the world can only improve their conditions by working and fighting together for their common interests. Activists and organizations everywhere are encouraged to support the Global Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed and organize events in conjunction with it.

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING'S FINAL CAUSE: THE RIGHT OF ALL TO A JOB OR AN INCOME The need and the right of everyone to either a job or a guaranteed income is the cause that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dedicated the last year of his life to. The present global economic depression has made King's last cause even more urgent today than it was when he was alive. Dr. King also knew that: no matter the magnitude of suffering, governments do not respond if those who are suffering remain invisible and silent. Even a history-making president like Obama is still not a substitute for the mass movement for social justice. During the depression of the 1930's, President Franklyn Delano Roosevelt once told labor leaders who were asking him to do more to help workers and the poor "I agree with you, now make me do it." FDR's advice applies to Pres. Obama to. The purpose of the Global Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed is to make sure that people who are usually ignored are seen and heard.

ORGANIZING CARAVANS OF UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE AND SUPPORTERS TO PITTSBURGH
Over the next 10 weeks, organizing will be going on in every region of the country to bring caravans of unemployed people and supporters to Pittsburgh in Sept.

THINGS THAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:



The Bail Out The People Movement

Resistance in Honduras Solidarity Rally Friday

Friday August 28, 2009
Rally in Solidarity with the People of Honduras

National Days of Action in Solidarity with the Resistance in Honduras
and Against the Coup D’état

TUCSON AZ PHOENIX AZ
Friday August 28th 4:00pm Friday August 28th 7:30pm
Federal Building "Release the Fear" Statue
300 W Congress (downtown Tucson) Central Ave & Roosevelt

We demand:
  • Stop the killings & repression of the Honduran people
  • No to human rights violations in Honduras
  • Support the non-violent resistance of the Honduran People and the National Front for Resistance Against the Coup d’état
  • Immediate return of Constitutional law and restore Constitutional President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales
  • No to an electoral process as product of the de facto regime
  • No to the militarization of Honduras, or U.S. military bases in Honduras
For two months the people of Honduras have been in the streets to protest the military coup that ousted their elected president Manuel Zelaya. They are being shot down, arrested and tortured, but the protests continue.
The international community, with the exception of Israel, has condemned the coup. Latin American countries recalled their ambassadors, the ALBA countries, the SICA, the Rio Group, the OAS and the UN have all imposed sanctions on the illegal government.

The United States government’s refusal to recall its ambassador and cut ALL TIES and AID and follow-through with the severe sanctions agreed upon in the OAS has emboldened the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti. This illegal government has intensified its repressive actions by heavily armed police and army against a defenseless, unarmed poor population who are vehemently opposing this criminal coup.

The U.S. is Honduras' major trading partner and has used that country as its military outpost against the Nicaraguan and Salvadoran Revolutions in the 80's. It is in Honduras where the criminal "Contras" operated, trained by the infamous School of the Americas. The Honduran military is intimately linked to the Pentagon from which receives every kind of material aid and weapons, assistance in training, surveillance and military actions.

The U.S. has also called for more military aid and U.S. troops to be sent to Colombia to build up a vicious, death squad regime in that South American country and to threaten the people and governments of Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador who are trying to break free from poverty and underdevelopment.
We must expose the criminal complicit silence of the U.S. media on the repression occurring in Honduras and its biased reporting favoring the illegal coup.