This past Saturday, April 26, was the culmination of a week’s worth of actions and educational events at the Cowboy & Indian Alliance (CIA) camp on the Mall protesting against the KeystoneXL Pipeline.
“Reject & Protect” Keystone Pipeline Protest, Wash DC 04.26.14 from Mike Flugennock on Vimeo.
In Rome this week, thousands hit the streets against state-enforced austerity and for “home, income, dignity for all!” This cartoon is in solidarity with the thousands who braved horrific police violence, and in particular with the youth whose hand was blown off by a firecracker during a battle with police.
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September 27, 2002: the first day of “People’s Strike” weekend, three days of mobilizations against the policies of the IMF and World Bank, and George W. Bush’s war in Afghanistan. It was 7am when I showed up at Franklin Square in downtown DC — way too early for a guy my age to be up, even back then. A loose confederation of anarchists and affinity groups was gathering at the Square, planning to stage an unpermitted “wildcat” march downtown to the IMF.
As it turned out, the march got as far as Vermont Avenue and L Streets NW before being trapped by police and scooped up. At least 400 protesters and bystanders were arrested en masse that day downtown, at Franklin Square and Pershing Park. I somehow managed to avoid being nabbed by noticing the police line forming up early at Vermont and K, seizing a moment of opportunity and slipping through before more police arrived there. It was all over by about 8am — and I still had a whole fun-filled day ahead.
Good morning, boys’n'girls! Hanging out and drumming at Franklin Square while waiting for folks to show up for the ill-fated wildcat march.
Whose streets? The march heads out of Franklin Square, taking the street at 14th and K Streets NW. After turning north on Vermont Avenue, they encountered a police motorcycle blockade at L Street. Anyone who didn’t notice the first cops appearing back at the other end of the block quickly enough would find themselves in a world o’trouble.
Are you ready for some football? While it probably seems dull to most of you, to me this is a memorable and iconic image — the moment I realized the cop at my left was distracted by some action to his right (out of the frame), stepped away and left a huge gap for me to dash through. Up until this moment, I was worried that I was nabbed for sure — and suddenly, daylight! He who hesitates is lost, as the old poet wrote.
All she wrote… Some moments later, more cops arrived, the line firmed up, and people trying to sneak through the gaps were being collared and shoved back into the crowd.
It’s a gas! Yep, that’s tear gas drifting through the foreground, there. By this time, there was nothing left for the people trapped on that block to do but wait around for the buses to arrive to haul them to the lockup.
Continue reading "Blast From Yer Past: Washington DC 09.27.02" »
By this time, most of you — especially in the progressive activist community — have heard the old “stone soup” story. Based on the concept of “stone soup”, Occupy Monsanto, as part of its ongoing campaign against GMO foods and for citizen awareness of GMOs, is staging an “eat-in” on the grounds of the FDA’s Center For Food Safety And Applied Nutrition in the suburbs of Washington, DC on April 8. The organizers are inviting folks to bring their favorite organic ingredients for a vegetarian soup to be cooked at the event, designed to raise awareness of the FDA’s recent decisions on GMOs in favor of Monsanto, and the entirely-too-close relationship between corporations and the FDA, especially in the person of its Deputy Commissioner for Foods, Michael Taylor.
So, folks… are you hungry for a little “food democracy”?
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