Climate Change Protesters Hijack Coal Train
Holy Shit! Photo above and story from the Guardian. Here’s the blog of the “climate change protesters” with more updates.
NCMR – Panel on Privacy
One of the workshops I went to at the National Conference on Media Reform that I really enjoyed was a session called “Privacy in the Age of AT&T, Google, and the NSA.” In part, the panel was so good because the presenters, like Tim Jones of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Tim Sparapani of the ACLU were so knowledgeable.
This was not a session that talked about how to protect your personal privacy on the internet, though that would have been an equally well-received workshop. What they did was cover in some detail recent developments, such as the move by the White House to grant immunity to telecom companies that participated in the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping, as well as the implications. In another facet of the same case, AT&T is being sued by the EFF after a whistleblower came forward with evidence of AT&T’s participation in the wiretapping, creating a “dragnet” that gathered unsuspecting users’ emails.
The panel discussed the implications of these (and other cases), and I found a couple of points very interesting: Read the rest of this entry »
Community Health v. Oil Profits
Just a few quick updates on local organizing around oil giant Chevron and their proposed expansion of the refinery in Richmond, California.
First, Wiretap Magazine, a great outlet, especially for young writers, reprinted my post on the May shareholders meeting at the company’s headquarters in San Ramon.
Second, while I was in Minneapolis, the planning commission of Richmond voted to cap the amount of crude processed at the refinery. This is an amazing, and possibly historic moment in the fight for community control over health and environment. Get more details in this press release from the Asian Pacific Environmental Network or this story in the Contra Costa Times.
Congrats to all the groups who have worked long and hard to hold Chevron accountable in Richmond, including West County Toxics Coalition, APEN, Communities for a Better Environment, Richmond Greens, Richmond Progressive Alliance, and Direct Action to Stop the War (just to name a few).
This photo is by Dean Coppola from the Contra Costa times. That’s the mayor Richmond at the rally before the commission hearing.
NCMR 2008 – People I Love
A big part of conferences for most people is the great people they get to meet and interact with–and I’m no exception. I have spent the last few days in Minneapolis at the National Conference on Media Reform, and I wanted to shout out to some of the awesome people that I met and give you some links to their cool projects. I’ll have a lot more to say about the conference in the next day or two… I’m not sure if you believe it, but I decided not to take my computer to Minneapolis and I think that was a smart decision, but it does mean I’m not doing the insta-blogging that other people are.
Anyway, this gives you just a sample of the 3,500+ people who were there:
- I was happy to see long-time friends Debbie Rasmussen of Bitch Magazine and Susan Gleason and Jonathan Lawson of Reclaim the Media. I heard the good news from Jonathan that RTM just got funded and he will become their first-ever paid staff person. They are dear friends and though we talk on email all the time, I loved being able to catch up in person. Had great conversations with Debbie in particular about feminism and media and activism – you’ll probably see blog posts about that coming up.
- Then there were the San Francisco Bay Area people that I could probably just hang out with in Oakland, Jeff Perlstein, who most people know as the past Executive Director of Media Alliance, and Lisa Rudman of the National Radio Project.
- I have known of Deanna Zandt for a while as a feminist tech maven through seeing her talk at the Women, Action and the Media conference. Who knew she was so fun! I had a great time hanging out with Debbie, Deanna, and some cute Canadians we met who work on a Media Education Project at the University of Guelph.
- A real treat for me was seeing Gregg and Nancy Brownell from Bowling Green State University. Jason (from Clamor) and I used to work on the Allied Media Conference which is coming up in a few weeks–this will be its 10th anniversary! Though the conference is in Detroit now, the AMC was originally at BGSU. Gregg and Nancy were instrumental in integrating teachers into the conference, working with us to create the Symposium on Media Literacy in Education, bringing together amazing independent media makers and teachers from K through college. Gregg and Nancy were then and continue to be now hugely supportive of Clamor and me personally, and I will always respect the work that they do. Read the rest of this entry »
In the Middle of a Whirlwind
Hi All – I’ve written my first long piece since the Clamor Pamphlet and it’s now up online. It’s part of an ambitious project by the Journal of Aesthetics and Protest and Team Colors, a web journal or magazine called “In the Middle of a Whirlwind.” Their announcement about it is below.
My essay is on some of the ideas that have influenced my current thinking around media in the U.S, called, “Media and Activism: Creating and Maintaining Effective Movement Media.” In it I talk about some of the people who I think are doing critical thinking and writing in this area, such as Michael Albert, Sut Jhally, Stephen Duncombe, and Bob Ostertag, with a special nod to the INCITE collective for their book, “The Revolution Will Not Be Funded.”
In the Middle of a Whirlwind:
2008 Convention Protests, Movement and Movements
A one-off online journal of theory, art, activism and organizing out now!
www.inthemiddleofawhirlwind.info
Read the rest of this entry »
Grassy Narrows +1, Loggers -?
Congratulations to the many who worked for years to preserve native rights and old growth forests in Canada in the struggle to end logging at Grassy Narrows. This week, corporate giant Abitibi announced it would stop logging operations in the Territory. I have been following the struggle since we featured the work in an issue of Clamor. They’ve done several high profile actions recently, including the one featured above last year, a five-year logging blockade, and the recent week-long occupation outside of the Canadian Legislature building in Toronto. Abitibi follows the lead of Boise, Inc which announced a few months ago that it would stop buying wood from Grassy.
This is also a story about how non-native activists can work in support of and solidarity with indigenous people. I’m looking forward to reading about and talking with people about the lessons learned from this struggle.
Want to know more? Free Grassy. It’s Getting Hot In Here. Rainforest Action Network.
Is protracted struggle easy? No. Is it the answer? Yes. This is a victory, but it is just one part of a many-sided campaign–activists will continue to pressure the Canadian government to support the rights of indigenous people to determine what happens on their land.
