• Employees at the Luxe City Center Hotel, an upscale boutique hotel in downtown Los Angeles, staged a one-day strike Thursday to protest alleged increased workloads that they said resulted in unfair disciplinary actions.

• Greek public transport services were paralysed on Thursday after bus and metro workers went on a 24-hour strike to protest against government restructuring plans.

• Four people were arrested late Wednesday after climbing trees in Arcadia to protest the bulldozing of a grove of oaks and sycamores by the L.A. County Department of Public Works.

• In Spain, four employees from the municipal services company, Elsur, spent Tuesday night in El Ejido’s San Isidro church on the first night of an indefinite protest to demand their unpaid wages.

• Nearly half of 10,607 licensed taxi drivers in Zhengzhou, capital of Central China’s Henan province, took part in a two-day strike, which began on Monday, to protest against a new government policy that requires them to work seven days a week.

According to a report by the organizers of the upcoming new UK event Climate Week, there are a lot of celebrities who could inspire real action by lending their voice to the movement. The report, which focused on British celebrities, found that David Beckham has nearly as much clout as green-oriented public figures like Al Gore and Bill Gates. As the Guardian explained:

Climate Week says the survey highlights a strong correlation between familiarity and green influence, showing that celebrities who are not actively “green”, such as Beckham, “still have tremendous potential to wade in on environmental issues”. It says this is why the X Factor judge Cheryl Cole beat “known environmentalist” Gwyneth Paltrow to be the woman most likely to make people act on climate change.

So does this mean the climate movement needs celebrities to promote its message? Is that what saving the planet has come down to—whether or not reality-show stars support climate action? Thankfully, Climate Week commissioned another survey, investigating the impact of people we interact with on a daily basis. It found:

This seems to be good news for us activists. First off, it means our work is more important than a celebrity endorsement. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it means we should look to the changes within our communities and circles of friends and families when we feel like the world isn’t listening. We are likely to find encouragement there.

• A group of 173 human rights activists, each wearing an orange jumpsuit and a black hood and representing each of the remaining 173 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, rallied in front of the White House on Tuesday to mark the ninth anniversary of the detention center’s opening and to protest the Obama administration’s failure to close it.

• Meanwhile, sixty people blocked three entrances to the Justice Department in Washington D.C. yesterday to protest the government’s failure to close the Guantánamo detention center and the continued use of torture against detainees. The Day of Action, organized by Witness Against Torture, extended beyond Washington. Ten were arrested at the Federal Building in Chicago, Illinois and actions were also held in Miami, Pittsburgh, Madison and elsewhere.

• A general strike is taking place in the southernmost region of Chile due to the Government’s proposal to lower gas subsidies.

• As the immigration debate gets underway in the Florida legislature, one lawmaker has taken to wearing his passport around his neck as he goes about his business, in an effort to show what life could be like if Florida passes an Arizona-style immigration law.

• About 2,500 children from 70 schools in the Indian state of Maharashtra have boycotted classes after teachers tried to persuade them to support plans for a local nuclear power station.

• Onion traders in New Delhi announced an indefinite strike from Wednesday to protest raids on their premises in the wake of spiralling onion prices.

• Dozens of people turned out on Hilton Head Island to protest plans to extend the runway at the local airport — a plan they say threatens a historic black church.

Icelandic pop star Bjork led a three-day karaoke marathon that began last Thursday as part of a protest against the takeover of an energy firm that would effectively sell-off one of the country’s main natural resources. According to AFP, Bjork was joined by “the captain of the Icelandic handball team, a 70-year-old environmental campaigner and… the comedian-turned-mayor of Iceland’s capital Reykjavik.”

It’s not yet clear if the karaoke-fest will have an effect on the sale of the plant, but Bjork did manage to accumulate 20,000 signatures to a petition asking the government to consider revoking the takeover. Not bad for such a strange protest.

In a recent TED talk, Nobel Laureate Jody Williams—who won the Peace prize in 1997 for her efforts to eradicate landmines—argues that “peace is defined by human (not national) security and that it must be achieved through sustainable development, environmental justice, and meeting people’s basic needs.” While that may not be a particularly novel idea to readers of this blog, Williams leacture is worth watching for the great women peacemakers she highlights to show who is leading the way toward this vision of peace.

• In one of their biggest shows of strength since last year, about 30,000 Thai Red Shirt activists gathered around Bangkok’s Democracy Monument on Sunday and marched to an upscale shopping area in the city center, blocking traffic on a major street.

• About 400 people, organized by the Communication Workers Union, held a march and rally in Witney, UK today to protest plans to privatise Royal Mail.

• A group of 200 unemployed Saudi teachers staged a rare protest in front of the Ministry of Education in Riyadh on Sunday for a few hours, demanding the government find them jobs.

• Tens of thousands of people have marched peacefully through Bilbao in Spain’s Basque region to protest the treatment of separatist prisoners.

• United Airlines flight attendants staged protests around the world on Friday to protest pay cuts and cancelled pensions.

• More than 100 longshoremen at the Port of Algiers walked out last Tuesday to protest new measures relating to overtime pay and added shifts.

Those of us who work in the gun control movement understand as well as anyone why a push for nonviolence is desperately needed in the United States. Two incidents that occurred within the span of a week last month reminded me of how ingrained—and absurd—the culture of violence is in our country.

On December 9, I traveled to MSNBC’s studios in Washington, D.C. to appear on “NewsNation with Tamron Hall.” I was scheduled to comment on two new National Rifle Association (NRA) lawsuits in Texas. One lawsuit challenges a 42-year-old federal law that bars handgun sales to those under the age of 21 by federally licensed dealers. The other targets a 15-year-old Texas law that prohibits those under the age of 21 from carrying concealed handguns in public.

The NRA’s 18-year-old plaintiff in these cases, James D’Cruz, has made headlines by posting a series of violent and disturbing comments on his Facebook page over the past three years. Here’s a sampling of his musings, which bring to mind such infamous figures as Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, as well as Viriginia Tech gunman Seung Hui-Cho:

There is no redemption, There is no forgiveness. I will stare into your eyes as I pull the trigger and laugh as you hit the ground with your last, pathetic breath.

im bored…ill light someone on fire

an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind, thats why I take their heads.

Anyway, I walk into the MSNBC waiting room that day, and immediately see breaking news on their television screens. NewsNation was providing live coverage from Escondido, California, where law enforcement authorities were burning down a house that contained the largest stockpile of explosives ever found in a private dwelling (which made it too dangerous to enter and clear out by hand). It is unclear why the home’s owner, George Jakubec, was stockpiling high explosives, bomb-making materials, handmade grenades, guns, and ammunition. He is also suspected of robbing three San Diego banks.

After a few minutes, I was walked into a private studio, put in front of a camera, and even had a mike clipped on my suit jacket—but the images of this startling fire were just too good to resist. A voice in my earpiece told me they would not have time to air my segment. Could I come back some other time?

The irony of being preempted by a bomb maker as I was preparing to talk about a potential school shooter was not lost on me.

The following week, things got even stranger. I was called by the CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh (KDKA) to appear on NewsRadio 1020 with conservative host Mike Pintek. Mike wanted to talk about four shootings that had recently occurred in Western Pennsylvania.

Read the rest of this article »

• More than 30 janitors and cleaning ladies in their 50s and 60s have been holding a sit-in protest in the main building of Hongik University in Seoul for four days since Monday morning, demanding the school withdraw the collective termination of their employment contracts.

• Thousands of lawyers went on strike in Tunisia yesterday to protest the police repression of a march in the town of Sidi Bouzid, where a rare wave of anti-government demonstrations recently began.

• In advance of a historic referendum that could split Sudan in two, about 80 students, activists and refugees marched in downtown Pittsburgh on Wednesday to call for peace in the war-wracked country.

• Dozens of people gathered on the steps of the Nebraska state Capitol in Lincoln on Wednesday to protest a proposed oil pipeline. They delivered stuffed toy meadowlarks — the state bird — to each of Nebraska’s 49 lawmakers. The toys held USB drives with information and reports intended to show the dangers of leaking oil pipelines.

• About fifty poets from across Maine’s arts community descended upon Longfellow Square in Portland on Wednesday at the same time as Governor Paul LePage’s inauguration to protest the first time Maine’s Poet Laureaute was not invited to deliver a message at the ceremony. They read and recited poems as a way to send a message that the arts are an important part of the state.

As part of fulfilling a Freedom of Information Act request, Virginia’s Richmond Police Department accidentally released homeland security and crowd control guides—outlining how the police target protesters. The police attempted to secure an emergency court order prohibiting the release of the documents, arguing that they were in the hands of an “admitted anarchist.” But it was too late. They were already posted online. According to journalist Will Potter:

… buried in the training guides are insights into three trends in law enforcement that have been occurring not just in Virginia, but nationally: the demonization of protest, the militarization of police, and turning local cops into “terrorism” officials.

These trends, which Potter outlines in more detail, are a disappointing truth about the perception of activism in this country. As activists rightfully prepare to deal with the expected crackdown, it’s important, however, that they not resort to a militaristic defense—such as wearing body armor and gas masks.

While the inclination to want to protect oneself is understandable, activists must realize how they will be perceived, not just by the police, but by the general public. Images of armored protesters in all sorts of defensive gear, facing off against riot police, will likely not draw sympathy to the cause, but instead more support for the security forces.

Gandhi and King recognized this dynamic and that is why they were adamant that the people in their campaigns present themselves as the ordinary citizens they were—even if that meant enduring physical pain. It’s not a pleasant thought, but if activists are “in it to win it”—so to speak—they must accept that the growing threat they face is an opportunity to prove the justness of their cause, not an opportunity to return violence for violence.

Last month, the Italian street artist Blu had his anti-war mural removed from the wall of the Geffen Contemporary building in Los Angeles before the public ever had a chance of seeing it. Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) director Jeffrey Deitch ordered the whitewashing of the mural because he found its imagery — coffins draped in dollar bills — too insensitive to a neighborhood that includes a Veterans Affairs hospital and a war memorial to Japanese American soldiers.

Antiwar activists, street artists and even some veterans, however, have called the whitewashing an act of censorship. And many showed up on Monday night to stage a laser-light protest on the wall of MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary.

The Los Angeles Times art blog Culture Monster described the scene:

Cloaked in knit caps and heavy wool scarves in the cold night air, the 20 or so self-described art activists huddled near the museum’s expansive north wall, projecting laser graffiti out of the back seat of a silver VW Passat with a laptop perched precariously on the roof of the car.

The group of artists — which included respected Chicano artist/Vietnam War veteran Leo Limon as well as Joey Krebs a.k.a. The Phantom Street Artist — took turns tagging the museum wall using a handmade laser graffiti gun created for the event by artist/computer programmer Todd Moyer. A specially designed computer program animated the light-graffiti so that it looked like dripping paint as it hit the wall.

[....]

One by one, the artists took aim and shot their messages onto MOCA’s exterior — drippy, handwritten, illuminated scrawl: “Dump Deitch.” “Give us back our walls!” “War is over?” “Peace Now!”  The group meticulously documented the event, with plans to upload photos and video clips to Facebook and YouTube within days.

[...]

Carol Wells, founder and executive director of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, was on hand to document the protest as well. She said she considers Deitch’s actions as censorship. “Outrageous is the first word that comes to mind,” she said. “I think he was absolutely wrong. He was trying to do an edgy exhibit, hires an artist known to be edgy. Pushing the boundaries is the very definition of a street artist –- so what did he expect?”

Vietnam War veteran Michael Lindley, president of the L.A. chapter of Veterans for Peace, showed up to support the street art crew. Lindley said he wasn’t offended by Blu’s mural but that that wasn’t the point. “It may be offensive to some people, but we have the freedom to know, freedom of speech. As veterans, that’s what we fight for, that’s what we died for,” he said. “Our government tells us we’re fighting for our freedoms. Yet they take our own freedoms away from us in our own country.”

[...]

The climax of the laser light show came about an hour in, when the protesters projected a photo of Blu’s mural back onto its wall of origin. Then they superimposed the word “censorship” in red across the image. A round of hooting and whistling followed.

Downtown LA BLU MOCA Whitewash Protest // 01.03.2011 from jesse trott on Vimeo.