• Protesters draped banners over the Parthenon defensive walls yesterday and stormed the Acropolis.  Today Greece holds a general strike in protest of government austerity measures. Unions are rallying and schools, hospitals, shops, and most other locations are closed.

• 15,000 kids in Kuwait skipped school during a two-day strike this week in protest of high pollution caused by oil facilities.

• Nearly 200 workers gathered at the Ministry of Labour in Dubai demanding back wages their employers withheld.

• In honor of the May 4th movement against censorship, Chinese netizens yesterday protested through an online flash mob.  People sent out messages that said “freedom of speech.”

• 500 HIV/AIDS patients rallied in New Delhi yesterday to protest the recent firing of outreach workers.

• Thousands of Christians protested in northern Iraq to condemn a recent bus bombing that left 80 wounded.

• A group of UC Berkeley students are staging a hunger strike for several demands: that the university oppose the new Arizona immigration law, drop disciplinary charges against protesters from the occupation of Wheeler Hall earlier this year, rehire laid-off janitors, and make the campus a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants.

• Firefighters in Ann Arbor, Michigan picketed outside the fire station on Monday against planned layoffs.

• Members of the White Earth Indian Reservation in Minnesota are exercising civil disobedience by fishing in non-reservation land, demonstrating their right to live off the land.

• Activists in San Francisco staged a street theater protest this weekend against American Apparel’s sexist advertising.

• There were more than 100 demonstrations around the United States this weekend to protest the Arizona immigration law.  In DC, thousands of people supported 4 students who marched all the way from Florida, and high-profile activists including Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-Il) were arrested.  Other marches took place in Chicago, Maine, San Francisco, and Denver, as well as many other locations.

• Thousands gathered to march in Havana, Cuba on Saturday for International Workers Day, also known as May Day.

• 200,000 people demonstrated in Istanbul for May Day on Saturday to demand more secure employment and better working conditions.  It was the first approved May Day gathering in thirty years.  Other demonstrations took place in Kolkata, Jakarta, and around the world.

• Teachers picketed in the Philippines on Wednesday to demand a better insurance system.

• Separatists staged a sit-in in India on Saturday to demand the creation of a separate state of Vidarbha.

• About two hundred Socialist lawmakers and supporters began a hunger strike in Albania this weekend to demand a recount of an allegedly rigged election.

• Protests continue in Greece in the face of extreme budget cuts as the economy verges on collapse.

• Italian unions shut down opera houses this weekend to protest an emergency decree that would affect arts funding.

• On Wednesday, scrap metal dealers in Jamaica protested a government decision to shut down the trade.

• 200 people gathered in Montana to protest a pro-Nazi film screened by a white supremacist group.

• An Albuquerque woman was on day 16 of a hunger strike on Friday to raise awareness about refugees who flee violence for poverty in the U.S.

• Farmers from all over France drove their tractors to Paris yesterday to protest rising costs and lower profits of agriculture.

• Thailand’s Red Shirts shut down the Bangkok commuter system yesterday after the government canceled negotiations with protesters. The protests are now spreading to the provinces.

• Seven environmental activists were arrested after they chained themselves to a railroad outside of a coal mine in Wales.

• Women gathered in Washington, D.C. yesterday in their most revealing tops, protesting an Iranian cleric who said female immodesty causes earthquakes.

• UNC students walked out of a speech and protested conservative politician Tom Tancredo, in particular his stance on immigration. Demonstrators shouted, “Education not deportation!”

• Thousands of students across New Jersey walked out of class yesterday to protest budget cuts.

• Telecom employees in India are on hunger strike after their company transferred many workers to rural areas and refused to transfer them back per an accord.

• More than 90,000 people rallied in Okinawa, Japan on Sunday against the relocation of an American military base to the area.

• More than two thousand people protested in Phoenix on Friday against the passage of the new Arizona immigration bill, which demonstrators said will lead to civil rights abuses.  The demonstrations continue and even Congressman Raul Grijalva is asking people to boycott his state to protest the law.

• On Saturday in Berlin, tens of thousands of people joined hands to protest against nuclear energy.  The human chain, organized by a group of environmental, political, youth, religious, and union activists, stretched 75 miles and urged Germany to close its nuclear plants.

• In Kiev, Ukraine on Saturday, thousands of people protested a new deal extending Russian military presence into the former Soviet Republic.

• Activists gathered last week in Washington, DC to protest the annual IMF/World Bank meetings.  They used some unusual tactics, including a 5K run and tug-of-war, in addition to rallies.

• A hundred residents of a community in Phnom Penh, Cambodia gathered on Saturday to protest plans for a drainage system that would impact homes without compensation from the government.

• More than 150 people protested at military recruiting sites in Minnesota on Friday.  Activists unfurled banners that read “Jobs not war” and marched across campuses during “Zero Recruitment Day.”

• Day laborers and domestic workers protested in San Francisco on Saturday in an ongoing movement against a “no sit/lie” city ordinance.

• Hundreds of people marched on Saturday to protest the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City.  The closure means one fewer ER in Manhattan as well as one fewer home-birth friendly hospital.

• Several hundred people gathered in New York on Friday to protest a limit on the number of vendors who can sell art in city parks.

• A group of Armenians demonstrated near the White House this weekend, asking President Obama to recognize the Armenian genocide and stop Turkish military force against Kurds.

• Artists gathered in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Friday to creatively demonstrate against the indiscriminate destruction of green areas in their city.

• 15,000 protesters were bused to the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield by labor unions and social service advocates on Wednesday in an attempt to pressure state lawmakers into raising the income tax to avoid more budget cuts.

• Global activists gathered this week for the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Cochabamba, Bolivia.  A few blocks away, more activists gathered to discuss ideas they said were too radical for the conference, specifically environmental destruction inside Bolivia.

• Wearing tie-dyed shirts and hoisting signs of love and acceptance, hundreds of high school students and community members rallied outside Boulder High on Thursday to counter a small group of protesters from the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church.

• Villagers and students staged a sit-in today in Imphal, India to protest the recent murder of a man who tried to prevent a kidnapping.

• Labor unions around Greece organized a 24-hour walk-out Thursday to protest new austerity measures; at least 10,000 protesters gathered in Athens.

• Sixteen climate activists now face trespassing charges after camping out in Boston Common on Wednesday night, demonstrating for clean energy.

• Teachers in Lahore, Pakistan staged a demonstration, walk, and sit-in on Wednesday to protest the government’s refusal to raise teacher salaries as the cost of living increases.

• 15,000 people gathered in Madrid this past weekend to protest genetically engineered (GE) crops. The protest was part of a Greenpeace tour through Europe; another tactic was to display billboards in Brussels of officials as chefs cooking “GE recipes for disaster.”

• Disabled citizens held a sit-in in New Delhi yesterday, demanding better education and healthcare as well as a reserved 20 percent quota of jobs.

• Several dozen pro-reform protesters rallied outside the Egyptian Parliament yesterday after an opposition leader said violence should be used against activists. There have been frequent protests in Cairo in the last few weeks calling for open elections and an end to tight emergency laws.

• A hundred people gathered outside the Arizona State Capitol yesterday to protest an immigration bill that requires Arizona to enforce border laws. The bill, which protesters say is racist, will be passed in five days if not vetoed by the governor. Nine who chained themselves to the Capitol doors were arrested.

• A dozen environmentalists blocked the road out of Bacton, England to protest oil company Shell and its plans to build a new terminal.  The protesters, who were part of a worldwide day of action, only left when removed by police.

• Six people occupied Iowa Senator Grassley’s Des Moines office last Wednesday, demanding an end to funding of wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine and a greater focus on human needs.

• A Japanese man who is part of an anti-U.S. base movement is hunger striking near parliament in Tokyo to protest the relocation of an American base within the area.

• Former employees of the Tahiti Hilton began a week-long hunger strike yesterday to protest redundancy payments and the hotel owner’s refusal to meet with them.

• Legislators in Chennai, India walked out of a government assembly yesterday to protest inaction from officials against rising yam prices.

• Teachers, hospital workers, and other public sector employees in Quebec demonstrated outside a community meeting on Friday in support of their new contract demands.

• Thousands of workers and community members participated in a rally Sunday in Chennai, India led by former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa against power cuts and electricity mismanagement in the region.

• 500 women marched in Harare, Zimbabwe on Thursday protesting poor electricity supply and high costs.  Many were arrested, and four remained in custody on Sunday night.

• AIDS activists staged sit-ins in Manipur, India on Saturday after the murder of an HIV-positive youth.  Police broke up the actions; the activists said the denial of their protest applications was discrimination.

• First Nations members in Canada successfully blocked a railway for two hours on Friday in order to raise awareness about community concerns, including land claims and higher taxes.

• Families and friends of Jordanians imprisoned in Israeli jails gathered and staged a one-day hunger strike on Saturday in solidarity with prisoners. The protest took place the day after Raed Abu Hammad died in an Israeli jail, apparently after being denied medications.

• Refugees in a Sahrawi camp in Algeria staged a one-day hunger strike on Saturday in solidarity with political prisoners in Morocco who have been hunger-striking since March.

• 500 people marched through the Ohio State University campus against human trafficking yesterday.  The march was sparked by proposed Ohio laws which will toughen trafficking charges.

• Tens of thousands of people are gathering for a sit-in in Bangkok as anti-government protests continue.  The red-shirted Thais, whose action is seriously affecting the city’s economy, show no sign of retreat after they returned to peaceful methods this week.

• Bail Out the People Movement activists and the mostly Haitian-origin staff of Steelworkers Local 8751 unfurled a banner as Sarah Palin took the stage at Boston’s Tax Day Tea Party gathering at Boston Common. The banner read: “Union jobs & healthcare for all! Stop the pro-war, racist, sexist, anti-LGBT Palin/Tea Party attack!”

• Survivors of the Bhopal, India gas tragedy protested in New Delhi on Thursday, 26 years  after the accident, still asking for medical care from the government.

• Residents outside the San Cristobal mine in Bolivia have been blocking rail access to the silver/lead/zinc mine all week, demanding that the government provide electricity, among other things, to the area.

• Strikes and marches occurred throughout the United States in the last few days, as hundreds of workers, students, and community members rallied against labor rights violations committed by national food service company Sodexo.

• A hundred people, including Aboriginal elders, marched on Mumbulla State Forest in Australia on Wednesday to protest logging.  Logging continued, however, throughout the day, on land that is home to a koala colony.

• Food and poverty activists are staging a sit-in in India in response to a Food Security Bill currently facing Parliament.  The activists say the bill does not go far enough to protect poor families.

• Russian air traffic controllers are on hunger strike this week in protest of company violations of union agreements.

• Argentine meat-industry workers marched to the labor ministry in Buenos Aires yesterday, protesting anticipated lay-offs.

• American Airlines employees picketed at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport on Thursday in protest of high executive compensation.  Rallying against corporate greed has become an April tradition for the airline workers.

• Around 500 Nigerian youth marched in Lagos yesterday to protest widespread government corruption and insecurity.  The marchers demanded a reduction in the amount of kidnappings and assassinations as well as electoral reform before next year’s elections.

• Police confronted protesters in Cairo at a protest against police violence that had occurred at on-going pro-democracy demonstrations.

• Somali radio stations played animal noises yesterday in response to a ban on music set by Islamic extremists.  The lighthearted appearance of the protest contrasts with the severe punishments radio hosts could expect if they broadcasted music.

• Hospital workers rallied in New York City on Tuesday after hearing an announcement that St. Vincent’s Hospital would close in the face of enormous debt.

• People in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province rallied earlier this week after the government announced it would change the province’s name. While demonstrators protested peacefully, saying a name change would polarize the area, police killed eight.

• Students in Long Island, New York marched and staged a sit-in on Monday in response to drastic cuts to the Southampton campus of Stony Brook University.

• On Sunday in Zhengzhou, China, zoo workers—and their animals—staged a sit-in in a cycling field protesting the use of zoo land for sports facilities.  Zoo officials say they need more space to best care for the animals.

Members of the trans community and allies protested in front of the Tribeca Cinemas in New York City last week.  The rally was in response to the Tribeca Film Festival’s premiering of “Ticked-off Trannies with Knives,” a transphobic film that highlights rape and violence.

The New York Times quoted an organizer’s explanation for the protest:

“The transsexual and transgender communities are all too often the victims of violence, marginalization and discrimination as a result of inaccurate media depictions like this film, which is offensive, dehumanizing and misogynistic and causes further misunderstanding and harm to an already dangerously oppressed minority group,” said Ashley Love, a Magnet organizer.

Protesters said both the derogatory language in the title as well as stark images of violence in the film lead to increased misunderstandings and violence against transpeople.

“People are telling us to lighten up,” Ms. Love added, “but I heard reports of two more trans women murdered this morning. It’s not a laughing matter. We’re not laughing at all.”

Not only do trans folks experience violence at shockingly high rates, they have problems accessing employment, medical care, and basic services such as public restrooms.

The Tribeca Film Festival declined to remove the film or change the title.  The movie description itself acknowledges the statistics–it was “inspired by the devastating increase in brutal hate crimes against the transgender community”–but its incarnation is seen as exploitative and encouraging of violence rather than explorative.

A candlelight vigil was also held, and as one activist put it:

This time we’re going to make ourselves heard. Because we’re tired of our dead being marginalized, overlooked, and even used as advertising material for a cheap gimmick of a film.