Sign a petition calling for an end to Phila Police - I.C.E. collaboration.

In late April Arizona Governor signed Senate Bill 1070 into law. SB 1070, also know as the ‘Papers Please’ law, mandates that all police officers inquire about immigration status if the officer has “reasonable suspicion” that a person is undocumented. This state sanctioned racial profiling has received intense opposition from across the country, with major political and cultural figures such as basketball player Charles Barkley speaking out against it.

Philadelphia has been participating in a program similar to SB1070 for the past 2 years.

The Philadelphia Police Department collaborates closely with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency that focuses on deportation and detention. In the early winter of 2009 Mayor Nutter re-established a policy of "non-inquiry," which prohibits police officers or any other city employee from asking about immigration status.

In the midst of the Arizona state government passing the most outrageous anti-immigrant law since the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, several happenings pass unnoticed by the national media. At a packed Flagstaff City Council meeting discussing the law, waves of people declare publicly that they are undocumented, practically daring law enforcement officers to arrest them.

Not content to see Arizona be the sole butt of jokes about being an Orwellian police state, Pennsylvania State representative Daryl Metcalfe has introduced House Bill 2479– apparently another example of Federation for American Immigration Reform (F.A.I.R) inspired authoritarian nonsense.
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A philosopher once said patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. I always took that quote with a grain of salt and never gave it much thought until recent events brought the quote to the forefront of my mind. As the two ruling parties continue to contend for power within this country, the political and cultural right have adopted a battle cry of “take America back,” as if a foreigner occupies the White House. Every day we’re bombarded with shouts that a radical left-wing government has seized power and have to suffer the protests of a Tea Party movement composed of grumpy old white people pissed off that an intelligent “socialist” African American was elected president of the United States. For real radicals and revolutionaries to hear this nonsense is really insulting considering that Obama is neither radical or socialist. As a matter of fact, Obama is probably one of the most moderate presidents in U.S. history. He‘s even disillusioned much of his liberal base by maintaining many of the policies of his predecessor, George W. Bush. Guantanamo remains open, troops remain in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan has been escalated, and funding for mass imprisonment continues. In short, little has changed within the United States under Obama.

On May 5th, all hell broke loose in Athens, Greece. Tens of thousands of people of all political stripes flooded the streets to protest the government’s reduction of public sector wages, cuts to pensions, and the rollback of pro-labor laws. In the midst of these riotous demonstrations, the firebombing of Marfin Bank, allegedly by anarchists, resulted in the deaths of three of its employees from suffocation.

Among the diverse array of angry Greeks protesting austerity and capitalism are of course dogs. One particular dog, who calls himself Loukanikos, has taken to the streets he lives on to join the mobs. Barking at police, inhaling copious amounts of tear gas and chasing rubber bullets, Louk apparently hasn't missed an Athens riot in years, first appearing in photos of street disturbances with protesters after Athens cops killed 15 year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos in December 2008. Since then Louk has consistently pitched in, barking and growling at neoliberal austerity measures and agents of state repression during times of street warfare, and providing comradeship on the sidelines. Capital has taken notice: riot dog even appeared on the cover of a recent edition of the European edition of the economist.

On the internet, you can check out Louk and other canine rebels at http://rebeldog.tumblr.com/ or on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/riot.dog

The Toronto Community Mobilization Network is a group of community-based organizers and allies, facilitating teach-ins, creative actions, rallies and demonstrations leading up to and during the G8/G20 Summits in Toronto, June 21-27, 2010.

by FFFC - Ottawa

On May 18th, the Royal Bank of Canada in Ottawa was firebombed. RBC was a major sponsor of the recently concluded 2010 Olympics on stolen indigenous land. This land was never legally ceded to colonial British Columbia. This hasn’t stopped the government from assuming full ownership of the land and its resources for the benefit of its corporate masters and to the detriment of aboriginal peoples, workers and the poor of the province. The 2010 Winter Olympics increased the homelessness crisis in Vancouver, especially the Downtown Eastside, Kanada’s poorest urban area. Since the Olympics bid, homelessness in Vancouver has nearly tripled while condominium development in the Downtown Eastside is outpacing social housing by a rate of 3:1. The further criminalization and displacement of those living in extreme poverty continues apace.

Scott also refused to testify and was taken to jail, but two days after Scott’s detention he was charged with conspiracy under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA). If convicted, he faces 3-5 years in prison. He was released on November 30th pending trial (set to begin on September 13th, 2010). AETA was signed into law in late 2006 after being pushed through Congress by influential biomedical and agri-business industry groups.

While Philadelphia has a long and dirty history of white supremacist violence, Philly also has a long, strong and beautiful history of racial justice organizing and victories. Diverse participation, people of color leadership, and white antiracist solidarity have always strengthened this racial justice work, although that language has not always been there. In the last few years, we have seen a dramatic conversation about race evolving around us: from the victory of President Obama to the racist, hate-mongering Tea Parties; from the struggle to keep libraries open and operating to the escalation of xenophobia and ethnic cleansing in Arizona, we see race being talked about from a lot of different angles.