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local and national features
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Mar 06 2010
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"No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!" A Rochester Indymedia Recap of the Anti-Olympic Protests in Vancouver |
On February 9th, two Rochester Indymedia journalists started their journey to Vancouver, unceded and occupied Coast Salish Territory to cover the 2010 anti-Olympic resistance movement. Anti-Olympic organizers called for a convergence of anti-colonial and anti-capitalist forces in Vancouver, February 10-15, 2010, to confront and disrupt the 2010 Olympic Games. These dates were chosen to coincide with the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics (Feb. 12, 2010). The entire Winter Games ran from Feb 12-28, 2010. The slogan under which the convergence coalesced was, "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!"
Read the full report back replete with video, photos, and links: Click here!
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Feb 14 2010
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Olympics come to Stolen Native Land - Protesters go to Canadian Consulate |
The demo began at 11 am outside of the Chase building at the Canadian embassy on 5847 San Felipe, with two banners, and tons of energy. Protesters enter the consulate building, and requested audience with the consular, and after twenty minutes with inside the office, security was called, and protesters were ejected from the building and banned from returning. The protest then moved to the Chinese embassy, where banners were held and dialogue was carried on. [Read Full Article]
From no2010.com: The 2010 Winter Olympics, to be held in Vancouver-Whistler from February 12-27, 2010, is today a very real threat to Native peoples, the urban poor (many of whom are also Native), and the environment. While cutting social services, healthcare, education, etc., the BC Liberal government is at the same time providing billions of dollars to construction companies & other Olympic-related industries. The capitalists are making millions, while the poor are literally dying in the urban & reservation ghettos.
Indy coverage of protests to the games: 2010 Vancouver Olympic Protest Reporting and Vancouver Media Co-op
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Feb 10 2010
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Chicago journalist and anti-Olympics activist Martin Macias deported from Canada |
From the newswire: "Martin Macias, Jr., a credentialed freelance journalist who contributes to Vocalo.org, the online and new media outlet for Chicago Public Radio, was turned back from the Canadian border late Saturday night. "[Macias] was a lead organizer for No Games Chicago, the all-volunteer citizens group that opposed the Chicago bid for the 2016 Olympics. Martin was part of the No Games delegations that went to the International Olympic Committee's international headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland and then to Copenhagen, Denmark to deliver materials documenting the reasons why Chicago should not have been awarded the games. Martin was an invited guest a conference critical of the 2010 Vancouver games and the Olympic industry."
Quoting Macias: "I was in the passport line in Vancouver and I told them I was a radio journalist and a student a Malcolm X College. The agent put a big circle and x on my ticket. I was pulled out the line and questioned aggressively for two hours. They wanted to know what I was going to do in Vancouver, who i was meeting with, who organized the conference and what they looked like. They took all my contact information and business cards of journalists and other people I was to connect with while in Vancouver." When Macias demanded to know what his rights were, he was told: "You don't have any." Read more
Additional Coverage: Vancouver Media Co-op: Anti-Olympics organizer and journalist denied entry to Canada | No Games Chicago | Portland Indymedia | Democracy Now!: Canada Blocks Olympic Critic from Entering Country | Twin Cities IMC: Suppression of Independent Journalists for Widely Opposed 2010 Olympics | Rochester IMC Volunteer Detained at Canadian Border | All out against the 2010 Winter Olympic Games – Why the resistance? | 2010.mediacoop.ca
Past Indymedia Coverage on No Games Chicago: Chicago Opposition to 2016 Olympics Bid Ramps Up | Chicago Rallies Against 2016 Olympics with IOC Vote Looming | Chicago Public and Community Organizations Relieved by Lost Olympic Bid | From The Trenches coverage of April 2 IOC rally in Chicago | Chicago Independent Television feature on No Games Chicago
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Feb 09 2010
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All out against the 2010 Winter Olympic Games — Why the resistance? |
In 1936 the Nazis introduced the Olympic Torch relay to the world. Since then the Olympics has acted as a fascist Trojan Horse masquerading as a international sporting event, but benefiting the military industrial complex, sucking billions of taxpayers dollars from host cities, displacing the homeless, criminalizing the poor, devastating the environment and stealing indigenous lands. On February 15, 2010 the Olympic spectacle begins.
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Jan 06 2010
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OIympic torch protests: challenging a deceitful tradition |
In December, members of Genesee Valley Earth First! and others from Rochester participated in demonstrations against the Olympic torch relay in Canada. We did so because environmental destruction knows no borders, and the games have a sordid history of displacing the poor while legitimizing colonialism and authoritarianism. The torch relay itself was born in Nazi Germany to spotlight the fascist government’s supremacist propaganda.|
Nov 20 2009
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Coalition Details Hebron Fund's Connections to Extremism before Citi Field Event |
One day before the Hebron Fund's controversial fundraising dinner at the New York Mets' Citi Field, a coalition of civil rights and peace organizations released new details about extremist statements by individuals associated with the Hebron Fund, and about its fundraising for illegal purposes. The statements were made by Yossi Baumol, the Executive Director of the Hebron Fund, Rabbi Dov Lior, the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish settlers in Hebron, and Noam Arnon, an honoree at the upcoming dinner. Other examples of racist, violent and illegal activities supported by the Hebron Fund were included in a November 3rd letter to the Mets.
Related Story from Adalah: New Yorkers Tell Baseball Commish: 'Strike Out Israeli Settlements!'
Related Story from Adalah: New Yorkers Tell Baseball Commish: 'Strike Out Israeli Settlements!'
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Nov 18 2009
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New Yorkers Tell Baseball Commish: 'Strike Out Israeli Settlements!' |
Over fifty human rights advocates gathered outside the office of Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig in midtown Manhattan at lunch time today to demand that he prevent the New York Mets from hosting a Citi Field fundraiser for a Jewish group that supports violence and racism against Palestinians. The protest came two weeks after eleven organizations sent a letter to the Mets and Commissioner Selig asking them to cancel the event for the Hebron Fund at the Caesars Club, which is located directly above the Jackie Robinson Rotunda at Citi Field. The groups said that the event would “taint” the Mets and Major League Baseball’s commitment to diversity and equality, and insult the memory of Jackie Robinson. Read More & Pics \ Update Nov20: Coalition Details Hebron Fund's Connections to Extremism before Citi Field Event
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Nov 05 2009
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11 Organizations Demand Mets Cancel Citi Field Fundraiser for Israeli Settlers |
Eleven organizations from the US, Palestine and Israel have called on baseball’s New York Mets to cancel a November 21st dinner at the Caesars Club at Citi Field for the Brooklyn-based Hebron Fund. The dinner is a fundraiser for Israeli settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank City of Hebron. In a letter sent to the Mets on November 3rd, the groups said, “The New York Mets will be facilitating activities that directly violate international law and the Obama administration’s call for a freeze in settlement construction, and that actively promote racial discrimination, and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homes in Hebron.” Seven hundred Israeli settlers, living amidst 150,000 Palestinians in Hebron, are expanding their hold on the historic old city by driving out the Palestinian residents.
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Oct 05 2009
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Chicago Public and Community Organizations Relieved by Lost Olympic Bid |
"Throughout the... litany of news coverage on the IOC’s decision [to award the 2016 Olympics to Rio de Janeiro rather than Chicago], little attention has been given to what is arguably the majority sentiment in Chicago. When citizen opposition, polls and community organizing is taken into consideration, today’s decision is not appropriately characterized by “deep sadness.” Community leaders and organizers, as well as citizens, registered far different reactions than what was expressed by politicians and prominently echoed by U.S.-based mainstream media outlets." Read More | Previous Feature: Chicago Rallies Against 2016 Olympics with IOC Vote Looming | Related: South Africa’s Poor Targeted by Evictions, Attacks in Advance of 2010 World Cup
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Oct 04 2009
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Not Our Mascot Rally |
More than 100 people marched across the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to protest the return of its racist mascot, “the Chief,” which was retired by the Board of Trustees in February 2007. For the second year a registered student organization, Students for Chief Illiniwek, has rented Assembly Hall to hold an event called “The Next Dance” for those who wish to see the mascot’s return. The University of Illinois continues to refuse to educate its students about the reason for the mascot’s retirement, or enforce its trademark on the image... Read More | Related: "Chief" Illiniwek Regalia Returned to Ogalala Lakota
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Sep 30 2009
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Chicago Rallies Against 2016 Olympics with IOC Vote Looming |
Oct3 UPDATE Chicago Public and Community Organizations Relieved by Lost Olympic BidOn September 29, hundreds attended a protest outside City Hall in downtown Chicago against Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, and decrying the Olympic bid as a financial boondoggle for the city.[...] The Chicago bid book, which outlines the financial proposal for Chicago's 2016 bid, was written before the recession hit and many of the anticipated funding streams have since dried up. Thus, funding the Olympics could skyrocket into the billions of dollars with the shortfall paid by city residents and from the city's controversial TIF program — an ostensible program to aid development but which has morphed into a mechanism to funnel public funds into unaccountable slush funds controlled by Mayor Daley and approved surrogates.
Activism on the Olympics in Chicago has increased, with No Games Chicago sending delegates to Copenhagen where the final vote will take place on October 2nd. The Chicago 2016 publicity machine, run by the controversial PR group Hill & Knowlton, has deployed an all-star team to sway the International Olympic Committee, including President Obama and even possibly Michael Jordan. Despite this blitz, analysts say that Rio De Janeiro is still a slight favorite to win the 2016 Olympics.
Past IMC coverage: Feature: Chicago Opposition to 2016 Olympics Bid Ramps Up | Video: No Games Chicago Rally in Chicago | Video: Critical Mass Opposes the Olympics in Chicago
Additional coverage: No Games Chicago | NGC Copenhagen Coverage | Chicago Reader's Coverage of the Chicago 2016 Olympics Bid | Chicago 2016 Olympics meets the public: full audio | Truthout: The Invisible Fourth Pillar
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Aug 06 2009
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Worcester World Cup International Soccer Returns August 8th & 9th |
The Worcester World Cup Tournament is returning to Worcester on Saturday, August 8th and Sunday, August 9th from 9am-8pm at Foley Stadium, 305 Chandler Street in Worcester. The four year of this local tournament which brings together Worcester's many immigrant communities features 19 international teams (16 Men's/3 Women's) Worcester residents born and with family ties in Albania, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana,Guatemala, Iran, Iraq, Ireland , Jamaica, Kenya, Liberia, Macedonia Togo and the USA will all compete for this year's Men's and Women's titles.
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Apr 21 2009
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IMF Soccer (and baseball) Riot |
Meet at 10 PM, Saturday April 25, at Washington Circle
For DC residents, two of America’s so-called “favorite pastimes,”baseball and soccer, have become the nightmare that plagues our budget and exacerbates the local financial crisis.
For DC residents, two of America’s so-called “favorite pastimes,”baseball and soccer, have become the nightmare that plagues our budget and exacerbates the local financial crisis.
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Mar 31 2009
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Chicago Opposition to 2016 Olympics Bid Ramps Up |
Chicago is one of four finalist cities for the 2016 Summer Olympics, though Chicago's bid for the thirty-first Summer Olympiad has drawn controversy among Chicagoans. The Chicago 2016 committee has hired the controversial PR firm Hill & Knowlton, and surveys of Chicagoans show a degree of skepticism over Chicago. Despite promises to keep Chicago tax funds out of any payment for the Olympics, the city and mayor have evidently broken that promise.
If history is any guide, should Chicago win the bid, Chicagoans have economic disaster and a trail of human rights and civil rights abuses to look forward to in the wake of Olympics. Some Chicago community groups have objected to the Olympics, while others sought community benefits agreements with the city, and even protested within City Hall.
The stakes will be raised in on April 2 when the International Olympic Committee visits Chicago for a week-long visit. No Games Chicago, a coalition of Chicago communities, is organizing opposition against the Olympic bid.
Additional Resources: Unlympics Organizing Committee | Video: No Games Chicago on the Economy | More Videos from No Games Chicago | Radio interview with the Unlympics Organizing Committee | Radio interview with Jitu Brown about a Community Benefits Agreement
If history is any guide, should Chicago win the bid, Chicagoans have economic disaster and a trail of human rights and civil rights abuses to look forward to in the wake of Olympics. Some Chicago community groups have objected to the Olympics, while others sought community benefits agreements with the city, and even protested within City Hall.
The stakes will be raised in on April 2 when the International Olympic Committee visits Chicago for a week-long visit. No Games Chicago, a coalition of Chicago communities, is organizing opposition against the Olympic bid.
Additional Resources: Unlympics Organizing Committee | Video: No Games Chicago on the Economy | More Videos from No Games Chicago | Radio interview with the Unlympics Organizing Committee | Radio interview with Jitu Brown about a Community Benefits Agreement
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Nov 29 2008
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Turkey Bowl marks the first Thanksgiving on Galveston after Ike |
The Turkey Bowl is an annual flag football game played in Adoue Park in Galveston's East End every Thanksgiving since the 70's. This past Thursday brought around 50 people to the park, in the first Turkey Bowl since Hurricane Ike. By 10:15 at least 25 people had shown up, we gathered in a circle and shared how many turkey bowl's people had attended. This ranged from many people's first game to more than a couple people who have been to more than 20. Many also shared things they were grateful for, many addressed Hurricane Ike and its impact on their families and careers.
Despite the hardships of damage to property, what was a near universal perception of a slow and inadequate State and Federal response, and the cuts of 3,000 jobs at UTMB (described by some as worse than the hurricane), everyone I spoke too was optimistic about the future of the Island, and role that they would play in it. [Full Story, Photos, and Audio]