by Arielle Burgdorf

You’re walking down the street when suddenly you see it: a stencil of a bandana-clad man  about to throw something. Except where there should be a molotov cocktail in his hand, there’s a bouquet of flowers. Is it clever? Will it make people think? And, most importantly, is it art?

By Hans Bennett

On January 1, 1994, the now-infamous North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect. That same day, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), rose up and launched a military offensive that occupied towns throughout the state of Chiapas, in Mexico. The EZLN, or “Zapatistas” had been covertly organizing for many years, but they specifically chose the day of NAFTA’s implementation for their public rebellion.

Many components of NAFTA favored US corporate interests at the expense of Mexico’s general population, but the Zapatistas were particularly opposed to NAFTA’s rewriting of the Mexican Constitution, in order to eliminate the population’s biggest victory won during the Mexican Revolution fought 90 years before, at the time of World War One. “The Mexican Revolution wrote into the national constitution the opportunity for a village to hold its land communally, in an ejido, so that no individual could alienate any portion of it,” writes Staughton Lynd, co-author of the new book Wobblies and Zapatistas: Conversations on Anarchism, Marxism and Radical History.

by Pete Tridish

A Ruckus I Couldn’t Miss

I first heard about the Seattle Protests at a Ruckus Society training camp about 6 months before the WTO was scheduled to come to town. Ruckus is a group famous for the dramatic and daring banners they hang from cranes and buildings and towers; they focus on human rights and environmental issues. The speaker there representing the anti-WTO organizers, after making an eloquent case for the connections between all the globalization issues and for a coalition of activists of all stripes, said “We will lie down on the airstrips and stop the delegates planes from landing.  If they get past that, we will block the highways leading from the airport to the city. If they get past that, we will block the hotels they are staying in, we will block the streets, and we will block the doors of the convention center and we will not let them make another another free trade deal that week in Seattle.” How could I not help with such a plan? In that moment I committed to go.

AIDS Policy in the Obama Era

by Kaytee Riek

When President Obama took office in 2009, AIDS activists celebrated the historic occasion. The first black president, the first president to have been a community organizer, is also the first president to come to office with an AIDS plan. It was activist pressure that spurred the president to release his ambitious plan on the campaign trail, and it will be activist pressure that helps him live up to it. Nearly a year into Obama’s presidency, it is time to look back on the development of the plan and take stock of where we are in implementing it.

On September 29th, more than 60 Casino-Free activists gathered at the SugarHouse Casino construction site in Fishtown. Making a bold stand against casinos in Philadelphia, they locked arms and blocked construction trucks from entering the site. Fourteen of the activists who were prepared to engage in civil disobedience were arrested, taken into custody and charged with disorderly conduct.

From Casino Free Philadelphia’s statement on that day:

On August 12th, the Philly chapter of the Human Rights Coalition pulled together their first rally against prison abuse in PA. Though not a huge crowd, the rally by all accounts was a huge success. Gathering just across the road from CFCF prison on State road, the protest set up shop next to the bus stop where people visiting prisoners and the just released waited for rides back into the city. Representing at the rally were the various HRC chapters from Philly, Chester and Pittsburgh, the NAACP’s PA prison project, Fight for Lifers as well as friends and relatives of prisoners, ex prisoners and various other anti-prison organizers, many sharing first hand accounts of their dealings with a brutal prison system.

The protest was in response to demands for street protests from imprisoned members of the HRC, some of whom have within the last year faced brutal attacks, been thrown in the hole and denied crucial medical treatment, conditions which are all to familiar to the millions now locked up in US prisons.

For more info check out
http://hrcoalition.org

Ronald E. Blount, Chief of the 1,200 member Taxi Union was recently acquitted by a jury on charges of choking a woman during a dispute over using a credit card to pay for her fare from the airport. He offered to take her to an ATM to get cash, but she insisted on using a corporate credit card, so he reportedly told her “you just got a free ride.” Blount admitted to violating Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) taxi rules by not being equipped to handle credit in his cab, and to arguing with her. The Alliance has been in disagreement with the insistence that such equipment be installed as drivers have to pay for it and are charged for each use. However, he denied the allegations that he choked the fare and said that instead he helped her from the car when she fell backwards getting out. Despite claims that she had been choked, there was no evidence to support her allegations. The Alliance fights for taxi driver’s rights and protections ; they have battled the PPA over the credit card system and the use of GPS (Global Positioning Tracking Systems) which, again drivers have to pay to have installed and violates their privacy. Blount is glad to get back to his duties.

Check out the Taxi Workers Alliance at http://www.twapa.org/

In 1992 security guards at the Philadelphia Museum of Art had their union busted by Mayor Rendell who privatized what were once decent city jobs amidst the Philly budget crisis of the early 90’s.  Art Museum guards made $14/hr back in 1992, in 2009 dollars that would amount to somewhere in between $20-22/hr.

Security guards at the Philadelphia Museum of Art now work not for the city, but for AlliedBarton, a national firm that provides security services to many major institutions in the region and nationwide. Today they are paid a wage of $10.03/ hr, which is hardly enough to scrape by on.  

But for two years guards at the Philadelphia Museum of Art have been doing something and it’s starting to pay off. They’ve been organizing their own union in coalition with the Philadelphia Officers and Workers Rising campaign (POWR), a joint effort of rank and file security officers and Philadelphia Jobs With Justice.

On Tuesday, October 16th people angered over the lack of progress in the national healthcare debate took their message to the health insurance company Cigna’s front doorstep in Center City. 

While people rallied in support five people blocked the doors of Cigna in a ‘death pile’ to protest of the health insurance industries attempt to block any meaningful health care reform with it’s army of DC lobbyists.

Among those who put their bodies on the line for health care reform was Joan Kosloff whose son Eric Aycox died as a result of a treatable case of meningitis, because he was uninsured. 

Every day in America, an estimated 120 people die as a result of being denied health care by an insurance company. 

The Pennsylvania chapter of Health Care for America Now had this to say about their actions :

“We were arrested today because Joan Kosloff’s son died as a result of a treatable case of meningitis because he could not afford health insurance….
“We were arrested today because Dawn Smith is today fighting CIGNA for the treatment she needs. Dawn has  a brain tumor. Doctors are ready to help her. But CIGNA has been blocking her from treatment."

by Robert Saleem Holbrook