Feature Archives

Striking a resounding blow to the California Department Corrections' (CDC) plans to build yet another prison, a Kern County Superior Court Judge barred the state from proceeding with plans to build a maximum-security prison slated for Delano, California in a lawsuit brought by Critical Resistance, a national organization opposing the expansion of the prison industrial complex. Audio

June 3: After Cincinnati police attacked peaceful protesters with nightsticks and pepper spray, they arrested over a dozen people. Supporters have set up the Cincinnati Autonomous Commune, which is holding jail solidarity actions until the protesters are released.

Community residents joined in civil disobedience in Cincinnati, Ohio in April 2001 after a white police officer shot an unarmed black youth, Timothy Thomas, to death. A massive police crackdown led to a curfew and violent police state conditions that lasted for days. Thomas's peaceful funeral was interrupted when a police cruiser slowly drove by and shot at the mourners with a bean-bag gun. More outrage followed weeks later, when Officer Steve Roach, the cop who killed Thomas, was charged with only misdemeanor crimes.

Cincinnati has historically been an area with massive racial oppression, exacerbated by a devastated industrial economy. Widespread unrest last surfaced in the late 60s in Cincinnati, but resistance to police violence and corruption has continued throughout southern Ohio, including a strong Copwatch. Watch video from a previous Cincinnati police brutality demo.

A youth-led protest against brutality by the SFPD was held outside the Mission Police Department on Saturday, May 19. Relatives of people who were murdered by police spoke passionately about the unaccountable brutality of police everywhere and especially in San Francisco. Detailed Report

In Oakland, hundreds of people rallied on Tuesday, May 22 against the Oakland Police Department’s murder of Jamil Wheatfall. While the cops charge that Jamil "resisted arrest" and was "high on cocaine," family and community members have heard it before and are demanding to know why the unarmed 36 year old was murdered. Activist groups PUEBLO and Uhuru joined the demonstration. Video: 1 | 2

Before sentencing Lorenzo Komboa Ervin, Damon McGee and Mikail Musa Muhammad (known as the "Chattanooga 3") Judge Rebecca J. Stern told the three men, "I believe your motivations were good. Your method was wrong, but your message was right." Read More

The Chattanooga 3, affiliated with Black Autonomy/Copwatch, had been arrested in May 1998 at a Chattanooga, Tennessee City Council Meeting for speaking in support of a civilian review board, following two recent police murders. Full Report

On Jan 27, a memorial and demonstration was held at the Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) entrance in Chowchilla, CA, to remember the deaths that have resulted from not providing proper health care, and to protest the correctional facility's continued neglect of its inmates. Sign a petition calling for an end to the medical neglect at CCWF. Read an account by a local prisoner advocate documenting the frightful conditions there. The most recent prisoner fatalities come in the wake of a dismissal of class action litigation challenging medical neglect and abuse at CCWF, and historic legislative hearings that took place inside two other California women's prisons in October. Photo

UPDATE: Information about legal defense for arrested protester. Berkeley riot police attacked and arrested protesters at a Reclaim the Streets/Critical Mass demonstration on Friday, Feb 9th. Police attacked protesters with nightsticks, and confiscated or destroyed protest signs and other property, including a mobile sound system and couch. See photos 1, 2, 3, 4  RTS responded with a statement to the City Council about the police brutality. Watch Video  Read Reclaim the Streets report  The demonstration was held in solidarity with indigenous peoples in Ecuador, who are fighting against IMF-imposed "economic adjustments" designed to prepare the country for a US$304 million loan. Read more about the popular uprising in Ecuador.

Hear audio from the March 17th conference "Mobilizing for the Bush Years", which included in-depth discussions of the most effective tactics for dealing with the authorities.