Feature Archives

A carpet-bombing terror campaign by the US Military killed hundreds of Afghani civilians 11/16 around the town of Kunduz. Catch up on local discussion about anti-war organizing, and global discussion of diversity of tactics in the anti-corporate/anti-war movements.
•11/16: Fresno - Street actions on Weds and Fris. Photo from a silent vigil for the starving.
•11/14: Over 100 people gathered at Powell & Market in SF on the eve of the Holy Month of Ramadan to demand an end to the war against Afghanistan, defend civil liberties, and stop racial profiling. Photos
•11/11: Antiwar demonstrators in Santa Cruz staged a secession from the US to protest the war against Afghanistan and other US-sponsored injustice. Photos
•11/8: "End the Bombing - Let Food In" protest in front of KRON TV in SF. The action featured a funeral possession, "die-in", and candlelight vigil to draw attention to corporate media's coverage of the war. Photo montage 1 | 2 | 3
•11/6: Protesters greeted Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State, who thinks that 500,000 Iraqi deaths as a result of sanctions is "worth the price." Photos
•11/4: The East Bay Coalition Against the War held a forum at Laney College in Oakland. Hear audio from Bill Balderston, Kehinde Koyejo, Prof. Ann Fagan Ginger, Imam Abdul Malik.
•11/2: Stop-the-bombing protests every Friday evening in San Rafael (video) and Fresno (video).
SF-IMC News Sheet (pdf) | SF-IMC Noticias En Español (pdf) | SF-IMC Calendar

As the US military buildup continues around and in Afghanistan, some recent enlistees in the US armed forces are now applying for conscientious objector status, and one retired army officer questions the so-called "war on terrorism." Read an excellent interview with a former drill instructor on the military, propaganda and social control from 1988.

Meanwhile, hundreds of hate crimes have been committed in this country against Arabs, Muslims, Sikhs and anyone seen as resembling a "terrorist." On Sept 29, an Arab-American man was shot to death in his convenience store near Fresno. The man, Abdo Ali Ahmed, had received numerous death threats before being shot by an unknown assailant. Relatives and friends believe he was killed because of his ethnicity. In SF, when a hate crime was committed against a local business in the Mission District. Read about a teach-in on 10/27. See photos 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Since 9/11, thousands of people in the Bay Area have come together to mourn the loss of life, to protest the US going to war and our loss of civil liberites, and to create Hate-Free zones in our communities. More info: Middle East Children's Alliance | Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee. See Oakland youth of color speak out against racist scapegoating in Stronger Than Bombs

The US continues to bomb Afghanistan "strategically", which includes Red Cross warehouses that the Taliban had commandeered. It's not the first time the US hit humanitarian aid centers, refugee caravans, and working people. Details at the now-forming San Diego IMC

According to the Taliban, which has also attacked aid centers, as many as 1,500 civilians have been killed during the five weeks of attacks. US military officials and the corporate media contend that these numbers are "grossly exaggerated," despite the introduction to their bombing regimen of cluster bombs, which, because some don't immediately explode, kill and maim people years after hitting the ground. Innocent Afghanis are caught -- between the oppressive Taliban and the attacking US (with its history of illegal and immoral military interventions home and abroad) -- and they are dying.

Physicians for Human Rights' Afghanistan Report | Read reports (translated to English) from the Al-Jazirah network on abunimah.org | Human Rights Watch 9/11 Reports | SF IMC Anti-War News

If it's not obvious by now, it will never sink in -- if we don't learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. Activists say this often when speaking of the government and corporations, referring to the continuous destruction and rape of the natural world and entire countries and peoples. But where is the self-analytical voice? Is anyone asking where is the anti-corporate globalization movement going? Is there a "unified voice" behind protests surrounding the wide variety of causes that activists rally around? What's next? Demonstration after demonstration, seemingly countless meetings, teach-ins, die-ins, and speakouts -- they make for an amazing beginning, but what other tactics can and should be employed to prevent the world from being consumed by endless war, and to demonstrate that another world truly is possible? Isn't it time that we bring that mirror of self-reflection to bear upon ourselves as well?

Judging from criticisms in the UK surrounding the attempted hijacking of the anti-corporate globalization movement by the Socialist Worker's Party (read a leaked memo), experiences which are not unfamiliar to radicals here in the US, show that there is no unified "protest movement," that a variety of organizations have diverging agendas, and that a new type of tactic and vision must be employed in the struggle for true justice in a world gone mad.

Read an essay criticizing the recent actions against capitalism in Ottawa. Here's a response from ChuckO of the Mid-Atlantic Infoshop.

Self-criticism and honest evaluation are essential. Indymedia, of course, is no exception. Anarchists and other anti-authoritarians have long been marginalized in the "good protester vs. bad protester" dichotomy, (read: Global Exchange), though they have much important analysis to add to the fray. Honest appraisals of current resistance, including suggested next steps (minus the empty rhetoric), are welcomed.

ŒWhat to do?, by Michael Albert of ZNet
•Fighting the Next War, Not the Last One, by Michael Novick, of People Against Racist Terror
•Anarchy, War and Globalization, by Jaggi Singh
•We Organize with Love in our Hearts, by Chris Crass
•After the Fall--Our Future is Now, by the Crimethinc Worker's Collective

On Oct 26, George Bush signed USA PATRIOT Act (H.R.3162) into law, marking a new, draconian era in civil rights legislation in the US. Passed in the House by a vote of 357 to 66, and the Senate 98 to 1, the USA Patriot Act (HR 3162) gives enormous, unwarranted power to the executive branch which will be unchecked by meaningful judicial review. "As it has done in times of past tragedy, the government responded by passing legislation that reduces or eliminates the process of judicial review and erodes our civil liberties," said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU.

Read an in-depth analysis of the bill by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The ACLU also outlined the impact that the bill will have on civil liberties and personal freedom. ACLU Chart

The bill grants the government extensive surveillance powers and the ability to detain US residents and immigrants with no judicial process or other oversight (beyond what it could already do). Read FAIR's reports on how the corporate media hasn't given this bill the coverage it demands. The EFF had issued an action alert regarding the original proposed legislation, along with related legislation (presently 3 bills, including the Public Safety and Cyber Security Enhancement Act, PSCSEA). They also held a Forum on Civil Liberties in SF last month. Read their response to pro-surveillance criticism and learn 12 ways to protect your online privacy.

According to the US DOJ, a majority of the 1000+ post-9/11 detainees remain jailed. US citizen Tarek Abdelhamid Albasti, for instance, was taken away from his Evansville, Ind., restaurant with his uncle and seven other Muslim men after FBI agents showed up to inquire about his political beliefs and the flying lessons he had been given as a birthday present. The nine men were flown to Chicago in shackles on a U.S. Marshal's Service jet. Albasti was eventually released after staging a hunger strike. Meanwhile, Mustafa Abu Jdai from Tyler, Tex., remains in a Dallas jail after he and his wife, trying to help investigators, called the FBI's 800 tipline on 9/13. Abu Jdai answered a question "incorrectly" during an FBI polygraph test, was charged with a visa violation, and now faces indefinite detention.

In an example of how the new laws will be used to punish activists as suspected "terrorists," Long Island activist Connor Cash was officially charged with "providing material support to terrorists," in connection with property damage claimed by the Earth Liberation Front on Long Island late last year.

Electronic Privacy Information Center | EFF | ACLU

As the Northern Alliance captures Afghan cities and the U.S. bombing raids continue, Americans are still trying to make sense out of this "new war." US residents (87% of which reportedly get most of their news from television) are bombarded by general after retired State Department rep after media pundit spewing the monotonous drone of "there is no alternative." The government and media would have you believe that war and aggression make up the one right path to peace, but how can this be true?

Decide for yourself. One woman conducted a halloween survey in Palo Alto, a man adds his commentary, "I Dreamed of WWIII", and Starhawk gives us reasons to act now with "stubborn, persistant passion" in her "Spells and Counterspells" essay. starhawk.org

Some thoughts from conversations in Kansas | Hearts and Minds: Avoiding a New Cold War | Unintended Consequences | The Only Alternative to Global Terror: A View from South Asia | Los Angeles IMC: Beyond War - discussion | Wage-Peace.org | Veterans for Peace

For sticking, taping, and wheatpasting: www.ieeha.org/stickers | postersforpeace.org | New York City RTS | flag.blackened.net pdfs

A teach-in was held at Mission High School on Oct 27. Several hundred people attended to hear speakers put the current crisis in perspective. The event was sponsored by A.N.S.W.E.R.
Photos: Elias Rashmawi | Richard Becker | Jaggi Singh | Crowd