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.

Now it’s official: according to the U.S. Geological Survey, the ongoing oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is the worst in American history.   

Since April 20th, when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killing eleven workers, thousands of barrels of oil have been continuously spewing into the Gulf waters. The exact numbers have been in dispute since the incident occurred, but it now seems clear that British Petroleum has been grossly underestimating the extent of the spill. In the past six weeks, its two attempts to cap the leaking well have failed. In the meantime, the company has been pouring tens of thousands of gallons of Corexit, a toxic chemical dispersant banned in the UK, into the Gulf to break up the visible patches of oil. Workers spraying the chemical have reported nausea and vomiting, but BP has chalked up their complaints to “food poisoning” and even prohibited them from wearing masks.

by Kari Lydersen

Revolt on Goose Island is a blow by blow account of the occupation at the Republic Windows & Doors factory in December 2008, when the US economy rapidly collapsed and workers were being thrown out of their jobs by the hundreds of thousands. When the workers at the factory were told that they were being left without jobs suddenly and without any notice, they said, “Enough is enough” and fought for at least some severance money.

Lydersen does a pretty good job of bringing the story down to the real with emphasis on the people involved and with background on the situation, the company, Bank of America (who had cut the company off of financial credit shortly after taking billions of dollars in emergency taxpayer money through TARP), and the union. Lyderson does a great job emphasizing that the only reason the workers were able to pull off an occupation was because they had a strong, democratic, member-driven union in the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, a small progressive union of about 35,000 with a rich history of militant action.

On September 17th, 2008, Barcelona-based anticapitalist Enric Duran announced that he had expropriated 492,000 euros. For several years, Duran took out loans that he never intended to pay back and donated all of the money to social movements constructing alternatives to capitalism. This announcement came with the publication of 200,000 free newspapers called Crisi (Catalan for “Crisis”), with an article explaining Duran’s action, and other pieces offering a systemic critique of the current financial and ecological crises. The action got the attention of tens of thousands of everyday people as well as major media outlets, who soon dubbed Duran the “Robin Hood of the Banks.” Duran left the country to avoid prosecution. The group that published the newspapers formed Podem Viure Sense Capitalisme (We Can Live With Out Capitalism) and began region-wide organizing through their website, http://podem.cat, bringing together debtors, squatters, alternative economy networks, environmentalists, and everyday people to build a large-scale alternative to capitalism.

Friday, April 16th at 7pm

3417 Spruce Street, Houston Hall - Ben Franklin Room

Max Rameau, an organizer with Take Back the Land, will be speaking at the University of Pennsylvania.  Take Back the Land is a Miami-based
grassroots group that has been moving families into foreclosed homes and reclaiming public land since 2006.  Max Rameau is coming to Philly to talk about the national Take Back the Land Campaign and work with communities in Philadelphia facing similar struggles.  This is a great opportunity to learn from someone doing direct work to confront both gentrification and the economic crisis.  Please join us!