A Million Wisconsinites Petition to Recall Scott Walker: "Petitions with the names of 1 million Wisconsinites were submitted to state elections officials today, in a move that will jump-start the process of removing the nation’s most notorious antilabor governor from office... In all, close to 2 million signatures were submitted Tuesday, building the historic in-the-streets popular uprising that rocked Wisconsin in 2012 into a electoral uprising that has the potential to rock the politics not just of the state but of the nation in 2012. The movement to oust Walker will have secured the support of a higher percentage of eligible voters than has ever before sought to recall an American governor."
[more inside]
posted by flex
on Jan 17, 2012 -
106 comments
The mayor of Washington DC has been arrested, along with 6 of the 12 members of its city council, during a protest today near a US Senate office building, objecting to the city's use as a bargaining chip while negotiating the
7th Continuing Resolution to avoid a government shutdown last Friday. The bill prohibits the District of Columbia from locally funding abortion services, and imposes a locally-unpopular school voucher program. Had the government shutdown taken place, the DC government would have also had to suspend most of its operations including
trash pickup. For those of you keeping track, Vince Gray is the 3rd (of 6) DC mayor to be arrested while in office.
[more inside]
posted by schmod
on Apr 11, 2011 -
93 comments
"We've had revolution in Tunisia, Egypt's Mubarak is teetering; in Yemen, Jordan and Syria suddenly protests have appeared. In Ireland young techno-savvy professionals are agitating for a "Second Republic"; in France the youth from banlieues battled police on the streets to defend the retirement rights of 60-year olds; in Greece striking and rioting have become a national pastime. And in Britain we've had riots and student occupations that changed the political mood.
What's going on? What's the wider social dynamic?"
posted by doobiedoo
on Feb 6, 2011 -
111 comments
It is not our role to take power. It is our role to make the powerful frightened of us. And that's what we've forgotten. Give up that dream! Chris Hedges talks neoliberalism and neofeudalism, the civil rights movement, Camden, Obama, Clinton, Tea Parties, moral nihilism, inverted totalitarianism and corpocracy, NAFTA, welfare reform, health care, labor, poverty, Yugoslavia, post-industrial capitalism, economic crisis, imperial collapse, socialism, and democracy, among other things.
[more inside]
posted by gerryblog
on Apr 24, 2010 -
51 comments
Single-payer health care advocates arrested at Senate hearing. On May 5, 2009 advocates of a U.S. national health care program
disrupted a Senate Finance Committee event to call for single-payer healthcare to be part of the discussion. The eight protesters were subsequently
arrested. The protesters included representatives of
Physicians for a National Health Program, which favors the
The United States National Health Care Act, H.R. 676. Committee Chair Max Baucus (D - Montana), who has received
more money in contributions from health insurance companies than any other member of Congress,
favors requiring Americans to purchase private health insurance from those companies. Baucus, who has previously said that single-payer is "
off the table," responded to the doctors and their fellow activists with, “I want you to know I care deeply about your views," and then, "we need more police [to eject protesters]."
posted by univac
on May 6, 2009 -
146 comments
Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal by Joel Salatin. This Saturday will mark this article's four year anniversary. Frankly, I was mildly surprised not to have found it mentioned before in MeFi. It's a good read about a sad state of affairs; how our government is turning its own people into outlaws, because freedom has been traded in for an illusion of security.
...but then we already knew that. Don't we?
posted by ZachsMind
on Aug 29, 2007 -
110 comments
HONK! is a showcase and annual festival for a "new kind of street band": motley, theatrical, activist protest groups working within the
marching band tradition. From this central site, link to
video and
audio from
twenty bands currently playing in the "honk" genre, from New York's
Rude Mechanical Orchestra to to Atlanta's
Seed and Feed Marching Abominables to Portsmouth, NH's
Leftist Marching Band. Heavy on the brass and percussion, rousing, raucous, and fun, these bands form part of a
worldwide musical phenomenon.
posted by Miko
on Jul 30, 2007 -
19 comments
Eighth grader Anthony Soltero shot himself on Thursday, March 30, after the assistant principal at De Anza Middle School told him that
he was going to prison for three years because of his involvement as an organizer of the April 28 school walk-outs to protest the anti-immigrant legislation in Washington. The vice principal also forbade Anthony from attending graduation activities and threatened to fine his mother for Anthony's truancy and participation in the student protests."
Anthony was learning about the importance of civic duties and rights in his eighth grade class. Ironically, he died because the vice principal at his school threatened him for speaking out and exercising those rights," ...
posted by amberglow
on Apr 7, 2006 -
206 comments
Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win: SDS is reborn. Founded in 1959 and imploded ten tumultous years later, the Students for Democratic Society was one of the most
dynamic and controversial forces at work in organizing a mass movement against the Vietnam war, particularly among draft-age kids. The group's original manifesto, Tom Hayden's
Port Huron statement, still rings prophetic in
Bush's America.
Now SDS is relaunching and planning its first national convention since 1969, with a new crew of young radicals issuing
calls to action to their own supposedly apathetic generation: "We seek liberation from the dominant business interests that have degraded our cities, paved over our communities, drowned out small business, and commodified our culture... Cooperative self-reliance is the only moral and material salvation of our nation, and the only release from a system that demands each of us be an accomplice to its
heinous crimes."
posted by digaman
on Jan 27, 2006 -
45 comments
Blackout Some sites have gone black today in protest of black box voting and/or four more years of Bush. But, actually, I haven't seen many. Are people tired of fighting or is this just a poorly-organized effort no one knows about?
posted by sparky
on Jan 20, 2005 -
64 comments
Turning Pickets Into Pledges Planned Parenthood has launched a new program that "creates a no-win situation for anti-choice protesters — the more picketers who demonstrate outside a
Planned Parenthood clinic, the more donations that clinic receives." This campaign allows supporters to pledge between 25 cents and one dollar per protester -- not a lot of money, but it adds up to thousands over time.
posted by zarq
on Dec 23, 2004 -
29 comments
"Fighting the Left - Doing it Right" - protestwarrior.com is founded on the basis of letting the "pro-government" people who might be the "silent majority" protest in their own way. so while it's not just a pro-troops rally cry, in essence it's protesting for the war... or any war, for that manner. kind of a novel idea.. looks like they're viewing this as a starting point for people to have a retort against other protestors.
posted by djspicerack
on Apr 4, 2003 -
27 comments
Protest Is Not Tolerated I wasn't sure how much good I could do or how much power one person has but I wanted to do it. When I took my place on the sidewalk across the street from my church, I was struck with this Norman Rockwell picture of America. Families with their balloons, flags and signs made it feel like the Fourth of July. I was thrilled by all the patriotism and was proud to be part of this community that cares enough to turn out to greet the most powerful politician in our land.
But when I unrolled my sign, all that changed, and I may never be able to look at my community the same way again.
Ain't that America? Proud to be
Born in the USA? Constitutional rights? Not with the "Defenders Of All Things Duhbya!"
posted by nofundy
on Feb 27, 2003 -
141 comments
It seems that there is some disconnection between the foreign policies of the American administration and the beliefs of a significant part of the population. In many countries, direct action is seen as a normal response. Will that happen
here? Or
here?
posted by Nicolae Carpathia
on Feb 2, 2003 -
18 comments
It's Marching Season! There's an
godless american march comin' to DC this fall (November 2)
"Our leaders, including the President, must stop calling the nation to prayer, or claim that we are a "Christian" country..."(Amen to that!!!) and
"We must remember to not "feed the fundies" by engaging in arguments with religious protesters and hostile "prayer warriors" who want to "save" us."From what I understand, this will be the first big march on Washington since our new wartime laws have been implemented....will atheists become "unlawful combatants?" Anyone up for it?
posted by amberglow
on Aug 14, 2002 -
52 comments
9-11peace.org
Working for peace in the wake of September 11.
For those who have wondered just what exactly they can do besides flying the US flag or posting on MeFi (myself included in the latter).
This comprehensive site offers all sorts of concrete actions for those who believe that war is not the answer. You can email your elected officials; sign petitions; browse a list of suggested actions (from donating supplies for rescue dogs to flying the UN flag); and find out about upcoming events.
posted by mapalm
on Sep 18, 2001 -
49 comments
July 17th - The Day That Counts. These people have a plan to make their feelings known on the issue of public money being diverted to religious organizations. I had no idea that the atheists were so organized! Is this sort of thing a tremendous waste of time, or do you think it can, or will affect policy discussions?
posted by kristin
on Jul 13, 2001 -
11 comments
