Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

Grants along with a successful crowdfunding campaign have provided Los Angeles based artists Karen Fiorito and Alex Arinsburg the means to secure two 14 foot x 48 foot billboards in the Downtown and Silverlake areas. Ten additional 5 foot x 11 foot billboards are being displayed in Hollywood, Culver City, Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey and other locations. These billboards will be on view from November 30 – December 27, 2015.

According to a recent study, 47% of California’s total water is used up by Animal Agriculture. 1300 gallons of water is required to make one hamburger versus 42 gallons for one veggie burger. Consequently, California residents are required to reduce water consumption by 25%; even though residential water use accounts for only 4% of California’s total water footprint.

Story and photos: “Got Drought?”Public Art Project About the California Drought Unveiled on Billboards by Karen Fiorito

An event was held on November 20th at the West Hollywood Library to commemorate those transsexual persons who have been murdered in the last year throughout the globe. The Transgender Day of Remembrance which was started in 1998 has become a call to action in defense of trans people who have suffered immeasurably over the years from negative societal judgment and the violence that will often accompany such views.

Full story and pix: West Hollywood Commemorates The Trans Day of Remembrance 2015 Part 1 of 2 Photosets and Part 2 of 2 Photosets by Robert Stuart Lowden

In schools and temples across the U.S and Israel, animal rights activists protested kapparot (kaparot). The Jewish ritual of atonement has made the news in recent years and has just finished its bloody few days where activists battled it out with practitioners.

At one kapparot in Los Angeles, children participated and some, laughing, with blood on their clothes and hands, were allowed to taunt activists holding signs outside the school the killing was taking place

Full story and photos: Kapparot Chicken Slaughter Causes Outrage: Activists Demand Change by Julia Mackenzie

On August 17, 2015, there were opening day protests in the Los Angeles Unified School District LAUSD, at the Hobart Elementary School, over the removal and retaliation against star teacher Raif Esquith; the co-location of a charter in the Stoner Elementary school that steals rooms from the public school; and a protest against the Eli Broadway foundation offices for pushing privatization and charters.

Links and other information: WW Broad & The War On Public Education In LA by Pacifica WorkWeek

Long Beach Police murdered a young man who was in shock, injured from a second-story fall, and hallucinating on psychedelics on the evening of May 27, 2015. Twenty-year-old Moorpark College student Feras Morad has been described by family and friends as someone who was well-loved and who had a positive influence on those around him (as reported by Pacifica Radio).

Morad was twice shocked with a Taser before he was killed by four shots fired in quick succession at close range. LBPD has repeatedly labeled Feras a "suspect," but have not revealed any crime he is suspected of.

Full story and pictures: Latest Long Beach Police Execution: Murder of Youth In Mental Distress by Jessica Lux

Further discussion: The Michael Slate Show (about 24 minutes into the show. Online for 90 days)