Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

HUNTINGTON BEACH, August 16, 2010 - A developer is building a housing complex in Huntington Beach and plans to remove the remains of some 80 Indigenous people.

Bolsa Chica is a significant Southern California Native American Site which dates back about 9,000 years and was once a thriving ceremonial site of the Tongva and Acjachemen Nations. The site is referred to archaeologically as the Cogged Stone site (CA-ORA-83) which once covered over 120 acres of the Bolsa Chica mesa.

Cogged stones are unique to Bolsa Chica. The only other place in the world they have been found is Chile.

Please write letters expressing your concerns or offense to the coastal commission Call to action: Please Stop Removal of Native American Cemetery in Huntington Beach by not necessary | More information: YouTube video

On July 20, 2010 members of Women of Color in the Global Women's Strike, GWS/LA and the weekly vigil for Haiti visited the Bolivian Consulate in L.A. Their concern: Bolivia's ongoing participation in the U.N. force that's been occupying Haiti since the 2004 coup which removed the democratically-elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The recent earthquake has been used as an excuse to further militarize most aspects of Haitian society, say sources on the ground there.

[. . .] Bolivia's participation in the occupation has been contrary to the efforts of President Evo Morales to oppose war and exploitation. Bolivia's own constitution is against war (and thus occupation). The delegation asked why Bolivia, which is fighting for self-determination at home, would want to associate itself with the occupation of a country whose president was removed with the backing of the same foreign power which has been trying to topple President Morales of Bolivia and President Chavez of Venezuela?

Full story: An Appeal to Bolivia: Withdraw from the U.N. Occupying Force in Haiti by Ross Plesset

From Arizona Indymedia - On July 28th at about 10:00 a.m. Federal judge Susan Bolton issued a preliminary injunction against four provisions included in Arizona's anti-immigrant law, SB1070. These provisions include the mandate that law enforcement officers solicit the immigration status of anyone they encounter; the portion that makes failure to carry immigration documents a state crime; the portion that makes it a state crime for undocumented immigrants to perform work in Arizona; and the portion allowing for warrantless arrest of anybody who is suspected of having committed a "deportable offense". Judge Bolton's injunction is only temporary, which means that each of these provisions can still go into effect if the judge decides, after fully hearing the case, that they are acceptable.

Locally demonstrations in solidarity with those in Arizona impacted by the new law were held. One civil disobedience in the mid Wilshire area resulted in 10 arrests. Reports from the Newswire 75-100 Rally Against SB1070 in Pomona by Cameron H. | | Lockdown at Highland and Wilshire

Are you going to Arizona? Are you staying in L.A.?

Dozens of actions are happening this week to protest the implementation of AZ SB1070, the state law that, according to opponents, will violate civil rights and is unconstitutional. The law is presently being challenged by the Federal government, but whether an injunction against the law is passed or not, thousands of people from across the country will converge on Phoenix, AZ, to join in the massive protests already taking place at the state capital.

LA events: Demo at Macarthur Park.

See: Alto Arizona, Southern California Immigration Coalition, The Sound Strike, Interfaith Worker Justice National Weekend of Prayer & Action for Immigrant Justice, Resistance to SB 1070: No Borders, No Papers, No State, El Gran Paro.

The Immigration Coalition may still have seats available on their bus. If you're in a labor union, there's a bus caravan, but it's full LA County Fed. of Labor.

On the 29th, read news and post information to Arizona Indymedia, and promote it on the various social networking sites and in comments.

Hashtags in use are #arizona #sb1070 #1070 #july29 #altoarizona #fucksb1070

Social media pages: Against SB 1070, Repealing 1070, Shame on Arizona, 1 Million Strong, Todos Somos Arizona. SB1070 on Photobucket, SB1070 at Google Video, SB1070 at Flickr, SB 1070 at Wordpress.

Local immigrant rights organizations: CHIRLA, IDEPSCA, MIWON, PWC, Thai CDC, NILC, KIWA, CARECEN, NISN.

Miscellaneous blogs and news sites: ColorLines, Phoenix New Times Blog, Blog for Arizona, AZ Central.

Across America, daily incidents of police brutality and state terrorism occur. One of many the cold-blooded killings occurred January 1, 2009 with the murder of Oscar Grant - unarmed, offering no resistance, thrust face-down on the ground, shot in the back, and killed. The event captured on video by at least four individual cameras.

His killer: Bay Area transit officer, Johannes Mehserle was tried for the killing. The jury was told to consider four possible verdicts: innocent, second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, or involuntary manslaughter, jurors decided the latter.

Grant's family will appeal the verdict and is suing the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) for $25 million, his mother Wanda Johnson saying "My son was murdered (and) the law has not held the officer accountable." It rarely does for Black, Latino, or other minorities, no matter the injustice. Civil rights lawyer, John Burris, representing Grant's family in the civil suit, said: "The system is rarely fair when a police officer shoots an African-American male." Full article: Police Brutality in America by Stephen Lendman

Also from the Newswire:Statement on Johannes Mehserle Verdict by LA Coalition for Justice for Oscar Grant | | PHOTOS: Oscar Grant Verdict Reaction Photos by Robert Stuart Lowden | | Los Angeles Solidarity with Oakland: Justice for Oscar Grant After Verdict Rally by LA-IMC | | VIDEO: Rally in support of Oscar Grant day of verdict. by GamepitDee

Related state repression incident: Black Riders Liberation Party Being Raided