July 2, 2012

Global Revolution 2012:

July 2, 2012

10,000 March Against Walmart in Los Angeles: Connections, Perspective, & Information

So how does a Walmart in Chinatown connect with the #626Wilshire Project? When you look at the facts, it becomes maddeningly obvious. Bobbi Murray of Frying Pan News writes about the overt relationships between giant corporations like Walmart, the lobbyists that represent them, and the perversion of our politics. From "Los Angeles: County of 212 Walmarts?":

"A quick check of the City of Los Angeles Ethics Commission reports shows the company made lobbying expenditures of $532,906 between 2008 and 2012. Most were for "issues related to City of Los Angeles locations" and went to Ek & Ek, a governmental consulting firm whose clients include L.A.'s Central City Association, McDonald's and Home Depot"

LA Weekly's summary of Walmart's efforts to build in Los Angeles County highlight just how much of a battleground LA has become, pitting ordinary Angelenos against the piles of money and political influence Walmart holds. The corporation has no problem with bending and/or breaking the law to pass its agenda, either. It recently was forced to cut ties with PR firm Mercury Public Affairs when it was discovered that they impersonated a reporter at an anti-Walmart action, posing as a USC student journalist. This is what sixty thousand Walmart dollars gets you - a twisting of the First Amendment and an insidious distortion of reality for the pursuit of profits.

http://626wilshire.wikispaces.com/NoWalmartInChinatown

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Plenty of videos at the link including performances by Tom Morello and Ben Harper.

July 1, 2012

Livestreams: On-going protest in Japan against the restarting of nuclear reactors (updated)

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/iwj-oita1

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/iwakamiyasumi

Video from a couple of days ago:



Aerial photo of enormous crowd:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=432721036751445&set=a.272902326066651.67117.272382472785303&type=1&theater

Aerial photo from June 29:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=384826748245502&set=a.323532907708220.75638.268702763191235&type=1&theater

"The scene at the Ooi nuclear plant, where activities are due to recommence later today. It appears that the riot police had to climb a mountain to arrive at the plant, as the only road providing access is blocked by protestors. Workers at the plant have been shipped in by ferry...."

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=372841596114481&set=a.161559767242666.41099.146594382072538&type=1&theater

July 1, 2012

Occupy supporters open a five-day protest (Philly National Gathering)

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20120630_Occupy_supporters_open_a_five-day_protest.html?ref=facebook.com

Several dozen protesters affiliated with the Occupy movement convened from cities nationwide on Independence Mall Saturday, setting off tensions with park rangers on the first morning of a planned five-day national Occupy gathering.

Rangers disgruntled occupiers by telling them that they could not bring their tents, even unassembled ones, onto the lawn owned by the National Park Service.

Told that they could not set up a card table to distribute literature on the Market Street sidewalk without a permit, protesters held out a "people's permit" that they had drafted.

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There are already reports on Twitter and FB about arrests and the park and police seeking to do what they always do...drag anything they don't understand (unity, happiness, love) into violence. Which are of course ultimate threats to the status quo.