Independent Media Center (IMC)

"'Every single thing the U.S. did led to civil war,' says Christian Parenti, author of 'The Freedom,' his account of occupied Iraq. 'The failure of reconstruction, the firing of the army, the blatant theft of Iraqi oil money, the use of the Badr Brigade, the use of Peshmerga, the use of death squads, the use of indiscriminate detention and torture, the destruction of Falluja and other towns in Al Anbar province,' explains Parenti, created a raging insurgency and sparked civil war. [more]

"Once you sign a plea you cannot appeal it. I was threatened with 20 years in prison under an additional terrorist enhancement if I didn't take a plea, and I didn't have the financial resources to acquire the appropriate legal council for trial. I was railroaded." [more]

"The Minutemen left California as a failure, drawing few people to their project while encountering strong resistance from a broad coalition of opposition." [more]

An eyewitness report from the 2004 Presidential Inauguration protests in Washington, D.C. [more]

At least 20,000 rallied yesterday in freezing weather against the signing of a free trade pact with Chile. "Violence erupted as their voices of dissent were silenced. Carts were set on fire, police busses and barricades were attacked, and police were fended off with steel pipes, stones and other small objects." [more]

In "liberal" New York City, 100 people attending a fundraiser for APOC, an anti-racist group of activists of color was attacked by police with nightsticks and pepperspray after police responded to an officer who claimed he had seen someone with an "open container" outside the venue of the fundraiser. 8 activists have been arrested, charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and inciting riot. [more]

With all the recent propaganda released by police about the upcoming Free Trade Agreement of the Americas protests in Miami, Indymedia provides a refreshingly realistic account of the preparations (on both sides) being made to ready Miami for the impact of the FTAA. [more]

"An agent from the Secret Service paid a visit to the Lucy Parsons Center, a long-time radical bookstore and infoshop in Boston. Earlier in the week the bookstore received a suspicious piece of mail allegedly sent from the bookstore and containing questionable material. The Secret Service acting on 'intelligence reports' was investigating this mail which had been reported to the National Lawyers Guild, but not to the Secret Service." [more]

"As the streets are being snowed over, I can’t help thinking that the voice of the people is receiving a similar snow job." [more]

"The immediate hypocrisy was maddening! The cops had instigated the violence by penning people in and then pushing them back when they had nowhere to go. Sending a message for the long-term, I'd say." [more]

"I hypothesize that President Bush intends to topple Saddam in 2003 in a pre-emptive attempt to initiate massive Iraqi oil production in far excess of OPEC quotas, to reduce global oil prices, and thereby dismantle OPEC's price controls. The end-goal of the neo-conservatives is incredibly bold yet simple in purpose, to use the 'war on terror' as the premise to finally dissolve OPEC's decision-making process, thus ultimately preventing the cartel's inevitable switch to pricing oil in euros." [more]

"A sea of people stretching more than one mile long and taking up four lanes of roadway marched through the nation's capitol Saturday in vocal and colorful opposition to the U.S. government's drive to war with Iraq." [more]

" 'I have such a horror that this is going to go on and on,' said Mabel Dudeney, 76, a survivor of the 1940–41 Battle of Britain in which much of London was destroyed by nightly German bombing. 'Russia is going to go into Georgia. China is going to attack Taiwan. Israel and the Palestinians are going to continue fighting...War settles nothing.' " [more]

"Both sides parted on good terms. After nearly an hour of debate, education and analysis over state of world since before and after 9/11, one of the disgruntled men parted with 'Thanks man, I'm really glad I stopped by. You know, I've never really thought about it like that...' This seemed to be a sentiment shared by many of his compatriots." [more]

"A rally of people against war filled Chicago’s biggest downtown streetside venue for public events today and overflowed into a parade that shut down six blocks of Michigan Avenue’s "miracle mile." The Sunday rally was the second big protest recently against the Bush Administration’s foreign policy." [more]

"Activists joined the Western New York Peace Center and U.S. Representative John LaFalce in questioning the war posture that the Bush administration is taking us." [more]

" 'Protests against these institutions in the first world have started only in the last two or three years, while protests in the poor countries against these institutions have been going on for decades. The Western media has been conveniently ignoring it and continues to ignore it. There have been huge protests against World Bank–funded dams in India, Thailand and Guatemala. There have been have been huge protests against World Bank–funded water privatization in Bolivia, against electricity privatization in South Africa—I could go on and on.' " [more]