Mukwonago, July 25, 2020: Walk and Chalk
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Monthly Archives: July 2020
July 25, 2020: Wee Chalk Your Walk: West Allis City Hall
Wee Chalk Your Walk: West Allis City Hall
7525 W Greenfield Avenue, West Allis, WI – 3-5 P.M.
Join the Black Educators Caucus for #weechalkyourwalk West Allis. This time we are taking our chalk and demands to West Allis. Join us as we chalk solidarity messages with the Black Lives Matter, Justice for Corey Stingley, and demands for our community. Bring some chalk and come helps us chalk their sidewalks followed by a short march. This is a family friendly space! Please wear your mask and this activity provides for plenty of social distancing. We will meet on the corner of 76th and Greenfield!
Four Demands of the National Black Lives Matter at School Movement
*Recruit and retain Black educators
*Fully Resourced Restorative Practices
*Black History and Ethnic Studies in all schools
*Fund Counselors, Not cops
July 23, 2020: From Minneapolis to Palestine: A Webinar Covering Resistance to Apartheid, Occupation & Police Brutality
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Across the world, repression is worsening but the movement is growing. In the West Bank, Israel prepares to declare its illegal settlements “annexed” and further diminish the sovereignty of the Palestinian nation. In Minneapolis, people are rising up against police murders and anti-Black racism.
Repression in Palestine and US cities like Minneapolis is connected by the tactics and technology Israel develops and exports to American law enforcement. But the resistance crosses borders too. Palestinians in the diaspora stand with Black victims of police violence. A global movement to free Palestine grows and gains legitimacy.
The Minnesota Anti-War Committee presents an online panel on the multinational resistance from Minneapolis to Palestine.
Panelists:
Danya Zituni is a member of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN). Previously, she was a staff member in Chicago with the Arab American Action Network (AAAN).
Tessneem Abdallah is a scientist and a passionate advocate for social justice. She holds a Bachelor’s in Physiology and works at her alma mater as a clinical researcher focusing on Parkinson’s disease. As an undergrad, she helped lead Students for Justice in Palestine – UMN. Currently, she serves on the board of the Minnesota chapter of American Muslims for Palestine. She leads their advocacy and educational programs to engage the local Muslim community on Palestine.
Meredith Aby-Keirstead is a founding member of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee. She travelled to Palestine in 2002 and in 2009 was one of the Anti-War 23 who were raided by the FBI in part over alleged connections to white listed Palestinian organizations.
Angel Buchner is a member of TC Coalition Justice for Jamar which has been organizing as a part of the Black Lives Matter movement for 5 years. Before being in TCCJ4J Angel was an organizer with the MN
Welfare Rights Committee and has been a long time supporter of the Anti-War Committee.
This event is organized by the Anti-War Committee with support from AMP MN, CAIR MN, TCCJ4J, Justice for Isak, USPCN, and WAMM.
Milwaukee, August 5, 2020: Washington Heights Artists Front Yard Pop-Up August 5
Washington Heights Artists Front Yard Pop-Up August 5
Come out and support Washington Heights artists, makers and musicians for an evening pop-up in the front yards of homes in the 1700-1800 block of North 52nd Street in Washington Heights Neighborhood of Milwaukee on Wednesday, August 5 from 4-8PM. The front yard pop-ups will be located on 52nd Street between Washington Blvd and Vine St.
Fingers crossed, we’ll have perfect summer weather on August 5, but if it is rainy, the event will take place on Thursday, August 6 from 4-8PM. Watch this event page for updates if the weather doesn’t cooperate.
Each artist/maker/musician derives part or all of their income from sales of their art at events, art fairs and street fairs, which have all been cancelled for the foreseeable future. Your invited to stop by and show your support for your neighbors. You’ll find new decor and accessories for your home and yourself, jewelry, clothing and personal accessories
Milwaukee, August 1, 2020: Eviction Moratorium Now! March to Tom Barrett’s House
Eviction Moratorium Now! March to Tom Barrett’s House
Milwaukee currently has a major housing crisis on its hands. Over 150 people are being evicted every week creating uncertainty and increasing homelessness during this global pandemic and economic crisis. Meanwhile, our city “leaders” have done nothing to help people stay in their homes. Tom Barrett has made no meaningful statement on the eviction crisis and has refused calls to put a city-wide eviction moratorium in place. Milwaukee Autonomous Tenants Union represents tenants all over the city and is making the following demands of Tom Barrett on behalf of all renters:
-Put in place a city-wide eviction moratorium that will extend indefinitely until the end of the COVID-19 crisis. Mandate that no late payment fees or back-rent can accumulate during this moratorium that the tenant will be forced to pay later.
-Enforce state law against landlords who harass and retaliate against tenants who are unable to pay due to this crisis. Expose and Cite landlords that harass and retaliate against tenants.
-Make double security deposits for people that were evicted illegal. Landlords demanding double security are gatekeepers to housing that are using the COVID-19 crisis to squeeze more money out of people.
-Remove COVID 19 evictions from tenant’s records and all prior evictions that have been satisfied by tenants but which landlords refuse to remove by filing the correct paperwork.
-Create a tenants court outside and separate from civil court, that will guarantee tenants rights and provide free legal representation for all tenants.
Meet up at Washington Park Senior Center, 4420 W. Vliet St., MKE. Short march and rally to bring attention to evictions that are plaguing Milwaukee during a global pandemic. Opportunities to share stories and gather together for future fights against landlords who are kicking people out during COVID.
This will be a socially distant march and rally, please wear a mask. Hand sanitizer and water will be provided. Call or email for further information.
We are also asking for volunteers to marshal the event. If you are interested in doing this please reach out!
Trump Officially Orders Federal Troops to Milwaukee Over Non-Existent Riots
UpNorthNews
Jonathan Sadowski, July 23, 2020
The President’s election year caravan of unrequested force will also expand to Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland.
President Donald Trump will send federal troops to Milwaukee “over the next three weeks” as part of a federal operation aimed at curbing violence he falsely claims is linked to protests against racial injustice and police brutality, the White House announced Wednesday.
Federal agents are already present in Portland, Oregon, where they have brutalized protesters, pepper-sprayed the mayor, and operated in ways reminiscent of secret police in other regimes by yanking demonstrators off the street and hauling them away in unmarked vans.
Protests in Milwaukee, which have been a daily occurrence since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis almost two months ago, have been overwhelmingly peaceful and have not resulted in any significant level of violence since June 2 when police opened fire on a group of peaceful demonstrators.
In his remarks announcing the program, named Operation Legend after a young boy killed in Kansas City, Missouri, Trump conflated “radical” protests with “a shocking explosion of shootings, killings, murders, and heinous crimes of violence” across major American cities.
“More than 300” troops are on their way to Chicago, according to the White House, and some will be sent to Detroit and Cleveland as they are deployed in Milwaukee. Neither Trump nor the White House have said how many agents will come to Milwaukee, only that the deployment will happen within three weeks.
The scaled-down Democratic National Convention takes place in Milwaukee in less than four weeks.
It is true that cities such as Milwaukee and Chicago are experiencing surges in murders, but they are in no way related to the peaceful protests. From the beginning of the current wave of protests, Trump has repeatedly used the language of racist dog-whistles in painting the Black Lives Matter movement as a danger to society.
Gov. Tony Evers told reporters Thursday that he sent a letter to Trump urging the President not to send troops to Wisconsin.
“Amping up the federal presence will, I believe, create more turmoil and less successful approaches to making sure that people have a chance to express their First Amendment rights while doing it safely,” Evers said.
Milwaukee officials also told UpNorthNews on Tuesday that the presence of federal troops would only serve to inflame the situation.
“With few exceptions, protests in Milwaukee have been peaceful,” Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said in a statement to UpNorthNews. “It is preposterous to suggest Milwaukee needs federal agents to quell unrest or manage peaceful protests. Their presence at this time could be counterproductive.”
Rep. Jonathan Brostoff, D-Milwaukee, called federal deployment a “nightmare scenario” and said it was “un-American” and “disgusting.”
Milwaukee Alderman Cavalier Johnson, the Common Council president, said deployment was “dangerous” because many people of color in the city already distrust police who are perceived to be an “occupying force.” Only about half of Milwaukee cops now live in the city after Republicans under ex-Gov. Scott Walker ended the requirement that municipal employees live in the cities they serve.
“I think that only compounds the issue if you send outside federal forces into a majority-minority city,” Johnson said Tuesday.
ONLINE: “Grave of the Fireflies”- Friday Freedom Flick, 7-24-20, 7 PM
Be sure to join us on Zoom. Film followed by discussion. See link below.
zoom id is 716 567 5210 password: 178153
one click join https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7165675210?pwd=WjJUcTE3c0gwd1NhQndab3dFQ3hRQT09
plain old phone: 1-312-626-6799 zoom id: 716 567 5210 password: 178153
Peace Action of WI
http://www.peaceactionwi.org/
Japanese 1988 Animated Anti-war Masterpiece.
This powerful, sad and beautiful film is based on the story of two Japanese children who are victims of war. Critics have called it the best animated film they have ever seen with a story that lingers with you for a long time.
A stirring meditation on the human cost of war, this animated tale follows Seita, a teenager charged with the care of his younger sister, Setsuko, after an American firebombing during World War II separates the two children from their parents. Their tale of survival is as heartbreaking as it is true to life.
This is a story that comes directly from the voiceless, the countless unnamed, unknown child casualties of war and government violence, not necessarily in WWII but everywhere.
Alliance For Global Justice (AFGJ) statement regarding the assault of federal armed forces on US cities
AfGJ statement regarding the assault of federal armed forces on US cities
On Thursday, July 16, during a massive demonstration in defense of Black lives and to demand an end to police violence in Portland, the brutality of U.S. security forces escalated rampantly: a group of unidentified federal agents used unmarked vehicles to drive around downtown Portland to pick up and arrest protesters. While the police, National Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents used tear gas and potentially lethal weapons against demonstrators, some people reported being kidnapped and then released in a different location than where they had been taken from.
Despite the surprise of many, this is not the first time that U.S. repressive forces used kidnappings and disappearances as a tool. At AFGJ, we recognize that the strategy of arbitrary detentions, intimidation and forced disappearances is the violence that undocumented people face every day and has in the past been exercised against Black freedom fighters or Muslim people after September 11. Following its imperialist tradition, the United States has extended these practices of detention and disappearance throughout the world for years, first using the School of the Americas/Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) and now involving the Department of Homeland Security. The victims of Augusto Pinochet in Chile, Jorge Rafael Videla and the Military Junta in Argentina, the prisoners at the infamous prisons of Guantanamo in Cuba and Abu Ghraib in Iraq all testify to this.
The case of Mexico teaches us that the power exercised by the state through disappearances can be transmitted to organized crime groups. Since the beginning of the War on Drugs in 2007, at least 70,000 people have disappeared in Mexico. In many cases, those responsible for these crimes are U.S.-trained security forces or elite agents – such as the Zetas cartel – who found drug trafficking to be a lucrative business. More recently, in Honduras, the Afro-Indigenous leader Snaider Centeno and three other men were disappeared by individuals wearing Investigative Police Directorate (DPI in Spanish) vests. The DPI was originally trained by U.S. security forces.
The presence of CBP agents at the events in Portland is unexpected but not surprising. For several years, undocumented communities, immigrant and refugee rights activists, border community organizers and anti-imperialist fighters have alerted us to the dangers of the Border Patrol and its repressive role within the U.S., regardless of the governing political party. The Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC) – CBP’s elite force – present at the Portland events, has trained security forces from over 30 countries in counter-terrorism techniques. Using BORTAC for domestic affairs is another step in the agenda to criminalize resistance and bring the country one step closer to fascism.
Portland was not the test case, and certainly it was not the last one. In early June, unidentified federal agents were deployed after the successful Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Washington, D.C. In the same month, residents of Columbus, Ohio, and San Diego, California, reported arrests made by unidentified federal agents in unmarked cars. Recent reports point to the expansion of this strategy to other cities in the country, including the use of the Department of Homeland Security-Border Patrol.
To the threats of repression and death, our response must be active solidarity. This may be the last opportunity to learn from other experiences of resistance around the world, to challenge privilege, and to listen to communities impacted by State terrorism. This is a provocation to finally understand that “an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” It is no longer time to turn a blind eye to the consequences of U.S. imperialism around the world. The eyes of the international community are upon us.
TAKE ACTION!
If you are a US resident, CLICK HERE to send an email to your Representative, Senator, the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, and to international human rights monitors
If you are an international solidarity activist, we ask you to send an email to US government officials and international human rights monitors
Minneapolis 1934 Teamsters Strike Documentary Parts I & II
Green Party Wisconsin: Party VP candidate Angela Walker returns to Milwaukee to get ballot signatures, Petitioning Begins July 25, 2020
Green Party vice-presidential nominee Angela Walker will host a “socially distant petitioning and safe hugs” event Saturday, July 25th from 11AM to 6PM at the Washington High School playground, 2525 N Sherman Blvd. Petitioning will begin there.
Walker, a Milwaukee native currently living in Florence, SC, was nominated July 11 by the Green Party as Howie Hawkins’ running mate. The pair was also nominated by the Socialist Party USA earlier this year.
In her first run for public office in 2014, Walker challenged then-Sheriff David Clarke as an independent socialist, getting 20% of the vote. Photos and more biographical information are at the campaign website: https://howiehawkins.us/about-angela-walker/.
Announcing Saturday’s event on Facebook, Walker laid out its importance. “Howie and I need 4000 signatures to be on the ballot in Wisconsin. I need y’all’s help.” Hand sanitizer and wipes will be on hand, and Walker will wear a mask to protect those coming to the event. “I can come to your car windows if you are concerned about being out,” she said.
Wisconsin election officials have ignored the Wisconsin Green Party’s request for relief in getting ballot access requirements due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The party has had its presidential nominees on the Wisconsin general election ballot in every cycle since 1996.
Hawkins-Walker supporters need to collect at least 2000 validated signatures from eligible voters between July 1 and August 4 to win a place on the November 3 ballot.. While voters were allowed to “sign” nomination papers in the Portable Document Format (PDF) for legislative candidates for the fall election, this method has not been approved for presidential tickets.
Hawkins and Walker represent a working-class alternative to the corporate parties. Hawkins, a retired Teamster from Syracuse, NY has been running on the Green New Deal platform in his races for New York governor since 2010. Walker drove a Milwaukee County Transit System bus before serving as Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 legislative director.
Ms. Angela Walker denounces Scott Walker and his Wall Street bosses August 2, 2013 at a protest at the National Governor’s Association in Milwaukee.
