7/3 Protest the Coup in Honduras in SW Houston
7/9 Progressive Action Alliance Monthly Meeting

Mon, Wed, Fri at 8pm, and Sun at 7pm: Food Not Bombs near Herman Square @ Smith and McKinney
Every Friday @ 7:30pm: Houston Indymedia Radio 90.1fm KPFT

from the open publishing newswire: Residents, students and supporters of Democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya will gather at the Honduran Consulate, 6161 Savoy Lane, Friday, July 3rd at 1 PM to demand his reinstatement as President. [Read full release]

On June 28th, the Honduran military ousted the democratically elected government of Honduras, detaining and then exiling President Manuel Zelaya to Costa Rica. The crisis in Honduras began when the military refused to distribute ballot boxes for an opinion poll on a new Constitution. President Zelaya fired the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Romeo Orlando Vasquez Velasquez, who refused to step down. The heads of all branches of the Honduran armed forces quit in solidarity with Vasquez. Vasquez, however, refused to step down, bolstered by support in Congress and a Supreme Court ruling that reinstated him. Vasquez, along with other military leaders, graduated from the United States' infamous School of the Americas (SOA). According to a School of the Americas Watch database compiled from information obtained from the US government, Vasquez studied in the SOA at least twice: once in 1976 and again in 1984.

Coverage of the coup in Honduras: NarcoNews (en) | Honduras Indymedia (es) | Minga Informativa de Movimientos Sociales (es) | Americas Mexico Blog (en)

from the open publishing newswire: Yesterday, June 27th, white supremacists attempted to distribute hate literature in downtown Houston. Antifascists mobilized to confront the gathering and sent a clear message to the fascists - not in our city! White supremacists intended to hold a memorial for a dead nazi creepball David Lane. Dave was a member of an armed white supremacist group called "the Order," and kicked the bucket in federal prison in 2007 where he was serving time for the murder of Jewish radio host Allen Berg.

When the so-called "Aryan Front Line Skinheads" declared their intention to distribute copies of Dave's racist rants in the Houston area, antifascists immediately went on the alert. The boneheads tried to be clever by waiting until 11pm the night before to post an actual location, but antifa were already standing by. The call went out, and in the morning our scouts were on location at the downtown federal building where the fascist goons planned to gather. Antifascists from around the city began gathering in a downtown park at 10 am. By eleven there were over 40 of us, and still no sign of the nazis. [Read Full Article with Photos]
Antiracistaction.net

from the open publishing newswire: The City of Houston Building Reuse Warehouse officially opened this morning around 10:45. Living Paradigm group played a large role in this project. Habitat for Humanity also participated. The City of Houston will take reusable building materials from anyone in order to divert material from landfills. Over 20 tons have been diverted already. The goal for this year is 150 tons. The building materials go to non-profit building organizations. After a few small kinks get worked out, donations will be tax deductible.

Plywood, lumber, glass, windows, doors, plumbing parts, electrical parts, shingles, bags of dry redimix concrete, nails, screws, cabinets, all that stuff . . . as long as it can be reused, bring it on in.
Location: 9003 N. Main at Whitney (The end of Main Street just North of Crosstimbers Drive in Independence Heights). View Larger Map
From Mayor's Office of Environmental Programming: More than one-third of the waste stream in the Houston area is made up of construction and demolition material, much of which could be diverted and re-used. By storing the materials until they can be used by community groups, the Warehouse will keep these valuable resources out of our local landfills.

from the open publishing newswire: On June 20, 2009, over a hundred people traveled from the border region, the valley, the gulf coast and central Texas and met up with residents of Taylor to march on the T. Don Hutto Immigrant Family Detention Center to honor World Refugee Day. After the march from downtown Taylor, a vigil and rally was held outside the Center to demand immediate liberty for the children and families being held. Another demand was the closure of the Hutto facility, which is essentially a prison being privately run by the notorious CCA, Corrections Corporation of America.

For more information about the Hutto Center and to join the ongoing campaign against this and other private prisons in the US, vist:
Grassroots Leadership or T Don Hutto Blog
Podcast with pictures: Texans march against Hutto detention center on World Refugee Day Video: T. Don Hutto Private Prison Protest in Taylor, TX

from the open publishing newswire: Tonight, Rad Rich and I got free tickets to the Pelosi event and even the reception. We walked past the jeering crowd of tea-party people and my friends from the peace movement to attend the green-room reception for Nancy Pelosi and I got to talk to her for two minutes.

I introduced myself as Nick from Friends of Brad Will and told her who Brad was and she said she was sorry about his death. I told her that we were concerned about human rights abuses taking place in places where we have free trade agreements like Peru and the deaths there last week. She replied that she was waiting for Obama's cue on that.[read full article with photos]

When we got downtown, we were surprised to see a very large crowd of protesters in front of the Wortham Center and it took us a minute to realize (as we biked closer) that they were overwhelmingly right wing protesters. Our friends from PAA, and folks from the RCP and ISO had gathered on the corner by the Angelika theater and had signs condemning Pelosi's silence about torture, and demanding an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

HPD had set up barricades which forced attendees of the event to walk through a metal gauntlet at least 200 feet to reach the door which had shouting people on both sides yelling at you as you walked in. I heard chants of "Shame on you" "boooing" and "Dont come back". I was told by other peace activists that they had been chanting "Traitor" at attendees. [Read full article with audio]

from the open publishing newswire: A new findings letter from the US Justice Department criticizing the Harris County Jail dramatically ups the ante regarding the overcrowded facility's continuing problems. The letter from DOJ's Civil Rights Division hit all the high points, declaring straight-up that the jail in Houston "fails to provide detainees with adequate: (1) medical care; (2) mental health care; (3) protection from serious physical harm; and (4) protection from life safety hazards." DOJ said in many ways, the jail functions fairly well, but "in a number of critical areas, the Jail lacks necessary systems to ensure compliance with constitutional standards."

Unconstitutionally Poor Healthcare
According to the letter, "Because of crowding, administrative weaknesses, and resource limits, the Jail does not provide constitutionally adequate care to meet the serious medical needs of detainees with chronic illness." In particular:

We found specific deficiencies in the Jail's provision of chronic care and follow-up treatment. These deficiencies in themselves and when combined with problems in medical record-keeping and quality assurance ... are serious enough to place detainees at an unacceptable risk of death or injury. [Read Full Article]

Read the Report from US Department of Justice Past HIMC coverage: Congressional Field Hearing Examines injustices in Harris County Law Enforcement | Rally against abuses by Sheriff's Office demands resignation of Tommy Thomas

from the open publishing newswire: On 6/10/09, three human rights activists representing Friends of Brad Will, Houston Indymedia, and Houston Food Not Bombs met with The Consul General at the Peruvian Consulate in Houston. Hear a discussion about the meeting.

Ellie Sequeira, Rachel Clarke, and Nick Cooper expressed concerns and delivered a letter about the role of the Peruvian government, oil corporations and free trade in the deaths of dozens of indigenous Peruvians. The Consul, Carlos R. Polo, expressed the government position that unarmed police were attacked by indigenous when trying to re-open roads that were keeping essential supplies from the poor in those regions. Nick Cooper, representing Friends of Brad Will, responded that while many facts of what happened on June 5th will continue to be disputed, that the violence against indigenous groups is not something that happens only at gunpoint -- indigenous people die and lose their land and ways of life whenever petroleum is extracted, sometimes with bullets, sometimes with toxins, etc. Rachel Clarke from Houston Indymedia encouraged the Consul to visit the website Amazon Watch to see the horrible photos of the indigenous victims. The meeting was respectful with all parties having the opportunity to express their thoughts and finished with a photo and an agreement to continue the dialogue.

Hours later, the Houston activists held a press conference on the steps of the Petroleum Club where, last year, a Shapibo indigenous leader interrupted an auction of indigenous lands to oil developers, respectfully telling the bidders about the devastating toxic effects of 35 years of petroleum development on indigenous territories. Houston also hosted two Achuar leaders visited Houston to discuss oil drilling in the Amazon in 2006.

Cobertura en español: Durante la programa "Proyecto Latino Americano" 6/9/09, en la estacion KPFT, Nick habló sobre planeando su reunion con El Consul General de Perú. Escuchar aqui. Ver video de Ernesto Leon con Nick Cooper: parte 1, y parte 2, y con Filiberto Delgado: parte 1, y parte 2.
More Indymedia Coverage: Peru Indymedia | Global Indymedia Feature.

from the open publishing newswire: On Saturday morning June 6, 2009 the University of Houston Students for Fair Trade (SFT) did a house protest at Emily Messa's house in Clear Lake, TX which is a suburb of Houston. Messa is the Assistant Vice President for University Services, but another title she goes under is the asst. VP for finance and administration. This means she facilitates all the contracts at the university. About 20 people, mostly students, gathered to speak truth to power. At one point there were seven police cars. The police did not do anything though because we had a sound permit and were just exercising our first amendment rights.

Recently we've asked the administration to make our campus an all fair trade campus. That means as many as possible products such as sugar, fruit, coffee, tea and others sold on our campus should be certified fair trade by third party independent Transfair USA.

Our other request is that they pay the Aramark food service workers on our campus $10 to $11 an hour to come in line with the City of Houston 2008 contract with its 13,000 employees. See: http://www.afscme.org/publications/17984.cfm [Read full article with photos and video]

from the open publishing newswire: International Human Rights group, Amnesty International, met with Rama Carty yesterday. Carty is an outspoken detainee at the Department of Homeland Security/Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Port Isabel Detention Center (PIDC). This morning of June 3rd, 2009, at around 5:35am, Amnesty attempted to visit with Carty for a second time, but Carty has not been able to meet with them; instead, he was beaten by facility guards and “taken away”. DHS/ICE is illegaly being transferred to Louisiana to be deported to Haiti.

Another detainee, was witness to the attack by the guards, and called Anayanse Garza of the Southwest Workers Union immediately afterwards. He told Garza that Carty was talking about meeting with Amnesty this morning, when a number of guards at the facility punched and kicked him, informed him that he would not be meeting with Amnesty, and then proceeded to “take him away”.

Rama Carty is a known leader and participant in a hunger strike that has been going on at the PIDC since late April of this year. Hunger strike demands include the right to due process, *real *medical attention for all detainees, access to legal resources, and end to physical and verbal abuses by guards at the facility. Carty was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and has lived in the United States for over 38 years; he is 39 years old. He has been detained by DHS/ICE for over thirteen months now for a drug conviction he has already served time for.

from the open publishing newswire: This past week, Bradley Crowder was sentenced to 24 months and David McKay was sentenced to 48 months for constructing molotov cocktails with the help and inducement of snitch Brandon Darby, which were then left in a basement and never used.

After his first federal trial ended in a hung jury, Texan David McKay pled guilty in a second trial rather than letting his friend from Austin and co-defendant, Bradley Crowder, be manipulated into testifying against him.

The FBI and local prosecutors have been counting on the press and public’s RNC fatigue to be able to continue to present a clearly exaggerated, domestic security threat—a facade which nearly collapsed at McKay’s first trial. At the conclusion of the first trial, a jury of McKay’s peers could not agree to convict him—because it had become clear to several jurors that the scene they were being asked to watch had been staged for months by law enforcement. [read full article]

Brandon Darby was featured in a story on the Chicago Public Radio Show This American Life's May 22nd episode, which presents Darby's narrative and perspective on his cooperation with the FBI. This radio story has been challenged by activists from Austin, as well as by folks from New Orleans examining Darby's patriarchal behavior, and trying to put the FBI's use of informants in social movements in context.
More Info: Free The Texas 2 | BrandonDarby.com | Twin-Cities IMC: Post-RNC Court Updates

from the open publishing newswire: On May 19, a community forum was held in honor of the birth anniversary of Malcolm X to discuss the dismal effects the public school system is having on young people that sometimes leads them down the road to the prison system. Mychal Bell, the lead figure of the Jena Six, was the special guest speaker for the event held at the Shape Community center.

“I was a star athlete and a honor roll student. I would have never believed that I would’ve been facing second degree attempted murder charges for a school fight”, said Mr. Bell, who is now 19 years old. “But I know I would have never made it through without the support of people like you who stood up.” [Read full Story]

Audio of Mychal's Speech aired on the Houston Indymedia Radio Show More Audio: Shut down the School to Prison Pipeline: Building a Prison Abolitionist movement in Houston

from the open publishing newswire: UPDATE: After Governor Perry threatened to veto the bill, the sponsors took out the section which would eliminate the death penalty for law of parties cases. The bill passed through the Senate and now just calls for separate trials for law of parties defendants. |

We did it!! After almost two years of grassroots organizing, the Texas House of Representatives Friday passed the Law of Parties Bill (HB 2267) and even adopted an amendment renaming the bill "The Kenneth Foster Jr, Act".

The vote was 69-66, with 1 present not voting and several absent members. Three Republicans voted yes and only one Democrat voted no. This was a collective achievement of many legislators, staffers, activists, family members of death row inmates and other people and groups working together, but we still have to work to get the Texas senate to also pass the bill. We need you to call senators today!

The session ends soon, so there is not much time for us to convince the senate to pass the bill too. Check out this information to call state senators to urge them to pass the "The Kenneth Foster Jr Act" [read full article]
Related from the newswire: David L. Wood Receives an Execution Date of August 20, 2009, by the State of Texas | Texas Inmate Goes On Lone Hunger Strike In Protest Of Living Conditions

from the open publishing newswire: South Padre Island, TX -- Groups protesting immigrant detention centers and supporting the Port Isabel Detention Center (PIDC) detainees on hunger strike arrived at the South Padre Island Convention Center, Friday May 15th, expecting to find a conference headlining Michael J. Watkins - field manager for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Detention and Removal. However, neither he, nor the conference, were being held there, reflecting the poor transparency these publicly funded agencies maintain with our communities. Instead they found a teacher’s conference, who, for the most part, did not feel disparaged by their rally to raise awareness for immigrant rights. They were supported by teachers there as they brainstormed with them as to where the conference might have been moved.

The conference was moved to the Holiday Inn Express, where the group relocated their protest. Protesters delivered a letter addressed to Watkins at the front desk of the hotel; attached to the letter was a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), FBI and DHS officials lingered outside the building and snapped photos of the protest participants.

Detainees at PIDC have identified Watkins as attempting to break up the hunger strike; using tactics such as isolating hunger strike participants and calling for their quick deportation. Hunger strikers continue to demand adequate health care and a right to due process. [read full story with photos]

from the open publishing newswire Early on Monday, May 11 18-year-old Nathaniel Sanders was fatally shot by Austin Police officer Leonardo Quintana at the Walnut Creek Apartment Complex in East Austin. I arrived at the scene at about noon and spoke to residents who were gathered outside. Listen below.

According to the Austin Police Department, Sanders and two other men were sleeping in a car parked in the complex, when an Austin Police officer approached the vehicle. Police say they suspected the vehicle had been used in recent robberies.

Officer Leonardo Quintana took the man in the driver’s seat into custody, then came back for the other two men. APD says Quintana saw a weapon in Sanders’ lap and shot him. Police say the third individual got out of the car and charged the officer. The officer shot him too - that man is now recovering in the hospital. [Read full story and listen to audio]

Houston Indymedia has changed the wording of our Mission Statement, which sits on the about page and serves along with the Action Guidelines as the document new participants sign. The wording of the new statement is:

"The Houston Independent Media Center is an all volunteer collective committed to using media production and distribution as tools for promoting social and economic justice. We seek to provide alternatives to for-profit media not only in our coverage, but also within our collective by implementing consensus based non-hierarchical work-group models of decision making. While focusing on local social movements, we will explore connections to global systems. We believe that by reporting on dissent, by critiquing corporate, government and military domination, and by promoting art, culture and critical thinking through participatory events, we can contribute to the development of an equitable and sustainable society."

Some of the significant changes since the previous Mission Statement from early 2001 includes that we are all volunteers, that we are focusing on social movements, that we reporting on dissent, and that our events are intended to be participatory.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer with us at Houston Indymedia, please send an email to: houston at indymedia dot org