In the lead up to the G8 Summit in Japan from July 7th through 9th, Japanese authorities have arrested domestic activists and have detained numerous foreign independent media journalists and anti-G8 protesters. At least six independent journalists and ten academics have been detained by Japanese immigration officials in the past weeks, including Andrej Grubacic, professor of sociology at the University of San Francisco.

Police arrested eight protesters on June 29, as 1,500 people marched against the G8 Summit in Tokyo's fashionable fashionable Shibuya and Shinjuku districts. Earlier this month, workers in Kamagasaki clashed with police and security in the face of violent repression and brutality against at least one worker.

Japan's security budget for the G8 Summit is at least 30 billion yen ($283 million), topping the 113 million euros ($186 million) Germany spent to host the summit of the world's most powerful "democratic" nations.

The G8 Summit will be held in the resort town of Toyako on the northern island of Hokkaido. Japanese activists opposing the summit call it an "arbitrary meeting of governments dominating the global financial market with the World Trade Organization and Free Trade Agreeements". They object to the fact that developing nations are forced to accept agreements like NAFTA in exchange for ODA (Official Developmental Assistance).

At the local level, they are concerned that in recent years Japanese social welfare has been reduced and the working poor have suffered. Agribusiness, a favorite topic of G8 discussion, runs counter to Japanese tradition of respect for individual farmers. At the same time, the US is urging Japan to re-arm despite having a constitution imposed by US Occupation Forces that calls for Japan to forever remain a peaceful nation.

The US led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are also targets of the G8 protests, and caricatures of President Bush with the theme "Wanted for Murder" were seen in internet video of the demonstrations.

On June 30th, the Counter-G8 International Forum opened in Hokkaido and will conclude on July 1st. Media G8way reports that anti-G8 activists from Japan and across the world came together to strategize on how to resist the G8 and construct alternatives to a system in which "financial crises, food crises and ecological destruction are inherent."

Meanwhile, organizers continue to prepare protests and demonstrations against the summit. Daily six hour marches are planned from one of the main camps, Toyoura camp, into town, and a major demonstration estimated at 10,000 people is scheduled for July 5 in Sapporo.

G8 Protesters Take to Sapporo Streets in Anticipation of Toyako Summit | Japanese Police Deputize Household Pets/Soda Machines | G8 Dispatches: Contested Spaces in Tokyo | Resistance Against G8: Arrests and Detentions in Japan | Japan Detains SF Academic Ahead of G8 | Resistance action against police in Kamagasaki | No G8 | G8 Action Network

anarchist writes, "To everyone who read that Greenspace lost a window to "anarchists" and cringed:
This incident is not representative of the greater revolutionary struggle or anarchists in general. One person claiming their inconsequential vandalism with a communique, especially does not represent the tactfulness and potency that most anarchists act with – both in our contribution to existing social conflicts, and even more so, in our autonomous actions.

"I write this not because I feel protective of Greenspace's financial prosperity, but because I believe this 'action' does more damage than it does good. In my opinion, it leaves a damaging misrepresentation of what anarchist intervention looks like on a local level." Read More

by an act of revolutionary solidarity
Evening of June 14. As part of an ongoing local and international momentum of revolutionary solidarity with social prisoners as well as POWs of ecological struggles, the Bank of America and Wells Fargo ATMs on the University of California Santa Cruz campus had their screens smashed by a chunk of granite.

Wells Fargo is a major funder of the GEO Group, which runs Guantanamo Bay, the Northwest ICE Detention Center, and numerous other jails and prisons. Bank of America funds Peabody Coal, which is blasting the tops of mountains in Appalachia and strip-mining indigenous land in Arizona, as well as poisoning the air we breath. Banks fund these industrial atrocities with the money that they suck from your paycheck, your savings, your debts. Read More

see also: Justice Has Its Windows Smashed

Descent into stupidity
by Prom
Dear Santa Cruz vandals,
I started out in full support of your actions. The security cameras, sweet deal. Courtroom, high five. Green Business? What the fuck was the point in that? I get it, green capitalism isn't the answer, but seriously, why target people who actually make an effort to be environmentally friendly? Civilization hasn't come down yet, but while we're waiting, it doesn't hurt to have a minimal impact. Read More

Andrew Flood spent the last several months traveling around the USA on a 45 city speaking tour about anarchism in Ireland. Andrew recorded interviews with anarchists, edited audio on bus rides, and posted articles to indymedia ireland once he accessed a wi-fi signal. Together, all those interviewed give an impression of 'the other America.'

The interviews are a fragment of a picture, a selection of the hundred plus people Andrew had conversations with, the ones where there was enough time and quiet to allow him to flip open a five year old laptop and hit record. He couldn't always do that, so there are many fascinating conversations that are missing, including a visit to one of the more than 100 political prisoners still incarcerated in the US. Read More and Listen to Audio

Speaking tour details | Andrew's audio and photos on indymedia.ie: Tales from the NE Anarchist Movement | Tales from the South, Midwest and West Coast

May 14th was the first anniversary of the incarceration of Indian human rights and public health activist Dr. Binayak Sen. People gathered in front of the Consulate General of India in San Francisco to protest his continued imprisonment by the Indian government. Protesters presented a petition demanding, "Free Dr. Binayak Sen," to the Indian Consul General.

Photos

Dr. Binayak was a gold medallist from the prestigious Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore. He moved to southern Chhattisgarh in 1981. There, in the iron ore and dolomite mines surrounding the Bhilai Steel Plant, the pioneering trade union leader, Shankar Guha Niyogi, was building not only a labour union, Chhattisgarh Mines Shramik Sangh (CMSS), but also a social movement among 30,000 mostly-Adivasi mine workers. With the Bhilai Steel Plant refusing to provide health care to mine workers, Niyogi recognized that it was left to the union to fill the need and expand its base of support. Binayak Sen joined him, along with Dr. Ashish Kundu and Dr. Saibal Jana, in a makeshift clinic operating in a shed carved out of the side of the union office in Dalli Rajhara in Durg District.

On May 14th 2007, police arrested Dr. Binayak Sen, charging him with sedition, criminal conspiracy, making war against the country, and knowingly conveying the "proceeds of terrorism." He was charged under draconian state and central laws -- the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA) of 2006 and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) of 1967. Since then three courts have denied him bail, including the Supreme Court on December 10th 2007. Additional Solicitor General of India, Gopal Subramaniam, alleged that Dr. Sen was a key figure in a Naxalite "network of terrorism."

The charges against Dr. Sen were a pretext for silencing him because of his and PUCL's investigations revealing rampant human rights violations and atrocities by police and government-supported vigilantes. Salwa Judum is a vigilante movement sponsored and armed by the government in southern Chhattisgarh since June 2005. It was created in an attempt to counter the Maoist insurgency that has taken over the entire Bastar-Dantewada region because of either the government's utter neglect of social services or callous land-grabs by private corporations. The militarization of the region and the presence of the Salwa Judum have triggered a near civil war that has cleansed more than 600 villages, displacing more than one lakh (100,000) people from their homes.

Free Binayak Sen Campaign | Free Binayak Sen | Wikipedia: Dr. Binayak Sen

Unconventional Action Santa Cruz writes, "Continued wars, housing foreclosures and ecological crises have proven that neither docile street marches nor electoral campaigns will solve the problems plaguing our daily lives. We can only have leverage over our rulers by showing our own power, and we must back our demands by demonstrating that we can interfere with their business as effectively as they interfere with our lives.

"Santa Cruz! People are gathering at Zami Co-op on Saturday, May 10th for an exciting chance to develop skills and social bonds for direct action of all kinds. This will be an opportunity for people to deepen their local connections and strategize for a variety of campaigns, including this summer’s Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

"Workshops include: Medic Training, Affinity Groups, Self-Defense, Knowing your Rights, and Tricks n Tools of Direct Action. We will also be practicing our new found skills on Sunday, location TBA." Get the Flyer

Unconventional Action | DNC Disruption 08 | RNC Welcoming Committee

Modesto Anarcho writes, "The central valley's journal of insurrectionary class struggle, Modesto Anarcho, is happy to announce the publication of it's seventh issue. In this issue you'll find articles on crime in the valley, indigenous resistance at D-Q University in Davis, the rise of taser gun use by local police, poetry, direct action and repression reports, and much more!

"Modesto Anarcho is a project to document and expand resistance to class society, specifically in the Central Valley of California. We want to use this publication to focus on local issues and highlight what regular people are doing in this area to confront and combat the misery of daily working class life."

download the PDF file | Modesto Anarcho #6 | Modesto Anarcho #5 | Modesto Anarcho Distro Catalogue!

anonymous anarchists write, "A Wells Fargo in downtown Santa Cruz was paintbombed during the night. Wells Fargo invests in the GEO Group, the contractor which runs the gulag in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Wells Fargo tries to pass itself off as a neutral, respectable institution when in fact it is directly contributing to the continuous torture going on in that prison.

"In addition to running GTMO, the GEO Group is also contracted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to run its immigration detention facilities. Wells Fargo has more blood on its hands than people realize. Wells Fargo is a bank, just like all the rest, and it obeys only the commands of capital. Death and torture mean nothing to the heads of Wells Fargo or any bank. As long as their investments are bringing in solid returns, they will continue to fund them." Read More

On April 9th, filmmaker Simón Sedillo led a bilingual multi-media presentation that included scene selections from three films, "El Enemigo Común" (2005), "El Machete" (2007) and "Paz Sin Justicia" (2008), in order to illustrate neoliberal atrocities and community based resistance to them in Oaxaca, Mexico.

"El Enemigo Común" documents paramilitary activity in Oaxaca from 2000-2005, leading up to the arrival of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, Oaxaca's current governor. "El Machete" was filmed and edited by indigenous women and youth from communities in Oaxaca, during the winter of 2007, and documents a more profound look at the day to day struggles for land, water, transportation, culture, dignity, justice, liberty, and peace. "Paz Sin Justicia," a 41 minute film by the Committee in Defense of the Rights of the People - CODEP, examines what Oaxaca looks like today in 2008, and what it really means for Oaxaca to return to normal after the 2006 uprising. Corruption, institutionalized repression, and economic slavery are the standard through which a weak government attempts to hold itself together and stay in power. Read More

see also: April 6th at Station 40 in SF | April 7th at the Long Haul in Berkeley | April 10th at the Watsonville Brown Berets Office | la paz de los pocos...

Every March, anarchists from around the Bay Area and the Americas come together for a week in which they celebrate anarchism with a number of different kinds of events. 8 Days of Anarchy started on Tuesday, March 18th with a discussion based on Crimethinc's "your politics are boring as fuck." On Day 2, Wednesday, there will be a movie and radical discussion at the Long Haul in Berkeley. Day 3 will be Radical Strategy Game Night at 924 Gilman in Berkeley.

On Friday night, the Anarchist Cafe will return after a one-year hiatus. This drug-free and alcohol-free event will take place from 7pm to 10pm at 225 Potrero in San Francisco. SF Food Not Bombs will serve at 16th and Mission Streets from 5:30 to 6:30pm on Friday. The 13th annual Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair will take place on Saturday from 11-6 (Photos) and on Sunday from 11-5. At 2pm on Saturday, there will be an open discussion on current struggles at California universities with panel speakers from SFSU, UCSC, UCSB and DQU. Indybay volunteers plan to be outside on Saturday. Panel discussions during the bookfair will include "Responses to the Occupation of Palestine" and "Anarchist Parents." Day 6 of 8 Days of Anarchy, Sunday, will be the 8th Annual BASTARD Conference. (Workshop Info) 8 Days of Anarchy will close with a dance party on Monday and a discussion at the Anarchist Study Group on Tuesday, March 25th.

Post additional events to Indybay's calendar | Indybay's Previous Anarchy Week Coverage | 8 Days of Anarchy | 13th Annual Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair

On September 1-4 of 2008, the Republican Party is holding their convention in Minnesota. The RNC Welcoming Committee wants to make sure that "this time the fear-mongers will be met with their own biggest fear: people mobilized, organized, and taking the future back into their own hands."

The RNC Welcoming Committee's Infotour will make six stops in Northern California to share their plans and get input to take back to Minneapolis on their preparations to crash the convention in the Twin Cities in September. The RNC Welcoming Committee states, "understanding that most people can’t make it out to Minnesota before the Convention, we see this tour as an opportunity to bring the Welcoming Committee to you, and to bring your thoughts, ideas and voices back to Minnesota."

March 2: The Long Haul in Berkeley (3124 Shattuck Avenue)
March 3: Peace and Justice Center in Santa Rosa (467 Sebastopol Ave)
March 4: Station 40 in San Francisco (3030B 16th Street @ Mission)
March 5: (8pm, Bound Together Books, 1369 Haight St)
March 6: Arcata (7pm, Salmon House, 2950 Janes Rd)
March 7: Santa Cruz (6pm, Zami!, 807 Laurel Street)

At Station 40 in San Francisco, the Welcoming Committee and a member of Bay Area Unconventional Action gave an overview of organizing in Denver against the DNC. Someone from Direct Action to Stop the War (DASW) spoke about the upcoming anti-war actions in the Bay Area on March 15th and 19th.

No RNC website

Modesto Anarcho writes, "Modesto Anarcho #6 is out now and ready for download and distribution! Feel free to copy and reproduce this text at will, share it with friends, pass it along, and add it to your distro.

"This issue is packed full of insurrectionary class struggle analysis about what's going on in the California Central Valley area. Included within are extensive direct action and repression reports, poetry, news about ongoing struggles and happenings, a report back from the Feral Visions gathering, an in depth look at the recent Modesto dumpster dive ban, an article detailing the resistance to development at Jesse Morrow Mountain in Fresno, and much more!"

download the PDF file | Trash the Rich: Criminalizing Dumpsterdiving and Poverty in Modesto | Modesto Anarcho #5 | Modesto Anarcho Distro Catalogue!