Chicago IMC

From the newswire: "Despite the city's first brush with winter, [Saturday, November 8] some 500+ demonstrators greeted Focus on the Family's James Dobson outside a downtown hotel, protesting his pivotal role in engineering the defeat of equal marriage rights in California a few days ago.

"Dobson's group gave $800,000 for California's anti-equal marriage rights Proposition 8, and a Focus on the Family spin-off spearheaded that effort. Dobson was in town to receive an award from the Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC), which has been roundly condemned for honoring a man who aims to take away rights from Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people."

Protests against California's Proposition 8 have swept the United States, with follow-up protests in Chicago and nationwide scheduled for November 15. Read more / see photos

Video: Video one | Video two

Additional resources: Gay Liberation Network | Truth Wins Out | DumpDobson.com | Radio interview about Dobson

Rahm Emanuel, who since 2003 has been the Illinois' 5th district representative in Congress (on Chicago's north side), and has been the focus of repeated activist efforts and protests for many years, has been named White House Chief of Staff for the forthcoming Obama administration.

Emanuel has been stridently pro-war, and as chair of the Democratic Caucus in the U.S. House for two years has advocated for pro-war House Democrats for election (including the Illinois 6th district primary battle between Tammy Duckworth and Christine Cegelis). Emanuel also played a key role in the passage of NAFTA in the U.S. Congress, has sided with xenophobic Republicans on immigrant rights issues, and has been stridently pro-market, having been the top recipient of donations from hedge funds and private equity firms.

Past Chicago Indymedia coverage: Illinois Occupation Project: 2 arrested at office of Rahm Emanuel | Chicago Independent Television: Video of 2008 Protest at Rahm Emanuel's office

Additional coverage: 'History will be the judge:' Rahm Emanuel on the Iraq War and More | Photos of various anti-Emanuel actions | Israeli Media Claims That Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff Will Represent Israel in the White House | Rahm Emanuel's father offers commentary | Facebook: Rahm Emanuel - NOT the Choice for Change | The Real News Network: Obama recruits "Rahmbo" Emanuel | The Real News Network: Who is Rahm Emanuel?

From the newswire: "An off duty police officer shot and killed another unarmed civilian last night on the city's West Side, making this one of the worst years in recent memory for such shootings [and prompting a press conference and march in protest.]"

"Over 100 community residents held a press conference followed by a march [on Wednesday, October 29] through the community on Chicago's West Side to protest the Monday night police shooting of 34-year-old Larnester Hull, father of five, in the back of the head by an off-duty Chicago police officer."

"Make no mistake about it," said Mark Carter, one of the protest leaders. "The Chicago Police do not like black people. It doesn't matter if they're [the police] white, black or whatever, they're all blue. They're police. This is the USA, and they're still killing black people." Read more / See photos | Press release

Victims, attorneys and activists who have been calling for justice in the now infamous Chicago police torture cases for decades claimed victory today when former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge was finally indicted by the U.S. Attorney General’s Office and arrested in Florida on charges relating to the torture of over 100 African American men over a 20 year period. Read More

Related stories: Fitzgerald: Others could be charged in Burge case - Chicago Tribune | Daley accepts no responsibility for Burge torture cases - Chicago Sun-Times | Police Torture in Chicago - archive of articles by former Reader staff writer John Conroy, who has been covering police torture and related issues since 1990.

Peace activists took to the streets on October 11, in cities across the United States to protest the 6th anniversary of Congress voting for war on Iraq, and the extension of war and the national war-making apparatus. Indymedia affiliates covered protests in Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle, and in Chicago.

From the newswire: "Hundreds of peace protesters gathered in the heart of Chicago's Pakistani community on Saturday [October 11] to voice their opposition to escalating war in the region — including U.S. military attacks inside Pakistan's borders. Hundreds of thousands of internal refugees have been displaced in the wake of the new aggression, and hundreds of civilians have been killed."

Photo essay | Video from Labor Beat | Indymedia.US coverage | More photos | Other Oct. 11 actions

The October 2008 episode of Chicago Independent Television documents a summer of activist efforts in Chicago in 2008, including protests at the Taste of Chicago and at the Chicago Air and Water Show. The episode also features protests against a possible U.S. bombing of Iran, and a commemoration of the famed 1968 Chicago protests against the Democratic National Convention.

Read more | Watch online | CIMC Video Collective

The 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, like other political conventions in recent years, has seen mass-protests against the RNC on a variety of issues and violent responses from police and other authorities.

The police violence began the weekend before the RNC began, when convergence spaces in the Twin Cities were raided to intimidate counter-convention attendees. Chicagoans were among those arrestees amid the raids, and other Chicagoans called for solidarity and decried the violent crackdown. [See Chicago Independent Television coverage of Chicago press conference: Video 1 | Video 2 ]

When the convention began, a massive march and a host of smaller actions enveloped the Twin Cities. Activists faced down a massive police presence, further repression, and hundreds of arrests. The additional repression extended beyond protesters and activists but also to journalists; Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, was among the arrestees.

Photos from RNC: Photo Set 1 | Photo Set 2 | Photo Set 3 | Photo Set 4 | Joeff.com: RNC Day 1 | Joeff.com: RNC Day 4

Additional Indymedia Coverage: Twin Cities Indymedia | Indymedia US: RNC Day 1 | Indymedia US: RNC Day 2 | LA Indymedia: Last day of RNC | Boston IMC: Riot Police Target Journalists at the RNC

Additional Chicago-related coverage: Marching on the RNC | Statement of Solidarity with NO RNC Organizers in the Twin Cities | Superanne Twitter Feed at the RNC | Chi-town Daily News: Police Targetting Journalists at RNC

Additional Coverage: RNC 08 Twitter Feed | CodePINK Liveblogging | Radical Reference: RNC Raids | Democracy Now! | Coldsnap Legal Collective | Two people from Milwaukee illegally imprisoned in St. Paul | Arrested Street Medic Speaks - Press Release | The Ground Noise and the Static: A Chronicle of the Battle of Saint Paul, RNC 2008

From the newswire: "In a brazen move against freedom of speech and against the Chicago peace movement, Chicago Police held peace activists at the 2008 Chicago Air and Water Show inside a fenced-off 'free speech zone', as one police officer termed it. The 'free speech zone', surrounded by a three-and-a-half-foot-high impromptu metal barrier serving as a makeshift fence, sat just south of eastern base of the North Avenue foot bridge, near the intersection of North Avenue and Lake Shore Drive.

"Until recently, activists who assembled at the Air And Water Show could assemble and interact with other attendees unimpeded. However, in the 2008 Show, activists were ordered to remain within the confines of the 'free speech zone', roughly eight feet away from the sidewalk and on a hard-to-walk-on sandy surface. Police said that individuals who left the 'free speech zone' would be arrested." Read more | See photos | Watch video

Selected previous Chicago "free speech zone" incidents: McCormick Place, 2003 | Taste of Chicago, 2006 | CIMC Video: Taste of Chicago, 2006 | AFSC free speech restricted

On August 2, 2008, more than two hundred protesters assembled in downtown Chicago to rally outside the State of Illinois Building, and marched against a possible bombing of Iran — in the face of belligerent policy remarks by the U.S. government and strong hints of possible future military actions.

After the half-hour-long rally, the participants marched from the State of Illinois Building. They headed first to a nearby Republican campaign office. The marchers then headed north on Wells Street up to Wacker, then East just past Michigan Avenue to the Israeli Consulate. The marchers then proceeded south on Michigan Avenue to Randolph Street to a nearby Democratic Party campaign office, to join up with a second protest already underway on behalf of single-payer health care.

Read account | Watch video | See Photos

Additional Resources: Stop War on Iran | No War on Iran Coalition — Chicago