Indypendent Reader

BIll Hughes Photo Collage of Occupy the GGP Action

United Workers and Allies Occupy the GGP

Monday May 21st

On Saturday afternoon, May 19, 2012, the United Workers, and their allies, staged a march/rally to "Occupy GGP." The action ended at the Inner Harbor, in Baltimore, MD.

To learn more, go to: http://engage.unitedworkers.org/

Full the full photo gallery of the action, go to Bill Hughes's flickr gallery: here.

Interview: David Marty on the State of Spain's 15M and Revolutionary Organization, Part I

Stephen Roblin

Thursday May 17th

During the summer of 2011, hundreds of thousands of citizens throughout Spain took to the streets to protest government austerity measures. Street-protests transformed into encampments, which in turn branched out into neighborhoods, where neighborhood assemblies formed across the country. In a two-part interview, Stephen Roblin from Baltimore's Indypendent Reader asks David Marty, an activist and writer based in Spain, about the status of the movement and more.

Even Star Spangled War Is Hell

David Swanson

Friday May 11th

David Swanson, author of "War Is A Lie", has adapted this piece from his book as a response to the bicentennial "celebration" of The War of 1812. Swanson critiques Baltimore celebratory pride for holding the site that Francis Scott Key penned the United States National Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner; during The War of 1812. Swanson poses thoughts and questions and ask us to think beyond a wartime song.

Community Food Day with the Baltimore Algebra Project

Casey McKeel

Friday May 11th

The Baltimore Algebra Project, a youth-led social justice group, held a Community Food Day this past month to announce the launch of their Food Justice Campaign. The campaign seeks to bring fresh healthy food into Baltimore City Public School (BCPS) cafeterias. With 50-75 people in attendance, the event featured group activities and discussions about food, an introduction to the campaign, and concluded with a delicious meal prepared onsite. The group made use of the kitchen at Heritage High School, where they plan to start a pilot program.

Occupations: Theirs and Ours, An Introduction to the Issue

Stephen Roblin

Wednesday May 9th

After Occupy Wall Street claimed Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park in mid-September 2011, Occupy encampments spread rapidly throughout the country and beyond. Dominant institutions like the mainstream mass media have been forced to give a glance towards the extreme rise in income and wealth inequality over the last thirty years and the corporate domination of the US political-economic system.

Activists Celebrate May Day, March From Lexington Market to Inner Harbor

Stephen Roblin

Friday May 11th

On May 1st, Baltimore activists celebrated May Day — the real labor day — by holding a rally near Lexington Market and marching to the Inner Harbor's McKeldin Square, where they met over one hundred other activists celebrating the historic and ongoing struggle for workers' rights.

National Security Agency Headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland. Source: NSA

Obama and the Age of Surveillance

Daniel Staples

Tuesday April 24th

The surveillance of peaceful activists by US intelligence agencies and security forces is nothing new. From the FBI's surveillance of Martin Luther King, Jr., and military spying on Vietnam anti-war protest groups, to Maryland State Police surveillance of Baltimore anti-death penalty and peace groups four years ago, one consistency is the legal impunity with which state surveillance is done, regardless of the practices' legality.

Thousands Pledge to Challenge War with Iran

Sergio España

Thursday March 22nd

As the drumbeat of war against Iran grows, organizers across the country are ensuring we are not tricked into further bankruptcy and bloodshed once again. Thousands of concerned people, including activists, occupiers, and local community organizations have begun to sign on to the Iran Pledge of Resistance Campaign.

Let Teachers Teach: More Teacher Regulations Only Undermine Education

Iris Kirsch

Saturday April 28th

Indy Reader's new print issue, "Occupy the Economy," is about to hit the streets. Here's a sample of what's inside. In this article, Baltimore city school teacher, Iris Kirsch, explains how the City school system has implemented strict regulations, ostensibly to ensure high quality teaching performance. Kirsch argues that the new regulations will achieve just the opposite.

Gender EDGE Quarterly Activist Events Come to Baltimore

Corey Reidy

Friday April 27th

On April 6, 2012, at Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse, a small group gathered for the Baltimore initiation of the Gender EDGE Collective Quarterly events. The events are meant to connect the two cities in radical gender justice organizing in hopes to formulate campaigns together, share resources, and build off of one another.

Audio: Developing Strategy For Social Transformation with Chris Dixon

Daniel Staples

Thursday April 26th

The question of strategy - how we might win in the near and long term as we struggle against domination, exploitation, and oppression - is pressing. Together, we explore how to build movements in the world as it is - engaging with where and how people are struggling - while cultivating strategies toward the world that we want.

Video: Rally for Justice at Towson University

Glenn Daniels Jr.

Thursday April 26th

It's important to recognize that social media is a powerful force that can spread information in seconds on a global scale. However, it's extremely important to have a core group of activists to spread information in a variety of others ways; the most powerful being local organizing and face-to-face communication.

Rally, Arrests: "Close the School of the Americas!"

Bill Hughes

Tuesday April 17th

On Monday, April 16, 2012, at noon, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., there was a rally/march demanding the federal government close the "School of the Americas," renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. Twelve Anti-torture activists were arrested, in the street, opposite the Cannon Office Building while engaging in "nonviolent direct action."

Photo Essay: April 1 Youth Justice Sunday

Clayton Conn

Tuesday April 3rd

For a third year in a row dozens of Baltimore youth, activists, and residents held a rally and march, dubbed "Youth Justice Sunday", to protest the planned construction of a more than $70 million, 120-bed youth prison*. This action comes days after the Baltimore City Council passed a resolution that officially recognizes the first Sunday in April to be "Youth Justice Sunday", so as to:

"Bring attention to the plight of Baltimore City's youth; to advocate for the civil liberties they deserve, and; to celebrate the triumph of spirit of youth who achieve greatness through academic, athletic, social and intellectual perserverance."

Indybay Journalists Charged with Felony: Conspiracy to Make Media

Thursday March 22nd

District Attorney Bob Lee has embarked on a full frontal assault against independent media in Santa Cruz by including four regular contributors to the independent news website Indybay.org amongst the eleven people charged with multiple felonies and misdemeanors after the occupation of a vacant bank building on November 30th, 2011.

Left Forum 2012 Closing Plenary

Corey Reidy

Tuesday March 20th

This past weekend, March 16-18, 2012, hundreds gathered in New York City for one of the largest politically progressive conferences in the world. The 2012 theme of the conference drew inspiration from the infamous Occupy movement, entitled: Occupy the System - Confronting Global Capitalism.

Marvin "Doc" Cheatham at NAACP's Health Symposium

Bill Hughes

Saturday March 17th

On Saturday afternoon, March 17, 2012, Marvin "Doc" Cheatham spoke at a "Health Symposium," at the Druid Hill Baptist Church in West Baltimore. The event was sponsored by the NAACP's Baltimore City Branch. He is the Past President of the Baltimore Branch of the NAACP. Currently, "Doc" Cheatham is the Baltimore President of the National Action Network (NAN).

Happy Birthday, Wells Fargo!

Bill Hughes

Friday March 16th

Social justice activists staged a mock birthday celebration for Wells Fargo, on Friday afternoon, March 16, 2012, in down town Baltimore, Maryland. The bank is 160 years old. Activists claim that Wells Fargo, which took in $17.9 billions in taxpayers' bailout funds, was one of the "worst actors in the foreclosure crisis." Good Jobs Better Baltimore, and others, participated in the spirited demonstration.