From The Trenches is the monthly radio program of the Chicago Independent Media Center.

ON THE SHOW IN JUNE 2011:

* CHICAGO SLUTWALK SPEAKS OUT AGAINST SEXUAL VIOLENCE

A new worldwide movement against sexual assault, sexual harassment, and blaming-the-victim comes to Chicago. We'll listen to interviews with participants.

* CORPORATE MEDIA CONTROL AND MEDIA REFORM STRUGGLES

Activists often complain about the media, but some activists take the media as an issue, and there is a rich history of media reform struggles in U.S. history. We'll learn more in this presentation.

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HEADLINES FROM THE INDYMEDIA NETWORK

Irish Police Try to Smear Women Who Caught Police Making Rape Threats
Ireland Indymedia reported on efforts by Irish police to belittle activists who recorded a rape threat made by police. On March 31, 2011, two female activists, arrested protesting a Shell Oil refinery, inadvertently recorded a police conversation, which included a rape threat made against one of the women in custody. Authorities set up two inquiries into the matter, but, "according to some of the campaigners involved in releasing the infamous recordings, Gardaí [Irish police] and the Garda Ombudsman fed false and damaging information to [crime reporters] in an attempt to minimi[z]e and divert attention from the content of the recordings and to undermine the credibility of the two women whose arrest led to the scandal." Reporters who were known to receive these rumors did not deny that the rumors had emanated from Gardaí, but agreed at least to not publish the false rumors.
www.indymedia.ie/article/99813
www.indymedia.ie/article/99445

Polish activists stage "Day of Rage" protests amid Obama visit
Poland Indymedia featured reports of protests in Warsaw amid the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama to Poland. On May 27 and 28, 2011, activists organized a "Day of Rage", highlighting a panoply of domestic problems in Poland, including the destruction of workers' rights and tenants' rights, rising prices, the commercialization of education and health services, as well as the ignorance of the public to this state of affairs. One protest picket outside of a building which housed President Obama used signs with the Polish pun "Baraki dla Obamy", translated as "huts for Obama", calling attention to the lack of community housing in Poland.
pl.indymedia.org/pl/2011/05/53854.shtml

Activists Get $50,000 for FBI and St. Paul Police Raid Prior to 2008 Republican Convention
Rochester Indymedia and DC Indymedia featured a press release of a financial victory for three Minnesota activists. Quoting from the release: "Three activists and their attorneys won a $50,000 settlement today [May 26, 2011] in a lawsuit that challenged an August 30, 2008 police raid on a St. Paul home in advance of that year's Republican National Convention. The plaintiffs in the case — Sarah Coffey, Erin Stalnaker and Kris Hermes — are giving most of the award to the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, the Institute for Anarchist Studies, and the formation of a national legal defense fund for political activists. The St. Paul house raid was one of several police actions taken against protesters days before the RNC began, including the search and seizure of a central political meeting space, which is also the subject of pending litigation."
rochester.indymedia.org/feature/display/20082/index.php
dc.indymedia.org/feature/display/132400/index.php

Old-Growth Forest Defenders Bring Musical "Flash Mob" Protest to Sacramento
Indybay featured a dramatic musical protest outside the California state capitol in defense of old-growth California forests. For most of 2011, the group Richardson Grove Action Now (RGAN) has been organizing rallies and protests against a plan to extend California Highway 101 through Richardson Grove State Park and adjacent forests in northern California. On June 9, 2011, RGAN staged a dramatic musical protest "flash mob" outside the California state capitol in Sacramento, singing a version of the George Clinton song "We Got The Funk", but with updated lyrics about the opposition to the highway extension, while informing passersby with literature and flyers. The highway expansion plan would have significant global environmental effects, as it threatens some of the last 2% remaining ancient redwoods on Earth.
www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/06/21/18682522.php

Three Arrested at Boston Town Hall Over Proposed Controversial Whole Foods Development
Boston Indymedia featured a report about a contentious public meeting and arrests over a proposed expansion of a national franchise. On June 3, 2011, representatives of Whole Foods held a public meeting in the Boston neighborhood of Jamaica Plain, trying to convince residents of the benefits of having a Whole Foods franchise in their neighborhood. The move is opposed by a neighborhood-based group called Whose Foods, which noted the so-called "Whole Foods effect" of gentrification emerging around new Whole Foods outlets. Whose Foods mobilized 100 people to wear T-shirts critical of Whole Foods, and three activists unfurled a banner reading "Displacement: What is Whole Foods Going To Do About It?" to raucous applause. Three people connected with the banner were arrested, and later charged with one count each of disrupting a public assembly.
boston.indymedia.org/feature/display/213060/index.php

Investigation of Fired Jimmy John's Workers Discovers Revelations of Disease Outbreaks
The Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center featured developments of the eroding credibility of another national franchise. Quoting from the feature: "Two months after Jimmy John's fired six workers for blowing the whistle on a company practice of forcing sandwich-makers to work while sick, the IWW [Industrial Workers of the World] Jimmy John's Workers Union has released Minnesota Department of Health documents today [June 5, 2011] revealing eight outbreaks of foodborne illness at franchises across the Twin Cities area in the past five years, seven of which were due to employees working while sick at the chain. The release of the documents seriously erodes the credibility of Minneapolis franchise owner Mike Mulligan who had previously claimed to reporters and employees that, 'the company has made more than 6 million sandwiches during its nearly 10 years in business—and no one’s ever gotten sick from eating one.' Two of the outbreaks, both caused by sick employees, were at the Mulligans' stores."
www.ucimc.org/content/jimmy-johns-company-credibility-erodes-nlrb-investigation-over-firing-six-whistleblowers-con

Whittier School Supporters Renew Fieldhouse Sit-in after Chicago Public Schools Calls Off Deal
Chicago Indymedia featured breaking developments of a renewed protest in defense of a threatened Chicago school fieldhouse. On Wednesday, June 23, 2011, a wrecking crew arrived outside La Casita, the fieldhouse of Whittier Elementary School in Chicago's Pilsen Neighborhood. The Chicago Public Schools, with a new head and under a new administration, turned its back on a deal to preserve the fieldhouse, which Whittier parents, students, and supporters won in the late summer and early fall of 2010, thanks to a 44-day-long sit-in protest. After the original deal was called off, Whittier supporters launched a new round-the-clock sit-in, asking the community for support and calling on the Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Alderman Dan Solis to restore the previous deal.
chicago.indymedia.org/feature/display/70451/index.php

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