ON THE SHOW IN AUGUST 2011:

* CHICAGO HIGH SCHOOLERS ORGANIZE AGAINST SEXIST "LIST"

A Chicago high school student takes on a sexist ranking at a Chicago area high school. We'll hear more about it.

* GRASSROOTS VICTORY OVER CHICAGO 2016 OLYMPICS BID

We'll also hear the story of how a group of grassroots citizens took and defeated the entire Chicago establishment in Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

* ILLINOIS NUCLEAR POWER AND ILLINOIS WATER

We'll also learn more about the connections between Illinois' water supplies and Illinois' nuclear power plants.

* Plus, headlines from the worldwide Indymedia network.

LISTEN ONLINE TO THIS EPISODE:

chicago.indymedia.org/media/all/display/36005/index.php

LISTEN ONLINE TO PAST EPISODES:

chicago.indymedia.org/mod/info/display/radio/index.php

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST:

chicago.indymedia.org/rss/radio.xml

SUBSCRIBE TO "FROM THE TRENCHES" ON ITUNES:

itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/from-the-trenches-chicago/id352293694

LISTEN ON BROADCAST RADIO:

From The Trenches airs on the 4th Sunday of each month at 6pm on WLUW 88.7 on Chicago northside radio:

www.wluw.org

From The Trenches also airs on the immediately subsequent Thursday at 1pm on WHPK 88.5 on Chicago southside radio:

www.whpk.org

RECENT HEADLINES FROM THE GLOBAL INDYMEDIA NETWORK

Indymedia UK and Ireland provide overview of recent British "riots"
Indymedia UK and Indymedia Ireland has been providing coverage and analysis of protests in London, Nottingham, Bristol, Birmingham, and across the UK. A feature from Indymedia UK reads in part: "The fiery unrest which ignited in Tottenham…and which has rapidly spread through London and to other towns and cities across the country has been largely and predictably condemned by politicians and the mainstream media as mindless violence, arson, theft and thuggery. [B]lanket condemnation of those involved in the unrest is inappropriate and conveniently draws attention away from the context in which these events are taking place. Britain's cities, towns and rural areas alike now boast record numbers of young unemployed people, often denied benefits, with few prospects, with many of those living in urban areas facing constant harassment by the police, especially if they happen to be black, with public services being cut all around them, and quite possible with a growing mass awareness — thanks to movements like UK UnCut — of government support for super-rich corporations at the expense of the already impoverished…In any event and whatever the triggers, the roots of the unrest are deeply embedded. No amount of repressive policing and overkill sentencing is going to solve this crisis, even if it succeeds in silencing dissent in the short term."
www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/08/483296.html
www.indymedia.ie/article/100336
www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/08/483457.html

Homeless Brazilian Workers Occupy Government Land
The Independent Media Center of Brazil featured an occupation of a government area by homeless Brazilian workers. On July 15, 400 families organized by the MTST, the Portuguese acronym of a group translated as "Movement of the Workers Without Ceilings", occupied an area in the town of Ceilândia, a satellite town of Brasilia. The area was a plot of unused land next to a plantation of eucalyptus trees. The occupation occured in the wake of a broken agreement by the Government of the Federal District and the Ministry of the Cities to provide land for the workers after a set of ten meetings and an agreement made in June 2010. But after more than a year elapsed without fulfilling the agreement, the families organized the occupation. On July 18, three days after the MTST-led occupation began, the Government of the Federal District forcibly removed the families from the occupied land, without any negotiation or judicial approval. The government assistance program that workers have been directed towards, translated as "My House, My Life", has been criticized for not providing quality housing for program participants.
www.midiaindependente.org/pt/blue/2011/07/494451.shtml

Austin activists Call on Wells Fargo to Divest from Private Prisons
Austin Indymedia featured a protest held on July 3rd by a local human rights group calling for a major bank to divest from the private prison industry. Quoting from the feature: "Texans United For Families (TUFF), a local human rights group working to end immigrant detention and deportation, protested at the Austin Wells Fargo headquarters on Friday, July 1st as part of the National Private Prison Divestment Day. TUFF held the protest to call on Wells Fargo to cease all investments into the private prison industry." A statement from TUFF explains: "Wells Fargo is a major investor in the private prison corporation the GEO Group, holding over 3.5 million shares in GEO valued at $92 million. GEO has a history of human rights violations, especially in their Texas facilities, leading to deaths, riots, and hunger strikes. Even so, GEO continues profiting from billions in taxpayer dollars…Wells Fargo claims to value community-building and ethics, yet they are investing in and profiting from an industry with unethical practices that harm our communities and prevent our feeling of belonging to a community"
austin.indymedia.org/article/2011/07/03/stop-stagecoach-call-wells-fargo-divest-private-prison-industry

TIAA-CREF Faces Divestment Protests Regarding Palestine
New York City Indymedia and Philadelphia Indymedia covered local protests in their respective cities over another divestment campaign, this one connected to Palestine. The retirement fund giant TIAA-CREF has faced criticism over its investment of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and a campaign launched by the group Jewish Voice for Peace demands that TIAA-CREF divest from its support of the occupation. Protest actions in twenty cities across America joined the campaign, including a rush-hour protest in midtown Manhattan on July 20th and a protest outside of the TIAA-CREF building in downtown Philadelphia also on July 20th. The protests coincided with TIAA-CREF's annual shareholder meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, which reports say was dominated by a debate over the question of divestment, though TIAA-CREF struck down a shareholder resolution on the issue.
nyc.indymedia.org/or/2011/07/115575.html
phillyimc.org/en/protest-over-role-played-tiaa-cref-israeli-occupation-palestine

Protests Against Police Brutality Galvanize Bay Area
Indybay in the bay area has been covering a number of recent police brutality cases and related protests in northern and central California. On July 16th, nineteen-year-old Kenneth Harding was approached on a train platform by San Francisco police; Harding was shot by police and left to bleed to death, offering no medical assistance. The San Francisco police have been changing their story of the events related to Harding's death, and many people at gatherings, marches, rallies, and vigils in honor of Harding have challenged the changing police accounts of Harding's shooting. Police have now attacked solidarity activists, pepper spraying one person on July 17th, and arresting 20 people at a solidarity march on Powell Street. In late July, protests over a number of police shootings swept the California central valley cities of Manteca, Stockton, and Sacramentox. And on August 3rd, police with Bay Area Rapid Transit (also known as BART) shot and killed a homeless man, Charles Blair Hill, and subsequent protests against BART over the killing saw BART respond by unilaterally shutting off cellphone service, in apparent defiance of federal communications law and first amendment rights, and generating a new round of protests and digital attacks against BART over the cause of digital media rights and free speech.
www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/07/23/18685860.php
www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/07/24/18685896.php
www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/08/13/18687583.php
www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/08/26/18688823.php

San Jose Mayor Moves to Eliminate Collective Bargaining Rights
Indybay has also been covering an attempt by the Mayor and City Council of San Jose, California to eliminate the collective bargaining rights of workers in San Jose. Quoting from the feature: "Three San José Council Members and [San José] Mayor Chuck Reed are pushing for a bill that would strip city workers of benefits and take away their collective bargaining rights. Activists say the proposed bill is similar to the attacks on workers' rights that were recently rammed through Wisconsin’s legislature by an anti-labor governor…Labor supporters speaking from a podium said that attempts to declare a fiscal emergency in order to resolve the city's budget problems is misguided at best, and the mayor's fiscal plan would allow the city to renege on its promise to pay specific benefits to city employees. They pointed out that federal and state labor law cases have consistently held that these changes cannot be made unless it is done through collective bargaining. Protesters called for an end to the City's union-busting tactics with speeches, chants and songs."
www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/06/26/18683037.php

Arrests at White House highlight deportation, Colombia free trade, Tar Sands oil
DC Indymedia has been covering the myriad protest arrests at the White House in recent weeks and months for a variety of causes. On July 11, four people were arrested in front of the White House during a protest of the US/Colombia Free Trade Agreement. They stayed in place after about 100 people crossed from Lafayette Park to deliver 51 cardboard coffins to the street in front of the White House. On July 27, Chicago-area Congressman Luis Gutierrez and ten immigrant rights activists and religious leaders were arrested at the White House, for protesting against mass deportations and incarcerations of immigrants, being executed by the Obama administration. And August 20 saw the start of an ongoing civil disobedience action in front of the White House, in which environmental activists vowed to be arrested in front of the White House every day for two weeks, demanding that the President block the permits for the Keystone XL oil pipeline project. The project, which would extend to the Alberta Tar Sands in Canada, is so energy intensive would effectively halt any hope of slowing climate change and has been described as "the fuse of the biggest carbon bomb on the planet". 65 people were arrested on August 20; in all, there were 381 arrests as of August 26th, with more than 2000 people registered to participate through the protest's planned conclusion on September 3rd.
dc.indymedia.org/feature/display/132421/index.php
dc.indymedia.org/feature/display/132430/index.php
dc.indymedia.org/feature/display/132441/index.php

Chicago Federal Court Rejects Attempts to Dismiss Torture Suit against Donald Rumsfeld
Chicago Indymedia featured an update in a previously reported story on a torture lawsuit against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Quoting from the feature: "A federal appeals court today [August 8, 2011] rejected former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s attempt to dismiss an anti-torture suit against him. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld Federal Judge Wayne R. Anderson’s March 2010 decision to allow the suit over Rumsfeld’s orders which allegedly led to the 2006 torture of two military contractors, Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel, U.S. citizens who were working in Iraq. The Appeals Court is now the highest court to have upheld the right of citizens to pursue an anti-torture claim against a federal Cabinet-level official."
chicago.indymedia.org/feature/display/70456/index.php

PLEASE JOIN US!
If you're interested in contributing to From The Trenches, we'd love to hear from you. Our contact information is below.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Please submit any requests, tips, stories, or questions to the Chicago Independent Media Center:
773-384-8544
chicago.indymedia.org
or email us:
imc-chicago-audio (at) lists.indymedia.org