Chicago IMC

Jorge Steven Lόpez-Mercado, an openly gay teenager in in Caguas, Puerto Rico, was slain in November 2009. Lόpez-Mercado was decapitated, dismembered and partially burned, and his assailant claimed to be motivated by "gay panic". Many are drawing comparisons to the 1998 slaying of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard.

Activists in a number of American cities held public gatherings to mourn the death of Lόpez-Mercado and to protest against the continuing climate of homophobia which spawns hate crimes. In Chicago, the Gay Liberation Network, along with representatives from Orgullo en Accion and Boricua Pride/ALMA held a march in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood.

Chicago Indymedia coverage: Photos — Hundreds gather to mourn slain trans youth activist | Learning from the lynching of Jorge Steven Lόpez-Mercado | March/Vigil for Burned and Decapitated Gay Puerto Rican Teen

From the newswire: "On Tuesday, the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign kicked off its first day with a successful blockade at the home of Lenise Forrest, a community member and mother of two. At 9AM on November 17, supporters began arriving to blockade the house from eviction, and with the increasing police presence circling the block, many people were wondering what would happen next.

Supporters were prepared to stand between Lenise's family and the police to prevent the eviction of the family. Then, just as the corporate news arrived, the police suddenly disappeared. After the press conference the police stayed away most of the time, and the threat of eviction dwindled. In all, the eviction blockade turned out to be not a clash with police, but instead a great community building event in which people from all parts of chicago came together in solidarity.

Read more | Watch video | Anarkismo.net coverage

The November episode of Chicago Independent Television features extensive on-the-ground coverage of the protests and violent police response to the grassroots protests against the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. We'll also join a Chicago protests in Hyde Park against the war in Afghanistan on the war's eighth anniversary.

Read more about Episode 52 | CIMC TV Podcast | CIMC Video Page | CITV on YouTube

The U.S. economy has been brought to the brink of collapse thanks to the failure of shoddy and dubious financial instruments, and kept afloat only thanks to major infusions of taxpayer cash. The major banking institutions, who have been raked over the coals of public opinion, saw their main public lobby, the American Bankers Association, assemble in Chicago, only to face the wrath of organized public outrage.

Thousands of activists and citizens also converged to take the ABA to task, thanks to the organizing efforts of National People's Action in an effort called Showdown in Chicago. Protesters entered the lobby of the Sheraton Chicago to face the ABA directly. This was followed by marches through downtown Chicago where thousands voiced their concern and called for accountability and positive change.

Additional Coverage: Labor Beat — Video 1 | Labor Beat — Video 2 | Photo gallery | 5000 March Against Bankers in Chicago | Photos of Chicago banner drop | Democracy Now! coverage of Showdown in Chicago

From the newswire: "[On Thursday, October 15, a]pproximately 30 activists — mainly students from area universities — disrupted a lecture given in Chicago by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday which was hosted by the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy. While Olmert's speech was disrupted inside the lecture hall, approximately 150 activists protested outside the hall in the freezing rain.

"Protesters inside the hall read off the names of Palestinian children killed during Israel's assault on Gaza last winter. They shouted that it was unacceptable that the war crimes suspect be invited to speak at a Chicago university when his army destroyed a university in Gaza in January. They reminded the audience of the more than 1,400 Palestinians killed during the Gaza attacks and the more than 1,200 killed during Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 2006. Both invasions happened during Olmert's premiership. With interventions coming every few minutes throughout his appearance, Olmert had difficulty giving his speech and often appeared frustrated. At one point he appealed for 'just five minutes' to speak without being interrupted." Read more

Additional Coverage: Watch Video | Chicago Maroon coverage: Jeers Stifle Olmert's Speech

The October episode of Chicago Independent Television features a film by the Unlympics Committee, a Chicago grassroots group asking critical questions (and organizing fun activities!) about Chicago's recent bid for the Olympics. That is followed by two segments pertaining to the 2008 Republican National Convention — one in which a St. Paul prosecutor comes to Chicago to face a protest, and another which covers one year since the infamous 2008 crackdown in St. Paul against RNC activists. And finally, we'll visit peace activists who make their presence felt at the 2009 Chicago Air and Water Show.

Read more about Episode 51 | CIMC TV Podcast | CIMC Video Page | CITV on YouTube

From the Newswire: "Throughout the…litany of news coverage on the IOC’s decision [to award the 2016 Olympics to Rio de Janeiro rather than Chicago], little attention has been given to what is arguably the majority sentiment in Chicago. When citizen opposition, polls and community organizing is taken into consideration, today’s decision is not appropriately characterized by “deep sadness.” Community leaders and organizers, as well as citizens, registered far different reactions than what was expressed by politicians and prominently echoed by U.S.-based mainstream media outlets."

"J.R. Fleming, an organizer with the Olympics Human Rights Project of Chicago, told CIMC that there were, “many issues that needed to be addressed before the Olympics. Homelessness, our transportation and educational structures are horrible. The demolition of public housing here in Chicago and nationally, there are 300,000 people a month are losing their jobs.”

“We dodged a real bullet today,” Tom Tresser exclaimed from Copenhagen via Skype to CIMC. Tresser is a long-time Chicago activist and an organizer with one of the lead opposition groups to Chicago’s bid, the coalition No Games Chicago. “This was a real wake up call to the mayor and his team who has been pushing this thing for years spending millions of dollars that should have gone to the neediest, not the greediest. This is a time to be giving more to people who are losing their homes, and instead it went to people who are planning a party that fortunately will never happen,” Tresser said.

"The final toll in terms of the city’s costs for promoting its bid for the Olympics was in upwards of $50 million dollars, including $3.1 million doled out to the powerful Hill and Knowlton public relations firm, hired three years ago by the city of Chicago to promote its bid." Read more

Additional Coverage: Victory: Chicago Loses The Olympics | Chicago Reader - 2016 Olympics: more post-mortem | Chicago Reader - Meanwhile, There's A City To Run | Think Progress: Bush Administration’s Tourist Visa Policy May Have Cost America The 2016 Olympics

On September 29, hundreds attended a protest outside City Hall in downtown Chicago against Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, and decrying the Olympic bid as a financial boondoggle for the city. Even though some 300 attended the rally, public opinion against Chicago 2016 has grown, with even Chicago corporate media finding a majority of Chicagoans opposed to the bid (meanwhile, Madrid saw half a million people rally FOR Madrid's 2016 Olympic bid). "That these poll numbers couldn't be translated into larger numbers of people on the street yesterday is a reflection of the fact that many religious and community organizations that focus on survival issues that would be directly impacted by these games – food, housing, education, jobs – are apparently intimidated into keeping their opposition silent."

The Chicago bid book, which outlines the financial proposal for Chicago's 2016 bid, was written before the recession hit and many of the anticipated funding streams have since dried up. Thus, funding the Olympics could skyrocket into the billions of dollars with the shortfall paid by city residents and from the city's controversial TIF program — an ostensible program to aid development but which has morphed into a mechanism to funnel public funds into unaccountable slush funds controlled by Mayor Daley and approved surrogates.

Activism on the Olympics in Chicago has increased, with No Games Chicago sending delegates to Copenhagen where the final vote will take place on October 2nd. The Chicago 2016 publicity machine, run by the controversial PR group Hill & Knowlton, has deployed an all-star team to sway the International Olympic Committee, including President Obama and even possibly Michael Jordan. Despite this blitz, analysts say that Rio De Janeiro is still a slight favorite to win the 2016 Olympics.

Past IMC coverage: Feature: Chicago Opposition to 2016 Olympics Bid Ramps Up | Video: No Games Chicago Rally in Chicago | Video: Critical Mass Opposes the Olympics in Chicago

Additional coverage: No Games Chicago | NGC Copenhagen Coverage | Chicago Reader's Coverage of the Chicago 2016 Olympics Bid | Chicago 2016 Olympics meets the public: full audio | Truthout: The Invisible Fourth Pillar

The G20, an economic forum from 19 countries and the European Union, is holding its September 2009 summit in Pittsburgh. The summit and the city have crystallized as a flashpoint for activist efforts on the economic crisis, the climate crisis, and many human rights crises.

Police and deputies have repressed, attacked, and harrassed the thousands of activists who have converged in Pittsburgh for the G20 protests and the assorted events organized nearby. Chicagoans are also entering the fray, covering the protest preparation.

Indymedia Coverage: Pittsburgh Indymedia/G-Infinity Media | Rochester IMC | Twin Cities IMC | G20 IMC Twitter Feed

Videos from Chicago Independent Television: G20 Pittsburgh: Scanner recordings of "police riot" at University of Pittsburgh | G20 Pittsburgh - Which Side Are You On? | Anarchist Bloc in Peoples March - G20 Pittsburgh | Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) G20 Pittsburgh | Hitler running security during G20 Pittsburgh NSSE (Hitler spoof)

Workers in a food production plant in Argentina have called for solidarity efforts against the Illinois-based multinational food corporation Kraft in the wake of the firings of more than 150 Kraft workers in Argentina.

A food factory in Buenos Aires owned by the Argentina-based company Terrabusi was bought out by Kraft in 2004. Since then, the company has markedly reduced hygiene efforts at the factory to cut costs. But a July 2009 outbreak of H1N1 flu struck the plant, and workers (many of whom were working mothers) were forced to strike simply to take sick leave to avoid the unhygenic surroundings. In the wake of the strike, Kraft "selectively fired" some 150 workers, including many union leaders and union delegates.

The Kraft workers have taken to repeated protest, including a street blockade in Buenos Aires. Workers have demanded the rehiring of the 150 fired workers by Kraft, and called for solidarity efforts in the United States, and particularly in the Chicago area since Kraft is headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Glenview. Illinois Kraft officers have been caught using the internet to follow the activism of the workers in Argentina, but the workers have responded in kind by using internet social media to raise awareness and rally support.

Related Resources: Letter: Say No To Kraft | Video: Say No To Kraft | Sept. 17: Solidarity Picket at Kraft Plants in Chicago and Champaign | Champaign Activists Say “NO!” to Kraft

The RNC8 is the name given to a group of eight political organizers who worked to help organize a grassroots response to the 2008 Twin Cities Republican National Convention, and who have faced dubious charges of terrorism under Minnesota's version of the Patriot Act in response to their political organizing. Activist efforts on behalf of the RNC8 has resulted in some of the charges being dropped though other charges still remain.

The struggle on behalf of the RNC8 extended its way to Chicago, when Susan Gaertner, the prosecutor who is pressing charges against the RNC8, came to Chicago to receive an award from the American Bar Asssociation. RNC8 supporters and activists protested Gaertner during the awards ceremony and stood to support the RNC8.

Watch Video | Read account

Dennis Dixon, longtime Chicago activist and political organizer, was assaulted on the Chicago Transit Authority on June 27, and has been hospitalized with serious injuries, including a fractured skull, brain swelling, crushed eye socket and sub-dural hematoma. Dixon has undergone physical and cognitive therapies, but his health situation has grown increasingly complicated, which have encompassed breathing difficulties and even required surgery.

The community of Chicago political activists who know Dixon have worked to help him out, setting up a website of support, an online donation form, a Facebook group, and organizing fundraiser events for Dixon, who is unemployed and has no health insurance. Activists have also highlighted the vagaries and cruelties of the American "health care" system documenting how Dixon has been treated.

Chicago Indymedia coverage: Activist Dennis Dixon Brutally Beaten, Hospitalized, Needs Community Support | Dennis Dixon Blog Up and Running — Funds Desperately Needed