Philly IMC Features RSS

On March 13, Mothers March Globally for recognition of work, protest DHS

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:54:55 -0500

On Saturday March 13, Philadelphia women joined with mothers around the world in "Mothers March Globally" to mark International Women’s Day and the 11th Global Women's Strike, focusing their protest here on the unjust removal of children by the Department of Human Services.

Mothers March Globally events took place around the world, including in Guyana, Haiti, Mexico, Peru, Turkey, the UK and Venezuela, echoing the demands of the Global Women’s Strike that society “Invest in Caring, Not Killing,” beginning with payment for caring work, including for the first carers: mothers.

In Philadelphia, a 12 noon press conference featured mothers fighting to get their children back from DHS, former social workers, mothers working for justice for loved ones in prison, grand- and great-grandmothers, Katrina survivors, and men in support including fathers and other carers, plus greetings from other Mothers March events in other countries. A march to DHS and Family Court will followed. Full Press Release | Background | Related: International Women's Day in the Philippines

How Well Do You Know Your State?

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:03:01 -0500

It's easy to think you know Pennsylvania. You might live in one of the big cities, and think the rest of the state is a vast countryside. Or you might live in a rural area and think that most of the state is like your county, with the exception of the cities. However, the diversity of our state can surprise you. read more | pafrombelow.info

Philadelphia Rallies Against Mountaintop Destruction

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:05:46 -0500

This Monday, Philadelphia community members rallied outside the Philadelphia Region 3 EPA Office to stop mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia. Mountaintop Removal permits are reviewed in Philadelphia and Atlanta EPA Offices.

The crowd chanted "Ending MTR, who has the say? Region 3 of the EPA!", while myself and fellow Rising Tide activist Josh Yoder attempted to enter the building with a letter for senior Region 3 Administrator Shawn Garvin. Read More | Photos

Coming Up: 5th Annual End Mountaintop Removal Week in Washington | Related: Deadline for Public Comments on Natural Gas Fracking

Get on your mark, get ready run to it $$$$$ before it goes away

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:53:00 -0500

Friends, a major state public jobs program has been announced by the PA Labor and Industry and Public Welfare Departments. The challenge now is to be sure that non-profits, companies and state and city agencies will step up and put these people to work.

The Racialization of Crime and Punishment --An Interview With Nancy A. Heitzeg

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:37:31 -0500

As movements for Abolition and Civil Rights worked to end the institutions of slavery, lynching and legalized segregation, new and more indirect mechanisms have emerged for perpetuating systemic racism and its economic underpinnings...The prison industrial complex is the current manifestation of the legal legacy of the racialized transformations of plantations into prisons, of Slave Codes into Black Codes, of lynching into state-sponsored executions.

Fluff vs substance

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:16:47 -0500

Well, SOME news sources are worth checking out for political news. Others, not so much. My roommate back in college admitted once that he spent an awful lot of time complaining about things (Usually justifiably, I thought) but felt he really had to make an exception once and to declare that the meal we were eating at a usually not-so-great cafeteria was really first-class. In the same light, I'd really like to commend the front-page piece in the Inky today summing up the health care summit yesterday. It's a solid, substantve piece that lets one know where all the players in the health care game are standing and where they're headed.

Videos: Feb. 13 International Teach-in Says: FREE MUMIA!

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:14:47 -0500

Activists from the U.S. and worldwide organized a day-long teach-in in Philadelphia and online to demand: No death penalty; No life sentence and for a Civil Rights Investigation in support of the award-winning journalist and political prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal.

SIGN PETITIONS TO: President Obama and Attorney General Holder

Protest against John Yoo

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:03:02 -0500

Accused war criminal John Yoo spoke at the Federalist Society on Thursday. As one can tell by our signs, we're not in any doubt as to Yoo's guilt. There's a very strong case against Yoo that was brought by Jose Padilla, the fellow who spent several years in solitary confinement and suffered severe mental damage as a result. Photos by Bill Perry and Rich Gardner

Friday night update: Office of Professional Responsibility releases report. Yoo & Bybee did not violate professional obligations Working thread.

Your neighbors on trial for a casino-free Philly

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:39:48 -0500

Fourteen Philly residents — ranging in age from 24 to 72 and including several grandparents and two members of the clergy, public school teachers, and life-long Philadelphians — lined the entrance to the SugarHouse construction site on the Delaware River last fall and refused to move. They were promptly arrested and held for more than 12 hours. On the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2010, these individuals will stand before a judge and defend their First Amendment rights.

UPDATE: Judge tosses case against SugarHouse protesters

Blizzard brings Shabbat: Can we create free time?

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:56:17 -0500

Yesterday and again today (Thursday) here in Philadelphia we are waking up to a city that is (by virtue of a snowstorm) making an extraordinarily unusual citywide Shabbat.

Only a blizzard brings Shabbat to an American city. But that is a reminder of how profound is the need for "Free Time for a Free People. " Overwork and its misshapen twin, disemployment, are both the symptoms and the causes of an unfree society. It is no accident that in our story of Liberation from Mitzrayyim, the Tight and Narrow Place, the first change in the life of the Israelites -- even before Sinai - is the practice and celebration of Shabbat.

What follows is part of a statement on "Free Time for a Free People" that in 2001 The Shalom Center initiated and won broad support for. You can read the full statement here, with sections on the biblical origins of Free Time, its spiritual and economic aspects, and the path toward organizing support for social change toward "free time." For an entire section of articles on this question, click here.