Pending: Coverage from the NATO Protests in Chicago

After a 27 hour journey with activists from around Massachusetts and New Hampshire, early yesterday morning we arrived in the windy city. Expending almost every battery for the recording devices that I own, there is now upwards of 14 gigabytes of video, image, and audio files waiting to be processed. Throughout the day I filmed scenes from a scheduled rally in Daley plaza (where a cell phone jamming device was being used), an unpermitted march throughout downtown Chicago, and an evening assembly in Grant park. The Chicago Tribune has published photos from Friday’s festivities. Today crowds are expected to continue swelling. Here’s a juxtaposition preview of some of the coverage you’ll soon be seeing at Free Concord. The first image was a much more common sight than the second.

This post originally published at freeconcord.org.

Resisting the Next Big War: Peace With Iran Rally at Veterans Park

2/4 Antiwar Rally in Minneapolis, MN

On Saturday, February 4, a national day of war resistance was celebrated in the streets of cities around the nation. Following a protest at the Obama re-election campaign office opening, I headed to Veterans Park in Manchester, where there was a rally against war, especially the increasingly hyped prospect of war with Iran. In recent weeks, it seems established powers have been banging the war drums ever more loudly.

It appears to be a geographic continuance of ongoing military conquests by the US government, that in taking Iraq and Afghanistan, the next ambition would be the powerhouse that divides them. Though there’s a history of mistrust between the US and Iran, one obstacle that neither militant faction of the two countries may be able to overcome is the ability of the people of Iran and the United States to directly communicate. (more…)

Activist Cuts Deal on Occupy Charge

Occupy NH activist Matthew Richards has accepted a diversion program deal to avoid a trespassing charge stemming from his arrest in January. Matthew was arrested during the January 8 republican presidential debate at the Capitol Center for the Arts. Concord-nh.patch.com has the details of the program included in its coverage. At a hearing in a few months, it will be determined if the state will dismiss the misdemeanor charge. With this charge seemingly diverted, Matthew also faces a trespassing charge from the five arrests made during the Occupy NH eviction.

Occupy Keene – BEARCAT

Our success at Thursday’s city council meeting here in Keene has made national news, as featured this morning on The Agitator.

Free Staters in Keene, New Hampshire, are pushing back against the town’s proposed plan to buy a Bearcat armored personnel carrier.

Interestingly, LENCO, the company that makes the vehicle, pulled the promotional video below from its website in response to the Keene protests. DHS has given out hundreds of homeland security grants to local police departments across the country to purchase these vehicles. (more…)