Tacoma SDS

By Tim Dobson

On October 23, an estimated 30,000 university students took over Rome’s streets. Marching to the chant of “Berlusconi is a piece of shit”, students passed the train station, receiving cheers from young Kurdish immigrants.

The students then joined up with young people from the Horus social center, which was brutally cleared out by the police a few days earlier. The students were met with a large police presence.

The end of WWI -- The Germans wanted to surrender on November 9, 1918 -- the Kaiser had abdicated and it was obvious they had lost the war. But a French general suggested they wait two more days and have the guns fall silent on the Western Front at exactly 11 AM, 11th hour, 11th day, 11th month -- very poetic, and certainly memorable. After all, this was called the "War to End All Wars," the world had learned its lesson and would never be stupid enough to do this again. Of course twenty years later the world was that stupid and we started numbering big ones.

"We danced our asses off."

It's been about a week since the insanity that was the 12 hour party "Give Peace a Dance." Last Saturday all sorts of people came out for the hugely successful event. The evening started slowly, with myself and the primary organizing sitting around, fretting about turn out. But as some more supports began to show, and the clock ticked ever closer to party-o'clock on the college campus, things came alive.

All sorts of music was played, including such diverse artists as Stevie Wonder, The Three Amigos (6Q), and more. At 1 am DJ Honey and DJ More showed up and dropped some beats on us. Awesome. We were also fortunate that an freelance photog, Alfred Romgi, came out and snapped photos and danced with us for most of the evening after seeing the event on Seattle Indymedia. There was even a brief surprise visit from Seth Manzel, the new director(?) of the G.I. Coffee House (Coffee Strong).

The GI Voice Project, IVAW Chapter 8, and IVAW Ft. Lewis are happy to announce the opening of Coffee Strong, a GI Coffee House near Fort Lewis Washington.

Coffee Strong
15109 Union Ave SW
Lakewood, WA 98498

We will be opening our doors on November 5, 2008. On November 15 at 9 PM we will be celebrating our grand opening with a concert by Son of Nun.

For more information or to support this project check out http://www.givoice.com

Several windows were broken at U.S. Bank and Starbucks after about 50 people, dressed in Halloween costumes, marched through downtown Olympia Friday night, an Olympia Police official said.

Some members broke away from the group after the march started about 10:30 p.m. and smashed windows at the two businesses, resulting in an estimated $8,000 in damages, Sgt. Paul Johnson said.

This weekend a Wells Fargo real estate office had its windows broken in solidarity with recent migrant detentions in Washington. There have also been other attacks against Wells Fargo and other profiteers in the immigrant detention industry along the West Coast. Santa Cruz, CA to name just one.

This Saturday also saw a protest against condo developer Mike Cohen in Tacoma, who fired and threatened workers with deportation when they raised concerns about unhealthy working conditions.

Here is the communique from Seattle.Indymedia.org:

The Seattle School Board is considering closing the Alternative School #1, the first alternative school in Seattle. Many parents at the school did not even know the school was on the chopping block until very recently, but the school board has been having "community meetings" since September and will be voting on the issue on November 12th. You can help us! This is Activism at Home!

What could be more crucial to the future of the world than the progressive education of children? Don't roll your eyes and give up on this yet, people. This school needs to be saved for a number of reasons:

From the Seattle Times.

BELLINGHAM, Wash. —
One of the top U.S. Border Patrol officials in Washington state has been arrested on child rape charges.

The Whatcom County sheriff's office said deputies arrested Joseph W. Giuliano, the deputy chief patrol agent at the agency's Blaine sector, on Thursday at his home.

The 55-year-old man had been charged Wednesday in Whatcom County Superior Court with raping a 14-year-old girl who was staying in his home. Prosecutors charged him with three counts of third-degree child rape.

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. One hour before the final presidential debate of the 2008 campaign, fourteen members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) marched in formation to Hofstra University to present questions to the candidates. IVAW had requested permission from debate moderator Bob Schieffer to ask their questions during the debate, but received no response.

A small group of employees at a Wal-Mart store in Canada secured yesterday the only union contract with the company in North America, a victory for labor groups that have campaigned for years to organize the world's largest retailer.