Josh Bolotsky over at Open Left posted a link to a hysterical video about Prop 8. It's not to be missed--Jack Black plays Jesus!

As many of you know, the 2008 Republican National Convention was held from September 1st to September 4th in St. Paul, Minnesota.  The minute the location was announced, activist groups around the region (not just the Twin Cities -- a large part of the Upper Midwest jumped in on this) started to organize their protests.  There were a large range of activities in planning, everything from student walk-outs and concerts to marches and demonstrations to disrupting traffic and blocking off roads.

The student protests and revolutions that swept across the world in 1968 and 1969 still have a powerful effect on the people and institutions we live with and within today. In Cape Town, South Africa, it is no different. From Cape Argus [emphasis mine]:

The University of Cape Town is awash with nostalgia this week as it pays tribute to a student protest that shook the campus exactly 40 years ago, after a black academic was prevented from taking up a post there during apartheid.

Okay, check out this awesomeness:

More than 160 students in six different classes at Intermediate School 318 in the South Bronx - virtually the entire eighth grade - refused to take last Wednesday's three-hour practice exam for next month's statewide social studies test.

That's phenomenal! I wish I had that kind of activist spirit when I was in 8th grade! Read on for all the details:

Students at Concord University last month protested a proposed 6% hike in tuition. The University's Board of Governors was meeting on campus, and students made their opposition known. The Charleston Gazette:

Concord University students played Darth Vader's theme song as members of the university's board of governors walked through a crowd of 300 student-protesters last Tuesday.

Note: This is going to be a brief entry because I have a lot going on at the moment and haven't really had time to process today's events.

The quick of it is, there is a very large anti-abortion demonstration being held in front of the Coffman Student Union at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and the pro-choice groups WSAC and the UPCC need people to protest with us. We'll be starting at 8am tomorrow (the anti-choicers are returning at 6am) and going all day, no matter what the weather, until the anti-choicers leave. As a reward for our hard work afterwards, we'll all be heading to MPIRG's Take Back the Night rally (6pm, Loring Park).

You can read a more detailed description of the day's events and tomorrow's plans after the break.

This is probably the most frightening step for the majority of people. Private security contractors roaming the streets with impunity to ensure the 'public good.' Along with that add the militarization of your local policeman as they begin wearing bullet proof vests and helmets and toting assault rifles. Over 2000 people have died in police custody in the last three years and the number of videos of blatant police brutality has become staggering. The police brutality is especially evident when dissent is expressed in the form of organized protest.

3. Develop a thug caste

Six UMN-TC student groups held a war protest in front of the student union today. At noon, almost two hundred students gathered in the grass and waved posters. A representative from each of the student groups spoke about why their group was involved. And then, they marched: through the campus's main quad, around the auditorium and down major roads until they reached the alumni center. The protesters were flanked by an impressive police escort -- over ten bike-police and two more on horseback, plus a squad car following everything and every intersection blocked off by police controlled by an officer.

Inside:

- Québéc Students Defy Ban on Protests
- Fiji Students Fight Repressive University Regulations
- A Tale of Two Sit-ins: University of Toronto Students Harassed While York Students Left Alone

SDS members at the University of Alabama were arrested after performing street theatre about the Iraq War which doubled as advertising for an upcoming speaker from Iraq Veterans Against the War. From the AP:

Campus police detained the four from about 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
before taking them to jail and they were released after
posting bond around midnight, Stainer said.

The demonstration began when the four, dressed as soldiers,
entered the Ferguson Center Friday afternoon and began
yelling and cursing, The Crimson White reported Monday.