On Friday, Sept. 8th, Alwan, the Arab Center for the Arts in New York City, will host an event in support of the indigenous people of Northern Argentina. Luisa Boggiano, an Argentinean activist, will present a documentary about the conflicts affecting the native peoples of the Missiones and Salta regions, which will be followed by a Q&A. One of the issues facing these communities is the devastation being wreaked on the land by US corporations. Another is the disenfranchisement of the indigenous communities and their limited access to education, among other basic rights.

On Aug. 22, the government of Chaco province in northeastern Argentina signed a broad accord with representatives of the Chaco Indigenous Institute (IdACH) on land and budget issues in an effort to end a nearly three-month-old indigenous protest. Since June 6, some 500 indigenous people from rural areas of the province have been camped out in front of the provincial government building in the provincial capital, Resistencia, to demand land distribution, education and health care for Chaco's indigenous communities, among other demands. Chaco, Argentina's poorest province, is home to 60,000 indigenous people of the Toba, Mocovi and Wichi ethnic groups.

On Aug. 22, hundreds of Chilean students clashed with police in the capital, Santiago, and in the northern city of Copiapo. In Santiago, at least 1,000 students marched toward the La Moneda presidential palace and the Education Ministry building; police used water cannons to break up the march, and arrested 114 students and nine adults. In Copiapo, police arrested 98 protesters. (La Jornada, Mexico, Aug. 23 from AFP; Miami Herald, Aug. 26 from AP)

On Sept. 2, about 5,000 immigrant-rights supporters marched through downtown Los Angeles to City Hall as part of a series of events planned through Labor Day weekend. The march was organized by the March 25th Coalition. (CBS2.com, Los Angeles, Sept. 2)

From London Class War, July 26:

HezBollocks and IsRabies:
A Class War Federation statement on the War in Lebanon
Class War is appalled at the carnage that is occurring in the Middle East. We are also disappointed but not surprised at what is being said about it, especially by some "progressive" organisations.

Just in case you missed this one. From the New York Times, July 7 (links and emphasis added):

Hate Groups Are Infiltrating the Military, Group Asserts
A decade after the Pentagon declared a zero-tolerance policy for racist hate groups, recruiting shortfalls caused by the war in Iraq have allowed "large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists" to infiltrate the military, according to a watchdog organization.

Jennifer Pagonis, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees offered the following comments on the situation in Colombia Aug. 8 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. From the UNHCR website:

To mark World Indigenous Day tomorrow, UNHCR in Colombia will call on all armed groups in the country to keep the country's indigenous population out of the armed conflict and respect the distinction between combatants and non-combatants. UNHCR has repeatedly warned that indigenous groups in Colombia are increasingly at risk of violence and even disappearance as a result of the ongoing conflict. Indigenous groups are increasingly forced to flee their ancestral lands into neighbouring countries to find safety.

Citing "lack of evidence," on Aug. 14 a Haitian criminal tribunal in Port-au-Prince headed by Judge Fritznel Fils-Aime ordered the immediate release of Annette Auguste ("So Ann"), Georges Honore, Yvon Antoine ("Zap-Zap") and Paul Raymond, prominent supporters of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his left-populist Lavalas Family (FL) party. The four were arrested at various times between March 2004 and July 2005; they were held without formal charges until April 2006, when they were charged in connection with a violent attack by Aristide supporters against opposition students at the State University of Haiti (UEH) on Dec. 5, 2003, in which several students were injured and UEH rector Pierre-Marie Paquiot's legs were broken.