University of Puerto Rico Students Resume Strikes
Rossana Rodriguez

Students from six campuses in the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) system have held a series of 48-hour strikes in the last week to oppose the imposition of an $800 fee that is scheduled to take effect at the beginning of the January 2011 semester. Students at the Río Piedras campus were among of the first to go out after they held a December 1 mass assembly and voted by an overwhelming majority to strike if the administration does not rescind the new fee by December 14. The chancellor of the Río Piedras campus used every means possible to try to stop the students from gathering, including the canceling academic recess, freezing the bank account of the student council so that it couldn't pay for the sound system, and denying students the use of a space for their meeting. But UPR students are already used to doing things the hard way, so the night before, they raised funds by approaching cars stopped at traffic lights so they could rent a sound system for the outdoor meeting that lasted five hours under the harsh rays of a sunny day at the university's athletic track.

Cablegate: Operation Avenge Assange Begins Tech Herald Anonymous responded to Assange's arrest by taking down Swedish government site www.aklagare.se, the hive at 13:15 EST has hit more than 600 users. This is more than enough to cripple a given domain, considering that aklagare.se has minimal infrastructure support. There are calls in the IRC channel to target MasterCard, Visa, as well as PayPal. However, most of those in the room who are active in the attacks are sticking with a single target.
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"Don't Nuke Our Climate!" Young Friends of the Earth Europe Whilst UN climate negotiations take place in Cancun, European youth have been taking action in Brussels to demand climate justice. As part of an international day of action to oppose false solutions to the climate crisis, 30 young people from across Europe today targeted European institutions and corporations which support and fund nuclear energy. The message is simple: nuclear power is unsustainable and unacceptably dangerous.
Members of Russian Art Group Voina Arrested Members of the Russian conceptual art group Voina ("War") have recently been arrested in Moscow for one of their performances. The are facing a possible sentence of up to 7 years in prison for "aggravated hooliganism" resulting from one of their recent actions. Members of the famous elusive protest art group Voina were hunted down and arrested in Moscow on November 15. Voina refuses to cooperate with any official state or commercial art institutions and is known for its funny anti-state and anti-police actions. Members of the group played an important role in the defense of the Khimki forest and against the recent persecutions of Russian Khimki activists. On September 16, Voina overturned a police car in Saint-Petersburg, near the historical St Michael's Castle, where the Russian emperor Paul I was killed during a royal overthrow in the year 1801. During the action, which they called "Royal Overthrow", the artists locked the cops inside the castle, by putting a bike chain on the gate. The group explained that they wanted to bring public attention to the corruption within the Russian Interior Ministry and the police authorities, as well as to show, how the corrupt practices of the police can be resisted by people's direct actions.
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Thousands Protest in Seoul Before G20 Summit Reuters SEOUL - Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Seoul on Sunday in a largely peaceful protest against this week's G20 summit as the city went on heightened alert for the meeting of world leaders. Authorities ramped up security at the weekend in preparation for the arrival of 10,000 participants, including 32 heads of government and leaders of international organizations, for the summit on Thursday and Friday. South Korea is concerned about the risk of violent anti-capitalist protests -- a common feature of summits involving the world's leading economies -- and anxious its rival North Korea may try to stage an incident to embarrass it. Security forces have been put on high alert, anti-aircraft missiles are at the ready, shipping and air routes are under heightened surveillance and airport screening has increased.
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Saharawi Protest Camp Attacked; Several Killed, Hundreds Injured Free Western Sahara Network In the early hours of Monday morning the Moroccan security forces razed the Sahararwi protest camp containing 20,000 people to the ground. Several were killed and hundreds injured. Riots are erupting in El Auoun and could spread.
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Massive Chevron Ad Campaign Derailed, Media Slapstick Follows Yes Men News outlets, citizens duped by web of deceit - but whose? A day-long comedy of errors began Monday morning when the Yes Men, supported by Rainforest Action Network and Amazon Watch, pre-empted Chevron's enormous new “We Agree” ad campaign with a satirical version of their own. The activists' version highlights Chevron's environmental and social abuses - the same abuses they say Chevron is attempting to “greenwash.”
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Chevron Deplores Subterfuge, Investigates Options Chevron has added a news release to its Investor Relations website SAN RAMON, Calif., Oct. 18, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Earlier today, a group of environmentalists cyber-posing as Chevron officials illegally spoofed Chevron's just-launched “We Agree” advertising campaign, confusing reporters (link). While such a campaign does exist, its official URL is Chevron.com/weagree. The advertisements released earlier today, at Chevron-weagree.com, were an elaborate subterfuge and must not be mistaken as real. “Chevron does not take this attack lightly,” said Hewitt Pate, General Counsel for Chevron. “We invest extremely heavily in our campaigns, and we take them extremely seriously. Such actions can never be tolerated.” Though the exact cost of “We Agree” must remain confidential, Chevron routinely spends $90 million per year on US advertising alone.
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Chevron's New Ad Campaign Is a Slick Yes Men Hoax David Zax, Fast Company Part of the genius of the Yes Men is that they really know when to pull the trigger on a good prank. To wit: They fired off a press release, which we were initially fooled by, to us in the wee hours, before anyone from Chevron could actually respond to real questions for verification (this is an edited version of our original post). And of course, in the wake of the BP disaster, lots of oil-related stories that once seemed unbelievable are now much more plausible.
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Hundreds of UK Climate Activists Blockade Oil Refineries Today hundreds of climate activists taking part in the Crude Awakening day of action have successfully blockaded the Coryton and Shell Haven oil refineries in Essex, including the UK's busiest oil refinery and distribution centre.