US Chamber Shuts off TheYesMen.org and Websites of Hundreds of Other Activist Groups Hundreds of activist organizations had their internet service turned off last night after the US Chamber of Commerce strong-armed an upstream provider, Hurricane Electric, to pull the plug on The Yes Men and May First / People Link, a 400-member-strong organization with a strong commitment to protecting free speech. "This is a blow against free speech, and it demostrates in gory detail the full hypocrisy of the Chamber," said Andy Bichlbaum of The Yes Men. "The only freedom they care about is the economic freedom of large corporations to operate free of the hassles of science, reality, and democracy." After suffering embarrassment at the hands of the Yes Men on Monday, the Chamber immediately threatened legal action, then followed through Thursday by sending a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice to Hurricane Electric Internet Services. In the DMCA notice, the Chamber claimed that the parody Chamber website operated by The Yes Men constituted copyright infringement, and demanded that the site be shut down immediately and that the creator's service be canceled. But the Yes Men are not served directly by Hurricane Electric, but by May First / People Link. And when Hurricane Electric shut down the fake Chamber of Commerce site (now relocated), they also took down the websites of 400 other organizations. May First / People Link fought back. They immediately "mirrored" the site, and then quickly negotiated with Hurricane Electric to restore service to their other members.

British Police in £9m Scheme to Log 'Domestic Extremists Thousands of activists monitored on network of overlapping databases Police are gathering the personal details of thousands of activists who attend political meetings and protests, and storing their data on a network of nationwide intelligence databases. The hidden apparatus has been constructed to monitor “domestic extremists”, the Guardian can reveal in the first of a three-day series into the policing of protests. Detailed information about the political activities of campaigners is being stored on a number of overlapping IT systems, even if they have not committed a crime. Senior officers say domestic extremism, a term coined by police that has no legal basis, can include activists suspected of minor public order offences such as peaceful direct action and civil disobedience.

Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Occupied On Tuesday, October 20 2009 the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was squatted, here is the statement and the demands of the occupants: The Bologna process aims at an extensive convergence of european Universities with the Anglo-American education system. The aim is to enter competition in the global education market in order to strengthen universitie's economic position and increase their research dependent revenues. The establishment of regulative norms and the harmonization of standards are the basis and at the same time the precondition of this process: without standardization there can be no measurability, without measurability no comparability, without comparability no competition. Economization and the logic of competition are imposed at every level of knowledge production.

Party Politics Versus Living Politics University of KwaZulu-Natal Forum Lecture Thursday 22 October 2009 Party Politic Vs Living Politic in Kennedy Road The Kennedy Road settlement, like all other Abahlali baseMjondolo settlements, has been embarking on a living politic. This politic is a living politic because it talks about the realities of our democracy – a democracy that serves the interests of a minority while the majority our people continue to live and to die in inhuman conditions.

The Black is Back Coalition March on DC Resist U.S. Wars and Occupation in the U.S. and Abroad! Reparations Now! Saturday, November 7, 10AM Malcolm X Park, 16th St NW & Euclid St NW Washington, DC www.blackisbackcoalition.org Call to All Peace- and Justice-loving people Join and donate resources to the march on Saturday, November 7 at 10 am in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations under the banner: Resist U.S. Wars and Occupation in the U.S. and abroad! Reparations Now!

Single-Payer Health Care Sit-Ins and Rallies The next day for Single-Payer Healthcare sit-ins and rallies is October 28! Visit www.mobilizeforhealthcare.org to sign up!

Protest as Embodied State Practices: An Examination of Hegemonic and Counter-Hegemonic Protest Tactics Sabrina Alimahomed and Jake Alimahomed-Wilson[1] From Institute for Anarchist Studies Mass mobilization demonstrations have attracted numerous participants to protest a wide array of issues, including capitalist globalization, US militarism, political conventions, and transnational business operations. These recent political convergences in the United States have attracted an endless amount of attention from the state and the media. Numbers of participants have ranged from several hundred to tens of thousands.

All Charges Dropped Against Tent City Ten in New York City Picture the Homeless At 100 Centre Street this morning, all charges were dropped against the Tent City Ten -- homeless/community activists arrested in Picture the Homeless's July action liberating land & fighting for housing for all. It seems like neither the public sector nor the private sector entities concerned wanted to push it with PTH and the movement we are part of -- from July through October, thanks to all of you for supporting the ten arrestees, and participating in the housing justice movement. The Tent City Ten and everyone at PTH say: Onward! Stay tuned, be in touch... Love, PTH

Constitution Adopted, Movement for a Democatic Society (MDS) Is Re-born OCTOBER 16, 2009 -- A diverse coalition of community-based activists committed to the creation of an egalitarian, directly democratic, and mult-generational movement, voted to ratifty their draft Constitution thereby officially becoming known as Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS). The MDS Constitution is an adaptation of the SDS Constitution circa 1962-1967 updated to account for the political sensibilities and realities of modern times. It sets forth the following Preamble: