Think Outside The Bomb - Lisa Fithian - Interview

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Lisa Fithian

from the Alliance for Community Trainers talks about Think Outside the Bomb and how the Obama administration is quadrupling the capacity of the U.S. to build nuclear weapons. She also talks about the impacts of the nuclear industry on indigenous peoples. Describing sustainable options, Lisa explains how we can start to move away from the current consumer cycle and simultaneously dismantle structures of oppression while creating structures of liberation!

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This interview was made on May 29th, 2010 by Jeffry Zavala from ZGraphix.org

Garden of Butterflies

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A cinematic rendering of one spring day in a garden of butterflies and bees, busily gathering nectar.

This is a ZGraphix production.
Produced by Jeffry Zavala

May Day in Austin 2010 - Photograpy

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On May 1st 2010, millions of activists across the country pushed for immigration reform in the streets for May Day rallies, expressing anger about the controversial Arizona immigration law. The new law, SB 1070, requires police to question people about their immigration status. Several thousands joined the AIRC march at the Texas State Capitol building to protest the law and to call for just and humane immigration reform.

May 1st is celebrated all over the world as labor day, May Day started in the U.S. in Chicago in 1886 during the fight for the 8-hour day. Immigrant workers know about los martires de Chicagothe Chicago martyrs, unionists who were executed on trumped-up charges of fomenting the Haymarket riot in 1886. We need to reclaim May Day as the real Labor Day, a day of struggle, and we thank immigrants for making this holiday big in the U.S. again.

Sponsored by the Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition. Speakers, music, entertainment. One of the scheduled speakers is Linda Chavez-Thompson, former vice president of the AFL-CIO and candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Texas.


This is a ZGraphix production. http://zgraphix.org/
Produced by Jeff Zavala.
Photography by Jason Cato.

May Day in Austin 2009 - Photography

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Rally, March, Protest, Celebration! People here in Austin and all across the world came together on May 1st to stand for All Workers Rights. We stood in solidarity with the struggle for Justice, Equality and Dignity for all citizen and immigrant workers. All of us must work together to reshape immigration policy. The issues are:

Livable Wages, Creating Jobs with Justice, Immigration Reform, Stop the Raids, Re-unite Families, Stop the Deportations, End the Criminalization, Stop the Militarization and Just and Humane REFORM.

This is a ZGraphix Production
Photography by Jason Cato

Washington D.C. Smithsonian Museum of Modern & Classic Art

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A compilation of video and photos from the Smithsonian Museum of Modern Art in Washington D.C.

Produced by:
http://www.Zgraphix.org

May Day 2010 *March* in Austin, TX - International Workers' Day

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Austins first May Day demonstration focused on immigrant rights was in 2006. I was stunned then by an Austin crowd as large as any I had ever seen -- 30,000 -- massive numbers, snaking through downtown streets to the federal building. That was the year of the first national mobilizations for comprehensive immigration reform. There were unprecedented turnouts occurring in every major U.S. city, including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. Other Texas cities -- Houston, Dallas, El Paso and San Antonio -- had large demonstrations that year.

Those national mobilizations met with considerable blowback. There were rants on cable television about Mexican flags. Vigilante Minute Men got publicity for assembling on the border. More important, there were raids on places of employment, deportations, and jailings. Along with repression, the collapsing U.S. construction sector and increased violence associated with Mexican drug cartels made for a perfect storm of declining participation in subsequent years.

Arizonas law changed all that. The broad strokes of that recent legislation make the mere suspicion of undocumented status cause for questioning and detention. The potential impact on Latinos ignited Austins community as well as communities across the nation.

Organizers at the Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition (AIRC) -- www.austinirc.org -- had been holding their meetings in a small office. They moved to a church hall to accommodate the growing interest. AIRC describes itself as a grassroots, action-oriented coalition of immigrants, students, and allies including labor, faith, and community organizations. That is who they turned out for a spirited rally at the state Capitol and a march down Congress Avenue to City Hall.

Conchero dancers reminded those attending of the real non-immigrants in this country -- Native Americans. Linda Chavez, former union organizer and Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor, addressed the crowd. Marchers chanted:
Si se puede
[Yes, we can]
Obama, escucha, estamos en la lucha
[Obama, listen, we are in the struggle]
El pueblo unido, jamas sera vencido
[The people united will never be defeated]
Like it or not, President Obama, comprehensive immigration reform demands have moved from the shadows onto center stage.

This is a ZGraphix production.

May Day 2010 Rally in Austin, TX - International Workers' Day

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Austins first May Day demonstration focused on immigrant rights was in 2006. I was stunned then by an Austin crowd as large as any I had ever seen -- 30,000 -- massive numbers, snaking through downtown streets to the federal building. That was the year of the first national mobilizations for comprehensive immigration reform. There were unprecedented turnouts occurring in every major U.S. city, including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. Other Texas cities -- Houston, Dallas, El Paso and San Antonio -- had large demonstrations that year.

Those national mobilizations met with considerable blowback. There were rants on cable television about Mexican flags. Vigilante Minute Men got publicity for assembling on the border. More important, there were raids on places of employment, deportations, and jailings. Along with repression, the collapsing U.S. construction sector and increased violence associated with Mexican drug cartels made for a perfect storm of declining participation in subsequent years.

Arizonas law changed all that. The broad strokes of that recent legislation make the mere suspicion of undocumented status cause for questioning and detention. The potential impact on Latinos ignited Austins community as well as communities across the nation.

Organizers at the Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition (AIRC) -- www.airc.org -- had been holding their meetings in a small office. They moved to a church hall to accommodate the growing interest. AIRC describes itself as a grassroots, action-oriented coalition of immigrants, students, and allies including labor, faith, and community organizations. That is who they turned out for a spirited rally at the state Capitol and a march down Congress Avenue to City Hall.

Conchero dancers reminded those attending of the real non-immigrants in this country -- Native Americans. Linda Chavez, former union organizer and Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor, addressed the crowd. Marchers chanted:

Si se puede
[Yes, we can]
Obama, escucha, estamos en la lucha
[Obama, listen, we are in the struggle]
El pueblo unido, jamas sera vencido
[The people united will never be defeated]

Like it or not, President Obama, comprehensive immigration reform demands have moved from the shadows onto center stage.

This is a ZGraphix production.

Bereket - University of Texas Middle Eastern Ensemble

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Middle Eastern Interconnections from Traditional to Popular, The Middle Eastern Ensemble with Director Sonia Seeman Featuring The UT-Austin Arabic and Hebrew Language Students, Chorus

April 24th, 2010

For more info go to: http://www.music.utexas.edu/ENSEMBLES/details.aspx?ID=57

2 of 2 Protest Against 21Rio & Gables for Wage Theft! - Workers Defense Project - Direct Action

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AUSTIN -- Luxury condos were the backdrop for two protests yesterday, April 28, in Austin. The Workers Defense Project, also known as Proyecto Defensa Laboral, brought 120 workers and supporters into the streets at two different sites demanding wages and safe working conditions.

Three of my co-workers were killed, and the rest of us are still owed our money. When is it enough? said Gumercindo Rodriquez, who performed plaster work at 21 Rio and Gables Park Plaza. Gumercindo, along with two dozen other workers are owed over $120,000 in wages by a Dallas-based contractor, GMI (Greater Metroplex Interiors).

Protesters focused attention on Gables Park Plaza, a high-end condo on the north side of Town Lake in Austin. At that site, wages have gone unpaid. Later, demonstrators moved into the West Campus where 21 Rio has also refused to pay final wages. It was at this luxury high rise that three workers died last summer when faulty scaffolding collapsed.

A recent study by the Workers Defense Project and the University of Texas found that workers who are denied payment are most likely not to receive appropriate safety training or equipment. The report also found that Texas leads the nation in construction deaths, with a worker dying every 2.5 days in the state and that Austin construction workers have a one in five chance of not being paid their wages.

The issue of immigrant rights has once again captured media attention as debate heats up over Arizonas recent draconian legislation. Show me your papers or go to jail is an approach that collapses civil liberties.

In this atmosphere, the organizing work of the Workers Defense Project brings humanity back into the discourse. The plaster and stucco of luxury condos depended on immigrant labor. For the workers who toiled 70-hour work weeks, six days a week, without rest breaks or overtime pay, the human issue is simply to be paid for their work. For the three men who lost their lives at 21 Rio, the human issue is a safe working environment.

The protestors remembered those who died at 21 Rio by calling out their names.
Wilson, Presente!
Raudel, Presente!
Jesus Angel, Presente!
No los vamos olvidar.
We will not forget.

Visit www.WorkersDefense.org to learn how you can help bring justice for workers in Austin!

This is a ZGraphix production. Produced by Jeffry Zavala.