Demonstrators in Seattle rallied and marched for a second day, following the lack criminal charges brought against Darren Wilson, the Ferguson, MO police officer who shot and killed an unarmed 18 year old man, Michael Brown. The protestors gathered at Mount Calvary Baptist Church in the Central District, joined by City Council Member Kshama Sawant, Mayor Ed Murray, and Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole before march through the Central District to Capitol Hill. From Capitol Hill, protestors marched to the Federal Courthouse where youth, activists, politicians and community members spoke the crowd. At the height of the demonstration, approximately 400 people were marching through the streets.

From the event Facebook page…

“What: A teaching moment around national legislation on policing and use of excessive force
Who: Organized by Seattle King County NAACP and United Black Clergy
Why: Change won’t happen until we make it happen”

In a show of solidarity with protestors in Ferguson, MO, hundreds of demonstrators took the streets in Seattle to show their anger with a decision not to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who killed Mike Brown, an unarmed, 18 year old black youth.

Demonstrators marched through downtown Seattle, up Pike to Capitol Hill where they were met by another group,  (previously convened at Seattle Central College) at the intersection of Broadway and Pike. From there, the group of almost 300 demonstrators, made of a diverse background of activists and community members from a wide variety of ages, marched down Madison to 23rd, where they met a small group at 23rd and Union. The large crowd of demonstrators then found their way to the Garfield Community Center where they refused to enter the meeting room until all SPD had left. The group soon tired of their failed attempts to be heard by organizers and returned to the streets.

Activists from around the Pacific Northwest gathered at Seattle’s Harbor Island, home to the Kinder Morgan offices. The rally was held in solidarity with the protests in British Columbia, as residents of Burnaby Mountain have recently been arrested during protest of a pipeline built across indigenous land. Chief Rueben George of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation spoke to the crowd of nearly 100 demonstrators.  Having just been in the heart of the protests on Burnaby, words of appreciation were spoken to crowd as Chief Rueben George thanked them for their presence. According to activist and community organizer, Carlo Voli, the protestors made their way past the lone guard and into the Kinder Morgan offices, delivering their message in person.

From the event Facebook page…

“Lets gather on Sunday to express our support for those who have been arrested and all those who are protecting Burnaby Mountain from Kinder Morgan’s survey work.

There’s been lots of talk lately about Keystone XL-and fortunately, for now, the Senate has failed to approve it. But did you know that just 130 miles north of Seattle is another massive tar sands project–the Trans Mountain Pipeline, from Alberta to Burnaby, BC–and that Kinder Morgan plans to triple its capacity from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels per day? This would add more than 400 giant vessels per year to the tanker traffic on the Salish Sea and greatly increase the risk of catastrophic oil spills.

In the last few days, in a beautiful show of people power, Kinder Morgan crews have been met by hundreds of people, blocking the company from conducting pipeline survey work on Burnaby Mountain, even though they have been slapped with a multimillion dollar injunction by Kinder Morgan. More than 26 residents have been arrested so far.

Sundance Chief Rueben George of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation will also be present at the rally. Having just been in the heart of the protests on Burnaby, this will be an incredible opportunity to hear him speak from his first-hand experience on the mountain.

We will gather to show our support for all the folks across the border protecting their own communities, the impacted indigenous communities in Alberta, and the Salish Sea that bounds us all together.

We’ll gather for a brief rally and capture a photo we can send to the Defenders of the Mountain in Burnaby. Then we will try to deliver or leave a message for Kinder-Morgan at their port offices.

This is a low-risk family friendly event.

This rally is been organized jointly between 350 Seattle and Rising Tide Seattle.

Come prepared for the weather!

You can use this self-organizing rideshare form to help figure out carpooling: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DNdsx4dpp9K1Bir64rqV5OOk7afpwezPEbJWmeO9uFM/edit?usp=sharing

More info on the situation:

The City of Burnaby and its residents have been vocal for several years against Kinder Morgan’s $5.4 billion Trans Mountain pipeline and terminal expansion proposal that would transport even more diluted bitumen and bring even more tankers to the Burrard Inlet and the Salish Sea

Burnaby Mountain is public land (on unceded Indigenous territories) that is used frequently as a recreational area and is a designated Conservation Area.

Over 70% of Burnaby residents are opposed to Kinder Morgan’s expansion. (Source: http://is.gd/j79aOJ) Residents have been educating themselves through town halls, teach-ins and personal research and have determined that the risks to public safety and environmental degradation from Kinder Morgan’s proposal are too high. Many residents are no strangers to the harmful health impacts of tar sands crude given that the city was home to a terrible oil spill in 2007.

The Tsleil-Waututh Nation has also launched a legal challenge of Kinder Morgan’s pipeline and tankers project. This is the first legal challenge by a First Nation against the new pipeline and tanker proposal, citing the federal government’s failure to first consult Tsleil-Waututh on key decisions about the environmental assessment and regulatory review of the project.

The Union of BC Indian Chiefs just released a statement in support of those Arrested at Burnaby Mountain: www.ubcic.bc.ca/News_Releases/UBCICNews11201401.html#axzz3JgDNMIUS

The pipeline facilitates Tar Sands expansion on Indigenous territories along the pipeline route and at the source. This would violate numerous Aboriginal Treaty Rights and the overall well-being of these communities, many of whom have already emphatically said no to Kinder Morgan’s expansion. As the Supreme Court of Canada has consistently upheld, it is the federal government’s duty to respect these treaties, as well as the inherent rights of Indigenous peoples living on unceded lands along the pipeline route.

Therefore it should come as no surprise that community members are on Burnaby Mountain. These caretakers and residents should not be facing an injunction or a multimillion-dollar lawsuit by a corporate energy giant. Given the federal government’s failure to respond to residents, to Indigenous communities at the source of Tar Sands destruction and along the proposed pipeline route, and to municipal concerns, we laud these protectors for their bravery in taking a stand against Kinder Morgan.” – https://www.facebook.com/events/1506085126332784/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming&source=1

Demonstrators gathered at the Mexican Consulate in Seattle during a solidarity rally for the 43 missing students from Mexico, believed to have been killed by local police in collusion with drug cartels.

#Ayotzinapa
#FuelElEstado
#VivosLos43
#RenunciaEPN
#YaMeCanséDeTi
#GobiernoCorrupto
#RompeElCerco
#SOSPorMexico
#FUERAPEÑA

From the event Facebook page…

“Last Saturday, the Inter Assembly of Universities of Mexico agreed to convene a national strike in the education sector on November 5, in solidarity with the relatives and friends from the 43 missing students from the Teachers School of Ayotzinapa, in the State of Guerrero.

It was reported that it is planning a national strike for 72 hours, the closure of airports and blockades the freeways.

Also, they agreed to demand radio and television stations access to spread their message from the Assembly, as well from family members and colleagues of the missing students.

The Inter-University Assembly involved students from 80 schools throughout Mexico, who demanded punishment for those responsible for the disappearance of the Ayotzinapan’s students.

“We are ready to everything. We know what are the consequences and retaliation if we speak out, but what really matters is that young people come back,” said Mr. Felipe Gómez Flores, father of one of the students that disappeared.

For its part, the student leaders made public that the massacre in Ayotzinapa “is a State crime, a sign of the deep decadency of political institutions in the country.”

On 26 September, students from the teachers school of Ayotzinapa went to collected funds in the city of Iguana, Guerrero State 200 kilometers from Mexico City. The students were attacked by municipal police and members of drug trafficking cartel.

Six people were killed in those attacks, three were students. 43 students disappeared during the attack, and so far no nothing is known about them. Some witnesses testify that they were killed and buried in clandestine graves.“

Housing rights activists gathered at Seattle Center before marching to the Seattle Housing Authority’s office on Queen Anne Ave. in protest of SHA’s Stepping Forward rent increase proposal. Over 60 people packed into the tiny SHA meeting room after marching from the International Fountain at Seattle Center.

From the event Facebook page…

“Seattle Housing Authority tenants have been organizing against SHA’s Stepping Forward rent increase proposal since August, but SHA still refuses to STOP Stepping Forward! Stepping Forward would increase rents over five years for 7,000 “work-able” tenants so high that after five years, they will need to earn between $16 and $20 an hour just to afford rent.

Tenants are demanding that the SHA Board of Commissioners votes “NO” on Stepping Forward and any other proposal where rent is not based on tenants’ incomes. Stand in solidarity with them against this unfair rent policy on SHA’s own turf and tell the Board to vote “NO” against Stepping Forward rent increases!

We will meet at the International Fountain at Seattle Center and march together to the SHA office (a 7-minute walk or roll) at 190 Queen Anne Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109. The Board of Commissioners meeting begins at 5pm. Please visit http://stopSHA.wordpress.com/ for more information about the STOP Stepping Forward campaign!“

As chants of “Hyatt, Hyatt you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side” echoed off the buildings in downtown Seattle, approximately 80 supporters gathered to picket outside of the Grand Hyatt on 8th and Pine. Demonstrators were serenaded by the dulcet tones of the labor chorus as they stood in the cold wind sweeping through the city.

Robert Kelly, a banquet server at the Grand Hyatt, “sees a lot of glaring inequalities” at the “non Union Hyatt”. “Healthcare is one of the most important things for me and my family, but the Hyatt insurance cost $200 just for me, without my family. At the Westin, it’s $40 with all of us fully insured.”

From a M.L. King County Labor Council email…

“Hyatt workers throughout the US have called for a fair process to form their unions. Over a year ago UNITEHERE and Hyatt Hotels reached a national agreement for such a process. Although Hyatt workers in California, Connecticut and Maryland have won their unions through this process, the local owner of the Grand Hyatt Seattle and Hyatt at Olive 8 has refused to implement it in Seattle.

Workers should be able to choose a union free from employer interference or intimidation – and all workers deserve respect and decent working conditions.”

November 12th, 2014

Despite the cold, protestors handed information to pedestrians and cyclists in front of the QFC at Broadway and Pine in Seattle, regarding Sakuma Brothers berry farm mistreatment of workers.

In the summer of 2013, the Sakuma Brothers berry farm in Skagit County experienced a strike, as farm workers walked off the job for better treatment. Their issues ranged from wage theft, harassment, and abuse from their employers. At one point, Sakuma was willing to negotiate with the workers, but after reaching an agreement on a new price rate, Sakuma backed out and sent private security forces to the worker’s camps and the fields. A Skagit County judge ruled the event to be a violation of Washington State labor law.

Because of Sakuma’s broken agreement, the farm workers asked the public to boycott Sakuma and Discroll’s (a major purchaser of Sakuma berries) until the labor dispute has been resolved. The workers are acting through their union, Familias Unidas Por La Justicia (FUJ) to gain a contract recognizing their union.

You can find more information here…

http://www.boycottsakumaberries.com

http://www.seattleglobaljustice.org

From the WA Fair Trade Coalition website…

“…In this notoriously low-accountability period just after elections, Congress is pushing legislation that would “Fast Track” the Trans-Pacific Partnership — a secretive agreement negotiated behind closed doors by government bureaucrats and more than 600 corporate lobbyists. It threatens everything you care about: democracy, jobs, the environment, and the Internet.

It is time to let our representatives know how we feel about Fast Track and the TPP, and put this undemocratic process to rest for once and for all…” – http://www.washingtonfairtrade.org

According to a leaflet handed out at the demonstration…

“How will the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) impact our environment?

New Tools for Corporations to Challenge Regulations

Special Tribunals allow corporations to sue governments for lost ‘expected profits.’ Similar provisions rolled back parts of the Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, and Marine Mammal Protection Act, and allowed corporations to challenge anti-mining laws in El Salvador and a court decision against oil giant Chevron in Ecuador.

Limit Precautionary Regulation

Regulators must prove that new pesticides, additives, and chemicals will cause harm, instead of proving that they will not cause harm.

Encourage more ‘rip and ship’ resource extraction

Increases export of raw materials while banning ‘value added’ requirements that support local, sustainable economies.

Expand pollution offshore, enable ‘throw away’ culture

Manufactures can relocate to seek lax environmental regulations and sweatshop labor, while producing artificially cheap products.

Corporations write the rules

700 trade advisors from corporations like Monsanto and Walmart are part of the process, while the public is kept in the dark.

Tell Congress, no ‘Fast Track’ for the TPP

Fast Track is a Nixon-era legislation that:

1) Allows the Executive brance to sign trade agreements before Congress approves them

2) Limits Congressional debate

3)Allows Congress only an up or down vote – no amendments…”

With a soaking, incessant rain, Garfield High School students lead a march of 60-70 youth through the Central District to Capitol Hill, home of Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct. During the march, chants of “hands up, don’t shoot”, “black lives matter ” “being black is not a crime, same story every time” and “if we don’t speak, who will” could be heard through the streets as the youth marched against police brutality and harassment of youth in Seattle, and around the United States. In solidarity with Ferguson, demonstrators rallied at the East Precinct, read a statement through megaphones, and allowed anopen time for anyone to speak. Student’s questioned SPD’s shifting glances and far off stares, as officers on horseback smiled for the camera and police in light riot gear maintained a perimeter around the station. Police on bicycles held back the peaceful but angry students as they asked why the police had their batons out when they were unarmed kids. SPD Captain Pierre Davis could be seen giving interviews, directing traffic, and speaking with high school students.

The Black Student Union Statement

“DECLARATION TO SEATTLE POLICE DEPARTMENT