'Occupy' celebrates first anniversary today

"I would say that Occupy today is a brand that represents movements for social and economic justice," said Jason Amadi, a 28-year-old protester who now lives in Philadelphia. "And that many people are using this brand for the quest of bettering this world."

Today, protesters will converge near the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate Occupy's anniversary, marking the day they began camping out in Zuccotti Park. Marches and rallies in more than 30 cities around the world will commemorate the day.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Slow Food International to showcase presentation by Oakland Food Policy Council and Acta Non Verba

Starting on October 25, 2012, local food advocates and food justice activists will gather in Bra for Terra Madre & Salone Del Gusto. Esperanza Pallana, who coordinates the 21-member board of the Oakland Food Policy Council, together with Kelly Carlisle, executive director of Acta Non Verba have been chosen to co-lead a workshop,"Innovative Food System Change: Policy and Practice". The Oakland Food Policy Council is a project of Food First.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Reasons to buy Organic

Many people wonder whether or not they should pay the price for organic food. Is it worth the extra dollar? Most people know that organic produce is grown without pesticides, but it means much more than that. The term organic also means there are no synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms, or ionizing radiation. It takes three years to convert a farm to organic. Produce cannot be listed as organic until the three years have passed as the soil is free of substances that are not deemed organic. Animal products, such as meat/poultry, eggs, dairy products are antibiotic and hormone free.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

California Advocates seeking to introduce Homeless Bill of Rights

Rhode Island blazed the trail in the fight to treat homeless people justly and now one Northern California town is following suit

Back in June, the country’s smallest state passed the first-ever Homeless Bill of Rights, which ensures that people living on the streets aren’t discriminated against. Just last week, the town council in Fairfax unanimously decided to push California to adopt similar legislation, Healdsburg Patch reports.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Baltimore Ravens Linebacker, Brendon Ayanbadejo, talks gay rights

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo is going “full steam ahead” after his battle with Maryland legislator C. Emmett Burns Jr., who last week wrote a letter calling on the team’s owner to silence Ayanbadejo regarding his public advocacy of gay marriage, only to back down amid a national uproar. (Listen to the full interview below)

“The Ravens reached out to me,” Ayanbadejo said. “[Ravens president] Dick Cass and [Ravens] owner Steve Bisciotti said, ‘Brendon, you’re a great person. Keep doing your thing. We believe in you. This is not a team that believes in discrimination in any way, shape, or form. You have this tremendous platform here. Use it. And go ahead and continue to be you, and grow and shape and change the world while you have the ability to do it.’”

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Ukranian Journalists protest censorship at World Newspaper Congress in Kyiv.

A dozen Ukrainian journalists stood up and raised anti-censorship banners when President Viktor Yanukovich hailed his country's march to media freedom at the World Newspaper Congress in Kyiv on Monday, Sept. 3.

"Ukraine has made its way, without exaggeration, from total censorship to an open society," Yanukovich told the conference as his security guards ripped banners saying "Stop censorship" from protesters' hands.

Yanukovich did not react to the silent protest.

Ukrainian opposition and Western rights watchdogs have accused Yanukovich of cracking down on media freedom after coming to power in the former Soviet republic in early 2010.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

AFL's new anti-racism campaign: Racism - It stops with me

The AFL today joined the Human Rights Commission and the Australian Government in endorsing a new national anti-racism strategy - Racism. It Stops With Me.

Represented by North Melbourne players Andrew Swallow and Majak Daw, the AFL is one of a number of organisations across business, sport and Government who are supporting the campaign on the basis of their long-standing work on combating racism.

The players joined Federal Human Rights Commissioner Dr Helen Szoke, Attorney-General Nicola Roxon, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Sport, Senator Kate Lundy and other business and community leaders in Federation Square, Melbourne as the AFL officially signed up to the campaign.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Public Education in America: Or what the Chicago Public Schools Strikes is really about

What Chicago Public School teachers are striking for are things that are affecting public school kids all over the U.S., not just in Chicago. They’re striking for their city’s schools, but honestly, they’re striking for my city’s schools, too.

In These Times picked up a post over on Occupied Chicago Tribune, which lists four reasons the teachers are striking — not specific bargaining points, but broad areas of difference, which, if ignored in this contract, sets this district on a course that will be difficult to reverse.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Pro-Sports becoming more gay-friendly thanks to athletes speaking out

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - NFL punters are only seen on fourth down and heard from less than that. But with Minnesota voters weighing whether to ban gay marriage this fall, Vikings punter Chris Kluwe has emerged as a high-profile gay rights champion - and a symbol of changing attitudes toward homosexuality in the sports world.

"I'd like to win some votes against the amendment," Kluwe told The Associated Press. "It would permanently change the state constitution. Who are we to say we should decide what our children should do on this subject? If we're not the generation to make gay marriage legal, why should we prevent our children having a say on the matter?"

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Social Justice Bus Tour planned by COA

Members of Chattanooga Organized for Action are hoping interested residents will "get on the bus" for an event geared toward highlighting the history of social activism in the city.

The event, called the Social Justice Bus Tour, will take place along the CARTA No. 1 bus route Monday afternoon. The group plans to ride on two buses, which leave from the stop in front of the downtown EPB building at 5:30 and 6 p.m.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Singapore sets up anti-littering cameras in over 100 locations

SINGAPORE - Surveillance cameras will be set up at 100 locations in the next three months to catch culprits who throw items from high-rise housing blocks.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said it is first targeting at the housing estates in Bukit Panjang, Pasir Ris, West Coast, Hong Kah and Sembawang.

These housing estates have more serious littering issues, involving faeces, urine or food waste, and have also registered a high number of feedback cases from residents.

NEA said those caught littering on camera will be charged in court and have their cases publicised.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Facebook Peace Activists from the Middle East finally meet face-to-face

Young peace activists from across the Middle East – who until now have only interacted virtually via a Facebook group – finally met each other face-to-face in Berlin this past weekend, vowing to bring normalcy to the region and stand up to all critics of peace.

Part of the Yala Young Leadership initiative, which was set up just over a year ago by Israelis and Palestinians, the conference brought together 18 of the most active of the 162,000 Facebook members in the group. Participants came from Israel, the Palestinian territories, Tunisia, Algeria, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, Iraq and Kuwait.

“It was our first chance to bring people from across the region to meet each other in person,” Israeli Nimrod Ben- Zeev, who helped to found the group online, told The Jerusalem Post Tuesday.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

PAK-India talks outcome welcomed by Peace Activists

KARACHI - The human right activists from Pakistan and India, in a joint statement, on Sunday welcomed the positive outcome of the just-concluded Pakistan-India foreign ministers’ talks in Islamabad, especially with regards to the newly-announced liberalised and relaxed visa regime.The proposed new visa regime for the time being benefits only certain selected categories of visitors. But, we are conscious of the fact that while assessing the outcome of the talks, one cannot ignore the related backdrop of an inter-state relationship, which has been marred for decades by bitterness and an acute trust deficit, preventing the people of our two countries from living as friendly neighbours and prospering in a climate of peace and harmony through mutual cooperation and collaboration.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Javier Sicilia leads peace protest on Wall Street

NEW YORK — The most dramatic actions to date took place in downtown Manhattan yesterday in the month-long Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity headed by writer Javier Sicilia. The group is on a 27-city journey through the United States, coming from Mexico, to call attention to U.S. responsibilities for the War on Drugs. It is reported that over 200 organizations around the country now support the Caravan for Peace.

Yet, though Sicilia’s intentions are drawing widespread praise, his presence makes some city officials uncomfortable. At a mid-morning press conference, Scilia reported that Mayor Michael Bloomberg was not rejecting an interview with him, just not having it now. It was not yes, not no, as Sicilia said to the dozens of reporters and cameras.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Migrant Workers from India get new help

DUBAI — A new program introduced by India’s Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs aims to encourage the country’s migrant workers in the Gulf to put aside savings for their inevitable return instead of sending all their earnings home to their families.

Five million Indians live and work in the Gulf on temporary employment or contract visas, mostly on construction sites, in hospitals and as household servants. Remittances by migrant workers to India totaled $64 billion in 2011, according to the World Bank, making India the leading receiver of remittances in the world, and Indians in the Gulf accounted for about 30 percent of that. But most of the money that they periodically send back is spent by their parents, wives and children; little gets saved.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Anti-racism protesters show opposition to English Defense League March

HUNDREDS of anti-racism protesters have gathered in Walthamstow town centre to show their opposition to English Defence League (EDL) marchers.

The demonstration, organised by We Are Waltham Forest, began at 11am this morning in protest at EDL members' intentions to march from Blackhorse Road underground station down Forest Road to the Magistrates Court for a rally.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Foriegn Workers push for public assembly rights

Taipei, Sept. 12 (CNA) Around 50 foreign workers from Southeast Asia and activists protested in front of the Taipei Railway Station on Sunday, demanding the right to gather in public places after a controversial move by the station to close parts of its lobby.

Protesters held placards reading "anti-racism" and shouted "If Hong Kong can, why can't Taiwan?" in front of the station.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Ancient Diatoms could be the answer to making biofuels truly cost-effective

Diatoms, tiny marine life forms that have been around since the dinosaurs, could finally make biofuel production from algae truly cost-effective – because they can simultaneously produce other valuable products such as semiconductors, biomedical products and even health foods. Engineers at Oregon State University concede that such technology is pushing the envelope a bit. But it’s not science fiction – many of the needed advances have already been made, and the National Science Foundation just provided a four-year, $2 million grant to help make it a working reality.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

California considering Death Penalty ban

It's the nightmare of capital punishment, for supporters and opponents alike - an innocent person condemned to death and executed.

As Californians prepare to vote in November on Proposition 34, which would reduce all death sentences to life in prison without parole, both sides on the issue agree that the state has never executed a prisoner who was later proved to be innocent.

Still, doubts persist about the guilt of an inmate who was put to death in 1998. And five men sentenced to death under current California law were later cleared of the murder charges that put them on Death Row.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

American Activist, Joe Callahan, asks for support in Thunder Bay

An American charged with human smuggling at the Pigeon River border crossing is looking for support in Thunder Bay.

Joe Callahan was arrested in July 2011 after two Salvadorans crossed the border into Canada looking for asylum.

In a letter seeking donations, the Joe Callahan Support Committee said Callahan was alone in his car when police arrested him, alleging he had helped with the Salvadorans' crossing. The letter said Canadian police used a backpack, maps and other items found in Callahan's car as the grounds for his arrest.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

UCM dishes up food and activism

Every Monday at United Campus Ministries in Athens, a new free-meal program is trying to serve both the stomach and the mind. Called Feed the Peaceful, the program kicked off with an educational anti-oppression workshop last week and also features informational presentations that will take place during the meal.

The new Monday program was created by Brandon LaBonte, an Athens resident who often took part in UCM's other free meal programs, dinner on Thursdays and lunch on Saturdays. LaBonte formed Feed the Peaceful after attending an anti-oppression workshop over the summer that piqued his interest in the subject.

"I was able to look at myself with a different opinion on my ethical standards for the way that I behave, and also to look at the world around me and the people around me in a way that is more understanding and compassionate," he explained.

The anti-oppression workshop that will precede Feed the Peaceful will have the same basic structure each week, LaBonte explained. "The idea is that it's for people to do once and then tell their friends and experience the changes that it has on a person's outlook," he said.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Mary Travers used social justice as a guide for her music

Mary Travers became a singer at a time when there was no shortage of things to sing about.

Along with Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey, Travers participated in civil rights marches and Vietnam War protests. They helped provide a soundtrack to the times that catapulted Peter, Paul and Mary from coffee houses to the Billboard charts.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Four Years to Go: Arctic Sea Ice Collapse

Arctic waters will be completely ice free within four years, according to leading Arctic ice expert Professor Peter Wadhams of Cambridge University.

This "final collapse" of Arctic sea ice in summer months could occur by 2015, solidifying a "global disaster," which has arrived faster than previous predictions suggested.

Wadham has worked for years examining ice thickness data. "The main cause is simply global warming: as the climate has warmed there has been less ice growth during the winter and more ice melt during the summer," Wadham told the Guardian.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

France says no to fracking.

France will maintain its ban on genetically modified crops [GMOs] and will ban fracking, politicians announced during an environmental conference held in Paris Friday and Saturday.

"The government is keeping its moratorium on the cultivation of GMO seeds currently authorized in the European Union," Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told the conference in Paris on Saturday.

Reuters reports that the ban specifically targets Monsanto's MON810 maize, as it is the only GMO currently allowed in Europe.

The ban was originally enacted in 2008, was overturned by a French court in 2011, and was reinstated in March.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org

Briyani Cafe protests anti-gay government guidelines in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: In an effort to push acceptance and in protest to recent reports of new Malaysia government guidelines aimed at educating parents and teachers to track gay children in the country, a local cafe and restaurant gave free briyani to those wearing tight-fitting and v-neck shirts.

Owners Herukh and Kubhaer T. Jeswant of Fierce Curry House in Bangsar Utama said they wanted to poke fun at the government’s recent attacks on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Malaysia and made the offer on Sunday to celebrate diversity.

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To learn more about the Annual International Social Uprising Resistance and Grassroots Encouragement (S.U.R.G.E.!) Film Festival please visit: www.WeSurge.org