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