Post by Sunday at midnight.
[1]
1. Mark Whitaker
2. Update on Venezuela Collective Action and Media: Chavez connects to Twitter
Twitter is an international media less under control of his opposition connected with Venezuela's 2004 coup; at least he hopes so--it's a U.S. firm after all and U.S. state 'fingerprints' were all over the Venezuelan coup.
It is interesting that other heads of state have taken up Twittering to legitimate their movement or collective action against media pronouncements involved in countermovements or against media that ignore them entirely.
Now in Venezuela, it is hard to have the surreal situation in the film we watched--a situation where even the President of a country could be cut off from the world or even his own nation...by a mere revolt involving just a handful of people including media organizations that lied Chavez resigned voluntarily and that Venezuela was normal (instead of experiencing a very bloody military coup against him that attacked the Presidential Palace and threatened to bomb it).
Perhaps all countries presidents and any major contentious politicians should have a twitter page as 'protection', just to be on the safe against a media barrage of other social movements framing them in their own way.
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Chavez Seeks to Join Obama, Castro in Adding Twitter to His Media Arsenal
By Daniel Cancel - Apr 26, 2010
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who already writes a weekly newspaper column, created a radio program and speaks for as many as seven hours every Sunday, plans to add a Twitter Inc. account to his media arsenal.
“Comandante Chavez is going to open his Twitter account soon to wage the battle online,” Diosdado Cabello, head of the country’s telecommunications regulator, said today on state television. “I’m sure he’ll break records for numbers of followers.”
Chavez will join world leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama (3.8 million followers), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (3,547 followers) and Chilean President Sebastian Pinera (88,978 followers) in reaching out to supporters and opponents alike via the social networking tool that limits users to 140 characters per post.
[In 2004, it would have been enough for Chavez to 'tweet': "I did not resign. We have a military coup involving all TV/radio media organizations. Tell the world." Twitter was started in 2006.]
Chavez, a former paratrooper who wants to convert Venezuela into a socialist state, says his government is waging a media war against conservative news organizations that vilify his presidency and follow orders from the U.S. to overthrow his administration. Chavez was praised last year by his mentor Fidel Castro, who has a Twitter site organized by newspaper Cubadebate.cu, for spending 1,536 hours over 10 years speaking during his “Alo Presidente” show.
‘Revolutionary Idea’
“The case of Hugo Chavez is exceptional in the history of politics,” Castro wrote in a note published last year on the Cubadebate.com website. “Others have gained fame through the written press, radio and television, but never has a revolutionary idea made use of a communications media with such efficiency.”
The announcement comes after Venezuela’s opposition said Chavez, 55, was trying to block social networking sites like Facebook Inc. and Twitter last month after he called for an investigation into a local news site for publishing false information about the death of Cabello, who is also Public Works and Housing Minister.
Chavez rejected the accusations and said that he would soon be setting up his own website to publish news and participate in debates.
“I’m going to have my online trench from the palace to wage the battle,” he said on March 21. “I’ll provide information and even respond to my enemies.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Cancel in Caracas at dcancel@bloomberg.net.
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http://preview.bloomberg.com/news/2010-04-26/chavez-seeks-to-join-obama-castro-in-adding-twitter-to-his-media-arsenal.html
[2]
1. Mark Whitaker
2. On Wednesday, we continued our examination of explaining why some social movements seem 'immune' to heavy repression. Across many cases, Zald and others (myself in lecture) argue that it is important to look at religious movements as innately forms very suitable for social movement mobilization. We used as cases Nicaragua's Christian/Marxist/Nationalist 'church of the poor' movement under the Sandinista Revolution in 1979. It toppled the Somoza dictatorship.
Some additional films on religion and social movements:
Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the African American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States, and he has become a human rights icon: King is recognized as a martyr by two Christian churches.
A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King's efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.
There, he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history.
In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means.
By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and the Vietnam War, both from a religious perspective. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.
Martin Luther King, Jr. on War, video excerpts, 3 min.
video, last speeches of 1967
other excerpts, 5 min, still pictures, audio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k5dptjc3LY
This link starts a series of linked films, moving from one to another. It starts with the speech the day before he was assassinated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0FiCxZKuv8&feature=PlayList&p=B1FFBA6D82A3794C&playnext_from=PL&index=1&playnext=2
Martin Luther King, "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam" 22 min, Excerpts of a Sermon at the Ebenezer Baptist Church on April 30, 1967.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b80Bsw0UG-U&feature=related
[King assassinated in April 4 1968]
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1. Mark Whitaker
ReplyDelete2. China repression of dissidents: "you will disappear" if you talk about lack of human rights or corruption of the state (both in large supply in China)
3. We have talked about the interaction of states and social movements frameworks. This past week we have talked about religious organizations providing their members with a large 'fund' of many aspects found to be facilitative of social movements. We've talked about repression in South Korea, as well as other countries. This example is a sobering story from China. How would you see human rights social movements developing in China?
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'Speak out and you will disappear', activist told
By Clifford Coonan
Friday, 30 April 2010
Chinese activist Feng Zhenghu
Feng Zhenghu, Shanghai's most famous dissident, announced last week that he wanted to launch a manifesto on human rights.
His "Shanghai Expo of Unjust Court Cases" was intended to be a critique of the city's legal system, an alternative view to the officially manicured image of China's business capital.
But within a day, the police were at his door.
They confiscated his computers and interrogated him for four hours.
The 55-year-old former economist is a well-known irritant of the authorities in China. Mr Feng spent three years in prison between 2001 and 2004 for his calls for democracy. He had written about forced evictions and bad behaviour by local authorities.
But he secured his place as one of China's most famous dissidents when he spent three months stuck at Tokyo's international airport unable to travel to home because the government was angry about his rights activism. He was refused re-entry eight times and lived off the goodwill of fellow travellers in the no-man's land of the immigration section.
He finally got home in February and was placed under close surveillance at his home in Shanghai but continued trying to expose injustices surrounding the Expo.
He wrote a document calling for freedom of speech and for an end to the tight control of the internet.
[think about the different media arenas available for social movements]
In an interview with the rights group Human Rights in China, Mr Feng told how he has been placed under heavy "protection".
"Beginning in March, they placed a group of five people outside the door of my home, to take turns watching after me 24/7. They have orders from their superiors to follow me whenever I go out. They are watching me so tightly, ostensibly to 'protect my safety,' " he said.
However, according to the Hong Kong-based group Chinese Human Rights Defenders, the police swooped on his home last week after his manifesto announcement.
They said that if he spoke out during the Expo, which is intended to showcase China's rise, they would make him disappear like another of China's most prominent activists Gao Zhisheng, who was missing for many months after police took him away.
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www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/speak-out-and-you-will-disappear-activist-told-1958699.html
Sam Wijnants:
ReplyDeleteMay Day clashes
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In the night before mayday it came to violent clashes between police and leftist demonstrators in the streets of Hamburg. According to police some 150 left-wing demonstrators lit a bonfire in a street outside a youth center and threw bottles and stones at police. 15 people got injured. Same series of criminal acts found place in Berlin, the capital. These people came out to protest against a march planned by neo-Nazis on the first of May, an annual tradition.
Some 3000 demonstrators are expected to come out, some 10,000 left-wing anarchists are expected to counter them. Last year, in the same march, 500 officers were injured and just under 300 people arrested. The 6-kilometer route had been approved by police under German laws protecting the constitutional right of everyone to demonstrate.
Same topic, next day.
Overall the protests happened relatively calmly, in comparison with last year. Some 7,000 police were deployed along with a water cannon, fearing heavy violence. Less people of the right wing showed up than estimated, only 500 (Police had expected around 3,000 neo-Nazis to march). Riot police man-handled some of those obstructing the Berlin route, among them the deputy speaker of the German parliament, Wolfgang Thierse, a Social Democrat. But in the end, police told the rightists to turn round and march back the way they had come.
Another 300 far-rightists, including associates from Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic, suddenly showed up in another part of the city, apparently intent on an unauthorized march down the major Kurfuerstendamm boulevard of the city. Police detained 200 of them. Leftists claimed 10,000 people had turned up to confront the neo-Nazis, aka the "Alliance First May Nazifrei"
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Part I:
ReplyDeleteIn the night before May Day, clashes between police and leftist demonstrators in Hamburg left 14 people injured. In Berlin, however, the feared violence did not materialize.
Friday night's violence in Hamburg was centred around the city's Schanzenviertel neighborhood, where according to police some 150 left-wing demonstrators lit a bonfire in a street outside a youth centre, threw bottles and stones at police, and damaged a bank branch.
At least 14 people were injured in the clashes, including a passer-by who was taken to hospital after being hit on the head by a flying rock. In addition, thirteen police officers and three police dogs sustained injuries. Seven rioters were arrested.
Hamburg's Schanzenviertel neighborhood has been the scene of similar May Day clashes in recent years.
In Berlin, however, the night passed comparatively uneventfully, despite fears that the levels of May Day violence could be high this year. Berlin police reported that the around 4,000 people celebrating Walpurgis Night in the streets of the German capital did so relatively peacefully.
At Berlin's Boxhagener Platz in the Friedrichshain neighborhood, a few bottles and beer cans were thrown at police, but the large contingent of officers on the scene kept the situation under control. Several inebriated people were arrested but no injuries were reported.
The situation thus far has been markedly calmer than in 2009, when violence on the May Day weekend returned to the capital with a vengeance. Last year some 500 officers were injured and just under 300 people arrested.
For May Day itself, Saturday, police have prepared several large-scale operations aimed at heading off possible violence. A march by around 3,000 neo-Nazis is planned while some 10,000 left-wing anarchists are expected to gather in Berlin's Kreuzberg, an ethnically diverse, left-leaning neighborhood.
Police will try to keep the two demonstrations separate and are deploying 6,000 officers in the streets. Police reinforcements from other federal states have been sent to the capital.
http://www.thelocal.de/national/20100501-26905.html
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Part II:
More than ten thousand demonstrators demonstrated against neo-Nazi marches on Saturday across Germany. Around 200 extreme right wingers were detained.
Fearing riots, police across Germany made efforts to separate leftist and neo-Nazi demonstrators in several cities across Germany.
In Berlin, neo-Nazis and people from the far-left spent hours vying for control of May Day demonstration routes through the German capital, although by early evening on Saturday, confrontations had mostly ended peacefully.
Violence, with brawls between leftists and rightists, burning barricades and damage to banks and shops, has been an annual ritual on May Day for more than two decades in Berlin, Hamburg and other German cities.
In Berlin, about 500 of the far-rightists marched through a northern district of the capital, although they were outnumbered by thousands of opponents.
Police had expected around 3,000 neo-Nazis to march, and some 7,000 police were deployed along with a water cannon.
Leftists claimed 10,000 people had turned up to confront the neo-Nazis.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4364102
Valerie Raeymaekers
ReplyDelete"Egyptian law gives fanatics free rein"
A group called Lawyers Without Restrictions is trying to ban 1000 and 1 nights, a classic arab folk tale book by by launching an obscenity case against officials in the general culture authority, which publishes the work in Egypt.
This is another Hesba case in a long list of actions, that started in 1995 where Islamic laywers were able to make happen the divorce of Cairo university teacher Nasr Abu Zayd from his wife on grounds of apostasy.
How well this new law of banning a folk tale will go is yet to be seen, but many Egyptians are seeing this new law as ludicrous and minister of culture Farouk Hosni commented: "Does this mean we should destroy all ancient Egyptian statues because of their nudity?"
The number of Hesba cases show two things: One is how religiosity has grown and another is how pent-up frustrations against the regime are outing itself.
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One Thousand and One Nights is a classic collection of Arab folk tales. First compiled in written form in 10th-century Iraq, it derived some of its stories from an earlier Persian collection, which in turn made use of even older tales from India. Though some of the content is a bit earthy, it's part of the world's literary heritage. Or so you might think.
But now a group, Lawyers Without Restrictions, is trying to ban it by launching an obscenity case against officials in the general culture authority, which publishes the work in Egypt.
The lawyers are seeking enforcement of article 178 of the Egyptian penal code, which specifies a fine and two years in jail for publishing obscene material.
The legal action is the latest in a long line of hesba (or hisba) cases brought by private citizens – usually with religious motives, though on occasions supporters of Hosni Mubarak's regime have also instigated hesba cases as a way of harassing its opponents.
Hesba is a long-established (and originally honourable) principle in Islamic jurisprudence. In the words of the Egyptian scholar, Gamal al-Banna, it was "used to promote the good and criticise the bad. Every individual in an Islamic society is responsible for the actions of the society".
More recently, though, it has begun to have the opposite effect, stifling critical thought and debate rather than encouraging it.
The trend began in 1995 when a group of Islamist lawyers succeeded in divorcing Cairo university teacher Nasr Abu Zayd from his wife on grounds of apostasy.
Since then, there have been hundreds of hesba cases against writers and activists, brought by a mixture of publicity-seekers and religious fanatics.
Last year, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) blamed this situation on a "feeble reaction" from the Egyptian government and the willingness of courts – in violation of the law – to accept cases brought by people who have no direct interest. "These primarily illegal cases are becoming a hovering threat over the heads of all intellectuals in Egypt," the ANHRI said. "Instead of conducting an open, reasonable dialogue based on intellectuals' opinions, hesba experts will rather start the legal chase and a chain of lawsuits.
Recent high-profile cases have involved Nawal el-Saadawi, the feminist writer, and Naguib Sawiris, the billionaire founder of Orascom. Sawiris, a Christian, was accused of "contempt for religion" after criticising article 2 of the Egyptian constitution, which says that "principles of Islamic law are the principal source of legislation".
How far the One Thousand and One Nights case will get in the courts remains to be seen. There are clearly many in Egypt who regard this type of legal vigilantism as ludicrous, and the reaction of Egyptian culture minister Farouk Hosni was to ask: "Does this mean we should destroy all ancient Egyptian statues because of their nudity?"
ReplyDeleteHosni was speaking rhetorically, but it's probably unwise to talk of such things, even in jest. There is no doubt some would answer his question in the affirmative. We should not forget what happened to the Buddha statues when the Taliban took a disliking to them in Afghanistan.
At one level, the plethora of hesba cases is an obvious reflection of the way extreme religiosity has grown in Egypt over the last few decades. At another level, though, it is probably one symptom (among many) of pent-up frustrations directed against the regime. As a commenter on the Bikya Masr blog put it: "People lash out in different ways; one side goes to the complete opposite side, drinking, partying, absorbing all western culture without thought of recourse; and the other side clambers toward any idiotic idea that could be construed as 'Islamic' (when it isn't)."
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/28/egypt-thousand-one-nights-ban
ZhangYu
ReplyDelete02/05
Schools in China prepare for copycat attacks
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China's police forces nationwide were ordered Saturday to step up security of kindergartens and schools after a spate of violent attacks against school children.
An emergency circular issued by the Ministry of Public Security also called for harsh punishments of criminals who attacked school children in order to deter potential attackers.
It ordered all necessary measures be taken against school attackers in accordance with the law to stop a crime in progress.
The ministry instructed police to work with courts and prosecutors to handle such cases swiftly.
Police must also work with education authorities to comprehensively screen all campuses and their surrounding areas for security risks.
Small hotels, Internet cafes, and recreational sites adjacent to schools must be subject to intensive security checks, said the circular.
The circular ordered stronger security patrols in and around school campuses at the beginning and the end of school days, and in schools situated in risk-prone communities.
In at-risk schools, police posts would be set up.
Schools were urged to tighten identity checks at entrances, hire security guards, and install security alarms and closed circuit television cameras on campus.
The ministry asked police to closely monitor people who were inclined to threaten public security and to increase monitoring of dangerous items and materials, including knives.
The circular followed a string of violent attacks against school children in the past week.
On Friday, five kindergarten class children and a teacher were injured when a man attacked them with a hammer before killing himself at a school in Weifang City, east China's Shandong Province.
On Thursday, 29 children and three adults were injured by a man armed with knife at the Zhongxin Kindergarten in Taixing City, in eastern Jiangsu Province.
And 16 children and a teacher at a primary school in Guangdong Province were attacked Wednesday.
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article
ReplyDelete----------------
China's kindergartens and preschools increased security after another violent attack on children and teachers Friday.
The execution of a former doctor who stabbed eight children to death and wounded five others at an elementary school in eastern China last month failed to deter what police say are copycat attacks, state media reported.
"Chinese society has generated enormous pressure on individuals and some of those individuals have perhaps had emotional and psychological problems," sociologist Ding Xueliang said.
"They want to cause general attention from the population and attacking kids perhaps is the best way from their perspective of achieving this objective."
The latest attack came Friday, when a man armed with a hammer injured five preschool children in east China before setting himself on fire in a classroom suicide, a government spokesman told Xinhua news agency.
The attacker held two children in his arms as he poured gasoline over himself, the spokesman said. Teachers in Weifang City, Shandong province, pulled the children away as the man died, the spokesman said.
All five victims from the attack were hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening, he said.
The incident followed at least three other attacks in China in recent weeks in which assailants have killed or wounded students.
On Thursday, at least 28 children were injured when a man with a knife attacked a kindergarten in east China, state media said. Most of the victims were 4-year-olds and three of the children were in critical condition.
Police said they have arrested a 47-year-old suspect. The incident happened in Taixing city in Jiangsu province.
A day earlier, a man attacked 18 students and a teacher with a knife at a primary school in southern China's Guangdong province, Xinhua said.
It was not immediately known how many people were injured or whether there were any fatalities in the attack Wednesday. The man, described as being in his 40s, entered the school in the afternoon and attacked before he was seized by police, Xinhua reported.
This week's attacks came despite the execution of Zheng Minsheng, 42, a former community doctor convicted for the March 23 attack.
Zheng, executed by a firing squad in Nanping City on Wednesday, told investigators he carried out the attack because he was frustrated by "failures in his romantic life and in society," according to Xinhua.
China Daily newspaper quoted Nanjing University sociology professor Zhu Li saying Zheng's attack inspired copycats.
"Some people may not have thought about stabbing school children, but due to the media's coverage of such a case, they got an idea," Zhu said.
Chinese authorities have begun teaching safety awareness in school curriculums, China Daily reported.
Officials also have tightened security in schools by hiring extra guards to escort students to and from class.
Students, teachers and parents are receiving counseling to help deal with the trauma, according to authorities.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/04/30/china.school.attack/index.html
ReplyDeleteDasol Lyu
ReplyDeleteMarchers hit streets calling on Obama to act immediately on federal immigration reform(May 2, 2010)
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Thousands of people gathered from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. to protest against the new Arizona law and to call President Obama to act immediately for immigration reform as they promised during the presidential campaign.
Last week's passing of a new immigration law by Governor of Arizona initiated this movement. The law requires local and state law enforcement to question people about their immigration status if there's reason to suspect they're in the country illegally. Critics argue that this encourages racial profiling and is unconstitutional.
Obama promised to tackle immigration reform but is yet to take up his cause. Protests were mostly peaceful though 35 people got arrested in Washington D.C. Some are also saying that the country is not anti-immigration but "anti-Mexican" in that Arizona has been close to Mexico in proximity and the law mostly targets those Mexicans crossing borders from down south.
Protesters held signs saying Si se puede," Spanish for "Yes we can" while famous Cuban-born singer Glorian Estefan led march in LA. Yet there are a few counterprotesters showing up as well. They would holds signs such as "We Support Arizona" and "We Need More Ice At This Fiesta."
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CHICAGO (AP) — Protesters nationwide vented their anger over a new Arizona law to crack down on illegal immigrants by calling on President Barack Obama to immediately take up their cause for federal immigration reform.
From Los Angeles to Washington D.C., activists, families, students and even politicians marched, practiced civil disobedience and "came out" about their citizenship status in the name of rights for immigrants, including the estimated 12 million living illegally in the U.S.
Obama once promised to tackle immigration reform in his first 100 days, but has pushed back that timetable several times. He said this week that Congress may lack the "appetite" to take on immigration after going through a tough legislative year. However, Obama and Congress could address related issues, like boosting personnel and resources for border security, in spending bills this year.
A congressman was among 35 people arrested during a protest at the White House. U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a Democrat from Illinois, was taking part in a civil disobedience demonstration.
Protests elsewhere were largely peaceful. No arrests were reported at most demonstrations; two were arrested near the march route in Los Angeles, but police said neither suspect appeared to be connected to the rally.
Police said 50,000 rallied in Los Angeles, where singer Gloria Estefan kicked off a massive downtown march. Estefan spoke in Spanish and English, proclaiming the United States is a nation of immigrants.
"We're good people," the Cuban-born singer said atop a flatbed truck. "We've given a lot to this country. This country has given a lot to us."
Anger, particularly among immigrant rights activists, has been building since last week when Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the legislation. The law requires local and state law enforcement to question people about their immigration status if there's reason to suspect they're in the country illegally. It also makes it a state crime to be in the United States illegally.
The law's supporters say it's necessary because of the federal government's failure to secure the border, but critics contend it encourages racial profiling and is unconstitutional.
"It's racist," said Donna Sanchez, a 22-year-old U.S. citizen living in Chicago whose parents illegally crossed the Mexican border. "I have papers, but I want to help those who don't."
ReplyDeleteOrganizers estimated about 20,000 gathered at a park on Chicago's West Side and marched, but police said about 8,000 turned out.
"I want to thank the governor of Arizona because she's awakened a sleeping giant," said labor organizer John Delgado, who attended a rally in New York where authorities estimated 6,500 gathered.
Chicago's event resembled something between a family festival — food vendors strolled through with pushcarts — and a political demonstration with protesters chanting "Si se puede," Spanish for "Yes we can." A group of undocumented students stood on a stage at the park and "came out" regarding their immigration status.
Juan Baca was among those students. Baca, 19, whose parents brought him from Mexico illegally when he was 4 months old, said he has had to drop out of college and work several times already because he can't qualify for financial aid.
"It's been a struggle," he said. "I missed the mark by four months."
In Dallas, police estimated at least 20,000 people turned out. About a dozen people carried signs depicting the Arizona governor as a Nazi and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, known for his tough illegal immigration stance, as a Klansman. Organizers were asking sign holders to discard those placards.
Juan Hernandez, the Hispanic outreach coordinator for Arizona Sen. John McCain's unsuccessful presidential run, attended the Dallas rally. He said Arizona was once considered by those south of the border to be a model state with particularly close ties to Mexico.
"It went beyond what most states do," he said. "Now they are a state that goes beyond what the Constitution says you should do."
Juan Haro, 80, was born and raised in Denver, where about 3,000 people rallied. He said he thinks Arizona's new law targets Mexicans.
"This country doesn't seem to be anti-immigrant," said Haro, whose family is originally from Mexico. "It seems to be anti-Mexican."
In downtown Miami, several hundred flag-waving demonstrators — many with Cuban and Honduran flags, but mostly American ones — called for reforms.
Elsewhere, an estimated 7,000 protesters rallied in Houston, about 5,000 gathered at the Georgia state Capitol in Atlanta and at least 5,000 marched in Milwaukee. About 3,000 attended a Boston-area march.
And in Ann Arbor, Mich., more than 500 people held a mock graduation ceremony for undocumented immigrant students near the site of Obama's University of Michigan commencement speech.
In Arizona, police in Tucson said an immigrant rights rally there drew at least 5,000 people. Several thousand people gathered in Phoenix for a demonstration Saturday evening.
A smattering of counterprotesters showed up at rallies. In Tucson, a few dozen people showed up in support of the new law and Brewer. A barricade separated about two dozen counterprotesters from a pro-immigrant rights rally in San Francisco.
Counterprotesters there carried signs that read, "We Support Arizona" and "We Need More Ice At This Fiesta," an apparent reference to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
May 1 — International Workers Day — is a traditional date for political demonstrations. Immigration advocates latched onto that tradition in 2006, when more than 1 million people across the country — half a million alone in Chicago — protested federal legislation that would have made being an illegal immigrant a felony. That legislation ultimately failed.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-immigration-protests,0,5513595.story