One person, a young vegan named Derek, decided that he was tired of not speaking out, and regardless of whether anyone else would join him, he was going to speak for the animals held inside labs everywhere by holding a 30-day vigil from 11am-3pm every day in front of a Tulane University animal laboratory in downtown New Orleans.

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WTUL News & Views host Matt Olson spoke with Luisa Dantes, documentary filmmaker, and Evan Casper-Futterman, co-producer, about their film "Land of Opportunity." The film reveals the story of rebuilding in post-Katrina New Orleans from a range of perspectives--public housing resident, urban planner, low-wage workers, high school student, community activist and others.

The film screened as part of the New Orleans Film Festival in October.

mp3 - 24min:30 sec; 22.4 MB





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Five young Jewish people, from New Orleans, the San Francisco area and Israel, took nonviolent direct action at a Jewish Federation Conference in New Orleans on Monday November 8, voicing dissent of Israeli state policies during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address.

Following is the perspective of Emily Ratner, a New Orleans resident who was one of the five:

"We would not have had to interrupt Netanyahu if the world listened to Palestinian voices"

There's no getting around it: What we did during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech was shockingly rude. We interrupted a head of state, repeatedly, shouting from the tops of chairs into a darkened hall of largely like-minded people, who most likely thought their space was safe from these ever-increasing disruptions...

...It shouldn't take this kind of action to draw attention to these crimes. The media should have cared this much about the dozens of Palestinians who marched outside the GA the day before Netanyahu arrived. Palestinian voices should be heard, respected, and reflected in all coverage of Palestine. The myriad examples of Palestinian nonviolence should be better known than those far fewer examples of violence that dominate Israel's security narrative. And Israel's violence should be known fully, and properly contextualized. Most of all, Palestinians should guide us in understanding how best to address the atrocities perpetrated against them.

The photo is a Israeli TV News still of Ratner as she was escorted from Netanyahu's speech.


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The proposed "renewal" of downtown New Orleans would come with a steep price: less affordable housing for the working poor traded for low paying service industry jobs in big box retailers.

One thing history can teach us: historical patterns can stay the same, but wear shiny new clothing that makes it seem different. Sort of like the emperor got a set of new clothes, that is really no clothes at all. The latest plan for the redevelopment of Iberville and the downtown area surrounding, detailed in the Times Picayune on Sunday, October 31st, reflects an historical pattern that appears attractive. The pattern is this: co-opt the land that the poor, and working poor are living on and redevelop it for the profit needs of the capitalists.

In this instance, in the midst of the worse economic downturn since the Great Depression, we are treated to what could almost be called an obscene proposal: bring in big box retailers in the area around Iberville Housing Development, more shopping options for the disappearing middle class, staffed by the working poor, with truly affordable public housing sacrificed at the altar of “urban renewal”.


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Two more University of New Orleans students were arrested in connection with the September budget cut protest as Louisiana State University System officials prepared a swath of mid-year cuts, finalized Friday, that will scrape funds from an already-chiseled budget.

Photo of UNO student Dymphna Franklin who spoke extemporaneously at the protest on UNO's campus in September.


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