Aug 11 - Dhaka, Bangladesh - Enraged by mass firings, unpaid wages and brutal harassment by security forces, thousands of garment workers went on strike and rioted, attacking security forces with sticks and stones and vandalizing the factory for several hours. Unrest spread the next day as 15 factories and 4 shopping centers were attacked by roving crowds of the exploited. 3 other factories went on strike, demanding pay increases, and 60 factories closed over the weekend.




Aug 10 - Montreal, Quebec - After police gunfire killed 18-year-old Honduran immigrant Freddy Villanueva and hospitalized two other youth, 500 officers were called out to suppress the ensuing riot in which a dozen stores were looted, cars and dumpsters set alight and one cop hospitalized by a gunshot wound to the leg.

Aug 2 - Santa Cruz, California - Two vehicles belonging to animal experimenters in the employ of the University of California-Santa Cruz were destroyed by incendiary devices. The FBI has searched a home in Santa Cruz which was burglarized by a SWAT team in February following a demonstration at an animal experimenter's house.

Resistance to I-69, "The NAFTA Super Highway":

• Fredrick, Maryland, U.S. - Members of Potomac Earth First! held a small but loud and spirited protest outside Michael Baker Jr. Inc. offices at 4 College Ave. in Frederick. The June 3rd protest was in opposition to a new section of I-69 in Indiana, which the Michael Baker Jr. Inc. is contracted to construct.

• Louisville, Kentucky - Westbound commuters traveling on I-64 in Louisville were greeted with a display from Anti-I-69 road activists early on the mourning of June 5th. Critics of the development say that it will lead to the outsourcing of jobs, and destroy thousands of acres of forest and wetlands.

• Evansville, Indiana, U.S. - On June 16th tree-sitters blocking Interstate 69 were forcefully evicted by local police. Along with ground support activists, the tree-sitters were arrested and held in Warrick County Jail. Since the eviction, numerous solidarity actions have commenced in various locations.

• Bloomington, Indiana, U.S. - Opponents to I-69 held a torch-lit march through the streets of Bloomington on June 21st.

• Kalamazoo, Michigan, U.S. - On Monday, June 23rd at 1:30 PM Kalamazoo residents opposed to I-69 visited the DLZ Corporation in Kalamazoo for an office demonstration. They entered the building prepared to read a statement but were instantly harassed by an employee. He screamed obscenities, shoved the woman reading the prepared statement, and insisted that there was no office manager or anyone to discuss the impact of I-69 with. The Kalamazoo residents opposed to I-69 marched through the office with drums and whistles and exited the building.

  The office seemed to instantly be aware that they were being protested. They did not want to talk or hear a word of what the residents had to say. The following letter was left on several desks and at the main desk.

  Dear Kalamazoo Neighbors,
  We are writing to inform you of something that is of great importance. Though you maybe unaware of this, your current place of employment, DLZ is in league with some very dark and disturbing things that are happening to the world we live in. You might be aware of the fact that DLZ is one of many companies that is helping in the formation of highway development in Indiana, the extension of Interstate-69. Now though this may seem to be “Business as Usual” or “Just another development in a long line”, this particular project is so much worse. Interstate-69 is part of a massive undertaking that is spreading across states, countries, and indeed continents. It has been talked about for decades and gone under many different names. The NAFTA Super Highway, the North American Corridor, and Plan Puebla Panama are only a few.This expressway is a small part in the globalization of our world. To explain this further, jobs here at home are being moved across borders, the products of which will be shipped here, via I-69, to those currently unemployed. These jobs of course are going to be exploiting the global South. Not only will this further harm some of the most super-exploited people on Earth, but miles upon miles of forests, wetlands, farms, and homes will be destroyed and/or displaced from the construction of this expressway. Between jobs going over borders, products being shipped in, farms being destroyed and the utter destruction of the natural world here at home and abroad, it seems obvious to those of us in Kalamazoo that the completion of this expressway is an atrocious, repugnant act. It is opposed by those in its line of destruction, those in other countries, and now by us in Kalamazoo.

  It is with this in mind that we write you. We want you to be aware of the fact that what DLZ is doing is wrong and under the watch of people throughout the country, and the world at large. Rather than just bear witness to this injustice, we demand that this project be stopped and that it be discarded. We stand in Solidarity with our brothers and sisters who will lose jobs because of this. We stand in Solidarity with those whose homes are being destroyed. We stand in Solidarity with those who are being exploited in Central and South America. We stand in Solidarity with the farmers who will now be putting down their tools and who will be left in the gutters of development because of the actions of DLZ. We as residents of Kalamazoo, as friends, as neighbors, and acquaintances of yours demand that YOU stop this highway.
  Sincerely,
  And in Solidarity with those oppressed,
  The Residents of Kalamazoo Opposed to I-69

• Hicksville, New York, U.S. - On the morning of Tuesday June 24, employees of HNTB's 40 Commerce Place office in Hicksville, NY arrived at work to find the building defaced with spray paint. "DEAL WITH I-69 DEAL WITH US" was written across the front of the building. HNTB is Kansas City Missouri based architecture and engineering consulting firm working on the I-69 development.

  Employees were at first unable to get inside because locks to both the front and back doors were tampered with and filled with glue. Other slogans were painted on the sides of the building and all the windows and front door were covered in etching paint. HNTB's Hicksville location on Long Island was soon removed from their website.

• Maryville, Illinois - On June 30th vandals targeted the Maryville offices and a company car of I-69 consultant Bernardin, Lochmueller, & Associates. The car had all four tires slashed, headlights, windows, and mirrors busted out. The office building had its locks glued, windows smashed, and exterior painted with “187 ON I-69″ and “THE FRONTLINE IS EVERYWHERE.”

Weng'an, Guizhou, China - Thousands of outraged villagers surrounded and torched, local police stations and Communist Party offices Saturday. The incidents were following the alleged murder and cover up of a 15-year-old girl and her uncle. Rioters also overturned and set fire to 20 cars, many of which were police or government vehicles. Many who participated in the violence were teenagers, and may have been classmates with the young girl.

The teen's body was found in a river, after, according to police, she took her own life by jumping off a bridge. Locals claim she was raped and murdered by the son of a senior police official. Her uncle, a high school teacher, was beaten to death by police after he demanded they investigate his niece's death and perform an autopsy.

Paris, France - Detained immigrants burned down two buildings at the Vincennes detention center, after the death of a 41-year-old Tunisian migrant Saturday. Fourteen migrants were able to escape during the chaos.

Guards claim that the migrant who died had a heart attack while he was alone in his cell, but authorities have promised to investigate the matter following the uprising. Twenty migrants were hospitalized for smoke inhalation following the fire, but none of the cases were reported to be serious.

Detainees at the center, most of whom are of African origin and many of whom have fled former French and other European colonies, are not accused of committing any criminal offenses but are only being held for lacking EU documents.

The Vincennes center was the largest in the country. There is no word yet as to whether or not it with be rebuilt.

Pleasant Hill, California, U.S. - Three incendiary devices touched off a blaze that destroyed the Diablo Valley College's police services building early Monday morning. The 40-foot by 60-foot wooden building was deemed unusable after burning for only about 20 minutes. No other nearby structures were damaged by the fire. Police set up a temporary operations center in a parking lot, until the school gave them a conference room in another building. No suspects or motive has been made public yet.

Flathead Valley, Montana, U.S. - The non-profit environmental group, Citizens for a Better Flathead, has joined developers and their allies to offer a cash reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of individuals responsible for a campaign anti-sprawl vandalism. A group calling itself Americans Stopping Sprawling Development (ASSD) has taken credit for a rash of incidents, involving the removal of surveyor stakes and graffiti, that is estimated to have cost developers as much as $20,000 so far.

A three-page anti-capitalist manifesto was left behind by the vandals after the first incident, which took place on May 17th. The document calls urban sprawl, “one of the greatest issues facing our society,” and promised more actions against it.

Citizens for a Better Flathead pledged $100 towards the reward fund. A representative at the Sierra Club’s Missoula office also disavowed the action.

Chehalis, Washington - Vandals with a message redesigned a National Guard recruitment billboard to convey a decidedly anti-war statement. The roadside advert with an image of a military hummer originally said, “Feel the Noise,” but was altered to read “No War.” The email address and phone number listed on the billboard were also painted over. It seems that black and white spray paint was all that was used to change the sign.

The incident occurred during a time when 73 members of the National Guard’s “G” Company, based in neighboring Centralia, are preparing to deploy for a for a 12-month tour in the Middle East. A spokesperson from the Chehalis Police Department said yesterday morning that they had yet to receive any complaint about the redesigned billboard. According to National Guard recruiters, this was the third incident in which a National Guard recruitment sign was damaged or stolen in the past few weeks.

Bogota, Colombia - Police attempted to enter the grounds of the Bogota National University during a tuition protest, but were repelled by students armed with rocks and slingshots. Police employed teargas and a water cannon against the demonstrators who were estimated to be a thousand people strong.

Yesterdays' protest was in response to a proposal to privatize the school, and begin charging tuition, though historically the school has been free and publicly-owned. At least one demonstrator and three riot cops were seriously injured.

Moquegua, Peru - Poor residents of the copper-rich southern state of Moquegua have taken 48 police officers hostage, as well as captured and burned a police station. Police were attempting to disperse a blockade of the country's main highway to Chile, the Ilo smelter, and the American-owned Southern Copper's Cuajone mine - the country's largest copper producer.

Demonstrations began a week ago as an effort to gain control of local natural resources which bring little benefit to the majority of the people in the region, 30 percent of whom live in poverty. Union miners at the Cuajone mine exacerbated the crisis by staging a two-day strike that coincided with the blockades. In the neighboring Arequipa province, workers have been off the job at Peru's third-largest copper pit, Cerro Verde, for more than a week. The miners are demanding increased benefits.

President Alan Garcia's chief of staff, Jorge del Castillo, said that he could not negotiate with the protesters while they possessed any advantage, and urged them to release the hostages. Some feel that the unrest could easily spread to other provinces before the standoff is resolved.

Kidlington, Oxfordshire, England - Detainees rioted Friday at the Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre for the second time this year. Inmates started fires in the facility before making their way to and attacking the perimeter fence, but they were unable to break through it.

Authorities attempting to control the situation sent in a special prison riot control unit, known as the Tornado Team, which was made up of 50 officers outfitted with specialized gear. Some of the officers also brought attack dogs. Firefighters, along with 15 trucks, were unable to extinguish the blaze for two hours.

The privately owned center has faced constant opposition from community and human rights groups, as well as a generous share of controversy. Another incident in which fires were set last August led to a successful jailbreak for 26 asylum seekers.

Kandahar, Afghanistan - A Taliban insurgent attack on Sarposa Prison partially destroyed the facility and liberated a reported 1,100 inmates, both men and women. Conflicting government statements have said that either a handful or zero detainees remained. About 380 of the those freed were Taliban militants, but many were social prisoners. At least 15 guards and an unknown number of police, prisoners and insurgents were killed during the assault.

In May, around 200 Taliban suspects participated in a hunger strike including 47 who sewed their mouths shut. The protest concluded a week after it began, when a parliamentary delegation pledged to review their cases.

The jailbreak began with a car bomb attack on the prison's main gate after nightfall around 9:30 PM Friday. Another explosion occurred at a rear wall of the facility and the sky was lit up by a barrage of rockets before militants stormed the compound with small arms. Minibuses were parked in the area to quickly evacuate the freed prisoners from the area, which is now being closely scrutinized by foreign troops.

Manila, Philippines - Protesters, who consider the Philippines' 110 years of independence from the U.S. to be a sham, marked the anniversary of the occasion by attempting to rush the U.S. embassy yesterday. Demonstrators, most of them students, sprayed red paint on a large portrait of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo after they were rebuffed from their original target by riot police.