"We're back- to take it back!" This was the call of the fifteen hundred Katrina survivors and their supporters who marched on New Orleans City Hall this past Saturday in a March for Human Rights and Right to Return.

Bill Streit from Louisa County arrived in Santiago, Cuba Tuesday night as part of a delegation with 24 other individuals. The group plans to march fifty miles to Guantanamo Bay, where the U.S. imprisons hundreds of unknown people for an undetermined amount of time. The delegation boasts members of the Catholic Worker movement, an international network of Christian pacifists.

Anyone interested in seeing what Monroe Park might look like in the future is invited to attend a public presentation at 12:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 7, in Council Chambers on the second floor at City Hall. At that time, several teams of Virginia Tech Landscape/Architecture Design students are
scheduled to present their visions for Monroe Park.

Congratulations on organizing a very large demonstration in Washington, D.C. the weekend of September 24-25. The numbers and the resulting media coverage and visibility were indeed impressive.

Having said that, we would like to share with you some fundamental political concerns of ours.

The development going in at Meadow and West Cary in the Fan area of Richmond is using sub-standard labor practices according to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters. Please take action. The sign says loft apartments and storefront businesses are going in at this low-come intersection. However, we are already seeing how this development is not intended to benefit the surrounding community. Please send these developers a message and call "East West Partners" at 804-739-3800.

CPT confirmed on 29 November that the four human rights workers missing in Baghdad on 26 November are associated with our organization.

Update on Missing Persons in Iraq
Wednesday, 30 November 2005, 1:00 am, Baghdad, Iraq

BAGHDAD: We were very saddened to see the images of our loved ones on Al Jazeera television recently. We were disturbed by seeing the video and believe that repeated showing of it will endanger the lives of our friends. We are deeply disturbed by their abduction. We pray that those who hold them will be merciful and that they will be released soon. We want so much to see their faces in our home again, and we want them to know how much we love them, how much we miss them, and how anxious and concerned we are by what is happening to them.

We are angry because what has happened to our teammates is the result of the actions of the U.S. and U.K. governments due to the illegal attack on Iraq and the continuing occupation and oppression of its people. Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) has worked for the rights of Iraqi prisoners who have been illegally detained and abused by the U.S. government. We were the first people to publicly denounce the torture of Iraqi people at the hands of U.S. forces, long before the western media admitted what was happening at Abu Ghraib. We are some of the few internationals left in Iraq who are telling the truth about what is happening to the Iraqi people We hope that we can continue to do this work and we pray for the speedy release of our beloved teammates.

Representatives from nine major craft families have banded together to publicly reveal the beauty of handmade items and show shoppers from Richmond, Virginia and beyond the error of their big box shopping ways. With their newly formed family ties and a brand new holiday show just around the corner, they have every intention of taking over this town.

On Wednesday November 2, 2005 students at Hampton University participated in the Nation-Wide Student Walkout and highlighted problems such as the massive urban renewal in New Orleans, HIV and AIDS, Homophobia, the crisis in Sudan, and the War in Iraq which was sensationally repressed by the CAMPUS POLICE. During the walk-out, several students were booked just because they had on Resist or Die stickers and others were booked for looking "suspicious." Some students were even threatened with expulsion.

On December 10th, 2005 there will be a rally against the abuse of human rights which is the prison system. The event will take place at the Oliver Hill Courthouse across from the Richmond Jail. This will be followed by a deeper discussion of these issues and on Sunday there will be a caravan to Red Onion State prison from another vigil/protest.

Virginia's minimum wage is the same as the federal minimum wage and it's been that way as long as anyone can remember. Why change now? What's the rush? If you'd seen the Virginia Alliance for Worker Justice event at Second Presbyterian Church, on Thursday night, you'd know how hot an issue poverty wages can be. And you'd have heard every reason imaginable for raising the floor of income. And you'd understand why Virginia is way overdue in doing right by its low wage workers.

Tonight, at 9pm, a group of people gathered at the University of Mary Washington to discuss the global independent media movement in general as well as how the Richmond Indymedia site in particular works. This article was written live during that workshop.

A week ago, a religiously conservative candidate won the Virginia Governor's race. He was a self-described pro-life moderate for "common sense restrictions on abortion." He said he was personally opposed to the death penalty, but he promised his oposition would not stop him from signing death warrants if given the power. And he was pro corporate globalization: keeping Virginia moving forward. But instead of being outraged, Democrats are excited that he won because they nominated and funded him. How far to the right do Democrats have to turn before progressives defect for good? And just as importantly, what does the giddines from national Democrats over this victory mean?