Kaffee: I want the truth! Jessep: You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded by men with guns… Recently, a couple of us attended “Norfolk Talkfest�? featuring Fox News pundit Sean Hannity, Democrat (!???) Zell Miller and others. The responses I anticpated from followers of this extremist diatribe were not entirely what I expected.

CALL Mayor Wilder's office at (804)646-7970,
and tell him that you support a "Living Wage," here in the City of Richmond!

The Mountain Justice Summer Training Camp is NEXT WEEK, May 24-31.
Kicking off this summer's activities with five days of intensive education in sou’west West Virginia, you will learn about mountaintop removal and this summer's campaign with an emphasis on non-violence, strategy, and skills to build this movement. This is going to be a summer like no other the southeast US has seen for decades. We are glad you are interested in getting involved.

Read on and don’t forget to register for camp.

"Patriotism means asking the tough questions"

Wednesday, May 18th
The Depot, Room 113
End of Davis St., Culpeper VA

Next Wednesday, folks from all over Virginia are invited to the small town of Culpeper, Virginia to join in a town hall meeting and panel discussion about the impacts of the war in Iraq on Culpeper's community and families. 100 army reservists from Culpeper have recently been called up to serve in Mosel, Iraq and along the Syrian border. The event will feature national, regional, and local voices, including members of Military Families Speak Out.

Activists gather to celebrate mother's day in Norfolk; local African American activists challenge white peace movement.

Activist and poet Queen Sheba of Norfolk, VA publicly chastized white activists last Saturday for not supporting the work of local African-American activists and for decrying war abroad while ignoring violence, poverty, and racism at home. Queen Sheba was speaking half-way through the annual Mother's Day for Peace and Justice Rally in Norfolk.

The rally drew about 150 people from Norfolk, Charlottesville, and Richmond. Queen Sheba and other members of "Word Up", shared their critique of both white activists and of the empire as part of a 2-hour line up of speakers, musicians and puppetistas. Food Not Bombs served a meal.

After the rally, about 50 people and several large puppets marched about a mile up the road to a Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial and held a closing rally.

As peace rallies go, this one is kid friendly, has interesting speakers, good food and isn't far from the beach.

The march, however, was long and pretty lacadaisical, with most folks tired from the rally. By the time we wrapped it up, it was 6pm, a long time after the 1pm lunch.

This is an important place to be and a good mother's day example, but my hopes for next year include a shorter rally, a livelier march and some concrete way to address both the militarism and the racism of the city of Norfolk. Meanwhile, Queen Sheba's challenge hangs in the air.

Due to illness, and battle with conservatives at Colorado State University, Leslie Feinberg had to cancel coming to Richmond on April 29th. In better health, and always good spirits, Leslie is well again and ready to take on VCU, along with others, on the issues of race, gender, and other wars fought at home and abroad!

Tune your radio to WRIR 97.3 FM tomorrow at 12noon to hear two organizers of the event speaking with RVA IMC editor Muna. Richmond Indymedia is live on the air every Thursday, 12-12:30, on WRIR, Richmond's new community radio station.

On Saturday May 7th the Icarus project, a community based mental health project, hosted a discussion at the Paperstreet infoshop. A group of approximately 20 people met with Sascha Scatter and Timothy Kelly of the project to discuss the issues that radical political individuals deal with in establishing and maintaining a mentally healthy life.

On Sunday, May 1st, the Rising Up Collective, a local anti-authoritarian group, organized a May Day Free Fair in Harrisonburg, Virginia, bringing together an estimated 100-150 people.

A banner hung along N. Main Street announced the May Day Free Fair, which was held on the Our Community Place Lawn across from the Little Grill co-op restaurant. Organizers and participants brought heaps of donated clothes, books, appliances, CDs, toys, and food-- homemade and dumpstered-- all of which were given out for free. As people perused the fare, a bluegrass band from Blacksburg played music, Harrisonburg Copwatch gave a Know Your Rights training, and Rising Up organizers presented a skit, and later a teach-in, on the history and meaning of May Day. Members of Harrisonburg's large latino immigrant community told about the yearly May Day demonstrations in their home countries.

The Free Fair went from 11am to 3pm, during which an estimated 100-150 people, including immigrants, students, workers, homeless people, young and old, came and enjoyed a day off work to give and receive for free.

Join the Peace and Justice community in Norfolk this Saturday!

We have just upgraded to the new version of our site software, DadaIMC.

The following workshop has been rescheduled: There are ways to take charge of our own sanity. There are other maps than the ones we are handed by families, schools, telivisions, and doctors. Two members of the Icarus project will bring a workshop called "Walking the Edge of Insanity: Navigating the World of Mental Health as a Radical in the Twenty-First Century" to Richmond. The workshop will be on Saturday, May7th at 4:30 pm in the Paper Street infoshop, which is located at 2506 W. Cary St.

EMBATTLED LGBT COMMUNITY TAKES TO THE STREETS TO CONFRONT RIGHT WING BIGOTS AT AVERRIT UNIVERSITY GRADUATION IN LOVE FEST '05.

DANVILLE,VA. This conservative Southside city,the last capitol of the Confederacy, is not known as a city famous for tolerance. Danville has a past known for racial violence in the 1960's and repression against labor unions in the 1930's and 1940s,heydays of CIO organizing.

For at least a few hours, April 30,2005, it was a major center of Love.

About 75 protesters,organized by Equality Virginia and the Averrit University Gay Straight Alliance confronted Fred Phelps and 9 protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church.