Last weekend, March 25-27, radical people of color from across the nation gathered in Asheville, North Carolina. There, at the Southeastern Regional Conference of Anarchist People of Color, we breathed a collective sigh of relief and turned that shared breath into shared struggle: personal, social, and organizational relationships; histories, hopes, and plans for social change.

One of the very first questions asked in the opening discussion of the Southeast Regional was “What is anarchism?�? Over the course of an hour, almost everyone present threw out their own definition, idea, or perspective on anarchism. The list of definitions began with “working to end all systems of domination�? followed by “complete and total freedom, with a sense of responsibility, respect and collective effort.�? Some said anarchism is simply no single, central doctrine; or simply the act of organizing outside of any institutions or system. A reoccurring definition that persisted throughout the conference was that of anarchism as self-definition and self-determination. This perspective seemed pressingly salient to the attending people of color, with the idea voiced repeatedly in many different ways, such as autonomia, zapatismo, hybridity, and recognizing/recreating who we are.

In all of these definitions, many emphasized that anarchism is very importantly something we do; the actions of our lives individually and collectively.

On the heels of the dramatic Georgetown success, the University of Mary Washington Living Wage Campaign will be having a rally outside the administrative building calling for a Living wage for all campus employees and contract workers. The rally will be at 12:00 noon, on Friday, April 8th in front of George Washington Hall on the UMW campus in Fredericksburg, VA.

The Defenders for Freedom, Justice and Equality and other concerned citizens marched on the Farmer's Market this evening, where the Richmond Braves were throwing a party to win support for their proposal to build a new stadium in Shockoe Bottom.

On March 19, 2003 the bombing of Baghdad commenced, with a massively destructive “shock and awe�? tactic that was meant to force Iraqis into submission. Two years later, however, Iraqis are still resisting, and so are we.

Ten years ago, a small group of visionaries in Louisville, Kentucky, my adopted hometown, started dreaming big dreams. They dreamed that the desolate, post-apocalyptic mess of overgrown lots and former industrial buildings coupled underneath the city’s notorious Spaghetti Junction (where I-65, I-64 and I-71 meet) on the Ohio River could be beautiful, full of activity and the envy of downtowns everywhere. It was around that same time that a plan was being put together to breathe some life in Richmond’s long abandoned Canal System and downtown islands. Some things have worked well in both cities, but Richmond lags far behind the next major city westbound on I-64. Here’s why.

Photos anonymously posted to Richmond Indymedia by “CBC�? appear to depict hazing practices at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI). Cadets are seen strapped to chairs, taped-up, dressed in mock-homosexual costume, and posing with a confederate flag. One cadet is seen apparently being dragged across a bathroom floor.

StopHazing.org defines hazing as “any activity expected of someone joining a group (or to maintain full status in a group) that humiliates, degrades or risks emotional and/or physical harm, regardless of the person's willingness to participate.�? Virginia has laws banning hazing, as do any other states, but some critics say the law is too weak...

Because I am a woman.
Because feminism is why I wake up in the morning.
Because feminism is the best thing that ever happened to me.
Because I have a lot of questions and concerns about feminism and its history.
Because I wanted to be in a room full of other women on International Women’s day.

These are just some of the reasons the 29 people who attended yesterday’s feminism discussion at Queer Paradise gave about why they showed up to such an event. It was a diverse crowd, spanning generations, gender identities, and even the globe.... Follow the link below to get the full scoop on Women's Day in Richmond.

Yesterday in Brazil, 35,000 women marched in part to celebrate Women’s Day. Women in India put out the call for a Global Women’s Strike. Women and their allies came together to share and struggle together across the US. Maybe this time next year, Richmond can pull off a bigger and better Women’s Day on March 8 here in our hometown.

Tomorrow, March 10, is the U.S’s National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers, a date created in 1996 commemorating the death of Dr. David Gun, the first abortion doctor assassinated by anti-abortion terrorists. Perhaps next year we can unite March 8 and March 10, tying together these crucial remembrances and creating even more time together. Yesterday's post-discussion performance served this purpose terrifically, as it was a benefit for the Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project. Hopefully, we can get together and work together long before next year comes around.

Has an active feminist message disappeared from leftist organizing? Is feminism a single issue? How can feminism be intergrated into other issues, and into our lives? Who are feminists, anyway?

This Tuesday, March 8th, is International Women's Day. Food Not Bombs invites you to join them at 7pm at Queer Paradise, 319 N. Adams, for an open discussion on feminism and gender equality. The open discussion will be followed by a FEM-positive show to benefit the Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project.

Richmond Indymedia will be participating and covering the event as part of our commitment to feminism and women's issues in general, coverage of which we really want to see more of on this site.

VCU social work professor speaks to legislators about opposing a bill that could have restricted her from adopting her child.
Heated discussion took place in the Senate Comittee for Courts of Justice when comittee members rejected a bill that would require adoption agencies to investigate whether or not potential foster parents engaged in "homosexual activity."

Statewide organizers with the newly formed Virginia Anti-War Network (VAWN) are mobilizing people for the upcoming 2 year anniversary of the launch of the current war in Iraq on March 19th. A large scale, regional protest is being organized in Fayetteville, North Carolina, home of Ft. Bragg and the 82nd Airborne Division. For the second year running Fayetteville Peace and Justice, a local affiliate of Military Families Speak Out, will be hosting the rally.

With stops in Blacksburg, Richmond, Smithfield, and Charlottesville that included a wide variety of meetings and people, the Virginia Anti-War Network's first state-wide tour featuring Dr. Dalit Baum was a resounding success.

Dalit Baum brought a sense of humor and clarity to a number of topics - the Israel/Palestine conflict, the apartheid wall and the relationship between various types of oppression, just to name a few. Connecting issues was a prevalent theme throughout all of Dalit's appearances, such as when she spoke in Richmond about the group Black Laundry and how it ties gender, sexuality, and occupation issues together:

"It actually wasn't so weird to connect these things, because we saw that people on the other side of the street in the counter-demonstrations were always connecting them - just like calling Women in Black 'whores'. They immediately saw the connection between being a sexual traitor and a national traitor, so why wouldn't we recognize it? What brought me to the peace movement was my gender and sexuality. Obviously, there is a connection. So the idea was to bring everything we are to everywhere we go and say everything we want to say."

All of Dr. Baum's presentations centered around the apartheid wall that is now being constructed between Israeli and Palestinian settlements. She provided disturbing images of this wall and the communities it affects, and also showed people the very latest map (just three days old) of the wall's path, which snakes through Palestinian territory, creating eight isolated Palestinian areas. People can find this map online at the Israeli government's own website.

Industrial hog-raising environmental record
Prima Ltd. and Animex became a front for Smithfield’s dirty work, enabling it to shift the costs of industrial hog-raising onto the environment and onto individual farmers.

Social and economic impacts: Irrespective of national and European environmental requirements, construction of new industrial hog-raising farms is under preparation. Therefore social and economic consequences for individual farmers can not be ignored anymore. Increasing production in industrial farms, over-production of pork and deregulation of the market are indicators proving that traditional farming in Poland is losing out.