Celebrate the one-year anniversary of Occupy Tucson, Oct. 14 (video)

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by Pamela Powers Hannley

Sunday, October 14, Occupy Tucson will celebrate it's one year anniversary. Occupy Tucson was one of the longest-running encampments in the history of the Occupy Movement.

Although Occupy Tucson was a peaceful encampment, at one point, the Tucson Occupiers had received hundreds of tickets, primarily for breaking curfew at local parks– more tickets than any other Occupy group, except New York City. Some of those tickets are still winding their way through the court system, but most have been dismissed (including mine). 

Occupy Tucson may not be camping in the parks anymore, but the movement is far from dead. Occupy Tucson is housed in a small office in the historic YWCA on 5th Ave. You can find out more information by checking out their website and Facebook page

For a walk down memory lane, check out these videos of Occupy Tucson. After the jump is background information on the Occupy anniversary celebration (complete with a General Assembly, of course.)

 Organizing Occupy Tucson, Oct. 1, 2011

 Occupy Tucson General Assembly, October 9, 2011

 Day 1: Occupation of Tucson

 The Tucson Progressive gets a ticket at Occupy Tucson

El Tour de Rio Nuevo March, Tucson

Jobs with Justice, Occupy Tucson, and Union Workers march to save postal jobs


Arizona Unionists and Supporters Protest Proposed Anti-Labor Laws

White privilege? Video is worth a thousand words (video)

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by Pamela Powers Hannley

Dave Safier posted a short story this morning– Presented Without Comment— about the Three Sonorans' putdown of Safier's endorsement of Kristel Foster for the Tucson Unified School Board (TUSD).  (Whatever, I said I didn't agree with Dave either. People are allowed to have their own opinions.)

What Safier failed to mention was that the Three Sonorans also used the occasion to crack on Blog for Arizona and progressives, in general, and me, in particular. So, what else is new? Morales likes to pick on women who are vocal and active in politics. Just ask Loretta Hunnicutt, Kyrsten Sinema, Dolores Huerta, Janet Marcotte, DeeDee Blase, Adelita Grijalva, Gabby Giffords, Regina Romero, and Kristel Foster–to name a handful of his past targets. 

Sexism aside, I take issue with Morales' assertion that progressives take action and protest on the street corners when unions need our help but not when Latinos need our help. This false dichotomy implies that only white people belong to unions and that's why only white people care about them. Wrong. 

After the jump, watch the anti-SB1070 protest video, the protest video against anti-union legislation proposed by the Arizona Legislature, and testimony regarding anti-union activities at the IBEW Hall. You'll see progressives standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Latinos in all three videos.  (BTW, in the photo above, that's me in the turquoise dress, between the two cops, covering the UnDocuBus protest in Charlotte.)

TW and AZ Star on TUSD board race: Contrasting coverage shows media biases

by Pamela Powers Hannley Undoubtedly one of the more contentious local races this election season is the non-partisan 12-person race for three unpaid positions on the Tucson Unified School District's (TUSD) Governing Board. In this race, there are two University of Arizona professors, a call center supervisor, a Sunnyside School District employee, a self-employed landscaper, a … Read more

Gabriela Saucedo Mercer: ‘I heart SB1070’ (video)

by Pamela Powers Hannley

Sometimes you just don't know what you're going to find on the Internet. I was looking for something completely different, and Goggle gave me this…

After the jump, watch a 2010 video of Republican Congressional candidate and Mexican immigrant Gabriela Saucedo Mercer voicing her support for SB1070. (She also takes the opportunity to dump on Councilwoman Regina Romero and Congressman Raul Grijalva, her current opponent in the CD3 race.)

Hispanic Chamber opposes ‘Quality Education & Jobs’ Prop 204

by Pamela Powers Hannley I guess stingy Republicans come in all colors. Tucson's Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has voted to oppose the Quality Education and Jobs initiative (Prop 204) on the November ballot. In their opposition, they proudly join the Goldwater Institute, Governor Jan "Mother-of-SB1070" Brewer, former State Senate President Russell "Father-of-SB1070" Pearce, State Representative Debbie … Read more