Protest Reports
In a bold yet peaceful demonstration of civic engagement, a group of determined Ohioans gathered Tuesday in the Rotunda of the Ohio Statehouse to take action against the proposed amendment to H.B. 315. This amendment, which incorporates the controversial IHRA definition of antisemitism, has sparked widespread concern over its potential impact on free speech and the First Amendment.
The sit-in was carefully planned as a way to both garner media attention and directly address legislators. Sitting in a circle beneath the grand dome of the Statehouse, participants passed out call scripts and worked together to make phone calls and write emails to their representatives. This unique form of advocacy transformed the Rotunda into a hub of collective action, with citizens uniting their voices in the very space where decisions are made.
As representatives walked by, participants continued to make calls and send emails, ensuring their presence and concerns were impossible to ignore. This wasn’t just a call for attention—it was a clear message to lawmakers: “We’re here, we’re engaged, and we demand to be heard.”
For Gaza We Rise. Sunday, October 6, 2024, 3:00 PM. Commenorating 1 year of resistance. Sponsored by OSU Students for Justice in Palestine.
Watch video here.
Video by Scot Lacy, Milopictures
This is the first event in a series of a Week of Rage.
As a full year of genocide approaches, the zionist regime’s ruthless aggression has only intensified. With over 300,000 martyrs in Gaza and apocalyptic scenes unfolding in Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, the occupation’s fascism continues to be laid bare before our eyes.
It has never been more vital to show a unified front against the ongoing genocide in Palestine. We urge everyone to join us at every event to honor all our martyrs and continue the fight for liberation. As long as Palestine, Lebanon, and other countries stand steadfast in their resistance against the zionist entity, so do we. We will remain fearlessly until liberation is achieved.
A national veterans’ organization today called for a grand jury to indict Department of State (DOS) Secretary Antony Blinken and the U.S. Ambassador to Israel for lying to Congress, violating the Export Control Act, the Genocide Prevention Act and the U.S. War Crimes Act.
We're working on four peaceful ways to peace and need your help on all four of them. None of them are easy, as they go straight through the U.S. Senate, the corporate media, the United Nations, and college campuses. Join in!
Dear Mayor Johnson:
We are passionately asking that you not do during the upcoming Chicago Democratic Convention what then-Mayor Richard J. Daley did in 1968: plant the seeds of chaos and pave the way for a Republican President.
It’s widely expected there will be many thousands of marchers at this year’s DNC, protesting the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. It is essential the city do everything in its power to accommodate them and help keep the marches peaceful… as it did NOT do in 1968.
During the ’68 protests, we were among the thousands there to march peacefully against the war in Vietnam. While standing at the corner of Michigan and Balbo, we were clubbed by police. To our immediate north, fellow demonstrators were pushed through a large plate glass window and into a restaurant. Infamously, angry police then poured inside and beat them and many astonished patrons who were trying to eat dinner.
It was a horrendous scene that was totally avoidable. It helped put Richard Nixon in the White House and prolong the Vietnam War for seven awful years.
A group of consumers and environmental and democracy organizations held a press conference at the Thomas Worthington Center on May 29 to demand that Ohio Attorney General David Yost dissolve FirstEnergy Corporation for its central role in the massive bribery scheme to pass House Bill 6. Members of the FirstEnergy Accountability Coalition at the Ohio Statehouse urged Yost, who has filed a civil suit against the company, to dissolve the company pursuant to the Ohio Revised Code 2923.34(B)(3).
Activists dressed as Ida B. Wells and 1920s reporters pointed out to the crowd that citizens have the right to dissolve corporations.
Students for Justice in Palestine and Palestine Diaspora Movement came together for a statewide protest. May 15th was the 76th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, which means "catastrophe."
The 1948 founding of Israel was preceded and accompanied by a massive ethnic cleansing operation to remove as many of the Muslim and Christian inhabitants as possible. During Israel's "war of independence," over 750,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes, never to be allowed to return. Hundreds of towns were razed; villagers were massacred.
Tragically, Israel has violated human rights in a similar fashion and on an unprecedented scale over the past 7 months during its attacks on Gaza, drawing global condemnation and breaching international law.
Almost 40 years ago, I attended The Ohio State University. I was so proud that when I was presented with different options for my graduate studies, I chose OSU and prayed to be admitted. My prayers were answered. Ever since, Columbus has been my home. My children are Buckeyes. That was a no-brainer in our family. So proud that while working overseas, myself and other Buckeyes formed an OSU Alumni Club with many activities. We even created social media groups for those of us who attended OSU. In other words, I am a Buckeye to the bone as well as my entire family. At one point, my daughter Jana, while my wife was at work, asked that we remodel her room with an OSU theme. Sure enough, we went to Sears, bought scarlet and gray paint and painted her room and furniture with OSU colors. The Lantern has articles with our names, mine and my children, being cited on so many issues, domestic and international. OSU St John Arena was selected for the “Town Meeting” planned by President Clinton where he sent his national security team —National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, Defense Secretary William Cohen and Secretary of State Madeline Albright, when he planned to bomb Iraq.
Canada must stop arming Israel, said more than 200 workers who blocked the entrances to a Toronto weapons manufacturer Friday morning.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”