by Buddy Bell After the end of World War II, a group of nations in the north Atlantic established NATO (pdf) to impede Russian influence over the reconstruction of Europe and to facilitate their own. The economic blueprint begun under the Marshall Plan and continued with NATO saw European member countries shift their energy dependency from coal to oil at a time when the U.S. was the world's leading oil producer, supplying more than a third of worldwide production from within its own (today, greatly oil-depleted) borders. A couple of decades earlier, the U.S. had already wrested from Britain effective control over vast petroleum reserves in Venezuela. This arrangement ensured that U.S. oil companies stood to make a fortune, setting a high price to fulfill Western Europe’s manufactured demand. Read More...

After approving a parade permit for a group protesting the G-8 and NATO summits in Chicago, the city has denied an identical application by the CANG8 seeking to move their parade one day later in the wake of the White House’s decision to move the G-8 conference.

The demonstrators asked to move their march from Saturday, May 19, after word came that the G-8 meeting scheduled to start that day had been moved by President Barack Obama to Camp David. The protesters filed a permit that was identical to the one the city approved for Saturday, except the date of protest was moved to Sunday, May 20, when the NATO meeting is set to start.

Read More:Chicago Tribune

From Znet
Barack Obama was right last week to move the annual rich nations’ confab called the G8 Summit from its originally scheduled venue of Chicago to a cloistered compound outside Washington DC – the president’s official retreat in Maryland’s secluded Camp David – next May. He knew that the Chicago G8 promised to be highly problematic both for his re-election campaign and for the great concentrated power structures he is sworn and predisposed to defend. Conscious that the ruling class hired his expectation-managing brand of “hope” and change” to (among other things) dazzle, dilute, dismiss, delude, divide, de-mobilize, de-fang, and otherwise destroy dissent, he grasped that his “home city” had become the perfect juicy spring protest target for the Left. As Chicago Alderman Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward) said, “Nobody can get near Camp David.” Read More...

The other welcoming committee for the NATO summit in May says it’s changing the date of its march to make sure protestors don’t miss the NATO ministers.

Listen Here:

Read More:CBS Chicago

Cami Invites you to / Cami te invita Konstruct peace concert/ Concier konstruct paz for the contingent to say no to NATO/OTAN / El contingente Del Pueble no to NATO/OTAM No to war & No to NATO/ No A La guerra & No a la OTAN Create Peace Not War/Konstruye La Paz No La Guerra Read More...

With world leaders of the G-8 nations fleeing the U.S.’ third largest city by moving their May summit to the rural woods outside Washington, the nation’s largest nurses union will bring Camp David and the G-8 summit back to Chicago for a special event on Friday, May 18. Read More...

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(Come early to discuss meeting facilitation; promptly starting at 6:00-7:00pm Facilitated Meeting; followed by 7:00-800pm break out discussions)

Information Sharing Event

Come discuss how you and your group, community or organization want to respond to the upcoming NATO conference coming to Chicago (May 19-21, 2012). This will be a facilitated public discussion where organizing efforts already underway will be shared as well as ideas for new forms and actions. Each organization should select or elect one or two representatives to speak publicly so that there will be time to hear from every formation present.

It’s not you, it’s me, said the White House in announcing their plan to move May’s G8 summit from Chicago to Camp David. They needed their space, they explained, “to facilitate a free-flowing discussion with our close G-8 partners.”

But in reality, we all knew: It was us.

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STOP will take action to make this point tonight, joining labor and community allies in pickets around the city at all 13 of the clinics facing closure and privatization. Press conferences will be at 5:15pm at the following clinics:
Auburn Gresham (1140 W. 79th st)
Rogers Park (1607 W. Howard St)
Northwest (2354 N. Milwaukee)
Read More...

‘March Against Wars’: As Israel and the U.S. gear up for war on Iraq, peace activists in Chicago will gather on March 18 to mark the 9th anniversary of the Iraq invasion -- where thousands of U.S. troops remain -- and call for end of U.S. military aggression across the globe. Read More...