From the newswire: "Activists with the Coalition Against the NATO and G8 War & Poverty Agenda (CANG8) this afternoon received a permit from the City of Chicago for a Saturday, May 19 march from Daley Plaza to McCormick Place, site of the NATO / G8 summits to be held May 19-21." But the permit includes an "escape clause" which would allow the Secret Service to nullify the permits. Read more

Also, Mayor Emanuel's "sit down and shut up" anti-protester ordinances have taken a beating in public opinion, so he revised it. But the revisions, despite claims from the Mayor's office to be substantial, appear upon review to be little more than cosmetic. Only a small number of changes — a reduced increase of fines, and elimination of the marshal requirement — appear in the update. The remaining restrictions — including the redefinition of "resisting arrest", onerous insurance requirements, requiring a week's advance notice, and stringent requirements on Chicago sidewalks — all remain in place. Read more

On Thursday, Mayor Emanuel pulled aldermen into closed-door meetings to lobby for proposed "improvements" to his effort to revise protest ordinances. But G8 / NATO protesters are ramping up pressure on the City Council to reject Mayor Emanuel's proposed "revisions", and have called on Chicagoans to urge a rejection of this ordinance. Read more

With Chicago slated to host the 2012 NATO/G8 summit in May 2012, Chicago officials are engaging in sabre-rattling against grassroots activists, first with wanton arrests admitted as "just practice for G8/NATO", and now with a proposed draconian rewrite of local Chicago laws involving public protest.

While the rewrite did get attention in Chicago's corporate media, aspects of it went little reported — like redefining "resisting arrest" to include passive resistance (like going limp), increasing the ranges of fines for violations, requiring $1 million dollars of liability insurance per protest, registering with the city at least a week in advance, and even imposing stringent requirements against protests, picket lines, or public assemblies on Chicago sidewalks.

Activists have raised the call to oppose this rewrite, with a forthcoming city council vote slated for January 18th. Read more

Related Links: Occupy Chicago: Operation Roll Call | FB event: J17 - Bill of Rights Funeral Service | FB Event: J18 - Chicago City Council: Stand Up For Our Rights

Since 2003, Chicago Indymedia has compiled its annual collected list of links of articles, resources, and posts made to the Chicago Indymedia newswire for the annual Chicago Indymedia Year In Review. We are pleased to announce the 2011 Chicago Indymedia Year in Review, with more than 300 collected links.

On October 8, 2011, Chicago activist Pat Hunt was arrested over two alleged ordinance violations during the Chicago grassroots protest over the 10th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan.

On December 6th, the City of Chicago dropped the charges against Hunt. National Lawyers Guild attorney Jeff Frank said that the violations were simply a cover for harassing protesters, and Hunt was targeted because she was the signatory of the protest permit application. Indeed, an attorney with the city even admitted: "You know, this is just practice for G8/NATO." Read more

The December 2011 episode of Chicago Independent Television features segments about the 10th anniversary of 9/11 with dueling demonstrations squaring off at ground zero, the sordid history of Chicago's new mayor Rahm Emanuel, and reaction from Chicago media activists to the "hackergate" scandal rocking the media empire of News Corporation's Rupert Murdoch.

Read more about Episode 73 | CIMC TV Podcast | CIMC Video Page | CITV on YouTube | CITV on Free Speech TV | CITV on iTunes

The November 2011 episode of From The Trenches features presentations from Media Democracy Day 2011, held in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, featuring presentations on the history of Chicago's media, the leading media democracy stories of 2011, and a depiction of community media involvement. Plus headlines from the worldwide Indymedia network.

Download November 2011 episode | Chicago Indymedia's radio page | CIMC / FTT Radio podcast feed | From The Trenches on iTunes

The November 2011 episode of Chicago Independent Television includes segments direct from the scenes of Occupy Wall Street in New York and Occupy Chicago in the Windy City, as well as with a recent protest for peace in Chicago on the tenth anniversary of the U.S. war in Afghanistan.

Read more about Episode 72 | CIMC TV Podcast | CIMC Video Page | CITV on YouTube | CITV on Free Speech TV | CITV on iTunes

"Thousands gathered and marched on October 22 for the second weekend in a row to occupy public space at Congress Parkway and Michigan Avenue as part of the groundswell of support for the international 'Occupy Wall Street' movement for economic justice. More than a hundred occupiers were arrested — including National Nurses United nurses for refusing to abandon their first aid tent to support protesters/occupiers in Grant Park. Nurses are calling an emergency picket on Monday, October 24 at 10AM at City Hall, 121 N. LaSalle St., to demand that all charges against protesters be dropped and the City end its refusal to grant public access to public spaces and end its attacks on civil liberties.

Indymedia coverage: PHOTOS: Protest — Occupy Chicago 10-22 | Press Release condemning arrests/call for Monday morning protest/National Nurses United | Occupy Chicago: "Free speech does not end at 11PM!" | Video: Occupy Chicago takes Liberation Square at Michigan Avenue and Congress | Occupy Chicago breaking updates/website