By PAUL LAVERACK
EL NUEVO SOL
Bernard Hyland, a software analyst and progressive activist, visits the Occupy Los Angeles encampment, and shares his thoughts on how the Occupy movement could leverage its power with elected officials to reform the existing system, even as it seeks to make deeper, more revolutionary changes to the economic and political order.
By PAUL LAVERACK
EL NUEVO SOL
Jason, a cameraman on the Occupy LA media team, discusses the excitement and the obstacles he encountered while documenting the social movement against corporate greed, as he and hundreds of others camped on the lawn at Los Angeles City Hall for two months in the autumn of 2011.
By PAUL LAVERACK
EL NUEVO SOL
Occupy Los Angeles protestor Lucas provides a guided tour of the encampment at the City Hall lawn in downtown LA, and an introduction to several participants in the two-month-long protest against corporate greed. The tour was conducted on November 19, 2011 – eleven days before police forcibly removed the camp, arresting hundreds of protestors.
By PAUL LAVERACK
EL NUEVO SOL
Morris Griffin, a protestor at Occupy Los Angeles interviewed on Day 50 of the occupation – November 19, 2011 – demonstrates the creative nature of solutions to social problems which have emerged from the Occupy Wall Street movement.
By PAUL LAVERACK
EL NUEVO SOL
Prominent liberal journalist Harold Meyerson sits for an extended interview, in which he discusses the recent history of Los Angeles and the rise of Latinos as a political force, the decline of unions nationwide and the shoddy coverage they receive in the corporate press, as well as his thoughts on corporate power and the shrinking American middle class.
By PAUL LAVERACK
EL NUEVO SOL
Charles Bowden, award-winning journalist and author of Murder City: Ciudad Juárez and the Global Economy’s New Killing Fields, discusses his new book about the devastation wrought by the ongoing drug war in Mexico. Bowden shares his views on a variety of pressing social and political issues, as shown in a series of video excerpts from the discussion.
By PAUL LAVERACK
EL NUEVO SOL
Kara Hill, the architect and lead project designer for the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC), shares insights into the history of large performance spaces, and she details many of the personal and group decisions that influenced the construction of the VPAC, which opened in 2011 on the campus of California State University Northridge.
Por JACQUELINE GUZMÁN-GARCÍA
EL NUEVO SOL
Luis Álvarez, de 28 años de edad, decidío regresar a México en el 2009 después de haber obtenido una licenciatura en Ingenieria Eléctrica de la Universidad del Estado de California, Los Ángeles. Ahora, Luis puede compartir una historia de triunfo en la cual menciona que “El único obstáculo que te detiene de lograr tus sueños eres tú mismo”.
Por JACQUELINE GUZMÁN-GARCÍA
EL NUEVO SOL
Daniel, de 22 años de edad, vivió en Carolina del Sur por 13 años y decidío regresar a México en el 2007 después de graduarse de la preparatoria y darse cuenta que no habia posibilidades de que continuara una educación universitaria. Afortunadamente, fue aceptado en el Tecnológico de Monterrey en Mexico, donde este año obtendrá su licenciatura en Relaciones Internacionales.
More than a gallery, Avenue 50 Studio is a nonprofit arts organization with the purpose of inspiring intercultural understanding By YOSELIN MONTES-CASTILLO EL NUEVO SOL Avenue 50 Studio owner, Kathy Gallegos, sits at her desk surrounded by Latino and Chicano art, planning the next art exhibit. Every month, Gallegos coordinates events and invites some of the most talented Latino
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By: Sabela Scalise El Día de los Muertos crossed borders and cultures in the Hollywood Forever Cementery On Oct. 22, Hollywood Forever Cemetery hosted a large festival for all ages and cultures to come and join together and celebrate Dia de los Muertos, or “Day of the Dead.” Dia de los Muertos stems from an Aztec
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By PAUL LAVERACK
POLITICAL MUSCLE
This series of videos highlights several speakers from the “RePower LA” community meeting at the Pacoima Community Center on November 5, 2011. Speakers include Ricardo De Los Santos, a DWP trainee weatherizing low-income homes for energy efficiency; Eric Garcetti, the president of the Los Angeles City Council; Kent Minault, volunteer coordinator for the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign; and Ron Nichols, the general manager of Los Angeles Department of Water & Power.
By PAUL LAVERACK
POLITICAL MUSCLE
A coalition of civil society groups, including the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), Pacoima Beautiful, and the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign, meet in the Pacoima Community Center on November 5, 2011 in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles, CA, to share the thinking behind the RePower LA project, which seeks to achieve financial and environmental savings by improving energy-efficiency in the homes of area residents, and creating hundreds of new “green” jobs in the process.
By PAUL LAVERACK
POLITICAL MUSCLE
During this in-depth interview with Arman Hardwick and Jason Ackerman, two undergraduate student activists at Occupy CSUN on October 13, 2011, discussion ranges across the causes of the current economic downturn, FDR and his response to the Great Depression, the excesses of capitalism, solutions offered by socialism, and the need to get corporate money out of politics.
By PAUL LAVERACK
POLITICAL MUSCLE
A tiny contingent of student activists takes up a small patch of grass on the main lawn at Cal State University Northridge for “Occupy CSUN,” on October 13, 2011. The organizers claim peak attendance of 100 students at the encampment, though as the day wears on, the number dwindles to approximately a dozen. Though CSUN is one of the fifty largest universities in the entire country, the Occupy movement is unable to gain traction here, and the encampment vanishes that same night.
By PAUL LAVERACK
POLITICAL MUSCLE
Linda López, una recamarera del hotel Hyatt Century Plaza con quince años de experiencia, participa en una protesta fuera del lujoso hotel Hyatt Andaz en West Hollywood, CA., el 21 de julio de 2011. López describe cómo ella y otras recamareras están bajo presión constante, cómo se lesionan por exceso de trabajo y lo que el Hyatt Corporation quiere quitar a los trabajadores en sus negociaciones de contrato de dos años de duración.
By PAUL LAVERACK
POLITICAL MUSCLE
Hotel housekeepers for the Hyatt Corporation, and an official of their union, speak at a protest in front of the luxurious Hyatt Andaz hotel in West Hollywood, CA on July 21, 2011. They paint a picture of abnormally high injury rates, chronic overwork, and management that is deaf to the workers’ entreaties.
Journalist and author Juan González—co-host of “Democracy Now!”—visited California State University Northridge, as part of his book tour to promote News For All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media. The event, hosted by CSUN Latino Journalists and El Nuevo Sol, took place before an overflow crowd of faculty members and students from various departments.
By PAUL LAVERACK
POLITICAL MUSCLE
A variety of voices explain why they joined the strike against the Hyatt Andaz luxury hotel in West Hollywood, CA from September 8-15, 2011. Speakers include a housekeeper currently working at the Hyatt Andaz, as well as the union local president, a Congresswoman, a City Councilman, a member of the California Assembly, and the union’s Communications Director responding to a statement from Hyatt management.
By PAUL LAVERACK
POLITICAL MUSCLE
Listen to a series of voices from Occupy Los Angeles, during the Global Day of Action against corporate greed, as they reveal why they’ve come out to join the rest of the “ninety-nine percent” in demanding a more just, more equal system for all citizens. Interviewees include a family, a homeless street musician, young single adults, a professor from Cal State Fullerton, and the real-life inspiration for the movie, The Big Lebowski.
