[iDC] indymedia reporter killed

[Dara G]

Hello,
I haven't posted much on this list but I ran into Trebor soon after  
hearing this sad news about a fellow media activist being killed by  
agents of repression in Oaxaca, and he suggested it might be valuable  
to this list.  I only met Brad Will a few times at protests, Critical  
Mass, and at Times Up bike space in NY. Although, frighteningly, many  
journalists have been killed in the past few years in the various  
conflicts around the world, I believe this is the first US Indymedia  
reporter. It is very shocking and sad for the DIY independent media  
community and the Indymedia world wide network.  Today  in NY there  
is a protest at the Mexican Consulate, 27 E. 39th St, at Madison  
Avenue starting at 9 am.
Best, Dara


Brad Will was shot to death on October 27, 2006 by government backed  
paramilitaries in Oaxaca, Mexico.
He was there reporting on the teachers strike for Indymedia; video  
camera in hand when a bullet hit his chest.
Brad was well known in NY activist and anarchist circles for fighting  
for housing, community gardens, and shooting video of social  
struggles around the world.

This is his last video document from his camera in Oxaca:
http://video.indymedia.org/en/2006/10/542.shtml

Below are more links and the press release.
http://nyc.indymedia.org
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/10/77809.html

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

October 28, 2006, 12:40 a.m. Contact:
Beka Economopoulos, (917) 202-5479
Brandon Jourdan, (646) 342-8169
Eric Laursen, (917) 806-6452

WILLIAM BRADLEY ROLAND, U.S. JOURNALIST/CAMERMAN, KILLED BY OAXACA  
PARAMILITARIES – KILLER ID'D - ACTIONS BEING PLANNED IN U.S.

William Bradley Roland, aka Brad Will, a U.S. journalist and  
camerman, was shot and killed yesterday in Oaxaca, Mexico, by  
paramiliaries affiliated with the PRI, the former Mexican ruling  
party. Will was in Oaxaca covering the continued resistance of  
teachers and other workers against the PRI-controlled government of  
the State of Oaxaca. According to reports from New York City  
Independent Media Center and La Jornada, Will, 36, was shot at the  
Santa Lucia Barricade from a distance of 30-40 meters in the pit of  
the stomach by plainclothes paramilitaries and died while enroute to  
the Red Cross.

Centro de Medias Libres ( http://vientos.info/cml) in Mexico City  
reports that from Will's recovered videiotapes, they have identified  
his killer as a paramilitary named Pedro Carmona, ex-president of  
Felipe Carrillo Puerto de Santa Lucia del Camino, a colonia in Oaxaca.

At last report, Will was one of five people who died in the last day,  
along with 17 wounded, as paramilitaries and federal police poured in  
to retake the city, according to Centro de Medias Libres. The city  
had been in the hands of the workers for five months. Will is the  
first American to be killed in the months-long confrontation. A  
longtime journalist and activist, he covered land occupations in the  
Pacific Northwest of the U.S., direct actions and rebellions in  
Argentina and Ecuador, land occupations in Brazil, and anti- 
privatization struggles in Bolivia. He was a much-beloved figure in  
the global justice movement in the U.S. and leaves behind many  
grieving friends.

Friends of Brad in the U.S. will be calling actions in the next day  
to demand that the U.S. State Department press the Mexican government  
to investigate Brad's murder and address the terroristic regime that  
made it possible. Additionally, they will press for solidarity in the  
U.S. with the Mexican movement for social justice that Brad gave his  
life to document in Oaxaca. 
-------------- next part --------------
Skipped content of type multipart/related