Just as opposition to neoliberal economic policies was generating new protests around the world, on Oct. 12 the US Congress passed long-delayed neoliberal free trade agreements (FTAs, or TLCs in Spanish) with Colombia, South Korea and Panama. The three agreements were negotiated by the administration of former US president George W. Bush (2001-2009); the Colombia FTA was signed in 2006, and the Korea and Panama FTAs were signed in 2007. But approval by Congress was delayed because of partisan maneuvering and the unpopularity of previous agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Many Democrats and US labor leaders opposed the Colombia pact because of continuing murders of unionists in the South American country.

Latin America's protests on the Oct. 15 global day of action around the economic system were not especially large—in comparison either to the massive protests in Europe that day or to many Latin American demonstrations around the same issues over recent years. But for leaders, writers and activists in the region the day was an historic event, both because of the participation of people around the globe and because of the unusual leading role of a movement based in the US.

Joining others in more than 900 cities around the world, Latin American activists protested on Oct. 15 to demonstrate their discontent with the global economic system. The demonstrations got a significant boost from Occupy Wall Street, a US movement that started with an action in New York on Sept. 17, but the Latin American protests also referenced the Real Democracy Now movement that developed in Spain last spring; the Spanish protests were inspired in turn by protests in Tunisia and Egypt at the beginning of the year. In Spanish-speaking countries the movement is widely known as "15-M," from May 15, the day when protests started in Madrid. Like the Spanish protesters, Latin American participants call themselves los indignados and las indignadas—"the angry ones," or "the indignant ones."

The Libertarian Book Club,* New York City's oldest continuously active anarchist institution (founded 1946), kicks off the fall season of its Anarchist Forum series as legendary Northern California songster and activist Darryl Cherney returns to his native New York for a sneak-preview screening of his new film Who Bombed Judi Bari?—revealing the story behind the 1990 terror attack in Oakland on ecological defenders struggling to protect some of the last surviving old-growth redwoods from the timber barons. Director Mary Liz Thomsonwill also be on hand.

On Oct. 15, the day of the global Occupy Wall Street protests, World War 4 Report editor Bill Weinberg produced the third Internet edition of the Moorish Orthodox Radio Crusade in the Lower East Side's Tompkins Square Park. While waiting to see if the OWS protesters would come down from their big rally at Times Square to gather in Tompkins Square, Bill discusses the history of civil unrest on the Lower East Side going all the way back to the 1850s. Later, when word arrives that the OWS protesters had instead gathered in Washington Square, Bill and cameraman Stephen Sherman head there for footage and interviews.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) last week urged the Canadian government to investigate and arrest former US president George W. Bush for his role in torture, ahead of his travel to an economic summit in British Columbia. AI's submission to Canadian authorities emphasizes Bush's authorization of "enhanced interrogation techniques" including waterboarding, which Bush has admitted.

A new allegation has emerged in the supposed plot by agents of Iran's elite Quds Force to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, which resulted in federal indictments being unsealed in Manhattan last week. Reuters reports Oct. 14 that "Saudi officials advised Argentina four months ago of an alleged Iran-backed plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington and possibly attack the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Buenos Aires," according to an unnamed "Argentine diplomatic source." Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Argentine source reportedly told Reuters: "The Saudis advised us four months ago, at the request of the United States."

At least 20 inmates were killed and 12 injured in rioting Oct. 15 at a prison in the violence-torn Mexican border city of Matamoros. The Tamaulipas state Public Security Secretariat said fighting broke out between two inmates at the Execution and Sanction Center (CEDES),* and soon dozens more from rival gangs piled on. Federal and state police as well as army troops were brought in to help guards restore control of the facility. News footage showed helicopters hovering over the prison's gray watchtower. (LAT, El Universal, Oct. 16)