Late last year, the National Socialist Movement announced the opening of a California chapter based in Riverside, the largest city in southern part of the state's Inland Empire. On September 26, they held a protest at the corner at Madison and Indiana, where people of color gather to look for work. In response, activists formed a broad-based coalition composed of political parties, students groups, labor unions, churches, and community groups to demonstrate their opposition to racism and hatred at City Hall. Meanwhile, a smaller contingent of antifascist activists took a more direct approach at the targeted corner, confiscating swastika-laden flags from the nazis and ultimately expelling the ragtag bunch after a few small skirmishes.
Humiliated, the Nazis decided to return the following month. Once again, the community rallied against them, drawing anywhere between 700 and 1000. On this occasion, however, the racists enjoyed the protection of numerous riot-gear clad police officers from multiple agencies who allowed them to make their hateful stand. When valiant antifascists from the Brown Berets penetrated the police perimeter, a small conflict took place. The day ended with two of our comrades behind bars, one for disobeying a police order and the other for throwing a "deadly weapon" later identified as a lemon.
As Nazis continued to organize, community activists recognized the need to increase the pressure. They published Jeff Hall's home address, which he uses as a base of operations, and called for a protest, scheduled to take place during the NSM's monthly meeting. "We're doing this because there are people in our community--people of color--who live in that neighborhood," explained one of the organizers, who asked to remain anonymous.
In response, the Nazis published a flyer calling for a demonstration at the home of a longtime Riverside activist, accusing him of "child endangerment," who had been active in the anti-Nazi organizing last year. Apparently, the Nazis were under the impression that the Riverside activist--who is Jewish--had called for the demonstration at the Nazi house, where a young child also resides. The Riverside activist was not involved in the planning and execution of the home demonstration, but made a handy scapegoat, especially for those who believe that people of color are incapable of organizing in their own defense. Unlike Hall, the activist, who is a leader in a statewide socialist party, does not use his home as a base for organization.
However, due to the the overwhelming presence of California human rights defenders at the National Day of Action for Arizona, turnout was relatively low. Only about seven members of the SoCal Antiracist Network were present, backed up by a contingent of about five Brown Berets. "Our reason for being there was to be security, to get Chicanos out of there if anything happened. We were not there to break any laws, we were not intending to go into the house," said of the the leaders from the Brown Berets.
Four police officers in riot gear were at the end of the cul-de-sac where Hall lives, and the police helicopter hovered overhead. Once the antifascists took their stand, a crowd of about thirty Nazis in full fascist costume swarmed out of the house and confronted one of the organizers. "We're not here to fight," he explained, and backed up about thirty feet. The Nazi charged him aggressively, but the antiracist defended himself, knocking the Nazi out cold at the end of his charge. The Nazis continued their offensive against the antiracists, chanting "Get the girl!" and attempting to strike the only woman present, a member of the Brown Berets. They brandished two firearms as police looked on, refusing to intervene in the violence. "If you don't like it, get out of here," one of the officers told a member of the Berets.
In light of the armed Nazi aggression, the antiracists withdrew their picket for the day. The antifascist struggle in Riverside, however, is anything but over.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Calling All LA Anarchists: Invitation to Participate in Insurgent Summer
What is this summer's most radical online project? *Insurgent Summer* is an online book reading and cooperative blog discussion of Fredy Perlman’s 1976 book *Letters of Insurgents*. This is a 800+ page book of fictional letters between two Eastern European workers, Yarostan Vochek and Sophia Nachalo, separated by twenty-five years and two continents. As they reconnect through an exchange of letters, we learn about the battles they have fought – physical, political, emotional, and moral – and eventually the ones they have left to fight.
Your reading of *Letters* will begin on *June 11, 2010*, with the first of the ten exchanges between Yarostan and Sophia. Each week, three "Guides" (DeAnna, Artnoose, and Andrej) will post discussion pieces, reflections and analysis, preparing the terrain for an engaging discussion to which everyone is invited! We will conclude on August 20, in honor of Fredy Perlman's birthday!
Though copies of the book are limited, we are happy announce that we have both audio and full-text downloads of *Letters of Insurgents* available. Insurgent Summer is an opportunity to read one of the most important books of anarchist fiction and morality of all time. Please visit *http://insurgentsummer.org/* for more information, and let us know that you're going to participate!
Also please post on websites, twitter feeds, send to friends, etc.!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Calling All LA Anarchists: August 2010 - We Are Everywhere (Dispatch from the CrimethInc. Ex-Workers' Collective)
By now, anarchists and anti-authoritarians across the country have probably given up waiting for an announcement of the annual CrimethInc. Convergence. The truth is that as experienced organizers grow more weary of repeating themselves, and the emerging energetic anarchist communities are all tending to be less and less interested in organizing, few places seem to be appropriate candidates for this summer’s convergence. Moreover, by early spring it was already too late in the game for a community to come forward and offer to host the event, and interest simply had not surfaced.
In possibly the first great anarchist mistake of the decade, the CrimethInc. Experimental Committee was founded in late January. Their first assignment? To preserve and integrate the best elements of the convergence into a new model, adjust them to strengthen longstanding weaknesses, all the while upping the ante in a way that serves the anarchist community as a whole. At first, we thought their solution was a bad idea, so we commissioned a report and quickly changed our minds.
You’re being invited to participate in CrimethInc.’s next big experiment: a decentralized convergence.
THE OBJECTIVES
To create and maintain points of entry everywhere. To demonstrate our ability to work together despite internal differences and external obstacles. To invigorate anarchist infrastructure rather than lean on it. To orchestrate a show of force in solidarity with anti-authoritarians all over the world. To inspire curious newcomers without exhausting our vigor. To illuminate the map like a starchart of constellations. To remind ourselves – everyone – that we are everywhere.
THE CHALLENGE
Can anarchists mobilize to achieve these objectives with a tight deadline? In an effort to test and strengthen our potential, we’re inviting anarchists of all stripes and contexts to participate in a widespread and decentralized demonstration of outreach and infrastructure. To get involved, all that is required is that you facilitate or organize one or more events that will occur simultaneously across North America throughout the month of August.
THE PLAN
During August, we make anarchist principles and activity visible and accessible at a scale never before attempted. Consider it an international month of action; the activities can be of any caliber and temperament, and can appear anywhere: in the news, in the library, in the bedroom, in the supermarket, at the Really Really Free Market, on the streets, and so on. Use this as an opportunity to explore and experiment: if you aren’t typically involved in local mutual aid projects, give it a go; if you’ve never gone on a tour before, plan one with your friends; if you write zines, write banners; if you author theory, stage a reading; if you occupy classrooms, teach one for free. Whatever you do, wherever you go, wave the black flag for everyone to see –including, and perhaps especially for, our friends and comrades – and let the world see that we are everywhere.
THE SKELETON
To supplement the individual events we’re inviting people who’d like to teach workshops, perform skits and puppet shows, and share music and videos, to organize tours with their friends. The troupe could be just one person – you – or as many friends and companions as you can pack into a vehicle: whatever is doable and exciting. You could schedule events in a few towns in your region over a weekend, or cross the continent in a month. Your theme could be acute, spreading awareness about specific campaigns against mountain-top removal, evictions, state repression, the tar sands of Canada, the oil spill, oppression, or for mutual aid projects, solidarity with struggles happening here or elsewhere, or obscure theory. Or it could be more broad – raising awareness about anarchism itself.
Decentralized tours could the most appropriate and safe way for the anarchist community to achieve the objectives of the nationwide convergence. Accessible points of entry can emerge in all of the places that anarchists already are. Inspirational experiences can be had with new people. The diversity of anarchist perspectives and positions can be celebrated and affirmed in a way that allows them to work together, allowing us all to hold our commonalities close and activate our solidarity.
We’re pleased to announce that several tours have already signed up as endorsers: The Conspiracy Tour [USA], The Emergency Tour [USA-Midwest], and Testament & Illogick [Canada]. If you already plan on touring with a project during August, you can plug into the strategy with almost no additional effort. If you haven’t planned anything during August, please consider organizing a tour in solidarity with all those who will be organizing events in their hometowns. This goes most especially for everyone who has participated in CrimethInc Convergences in past years, and is able and willing. To help offset the price of fuel, you might consider distributing free literature for donations, and selling books and screenprinted items – if you’re partial, the Literature Distro Kit is one of the cheapest places to start.
In the next few weeks, we’ll be maintaining a list of tour dates both organized within our challenging timeframe and scheduled for the month of August. To add your project to the itinerary, please email experimental.committee@gmail.com as soon as possible, and we can publish your public events as they unfold.
THE NERVE
Drawing from the lessons of Steal Something From Work Day, our work should effectively utilize modern modes of communication and reclaim their functions when necessary.
Twitter – We can use Twitter to announce your events and simultaneously contribute to the volume of the phenomenon. If you use twitter, tag your tweets with #AnarchistsEverywhere to let people locate it in a search of the entire campaign. If we remember that these tweets are public and can function as promotional work, we can contribute to the campaign 140 characters at a time.
YouTube & Vimeo – We can upload short vignettes that promote the campaign and will be relevant for years to come. Our current recommendation is the proliferation of short 45 second clips ending in the slogan “WE ARE EVERYWHERE”. To avoid the alienation that can sometimes be felt when watching high-quality video production, it is encouraged that these clips be shot with cell phones to remind everyone that they can make their own. To contribute your video to the campaign, simply tag it with “AnarchistsEverywhere”.
Social Networking – Share this blog entry, and when more web projects and videos emerge share those too. Announce local events to everyone that you communicate with through that medium. While you’re at it, be mindful of the networks you imply on facebook.
Of course, it is also important that we create signposts in the real world too. Design posters, t-shirts, stencils, stickers, and other folk-art projects and spread them everywhere. See this appendix for helpful slogans.
THE HEART
Of course, each tour will make this campaign exponentially larger, but this August won’t be about tours. More important is what is going on in each place they pass through; if you are part of an active community – even if that community is just you –you can make your town another mark on our constellation map, which is a substantial contribution. In the context of this campaign, doing locally what tours cannot is considerably more effective than an elaborate schedule of tours. You are a part of the everywhere.
Ultimately, this campaign is about doing what we do every day. In working together as a decentralized concert of actions and activities we can collectively establish visibility for our local efforts and global struggles. For inspiration, check out Recipes for Disaster if you haven’t already, or you could plan a workshop, block party, public discussion group – even a bike ride. Put quite simply: if you’ve got a black flag and the will to fly it, this August the world will be watching.
Whatever you do, your contribution will be a part of an experiment to determine our collective power-to and solidarity-with – no amount of participation is too small, and everyone’s efforts will be counted.
THE DETAILS
Please read the arguments for decentralizing the CrimethInc. Convergence and the implications of a successful August 2010. Whether or not your project is a tour complete with a list of dates and venues, or a single event open to the public, it is still valuable and worthwhile to promote as a part of this campaign. Please email details to experimental.committee@gmail.com for help promoting your event.
APPENDIX of SLOGANS {not just a big joke}
In reclaiming and reworking modern marketing and advertisement strategies, we can re-appropriate the elements of our social conditions. Opportunities to do so will be self-evident: wherever capitalist imagery and sentiment competes for our attention. To do so effectively we would benefit from maintaining relative consistency throughout this campaign. This campaign is already built on a concept that both demands participation and refuses to be homogenized by those with particularly concentrated resources; the message is that we are everywhere and therefore the aesthetic will naturally benefit from the wide spectrum of positions from which these messages can emerge. Additionally, we cannot successfully demonstrate our prevalence without communicating things that describe our politics and the widespread nature of our resistance. That these things are true does not mean we cannot create a consistent and circular front of visibility – this can happen by taking advantage of the strategies outlined above in the nerve section and by making prolific use of, and following the various style guides accompanying, the following slogans:
- { for use wherever possible, and most appropriate }
- { for use in pre-august promotional material }
- { anytime you need a clever supplement }
- WE ARE EVERYWHERE
- WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS AUGUST?
- GET ALL OVER THE PLACE
- { The Circle A }
- DOING BEING EVERYWHERE
- PARTY THIS AUGUST
- MAKE TOTAL ALL OVER THE PLACE
- NO ONE IS ILLEGAL – WE ARE EVERYWHERE
- THE BLOCK IS HOT, AUGUST WILL BE HOTTER
- STOLEN LAND IS ALL OVER THE PLACE
- AN INJURY SOMEPLACE IS AN INJURY EVERYWHERE
- TAKE IT OVER THIS AUGUST
- ONE BIG EVERYWHERE
- OUR PLACE IS ALL OVER THE PLACE
- TAKE BACK THE NIGHT THIS AUGUST
- MOTHERS WORK EVERYWHERE
- WE WANT YOU
- ANARCHISM IS IN THIS AUGUST
- BASH BACK EVERYWHERE
- AGAINST CAPTIVITY EVERYWHERE
- BREAK THROUGH THIS AUGUST
- GROW BACK ALL OVER THE PLACE
A Post Sentencing Statement From Dave Solidarity
A Post-Sentencing Statement From Dave Solidarity
On June 1, I was sentenced to a 1 month stay in a Federal Prison, starting June 22nd, after being convicted of a 'violation of the terms of my supervised release.' To give a little bit of background, in 2006, I was convicted of 'damaging United States property' after setting fire to an Army recruiting center in the Bronx, and served 6 months in a federal prison, followed by 3 years of 'supervised release.' Last year, a few months before this term of supervised release was set to expire, I was arrested outside of the second occupation of the New School, and charged with assaulting an officer, rioting, resisting arrest and maybe a couple other things.
While ultimately all of the State charges were dropped, my 'supervision' status allowed the federal government to pick up the slack and ultimately take me to trial on the same charges, only with a lower standard of proof ('a preponderance of evidence' as opposed to 'beyond a reasonable doubt') and with rules allowing hearsay, in this case, from the pigs called in to testify. The prosecution recommended a sentence of 9 months, plus 2 years of supervised release and some other stuff that I'll go into later, but ultimately I got the 1 month in, plus 1 additional year of supervised release, plus 200 hours of community service.
Okay, so that's the bare bones boring stuff. Now I get to take this opportunity, as someone who already is one of the usual suspects, and unquestionably under surveillance, to say some wild shit that others trying to preserve their relative freedom would be unable to.
Let's go point by point.
1. I am a crazy motherfucker.
When I was first sentenced for setting fire to that Army recruiting center, part of the judge's sentence was that for the entire three years I was on supervised release, I attend weekly therapy sessions, so that "I could understand why I did what I did". At the time, I remember thinking 'it's pretty fucking obvious why..." but didn't go much deeper than that. After I got back to NYC, my PO sent me to my assigned therapist and the goal of state-mandated therapy became more clear.
After a month of these 'sessions', I realized that not only was this therapist reporting everything I said to my PO, but my PO was telling the therapist what areas to 'probe deeper into.' Most of this involved him trying to get to the bottom of why I really had problems with authority. 'Because I'm an anarchist?- But what about your relationship with your Dad..?' So that had to end. When I got a little bit of money together to switch to a therapist of my choosing, who refused to tell my PO anything about what happened other than the fact that I showed up, the probation department took me to court, a battle that I eventually won.
In that case, my lawyer argued that my political beliefs were being looked at as a pathology, and that the probation department was using therapy as political re-education camp. Now I am in exactly the same position-Once again, I've been sentenced to weekly therapy. At the sentencing hearing, the prosecution stressed the need for this therapy, because "I had exhibited an extreme problem with authority, particularly police officers." While at first I got angry about their characterization of me, I realized that they're right.
The past 10 years of my life have been dedicated to fighting authority in general, whether they be the pigs, politicians or bosses. They all have to go. So, if that makes me crazy, fuck it. When I hear about cops getting attacked in Seattle, I get all jittery and excited. When I read about French workers taking their bosses hostage, I wanted to catch the next plane over. The best part: I'm not the only one who's crazy like this. Most people are 'crazy', and every day, more and more people are starting to do something about it.
2. We need to step up our game.
One of the benefits of being an anarchist 'usual suspect' in NYC, is that it allows me a rare glimpse into the mind of the government, and I've found that there's not much going on in there. Every time something gets blown up around these parts, (you know, annually, when one of those cute little packages gets delivered from everyone's favorite cyclist) the Feds show up at my house (I'm never there) or follow me around everywhere, or call me into my PO's office, because they know I have to show up there. And every time they start asking questions, it becomes abundantly clear that they are unable to understand how anarchists operate. They keep trying to find leaders, or try to make dubious connections between above ground groups and actions that occur. Their obvious frustration is what leads to the kind of prosecution that put Eric McDavid away, which will hopefully be overturned on appeal.
But what we need to recognize is that this shows our strength! When we stop squabbling with each other for long enough to extend our struggle, it turns out that fighting without leaders and without hierarchy actually works. Given that we're still in a period of 'crisis', this is the time we need to be hitting the hardest.
Now, some people have been leading the way(see Mayday 2k10). Much of the negative response towards those actions falls into the 'it's only going to bring greater repression' category. Of course it is, but what the hell did you expect when you decided you were an 'anarchist'?
This is the point where I get to pull out my 'former/pending political prisoner' card, and say people are going to catch some heat, but guess what-there's over 2 million fucking people in prison. My whole neighborhood is under police occupation. I'm going to prison for a violation-level charge of 'resisting arrest'. Shit is bad, and anyone who fights back is going to potentially subject to consequences. We have to understand this, and take calculated risks, but when they take some of our people, we hit back harder.
3. Hitting Back.
I mean this literally. Solidarity means attack, remember? There have to be real, tangible consequences for the state or capital attacking us. However, the only way this can be sustainable is if we get out of the anarchist ghetto. This means putting our energies towards helping out with other peoples struggles, and building real relationships in the places that we live. Is your neighbor getting evicted? Well, guess what, landlords have addresses. The police are running up on your block to grab somebody? You and your neighbors have to let them know there's gonna be consequences.
The point, however, isn't just to fight for the sake of fighting. We're trying to create some kind of liberated spaces, right? This means actually creating spaces, and then militantly defending them.
Look at how Portland is doing it-they're getting a little wild in their battle against the cops. NYC needs to catch up...
4. ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK.
The only way we're going to be able to maintain any of our efforts at creating liberated spaces is if we go on the offensive. If by day we're running community centers, doing alternative education, fixing bikes, or growing our own food, by night we're attacking the police stations, the business owners, the real estate agencies. There is no conflict between these two ends, because guess what, Capital with the assistance of the State is going to come down hard these projects sooner or later, and if we've been on the offensive this whole time, we'll be much better prepared to fight back. We'll be building alliances and through those connections finding people with whom to go on the attack. And when the shit hits the fan? We won't be 'those crazy anarchists'; people will know who the fuck we are.
From where I stand, what you get out of building things up in your neighborhood or town is necessary to be a complete person, whether it's helping out with childcare or whatever. The same is true of striking back against the forces that make our lives miserable in a million different ways, both large and small. The point is to make these two goals complement each other.
5. Don't get all worked up about a cracker being locked up.
So, I gotta end this by pointing out the obvious-as a white man from a relatively "privileged" background, I'm getting a slap on the wrist. But there's over a hundred prisoners in the US from less privileged backgrounds who have been sitting in prison for literally decades. Many of these folks were part of liberation struggles in the 60s and 70s who took part in actions that make anything we've ever done look tame in comparison. Millions of dollars taken to fund revolutionary activities? Check. Assassinating cops in response to the police murdering Black people? Check. Busting comrades out of prison? Check.
So, take a second to check out listing of prisoners done by the Anarchist Black Cross Federation, at abcf.net. Start up a correspondence with one of these folks, throw a benefit for them, figure out a way to get them the fuck out of prison. Also, check out the work done by local ABCs, especially those in Denver, NYC and Toronto at denverabc.wordpress.com and nycabc.wordpress.com or 4strugglemag.org(Toronto).
So, in closing, I'd like to address a few words directly at the federal employees who will be reading this, particularly those in the Probation Department and our friends in the NYC Joint Terrorism Task Force (especially those fat motherfuckers that keep showing up at my court dates):
First and foremost, fuuuuuuuuucccckkkkk you. It doesn't matter how many times you try and get my ass up in that court, or how many times you lock me up, or how many times you show up at my house (I will never be there). I'm never gonna stop. But guess what, much as you wish this were the case, I'm not a lone wingnut. There's thousands of us, all over the place, and this shit's just gonna keep growing, and we'll keep fighting.
Finally, remember when you brought up in court that part of the communique I wrote when I was like 18, about how I was trying not only to bring down the United States, but to abolish the idea of the state itself? Yeah, I'm still on that shit.
Can't Stop Won't Stop,
Dave Solidarity
As soon as Dave's address in jail is available, it will be put out widely.
On June 1, I was sentenced to a 1 month stay in a Federal Prison, starting June 22nd, after being convicted of a 'violation of the terms of my supervised release.' To give a little bit of background, in 2006, I was convicted of 'damaging United States property' after setting fire to an Army recruiting center in the Bronx, and served 6 months in a federal prison, followed by 3 years of 'supervised release.' Last year, a few months before this term of supervised release was set to expire, I was arrested outside of the second occupation of the New School, and charged with assaulting an officer, rioting, resisting arrest and maybe a couple other things.
While ultimately all of the State charges were dropped, my 'supervision' status allowed the federal government to pick up the slack and ultimately take me to trial on the same charges, only with a lower standard of proof ('a preponderance of evidence' as opposed to 'beyond a reasonable doubt') and with rules allowing hearsay, in this case, from the pigs called in to testify. The prosecution recommended a sentence of 9 months, plus 2 years of supervised release and some other stuff that I'll go into later, but ultimately I got the 1 month in, plus 1 additional year of supervised release, plus 200 hours of community service.
Okay, so that's the bare bones boring stuff. Now I get to take this opportunity, as someone who already is one of the usual suspects, and unquestionably under surveillance, to say some wild shit that others trying to preserve their relative freedom would be unable to.
Let's go point by point.
1. I am a crazy motherfucker.
When I was first sentenced for setting fire to that Army recruiting center, part of the judge's sentence was that for the entire three years I was on supervised release, I attend weekly therapy sessions, so that "I could understand why I did what I did". At the time, I remember thinking 'it's pretty fucking obvious why..." but didn't go much deeper than that. After I got back to NYC, my PO sent me to my assigned therapist and the goal of state-mandated therapy became more clear.
After a month of these 'sessions', I realized that not only was this therapist reporting everything I said to my PO, but my PO was telling the therapist what areas to 'probe deeper into.' Most of this involved him trying to get to the bottom of why I really had problems with authority. 'Because I'm an anarchist?- But what about your relationship with your Dad..?' So that had to end. When I got a little bit of money together to switch to a therapist of my choosing, who refused to tell my PO anything about what happened other than the fact that I showed up, the probation department took me to court, a battle that I eventually won.
In that case, my lawyer argued that my political beliefs were being looked at as a pathology, and that the probation department was using therapy as political re-education camp. Now I am in exactly the same position-Once again, I've been sentenced to weekly therapy. At the sentencing hearing, the prosecution stressed the need for this therapy, because "I had exhibited an extreme problem with authority, particularly police officers." While at first I got angry about their characterization of me, I realized that they're right.
The past 10 years of my life have been dedicated to fighting authority in general, whether they be the pigs, politicians or bosses. They all have to go. So, if that makes me crazy, fuck it. When I hear about cops getting attacked in Seattle, I get all jittery and excited. When I read about French workers taking their bosses hostage, I wanted to catch the next plane over. The best part: I'm not the only one who's crazy like this. Most people are 'crazy', and every day, more and more people are starting to do something about it.
2. We need to step up our game.
One of the benefits of being an anarchist 'usual suspect' in NYC, is that it allows me a rare glimpse into the mind of the government, and I've found that there's not much going on in there. Every time something gets blown up around these parts, (you know, annually, when one of those cute little packages gets delivered from everyone's favorite cyclist) the Feds show up at my house (I'm never there) or follow me around everywhere, or call me into my PO's office, because they know I have to show up there. And every time they start asking questions, it becomes abundantly clear that they are unable to understand how anarchists operate. They keep trying to find leaders, or try to make dubious connections between above ground groups and actions that occur. Their obvious frustration is what leads to the kind of prosecution that put Eric McDavid away, which will hopefully be overturned on appeal.
But what we need to recognize is that this shows our strength! When we stop squabbling with each other for long enough to extend our struggle, it turns out that fighting without leaders and without hierarchy actually works. Given that we're still in a period of 'crisis', this is the time we need to be hitting the hardest.
Now, some people have been leading the way(see Mayday 2k10). Much of the negative response towards those actions falls into the 'it's only going to bring greater repression' category. Of course it is, but what the hell did you expect when you decided you were an 'anarchist'?
This is the point where I get to pull out my 'former/pending political prisoner' card, and say people are going to catch some heat, but guess what-there's over 2 million fucking people in prison. My whole neighborhood is under police occupation. I'm going to prison for a violation-level charge of 'resisting arrest'. Shit is bad, and anyone who fights back is going to potentially subject to consequences. We have to understand this, and take calculated risks, but when they take some of our people, we hit back harder.
3. Hitting Back.
I mean this literally. Solidarity means attack, remember? There have to be real, tangible consequences for the state or capital attacking us. However, the only way this can be sustainable is if we get out of the anarchist ghetto. This means putting our energies towards helping out with other peoples struggles, and building real relationships in the places that we live. Is your neighbor getting evicted? Well, guess what, landlords have addresses. The police are running up on your block to grab somebody? You and your neighbors have to let them know there's gonna be consequences.
The point, however, isn't just to fight for the sake of fighting. We're trying to create some kind of liberated spaces, right? This means actually creating spaces, and then militantly defending them.
Look at how Portland is doing it-they're getting a little wild in their battle against the cops. NYC needs to catch up...
4. ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK.
The only way we're going to be able to maintain any of our efforts at creating liberated spaces is if we go on the offensive. If by day we're running community centers, doing alternative education, fixing bikes, or growing our own food, by night we're attacking the police stations, the business owners, the real estate agencies. There is no conflict between these two ends, because guess what, Capital with the assistance of the State is going to come down hard these projects sooner or later, and if we've been on the offensive this whole time, we'll be much better prepared to fight back. We'll be building alliances and through those connections finding people with whom to go on the attack. And when the shit hits the fan? We won't be 'those crazy anarchists'; people will know who the fuck we are.
From where I stand, what you get out of building things up in your neighborhood or town is necessary to be a complete person, whether it's helping out with childcare or whatever. The same is true of striking back against the forces that make our lives miserable in a million different ways, both large and small. The point is to make these two goals complement each other.
5. Don't get all worked up about a cracker being locked up.
So, I gotta end this by pointing out the obvious-as a white man from a relatively "privileged" background, I'm getting a slap on the wrist. But there's over a hundred prisoners in the US from less privileged backgrounds who have been sitting in prison for literally decades. Many of these folks were part of liberation struggles in the 60s and 70s who took part in actions that make anything we've ever done look tame in comparison. Millions of dollars taken to fund revolutionary activities? Check. Assassinating cops in response to the police murdering Black people? Check. Busting comrades out of prison? Check.
So, take a second to check out listing of prisoners done by the Anarchist Black Cross Federation, at abcf.net. Start up a correspondence with one of these folks, throw a benefit for them, figure out a way to get them the fuck out of prison. Also, check out the work done by local ABCs, especially those in Denver, NYC and Toronto at denverabc.wordpress.com and nycabc.wordpress.com or 4strugglemag.org(Toronto).
So, in closing, I'd like to address a few words directly at the federal employees who will be reading this, particularly those in the Probation Department and our friends in the NYC Joint Terrorism Task Force (especially those fat motherfuckers that keep showing up at my court dates):
First and foremost, fuuuuuuuuucccckkkkk you. It doesn't matter how many times you try and get my ass up in that court, or how many times you lock me up, or how many times you show up at my house (I will never be there). I'm never gonna stop. But guess what, much as you wish this were the case, I'm not a lone wingnut. There's thousands of us, all over the place, and this shit's just gonna keep growing, and we'll keep fighting.
Finally, remember when you brought up in court that part of the communique I wrote when I was like 18, about how I was trying not only to bring down the United States, but to abolish the idea of the state itself? Yeah, I'm still on that shit.
Can't Stop Won't Stop,
Dave Solidarity
As soon as Dave's address in jail is available, it will be put out widely.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Nazis attack antiracists in Riverside
by Rockero
Saturday, May 29, 2010
RIVERSIDE, California - In the latest anti-fascist action to occur in this conservative inland city , a small group of anti-fascists planned to out Jeff Hall, the California "commander" of the Michigan-based National Socialist Movement (NSM), outside of his house. They were violently confronted by about thirty Nazis, who brandished firearms and threatened the safety of the demonstrators.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
RIVERSIDE, California - In the latest anti-fascist action to occur in this conservative inland city , a small group of anti-fascists planned to out Jeff Hall, the California "commander" of the Michigan-based National Socialist Movement (NSM), outside of his house. They were violently confronted by about thirty Nazis, who brandished firearms and threatened the safety of the demonstrators.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
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Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Napolitano in Claremont / Napolitano en Claremont (Republished from LA Indymedia)
by Rockero
Sunday, May 16, 2010
CLAREMONT, California - The arrival of Homeland Security Secretary (and former Governor of Arizona) Janet Napolitano to this community at the far east end of Los Angeles county propelled a march and rally of about 300 people in denunciation of the policies of immigration agencies, which fall under her purview.
The head of the migra attended the Pomona College graduation to receive an honorary law degree, as well as to orate during the ceremony. But despite her having been invited by the institution, students, professors, and members of the community did not comply.
At eight o'clock, people, among them, Pomona College workers, whose current struggle is to unionize, warehouse workers, supermarket workers, day laborers, students, teachers, community members, human rights defenders, and numerous anarchists arrived at the Greyhound station, which has been the site of several Border Patrol raids. There agents have detained passengers from the bus line without any probable cause.
At the initial convergence, a provocateur from the anti-immigrant Minutemen arrived, but the people refused to be provoked. The march, which was undertaken without any other issues, went up Indian Hill, so called for an indigenous community that once resided in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, until arriving in the neighborhood that borders the college.
Once before the plaza where the graduation was taking place, the crowd took the steps and entryway of a building with a Greek façade to display their banners and lift their chants.
"Hey hey! What do we say? Immigrants are here to stay!" ¡"Sí se puede!" "¡Legalización!"
On the sidewalk in front of the Pomona College campus, a contingent of the most disreputable sector of society, the migrant hunters, had set up a protest, also against Napolitano. "For once we agree on something!" a comrade joked. But the agreement ended there. "We're here to protest Janet Napolitano for her complicity in allowing what's happening across the street to occur on America's soil. We're here to send a message to Janet Napolitano that the American people won't tolerate her, Barack Obama, and their form of government. One thing I find intolering [sic] about them is right across the street, how they can allow criminal illegal aliens onto American soil to displace American workers and the American dream from the American people," he gibbered.
His statement lays bare the hypernationalism, which is a progenitor of fascism, that the resistance has been exposing for some time, and which is an attribute of anti-immigrant groups that has given rise to openly-fascist demonstrations such as those we have seen in recent months.
On the other hand, those on the other side of the street sent a strong message of interethnic and international solidarity. A UFCW worker explained, "I think that it's unfair, I think it's not the answer, it's not the solution to what's going on in Arizona. I think it's only gonna lead to more people getting harassed and mistreated. We're human beings, and we're not different. We're all alike. We've got a common humanity, we gotta acknowledge that."
While the crowd demonstrated outside, the resistance also showed its strength inside the ceremony. Most of the Pomona professors wore white stoles to symbolize their solidarity with the immigrant community, as did many of the graduating students. About then, a small group of students infiltrated the ceremony, and in dead silence, unfurled a large banner reading "Alto AZ." They reported that inside, the drums and tumult of the protest were audible.
The procession left the steps and proceeded to Shelton Park, where the Jornaleros del Norte played and various speakers lectured. Emilio shared some words of welcome, and was followed by Loyda, who read a communiqué from the director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network that said:
http://la.indymedia.org/uploads/2010/05/may_2010_104.jpg2nkfgj.jpghttp://la.indymedia.org/uploads/2010/05/may_2010_111.jpgq7rco3.jpghttp://la.indymedia.org/uploads/2010/05/may_2010_111.jpgq7rco3.jpghttp://la.indymedia.org/uploads/2010/05/may_2010_115.jpg3srrvs.jpg
"Napolitano's part of the Obama government is tearing families apart. She is disrupting and victimizing entire communities across the country. But no matter what they do, they cannot break our spirits. Yes, there is fear and anger. But most importantly, there is courage to resist. People across the country from all walks of life are in solidarity with Arizona. We know that in order to implement the SB 1070 bill, Arizona will need the cooperation of the Obama administration. This is the moment for President Obama to eradicate the mechanisms and programs that give the authority for police to enforce immigration law."
The intercollegial department of Latino and Chicano studies also sent a communiqué in favor of human rights and in support of humane immigration reform.
Afterwards, Connie from the UFCW told the story of a 1200-worker plant in Texas that was raided by ICE. "A plant in Texas, 1200 employees at that plant. ICE agents came in. They had warrants for 133 people. A hundred and thirty-three people that they thought might be in the country illegally. Instead of going to the human resources department and asking to pull these people aside so they could talk to them, they arrested every single person working that day. Twelve-hundred and forty-seven people. That means over a thousand legal residents or United States citizens were arrested. This is wrong! It's all wrong!"
Angélica Salas, director of CHIRLA, was next: "So, we now have a tradition here in California, that basically started in Santa Clara University, when Janet Napolitano went there. And she was received there with a thousand people, telling her that she was not welcome in California if she was gonna keep ripping apart our families. If she was going to keep deporting hard workers. And if she was going to violate the ideals of justice and equality that she's supposed to stand for."
Dilma, a representative of Warehouse Workers United, spoke next. "I'm a warehouse worker, and I'm here to represent everyone who could not come today. The truth is that I've been a worker. I'm not what they say about us Latinos, that we come to ask the government to take care of us. It's not true. I have always struggled, I've been here for 20 years and I've always gotten by. That's why I tell you all, fellow workers, that we must fight together because it can be done, yes comrades, we can fight!"
The next speaker was Cristián, a Pomona College worker. "I come to represent the members of the group Workers for Justice, which like many organizations, has fought to have our rights respected. We've been in this struggle for two years, and we're going to keep it up until our rights are respected and we're treated properly."
José, a delegate of the Inland Empire Day Laborer Congress, followed. "Today is a day of resistance, of struggle for all the women of conscience, for all the men, too, who on this fine day have come to tell Janet Napolitano, in a loud voice of protest, that we do not agree with the continual theft of the future of our children. Every member of our families have witnessed the kidnapping of our cousins. Our nephews and nieces have practically--and technically--been left orphans without receiving any assistance. For this reason we are here today, to denounce this criminal policy which actually goes beyond the Río Grande, with its grand waters, nor the scorching desert, nor the immensity of the ocean, has been able to separate that love the immigrant comrade has for his wife and who has his family here, beautiful and unified. And these criminals from immigration services come and separate them. What right do they have? Don't these gentlemen also have families? Don't they have a wife waiting for them? What will they tell her when she asks, 'What did you do today?' How can that police officer or that immigration agent show his face when he has to answer, 'How can I hide what's in the depths of my heart? Today, I separated some families'? What a nice job President Obama is doing after he used our community to take power, and now he's being manipulated by Nazi groups, like those in Arizona. What's happening in Arizona is a true danger, not just for our community residing in the State of Arizona, but for all of humanity. It must be understood thus. Because the senators who pushed these laws are Nazis. Arpaio is a Nazi. The Minutemen are Nazis in another mask, disguised Klan that has resurfaced. That's why all the women, children, and men who are here are repudiating this criminal policy that does nothing to ensure the safety of this country. Supposedly they are defending security, but what great security when they are destroying the future of the smallest of these lands! As a day worker, we've fallen victim to raids. They've taken our comrades away. The police constantly harass the corners. Sometimes they ask for our IDs, and when we give them to them, they often keep them. So I believe that these types of policies are unacceptable because they violate the human rights we all share. And my invitation to you as a day laborer is that we remain united, that we continue resisting, and also that from this site of resistance we send a loud and warm greeting to the resistance in Arizona, because we are all Arizona, and together we continue until the final victory, and for the right to live in peace. I have spoken."
Before ending with more music, Professor Calderón spoke about the new "Secure Communities program and an invitation was made to the national day of action for Arizona on May 29th. Thousands are expected to arrive to combat this assault on our community.
Domingo, 16 de mayo 2010
CLAREMONT, California - La llegada de la Secretaria de Seguridad Interna y ex-gobernadora de Arizona, Janet Napolitano, a esta comunidad del extremo oriente del condado de Los Ángeles provocó una marcha y manifestación de alrededor de 300 personas en denuncia a las políticas de las agencias migratorias, las cuales conforman departamentos del ministerio que encabeza.
La encargada de la migra asistió a la ceremonia de graduación de Pomona College con el fin de recibir un diploma honoris causa en derecho al igual que para pronunciar durante la solemnidad. Pero a pesar de su invitación de parte de la instutición, los estudiantes, profesores, y miembros de la comunidad no se quedaron conformes
A las ocho de la mañana ya había empezado a llegar la gente, entre ellos, trabajadores de Pomona College, grupo cuya lucha actual es para sindicalizarse, trabajadores de bodega, trabajadores de supermercados, jornaleros, estudiantes, maestros, miembros de la comunidad, defensores de derechos humanos, y varios anarquistas, a la estación Greyhound, sitio de varias redadas de la Patrulla Fronteriza. Se alega que los agentes han detenido a pasajeros de la línea de transporte sin causa ninguna.
A la convergencia inicial llegó un provocador del grupo anti-inmigrante Minutemen, pero el pueblo no se dejó provocar. La marcha, emprendida sin ningún otro inconveniente, subió todo el búlevar Indian Hill, así llamado por un poblado de los indígenas que se encontraba en esa localidad de la estribación de la sierra San Gabriel, hasta llegar a las residencias vecinas del colegio.
Una vez delante de la plaza donde se llevaba a cabo la graduación, el pueblo tomó el patio y los escalones de un edificio de fachada griega para montar sus mantas y corear sus cantos.
"Hey hey! What do we say? Immigrants are here to stay!" ¡"Sí se puede!" "¡Legalización!"
En la banqueta que linda el campus de Pomona College, un contingente de la lacra de la socieded, los cazamigrantes, había armado una protesta, también en contra de Napolitano. "Por una vez, coincidimos en algo," bromeó un compañero. Aunque ambos grupos estuvieran para denunciar a la secretaria, el acuerdo no pasaba de allí. "Estamos aquí para protestarle a Janet Napolitano por su complicidad en permitir que pase sobre suelo americano lo que está ocurriendo al otro lado de la calle," comentó uno de ellos. "Estamos aquí para mandar un mensaje a Janet Napolitano que el pueblo americano no le tolererá ni a ella, ni Barack Obama, ni su forma de gobierno. Una cosa que veo intolerable de ellos está en frente, es como pueden permitir que los criminales extranjeros en el suelo americano para desplazar a los obreros americanos y el sueño americano del pueblo americano," balbuceó.
Su declaración pone en evidencia el hipernacionalismo, progenitor del fascismo, que la resistencia ha estado sacando a la luz desde hace rato, que es atributo de grupos anti-inmigrantes y que ha dado pauta a manifestaciones de fascistas abiertos como los de estos últimos meses.
En cambio, los del otro lado mandaron un mensaje fuerte de solidaridad interétnico e internacional. Según una trabajadora del sindicato de trabajadores de supermercados, UFCW, "Lo veo injusto, no creo que sea la respuesta--no es la resolución a lo que pasa en Arizona. Sólo va a dar lugar a que más personas sean hostigadas y maltratadas. Somos seres humanos, o somos diferentes. Todos somos iguales. Tenemos en común nuestra humanidad, y hay que reconocerlo."
Mientras que la muchedumbre se manifestaba afuera, adentro la resistencia también mostró su fortaleza. La mayoría de los profesores de Pomona College usaron estolas blancas para solidarizar con la comunidad inmigrante, así como lo hicieron muchos de los estudiantes en proceso de graduación. En esos momentos, un grupo pequeño de estudiantes infiltraron la ceremonia y, en pleno silencio, desenrollaron una manta grande con la letra "Alto AZ." Reportaron que desde adentro se escuchaba el tamboreo de la manifestación.
De los escalones la procesión procedió al Parque Shelton, donde tocaron los Jornaleros del Norte y hablaron varios oradores. Emilio dijo unas palabras, y fue seguido por Loyda, quien leyó un comunicado del director de la Red Nacional de Jornaleros que decía:
"El oficio de Napolitano en el gobierno de Obama está desmantelando familias. Está interrumpiendo y victimizando comunidades enteras a través del país. Mas no importa lo que nos hagan, no pueden romper nuestros espíritus. Sí, existen miedo y coraje. Pero más importantemente, hay el valor para resistir. Personas de todo el país y de diversas condiciones sociales están en solidaridad con Arizona. Sabemos que para implementar el proyecto SB 1070, Arizona necesitará la cooperación de la administración Obama. Éste es el momento para que el presidente desarraigue los mecanismos y programas que otorgan autoridad migratoria a la policía local."
La facultad intercolegial de estudios latinos y chicanos de los Claremont Colleges también hicieron comunicar su declaración a favor de los derechos humanos y en apoyo a una reforma migratoria humana.
Después contó Connie de la UFCW la historia de una planta de 1 200 empleados de Texas en la que entró ICE. "A plant in Texas, 1200 employees at that plant. ICE agents came in. They had warrants for 133 people. A hundred and thirty-three people that they thought might be in the country illegally. Insted of going to the human resources department and asking to pull these people aside so they could talk to them, they arrested every single person working that day. Twelve-hundred and forty-seven people. That means over a thousand legal residents or United States citizens were arrested. This is wrong! It's all wrong!"
Siguió Angélica Salas, directora de CHIRLA: "Aquí en California ya tenemos una tradición que, básicamente, empezó en la Universidad de Santa Clara, cuando Jante Napolitano fue allí. Y fue recibida por mil personas, diciéndole que no estaba bienvenida a California si iba a seguir separando nuestras familias. Si iba a seguir deportando a la gente trabajadora. Y si iba a violar las ideas de justicia e igualdad que debería de relevar."
Próximamente discursó Dilma, una representante de los trabajadores de bodega Warehouse Workers United. "Yo soy una trabajadora de bodegas, y estoy aquí en representación de todos los que no pudieron venir este día. Y la verdad, yo he sido trabajadora, no soy como dicen que nosotros, los latinos, venimos a pedir que nos mantenga el gobierno pero no es cierto. Yo siempre he luchado, he estado aquí por 20 años y siempre he salido adelante. Por eso yo les digo a todos aquellos trabajadores que luchemos juntos porque sí se puede, compañeros, sí se puede luchar."
El próximo en hablar fue Cristián, trabajador de Pomona College. "Vengo en representación de miembros del grupo Workers for Justice en Pomona College, que igual que muchos organizaciones hemos luchado para que nuestros derechos sean respetados. Ya llevamos dos años en nuestra lucha, y vamos a seguir luchando hast que nuestros derechos sean respetados y nos tratan como nos merecemos.
A continuación habló José, un delegado del Congreso Jornalero del Inland Empire. "Hoy es un día de resistencia, de lucha de todas mujeres que tienen conciencia, de todos los hombres también que hoy en este buen día venimos a decirle a Jante Napolitano, nuestra voz bien fuerte de protesta, que no estamos de acuerdo en que se siga robando el futuro de nuestros niños. Todos en nuestras familias hemos sido testigos que se han llevado a nuestros primos, se han llevado a nuestras primas, se han quedado los sobrinos prácticamente y técnicamente huérfanos, sin recibir ningún apoyo. Y por eso hoy estamos aquí, para denuinciar esta política criminal, que incluso, va más allá de que el Río Bravo on sus aguas bravas, ni el calcinante desierto, ni la inmensidad del oceano, han sido capaces de separa ese amor del compañero inmigrante que trae a su esposa y aquí traen una familia bonita, unida, y llegan estos criminales del servicio de inmigración y los separan. ¿Con qué derecho? Acaso estos señores no tienen también familia? ¿Acaso no tienen una señora que los espera? ¿Qué le dirán cuando le pregunta '¿Qué hiciste hoy?'?" ¿Qué cara pondrá ese policía o ese agente de inmigración cuando le ha de decir, 'No he de guardar lo del fondo del corazón, pues hoy separé a unas familias'? ¡Que bonito trabajo está haciendo el Presidente Obama después de que utilizó a nuestra comunidad para llegarlo al poder, y ahora está siendo manipulado por grupos nazis como en Arizona. Lo que está pasando en Arizona es un verdadero peligro, no sólamente para nuestra comunidad que reside en el Estado de Arizona, sino para la humanidad entera. Así hay que entenderlo. Porque los senadores que han impulsado estas leyes son nazis. Arpaio es un nazi. Los Minutemen son nazis, disfrazadas con otras caretas. Disfrazados de los Ku Klux Klan que han vuelto a resurgir. Y por eso todas la mujeres, jóvenes, y hombres que estamos aquí estamos repudiendo esta política criminal que nada garantiza la seguridad de este país. Ellos supuestamente están defendiendo la seguridad, pero ¡que bonita seguridad es esa cuando están destruyendo el futuro de los más pequeños de estas tierras! Como trabajador jornalero, nosotros hemos sido víctimas también de redadas. Se han llevado a nuestros compañeros. La policía constantemente hostiga las esquinas. Si a veces nos piden IDs, se las damos, a veces la policía se queda con ellas. Entonces, creo que es inaceptable este tipo de políticas porque vulneran los derechos humanos que todos tenemos. Y mi invitación como trabajador jornalero es a que sigamos unidos, sigamos resistiendo, y también desde esta esquina de resistencia mandamos un fuerte y caluroso saludo para la resistencia en Arizona, porque Arizona somos todos, y todos unidos vamos, hasta la victoria siempre, y por el derecho de vivir en paz, he dicho."
Antes de terminar con más música, habló el Profesor Calderón del nuevo programa "Comunidades Seguras" y se hizo una invitación al día nacional de acción para Arizona el 29 de Mayo. Ese día se anticipa que lleguen miles de personas para luchar contra este asalto a nuestra comunidad.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
CLAREMONT, California - The arrival of Homeland Security Secretary (and former Governor of Arizona) Janet Napolitano to this community at the far east end of Los Angeles county propelled a march and rally of about 300 people in denunciation of the policies of immigration agencies, which fall under her purview.
The head of the migra attended the Pomona College graduation to receive an honorary law degree, as well as to orate during the ceremony. But despite her having been invited by the institution, students, professors, and members of the community did not comply.
At eight o'clock, people, among them, Pomona College workers, whose current struggle is to unionize, warehouse workers, supermarket workers, day laborers, students, teachers, community members, human rights defenders, and numerous anarchists arrived at the Greyhound station, which has been the site of several Border Patrol raids. There agents have detained passengers from the bus line without any probable cause.
At the initial convergence, a provocateur from the anti-immigrant Minutemen arrived, but the people refused to be provoked. The march, which was undertaken without any other issues, went up Indian Hill, so called for an indigenous community that once resided in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, until arriving in the neighborhood that borders the college.
Once before the plaza where the graduation was taking place, the crowd took the steps and entryway of a building with a Greek façade to display their banners and lift their chants.
"Hey hey! What do we say? Immigrants are here to stay!" ¡"Sí se puede!" "¡Legalización!"
On the sidewalk in front of the Pomona College campus, a contingent of the most disreputable sector of society, the migrant hunters, had set up a protest, also against Napolitano. "For once we agree on something!" a comrade joked. But the agreement ended there. "We're here to protest Janet Napolitano for her complicity in allowing what's happening across the street to occur on America's soil. We're here to send a message to Janet Napolitano that the American people won't tolerate her, Barack Obama, and their form of government. One thing I find intolering [sic] about them is right across the street, how they can allow criminal illegal aliens onto American soil to displace American workers and the American dream from the American people," he gibbered.
His statement lays bare the hypernationalism, which is a progenitor of fascism, that the resistance has been exposing for some time, and which is an attribute of anti-immigrant groups that has given rise to openly-fascist demonstrations such as those we have seen in recent months.
On the other hand, those on the other side of the street sent a strong message of interethnic and international solidarity. A UFCW worker explained, "I think that it's unfair, I think it's not the answer, it's not the solution to what's going on in Arizona. I think it's only gonna lead to more people getting harassed and mistreated. We're human beings, and we're not different. We're all alike. We've got a common humanity, we gotta acknowledge that."
While the crowd demonstrated outside, the resistance also showed its strength inside the ceremony. Most of the Pomona professors wore white stoles to symbolize their solidarity with the immigrant community, as did many of the graduating students. About then, a small group of students infiltrated the ceremony, and in dead silence, unfurled a large banner reading "Alto AZ." They reported that inside, the drums and tumult of the protest were audible.
The procession left the steps and proceeded to Shelton Park, where the Jornaleros del Norte played and various speakers lectured. Emilio shared some words of welcome, and was followed by Loyda, who read a communiqué from the director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network that said:
http://la.indymedia.org/uploads/2010/05/may_2010_104.jpg2nkfgj.jpghttp://la.indymedia.org/uploads/2010/05/may_2010_111.jpgq7rco3.jpghttp://la.indymedia.org/uploads/2010/05/may_2010_111.jpgq7rco3.jpghttp://la.indymedia.org/uploads/2010/05/may_2010_115.jpg3srrvs.jpg
"Napolitano's part of the Obama government is tearing families apart. She is disrupting and victimizing entire communities across the country. But no matter what they do, they cannot break our spirits. Yes, there is fear and anger. But most importantly, there is courage to resist. People across the country from all walks of life are in solidarity with Arizona. We know that in order to implement the SB 1070 bill, Arizona will need the cooperation of the Obama administration. This is the moment for President Obama to eradicate the mechanisms and programs that give the authority for police to enforce immigration law."
The intercollegial department of Latino and Chicano studies also sent a communiqué in favor of human rights and in support of humane immigration reform.
Afterwards, Connie from the UFCW told the story of a 1200-worker plant in Texas that was raided by ICE. "A plant in Texas, 1200 employees at that plant. ICE agents came in. They had warrants for 133 people. A hundred and thirty-three people that they thought might be in the country illegally. Instead of going to the human resources department and asking to pull these people aside so they could talk to them, they arrested every single person working that day. Twelve-hundred and forty-seven people. That means over a thousand legal residents or United States citizens were arrested. This is wrong! It's all wrong!"
Angélica Salas, director of CHIRLA, was next: "So, we now have a tradition here in California, that basically started in Santa Clara University, when Janet Napolitano went there. And she was received there with a thousand people, telling her that she was not welcome in California if she was gonna keep ripping apart our families. If she was going to keep deporting hard workers. And if she was going to violate the ideals of justice and equality that she's supposed to stand for."
Dilma, a representative of Warehouse Workers United, spoke next. "I'm a warehouse worker, and I'm here to represent everyone who could not come today. The truth is that I've been a worker. I'm not what they say about us Latinos, that we come to ask the government to take care of us. It's not true. I have always struggled, I've been here for 20 years and I've always gotten by. That's why I tell you all, fellow workers, that we must fight together because it can be done, yes comrades, we can fight!"
The next speaker was Cristián, a Pomona College worker. "I come to represent the members of the group Workers for Justice, which like many organizations, has fought to have our rights respected. We've been in this struggle for two years, and we're going to keep it up until our rights are respected and we're treated properly."
José, a delegate of the Inland Empire Day Laborer Congress, followed. "Today is a day of resistance, of struggle for all the women of conscience, for all the men, too, who on this fine day have come to tell Janet Napolitano, in a loud voice of protest, that we do not agree with the continual theft of the future of our children. Every member of our families have witnessed the kidnapping of our cousins. Our nephews and nieces have practically--and technically--been left orphans without receiving any assistance. For this reason we are here today, to denounce this criminal policy which actually goes beyond the Río Grande, with its grand waters, nor the scorching desert, nor the immensity of the ocean, has been able to separate that love the immigrant comrade has for his wife and who has his family here, beautiful and unified. And these criminals from immigration services come and separate them. What right do they have? Don't these gentlemen also have families? Don't they have a wife waiting for them? What will they tell her when she asks, 'What did you do today?' How can that police officer or that immigration agent show his face when he has to answer, 'How can I hide what's in the depths of my heart? Today, I separated some families'? What a nice job President Obama is doing after he used our community to take power, and now he's being manipulated by Nazi groups, like those in Arizona. What's happening in Arizona is a true danger, not just for our community residing in the State of Arizona, but for all of humanity. It must be understood thus. Because the senators who pushed these laws are Nazis. Arpaio is a Nazi. The Minutemen are Nazis in another mask, disguised Klan that has resurfaced. That's why all the women, children, and men who are here are repudiating this criminal policy that does nothing to ensure the safety of this country. Supposedly they are defending security, but what great security when they are destroying the future of the smallest of these lands! As a day worker, we've fallen victim to raids. They've taken our comrades away. The police constantly harass the corners. Sometimes they ask for our IDs, and when we give them to them, they often keep them. So I believe that these types of policies are unacceptable because they violate the human rights we all share. And my invitation to you as a day laborer is that we remain united, that we continue resisting, and also that from this site of resistance we send a loud and warm greeting to the resistance in Arizona, because we are all Arizona, and together we continue until the final victory, and for the right to live in peace. I have spoken."
Before ending with more music, Professor Calderón spoke about the new "Secure Communities program and an invitation was made to the national day of action for Arizona on May 29th. Thousands are expected to arrive to combat this assault on our community.
Domingo, 16 de mayo 2010
CLAREMONT, California - La llegada de la Secretaria de Seguridad Interna y ex-gobernadora de Arizona, Janet Napolitano, a esta comunidad del extremo oriente del condado de Los Ángeles provocó una marcha y manifestación de alrededor de 300 personas en denuncia a las políticas de las agencias migratorias, las cuales conforman departamentos del ministerio que encabeza.
La encargada de la migra asistió a la ceremonia de graduación de Pomona College con el fin de recibir un diploma honoris causa en derecho al igual que para pronunciar durante la solemnidad. Pero a pesar de su invitación de parte de la instutición, los estudiantes, profesores, y miembros de la comunidad no se quedaron conformes
A las ocho de la mañana ya había empezado a llegar la gente, entre ellos, trabajadores de Pomona College, grupo cuya lucha actual es para sindicalizarse, trabajadores de bodega, trabajadores de supermercados, jornaleros, estudiantes, maestros, miembros de la comunidad, defensores de derechos humanos, y varios anarquistas, a la estación Greyhound, sitio de varias redadas de la Patrulla Fronteriza. Se alega que los agentes han detenido a pasajeros de la línea de transporte sin causa ninguna.
A la convergencia inicial llegó un provocador del grupo anti-inmigrante Minutemen, pero el pueblo no se dejó provocar. La marcha, emprendida sin ningún otro inconveniente, subió todo el búlevar Indian Hill, así llamado por un poblado de los indígenas que se encontraba en esa localidad de la estribación de la sierra San Gabriel, hasta llegar a las residencias vecinas del colegio.
Una vez delante de la plaza donde se llevaba a cabo la graduación, el pueblo tomó el patio y los escalones de un edificio de fachada griega para montar sus mantas y corear sus cantos.
"Hey hey! What do we say? Immigrants are here to stay!" ¡"Sí se puede!" "¡Legalización!"
En la banqueta que linda el campus de Pomona College, un contingente de la lacra de la socieded, los cazamigrantes, había armado una protesta, también en contra de Napolitano. "Por una vez, coincidimos en algo," bromeó un compañero. Aunque ambos grupos estuvieran para denunciar a la secretaria, el acuerdo no pasaba de allí. "Estamos aquí para protestarle a Janet Napolitano por su complicidad en permitir que pase sobre suelo americano lo que está ocurriendo al otro lado de la calle," comentó uno de ellos. "Estamos aquí para mandar un mensaje a Janet Napolitano que el pueblo americano no le tolererá ni a ella, ni Barack Obama, ni su forma de gobierno. Una cosa que veo intolerable de ellos está en frente, es como pueden permitir que los criminales extranjeros en el suelo americano para desplazar a los obreros americanos y el sueño americano del pueblo americano," balbuceó.
Su declaración pone en evidencia el hipernacionalismo, progenitor del fascismo, que la resistencia ha estado sacando a la luz desde hace rato, que es atributo de grupos anti-inmigrantes y que ha dado pauta a manifestaciones de fascistas abiertos como los de estos últimos meses.
En cambio, los del otro lado mandaron un mensaje fuerte de solidaridad interétnico e internacional. Según una trabajadora del sindicato de trabajadores de supermercados, UFCW, "Lo veo injusto, no creo que sea la respuesta--no es la resolución a lo que pasa en Arizona. Sólo va a dar lugar a que más personas sean hostigadas y maltratadas. Somos seres humanos, o somos diferentes. Todos somos iguales. Tenemos en común nuestra humanidad, y hay que reconocerlo."
Mientras que la muchedumbre se manifestaba afuera, adentro la resistencia también mostró su fortaleza. La mayoría de los profesores de Pomona College usaron estolas blancas para solidarizar con la comunidad inmigrante, así como lo hicieron muchos de los estudiantes en proceso de graduación. En esos momentos, un grupo pequeño de estudiantes infiltraron la ceremonia y, en pleno silencio, desenrollaron una manta grande con la letra "Alto AZ." Reportaron que desde adentro se escuchaba el tamboreo de la manifestación.
De los escalones la procesión procedió al Parque Shelton, donde tocaron los Jornaleros del Norte y hablaron varios oradores. Emilio dijo unas palabras, y fue seguido por Loyda, quien leyó un comunicado del director de la Red Nacional de Jornaleros que decía:
"El oficio de Napolitano en el gobierno de Obama está desmantelando familias. Está interrumpiendo y victimizando comunidades enteras a través del país. Mas no importa lo que nos hagan, no pueden romper nuestros espíritus. Sí, existen miedo y coraje. Pero más importantemente, hay el valor para resistir. Personas de todo el país y de diversas condiciones sociales están en solidaridad con Arizona. Sabemos que para implementar el proyecto SB 1070, Arizona necesitará la cooperación de la administración Obama. Éste es el momento para que el presidente desarraigue los mecanismos y programas que otorgan autoridad migratoria a la policía local."
La facultad intercolegial de estudios latinos y chicanos de los Claremont Colleges también hicieron comunicar su declaración a favor de los derechos humanos y en apoyo a una reforma migratoria humana.
Después contó Connie de la UFCW la historia de una planta de 1 200 empleados de Texas en la que entró ICE. "A plant in Texas, 1200 employees at that plant. ICE agents came in. They had warrants for 133 people. A hundred and thirty-three people that they thought might be in the country illegally. Insted of going to the human resources department and asking to pull these people aside so they could talk to them, they arrested every single person working that day. Twelve-hundred and forty-seven people. That means over a thousand legal residents or United States citizens were arrested. This is wrong! It's all wrong!"
Siguió Angélica Salas, directora de CHIRLA: "Aquí en California ya tenemos una tradición que, básicamente, empezó en la Universidad de Santa Clara, cuando Jante Napolitano fue allí. Y fue recibida por mil personas, diciéndole que no estaba bienvenida a California si iba a seguir separando nuestras familias. Si iba a seguir deportando a la gente trabajadora. Y si iba a violar las ideas de justicia e igualdad que debería de relevar."
Próximamente discursó Dilma, una representante de los trabajadores de bodega Warehouse Workers United. "Yo soy una trabajadora de bodegas, y estoy aquí en representación de todos los que no pudieron venir este día. Y la verdad, yo he sido trabajadora, no soy como dicen que nosotros, los latinos, venimos a pedir que nos mantenga el gobierno pero no es cierto. Yo siempre he luchado, he estado aquí por 20 años y siempre he salido adelante. Por eso yo les digo a todos aquellos trabajadores que luchemos juntos porque sí se puede, compañeros, sí se puede luchar."
El próximo en hablar fue Cristián, trabajador de Pomona College. "Vengo en representación de miembros del grupo Workers for Justice en Pomona College, que igual que muchos organizaciones hemos luchado para que nuestros derechos sean respetados. Ya llevamos dos años en nuestra lucha, y vamos a seguir luchando hast que nuestros derechos sean respetados y nos tratan como nos merecemos.
A continuación habló José, un delegado del Congreso Jornalero del Inland Empire. "Hoy es un día de resistencia, de lucha de todas mujeres que tienen conciencia, de todos los hombres también que hoy en este buen día venimos a decirle a Jante Napolitano, nuestra voz bien fuerte de protesta, que no estamos de acuerdo en que se siga robando el futuro de nuestros niños. Todos en nuestras familias hemos sido testigos que se han llevado a nuestros primos, se han llevado a nuestras primas, se han quedado los sobrinos prácticamente y técnicamente huérfanos, sin recibir ningún apoyo. Y por eso hoy estamos aquí, para denuinciar esta política criminal, que incluso, va más allá de que el Río Bravo on sus aguas bravas, ni el calcinante desierto, ni la inmensidad del oceano, han sido capaces de separa ese amor del compañero inmigrante que trae a su esposa y aquí traen una familia bonita, unida, y llegan estos criminales del servicio de inmigración y los separan. ¿Con qué derecho? Acaso estos señores no tienen también familia? ¿Acaso no tienen una señora que los espera? ¿Qué le dirán cuando le pregunta '¿Qué hiciste hoy?'?" ¿Qué cara pondrá ese policía o ese agente de inmigración cuando le ha de decir, 'No he de guardar lo del fondo del corazón, pues hoy separé a unas familias'? ¡Que bonito trabajo está haciendo el Presidente Obama después de que utilizó a nuestra comunidad para llegarlo al poder, y ahora está siendo manipulado por grupos nazis como en Arizona. Lo que está pasando en Arizona es un verdadero peligro, no sólamente para nuestra comunidad que reside en el Estado de Arizona, sino para la humanidad entera. Así hay que entenderlo. Porque los senadores que han impulsado estas leyes son nazis. Arpaio es un nazi. Los Minutemen son nazis, disfrazadas con otras caretas. Disfrazados de los Ku Klux Klan que han vuelto a resurgir. Y por eso todas la mujeres, jóvenes, y hombres que estamos aquí estamos repudiendo esta política criminal que nada garantiza la seguridad de este país. Ellos supuestamente están defendiendo la seguridad, pero ¡que bonita seguridad es esa cuando están destruyendo el futuro de los más pequeños de estas tierras! Como trabajador jornalero, nosotros hemos sido víctimas también de redadas. Se han llevado a nuestros compañeros. La policía constantemente hostiga las esquinas. Si a veces nos piden IDs, se las damos, a veces la policía se queda con ellas. Entonces, creo que es inaceptable este tipo de políticas porque vulneran los derechos humanos que todos tenemos. Y mi invitación como trabajador jornalero es a que sigamos unidos, sigamos resistiendo, y también desde esta esquina de resistencia mandamos un fuerte y caluroso saludo para la resistencia en Arizona, porque Arizona somos todos, y todos unidos vamos, hasta la victoria siempre, y por el derecho de vivir en paz, he dicho."
Antes de terminar con más música, habló el Profesor Calderón del nuevo programa "Comunidades Seguras" y se hizo una invitación al día nacional de acción para Arizona el 29 de Mayo. Ese día se anticipa que lleguen miles de personas para luchar contra este asalto a nuestra comunidad.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Calling All LA Anarchists: Anti-Racist Rally in Riverside! (Dispatch from the So-Cal Anti-Racist Network)
(Editors' Note: We have received a few e-mails questioning the validity and reliability of the information below. If you, dear reader, are also experiencing this suspicion, feel free to e-mail the So-Cal Anti-Racist Network at Socal.Antiracist(at)gmail.com or us at LAanarchist(at)riseup.net for further information.)
Calling All LA Anarchists
Dispatch from the So-Cal Anti-Racist Network:
Join the Southern California Anti-Racist Network to shutdown the Nazis in Riverside, CA on Saturday May, 29 at 11:30 am.
What: Anti-Racist Rally to Disrupt Nazi Meeting
Where: Nazi Leader Jeff Hall's Riverside Home
Protest location: 5416 Lauder Court, Riverside, CA 92507
When: Saturday, May 29, 2010 11:30am (Memorial Weekend)
Jeff Hall is Sergeant of the National Socialist Movement (NSM). Hall uses his Riverside, CA home as the headquarters of the largest Neo-Nazi hate group in the United States, NSM.
Let's SHUT DOWN the Nazis!!
The last Saturday of each month Jeff Hall and his fellow Nazis gather at his home for their monthly NSM meetings.
Their "secret location" is no longer a secret!
Hall and NSM white supremacist JT Ready organized the Los Angeles gathering of Neo-Nazis in April, and worked to pass Arizona's racist SB 1070.
Let Hall know that his racist organizing will NOT be tolerated in Riverside or ANYWHERE!
Hall’s Home Address: 5416 Lauder Court, Riverside, CA 92507
Hall’s Cell Phone # 619-300-8743
Hall’s Email: cali@newsaxon.org & jeff.hall@newsaxon.org
SPREAD THE WORD!!!!
Southern California Anti-Racist Network
Socal.Antiracist@gmail.coim
*This event is strictly a NON-VIOLENT peaceful event. Do not bring weapons*
Calling All LA Anarchists
Dispatch from the So-Cal Anti-Racist Network:
Join the Southern California Anti-Racist Network to shutdown the Nazis in Riverside, CA on Saturday May, 29 at 11:30 am.
What: Anti-Racist Rally to Disrupt Nazi Meeting
Where: Nazi Leader Jeff Hall's Riverside Home
Protest location: 5416 Lauder Court, Riverside, CA 92507
When: Saturday, May 29, 2010 11:30am (Memorial Weekend)
Jeff Hall is Sergeant of the National Socialist Movement (NSM). Hall uses his Riverside, CA home as the headquarters of the largest Neo-Nazi hate group in the United States, NSM.
Let's SHUT DOWN the Nazis!!
The last Saturday of each month Jeff Hall and his fellow Nazis gather at his home for their monthly NSM meetings.
Their "secret location" is no longer a secret!
Hall and NSM white supremacist JT Ready organized the Los Angeles gathering of Neo-Nazis in April, and worked to pass Arizona's racist SB 1070.
Let Hall know that his racist organizing will NOT be tolerated in Riverside or ANYWHERE!
Hall’s Home Address: 5416 Lauder Court, Riverside, CA 92507
Hall’s Cell Phone # 619-300-8743
Hall’s Email: cali@newsaxon.org & jeff.hall@newsaxon.org
SPREAD THE WORD!!!!
Southern California Anti-Racist Network
Socal.Antiracist@gmail.coim
*This event is strictly a NON-VIOLENT peaceful event. Do not bring weapons*
Monday, April 26, 2010
Working Class? Transfer? Sorry. (Republished from Claremont Solidarity)
In 2009, approximately 40% of community college transfers to four-year universities in the state of California were made by students of ethnic minority.
Diversity?
When identifying the role of Community College in higher learning, it is typically used as a spring board for those who are under prepared for university straight out of high school, to launch into a four-year institution. This is usually due to financial hardship, uncertainty of future interests, or lack of college resources among others. These are all typically hardships faced by working-class, minority students in their aspirations to to seek a college education.
Since, many often work while going through school, Community College is the ideal option for getting credits out of the way for cheap, finding academic interests, and transferring into a four-year institution. Not allowing financial aid to transfers limits the demographic of those who have access to college even further, while also deducting from the culture of a self-proclaimed “diverse” student body.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
The Chicago Conspiracy Comes to the LA Area!
The Chicago Conspiracy is a documentary three years in the making. This Subversive Action Films project was filmed in Chile, and the story extends into the Mapuche indigenous lands of Wallmapu.
The Chicago Conspiracy takes its name from the approximately 25 Chilean economists who attended the University of Chicago and returned to assist Pinochet’s military regime in imposing free market policies. Departing from the street celebrations by thousands of people after hearing of Pinochet’s death, The Chicago Conspiracy exposes a new vision of the military coup that doesn’t focus on the story of the Allende government. The film looks instead at the current political conflict and the revolutionary political initiatives, social discontent and organizing by combatant youth, politically active neighborhoods, students, families and loved ones of the disappeared and the Mapuche resistance against oblivion, repression, neoliberalism, militarism and authoritarianism.
Film screening will be followed by a discussion with the director. Screening
will be accompanied by a photo exhibit of social struggles in Chile.
Screenings throughout Los Angeles at:
THURSDAY, MAY 6 at 6:00PM
UCLA campus.
Parkin info: Hilgard Ave/ Westholme Ave, Westwood 90095
Public Affairs Building, Room 1234
FRIDAY, MAY 7 at 3:00PM
Dolores Huerta Room (in the Gold Student Center)
Pitzer College.
1050 North Mills Avenue
Claremont, CA 91711
FRIDAY, MAY 7 at 8:30PM
12520 Long Beach Blvd.
Lynwood, CA 902652
SATURDAY, MAY 8 at 8:00PM
at El Centro Cultural de Mexico
310 W 5th Street
Santa Ana, CA 92701
WATCH TRAILER BELOW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECfjBKmTg0Q
Flyers, event posts:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=111734542192265&ref=ts
http://la.indymedia.org/calendar/event_display_week.php?day=2&month=5&year=2010&topic_id=&location_id=
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
LA Anarchists Wanted to Participate in an Anarchist Survey
Survey here
Dear friends/comrades/compañer@s,
This is a project by some friends who are interested in some of the ideas and backgrounds of modern day anarchists. We thought we would turn this into a global survey so that other people can possibly use it as a reference for studies or debates. As far as we know, such a survey has never been conducted and a lot of our ideas of anarchists are only based on assumptions. Many of us have done informal surveys on Facebook; this, however, can be a much more useful one, if we want.
As anarchists ourselves, we take your concerns of privacy very seriously. We have not asked for your name, address or anything else that can be used by the authorities and furthermore have not included any questions on illegal tactics. If you are nevertheless concerned about certain questions, just don't answer them ;-)
Having spent many years within the anarchist milieu, we also know that certain questions will be hard to answer for some of you. Who wants to admit that they / their parents are rich, for instance? We urge you, however, to fill out this survey as honestly as possible. We won't point fingers at you because we simply won't be able to: it's anonymous!
Please also invite all your anarchist friends and comrades to take this survey. The more people take it, the more useful the results will be.
The survey will take most people 10-20 minutes to complete. We will publish the results on public fora so that you will be able to use the data yourself or spread it.
Thanks a lot!
PS: We know that this survey will be biased towards English-speaking people with internet access. We also know that we can't guarantee that people will fill it out honestly or that only anarchists will fill it out. Finally, we recognize that like any such project, our survey is necessarily incomplete and, to some degree, reflects our own biases and assumptions. Nevertheless, we hope you will engage it with the spirit of camaraderie with which it was created :-)
http://anarchistsurvey.com
LAPD Undercovers Sited at Nazi Rally
by Arizona Anarchist
Here are the photos that I took of LAPD undercovers at the 4/17/2010 Nazi Rally at LA City Hall. For the most part the police stood back (including filming and photographing)from the counterprotesters. Early on (prob. around 1:10 or so) I saw one of the undercovers (the hispanic undercover, with bandana, in the first photo) holding a white male and walking him across the street to the L.A. Police Department where he was arrested. Also, at the same time another undercover (whose picture I didn't get) walked a black male across the street as well.
The second and third photos show a group of undercovers (somewhat led by the officer in the SF Giants hat and shirt). They witnessed numerous people throw stuff at the Nazis but didn't really do anything. I just saw the undercover in the SF hat take a photo of someone who threw something, but that was it.
Here are the photos that I took of LAPD undercovers at the 4/17/2010 Nazi Rally at LA City Hall. For the most part the police stood back (including filming and photographing)from the counterprotesters. Early on (prob. around 1:10 or so) I saw one of the undercovers (the hispanic undercover, with bandana, in the first photo) holding a white male and walking him across the street to the L.A. Police Department where he was arrested. Also, at the same time another undercover (whose picture I didn't get) walked a black male across the street as well.
The second and third photos show a group of undercovers (somewhat led by the officer in the SF Giants hat and shirt). They witnessed numerous people throw stuff at the Nazis but didn't really do anything. I just saw the undercover in the SF hat take a photo of someone who threw something, but that was it.
Free Julio! (Julio Now Freed!)
4/17/2010
Sisters and brothers,
Our beloved friend and comrade Julio Rodriguez was arrested today 4/17/10 in Downtown Los Angeles, while protesting against white supremacy, by the LAPD. For those of you who do not know Julio he has been involved with Communities For A Better Environment Huntington Park, Anarchist Black Cross Guadalajara, Nahuatl education in Brown communities, and most recently helped organize the April 10th event to raise funds for Oso Blanco and the children of Chiapas. He is being held on the trumped up charge of "Assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer or fireman," which is a felony. His court date is Tuesday 4/20/10; his bail is 50,000 dollars, and he is currently in the LAPD Parker Center, located at 150 N. Los Angeles Street, Los Angeles, CA. His booking number is #2301368. Tomorrow, Sunday, 4/18/10, visiting hours are from 10-12 and 1-3 pm. I will be able to make at least two trips to visit him tomorrow and one on Monday, if anyone has a government issued ID and wants to carpool, please contact me at MapachinABC@gmail.com . I will post the court time, address, and room number as soon as the information becomes available to me. It is crucial that as Anarchists, anti-imperialists, anti-racists, and anti-fascists we support our friend behind enemy lines, as well as his family, offering our aid in any way possible. Please circulate this message.
FREE JULIO!
Mapache
Los Angeles Anarchist Black Cross
Sisters and brothers,
Our beloved friend and comrade Julio Rodriguez was arrested today 4/17/10 in Downtown Los Angeles, while protesting against white supremacy, by the LAPD. For those of you who do not know Julio he has been involved with Communities For A Better Environment Huntington Park, Anarchist Black Cross Guadalajara, Nahuatl education in Brown communities, and most recently helped organize the April 10th event to raise funds for Oso Blanco and the children of Chiapas. He is being held on the trumped up charge of "Assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer or fireman," which is a felony. His court date is Tuesday 4/20/10; his bail is 50,000 dollars, and he is currently in the LAPD Parker Center, located at 150 N. Los Angeles Street, Los Angeles, CA. His booking number is #2301368. Tomorrow, Sunday, 4/18/10, visiting hours are from 10-12 and 1-3 pm. I will be able to make at least two trips to visit him tomorrow and one on Monday, if anyone has a government issued ID and wants to carpool, please contact me at MapachinABC@gmail.com . I will post the court time, address, and room number as soon as the information becomes available to me. It is crucial that as Anarchists, anti-imperialists, anti-racists, and anti-fascists we support our friend behind enemy lines, as well as his family, offering our aid in any way possible. Please circulate this message.
FREE JULIO!
Mapache
Los Angeles Anarchist Black Cross
UPDATE:
4/18/2010 JULIO RODRIGUEZ UPDATE (SPREAD THE WORD!)
Sisters and Brothers,
Today 3 of us went to the LAPD Parker Center in downtown Los Angeles to visit our brother behind enemy lines but unfortunately Parker Center only allows one visitor per day, which we were unaware of. For those wondering how Julio is doing, know that he is staying strong and positive regarding his situation and as suspected, the charge of "Felony Assault With A Deadly Weapon On An Officer" is indeed trumped up, as the original charge was intended to be "Misdemeanor Battery" until Julio's possessions were tampered with. It is important that we recognize Julio as political prisoner, and that as members of the movement he represents we are obligated to support him. For those wondering how to support Julio please spread the word and be prepared for benefit events and fundraisers. At the moment we are currently trying to find legal council for our brother as well as provide the means for people to donate as well, which I will post as time permits. I was told that Julio's first court date is Tuesday April 20th, and that he most likely will be transferred from Parker Center to Division 30, located on Temple St. between Spring and Broadway, so I will keep people posted on both his court date and transfer. He has asked that people try to make it out to his court dates to support him.
He has requested a reduction in bail, which is currently set at 50,000 dollars and we should have an estimate of what we are up against in regards to this after April 20th. Until then please, please, please spread the word that our brother is in dire need of support and be prepared to contribute in any way you can. If anyone knows of any lawyer that would be interested in taking the case, any fundraising ideas, any means to contribute, or is interested in receiving updates please contact me at MapachinABC@gmail.com
Spread the word and be ready to mobilize for our brother Julio.
FREE JULIO RODRIGUEZ!
-Mapa
ABCF
UPDATE:
4/20/2010
Today Julio Rodriguez, the activist who was arrested combating white supremacists on 4/17/10 in downtown Los Angeles, was freed from the Central Arraignment Jail located at 429 Bauchet St. After many hours of waiting we finally saw Julio go before the judge and through his public defender his charges were dropped. Julio can speak more about this on his behalf, its slightly more complex than this but be assured that he is not going to do any time. We would like to thank anyone and everyone who contributed to the liberation, support, and solidarity efforts surrounding Julio's case.
Thank you all who supported and helped to form this coalition to liberate our loved one, friend, brother, son, and comrade.
Free all political prisoners!
=Coalition to Free Julio Rodriguez=
Rodriguez Family
Anarchist Black Cross Federation
Anti-Racist Action
Communities for a Better Environment
Youth Justice Coalition
Copwatch LA
Mexico City ABC
Chicago ABC
Revolutionary Autonomous Communities
Bosque
Guillermo Suarez
Citizens In Action
And everyone else who contributed on an individual basis.
FREE THEM ALL!
Sisters and Brothers,
Today 3 of us went to the LAPD Parker Center in downtown Los Angeles to visit our brother behind enemy lines but unfortunately Parker Center only allows one visitor per day, which we were unaware of. For those wondering how Julio is doing, know that he is staying strong and positive regarding his situation and as suspected, the charge of "Felony Assault With A Deadly Weapon On An Officer" is indeed trumped up, as the original charge was intended to be "Misdemeanor Battery" until Julio's possessions were tampered with. It is important that we recognize Julio as political prisoner, and that as members of the movement he represents we are obligated to support him. For those wondering how to support Julio please spread the word and be prepared for benefit events and fundraisers. At the moment we are currently trying to find legal council for our brother as well as provide the means for people to donate as well, which I will post as time permits. I was told that Julio's first court date is Tuesday April 20th, and that he most likely will be transferred from Parker Center to Division 30, located on Temple St. between Spring and Broadway, so I will keep people posted on both his court date and transfer. He has asked that people try to make it out to his court dates to support him.
He has requested a reduction in bail, which is currently set at 50,000 dollars and we should have an estimate of what we are up against in regards to this after April 20th. Until then please, please, please spread the word that our brother is in dire need of support and be prepared to contribute in any way you can. If anyone knows of any lawyer that would be interested in taking the case, any fundraising ideas, any means to contribute, or is interested in receiving updates please contact me at MapachinABC@gmail.com
Spread the word and be ready to mobilize for our brother Julio.
FREE JULIO RODRIGUEZ!
-Mapa
ABCF
UPDATE:
4/20/2010
Today Julio Rodriguez, the activist who was arrested combating white supremacists on 4/17/10 in downtown Los Angeles, was freed from the Central Arraignment Jail located at 429 Bauchet St. After many hours of waiting we finally saw Julio go before the judge and through his public defender his charges were dropped. Julio can speak more about this on his behalf, its slightly more complex than this but be assured that he is not going to do any time. We would like to thank anyone and everyone who contributed to the liberation, support, and solidarity efforts surrounding Julio's case.
Thank you all who supported and helped to form this coalition to liberate our loved one, friend, brother, son, and comrade.
Free all political prisoners!
=Coalition to Free Julio Rodriguez=
Rodriguez Family
Anarchist Black Cross Federation
Anti-Racist Action
Communities for a Better Environment
Youth Justice Coalition
Copwatch LA
Mexico City ABC
Chicago ABC
Revolutionary Autonomous Communities
Bosque
Guillermo Suarez
Citizens In Action
And everyone else who contributed on an individual basis.
FREE THEM ALL!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
A Compendium of Action (Republished from Claremont Solidarity)
Thursday April 15th, 2010
We here at Claremont Solidarity have many revolutionary duties besides writing blog posts – organize, escalate, write senior theses – and these have lately taken precedence over reporting on the continuing struggle of the Pomona College dining hall workers. In brief then, here is what has happened over the past week or so:
On April 6th, worker organizer Maria ‘YoYo’ Garcia debated Karen Sisson, Pomona vice president and treasurer, in a panel forum along with three faculty. The Rose Hills Theater at Pomona College was packed with supportive students wearing orange armbands and buttons, while a crowd of workers held signs in the audience. The debate was an embarrassment for the administration, which was clearly not expecting or ready to be so directly challenged by the workers themselves so publicly. The full two-hour long video can be seen here. A highlight is YoYo telling Karen Sisson that all of the benefits the workers have gotten as workers where won through their own struggle, and not the good will of the administration.
A couple days after the public debate, workers walked off the job in the dining halls in a coordinated break-time action. Dining hall workers took their half hour breaks at the same time and marched out of the dining halls together, leading a short worker-only march through the campus.
Shortly after the walkout, workers took over an anti-union meeting, refusing to be intimidated and speaking out against the attempts of the managers to make them listen to anti-union propaganda.
The coalition of students and workers has begun expanding to include the Ohlone tribe, a local indigenous group that is also fighting for recognition. The Ohlone youth have exhibited a militancy that far exceeds the student members of Claremont Solidarity. Workers and student organizers are to be guests of honor at the upcoming Ohlone pow wow.
Today, April 15, workers again staged a breaktime walkout, this time leading a march of about 150 students to the Pomona College administration building. The march was led by a large banner painted by Ohlone youth. During the march, a representative from a filming crew that was using the elite environs of the college quad to shoot a commercial addressed the marchers with the request that they keep it quiet so that the commercial could be filmed. Students and workers responded with noise.
Claremont Solidarity updates will continue to be unreliable until thesis dates and final exams are past, or until the revolution is won.
We here at Claremont Solidarity have many revolutionary duties besides writing blog posts – organize, escalate, write senior theses – and these have lately taken precedence over reporting on the continuing struggle of the Pomona College dining hall workers. In brief then, here is what has happened over the past week or so:
On April 6th, worker organizer Maria ‘YoYo’ Garcia debated Karen Sisson, Pomona vice president and treasurer, in a panel forum along with three faculty. The Rose Hills Theater at Pomona College was packed with supportive students wearing orange armbands and buttons, while a crowd of workers held signs in the audience. The debate was an embarrassment for the administration, which was clearly not expecting or ready to be so directly challenged by the workers themselves so publicly. The full two-hour long video can be seen here. A highlight is YoYo telling Karen Sisson that all of the benefits the workers have gotten as workers where won through their own struggle, and not the good will of the administration.
A couple days after the public debate, workers walked off the job in the dining halls in a coordinated break-time action. Dining hall workers took their half hour breaks at the same time and marched out of the dining halls together, leading a short worker-only march through the campus.
Shortly after the walkout, workers took over an anti-union meeting, refusing to be intimidated and speaking out against the attempts of the managers to make them listen to anti-union propaganda.
The coalition of students and workers has begun expanding to include the Ohlone tribe, a local indigenous group that is also fighting for recognition. The Ohlone youth have exhibited a militancy that far exceeds the student members of Claremont Solidarity. Workers and student organizers are to be guests of honor at the upcoming Ohlone pow wow.
Ohlone Chief Tony Cerda, with button and armband, in the struggle
Claremont Solidarity updates will continue to be unreliable until thesis dates and final exams are past, or until the revolution is won.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Police Raid NY Anarchist Film-Fest Collective
For Immediate Release
April 14, 2010
for more info contact announce (at) nyanarchistfilmfest.org
Yesterday, April 13 in Brooklyn NY, the NYPD entered without a warrant 13 Thames Art Space, a Bushwick based art and performance space where members of the Independent Anarchist Media (I AM) Collective have been organizing the Fourth Annual NYC Anarchist Film Festival in honor of Brad Will (http://www.nyanarchistfilmfest.org)
Two plainclothes detectives entered first, followed quickly by a Lieutenant and vans full of blue shirt officers. After corralling everyone present in the back room, they searched the space and detained and
arrested two members of the collective.
The I AM collective was preparing for the NYC Anarchist Film Festival, a showcase of resistance movements and insurrectionary events from around the world presented from an anarchist and anti-authoritarian perspective.
The I AM collective issued the following statement following the raid:
"regardless of these attacks, the film festival will happen as planned on Friday April 16, 2010 at Judson Memorial Church. The voice of decentralized creative communities will not be silenced by police
repression. They cannot stop us with illegal raids and targeted harassment, because we are everywhere."
VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeJAo4f803k
for more info contact announce (at) nyanarchistfilmfest.org
Yesterday, April 13 in Brooklyn NY, the NYPD entered without a warrant 13 Thames Art Space, a Bushwick based art and performance space where members of the Independent Anarchist Media (I AM) Collective have been organizing the Fourth Annual NYC Anarchist Film Festival in honor of Brad Will (http://www.nyanarchistfilmfest.org)
Two plainclothes detectives entered first, followed quickly by a Lieutenant and vans full of blue shirt officers. After corralling everyone present in the back room, they searched the space and detained and
arrested two members of the collective.
The I AM collective was preparing for the NYC Anarchist Film Festival, a showcase of resistance movements and insurrectionary events from around the world presented from an anarchist and anti-authoritarian perspective.
The I AM collective issued the following statement following the raid:
"regardless of these attacks, the film festival will happen as planned on Friday April 16, 2010 at Judson Memorial Church. The voice of decentralized creative communities will not be silenced by police
repression. They cannot stop us with illegal raids and targeted harassment, because we are everywhere."
VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeJAo4f803k
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Call for Solidarity for Imprisoned Anarchist Giannis Dimitrakis
by Assembly for Solidarity (Athens, Greece) keimeno.giannhs@gmail.com
In light of the appeal on April 28th 2010, we call out for actions of solidarity everywhere.
In light of the appeal on April 28th 2010, we call out for actions of solidarity everywhere.
It's been more than four years since the morning of January 16th 2006, when the anarchist Giannis Dimitrakis was arrested, heavily wounded by police fire, after a robbery at a branch of the National Bank in the center of Athens.
From the very first moment a storm of constructed information broke out, systematically supplied by the police and readily carried out by the mass media. The police constructed "the gang of thieves in black," so that other comrades could be named as members, to which was attributed a string of robberies but also a close association to armed revolutionary groups, and then it was proclaimed that the whole of the anarchist- anti-authoritarian movement is closely connected to organized crime !! Gianni's arrest, the slander and the manhunt unleashed against his three supposed accomplices (which were later on declared wanted for astronomic rewards) - four comrades known for their many years of political activity - on the one hand aims for their legal annihilation and on the other, promotes a holistic plan of stripping of meaning and criminalization of anarchists, anti-authoritarians and class struggle.
Because of his political identity, the state moved with rage against him from the first moment. Parallel to the crescendo of misinformation and impression creating by the media, the district attorney tried to interrogate him in the emergency room while he was bedridden and under pharmaceutical influence. The categories against him were based on the "anti-terror" law and enriched with six unsolved robberies, attempted manslaughter and money laundering. He was probably the first man in custody to be held at Malandrino maximum security prison, which is intended to hold convicts only, while attacks by prison guards, vindictive transfers and disciplinary sentences, the exhausting sentence of the first trial (an unheard of for a robbery sentence of 35 years) and the provocative deprivation of basic rights for the preparation of his defense at the court of appeals supplement the oppressive aggressiveness against him.
In these extreme conditions, the comrade defended from the beginning his choice to expropriate a bank, without statements of remorse and with clarity as towards his motives and intentions. He gave meaning to his act as a moment in his critique and action against the system of wage slavery and exploitation, against the antisocial role of the banks and as a part of the polymorphic social struggle.
Furthermore, in the wretched reality of the prisons, he stood dynamically and with dignity from the beginning. He participated in all of the prisoner's struggles happening the past years in Greece. Advancing to hunger strikes and abstinence from the prison meals - despite the permanent health problems given him by the cop's bullets - showing his solidarity for his fellow prisoners and fighting for the terms of his survival and existence in the difficult position of imprisonment. Along with other imprisoned anti-authoritarians he was an interactive channel of communication with the grandiose prisoner's movements in the fall of 2008.
All these reasons - and because Giannis Dimitrakis and the other three wanted anarchists are some of us, comrades and co fighters in the diversity of the struggles for freedom - fired off a mass of actions of solidarity and political defense for them in many cities in Greece. From the posters, texts and brochures to the flyers, banners and slogans on walls and from the attack actions against banks, other economic targets or government vehicles to the massive presence of people at the public events in the amphitheaters, the march in the center of Athens and the demonstrations outside of the prisons of Malandrino, Koridallos, Neapolis and Alikarnasso, the anarchists and anti-authoritarians made clear the way in which they respond to their comrades being held hostage by the state.
The appeal will be on April 28th, where the decision against our comrade will be finalized. Four years after his arrest, four years after the start of this particularly repressive undertaking, one year and some months after the December revolt, the state's constant and manic attempt to oppress, marginalize and criminalize the people of the struggle is becoming all the more clear. Our key weapon against this policy is active solidarity with all means possible.
The appeal of Giannis Dimitrakis is very important, as much for the legal outcome of his case, as for if we will allow the state's manipulations and experiments against us to flourish.
In light of the appeal on April 28th 2010, we call out for actions of solidarity everywhere. Collectives and comrades are organizing marches and actions for Tuesday April 27th, throughout Greece. However it would be significant if you also could organize actions for that day (or some day near to it) in your cities and your countries, for example demonstrations outside of Greek embassies or consulates. Many such actions would send a specific message of solidarity and would be important to us.
With comradely greetings,
Assembly for Solidarity
(Athens)
From the very first moment a storm of constructed information broke out, systematically supplied by the police and readily carried out by the mass media. The police constructed "the gang of thieves in black," so that other comrades could be named as members, to which was attributed a string of robberies but also a close association to armed revolutionary groups, and then it was proclaimed that the whole of the anarchist- anti-authoritarian movement is closely connected to organized crime !! Gianni's arrest, the slander and the manhunt unleashed against his three supposed accomplices (which were later on declared wanted for astronomic rewards) - four comrades known for their many years of political activity - on the one hand aims for their legal annihilation and on the other, promotes a holistic plan of stripping of meaning and criminalization of anarchists, anti-authoritarians and class struggle.
Because of his political identity, the state moved with rage against him from the first moment. Parallel to the crescendo of misinformation and impression creating by the media, the district attorney tried to interrogate him in the emergency room while he was bedridden and under pharmaceutical influence. The categories against him were based on the "anti-terror" law and enriched with six unsolved robberies, attempted manslaughter and money laundering. He was probably the first man in custody to be held at Malandrino maximum security prison, which is intended to hold convicts only, while attacks by prison guards, vindictive transfers and disciplinary sentences, the exhausting sentence of the first trial (an unheard of for a robbery sentence of 35 years) and the provocative deprivation of basic rights for the preparation of his defense at the court of appeals supplement the oppressive aggressiveness against him.
In these extreme conditions, the comrade defended from the beginning his choice to expropriate a bank, without statements of remorse and with clarity as towards his motives and intentions. He gave meaning to his act as a moment in his critique and action against the system of wage slavery and exploitation, against the antisocial role of the banks and as a part of the polymorphic social struggle.
Furthermore, in the wretched reality of the prisons, he stood dynamically and with dignity from the beginning. He participated in all of the prisoner's struggles happening the past years in Greece. Advancing to hunger strikes and abstinence from the prison meals - despite the permanent health problems given him by the cop's bullets - showing his solidarity for his fellow prisoners and fighting for the terms of his survival and existence in the difficult position of imprisonment. Along with other imprisoned anti-authoritarians he was an interactive channel of communication with the grandiose prisoner's movements in the fall of 2008.
All these reasons - and because Giannis Dimitrakis and the other three wanted anarchists are some of us, comrades and co fighters in the diversity of the struggles for freedom - fired off a mass of actions of solidarity and political defense for them in many cities in Greece. From the posters, texts and brochures to the flyers, banners and slogans on walls and from the attack actions against banks, other economic targets or government vehicles to the massive presence of people at the public events in the amphitheaters, the march in the center of Athens and the demonstrations outside of the prisons of Malandrino, Koridallos, Neapolis and Alikarnasso, the anarchists and anti-authoritarians made clear the way in which they respond to their comrades being held hostage by the state.
The appeal will be on April 28th, where the decision against our comrade will be finalized. Four years after his arrest, four years after the start of this particularly repressive undertaking, one year and some months after the December revolt, the state's constant and manic attempt to oppress, marginalize and criminalize the people of the struggle is becoming all the more clear. Our key weapon against this policy is active solidarity with all means possible.
The appeal of Giannis Dimitrakis is very important, as much for the legal outcome of his case, as for if we will allow the state's manipulations and experiments against us to flourish.
In light of the appeal on April 28th 2010, we call out for actions of solidarity everywhere. Collectives and comrades are organizing marches and actions for Tuesday April 27th, throughout Greece. However it would be significant if you also could organize actions for that day (or some day near to it) in your cities and your countries, for example demonstrations outside of Greek embassies or consulates. Many such actions would send a specific message of solidarity and would be important to us.
With comradely greetings,
Assembly for Solidarity
(Athens)
Monday, April 5, 2010
April 1st occupation scare at Pomona College (Republished from Claremont Solidarity)
Friday April 2nd, 2010
On the evening of March 31st, the communication channels between the Claremont Colleges administrations were alight with worried tales of anarchy and occupation. The deans of Pitzer College communicated to their southern colleagues at Pomona College that the next day a mass of Pitzer anarchists would be marching to the Pomona administration building to lock down and take over. Pomona deans were so worried that they called multiple student organizers that night attempting to avert the expected strike.
What fool occupies on April 1st?
The threat manifested itself in the form of two anarcho-syndicalists who arrived in President Oxtoby’s office on a tandem bicycle, partially unclothed but extremely classy conscious, to deliver a stack of signed petitions and a thoughtful card. The card read, “I thought of you today, I thought of you yesterday. I’ll think of you tomorrow.” It bore a handwritten note,
Happy April 1st! You’re doing a heckuva job Oxie.
The time will come.
- Direct Action Claremont
With President Oxtoby still outright rejecting the demands of the dining hall workers for a fair process to establish an independent union, the college has good reason to be afraid of militant action. And good reason to grow some intelligence if they intend to fight the union with anything more than jittery nerves.
On the evening of March 31st, the communication channels between the Claremont Colleges administrations were alight with worried tales of anarchy and occupation. The deans of Pitzer College communicated to their southern colleagues at Pomona College that the next day a mass of Pitzer anarchists would be marching to the Pomona administration building to lock down and take over. Pomona deans were so worried that they called multiple student organizers that night attempting to avert the expected strike.
What fool occupies on April 1st?
The threat manifested itself in the form of two anarcho-syndicalists who arrived in President Oxtoby’s office on a tandem bicycle, partially unclothed but extremely classy conscious, to deliver a stack of signed petitions and a thoughtful card. The card read, “I thought of you today, I thought of you yesterday. I’ll think of you tomorrow.” It bore a handwritten note,
Happy April 1st! You’re doing a heckuva job Oxie.
The time will come.
- Direct Action Claremont
With President Oxtoby still outright rejecting the demands of the dining hall workers for a fair process to establish an independent union, the college has good reason to be afraid of militant action. And good reason to grow some intelligence if they intend to fight the union with anything more than jittery nerves.
Pitzer Dean of Students threatens union organizers (Republished from Claremont Solidarity)
Wednesday March 31st, 2010
On Wednesday, with no apparent provocation, Pitzer College Dean of Students Jim Marchant (declared by his wife as a man who is bad in bed) sent a manifesto out to all students, warning them that while Pitzer students “are encouraged to be socially and politically active,” the rules state that “no Pitzer student shall act in an unauthorized way to make impossible the satisfaction of any physical condition necessary for the success of any authorized activity on College-owned property.” Those who do disturb the physical conditions necessary for the maintenance of capital and exploitation face “sanctions ranging from a warning to expulsion from the College.”
The context of this threatening message is a growing labor conflict that grows rapidly closer to coordinated workplace action as President Oxtoby continues to ignore the demands of the dining hall workers. With no other campus cause to bring students out to protest, it is clear that Marchant’s message is a pre-emptive move against those students who will be walking the picket lines with the workers.
The workers in the Pomona dining halls are already risking their jobs by publicly organizing for a union. Those students who stand in solidarity with the workers know that they are necessarily also standing in struggle against the bosses and college administrations, and they know that the college will treat them as enemies as well. The privilege that Claremont students hold shields them from the kinds of dangers the workers face, but nonetheless, victory will not come without risks, and it will not come without the threats of Dean Marchant being carried to fruition.
Follow the post for Marchant’s full message.
Dear Pitzer Students:
As a Pitzer student you are encouraged to be socially and politically active, both locally and globally. At the same time, you are encouraged to do so in an informed and responsible manner, one that is consistent with our community values and our educational objective of social responsibility.
It is with this in mind that I write to you on the subject of policies regarding protests and demonstrations at Pitzer and The Claremont Colleges. The Claremont Colleges have a shared policy regarding demonstrations on College-owned property. It is posted below and is on pages 78-79 of the 2009-10 Pitzer College Student Handbook at: http://www.pitzer.edu/student_life/pdf/Student_Handbook.pdf.
Furthermore, as part of the Code of Student Conduct, Pitzer has a policy regarding interference with college activities. This policy is on page 58 of the 2009-10 Pitzer College Student Handbook and is as follows: “Interference with College activities. No Pitzer student shall act in an unauthorized way to make impossible the satisfaction of any physical condition necessary for the success of any authorized activity on College-owned property (by College-owned property we understand property owned jointly or individually by any of The Claremont Colleges, or property of any facility or institution owned by or affiliated with the Colleges).” Keep in mind that violations of the Code of Student Conduct carry sanctions ranging from a warning to expulsion from the College.
Please read both policies closely and think carefully before deciding to take action. You should know that if you choose to take action on another Claremont campus, officials there can determine what is considered “non-peaceful” or “disruptive,” and they can involve Campus Safety or local law enforcement.
Again, please be mindful of our community values and educational objectives as you express yourself.
Sincerely,
Jim Marchant
Dean of Students
Vice President for Student Affairs
The context of this threatening message is a growing labor conflict that grows rapidly closer to coordinated workplace action as President Oxtoby continues to ignore the demands of the dining hall workers. With no other campus cause to bring students out to protest, it is clear that Marchant’s message is a pre-emptive move against those students who will be walking the picket lines with the workers.
The workers in the Pomona dining halls are already risking their jobs by publicly organizing for a union. Those students who stand in solidarity with the workers know that they are necessarily also standing in struggle against the bosses and college administrations, and they know that the college will treat them as enemies as well. The privilege that Claremont students hold shields them from the kinds of dangers the workers face, but nonetheless, victory will not come without risks, and it will not come without the threats of Dean Marchant being carried to fruition.
Follow the post for Marchant’s full message.
Dear Pitzer Students:
As a Pitzer student you are encouraged to be socially and politically active, both locally and globally. At the same time, you are encouraged to do so in an informed and responsible manner, one that is consistent with our community values and our educational objective of social responsibility.
It is with this in mind that I write to you on the subject of policies regarding protests and demonstrations at Pitzer and The Claremont Colleges. The Claremont Colleges have a shared policy regarding demonstrations on College-owned property. It is posted below and is on pages 78-79 of the 2009-10 Pitzer College Student Handbook at: http://www.pitzer.edu/student_life/pdf/Student_Handbook.pdf.
Furthermore, as part of the Code of Student Conduct, Pitzer has a policy regarding interference with college activities. This policy is on page 58 of the 2009-10 Pitzer College Student Handbook and is as follows: “Interference with College activities. No Pitzer student shall act in an unauthorized way to make impossible the satisfaction of any physical condition necessary for the success of any authorized activity on College-owned property (by College-owned property we understand property owned jointly or individually by any of The Claremont Colleges, or property of any facility or institution owned by or affiliated with the Colleges).” Keep in mind that violations of the Code of Student Conduct carry sanctions ranging from a warning to expulsion from the College.
Please read both policies closely and think carefully before deciding to take action. You should know that if you choose to take action on another Claremont campus, officials there can determine what is considered “non-peaceful” or “disruptive,” and they can involve Campus Safety or local law enforcement.
Again, please be mindful of our community values and educational objectives as you express yourself.
Sincerely,
Jim Marchant
Dean of Students
Vice President for Student Affairs
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