[SF] Communique from the Forgotton: HRC Glamdalized By Queers Against Assimilation

The article is at the top, the communique is at the bottom. --Ianna.

suggested by Macio, re-posted from Lez Get Real

HRC BUILDING VANDALIZED

Early this morning the Human Rights Campaign building was vandalized. Early police reports say that around 4am this morning the building was defaced. According to police the vandals used either paintball guns or balloons filled with paint. It appears to have been a drive by and the police have no suspects.

The vandalism occurred after HRC’s Annual National Dinner fundraiser where President Obama spoke. This was the most publicized dinner HRC has held because of the President’s appearance. Obama’s speech was televised live on Cspan and also covered by CNN.

Today is also the National Equality March where thousands of LGBT people will be marching for equal rights.

LGR will be following this story and will provide updates from the police as they come in.

At 4:30om EST today a group claimed responsibility by leaving a comment here on this post. Calling the act “glamdalism” the group states in their message that “a crew of radical queer and allied folks armed with pink and black paint and glitter grenades. Beside the front entrance and the inscribed mission statement (of the HRC building) now reads a tag, "Quit leaving queers behind."

Here is the full message:

Communique from the Forgotton:

Human Rights Campaign HQ Glamdalized By Queers Against Assimilation

HRC headquarters was rocked by an act of glamdalism last night by a crew of radical queer and allied folks armed with pink and black paint and glitter grenades. Beside the front entrance and the inscribed mission statement now reads a tag, "Quit leaving queers behind."

The HRC is not a democratic or inclusive institution, especially for the people who they claim to represent. Just like society today, the HRC is run by a few wealthy elites who are in bed with corporate sponsors who proliferate militarism, heteronormativity, and capitalist exploitation. The sweatshops (Nike), war crimes (Lockheed Martin), assaults on working class people (Bank of America, Deloitte, Chase Bank, Citi Group, Wachovia Bank) and patriarchy (American Apparel) caused by their sponsors is a hypocrisy for an organization with "human rights" in their name.

The queer liberation movement has been misrepresented and co-opted by the HRC. The HRC marginalizes us into a limited struggle for aspiring homosexual elites to regain the privilege that they've lost and climb the social ladder towards becoming bourgeoisie.

Last night, Obama spoke at the HRC fundraising gala and currently the HRC website declares, "President Obama underlines his unwavering support for LGBT Americans." The vast amount of organizing resources the HRC wastes on their false alliance with the Democratic party leaves radical queers on the margins to fend for themselves. Our struggle has always had to resist the repression of conservative tendencies in government and society to gain liberation in our lives.

The gourmet affair was sponsored by 48 corporations including giants Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, and Wachovia Bank. At $250 dollars a plate the HRC served our movement a rich, white, heternormative atmosphere that purposefully excludes working class queer folks.

REMEMBER THE STONEWALL RIOTS! On the 40th anniversary of Stonewall, pigs raided a queer bar in Texas, arrested and beat our friends, and we looked towards politicians and lawyers to protect us. This mentality is what keeps the money flowing to the HRC and their pet Democrats, and keeps our fists in our pockets.

Most of all we disagree that collective liberation will be granted by the state or its institutions like prisons, marriage, and the military. We need to escalate our struggle, or it will collapse.

~~Love and Solidarity~~

[SF Bay Area] Activists de-shelve Israeli products at Trader Joe's

re-posted form BigCampaign.org

US activists de-shelve Israeli products from national grocer, 06/25/09

Press release, Don't Buy Into Apartheid, QUIT (Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism), South Bay Mobilization and BDS BayArea

On Saturday, 20 June, activists gathered at Trader Joe's in Oakland and San Francisco, US to demand that the company stop carrying Israeli goods.

Protesters removed Israeli products from the shelves in order to show customers which products they should not buy. They also met with the store managers and asked them to notify their headquarters that they no longer wanted to carry Israeli herbs, couscous and cheese. Similar actions were held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Seattle, Washington; and Sacramento, California. The activists were inspired by campaigns to de-shelve Israeli products in Wales and France.

"Trader Joe's is a company with an excellent reputation for bringing a diverse array of high-quality foods from around the world to US consumers. As Trader Joe's consumers, we are part of a growing movement of people globally who are calling on businesses to be consistent in following ethical business practices," said Yasmin Qureshi, an organizer of the Don't Buy Into Apartheid national network.

The group chose 20 June for its kickoff action because it is World Refugee Day, a day recognized worldwide to spotlight refugees displaced by war and persecution. Of the 11 million refugees in the world today, over seven million are Palestinian refugees displaced as a direct result of the founding of the State of Israel, many displaced for more than 60 years. It is for this reason that Don't Buy Into Apartheid calls on to Trader Joe's to discontinue the sales of Israeli Couscous, Dorot frozen herbs, as well as Pastures of Eden Feta cheese.

"Consumer boycotts played an important role in bringing about the end of apartheid in South Africa," said Sunaina Maira, Associate Professor of Asian American Studies at University of California-Davis. "Corporations with ethical business practices can stop funding injustice and occupation by refusing to sell products made in states that enact racial discrimination and violations of human rights law, such as Israel. The State of Israel was created in 1948 through policies of ethnic cleansing and apartheid, and still continues to violate countless United Nations resolutions. Consumer boycotts are an effective, nonviolent strategy to pressure states to comply with international law."

The manager at one Trader Joe's told the activists, "If you convince our customers to stop buying these products, we will stop carrying them." The group handed out coupons for customers to give to the cashiers asking the store to stop carrying Israeli products.

In 2005, a broad coalition of Palestinian groups issued a call for the international community to place boycott, divestment and sanctions on Israel based on its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands and discriminatory laws.

Don't Buy Into Apartheid's letter to Trader Joe's was signed by more than 35 organizations and 135 individuals. The campaign has gained more than 600 members in one month. Trader Joe's will join them in supporting social justice and racial equality by removing Israeli products from its shelves until Israel agrees to cooperate fully with international law.

[SF] Pranksters Install Swings on BART

suggested by Eli, re-posted from Laughing Squid

Pranksters Install Swings on BART Public Transit System in San Francisco
by Burnstein, 04/28/09

Some brilliant pranksters installed beautiful swings on BART last night. What apparently happened, according to witnesses, was a team of six or so people hopped on to a north-bound train from 24th Street station in San Francisco around 8:30 p.m. last night, installed three matching red swings, and then exited at 16th Street leaving their swings behind for public consumption.

I personally love this prank because of the joy that it inspires in the innocent by-standers. Look at the photos. Even the dudes that are not swinging are smiling (except for one woman - that is just how some people roll, I guess). I declare this to be an epic victory for joy and whimsy over the mundane!

VIEW PHOTOS HERE:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/audreypenven/sets/72157617328268331/

[Fresno] C.A.F.E. Fresno Infoshop Opening in May

re-posted from AnarchistNews.org

CAFE Fresno Infoshop Opening
submitted by mikerobe, 04/25/09

C.A.F.E. (Collective for Arts, Freedom, and Ecology) infoshop is holding a grand opening during May Day weekend. Party Friday; Lecture and discussion Saturday; Vegan potluck and film Sunday. 935 F St in downtown Fresno. Doors open at 6 pm each night.

For three years we've been dealing with cops, city inspectors and the fire marshal during which time we've thrown dozens of shows, held lectures (John Ross, Dennis Banks, Rob los Ricos, and others), shown films, had parties, hosted community groups, planned and plotted. We still haven't dealt with the various state assholes, but we thought we may as well have a grand opening. Come on out if you happen to be in the neighborhood. FNB, community grocery, bike clinic, library, zines, rad film library, sierra nevada earth first! and many other community groups using the space.

The trolls and flame throwers out there will talk their shit. Whatever. This infoshop is opening in the spirit of Emma Goldman's insights about the Spanish as opposed to the Russian revolution:

"The reality was that despite the evident readiness of the masses for the social revolution in the fall of 1917, they were not fully prepared to undertake the enormous reconstructive tasks that confronted them or to resist the Bolshevik assumption of dictatorial powers. In contrast, Goldman found both kinds of preparation in Spain. The accomplishments and endurance of the collectives that she described with such admiration were grounded in the long history of the anarchist movement in Spain, dating back to at least 1845. Goldman spoke repeatedly of the libertarian spirit of the Spanish people.... In August 1938 she reiterated, 'it will interest you to know that I found in some villages four generations steeped in Libertarian Communism. To them the idea was not merely on paper or in books, but a living force.'"

May the force be living within you and expressing itself with others.

mikerobe

[LA] Revolutionary Autonomous Communities' Food Program going strong after a year and five months

reposted from APOC Conference list

Revolutionary Autonomous Communities' Food Program

The Revolutionary Autonomous Communities has created a food program where we are empowering ourselves and others to become self-sustainable.

The Food Program is a mutual-aid project where people themselves are organizing and distributing food in their own neighborhoods. This is not charity, we do not believe that change will happen this way. This is self-empowerment, where working class neo-colonies are feeding themselves, and organizing to feed themselves.

Since the first week of November, 2007, RAC has distibuted much needed grocieries to the needy workers of the area. Last week 200 people standing in line received food packages.

You can join us every Sunday at 1:30 PM. Meet at the SE Corner of Wilshire and Parkview in MacArthur Park.

RAC Mission Statement:

We feel that this system is killing our people by what the corporations feed us or don't feed us. At the same time there is an abundance of healthy food that goes to waste. They would rather let food go to waste than allow the prices of food in the market to drop. Then they disconnect people (all indigenous and colonized people) from the land, which a free and independent people need to survive. They centralize power and resources in the hands of the few, this is how they keep oppressed people dependent on a white-supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist-imperialist system.

RAC's Food Program is a way that we can work with supporters and other organizations to feed healthy food to our communities. We want people to connect with each other, to pick up and distribute the food amongst themselves. We will support, help connect people and to supply whatever resources we can. Through this process our goal is to connect our communities and to take them back. Our overall goal is to regain our necessary connection to the land. We need land to survive, and the land belongs to us, not the colonizer. We want to relearn how to live off the land and how to truly be self-sustainable.

We're Still Here, We Never Left

Support our Food Program.

Help Pick Up Food.

Help Distribute Food in Your Neighborhood.

Donate to our Community Mutual-Aid Program.

Get Organized!

Take Back Our Communities and Take Back the Land!

All Power THROUGH the People!

-Revolutionary Autonomous Communities


E-mail RAC:
rac@lists.riseup.net

To donate to the RAC Food Program:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=3639082

RAC Blog:
http://revolutionaryautonomouscommunities.blogspot.com/

Radio RAC LA
Tuesdays 9PM-12AM
http://killradio.org/

[Los Angeles] Cul-de-sac Communes

re-posted from NPR: All Things Considered

A Social Experiment: Communes In Cul-De-Sacs
by Jennifer Sharpe, 04/02/09

Ever since my next-door neighbor sent me hate mail, threatening to sue if I didn't cut down my eucalyptus tree, I've been having paranoid fantasies about how badly we'd do together in an apocalypse.

Stranded on a residential street in Santa Monica, Calif., where the neighbors hardly ever interact with each other, I realized we might all die as casualties of our own self absorption.

So when I heard about a social experiment urging people in Los Angeles cul-de-sacs to start communes together, I had to see if this strange suburban mutation could possibly survive.

So architect and social designer Stephanie Smith, who runs the company Ecoshack, took me to the first official cul-de-sac commune potluck at the end of January on a newly developed bluff in Topanga Canyon, three months after she came up with the idea.

"We're finally here," Smith said.

Weeks earlier, Smith sat in her office explaining that she launched her project "Wanna Start A Commune?" after having an epiphany in the first moments of the economy's collapse.

"It couldn't possibly be that I have to keep having to buy in order to be green," Smith said. "I have to buy a Prius. I have to buy a fluorescent light bulb. I have to buy a solar array. And I just frankly just couldn't afford to be green — and that scared me."

Coming together to share resources is the basic premise of Smith's vision for the cul-de-sac commune. Hoping to learn what kinds of tools she should design to help facilitate sharing, Smith listened to Scott Vineberg, who lives in the commune, and his progressive-thinking neighbors as they brainstormed ways to go off the grid together, raise chickens and manage their stress levels.

"I'd like a communal massage, get somebody who comes up, you get a reduced rate, it's all outside... Ahh, that would be amazing, we should do that!" says commune member Helena Kriel.

The stay-at-home convenience of the cul-de-sac commune is, as Smith sees it, a solution to the biggest design flaw of its predecessors.

"In the past, utopian communities have often failed because people who started them have really insisted that the best way is to leave your old community, leave society, leave culture and start over, and it's a valid idea in many cases, but, it also leads to failure," she said. "So what we're interested in doing is make them effective as part of a culture, not a counterculture this time."

By some strange coincidence, the very spot where this first cul-de-sac commune gathering was taking place is exactly where Topanga Canyon's biggest 1970s commune once lived.

And if there's anyone who disagrees with Smith's strategy, it's that commune's founder, Sridhar Silberfein, whose divorce from society has gotten only deeper as his commitment to communal living has grown.

"I think there are going to be more and more people coming into communes — that's really where the future's going to be now," Silberfein says. "Because the economy is really breaking itself down, the government is breaking down, all the systems are breaking down. And all that's going to be left is going to be small communities living together and sharing the land."

I asked him what he imagines will happen to Los Angeles, for example.

"I think big cities are finished," he said. "That's why I left."

I'd driven two and a half hours outside Los Angeles to meet Silberfein, who lives in Yucca Valley, where he works as a real estate agent and is starting a new — as he now calls it — "intentional community," on 85 acres of high desert, where he plans to drill wells and build enormous greenhouses.

But as I looked out over the rocky expanse, I felt a premature nostalgia for civilization, and, despite Silberfein's pessimism, drove back to Los Angeles excited to see if the cul-de-sac communes were catching on.

"Every single neighborhood in America and around the world is a commune," Ecoshack's Smith says. "And every single apartment building is, and every office building is, and every single thing is built new using guidelines around sharing resources. Nothing less than that."

Smith's vision continues to expand. Within a month of that first potluck, at the end of February, cul-de-sac communes were bubbling up around the city, including one down in Santa Monica's Rustic Canyon, a short walk from my house. So perhaps it's just a matter of time before even my block turns, and my hostile tree-hating neighbor comes knocking on my front door.

More information at: www.wannastartacommune.com

[U.S.] Critical Resistance Victories in Oakland & NYC

re-posted from Critical Resistance mailing list

February 2009 Victories!

Dear Friends,

One thing we want to do better this year is to share good news when we have it. Just this month, CR helped lead the way to four significant victories against the prison industrial complex that we want to make sure you know about, and know how to support.From prison construction to youth curfews, we know that we have to continue squeezing the PIC from every direction we can. If you have an hour, a dollar, an idea, or a question, please share it with us!

With hope,
Critical Resistance

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CR's work to stop new prison construction helps compel historic prisoner release order!
For nearly a decade, Critical Resistance has prioritized stopping new prison construction. We know that if you build them; you fill them. In early February, a federal court ruled that overcrowding was the primary cause of unconstitutional medical and mental health care for people in California prisons, causing needless deaths every week. The Court ordered what we have been arguing for years is the only real solution: reducing the number of people in prison. Our role in stopping new prison construction helped lead the court to reject the state's position that it would build its way out of overcrowding, declaring that "there is no relief other than a prisoner-release order that will remedy the unconstitutional prison conditions." Noting that no new beds had been built, instead of building, the Court's order could reduce the number of people in prison by up to 56,000.

That's not to say this fight is over. We need to work harder than ever in the coming weeks and months to make sure that the state sends our people home, doesn't drag its feet, waste time with endless appeals, or, worst of all, proceed with prison construction to try to avoid sending people home or sending fewer people home. It is more important than ever that we stop AB 900, California's massive prison construction plan. This is a huge win and a huge opportunity, and we can't miss it.

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CR Oakland helps defeat proposed youth curfew following the police execution of Oscar Grant.
On February 10, CR Oakland helped mobilize over 100 people to defeat a frightening proposal for a youth curfew in Oakland. The proposal came on the heels of mass arrests during the protests of the videotaped execution of Oscar Grant by police. The ordinance would also make it a misdemeanor for a parent to allow a young person to violate the ordinance, and even expose business owners to prosecution if they knowingly allow youth on their premises during curfew hours.

"After what happened to Oscar Grant and many other youth killed by the police, how could we consider giving police yet another opportunity for racial profiling. Who will Oakland police stop at 10 p.m.? What neighborhoods will see a lockdown from 10 p.m. to 5 a. m.?," said CR member Ritika Aggarwal, 24.

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Drop the Charges
Since Oscar Grant's murder, CR has also worked hard to make sure that our ability to protest and organize out of this tragedy isn't shut down by the police and city officials. Since early January, we have worked to defend every single one of the more than 130 people arrested protesting Oscar Grant's murder; to make sure that youth of color aren't further criminalized protesting police violence, and to make sure that the focus stays where it should be: on the real effects of policing, whether they're caught on tape or not.

Working with the National Lawyers Guild and the Oakland 100 Committee, we have organized a call-in campaign and court solidarity for every arraignment. From more than 130, there are now only 4 people facing charges. Over the next few weeks, we'll be back to stay with those final defendants until every case is dismissed.

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No Jail in the Bronx or in Brooklyn
Finally, this month saw the Brooklyn House of Detention Coalition (BHOD) block plans to expand the Brooklyn House of Detention. CR-NYC played a big support role in this victory, sharing the strategies we used to stop jail construction in the Bronx with our neighbors. This marks the second victory in two years for the City's plan to build a new jail in every borough, and shows just how far we have come in the fight against endless cage building.

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THIS WORK IS ONLY THE BEGINNING OF WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN IN 2009.
Please, take a moment to help us - and yourself - in two important ways:

1. Get Involved! There is nothing more important to CR than our volunteer power. No matter where you live or what you like to do, we need your help. Find us at 510 444 0484, or email crnational@criticalresistance.org today.
2. Donate! Not in spite of but because of how bad the economy is, we need to pull our resources together more than ever. Please click here to give a gift that doesn't hurt your bank account, but does help us all - including you!

[L.A.] Jews Shut Down Israeli Consulate for 3 Hours

re-posted from APOC listserv

January 14, 2009

JEWS SHUT DOWN ISRAELI CONSULATE FOR 3 HOURS:

10 JEWS CHAIN TOGETHER TO BLOCK DRIVEWAY AND ENTRANCE

Early this morning, Jewish activists in a historic first in Los Angeles, chained themselves to the entrance of the Israeli Consulate and blocked the driveway to the parking structure, blocking all traffic in and out of the building. "We sent a clear message to the world that LA Jews are part of the global majority in opposition to the Israeli siege of Gaza," said Lenny Potash a 72-year old protester who was cuffed to eight other activists, blocking the driveway to the consulate. The activists were joined by 50 other supporters and who chanted "LA Jews say, End the Siege of Gaza" and "Not in Our Name! We will Not be Silent!" Protesters also held up signs reading "Israeli Consulate: Closed for War Crimes."

"We succeeded today in letting Jews and other Americans of conscience know that it is safe to speak out against the policies of the Israeli government and that the Israeli lobby does not speak for everyone," said Robin Ellis, a Registered Nurse who also risked arrest to block the consulate entrance. "We are committed to escalating non-violent activities in the future to end the siege and win justice for Palestinians," Ellis said.

The group of activists were an ad-hoc, multi-generational group of LA Jewish residents, including members of the recently founded International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network. They shared a commitment to ending the Israeli siege on Gaza and an end to Israeli apartheid. The demonstration will kick off a wave of demonstrations across the United States uniting Palestinians, Jewish people, and other Americans outraged by the siege.

"We are shocked and outraged at Israeli's latest act of violent aggression against the Palestinian people. Killing over 950 people, including 250 women and children, bombing schools and mosques and then calling it self-defense—that is the worst kind of hypocrisy. It also amounts to war crimes," said Hannah Howard, a local member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network. "We shut down the Israeli consulate today because as Jewish people we cannot allow business as usual while violence is being done in our name."

Action participants also spoke out against the US government's unconditional support for Israel's siege and its ongoing war against the Palestinian people. "While US-funded F16's rain down bombs on the people of Gaza, our elected officials locally and nationally offer unqualified support." said Marsha Steinberg, a retired union representative. "Our government must stop sending billions of dollars in military and economic aid to the Israeli war machine," Goldberg said. In the coming week, concerned Americans from all backgrounds will call on the new Presidential administration to make a 180 degree change in policy.

"While the end of the siege on Gaza is our most immediate priority, this is only the latest chapter in Palestinians' 60 plus year experience of occupation and ethnic cleansing. Peace and justice in the region will only come when Palestinians have freedom and control their own destiny," said Lisa Adler, a community organizer in Los Angeles and another member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network. "Even before the siege began, Israel's inhumane months-long blockade of Gaza created a major humanitarian crisis. We must end the siege. And we are building a nonviolent international movement of boycott, divestment and sanctions that brings an end to Israel's policies of occupation and apartheid and advances the Palestinian struggle for justice," said Adler.

For more information on the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, visit www.ijsn.net

-- ## --

Profiles of several Demonstrators

Marsha Steinberg is a retired union representative and long time activist for social justice.

Gabriel Strachota is a 22-year old Jewish native of Massachusetts. His mother grew up in apartheid South Africa and he has many aunts, uncles, and cousins living in Israel.

Robin Ellis is a 34-year old Registered Nurse, working in Los Angeles' public health system.. Robin's grandparents and great grandparents fled Nazi Germany and settled in New York where Robin was born.Registered Nurse

Lisa Adler is a 29-year old New York native from a Latin American Jewish family. She spent several weeks in occupied Palestine in 2002 working in solidarity with Palestinians resisting the occupation non-violently.

Eric Romann is a 31-year old community organizer originally from New Jersey. Eric's grandparents moved to Palestine to escape Nazism in the 1930's and lost many family members in the Nazi Holocaust. His father spent the first 15 years of his life in Israel and Eric has many family members living there.

Samantha Tess Sunshine is a queer white Jew who lives in Los Angeles. She is a trained sex educator who has worked in the field of sexual health for almost a decade, and is currently a lead facilitator for the Leadership Development in Interethnic Relations Program at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.

Fact Sheet on Gaza and Israeli Apartheid

THE PEOPLE OF GAZA: Nearly 1.5 million Palestinians live in Gaza, many of them concentrated in one-half of the territory. In this area, the population density is nearly 20,000 people per square mile, one of the highest in the world. More than three quarters of Gaza's residents are refugees who were driven from their homes during past wars with Israel (in 1948 and 1967), and their descendants. Israel has permanently barred their return. Over half of these refugees still reside in Gaza's eight refugee camps. (BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5122404.stm)

THE OCCUPATION OF GAZA: The Gazans have lived under Israeli occupation since the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel is still widely considered to be an occupying power, even though it removed its troops and settlers from the strip in 2005. Israel still controls access to the area, imports and exports, and the movement of people in and out. Israel has control over Gaza's air space and sea coast, and its forces enter the area at will. As the occupying power, Israel has the responsibility under the Fourth Geneva Convention to see to the welfare of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip. ("What You Don't Know About Gaza", Rashidi Khalidi, New York Times, January 7, 2009).

THE BLOCKADE of GAZA: Israel's blockade of the strip, with the support of the United States and the European Union, has grown increasingly stringent since Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in January 2006. Fuel, electricity, imports, exports and the movement of people in and out of the Strip have been slowly choked off, leading to life-threatening problems of sanitation, health, water supply and transportation. This amounts to the collective punishment — with the tacit support of the United States — of a civilian population for exercising its democratic rights. (Khalidi, New York Times).

THE CEASE-FIRE: Lifting the blockade, along with a cessation of rocket fire, was one of the key terms of the June cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. This accord led to a reduction in rockets fired from Gaza from hundreds in May and June to a total of less than 20 in the subsequent four months (according to Israeli government figures). The cease-fire broke down when Israeli forces launched major air and ground attacks in early November; six Hamas operatives were reported killed. (Khalidi, New York Times).

WAR CRIMES: Israel's current assault on the Gaza Strip cannot be justified by self-defense. Rather, it involves serious violations of international law, including war crimes. Senior Israeli political and military leaders may bear personal liability for their offenses, and they could be prosecuted by an international tribunal, or by nations practicing universal jurisdiction over grave international crimes. ("Israel is committing war crimes." George Bisharat, Wall Street Journal, January 10, 2009.)

ISRAELI APARTHEID: Former South African President Hendrick Verwoerd observed as far back as 1961 that "Israel, like South Africa, is an apartheid state." In Palestine, the Zionist goal of controlling as much land as possible without Palestinians led to the large-scale expulsions of 1947-48 and 1967. Today, 92 percent of Israel's land is defined as the "inalienable property of the Jewish people." Jews anywhere in the world have a "right to return" and claim citizenship, while Palestinians who were expelled from their homes are denied the "right to return" guaranteed by international law. Former President Jimmy Carter defines apartheid as the "forced separation of two peoples in the same territory with one of the groups dominating or controlling the other." This accurately describes the situation in the occupied West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, where Israeli settlers and soldiers totally dominate the indigenous Palestinian population. The policies Israel has implemented to carry out its 40-year-old occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and expropriate Palestinian land closely mirror the "inhuman acts" that make up the UN Convention on the "Crime of Apartheid." (US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, "Why Apartheid Applies to Israel", http://www.endtheoccupation.org/downloads/AAFWhyApartheid.pdf)

[Oakland] Anarchist reportback

suggested by Elliott, re-posted from Counterpunch.org, "This analysis was written collaboratively by a group of anarchists based out of Oakland who together were present at all moments during the rebellion."

by Kara N. Tina

Oakland on Fire

Anarchists, Solidarity, and New Possibilities in the Oakland Rebellion

"I'm sorry my car was burned but the issue is very upsetting."

-Ken Epstein, assistant editor of the Oakland Post, who was finishing an article about Grant's death, watched from the 12th story of his office at 14th and Franklin streets as his 2002 Honda CR-V disintegrated in a roar of flames (Oakland Tribune)

The murder of Oscar Grant by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer Johannes Mehserle early New Year's morning sent a wave of grief throughout the Bay Area and reminded all that racism and police violence continue to be endemic components of US society. During the following days, that pain transformed into overflowing anger as multiple videos of the execution recorded by witnesses emerged on the internet and in the media. One week later on January 7, over a thousand people from diverse communities across Oakland and the Bay Area gathered to show their anger and be in the presence of others feeling similar grief. This hastily planned rally shut down the Fruitvale BART station where the shooting took place as speaker after speaker addressed the crowd. Without any plan or organization, the vast majority of those who patiently listened to speakers for over two hours took the demonstration into the streets with a spirited march that made its way towards downtown as the sun set. 

As the march reached the Lake Merritt BART station and headquarters of BART police downtown, clashes immediately broke out leaving one police cruiser destroyed alongside a burning dumpster. Marchers dispersed down side streets to the sounds of police weapons discharging and the sting of tear gas in the air. The following hours witnessed waves of rioting and demonstrations throughout downtown Oakland that even forced Mayor Ron Dellums to come out into the streets and promise the opening of a homicide investigation in a failed attempt to subdue the angry crowds. Hundreds of businesses and cars were damaged or destroyed and dumpsters were left burning. The next day, a BART board of directors meeting was filled beyond capacity and overwhelmed with community members expressing indignant rage, clearly feeling validated and empowered to speak up by the previous night's rebellion.

In the days since the unrest, rumors have begun to circulate that anarchists hijacked the otherwise peaceful event and were responsible for unleashing the 'violence'.  A cover story in the San Francisco Chronicle two days after the rioting quoted an organizer of the Fruitvale rally as saying that he was led to tears when his work was "destroyed by a group of anarchists." This dangerous and misleading narrative obscures what actually transpired and why, on that evening, the streets of Oakland unleashed such a powerful show of resistance and solidarity that gave many an empowered glimpse of radical new possibilities.

It is true that anarchists were present from start to finish on Wednesday. Counter to some generalizations that assume all anarchists are white, those who were there on Wednesday come from diverse backgrounds. They participated in a wide variety of ways; from spreading the word about the rally beforehand in order to have a large turnout, to spending hours painting banners and signs, to engaging in militant street actions, to being rounded up and at times beaten and arrested. Anarchists are among the over 100 community members who now face charges ranging from misdemeanor rioting to different felonies.

African-American youth made up the majority of those involved in the actions along with sizable numbers of anarchists as well as other youth of color and activist folk who were all there side by side. During the rioting, there was a sense of unity in the air and a defiant mood of solidarity among all who faced off against the police.  Anarchists tend to show up at all demonstrations prepared to act should the situation escalate, and this case was no different. Yet it is simply incorrect to suggest that there was some conspiracy of anarchists from the 'outside' who were able to manipulate the helpless youth of Oakland as part of their sinister agenda. This is a paternalistic and disempowering misreading of what was unquestionably a spontaneous outpouring of rage, led by youth of color, creating an extremely empowering moment for participants in the streets. There, temporary alliances were made as those who were motivated to act in the moment experienced a unique cross-pollination that cut across the inhibiting social boundaries of everyday life. 

The allegations of an anarchist takeover are destructively misleading. At best they come from ignorance and at worse they represent a flawed and divisive ideology of social change which embodies paternalistic and racist assumptions about those involved in the actions. To scapegoat anarchists for what transpired, robs from marginalized and oppressed youth of color the agency they possess and the power to resist which they demonstrated that evening. It also ignores the remarkable diversity and unique solidarity in the streets that created an liberating experience far beyond any rally or march.

There were some moments during which individual anarchists attempted to influence the course of events, but these instances still do not fit into the narrative that the corporate media and some organizers have tried to tell. At one point a group of black youth smashing the windows of a locally owned business were encouraged to target large corporations and banks instead of 'mom and pop' shops. They proceeded to do just that. Anarchists also un-arrested youth, and encouraged people to push dumpsters and other objects into the streets to prevent the police from advancing, a tactic that was quickly picked up and utilized. Other examples of this type of interchange involved anarchists encouraging youth participating in the riots to wear bandanas over their faces, change clothes during calm moments and other tactics to help avoid arrest or identification. Without question, the exchange went both ways as anarchists took away valuable lessons in mobility, evasion, and more as they worked together with the youth throughout the night.

None of this, however, suggests that anarchists had some sort of control or single handedly determined the events that transpired. The rage and energy that transformed downtown Oakland into a momentary battlefield came from those who are most directly affected by the racist police state regime. No one group had any control over what unfolded. It was a spontaneous rebellion that sprang organically from the streets of Oakland and in retrospect anarchists played an important yet relatively minor role. 

The property destruction and rage that burned throughout downtown Oakland was at times undirected and ended up damaging many small businesses and cars along with corporate targets such as Sears and McDonald's. However, some of the most powerful moments that parralled the destruction were confrontations with police and sponatenous high energy gatherings of people in the street who refused to be dispersed. It was during these moments that chanting would again erupt from the crowd reminding all who were present that the direct political demands of justice for Oscar Grant and active resistance to the racist police state system in the United States were the motivations of all who took to the streets that evening.

It's important to also remember that not one person was assaulted during the actions and there were no reports of fights or scuffles amongst the groups of youth who resisted police and destroyed property into the night. In this sense, the rebellion was not violent. It is disturbing to watch as fellow organizers and members of our communities have uncritically adopted the rhetoric of the right in their confused denunciation of mass property destruction as 'violence'.

On the other hand the Oakland Police Department, who everyday harass, intimidate and beat Oakland's youth, was unleashing its very real violence that night. Police opened fire on crowds with different types of less lethal projectiles and in some cases shot tear gas canisters directly into people's bodies. A Berkeley High teacher had his face bashed during arrest and spent the night in the hospital before being taken back downtown for booking.  A man taking pictures was attacked by police and his bike helmet was cracked as he was beaten. During the mass arrest at the end of the night, 80 people were forced by police to lay on their stomachs at 20th and Broadway, including a very pregnant woman who was screaming in pain.

What manifested during the Oakland rebellion was a moment of interchange and revolutionary transformation that rarely happens within the rituals of left organizing in the Bay Area. Between white "community organizers" overtaken by guilt into an impotent politics of servitude, professional activists worried about annual reports and grant cycles, and vanguardist marxist sects continually looking to use the next demonstration as a recruiting drive, many radicals find themselves in a desert devoid of revolutionary activity and thought. Within this barren landscape, it is rare to find new possibilities for radical social change while combatting racism and the constant oppression of capitalism. Resisting the police shoulder to shoulder, destroying property (albeit with different emphasis), helping one another evade arrest, exchanging tactics and gestures of solidarity across racial barriers pushes the desire for a multi-racial revolutionary movement years ahead, more than any speaker at a rally ever could.

Anarchists are very accustomed to accusations of spoiling carefully managed demonstrations, and in some cases this is true and necessary. The Oakland rebellion was a different story. Those who are truly committed to revolutionary change in this country need to appreciate the significance of what unfolded in the streets that night and move forward without falling into the usual sectarian traps.

[Oakland] "Residents Use BART Meeting to Voice Outrage"

re-posted from: KTVU, 01/11/09 at http://www.ktvu.com/news/18459114/detail.html

Oakland Residents Use BART Meeting to Voice Outrage

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Members of the Bay Area Rapid Transit board held another community meeting in Oakland on Sunday to help ease tensions surrounding the New Year's Day slaying of an unarmed man by a transit police officer, but few of the 100 or so people who attended seemed appeased by what they heard.

Most of the speakers criticized BART for what they described as the agency's slow response to the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant and demanded to know if Officer Johannes Mehserle would be arrested. Alameda County prosecutors, and Oakland and BART police say they still are investigating why Mehserle shot Grant, who had been detained in a station following a fight on a train.

"Why hasn't anyone with authority just arrested this guy?" asked Oakland resident Nader Bey, echoing the frustration prevalent at the more than two-hour-long meeting.

Mehserle, 27, resigned from the force before his department's internal affairs division could interview him. BART Police Chief Gary Gee pleaded for patience and said Sunday that he hoped to present the division's findings about the case to the Alameda County district attorney by week's end.

At one point during the public gathering, the second BART directors convened in three days, heated words were exchanged between Oakland City Council member Delsey Brooks and BART director Carole Ward Allen, who represents the district where Grant was shot.

Brooks said she wanted to know when the board would respond to a list of demands she and other Oakland leaders submitted on Thursday. The list includes identifying the other officers who were present during the shooting and asking the state attorney general and U.S. attorney to take over the investigation.

"When are you going to take some action, Carole, some real action? It is clear something has to be done..."

Allen, who earlier had said the board was doing its best to satisfy the public's desire for information without compromising the investigation, left the room visibly agitated.

Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff says he will decide within two weeks whether to bring criminal charges. On Saturday, Attorney General Jerry Brown said he would dispatch a state prosecutor to monitor Alameda County's investigation.

The BART Board of Directors has scheduled a special meeting for Monday afternoon to discuss creating an oversight committee that would have responsibility for monitoring police-related incidents.