Arcata People Project action coverage

check out coverage of the Arcata People Project action on indybay.org
http://indybay.org/northcoast/
http://indybay.org/newsitems/2007/04/27/18405860.php
http://indybay.org/newsitems/2007/04/25/18405092.php

lots more articles there...if you're having troubles finding them, look for the "North Coast" page under "regions."

"as long as you're annoyed" ...another one from tad

Peace be with you.

Resist!

Non-violent civil disobedience, resistance, direct action, and community are the tools with which peoples will make Babylon, “the mighty whore,” fall. Our local leaders are nothing more than quislings for the new Reich. Our criminal justice system is nothing more than a slaughter house factory that kills human spirit and dignity for the corporate churches of the false profits. The legislation is written for rich white busy-ness owners. Our laws are designed to oppress women, gays, peoples of color, homeless, unemployed, non-christian or zionist right, working poor, and yes despite your denial, the so-called middle class too. Our solders, the military and cops, are used to maintain “an order” which is designed to protect the financial interests of multi-national corporations and their “new world order.” Inflation is an artificial manipulation designed to keep you working harder and harder while producing more and receiving less. Debt was invented to keep you desperately employed to pay for shinny shit over and over again. And rules are used to confuse you as to what you have to do compared to what they want you to do.

Anarchy and Pacifism is NOT riotous or cowardly! A person standing in the street in a Jesus pose while full body armored riot cops crush their skull is neither rioting nor running. Anarchy is the opposite of government. Capitalism, socialism, and communism all have a “leader” and a steep hierarchy – masters on top slaves on the bottom. Anarchy is more like that picnic at the beach. Nobody is in charge, the work, resources and their resulting rewards are shared equality. Peace is maintained because it is in everyones best interest to be peaceful. Governments are cruel, violent, and oppressive in order to maintain control. Anarchy is compassionate, caring and liberating in order to eliminate the need to control. Anyone who makes it to the age of 18 has proved, to me at least, that they are smart enough to live. If they're smart enough to live then they must know that living in peace is a hell of a lot better than living in war.

The law is handed down to the people from a white, male, heterosexual, corporate financed, christian oligarchy. The law is enforced upon the people by a military controlled by the same oligarchy. The guilt of the people is determined by the same oligarchy. The prisons and forms of punishment are run by this very same oligarchy. Our wages come from this oligarchy and our rent payments return to this oligarchy. We've made this oligarchy rich and powerful.

Now this oligarchy has abandoned us. They have turned their military against us. They have rescinded the rights they originally motivated us to support them with. They have tried to leave us with only two alternatives – be their slave or be fodder for their dogs of torture.

I for one will insist on those rights I have. What if everyone insisted on all their rights all the time? What if employees refused to pee in cups and took every Sunday off? What if every person charged with a crime insisted upon the required formal reading of their charges, a speedy trial by a jury of their peers, the right to a defense, and all the discovery which might shed light on their case? What if entire neighborhoods refused to let the police into them? What if we stopped paying the banks that pay the military? What if we stopped supporting the corporations by refusing to purchase their crap? What if everyone said “no, I don't have to?” What if we support the sister or brother who makes our bread? What if we fed everyone? What if I only traded my tomato for and an apple and not a dollar? What if we all did what is right simply because it is right? We would be Anarchy, we would be Peace, we would be Love and we would be Free. Jesus was not a coward, nor violent, nor Christian, he was fucking revolutionary! Tear it down with your palms facing forward, and expect resistance.

Love eternal

tad

from tad

Peace be with you.

A funny thing happened to me on the way to an anarchy the other day. I had sent away to this “anarchy” group for a pamphlet that I believed did an excellent job of explaining to someone who had never experienced anarchy what it is. This group offered two bundles of free pamphlets to those who couldn’t pay. As you know I get my food, clothing and shelter out of garbage cans so I felt I qualified for the program.

I filled out as much of the “form” as I am able to do – no phone, no street address, no last name; you know the shit that always gives us away as houseless peoples. I hit send on the e-mail, told the owner of the P.O. box to keep on the lookout, and started making a mental list of people who, if given the pamphlet, would create maximum distribution. I really never thought that my brothers and sisters would ever consider rejecting my request because I didn’t fit the correct class.

Imagine my chagrin when I check my e-mail and see a title from the anarchists that says; “order (some Babylon number) has been cancelled.” The e-mail basically claimed that they had some type of “class filter” in place and well I’m just not good enough to be an anarchist. So I sent them back my typical “fuck you fascist” reply and asked that they leave me alone.

I told that story because often I am invited to see a brother’s or sister’s show, or event, or talk, or class, or whatever and I arrive and am turned away because the person at the door thinks I’m “homeless.” (No I got a fucking home; it’s shelter I lack!) It isn’t “more common than not;” it’s every time! The only time it doesn’t happen is with people who recognize me.

Having studied the theories of governments for myself, having learned histories from multi-divergent-points of view, having lived and failed in a capitalistic society, while watching the communistic society crash to the ground, having been raised on the stolen land of numerous anarchical peoples, having recognized the original peoples rich truths, naturally I would question why people so like to prejudge me. Though I would never give a shit, I would wonder for the knowledge of it.

So here’s my thought on it. Everyone wants a spot on the pecking order. Those anarchists probably thought “Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber.” They probably think I got a bottle of mad dog in one hand and a bible in the other. No my friends, I can’t keep my fist raised in solidarity with mad dog in my hand. Let us face it, it’s easy to judge those less than yourself as such.

Does this mean anarchy won’t work? No; it just means these people aren’t anarchists. Power to the people!

love eternal
tad

tad: prophets and "false profits"

Peace be with you.

The simplest comparison between our Prophets and the false profits of the christian right shows a huge abyss between the two. The new fascist christdom idolizes the corporate state as the child of god, while Jesus placed the individual as God’s child. It is easy to see a tree and know that God’s perfect and then look at a strip mine and know the fascists are fucked up!

The basis behind the cruel nature of the fascist policies is supremacy. The fascist believe that the gender and race that destroyed the world is evolutionarily superior while those peoples which lived in harmony with the earth are inferior and only continue to evolve due to the science of the fascists. The engineers call this theory intelligent. The Hopi call it Koyaanisqatsi, which means “Life out of balance.” Extracting all the Earth's resources so a few rich bankers can live with the freedom and security that they deny the rest of the world is way the fuck out of balance. It is so easy to see the eventual death of mankind, and maybe the Earth herself, that Prophets have foretold of its coming for millenniums.

The use of guns, starvation, and disease to “motivate” peoples to give up low impact lives and punch time clocks to pay rent to the self proclaimed Lords of the land is only oppressive and in no way correct. Those who wear the dark blue uniforms and maintain the status quo are the same ones who slaughtered every indigenous Peoples on the Earth. They have taken the Holy Mother Earth out of their religions and trampled on every spiritual belief in Her. They have used the same “science” they use to destroy with to distort and convolute the very teachings they proclaim as a gift from God.

Jesus’ last words in the Christian bible are “feed my lambs.” Today we close soup kitchens because we can’t afford highly paid “case managers,” and claim that scraps of bread only encourage people to choose poverty. We call those who don’t choose Koyaanisqatsi abnormal and those with the most money normal. Once we label them as abnormal then we use the most inhuman methods to Christianize them, or Capitalize them, or Democratize them, or Americanize them.

The social scientists would have us believe that as soon as all Peoples in the world are paying rent to the global landlords, paying taxes to hire the armies that oppress them, and are making the false profits for the these landlords, then the world will be a place of peace and harmony. Yeah, and as soon as frogs learn how to fly they’ll stop bumping their ass!

Jesus was a higher evolved human, not George Bush. Muammad was a higher evolved human, not John Rockefeller. Lao Tzu , was a higher evolved human, not Pat Robertson. Siddhartha Gautama was a higher evolved human, not Tony Blair. Millions of Indigenous Peoples are higher evolved humans, not the pillaging Imperialists.

Love eternal
tad

GERONIMO IN JAIL!

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/02/14/18363310.php

Geronimo Garcia, a very good soul, has been put in jail by the Arcata Police after ascending the Statue of Dead President Willy McKinley that is, unfortunately, in the middle of the plaza.

for more info including court date (Feb 21?), see indybay article at:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/02/14/18363310.php

from the PPU, Olumpia WA

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/02/354257.shtml

Memories of Camp Quixote

author: Ray Kavick

The (abbreviated) story of Olympia's Camp Quixote

My name is Ray Kavick, anarchist and member of the Olympia Poor People's Union (PPU). This is a short reflection on the first week of an encampment we set up in Downtown Olympia on Thursday, February 1st. We called the encampment Camp Quixote. This piece is not that comprehensive, but gets the basic story out there. My comments DO NOT represent those of the PPU. The PPU is a non-hierarchical group dedicated to improving the lives of the poor and "homeless" in Olympia by whatever means available. To contact the PPU write us an email at poorpeoplesunion@yahoo.com or, if ABSOLUTELY necessary, call us at 925-285-5342.


The first tents were awkwardly set up with the people at the campsite looking over their shoulder every once in a while. I felt that many of us were waiting for the police to come immediately. During the planning meetings, it was assumed by nearly everybody that we would be at the site for an hour at most. When the first five tents went up and an hour had passed, none of us were completely sure what to do. But that soon passed, the group got together and we decided to go ahead and put as many tents and as many people on the sight as quickly as possible.

A local peace group was holding a sit-in at two locations that day protesting the laws that the city passed banning sitting, panhandling or performing on Olympia sidewalks. Once it was over many of them came down and hung out with us. People passing by stopped to see what was going on. The energy was beginning to grow in the small, gravel and mud parking lot. The tents continued to be erected, we made a few pallet runs in order to get the tents off the ground, different musicians came by and played for us and random people dropped off food. A port-a-potty arrived by truck later in the day. The pigs were nowhere to be seen.
By nightfall, the group was operating smoothly and the unity we had talked about and hoped for in the meetings was materializing. Once the fear of the police had subsided we all threw ourselves headlong into the undertaking and the sense of excitement among the group gave us all a small, constant buzz. We were no longer doing something "illegal", we were doing what we needed to do. If something needed to be taken care of, people got up and did it. Whenever someone needed something, we gave it to them, or tried to. At the end of that day, the hope I had for the encampment multiplied exponentially.

The next day, in our local, shitty newspaper, we were on the cover. The Olympian was telling everyone that we set up the camp to "protest" the new laws. While all of us despised the laws, we did not do this to "protest" anything. We did this create what we needed: housing and a sense of community. But it was easier to label us as "protesters" for The Olympian, something they are still doing. Anyway, that day brought the media, along with more people, more food and more tents. There was no word on the police, but the in the paper the city council expressed anger at us for being "ungrateful" for all the City had done for the "homeless". Everyone laughed at this and the day went on. We set up a communal tent to store food and serve as a makeshift kitchen. An Olympian photographer wandered through the camp, as well as a snobby reporter. The City manager, Steve Hall, a exceptionally disgusting human being, came by and informed us that this action represented a "poke in the eye" to the City. I suppose he thought this would fill us with shame and make us leave. Later in the day the Seattle stations came down and began filming.

A few us felt a sense of disgust and anger upon seeing them but we put it aside in order to get the word out about what were doing, accepting that our message would get skewed. I was to discover later, however, that the Seattle stations gave us pretty decent coverage, probably because they weren't worried about upsetting the wingnuts, wealthy business owners and rich City Council members of Olympia as much as The Olympian was.


It was ridiculously cold that second night. A few people brought a barbeque down and some coals, being that burning a fire to keep warm was forbidden us. Later, even was burning coal was made "illegal". The cops had started driving by regularly that day, going up and down the alley next to the camp. It got down to twenty two degrees that night. Perhaps if Steven Hall had stayed the night he might not have run his arrogant mouth as much he did and still does.

The next three days brought us a number of things which I will tackle in no meaningful order: a communal hall was built with lumber donated from a local salvage company. It was draped in tarps and became an awesome little spot for us to hang out. Our kitchen was expanded and a fantastic fellow named ____ acted as our cook, making food that blew out what the Starvation Army dished out. In the hall we had communal food and tobacco, with new donations coming all the time. We shared everything there. A few people were a little reluctant to share their tents and some people got mad at the positioning of certain tents, but the problems were dealt without much friction. I have not felt so at ease in a long time. I will probably say it again, but this was a small slice of the kind of community and future many of us dream of. Some of you may give me shit, but I wanted to cry a few times for absolutely no rational reason.
Those three days also brought the City Council meeting and the first real worry of the police raiding us. The PPU planned to go as a group to the Council meeting and flood it, but it occurred to many of us that this would be an opportune moment for the police to come. So those who could be arrested stayed at the camp and those who could not went to the meeting. Quite a few people spoke during the public comment section of the meeting, and one of those people was a woman named Carol. She ripped into the Council and expressed her outrage towards what they were doing. We didn't get raided that night, but Carol was later arrested.

She had a warrant out for her, but the police knew she was in town since it was issued. This arrest was purely political in nature. Someone who angrily denounced the Council was in jail the next day. I am sure this disgusts you just as much as does me so I will not comment on it anymore. Needless to say, this unnerved us all, being that we were expecting them to come for all of us. At night, cruisers were driving by, some of them flashing their searchlights into the camp at two in the morning in order to wake us up. The pigs seemed to hate people trying to improve their lives so much that they constantly looked at us with scorn if not hatred as they drove by. We weren't doing anything wrong, not even by their bullshit standards. But the OPD are a bunch of psychotic, ex-military mutants who never graduated from junior high, so I guess I kind of understand.

Lastly, those three days were filled with paranoia at the seemingly inevitable police raid. The Council, in comments and at the meeting, stated that they would not talk with us and that we had to go, period. Steve Hall said that if we didn't leave then the police would come in. Rumors began to circulate. At 6 at night. Within 12 hours. Definitely in the middle of the night, probably 4 AM. In retrospect, the police and City did an effective job at freaking us out. During those weary days, people with warrants or carrying children took off. Each time we heard a rumor everyone was on the phone, calling their friends and the media in order to get as many people to the site as possible. The corporate media eagerly descended from Seattle in order to get those juicy pictures of people getting cracked on the head. Strangely, I believe their presence kept the cops away on at least one of these night, although I cannot be certain. Each of those rumors turned out to be false, though, and I think people got a little burnt after three days of preparing themselves for a confrontation.

On the second to last day the police gave us written warnings to leave or face arrest. On the back of the warning was a list of numbers for shelters that the residents of the camp could call. All of them were either out of service, full or impossible to get into quickly. After that, we began to look for another spot to house the encampment. A church was contacted and it seemed likely that they would let us. When the word finally came that could in fact move to the church's property we informed the City that we would be moving. Nevertheless, the State had to flex its muscles and surround the encampment at the 4:30 Friday morning. We were basically out of there already and we finished cleaning out the spot under the eyes of the pigs. We left the spot cleaner than we found it.

Now we're at a new spot in West Olympia, being graciously put up by the Unitarian Universalist Church. They are not dogmatic and are truly good people. While the camp is no longer Downtown where more people can get to it, we still have a safe place to go. The community and the bonds that grew out of that first week are still alive and strong. The City and their hired thugs cannot destroy the trust we all now have for each other, and that trust is the most important thing to come out of the whole endeavor. Without it, we would not be able to continue. The new camp is up and we'll be up to more mischief later. But I can't tell you any more than that. Just keep your eyes peeled... ... .

Love, Ray Kavick of the PPU

Welfare and Roger Rodoni

“ROGER RODONI TAKES CORPORATE WELFRARE
by Jake Pickering

- Social Worker -

P.O. Box 3050 , Eureka , CA 95502

(707) 832-8005

- February 16, 2007 -

“I try not to say too much to an intellectual void.” - Roger Rodoni

According to the February 16, 2007 edition of The Times-Standard, as reported by James Faulk, 2^nd District Humboldt County Supervisor Roger Rodoni’s recent speech to Eureka Republican Women was not only beyond hypocritical; it was incredibly insipid.

Roger Rodoni leases “a substantial portion of Pacific Lumber land since he first ran for the office in 1992… around 9,000 acres, including a house and a barn, and for it Rodoni paid only… $350 per month.” (www.northcoastjournal.com/122503/cover1225.html)

Never mind the obvious implications of blatant political corruption for the moment and focus on the hypocrisy displayed by conservative cattle rancher Roger Rodoni. Here we have our long-time 2^nd District Supervisor quite literally on the take from Pacific Lumber!

The financial benevolence bestowed upon Rodoni by Pacific Lumber should not only rightly be considered a fetid form of political bribery, Rodoni’s sweetheart deal with Pacific Lumber is an obvious case of corporate welfare run amok.

However, as financially fortunate as Roger Rodoni is, in his typically hypocritical Republican fashion Rodoni cravenly chose to personally attack the less fortunate of Humboldt County, referring to our meager social safety net as a “gravy train”, of all things!

Regarding the fact that the state and federal governments are considering draconian cuts to necessary programs that “supposedly take care of the people who can’t take care of themselves”, Rodoni coldheartedly quipped “I’m sitting here thinking, they need a bigger axe… Humboldt County is an oasis for this sort of thing.”

Rodoni’s outspoken opposition to vital social programs for the working poor, the disabled and the elderly is as legendary locally as his repeatedly displayed antagonism towards Native Americans and other oppressed minority groups.

Roger Rodoni is a right-wing relic from Humboldt County ’s puerile past. Rodoni is a racist Republican redneck who openly brags about his bigotry, wallowing in his hatred for women as well: “Like Supervisor Bonnie Neely, who he said has been buried in the Humboldt County Courthouse for 30 years; or Arcata Mayor Harmony Groves, a ‘social utopian if I ever met one – every time she talks you expect butterflies to come out of her mouth’.”

Roger Rodoni is the personification of political embarrassment. However, what is truly pathetic about Rodoni is that he is not nearly intelligent enough to understand that he should be ashamed of himself! How did Rodoni ever get elected to public office in the first place?

Oh yeah, that’s right. Pacific Lumber and their abusive parent corporation MAXXAM, Inc. put him there. Apparently, Savings & Loan scammer Charles Hurwitz’s largesse came in handy for Rodoni’s political campaigns. Too bad his constituents have received so little in return.

Ironically, Roger Rodoni said he is puzzled why “these characters keep getting reelected.” So are we! Humboldt County can do so much better than Roger Rodoni.

It is time for Roger Rodoni to retire from the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors. You can make it happen! Public pressure still counts for something in this county, and I urge you to contact 2^nd District Supervisor Rodoni to let him know what you think of his reelection prospects in the upcoming June 2008 primary election.

Tell Rodoni that the time has come for him to move on. Roger Rodoni’s office phone number is (707) 476-2392. Please give him a call, and tell him Jake Pickering sent you!

thanks Jake....

communique from Olympia, WA.

On February 1st at 12 PM, the Olympia Poor People's Union (PPU) set up a tent encampment on city property. The date of the action intentionally corresponds with the city's implementation of an amended pedestrian interference code already in effect. The addition of Ordinance No. 6456n to the existing law criminalizes sidewalk sitting with a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. This act of civil disobedience, the encampment, was carried out in response to growing discontentment amongst Olympia's poor people over the slow, systematic attempt at the dispossession of our city's homeless, orchestrated and supported by some city officials and business owners.

In addition, significant portions of the population of Olympia have taken on a generally dismissive and apathetic attitude towards the plight of those in need. This is the inception of an ongoing effort on the part of the PPU to find a sustainable, dignified way to address the issue of homelessness in this area, rather than to ignore it or to punish its victims.

The PPU believes the rights to shelter, dignity; mental and physical health to be basic human entitlements; and that a community where all individual members are valued and their contributions recognized must be realized. The PPU believes that all people are entitled to these basic rights, and if these rights are not provided, we believe it is essential for us to take what is necessary for survival by the means available. The State thus far has proved inadequate in addressing our needs as human beings, and the situation has grown too urgent for us to wait for either institutionalized charity or bureaucratically hampered government aid. We thus are attempting to take matters into our own hands.

To be treated as human beings is our goal. As there is a stigma attached to being homeless, we will create homes of our own and show ourselves to be responsible, caring members of the community, as capable of taking care of ourselves as any other group of people. In our encampment, we will keep order, prohibiting drugs, alcohol, violence or theft. These are our only regulations. We will work towards creating sustainable, permanent housing for all who are in need and to create a space for those who are looked down upon to be integrated into the community, not out of charity or pity but out of acceptance, solidarity and mutual appreciation.


All Power to the People, -Olympia Poor People's Union

Letter from Arcata Food Not Bombs to the "Co-op"

This letter was recieved by email. I decided to just leave all the funny type-o doo-dads in there. I think that the meaning is clear.


FOOD NOT BOMBS

December 6, 2006

Dear Arcata Co-Op,

The North Coast Co-Op, Arcata Store, is one of several sources from which Food Not Bombs (FNB) gleans food. FNB is an effort to feed anyone who is hungry in an open, respectful way. Many FNB volunteers are committed to non-violent social change through the celebration and nurturing of life by preparing and giving out free vegetarian or vegan food –some volunteers help out on occasion, as a way of being part of a compassionate community, meeting a concrete need, and “giving back.”

Locally and elsewhere, Food Not Bombs has a long tradition of conscious and sanitary food preparation and service. Volunteers are well-known for prioritizing dignity in their food sharing and diligent standards of cleanliness. Arcata FNB has been continuously serving at least once a week for over four years with out any complaints of food poisoning. FNB volunteers spend many hours preparing, cleaning, transporting, serving and eating each free community meal.

Food Not Bombs is a loose-knit group of independent collectives all over the world, most concentrated in North America. FNB ideology maintains that myriad corporate and government priorities allow hunger to persist in the midst of abundance. While there is enough food in the world to feed everyone (likewise in Arcata), so much food goes to waste intentionally and/or needlessly as a direct result of capitalism and militarism. FNB tries to call attention to poverty and homelessness, the results of these oppressive, violent systems, by sharing food in public places and facilitating the gathering of poor, homeless, and other disenfranchised people. Most of the food served by FNB is healthy surplus food that would otherwise go to waste as well generous donations from individuals in the community. FNB invites people who eat FNB meals to be involved in providing the food themselves. Food Not Bombs does not make people jump through bureaucratic hoops or punish anyone for being poor, but rather fosters empowerment and self-determination.

Food Not Bombs in Arcata has an her/history that includes subjection to police repression, arrests for serving free food on the Plaza, and success in overcoming prohibitive city action, through persistent dedication to feeding hungry people. Vincent of the Arcata Co-Op requested a letter from Food Not Bombs and has articulated 3 conditions upon which FNB volunteers can again receive Co-Op ‘throw-away’ food and, in turn, feed many people.

The 3 conditions are purported to be in response to the Co-Op’s claims that it received a complaint-- that produce was found on the Plaza. Apparently, the presumption is that 1) the produce was donated by the Co-Op to FNB, and 2) FNB is somehow responsible.

The 3 conditions that Vincent has ‘mandated’ (apparently on behalf of the Co-Op) in order for FNB to receive donations again are:

1) that three people, regular FNB pick-up volunteers, present their ID’s and confirm that they will be the sole designated receivers of Co-Op donations;

2) that any food be picked up on the Plaza after FNB meals, and;

3) that the donated food be cooked in a ‘certified-to-code’ kitchen.

As community members and as volunteers committed to service and sharing, we hope that the Co-Op will defend against the systematic violence of poverty and acknowledge the presence in our local communities of poor individuals and families, and respect their needs.

Here are our responses to the 3 requests:

1) Because we understand and respect your need to be familiar with people who are picking up food donations, we will designate 3 consistent FNB volunteers to do pick-ups, and we will make sure that you are introduced to any ‘new’ people who may, in the future, replace one of the “three” taking on the task of pick-ups.

2) Rest assured that we will see to it that food and garbage resulting from our FNB community meals will be picked up from the Plaza and at any other serving sites to the best of our ability before leaving the site of our FNB event.

3) Regarding the request that we prepare our community meals in a ‘certified’ kitchen, we find this request unreasonable. The method of food preparation for our events is our concern. Our food preparation is adequate and appropriate and always has been. Moreover, our food preparation is neither legally nor otherwise relevant to the Co-Op or to its expressed concern(s).

We are hopeful that donations of food from the Co-Op will immediately resume, as homeless folks are at this time especially in need of healthy, cooked meals. For some, such meals are critical to their very survival.

If you believe that further negotiations are required with Food Not Bombs, we request that you not withhold food donations during that process. The Endeavor has cut back services during the most severe weather time of year, now more than ever FNB is needed for the survival and dignity of hungry people in Arcata.

Sincerely,

the Local Food Not Bombs Community

[Then there was a written note that said something like (but more eloquent): “If someone requests food for Food Not Bombs who has not been previously designated to do pick-ups, please ask her/him to call 822-4014 so that we can coordinate.”-- This was added to assuage that horrendous worry that different people may request food to make free meals.]

UPDATE!!!: Los Angeles Skid Row Rally

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2007/01/191954.php

At the first of what organizers say will now be weekly Saturday rallies in front of the LAPD’s Central Division headquarters, a Skid Row rally on Saturday, organized by a homeless man, saw the largest public turnout yet for a public demand to end L.A’s massive new push to criminalize all this city’s homeless people.

Activists are calling on the community to help set up a base-camp on Skid Row to halt, immediately now, the police attacks.

Since last August, Los Angeles police have been the staging, on Skid Row, the largest attacks on homeless people in the city’s history; daily waves of police arrests, beatings and harassment that has terrorized all homeless people here: with up to 4,000 homeless people targeted.

And with, up until now, almost no widespread Los Angeles city outcry.

At this first of weekly rallies were activists from Food Not Bombs, the People’s College of Law, CopWatch Los Angeles, the Downtown Unitarian Universalists, and the Skid Row-based Catholic Worker community. Activists say they are now planning this week to establish a base camp on Skid Row --to intensify the community watch, and to assist homeless people here; and also other groups; in documenting the daily police attacks, as well as to support the upcoming weekly Saturday rallies.

About 1,000 homeless people are holding out on Skid Row sidewalks now nightly –with another 3,000 throughout the L.A. area who are estimated to spend at least one night, every three months, living on Skid Row.

“It is critical that from here on out no cop anywhere in this city get away with telling a homeless person anymore that they are a criminal because they refuse to go to a shelter. Don’t they get it? A Federal Court has ordered --as long as L.A., countywide, has over 80,000 homeless people and less than 30,000 shelterbeds you cannot humanely forbid anyone in here from sleeping wherever. This city has the worst housing crisis in the nation; but L.A. is now trying to enforce a new policy --‘shelter or criminalization.’ These attacks on homeless people are something that must end now; and the people of LA need to know that since last August, under our new, so-called “progressive” mayor, Antonio Villariagosa, homeless people are now being beaten, arrested, and criminalized --like has been done by no other mayor in Los Angeles’ history." stated the homeless organizer of the protest, David Busch.

"Not even a Republican politician would have even dared attack us like this –and it is disgusting. Housing, not shelter, is a human right for all; and this trying to force us into accepting prison-like “shelters,” under threat of jail, or criminalization, must stop --now,” further stated Busch.

Busch is homeless, and living on Skid Row, and has been attacked by cops there twice since August. He has been homeless for over 13 years.

Activist say the waves of arrests and property seizures and beatings are coinciding with homeless being shipped by threat of force out of downtown; and away from many of the government offices and services they need –all in order to evacuate the poor from L.A.’s center for new loft and other pro-business developments downtown.

LAPD Chief William Bratton, in the past, has linked the current sweeps as part of his “Broken Windows” policing policy for L.A..

Coinciding with the Saturday rally --the Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness, a large city anti-poverty group –also though, on Thursday, issued a press release to every newspaper, radio and television station in Southern California, as well as to all major national news media, denouncing the sweeps; and demanding a full accounting from LAPD for every homeless person harassed by a cop since August.

Eighty-percent of skid row is African American –and the largest percentage of the homeless on Skid Row, almost 10,000, are people forced to live in tiny one room hotels where they have had to pass constant drug screenings and cops have master keys, and where cops have been mounting unprecedented attacks on parolees also residing here to force them from the area. Meanwhile, this week, the Los Angeles City Council is also set to give continuing major green lights to a new, billion-dollar downtown mega-development, the “Grand Avenue Project”: and, along with the city ok, over 50 million dollars in taxpayer subsidies for the project.

City Councilwoman for Skid Row, Jan Perry supports the Grand Avenue project –but is offering nothing comparable to help even those homeless on Skid Row who’ve scraped themselves up off the sidewalks, and clawed their way into these tiny hotel rooms.

Homeless activists are calling for the community to show up en-mass for next Saturday’s rally, and to also pack tomorrow, Tuesday’s 9:30 a.m. Police Commission hearing at Parker Center; and to demand an end to all the attacks on the Skid Row community –as well as every Council meeting this week --and to also demand an immediate halt to the Grand Avenue Project, no matter what it takes, until community demands for equity for poor people downtown and throughout Los Angeles for the poor are meet by the developer consortium, and the L.A. City Council.


http://la.indymedia.org/news/2007/01/191954.php

Skid Row Los Angeles Rally

STOP THE SWEEPS NOW!!


Since last August, Skid Row's homeless people have undergone the largest mass arrests of homeless people in L.A. history; hundreds of homeless people each month now have faced multiple daily raids of police demanding warrant checks, searches and property confiscation --as waves of 50 new LAPD officers brought to the area have swept through for daily beatings and arrests of homeless people --in order to now clear downtown for the newest wave of luxury loft developers. The Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness estimates as many as 4,000 poor and homeless people may have had police demand their ID; handcuffed them; searched through every bag, suitcase, and possession they have --and then been transported to the LAPD booking room; and cuffed to a bench for up to an hour or more before being given a "choice:"

get into a "shelter" --or go to jail.

A Federal Court recently found almost 90,000 homeless people in Los Angeles County --and less than 30,000 shelter beds.

Incredibly, Central Division is getting away with now not classify these Skid Row actions as "arrests" --Division Captain Andrew Smith even recently claims that arrests on Skid Row "declined" this year. (citing only about an additional 2,000 "official arrests").

http://www.downtownnews.com/articles/2007/01/08/news/news01.txt

LAPD are conducting a mass disinformation campaign that has hid the actual arrests figures since last November.

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2006/11/188692.php


Nor do these figures include recent pre-dawn raids --where sleeping residents are woke up and are told, now, since the first of the year, to "leave in 20 minutes" or be arrested.

Additionally, since the first of the year, Skid Row Police are systematically clearing now entire streets in pre-dawn raids: Los Angeles, San Pedro, 5th St. and Crocker St. --and herding people towards the L.A. river --demanding that thousands of homeless people maintain themselves now in the fifty blocks of Skid Row for up to 2&1/2 hours each day without any public water source; only one public toilet that's not in a religious mission; and not a single public place to lie down, or even sit, until 8:30 a.m..; when only two tiny parks, with barely enough rain cover for 50 people, are supposed to serve a street population of up to 4,000 at any given time.

A homeless person on Skid Row was mocked last week by one LAPD policeman, "By the end of this month all this will be gone" --referring to the thousands of homeless people here who are breaking no law, and yet are facing daily, unprecedented, cop harassment. LA City Council insiders are even warning activists that such raids are being now contemplated soon for Hollywood, Venice, the Valley, and South L.A..

Stated Robert Erlinbusch, Director of the anti-poverty advocacy group, The Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness:

"There are also many reasons why people will refuse to go to shelters; firstly, they are almost always full --making them impossible for many to get into -and, additionally, shelters separate unmarried partners; they often refuse to accommodate people's dogs or other pets; or provide adequate storage and transport of possessions; they do not accommodate mothers with children of certain ages; and they are often places extreme, and unlawful, hostility to anyone of the LGBT community."

A Federal Court order currently forbids LAPD from arresting anyone for merely sleeping on the sidewalk in the Skid Row area between 9 p.m. at night, and 6 a. m. each morning.

People are urged to bring signs, banners, and self-standing tents with footprints no larger than 8'x8'; solar panels; water; legal internet relay antennas; healthy vegetarian food and --respect for ALL residents here --for the rally, and to support the growing community resistance.

"Homeless" Tent Encampment in Olympia Feb 1

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/01/352625.shtml

On February 1, the "Poor" Peoples Union of Olympia, WA will set up a "homeless" tent encampment in response to a new city ordinance which goes into effect on February 1, making it virtually illegal to be on the street ("homeless") in Olympia. The exact location will not be revealed until the last minute, however it will be a highly visible protest. The eventual goals are to find a permanant location where the people can have a long term, autonomously run encampment and locations where people can be housed in autonomous, democraticly run communities.

The Poor People's Union, since its inception, has sought to overturn the ordinances targeted at the "homeless". Our intitial idea was to have a referendum on the ordinance and gather enough signatures for it. Over the past weeks, however, it has become clear that the PPU will not be able to expediently stop the ordinances from going into effect and has decided to put a referendum off for the time being.

Instead, the PPU is channeling all of its energy into setting up a tent
encampment in order to not only show the Olympia community what is going on but to occupy a piece of land in order to satisfy a need that those who passed these laws take for granted: housing. The people who passed and support this ordinance can hear about the "homeless problem" on TV, can complain about the "danger" of Downtown Olympia, and can be so arrogant and disrespectful as to pass laws that will effect other living human beings, but they will not get away with this without it coming back to emberass them.

The encampent will consist of human beings helping other human beings to live more comfortably than they have been. It will be run by those who have set it up. Decisions will be made by those who have a large stake in insuring the continuance of the encampment. Governments and laws try and convince us that we cannot do the simplest things, such as use vacant "city" land to house people with no roof over their heads. The encampment is one of those simple things and we do not require government approval to take matters out of their inept hands and put them into our own. They will probably attempt to crush us with the help of the police but we will not stop what we are doing. If the police do ANYTHING against us (the "homeless", the poor) it will only inflame the situation and provide more proof that they serve as nothing more than lackeys of those with exceedingly large roofs over their heads. For why would another human being want to deny another a comfortable place to live? Some will say law and some will say order, but no word or words will justify what is being done to the "homeless" in this town.

PPU (Poor Peoples Union) is an organization of Street People ("Homeless") and their friends. PPU is a autonomous, democratic organization where the unhoused have the final say on matters that effect them directly.

WE NEED:

CAMPING EQUIPMENT.
Tents, Tarps, foldable chairs, Propane stoves, sleeping bags, blankets, warm coats, boots and rain gear, buckets, sawdust. Remember, these are people who have nothing.

LEGAL OBSERVERS
Legal trainings for the people would also be desirable.

MEDICS
Needed for the standard street medic pepper spray, blunt trauma etc, but also for the needs of a varied group with different health problems.

COUNSELORS
People with some ability helping people work through trauma.

PERSONAL FACILITIES
Portable solar showers and portable toilet facilities would be good.

SOLIDARITY
We need this to be a varied group. The presence of supporters from the
activist community being in solidarity with the people will go a long way
toward making this a succesful effort.

Come and support the PPU Downtown on February 1st, the day that both the
encampment and the ordinance begin.

Send Camping and other Stuff to

Poor Peoples Union
C/O Bread and Roses
1009 4th Ave Olympia, WA 98506

Leave message for PPU at Bread and Roses
(360)754-4588

Vegetarian...from Granny Green Genes

SAVING THE PLANET ONE MEAL AT A TIME

 On Sunday, December 10th of last year, the environment editor
of U.K.'s Independent Online posted a report from the United
Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO), asserting that
"the world's top destroyer of the environment is not the car,
or the plane, or even George Bush: it is the cow".
 According to the report, the world's rapidly growing herds of
cattle have been identified as the greatest threat to the climate,
forests
and wildlife. And they have been blamed for a host of other
environmentalcrimes, from acid rain to the introduction of
alien species, from producing deserts to creating dead zones in
the oceans,from poisoning rivers and drinking water to destroying
coral reefs.
 The 400-page report by the FAO, entitled "Livestock's Long
Shadow",also surveys the damage done by sheep, chickens, pigs
and goats. But in almost every case, the world's 1.5 billion
cattle are most to blame. Livestock are responsible for 18 percent
of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, more than cars,
planes and all other forms of transport put together.
 Burning fuel to produce fertilizer to grow feed, to produce
meat,and to transport it--and clearing vegetation for grazing--
produces 9 percent of all emissions of carbon dioxide, the most
common greenhouse gas. And their wind and manure emit more than
one-third of emissions of another, methane, which warms the world
20 times faster than carbon dioxide.
 Livestock also produces more than 100 other polluting gases,
including more than two-thirds of the world's emissions of ammonia,
one of the main causes of acid rain.
 Ranching, the report adds, is "the major driver of deforestation"
worldwide, and overgrazing is turning a fifth of all pastures and
ranges into desert. Cows soak up vast amounts of water: it takes a
staggering 990 litres of water to produce one litre of milk.
 Wastes from feedlots and fertilizers used to grow their feed
overnourish water, causing weeds to choke out all other life. And
the pesticides, antibiotics and hormones used to treat them get into
drinking water and endanger human health.
 The pollution washes down to the sea, killing coral reefs and
creating "dead zones" devoid of life. One is up to 21,000 sq. km.,
in the Gulf of Mexico, where much of the waste from U.S. beef
production is carried down the Mississippi.
 The report concludes that, unless drastic changes are made,
the massive damage done by livestock will more than double by 2050,
as demand for meat increases.
 That's the bad news. The good news is that reducing our
consumption of food derived from animals happens one meal at
a time and that it is well within the power of each of us to
make changes, however incremental, in our food choices!
 I'm a firm believer that one can stay low on the food chain
and still enjoy life. As a mostly vegan vegetarian, I know I am
looking out for my health and the health of the animals I choose
not to eat. And now,as it turns out, I'm saving the planet as well!
(And what about not wanting to eat the products of cloned or
genetically engineered animals? Another reason to go vegan!)
 So get a grip on global warming by resolving to lessen your
dependence on animals for food in 2007.
 Martha Devine

email from tad

Sisters and Brothers;

Peace be with you!

SARCASM: a keenly ironical utterance!

I guess I'm just spitting into the wind again, but the “special” treatment plan for the homeless (the Arcata Emergency Housing and Services Plan) once again is before the grant-whoring Arcata City Council again Wednesday night. Again I expect the public to ignore this issue. After all, surely they will stop their extremely obtrusive control paradigm with the homeless (damn, and to think we give too little credit for the Nazi propaganda, the eugenics mental hygiene and the supremest domestic law enforcement machines we transferred to the U. S. after WWII during “operation paperclip”). They would never view you or me as useless and crazy enough not to recognize it.

These homeless are the least of our brethren – worthless in the eyes of our spirit and earth. They're bums, crazy as hell for not having a two SUVs and garages to put them in. They want to live like they deserve to live. We all have read the Times Slanderer, the Eureka Distorter, the Arcata Lie and the North Coast Urinal, so we all know that all our problems are the result of these “transients.” Global Warming is not a myth it is the direct result of letting the homeless into our towns! Excessive trash production would go away without all the card board and Styrofoam these useless feeders obtain when they consume their newer, bigger, better, more expensive crap bought with handout money. We could eliminate landfills if wasn't for these parasites. The Homeless require cops, which requires militarization of our police forces, which require lots of people to be killed, which is by definition a war, which escalates and causes other wars, which means all the evils ever done in the world is the fault homeless person's (ever hear “look what you made me do to you”).

No autonomy for the homeless! No liberty for the homeless! No land for the homeless! No freedom for the homeless! Just mental health/eugenics drugs for the homeless! Just cop beatings and killings for the homeless! Just prisons and jails for the homeless! And plenty of lucre for the poverty pimps and the grant whores!

Rest well knowing you ignored the issue and, like our green hero's, agreed with Bush's Chronic Homeless Initiative. Ignore the plight of these lessers and the silly issues they raise as to equality and egalitarianism will go away . . . completely!


Love eternal
tad

opinion piece from Jake Pickering

“SUPPORT OUR TROOPS – BRING THEM HOME!”

by JAKE PICKERING

P.O. Box 3050 , Eureka , CA 95502 (707) 832-8005

-- January 2, 2007 --

In her December 31, 2006 Times-Standard “My Word” column titled “Being All You Can Be, We Need The Best In Our Military”, Kris Morrisey wrote the following: “I am ashamed of the behavior of those who would lessen their commitment and sacrifice…. I am frustrated by the continuing denigration of our armed forces. Disagree with our president; debate about foreign policy; don’t put a yellow ‘Support Our Troops’ ribbon on your car; but stop besmirching the reputation of our military men and women….”

If anyone should be ashamed of themselves (other than the shortsighted political “leaders” who supported this inane, greed-based fiasco), it is Kris Morrisey! How typically dishonest and deceitful for a partisan Republican like Morrisey to label the opponents of Bush & Cheney’s unnecessary quagmire in Iraq as opponents of the U.S. military. Morrisey’s anemic assertions simply could not be further from the truth.

Did you miss the news about numerous, recently-retired American generals speaking out against the current counterproductive policy and those incompetent neo-cons (like Donald Rumsfeld) for leading the United States down this demented, disastrous foreign policy path in the Middle East?

An overwhelming majority of Americans now demand that our military men and women be withdrawn ASAP from Bush & Cheney’s illegal war for oil and imperial expansion. Why? Because we actually do support our troops, unlike those Republican war criminals in The White House who have willfully murdered thousands of patriotic Americans (along with hundreds-of-thousands of Iraqi civilians) in an effort to make themselves and their business partners-in-crime even more filthy rich than they already are.

And, oh….by the way, where is that most infamous Bush family business partner of all = Osama bin Laden? Did you “smoke him out” yet, Mr. Bush, Junior? Or, have you not personally profited enough from your debacle to date?

Hey, who needs universal health insurance or a cleaner environment? So long as lying, cowardly racist oil men from Texas get what they want!

Poor Kris Morrisey has apparently been “functioning” with her head-in-the-sand these past few years (or solely relying on FOX “News” and the Republican Arkley-owned Eureka Reporter for her disinformation).

Did you miss the news from our intelligence agencies (all of them) contradicting Bush & Cheney’s propaganda campaign falsely portraying Iraq as an imminent threat to U.S. national security? Where are those nonexistent weapons of mass destruction, Mr. “President”?

Did you miss the news from our intelligence community that neither Saddam Hussein nor his regime had any role in the 9/11 attacks, whatsoever?

Did you also miss out on reading the Project For The American Century’s Hitlerian manifesto titled “Rebuilding America ’s Defenses” from September 2000? The entire Bush/Cheney imperial agenda is laid bare in print for all to see in this single document, which you can download online (for free) at www.raytal.com.

Being a faithful fan of Bush & Cheney’s immoral, bloodthirsty misadventure, Kris Morrisey also made this statement (shockingly, without any apparent sign of irony): “We live in a country where too many people believe that serving in the military is for someone else to do. It’s someone else’s duty. Not my child. I highly recommend ‘AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America ’s Upper Classes from Military Service – and How It Hurts Our Country.”

Did the irony-deficient Morrisey miss the news about George Bush, Junior being Absent Without Leave (AWOL) from the Alabama National Guard for a period of 18 months during war time in 1972-73?

Did you also miss the news about Dick “Chickenhawk” Cheney asking for - and receiving - a total of FIVE deferments from military service during the Vietnam War, another wholly unjustified slaughter which both Bush & Cheney claim to have “supported?”

Maybe one day these naïve, hypocritical Republican warmongers will finally learn to take this wisdom to heart: People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Especially if your last name is Bush.

End this unforgiveable, murderous occupation, Mr. Bush! Bring our friends and family home from this bloodbath – NOW! We are done asking nicely, and we will force your hand, if necessary. Either leave Iraq , or leave office – your choice. Your time is up.

Direct Action and the Critique of Real Estate

Below is a link to an on-line article entitled:
"Anarchist Squatting and Land Use in the West
Direct Action and the Critique of Real Estate"

by Anders Corr

http://www.squat.net/archiv/anders/anarchist_squatting.html

comment form The Plazoid's new Public Relations expert

In response to an agreement to carry on on-line discussion with the editor(s) of the Arcata Eye under the condition of unanonymous communication, The Plazoid has brought on board a Public Relations expert. This comment was recieved by The Plazoid's new Public Relations expert, Anne Hohnermuss.

"Thank you. I would like to introduce myself. My name is Anne Hohnermuss, and I will be handling non-anonymous communications for The Plazoid publication project.

I am fully willing to carry on on-line discussion with the editor(s) of the Arcata Eye, if you are still up to it.

May I suggest a topic for the first discussion item? Perhaps we could talk about the recent 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the case of Jones et al v Los Angeles (April 14, 2006). The decision can be found on the internet at: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/8138B5E4723C6FE988257150005B327E/$file/0455324.pdf?openelement
.

I think that a good starting point would be to talk discuss the differences in coverage of this decsion by the two news sources, the Arcata Eye and The Plazoid.

Again, I am very excited about my new job and I look forward to many wonderful discussions.

Thank you."

The Plazoid Reaches Out

The Plazoid Reaches Out

The Plazoid recently recieved an email from the Arcata Eye (newspaper) agreeing to online discussion, but not "anonymously." In an effort to reach out to our fellow Arcatans, The Plazoid has brought on board a Public Relations expert to communicate with the Arcata Eye, non-anonymously.

Please welcome The Plazoid's first and only Public Relations expert: Anne Hohnermuss

What is "Anonymity"?...conversations with the editor of the Arcata Eye

Anonymity?

The Plazoid recently recieved an email from the Arcata Eye (newspaper) agreeing to online discussion, but not "anonymously." This condition imposed on the discussion by the editor(s) of the Arcata Eye brings to mind some questions:
What's in a name? ("...that which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet...")
What are the intentions behind this conditional agreement?

In response, let us look at what a "legal name" is. Many of our legal nems have been stripped of their traditional or cultural meaning and are nowadays essentially numbers. Our legal names are attached to social security numbers, phone numbers, addresses, P.O. box numbers, drivers' license numbers, IP addresses, case numbers, employee numbers, etc.

Our "names," which are essentially just numbers, exist to make it easer to keep track of us, like subjects of an experiment or inmates of a prison-system.

So why would the Arcata Eye insist on our identification numbers? Would that help them to relate to us or understand our points better?

No.

I can only think of two reasons why they might want our numbers: so they can concentrate their attention on "the messenger" while distracting attention away from "the message," or perhaps keeping track of the individuals who participate in The Plazoid project. Neither one of these intentions are welcome here.

The Arcata Eye editors are, of course, welcome to continue commenting on this blog, anonymously or not.

Pave Paradise to Put Up a Parking Lot

Pave Paradise to Put Up a Parking Lot

The folks who make the plans for the city of Arcata are planning on destroying Hobo Field and putting in condos and a parking lot.

This sucks.

Hobo Field has long been a sort of “commons” for Arcata, providing space for people to be together and a pedestrian path away from the noxious reign of automobile traffic. It is also a refuge for wildlife that can not survive in a city environment.

Will we let this space be taken away from the people of Arcata and turned into more over-priced unaffordable housing, and yet another parking lot?