AFTERREPORT – it was a glorious, absurd success!! A bunch of people came despite the rain. People brought medieval costumes, signs and snacks. There was a marching band and Guinevere gave a rousing speech:
Leap Out!
by Guinevere Q
We are seedlings leaping between the concrete cracks, reaching towards the sun, where all energy comes from. Like tender shoots pushing through the cold cement, we rise up, wherever we can, however we can, in any tiny break of pavement.
We are seedlings in spring, and the Earth is fertile beneath the streets, ready to leap! Are you ready to leap?
We never chose to grow between the cracks of asphalt poured down on the ground, but we found a way, with the same prehension of all life. We never wanted to live always 3 bad months away from being homeless, but never 3 good months away from being a millionaire. We never agreed to breathe in poisoned air, to drink polluted water, to fill the land with plastic, to bring entire ecosystems to the brink of extinction, we never agreed to any of this being done, but we can all agree that this shit is fucked up!
This is the comedy of the commons.
While we are not to blame for waking up beneath the concrete, it’s our responsibility to force our way through the cracks in the slabs. It’s our responsibility to share what we can grasp through our network because overtime, collectively, we can break the pavement, sidewalks and streets, underneath- the beach!
It’s our responsibility. And with great responsibility comes great power.
It will take time, patience, resilience, and courage. Bud we can do it together.
We hold in our collective hands the power to build a community of interconnected equality, of TRUE democracy, a world where we share because fair is fair. Where the makers and creators nurture and are nurtured, where the artists and the gardeners and the stargazers within all of us celebrate and are celebrated, where we root in and leap out!
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Then there was a speech in front of Chase Bank which continues to invest in suicidal fossil fuel infrastructure 30+ years after the science of climate change became clear. We installed ashes to represent the wildfires. We also visited Bank of America who have helped fund Cop City in Atlanta — so we installed compost in their entryway.
Then the march headed down Telegraph Avenue and on up Durant to Taco Bell, which had the nerve to locate right next to an existing small burrito shop. We decried Taco Bell’s parent company Yum Foods’ 2021 investments in an Israeli tech company despite a boycott against trade with Israel. Then we circled People’s Park — surrounded by a 17 foot tall shipping container wall and defended by round-the-clock security. As soon as we turned the corner holding a ladder, the security guards freaked out … even though the ladder was only 10 feet long and the wall was 17 feet tall.
When we got to Dwight Way, out came a 3-person Slingshot and most people in the crowd took a turn hurling seed balls over the wall to bring healing and regrowth to the scarred and imprisoned Park. Despite a bunch of security guards and UC police in helmets, no one stopped us. After we ran out of seed balls, a dance party began on the closed street and portions of the wall were decorated with slogans. Free People’s Park.
February 29 5:30 pm – Gather at corner of Bancroft and Telegraph, Berkeley and then march around Berkeley
An extravagant spectacle and roving street party featuring music, art installations and visits to oppressive locations and institutions to transform them for life not death, freedom and joy not oppression and misery.
Not a traditional protest nor another frivolous distraction while the world goes to hell around us.
Leap Day is an extra day — we declare a universal general strike, jamboree, street party and be-in. Life is too short and the world too beautiful to waste more time muddling through tedious jobs, polluted air and endless wars.
This year’s theme: Medieval peasants storm the castle — Tear down the walls from Palestine to the US/Mexico Border to Berkeley.
Menu of activities:
*Roam Berkeley visiting, decorating and non-violently disrupting our oppressors.
*Marching band and/or mobile bike sound system
*Bring your own signs, disguises, decorations, musical instruments, snacks, ladders, grappling hooks, rope, catapult.
Demands:
For life, beauty and joy & against eco-destroying robber barons!
Keep fossil fuels in the ground
Free Palestine
Everyone should have one house before anyone can have two
Free People’s Park
Free the commons / protect and enhance public space
Stop making all that plastic crap
Leap for it!
The earth is not dying – it is being killed.
The corporations killing it have locations near you (including in Berkeley)
We refuse to be consumers, viewers and objects to be managed. Let’s build a world that’s awake and engaged — shift the focus from things and entertainment to firsthand experience.
Leap day is an extra day — shake off your routine. Alternatives exist.
PREVIOUS LEAP DAY FESTIVITIES
2012 – Funeral for Capitalism – Oakland – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcfE0Imqajw
2020 – March in Berkeley
2004 Leap day – March in Berkeley
