Category: Issue #92: Summer 2007

If you flush your cat’s feces down the toilet or dispose of it in other ways that allow it to seep into the water supply, you might have a hand in killing an adorable otter.

California has a sea otter population of about 2,500. But an unusual number of adults in their prime breeding years have been dying.

Recent research shows that a parasite in cat feces is one of the primary killers of sea otters. The parasite, toxoplasma gondii, may find its way to the ocean – and to sea otters – when cat feces are flushed. Between 1998 and 2004, 52 percent of dead sea otters found on the beach along the California coast were infected by the parasite.

It’s also good to note that many “clumping” cat litter products may claim that flushing the clumps is safe for your septic system but this doesn’t mean that the its safe for the otters.

Introduced in 2006, Assemblyman Dave Jones’ Bill 2485 has a requirement that cat litter sold in California contain a statement to discourage flushing the litter down the toilet. So it’s easy — put it in the trash!

Citations: Sacramento Bee, 4/2/2006 and Press Release from Assemblymember Dave Jones, 9th Assembly District.

After several years of appeals, the Oregon Court of Appeals overturned Jeffrey “Free” Luers 23 year 8 month prison sentence for involvement in setting fire to 3 SUVs in Eugene, Oregon during a protest against global warming. The February, 2007 court ruling means that Free will be re-sentenced and will get as much as 15 years taken off his sentence! His re-sentencing date had not been set as of press date. He needs solidarity and financial help to get the most time taken off his sentence and to pay for the victorious appeal.

Free, 29, has written extensively from prison since he was sentenced in 2001. His sentence was one of the harshest ever given in a case of eco-sabotage. No one was injured in the 2000 fire, and the 3 SUVs were later repaired and resold. The Court of Appeals found that the trial court improperly sentenced Free to separate prison terms for a number of separate criminal charges that all related to the same actual act.

Write letters of support to Free: Jeffrey Luers, #13797671, Oregon State Penitentiary (OSP), 2605 State Street, Salem, OR 97310. Or send donations to: Free’s Legal Defense Fund, POB 3, Eugene, OR 97440, freefreenow@mutualaid.org.

GLOBAL WARMING? HEY, JUST CHILL – Anchorage Anarchy No. 8 (August 2006). Bad Press, PO Box 230332, Anchorage AK 99523-0332. $1.00.

This issue of anarcho-individualist Joe Peacott’s irregular zine is almost entirely devoted to “Plants, Animals, and Climate Change: Some Ruminations on the Environment.” Joe believes that global warming is no big deal, inasmuch as “neither a sudden ice age, genital herpes, acid rain, AIDS, SARS, nor any one of the other disasters we have been warned about in the last 20 years” (and let’s not forget Y2K),”has lived up to the hype.”

In Africa, AIDS (which Joe, who is openly gay, has previously belittled) has lived up to the hype; acid rain is a serious and increasing problem in the Northeast from which Joe has removed to industry-free Alaska; and the “sudden ice age” speculation never had anything like the scientific consensus behind global warming. It is sometimes premature to crow that a doomsday prophecy has proven false. In 1991, with the collapse of the European Communist states, and the end of the Cold War, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved back the hand on its doomsday clock because of the diminished danger of nuclear war. Actually, with India, Pakistan and North Korea brandishing nuclear weapons, a nuclear war is more likely than ever. (It is often forgotten that we already had one: World War II.) But the Atomic Scientists just moved the hand forward again for a different reason: global warming.

Joe starts off reasonably enough by remarking that the environment, usually described as “fragile,” is really resilient. Species come and go, so people should not assume that environmental change is always a bad thing. Joe’s concept of the ecosystem bears an uncanny resemblance to his concept of the market economy (in which he fervently believes). Let the forces play freely (they are actually in both cases the same forces: market forces) and everything will turn out all right in the long run. But in the long run, as Keynes observed, we will all be dead. Although, at first glance, Joe might seem to be politically at the furthest possible distance from Earth First! they both regard the human race as just another species, and they both regard its extinction with equanimity.

Joe advances the idea, which no anarchist doubts, that governments are not to be trusted. Nearly all the world’s governments, for example, have signed the Kyoto agreement under which the industrialized countries are to reduce modestly over the next few years the pollutants which cause global warming. For Joe, that is a reason to disbelieve in the global warming hypothesis. If some government somewhere supports something (never mind what) anarchists must oppose it. That is contrarian paranoia. The British government (for its own selfish, evil reasons) just possibly might not want its capital city London to be submerged as in J.G. Ballard’s The Drowned World. The government of Bangladesh might not want most of the country to sink (as is predicted) under the waves: it would then have a lot less to rule. Etc.

The irony here is that Joe is actually lining up behind his own government, the U.S. Government. The government of this country, the country which is by far the single greatest contributor to global warming, agrees with Joe Peacott, and disagrees with everybody else, that global warming is just some unproven alarmist theory, and probably promoted for political, anti-capitalist, anti-American reasons.

Why is the U.S. government out of step with all the other governments? For two reasons probably. First, the United States is the most piggish, rapacious plunderer and ruiner of the natural world. Second, the United States is currently under a regime which is, as Gore Vidal puts it, the worst it has ever had: maximum malice and maximum incompetence. As I write, the CEOs of ten major corporations (including G.E., Alcoa and DuPont) have issued an appeal to President Bush to take action against global warming (by “market-driven” means, of course! another opportunity to make a buck) but the point is, even the ruling class is worried.

Every once in a while, what some governments say, and what the general public believes, just happens to be true. With respect to global warming, this is one of those moments. To make it out to be a self-serving government plot — but Joe has not explained how it serves the government — is like making the teaching of evolution in schools out to be a government plot. Or the heliocentric theory. NASA has a vested interest in that absurd theory I mean, anybody can go out and see the sun revolving around the earth.

Now as to what to do about global warming, what any government says about it one way or the other is irrelevant. Most anarchists understand that industrial capitalism with state support is the fundamental cause of global warming. Joe blames consumers, as if consumers created the economy in which they are compelled to consume and to work. But whatever the cause, and whatever the solution, it is crazy to deny the reality of global warming, or its eventually disastrous consequences. Joe is only doing that because he is trying to apply a more than usually discredited ideology.

Published by AK Press (2006) $18.95

This book came out in Spanish a few years ago and now, an English translation let me read this for the first time. It’s no disappointment! Horizontalism is about the social movements in Argentina since the economic collapse of December 2001 — a part of the bigger movements for social justice sweeping across Latin America. What I really liked about this book is that it’s from the point of view of people participating in the movement. The movement is really different from a lot of others — from the ground-up and not imposed by elites or cadres. The 2001 economic collapse was an event that created a grassroots, mass uprising.

The book is divided into sections and based on interviews providing different perspectives on different subjects. One section deals with how people thought the country changed in December 2001 when hundreds of neighborhood assemblies suddenly appeared throughout the country. In a country where 30,000 people disappeared in the 1980s during the military dictatorship, all of a sudden no one, even the middle class, could get their money. Thousands of people in Buenos Aires took to the streets and banged pots into the night. From there, people began gathering in their neighborhoods to try to run their own lives outside of the failed money economy. They took over factories and other workplaces where the management had either fled or owed the workers large amounts of money and occupied unused buildings. This direct action flew in the face of the clientilism of Argentina.

The famous roadblocks of the landless MST movement in Brazil, where people blocked off roads across the country to shut down commerce, swept across Argentina. The popular slogan was “Oh, que se vayan todos!” (“They all must go!”, referring to the nation’s “democratically” elected politicians.) A sudden burst of anger brought down five Presidents in a matter of two weeks.

The process of “horizontalidad” became the main philosophy of the uprising. In the assemblies and collectives, people worked together for their common well being, equal in power at least in structure, often with consensus instead of voting. Several people interviewed in the book commented that while having a boss or simply voting for decision making might be easier, you disempower people when you go the easy route. There are several great lines about how the walk is just as important as the talk, and how bullshit speeches and posturing don’t take a group of people very far.

In an interview in the book, an interviewee described horizontalism: “There isn’t one right way; there isn’t anyone that has the truth and tells us what we have to do. It means seeing each other as equals, or trying to see each other as equals. It also means — and this is something that’s a challenge for the assemblies — learning to listen to one another. The assembly is like a game, it’s really interesting. Someone comes up with an idea and the idea is elaborated upon by someone else, then someone else expands or changes it, and then as you listen, another person improves the idea, or says something totally different. The initial person might say ‘no’ or agree, and this is how we move forward. It’s like the game where a group makes up a story together. One person says ‘the house’ and the next says ‘the house is’ and the next ‘the house is in’ and then ‘the house is in the mountains.’ If someone is in the assembly not listening, but talking, and trying to move forward with something else… Or if that person just makes statements or speeches, which sometimes happens, things really don’t go anywhere.”

Another section is on autogestion, or workers’ self-management, focusing on how the explosions of December 19th and 20th gave worker activists — who had been fighting management for years on issues like safety, back-wages, and dignity on the job — a chance to demonstrate a different way of doing things. Workers who were owed tons of money kept factories, clinics, bakeries and distribution centers open, but kept the profits for themselves instead of giving it over to the boss. Nearly 200 companies were taken over in this fashion. Though they still operated under “the market,” the fact that they got rid of their bosses was a very important step. Many actually moved into the factories because “they didn’t have enough money to get home” and were sick and tired of walking all their lives. Some decided to make the workplaces into service centers for their neighborhoods instead of for the rich. Many of these efforts have been shut down since by the government and repression, but there are also many still operating today.

Another chapter deals with women. Before the uprising, machismo was very widespread in Argentina. Several people in the book note that amongst the first people organizing neighborhood assemblies and setting up road blockades were women who had traditionally taken care of the children. When men got involved, they talked more than anyone else. Many women’s collectives and groups started during this time as people realized it was okay to speak out against old forms of repression.

There’s a good chapter on repression by the state and it’s allies as well — I don’t want to give the impression that everything is lala-happy in Argentina or that revolutionary work has been completed. There were several instances of police killing people at the roadblocks, assassinations, and violent evictions of occupied spaces.

This is really a beautiful book. I give Sitrin a lot of credit for letting people speak for themselves. It’s very hard to say what will happen in Argentina in the next few years, or in Latin America, or the world for that matter, but I’m really glad I got a chance to read the experiences of these people in Argentina striving to create a world without oppression or hierarchy. They’re trying to build a world where everyone has the power to decide what is best for their community. The question is, how can we defend this new world from its enemies like the state or defenders of the old ways?

James Generic is a member of the Wooden Shoe Book collective, Philadelphia, PA.

WE know we are out there! We know that in cities across this country people are watching the cops and offering resistance to abusive cops and the machinery of the police state. Based on our experience, over 100 organizations across the country are monitoring the police.

Berkeley Copwatch is hosting the first (inter)National Copwatch Conference July 13-15 2007 in Berkeley, CA. The event is to empower groups and individuals to be more effective in holding police accountable for their actions. We are planning skill-oriented workshops that are practical for those directly monitoring the police as well as strategy-focused workshops that enable discussion of theory and strategies for building a broader movement.

Our intent is to strengthen the national network of Copwatches, not create a national or centralized organization. Our greatest strengths are in our local and direct approaches to this many-faceted problem. We want to figure out how to share our experiences, build relationships, and act in support and solidarity with each other.

We want your help getting the word out. We also want to know what to include to make this conference as useful as possible to Copwatchers who are either in the streets now or are considering beginning a Copwatch type organization.

For more information about attending or submitting workshop ideas, go to www.copwatchconference.org or email us at cwconference2007@lists.riseup.net.

in solidarity, copwatch conference organizers

In early morning raids on January 23 in California, New York and Florida, police arrested former Black Panther Party supporters on charges including murder and conspiracy in relation to the 1971 death of San Francisco police officer John Young. Those arrested were Richard Brown, Richard O’Neal, Francisco Torres, Ray Boudreaux, Henry Watson Jones and Harold Taylor. Two men already in jail — Herman Bell and Anthony Bottom — were also charged. The police are still seeking Ronald Bridgeforth who is additionally being charged with aggravated assault. After decades of harassment, grand jury investigations, indictments and murder, this racist frameup reveals the relentlessness of the state’s vendetta against the Black Panther Party. Justice loving people must demand: Drop all the charges now!

The San Francisco Chronicle’s front pages were filled with stories in which the brothers charged are smeared as “classic domestic terrorists” carrying out a campaign aimed at “assassinating law enforcement officers.” In fact, there was indeed a campaign of terror in the 1960s and ’70s: the government’s murderous COINTELPRO (FBI Counter-intelligence program) effort to destroy an entire generation of black and leftist militants, in which at least 38 Panthers were killed. In September 1968, FBI head J. Edgar Hoover called the Black Panthers “the greatest threat to the internal security of the country.” Commenting on today’s climate defined by the “war on terror,” Ray Boudreaux, one of those arrested in the roundup, told the LA times, “When I watched on TV the twin towers come down, deep in my heart I knew that someone will come by and visit me as soon as they can get it organized, and they did. Once upon a time, they called me a terrorist too. To expedite something in the system, they put the ‘terror’ tag on it, and it gets done.”

Prosecutors are now claiming new evidence and a secret government witness. Defense attorneys believe that the witness is Ruben Scott, whose “confession” following his arrest in 1973 was coerced through torture, as were those of two others. As Bill Goodman, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said, “The case against these men was built on torture and serves to remind us that the U.S. government, which recently has engaged in such horrific forms of torture and abuse at places like Bagram, Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo, has a history of torture and abuse in this country as well, particularly against African Americans.”

This nationwide roundup is part of the state’s campaign to paint those who stand up for black rights as “terrorists.” For over 30 years the police have tried to pin this murder on these men. Charges brought in 1975 against John Bowman (who just died) and Harold Taylor were obtained through torture by the New Orleans police after they were tracked to New Orleans by two San Francisco police inspectors. According to press accounts, their torture included being stripped naked and beaten with blunt objects, placing electric probes on their genitals and inserting an electric cattle prod in each man’s anus. The charges were dismissed because the prosecution had failed to tell the grand jury that the men’s confessions had been coerced. Thirty years later, prosecutors were still unsuccessful in obtaining indictments of any of these men despite convening California state and federal grand juries-first in 2003-2004, May and August of 2005.

The arrests of January 23 are but another instance where the government, having failed in earlier efforts, resorts to extraordinary repressive measures to ensure persecution of those it deems opponents. It is up to us to insure that the government fails in this frameup attempt. Again.

Drop the charges! Release the San Francisco 8 now!

For more information see Neutralize and Destroy: The Continuing Vendetta Against the Panthers itsabouttimebpp.Vendetta/Pt 1/pdf/SFBayView_Vendetta_Ag_E4C91.

STATEMENT OF PROTEST IN REGARDS TO THE UNREASONABLE BAIL IMPOSED BY THE SAN FRANCISCO COURT

By three former-Panthers: Larry P, Eddie W & Gerald S

The San Francisco 8 are already serving de facto prison terms because of their high bail, which they can’t pay. Reducing bail from five million to three million dollars is like stealing a body from a grave and claiming that it was not theft because the victim did not resist! It is utterly absurd, and it is an insult to all justice loving people. In this case we the people MUST resist this outrage! These men, who have been convicted of nothing in this matter, are already being punished by the very amount of their so-called bail, which is nothing more than a ransom, NOT bail.

When the 911 attack occurred many saw it as a tragedy, but the ruling elite, both Democrats and Republicans saw it as an opportunity to undermine and liquidate all legal, democratic, and constitutional rights that they felt stood in the way of them holding absolute power.

There are counter-examples to this bastardized version of American post 911 “justice.” Bruce Wright, a New York City Judge, and author of “Black Robes, White Justice” found himself in conflict with New York’s “Finest” over his bail policy. The nickname “Turn’em Loose Bruce” was given to him by the police “union” when he released an accused police slasher on his own recognizance. Judge Wright pointed out that “bail is not intended to be punishment. Rather its function is to guarantee that an accused person will return to court to face the charges against him.”

Judge Wright was adamant that his imposition of low bail was both respect paid to the presumption of innocence and upholding the Eight Amendment, to the U.S. constitution, which states that “EXCESSIVE BAIL SHALL NOT BE REQUIRED.”

Precisely who is it today that constitutes the real danger to the Bill of Rights the court or the S.F. 8? To ask the question is to answer it. Exactly what does the Constitution and the Bill of Rights Guarantee? All Told. Nothing! We must never forget: The working class and the oppressed, of this country, have no rights that they are unable or unwilling to defend. Only the conscious and uncompromising intervention of all those who understand the true nature of this frame-up can free the San Francisco 8.

Rad Dad is a thrice yearly zine on radical fathering put together by Tomas Moniz. If radical politics and living in ways that are critical of white-supremacy, capitalism and patriarchy are to be more than just a phase passed through by young people who have yet to burn out and buy in, then it is important to consider how radicals can collectively support each other throughout all seasons of life. Publications that specifically address the concerns of radical men who are raising kids are valuable because of the way that society often attributes nurturing parental relationships to women and mothers. Rad Dad offers a place for people of all genders to think about issues that effect radical parents and hear them articulated by men who are often trying to take a more active role in parenting than was expected of their fathers and grandfathers.

One of the things I like most about Rad Dad is the way that it expresses struggles and tensions rather than solutions. Tomas, who edits and generally contributes 2-3 pieces to the zine each issue, does not set himself up as an authority on radical parenting so much as to share, along with the other contributors, some of the struggles he has raising people in this messed up world. His pieces have dealt with pornography, drug use and how to watch his children navigate the racism and sexism of the system while giving them the space to make mistakes, or even just make choices that are different from the ones he would make. The other contributors bring in different voices of men raising kids; struggling to exist in a radical scene that is hostile to parents or a parenting scene that is hostile to radicals, questioning the conventional wisdom of punishments and rewards, and being a gay uncle/sperm donor or a dad who didn’t happen to donate sperm. Rad Dad also frequently includes lists of resources for radical parents, from message boards to children’s books.

The theme for issue 6 is anger and frustration. Tomas starts with a personal introduction about how he has been angry a lot lately and butting heads with his son; about acknowledging that anger but not letting it overwhelm all of the other things he is feeling. This is followed by selections from a message board of men dealing with frustration at toddlers to share stories and give each other support. Another writer, Chip writes about how he struggles with fears of becoming the ‘angry guy’ his father was as he interacts with his teenage daughter. Several other contributions follow and Tomas concludes with a piece about how his own father was often unable to communicate his love, but that learning from his father in retrospect and doing Rad Dad makes Tomas hopeful about his own efforts to show love to his children. There are no answers in Rad Dad, only the wisdom that comes from sharing struggles. Issue 6 also showcases another stunning letterpress printed cover by artnoose which substantially adds to the visual appeal of the zine.

I am not a parent and don’t see myself becoming one in the near future, however I do find it helpful to think about how I interact with children and friends who are parents. Most of us will become involved in a child’s life at some point either as a mom or dad, uncle or aunt, housemate or friend. It is easy for radical people, who are often socialized so badly, to interact with kids in messed up ways, especially if they haven’t reflected on the ways that their politics can inform their interactions with kids and parents. Writings and conversations about radical parenting consistently give me things to think about.

When I look at pictures of myself wearing my ROTC uniform, I am reminded of Desert Storm, which topped the headlines of all the major news networks at that time. I remember cheering the explosions that seemed to be on every channel. When a few friends of mine found out that there was going to be a rally at my high school to protest against the war, we made sure that we were there to protest against the rally. ” I’d travel a thousand miles to smoke a camel jockey” or “kill em’ all, and let God sort em’ out,” read some of the banners we held. I had joined the Army Reserves Delayed Entry program a year earlier and was eager to join in on the action. I was really gung-ho back then. Unfortunately, not everyone shared my ideals. I lost many friends because of my support of the first war in Iraq. As far as I was concerned they were a bunch of unpatriotic beatniks that should have taken the next flight to Canada.

Today, much like then, our country is experiencing a division that has split friends, families, and our nation. On one side we had those that supported our nation’s aggressive actions and feel that support must be total and unwavering regardless of the circumstances. On the other hand, you have those that reject violence and feel it is only a last resort to be used after all other options have been exhausted. The battle lines have been drawn. I was born on one side and grew up into the other. Much time has passed and I’ve matured so much since then. I’ve had one too many life changing experiences and that person I used to be has become more than a stranger.

During the first Gulf War, I would watch the news broadcasts that showed the most explosions, the closest shots to the dead Iraqi soldiers, and the best views of the mutilated bodies. I have no idea if the reporters talked about how many innocent civilians were killed, how many homes had been destroyed, or how many lives had been ruined. If they did, I didn’t pay much attention to it. When the second Gulf War began, I was much better informed about how war impacts so many lives in horrible ways. I was disgusted by the graphic pictures that were being shown on television. I found it difficult to avoid the gruesome images that seemed to be everywhere. They were reminders of the destruction of war and the ignorance and stubbornness of my youth. I wondered how many teenagers were also watching the same explosions but cheering for them instead of cringing.

In my senior year in high school, I used to have an Army recruitment sticker on my locker. I attended every rally. Both pro and anti war. If it was a pro war rally, I would give a loud “amen” to every phrase. If it was an anti war rally, I would bring my trumpet along and make the entire affair hard for anyone to hear. I wore a jacket that had an Ace of Spades card with a few bullet holes in it. It was a symbol used during the Vietnam War to mark enemy soldiers. U.S. soldiers wore them on their uniforms as a sign that they accepted death; that they knew death was a part of war. Since the second Gulf war began, I find myself writing letters to many newspapers and magazines expressing opposition to their pro war views. I have not taken part in any anti war rallies, but I would if I could. I’ve made plans to cover up the Ace of Spades I have tattooed on my back. On Television I see the faces of young soldiers and can’t help feeling sorry for them. If they live long enough, they will look back on these days and hopefully have a much better understanding of just how war destroys so much and accomplishes so little.

I enlisted into the Army when I was just seventeen. I had my recruiter visit my parents to have their permission to do so. Because of my high ASVAB score, I was able to secure an assignment to a computer programming unit. After the first Gulf war began, I went through a lot of trouble but was finally able to change my assignment to an airborne infantry unit. I wanted to be on the front lines racking up kills and not sitting behind a computer logging hours. I am haunted by images of people who I have hurt in my past. My subconscious does not differentiate between those that I hurt in self-defense or those that I have hurt for other reasons. I can’t imagine hurting anyone ever again, let alone, taking someone’s life for any reason unless it is to preserve my life or the lives of those I love. I find it hard to believe that I willingly enlisted in a job that’s sole purpose is to kill other human beings. I will forever pay the price for that mistake. I have enough skeletons in my closet to keep my sleep full of nightmares for the rest of my life. On television, and in newspapers and magazines, I see many young faces who will undoubtedly suffer the same consequences. Unfortunately, those who support the war but don’t actually participate, they will never have to face these demons. They are merely cheerleaders who never actually stepped onto the field.

A young teenager’s view of the world does not have room for the repercussions of his or her actions. There is no thought about how their present actions will destroy dreams only to have traumatic recollections take their place. To a teenager, war is a deadly game of freeze tag where they don’t think about whether people become animate once the game is over. I used to look at pictures of myself in uniform with pride. I would keep them in frames on my walls. Now I have them tucked in photo albums next to pictures of myself dressed up as Dracula, Zorro, and the homeless bum carrying his trick-or-treat bag on a stick–pictures of my childhood when I thought everything was great but actually looked pretty silly. I look at that boy’s face in those pictures and ask him what he was thinking. He just keeps on smiling. So sure of himself.

Jesus B Castaneda is currently imprisoned in California’s High Desert State Prison. Write to him at Jesus B Castaneda #K-23993, HDSP B4-109, PO Box 3030, Susanville, CA 96127

Compiled by PB Floyd

It’s getting to be summer traveling season. Here are some spaces you can visit. Each infoshop is the culmination of tons of volunteer energy, community inspiration and love. Support these spaces with your time & money!

Each year we publish a list of spaces in our Organizer, going to press in August. So by April, with new spaces opening and old ones closing, the list is pretty out-of-date. These corrections and additions add to the list of corrections we published in issues #92 and #93. Because we are computer idiots, we haven’t updated our on-line radical contact list for over a year, so ironically, the list we published in the organizer (in August 06) is better than what is on-line, and these in-print updates are more up-to-date than either our on-line list or the organizer. Some day we’ll get into the computer age and fix the on-line list. Sorry.

Action for Community in Raleigh – Raleigh, NC

ACRe has a zine library, bike project, skill shares, cooking for Food Not Bombs, meeting space, urban gardening and more. They’re located at 2419 Mayview St. Raleigh, NC 27607 (919) 341-8263 raleighaction.org

City Heights Free Skool – San Diego, CA

They operate a free skool and have a permanent location featuring a library, free internet access, bike shop, and meeting/event space. Check out 4246 Wightman San Diego, CA 92105 619-528-8060, cityheightsfreeskool.org

Sky Dragon Center – Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

A food co-op with space for artists, radical films and a farmer’s market that is involved in local green and anti-sprawl activities. We’re told it is a “hub for many different facets of radical people” in Hamilton. Check them out at 27 King William St, Hamilton, ON, Canada, L8N 1A3, (905) 777-8102, www.skydragon.org

GlobalAware CounterSpace – Toronto, Ontario, Canada

They just opened a gallery and shop. 19 Kensington Avenue Kensington Market Toronto, ON M5T 2J8, 416 204 1984 www.GlobalAware.org

Places just getting going

• Folks in Philadelphia are working on starting the Heartsville Community Space – they want to open a space with a library, internet access and a meeting room open for educational events by the summer. Contact them at PO Box 5917, Phili, PA 19137. 215-279-6420

Places that have closed

• Rebel Books in Wilmington, NC is gone.

• Castle Olympus in Columbia, SC is closed.

• The Boiling Point space in Charlotte, NC is no longer running.

• We got mail returned from the Clandestinos Collective in Denver and thus think they may no longer exist. Let us know if you have info.

• The Wildcat Infoshop in Lexignton, KY was shut down by fire marshals/police and then

evicted by the landlord.

• The 908 Collective Space in Fort Collins CO, is shut down.

May

May 19 • 11 – 6 pm

8th Annual Montreal Anarchist Bookfair Montreal, Quebec 514 859-9090, www.anarchistbookfair.ca

May 31 – June 3

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Conference Minneaoplis MN www.mwsocialforum.org

June

June 1-7

The 9th Annual Wild Earth Gathering, Coastal, BC wildearth.resist.ca/, wildearth@resist.ca

June 6-8

Protest G8 meeting in Heiligendamm, Germany. dissentnetwork.org

June 9 – 10

Sexy Spring – Minneapolis, MN Sexyspring.org

June 13-15

1st (inter)National Copwatch Conference in Berkeley,CA cwconference2007@lists.riseup.net (see page 12)

June 14-15

Resist the Atlantica free trade summit — a proposed free trade agreement. Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. www.stopatlantica.org resistatlantica2007@gmail.com

June 21-23

Free Minds Free People – A national conference on education for liberation. Chicago, IL edliberation.org

June 22 • 3 pm

Transgender March – San Francisco – Dolores Park transmarch.org

June 23 • 3 pm

Dyke March – San Francisco – Dolores Park – March @ 7 dykemarch.org

June 24

San Francisco Gay/Lesbian/Bi-sexual/Trans Pride march – sfpride.org

June 27 – July 1

US Social Forum – Atlanta, GA. www.ussf2007.org

lum-pen-pro-le-tar-i-at n. the lowest level of the proletariat comprising unskilled workers, vagrants, and criminals and characterized by a lack of class-consciousness.

July

July 2 – 8

Earth First! Round River rendezvous – Southern Indiana – http://earthfirst.bee-town.com

July 8 – 10

International Anarchist Conference Mexico City, Mexico email biblioteca@libertad.org.mx

July 13 – 15

Think GalactiCon – Radical Sci-Fi Convention Chicago, IL – Roosevelt University – thinkgalactica.org

July 21-31

EZLN Intergalactic Encuentro – Mexico www.zeztainternazional.org/esp

July 31

Deadline to submit art, historical dates, radical contact info for 2008 Slingshot Organizer – 3124 Shattuck Berkeley

August

August 19 • 4 pm

Slingshot new volunteer meeting – get involved in this rag – 3124 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley

August 31 – Sept. 2

RNC 2008 Welcoming Committee pre-convention planning skillshare — get to know Minneapolis/St. Paul — Critical Mass, tours, workshops, street medic training. www.rncwelcomingcommittee.org

August • date / location TBA

Feral Visions Against Civilization – greenanarchy.org

September

September 7

Protest the APEC summit meeting in Sydney, Australia. www.stopwarcoalition.org

September 14-16

Protest the fall meeting of the IMF/World Bank – films, rallies and discussions. www.50years.org

September 15 • 3 pm

Article and art submissions due for Slingshot issue #95 at the Long Haul in Berkeley.

And so on…

February 29, 2008

Global Leap Day Action Night – www.leapdayaction.org