Category: Articles

Slingshot is an independent, radical, quarterly newspaper published in Berkeley since 1988.

Four nights ago while we were editing, we heard a loud crash and at first thought it was two cars hitting each other out on the street. When we ran out to see what had happened, we were horrified to see that the noise had been a car running over three pedestrians in the crosswalk only feet from where we were working. They were lying on the pavement seriously hurt — one going into convulsions — gasps and screams of on-lookers and the victims filling the air. None of us could concentrate after that — and none of us slept well that night. Since then, we’ve been extra aware of how violent cars are, and extra careful walking and biking the streets.

The incident underlined how the modern, fast, motorized world is opposed to life on all levels — from global warming exterminating coral reefs and polar bears, to stress and fast-food and chemicals hurting our health, to the internet isolating us and smothering local communities, culture and bookstores. In many ways, we’re struggling not just against capitalism, war and corporations, but against the culture and worship of speed in all aspects of our lives. Just as fast-food has perverted food, fast-life has perverted many of the best things about being human.

Our culture pushes people to pursue money, power and fame. In contrast, we find that the things that really make life worth living are our experiences — not the goals we’re “supposed” to be seeking. This issue, the best moments were the late-night good conversations and community we found as a collective. Very slow, human-speed moments of connection. These moments are free — they don’t require fossil fuels or money — but they do require the time to be present and to appreciate them.

Another thing about this issue was the funny weather while we were making it — the coldest days in decades here in the East Bay while in areas where it should be cold on the East Coast, we hear it has been warm. No doubt about it — global warming is the elephant in the room that no one knows how to confront. While we try to live as fossil fuel-free as we can day-to-day, publishing Slingshot and shipping it to all 50 states and 20 countries relies on a ton of oil. Maybe it would be better if folks everywhere would publish their own papers locally, or maybe we should be emphasizing a return to storytelling and face-to-face communication. At the same time, we read with concern about more and more radical print publications struggling to continue. A world where radicals only exist on-line is as problematic as one in which all the independent bookstores are replaced by Amazon.com.

And finally, to prove that life is complex and that it’s all about navigating the contradictions, Slingshot is desperate to find a really dedicated, stable, long-term computer / website consultant — even though we’re generally mistrustful of and down on computers and the internet. Our website hasn’t been adequately updated in two years — it is missing a lot of important stuff we would like to make available — basically it’s being held together with chewing gum. We would love to find someone with a lot of time on their hands and great skills who would emphasize sharing their knowledge with the collective so we could all participate in creating and maintaining our website. We want to avoid past mistakes that created a hierarchy of experts and disempowered technology consumers within the collective. Well, we can dream . . .

Slingshot is always looking for new writers, artists, editors, photographers, translators, distributors and independent thinkers to help us make this paper. If you send something written, please be open to working with the editorial collective.

Editorial decisions are made by the Slingshot collective, but not all the articles reflect the opinions of all collective members. We welcome debate, constructive criticism and discussion.

Thanks to all who worked on this: Alex, Asher, B (Catering), Cathy, Dean, Eggplant, Hefty Lefty, Julia, Justin, Micah, PB, Rachel and Terri.

Slingshot New Volunteer Meeting

Volunteers interested in getting involved with Slingshot can come to the new volunteer meeting on Sunday, March 11 at 4 p.m. at the Long Haul in Berkeley (see below).

Article Deadline and Next Issue Date

Submit your articles for issue 94 by April 7, 2007 at 3 p.m.

Volume 1, Number 93, Circulation 15,000

Printed January 17, 2007

Slingshot Newspaper

Sponsored by Long Haul

3124 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley, CA 94705

Phone: (510) 540-0751

slingshot@tao.ca • www.slingshot.tao.ca

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Subscriptions to Slingshot are free to prisoners, low income and anyone in the USA who has a Slingshot organizer, or cost $1 per issue. International is $2.50 per issue. Back issues are also available for the cost of postage. National free distribution program: Outside of the Bay Area, we’ll mail a stack of free copies of Slingshot to distributors, infoshops, bookstores and random friendly individuals for FREE in the US if they give ’em out for free.

Dear Slingshot:

This is D here writing from the bowels of the modern American gulag system! I just finished issue #74. (Yeah a bit late as I’m relying on donations, but still timely as ever!) I couldn’t believe my luck when I read the article, “Doomed to die a Correctional Slave.” Not only is the subject obviously relative to my current position, but your newspaper is the first I’ve seen to emphasize the socio-economic principles of American prison industry, and to challenge it in a progressive and comprehensive manner. My accolades for that!

As for other news, Rod Blagojevich was just re-elected as “governor” here in Illinois which means that us prisoners will be subjected to another 4 years of broken promises, failed resolutions and the general (intentional!) decline of prison conditions. All of this while the national incarceration rate continues to grow. Yet federal and state budgets dwindle as more money is being diverted to support the Holy Crusade overseas. What’s new, right? Just another day in the land of “freedom and democracy”!

— Derek Walsh #R13880

PO Box 1700, Galesburg, IL 61401

Letter – nuts

Dear Slingshot:

Hi, I am a user of your Slingshot organizer, second year in a row now, and I just wanted to remark about something I saw in my 2007 organizer. I did read on your website that you welcome comments, so I hope they are taken most graciously. Towards the back I found the page on check your nuts and your breasts, which of course is quite helpful. Here is where I found it interesting that there is a picture of breasts next to the “and your breasts” but not a picture of testicles next to “check your nuts”. Just a thought, not trying to be too critical, but consider that we do live in a patriarchal system that we are trying to unravel by way of our political expressions, such as what one can find from Slingshot. I just wanted to see a pair of nuts there too…oh well… 😉

I love what you are all doing…the history and creativeness flows out of the organizer… So thanks! — Becca

Letter

Dear Slingshot,

Congratulations on the publication of the 2007 Organizer! It looks great. The essay on “Tips for Modern Simplicity” really made me think. The first tip “Work as little as you can” seems like a more realistic goal for privileged people with access to resources to start the collective businesses to which you refer. It seems to me like there are a lot of unemployed people who would want to work in order to improve a substandard level of living. I suppose it depends on how you define “work”, but “working” can be necessary sometimes. In a utopian world we would all grow our own food and wouldn’t need to work to buy food, but then growing the food in the first place would involve working. But I guess you’re talking about “Work as little as you can at places like McDonalds”?

Also, the point about getting rid of lights might not be realistic for many people, while I agree that they should definitely be turned off when not in use. I think that when we are trying to make lifestyle changes our attitude toward the changes are as important as the changes themselves. Its important to do what we can, but also not to feel guilty if we are unable to make changes that we know would benefit the environment or humanity. Being as radical and hardcore as possible is a great goal, but don’t be TOO hard on yourself!

Call me mainstream, but for me I’ve found that there has to be a balance between making sacrifices for the greater good and preserving my sanity with some comforts like electric appliances that I finance by working. But then I use the Slingshot Organizer to try to hide this from people. They would never suspect that I am a closet blender-user. –Love, Kimiko Kobayashi

As Slingshot goes to press, president Bush has announced that he will order a “surge” of 21,500 additional US troops to Iraq on top of the 140,000 troops already there — despite the fact that everyone from his own generals and troops to any casual observer on the street can see that Iraq has descended into civil war as a result of Bush’s unprovoked invasion and bungled occupation. Bush’s surge won’t help the situation in Iraq — it will only prolong the nightmare and sacrifice more Iraqis and US troops for nothing. Meanwhile, the recently elected democratic Congress is unlikely to block the continuation of the war by cutting off funding — they’re talking about holding some hearings but are too afraid of being blamed for “losing” the war to take the one real action available to force a pullout of US troops. Earth to Democrats: the US lost the war a long time ago — people voted for you because they wanted US troops out now.

The world needs a surge, but not of more US troops to Iraq. Its time for a surge of protest and outrage against the hopeless US occupation of Iraq — from ordinary people everywhere, from the rest of the world, from anti-war activists, and from YOU. The war has dragged on for almost four years — longer than US involvement in World War II — with up to 650,000 Iraqis and over 3,000 Americans dead as a result of the war, and $400 billion spent and counting.

Many of us hit the streets in protest before the war and right after it started — but we’ve grown tired and discouraged as the occupation has dragged on . . . and on . . . and on. Depression, resignation, exhaustion and inaction won’t stop the war — Bush won’t stop the war — the Democratic party won’t stop the war — really the only alternative is for millions of folks in the USA to somehow throw off our slumber and stop the damn war. At this point, inaction is complicity.

Sadly, the institutional US anti-war movement has been ineffective in stopping the war. There are protests scheduled for the end of January and March 17-18 — hopefully a lot of people will go. But polite protests isolated to one day are no longer enough. Stopping the war is going to require much broader action on a day to day basis, ranging from banners lining the streets across the country; to a million discussions; to action aimed at raising the domestic cost of the war to the US ruling class.

Bush talks about accomplishing the mission in Iraq, but just because he broke it doesn’t mean he — or anyone with any plan — can fix it. When US troops pull out, the ferocity and bloodiness of the civil war is likely to increase — but that doesn’t mean US troops should stay indefinitely baby-sitting a civil war to try to keep it within “acceptable” levels of slaughter. The only positive thing the United States can do at this point is get the hell out of Iraq and let folks there resolve their own destiny.

US troops lost any possibility of bringing peace and reconciliation to Iraq through a million small and large Bush fuckups — the torture at Abu Ghraib; the failure to restore electricity, jobs and other services; the $20 billion “reconstruction” that only enriched corporate interests; the right-wing use of Iraq as a guinea pig plaything to test their theories about privatization while Baghdad went up in flames around them. That’s to say nothing of collapse of all of Bush’s reasons to fight the war in the first place. The war was started and has been fought, very literally, for nothing.

The failed Iraq war and occupation are a metaphor for the dying American empire — a huge bloated beast thrashing about spreading death and misery pointlessly, and in the process, destroying itself. It may take decades for America’s rulers to repair the economic, military and political disaster they have created in Iraq. Global scorn and distrust of the US are at an all time high, with good reason.

Even the US military has lost heart for the war. An Army Times poll conducted Nov. 13 through Dec. 22 found that only 35 percent of the military members polled said they approve of the way President Bush is handling the war, and only 50 percent said they thought success was likely in Iraq. These numbers may have dipped lower since Bush’s speech. It is astonishing to see how isolated Bush has become with more than 70 percent of the public now against the war.

The US media focuses on the pain of the families of 3,000 dead American solders — missing the point that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis lie dead, and the world’s oldest civilization has been reduced to ruins.

But despite all of this, the mainstream political system is incapable of pulling out US troops. It is much easier for Bush and the Democrats to stay the course than to have to admit the scale of their defeat in Iraq. The thousands more Iraqis and Americans likely to die are pawns to them. You can bet that none of Bush’s or Pelosi’s friends or family are living in Baghdad or serving in the US military.

As Mario Savio pointed out in a different context “There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part, you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop! And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!”

If the rulers won’t pull out troops, regular folks need to do everything we can to make the United States ungovernable — shutting down whatever economic or social functions are within our grasp that permit the US to continue the occupation. Bush’s troop surge is just more of the same — stay the course only worse. If the regular people don’t stand up and prevent the occupation from continuing, we’re going to be right back at this point in a year, with the bodies piled higher.

March 17 – 18 Global Days of Action

Creepy sectarian ANSWER coalition has called for coordinated protests against the war in Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, and other cities. (In the Bay Area, the Sunday protest naturally conflicts with the annual Anarchist conference.) As gross as ANSWER is, big marches can provide useful gathering points for break-away actions. But we don’t have to wait for groups like ANSWER to call protests — anyone and everyone can organize actions to oppose the war. Hopefully they’ll be lots of other anti-war actions as the spring goes on.

Massive protests against the 2007 G8 summit meeting of neoliberal globalizers and warmongers at the Baltic Sea resort Heiligendamm near Rostock in Germany are scheduled before and during the June 6-8 meeting. The G8 is the annual meeting of the leaders of the 8 richest nations in the world. Every summer, these people meet behind closed doors, with no published agenda, and no publicly available meeting minutes. For some reason, they invariably meet near a big ass golf course. Many people in Germany, Europe and the world are sick of the empty promises of the G8 — saying they will help the environment or help fight African poverty and then doing nothing, or worse. The G8 meeting is the best chance to show a big fat middle finger to leaders who dominate the world and to show that another world is definitely possible.

Past protests at G8 summits, EU conferences or WTO meetings have played a central role in the deepening and broadening of the movement against the centralization of wealth and power in a few hands, and in favor of economic justice for workers, environmental sustainability, peace and alternatives to corporate control. Activists are mobilizing throughout Europe for protests and counter-summit activities.

The Dissent! Infotour will be traveling across the West Coast of the USA from February 18 to March 30, 2007, and in New England the first week of April 2007, to invite people in the USA to come to Germany for the G8.

Not long ago in the city of Rostock, Germany — population 200,000, about 15 miles east of G8 host town Heiligendamm — over 500 local people formed a “flash mob” and stormed the Rostock City Hall to protest city cuts in social services while the city and regional government were spending millions to pay for the locally controversial G8 Summit. In Bad Doberan — population 12,000, about 5 rural miles south of Heiligendamm — this past summer, activists moved beyond stereotypical activist communication methods and passed out 3,000 flyers and leaflets to locals in a mass door-knocking action that was hailed by locals as the most successful singular political action since the wall came down in 1989.

The anti-G8 activists also spoke to every business in the central district to explain their concerns, as well as to talk to locals about why there might be 100,000 protesters visiting their small town area in 2007 to protest the G8. In Kuehlungsborn, — population 4,800, about 4 miles west of Heiligendamm — the Dissent! Infotour has already made two presentations, including one at the 4-star Morada Resort, which will be host to 3,000-4,000 international journalists at the official 2007 G8 Press Center. Locals are not impressed by the fact that the G8 is coming to their region, and they are getting more and more pissed off that their regional government is spending 68 million euros of their tax money to support a closed meeting of the leaders of the eight richest countries at a time when 18% of locals are unemployed.

The largest European left radical mobilization in years is taking place in Germany right now. The German military has announced that they will cooperate on training manoeuvers with police and provide medical and communications infrastructure. The military will also take responsibility for air protection with AWACS and sea protection with warships.Special top G8 cop Knut Abramowski looked nervous when he told a crowd of local business people and politicians that he expects 100,000 activists to protest, and that he hopes disruptions will be kept to a minimum during the G8 summit June 6-8.

Why is Knut so nervous? The truth is that he, just like any of the many full time anti-G8 activists in Germany these days, have absolutely no idea what to expect from protests during the G8. He knows that the first mass protests will take place June 2, when there will be a mass liberal demonstration in Rostock (www.g8-germany.info), and radical antifascist activists will be on the streets to block a planned neo-nazi march. Both could get out of control, even though up to 40 water cannon trucks plan to be on call.

Things are actually more likely to move radically outside police management capabilities by the 5th of June, when Bush and friends arrive at the Laage airport on their way to the G8 summit, and the anti-G8 bike rides and anti-war campaigners will be en masse in the region. Actually, even though there are call-outs by over 100 German NGO’s and various groups to participate in protests in the region, many groups have already said they support decentralized actions and plan to organize major blockades and actions across Germany, from North to South, East to West.

So, has your appetite been whetted? It has not been since Seattle that large protests have shook the consciousness of the global north. However, anti-G8 organizers from Italy (G8 2001), France (G8 2003), and UK (G8 2005) all seem to be in agreement — the German mobilization for 2007 is much larger than anyone has ever seen against the G8.

We hope to see you on tour, or even better, on the German barricades in June 2007!

For more info or to find or schedule tour dates near you, email goodniteg8@riseup.net or check www.dissentnetwork.org or www.g7.utoronto.ca.

Por Libe Lula

Este año, 2007 la Otra Campaña (internacionalmente conocida como la Zezta) prepara el siguiente Encuentro de los Pueblos Zapatistas con los Pueblos del Mundo para julio, donde ademas de difundir la lucha zapatista se afinarán los detalles y acuerdos sobre fecha, lugar y dinamica del próximo Encuentro Intergalactico (encuentro de las comunidades Indígenas de las Americas), son muchos los retos y mucho el trabajo que toca a los adherentes de la Sexta Declaración de la Selva Lacandona para fortalecer los trabajos conjuntos.

El Congreso Nacional Indìgena, el EZLN , y el pueblo Kumiai le mandaron a Marcos anunciar el encuentro, que esta programado para el 12 de octubre de 2007 en el noroeste de México. Dijo Marcos: “Invitemos a la gente indìgena del continente Americano a este lugar, para decir que estamos aquÌ, y contemos nuestra historia. Y no importa si nos hacen caso o no, porque nos haremos caso a nosotros mismos.”

El 12 de octubre, festejado por algunos como “el dÌa de Cristóbal Colón”, fue elegido para que indìgenas de todo América “llegaran aquÌ para decir que, después de 515 años, ni nos conquistaron ni nos descubrieron. Seguimos existiendo aquÌ”.

El pasado 30 y 31 de diciembre del 2006 y el 1 y 2 de enero del 2007 se celebró el Encuentro entre los Pueblos Zapatistas y los Pueblos del Mundo, encuentro previo al 3er Encuentro Intergalactico, con fecha por definir.

Se reunieron en Oventik, caracol zapatista, miles de bases de apoyo de los pueblos del Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional y más de 2,000 hombres y mujeres provenientes de 40 paÌses del mundo trabajando en 6 mesas de trabajo: La Otra Educación, La Otra Salud, Mujeres, La Otra Comunicación, El Otro Arte, y La Otra Cultura, Otro Comercio y La Lucha por la Tierra y el territorio, culminando con la plenaria para discutir la fecha, lugar y dinamica del próximo Encuentro Intergalactico, además de dar el informe de la consulta cibernética sobre las definiciones basicas de la Otra Campaña.

México es un hervidero de sangre caliente. 2006 comenzó con el lanzamiento de la Otra Campaña en San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. El plan, el recorrido del Delegado Zero por todo el territorio mexicano para escuchar y entrelazar las luchas y resistencias comunes. El recorrido ha sido apoyado de cerca por la cobertura de los medios independientes, la misión es no solo difundir la Otra Campaña, sino acompañar un proceso de capacitación entre las comunidades para utilizar la tecnologÌa y comunicación como herramientas de resistencia entre las comunidades. Los medios masivos de comunicación TV Azteca y Televisa han persistido en su intento por desvirtuar la Otra Campaña y la lucha zapatista. Solo los medios independientes han logrado decir la verdad sobre las violaciones a los derechos humanos que ha cometido el estado, violando mujeres y hombres, arrestando, hiriendo, matando y desapareciendo a los compañeros que han defendido sus luchas.

El año 2006 el Delegado Zero recorrió todo México para visitar comunidades en resistencia, para poder establecer las redes de solidaridad en otras comunidades fuera de Chiapas. Esta primera etapa consistió en establecer estas redes y en el compartir la experiencia rumbo a la autonomÌa de los pueblos indìgenas en Chiapas, sin embargo ante los hechos ocurridos en San Salvador Atenco, los medios de comunicación una vez mas desvirtuaron la Otra Campaña con calificativos como “movimientos aislados” a las luchas de los floricultores en Atenco, y que hay mas alla de Atenco? El proyecto de la construcción del aeropuerto internacional y de proyectos carreteros que se conjuntan con otros mas, como represas, vìas de acceso para el intercambio de mercancìas entre los Estados Unidos, México y Centroamérica a través del Plan Puebla Panama (PPP) que no benefician a las comunidades por las que transitan. En el paso de la Otra Campaña por Guerrero, en La Parota, el Delegado Zero menciono que las luchas entre la resistencia contra la construcción de la represa de la Parota y la comunidad de agricultores de Atenco estan vinculadas y son parte de la Otra Campaña, este es un elemento clave para notar que de ninguna forma se trata de “movimientos o insurrecciones aisladas” estas luchas tienen algo en comun, son parte de la resistencia contra la culminación del PPP.

El gobierno de México conoce perfectamente cuales son los puntos de resistencia de estas luchas, el zapatismo ha contribuido a estrechar los lazos de solidaridad entre estas comunidades y sus luchas, es por esto que el gobierno quiere desarticular estas redes de solidaridad y resistencia despareciendo a la gente que resiste, llevando a prisión a los jóvenes que somos parte de esta lucha, llamandonos terroristas.

En 2006 el gobierno de Vicente Fox fue el puente de transición para el gobierno de la extrema derecha en México, el gobierno de Felipe Calderón del Partido Acción Nacional para trabajar mas de la mano con los proyectos neoliberales que trazan estas rutas de comercio entre Estados Unidos y América. Y no es un secreto que Felipe Calderón trabaja bajo las influencias directas de la extrema derecha en México a través del Yunque, organización secreta de perfil ultraderechista.

El movimiento activista está trabajando de la mano con la Otra Campaña es la iniciativa para trabajar entre diferentes localidades para unir resistencias contra estos proyectos neoliberales en México. Durante estos años el movimiento activista se ha fortalecido, con las cosmovisiones de los indÌgenas hemos llenado nuestro movimiento con el espÌritu de nuestras tierras, nos hemos vestido con los tejidos que hacen las manos indìgenas, no es solo por el hecho de trabajar con indìgenas, el movimiento ha aprendido de las formas autónomas de las comunidades indìgenas, y esta idea del dialogo y de la voz para los sin voz.

“Contar con los propios medios de comunicación, es muy diferente cuando solo tiene los ricos y su gobierno, pero cuando lo tenemos nosotros, transmitimos y publicamos lo que fortalece nuestros pueblos, lo que fortalece la resistencia y la autonomÌa de los pueblos indìgenas, porque con los medios autónomos que tenemos en las regiones y municipios autónomos, ha servido para orientar, educar, informar y animar a los pueblos”, Oventik 2007.

Los retos para la Otra Campaña, para nosotros difundir y conseguir los recursos para que el próximo encuentro entre todos los indìgenas desde Alaska hasta la Patagonia se reinan el 12 de Octubre, fecha en que nuestras comunidades indÌgenas cayeron bajo el yugo de los invasores, ese es el siguiente paso para la Otra Campaña, y es el propósito de nuestra resistencia porque seguimos oponiéndonos a la culminación del Plan Puebla Panama que quiere comer los recursos en estas tierras indÌgenas, asÌ que buscamos la solidaridad para poder llevar a los representantes de los pueblos indÌgenas a este encuentro, la Otra Campaña. Va!!!!

En cuanto a los medios de comunicación, la llamada Otra Comunicación la que construimos los medios de comunicación independientes en México fueron un punto vital para la resistencia en Oaxaca con la APPO, la gente debe liberar su voz y los que construimos estos medios tenemos la tarea de propagar y compartir estas técnicas y herramientas para que las comunidades construyan su propios medios de comunicación.

enlace zapatista, enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/. Zezta internacional, www.zeztainternazional.org, Centro de Medios Libres, http://vientos.info/cml

Past midnight in the first hours of the new year, the Zapatistas outlined a triple focus for the coming year: to have another Intergalactic Encuentro in July; to have an Encuentro for indigenous people from Alaska to Patagonia in October; and to continue building La Otra Campaña (the Other campaign) in Mexico. The announcement came to an alcohol free crowd of about 4,000 people in Oventik, a small village in the highlands of Chiapas. People from over 40 countries gathered for four days “to listen and see from the heart,” as subcommandante Marcos suggested. The themes for the four days included — in this order: (1) the struggle for autonomy; (2) the other education; (3) the other health; (4) women; (5) the other media; (6) the other economy; and (7) land.

On January 2, the last of the four days, the Zapatistas listened to hours of proposals from the participants. Listening — giving empathy — is an impressive Zapatista quality. It is the prerequisite to their politics of dialogue. Every session started with about 90 minutes of reports from each different Zapatista federation, then the masked men and women on stage proceeded to field questions from the audience. Zapatistas ended every session with at least a half hour of suggestions and stories from the audience. The Zapatistas’ attentiveness rubs off. The whole Encuentro was a classroom, teaching the participants the practice of listening.

Participants in the discussion about the meaning and scope of autonomy were curious about what the Zapatista governments do when there is a conflict with non-Zapatista communities. The answer came naturally: we listen to the facts, have a dialogue with all involved, and fix the problem. As Marshall Rosenberg teaches in Non-Violent Communication, conflicts dissolve in dialogue that contains empathy. As Vipassana Buddhism teaches, tensions arise and pass away with pure observation. The Zapatistas practice this in their revolutionary politics of listening, observing, and dialogue.

There was a romantic side to the Encuentro — the visuals that any reporter on the Zapatistas is somehow obliged to include. We were on Zapatista time, one hour ahead of the local time zone. The fog was thick, really thick. There are many smoky fires to add to it. Many men and women walk around in black masks. Awaiting a speaker, you would see masked men playing with their digital recorders, and masked women laughing at jokes in the local dialect.

The Encuentro largely took place on a drizzling, foggy, muddy slope. Tents and tarps barely kept people dry. At the bottom of the slope a large stage with a characteristically Mexican trumpet recording played at the oddest moments: late night, early morning, after a speaker. There was a festival atmosphere with the music, food, and camping — a dijorido and aboriginal dreamtime storytelling — all mixed with a revolutionary spirit and occasional military tone.

New Year’s Eve featured cultural events — songs, dance, and theater performances — before a sudden call for all Zapatistas to go to the front, and outside participants to move to the back. The maneuver took about a half hour. The moon, almost full, peaked through a hole in the clouds. As the speaker started speaking the local dialect, none of the participants knew what was going on. Rows of Zapatistas moved swiftly to their positions. Eventually, we welcomed the new year with a salute to the Mexican and Zapatista flags and a dramatic introduction of subcommandante Marcos. He delivered a 30 minute speech in dialect.

The whole Encuentro showed an understanding of how important it is to be understood. If the EZLN are truly understood, it will be hard to oppose them. Nevertheless, this deep understanding remains a struggle even among the outside participants in the Encuentro. The Zapatistas are farther along the path of autonomy than most (if not all) communities enmeshed in Capitalism. Most immediately, the Zapatista communities aspire towards a better quality of life. Better education, appropriate technologies, agro-ecology, better health treatment and prevention, fair compensation for their work, and better land for farming. They are actively pursuing these goals by building more schools; training more volunteer teachers and agro-ecology promoters; envisioning a Zapatista University; forming buying, baking, weaving and coffee cooperatives; and recuperating idle land.

Yet they are far from ending what Marcos called the common problem: Capitalism. They are no model of perfection nor do they claim to be. They will not bring the revolution to anyone´s doorstep, but they invite you to be revolutionaries in your struggle for autonomy. They are not a vanguard. They drink Coca-Cola. And they are struggling to banish Coca-Cola just like we are struggling to banish Philip-Morris from our communities.

What the Zapatistas are doing is impressive. They have changed the lives of thousands of Mexican villagers. It is hard to ignore their growing momentum. This year the Otra Campaña helped rock the Mexican political boat. 2007 will see the Otra Campaña continue, intergalactic connections widen, and indigenous connections develop. The Zapatistas seemed excited by these possibilities. In July, there will be the second Intergalactic Encuentro in Chiapas. This Encuentro in July will last two weeks and tour several communities. If you are interested in the revolutionary activity in Mexico, I suggest getting in touch with the Chiapas Support Committee in the East Bay, and I highly recommend saving money now for that summer trip to the next Encuentro.

Leaving the Encuentro, my sense of hope was nourished — making revolution seemed possible. I wondered, how can I move my community at Aprovecho in Cottage Grove, Oregon towards autonomy? How can you move your community towards autonomy?

There are many challenges ahead for la Otra Campaña (the Other Campaign — internationally known as the Zezta) in Mexico in 2007. In addition to planning gatherings in July and October, the EZLN and those working on la Otra seek to strengthen relationships of those who work together, as well as define and refine the Zapatistas’ struggle against Plan Puebla Panamá (PPP). PPP is a huge development plan to link the nine southern states of Mexico (Puebla and points south) with all of Central America into a colossal free trade zone. PPP includes building new energy and transportation infrastructure and easing travel restrictions between countries to promote trade. The scheme will destroy rain forests and displace indigenous peoples — all against the will of local people.

One of the most important projects of the la Otra in 2007 is a global meeting of indigenous people scheduled for October 12 in northwest Mexico. Subcommandante Marcos stated: “We invite the indigenous people of Canada and the United States and we invite the indigenous people of South America and Central America, and we will go to every part of the continent in this indigenous region in the northwest to say: We are here! and We recount our history! It does not matter whether we are recognized or not, because we recognize ourselves.”

October 12 is celebrated by some as “Christopher Columbus day.” It was chosen for the meeting so that indigenous people of all the Americas “will come to say that, after 515 years, they did not conquer us, nor did they discover us. We still continue to exist here.”

Mexico is boiling with hot blood. 2006 started with the launch of the Otra Campaña in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas. The planned route for Delegate Zero (Subcommandante Marcos), was throughout all of Mexico, to listen and to connect the struggles and acts of resistance that are common in communities throughout Mexico. He sought to establish networks of solidarity in communities beyond Chiapas. The first stage of establishing these networks was for the Zapatistas to share the experiences and challenges they faced on their path to autonomy.

The Otra Campaña tour has only been honestly covered by independent media. However, the independent media mission has not just been to report on the Otra Campaña, but to accompany a process of teaching and sharing the use of technology as a tool of communication between communities, and therefore a tool of resistance. Mass media, like TV Azteca and Televisa, have persisted in the misrepresenting and attacking of the Otra Campaña and the Zapatista struggle. Only independent media has told the truth about the rape, arrest, injury, murder, and disappearance of comrades who have defended their struggles.

In response to the government repression in San Salvador Atenco, the Mexican media tried to weaken the Otra Campaña by describing the violence with qualifiers like “isolated incidents” in reference to the flower vendors in Atenco. But what else is happening in Atenco? The international airport construction project, the freeway construction project, and other projects such as dams are underway. This is happening to create an infrastructure for commercial development throughout the United States, Mexico, and Central America, via Plan Puebla Panama.

PPP does not benefit the communities that it crosses through. In the Otra Campaña’s travel through Guerrero in La Parota, Delegate Zero mentioned that the conflict between those against the dam and the communities of farmers of Atenco are connected, and are part of the Otra Campaña. This is a key point to understand — in no way are these “isolated insurrectionary movements”. Rather, these struggles have something in common, they are parts of the resistance against the realization of the PPP.

The Mexican government knows perfectly well which places are going to be points of resistance to PPP. Zapatismo has stretched the ties of solidarity between these communities and their struggle. Because of this, the government wants to dismantle these networks and all resistance — disappearing the people who resist, taking to prison the youth that are part of the struggle and calling them terrorists.

In 2006 the government of Vicente Fox was part of the transition to the extreme right in Mexico. The new PAN government of Felipe Calderon will work directly for the neoliberal projects that integrate commerce between the United States and the Americas. And it is no secret that Felipe Calderon will work under the direct influence of the extreme right in Mexico: the Yunque, which is a secret organization with a right-wing profile.

The activist movement works hand in hand with the Otra Campaña to work in different locations to unify resistance between different locations against neoliberal projects in Mexico. During these years, the activist movement has fortified itself with the indigenous cosmovision (i.e. understanding of heaven and earth); we have filled our movement with the spirit of the land; we have dressed ourselves with the weavings made by indigenous hands. This is not just to work closely with indigenous people — the movement has learned the autonomous form of indigenous communities, the idea of dialogue and the “voice for those that have no voice”.

“With regard to modes of communication, it is very different when one only has the rich and the government, but when we have it ourselves, we transmit and publish that which strengthens indigenous communities, that which fortifies the resistance and autonomy of the indigenous community, because with those independent media that we have in autonomous regions and municipalities, has served to orient, educate, inform and animate the people.” Oventik, 2007.

The challenge faced by the Otra Campaña is acquiring and distributing resources for the next meeting between all indigenous people between Alaska and Patagonia who will meet on October 12. October 12th is a day in which our indigenous communities fell under the yoke of the invaders. This is the next phase of the Otra Campaña, and it is the purpose of our resistance because we seek to oppose ourselves to the culmination of Plan Puebla Panama, which wants to consume all resources on indigenous territories. We seek solidarity, so we can have representation for all indigenous communities at this meeting, and so that the Otra Campaña goes forward!

With regard to communication modes, “Otra” communication forms — independent modes of communication — were critical to the APPO’s resistance in Oaxaca. The people should liberate their voices, and those who make this independent media have the responsibility to propagate and share these techniques and tools so that communities can make their own free media.

For more information, check: enlace zapatista enlacezapatista.ezln.org., Zezta internacional, www.zeztainternazional.org, Centro de Medios Libres vientos.info

People’s Park in Berkeley, California, is successfully protected, at least for now, because of a large turnout of concerned people at the last “Advisory Board” meeting. The Park has been a 37 year struggle to create and protect a small zone of common land. The University of California, who mis-used eminent domain to destroy a hippie neighborhood where the Park now sits in the late sixties, is still trying to claim the land. Fortunately the Park has a rich history of blood, sweat and tears and dedicated “denizens” to protect it. The latest gentrification attempt by UC was a bad plan to “bulldoze the berms”, the raised edges of the People’s Park Community Garden. These mounds, the actual piles of asphalt from when the parking lot was torn up in 1979, are currently covered with fruit and oak trees, roses and manzanitas and grassy areas. They make a pleasant separation for the Park from the street. The reason for the proposed removal was to allow the police easy sight lines into the Park from their vehicles on the street.

In a packed room many spoke out about the folly of the berm removal proposal. The most graphic presentation used an ironing board, two cauliflower heads, a frying pan and a hammer to dramatically demonstrate how plans aimed at hard drug users negatively affect everyone. (Maybe you had to be there).

At the meeting the University stated that they “have no plans to bulldoze the berms at this time”. The large outpouring of people indicated that People’s Park is still an important issue to many. Some of those who attended were neighbors of the Park concerned about safety. Discussions in the hallway and since the meeting have opened up a dialogue about positive ways to approach these concerns.

The dynamic struggle that is People’s Park continues. The University and the Advisory Board (handpicked by the University with no community participation) are in the process of hiring a firm to “do a needs assessment” presumably as a preliminary to redesigning the Park. This of course, violates the spirit of how the Park was created and has been maintained through bottom up “user development”. In an ominous move, the advisory board just decided to hold a closed session with only a few members of the board deciding which architectural firm will be chosen. This narrowing of participation does not bode well and the Advisory Board is sincere in trying to gather broad community input. We will need to be vigilant and participatory to keep an eye on these proceedings. Advisory Board meetings are on the first Mondays of the month at 7pm at 2362 Bancroft in Berkeley.

In the meantime, the Park remains a unique and special place to spend a little time and experience the random human connections that it so often offers. One can get involved by gardening on Sunday afternoons, or volunteering with Food Not Bombs, or planning a concert, or playing chess or basketball or bringing free clothes or just talking with someone new. Viva El Parque de la Gente!

The last four activists accused in federal court in Eugene, Oregon of involvement with a number of Earth Liberation Front-claimed arsons against eco-destroying targets — victims of Operation Backfire and the so-called greenscare — accepted plea bargain deals on November 9, 2006. Daniel McGowan, Jonathan Paul, Joyanna Zacher, and Nathan Block took the plea deals but refused to cooperate with the government investigation and won’t have to snitch on any fellow activists in exchange for their plea deals. These brave activists who held out for reasonable deals face sentencing in April and need your support.

This means that only Briana Waters is still facing a May 7 trial in Washington for alleged involvement with an arson attack on the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture in 2001 that was claimed by the Earth Liberation Front. She faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 35 years in prison if convicted. A number of the defendants who agreed to cooperate with the government are expected to testify against her. Briana — a mom and violin teacher — maintains her innocence and needs powerful support from the environmental community.

April Sentencing

In April, 10 defendants will face sentencing for a variety of arsons claimed by the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front. Under plea deals, the government and each defendant agreed on a recommended sentence of eight years, except for Jonathan Paul who got a five year recommended sentence.

However, despite the fact than none of the defendants in the case were ever charged with the crime of terrorism, federal prosecutors have announced that they will seek terrorism sentence enhancements of up to an additional 20 years in prison against the defendants. No human being was injured in any of the ALF/ELF arsons and in fact there is evidence that great efforts were made to avoid human injuries in all of the arsons Labeling these acts as “terrorism” shows the government’s willingness to use fear generated by 9-11 against domestic political radicals.

It appears that the defendants will challenge the constitutionality of the terrorism sentence enhancement, as it applies to all defendants, before Stanislas Meyerhoff’s sentencing hearing on April 10. (This date could be changed at a March 2 status hearing.) Meyerhoff was the first of the defendants to agree to cooperate with the government and testify against his friends. Depending on the result of the hearing, the sentencing dates set for other defendants may be changed. As Slingshot goes to press, the sentencing dates are: Kevin Tubbs, April 17; Chelsea Gerlach, April 18; Darren Thurston, April 19; Suzanne Savoie and Kendall Tankersley, April 20; Nathan Block and Joyanna Zacher, April 25; Daniel McGowan, April 26; and Jonathan Paul, April 30.

The judge will have discretion at the sentencing hearings to give more or less jail time to the non-cooperating defendants. They are thus seeking letters of support from those who know them.

Support Information

Briana needs help raising funds for her May 7, 2007 trial as well as statements of support from those who know her. She is free on bail. Contact supportbriana.org for more information.

Joyanna Zacher, and Nathan Block have remained in jail since their arrest and need support. You can write to them at the address below or contact their support committee:

supportersofnathanandjoyanna@gmail.com.

• Nathan Block #1663667, Lane County Jail, 101 W 5th Ave, Eugene, OR 97401

• Joyanna Zacher #1662550, Lane County Jail, 101 W 5th Ave, Eugene, OR 97401

Daniel and Jonathan are out on bail. Direct support to them at: www.supportdaniel.org, Friends of Jonathan Paul, PMB 267, 2305 Ashland Street, Ste. C, Ashland, OR 97520, friendsofjonathanpaul@yahoo.com.

For more information about the greenscare, check out cldc.org, grescare.org or portland.indymedia.org.

The IWW union hall in North Portland was filled to capacity at the Liberating Dissent Anti-Green Scare event on December 9, 2006 as Grand Jury resister Jeff Hogg shared his six month ordeal as a Green Scare political prisoner.

Until his release from the Josephine County Jail on November 11, 2006, Jeff was caught in the snare of the government war on dissent. His speaking presentation occurred as part of an international call to mark the weekend of December 7 as a display of unity and opposition to government repression. It was on December 7, 2005, that the FBI’s “Operation Backfire” began with its broad sweep of harassment, intimidation and persecution of eco and animal rights activists. The ensuing investigation with grand jury subpoenas and arrests has come to be known as the Green Scare.

Targeted because of prior eco-activism and work with the Earth First! Journal, Hogg was served with a subpoena in May of this year to testify before the grand jury in regard to a supposed Earth Liberation Front arson that caused property damage. His experience was one of intimidation from the beginning.

“Obviously, The Grand Jury System Does Not Work”

Hogg began his presentation with an overview of the grand jury system and its unlimited and unchecked misuse of investigative power. He began by offering statistics regarding the federal government’s misguided crime fighting priorities.

“A couple of years ago the FBI announced that Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front were the number one terrorist threats in the country. They received funding to go out to harass and intimidate the activist communities. They are not really interested in going out to fight violent crime that terrorizes human beings. Their own statistics state that in 2003 there were 7,400 hate crimes committed that were motivated [to attack] one’s race, ethnicity, religion or gender. That year there were also 450 crimes against the environment committed by corporate industries that violated the clean air and water acts and practiced illegal waste dumping. Their [FBI] priorities are somewhat eschewed. They are using the word ‘terrorism’ to play on our fear.”

He went on to explain how the grand jury power of subpoena is used to gather information while counting on an individual’s lack of knowledge about their constitutional rights. Many who have been subpoenaed have gone on to testify, feeling protected by the fact that they have no information and therefore have nothing to disclose. What Hogg wants people to know is that Grand Jury subpoenas are used broadly as major fishing expeditions and that even the most seemingly insignificant information can and will be distorted and used against the radical community. With this information, the decision is made as to what activity calls for surveillance, illegal wiretapping and where and when it is best to plant provocateurs. This kind of extra legal activity was widely used to derail the social justice movements of the sixties and seventies and history is repeating itself with Operation Backfire.

Hogg stated that 60 to 100 people have been subpoenaed as part of the Green Scare since 2000. The vast majority were law abiding citizens called in to talk about co-workers, friends and neighbors in violation of the 1st Amendment right to free speech and association. Grand juries are not entitled to ask for records of group membership, how money in organizations is used, who attends meetings, who your friends are or with whom one associates. One does not have to offer that information to the grand jury.

One is also not given the right to remain silent before a grand jury. Those subpoenaed can still be compelled to testify. The government gets around this by giving one immunity. This means that one is guaranteed that their testimony will not be used against them and therefore one no longer has any legal ground to remain silent. Grand juries are secretive and controlled by government prosecutors with no judge present. Jurors only look at evidence that the government chooses to present. Grand juries are manipulated in this way.

“The purpose of the Grand Jury as stated in the Constitution is to protect people from prosecution that runs rampant and to keep the misuse of government power in check,” said Hogg. “You have no right to an attorney in the Grand Jury room. Obviously, the Grand Jury system does not work.”

Suspension Of Constitutional Rights

It was last May that Hogg was approached by an FBI agent and Eugene police officer as he was leaving his nursing school class.

“They told me that I was not in trouble, that they had questions and wanted me to testify against an arsonist. They implied that if I did not cooperate, I might be charged with something. ‘We’d hate to see you behind the defendant’s desk’ they said. I told them that I wasn’t going to say anything until I got a lawyer.”

In his search for legal representation, Hogg learned that the public defenders in Lane County were already tied up with Green Scare clients. His search led him to Portland attorney Paul Loney. One week after being asked to testify, Hogg was served with a subpoena. He refused to cooperate at the hearing by pleading the 5th.

“They walked me over to the court room. There a judge granted me immunity and said that now I had to testify. I was taken back before the Grand Jury and said I wouldn’t testify and that this whole prosecution was in violation of my 1st, 5th and 6th Amendment rights. They walked me back to the court room where I was charged with civil contempt. Then I was taken to a chamber below the court room and was told, ‘Well, you have a few hours to reconsider your decision.'” He reconsidered nothing and was taken to jail in chains. He served 6 months in the Josephine County Jail in Grants Pass. This meant that his partner CiCi had a 5 hour round trip to travel for visits. His attorney had an eight hour drive to consult with his client.

“This was challenging, especially not knowing how long the Grand Jury would be in session. The Jury is usually impaneled for 18 months, this one only had about five months left. They decided to extend it for another six months. They told my attorney that they still wanted me to testify. It was really depressing thinking that I would not get out until March sometime. And then, I was suddenly released a week later,” said Jeff.

By this time, Jeff had lost his job and his spot in nursing school. His grandfather also died and he was not able to attend the funeral.

“I want to thank everyone for their support. I don’t think I could have gotten through this without it. The support was amazing. People from around the country wrote me letters; I had free legal representation, my friends and supporters did fundraisers, gave firewood, let my partner borrow their car when ours broke down, people came and did yard work, people came together in solidarity. That is something that you should all be proud of. I don’t know if I could have done that [jail time] without all of that support. I see it as a statement from the radical community saying ‘Fuck you! Your campaign of harassment and intimidation is not dividing this community.’ Thanks for even the smallest role of support. It was important not only for me but for everyone to make that statement, not just to lift my spirits, but so that we can all experience that solidarity. Not only to help my partner pay our bills but for everyones own faith and strength in the face of government repression. So that you know that if you are in my shoes, we have your back. Perhaps it was the lack of faith in support that that contributed to the breaking [of activists] under the threat of life sentences to become informants. It’s really sad, because the support is there,” said Jeff.

Prisoner Support

Before leaving the microphone, Jeff touched on the dire importance of prisoner support. He stated that before he went to jail, he didn’t write much to prisoners because he did not feel th
at he had anything interesting to say.

“Now, I have to say: when you’re in jail anything is interesting.” This brought great laughter from the event attendees. He went on to encourage folks to be creative and write about a hike you took, a work project, something of great beauty that you might have seen.

“Anything is always interesting when you’re in a concrete box. So… please, continue to write to prisoners, keep up the solidarity. And, thanks.” With this, this slight, soft spoken young man went back to tabling at the Free Daniel McGowan table.

I caught up with Jeff a little later to ask if there was anything else that he felt was important to include in this article. He obviously has not had an easy time and with the attack on the right to dissent, he might have more hardship to endure. Did he have anything to say to activists who may feel the need to walk away from movement organizing out of fear of government retaliation?

He paused for a moment and then said, “I would say, just stay strong and have faith in your community. Keep working on building that community. And support our prisoners.”

Donations to Jeff Hogg may be sent to: Friends of Jeff Hogg / PO Box 12271 / Eugene OR 97440