Category: Articles

I know you probably will not print this, but someone needs to tell it like it was. Don’t just write this article off because it’s a response to one of your friend’s stories..

This is a response to an article in the WTO extra edition, by Ronnie Burk. The first thing I should say is that I am from the Seattle area, unlike many who came into town for the WTO. Months were spent planning and organizing, and it all paid off before the black blocs even got out of bed.

Let’s take this moronic article one thing at a time, shall we. First off 500 kids didn’t rock the WTO. 50,000 hard working activists did. After several months of work, and planning we had the Wto delegates locked out of the building several hours before the “black hooded anarachists and animal rights activists” as you so eloquently mislabeled them started breaking shit.

Second, the media started a 12-hour live showing of the event starting at 9:00am on Tuesday morning, not after the property destruction began. The media across the country lost the message of fat Tuesday in the stupidity of a few people who don’t know the difference between revolution and petty vandalism.

Third, the idea of calling these people anarchists is a fuckin joke. Where I come from anarchists are supposed to be accountable for their actions, and have a responsibility to inform themselves as to what the best tactic is. Let’s just get one thing straight, I’m not one of your “knee jerk lefties” and don’t have any problem with sabotage or property destruction, if it does not endanger life.

People from the Cascadia Defense Network, Seattle, and Olympia Earth First were locked down in the intersection of 6th and Pike, oh, since you probably don’t know where that is, it is between the Sheraton hotel, and the Nike town. These brave souls held that intersection through police push and tear gas. When the windows at Nike town started to break, I was there. The first people breaking the windows weren’t even activists, they were local kids stealing clothes. The “anarchists” showed up later, to take credit.

Escalating the tension in the same area that people are involved in civil disobedience is not only stupid, but shows that you, and your friends have no interest in Revolution, but only in having fun. Sabotage is used in the fight to scare companies and slow the destruction of our social and environmental standards, not to show other activists how “hardcore you are”.

Sweet Goddess, with activists like you who needs agent provocateurs!!!

I also noticed that any time the police showed up the “black hooded anarchists” were the first to leave. To talk of revolt and then run away when the cops show up is exactly what I’m talking about. The real anarchists stayed and held their ground until they were beaten back. As a person who has been in a real riot situation, in Tompkins Square, NYC, I can say you folks would have probably shit yourselves the first time a cop put down the tear gas and split your friends skull with a fuckin club.

Don’t get me wrong if there were no C.D. going on I would have supported and helped, but you people endangered strong activist lives, and that is unacceptable. This bandwagon effect that is going on is only because we won. If one of those people got hurt because of these idiotic actions, taken by a select few, there would have been nothing that would have stopped me from kicking your fuckin ass and loving every minute of it.

Fuck you,

Scott from Washington

P.S. Please don’t edit this article: it needs to go out just as it is written!!!!!

10-9-99

Yo, Slingshot–

Disappointed to see nothing in the Autumn issue about Rob Los Ricos (aka Robert Thaxton), who will be sentenced October 13th. At your request I called last month and gave a lengthy run-down– can’t recall name of who I spoke with.

More basically– except for the intriguing cover– Slingshot seems still stuck in its liberal-left rut. You need to get with the new movement, which has a far deeper analysis and radical politics.

The WTO piece was especially weak, like an AFL-CIO hand-out! Appeals to vote, too!? Weak shit all around! News, but no vision, no break with the basics.

Disappointed, John Z.

10-10-99

Slingshot–

I at first missed the piece on Rob Thaxton — sorry to have, erroneously, faulted you for ignoring him!

John Z.

As prosecutors scramble to try the last few misdemeanor cases involving WTO protestors, the Direct Action Network Legal Team is claiming victory for jail solidarity and the 570 people arrested on December 1 of last year.

Most of the misdemeaner cases accusing protestors of “failure to disperse,” and “obstruction of justice” were dropped in January. DAN attorneys credit jail solidarity for the sucesses in court. By refusing to give personal information such as names and addresses, refusing to waive rights to a speedy trial and a trial by jury and by failing to cooperate with the police and jail guards in any way possible, arrestees were able to jam the cells and courts long enough to leave the prosecution on its knees.

The five or six cases still pending must be tried by the first week of March or they too will be dropped. Once the misdemeaner cases come to a close, its on to the felonies.

The prosecution just lost the case it was most hopeful about. The city had accused

Seattle resident Eric Larson of assaulting an officer. The police claimed that he didn’t react to the teargas, concluding that he must have been on drugs. A videotape showed no trace of Larson touching a cop, but according to DAN attorneys there is a “nice shot of a cop grabbing him by the testicles.” The court aquitted him, devastating the prosecution.

Meanwhile DAN, the Lawyers Guild, the ACLU and a few private firms are busy filing class-action law suits. The ACLU is focusing on the unconstitutionality of the “No-Protest Zone” which spanned 50 city blocks. The suit claims that the protestors right to speech was violated by Seattle Mayor Paul Shelly who declared martial law on November 30. Several private attorneys are taking individual cases of excessive force, brutality and rubber bullet use. DAN is also working on class action suits aimed at getting compensation for arrested and non-arrested people who were gassed and shot throughout the week of the meetings.

Set to GO Into Effect in April

As our streets become increasingly dangerous, overflowing with a never-ceasing barrage of four-wheeled beasts (cars), Berkeley is taking a step in the right direction and responding with a network of Bicycle Boulevards—streets which will be specially engineered to make biking safer, faster and more attractive to residents! (See Map.) The Bike Boulevard network will help get ordinary people, out of their cars and on to their bikes. Safety concerns are a principle reason more people don’t bike. The City Council is expected to approve the Bike Boulevard Plan in April and implementation will start soon after.

Bicycle Boulevards are the premier part of Berkeley’s Bicycle Plan, and when implemented will be the first such network in the country. Last fall over 200 residents and cyclists attended a series of public workshops to define how Berkeley’s Bicycle Boulevards will be built. After pouring over packets of sketches, viewing slides of designs implemented in other cities, and much discussion—public input was compiled to form the Bicycle Boulevard Tools and Guidelines Report.

In the report, a slew of traffic-calming ideas are referred to as “tools” in the Bike Boulevard toolbox. Each Bicycle Boulevard will be developed gradually over the next dozen years using a variety of the “tools” appropriate to each particular street.

Stop signs at some Bike Boulevard intersections will be removed and replaced by traffic circles (like the one at Woolsey and Regent and the new circles along Parker and Ellsworth) which slow car traffic, but permit bicyclists to glide along with ease. Stop signs will only be removed after neighborhood input, and when a more-effective traffic-calming device is put in their place, to prevent speedways for motorists. Where the Boulevards cross major arterial roads, special bike sensing traffic lights and/or median refuge sections will be installed.

Another tool is red colored pavement along the lengths of the Bicycle Boulevards. This visually striking design will be used in order to distinguish the Bike Boulevards from other streets, conveying the message to all users that these streets are different. Signage and stenciling will also be utilized along the Boulevards in order to alert users that these are bicycle-priority streets.

Berkeley dedicates $170,000 each year to implementing the Bike Plan, and for several years city staff has saved much of the funding to use it to implement the Bicycle Boulevards. Contact Sarah Syed, Bicycle Boulevard Coordinator of the Bicycle-Friendly Berkeley Coalition at (510) 549-RIDE to get involved in the Bike Boulevard process!

This International day of protest and solidarity has been taking place for three years. It first began in 1997 as an initiative of the Black Flag in Switzerland along with the help of COBP (French acronym for Citizens Opposed to Police Brutality) in Montreal, Canada. Since its first year, the International Day Against Police Brutality (IDAPB) has been a success, with more than 50 groups within 14 countries participating in 1997.

This day of denouncing police brutality is also an opportunity to form and strengthen ties between groups that work directly or indirectly against this State brutality throughout the world. It helps to create an indispensable international solidarity that opposes police forces that collaborate worldwide and are extremely well organized.

The police spy, harass, imprison, torture, and kill. Their primary victims are the “undesirables” of society: the poor, the homeless, the marginalized, immigrants, people of color, sex workers, activists, student activists, and unionized workers.

In response to the general deterioration of living conditions and the ever-increasing rise of poverty, governments invest in police forces in an attempt to maintain order and social peace by any means necessary. In opposition to this fascistic society, we urge you to participate in IDAPB.

Our struggle has no borders. Join us in getting rid of them, once and for all.

For more info contact COBP by email: seahorse@odyssee.net or cobp@hotmail.com

Or write:

COBP

c/o Alternative Bookshop

2035 St-Laurent 2ieme etage.

Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

In certain traditions, eclipses were seen as ill omens and portents of tragic events: of crop failures and famines, of civil unrest and injustice, of slaughter and foreign occupation. We’re not so sure about last night’s eclipse, but we’re sure that the U.S. Senate’s resolution 200 which declared this month “National Biotechnology Month” is a sign of some perilous times on the horizon. We, the Fragaria Freedom Farmers, will only stoop low enough in observance of this heinous resolution to pull up the genetically mutilated organisms celebrated by the U.S. Senate. In the wee hours of a moon-lit morning, we made a visit upon Plant Sciences, Inc., a Watsonville, CA based biotechnology research facility. By pulling, digging and chopping, we destroyed a small research field of GE Strawberries at the company’s headquarters. We also left behind a variety of organic seeds to see to it that not only is GE material destroyed, but sustainable agriculture is left in its destructive wake. Through their website ( www.plantsciences.com), Plant Sciences makes it obvious that their research contributes to the proliferation of biotechnology and genetic mutilation. The City of Watsonville prides itself on its strawberries, but there is nothing to be proud of with genetic engineering research. Across the street from Plant Sciences is Amesti Elementary School, whose students and staff have already suffered from the greed of the local strawberry industry due to the nearby spraying of methyl bromide. Thankfully, restrictions on methyl bromide applications are growing and the toxic fumagant is scheduled for complete phase-out by 2005. Unfortunately, Plant Sciences, Inc. undoubtedly hopes to replace the chemical pollution of the environment with its own genetic pollutants. Still more unfortunately, unlike the effects of methyl bromide which dissipate after some time, the spread (through cross-pollination) of mutant genes to wild and conventional species will last an eternity. Even if the certified organic crops adjacent to Plant Sciences are never affected directly, the actions of genetic research such as that performed by Plant Sciences! will undermine organic certification generally.

There is an interesting belief in certain cultures that the strawberry is the fruit of the devil because one must stoop so low in order to pick them. To be sure this designation is well deserved here on California’s Central Coast where so many are being forced to stoop so low to provide so much wealth and profit to so few. By depending upon genetically engineered crops, large strawberry growers, processors and distributors hope to further increase those profits (at further expense to their workers), failing to recognize the dangerous and unintended effects inherent in this artificial and imprecise technology. We are convinced, by the recent surge in runaway industrial biotechnology, that the drive for colonization has moved to the genetic level. While the biological warfare of the conquistadors was incidental–a function of different immune systems that made the common cold and other common ailments the most effective technology of massive genocide–we are convinced that the technology now being produced deliberately by companies such as Plant Sciences (with their strawberries spliced with e. coli) will have similar unintended impacts, as GE plant pollens invade and ravage the autonomy of the untampered species.

We take it as our duty to defend that autonomy through strategic economic sabotage.

After more than 2 years of protests by farmers and environmentalists, Monsanto announced last fall that they would not persue commercialization of “terminator” technology, which would prevent harvested seeds from germinating and thus prevent farmers from saving seeds for next year’s planting.

However, biotech companies continue to pursue genetic seed sterilization; over three dozen patents involving seed sterilization are pending in more than 80 nations. Among the businesses seeking patents are Novarits, AstraZeneca, Monsanto, Pioneer Hi-Bred, Rhone Poulenc and DuPont. These companies are developing “suicide” seeds whose genetic traits can be turned on and off by an external chemical “inducer” mixed with the company’s patented agrochemicals.

Genetic seed sterilization seeds are only the beginning. Monsanto and New Zealand’s Forest Research Agency hope to engineer “terminator” trees, which will secrete toxic chemicals through their leaves to kill caterpillars and other leaf-eating insects. The trees will resist herbicides, allowing ground flora to be eliminated easily, and will be engineered to never flower. Environmental groups believe these trees will usher in a second “silent spring.” The first, Rachel Carson’s, was brought on by DDT.

Companies like Shell and Monsanto say these trees will grow faster, or produce ligin-free timber to reduce the use of chemicals and energy used in paper-making. This will increase the world’s paper yields with no pressure on native forests. A Friends of the Earth spokesperson said, “The idea that intensively-managed plantations take pressure off natural forests is a myth. What is happening is that natural forest is being cleared to make way for intensive plantations. GM trees will accelerate that process.” Len Yull, chairman of the Timber Growers’ Asso. said, “I have yet to see anyone put a convincing case that GM technology would create a sufficiently superior product to achieve a real market advantage, and these things are market and profit driven.”

Monsanto also hopes to expand its monopoly from seed to water in arid countries of the world. Monsanto not only bought seed companies (such as Agracetus, Calagene, Holden, Cargills, Delta & Pine, Unilever, Mahyco, Maharashtra, EID Parry, Rallis) but hopes to use Mahyco to corner the water business. The crisis of pollution and depletion of water resources in countries such as India and Mexico are viewed by Monsanto only as a business opportunity. Monsanto estimates that providing safe water is a several billion dollar market. Instead of public money for a public supply of water, Monsanto wants to establish its monopoly in supplying this vital component of life. Aquaculture is also in Monsanto’s sights. Thes two businesses are aimed at controlling vital resources necessary for survival, converting them into a market and using public finances (i.e., the World Bank) to underwrite the investments. The right to water is the right to life. Turning water into a business like this is a threat to the right to life. Water is a commons and must be managed as a commons.

Originating as a collective of local musicians, performers, artists and activists known as the Valley Arts and Music Alliance (VAMA), Flywheel, a new performance / arts space / infoshop, has opened in Easthampton, MA, in Western Massachusetts. The space offers a zine library, a café, an art gallery and a performance space open to any and all who wish to use it. The space is volunteer run and generally has events every weekend. Flywheel has been open for almost a year and has hosted well known national and international bands such as Red Monkey, Verses, The Music Tapes, Sarge, Spaceheads, Mick Turner, Hudson Falcons, as well as several other local punk, jazz, folk and indie bands. Besides music, Flywheel has been host to movie screenings of Mumia Abu Jamal: A Case for Reasonable Doubt, the Fugazi film Instrument, a local filmmaker’s festival and a queer film festival.

Flywheel is a collectively run, not-for-profit space which aims to build community and give artists of all types the opportunity to craft, practice and perform their work in an environment where creativity is valued over profit. Volunteer-run and governed by consensus, Flywheel believes that art and time should be equally accessible and affordable to all people.

Flywheel welcomes all performers and artists to send their materials. Also, Flywheel is currently looking for zine donations. Send any correspondence to:

Holyoke Street

Easthampton, MA 01027

(413) 527-0089

flywheel.webjump.com

vamarama@hotmail.com

Anti-war activist Nick Frabasilio’s legal troubles are finally over. After 4 months of endless court dates and bureaucratic stagnation he has come out victorious on all counts.

Frabasilio’s ridiculous criminal charges, including “participating in a riot” that didn’t occur, were finally dropped to an infraction of “disturbing the peace” to which he plead no contest on February 10th. A fine was waived in lieu of time served in court and it will not go on his record.

A civil suit brought by Frabasilio and his attorney, Larry Hildes, against the City of Berkeley and the police was also settled last month for $35,000, a percentage of which will go to pay legal fees.

In the end it appears that the trumped up charges and lengthy criminal court ordeal were the result of city pressure on the District Attorney to continue prosecuting the case as leverage against Frabasilio’s impeding civil suit.

Berkeley Sergeant Craig, who intentionally injured Frabasilio during the arrest, sending him to the hospital with a punctured cheek from a baton blow, was found guilty of using excessive force by both the Berkeley Police Review Commission and the Berkeley Police’s own internal investigation unit. The latter also sustained an allegation of “discourtesy” against Craig for threatening Frabasilio.

Frabasilio feels vindicated by the findings and is grateful to the dozens of courtroom supporters and witnesses who aided him. He remains outraged at the gross and seemingly systemic miscarriages of justice wrought by the police, the DA and the entire criminal “justice” system. “It’s bullshit”, he said.

Frabasilio also finds irony in his being found guilty of disturbing the peace while at an anti-war march. “If anything I should have been convicted of disturbing the war.”

Freedom of speech in the computer age was thrown dramatically into the question by a pair of recent stories. The first was the news that Ford would be offering its entire 350,000-member work force an Internet connected computer for $5.00 a month. This move was made more startling by the praise Ford received from Stephen Yokich, the head of the UAW, who said “This will allow us to communicate with our brothers and sisters from around the world.” This display of unanimity between management and the unions was in bizarre contrast to an announcement later in the week concerning Northwest airlines flight attendants. US District Judge Donovan Frank ruled that the home PCs of Northwest airlines flight attendants could be confiscated and searched by Northwest, who were looking for evidence of email organizing a New Year’s sickout. Clearly corporations do not look favorably on communication amongst their employees. If the legal barriers to privacy on a home PC are weak now, and if a large number of worker’s PCs will be on loan from their parent company, the freedom of speech and relative anonymity we’ve taken for granted on the Internet to date will be seriously tested, and the law may be of little help.

Freedom of speech evangelists tend to worship at the altar of the First Amendment but it is far less sweeping than people imagine. Since the first amendment only prohibits governmental interference in speech and says nothing against commercial interference what happens when there is no public space, ie; as when all the available space is commercially owned? All online space may become some kind of commercial space where the protections of the first amendment will no longer reach.