This is a hate-free city: Minutemen founder persona non grata

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2009/04/226255.php

This is a hate-free city: Minutemen founder persona non grata
by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Monday, April 20 2009 CLAREMONT, California-- Despite the right wing's efforts at deception and obfuscation, pro-immigrant, pro-human rights, anti-racist, and community activists organized strong opposition to the arrival of anti-immigrant extremist Jim Gilchrist to our neighborhood.

A group called the Mountain View Republican Club invited Gilchrist to speak at an upscale Italian restaurant, but once activists informed them who he was, they decided to close down for the day, forcing the Republicans to relocate to a hotel elsewhere in the city at the last minute. Although the police informed some of us that the event had been cancelled, we found out the truth early on.

Activists met at about five in the afternoon on the Pitzer College campus to make signs and plot a new course of action, deciding to carpool and cycle down the street to the hotel.

After brainstorming ideas for placards, we gathered on a lawn across from the tiny room where Gilchrist intended to speak. A respected and well-liked professor stirred the crowd by pointing out the historical significance of the intrusion of a hatemonger into our community on April 20:

"Not only has Gilchrist placed the blame on immigrants for the lack of jobs and human services, he willingly allowed members of the National Alliance, one of the United States' largest neo-Nazi organizations, to help with his 2005 campaign for the house of representatives here in California.

"We don't think it is any other reason to have Gilchrist speak here--it isn't a coincidence that it happens to be Hitler's birthday today! He was born in Austria, and we know that Hitler, in Germany, in order to get all the working people to rise up at a time when they were facing an economic crisis and economic problems. It was easy to turn, and scapegoat, and blame the problems on Jewish people, and it is no different today. We have a lot of Gilchrists in this society that, due to unemployment, or due to the lack of jobs, or due to the multinationals that have made millions off of a bubble that has now burst are easily blaming the problems on immigrants from all over the world. And we're saying that we're not going to put up with it whenever anyone like Gilchrist shows up in this city or any city like it, we have to expose what they stand for because we know that if these kinds of thoughts, if these kinds of perspectives, if these kind of philosophies are dominant, then the same thing will happen to us in this country that happened to the Jewish people in Germany."

The anti-immigrant turnout appeared to be tiny, but as we began expressing our opposition to Gilchrist, a few of their militants came out to confront us.

One woman, who referred to us as "college students" in a disparaging tone, accused us of being "misinformed." One woman who was with us stood up and said, "Ma'am, I'm 46 years old, I'm a fourth grade teacher, and I'm just like you." "No!" responded the jingoist, "I'm an American!"

Another man came out and attempted to provoke some of the activists. "Point me to where in the constitution it says you can break our laws!" he demanded. One compañero attempted to engage him, but was stopped short when the man said, "You have no say in this!"

Following this assertion, we realized he wasn't genuinely seeking dialogue and refused to let him deter us.

Shouts of "Love! Not Hate!" and "Down with Racism!" filled the parking lot. As was inevitable, the state security apparatus interfered, forcing us to move our rally from the parking lot to the sidewalk. We organized a sidewalk picket and chanted until someone secured permission from the restaurant adjacent to the hotel to use the sidewalk in front of their business, and our shouts were again able to disrupt the hate speech going on inside.

As dusk fell, we returned to the grassy area near the street for a small rally. We heard again from the professor, as well as from an activist attorney.

He informed us, "I just talked to the property owner. He did not know who Jim Gilchrist was and he said that now that he does know who he is, he's not welcome back. They wanted to book this place every month for the next year. He's also going to go to the chamber of commerce and tell the other business owners, so I doubt he'll be at any place in Claremont again. We've made a lot of progress in that regard, and if we can do this in other cities, he's going to realize he's not welcome anywhere."

We then heard from a student organizer, a day laborer, an activist who invited us to participate in the May Day mobilization in Riverside, and a local schoolteacher.

We closed with announcements (a checkpoint in Pomona on Wednesday and a vanpool to Riverside for International Workers' Day), a movement song, and a few more chants to rededicate ourselves to continued struggle.

Hater #1

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Hater # 2

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Peace

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

No al racismo

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

love not hate

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Veteran@s

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

piquete

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Claremont = No Hate City

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

amnistía

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

hope and peace

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

No more Republican racism

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

the compañero who invited us to May Day in Riverside (not the one in the picture) reminded us, "I'm holding a sign in front of me, it says "No more Republican racism," and the reason I'm holding this sign is not because I made it today, but because I made it a few months ago when the Republican Women in Upland decided to put out a letter with "Obama bucks." It was a food stamp that had his picture and fried chicken, watermelon, kool-aid, and they put this racist graphic in their newsletter. And so we know that the Republicans have these very, very strong racist leanings, especially out here in this area, and that's why it's all that more important for us to come together and unite."

Queremos reforma migratoria

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Peace Amnesty Compasión Respeto

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Hate is not a family value

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Immigrant rights are human rights

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Jim v. Jesus

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Stop racism/alto a las redadas

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Legalize education-Pass the DREAM Act

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Picket (video)

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 at 1:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

QuickTime movie at 14.2 mebibytes

Radical Educator Bill Ayers speaks at Claremont Colleges

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2009/04/225916.php

Radical Educator Bill Ayers speaks at Claremont Colleges
by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 07, 2009 at 2:48 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Monday, April 6, 2009 CLAREMONT, California - Bill Ayers, professor of education and co-founder of the radical antiwar organization the Weather Underground--labeled "domestic terrorists" by the FBI--spoke to a crowd of about 300 this evening about activism, Obama, and education. A recurring theme of his talk was the importance of movements (in contrast with the common emphasis on leadership) in bringing about social change, and his exhortation was that we in the audience participate in those movements.

There were probably about three hundred people, mostly college students but with the notable presence of older members of the community, seated in the Gold Student Center at Pitzer College, a prestigious private university about an hour east of Los Angeles with a reputation for a faculty and student body that leans strongly to the left.

Outside, a woman wandered the service roads with a large anti-Ayers sign and a t-shirt demanding justice for a slain police officer, and Claremont Republicans distributed anti-Ayers propaganda. But inside, the crowd was mostly sympathetic.

"I've urged people for months now, that any time you have the impulse to put the press on the Obama administration, which I'm not against, but when you have that impulse, you have to start by asking yourself, 'What press have I put on myself? What am I demanding of myself?'"

"We ought to be thinking hard about how we to build a movement within that gap--within the gap of rising expectations for a better world but serious limitations about whether the world as we know it can possibly go on indefinitely into the future, and I would argue that no, it can't."

He elaborated on some of those limitations, most of them environmental, and then continued.

"Three things that are required of you and are required of me, and are required if we're going to make anything out of this particularly precious, fragile, and fascinating moment that we're living in:

"First thing is [...] you have to open your eyes to the world around you as it is.

"Step two is doing something about it.

"Step three is rethinking. Criticizing yourself. Rethinking whether everything you did made all that much sense."

Good advice all three, but it is difficult not to read into step three undertones of regret and the shadow of the Weather Underground's excesses.

By way of illustration of the primary call to awareness, Ayers prefaced with the historical example of the abolitionist movement. "If we were hard-core abolitionists [in 1840], let's just remember this: we would've been against the law, we'd have been against our parents, we would've been against tradition, common sense, the Bible, our preacher, our brothers and sisters, and almost everybody we knew."

He continued with the example of women's suffrage movement. "If you were for a woman's right to vote, you'd be against the law, against tradition, against the Bible, and on and on."

There may be many things we are not aware of because we accept them uncritically, but Ayers provided two examples: the overwhelming influence of money in the US political process, and the prison-industrial complex.

He joked, "Thirty years from now, when your grandaughter says to you, 'Were you around when the first African-American president was elected?' and if things work out well, you can say 'Yes I was' with a certain amount of pride. 'And I even knocked on doors, and I did this and did that.' And then she might say, 'Is it true that it cost him three-quarters of a billion dollars to be elected? And you call that democracy??'"

And continuing the metaphor of the hypothetical granddaughter in a much more serious tone, "Your granddaughter will say, 'So you went to the Claremont Colleges and when you went to college there were 2.3 or 4 million of your fellow citizens in prison? And there was one just miles from your campus?' With my students, I often tell them, 'One mile from our campus in Chicago, there are 18,000 black men caged. And it's a gulag and nobody sees it and it's invisible. It's just what what we get acclimated to, we assume, what we take for granted.'"

Ayers went on to discuss the anti-death penalty movement and its role in the 2003 implementation of a moratorium against the practice in Illinois by the "right-wing, mildly corrupt, now imprisoned Governor George Ryan." He continued, "It gave me a lot of hope that not only good people like you do things, but people you wouldn't even expect. If you organize properly, build a movement, even George Ryan can do the right thing." This was despite the popular fervor, promoted on AM radio, surrounding the execution of serial killer John Wayne Gacy only nine years prior. He explained the process: "The people of Illinois might be perfectly happy to execute people, but not arbitrarily! And so we saw in Illinois, in six years, in four years, a movement built that changed the state of justice in Illinois. What an amazing thing! What an exciting victory!"

The movement was a result of peoples' action. "You have to act. How you act, I don't know. You have to stand up and be heard in the public square. It's not good enough to think 'I'm a good person' and sit happily ever after on my couch in my dorm room. You have to be good in the world. You have to say where you stand in the world. And once you say where you stand on questions of justice and peace in the world, you have the world pushing back against you. And then you begin to learn, and you push back, and you get pushed back. And that's how we learn."

Also important in terms of dealing with reality as it is is the act and art of persuasion. "If you convinced somebody and you learned something, then it was probably a good action. But you have to persuade somebody. And that means, among other things, learning how to talk and how to change the frame."

Elaborating on the third course of necessary action, Ayers warned, "You have to doubt. If all you do is act and you become an adventurist, you become narcissistic. You become certain of yourself. You become dogmatic. You become trapped in a prison of one bright idea. But that problem of dogma, the problem of certainty, the problem of a single idea, this was really the problem of the Weather Underground. It was too sure of itself. It was too sure it had figured it out. And that's wrong. It's always wrong. There's always something more to know, so that third step is critical."

During the presidential campaign, the McCain campaign and other sinister forces tried to paint Obama as an extremist by tying the Democrat to Ayers, who was pursued by federal authorities for his role in a series of bombings of "monuments to war and racism" in the late 60s and early 70s.

Following the talk, a member of the audience brought up the acts, challenging Ayers to apologize: "I'm certain that I ask this question on behalf of tens of millions of my fellow Americans across this country, perhaps even a few in this auditorium. Mr. Ayers, since you willfilly exploded bombs in acts of violent domestic terrorism, against your own country, the United States of America, do you not feel sir, profound guilt for these evil acts and do you not feel morally compelled to express extreme remorse and to apologize to the citizens of this great nation, and especially to the brave veterans of this country who fought and died to preserve the very precious freedom which you so shamefully and disgracefully abused by perpetrating your vile acts of traitorous terrorism?"

Ayers responded by addressing the distinction between patriotism and nationalism. He denied that the Weather Underground was a terrorist organization, although he admitted that they "crossed lines of propriety and legality and [...] break the law." Finally, he highlighted the intensity of the war and the movement against it. "When 6,000 people are being murdered are being murdered by your government, you have a responsibility to do something. And my four siblings and myself each did something. He contextualized his role in the struggle by discussing it in terms of the roles his siblings played therein. "I have never defended what we did or said it was a bright or brilliant thing to do. No. But I will say, that in my own family (I have four siblings), and among the five of us, we made five choices. One of us joined the Democratic Party and tried to build a peace wing within it. One of us ran away to Europe. One of us went to a commune and built free land and free love (my favorite). One of us went into the industrial corridor of the Northeast and tried to organize workers to oppose the war. And one of us founded the Weather Underground. Now tell me which one of those five had the right strategy?"

Ayers entertained other questions about Obama's approach to change, ("Theories of change are badly flawed. The unintended consequences overwhelm what you intended to do.") the role of education in social change, (we should shift the debate away from the idea that education is a product) different models for organizing (the Alinsky model ACORN uses is just one, we should look into the Highlander school) the role of the internet in organizing, (transcend the generational/decade paradigm; use humor and art to transmit information), the Democratic Party, (it's not actually a party but a "collection of blocs"; if you go into a party keep an independent mind) how he related with his father (they were always close, except for the years he was underground), and rights (the Universal Declaration is a good place to start).

His answer to the last question segued into a passage from Obama's Dreams of my Father he used to conclude. The passage was about a Senegalese migrant worker the author met in Spain, about which Ayers commented, "I think it's interesting that a man with consciousness like this is in that place. It doesn't tell me that he's going to save us; it tells me we'd better save him
by building a movement for justice and peace, and get busy tonight."

After the question-and-answer session he hung around to chat, answer more questions, and take photos.

One man I talked to, a Pitzer student, said that he enjoyed the talk, especially Ayers' emphasis on introspection and self-criticism.

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2009/04/225918.php

Audio of the lecture and question-and-answer session in MP3 format.

http://la.indymedia.org/uploads/2009/04/ws211731.mp3

Audio of the lecture and question-and-answer session in MP3 format.

Q/A1
by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 07, 2009 at 3:55 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

audio: MP3 at 62.4 mebibytes

Q/A2

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 07, 2009 at 3:55 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

audio: MP3 at 35.5 mebibytes

Q/A3

by Rockero Tuesday, Apr. 07, 2009 at 3:55 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

audio: MP3 at 29.4 mebibytes

Women denounce Sarah Palin in Carson and Costa Mesa

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2008/10/220891.php

Women denounce Sarah Palin in Carson and Costa Mesa
by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

CARSON and COSTA MESA, October 4, 2008 Clouds grayed the sky, but did not hamper attendance at either of the two anti-Sarah Palin rallies. Hundreds of activists arrived at both events to denounce the vice-presidential hopeful for her misogyny, ignorance, pettiness, and anti-democratic tendencies. A diversity among attendees and willingness to communicate characterized the day, particularly in Costa Mesa.

CARSON and COSTA MESA, October 4, 2008

Clouds grayed the sky, but did not hamper attendance at either of the two anti-Sarah Palin rallies. Hundreds of activists arrived at both events to denounce the vice-presidential hopeful for her misogyny, ignorance, pettiness, and anti-democratic tendencies. A diversity among attendees and willingness to communicate characterized the day, particularly in Costa Mesa.

Activists have many reasons to fear and oppose Sarah Palin. Not least of which is that, unlike most recent presidents, should McCain be elected, he is certain to pass away during his first term. Which should put his selection under a bit more scrutiny than, say, that of the young and healthy Obama. Her anti-animal rights attitude anger animal-lovers, pro-drilling vexed the environmentalists, and her espousal of theocracy worried the believers in the separation of church and state. But her most irking quality is her opposition to any kind of basic rights of equality for women. Opposing public funding of the collection of biological data as evidence in rape cases while mayor of her hometown (known as "rape kits" and opposed by Palin because they also provide women with emergency contraception--the right to decide who the other parent of the rape survivor's child should be) and her opposition to abortion in any case are two of the most glaring examples. That's why activists of all stripes, but especially feminists, turned out in droves to speak their minds and interact with others other protesters as well as attendees of the rally and fundraiser. The results, like those gathered, were a little bit weird, often colorful, sometimes disguised, and always unpredictable.

In Carson, where Palin was the keynote for a Republican rally at the Home Depot Center, the first sign of action was a single-engine plane circling overhead trailing a long banner reading "Sarah Palin - Thanks But No Thanks! No On Prop 4." The next was the traffic. Car after car of Palin supporters--mostly luxury vehicles and SUVs, although there was the occasional driver of a car that under normal circumstances would be getting pulled over through class profiling who had been duped into supporting the Republican ticket-- streamed into the Center's parking lot.

Outside the gates, the Democrats were in full force. The Party had paid for various messages to be displayed on a digital billboard facing the center's gates. Party members were joined by members of the Steelworker's Union and SEIU, all loudly and strongly supporting Obama. There were a number of independent activists, many of them also supporting Obama, many of them young women of color. There was also a man angrily shouting at all the cars entering the parking lot about money ripped off during California's energy crisis. The cops selected him to harass and attempted to block his access to the street.

Just outside the Center, Republicans and Palin supporters lined up. (See Naui's footage of Palin supporters in Costa Mesa). A few from "our side" also got in line, but we heard no word as to whether they got inside and if so, what they did therein. Those lined up were overwhelmingly white, a sharp contrast to the cultural and ethnic diversity among the demonstrators. They shouted angrily at us, calling us baby killers (especially once they saw our "No on 4" stickers), communists, and terrorists. They made racist comments to a group of African-American women. "The welfare line is over there," and "Shouldn't you be home taking care of your children?" were some of the worst. But by far, the Iraq Veterans Against the War were mocked the worst. The Republicans degraded them viciously.

Some of us attempted to engage them directly, by encouraging them to do things such as read books, but mostly, we just tried to top each other with jokes about Palin's gaffs, beliefs, and policies. An "armed" Sarah Palin impersonator chased a woman in a polar bear costume, who collapsed climacticly (See Naui's interview with the Sarah Palin impersonator). A "wolf woman" carried a plush wolf as she chanted. A man dressed as Jesus held a sign reading "No War in My Name" and another reading "Jesus was a Community Organizer."

A woman carrying a cardboard cut-out of a giant vagina held a sign that read "We Don't Vote With Our Vaginas." She was standing at the front of the free speech cage and facing the invitees standing in line when a cop yanked her back, mumbling something about "obscenity," "community standards" and "illegal." "No it isn't!" The feminists refused to be intimidated. "It's free speech. It's art. It's a painting." The officer shrunk back. "It's not obscene, it's a vagina. We're not afraid of vaginas. He's afraid of vaginas."

The action had pretty much finished by three o'clock, so we piled in for the carpool to Costa Mesa, where Palin was to attend a fundraiser. The Los Angeles branch of ANSWER had set up a large antiwar banner at the corner in front of the Performing Arts Center. Code Pink also had a large banner and a strong pink presence. And, like in Carson, there was a large number of Obamistas. Here, however, there was only one scene of action--the aforementioned corner-- and there a higher degree of originality on signs. There was also more ideological variety. Christians pushed their versions of Jesus, a noisy Ron Paul contingent arrived, and the socialists had their newspapers and conferences (See Naui's interview with a PSL supporter). I even heard an anarchist gently debating a peer.

The Ron Paul people, who consisted of about four twentysomething men (three white and one of color) and a middle-aged man, arrived at about four and began shouting into their megaphones (they had two between the five of them). Obviously attempting to get a rise out of the crowd, they made sexist comments and shouted negative things about Obama. One woman stepped in: "You know, they're having a Ron Paul rally down the street," she intoned kindly. "We know," said their 'leader,' "We just came from there." "Well you don't need to come down here and fuck up our rally." Seeing that problems could potentially arise, individuals stepped up to engage these angry young men, at least to get them off the megaphones.

One man asked two of the young men there who they were supporting in the presidential race. "Ron Paul," said one. "Ron Paul or Chuck Baldwin," said the other, "They're both good." "Well, I don't know about Baldwin," replied the other. "When I heard that Ron Paul endorsed him, I went to go see him speak. But everybody that was brown that was there got profiled by their security. They gave me a hard time because I didn't want to say if I was voting for Obama. Seriously, every brown person got a little taste of racism in America that day." The irony was that this young man didn't realize that Ron Paul and Chuck Baldwin are both part of a broad movement that includes everything from White separatists to "Christian Patriots," from 9-11 truthers to minutemen and rich white people who simply don't want to pay their taxes. (See Naui's video footage of the Ron Paul people.)

Just as the crowd began to disperse, about fifteen Minutemen and women showed up, staking out a corner across the street. They had their American flags and signs, but one activist questioned their objective: "Are they here to protest us or Sarah Palin?" It was not really clear. At one point they passed the megaphone to their token "legal" immigrant member, who shouted across the street in heavily-accented English. One man, demonstrating his own capacity for ignorance, began shouting at her to "Speak English!" embarrassing many on "our" side. La raza refused to be intimidated, and while the numbers in front of the Performing Arts Center had diminished, latina activists lead the rest of us in chants of "¡Aquí estamos y no nos vamos!" and "¡Sí se puede!" When it came time to leave, the Minutemen, who are usually armed showed no sign of dispersing. We stuck together, braving their taunts and insults and ultimately passing through unharmed.

Aerial messaging
by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Who paid for his? Planned Parenthood? Good job!

Union members and Democrats
by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Across the street from the Home Depot Center gates.

Obamistas
by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

In front of the gates

Report this post as:

add your comments

Obama Sign?
by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Republicans arrive

by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

More Republicans

by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Womyn activist

by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Marine Mom

by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Police harassment

by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Digital billboard

by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Rape Kits should be free

by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Palin hunts polar bear

by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

In front of the Home Depot Center

by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Angry Republicans

by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Palin interview

by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Woman who Runs With Wolves

by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Palin supporter!

by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Palin is an animal killer

by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Jesus: "No war in my name!"

by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 9:53 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

IVAW

by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 10:04 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Obamistas

by Rockero Sunday, Oct. 05, 2008 at 10:19 PM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Across from the Home Depot Center

Karl Rove detained for crimes against humanity in Claremont

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2008/09/220462.php

Karl Rove detained for crimes against humanity in Claremont
by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

16 September 2008

CLAREMONT - Over 300 justice activists detained Republican mastermind Karl Rove for over an hour yesterday in Claremont, demanding he be brought to justice for crimes against humanity, democracy, and general moral sensibility. Despite fervent efforts, they were unsuccessful in executing a citizen's arrest.

Ever since his college days, when he snuck into the campaign headquarters of a Democratic candidate and stole 1000 letterheads to distribute false messages about the campaign, Rove has been involved in subterfuge, chicanery, theft, and subversion--and not in a good way. In fact, he has been using these tactics in the worst way possible: to get corrupt politicians elected so they can enact murderous, genocidal policies and enrich the richest of the elite's upper crust.

That's why so many people showed up yesterday to do whatever they could to oppose this man and the violence he has imposed on this world. Tactics ranged from mild to militant: some were content with speaking, chanting, and singing, while others yearned for the bittersweetness of direct action.

When I got there, people had already been mobilized for quite some time. The drums were beating and the chants were flowing. Someone or a group of someones had spiked the fountain outside the Claremont McKenna College's venerable Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum so that the waters ran as red as the blood that flows in the streets of Iraq. Participants, some of them masked, carried signs reading "Karl Rove I Want You [with a picture of Uncle Sam] Tried for War Crimes," "KKKarl Rove Architect of Lies Deception Terror,""How Many Lives Per Gallon?" and "USA vs Rove."

A table was set up with fruit, cookies, and lemonade, and later, volunteers brought a tray full of grilled cheese sandwiches. We helped ourselves as more people started showing up and a microphone was set up for to allow a little bit of free speech.

There were probably five or six speakers, total, who attempted to address the crowd through a weak PA system. Some of them had better luck abandoning the mic altogether and using megaphones. One speaker was a woman. Many of the speakers encouraged the assmblees to register and vote. Most of them were Obama supporters.

I don't disagree with voting in principle. Especially when we have the opportunity to vote against such vicious proposals as the homophobic prop 8 (wanting to re-ban gay marriage) and the anti-choice prop 6 (yet another "parental notification" bill). It's rare enough that they let the common person have any say whatsoever, so I think voting can be an important tactic to use. As long as we realize that it is one of many, and we don't get caught up in it and allow voting to be conceptualized as "the" means of political participation. But I do resent it when "leaders" among us attempt to channel leftist resources into the election machine. They deliberately divert the strong, positive energy and thirst for justice present at the event into electoral politics.

The people present at the protest realize that voting is not going to get justice for Rove. It is not going to end the war, sexism, or poverty. And it is definitely not by voting that last night's participants created a community that organized and acted. The dedicated people who showed up last night had a different tactic in mind: direct action.

After the brief microphone session, fifteen minutes of which was taken up by a well-known and well-liked professor, we were invited to attend informal teach-ins held concurrently on the nearby lawn with professors from the Claremont Colleges.

"I'm glad they brought the professors," I overhead one compañer@ remark. "I really needed someone to tell me what to think."

Some of the teach-ins began ending, and one young woman led those gathered in a collective Om. Further chants arose, and certain activists began demanding that either the police present arrest Karl Rove or they be allowed to execute a citizen's arrest. They were denied entrance to the building.

"I don't get it!" exclaimed one compañer@. "There's like three of them [cops]. Why don't we just rush in?" Many explanations, but many more questions, came to mind, but the crowd was seemed to be too caught up in the drama of the man with man with the megaphone to ponder them.

Which is not to say that individuals didn't do their part to push the discourse in positive ways. Many of the signs were very artistic. And many people felt free to shout out their own, often radical, messages. And often, I was witness to many individuals breaking the bounds of anonymity to introduce themselves to other compañeras and compañeros. All beautiful sights.

One of the most beautiful actions of the night was a song, inspired by Bush's reference to Rove as the "architect" of his 2004 "re-election"¹ springing seemingly spontaneously from the crowd:

"Architect of terror
architect of hate
throw the man in jail
lock his ass away"


While the song was beautiful in its spontaneity, mutability, and melody, its subliminal message was not lost on everyone. One compañer@ opined:"Like it's really gonna do anyone good to lock one guy up, you know? I mean, we need justice, but, at the same time, we're perpetuating this idea that the only way we can have justice is through locking people up!" Later on, someone complained, "Imprisonment is plaguing our society, and here we are demanding more."

We realized our only chance for action was at Rove's egress, so we decided to cover every exit, ostensibly to issue a citizen's arrest. A large crowd gathered in front of a limo parked in back of the Athenaeum just beside the rear exit. A small group kept its eyes on a small side entrance guarded by two nervous security guards. The largest remained outside the north entrance, although for some reason, most of us remained within the confines of our partial plastic-chain enclosure of a "free speech zone." There we used a combination of approaches, from reaching out to heckling, on the shameless fascists exiting the event. These tie-choked, starched-collar, spiked hair white fraternity boys foamed at the mouth to see such an energetic group daring to peacably assemble and demand redress of greivances. Perhaps they felt they were protecting their rich parents and Claremont's conservative elite when they yelled at us, calling us "hippies" Most of the demonstrators yelled "Arrest Karl Rove!," but some near the front had more interesting messages for them.

Then, a large group mobilized toward the south entrance of the building. It seemed that they had been attracted by a police mobilization and the fact that cars had pulled up at a small roundabout there. Lines formed, and police brought out their riot gear. I saw them pull out a large, red-colored weapon. Some of the protestors said it was used for pepper spray. A confrontation seemed imminent. I saw one cop pushing one protestor away from a car. But nothing really happened.

At various times, organizers requested that people cover one exit or another when it appeared (based on cop activity) that Rove may be leaving. How do we know, I wondered, that the cops aren't going to take advantage of this to smuggle this guy out?

Which is what happened. A rumor circulated that Rove had made to another (yet somehow connected) building and was attempting to escape from a distant side door. Nonetheless, people went running. The paper today claimed that a bomb threat caused the shift in manpower that distracted a number of protesters.² But we knew the real reason the cops claimed there was a bomb.

People who refused to be tricked stuck to where they knew Rove was. There, some of them were maced, which allowed Rove's driver to exit, plowing through the few remaining activists without regard for their safety in the midst of the confusion.

A small group of militant squares taunted us. "Looks like the hippies failed again!" Some people started to fall for this classic provocation, but were counseled otherwise. An organizer announced a reconvergence at the front, and a few die-hards, chronic networkers, and communists remained to pursue their agenda, but most people began leaving about then.



1) Bush, George W. "President George W. Bush Gives Thanks in Re-Election Acceptance Speech," November 3, 2004. Accessed September 16, 2008 http://www.4president.org/speeches/georgewbush2004address.htm

2) Woods, Wes. "Rove speech greeted with protests, bomb threat, claims of pepper spray". Daily Bulletin, September 16, 2008. Accessed online at http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_10471652

Blood on his hands--and CMC\'s

by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Crowd and Obamista speaker

by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Drummers and dancing bear

by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Activist

by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Organizer

by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Stayin in \

by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Reading arrest complaint

by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Crowd

by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Watch out

by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

This guy again

by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Angry Young Republicans

by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Blocking the car

by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

All dressed up

by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Confrontation?

by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Free Food

by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

Song

by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

audio: MP3 at 1.2 mebibytes

The Collective Om

by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

audio: MP3 at 1.4 mebibytes

Arrest complaint

by Rockero Wednesday, Sep. 17, 2008 at 3:10 AM
rockero420@yahoo.com

audio: MP3 at 3.5 mebibytes