Category Archives: activism

Ararat, Weather Underground, and Gangs of New York

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I’ve seen a few films recently: Ararat, Weather Underground, and Gangs of New York.

Ararat, directed by Atom Egoyan, is an excellent portrayal of the post-genocide experience of ethnic Armenians almost entirely eliminated from Eastern Turkey. Egoyan uses the device of a film-maker with family ties to an Armenian historian and lecturer to bring the film a dramatic sense both personal and community-oriented. The scenes with the retiring customs officer strain crebility a bit, although the excellent cinematography makes up for that.

I went to see Weather Underground at the Castro Theater with my friend Steve S. We both were shocked by the number of bombings undertaken by the radical activist group in the early to mid-70s. The film helped me to understand better the political context of the era with activists torn between non-violent action and what they for a brief historical moment deludedly thought would be a more effective violent action against all white Americans culpable for the system that produced the war. After three of their number died in Greenwich Village townhouse while trying to devise a bomb, the group continued the use of bombs for purposes of property destruction, but was extremely careful not to cause harm to persons in exploding the bombs at locations like police headquarters, the U.S. Capitol building, the White House, and other targets. I was surprised I hadn’t heard about more of the bombings. I recognized one of the Weather Underground as a lesbian or “bi” women released fairly recently from jail. One of the Weather Underground was still in jail on a life sentence for later actions with a Black Liberation Army group that resulted in two deaths. Most of the Weather Underground, who managed to stay underground, undetected by police or FBI for many years, eventually surrendered to the authorities and, ironically, had charges dropped against them due to the evidence of heavy-handed and illegal police intimidation tactics used against them in their criminal investigations. Some of them were ashamed to talk about parts of what they had done, yet nearly all of them still held on to a sense of revolutionary struggle for social and political change.

Finally, the Gangs of New York was a portrayal of gang rivalry between those native-born to the U.S. and the Irish immigrants of the Civil War period. It is a story of family, gang violence, and revenge, with a little love interest thrown in. Leonardo di Caprio plays the part of the Irish son following in his Da’s footsteps well, as does Daniel Day Lewis in the role of the native gang capo. Those who avoid violent films might want to give this one a miss: it has lots of bloody hand-to-hand combat.

Brunch and Stephen Funk Benefit

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Today I went to a brunch at Eric and Mitcho’s place near Noe and 15th Street. It was a brunch with mimosas and fruit salad and stuff for folks going to the Up Your Alley Fair (the fair formerly known as the Dore Alley Fair).

I had a great time at brunch, then went off to a benefit for queer conscientious objector Stephen Funk, organized by Tommi Avicolli Mecca and others. Funk, a reservist who refused to go to war in Iraq, received a standing ovation from attendees at the event. I told him of my draft registration stance in the early 80s, donated $50 to his defense fund, and wished him well. His attorney was also there and spoke about the case.

I met Zach Syzmanski, a Bay Area Reporter reporter at the Funk benefit. We ended up hanging out for several hours afterwards talking mostly about gender and sex, some fascinating stuff. We walked to the Mission, ate at Pakwan, and had warm beverages at a cafe that I hadn’t tried before on 16th Street near Valencia I think.

By that time, I was too exhausted to go to the Up Your Alley Fair, so went home. I relaxed for awhile, conversed with Cob who will likely meet up with me on Wednesday, then watched Part II of Ken Burns’ American Experience program about the woman’s suffrage movement, which was truly excellent. I treasured the way the documentary brought alive the stories of the untiring dedication of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, their love and their conflicts with one another, as well as the eventual achievement of the right for women to vote in the U.S. after both of their deaths, culminating decades of activism.

Direct Action, Cafe Talk, and Hunter’s Point

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Yesterday was one of those uniquely San Francisco days. I woke up and biked out to the bimonthly queer longhair brunch after which I delivered a check and contract to Roger on Online Policy Group business (we’re moving our servers from San Francisco to Fremont).

Next I went to a house on Church Street for a ritual and reception to celebrate the publication of “Direct Action,” a historical novel about San Francisco Bay Area activism in the early 1980s. The author, “Luke Hauser,” organized a wonderful ritual of envisioning what our future could be like, followed by lots of great conversation and food. I ran into Anthony from the faeries, as well as Luna, a witch I had seen previously at the Pagan Surprise action in Union Square, along with her daughter.

Rather than biking all the way home before the next event, I spent some time hanging out at Muddy Waters Cafe where I discussed politics with a few people. Overhearing discussion about how to organize for change in San Francisco, I handed them one of the Free State of San Francisco leaflets and much healthy debate ensued.

Finally, I biked over to the New College for Social Research where I saw a film called “Straight Outta Hunter’s Point” by director Kevin Epps, a Hunter’s Point resident whose best friend was shot and killed during filming. The film focuses on interviews of Hunter’s Point residents and a description of the music, gangs, politics, drugs, homicides, police abuses, naval shipyard and sewage treatment superfund site pollution of the local environment and its effects on the population, and community revitalization efforts in the area. It’s an excellent view of the community there that I would never otherwise be able to access. Donations given at the free showing of the film went to a youth center in Hunter’s Point.

“Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got to Be So Hated” by Gore Vidal

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Gore Vidal’s “Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got to Be So Hated” makes for quite eye-opening reading. He traces the recent history of “terrorism” and indicts the U.S. government heavily for its role in inciting domestic and international terrorism. He explains how Waco–the largest massacre of Americans by the feds since Wounded Knee, where 82 Branch Davidians died at the hands of federal agents, including thirty women and twenty-five children–led to the Oklahoma City bombing and details some of his fascinating correspondence with Timothy McVeigh, who was convicted of the bombing. He explains how the U.S. funded Osama bin Laden’s activities for many years. He includes an impressive list of U.S. “operations” in various parts of the globe spanning several decades. He explains how anti-drug laws have failed miserably at stopping drug traffic while diminishing considerably the civil liberties of U.S. citizens, including arbitrary seizures of property without substantial justification. He points out that Clinton passed an Anti-Terrorism Act on April 20, 1996, restricting civil liberties, such as the ? law permitting posse comitatus, the domestic use of U.S. armies, which is prohibited by the U.S. constitution. At points, he seems to espouse conspiracy theories about McVeigh’s helpers, coverups of the Waco and Oklahoma City incidents, and right-wing religious affiliations. He ends with an essay that points out, among other facts, that the “1950 tax on corporate profits accounted for 25 percent of federal revenue; in 1999 only 10.1 percent.” Yet Shrub is still asking for more corporate tax cuts! The burden of humungous military spending in the absence of any real major enemies of consequence is an albatross the U.S. bears at great peril, both domestically and internationally… who can show the leadership to turns this mess around?

“Trajectory of Change” by Michael Albert

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I found Michael Albert’s “Trajectory of Change” well-written and thought-provoking. In fact, he points out answers to some of the frustrations I’ve felt about organizing on the left. If only we could all work together in coalition more effectively not only to oppose the efforts of the right, but to put forth progressive campaigns for change.

Perhaps the We Stand for Peace and Justice statement that Michael has been circulating and that I’ve signed along with many other folks will help spark an international movement in that direction:
http://www.zmag.org/wspj/index.cfm

“Webs of Power” by Starhawk

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The best part of Starhawk’s chronicle of recent global protests called “Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising” is the vision she lays out for the global justice movement:

* We want enterprises to be rooted in communities and to be responsible to communities and to future generations. We want producers to be accountable for the true social and ecological costs of what they produce.

* We say that there is a commons that needs to be protected, that there are resources that are too vital to life, too precious or sacred, to be exploited for the profit of the few, including those things that sustain life: water, traditional lands and productive farmland, the collective heritage of ecological and genetic diversity, the earth’s climate, the habitats of rare species and of endangered human cultures, sacred places, and our collective cultural and intellectual knowledge.

* We say that those who labor are entided, as a bare minimum, to safety, to just compensation that allows for life, hope, and dignity as well as to the power to determine the conditions of their work.

* We say that as humans we have a collective responsibility for the well-being of others, that life is fraught with uncertainty, bad luck, injury, disease, and loss, and that we need to help each other bear those losses, to provide generously and graciously the means for all to have food, clothing, shelter, health care, education, and the possibility to realize their dreams and aspirations. Only then will we have true security.

* We say that democracy means people having a voice in the decisions that affect them, including economic decisions.

Social Power and Political Freedom

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Lately, I’ve been reading Gene Sharp’s “Social Power and Political Freedom.” It’s an excellent overview of the politics of violence and non-violence reaching some surprising conclusions. For example, Sharp points out an obvious and important aspect of maintaining true democracies that often goes unremarked: the necessity of what he calls “loci of power,” that is, societal institutions that organize to obtain and exercise power beyond that of disparate democratically empowered individuals. Examples include unions, neighborhood organizations, even the media and police forces. When a society has many democratically-oriented loci of power, that society becomes democratically sustainable, resistent to the rise of dictators from within or from outside that society.

Sharp then introduces the concept of “civilian-based defense,” in contrast to “military-based defense.” He points out many surprising examples where populations have resisted partially or completely the rise of dictatorial forces through the use of nonviolent civilian-based defense, usually without advance planning or training of the populace. He points out that a well-trained populace with a well-reasoned civilian-based defense plan could effectively resist virtually any despotic incursion.

Sharp reports that, as of 1979, five European governments were discussing civilian-based defense with some government-financed research taking place. I’d like to know the outcomes of that research. He mentioned Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark.

I find Sharp’s work extremely compelling at a time when we are witnesses to U.S. and British atrocities against civilian populations in Iraq and, to a lesser degree, against anti-war protestors such as those whom the police shot with rubber and wooden bullets and concussion grenades even as the non-violent protestors fled from advancing lines of police shooting the weaponry from their rifles.

What should be the response of the populace in the U.S. to consistent and continuous intrusions on our basic rights as guaranteed in the U.S. constitution?

Will’s Speech to San Francisco Board of Supervisors

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Here’s the speech I tried to give in person to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors today. Perhaps Kevin succeeded in giving it as my proxy after I had to leave to the volunteer meeting at work.
Will’s Speech to San Francisco Board of Supervisors

I’ve been out on the streets of San Francisco protesting against the aggressive and illegal war of the U.S. against Iraq over the last two weeks. Last Thursday, I spent the night in the Bryant Street jail after my arrest for nonviolent civil disobedience in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. I joined other nonviolent protesters in what as far as I can tell, with 2300 arrests and counting, is collectively the largest civil disobedience action ever to have taken place in the history of San Francisco. In addition, it may be the largest number of people arrested in opposition to the war in any city around the globe.

On the streets and in the jails, I witnessed abusive behavior both by protesters and by police. Massive police presence led to unnecessary confrontations between police and protesters as citizens watched the clear abridgment of our constitutional right to peaceful assembly.

I urge the Board of Supervisors to take measures to rein in dangerous police abuse, such as illegal and intimidating street sweeps, sidewalk blocking, closures of public parks and squares, and the beatings, pain holds, and detention of nonviolent protestors without due cause.

However, the root cause of this problem is not so much in the San Francisco community but from the federal government of the U.S. Indeed, last October this Board passed by a vast majority a resolution calling on the U.S. Congress to refrain from any injust war in Iraq which I believe accurately reflects the views of the vast majority of people here in San Francisco, including many of the police. I believe the Board should seek federal funding, whether by appeal to the administration or through the judicial system, to compensate the City and County for the costs of maintaining the peace in San Francisco due to the U.S. government’s aggressive foreign policy.

In addition, and perhaps more controversially, the Board of Supervisors should adopt a resolution freeing the City and County of San Francisco from the State of California and the United States of America, so that we the citizens of San Francisco can organize ourselves into a truly democratic, participatory free state that will more properly implement the will of the people of this fine city with its long tradition of diversity and respect for human rights for all.

Protesting for Peace

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You can see pictures from the San Francisco peace protest I was at today at
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/03/1583088.php

Yesterday, I bared my breasts along with forty or so “Boobies for Ashcroft” who marched from Van Ness Ave. to the Federal Building as employees left the building for the day around 5:00pm. The crowd bared their breasts as they chanted “Boobs Not Bombs” or “More Boobs in Public, Less Boobs in Office” and carried signs condemning U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft’s policies including the war against drugs and against sexuality, noting particularly his decision to cover a barebreasted Lady Justice statue with curtains during news conferences at the U.S. Department of Justice building in Washington, DC. Following the march, the group entered a local pub and fraternized with federal employees while discussing the issues of the day. See http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/03/1582640.php

Cultcha

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Vivek brought home an interesting film called “The Blue Kite” the other evening. It was banned in China because it shows the damaging effects of the various stages of the cultural revolution on an apparently typical Chinese community.

I am reading Polyani’s “The Great Transformation” about the negative societal effects of market-based economies and how social and political controls on markets are necessary to retain human values.

I’m also reading “The Free Speech Movement: Reflections on Berkeley in the 1960s,” which is a series of essays from activists, administrators, and others who lived through the events as well as historians providing interpretations. It looks like quite an impressive volume.