Code Pink Journals CodePINK Journals

Do you hear the war cries?

2012-01-09T10:13:00.000-08:00

I'm becoming more and more alarmed not just at the military hawks cries for invading and conquering Iran, but that as an anti-war movement, we seem to be becoming more and more directed by and focused on the goals of Occupy, which does not have preventing or even ending war as it's mission, as it is supposedly ours.

I am not saying the goals of Occupy are not worthwhile or that it is a movement with the intentional goal of distracting us from putting our energy into fighting the horrific wars our country persists in waging in order to secure up to 60% of the world's resources for 4-5% of the world's population.

I am not saying Occupy intentionally set out to ensure we don't examine our current life styles and instead of demanding the 1% share with the middle class who is suddenly feeling threatened at least, deprived at the other end, we should be demanding the 1% pay reparations to the Indigenous, African-American, Mexican peoples of this country and the many people's of the world these resources were stolen from.

I don't want to wake up tomorrow and know that we have invaded Iran without knowing that I have at the very very least stood above a freeway or on a corner or at a busy shopping mall with the message "We will NOT tolerate another invasion" or something snappier and within the 7 second attention sound byte guaranteed to hold our fellow u.s. american's attention momentarily.

I know you must share my alarm.

I suggest we meet at the MRS (marine recruiting station), 64 Shattuck Square, Berkeley, Wednesday, January 11th, noon, to determine what the hell we are going to do, no matter how feeble, how helpless, how exhausted we are.

The windshield, again

2011-12-30T13:13:00.000-08:00

Over the past 10 years, I have put 250,000 miles on my truck traveling across and around this country, carrying anti-war, pro-peace, pro-womyn, pro-radical, anti-racist, anti-misogynist change messages.

In this land of the free, where "free speech" means "if your speech is the same as my speech".

My tires have been slashed a few times, several white men in trucks - many smaller then mine - have attempted to run me off the road, I've been egged, graffitied - twice with penises, one spitting bullets, sketched across the back of my truck - threatened, nasty notes left, ticketed unjustly, police called, businesses attempting to refuse me service.

But only in Berkeley, on the street where I live, has anyone taken heavy objects and smashed my windshield. Not once, but now three times.

It happened last night yet again. This time, the front windshield was smashed and the driver's side window had evidence of their attempt to smash it too, including the side view mirror.

This time, these two white men were thwarted by a neighbor who witnessed their violence and yelled down out the window at them. I eventually found out, three of my neighbors witnessed their attempt to vandalize my truck at 1:40 in the morning.

All three neighbors were unaware that these men were actually successful in smashing my window. My one neighbor only witnessed them running away, underneath her bedroom window.

My other neighbor rushed to his window when he heard a loud noise. He saw them attempting to smash my driver's side window and yelled out to them "the police are coming". He didn't realize they had actually broken the windshield until the next morning.

When he yelled at them, one headed west down one street, the other took off south down another street. The one heading west shouted "Alex, Alex" to the other one, who turned around and joined him running west.

So I know these two men are white, between 20 and 30 years old, one is blond, one dark haired; they both are strongly built, were in black t-shirts and pants; and one is named Alex.

These guys had to be strong as they used roundish 3" thick cement stepping stones at least 12" in diameter, that they must have dug up out of their or someone else's yard, to stand in the 2 foot space between my truck and the car in front of me, lift the cement over their heads and hit the windshield with enough force to break the thick safety glass.

My third neighbor also heard the ruckus, altho he was sleeping at the time so by the time he looked out the window, the guys were heading down the street together.

I'm bummed. Not just because I have been attacked in this way, my truck vandalized, but because I do not have the funds to replace my windshield yet again. And if I do get it together to replace the windshield, what will prevent these white men from attacking me again?

Let us remember...

2011-12-29T12:37:00.000-08:00

... we are talking about foreclosures, about torture, about police brutality, as if these are new phenomenon and not the legally and intentionally accepted way of life in this country - from the very beginning, when the first white European set foot on this land.

We talk about Guantanamo, as we should, but how about the 25,000 to 80,000 prisoners held in solitary confinement in the u.s.? How about the U.S. Prison Industrial Complex has been enslaving black and brown people and poor white people since the 1800's, when overt slavery was allegedly 'outlawed'.

I can't stand us talking about torturing as if it is a new phenomena that started w/Bush and this recent war/invasion against Afghanistan/9/11... or about foreclosures, no health care, etc.etc.etc. as if this is something new in our country, when in reality it is newly hitting white people who thought they were immune, who thought it was okay, acceptable, even what 'those' people deserved, as long as it was happening to black and brown people... grrrr

Trans what? to be continued...

2011-12-29T12:28:00.000-08:00

When I was struggling out of the clutches of both white privilege and misogyny to gain consciousness, I fought fiercely with other womyn to CHANGE the definition of what it means to be "woman" as well as "man".

We fought NOT to accept what society says is "woman", this is "man", but we fought to make the definition be shaped by us, not to shape us, not to cut our body parts off to conform to society's definitions; but to give women the strength, the wisdom, the power to define for ourselves that exactly who we ARE, exactly the way we exists, THIS is what it means to be a woman - or a man.

We fought to smash society's defining our roles as women, what we were to wear, how we were to look, to act, to speak, to be in order to be considered "woman".

We fought to rescue that amazing force of women, to free her from the confines at best that society bestowed on us, on our mothers and grandmothers; to honor and value every womon exactly as she is, unshaped, unbent, unaltered by social restrictions and definitions.

We risked everything, stood ridicule at best, murder at the other end, to say WE ARE WOMEN: whether we wear pants or skirts, paint our nails or have no nails, get our hands filthy dirty or make them softer then our babies' bottom.

We refused to allow society to say "women are...." and "men are...", but by our very birth, we said "this is what a womon is".

Security

2011-12-28T14:06:00.000-08:00

I am politically and morally opposed to men doing "security", especially and most particularly "for" women.

All our lives, we have been told men will protect us, take care of us, keep us from harm.

We all know that men, most of whom have once claimed to love a woman, the men a woman knows are the ones who are most likely to harm, hurt, do violence against her.

How are men going to protect us from them?

We are more then capable of protecting ourselves, should we decide to claim our power and take the steps we need to take to do so.

I am tired of men stepping up, puffing up their chests, poking into other men, under the guise of "protecting" women.

The other issue I have with "security", is once again, after spending a month in D.C. at both Occupies, after traveling and visiting at least 6 or 7 Occupies on my way to Atlanta, returning to D.C. and visiting another 4 or so Occupies, and then traveling from D.C. all the way to Oakland and most likely stopping at 20 Occupies along the way, "security" too often is about protecting those that "have" from those that "have not".

"Security" is a term that is all too often used to mask racism, classism. The rush to make sure those that have so very little cannot "steal" from those who have more smacks of exactly what the 1% do: hire guards, build tall fences, put so much time, resources and energy into pilfering, hoarding, and protecting their goods from those that do not have them.

Are we, the "99%" not pointing the finger at the 1% and accusing them of taking too much, taking more then their share, taking while depriving the rest of us?

We do not need "security" to protect those that have from those that have not. We need to recognize and be willing to be accountable for layers of privilege and of oppression.We need "community liaisons", or "community builders" so we can really be the 99%, and care about oppression, foreclosures, police brutality, not just when we want to form a 99% union, not just when it impacts a here-to-fore thriving middle class, but from since the beginning of this country thru to now.

We need "security" to protect ourselves from patriarchy/misogyny/sexism that makes us feel incapable of taking care of ourselves, that undermines our self-confidence, that tells us we are not "safe" unless there is a man guarding us.

We need "security" to protect ourselves from racism and white supremacy that is addicted to the needs of superiority and inferiority, that fills whites with privilege, guilt, resentment, anger; that exploits and destroys the lives, communities, cultures of people of color.

Justice is NOT a lady...

2011-12-25T12:02:00.000-08:00

The Justice Party is starting totally off on the wrong foot. Yet another predominantly white male's party. And misogynist white male (if that is not simply understood) at that.

Their symbol is of "Lady Justice".

Justice is NOT a lady!

She is not polite, wobbles on heels, nor crosses her legs or paints her eyelids blue.

Justice is a fierce, kick-ass, passionate and compassionate, powerful, bold Amazon

Justice squelches greed, fractures wealth, demolishes power as defined by rich white men

Justice fiercely, boldly protects all life as she heals

Justice holds accountable those responsible for the deep wounds of injustice.

Is it "stress"??? ptsd???

2011-12-25T08:36:00.000-08:00

Another 'new' study came out today showing that the men that pilot drones are likely to experience more 'stress' then ever.

I HATE this defining and using of "stress" or "post traumatic stress disorder" as the soldier's response to witnessing let alone committing violence against human beings.

It is NOT "stress", it is the minimal appropriate response from those soldiers who still have at least some of their humanity.

If their reaction is acceptably defined as "stress", then the solution is geared toward managing stress: the sauna, the therapy, the change of scenery.

If their reaction is defined as a result of a deep attack on humanity, then the attack has to be ended and eliminated.

Teach-In: Successes & Pitfalls of OWS: Section 3

2011-12-13T13:31:00.000-08:00

This is the last section of the teach-in I intend to give tonite in Las Cruces. Feel free to use any or all of it if you find it helpful

Teach-in: Successes & Pitfalls

Page 3: Pitfalls

1) Racism, Sexism, Classism, etc

a. Racism, etc., exists and thrives at all OWS because we live here & bring it there

b. If we do not have a conscious, committed, vigilant awareness, analysis, and working plan to recognize and address the isms, we are doomed to recreate the same system we already operate under, giving out the same advantages and the same disadvantages

2) Allowing Media, Right Wing, outsiders to define our movement

a. We must respond to ‘criticisms’ not as if they are the truth but to expose the lies

3) Not recognizing the dire, bottom-line need to ally and build community with homeless people, who are the most severely oppressed, the most visible, blatant victims of our corporations and the 1% system: if we don’t change our system for these victims, why bother changing the system at all?

a. Bridging the divide between those who choose to sleep outdoors and those who do not choose by recognizing and being responsible for privilege

b. Haves and have nots, in this microcosm of our greater society, becoming the 1% in the park, facing the 99%

c. The incredible opportunity we have to role model for the 1% in the greater society how to creatively, compassionately, embracing love and justice, share resources and build a caring community

d. Buddy system: one or two folks who choose to come occupy “buddy up” with one or two homeless people. Find out/share who we are, what we need, etc.

4) Superiority/Inferiority

a. This is the trap that permeates the very fabric of our society, the fiber that weaves together all the levels of racism, levels of sexism, etc.

b. We must recognize and address those moments of superiority or inferiority we embrace: as those who camp 24/7 vs those who come for a minute; those who are capable of ‘only’ camping vs those who engage in other actions too; those who stepped up Sept 17^th and those whose lives are of stepping up

5) Missing Conflict Resolution skills

a. The more womyn, and men of color, assume leadership positions and men, and white women, step back, the more creative and brilliant conflict resolutions will surface

b. We will always have conflict but we will not always choose and have not always chosen(contrary to what warmongers want us to believe) war to resolve conflict.

c. We must refrain from using the system, i.e. police, courts, white power, etc., we are allegedly attempting to tear down to resolve our conflicts

d. After agreement on the basic core values, everyone does not have to agree on everything else but we can make ways that support a variety of paths to the same goal

e. The additional arising conflicts: city/state permit vs constitutional permit; risk arrest vs obeying the laws; police vs no police, etc.

6) Fear of co-option rather than the Struggle for inclusion

a. If we are truly the 99%, then we MUST figure out how to creatively, honestly include and value everyone in that 99%

b. We cannot “exclude” groups, individuals, organizations because we have such a huge fear of someone ‘co-opting’ this movement, which indicates either extreme paranoia or extreme power hungry leaderless-leaders unless the truth is we are the % those leaderless-leaders decide we are

c. OWS must remember and honor the 500 years of resistance this movement is building upon, thereby making no one individual, group, organization either responsible for or able to ‘destroy’ or ‘succeed’

7) Leaderless-leaders

a. We’ve gone thru this before – see the “Tyranny of Structurelessness”

b. Why not all of us are leaders, all of us are accountable, all of us are responsible

Teach-In: Successes & Pitfalls of OWS: Section 2

2011-12-13T13:29:00.000-08:00

This is the teach-in I am doing tonite - I am posting it in three sections - feel free to use all or any

Teach-In: Successes & Pitfalls Page 2:

Making the Agreements for the Movement

1) We are in this for the LONG RUN! Commitment no matter what: angry, hurt, tired, disappointed… still committed, not going anywhere. Keep goals in mind; keep in perspective war, starvation, poverty, what we’re trying to change! 400 years our country has been this way. It WILL change overnite IF/WHEN we have the numbers

2) Zero tolerance for racism/white supremacy, sexism/patriarchy/misogyny, heterosexism, classism

a. Bigotry, blatant hatred is easy to detect and halt

b. White privilege is more difficult for white people: institutionally, structurally, culturally, personally

c. Truth telling

1. Facing lies: our country was founded on freedom, justice, equality, opportunity

2. Europeans came here to make this a country for white society

3. Genocide: First Peoples; enslaving African people; war against Mexican people;

continuing wars against nations of color

4. Our country was/is legally and intentionally built for whites, at horrific expense

against people of color

3) Vigilant commitment to recognize and address/redress racism, all the isms

a. Women of color speak first; then white women; then men of color; then white men

4) Step back, Step forward

a. In order for women and men, POC and whites to work together, first there has to be a

stepping forward and a stepping back: POC have to be willing to step forward, whites have to

be willing to step back; women, men, etc.

b. Those stepping back have to be willing to listen, follow; they need to examine guilt, anger,

resentment as part of white/male privilege. Instead choose to be open, grateful another layer

of racism/sexism peeled off!

5) Willing to engage in and value the tough discussions: dedicate time, energy, resources – not our

normal m.o. to discuss racism, military industrial complex, prison industrial complex, etc.

6) Responsible, compromise, flexible: i.e Conflict Resolution

a. Individual responsibility for your own behavior, responses, core values, direction, goals,

successes and failures

b. Group responsibility for each other, building community, core values

c. Compromise on the little stuff, not the core values, but recognize there are many “right”

ways to accomplish the same thing

d. Flexible: try to be as flexible as possible, making room instead of rules: everyone doesn’t

have to do, be, look like the same

e. Make commitment to Conflict Resolution, not policing, exclusion, punishment

7) Appreciation

a. We appreciate whoever comes, one or one thousand

b. Circle at end of meeting, action, event: different “appreciation” topics: who/what I

appreciated; one word best describes what I’m feeling now; one surprise/one difficulty; etc.

Teach-In: Successes and Pitfalls of OWS: Section one

2011-12-13T12:32:00.000-08:00

I am giving this teach-in tonite. I can't really call it a workshop, as I have only an hour or so, and only the introductions are inter-active. I prefer inter-active workshops to teach-ins, but maybe next time. I will post this teach-in in three sections.

Teach-in: Successes and pitfalls of OWS organizing

Page one: Making Agreements Physical Location

A. Introductions: your name and either the most successful thing you’ve contributed to or witnessed at your Occupy; and/or the most challenging thing at your Occupy

B. Making the AGREEMENTS for the physical location

1. No drugs, no alcohol on site or under the influence of

2. Designated Smoking and NO Smoking areas

3. Designated animal and animal-free zones

4. Walking the Environmental Talk

No new stuff (slave labor) and/or NO corporate buying wherever possible

Commitment to reducing buying; when necessary to buy, purchase used

Eliminate plastic wherever possible: we are killing people for oil to make plastic; it is never biodegradable, killing the Mother Earth: no plastic or try for used plastic

5. Recycling, composting:

a. Try to not buy things in containers that need recycling

b. Recycle what we can: paper, glass, plastic

c. Compost food and food containers

d. Eat organic – if not for our own bodies, for the bodies of the people who grow and

harvest our food, and for the mother earth

C. Physical presence

1. TENTS: signs, banners, accessible

2. INFO Canopy and tables

a. Who we are, what we want

b. List of agreements

c. Regular daily/weekly schedule with meeting times, places

d. Sign-up sheets: committees, working groups, workshops

e. New person sign-up info sheets: name, email, phone, skills, resources, emergency #

f. New person questionnaire: Do you know how you want to be involved? Are you willing to risk arrest? Which committee/working group or new one do you want to sign up for?

3. Tent Zones: women’s tent, quiet area; vets support; homeless support; POC; AA/NA; family; not one huge circle but mini overlapping circles, meeting everyones’ needs, not forced conformity

D. Maximizing community involvement and commitment; i.e. building the 99%

1. Weekly regularly scheduled action: eg 2pm march every Saturday with different focus each time

2. Supplemental Occupy site: one day a week, set up “occupy” in different neighborhood, 24 hours or 10 hours; joint action with folks, organizations, schools in that community

No veggie oil in New Mexico - tears...

2011-12-12T21:30:00.000-08:00

So Dean calls me back. He has arrived at his plant full of 100,000 gallons of unprocessed veggie oil. He has tested the oil, that he is really preparing for distilling into biodiesel but will sell to me if it's good.

He tells me there are 1500 parts or percentage or something of water in the oil, which is not good for an engine. I've already had enough truck challenges so I appreciate his testing the oil and being honest with me.

Back to the drawing board. My contact, Will, in Scottsdale is trying to get 100 gallons of centrifuged veggie oil for me! YEAH!!! So I only have to worry about another 350 miles maybe, until I get there.

Occupy Las Cruces

2011-12-12T19:21:00.000-08:00

I find the Occupy Las Cruces! Right in front of the library and to the side of City Hall, just as the woman from the co-op has said.

When I get here, I see about 5 tents set up on a broad, thick grassy lawn with a couple of trees, between the parking lot and the road - so there is great visibility of the site from the busy streets that border two sides of the Occupy.

About 5 people, 4 males and one woman, are hanging around talking. I introduce myself, let everyone know I am coming from Occupy D.C. going from occupy-to-occupy, offering workshops, and Anndrea quickly grabs me and asks me if I'll give them a workshop on how to build their Occupy.

Apparently the white male who was bottom-lining the physical site for 2 months has just stormed off in a huff, quitting on the spot. Earlier, he had given a 2 week notice, but tonite he abruptly left.

I want to do a workshop on Racism Awareness, especially because of the proximity to Juarez, and on DRONES, especially given the proximity to the UAV testing site.

But I am asked to help them with the organizing of their Occupy, now that Sasha has stormed away.

I agree and think I can do kind of a "pitfalls and successes" workshop. So I will stay until tomorrow evening.

I also meet a fellow Jason who is an environmentalist. He is helping me find veggie oil, I hope! We call several restaurants but are told they already have contracts with companies to pick up their oil. I'm wary of getting restaurant oil along the road anyway, because I only have a filter that removes particles, not water.

One day I hope I have the funds for a centrifuge so I can eliminate the water from the oil immediately. At home, or if I'm stationary for a few weeks, I can let the oil sit and the water will sink to the bottom.

Jason has given me the number of a biodiesel manufacturer in Anthony, on the state line of Texas & New Mexico, and I am waiting for him to call me back after he checks the water content of his oil. YEAH! Workshop and veggie oil! I'm in heaven! Altho I do need to get home!

Animals? Humans?

2011-12-12T16:38:00.000-08:00

I find the food coop quite by accident, coming into Las Cruces by a different route than Barbara has suggested.

The spiffy white male with the glistening shaved head behind the counter, helpfully goes on line to figure out where the Occupy Las Cruces is. In the mean time, a womon gently bouncing a beautiful little baby, maybe 6 months old, on her hip tells me she knows exactly where it is.

She gives me great directions, much to the other guy's surprise. He then points out the window to my truck and tells me I should add "animals" to the sign on my truck.

It hurts me some human beings are so much more compassionate when it comes to animals then other humans. I smile wanly, wanting to tell him to paint his own goddamn vehicle, but merely indicate I'm done painting.

He insists I should add "animals" as didn't I know that many, many more animals are killed each year than people? As I look at him, most likely not hiding my distaste and shock, he insists that is true: 9 million he claims, and this is so much more than human deaths.

I tell him I am not into ranking suffering and that my first priority and commitment is to ending wars against people. I am thinking is he counting mice and rats? Species?

He continues to attempt to get me to paint animals on my truck. I ask him if he knows that a baby dies of starvation ever 6 seconds in our world? He shrugs, as I see him trying to do the math - can he divide 9 million by one year times how many seconds divided by 6?

Again I urge him not to rank suffering. He REALLY wants me to paint animals on my truck. It is almost like the fight over wanting to claim all the oppression for my 'category' of victim.

He doesn't really care about all those baby humans because he's too busy caring about all those baby animals. I'm pissed. I say I guess it must be because his baby is not in danger of being killed. He tells me all animals are someones baby.

I ask him if he thinks the murder of his baby has the same impact on him as on the father of a murdered baby rat? He blinks his eyes rapidly and I notice his eyelids are also hairless although he does have eyebrows.

I take my leave, to his disgusted men-hate-loosing stare. The woman with the baby smiles & waves.

Occupy El Paso

2011-12-12T14:57:00.000-08:00

I decide to return to Sprouts, the supermarket that has taken over Wild Oats in El Paso. As I drive into El Paso, there are tons of billboards aimed at capturing the military business, including sweeping discounts for military members, special deals, added incentives to buy, join, partake in capitalism.

And of course, thanking them for their "service"... to corporate greed. My addition of course!

And the usual, the recruiting military billboards spouting honor, glory and all that stirring-up-the-boys crap.

The military hype is over the top here. I peer south through the scummy fog, trying to look over the stark mountains separating El Paso from Ciudad Juarez, right across the border. I am told 15 womyn every day are murdered now - a holocaust that started before this recent attack on Mexico under the guise of "war on drugs".

When I return to my truck with a few organic sweet potatoes and miso that I have been craving, two older, very dykish-looking white women are standing near by, taking pictures and smiling broadly at me.

Barbara and Helena, both in their 70's, live in Columbus, New Mexico - right across the state line and close to the Mexican border. We talk, about ending wars including the war against Mexico, their home town, the UAV training base down the road from Las Cruces, and the Occupy movement.

Barbara is a former costumer for the theater department at the University of New Mexico. She has lived and worked mostly in Wyoming and New Mexico and recalls warmly her time with the womyn's movement during the 70's.

Barbara tells me there is an Occupy Las Cruces - yeah!!!! although she can't remember where they are at. She calls her friend Annie, who is not at home, but gives me her number. It is still an hours drive to Las Cruces.

I get good directions to the food coop there, whom my new friends are sure will know exactly where the occupy is. Barbara gives me $20, all the cash she has, to support my work! YEAH!!!

Off to Occupy Las Cruces!

I'm part of the movement too...

2011-12-11T23:52:00.000-08:00

Often I find folks have jumped into the waste veggie oil business with dollar signs in their eyes. They are not doing it to end wars or even to help our environment. They're doing it for an investment.

I speak long with one fellow who is in the alternative energy business. He also asks me questions about myself and why I run veggie oil. He is busy with another project and doesn't have any oil now, but assures me he would sell it to me if he had it.

I end up randomly calling him again, getting his number from another web site and not realizing it is him. When I thank him for his patience and help, he ends up telling me rather gruffly "I'm part of the movement too"!

YEAH!~!!

Out of veggie oil..

2011-12-11T18:05:00.000-08:00

I have found lots of old sources of veggie oil in Arizona, which I should be in in about 500 miles... grrr

Okay, that means two tanks of diesel, which will most likely deplete all my resources. omg, oh well, something will happen. I'm posting to craigslist - hopefully I'm have work in Arizona! We'll see...

Finding Vincent!

2011-12-11T16:02:00.000-08:00

I'm in the middle of bumfuck Texas, somewhere between Abilene and El Paso - the western part of the state that is boring, filled with questionable white folks, and lots and lots of space, reddish sand dirt, cows, and shrubs.

It is Sunday so there is no library open, no organic food stores in the close vicinity, and the internet is not working at the rest stops! Not to mention the weather - it is fuckin' freezing!

As I get closer to El Paso, it is getting a couple degrees warmer or maybe I'm getting used to it.

I spot a Starbucks - free internet - so I decide to stop. I want to catch up on my blogging, as many exciting things have been happening. But as soon as I get online, and figure out how to navigate, a young man asks me if this is my truck, pointing out the window to where my truck is parked.

We have been talking for at least 30 minutes now. He is traveling with 4 other young male friends who are waiting somewhat patiently for him.

Suddenly, he grabs his cell phone out of his pocket, opens it and removes the battery, giving me a knowing look.

He is beautiful, soft spoken, wide black eyes, creamy caramel skin. He wants to know about Monsanto. He wants to know about Occupy. He wants to know what I think he needs to know.

He doesn't understand the 99% and the 1% - but he knows of the slogan.

He intends to join the navy so he can become a surgeon and open his own small hospital. He knows of another El Paso fellow who was in the military, became a surgeon, and now goes around the world helping people.

If only.

He has to work at Walmart, he says, grimacing. He has no life, except to work all night and then sleep all day. He wants to go to school, he's saving money.

He hates his work, knows about Walmart, knows about slave labor, knows about how rich they are. But he has to have a job.

I urge him to make the connections. I tell him he can finance his college other ways, then being trained to kill people at best, actually killing people at worse.

His eyes film over dreamily as he tells me he is coming from a 10 hour concert in Dallas; and heading to another concert before rushing back to El Paso to work - at Walmart.

I give him democracynow.org connection - he is worried about the mark of the beast. He wants me to google but I don't. He says it's in the vaccinations, the cell phones, they're injecting it into our bodies many ways.

He does not call himself a christian but he believes in the bible - Revelations.

I urge him to seek out his elders, the first peoples, and to try to find out what his people believed before genocide, before colonization, before the great white occupation, prior to christianity being shoved down their throats.

It is getting dark. I've been able to sit here without buying anything, but now this once crowded little starbucks is emptying out. I don't know what time they close but most likely soon.

I have to continue trying to find veggie oil - grrrrr - having to dedicate soooooo much time and energy to finding fuel. what a challenge!

Occupy Tyler Texas - to be continued

2011-12-10T17:58:00.000-08:00

More fabulous womyn working their hardest in Tyler Texas!

I reconnect with two womyn who were in D.C. - womyn that Des asked me to ask them to put down their "Ron Paul" signs while representing CodePINK at an action we were doing. I did ask them and they very wonderfully complied.

And here they are in the park filled with hostile, mostly white Texans who want to party, barbeque and not care about what else is going on outside their little worlds!

STRIKE Dec 12th! SHUT DOWN the West Coast!

2011-12-10T09:16:00.001-08:00

Union "leaders", i.e. those in top level paid positions, have not supported any 'strike' since the beginning with our invasion of afghanistan up to and including nov 2nd, 2011.

I think we MUST keep in mind the utterly pervasive, extremely detrimental divide-and-conquer tactics of those in power who keep us separated, fighting against each other, and our interests negated at best.

It does not matter if the union 'leadership' - or the ALC - is supporting the strike or not. The important thing is that this action happens, and happens in the biggest, best way we can make it happen.

The eyes of all occupiers, media, and all folks fighting for the end of wars, the end of disparity of resources, the end of the military and prison industrial complex, are watching the west coast, waiting to see how many people are more concerned about the above then they are about continuing business as usual.

Isn't that the bottom line of any protest? Is to STOP BUSINESS AS USUAL, and say "NO, we will NOT tolerate another day of killing another human being", or another day of suffering of another human being?

It is never the people following their conscience and attempting to right wrongs that cause "loss of jobs", or "economic hardships". It is the intention of our forefathers in the creation of this country and every one of it's institutions to ensure certain people have jobs that pay certain wages, while others work enslaved.

It is the SYSTEM that causes job loss and economic hardships. We have to be vigilant and informed about the tools of the system, and guard with all our might and awareness against those tools, especially divide-and-conquer!

Slave cylinder - to be continued

2011-12-09T17:52:00.000-08:00

I reluctantly leave Occupy Jackson, but I need to go to the library and find some veggie oil, as Duke from Shreveport is not answering my calls... grrrrrr

I pull into the library parking lot just 2 blocks away from the park, but free parking, and suddenly 3 feet from the top of the parking space, the clutch hits the floor and wouldn't move.

I crawl under the truck, spot a leak, and see an accordion-cup with a metal stick in the middle kind of hanging out and leaking.

I try to stick it back into the place it obviously came out of and can't. I push the truck the last couple of feet into the parking space so I'm not hanging over the edge. I young man hops out of his car and helps me. He is not a mechanic unfortunately and doesn't know of any.

I return to the park and ask the guys there. Sweet Derrick offers to walk me to a couple of mechanic places he knows about.

Occupy Jackson! to be continued..

2011-12-09T15:38:00.000-08:00

I pull into Jackson and immediately I see the poverty and the wealth. Poor, mostly Black people walking around with shredded shoes, bundles of unidentifiable material draped around their bodies, hurrying along in the damp cold.

And huge SUV's and several hummers, with mostly white women in fur-lined wool coats holding the hands of well-dressed children tumbling out to go to the church on the corner.

I see the beautiful little park with the blue tarps, a tent, plastic bins lined up, and cardboard signs hanging from trees, bushes, and the stone wall.

There is a table out front, on the sidewalk, but the people are several feet away, inside the park under a largish stone pavilion.

I am so thrilled to meet this group of dedicated activists in the heart of Mississippi. The first man, deeply calm and thoughtful, introduces himself to me as Monzell, one of our forefathers, a civil rights activist his whole life - after he returned from Vietnam.

After Monzell shares his long and committed activist past, he tells me with a sweep of his arm, that these are his people. He finally found them.

Lindsay, a vivacious white woman, then takes me under her wing to introduce me to the other men who are there: James, a white man, is bottom-lining the overnite occupation; Albert and Trey are there everyday - have been there before, when they didn't have the city permission to sleep in the park.

Veggie Oil

2011-12-09T10:13:00.000-08:00

I am supposed to be in Jackson by noon today so I'm rushing!

I have burned my one tank of veggie oil already - tears - and so I have to pump the oil in my reserve tank into my permanent tank. I do that at the rest stop I have spent the nite at.

There is "security provided" here too at this rest stop, only there is a little, modern glass and brick square building the size of a large bathroom maybe. When I arrived last nite, a HUGE white man appeared to fill the entire room. I don't think he could turn around to see what was on either side or in back of him.

This morning he has been replaced by a woman of color who is his opposite, tiny, short, compact. I see a plug on the side of this little building but don't want to risk asking if I can plug in. I will have to depend on my solar, even tho it is overcast and foggy - with the mist turning to a sprinkling of frost on the grass.

I turn off my fridge and plug in my electric cord and start pumping. It takes about a little over an hour to pump the 55 gallons into my tank.

No one stops to ask me questions, comment on my truck, or even wave although many pass by in their huge pickup trucks with the 4 doors.

The security guard doesn't look my way either, so I just continue to pump away.

Everything takes longer then anticipated and by the time I'm finished, I have to rush. I start on the road and grrrr my veggie oil doesn't work. The gauge says I have no pressure... which means at least one filter is clogged.

Or it could mean it is too cold to run wvo. I run diesel for several miles and try the veggie oil again.

Again, the truck begins to stall so I have to face the fact I need to change my filter. I hope just one of them will do.

I find an exit that is on a slight decline, park, raise the hood, and get to work changing the filter. It takes only about 15 minutes and I am on the road again, this time running veggie oil! yeah!!!

Occupy New Orleans - to be continued

2011-12-08T22:06:00.000-08:00

I roll into New Orleans just as the sun is setting again. It is cold but not as cold as Birmingham.

The Anti-Racism Committee is meeting, giving report backs. They did an action Tuesday at the sheriff's foreclosure sale. Apparently there is a community center up for sale that has been a center since before Katrina, that is now being auctioned off.

About 15 people attended the sale and disrupted for about 1 1/2 hours. They used the mic check and read over and over many reasons not to allow this sale promoting gentrification and destruction of this valuable community asset. They were successful! Many of the potential buyers left and no one bid on the property.

They also connected with two other homeowners who were losing their homes and disrupted their sales too!

There were 3 white women and two African American men on the committee.

I stayed for the general assembly. Occupy New Orleans was violently raided this past Monday in the wee hours, one person arrested, and all their things, including tents, sleeping bags, food, tables, etc. - tossed into the garbage!

The lawyers immediately got a TRO for 1 week against the police and city. The g.a. was mostly about future actions and this 'issue': the lawyers are going to try to make the TRO permanent but in case they don't succeed, people want a back-up plan...

Alabama Rest Stop Lingo!

2011-12-08T19:15:00.000-08:00

I pull into the rest stop close to midnite and find two white people - one very tall, male and tattooed, the other female, very short, and bundled in sheepskin - standing outside my door, hands in pockets, smiling broadly at me.

They are from Maine, have been to Occupy Bangor, and report to me they are traveling the green occupy scene, which I think means the stuff some folks smoke!

They are heading around to the great places they know to "hang cardboard" which I find out is not putting up a "NO WAR" sign, but a "Hungry, will you help?" sign.

We retire to our vehicles - they have a station wagon - for the night.

Early this morning, I am up with the bright, clear, warm sun happy to have pg&e so I can charge my phone, after all the tire calls yesterday!

I greet the two male guards inside the "security provided" rest stop bathrooms: one is white, short and stocky; the other is black, tall and narrow. When I ask what they think of the Occupy movement, the white guard tells me they are so busy they don't have time to keep up with what's going on outside of here: they have a lot of work to do right here.

I'm thinking they mow the huge grassy areas, trim the trees, make the flowers grow but he says no, it is their job to keep out "panhandlers" and "texas tailgaters".

Now I'm thinking no one begging money and having bar-b-ques? No, he indicates all the trucks parked outside the window, and turns beet red as he attempts to mimic someone jumping from truck to truck.

I still don't get it until his partner spells it out: prostitutes.

Oh, here they are, making minimum wages maybe, to make sure no one else makes any money here...

Blow Out!!! and Southern Hospitality! to be continued

2011-12-08T14:50:00.000-08:00

I am leaving a message for Duke, my WVO contact in Shreveport Louisiana. He has not returned my calls after our 'political' conversation (you know the one where he, a former cop & firefighter, believes in war and why don't I?) even though he promised me he would sell me wvo whether we agree or not.

I hear a loud bang and the truck shudders a little. My first thought is did one of these angry white men, who have been giving me the finger and dirty looks all morning, decide to try to shoot me? hmmmm

I pull off the exit, pull into a gas station, and see that my back rear tire is flat - and gaping! Oh fuck.

I have just enough cash to make it home. Now I'll have to buy a tire at the very least... grrrr

Sitting at the curb, I begin trying to locate tire people. Thank the goddesses Tessie pays for my phone to have internet access. She takes such good care of her mom!!!

I find a truck tire place that I think is close by but it turns out to be several miles away. I cannot drive there. The fellow questions me, not believing I, a mere womon, am driving a commercial vehicle.

I explain to him my vehicle is no longer considered commercial as I converted it into a camper but it used to be commercial. I reveal I am an anti-war activist and my truck reflects my beliefs. Might as well get it out in the open before they send someone who might refuse to help me once he gets a look at my truck.

This fellow pleasantly turns out to be very supportive, even extremely helpful. $90 for the road service, $220 for the tire, $310 plus taxes. I tell him I cannot afford that so he recommends I call a local tire place, saying my tire is pretty common and he's sure it will be cheaper.

He takes my number and also tells me he is putting a tire for me on the service truck that is going out in a few minutes just in case I can't find anything cheaper. He makes me promise I will call him back when I get the tire replaced (after it is complete, he insists), or he will call me before the service truck fellow returns just in case I need it!

How wonderful! I find a tire place exactly .5 of a mile from where I have parked! When I get there, I am greeted so enthusiastically by the two white guys behind the counter.

One, a young, trim fellow, tells me he has already photoed the Monsanto side of my truck & sent it to his wife. He tells me they are trying to go 100% organic, including their meats, and next year they want to get bees!

The other fellow, older, chubbier, former football player, starts a conversation about the terrible shape of the world. He quickly changes it to "forget the world, I mean our country".

I am afraid to ask him exactly what he means in case he is aligned with the "they don't appreciate us over there" folks, rather than the "the u.s.a. is fuckin' up everyone around the world.." folks.

He tells me to take football, for example - which is how I find out he used to play. Some coach is making $4 million a year, with $20,000 per month 'allowance' for a car. He is stuttering, he is so mad, questioning what someone wants with all that money.

He cannot stand the disparity in our country. I talk about 1 billion a day on wars. He has heard of the Occupy movement but hasn't checked it out yet.

I encourage both guys to get to Occupy as soon as they can.

And I get a new tire for $157 out the door! GREAT! But now I HAVE to find work or it'll be me pushing the truck home....

Occupy Mobile - to be continued

2011-12-08T11:45:00.000-08:00

I arrive in Mobile late this morning. It is MUCH warmer here by the ocean then it was in Birmingham and Huntsville, thank the goddesses!

I have parked by Government Plaza where the occupation is supposed to be but can't find them. I ask the white womon at the hot dog stand and am thrilled that she knows about them. She tells me they've move 3 blocks away to another park.

I head over there and can't find anyone. I try to find out more info on my cell connection to the internet but am unable to.

I want to make it to New Orleans in plenty of time to attend the Anti-Racism Committee meeting 5:30 so off I go!

Occupy Birmingham - to be continued

2011-12-07T22:33:00.000-08:00

I arrive in Birmingham just as the sun is setting, a cold dusk fading to dark. I honk at a couple of people, blue tarps, and 99% signs on the corner as I go around the block to find a park.

Here, people have built platforms on the edge of the sidewalk - about 6 or 7 individual sleeping areas perched on pallets, sections off by lots of blue plastic tarps.

Two men great me warmly and enthusiasticall show me around the Occupy, telling me the history of this occupy. They have been there since October 15th 24/7. No one has tried to move them, shut them down, or harass them. In fact, the police come by periodically and ask if everything/one is okay, if they need anything.

People come by and drop off food, supplies, signs. They've had marches, protests, general assemblies.

There is a tall white man also, what Amy would most likely call an adbusters type. He is on the computer and seems to be an instrumental part too.

My guides speak to me about their challenges keeping the occupation going. They are both African American, southerners, and committed to stay for the long run. And they are leaders of this Occupy.

They introduce me to the one woman who is there, who is bi-racial and very young. She is not sure how long she will stay but she wants to stay for the duration.

It is sooooo cold I cannot move my lips. I go to FedEx to get my flyers copied and to get online. The fellow behind the counter has not been to the Occupy yet, but he is very supportive! He helps me print my flyers, takes one, and contributes to the cause! YEAH!!! And he is African American, young, and technologically competent!!!

It is so deeply rewarding to get support from employees who might not necessarily be directly involved but who feel moved to contribute in their own way.

Huntsville Alabama - to be continued

2011-12-07T17:45:00.000-08:00

I know I've left Atlanta and I'm in the deep south: God and Jesus signs abound! And the marine recruiting posters are springing up.

The road to Huntsville is in the hills: much asphalt and concrete development, box stores, chain stores, and lots of grass mark the way with glimpses of patches of forest and hill between the walls and billboards.

It is freezing cold by the time I arrive in Huntsville. 8 or so white and mostly female folks are gathered under a roofed gazebo sporting 99% signs!

We have an amazing, inspiring almost 2 hour workshop, beginning with the issue of the constitutional permit or asking for a permit from the police and city, and ending with a commitment to be more aware of and to act against racism! And everything in between.

What a joy to meet informed, conscious, open white occupiers who sincerely want to help create a better community and country - and meet them here in the middle of Alabama!

Anonymous - Message to the American People

2011-12-06T18:11:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrXyLrTRXso&feature=colike

Dear brothers and sisters. Now is the time to open your eyes!

In a stunning move that has civil libertarians stuttering with disbelief, the U.S. Senate has just passed a bill that effectively ends the Bill of Rights in America.

The National Defense Authorization Act is being called the most traitorous act ever witnessed in the Senate, and the language of the bill is cleverly designed to make you think it doesn't apply to Americans, but toward the end of the bill, it essentially says it can apply to Americans "if we want it to.

Bill Summary & Status, 112th Congress (2011 -- 2012) | S.1867 | Latest Title: National Defense Authorization Act for.

This bill, passed late last night in a 93-7 vote, declares the entire USA to be a "battleground" upon which U.S. military forces can operate with impunity, overriding Posse Comitatus and granting the military the unchecked power to arrest, detain, interrogate and even assassinate U.S. citizens with impunity.

Even WIRED magazine was outraged at this bill, reporting:

Senate Wants the Military to Lock You Up Without Trial

...the detention mandate to use indefinite military detention in terrorism cases isn't limited to foreigners. It's confusing, because two different sections of the bill seem to contradict each other, but in the judgment of the University of Texas' Robert Chesney — a nonpartisan authority on military detention — "U.S. citizens are included in the grant of detention authority."

The passage of this law is nothing less than an outright declaration of WAR against the American People by the military-connected power elite. If this is signed into law, it will shred the remaining tenants of the Bill of Rights and unleash upon America a total military dictatorship, complete with secret arrests, secret prisons, unlawful interrogations, indefinite detainment without ever being charged with a crime, the torture of Americans and even the "legitimate assassination" of U.S. citizens right here on American soil!

If you have not yet woken up to the reality of the police state we've been warning you about, I hope you realize we are fast running out of time. Once this becomes law, you have no rights whatsoever in America. — no due process, no First Amendment speech rights, no right to remain silent, nothing.

The US senate does not want us to speak. I suspect even now orders are being shouted into telephones and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there?
Cruelty and injustice...intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance, coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those who are more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable. But again, truth be told...if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.

I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War. Terror. Disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you and in your panic, you turned to the now President in command Barack Obama. He promised you order. He promised you peace. And all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent.

More than four hundred years ago, a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness. Justice, and freedom are more than words - they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you, then I would suggest that you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek...then I ask you to stand beside one another, one year from November 5th, 2011, outside the gates of every court house of every city DEMANDING our rights!!

Together we stand against the injustice of our own Government.

We are anonymous.
We are Legion.
United as ONE.
Divided by zero.
We do not forgive Censorship.
We do not forget Oppression.
US SENATE...
Expect us!!

Music by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Requiem

From Occupy to Occupy: Atlanta to Oakland

2011-12-05T21:26:00.000-08:00

I am going to attempt to connect with lots of (un)Occupies from Atlanta to Oakland. I want to check out what is happening, cull the good ideas and successful actions, spread the anti-racist word, connect with womonists/feminists, and see if people are interested in gathering in D.C. beginning March 8th.

If you are participating in any of these (un)Occupies and want to arrange for a Racism Awareness Workshop geared for white occupiers and/or an Everything You've Never Wanted to Know about Drones Workshop, just let me know. Email or call 404-853-9990

Here is my tentative schedule starting Wednesday, December 7th:

Atlanta to Huntsville – 4 hours

1) 12/7 Wednesday afternoon Huntsville

Huntsville to Birmingham – 2 hours

2) 12/7 Wednesday nite Birmingham

Birmingham to Mobile – 4 hours

3) 12/8 Thursday early am Mobile

Mobile to Biloxi/Gulfport – 1 hour 20 minutes

4) 12/8 Thursday am Biloxi/Gulfport

Gulfport to New Orleans – 1.5 hours

5) 12/8 Thursday afternoon New Orleans

New Orleans to Jackson – 3 hours

6) 12/9 Friday noon Jackson

Jackson to Shreveport – 4 hours

7) 12/9 Friday eve Shreveport

Shreveport to Texarkana – 1 hr, 20 min

8) 12/10 Saturday amTexarkana

Texarkana to Dallas – 3 hours

9) 12/10 Saturday afternoon Dallas

Dallas to Ft Worth – 1 hour

10) 12/10 Saturday evening Ft Worth

Ft Worth to Austin – 3 hours

11) 12/11 Sunday morning Austin

Austin to Houston – 3 hours

13) 12/12 Monday SHUT DOWN HOUSTON ports

Houston to Abilene – 7 hours

14) 12/13 TuesdayAbilene

Abilene to Lubbock – 3 hours

15) 12/14 Wednesday am Lubbock

Lubbock to Amarillo – 2 hours

16) 12/14 Wednesday pm Amarillo

Amarillo to Albuquerque

17) 12/15 Thursday am Albuquerque

So that's all I have thus far. PLEASE feel free to contribute to help me make this trip. I was unable to secure the work I needed to pay for the veggie oil and/or biodiesel to make it home. Also, if you know of any waste veggie oil or biodiesel along my beaten path, please let me know.

More police brutality

2011-12-05T17:31:00.000-08:00

http://blip.tv/zgraphix/freeze-flash-mob-police-brutality-don-t-buy-war-5793178

SHUT DOWN, TAKE OVER

2011-12-03T05:17:00.000-08:00

This should be the mantra of the "occupy" movement. This should be the direction every thinking human being in this country should be working towards.

Everything we as a nation have, everything that is directing our economy, our institutions, our culture and society, is based in and driven by the Military & Prison Industrial Complex.

Wall Street is just a component of that Complex. Banks are just the means to move the spoils of wars, invasions, occupations of any land, any people, any country around the world that has the resources our corporations want and need to ensure they are the richest individuals and corporations, and we are the richest country in the world.

It is so very plain and simple to see. While our Military Industrial Complex explodes and conquers around the world, the Prison Industrial Complex enslaves and conquers here at home, ensuring Black and Brown people, and poor white people, are always victims, and White people are always the "HAVES".

Isn't the latter what this occupy movement is all about? A group of white men feeling their entitlement and privilege as white people slipping and seeing the potential of their becoming closer to the "HAVE NOTS"?

BUT this movement has gotten more folks out onto the streets and active for a longer time then any in a long time, except the immigration movement.

Those of us who see clearly MUST be at these occupies, nudging, directing, encouraging, whatever it takes, to raise consciousness and direct us to SHUT DOWN the Military & Prison Industrial Complex, and TAKE OVER creating the community, country we want to live in.

Dismantle the Military and Prison Industrial Complex

2011-12-02T04:58:00.000-08:00

My grandmother, who was in her 40's when she escaped Hitler and the Germans who were silent, and who was 99 early in the Bush regime, rushed to grab me, shaking me, tears streaming, repeating like the rotation of a steam roller "it's happening again, it's happening again, it's happening again."

If you look back over these years of my not-so-faithful journaling, I can't count the number of times I would report hearing of some outrage, some atrocity occurring in our country, in our name, to our people, to human life around the world, to the mother earth and I would rush to the window, sweep back the curtains, and peer onto the streets just KNOWING people would be spilling into the streets to halt this atrocity.

But no, after all we are U.S. Americans: the people so focused on stacking up our "things", so deeply believing we have what we deserve and worked so hard for, so committed to making the maintaining of our 'life style' the one and only priority that we are blind and numb to the roaring pain we are contributing to and ensuring the continuation of.

The NDAA, as in National Defense Authorization Act, should have every thinking, feeling, still human person out onto the streets. The fact that only SEVEN of our so esteemed 100 Senators bothered to vote against this unspeakably horrific and blatant plunge into fascism should have us roaring over cell phones, twittering like a zillion hummingbird wings, advancing to D.C., to our Federal Buildings, to Occupies - which should be called "SHUT DOWN, TAKE OVER" - to SHUT DOWN the Military and Prison Industrial Complex.

What will it take?

Step forward, step back

2011-11-28T22:02:00.000-08:00

The Prison Industrial Complex committee is and has been the BEST committee that the Occupy movement in D.C. has - and I have been involved since Oct 5th.

The reason it is the BEST committee is because of the incredible, strong women's leadership both on-line and on-the-ground from Gerri and other women (sorry I don't know everyone's name).

In order for women and men to work together - as for Black people and white people, etc. - it takes a stepping forward and a stepping back: i.e. women must step forward, and men must learn to step back; Blacks must step forward, and whites must learn to step back, etc.

I, for one, have appreciated Gerri and the other women in this committee's willingness to step forward and provide competent, informed, strong leadership.

It also takes a willingness and ability to listen and follow: i.e. men and white women must be able and willing to listen and follow.

Perhaps the men attempting to challenge and negate Gerri's leadership would be willing to re-read Gerri's clarifying questions, explanations, and suggestions to him with a more open mind and willingness to follow.

It is interesting what men perceive as "attack" and how swiftly they launch into the superior mode of "more knowledge & experience" - and seemingly do not consider that an "attack" and blatant use of male power and privilege.

Washington Post Pic

2011-11-28T14:16:00.000-08:00

message to ows

2011-11-28T05:49:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzW6dPYBwcI

Girlcott Black Friday!

2011-11-25T04:57:00.001-08:00

How about FUCK SHOPPING - local or otherwise? Why are we insisting on continuing the same old framework? Let's go for the paradigm change so we can truly save our planet.

Unless we in the occupy movements prioritize the deliberate and concerted work necessary to identify and rectify racism/white supremacy, sexism/patriarchy/misogyny, hetereosexism, classism, we will merely be building a movement that is racist, sexist, classist, etc.

Here's what the OWS women in NYC are up to! How about a solidarity action in the bay???

WOMEN TAKE LIBERTY: STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Women’s Assembly, Speak-Out & Rally at Foley Square, March to Liberty Plaza

November 25, 2011, New York, NY: Boycott Black Friday! March Instead of Shop!

On Black Friday, November 25^th at 1pm women from across New York City will gather at Foley Square for a Women’s Assembly, Speak-Out and Rally to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, then “Take Liberty,” marching to Liberty Plaza (Zuccotti Park), making the connection that the unregulated exploitation on Wall Street is violence against women. Clear Action for/by Women (CLAW), the organizing coalition comprised of several women’s organizations and unaffiliated women organizers, calls for the elimination of all types of violence against women and demands respect, equity, compassion, peace, security and healing for women, our children, our communities and our world.

Everyday around the world women-identified persons survive different forms of violence. Physical violence leaves women with traumatic scars. Economic violence causes women to struggle to feed their families. Sexual violence in our homes and on our streets causes women to feel shame. Political violence silences the power of women’s voices to make decisions in society. Military violence divides nations of women who want peace. Women’s bodies are regularly disrespected with street and workplace harassment, rape, and other forms of physical and sexual violence. One in 6 American women has been a victim of attempted or completed rape (RAINN). Media corporations make billions with music and films that disgrace women’s bodies, minds and spirits. Women do two-thirds of the world’s work, earn 10% of the world’s income, and own only 1% of the world’s wealth, according to a 2010 UN report. Corporations get nearly 70% of their profit from women workers who earn $2 a day, and women of color are 70% of the global poor. In the U.S., women make as low as $0.52 for every dollar a man makes.

Boycott Black Friday by refusing to shop at corporations that commit acts of violence against women, whether by using physically violent factories abroad or failing to provide health care to workers or paying unlivable wages around the world. We raise our voices to promote a fair and just economic system! March Instead of Shop!

Assemble at Foley Square on November 25, 2011, 1:00 pm

CLAW Coalition Members: AF3IRM/GabNet, ANSWER, Black Women’s Blueprint, Feminism Now Podcast, SisterSong NYC, Trust Black Women, and several unaffiliated organizers

Facebook Event: http://on.fb.me/sHzun8 Twitter: #WomensAssemblyOWS

Thanksgiving: National Day of Mourning

2011-11-24T16:26:00.000-08:00

It is difficult to see our country thru the clear eyes of truth and maintain a sense of balance, of hope, of humanity.

Take thanksgiving, for instance. We celebrate a lie every year. And we have so much invested in keeping that lie whole and reproducing year after year, generation after generation.

Even those of us who know whites committed genocide against the people here, continue to justify our tradition of gathering together, sharing too much food, having a jolly time with relatives and friends.

We must face the truth of what we are celebrating: the first thanksgiving was the joyous celebration of the safe and successful return of white men from the slaughter of 700 people, including women and children, and the pillaging of their village and ancestral offerings.

How can we continue this tradition? I think we should be in mourning, not just in solidarity with our Indigenous sisters & brothers, but mourning the death of the myth of thanksgiving and the horrific, violent, white supremist roots we spring from.

It is good to read this speech, once again:

Thanksgiving: A National Day of Mourning for Indians

by Moonanum James and Mahtowin Munro

Every year since 1970, United American Indians of New England have organized the National Day of Mourning observance in Plymouth at noon on Thanksgiving Day. Every year, hundreds of Native people and our supporters from all four directions join us. Every year, including this year, Native people from throughout the Americas will speak the truth about our history and about current issues and struggles we are involved in.
Why do hundreds of people stand out in the cold rather than sit home eating turkey and watching football? Do we have something against a harvest festival?

Of course not. But Thanksgiving in this country -- and in particular in Plymouth --is much more than a harvest home festival. It is a celebration of the pilgrim mythology.

According to this mythology, the pilgrims arrived, the Native people fed them and welcomed them, the Indians promptly faded into the background, and everyone lived happily ever after.

The truth is a sharp contrast to that mythology.

The pilgrims are glorified and mythologized because the circumstances of the first English-speaking colony in Jamestown were frankly too ugly (for example, they turned to cannibalism to survive) to hold up as an effective national myth. The pilgrims did not find an empty land any more than Columbus "discovered" anything. Every inch of this land is Indian land. The pilgrims (who did not even call themselves pilgrims) did not come here seeking religious freedom; they already had that in Holland. They came here as part of a commercial venture. They introduced sexism, racism, anti-lesbian and gay bigotry, jails, and the class system to these shores. One of the very first things they did when they arrived on Cape Cod -- before they even made it to Plymouth -- was to rob Wampanoag graves at Corn Hill and steal as much of the Indians' winter provisions of corn and beans as they were able to carry. They were no better than any other group of Europeans when it came to their treatment of the Indigenous peoples here. And no, they did not even land at that sacred shrine called Plymouth Rock, a monument to racism and oppression which we are proud to say we buried in 1995.

The first official "Day of Thanksgiving" was proclaimed in 1637 by Governor Winthrop. He did so to celebrate the safe return of men from the Massachusetts Bay Colony who had gone to Mystic, Connecticut to participate in the massacre of over 700 Pequot women, children, and men.

About the only true thing in the whole mythology is that these pitiful European strangers would not have survived their first several years in "New England" were it not for the aid of Wampanoag people. What Native people got in return for this help was genocide, theft of our lands, and never-ending repression. We are treated either as quaint relics from the past, or are, to most people, virtually invisible.

When we dare to stand up for our rights, we are considered unreasonable. When we speak the truth about the history of the European invasion, we are often told to "go back where we came from." Our roots are right here. They do not extend across any ocean.

National Day of Mourning began in 1970 when a Wampanoag man, Wamsutta Frank James, was asked to speak at a state dinner celebrating the 350th anniversary of the pilgrim landing. He refused to speak false words in praise of the white man for bringing civilization to us poor heathens. Native people from throughout the Americas came to Plymouth, where they mourned their forebears who had been sold into slavery, burned alive, massacred, cheated, and mistreated since the arrival of the Pilgrims in 1620.

But the commemoration of National Day of Mourning goes far beyond the circumstances of 1970.
Can we give thanks as we remember Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier, who was framed up by the FBI and has been falsely imprisoned since 1976? Despite mountains of evidence exonerating Peltier and the proven misconduct of federal prosecutors and the FBI, Peltier has been denied a new trial. Bill Clinton apparently does not feel that particular pain and has refused to grant clemency to this innocent man.

To Native people, the case of Peltier is one more ordeal in a litany of wrongdoings committed by the U.S. government against us. While the media in New England present images of the "Pequot miracle" in Connecticut, the vast majority of Native people continue to live in the most abysmal poverty.

Can we give thanks for the fact that, on many reservations, unemployment rates surpass fifty percent? Our life expectancies are much lower, our infant mortality and teen suicide rates much higher, than those of white Americans. Racist stereotypes of Native people, such as those perpetuated by the Cleveland Indians, the Atlanta Braves, and countless local and national sports teams, persist. Every single one of the more than 350 treaties that Native nations signed has been broken by the U.S. government. The bipartisan budget cuts have severely reduced educational opportunities for Native youth and the development of new housing on reservations, and have caused cause deadly cutbacks in health-care and other necessary services.

Are we to give thanks for being treated as unwelcome in our own country?

Or perhaps we are expected to give thanks for the war that is being waged by the Mexican government against Indigenous peoples there, with the military aid of the U.S. in the form of helicopters and other equipment? When the descendants of the Aztec, Maya, and Inca flee to the U.S., the descendants of the wash-ashore pilgrims term them 'illegal aliens" and hunt them down.

We object to the "Pilgrim Progress" parade and to what goes on in Plymouth because they are making millions of tourist dollars every year from the false pilgrim mythology. That money is being made off the backs of our slaughtered indigenous ancestors.

Increasing numbers of people are seeking alternatives to such holidays as Columbus Day and Thanksgiving. They are coming to the conclusion that, if we are ever to achieve some sense of community, we must first face the truth about the history of this country and the toll that history has taken on the lives of millions of Indigenous, Black, Latino, Asian, and poor and working class white people.

The myth of Thanksgiving, served up with dollops of European superiority and manifest destiny, just does not work for many people in this country. As Malcolm X once said about the African-American experience in America, "We did not land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on us." Exactly.

[Mahtowin Munro (Lakota) and Moonanum James (Wampanoag)are co-leaders ofUnited American Indians of New England.]

BEST Occupy Video - Beware!

2011-11-16T21:24:00.000-08:00

And be enraged! See ya in the streets!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S880UldxB1o&feature=related

We the people DEMAND:

2011-11-15T22:04:00.000-08:00

1) An immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of all U.S. military, contractors, corporations from every combat zone we are in including but not limited to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Haiti

2) An immediate cessation to building any new military bases; and/or “U.S. embassies” over 50 people.

3) An immediate closure of ALL drone &/or any other robotic warfare installations, bases, launching pads, weapons & military-use research etc.

4) Amnesty and immediate release from prison of all persons imprisoned for non-violent “crimes” including political prisoners; the criminally insane moved to special institutions that really care for them; people willing to commit violence moved to special facilities that can protect others from their violence and really care for them, resulting in the closure and use re-appropriation of existing prisons.

5) A closure of all U.S. military bases around the world, bringing all our troops, contractors, corporations home within one year; and re-appropriation of those resources to the poor of the country of origin with adequate monetary resources to transition to non-military uses, decided upon by the poorest people.

6) Legalize all drugs and decriminalize prostitution, making it legal to sell sex and/or drugs. Follow Sweden’s example: make it criminal to buy sex with huge fines & long prison terms for those buying sex; simultaneously provide choice of 4 year training program and total support for prostitutes who want to seek a new career.

7) Fully funded universal healthcare, public education, and housing for all provided for by reversing the current tax structure & eliminating all tax breaks and/or deductions: people with incomes above $1 million pay 50% of their income taxes; above $500,000 30% taxes; above $250,000 25%; above $100,000 20%; above $25,000 10%.

8) An immediate ban on all pesticides, fertilizers, gmo or engineered foods

9) An immediate closure of all nuclear power plants, coal plants; an immediate 50% reduction in our consumption of energy; and an immediate transfer to providing subsidies and support for alternative energy

10) An immediate cessation of the manufacture of all weapons, and the selling of any weapon at home or abroad.

11) Disarm all military & police & public

12) All healthcare & education debt immediately canceled; all credit card interest debt canceled & monthly payments reduced according to ability to pay; & mortgage interest debt (for mortgages up to $500,000)immediately canceled, payments reduced according to ability to pay; mortgages over $500,000, all interest debt collected goes to subsidizing quality affordable housing for low-income people

13) Immediately nationalize oil, drug, & bank corporations; nationalize all corporations within one year, and finance business whose purpose is based on public good and not profits.

14) The wealth of the 1% (the 51% of U.S. wealth) distributed as reparations to the Indigenous People of this country, African Americans, and all the peoples of all the countries of the world we have attacked, bombed, invaded, occupied since we began colonizing the world. The remaining 49% of U.S. wealth needs to be redistributed equitably among the 100% of this nation.

15) Place a national cap on all annual salaries, including “perks”, at $250,000 and a minimum annual salary of $25,000 – so no one makes less than $25,000 or more than $250,000, with an eventual leveling off where all adults are paid the same salary including mothers whose salaries begin at the highest end.

Who do we HONOR today?

2011-11-11T09:28:00.001-08:00

Honor the men (and some women) who have acted as the bully police enforcers for the U.S. empire corporate rule around the world?

And so will there come a day that we honor the Atlanta police also for acting as the enforcers of corporate rule here in Atlanta?

Are we so dazzled by the spell of the mighty Military Industrial Complex that depends on us, the public, supporting the lie that veterans are "serving" our country that we cannot speak the truth: that soldiers/veterans have been used as the cannon fodder, the instruments of death, torture, rape, destruction for countries that are filled with Black and Brown peoples, that the true "service" they are performing is the service of our corporations, the wealthy, that are helping themselves to the resources of these nations?

These are the men who, at the very cusp of adulthood, have their youthful idealism exploited, their naive at best views of the world & the U.S. manipulated, their bodies and spirits severely damaged, maybe beyond repair, by their "service" for our mighty Military Industrial Complex.

These are the men who have agreed to be trained as killers, who have been willing to pick up more and more horrendous weapons, to engage in crueler and more inhuman acts against mostly physically small, grossly under-armed and/or unarmed, poor (as in severely lacking both the resources and the desire to greedily conquer the world), mostly people of color.

We should "honor" the men who have irreparably harmed these people of the world and their lands, our Mother Earth?

These are the men who have been willing to commit or committed acts so inhuman that more Vietnam Veterans have ended up committing suicide than were actually killed in combat?

What kind of bravery are you talking about here? How "brave" does one have to be to belong to the police force of the richest nation of the world who has spent MORE money on the military, weapons, training, etc., then EVERY OTHER SINGLE NATION COMBINED? How "brave" does one have to be to blindly follow orders from "higher ups", to never be held accountable for making decisions that result in terror, to act with impunity under the shield of the Military Industrial Complex?

I suggest we honor the true warriors: the Conscientious Objector, the mothers' sons who refuse to harm another mothers' sons, those who stand against the mighty Military Industrial Complex and the war machine.

I suggest we reclaim the true intent of this day, Armistice Day, before it was co-opted by the Military Industrial Complex, to mark the END of all wars.

I suggest we liberate veterans from the spell of the Military Industrial Complex that forces them to justify all manifestations of military violence as not just 'normal' but 'honorary' behavior; when in fact, it is behavior that no human being should ever engage in.

Until we are willing to confront and engage in the work we need to do to dismantle both the Military Industrial Complex and the Prison Industrial Complex - which are the true driving forces behind our economy, our empire, our oppression - our occupy movement will merely replicate what we already have.

This Veterans Day...

2011-11-10T08:12:00.000-08:00

I think we should make sure we use this Veteran's Day opportunity to invite & challenge all those veterans & their families who once believed that killing Iraqis, Afghans, and other defenseless human beings in all the nations that our corporations sent the military in to procure their resources, was "fighting for our right to free speech", to come to Occupies, link arms, and stand before the police line & between police and demonstrators, to REALLY have the courage it takes to fight for our rights in this land and on this soil!

I think we should NOT be on the "support our veterans", "support our military", "support our soldiers" band wagon simply because we are falling under the mighty propaganda machine that claims the military and it's members are entitled to act with impunity, are above our criticisms, merely because they are a vital part of the military industrial complex; and attempts to forbid us to hold them accountable (as we hold ourselves the taxpayers & all the tenets of the m.i.c.) for their part in our world domination.

And I think we should be able to do this with compassion and without being subjected or succumbing to the violence of being screamed at, labeled "unamerican" (altho if being "american" means I do not have the right to hold our military as accountable as I hold other war profiteers and war mongers, then maybe the shoe fits!), and told "we/they're fighting for our rights of free speech - now shut up!"

Chosen Family!

2011-11-09T03:57:00.000-08:00

The Black Block Truth

2011-11-08T13:15:00.000-08:00

Let us reaffirm our commitment to NOT allow the police, the media, other people to define, determine, direct our responses, our actions, our framing the issues. We KNOW they LIE! Here is the truth by the amazing Susie Cagle:

http://www.alternet.org/story/152990/police_state_in_oakland_one_reporter%27s_arrest_contradicts_official_story/

Police State in Oakland? One Reporter's Arrest Contradicts Official Story

Oakland has spent more than $1 million on Occupy policing, but nearly all of that overwhelming force has been used against innocent people.

"Everybody on the ground, you're under arrest! Everybody on the ground, you're under arrest!" the officer yelled through his gas mask, gesturing with his baton.

As I slipped my camera in my pocket and dropped to the ground, I couldn't help but think: This wasn't part of the plan.

At least not my plan.

A series of escalations at Occupy Oakland following Wednesday, November 2nd's General Strike culminated in 101 arrests between 1 and 2 am on Thursday morning -- including my own.

Interim Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan called the arrestees "generally anarchists and provocateurs" in a statement later Thursday. Despite Oakland Mayor Jean Quan's claims that the city would not be calling for mutual aid--a call for supporting forces from surrounding police agencies to reinforce OPD--in future engagements with Occupy Oakland demonstrators, Jordan called in the order around 4 p.m., following the vandalizing of several large banks, a Whole Foods and a few smaller businesses in the downtown area.

While police from around the Bay Area geared up for a confrontation, Occupy Oakland was shifting strategies. Shortly after 10 p.m., occupiers descended upon the foreclosed Traveler's Aid Society building at 520 16th Street. It was a calculated escalation, at least in theory: forcing the police to defend the rights of the property owners or the people, effectively choosing loyalty to the 1 or the 99 percent. The scene was joyous but chaotic, a dance party punctuated by calls to "reinforce the perimeters." Just before 11 p.m., as local agencies led by the Oakland Police Department drove south toward the plaza, a banner was unfurled from the top of the building, declaring it a community center and free school.

At the same time, barricades were built up at either end of 16th street. Garbage cans, tires, wooden palettes and furniture were piled in a vain but aggressive attempt to protect the occupied building. A police helicopter circled lower and lower overhead, drowning out the arguments between peaceful protestors and those looking for confrontation. At 11:33 p.m., I tweeted, "nearly run over by black bloc pushing dumpster into growing barricade."

At some point over the 15 minutes it took me to make my way north to document the police mobilization, those barricades were lit on fire. As I stood at 17th and Telegraph looking south from behind the police line -- first held by Oakland police, then less hardcore troops from San Leandro -- a column of black smoke snaked up between the office buildings. 12:01 a.m.: "three minutes to leave, police: 'mask up!!'"

As police blocked streets leading to the plaza and began firing tear gas down Telegraph, I was not the only one tweeting with urgency. Mayor Quan was also on the soapbox, urging protestors to get in touch in the midst of the melee.

12:06 a.m. Reports that tires are burning and barricades set up on 16th. Protestors need to call my office now.

12:09 a.m. OPD has not taken action. Smoke is from burning barricade. I'll say it again, protestors need to call now.

She hasn't updated since.

At 12:25 a.m., as the flames continued to grow, a dispersal order was made from an LRAD (long range acoustic device) at 17th and Telegraph calling for demonstrators to "disperse down Broadway and Telegraph" directly to the south.

The skirmish line one block to the west at 16th and San Pablo seemed comparatively peaceful. At 12:45 a.m., reporters were clustered behind two lines of police at the intersection, just north of the entrance to Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant Plaza.

On the other side of the line, occupier Scott Campbell was filming the police just a few minutes later when one of them shot him in the thigh with a "less lethal" projectile. "The dispersal order I heard said, go south down Broadway," Campbell told me later.

The next LRAD dispersal order at 16th and San Pablo called for demonstrators to move into the plaza -- where the front line had set up in the middle of a parking area technically inside the plaza limits. That's when things got really confusing.

Over the course of two hours sitting handcuffed on a curb before being transferred to jail, I asked arresting OPD officers what their dispersal orders had been in the minutes before and after 1 a.m. They smiled and laughed. "We told you guys a million times, go back into the tents," they said.

"Not the plaza?" I asked.

"The tents, the tents," they emphasized.

No one I spoke with since Wednesday night heard this order, or understood it when discussed.

Kate Sassoon crossed the barricade at the north end of the plaza around 1 a.m. because she couldn't hear the garbled order. "I didn't hear where to disperse to or the time limit," she told me. "We were all in the plaza, so I felt like, everyone is safe here, what is going on? Why are you threatening us? This was supposed to be okay here."

The distinction between the north section of the plaza and the "tents" of the south area of the plaza was unprecedented in city policy toward the occupation. That trust in the city's previous statements about "the plaza" inclusive was what made Sassoon, myself and many others in the north plaza feel secure in their safety even when faced down by lines of police in riot gear.

The Oakland Police Department arrestee lists my arrest as occurring at 1:00 a.m. which is impossible, as I tweeted at 1:11 a.m.: sounds like they are declaring unlawful assembly at north end of plaza.

As I hit send, a teargas canister was thrown down a side street just north of city hall, followed by a line of police running, yelling and firing on individuals in the very spot where just a few hours earlier people had been barbecuing hot dogs.

I ran for cover in a nearby doorway with medics, legal observers and many scared occupiers as two police lines marched on the plaza, firing tear gas, flash bangs and "less lethal" projectiles in rapid succession. When they approached the entrance to our doorway, people screamed, "Peace, we want peace!" and "Don't shoot!" with hands up.

"We don't want to hurt you guys, we hope you don't want to hurt us!"

A minute later we were all face down on the ground.

When I told my arresting officer that I was press, I was first told, "We'll take care of that in a minute." That next minute turned into 15 hours in two different jails.

First, we were split up by gender for transport a few blocks south to be booked. This took three hours. Upon arrival at North County jail, we were searched by Alameda County sheriffs ("Do you have any weapons of mass destruction?" they asked while grabbing at our breasts) and urine tested for pregnancy. That night bled into day, when all 25 women were transferred to another jail 40 minutes outside Oakland, because no jail in the city is technically equipped to handle female inmates.

Upon transfer to Santa Rita jail, demonstrator Andrea Barrera was denied her prescription antibiotics and threatened with recourse. "Maybe I'll accidentally lose your paperwork and you'll be here all week," Sheriff Fox told her, only one of many times such a threat was made against us "prisoners." Barrera did not receive her medication until her release.

After transfer, we were subjected to another round of searches, this time more invasive than the last. While standing single file in a hallway with male inmates leering and licking the windows in their cell doors, we were told to hold out our bras and shake our breasts. "Come on, ladies, shimmy," said one sheriff. "Get into it. Shimmy."

Journalists have no special protections in Occupy demonstrations, especially journalists representing national media organizations. Local police rules give privilege to local media with locally dispensed "official" press passes, resulting in a local media who are more or less embedded with the government. This system actively discourages prying outside eyes.

But my experience counterintuitively revealed the opposite. At a time of such intense public scrutiny, the Oakland Police Department made the mistake of arresting a journalist, and sending her into the heart of an ugly process with which not only demonstrators but many other Oakland residents have long been familiar. They gave me an unmatched, visceral opportunity to understand what makes Oakland residents so angry with the police.

And then they threatened me upon release not to return to the plaza, because if I am arrested on the same misdemeanor charge before my December 5 arraignment date, I will be charged with a felony.

Chief Jordan said that police Wednesday night and Thursday morning were attacked with rocks, bottles and spit by many demonstrators. But of 101 protestors, 93 were charged with a PC 409 misdemeanor, "failure to leave scene of riot, etc." These are Jordan's "generally anarchists and provocateurs," the ones used to justify the force he called in -- reporters, National Lawyer's Guild observers, medics, dozens of peaceful demonstrators, and even bystanders on their way home from BART and downtown bars.

Before Wednesday night's actions and arrests, the city of Oakland had spent upwards of $1 million so far on Occupy operations. It will be several days until official figures are released on this latest show of force. Unfortunately not just for the occupation but for the entire city of Oakland, more than 90% of that force was deployed against innocent people.

Nov 25! A Women's Day of Action at Wall Street

2011-11-08T03:28:00.000-08:00

From Occupy Patriarchy:

SPREAD THE WORD: Come join us in NYC for a Feminist Day of Action at Occupy Wall Street. The action is the first day of a National 15 days of action against violence against women. Feminist organizers include Af3rm, Answer, Blackwomen Blueprint, Sistersong, and Feminism Now (a podcast co-produced by yours truly).

The date is 25th November—“Black Friday”: March instead of Shop...

Assemble at Battery Park 4 pm... march to Liberty Square at Wall Street (Women Take Liberty at anti-battery park! Women Take Liberty Square!). End Violence against Women. Dismantle Wall Street. email: nynj@af3irm.org

Occupy Agreements

2011-11-05T14:35:00.000-07:00

We are occupying to:

1) End all U.S. wars, invasions, occupations NOW including:

a. Abroad: against Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Haiti

b. At Home: against Black, Brown, Indigenous people, poor people, the Mother Earth, womyn, all human beings

2) Dismantle the Military & Prison Industrial Complexes

3) Abolish White Supremacy, Patriarchy, all forms of Classism

4) Eliminate corporate personhood and First Amendment rights, and corporate power over any public sector institutions, services, venues thus eradicating profit motive/rewards in providing for such basic human rights & needs.

5) Redistribution of wealth to achieve resource equity among all human beings in this country and around the world

Agreements for womonists/feminists working together

2011-11-05T10:08:00.000-07:00

1) We embrace feminist/womonist principals of anti-racism, cooperation, problem-solving, critical thinking, compassion, compromise, commitment, analysis and processing!!!

2) We have a deep, long-term commitment and we are in this for the long haul: disagreements, disappointments, feelings hurt, angry NO MATTER WHAT!

3) Whereas we will all do everything in our power to help each other out and work together cooperatively to provide for our needs, never-the-less, every womon is responsible for herself: from logistics (food, bedding, clothing) to making sure the action you want to take place actually happens - and YOU make it happen the way you want it to, in cooperation/help with/from other folks

4) We are committed to non-violence towards human beings, the Mother Earth, and all life: both when executing our action(s) AND within our internal structure and relationships

5) We agree to be responsible for something only when we're 100% sure we are going to do it (or we find someone else to take our place) - we all have to count on each other

6) We are all leaders and we are a team: we work as a team, with activists willing to bottom-line, coordinate, and be point people – and we will rotate these jobs

7) The weight of one’s criticism will be equivalent to the work one has put into the action/event; and criticism must be accompanied by willingness to do the work to implement the change one wants to see

8) We will not use such statements as “that will never happen”, “we will never be able to do …”, etc. but instead we will use our analytical framework to figure out obstacles to making something work, and then make a plan for overcoming those obstacles

9) Actions are determined by the individual/teams that decide to do them; if someone doesn’t want to do an action or disagrees, or if they missed the planning sessions, they can express, negotiate, persuade: then either roll up their sleeves and get busy, or get out of the way.

10) We will not allow the right-wing or mainstream press to determine our actions or how we decide to be – we will “consider the source” of any criticism & we will not react to outsiders’ negative characterization of our actions or beings. We will define who we are & what we want to do; we will not be co-opted by ‘bad’ press, etc.

11) We will be vigilant & aware of attempts to undermine our work, both from within & without – and we will not allow for the destruction of our cohesiveness, the distraction from our work & goals, the deterring of our focus from ending war & violence at home and abroad

12) We will appreciate the number of womyn who show up for an action and the length and scope of the action, no matter how ‘few’ or how ‘small’

13) We will not speak poorly, negatively, or discredit any other womon, behind people’s backs, on line, to others outside our group. If we have ‘issues’, we will talk with that person directly; failing that, we will use mediation and conflict resolution to move on

Arriving Johnson City, Tennessee

2011-11-04T21:47:00.000-07:00

I feel so lucky to witness as much of the beautiful lush fall forests covering these mountains, so vibrant with colors they could be bouquets of perfect flowers. The yellows, caramels, ambers, reds, wine, browns, rust, blacks, greens of fall still permeate the land, altho there is a predominance of browns now.

When I arrive in downtown Johnson City, the road where the occupation is to take place is blocked off by police barricades leading me to ponder the number of folks that have occupies for this small town.

The downtown appears to be small, less trim, much more crowded building-wise than the Virginia towns I stopped in. As I drive around the couple of blocks that are all closed, I realize there is something else happening besides the occupation.

It is first Friday in Johnson City and it looks like every bar is open, spilling over with youth and loud 'music'. I find a park on a street that says closed but someone has moved aside the barriers and I quietly just follow other cars as we all find a place to park.

It is freezing, a wet, heavy cold and very dark now. I search for the street where the occupation is supposed to be, find it but cannot find the tents, just a huge parking lot that has "farmers market" signs in it in front of a long building that appears it might have been an ancient warehouse for a train station at some point.

I see a car parked with signs in the window. I have to wipe the cold condensation off the window the read "Occupy Johnson City" full page flyers that lack the exact location. Hmmmmm

I walk around a little more, peering into closed buildings and crossing old railroad tracks. Finally I remember the posting I read on line mentioned an empty lot behind a building so I start to my search to include the backs of buildings.

Joyfully in a few minutes I spot a few tents around the corner of a building. As I approach, I see a miniature Occupy D.C. with the canopies and personal tents set up around a huge, grassy lot - only this one has a nice little fire going and bodies snuggling around it.

I rescue my truck from the closed street, drive to the encampment, and park alongside the other vehicles there.

I have arrived!

Occupy Roanoke - or another nice christian

2011-11-04T18:07:00.000-07:00

Roanoke is another 'old' city in Virginia, with the narrow, 2 lane streets flanked by brick and marble buildings from the early 19th century, with a town square and outdoor market place. It is slightly larger than Harrisonburg and has actual "walk" signs along with traffic lights visible to pedestrians (unlike Harrisonburg...)

I cannot find the folks that are supposed to be standing across from the fountain at the market place (I am a little late) but the first person I ask knows about Occupy Roanoke! but just doesn't know where to find them.

I find a coffee shop whose proprietor also knows of Occupy Roanoke, gets a strange look on his face, and tells me to check out the fella who owns the bike shop about 3 blocks away.

I enter the bike shop and ask if he knows about Occupy Roanoke. I am addressing a very small, short, trim white male maybe in his 40's who looks at me askance, wanting to know who wants to know.

I introduce myself and he grabs me in a bearlet hug, so happy he is to see me. He tells me how he has been with Occupy Roanoke from the beginning and hints at his overload of responsibilities. I ask where folks are and he's not sure who else is around.

He tells me people will show up for the afternoon protest at 4. He hesitates and adds "or maybe 4:30". Maybe 5, he mutters, as if he's lost touch with them. He hops on his bike and rides the 3 blocks to the site to unlock the portajohns.

No one is encamping, he's not encouraging it as the police have been very cooperative and he doesn't think it is the time to rock the boat. He is grateful for the police lack of interference.

I have already been sunnily greeted by one such tall, white, male smiling uniformed member on my walk over to the bike store so I can attest to the cooperative police presence here in Roanoke.

I head to the protest site myself. It is at the edge of the town square park, that is bordered by busy (for Roanoke I'm sure) 2 and 4 lane streets, across from the freeway entrances, and facing a huge hospital. I retrieve my truck from it's downtown prime location and move it into the hospital parking lot, one slot from the freeway entrance, which is taken by a dumb hummer.

No one shows up for this Friday evening protest but me! The bike guy tells me that about 50 people will show up for the G.A. tomorrow, Saturday. He has decided (with the G.A. consensus I assume) to hold it only once a week because they want to be "inclusive" and many folks come from miles away, having a hard enough time to make it once a week.

I am dying to attend this G.A. but I must continue. I am sure I've worn out my welcome at two of the three coffee shops in town, as I get on line, blog, and research my next steps. Johnson City is starting their occupation TONITE! So I REALLY want to be there for that exciting step!

Returning to my truck, I find the hummer fella has left a little baptist card on my windshield demanding I repent. He has written with bold black lines, repeatedly thickened and underscored "F.U." across the scripture on the back of the little card.

Sigh, another nice christian!

On the glorification of the cannon fodder... i.e. veterans day

2011-11-04T15:48:00.000-07:00

We need to end glorification of the military, including the fear of 'appearing' anti-vet. Veterans are not gods but human beings who have been used as instruments of war and cannon fodder. Veterans Day, in our military industrial complex's propaganda campaign to make wars palatable, co-opted Armistice Day, which was the recognition of the cessation of war, not the glorification of the instruments of war.

Let us reclaim Veterans Day as Armistice Day and vow to END ALL WARS NOW!