los anjalis

In a beautiful showdown at the October 15th Times Square #OccupyWallStreet protest yesterday, a US Marine yelled at NYPD police for their aggressive behavior. Marine Sergeant Shamar Thomas first talked peacefully to the police, then yelled at them, as they blasted on their megaphones statements like “leave the sidewalk and nobody gets hurt.” So many people who were tweeting or speaking on livecams from the protest side confirmed that the NYPD were being aggressive and repeatedly threatened protesters about hurting them if they didn’t immediately heed the commands to move out of Times Square (where they were very peacefully protesting). After a minute or two, the US Marine became increasingly angry, and among what he yelled to the NYPD were:

“These are U.S. citizens peacefully protesting! These are the people you are supposed to protect!” “Why are you all acting like there’s a war out here, no one has guns! Why are you treating people like this! This is America, why are you treating people like this! Nobody’s gonna hurt you guys. Why are you all gearing up like this is war? This is not war! This is not war!

Why am you all acting like this? No one has guns. There are no bullets flying out here. How tough are you? How do you sleep at night? There is no honor in this. None. It takes a coward to hurt an unarmed civilian!”

It was so moving to see a US Marine check the NYPD on their actions, and remind them of their duty to protect, not threaten, the protesters. It was also moving to me, personally, to see this anger come from the mouth of a black man, and for his words to be respected (instead of tasers or batons being unleashed on him). Viewing the video, you get a sense of the collective frustration and rage of the crowd, coming out of the mouth of a US serviceman.

We are living history right now. Can you feel it?

Another video of the same interaction:

Cross-posted at CureThis:

“This law will make me feel like a Nazi out there.  I have a great deal of contempt for it; I’m very emotional about it… This law is – pure and simple – a racist law.”

In the lead-up to the implementation of SB1070, the Arizona law known commonly as “papers please”, it is heartening to see a police officer in AZ speak up against it:

He very clearly states why this law is a huge health/human rights violation:

“So under SB1070 I know that people will not call officers in the case of a real emergency. I could see this type of scenario: a woman is being beaten by her husband or her significant other.  And, if I show up, and I develop reasonable suspicion, or LESS, even, that the person that is a perpetrator in this case, is in this country extralegally, i’m going to start heading in the direction of asking the victim of the case, are you here illegally?  I will have to arrest both of them — I’ll be required to — and both will be deported.  It violates our calling to serve and protect. It violates, under our Constitution, the requirement to serve and protect.”

Thanks to the savvy folks at Cuentame for collecting video testimonials. And check out Alto Arizona for actions in Arizona this week, and solidarity actions you can join in your own towns and states.

Yesterday as I was purchasing my afternoon coffee, I saw a copy of the New York times at the local coffeehouse, featuring an article on its FRONT PAGE entitled, “With Advocates’ Help, Squatters Call Foreclosures Home.” Check out the short article. Thanks to folks like Take Back the Land’s Max Rameu, the Miami Workers Center, Women in Transition, sheriffs in Ohio who refuse to evict people from their houses, the Poor Peoples’ Economic Human Rights Campaign, and others working together in their communities to preserve a little human dignity in this recession. It reminds me of the question that Travis Koplow brought up about a Los Angeles neighborhood council meeting and foreclosed houses:

Is it so important that we protect capital itself? Is the protection of property is more important than the safety and protection of people?

My friend Saba shared a comment on that previous post, with the website for Take Back the Land. Here’s the latest video, an interview on CNN.

Thoughts?

Check out this powerful and moving plea for healthy development and environmental justice, from Majora Carter — an inspiring and courageous activist and organizer in the South Bronx. This talk, entitled “Greening the Ghetto” was given at the TED conference in 2006.

“Environmental justice goes something like this: no community should be saddled with more environmental burdens, and less environmental benefits, than any other.”

Carter links unjust urban development to health problems, talks race, and discusses the potential and the imperative for Americans to move towards REAL and just sustainable development.

She ends with a bang, stating that communities affected by environmental injustices must be at the decision-making table regarding local and national strategies. Check it out in the video, here’s here ending paragraph, it is SO absolutely true, whether the issue is environmental justice, health care reform, city planning, or schools:

“I spoke to Mr [Al] Gore, the other day after breakfast. I asked him how environmental justice activists were going to be included in this new strategy. His response was a grant program. I don’t think he understood that I wasn’t asking for funding; I was making HIM an offer. What troubled me was that this top down approach is still around. Don’t get me wrong, we need money. But grassroots groups are needed at the table DURING the decision-making process. Of the 90 percent of the energy that Mr Gore reminded us that we waste everyday, don’t add wasting OUR energy, intelligence, and hard earned experience to that count.”

Two legends of American folk, Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen, sang “This Land is Your Land” (along with Pete Seeger’s grandson, Tao Rodríguez-Seeger) at the Obama Pre-Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial in DC. However, they say the original lyrics, which includes two verses by Woody Guthrie that are not as well known (the verses about private property and the hungry Americans at the relief office). There were half a million people in the audience at this performance, and the video is quite moving. We share it with you here. Feel free to sing along, it’s better that way.

This Land Is Your Land

This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.

I’ve roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.

There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me;
Sign was painted, it said private property;
But on the back side it didn’t say nothing;
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

Here’s a link to Woody Guthrie’s website with lyrics. And the Wikipedia entry for This Land is Your Land, with a bit of history (including why Guthrie wrote the famous folk song).

(Below is cross-posted a post I wrote over at LAist.com)

Photo by tao_zhyn on Flickr

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UHDR), adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The 30 articles of this declaration were written after the Second World War and represent the first global expression of human rights worldwide. The UHDR is the most translated document in the world and has inspired many international treaties and laws.

Now is as good a time as ever to remind ourselves of the human rights issues prevailing abroad, in the US, and here in Los Angeles. Violence and human rights abuses exist around the world, currently in Zimbabwe, Mumbai, Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan, among other regions. Millions go without clean water or enough food. And a global financial crisis is ever present.

It is easy to focus on human rights abroad, but here in Los Angeles we have our own slew of human rights violations, including a housing crisis, homelessness, ICE raids, police brutality, displacement of communities in the name of development, health care access problems, unprocessed rape kits, and an increasing disparity between the wealthy and the poor. At the same time, there is much reason for hope.

One shining local example of this is in South Los Angeles, the area formerly known as South Central LA, where a unique coalition of health care providers, promotoras, and dedicated community organizations recently teamed up to address “The Perfect Storm” – the combination of homelessness, the housing/credit crisis, public health, and law enforcement issues. The coalition, known as the Homelessness Prevention and Intervention Collaborative, conducted an exhaustive survey of homelessness in South Los Angeles. And in October, they announced the findings of a report — Taming the Perfect Storm — written by Dr Rishi Manchanda, Director of Social Medicine at St. Johns Well Child and Family Center and the coordinator of the collective. In addition to describing the problem, the report presents recommendations for human-rights based solutions to the crisis in South LA. The report is well worth reading and concludes with:

In the nation as a whole, persistent widespread homelessness and the health care crisis offer compelling evidence of a collective disregard for human rights. Few places exhibit the ill effects of this disregard like South Los Angeles. Conversely, no other community stands to benefit as much from a community-based human rights approach to health. With a firm understanding of the links between critical determinants of health like housing, public and community health resources, and law enforcement policy, we commit to build the political will and skills needed to tame this perfect storm of homelessness and poor health. In short, we commit to reclaim and redefine our community guided by the practical application of fundamental human rights principles. As an important stage of community dialogue on the right to health, housing, and security begins, we welcome all constructive comments and critiques of this report.

On a national level, our President-Elect Barack Obama has stated a commitment to shutting down Guantanamo, ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, strengthening the United Nations, improving diplomatic relations with other countries, and paying attention to the global crises of poverty and HIV/AIDS worldwide. And on this 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human rights, the official website of the United Nations notes:

“Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and ‘to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories.’”

On that note, I encourage you to read the 30 articles of the declaration. Aloud. To friends, family, anybody who will listen. In declaratory fashion. Try it. It’s quite compelling and a quick read. (idea inspired by my friend Linda who suggested this to me and 4 other friends as we were building and dreaming, during a break at a conference in El Salvador last year).

[This post is cross-posted at Cure This.org].

From a Washington Post editorial by Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition against Hunger:

Our country has been told that a gargantuan government rescue of the private sector is necessary because the collapse of major financial institutions would lead to unthinkable outcomes for society. Almost as if by magic, our nation’s leaders conjure up vast sums to respond to this crisis.

Yet when advocates point out that our nation is facing an altogether different kind of crisis, one of soaring hunger and homelessness, and that a large-scale bailout is needed to prevent social service providers nationwide from buckling under the increasing load, we are told that the money these agencies need just doesn’t exist.

In 2006, fully 35.5 million Americans, 4 million more than in 1999, lived in households that couldn’t afford enough food, according to the Agriculture Department. Those households included more than 4 million children.

Last December, the U.S. Conference of Mayors reported that out of 23 major American cities, 80 percent had an increase in people using emergency soup kitchens and food pantries and 43 percent had an increase in the number of homeless children. All that happened between November 2006 and November 2007.

How did the federal government respond? It didn’t.

The only federal program that provides cash to both emergency feeding programs and homelessness prevention services, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program, wasn’t expanded by a penny…

…When we ask members of Congress and lobbyists to help obtain serious funding increases to meet the soaring needs, we are patronizingly praised for our good work but told that times are just too tough to increase budgets. Maybe there will be more money when the economy improves, they tell us, oblivious to the reality that funding for our programs is most needed when the economy is weakest.

Some photos from a talented photographer who was arrested today at the peaceful protest outside the Republican National Convention. Apparently 43 others were arrested together, paraded to the press (as Webster states) and then cited for presence without a permit and then released. This was Day 2 of the RNC. On Day 1, the riot police arrested 300 people, 250 charged with CONSPIRACY to RIOT (including a few journalists). The second photo above is of a mass detention of 300 people on day 1 of the RNC protests. On both days — pepper spray and tear gas used indiscriminately, as per passers-by and protesters.

Also of note — LB on the Poor Peoples March (check out the photo):

Do these people look like a ravening mob to you? A few minutes later, the police tear gassed the whole block after pushed the crowd back about a block or two.

What you can’t see in the picture is that bicycle and riot cops were surrounding groups of people on the sidewalk and blocking the intersections at both ends of the block.

And LB on infiltrators:

When the anarchist checked the photographs she recognized the familiar-looking guy as one of the officers who had raided the Convergence Space on Smith Ave. the previous week.

The Pioneer Press traced the license plate of the unmarked sedan to the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office.

Court documents also show that the police relied heavily, in some cases exclusively on the testimony of paid informants to lay conspiracy charges against certain defendants.

Keep these facts in mind when assessing claims that anarchists are responsible for various misdeeds at protests. If the authorities can infiltrate, they can also instigate.

Obama’s totally playin’ the media into thinking his VP pick is going to be Evan Bayh. I don’t think that’s going to be the case. Other names that have been thrown around from insiders and speculators include Kaine and Biden. Yeah, I too was like “who’s Kaine?” And Biden’s great on foreign policy and a number of other issues, but I just don’t think he’s going to be the one. However, all this back and forth thinking is just the game Obama’s playing, which i think is very smart. He controls the media in a much more positive way that Bush/Cheney/Rove do (where they feed the media B.S. that the media spews, causing us to go to war and kill hundreds of thousands and displace millions). But it’s getting a little tiring (I’d like the media to focus on bigger issues and just wait on the VP pick). Jay Rosen, a professor of journalism and media reformer expresses this exhaustion in two 140 character messages (the size of a message on the popular service Twitter):

Press: “We can find out who your VP is going to be before you announce it.” Obama: No you can’t. Can too! Cannot! On yeah? Yeah! Riveting.

Obama: “I can get the word out to and through my supporters.” Press: “Not if we find out first and tell them, you can’t! Dun-dun-dun!!

And today I received an email from Michael Moore’s mailing list — an open letter to Caroline Kennedy calling for her to be VP (she’s the chair of the obama VP search committee). Obama-Kennedy!

But now on dailykos, folks are joking around about what the TEXT message that Obama’s campaign sends out will be. (Obama sent out emails to his supporters offering to text message the name of his VP pick as soon as he announces his pick).

Some of the funny ones:

“Obama chooses Maddow, D-Reality, as his vice presidential running mate. To make a donation to the campaign, visit my.barackobama.com.”

Oh and Yay Rachel Maddow will now have her OWN SHOW on MSNBC! Woohoo! So absolutely excited, that woman is intelligent, witty, analytical, humble, and queer, yay for queer women in media! Ok back to the texts…

Love this one (lolcats style)!:

“OMG LOL CLARK BITCHEZ!!!1111!”

Many think Wesley Clark would be one of the strongest picks for VP.

On fundraising and suspense:

“I have chosen…. 2 C rst of msg, snd $40 2 mybarackobama.com. Thx!”

On more of obama:

“Obama/Obama ’08! I haz cloned self. Ur welcom!”

On ambiguity:

“”It’s Bayhden”

On twitter:

“hmm why doesn’t he just post it to twitter?”

My brother’s addition to the discussion:

“Barack Obama picks Wes Clark as his VP. McCain, you’ve been PWNED!”

American idol style (hilarious!):

“text to 688888

your choice

1 for Biden
2 for Feingold
3 for Kaine
4 for Gore”

Whatever the text message will be, I’m sure we’ll all be surprised (hopefully pleasantly). But honestly I do wish the media would cover a broader range of issues, you know like THE NEWS. Let we the people gossip about VP choices or what the contents of the most anticipated text message in history will contain.

Lastly — thousands (or more?) have signed up for this service, and when the announcement is made, the texts will stream in around the same time (off by seconds, perhaps by minutes depending on the load to the mobile services distributing the texts). I’m imagining a birds eye view of the scene at the moment people find out… more from a cultural/anthropological perspective than a gossip-spewing celebrity-adoring perspective. Wonder what that will look like…

(posted this on LAist earlier today)

Today will be historic. Throngs of voters will get out and vote NO on Proposition 98, a not thinly veiled attempt to destroy rent control and tenants rights. Of note, Los Angeles has the highest average rents (over $1500) of any city in the Western United States — even higher than San Francisco. In what direction will allowing the passage of Proposition 98 lead us?

Yesterday, Ross Lincoln wrote a fine post on LAist about the devil in the details regarding Prop 98 (and why we should vote NO). Today, we bring you a wonderful video that SAJE (Strategic Actions for Just Economies) developed to discuss the basis for and impact of Proposition 98. This animated story takes some of the confusion out of the proposition:

The video has been produced en espanol, tambien! Pass it on, and remind your friends and co-workers and family and passers-by — to vote NO on Proposition 98 TODAY.

And then, let’s celebrate in OUR streets.

(Photo: Sean Bell, fiance Nicole Paultre-Bell, and their daughter)

It was A cold cold day in February 2000. A few of us medical students, joined by a handful of members of the Newark, New Jersey community, stood on the main street outside the university hospital we worked at. We chanted, and we passed out information on Amadou Diallo’s wrongful death by cops in the NYPD, caused by 41 shots fired by plain clothed police officers who thought Diallo’s face matched that of a photo of a serial rapist they were after. He reached for his wallet as he ran up his apartment’s stairs, and they fired on him, killed him. 41 shots.

At several points we shouted on a megaphone: “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…” until we reached 41. In that light, 41 bullets seemed like SO. DAMN. MANY. The police officers were tried away from NYC, in Albany, without a jury, because of the negative press and therefore “biased” chance they would have. They were all acquitted.

8 years later, I’m equally livid and deeply saddened at the verdict of a trial of 3 plain clothed cops who shot 50 rounds of bullets (17 months ago) at unarmed men — killing Sean Bell on the night before his wedding, critically wounding Guzman, a passenger in his car, in a completely reckless and incompetent act. One of the officers even stopped to RELOAD his gun.

The NYTimes has a telling graphic, attached to an article on the Sean Bell case, profiling the cases of several victims of excessive force by the NYPD over the years. Most of the police officers got off completely scot-free, after committing heinous crimes. Also included is a list of all the charges against each officer — again, all 3 officers were acquitted of ALL charges against them.

The cops negotiated to have the case heard solely in front of a judge (no jury), stating that there was too much negative press around their case and therefore they wouldn’t have a fair trial if a jury was involved. Most others don’t get this “privilege”, especially folks from communities of color.

The judge, in his verdict acquitting the 3 police officers of ANY crime against Sean Bell and Joseph Guzman noted, “Carelessness is not a crime.” He also cited prior incarcerations of the victims, and noted that he didn’t like the demeanor of some of the witnesses on the stand. Wow.

Holly at Feministe has a great post about how this is a feminist issue:

somewhere out there, there certainly are some feminists who would not describe this as a feminist issue, despite the bereavement of Nicole Paultre Bell (who changed her name after her fiance’s death) and their daughter. Some writers might point to the fact that Sean Bell lay dead outside of a strip club in Queens where he was having his bachelor party, to his arrest record, or to his blood alcohol level. They could bring up the ugly, misogynist fact that one of Bell’s two friends previously pled guilty to hitting the mother of his child. Or the reports that Bell’s other friend got into an argument when pressured one of the club’s dancers to have paid sex with their entire group, which she didn’t want to do. Or they could just describe it as men killing men.

I feel kind of sick even mentioning all of these details surrounding an unarmed man who was gunned down with his friends on his wedding day. But I’m bringing them up precisely because I want to point out that these details do not matter and never have. All feminists should be familiar with victim-blaming and shifting the spotlight away from the executioners, the rapists, the impersonal forces that do their best to eliminate and kill women, the brown folks of the world, the poor, the different.

The problem here, as Delores Jones-Brown points out, is that there is a systemic pattern of police officers shooting unarmed suspects. The problem is that this disproportionately affects communities of color. The black men who are most often slaughtered by such violence, and all the women and children in their lives too, their loved ones, friends and relatives. A system that is all too eager to exonerate “the thin blue line” and continue business as usual. All of these are feminist issues. Racism must be a feminist issue, for any kind of feminism that counts. Police brutality must be; the biases of the criminal justice system must be.

Kai Chang shared an insightful comment on Holly’s blog post:

By complete coincidence, two nights ago I found myself sitting at a bar in Westchester next to one of the lead lawyers in the trial; indeed he was defending the cop who reloaded his weapon and emptied a second clip into the car. This lawyer was already celebrating; he was drinking martinis and boasting that it was over and the defense had won. I sat quietly and stared at my food as my stomach churned. The lawyer bragged to the bartender that the defense had successfully discredited the prosecution’s witnesses as drug dealers and drunks. He said the defense had made the case that when you’re firing at a car, the explosive impacts of bullets on the car give you the visual impression that there is return fire coming back at you, which explains why they kept on firing at unarmed men. He said that the cop who had fired 31 times was so flooded with adrenaline that he did not remember reloading and erroneously thought his gun had jammed which is why he kept pulling the trigger. It was big laughs and toasts all around.

This is what happens when the humanity of some is valued over the humanity of others, in ways large and small. This is why I talk incessantly about the cognitive indoctrination and perceptual prisms which are so central to racist socialization. We are bombarded all our lives with cultural propaganda which dehumanizes people of color in general and injects a fear of black men in particular into our society’s very brain stem. That’s how it works. One day, you’re a young child watching Saturday morning cartoons in which racial stereotypes are exploited for humor; the next thing you know, you’re a scared cop pumping bullets into a black man, or a judge giving leniency to that cop, or a society with a prison system which looks like ours.

One of the cops, Detective Michael Oliver, stopped to RELOAD his gun and then continued firing at the unarmed men in the car. Alexander Jason, a forensics expert, shared this video of what 31 shots (with reloading) using the firearm that Michael Oliver would look like. 12.3 seconds. Wow. (thanks to Kameelah for the link). Reminds me of what 41 bullets aimed at Amadou Diallo must have been like, back in 1999.

Now, while NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly was out putting cops in the streets to prevent violent responses to the verdict of the cops charged with the killing of Sean Bell, people were peacefully protesting around the city and around the nation. Below are photos from Indymedia NYC And a powerful 1 minute video of New Yorkers protesting at Jamaica station:

(Thanks to Rosa for the links to the video and the photos)

Where do we go from here? There will hopefully be another trial regarding Sean Bell. But how do we prevent this kind of event from occurring again and again in our communities, disproportionately in communities of color? Kevin Powell notes that we are all Sean Bell, and until we realize this we won’t overcome this kind of pathologic behavior:

Plain and simple, racism creates abusive relationships. It does not matter if the perpetrator is a White sister or brother, or a person of color, because the most vulnerable in our society feel the heat of it. Real talk: this tragedy would have never gone down on the Upper Eastside of Manhattan or in Brooklyn Heights. I am not just speaking about the judge’s decision, but the police officer’s actions. Those shots would have never been fired at unarmed White people sitting in a car. Until we understand that racism is not just about who pulled the trigger in a police misconduct case, but is also about the geography of racism, and the psychology of racism, we are forever stuck having the same endless dialogue with no solution in sight.

And until America recognizes the civil and human rights of all its citizens, systemic racism and police misconduct, joined at the hip, will never end. That is, until White sisters and brothers realize they, too, are Sean Bell, this will never end. Save for a few committed souls, most White folks sit on the sidelines (as many did when we marched down Fifth Avenue in protest of Sean Bell’s murder in December 2006), feel empathy, but fail to grasp that our struggle for justice is their struggle for justice. They, alas, are Sean Bell, and Amadou Diallo, and all those anonymous Black and Brown heads and bodies who’ve been victimized, whether they want to accept that reality or not. And the reality is that until police officers are forced to live in the communities they police, forced to learn the language, the culture, the mores of the communities they police, forced to change how they handle undercover assignments, this systemic racism, this police misconduct, will never end. And until Black and Latino people, the two communities most likely to suffer at the hands of police brutality and misconduct, refuse to accept the half-baked leadership we’ve been given for nearly forty years now, and start to question what is really going on behind the scenes with the handshakes, the eyewinks, the head nods, and the backroom deals at the expense of our lives, this systemic racism, this police misconduct, these kinds of miscarriages of justice, will never end.

We are all Sean Bell.

Just a few days ago I was discussing the woes of Los Angeles’ near-freeway-construction with a colleague, and we were thinking about health and the built environment. We’ve known for a while that LA Unified School District schools have often been built dangerously close to freeways. And now good news arrives:

Making broad pronouncements about the need to protect the health of children in their care, the Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday restricted the district’s ability to build schools near freeways and other sources of air pollution.

After a string of public speakers supporting the measure and impassioned debate, the board approved a resolution calling for the school system to study airborne pollutants up to half a mile from a potential site, rather than the current quarter mile requirement. It also seeks air quality health-risk assessments for all schools, including charter schools, although officials said it is unclear whether they could force the independently run but publicly-funded schools to do so.

“Basically I’m trying to push the envelope as far as we can,” said board member Yolie Flores Aguilar, who co-wrote the resolution with board member Julie Korenstein.

Flores Aguilar took on the issue after The Times reported in September that the district continued to build schools close to freeways, despite a state law discouraging it and recent studies indicating that children living near them showed signs of increased respiratory harm. About 60,000 Los Angeles Unified School District students attend campuses within 500 feet of a freeway.

Sheesh. Sometimes I wonder who plans this city. Obviously a group of people who can’t seem to connect the dots on the built environment and health.. I have grand hopes that all of this craziness can be reversed, and that with enough public pressure, future urban planning in this gargantuan sprawling city can be done right, with benefit to all (ok, most) involved.

“If Gaza is the world’s biggest prison, this is the world’s biggest prison break.”
- a reporter

I heard about the massive break through the GazaStrip/Egypt border wall by Palestinians earlier today and couldn’t believe the radio. I knew that Israel had placed tighter restrictions on movement of food, fuel, and necessary medical supplies to Palestinians in the Gaza strip for a long while, and that for the last few days had completely cut off ALL supplies to Gaza (hence the prison reference) but I had to see it for myself. So now I share with you some video of the great 21st century prison break (juuuuust in case the mainstream media is focusing on clinton/obama or on the israeli government’s point of view).

Wow.

Some background from a physician in Gaza, blogging a few days ago at From Gaza, With Love:

In 2 hours all of the Gaza Strip will sink into darkness completely

Sunday 20 January 2008
I am writing to let you know that in less than 2 hours the last turbine of the Gaza Strip’s only power plant will stop working. The fuel for the power plant fuel will run out in 2 hours.

I hurried to recharge my laptop and my mobile and to wash the clothes. I checked my candles and rechargeable lights !!!!!! I telephoned Al-Awda hospital and was really panicked to learn that we have only have enough fuel for 4 days for the electrical generator!!!!! What more details shall I give?

No electricity leads to no pumped fresh water and no proper sewage system which in turn leads to more diseases and more needs for different surgical operations. But after 4 days no emergency operations can be conducted in our hospitals.

Israel sealed the Gaza Strip completely and strictly on Friday. Even the UN food supplies are not allowed to enter Gaza. 80% of the population at the moment depends on the UN aid and different international aid agencies. The UN staff are also not allowed to leave or enter Gaza. And while Israel is sealing the Gaza Strip it is at the same time intensifying air raids and military ground operations against Gaza. In the last few days 37 people were killed and 120 were injured. Most of them are civilians. It is a desperate attempt to stop the rockets from Gaza against the Israeli villages where the Israeli citizens are complaining of panic attacks. This response with such overreacted operations against Gaza is unjustified. The cutting off of power and fuel is frank collective punishment.

I AM WRITING TO TELL YOU PLEASE DO SOMETHING FOR US IN GAZA
1.5 million of Gaza are dying slowly. They need your help and support. Tell the world that Israel’s search for peace and security will not be achieved by this collective punishment against us.

and 1 month ago she wrote this:

The siege against Gaza has completed its six months 1.5 million of population are not allowed to travel outside Gaza ,many essential medications are not on the local pharmacies shelves as well as the hospital drug stores , tens of necessary goods are lacking only 15 kinds of goods are allowed to enter Gaza regularly , severe shortage of detergents, no cars spare parts , irregular electrical power ,most of local small industries has closed down due to lack of raw materials hundreds of local employees were made redundant , 39 patients have died before getting permit to leave Gaza for treatment in Israel , at least 2000 patients with different urgent health needs, including children with heart diseases and cancer patients , are waiting to be referred for further treatment outside the Gaza strip.

In related news, a member of the former israeli government was on the radio, on NPR’s show Which Way LA, and he commented that Palestinians were given the potential to transform their land’s worth/economy into a Singapore, but had decided to ruin it all, and therefore could not be trusted to govern their own land. He forgot to mention the noose tied just tight enough around palestinian land and the walls built left and right and the limitations of everyday necessary goods into Palestine. Minor details, eh?

Above — an amazing video. What a fine community showing. Powerful beautiful words. Kudos to the residents for fighting back so strongly.

Today, December 10th is International Human Rights Day.

And this month, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is tearing down 4,600 units of affordable public housing in four areas of New Orleans, Louisiana and putting up private mixed-income developments, of which only 744 units will be public housing. This is after rents in the city have doubled since the hurricane, thousands of people evicted from their apartments are homeless and being denied the right to return, and most of the public housing units have only endured mild damage from the hurricane.

What is at stake with the demolition of public housing in New Orleans is more than just the loss of housing units: it destroys any possibility for affordable housing in New Orleans for the foreseeable future. Without access to affordable housing, thousands of working class New Orleanians will be denied their human right to return.

Although this situation is unique and urgent in the city of New Orleans, it does not occur in isolation. The plans for redevelopment here are part of a national assault on public housing, in which tens of thousands of homes have been demolished in the past decade.

- Kali Akuno, director of the Stop the Demolition Coalition

People are being illegally denied their right to return. Racism is rampant. Classism is rearing its ugly head. At the most vulnerable time for thousands of displaced renters.

There’s a call to action this week to save NOLA’s public housing units, please check out Peoples’ Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition and Justice for New Orleans. There’s much to be done, and the people of New Orleans, heck people around the world whose right to the city is being threatened on a daily basis, need as much solidarity as possible.

Housing is a civil right, and health and dignity have everything to do with housing.

First, check out an amazing Democracy Now! interview with the founders of the Common Ground Collective.

Now, I share with you, a reflection by G Bitch, who’s been living in and blogging about New Orleans for a long time (thanks to BFP for introducing me to GB’s blog):

I was fine yesterday, really I was. Today, I’m pissed, shaking, ready to spit fire and nails full blast, all day, at anything. What is it? Oh, yeah, the minority of voices like the Usual Fuckateer Commenters on national sites (I avoid reading comments for many good reasons and managed to forget them yesterday long enough to read a handful and on The Day of The Floods) and the sometimes willful, usually well-intentioned shifting of the conversation and the focus to the individual, to volunteers and church groups and bright young college-educated 20- and 30-somethings and earnest nonprofits. I love all that and all those people and we need the insight they take away with them to the rest of the country but no amount of volunteer action can fix levees badly designed or maintain them if they are ever fixed, assess taxes and evaluate tax rates, or create an actual workable, understandable, desegregated and at least somewhat fair school system (without quotation marks). Volunteers and individuals can only do so much. And in thanking and congratulating and singing the praise songs of them we cannot, should not forget the larger picture, the larger problems–urban somewhat-malign neglect, testing instead of educating, writing off the poor and brown, blaming victims, sidestepping malice-laced ignorance behind public policy and grants, the twisting of a region’s arm with their children held at gunpoint, a bureaucracy built to fail and thwart instead of serve, the delusion that folks who aren’t home yet aren’t needed, the bullshit idea that we are the blank slate/experiment/testing ground for whoever flies in and says s/he’s got ideas, people’s lives toyed with like shit-stained old domino pieces in the street somewhere.

It’s nice y’all are coming but we need our people back, the people who worked full-time and paid their taxes and shopped at whatever grocery store it was that week while it was still the fuck there, teachers (they weren’t all incompetent or evil), nurses, social workers, x-ray technicians, psychiatric aides, maids, cooks, lawnmower repairmen, college graduates, high school dropouts, the people who were here before and at least made it look like this broken fucking city worked half the time. We held it together. Now we’re unimportant?

In Albuquerque this past weekend, I was awe-struck while observing community-building through celebrating and partying (at a super-fun fundraiser for my friend’s innovative clinic). My friend Catherine Jones, who’s from New Orleans and was in ABQ for the month, shared that that’s how folks in New Orleans do MOST of their community building and fundraising — through parties. So the email I received from the group Drinking Liberally LA reminded me of this conversation, and made me very very happy. Drinking Liberally is an informal gathering of local progressive-minded folks — once a month — with NO set agenda. You’re supposed to show up, drink if you want to, and have some good down-home community building conversations with others around issues that matter to you. It’s a brilliant concept (check out the Drinking Liberally website for a gathering near you!). I received the following email about an event happening tomorrow night in LA. Do come join if you can:

Dear friends,

This is an invitation to the Los Angeles premiere of “When the Saints Go Marching In” this Tuesday at 7pm — the two year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Robert Greenwald and Brave New Foundation will present an advocacy video for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and Rita, who — two years later — are still fighting for their homes.

Kim Hill, formerlly of the BlackEyed Peas, will emcee as local politicians, activists, Katrina evacuees and concerned citizens convene at Fais Do Do to watch the short film. You’ll hear testimony from Katrina survivors. experience surprise musical guests with a genuine New Orleans DJ spinning traditional jazz,consume libations, and sign a petition urging the Senate to pass the Gulf Coast Recovery Bill (S. 1668).

The event is FREE and open to the public (with great New Orleans
appetizers!)

WHAT: “When the Saints Go Marching In” Los Angeles Premiere
WHEN: Tuesday, August 28th 7PM
WHERE: Fais Do Do
5257 W. Adams Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90016
(valet available)

Come mix it up New Orleans style with producer/director Robert Greenwald and other Brave New Foundation staff while supporting the Gulf Coast residents right to return. May that “laissez les bon temps roule” feeling return!

Warmest regards,
Jamiah Adams
Outreach Director, Brave New Foundation

The following is applicable to almost any urban neighborhood in the US. But it’s about Newark, New Jersey, after the recent shootings there. [I lived in Newark, NJ for 5 years before moving out to Los Angeles, and blog about Newark often on this site]. There’s been a lot written about the city especially after the shootings, but this piece by Bob Braun is a rare commentary that I believe really addresses the issues.

Newark. It’s a city neglected by the state for as long as I’ve worked there, and that comes close to 50 years.

Since I’ve started working, we’ve built highways around Newark to avoid seeing it and its people. We allow its property taxes to become confiscatory and then complain about the city’s shabbiness.

We allow its schools to become useless warehouses of children until the state takes over–and then the state fails to find a solution, so now talks of giving up. School failure is not simply a “report card” with eye-blurring, meaningless statistics–it’s hopelessness and self-destructive behavior among young.

What grotesque, grim poetry that the latest murders happened in a schoolyard to kids who believed in education.

We smugly congratulate ourselves on small anecdotal measures of success–more black faces on television, Barack Obama–but don’t think much of the folks left behind in even deeper pits of poverty and despair.

Think you got it bad? Try growing up in Newark poor and black, male and young. Tokenism is still the opiate of the white masses, and it’s a dangerous drug.

We tolerate racial isolation that is worse now than when it was politically fashionable to talk about integrating society–and that is no longer fashionable. Face it folks, New Jersey is a state of black and brown cities and white suburbs.

We think an arts center and a stadium and a Starbucks or two represent a Renaissance, when what is really needed are jobs, health care, and housing.

That’s right. I’ve argued extensively with friends in New Jersey that building another stadium (like they do in SO many cities — oh hai, there’s one being built in downtown LA too, as part of urban renewal) or building market-rate (aka expensive) new condos near the newark metro station is NOT the “renaissance” we need.

And oh, how nice would it be to start a medical clinic there, with a legal clinic, microfinancing center, and temporary housing, and classes, and promotora health outreach! (maybe part of the 10 year plan, we’ll see). Ok enough dreaming, back to the last two lines of the piece:

Huffing and puffing and lots of talk now about how this particular set of murders–so cold-blooded, happening to good kids–will change things.

Want to bet?

Bob Braun takes us to task. Check out the full article (ok i posted most of it because it was THAT good) and add your reaction to it on the same link (to counter the racist comments that currently exist there). Thank you, thank you so much, Mr. Braun, for the clarity.

Also, Ameer Washington wrote a nice post on The Daily Newarker about the same, here’s a piece:

The New Jersey Devils, a hot latte, and a dance troupe will not ease the suffering of Newark’s poor minority population. Those Saturday night events and sports are simply entertainment to sidetrack the fact that no one really cares. As long as it looks like someone is doing something to make progress, then that’s all that counts. Baltimore has the Orioles and the Ravens; Detroit has the Tigers, Red Wings, Lions, and Pistons, yet these two cities like Newark are still among the most dangerous in the country. Renaissance is French for “rebirth” and is defined as the revival of learning and culture. What has Newark learned over the past forty years since the 67 riots? Where is the rich culture that was once Newark? Where is the Newark that Council President Mildred Crump spoke about on My 9 News’ show “Real Talk”?

Right on. Interestingly, many of the comments on Ameer’s post and on bob Braun’s post are outwardly racist. To the tune of, that’s ok, the residents will be pushed out of the city as others from Hoboken and NYC move in, it’s really prime real estate. Or, the same old same old — personal responsibility argument. THIS is why the right to the city movement and national alliance is so pressing in our country.

-anjali

The above road has a Palestinian side and an Israeli side, separated by a wall. The man is walking on one of the two roads. Photo by Rina Castelnuovo. The following is from A Segregated Road in an Already Divided Land (nytimes):

The road will allow Israeli settlers living in the north, near Ramallah, to move quickly into Jerusalem, protected from the Palestinians who surround them. It also helps ensure that the large settlement of Maale Adumim — a suburb of 32,000 people east of Jerusalem, where most of its residents work — will remain under Israeli control, along with the currently empty area of 4.6 square miles known as E1, between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem, which Israel also intends to keep.

For the Palestinians, the road will connect the northern and southern parts of the West Bank. In a future that may have fewer checkpoints, they could travel directly from Ramallah north of Jerusalem to Bethlehem south of it — but without being allowed to enter either Jerusalem or the Maale Adumim settlement bloc.

“To me, this road is a move to create borders, to change final status,” Mr. Seidemann said, referring to unresolved issues regarding borders, refugees and the fate of Jerusalem. “It’s to allow Maale Adumim and E1 into Jerusalem but be able to say, ‘See, we’re treating the Palestinians well — there’s geographical contiguity.’ ”

Measure it yourself, he said. “The Palestinian road is 16 meters wide,” or 52 feet, he added. “The Israeli theory of a contiguous Palestinian state is 16 meters wide.”

Khalil Tufakji, a prominent Palestinian geographer, says the road “is part of Sharon’s plan: two states in one state, so the Israelis and the Palestinians each have their own roads.” The Palestinians, Mr. Tufakji said, “will have no connection with the Israelis, but travel through tunnels and over bridges, while the Israelis will travel through Palestinian land without seeing an Arab.”

In the end, he said, “there is no Palestinian state, even though the Israelis speak of one.” Instead, he said, “there will be a settler state and a Palestinian built-up area, divided into three sectors, cut by fingers of Israeli settlement and connected only by narrow roads.”

On my way home from work, I heard an NPR report on the bedouin struggle for keeping their land in the Negev desert, while the state of israel bulldozes it. [Amazing report, listen to it here] I was almost moved to tears, before finding myself enraged. Enraged.

Check out the NPR story (just a few minutes long), then think — does this remind you of anything? A people with no “formal” claim to their land, though they’ve lived there for centuries. A people with no significant amounts of money to their name. A state bulldozing these peoples’ lands in the name of the state, for their other projects they’re pursuing (scientific research in the desert, expansion of housing, etc). A state wanting to displace people from the land they live off of, and thinking it’s no big deal to move these people to government sponsored housing projects where these people will be concentrated in an area with few jobs, poor education, and very poor housing… ghetto love. A state spokesperson saying hey look, we’ve gotta do this, we don’t have enough resources for water, sanitation, etc to share with them in the desert so we have to raze their communities. A state spokesperson saying hey, look, we had to do this, we’ve tried negotiating and we’ve tried to make them compromise. Since they’re not compromising we had to bulldoze their land for the betterment of the state. Bedouins on record saying “i’m a farmer, my family is uneducated, my son is uneducated, *I* am uneducated” I grew up farming as did my parents and beyond. What am i going to do in an urban bedouin ghetto?

Ah, what rights do the bedouins have? They are nonviolently resisting.

Colonialism. Racism. Classism. This pattern is repeating. I’m reading a book about urban injustice and the things that were done to Black Americans in the name of all of the above. Arundhati Roy so articulately and passionately lays out the India/Narmada Dam vs the people situation in her essay The Greater Common Good. And there are numerous other stories, happening every day, on this issue. And I’ll say this again — It shocks me how much harm the Israeli state can inflict on others after the Holocaust that they went through. Displaced people displacing others, it breaks my heart.
The struggle for land/home/neighborhood/peace. Ongoing…