https://americancynic.net/Atom Feed for 'occupy' Articles2022-10-27T03:15:30ZAmer Canishttps://americancynic.net/about/tag:americancynic.net,2017-05-26:/log/2017/5/25/occupy_the_farm_redux/Occupy the Farm Redux2017-05-26T01:50:19Z2018-08-03T20:56:25Z<div class="verseblock">
<pre class="content">You’re really doin’ some bang-up policework
You ripped the whole damn garden out
You got the rats out of your corn
And let the vampires in your house
You got a bug for son and daughter
To always know the time and place
And it don’t seem all that crazy
Just the way the world is run today</pre>
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— Mischief Brew<br>
<cite><a href="https://mischiefbrew.bandcamp.com/track/bang-up-policework">Bang-Up Policework</a></cite>
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<p>Five years ago <a href="/log/2012/5/15/depressing_monday/">I wrote</a> about the eviction of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_the_Farm">Occupy the Farm</a> from UC Berkeley land on the same day the Denver City Council <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/2012/05/14/protests-greet-final-passage-of-denver-homeless-camping-ban/">passed the “urban camping ban”</a> to further criminalize homelessness in Denver. If you look at the URL of that post, you’ll see that I had originally titled it “A Depressing Monday.”</p>
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<p>Back in 2012 I thought the eviction was the end of <a href="http://occupythefarm.org/">Occupy the Farm</a> and never heard anything else about it until I came across a 2014 documentary about the project earlier this month. It turns out I gave up too early and Occupy the Farm has been one of the most successful of the camps inspired by Occupy Wall Street: the activists broke back onto the land in May 2013 to re-establish the farm. Despite two more raids by police, they refused the university’s comically bureaucratic attempts at co-optation, successfully got Whole Foods to back out of their development plans, and finally the university capitulated and has committed to preserving a plot of land including a little over an acre which has been turned into the <a href="http://ucgilltractfarm.wixsite.com/gilltract">UC Gill Tract Community Farm</a>.</p>
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<p>One of the more novel tactics the university used was to file a lawsuit against individual activists (which it later dropped). It’s silly, but much preferable to the Reagan approach of simply shooting activists with shotguns (I’m surprised the documentary didn’t point out the parallels between Occupy the Farm and the 1969 occupation of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Park_%28Berkeley%29">People’s Park</a>).</p>
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<p>Berkeleyside reported on the progress of the farm in the summer of 2005:</p>
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<p>The farm aims to be a source of organic produce for anyone who lacks access in the East Bay. Volunteers have harvested 17,000 pounds of produce since June 2014. Today, about 30 different types of crops grow on just over one acre of land — everything from dry-farmed tomatoes and leeks to pineapple ground cherries, which are tomatillos that taste just like, well, pineapple.</p>
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<p>…​</p>
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<p>The farm has seen seven field trips from nearby schools and has hosted interns and over 40 different workshops. Volunteers also supply food to the Berkeley Food Pantry, senior housing communities including Harriet Tubman Terrace and the Sojourner Truth Manor, and other community groups. (<a href="http://www.berkeleyside.com/2015/08/10/uc-gill-tract-farm-blooms-amidst-controversy/">“UC Gill Tract Farm blooms amidst controversy”</a> by Kathleen Costanza)</p>
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<p>After Whole Foods backed out, the university did make a deal with Sprouts which protesters were unsuccessful in challenging (I believe the store opened for business this month). In an interesting contradiction which seems to have escaped the film-maker’s notice, the documentary begins by lamenting the lack of grocery stores in some neighborhoods (in order to make the case for urban farming) while many of the Occupy the Farm activists ended up spending much of their time protesting the construction of grocery stores.</p>
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<p>The documentary is called <a href="http://occupythefarmfilm.com/">“Occupy The Farm”</a>. I paid $0.99 to watch it <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Occupy-Farm-Effie-Rawlings/dp/B00YFCPHPM">on Amazon</a>. Review in <em>California Magazine</em>: <a href="https://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/just-in/2015-03-26/getting-front-row-seat-occupy-farm-movie">“Getting a Front Row Seat at Occupy the Farm: The Movie”</a></p>
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<a class="image" href="http://www.boycottsprouts.com/"><img src="/log/2017/5/25/occupy_the_farm_redux/BoycottSprouts.png" alt="BoycottSprouts"></a>
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</div>I recently discovered that Occupy the Farm won.tag:americancynic.net,2014-05-09:/log/2014/5/9/on_the_cecily_mcmillan_conviction/On the Cecily McMillan Conviction2014-05-09T15:30:28Z2015-09-28T05:23:46Z<div class="paragraph">
<p>On Monday, Cecily McMillan <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/06/nyregion/occupy-wall-street-protester-is-found-guilty-of-assaulting-officer.html">was found guilty</a> of felony assault for elbowing a cop in the eye when he was trying to arrest her at an Occupy Wall Street rally in 2012. She is now in jail awaiting sentencing where she’ll face up to seven years in prison. McMillan claimed she reflexively elbowed the officer after he grabbed her right breast. The jury was convinced she elbowed him with criminal intent. There is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kceO8vCUm8">a video of the incident on YouTube</a>, but it is too dark and grainy to see where the officers' hands were. So I don’t know.</p>
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<p><strong>Update:</strong> Cecily was sentenced to 90 days of prison and five years of probation. She served 58 days at Rikers Island, and was released in July, 2014. She wrote an article for <em>Cosmopolitan</em> about her experience, <a href="http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a29775/cecily-mcmillan-grad-school-to-jail/">“I Went From Grad School to Prison”</a>. In October, 2014, she was tried and acquitted on charges of obstructing police stemming from a separate incident (Colin Moynihan, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/11/nyregion/occupy-wall-street-protester-found-not-guilty-of-obstruction-charge.html">“Occupy Wall Street Protester Found Not Guilty of Obstruction,”</a> The <em>New York Times</em>, Oct. 10, 2014).</p>
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<p>In May 2012, Daivd Graeber reported on an apparent tactic being used by NYPD of assaulting female protesters in an attempt at inciting them or their male companions to react in a criminal manner (“<a href="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/05/david-graeber-new-police-strategy-in-new-york-sexual-assault-against-peaceful-protestors.html">New Police Strategy in New York – Sexual Assault Against Peaceful Protestors,</a>” <em>Naked Capitalism</em>, May 2012). I don’t think that the speculation of an intentional tactic has been confirmed, although it is still a disturbing pattern. Later in 2012 a national consortium of law schools released a 132-page report, <a href="http://hrp.law.harvard.edu/criminal-justice/suppressing-protest-human-rights-violations-in-the-u-s-response-to-occupy-wall-street/"><em>Suppressing Protest: Human Rights Violations in the U.S. Response to Occupy Wall Street</em></a>, documenting “a pattern of abusive and unaccountable protest policing by the NYPD.” The report alleges 130 cases of aggressive or excessive force used by the NYPD in response to Occupy Wall Street. So McMillan’s claims fit within the known NYPD <em>modus operandi</em>, anyway.</p>
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<p>Of course the jury was told nothing about those patterns of abuse, or about Officer <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/04/nypd-officer-lawsuit-bovell-guest-mcmillan-occupy">Bovell’s own history of corruption and abuse</a>. Molly Knefel has a worthwhile article about McMillan’s trial up at the Gaurdian describing how the “hyper-selective retelling of events to the jury mirrored the broader popular narrative of OWS” in which police violence is unquestioningly justified (“<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/05/cecily-mcmillan-occupy-guilty-police-violence">Cecily McMillan’s guilty verdict reveals our mass acceptance of police violence</a>,” May 5, 2014).</p>
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<p>But then the whole idea of a jury trial is that both sides are given a chance to present an interpretation of the accepted facts in a manner which paints their side in the best light. The jury can then decide on where the truth lies between the two extremes and determine if the facts as they find them meet the elements of the crime. But I’ve experienced a small first-hand taste of how such a method of finding truth between extremes can become rather absurd, and how the state has no qualms in using its status of legitimacy in the minds of jurors to distort the narrative in the courtroom.</p>
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<p><a href="/log/2011/11/2/i_was_arrested">I was arrested</a> back when the state police raided Occupy Denver in 2011. During that event, the police disassembled tents and made a big mess of the park. The prosecutor then introduced photographs of that mess at my trial as evidence that the protesters (and by association, I) were messy. Not only was the evidence misleading, it was humorously irrelevant since I had not even been charged with a crime of mess-making.</p>
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<p>I was at trial because I had refused a plea bargain. In response to my refusal, the DA added a more serious charge (“obstructing a law officer”) to my alleged crimes. At trial he managed to get my arresting officer to distance himself from his professional integrity by testifying using obviously coached language that I had “obstructed” his actions (testimony, fortunately in my case, the jury did not believe).</p>
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<p>Cecily McMillan, maintaining from the beginning that she did not knowingly commit a crime, also refused a plea offer. So it is easy for me to see her vigorous prosecution as a revanchist attempt by the prosecutor to punish her noncooperation. When she was arrested, McMillan was tackled by several police officers. She then suffered a seizure (or series of seizures), and the police prevented street medics from attending to her (while rendering no aid themselves). The City of New York then spent two years (and untold amounts of public money) convicting her of a felony. All of that expense and trouble and careful portrayal of the evidence just to ensure that a girl who had a bad day in 2012 suffers some more.</p>
</div>Cecily McMillan, an Occupy Wall Street protester, was recently convicted of felony assault on a police officer.tag:americancynic.net,2014-03-26:/log/2014/3/26/denvers_october_2011_uprisings/Denver's October 2011 Uprisings2014-03-26T16:04:36Z2017-05-03T04:12:38Z<div class="paragraph">
<p>This post is just a collection of links to some of the media covering the protests which started in Denver on October 15, 2011, the day after the police evicted the Occupy Denver camp (and <a href="http://mretc.net/~cris/arrested-O14/">arrested me</a>).</p>
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<h3 id="_october_15">October 15</h3>
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<p>The events in Denver on October 15 correspond with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_October_2011_global_protests">a day of global protest</a>, and they apparently prompted an update to the Denver Police Department’s Crowd Control Manual, which was issued on October 19, 2011, as Department Directive 11-07. Recently (January 22, 2016), the folks at Unicorn Riot obtained a heavily redacted copy of that updated manual through Colorado’s Open Records Act. It is available online: <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170502193808/http://www.unicornriot.ninja/?p=3893">“New Document: Denver Police Crowd Control Manual”</a></p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170502192937/http://www.westword.com/news/the-police-moves-in-on-occupy-denvers-largest-gathering-yet-with-pepper-spray-photos-5877538">“The police moves in on Occupy Denver’s largest gathering yet — with pepper spray (PHOTOS)”</a> — The Westword covered the day with photographs</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170502192937/https://streetmedic.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/report-back-from-occupy-denver-week-of-oct-25/">“Report Back from Occupy Denver Week of Oct. 25”</a> — Report from Colorado Street Medics</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170502193045/http://blogs.denverpost.com/crime/2011/10/16/occupy-denver-protesters-march-for-peace-results-in-arrests-after-food-tent-stirs-tensions/1986/">“Occupy Denver protesters’ march for peace results in arrests after food tent stirs tensions”</a> — Jordan Steffen for a Denver Post blog.</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170502193240/http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/18/1027513/-Occupy-Denver-A-10-15-Photodiary-Updates">“Occupy Denver: A 10/15 Photodiary & Updates”</a> — boatsie on Daily Kos</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170502193239/https://www.rt.com/news/denver-police-protesters-weapons-163/">“Denver police spill protesters' blood (PHOTOS, VIDEO)”</a> — RT</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170502193249/http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2011/10/occu-o31.html">“Police attack Occupy protests in Denver, Colorado”</a> — Joseph Kishore for <em>WSWS</em></p>
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<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=occupy%20denver%20october%2015&sm=3">Several videos are available on YouTube.</a> I had forgotten how annoying chants and megaphones are.</p>
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<h3 id="_october_29">October 29</h3>
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<p>Protesters clashed with police every Saturday for several weeks. October 29 may have been the most violent. <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170502193513/http://www.westword.com/news/independent-monitor-five-denver-police-officer-involved-shootings-still-under-review-5823029">A 2012 report by Denver’s Office of the Independent Monitor</a> (OIM) highlighted the events of that day:</p>
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The decision was made to immediately address the ordinance violations, and a small group of of officers made verbal requests that the tents be dismantled. Although officers made these requests for voluntary compliance, many were outfitted with helmets and other riot gear, which sometimes provokes crowd response. Many demonstrators became physically aggressive, and there were confrontations between protesters and police. The small group of officers was surrounded, and DPD issued an emergency citywide call for additional police assistance. Officers deployed O.C. spray and pepperballs, among other less-than-lethal force options, to maintain a perimeter or skirmish line. Several civilians were injured during the ensuing melee, and many in the crowd were affected by the O.C. spray and struck with pepperballs, including one civilian struck in the face. An officer was trampled, though thankfully not injured. The incident, and the force used, received local and national media attention, and several complaints were filed with the DPD and the OIM.
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— p. 15
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<p>The independent monitor recommended that the tactics used by the police on October 29 be reviewed by the Tactics Review Board to assess whether they complied with existing policy. The review board declined the recommendation. See also the <em>Westword’s</em> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170502202331/http://www.westword.com/news/occupy-denver-independent-monitor-criticizes-police-department-of-safety-over-protest-tactics-5838193">“Occupy Denver: Independent Monitor Criticizes Police, Department of Safety Over Protest Tactics”</a></p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170503030524/http://www.denverpost.com/2011/10/29/occupy-denver-protesters-law-enforcement-officers-clash-20-arrested/">“Occupy Denver protesters, law enforcement officers clash; 20 arrested”</a> — Jordan Steffen and Electa Draper, The <em>Denver Post</em>.</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170503030600/http://www.westword.com/news/occupy-denver-biggest-riot-squad-presence-to-date-pepper-bullets-multiple-arrests-photos-5870013">“Occupy Denver: Biggest riot squad presence to date, pepper bullets, multiple arrests (PHOTOS)”</a> — Kelsey Whipple, <em>Westword</em>.</p>
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<p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20111202084357/http://technorati.com/politics/article/denver-police-brutalize-occupy-denver">“Denver Police Brutalize Occupy Denver”</a> — Tim Paynter</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170503030627/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/denver-police-move-into-occupy-encampment/">“Denver police move into Occupy encampment”</a> — CBS News</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170503030634/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/denver-quiet-after-police-raid-occupy-camp/">“Denver quiet after police raid Occupy camp”</a> — CBS News</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170503032158/https://shadowproof.com/2011/10/30/the-long-blue-line/">“The Long Blue Line”</a> — A first-hand account by Eclair.</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170503032954/http://redgreenandblue.org/2011/10/29/police-brutality-today-at-occupy-denver/">“Police brutality today at Occupy Denver”</a> — A collection of updates and links by Jeremy Bloom of <em>Red Green & Blue</em>.</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170503033003/https://denverabc.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/dabc-update-from-3-weeks-of-social-war-in-denver-colorado/">“DABC update from 3 weeks of social war in Denver, Colorado”</a> — Update from the Denver Anarchist Black Cross who provided prisoner support.</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170503033617/https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/10/487651.html?c=on">“Police attack on #Occupy Denver”</a> — Photos and links on <em>Indymedia UK</em>.</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170503033814/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/31/us/occupy-wall-street-protesters-arrested-in-denver-and-portland.html">“Occupy Protesters Regroup After Mass Arrests”</a> — Kirk Johnson, The <em>New York Times</em>.</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120401002949/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/29/occupy-denver-clash-_n_1065667.html">`Occupy Denver Clash: Police Use Force On Denver Protesters (PHOTOS, VIDEO)`"</a> — An AP report by Kristen Wyatt.</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170503034220/http://www.rawstory.com/2011/10/police-fire-mace-at-denver-protesters-20-arrested/">“Police fire mace at Denver protesters, 20 arrested”</a> — Reuters</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170503041418/http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2011/10/29/police-use-pepper-spray-rubber-bullets-on-occupy-denver-protesters-trying-to-storm-capitol/">“Police Use Pepper Spray, Rubber Bullets on Occupy Denver Protesters Trying to Storm Capitol”</a> — The <em>Blaze</em>. Links to additional coverage by local news.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.webcitation.org/6I7WNRY29">“20 Occupy Denver protesters arrested after clash at capitol”</a> — 9news.</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170503035944/http://www.westword.com/news/occupy-denver-aclu-demands-formal-investigation-of-police-conduct-pepper-ball-guns-5849153">“Occupy Denver: ACLU demands formal investigation of police conduct, pepper ball guns”</a> — The ACLU of Colorado alleged that during these protests the Denver Police Department engaged in abusive use of their batons, violated their own crowd-control policy with their use of pepper balls, and illegally confiscated and destroyed personal belongings, as reported by Kelsey Whipple for <em>Westword</em>.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=occupy%20denver%20october%2029&sm=3">Again, several videos are available on YouTube.</a></p>
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<h3 id="_september_12_and_13">September 12 and 13</h3>
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<p>Things flared up again on September 12 as the Denver Police Department developed a violent reflex to the sight of tents. (Yes, I know September is not really October.)</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170503041334/https://streetmedic.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/dpd-denies-medics-access-to-unconscious-unresponsive-patient/">“DPD Denies Medics Access to Unconscious, Unresponsive Patient”</a> — Colorado Street Medics</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170503041334/http://www.westword.com/news/occupy-denver-large-police-presence-moves-in-on-three-tents-with-pepper-spray-and-arrests-5893175">“Occupy Denver: Large police presence moves in on three tents with pepper spray and arrests”</a> — Kelsey Whipple, <em>Westword</em>.</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170503041334/http://www.denverpost.com/2011/11/12/denver-police-force-occupy-denver-to-move-their-property-in-civic-center/">“Denver police force Occupy Denver to move their property in Civic Center”</a> — Jordan Steffen and Electa Draper, The <em>Denver Post</em>.</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170503041340/https://denverabc.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/this-is-war-dabc-call-for-support-against-state-repression/">“This is war: DABC call for support against state repression”</a> — Update from Denver Anarchist Black Cross</p>
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<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170503041527/https://shadowproof.com/2011/11/12/police-clear-out-occupy-denver/">“Police Clear Out Occupy Denver”</a> — A brief first-hand account.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=occupy%20denver%20november%2012&sm=3">Some videos on YouTube</a>.</p>
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</div>This post is just a collection of links to some of the media covering the protests which started in Denver on October 15, 2011, so I don't have to spam all of them to my linklog.tag:americancynic.net,2013-08-07:/log/2013/8/7/some_comments_on_michael_parentis_talk_on_the_pathology_of_wealth/Some Comments on Michael Parenti's Talk on The Pathology of Wealth2013-08-07T14:59:20Z2018-08-03T19:58:58Z<div class="paragraph">
<p>I recently listened to a recording of a speech Michael Parenti gave at the La Pena Cultural Center in Berkeley on “Democracy and the pathology of wealth” (Jan. 6, 2013):</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0DvscYfnic">Video of the talk</a> [56:37]</p>
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<div class="paragraph">
<p>I’ve never read Parenti, but I read on his Wikipedia entry that “Parenti has repeatedly criticized the tendency among many who profess to be progressive to downplay the importance of class and class power as a formative force […​]” So I was a little surprised that he is so enthusiastic about the ninety-nine percent rhetoric: “To finally see people out in the street just coming right out and saying ‘one percent’ and ‘ninety-nine percent,’ and seeing it getting picked up by commentators — Let me say, that’s a big ideological victory right there” (14:58).</p>
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<p>It seems probably true that the “we are the 99%” talk (for which I think <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/inside-occupy-wall-street-236993/">we can blame David Graeber</a>) has made the public more aware of the incredible wealth disparity resulting from the American system. But any income-based class analysis is also a very good way to obscure the much more useful definition of classes formed by relations to production. A socialism which seeks to abolish exploitation and return control to individuals over their lives and their products will also preclude gross wealth disparity; a socialism which seeks first to merely redistribute the profit of the arbitrarily-selected “one percent,” in contrast, is simply a clumsy bandage on capitalism.</p>
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<div class="paragraph">
<p>Such a sloppy class analysis makes it difficult to even know what is meant by terms like <em>socialism</em> and <em>capitalism</em>. For example, towards the end of his talk, Parenti mentions that, “Not all things need to be socialized. In Cuba they’re now doing small service businesses, which are, I think, a good.” (44:56). He doesn’t attempt to explain how we know what is good to ‘socialize’ and what is good to not socialize. What is ‘small’? Raul’s new plan for Cuba, which Parenti is referring to, allows for certain worker-owned cooperatives to operate independently of the government. Are cooperatives, then, not ‘socialized’? According to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-cuba-reform-cooperatives/cubas-non-farm-co-ops-debut-this-week-amid-move-toward-markets-idUKBRE95T0CW20130630">a Reuter’s article I read</a>, the plan also allows for contract labour to be hired on a three-month basis. That certainly sounds like Cuba has re-introduced a small-scale labour market. Is that a good? Is there an optimal amount of exploitation we should aim for?</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>Lacking any rigorous definition of <em>socialism</em>, Parenti seems to revert to the old quasi definition that anything which is publicly funded is “socialism”. I like this sentence he used: “Capitalism works, if it works at all, because it always has socialism to bail it out and to subsidize it.” (44:06) Peter Kropotkin made a similar point when he said, “without a certain leaven of Communism the present societies could not exist.” Kropotkin used public libraries and toll-free bridges as examples; Parenti uses public roads, public utilities, public schools, etc.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>But without a basis in class relations, there is no talk of alienation or exploitation, and all of Parenti’s arguments in favor of socialism come down to simply insisting that public institutions are better, more efficient, or more just, with little by way of explanation other than the vague assertion that the profit motive is bad. The idea that anything that is “public” is socialism quickly leads to absurdities like the list in this (apparently non-satirical) article I’ve seen floating around the web, <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/29/1078852/-75-Ways-Socialism-Has-Improved-America">75 Ways Socialism Has Improved America</a>.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>My very favorite part of the talk was towards the end when he said, “Profits are what you get when not working. […​] Somebody will come up and say to you, ‘Well, don’t you make profits on your book?’ No, I wrote the book, you jackass! I wrote the book.” (46:10)</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>Finally, he’s talking about socialism! The equivocation of generic or accounting profit with the unearned, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profit_(economics)">economic profit</a> critiqued by socialism is the source of much confusion. This sort of clarification can’t be made often enough.</p>
</div>I enjoyed this talk by Michael Parenti, but think it could have benefited from a slightly more rigorous definition of socialism.tag:americancynic.net,2012-07-06:/log/2012/7/6/my_sentence/My Sentence2012-07-06T17:17:44Z2014-02-10T15:59:59Z<div class="paragraph">
<p>I was sentenced last Friday for <a href="/log/2011/11/2/i_was_arrested/">my crimes against the People of the State of Colorado</a>:</p>
</div>
<div class="ulist">
<ul>
<li>
<p>$249.50 in fines and fees</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>32 hours of useful community service to be completed by October</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>12 months of unsupervised probation</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>The fine for being convicted of “unlawful conduct on public property” was only $50 (there was no fine or penalty associated with the “criminal trespassing” conviction). The fee to perform useful public service was $75. The rest is standard fees which I think go along with any misdemeanor conviction.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>The probation officer who conducted my pre-sentencing investigation interview recommended first fines/fees alone, like he said he would, and secondly a whole variety of probation options (luckily the court saw fit to select only one of them). He also snuck a line in there about how I’m determined to be a public nuisance.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>Mr. Wenig, Denver’s Chief Deputy District Attorney who tried my case, wanted supervised probation (expensive) and argued that my case demanded some form of rehabilitation since I showed no remorse for my actions. He explained to the judge that obeying (or enforcing, I presume) laws, even when they contradict one’s own conscience, is necessary to prevent people from justifying crimes and acts of violence by arbitrarily appealing to their own conscience. I believe his exact phrase was, “conscience is not sufficient.” This is the same argument he delivered to prospective jurors during voire dire.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>Accepting as moral exactly those things as are legal is not only a surrender of reason and personal responsibility but leads, at least historically, to a support of atrocity. It was this legalistic thinking, the <a href="/log/2012/4/29/authority_or_autonomy/">rejection of the possibility of autonomy for the false promise of authority</a>, by Mr. Wenig’s 18th and 19th century counterparts which enforced for so long the devastating (legal) institution of chattel slavery in this country. Now I don’t know if the DA personally lives by such a simplistic moral philosophy, but I am convinced that he would professionally argue for and enforce any deplorable law with the same wasteful vigor as he prosecuted me for being a nonviolent resister to the <a href="/tags/homeless/">criminalization of homelessness</a>.</p>
</div>I was sentenced last Friday for my crimes against the People of the State of Colorado.tag:americancynic.net,2012-06-08:/log/2012/6/7/gabriel_of_urantia/Gabriel of Urantia and Spiritualution2012-06-08T03:14:04Z2022-10-27T03:15:30Z<div class="paragraph">
<p><strong>Update June 21, 2012:</strong> Watch <a href="/log/2012/6/21/preserving_datelines_expose_on_gabriel_of_sedona/">Dateline’s Exposé on Gabriel of Sedona</a></p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p><strong>Update October 28, 2013:</strong> The staff of Global Community Communications Alliance has published an email they sent to me in response to my weblog posts: <a href="http://gccalliance.org/articles/an-open-letter-to-those-who-have-been-influenced-by-nbc-dateline">“An Open Letter To Those Who Have Been Influenced By NBC Dateline”</a>. Gabriel has also created a video which addresses some of the misrepresentation of the <em>Dateline</em> episode as well as some further information about Spiritualution: <a href="http://spiritualution.org/videos/all/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-wolf">Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?</a></p>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="quoteblock">
<blockquote>
“I’m either insane or egotistically mad, or I am who I say I am.”
</blockquote>
<div class="attribution">
— Gabriel of Sedona
</div>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>Last month during the protests of the NATO summit in Chicago, one of the many livestreams I found to watch was run by a couple of guys who were affiliated with an organization called “<a href="http://spiritualution.org/">Spiritualution</a>” — a spiritual revolution. I enjoyed their stream and was intrigued by a few of the things they said, especially their mention of the founder of their organization, Gabriel of Urantia. (He now seems to also go by Talias Van.) As something of a junkie when it comes to purportedly divine revelations, I was compelled to do a little bit of googling.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>It turns out he’s exactly the sort of character you’d expect with a name like that. He was born as Anthony Delevin in Pittsburgh in 1947. After stints as a charismatic catholic, a protestant pastor (operating the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130310160450/http://www.rickross.com/reference/acc/acc2.html">Son Light Ministries</a> in Tuscon), and a musician, he spent time at <a href="http://www.reevismountain.org/">Reevis Mountain School of Self-Reliance</a> in the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix, AZ. It was there that he first claimed to have been contacted by celestial beings.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>In 1989 he co-founded a church-like organization in southern Arizona, the Global Community Communications Alliance, with <a href="http://niannemersonchase.org/">Niánn Emerson Chase</a>. By that time he was calling himself Gabriel of Sedona, and he was active in environmental conservation projects in the Sedona, AZ, area.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>His cosmology is based on a mix of religious teachings including a bit of Christianity, Mormonism, Hopi tradition, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Urantia_Book">Urantia Book</a>. Like many guru types he claims to have been many famous characters in past lives (including Alexander the Great, Francis of Assisi, and George Washington). And because the Urantia Book, at only 2,000 pages, contains insufficient knowledge for the human race, he was selected as the medium for the channeling of the continuation of that revelation which has taken form as two volumes (so far) of <a href="https://globalchangetools.org/collections/books">'The Cosmic Family'</a> (“The Continuing Fifth Epochal Revelation”).</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>By 1997 his cosmic family who lived with him on a commune he called the Aquarian Concept Community consisted of about 70-100 adults and was organized as a typical religious cult <sup class="footnote">[<a id="_footnoteref_1" class="footnote" href="#_footnotedef_1" title="View footnote.">1</a>]</sup>. He traveled around to gigs performing “transmissions,” acting as the mouthpiece for various celestial beings. I found an interesting account of one Urantia Book believer and would-be Gabriel-follower (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121126123844/http://urantiabook.org:80/archive/readers/doc824.htm">“An Evening with Gabriel of Sedona” by Keith Graham</a>) who excitedly attended one of Gabriel’s transmissions (where he was to channel “The Bright and Morning Star of Salvington, Head Administrator of our Local Universe, the Finaliter Paladin, and The Present Planetary Prince Machiventa Melchizedek”) only to conclude that Gabriel was a false prophet when one of his personas declared, “Gabriel of Sedona is the most highly evolved human being on the planet.” (I’ve been informed that Gabriel has not performed a transmission since 1993.)</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>In 1998 Dateline NBC aired an exposé on Gabriel and the cultish aspects of his Aquarian Concept Community. Not only did they interview Gabriel and several ex-members of the community, but they had two undercover reporters join the commune with hidden cameras over a period of three months. Despite <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/17434">dubious legal efforts</a> by Gabriel’s organization to suppress the circulation of that video on the web, I found <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1865181/gabriel_dateline_1998_web-iPhone.m4v">a copy</a> <sup class="footnote">[<a id="_footnoteref_2" class="footnote" href="#_footnotedef_2" title="View footnote.">2</a>]</sup> and have embedded it below in a fancy Flash player for your viewing convenience.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>The Global Community Communications Alliance purchased some land in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_County,_Arizona">Santa Cruz County</a>, Arizona, and Gabriel began moving his community and various operations away from Sedona to this new headquarters in 2007. <sup class="footnote">[<a id="_footnoteref_3" class="footnote" href="#_footnotedef_3" title="View footnote.">3</a>]</sup> Today the community runs the <a href="http://avalongardens.org/">Avalon Organic Gardens & Ecovillage</a> there, which, despite the whole thing where they follow a guy who thinks pretending to talk to aliens grants him some sort of authority, looks like a neat place. In 2009 the Arizona Republic published an article (with a rather sensationalist title: “<a href="http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/12/17/20091217commune1217.html">Order in Tubac prepares for apocalypse</a>”) on the group, its beliefs, and the media attention it has received. The article drew [forced] parallels between Gabriel and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Arthur_Ray">James Arthur Ray</a> whose Sedona-area group became infamous after one of its members died in a sweat lodge ritual.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>The comments section of the Arizona Republic article includes some responses from members of Gabriel’s group, including one from a poster named TSE123:</p>
</div>
<div class="quoteblock">
<blockquote>
“I have been and continue to be a member of Global Community Communications Alliance for over 14 years. I have grown and continue to grow up here. I have met a gorgeous and smart partner; I have 3 kids born here who are beautiful; their school is incredible; we eat organic fresh food every day, we have fresh air, amazing water (fluoride and chlorine-free), I can see the stars in clear skies at night and know most of the constellations and how the earth is moving among them, I count my blessings for good health, and I have learned here in this community that I am not the center of the universe. …​ When I came to this community I was really spoiled and a brat. I now actually realize there are human beings in the US and in other countries that I consider my brother and sister who are seriously struggling and are exploited. I have grown enough to know that changing this matters. We run rehabilitation programs and provide year-round internships in organic gardening, farming, sustainable building, and life skills training. Sometimes the basic truth of what our reality represents is difficult for others to deal with.”
</blockquote>
<div class="attribution">
— TSE123 - Global Community Communications Alliance member
</div>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>He has a website at <a href="https://gabrielofurantia.com/" class="bare">https://gabrielofurantia.com/</a> and can also be found on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/gabrielofurantia">youtube</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/GabrielOfUrantia">facebook</a>, and as <a href="https://twitter.com/TaliasVan">@TaliasVan on Twitter</a>. Those who are interested can also find <a href="http://gccalliance.org/resume/">his resume</a> linked from several of his websites.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>The most redeeming aspect of his whole prophet shtick is his “spiritualution” concept which, according to the livestreamers I was watching, he began talking about in the late 1990s. As a movement it is against corporatism and in favour of self-sufficiency, environmentalism, and civil disobedience, and so it dovetails nicely with the Occupy Wall Street movement. However, this quote from his article <a href="http://spiritualution.org/articles/occupy-movement-needs-to-fuse-with-spiritualution-movement-to-win-against-one-percent">“The Occupy Movement Needs To Fuse With The Spiritualution Movement To Win Against The 1%”</a> sadly (or hilariously) speaks for itself to those curious about the intellectual foundation of his various spiritual concepts:</p>
</div>
<div class="quoteblock">
<blockquote>
“Every physics student knows that the mind seems to move particles when looking through a microscope. This is called the Heisenberg Principle. Therefore we get the equation ‘thoughts equal energy’.”
</blockquote>
<div class="attribution">
— Gabriel of Urantia
</div>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>I would urge those involved with the Spiritualution movement to abandon Gabriel’s less credible teachings to instead focus on a more earthly (Urantia-ly?) motivation for their positive social projects. In any case, I hope they keep up the great livestreaming!</p>
</div>
<div class="sect1">
<h2 id="_dateline_nbc_on_gabriel_of_sedona_1998">Dateline NBC on Gabriel of Sedona (1998)</h2>
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="ulist compact">
<ul class="compact">
<li>
<p><a href="https://paste.0xfc.de/?be8d7a8df54ddb4d#9CtTvq4mFjXoUyZEjoqyGXQniLq4qTcLWv7PgFvtrJkY">Text transcript</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="/audio/dateline_gabriel.mp3">Audio (mp3)</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href="/log/2012/6/21/preserving_datelines_expose_on_gabriel_of_sedona/">Other places to find the video online</a></p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>Please also see this video created by Gabriel which responds to the Dateline piece: <a href="http://spiritualution.org/videos/all/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-wolf">Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?</a></p>
</div>
<video class='video-js vjs-default-skin vjs-big-play-centered' id='datelinevid' width='100%' height='270' controls preload="none" data-setup='{}'>
<source src="/video/gabriel_dateline_1998_web.mp4" type='video/mp4' />
<p class="vjs-no-js">To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that <a href="http://videojs.com/html5-video-support/" target="_blank">supports HTML5 video</a></p>
</video>
<script src="//vjs.zencdn.net/4.11/video.js"></script>
</div>
</div>
<div id="footnotes">
<hr>
<div class="footnote" id="_footnotedef_1">
<a href="#_footnoteref_1">1</a>. see <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130310160438/http://rickross.com/reference/acc/acc1.html">A 1997 snapshot of "Gabriel of Sedona"</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130310160402/http://www.rickross.com/reference/acc/acc3.html">A critical analysis of the Aquarian Concept Community prepared by former members</a>. I was contacted by representatives of the group who clarified the organization of the community: "GCCA (then ACC) has a board of 7 elders, men and women, who are vital to the administration and decision-making processes for the entire community. In addition to the eldership is a team of ordained minister assistants and function leaders who (along with the elders) have a large degree of autonomy in their day-to-day decision-making."
</div>
<div class="footnote" id="_footnotedef_2">
<a href="#_footnoteref_2">2</a>. For the effort to preserve this video online, including an audio version and text transcript, see: <a href="/log/2012/6/21/preserving_datelines_expose_on_gabriel_of_sedona/">Preserving Dateline’s Exposé on Gabriel of Sedona</a>
</div>
<div class="footnote" id="_footnotedef_3">
<a href="#_footnoteref_3">3</a>. <a href="https://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2007/05/20/2638700.htm">Group seems peaceful, but some neighbors are nervous: Sedona sect moving to S. Arizona</a>
</div>
</div>"Every physics student knows that the mind seems to move particles when looking through a microscope. This is called the Heisenberg Principle. Therefore we get the equation 'thoughts equal energy'."tag:americancynic.net,2012-05-15:/log/2012/5/15/depressing_monday/It Is Now Illegal To Be Homeless in Denver2012-05-15T15:17:51Z2018-08-03T21:04:02Z<div class="paragraph">
<p>Yesterday morning 100 police officers from several agencies dressed in crowd-control gear <a href="http://www.insidebayarea.com/twitter/ci_20619490/uc-police-move-occupy-farm-protesters-albany">cleared a handful of “Occupy the Farm” participants</a> from the previously unused plot of land where they were living, cultivating vegetables, and protecting wild turkey habitat. The land is owned by the University of California which decided it needs its land back for research purposes.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>Watching the police over-respond to squats and guerrilla gardens like this provides such a clear illustration of their primary purpose as defenders of the property status quo. Organizing a society on the basis of title-property, so the rich can live at the expense of the propertyless, requires an immense amount of force and threat of violence (and actual violence against those courageous and honest enough to live in opposition).</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>Here in Denver the headline being syndicated across the county is that <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_20624090/colorado-civil-unions-bill-killed-before-reaching-house">the civil unions bill was killed in a special legislative session</a>. Because the “liberal” battle of the age is expanding the state privileges of marriage to a few more couples. Meanwhile Denver’s city council, specifically district 8 councilman <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CouncilmanAlbusBrooks">Albus Brooks</a> (pictured below) and eight other heartless or delusional politicians, <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_20624086/protests-greet-final-passage-denver-homeless-camping-ban">criminalized being homeless in Denver</a>. One of the most frustrating and disturbing trends during this ordeal was how Brooks and the other supporters of the ban refused to admit what the ban actually is (authoritarian greed aimed at our most vulnerable neighbors and at sterilizing our public spaces into purely consumptive spaces attractive to global capital) and insisted that the motivation was to help the homeless and improve the “health and safety” of the city.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>It’s no secret that the primary advocates of banning the homeless from downtown are members of the <a href="http://www.downtowndenver.com/">Downtown Denver Partnership</a>, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_improvement_district">business improvement district</a> similar to those which have passed similar legislation in cities all over the country. As <a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/Lost_in_space.html?id=fcEUAQAAIAAJ">Randall Amster</a> put it when discussing the actions of Tempe’s BID, “with regard to economic concerns that the homeless are bad for business […​] such concerns are inverted, and that, indeed, it is business that’s bad for the homeless.” Why do we have laws again? To protect vulnerable persons from the powerful? or the other way around?</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>One person <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Anarchism/comments/tmpdd/cops_raided_the_farm_an_occupied_tract_of_land_in/c4o1dvn/">commented</a> on the Occupy the Farm raid that, “I don’t know what to say, other than fuck the police, their time will come, and the people will rise.” That sentiment is far more optimistic than I feel right now. I have no reason to think I won’t live my entire life under the rule of little authoritarians like Albus Brooks and the UC police departments, or that anything other than absentee-landlordship will be the economic norm in my lifetime. But I also know that if there is any meaning to life, it is not found in material equality alone. Indeed if it were then all of the honest people who lived before me lived meaningless lives. What was it God said to the successful farmer in that <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+12%3A13-21&version=NIV">parable</a>? ‘You fool! You’re going to die, and all you have are things.’ Something like that. As far as I can tell, <em>all</em> Albus Brooks and the business owners who control him have are their things. If there is any <em>life</em> to be found in this life, they would be better off freezing on the streets they insist on owning or sitting in their own jail cells.</p>
</div>
<div class="imageblock">
<div class="content">
<a class="image" href="/images/scumbagalbus-color-small.jpg"><img src="/images/scumbagalbus-color-small.jpg" alt="scumbagalbus color small" width="530"></a>
</div>
<div class="title">Scumbag Councilman Albus Brooks, sponsor of "Urban Camping Ban" bill BR12-0241. His Facebook page lists "From Wild Man to Wise Man" as a favorite book. I’ve not read it, but it is by a Franciscan and appears to be spiritual lessons inspired by such characters, and homeless heroes, as Jesus of Nazareth, John the Baptist, and the saint from Assisi himself. This Brooks fellow is complicated; or just confused.</div>
</div>What a depressing Monday. The most positive comment I've read about yesterday's events was from a redditor, 'I don't know what to say, other than fuck the police, their time will come, and the people will rise.' I doubt it.tag:americancynic.net,2012-05-06:/log/2012/5/6/my_may_day_2012/My May Day in Denver: Trial, Verdict, Sleep-In Protest2012-05-06T06:00:00Z2018-08-10T03:22:40Z<div class="sect1">
<h2 id="_my_trial">My Trial</h2>
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph">
<p>On April 30th I had my jury trial for the criminal charges brought against me in October when I protested the criminalization of homelessness and the eviction of Occupy Denver by sitting in Lincoln Park and refusing to leave (<a href="/log/2011/11/2/i_was_arrested/">“I Was Arrested at Occupy Denver”</a>). I was represented by an attorney who volunteered to take my case through the National Lawyers Guild. Several of my friends and family members came to watch the proceedings (many for the entire day — thank you everybody!)</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>My attorney did an excellent job, and despite my antagonism towards the state and flagrant lack of remorse for my actions, put quite a bit of work into what he hoped was a viable defense. Despite ruling against my motion to dismiss at an earlier hearing, finding that the State’s actions in closing the park did not violate the First Amendment because they were content-neutral and narrowly tailored to the State’s interest (and so fell within valid time, place, and manner restrictions of speech), the Court did rule that my attorney would be able to speak about freedom of speech in front of the jury. She also ruled that if I were to testify he would be able to ask me about my property that was taken from me during my arrest and that the Colorado State Patrol subsequently lost. Two early victories.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>The prosecution’s case was not especially strongly argued, despite fairly clearly having the law <em>and</em> the facts on their side in at least one of the charges ("Unlawful Conduct on Public Property" — it was undisputed that I ignored a police officer’s request to leave a public park). During jury selection voir dire he smartly emphasized the oath the jury took to determine only the facts of the case, and not to decide whether a law is just. He even implied that <em>all</em> laws must be obeyed in a sensible society. I wish I (or my attorney) had asked them to think about the absurd implications of that and to consider whether an oath which will cause more harm than good is an ethically binding oath. Oh well.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>As far as evidence, the prosecutor’s strategy was to first demonize the Occupy Denver camp and then to condemn me by association. Neither step was very convincing I don’t think, even to an objective observer. Unfortunately my attorney was so focused on his negative defense based on my state of mind (he wanted to argue that I didn’t "knowingly" break the law, because I believed the law to be invalid…​ or something) so he didn’t focus on the hypocrisy of the State’s actions nearly as much as I’d have liked: that the mess in the park was the <em>result</em> of the state police disassembling tents, that instead of offering toilets or trash service the state offered 100 riot police, that even if there was a good reason to evict the camp (there wasn’t) there was certainly no good reason to arrest me (I was, by all accounts, sitting peacefully at the edge of the park). For my part I wasn’t sure whether to defend Occupy Denver, to defend myself, or to explain why it is unjust to criminalize living in public. When I finally took the stand to testify I was too nervous to say much of anything.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>The trial went late, so after both sides finished presenting their case the Court decided the jury would return in the morning to deliberate a verdict. Before adjourning my attorney won one more important dispute: the wording of the jury instructions for the “Obstructing a Law Officer” charge. The DA’s recommendation included only the verb “to hinder” (not coincidentally, my arresting officer testified that while I did not resist I did “hinder” him by not standing up to be arrested — the first time he ever used that language in describing the events). My attorney successfully had the phrase “by force or by using an obstacle” added to the instructions. The next day being May Day I had planned to stay in Denver that night anyway, so after the trial I went and bought a sleeping bag (to replace the one that was lost when I was arrested). I found a good stealth site under some bushes in a city park — my first time sleeping out alone in resisting curfew!</p>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_verdict">Verdict</h3>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>After my rather narrow defense, the verdicts the next morning were not surprising to me:</p>
</div>
<div class="ulist">
<ul>
<li>
<p>Unlawful Conduct on Public Property: Guilty</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Obstructing a Law Officer: Not Guilty</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Criminal Trespass: Guilty</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>My sentencing is not scheduled until June 29th, so that the state may have time to conduct a pre-sentencing investigation report to inform the Court about what sort of threat I pose to society and so what level of jail or probation I should receive. As part of that investigation I was briefly interviewed by a probation officer. Before the interview they had me fill out a form which was almost exclusively about domestic violence and substance abuse. So I filled it in with a lot of sad forever alone jokes and mentioned that while I’ve never had an alcoholic beverage before, I may have had sips. In lieu of filling in the “describe in your own words the events of your crime” section I attached a copy of my <a href="/log/2011/11/2/i_was_arrested/">“I Was Arrested at Occupy Denver” pamphlet</a>.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>The probation officer was friendly and respectful of my convictions and he said his primary recommendation would be fines/costs with no probation, though he was insistent on emphasizing the penalties for breaking probation if that’s what the court ended up choosing. The insinuated logic was “your reasons may be righteous, but the state is scary and living a principled life is not worth it.” The thoughts he left me with as I got into the elevator were that if I end up spending 30 days in county jail “nobody would care” about my reasons and that despite my valid protests if I ended up in jail then I “wouldn’t be doing any good.” Throughout the interview I was the subject of all actions: <em>I</em> put myself in a position to be arrested; <em>I</em> didn’t take the plea deal; <em>I</em> was sent to a probation office that doesn’t have the resources to spend on nonviolent offenders. The State’s role in unjustly arresting me, in overcharging me, in compelling me to trial, in convicting me, and in subjecting me to a pre-sentencing investigation and possibly probation were conspicuously absent from his thinking.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sect1">
<h2 id="_may_day">May Day!</h2>
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph">
<p>After hearing the verdict and visiting the probation office, I went down to Civic Center Park to partake in the May Day events Occupy Denver had organized. On my way I stopped to pick up my backpack from the county detention center where I left it in a locker while I was in the courthouse. While I was in the lobby a sheriff came out with a handful of cables and locks and announced that the lobby was going on lock-down so everybody who wanted to leave should do so <em>now</em>! I got out and found out the reason for the lockdown was a small group of protesters gathering to show solidarity for a few protesters who were arrested (for jaywalking) during the May Day parade (which I missed). One of the arrested, Sole, was slated to perform in the park later, but instead sat in a holding cell while they waited for his fingerprints to be processed. (You can read <a href="http://www.soleone.org/board/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=19433">his account on his message board</a>.)</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>By the time I made it to the park there were not many people there, but it was a refreshingly radical and friendly environment. Signs and chalk art everywhere said things like “Another World is Possible Ⓐ ,” “No Human Is Illegal” (although that one included a URL to a Maoist website), “Homelessness Is Not a Crime,” and several General Strike, Industrial Worker’s of the World (IWW), and class war slogans. There was a booth giving away seeds and tomato plants, a barter market (which I think was put on by the <a href="http://www.denverhaho.org/">Denver Handmade Homemade Market</a> folks), an IWW info booth, and food provided by some <a href="http://www.foodnotbombs.net/">Food Not Bombs</a> activists. (You can see some photos and reporting on this <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/01/occupy-denver-to-hold-may_n_1468125.html#s=927073">Huffington Post article</a>.)</p>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_haymarket_the_origins_of_may_day_as_labour_day">Haymarket: The Origins of May Day as Labour Day</h3>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>Until recently I never took an interest in organized labour struggles. I have had no personal experience with unions, but what little I saw of them was a strange celebration of unpleasant work, wages, materialism, and hierarchical organization. I had, however, never been taught about (or never paid attention to) radical labour movements, like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_socialism">anarchism</a>, which seek not only better working conditions, but the elimination of the wage system and of the separate employer/employee classes. One hundred twenty-six years ago Chicago, IL, was the hub of such radical movements in America. On the fateful day of May 4, 1886, the struggle for the eight-hour workday had spilled into the streets, and as the police were dispersing a crowd from Haymarket Square somebody — nobody ever found out who — tossed a dynamite bomb into the police line, killing one officer immediately and fatally wounding several others.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>Eight anarchists were arrested for their roles in organizing the protests, seven of them were sentenced to death, one killed himself before the state could do it, four were executed, and the remaining two had their sentences commuted by the governor. One of the anarchists, August Spies, moments before being hanged shouted out his famous last words, “The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today!”</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_affair">Haymarket affair</a> (see also this very good short history which was first published in the April 1986 issue of <em>Revolutionary Worker</em>: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120202204203/http://rwor.org:80/a/may1/haymark.htm">The Origins of May First</a>) became an excuse for the propertied class to discredit and crackdown on socialists everywhere. The momentum for the eight-hour workday was lost, anarchist groups were constantly accosted by police (and to this day the dark bearded man sneaking about with a round, fused dynamite bomb is the caricature of an anarchist), revolutionary unions like the IWW lost membership to reformist unions like the now-dominant AFL, etc. But Haymarket also became a rallying event for labour movements all over the world, with the First of May becoming an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day">international workers' day</a> in commemoration of the Haymarket martyrs.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>Today more than eighty states officially recognize May Day as a labour holiday. The United States does not. In fact this year Obama, like in past years, <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/05/01/presidential-proclamation-loyalty-day-2012">proclaimed</a> May 1 to be <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyalty_Day">Loyalty Day</a> in a not-so-subtle snub at the Chicago anarchists who gave their lives in the struggle for equality. In past years America has also officially celebrated those deaths as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_day">Law Day</a> and “Americanization Day”.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>This year, thanks to the organization of the various Occupy movements, May Day was once again celebrated by thousands as a day to commemorate labour struggles (see also the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Boycott">Great American Boycott</a> of 2006). Including me, for the first time.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sect1">
<h2 id="_sleep_in_protest">Sleep-In Protest</h2>
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph">
<p>After the events in the park, about 50-60 of us walked over to the 16th Street Mall to sleep for the night in <a href="http://www.citizenside.com/en/photos/politics/2012-05-01/59341/occupy-denver-sleep-in-to-protest-denver-urban-camping-ban.html">protest</a> of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/17/urban-camping-ban-aclu-wr_n_1431065.html">Denver’s proposed urban camping ban</a> (which will likely be put into effect later this month). I met several friendly young people, several of whom were currently homeless, recently homeless, or were currently hitchhiking around between jobs. They included me in their conversations, listened to what I had to say, and were generally very encouraging people to meet. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/occupythethunderdome">The Thunderdome</a> stopped by to make s’mores, coffee, and chai for everybody. Other people brought pots of soup and loafs of bread. (Somebody posted a <a href="https://secure.flickr.com/photos/78036631@N04/7150880877/in/set-72157629619333626/">Flickr photo album of the protest</a>. I’m visible in some of the photos.)</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>At first there was a large police presence, but once it was clear we were just there to sleep they left us alone. All the local TV news stations were there both at night and in the morning to run short live reports on the protest. At one point during the night a very frustrated man who decided he wanted to get arrested that night tossed a large rock through the glass door of one of the shops we were sleeping in front of. Even to that incident the police reaction was subdued, responding with only one vehicle and at least ten minutes after it happened (there was a group of private security guards keeping an eye on us all night who reported the window smashing immediately). The guy who threw the rock was getting impatient waiting for the police (at one point shouting “Where are the police?!” while standing on the curb with his hands behind his back). The window was boarded up before the news crews came back in the morning, and nobody reported on the incident — I don’t think any news station was ever aware it occurred. (I can be seen walking in front of the camera during <a href="http://www.9news.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=1616398167001">a clip aired by 9News</a>.)</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>There is a similar sleep-in protest <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130203010432/http://occupydenver.org/week-five-take-action-against-ordinance-to-criminalize-homelessness/">planned for next Saturday</a>. I intend to be in attendance.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>I appeared in criminal court for my jury trial, slept in a park, in the morning I received two guilty verdicts and a non-guilty verdict, loitered at the May Day demonstrations, then slept on the 16th Street Mall to protest Denver's proposed urban camping ban.tag:americancynic.net,2012-04-13:/log/2012/4/12/bad_week_for_uc_police_department/A Bad Week for UC Police Departments Is a Good Week for Reason and Freedom2012-04-13T02:38:38Z2018-08-03T21:03:51Z<div class="imageblock text-center">
<div class="content">
<a class="image" href="https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/207614-casually-pepper-spray-everything-cop"><img src="/images/HappyPike.jpg" alt="Pepper Spray Cop in a Banksy Painting"></a>
</div>
<div class="title"><a href="http://daviswiki.org/John_Pike">Lt. John Pike</a> Inserted Into a Banksy Piece</div>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>The <a href="https://publicintelligence.net/u-c-davis-pepper-spray-incident-reynoso-task-force-report/">U.C. Davis Pepper Spray Incident Reynoso Task Force Report</a> has been released. As the Associated Press <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/ca-university-slammed-pepper-spraying-students-083335299.html">reports</a>:</p>
</div>
<div class="quoteblock">
<blockquote>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>“In a report released Wednesday, a UC Davis task force said the decision to douse seated Occupy protesters with the eye-stinging chemical was ‘objectively unreasonable’ and not authorized by campus policy.”</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>“The pepper-spraying incident that took place on Nov. 18, 2011, should and could have been prevented,' concluded the task force created to investigate the confrontation.”</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>The report is very critical of both <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_P.B._Katehi">Chancellor Katehi</a> and her administration as well as the UC Davis Police Department. Some of its findings:</p>
</div>
<div class="ulist">
<ul>
<li>
<p>There Was a Failure to Investigate Whether or Not “Non-Affiliates” in the UC Davis Occupy Encampment Were Present</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The Administration Decided to Deploy Police to Remove the Tents on Nov. 18 before Considering Other Reasonable Alternatives</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The Scope of the Police Operation to Remove the Tents Was Ineffectively Communicated, Not Clearly Understood by Key Decision-Makers, and, Accordingly, Could Not Be Adequately Evaluated as to Its Costs and Consequences</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>There Was Confusion as to the Legal Basis for the Police Operation</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The UCDPD Failed to Plan for the Intended Action According to Standard Operating Procedures</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Notwithstanding the Deficiencies in the Operations Plan, the Incident Was Not Managed According to the Plan</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>The Decision to Use Pepper Spray Was Not Supported by Objective Evidence and Was Not Authorized by Policy</strong></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The Pepper Spray Used, the MK-9, First Aerosol Projector, Was Not an Authorized Weapon for Use by the UCDPD</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Many Members of the Leadership Team, Including the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor Meyer, and Vice Chancellor Wood, Share Responsibility for the Decision to Remove the Tents on Friday and, as a Result, the Subsequent Police Action Against Protesters</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Lt. Pike Bears Primary Responsibility for the Objectively Unreasonable Decision to Use Pepper Spray on the Students Sitting in a Line and for the Manner in Which the Pepper Spray Was Used</strong></p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>So it turns out spraying chemical irritant (essentially a food product, right?) in the faces of kids peacefully sitting on the ground is not reasonable after all. You’d think a decorated and highly-paid peace officer would know that without a task force, though.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>One interesting bit in the report gives insight into the logic of the authoritarian mind:</p>
</div>
<div class="quoteblock">
<blockquote>
During an interview conducted by Kroll staff with Chancellor Katehi on Dec. 20, 2011, about a month after the pepper spray incident, the Chancellor explained her concerns about the involvement of ‘non-affiliates’ with the UC Davis Occupy movement and encampment. Chancellor Katehi stated, ‘We were worried at the time about that [nonaffiliates] because the issues from Oakland were in the news and the use of drugs and sex and other things, and you know here we have very young students …​ we were worried especially about having very young girls and other students with older people who come from the outside without any knowledge of their record …​ if anything happens to any student while we’re in violation of policy, it’s a very tough thing to overcome.’
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>To be clear, the ‘very young girls’ she is referring to are university students. Also, as the report goes on to state, there was no evidence of any ‘non-affiliates’ on campus, despite that being repeatedly used as an excuse for calling in the police. So, because Katehi didn’t want to potentially have to explain to parents that their daughters had been exposed to drugs or sex while possibly being in violation of policy, she clearly violated policy to have them roughly handled by uniformed men, pepper sprayed, and arrested instead.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>Another headline from yesterday, this time from Berkeley: <a href="http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20120412210430323">FBI and UCPD Settle Lawsuit with Long Haul, Slingshot, and East Bay Prisoner Support</a>. In August of 2008 the UCBPD and FBI raided a radical community center in response to email threats to UC animal researchers that allegedly were sent from the center’s public computers. The agents refused to show a warrant, seized ALL computers (including those that were clearly unrelated to the investigation), and were generally destructive in an attempt at political intimidation.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>The case was handled by both the EFF and ACLU.</p>
</div>
<div class="quoteblock">
<blockquote>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>As part of today’s settlement, the UCPD:</p>
</div>
<div class="ulist">
<ul>
<li>
<p>Conceded that it has no information that either the Long Haul or EBPS was connected with the e-mail threats;</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Acknowledged that the Long Haul was at the time of the raid a publisher protected by the Privacy Protection Act, designed to prevent against such searches; and</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Agreed to expand the scope and coverage of improved training regarding the provisions of the Privacy Protection Act that were first imposed in the wake of the 2008 raid.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>Both the UCPD and the FBI also agreed to:</p>
</div>
<div class="ulist">
<ul>
<li>
<p>Destroy the data they seized as part of the raid; and</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Pay a total of $100,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees caused by the raid.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>The article also notes that part of the settlement will be donated “to the Occupy Oakland Anti-Repression Committee to assist others targeted by the police for their political beliefs,” which is great!</p>
</div>Two headlines about UC police departments. First, the task force investigating last year's pepper spraying incident at UC Davis released its report condemning both the administration and the police department and calling the decision to use pepper spray on the peaceful students '`objectively unreasonable`'. Second, the EFF and UCLA reached a settlement in a case against the UC Berkeley Police Department and the FBI stemming from an illegal raid at a radical community center in August 2008. As part of the settlement the FBI and UCBPD acknowledge they broke the law and will pay $100,000 in damages.tag:americancynic.net,2012-02-10:/log/2012/2/10/the_cost_of_the_occupy_movement/The Cost of the Occupy Movement2012-02-10T15:28:12Z2018-08-08T16:29:19Z<div class="paragraph">
<p>There has been a black bloc presence at almost every occupy camp eviction and march in the country. Wearing all black with their faces covered, avoiding accountability through anonymity, armed and armoured, they’re ready to beat people and destroy property. And they’re getting paid overtime to do it.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>Since Occupy Oakland tried to take over and run an abandoned community center on January 28th, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120405140038/http://hellaoccupyoakland.org/opd-then-and-now-seriously-fuck-the-pigs/">resulting in 400 arrests</a>, I’ve been hearing and reading once again about how much the Occupy movement has cost cities. The AP <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/02/04/state/n010745S95.DTL">reported last week</a> that “Occupy Oakland has cost the city $5 million since the first protest tent popped up outside City Hall in October.” Back in November the headline was <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-11-23/occupy-cities-cost/51365474/1">Occupy protests cost U.S. cities at least $13M</a>.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>The subject in the sentence “Occupy protests cost” is misleading. It is not as if the protesters are requesting a militarized police presence at their peaceful events or for sanitation workers to work overtime in order to throw away their tents and belongings.</p>
</div>
<div class="paragraph">
<p>Jaime Yassin has a good short entry over at Hyphenated-Republic titled <a href="https://hyphenatedrepublic.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/blame-bankrupting-overtime-costs-on-the-city-and-police-not-protesters/">Blame Bankrupting Overtime Costs on the City and OPD, not Protesters</a>:</p>
</div>
<div class="quoteblock">
<blockquote>
When we move our admittedly institutional frame to ask questions about costs to city taxpayers from police actions, lets talk about where the majority of that money went first: lawsuits generated by violence and ignorance of the law; and extortionary overtime procedures which have only recently seen any kind of attempt at control from the city. Then we can move on to extra three million spent to prevent the exercise of freedom of speech.
</blockquote>
</div>There has been a black bloc presence at almost every occupy camp eviction and march in the country. Wearing all black with their faces covered, avoiding accountability through anonymity, armed and armoured, they're ready to beat people and destroy property. And they're getting paid overtime to do it.