grim and womyn

World Charter on Right to the City  & Right to the City Alliance Platform Presents:

URBAN ENCUENTRO
Soul of the City: Global and Local Perspectives
on the Right to the City

From Occupy, to housing squats, to counter-power structures, to participatory decision-making— urbansocial movements are re-imagining urban democracy. This panel features local and national intellectuals, organizers and activists at the forefront of global and local movements constructing urbanalternatives.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2013

7:00pm-9:00pm

THE NEW SCHOOL

66 FIFTH AVENUE, KELLEN AUDITORIUM NEW YORK, NY, 10011

SPEAKERS: RACHEL LAFOREST, Right to the City Alliance, MIGUEL ROBLES-DURAN Director, Graduate Program in Design and Urban Ecologies, FRANK MORALES Housing Activist, KAZEMBE BALAGUN, Brecht Forum, MATT BIRKHOLD, Growing Roots, CARMEN PINIERO Community Voices Heard, PRISCILLA “GRIM WOMYN” GRIM, Organizer, Occupy Movement, WILLIAM MORRISH, Professor,Parsons School of Design Strategies

LIVESTREAM AT: http://www.youtube.com/rttcusa or http://new.livestream.com/thenewschool

Local District Attorney offices are now partnering with debt collectors. The result is, that your debt collection notice might arrive on the letterhead of your local government. This gives the illusion of the illegality of debt.

The next logical conclusion to come to is that when the spoils of the “drug war” dry up, a brand new type of nonviolent criminal will arrive into the for-profit prison system. Ever thirsty to build on its $3 billion in assets. 

Register & Show Your Commitment! By registering, we can keep you up to date on housing, food, volunteer opportunities, convergence and action plans.

Anniversary Schedule: We have a full weekend of activities planned from civil disobedience to permitted concerts to trainings and teach ins. Oh and sign making and face paint :)

S17 Day of Action: Bring business attire to wear on the 17th. We will disrupt business as usual in the financial district by blockading the Stock Exchange and surrounding intersections with multiple actions all morning and assemblies in afternoon and evening. Get prepped with our Action and Know Your Rights Training Schedule

Transportation: We are encouraging folks to find their own transportation. We have resources listed on the Transportation page about rideshares, Amtrak discounts, buses, and information about parking.

Housing: If you register on the s17 registration form and indicate that you need housing, you will be sent all of the address and all the info you need. If you haven’t heard back from us, please email support@s17nyc.org.

Year 2 of Occupy Wall Street is quickly approaching.  And to coincide with this first anniversary, we are pleased to announce the imminent release of the third issue of the magazine Tidal: Occupy Theory, Occupy Strategy.  In both its intellectual rigor and its large-scale distribution, Tidal has been recognized as a force to be reckoned with not only by allies on the Left, but also by outlets of the powerful Right-Wing media establishment such as Andrew Breitbart’s talk show The Blaze (http://bit.ly/GUlDXv).  In order to ensure that Tidal can play this role in pushing the movement forward, we would like to ask for your financial assistance for printing costs.  Printing will be done by Tristate, a unionized printer.  This link (www.wepay.com/tidal3) has a short letter detailing the state of the movement, it’s future direction, and a very easy way to make a monetary contribution (www.wepay.com/tidal3).

So help this lady out.

George Olivio and I (longtime journalist and media guru Sheryll Alexander) have been in solidarity with OWS as Occupy Orange County CA (Occupy OC) media team organizers since before our first protest on Oct. 15 2011 where about 1,000 citizens came and protested against the banksters.

Our OC Affinity Group has been involved in several successful direct actions over the past year including Occupy the Courts and a Romney satire protest, among others. On July 21, our affinity group dove into action to cover the #Anaheim crisis in solidarity with OWS and Occupy OC. Without any renumeration whatsoever, we have covered #Anaheim now for 20 days to support the families and the downtrodden community with personal outreach and a media storm including livestreaming of every action as well as excellent live and continuous media coverage across all social media platforms linking the WORLD with #Anaheim and Occupy OC.  

Now, we are continuing our solidarity with OWS as well as Theresa Smith of Anaheim Cruzsaders in her protests against APD every Saturday at Disneyland (wow!) and every Sunday across from APD HQ. This is high visibility stuff, but we can NOT keep going without some funding as our families are going hungry and our internet is going to get cut off tomorrow. As a media organizer who covers #Anaheim continuously on my Facebook feed and the Occupy OC FB page, I personally need $134 by tomorrow to pay my wireless bill. Plus, my family needs an extra $100-200 for food and gas to get us through the weekend. If you know anyone who can help, please let me know ASAP. We are receiving no donation help from OC as we are seen as rebels and villains. OC Affinity Group thanks you for your help!!

Sheryll Alexander, independent journalist and media occupier

Here’s all the ways we can receive donations:

You can donate directly to me and my continuous #Anaheim #occupy feed to my PayPal account at: sheryllalexander AT yahoo.com

Here’s the transparent WePay donation button for Occupy OC. The money is dumped into the account of a very trusted affinity group member and it will come directly to me and George: http://www.occupy-oc.org/donations/

George also has a WePay donation link on his Orange Crew livestream page: https://www.wepay.com/donations/ustream-donations-for-orangecrew

Join us for our first gathering of Café de Cleyre—a direct action reading group and film series!
Tuesday, July 24
16 Beaver (4th floor)
6:00 PM

Cafés have served as an important site of social gathering and debate. In this spirit, and inspired by the writings of anarchist and feminist Voltairine de Cleyre, we seek to study direct action so as to inform our struggle against the state and capitalism.

In striving to develop consistency between our principles and interactions with one another, this group offers a horizontal approach to learning. Drawing from personal experiences as well as films and readings, Café de Cleyre is an opportunity to engage in a participatory model in which everyone has something to offer and everyone has something to learn. We place emphasis on asking questions over assuming answers.

We wish to explore questions such as:

• What is direct action and what forms can it take?
• What distinguishes direct action from other types of action?
• When and where has direct action been used through history?
• How does direct action work to dismantle all systems of oppression, such as white supremacy, patriarchy, colonialism, heterosexism, transphobia, ableism, and ageism?

In future weeks, the group will collectively decide which texts to read and which films to watch. Discussions will be guided by different facilitators each week. For the first gathering, we are asking folks to read any and all of the following suggested pieces:

• Voltairine de Cleyre, “Direct Action,” in The Voltairine de Cleyre Reader, edited by A. J. Brigati (pp. 38-50) (1912/2004)

• David Graeber, “Direct Action, Anarchism, Direct Democracy,” in Direct Action: An Ethnography (pp. 201-238) (2009)

• AK Thompson, “Direct Action, Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” in Black Bloc, White Riot: Anti-Globalization and the Genealogy of Dissent (pp. 59-79) (2010)

Additional readings (if you have the time):

• Jason Brannigan, “Direct Action Gets the Goods,” in Working Class Resistance 10 (2005)

• Sans-Titres Bulletin 1, “What is Direct Action?” A-Infos News (1999)

• Rob Sparrow, “Anarchist Politics & Direct Action” (2001)

• David Wieck, “The Habit of Direct Action,” in Reinventing Anarchy, Again, edited by Howard Ehrlich (pp. 375-376) (1996)

We will also be viewing Shutdown: The Rise and Fall of Direct Action Against the War (2008), a documentary reflecting on the shutdown and occupation of the Financial District in San Francisco on March 20, 2003.

Tea and coffee will be provided; feel free to bring food! For more information, please contact cafedecleyre@riseup.net.

So please join us:
Tuesday, July 24
16 Beaver (4th floor)
6:00 PM

From my essay for grad school, written in 2010:

“The class lines of access are pushed aside, and if we don’t miss it, we have the opportunity to create a transparent and equitable world for all; the secret is in the commitment to meaningful cross platform information distribution via multiple languages and cultural considerations. As “printing allowed a foundation for progress”  in the late 15th century by opening the doors of the violent dark ages into the revelations of the renaissance; the emergence of new media distribution is a lightening bolt to anyone with an idea or curiosity…I want to be a part of the humanitarian centered efforts in the world. I want to help move society forward into its next evolution by creating the platform for it to happen.”

No wonder I became an occupier……

After what we think was a huge triumph yesterday, we wake up today to find that (unsurprisingly) the mainstream media has decided to almost completely ignore our M1 celebrations, the huge mass of people that hit the streets, the series of protests, workshops, pickets and marches that took over the day and the tons of powerful and hopeful scenes that seem to signal the coming of a militant spring/summer. So, in true OWS fashion, we must be the change we wish to see, and flood the airspace with our media. 

Which is why we’ve decided to launch an emergency campaign to collect testimonies, opinions and observations of all of those that took the streets yesterday around the country to publish them on IndigNación (www.indig-nacion.org). We would like to turn this into an opportunity to turn our new platform into a real space of dialogue between what we know are very different perspectives within our community — and I’m not talking exclusively of the Latino community. Although our content is exclusively in Spanish, we want to hear from everyone. Texts in English (or any other language, for that matter) will be translated and posted in both. Let’s fill the silence of corporate media with the voices of the people!

PLEASE take 15 minutes from your day today to write us at least a few sentences about what you saw, heard, thought or felt yesterday. Also, please share this email with all of your friends who were on the streets yesterday here in New York or in any part of the world, celebrating International Worker’s Day. If you have photos or videos you want to share, we’d also love to see them. You can send all of your contributions to editores@indig-nacion.org and we ask that you please do it TODAY if possible. 

much love to you all and onwards!

@ 8:00am Occupy Bushwick starting in Maria Hernandez Park (Bushwick Brooklyn)will march to Williamsburg to meet Occupy Williamsburg at Continental Army Plaza and then march across the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan. 

@ 2:00pm March is being led by Occupy Sunset Park in front of the Banks @54th Avenue and 5th Avenue. We will march through the neighborhood and then ‘Occupy the Subway’ and then meet Occupy Red Hook at 9th Street/4th Avenue Station and then ride subway together into city.

@5:00pm - General Assembly of ALL community based Occupies in the 5 Boroughs. This will take place at the Andy Warhol Statue on 17th and Broadway (Across street from Northwest Edge of Union Square)

@5:30pm-We all MARCH to Wall Street. 

As you’ll notice, the majority of needs are for more people. We hereby officially deploy you as a representative of May Day Arts to invite your friends, families or coworkers to any of these events you think they might like.  All of these actions are concrete, fun ways to be involved in May Day for folks  who aren’t plugged in to larger convergences. Sometimes a direct invitation goes a long way!

Materials:

Boomboxes, Walkmen, FM receivers- contact sognerATgmail.com, nina.mehtaAThotmail.com

an Amp to borrow- contact miazanetteATgmail.com

an ipad to borrow- contact ZacqaryATplanhead.com

pennies- contact aaronburrsocietyATgmail.com

Participants and Volunteers :

10AM: More dancers for Ballet Barre on the barricades!  Bowling Green - http://maydaygallery.tumblr.com/post/20808039293/occupy-dance-www-meetup-com-owsdance-what-is

10AM-2PM: A Public Notary for May Day Re-Birth Certificates. Bryant Park. Contact marysghostATgmail.com - http://maydaygallery.tumblr.com/post/21733153771/the-naturalization-service-what-is-it-the

12 NOON: More Guitarists for Guitarmy! Bryant Park - http://occupyguitarmy.tumblr.com/

2-6PM: More models and photographers (papparazzi) to help us model hope. Periphery of Union Square - http://maydaygallery.tumblr.com/post/20645579244/call-for-models

3PM: More May Pole Dancers! to weave together all our grievances. Union Square. (contact kathleenATmoveforchange.info) - http://maydaygallery.tumblr.com/post/21887563163/may-pole-what-is-it-a-may-pole-for-may-day

5:15 PM: More singers for Choir Convergence! Madison Square Park - http://maydaygallery.tumblr.com/post/20067410585/mayday-choir-convergence

6:30 PM Help levitate the gold out of the Federal Reserve! Contact aaronburrsocietyATgmail.com - http://maydaygallery.tumblr.com/post/21229477076/levitate-the-federal-reserve-bank

ALL DAY:

More people to hand out Spread the Wealth posters anywhere you wish- contact janeATjanegreengold.com to get posters - http://maydaygallery.tumblr.com/post/21398982213/spread-the-wealth-www-janegreengold-com-what-is

More librarians for the SPREAD Guerilla Library in Crown Hts/Bed Stuy- contact reksturAThushmail.com for how to help - http://maydaygallery.tumblr.com/post/20181920462/spread-guerilla-libraries

More people to pass around the Occupy Cookie Meme. http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/occupy+cookie 

More folks to hand out Chalk to color the streets! Contact msswansonATme.com - http://maydaygallery.tumblr.com/post/22042565902/chalk-for-may-day-arts-what-is-it-free-chalk-for

MIC CHECK!! I urge ALL people to head down to Wall Street tonight, the NYPD has consistently and consistently agreed to “protect our rights to freedom of speech” as cited in Penal Code 240.20(5) which allows sleeping on sidewalk. Yesterday 4 people were arrested. Absolutely outrageous. 

Get off the internet, I’ll see you in the street.

From the genius @jensacks77

Jezebel has made the world aware of a flood of vagina-related messages being posted on state legislators’ walls in states where male reps are getting up in our ladybiz. Here’s the post:http://jezebel.com/5893040/smartasses-deluge-pro+ultrasound-male-lawmakers-facebook-page-with-detailed-vagina-updates

Most of the messages get taken down, but here are some that got screengrabbed on Daily Kos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/13/1074013/-Hilarious-VA-Right-Wingnut-Sen-Ryan-McDougle-Gets-a-Taste-of-His-Own-Transvaginal-Medicine-

Other states to look at: 

Arizona: Republican Debbie Lesko of the Senate Judiciary Committee, whose “You’ll be fired for taking The Pill” bill was passed yesterday . Here’s her FB page. Lesko states, with a straight face, that this bill is necessary because “we live in America; we don’t live in the Soviet Union.” Deface away. 

Texas: Wayne Christian, a Republican state representative who voted for closing all those PP clinics in Texas, cutting off cancer screenings and pap smears to 400,000 women, even though those PP locations do not offer abortions. Christian admits the TX legislature “kind of blend being anti-abortion with being anti-Planned Parenthood.” Thanks, Wayne, but that’s not very Christian! Here’s his FB page. 

Also, Romney promised to cut Planned Parenthood. Good luck defacing his FB page.

“Quick:  name the last time a consumer boycott achieved a result of any significance.  (Getting American Airlines to stop using animals in its ads doesn’t count.)  I have to go all the way back to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2009/08/boycotting-whole-foods/23348/

Dear comrades;

Hope you are having a nice day. Would like to share with you my enthusiasm about this meme #disobeyinjustice and raise a humble motion to start a campaign around it with the help of veteran tweeters.

First, let me intro why #disobeyinjustice is radical and dangerous to the status quo.

There is no coincidence why “occupy” was (is) a powerful meme-word. In an imperialist country like the United States, the use of logic and vocabulary of empire against empire itself, which is essentialy what “occupy” did when it started counteroccupations in American soil, provides us with interesting strategic keynotes.

In a time where everyone is commanded/coerced to obey, when people have been reduced to obedient consumers, well: disobedience is our strongest ally.

In the revolutionary tradition, there are repeated - and decisive - instances when the rebels had an upper hand: that  moment was when the police, the military and the common people stopped obeying the orders of a collapsing regime and joined the ranks.

In a world order where obedience fuels oppression, the deliberate choice to not play the game and expose its inherent injustice defuses the game (of capitalism). By simply refusing to play wherever and whenever you can.

A campaign that revolves around this meme, #disobeyinjustice, even though command-like (as “occupy” is), carries the roots of dissent. Moreover, it has enough “memetic camouflage” to bring it home in a nation that forgot that it was born with a bold act of disobedience.

Trojan meme horse.

I am willing to organize this campaign with the help of 2 other veteran tweetboaters, so we can check and balance each others’ inputs, see what is reasonable or not, etc.

This can maybe become a practice that we adopt, so newbies can participate, collaborate, and walk the learning-curve.

Anarchy is not complete nonsense, it is a practical philosophy that we should include in all political imaginations moving forward as what is currently offered in the United States is unsustainable and will continue to only serve a corrupt government dictated by big business and the upper classes.

The status quo has had since to the 70s to figure out what will serve the public and they have only made both the political conversation and it’s manifestation of the United States  more divisive, unequal and simply deadly in policy. Give class war a chance, and give the people of the United States an opportunity for economic equality and transformation.