Aid & Abet

Hi Everyone – This morning I delivered all of the remaining copies of Clamor Magazine back issues to AK Press. You can now order any back issue you want directly from them through their site www.akpress.org. You can get complete descriptions of all the back issues at the Clamor site.

Also, I have limited styles and quantities of Clamor T-Shirts. If you want one, please email me directly.

Money from the sale of this poster will go to support the work of John Viola, an activist lawyer in San Francisco who often defends activists without asking them to pay. The poster costs $10-20 sliding scale, and was designed by Eric Drooker with printing donated by Inkworks. Please email me if you’re interested in getting one!

Why do I care so much about this? Because a felony charge for any kind of free speach action is among the most absurd things out there. Plus, David is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever known. I know, I’m a bit biased on that one.

Let’s not talk about how many of my friends are dealing with court-related issues right now, it’s a little daunting.

(photos on this page by Bill Carpenter)

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LEGAL UPDATE

Letters and demands that District Attorney Kamala Harris drop felony vandalism charges were ignored to date. The District Attorney’s office was not prepared for the pre-trial on Monday March 26–which should have been a basis to drop the case–but the judge refused to grant attorney John Viola’s motions and re-scheduled the case for April 18th. Solnit is charged for allegedly throwing red paint on the entrance to the San Francisco Mexican Consulate on October 31, 2006, days after schoolteacher Emilio Alfonso Fabián, Oaxaca resident Eudocia Olivera Díaz and US journalist Brad Will were shot and killed in Oaxaca City by paramilitary vigilantes connected to the state government.

His attorney, John Viola, said, “Felony charges and the threat of state prison–for a nonviolent protest–is a regrettable departure from San Francisco’s legacy of tolerance for vigorous public debate and protest. The prosecution of David on felony charges threatens free speech on behalf of human rights and social justice. Instead of wasting limited City resources to prosecute a San Francisco Bay Area human rights activist for nonviolent protest, the DA’s office should use its resources to pressure the Mexican government to observe human rights and bring to justice all those responsible for killing and violating the basic rights of teachers, journalists and Oaxacan residents.”
JOIN US AT THE PRE-TRIAL:
Wednesday April 18, 9am
850 Bryant St., Department 9, SF.

Showing the court that the community cares about these charges is important! Also, if you can send a letter to tell DA Kamala Harris to drop the felony charges it could help (sample letter at the end of this post)

POETRY & PROSE FOR OAXACA
On mid-day Monday March 26 Bay Area poets and writers spoke out amidst rainshowers, reading aloud poems and prose of solidarity with Oaxaca on the doorstep of the Mexican Consulate. Poets and writers included: Jack Hirschman, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Rebecca Solnit, Bill Evans, Larry Bogad, Aryeh Shell and Asha. Ted Lewis of the human rights group Global Exchange gave an update from the family of Brad Will’s recent visit to Mexico. Labor organizer Frank Martin Del Campo and local activist and friend of Brad Will’s Jene’ were masters of ceremony. Jack’s poem written for the occasion is below.
Bill Carpenter took video and photos of the event for Indybay, including a video of Jack reading.

The Itinerant Poetry Librarian attended and has a few of the pieces on her internet library (and promise all of the readings on her archive in the future):

THE LAVA OF MOLTEN HOPE

For the Oaxacan strikers and in memory

of those murdered in the struggle

Double the pesos of the thousands

of teachers of the children of Oaxaca,

and for URO a one-way ticket

out of the State

with his bags stuffed

with corruption, repression and blood.

The Mexico that’s arriving,

that’s knocking

on the door of tomorrow,

whose Viva! Has been appearing

once more on the lips

of peoples the world over—

this Mexico, of Oaxacan defiance

and Chiapas poetry armed

with justice and dignity

worthy of those who seed

the future in the minds and hearts

of Mexico’s kids,

is the lava of molten hope

flowing to all who are

corporately imprisoned,

is the red paint of resistance

flung at the felonious

masters of greed.

—Jack Hirschman

SAMPLE LETTER:

District Attorney Kamala D. Harris
Hall of Justice
850 Bryant Street, Room 322
San Francisco, CA 94103

RE: People v. Solnit, court no. 2294094

Kamala Harris,

I’m writing to urge you to drop the felony charges against longtime local human rights and social justice activist David Solnit. The charges relate to an October 31, 2006 nonviolent protest at the Mexican Consulate in response the human rights crisis in Oaxaca, Mexico in which a US journalist, a school teacher, and others had been killed days before.

The alleged civil disobedience was a necessary response to a human rights emergency in Oaxaca, Mexico. US independent journalist Brad Will, school teacher Emilio Alfonso Fabián, and Oaxaca resident Eudocia Olivera Díaz were all shot and killed on Friday October 27, 2006 by militias connected to the state government of Oaxaca. In the days that followed Mexican Federal Police were sent in to Oaxaca City, resulting in more deaths, mass arrests and detentions. Amnesty International and other human rights groups made public statements concerning the crisis in Oaxaca and sent out repeated Urgent Action Alerts apprising supporters of the situation.

Strong public protest, including civil disobedience, in the United States is one important way to stop the continuing human rights crisis in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Felony charges and the threat of state prison for a nonviolent protest is a regrettable departure from San Francisco’s legacy of tolerance for vigorous public debate and protest. The prosecution of David on felony charges threatens free speech on behalf of human rights and social justice.

Instead of wasting limited City resources to prosecute a San Francisco Bay Area human rights activist for nonviolent protest, the DA’s office should use its resources to pressure the Mexican government to observe human rights and bring to justice all those responsible for killing and violating the basic rights of teachers and Oaxacan residents.

I urge you to drop felony charges against David Solnit for engaging in nonviolent protest in support of human rights.

Sincerely,

CC: (If you also can send a copy to the Mexican Consulate it may help).
Consolado General de Mexico en San Francisco
532 Folsom St., San Francisco, CA 94105

I don’t usually post personal stuff on this blog, but I might start doing more of that soon. Partially because I just started reading Katy Otto’s blog, which is amazing. I wish I lived closer to her so we could hang out all the time.

Yesterday I read something on Postcards from Guyville that really resonated with me. It was posted on February 16, after a guy she calls “The Longshot” broke things off with her:

And then it will be the gaping, unstructured weekend. The weekend I only a day ago had hoped I’d be spending with the truly spectacular Longshot, a person so awesome, so extraordinary, so insanely well-matched to me on so many levels, that just knowing he exists has blown the curve for anyone I may date from here on out. And I can’t even blame him for making a sane decision on his own behalf and communicating it to me in the most sensitive way possible.

Um, yeah. You probably have to read the whole post for it to make sense, but this particular passage resonated for me because I am fortunate to have such people in my life, individuals that change the curve. Knowing they exist changes everything. At the same time, I’m having this moment of being afraid of being heartbroken one day by the amazing people and things in my life when things change before I am ready. It is my lesson in this life that all things are temporary. I’ll never forget a couple of years ago when my dear friend Mike told me that yes, all people, himself included, will disappoint me one day.

This is the part where I convince myself that it’s OK because I am thankful for every minute I have with the people I love, and the knowledge that things will change one day helps me to not take people or things for granted.

And yes, amazing is the word of the day.

This weekend, I attended the fourth Women, Action, and the Media conference in Cambridge, Massachussetts. I enjoy being around smart, active people. Sometimes I feel that the conference is a bit schizophrenic, because it tries to appeal equally to women who make their own media as well as to women working within mainstream media. I think it’s smart to approach change with a variety of different tactics, and we could probably argue endlessly about what is effective and what is not. It does mean that there are many sessions that are unappealing to half the audience, and vice versa – but maybe it has a broader appeal that way.

I wasn’t really planning on blogging about it much, but wanted to give a shout-out to some of the awesome women I talked with there:

Courtney Martin – A former Clamor contributor, we had never met in person before. I was excited to talk face-to-face and was really impressed with her. Check out her new book, Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters due out on Simon & Schuster.

Jessica Hoffmann – Former Clamor editor, she co-presented the session, “Indy Media vs Big Business” with me, about the time that American Apparel threatened to sue Clamor, and how you can protect yourself if that happens to you. Along with a group of friends, she has brazenly entered the print magazine world with a new feminist publication, make/shift.

Thenmozhi Soundararajan from Third World Majority gave an amazing keynote speech on Saturday morning, talking about what media justice is and a topic near and dear to my heart, funding and economic stability. She has a great critique of foundation and corporate funding that echos the INCITE anthology: The Revolution Will Not Be Funded. Does power pay other to agitate against it? Would it be wise to develop new leadership in our organizations which result in activists (like ourselves) without healthcare or economic stability? Lots more to say, and I wish she had more writing on this topic that I could point you to on the web. I’ll keep you posted if I find anything. I was a little surprised when she told me she didn’t know Clamor had folded. Oh, and hats off to presentations that include singing by women with amazing voices who also get the audience to sing (props to Marisa Handler who I saw at a talk last month for her book Loyal to the Sky).

Hannah Sassaman from Prometheus Radio Project is another one of the coolest women out there.  When I meet or hang out with people like her, I think it should be my job in life to support amazing people in whatever they are doing.

I also had the pleasure of watching Jennifer Baumgardner and Gillian Aldrich’s movie: Speak Out: I Had an Abortion.  The film interviews women who had abortions between 1938 and 2003, when they were legal and when they weren’t, and women from all different economic, family, religious, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds. It was intensely moving, and highly recommended.

Now that I have to catch an airplane back to Oakland from Boston, I don’t have time to mention all the other amazing women I interacted with like Brandee, Jan, Jennifer, Emily, Phoebe, Becca, and Erin. I do want to especially thank Christy Pardew and her housemates for their hospitality and friendship. Staying with nice people makes all the difference.