S.O.S.! CAMPAIGN TO COLLECT SIGNATURES FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE 12 POLITICAL PRISONERS OF ATENCO.

CAMPAIGN TO COLLECT SIGNATURES FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE 12 POLITICAL PRISONERS OF ATENCO.

SYNOPSIS: The Peoples' Front in Defense of the Land (Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra, FDPT) brings together a number of villages and farming communities on the outskirts of Mexico City, including San Salvador Atenco. In 2002 they generated a process of peasant resistance against the plan to make a new airport, with this project the government wanted to take away their land. After an intense process of organizing the opposition to the airport, the project was canceled. The FPDT became after its struggle in defense of the land in a national and international reference of the social movement in Mexico. On May 3 and 4 of 2006 the residents of San Salvador Atenco were victims of repression by the Mexican government that prompted one of the most violent police operations in the country's history, with a balance of two youths killed, more than 200 arbitrary arrests, severe human rights violations of the detainees involving police brutality, irregularities in the process and the torture and sexual abuse of thirty female detainees. The case of repression in San Salvador Atenco has become emblematic since numerous and diverse organisms defending human rights documented and spread the above mentioned violations. Even the Mexican government agencies such as the Supreme Court have recognized that such violations took place. More than four years after these events, 12 people are still unjustly imprisoned. They are political prisoners of the Mexican government. As part of a national and international campaign called Freedom and justice for Atenco will post on this month of June an ad in a newspaper of national circulation, to demand their freedom. Before the end of June the Supreme Court's Office will decide on the release of these 12 prisoners. To lose this legal battle they will have to purge sentences ranging from 31 to up to 112 years in prison. This is an urgent statement to be signed by numerous individuals and organizations, nationally and internationally.

The legal elements are integrated in a text that has been endorsed and supported by leading human rights centers as the center Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez DH center Fray Francisco de Vitoria as well as specialists from the community of the post graduate in human rights and democracy of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences Mexico (FLACSO Mexico). That is why we invite you to sign this petition with the text that under the signatures. Esperamos que puedan apoyar este proceso por la libertad y la justicia y en defensa de quienes luchan por la tierra. We hope you can support this process for freedom and justice and in defense of those fighting for the land.

COMITÉ LIBERTAD Y JUSTICIA PARA ATENCO:

COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM AND JUSTICE FOR ATENCO:

Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra (People's Front in Defense of the Land), Relatives of prisoners and persecuted, Servicios legales, Investigación y Asesoría Jurídica; Servicios y asesoría para la Paz (Serapaz), Human Rights Centre Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez, Mujeres Sin Miedo, Human Rights Center Fray Francisco de Vitoria, Comité Cerezo, Comité Monseñor Romero, Consorcio para el diálogo parlamentario y la equidad; Centro Nacional de Comunicación Social (CENCOS), Jovenes en Resistencia Alternativa (JRA), Bishop Emeritus Samuel Ruiz Garcia of the Diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas, Ofelia Medina actress, musician Manu Chao, Julieta Egurrola actress, Raul Vera Bishop of the Diocese of Saltillo, Coahuila, Adolfo Gilly academic, actor Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Luis Villoro philosopher, singer Ruben Albarran rock band Cafe Tacvba, actor Bruno Bichir, Fray Miguel Concha Malo Dominican friar, director of the Center for Human Rights Fray Francisco de Vitoria, Roco Pachukote vocalist of the rock band Maldita Vecindad y lo Hijos del Quinto Patio, Gilberto López y Rivas, anthropologist, journalist Luis Hernández Navarro, Carlos Fazio, academic Guillermo Almeyra academic, Los de Abajo, ska and rock band, La Reinas Chulas actresses.

Text to sign:

FREEDOM NOW!!! of the 12 prisoners of San Salvador Atenco

For the ministers of the First Chamber of the Supreme Court: José de Jesús Gudiño Pelayo, Olga María del Carmen Sánchez Cordero de García Villegas, Juan N. Silva Meza, Arturo Zaldívar Lelo De Larrea, José Ramón CossíoJose de Jesus Gudino Pelayo, Olga María del Carmen Sánchez Cordero de García Villegas, Juan N. Silva Meza, Arturo Zaldivar Lelo De Larrea, Jose Ramon Cossio Diaz.

To the national and international public opinion.  

We know the serious violations of human rights committed on May 3 and 4 of  2006 that the Mexican government committed in San Salvador Atenco. Following these events 12 people are still in prison. We are concerned that the process that they followed was full of irregularities, was not respected the principle of presumption of innocence and the guarantees of due process and that the evidence established that the sentence was gathered illegally. We believe that these irregularities did not involve the right to a fair trial.  It is a warning sign that the offense of kidnapping which we believe is unconstitutional, may be used to criminalize social demands and that the system of enforcement and administration of justice was used to treat as criminals the members of the Frente de pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra (FDPT). We also know that there is legal precedent issued by the Poder Judicial de la Federación, which held that the acts for which Ignacio del Valle, Felipe Álvarez and Héctor Galindo were sentence, do not constitute the crime of kidnapping; this background, even when the rules are not legally-binding for the Ministers, we believe that for security and legal consistency as well as the implications of the case cannot be ignored. Therefore, we call the First Chamber of the Supreme Court to release the 12 prisoners of Atenco.

IMPORTANT NOTE for those supporting with your signature:

For individual firms, please include name, estate or country, and profession.

In the case of signatures from organizations, groups in favor please include the full name of your organization, and country or state of the organization. 

All signatures will be accepted until Thursday June 24h at Midnight send them to firmasatenco@gmail.com  

All the information of this case can be found on our campaign page: www.atencolibertadyjusticia.com

Committee for Freedom and justice for Atenco

Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra (People's Front in Defense of the Land)

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Jovenes Resistencia Alternativa ( Youth for Alternative Resistance):

LiBeRtAd! autonomía! autogestión! horizontalidad!

jovenes en resistencia alternativa

www.espora.org/jra

for more info about Atenco see here:

A Warning to Students of All Ages by Raoul Vaneigem

As in most countries of north hemisphere the schools and the universities shut down to allow some weeks of rest, free thought and happiness to most of the students, some of the youngest mental slaves of our times,....
Void Network dedicates to all students the essay of 
Raoul Vaneigem 
A Warning to Students of All Ages

A Warning to Students of All Ages  

By Raoul Vaneigem

[Note: this pamphlet was originally published in French in 1995. It was translated by JML with NOT BORED! in August 2000.]

Chapter 1: A warning to students of all ages.

The school, the family, the factory, the barracks, and, by proxy, the hospital and the prison, have been the inevitable passages by which commodity society has bent to its profit the destiny of the so-called "human" being.
The government that this society exercises over human nature, which is still in love with the freedom of childhood, puts in their proper places the growth and happiness that precede -- and delay to diverse degrees -- the familial enclosure, the workshop or office, the military institution, the clinic, the houses of the condemned.
Has schooling lost the repulsive character that it had in the 19th and 20th centuries, when it broke spirits and bodies upon the hard realities of efficiency and servitude, making it glorious to educate by forced labor, authority and austerity, and never by pleasure or passion? Nothing is surer, and it can't be denied that, in all the apparent eagerness of modernity, a whole lot of archaic ideas continue to scandalize the lives of schoolchildren.
Hasn't the scholastic enterprise obeyed, up to this very day, one dominant preoccupation: improve the techniques of training so that the animal would become a profitable investment?
No child crosses the threshold of a school door without being exposed to the risk of losing him or herself. Losing, that is, exuberant life, filled with new knowledge and marvels, that would be excited to receive nourishment, if it were not sterilized and made hopeless under the boring work of abstract knowledge. What a terrible affirmation, to see those shining looks so suddenly tarnished!
Here are four walls. The general consensus suits the hypocrites; within these walls, one is imprisoned, constrained, blamed, judged, honored, chastised, humiliated, labeled, manipulated, fondled, violated, treated abortively and left begging for aid and assistance.
"What are you complaining about?" object the makers of laws and decrees. "Isn't this the best way to initiate the youth into the immutable laws that rule the world and existence?" Doubtless. But why should the young accommodate themselves any longer to a society without joy and without a future, a society whose adults have nothing but their defeated resignation, which they support with a mix of bitterness and discomfort?
A SCHOOL IN WHICH LIFE BECOMES BORING TEACHES NOTHING BUT BARBARISM!


please continue reading this essay here:
http://www.notbored.org/avertissement.html

AntiCapitalistMedia, an amazing blog!

We invite all our friends to navigate, investigate, read and share with everybody the amazing knowledge, information, political philosophy, sociology and history of social struggles that is gathered in the influential blog

AntiCapitalistMedia :

http://anticapitalistmedia.blogspot.com/

"Elsewhere", independent community dedicated to fine art and social visualization

"Elsewhere" is an inpedendent community dedicated to fine art and social visualization.


According to their manifesto:


"Elsewhere" social community network is a grassroots movement and independent community project dedicated to fine art and social visualization.
We aim to motivate positive social processes in our surroundings and create a common ground for Palestinians, Israelis and foreign artists. We want to establish an international space- a venue enabling unfiltered exchange of ideas, experiences and perspectives. We wish to stimulate further tolerance and facilitate a common social awareness."


http://elsewhere.ning.com/

OCCUPY EVERYTHING!: California Valley Miwok Tribe Occupies Foreclosed House in Stockton

OCCUPY EVERYTHING!: California Valley Miwok Tribe Occupies Foreclosed House in Stockton
From the upcoming issue of Modesto Anarcho, 3 year anniversary issue!
http://www.modestoanarcho.org/2009/12/occupy-everything-california-valley.html


read more about Modesto California:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modesto,_California
Modesto Anarcho: Many people do not know the history of the Native peoples in the Central Valley, can you tell us a little about the history of the Miwoks?

California Valley Miwok Tribe: Previous to Rancherias being created in California, the Miwok People's territory covered ten (10) counties. Now our Tribe is fighting to retain its Tribal Property that consists of one and one half (1 ½) acres, located in (Morada) Stockton, California.

MA: How does your tribe use the house that is located in Stockton?

CVMT: The Tribal Property at 10601 Escondido Pl. Stockton, California 95212 has a multi-purpose function. Since our tribe is a landless tribe, the piece of property, including the building, is considered to the Tribe to be its reservation, and is utilized as such. Until such time as the tribe is able to acquire a larger tract of land for the benefit of future tribal members [the house is all we have]. The Tribe conducts official Tribal 'governmental' business, day-to-day office duties, Tribal Programs, Tribal Meetings, and a portion of the building is used for housing.

MA: What brought your house to foreclosure?

CVMT: Our PL-93 638 Mature Status Contract (BIA) has been illegally withheld for two years and our Indian Gaming Revenue Sharing Trust Fund (RSTF) monies have been illegally stopped. Since the end of 2005. Without any funds coming in, the Tribe had no way to pay its mortgage on the only piece of property, the place the Tribe calls “home”. Please see our DOT US website for further info: http://www.californiavalleymiwoks.us

MA: Why did people physically occupy your house? How did you go about making sure that people were not going to be able to easily get into the house?

CVMT: The Tribe decided to stand its ground when it was threatened with eviction. We had no choice, where were we supposed to go? Our monies have been illegally withheld for no good reason, our jobs lost, our medical benefits lost with our jobs, we tribal members have been using own personal money to keep the Tribe going, to keep the USDA Food Program open for the people in need to still be able to get their monthly rations of food. We had to make our point clear that we were no longer going to be pushed out and forgotten like yesterday's trash!! We are human beings. We are not just names and/ or numbers on a piece of paper. We needed the Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, DC to take notice of what was being allowed to happen to our Tribe. We were pushed in a corner and had no other choice but to go into survival mode and stand our ground. The Tribe went into a vote and decided to go into lockdown and barricade itself in until the Dept. of the Interior would be forced to take notice of our devastating situation and agree to sit down at the table with us to resolve our immediate problem that had been ignored up until we decided to stand our ground.

I can't answer the second part of your question because our crisis isn't over yet. We are still negotiating.

MA: How have the state and their police responded to your situation? How have other people and/ or institutions tried to hinder your efforts?

CVMT: Well, the state still hasn't released the Tribe's money. I would say that the sad part to this dilemma is seeing some of the people believing the negative stuff that had been going out on blogs. It hurts our hearts to see people say such cruel things when they don't know the whole truth behind the situation. We are confident that the truth will prevail and so we don't follow the blogs. Although we do want to thank those who stood by us and still stand with us today...

MA: In what ways have other Tribes and communities/groups offered you support?

CVMT: We are thankful for the internet radio talk shows , tv hosts, Veteran Affairs, some pocket members of the American Indian Movement (AIM), legal services, individual concerned citizens (Indians and non-Indian peoples), universities, special interest groups, Canadian Indians, doctors, Calaveras Band of Mi-Wuk Indians, Calaveras County Mountain Miwuk, Historical Shingle Springs Miwok Indians, Modesto Anarcho, Ghost Machine Group, United Native Americans Inc., WPFW Nightwolf, Onnativeground. Recently, Chairperson Burley did a presentation at the Consumnes River College in Sacramento in which they have asked how they can help show their support for the Tribe. Also, UC San Diego has passed a resolution in support of the California Valley Miwok Tribe and they have continued to be stong advocates to help our tribe get justice.

MA: Anything you would like to add?

CVMT: We (“The Tribe”) are asking for help from the General Public. Please help our tribe survive. Help us protect not only our history/culture but the native history that is a big part of California and the United States. For more information, please visit our websites at:

http://www.californiavalleymiwoktribe-nsn.gov/
http://californiavalleymiwok.com/

Zen Anarchy by Max Cafard

Zen Anarchy? What could that be? Some new variations on the koans, those classic proto-dadaist Zen “riddles”?
What is the Sound of One Hand making a Clenched Fist?
If you see a Black Flag waving on the Flagpole, what moves? Does the flag move? Does the wind move? Does the revolutionary movement move?
What is your original nature — before May ‘68, before the Spanish Revolution, before the Paris Commune?

Somehow this doesn’t seem quite right. And in fact, it’s unnecessary. From the beginning, Zen was more anarchic than anarchism. We can take it on its own terms. Just so you don’t think I’m making it all up, I’ll cite some of the greatest and most highly-respected (and respectfully ridiculed) figures in the history of Zen, including Hui-Neng (638-713), the Sixth Patriarch, Lin-Chi (d. 867), the founder of the Rinzai school, Mumon (1183-1260), the Rinzai master who assembled one of the most famous collections of koans, Dogen (1200-1253), the founder of Soto, the second major school, and Hakuin (1685-1768), the great Zen master, poet and artist who revitalized Zen practice. 

please read all article here:

http://theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Max_Cafard__Zen_Anarchy.html

Urban Camping: Subversive City Living from Times Square to the Car Tent

 Urban camping means different things to different people, from living without a vehicle or electricity and plumbing to squatting in unused properties and more. However, the most popular definition of urban camping provided by the urban dictionary is: “camping in an urban setting by sleeping on rooftops, under bushes, and in public parks.”

Amid and Zach are two brave New Yorkers who picked the busiest and most high profile place they could think of to pitch their urban camp: Times Square, New York City. According to Zach,

“We chose the traffic median at 44th Street because it is a wide island right in the middle of Times Sqaure with plenty of room for our tents to sprawl. It was noisy and bright, but the LEDs replaced the stars nicely, and the skyscrapers couldn’t have imitated sequoias any better. We met dozens of strangers who, whether they were just curious, drunk or lonely, were eager to strike conversation to try figuring us out.”

They were also questioned by multiple police officers, to whom they provided non-commital responses about photographing the North Face store or waiting overnight to buy tickets.

Baltimore, Maryland seems as good a location as any to pitch a tent on the sidewalk. These industrious campers managed to travel virtually for free, selling mugs and living on the street.

“With promise of a free dinner from RISD, a new city to inhabit, and galleries extraordinaire, the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) Conference in Baltimore was a must. While figuring out the budget side of this journey camping was suggested as a housing option in a joking manner, and strangely the idea began building with intrigue.”

Ultimately they were shooed away by the police, but not before sipping on hot chocolate and taking a few pictures.

The Car Tent is a rather ingenious approach to urban camping. Instead of hiding in a park or making up excuses in a public location, car tent users can camouflage themselves right in plain view.

“The car tent is a tent designed to look like a car cover, so you can go camping in the city without being disturbed. And really, who doesn’t go camping in the city? When you get hungry you just shoot a business man and cook him over an open flame.”

Be sure to check out this related article on car living and couch surfing and these creative homeless dwelling designs.

original article from Web Urbanist:
http://weburbanist.com/2007/09/28/urban-camping-subversive-city-living-from-times-square-to-the-car-tent/