The Do-It-Yourself Occupation Guide: 2012 Redux

Anonymous Submission:

A new occupation guide, as a continuation and re-adjustment of the previous DIY occupation guide that emerged during the student movement in the fall of 2009. This guide takes into account the strategy and tactics of the previous student movement in relation to Occupy Oakland and the J28 Move-In Assembly. With various practical how-to's as well as general strategic and tactical questions, this guide hopes to further the discourse and debate on how to occupy. A .pdf is available here.

"Prison Diary of a Mad Anarchist Arsonist"

Miguel William Balderos started a fire at the city attorney's office on the 300 block of Church Street on July 2, 2010. He told police that he was an anarchist protesting the city's camping ban.

Miguel is currently at the CDC prison in Solano State Prison serving out his 10 year 8 month sentence. What follows is a statement written by Miguel that he wished to be distributed to comrades near and far. While various tendencies may, with good reason, take issue with parts of this statement, Miguel has proven himself to be receptive to debate and critique. Moreover, he has proven himself to be an ally in the social war. If you disagree or take offense, write him.

He can be reached at:
Miguel Balderos F81930
CSP Solano C-2-22-3 Low
2100 Peabody Road, PO Box 4000
Vacaville, CA 95696

He is currently asking that no one put money in his commissary, being that 55% of anything he has is put towards his restitution. Please enclose extra stamps with your letter.

From the Desk of Mad Mike (the wonder dog)
Prison Diary of a Mad Anarchist Arsonist

My Anarchist Brothers and Sisters:

I was convicted of being an anarchist arsonist by the fascist police state of the State of California. I got drunk and set fire to a recycling bin at the City Attorney's office (burning the doorway) of Santa Cruz, California, in protest against this Nazi asshole Barisone's oppression of the homeless of Santa Cruz (I had black out and didn't use a disguise and was caught on camera). The maximum amount of time I, by law, should have gotten for this arson is 4 years, but I was made an example of by judge Paul Maragonda (who was the Santa Cruz Deputy District Attorney that tried in vain to prosecute me for arson, burglary, and felony vandalism of city hall back in 1995). He gave me 10 years 8 months prison sentence. If I had to do it all over again, I would have done a better job of burning the City Attorney's office to the ground and City Hall too. I would have incinerated that entire block of offices (a nest of vipers) with all their asses in it successfully and would live to work on the courthouse next.

SCR on Permanent Hiatus

For various reasons, this blog won't be updated any more. We may write some kind of retrospective, however.

New design of 'Desert', from the fine folk at SCAHA

Other versions of this text are ugly and ridden with typos. The Santa Cruz Anarchist-Hooligan Alliance has re-designed the text, almost entirely for the better. Desert, a refreshing update to ecological anarchism, is a call to abandon myths of social or ecological transcendence. Nihilist Communism meets Do or Die.

Imposed 8.5x11 pdf

A perfectbound version of this design will also be produced in a small quantity. If you are interested in acquiring one or a number of those, SCAHA can be contacted through Serf City Revolt at serfcityrevolt@riseup.net.

75 Hours in #75River

"Hopefully this group isn't representative of a new aggressive movement."              Zach Friend, SCPD Spokesman

The march was called only a few days before, billed on fliers as a march to picket banks and then to occupy a building (in some places it was a "foreclosed home", in other it was merely a "vacant property'). The day of the march, November 30th, people began gathering at 2pm near the Occupy Santa Cruz camp. By 2:45, when the march left, about 75 people had assembled. A mobile sound system arrived, playing among other things, a lot of Lady Gaga. The march left towards Chase bank on Water and Ocean for a brief picket and speeches. The picket felt a bit tense, with a strong sense of anticipation for the announced occupation.

After the picket, the group moved back down Water, past the Occupy camp, and over the Water Street bridge. In the intersection of Water and River, the group paused. Then, instead of continuing down Water along the announced route, the group turned left on River. All of the sudden the doors of 75 River were open; people began elatedly yelling "We're in!" and a flier was distributed within the group to announce the new occupation.

"I don't think it's that we have the right to (take over property,) it's that we have the ability to do it."

8pm Tonight at #75River: Potluck Discussion Dancing

from indybay:

The former bank at 75 River St. has been occupied and is being re-purposed into a community center and social space.

Tonight, we will gather as a community to discuss the future of our new social space and make plans for its future. There will be a potluck and discussions, followed by dancing. This space belongs to everyone who participates. Come tonight to make decisions about the future of 75 River.

Bring food, supplies to set up the space, and a desire to partake in the creation of the 75 River Community Space.

Questions to consider:
* In the current wave of austerity, what social services are no longer provided by the state? How could we provide them ourselves?
* What actions would we like to take in the immediate future? How can we use this space to organize those actions?
* How can the space remain open and inclusive?

75river.tumblr.com

75 River St. Occupation

Update (12/1, 1430): A website has been established as a clearinghouse for everything #75River. There's also a twitter @75River. Check back for updates.

from indybay.org -

The formerly vacant building at 75 River St. is being repurposed by an autonomous group, in solidarity with Occupy Santa Cruz. Formerly a big bank, it was bought out by Wells Fargo. Subsequently, the building closed, and has remained vacant for nearly three years. Today this group has, without breaking & entering, taken the building with intentions of using the space in a productive way that benefits the community of Santa Cruz . The property will no longer be left open by big development companies as a sign of the economic despair in this county, but will rather be used to enrich and teach the local community.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The Repurposing of 75 River St.

Santa Cruz, CA, U.S.A.- November 30, 2011.

The formerly vacant building at 75 River St. is being repurposed by an autonomous group, in solidarity with Occupy Santa Cruz. Formerly a big bank, it was bought out by Wells Fargo. Subsequently, the building closed, and has remained vacant for nearly three years. Today this group has, without breaking & entering, taken the building with intentions of using the space in a productive way that benefits the community of Santa Cruz . The property will no longer be left open by big development companies as a sign of the economic despair in this county, but will rather be used to enrich and teach the local community. 

This Wednesday: March to Picket banks and Occupy Foreclosed Home

From indybay:

in solidarity with Occupy Santa Cruz

Join us to picket corporate banks around downtown Santa Cruz and then to march to a foreclosed property. While many people are denied basic needs like shelter and social space, capitalism forces many spaces to remain empty and unused.

Come at 2 for a march leaving by 2:30. Bring signs, all of your friends, and your own vision for a more beautiful world.

99%, rise up! Together we are unstoppable!

#N2: The day that was

As a blogger on Alice@97.3 (a crappy contemporary radio station, for those who don't know) so adroitly put it: On Wednesday, shit got "really, really real." Instead of a list of events or a play-by-play, here's a collection of incidents, vignettes, and encounters. Hopefully, this can come a little closer to capturing the beautiful dissonance of the day's events.

                                                                  *              *              *

In the morning, there is a small child walking around with a hand-drawn sign that says 'schools not prisons.' "Shouldn't that say 'schools are prisons?'" someone comments. 

A crappy bakery in the banking district had threatened employees who had asked for the day off. Mid-morning, a group of thirty-plus people went into the bakery, chanting and yelling. The manager eventually promised to let people off with full pay for the day's work. Some people stayed to picket outside. Others moved on, roaming through the carnival of downtown Oakland.

Only a few blocks into the anti-capitalist march, a banner is dropped from a parking garage that reads: "This is Class War. Just win, baby."

Occupy Oakland, Nov 2

some snippets from last night after people took over a building. 

#N2: Oakland General Strike, November 2nd

Occupy Oakland evicted at both sites

At around 5am this morning, Occupy Oakland was evicted from both Snow Park and Oscar Grant Plaza. At least one participant was shot with a "non-lethal" round from a shotgun after a bottle was thrown at the police. About 90 people in total were arrested. Right about now, Occupy Oakland is reconvening at the library at 14th and Franklin to decide their next steps. This set of photos was all over twitter after the raid.

Oscar Grant Plaza, Occupied

This morning, after the raid

On a brighter note, an artist in Los Angeles has done a beautiful series of oil paintings of banks on fire. The first elegantly entitled "Bank of America" and the second simply "Chase Burning."

Texts from Barcelona Assembly Movement

These texts, written by anarchists involved in the occupation of Plaça Catalunya in Barcelona, are important contributions to social antagonist activity within the Occupy movement. Disseminate widely!

Perspectives from the Barcelona Assembly Movement - Imposed for booklet printing

By sharpening our critiques of democracy without alienating our current co-conspirators, pushing the Occupy movement to emphasize content over form (freedom over consensus), drawing lines against politicians and the police, and embracing autonomy, we can find our own struggle for total freedom within the current struggle. And we get to sleep in public parks.

One Week Strong at Oscar Grant Plaza

from bayofrage.com:

Social rebels from around Oakland have descended upon Oscar Grant Plaza and have created a genuine, autonomous space free of police and unwelcoming to politicians. Whereas other occupations have invited the police and politicians, or have negotiated with them, Occupy Oakland has carved a line in the cement. That line of demarcation says: if you pass this, if you try and break up or over shadow this autonomous space, you are well aware, as observed over the last couple of years, what we are capable of.
 
This article is a report back on the first week at Occupy Oakland, a reflection on problems we have been facing and some thoughts on moving the occupation forward; onto some next level shit.

Carlo viven!

"a few thousand thugs from all over Italy, and possibly from all over Europe."

Tenants sets dogs, throw chairs at landlord

From the Mid-County Post:

Corralitos- During an apparent landlord-tenant dispute, Kendra J. Jacobo, 29, set a pair of pit bulls on the landlord, said Sgt. Steve Carney of the Sheriff's Office. The landlord was bitten several times and as he fled, Brian W. Menges, 36, threw a chair and hit the victim. The suspects left before deputies arrived, but were contacted when they returned to the property and charged with assault. The victim was treated by paramedics and the dogs were removed by an animal control officer.

Blue Lights Come to Santa Cruz

from santacruz.com

For a city whose violent crime history includes four serial killers during the ’70s and early ’80s and enough stabbings in recent years that one guy started a website to track them, it’s difficult to imagine combating violence without the police. But a few community-minded citizens in Santa Cruz are trying.

“I don’t think we are anywhere near a place where we are ready to take care of ourselves without police, but that’s where I’d like to see us get to,” says Wes Modes of the Santa Cruz Community Safety Workgroup, which began meeting last year. “There are lots of things the police have never done well, such as prevention of domestic violence and taking care of people who’ve slipped through the cracks. These are areas in which it is easy for us to make a difference.”

The Blue Light Safety Project is one decentralized, do-it-yourself effort for community safety that the Workshop has come up with, and the concept is simple: Put a blue light bulb on your porch or front window to let people know they are welcome to approach if they need help.

“Female-bodied people or youth walking alone at night, people escaping intimate violence, queer or trans people who’ve been threatened, or elderly people who need a brief rest might feel supported to have a house in their neighborhood where they know they can find a temporary safe space,” says Modes.

This police alternative to community safety is also based on the simple action of getting to know your neighbors.

“I think because we rely on the police we don’t know our neighbors as much,” says Kristen Swig, who recently installed a blue light in the house she shares with several others. “My experiences with the police have not made me feel safer, and I think it’s a common misconception that the police are a symbol of safety.”

The Blue Light Safety Project is similar to light programs used on college campuses across the country, as well as neighborhood watches or “citizen patrol units” that have proven successful in bringing down crime rates in cities like Philadelphia.

more info at bluelightsafety.blogspot.com

Solidarity Noise Demo

As much as the State wants us to forget, we want to remember. We held a noise demonstration outside the Santa Cruz county jail on Saturday, October 8th in solidarity with the hunger striking prisoners across California.  People walked through downtown passing out flyers of the prisoners demands and then met up with about 35 more people outside of the courthouse. We marched to the jail, chanting. 

"Our passion for freedom is stronger than their prisons!"

"Santa Cruz to Pelican Bay,  fighting back is the only way!"

"In every city, In every town, bulldoze prisons to the ground!" 

We went onto the jail property. We hit the fences with black-flagged-dowels and read a speech while someone inside the women's detention center flashed her lights on and off in rhythm with the drums -- we were heard. We circled the jail to the front office, banging on the walls and doors while chanting and yelling. There were no encounters with the police and we left after half an hour.

let's not forget whose land we're on...

from http://dignidadrebelde.com

Occupy Santa Cruz, Occupy Everywhere

A flier from "some individuals from within Occupy Santa Cruz". A .pdf is available here.

 An occupation creates space for a new way of interacting with each other. Rather than only coming together as co-workers or neighbors, we are coming together as people with similar ideas.  In this space, we can discuss and act on our vision of the world. We have the opportunity to participate in a new and spreading social movement together with people across the country, the globe, and throughout cyberspace.

The goal of the Occupy movement should not be to “speak truth to power” or to appeal for change from politicians and the rich. The goal is to speak to each other so that our ideas and sentiments can spread widely. The Occupy movement has done this well, with solidarity occupations starting across the country.  There is no doubt that politicians have the power to improve the conditions of people’s lives, but through the occupation movement we have the chance to rediscover our own power.  To embrace our power is to reject theirs.  We aren’t making an appeal to politicians, we’re making an appeal to each other.

This movement belongs to all those who participate. We can be inspired by the events of the Arab Spring.  In these uprisings, people came together against their common enemies.  The people in Tahrir square were willing to defend themselves against the police and Mubarak supporters,and some people took it upon themselves to burn down police stations. Although the situation here is different in many ways, the function of the police is the same everywhere and conflict is bound to occur.  The question worth asking is: In what ways are we willing to defend ourselves?

For total freedom,
some individuals within
Occupy Santa Cruz

Night of the Barricades

 from bayofrage:

updated with pictures & links 9:30am
On the night of October 6th San Francisco Police attacked the Occupy SF encampment at the Federal Building on Market and Drum. After a day in which 800 people marched through downtown San Francisco in solidarity with the occupation of Wall Street in New York and elsewhere around the country, hundreds gathered at the site of the occupation. However by evening the police had administered an eviction notice to the occupiers claiming that the police would move in at midnight alongside the Department of Public Works to clear the plaza. Roughly around 10pm the police began to gather a block away from the occupation. Word circulated quickly and as both the occupiers and the police prepared roughly 150 people assembled at the occupation. After a few hours of waiting, debate, and nervous conversations within the occupation the police finally made their first move. Marching down the street, adorned with helmets and batons, the police escorted a line of Department of Public Works Vehicles. Standing between the occupiers and the living spaces that had been created since the occupations’ beginning, Department of Public Works workers were then forced to begin eradicating the space of any materials related to the occupation. The trucks were quickly filled with the same rapidity as the mood in the air began to intensify.

ANARCHY IN ATHENS: art show at subrosa

Stories, analysis, and a slideshow about anarchism in the birthplace of democracy
at
6 pm SUBROSA 703 Pacific Ave

Greece is in the midst of a major social upheaval at the hands of ordinary
people.  The economic crisis and rising social tensions are leading to an
explosive situation, with anarchists and other radicals at the forefront.
One anarchist and photographer from Santa Cruz spent a month in the
anarchist neighborhood of Athens called Exarchia.  Come hear about his
experience with Greece's failing economy, squatted community parks, riots
against capitalism, university occupations, the general assembly model,
and much more about anarchist struggle in Athens.

10/8: Solidarity Demonstration with Hunger Strike

Louden Nelson Park
Saturday, 10/8 @ 6:30pm
Bring Noisemakers

from indybay.org:

12,000 prisoners are on hunger strike across the state of California in resistance to conditions in Special Housing Units (SHU).

The prisoner's demands are simple:
1. End Administration Abuse & Group Punishment
2. Abolish the Debriefing Policy & Modify Gang Status Criteria
3. End Long Term Solitary Confinement
4. Provide Adequate and Nutritious Food
5. Expand and Provide Constructive Programming & Privileges

After a march through town to distribute information, we will have a noisy demonstration at the county jail to let the inmates hear that they are not alone.

Stand in solidarity with prisoners everywhere. Amplify their voices in the streets where we live.

Hunger Strike Continues While Prisons "Realign"

Two lines running parallel here: a hunger strike in the highest security units in California prison reaches over 12,000 prisoners while state realignment pushes triple-non (non-violent, non-sexual, non-serious) prisoners into control programs outside the prison walls. As prisons themselves are increasingly brutal and isolating, society generally becomes more prison-like.

The five core demands of the hunger strikers:

1. End Administration Abuse & Group Punishment
2. Abolish the Debriefing Policy & Modify Gang Status Criteria
3. End Long Term Solitary Confinement
4. Provide Adequate and Nutritious Food
5. Expand and Provide Constructive Programming & Privileges

Anarchists on the outside, though, have only one demand to articulate: the total destruction of prison infrastructure, both social and physical.

"Disciplinary diet loaf" served at Santa Cruz County Jail to unruly inmates.

Communiques from 9/22 at Tolman Hall

The day of action at UC Berkeley last Thursday may have been a failed occupation, a successful riot, or just another event in a laundry list of learning experiences. Whatever we choose to call it, the day seems to have filled people with a sense of power and a hunger for more, which are both beautiful things.

Book Bloc in full effect. Wut?

Here's a communique from some comrades (originally posted to indybay):