Angry Disruption at Stockton DA Office

Two weeks ago, protesters angry that the Stockton DA's office has still not released police reports and other findings in relation to James Rivera's killing protested outside of the building. People attempted to enter the building several times and were met by police. View the video here or below. It's great to see people in the Valley stepping it up and not afraid to meet the cops head on and start to disrupt the institutions which we are fighting.

Have a Sticker? Go to Jail: The Story of PJ

Imagine relaxing in your apartment after work with your family to hear a knock at the door. Upon answering it, you learn that it’s the local police department and they have a warrant to search you home. You sign the paper as they barge through the door and go straight to your room. They leave, only after taking your drawings, silk-screens, books, and take pictures of your stickers and signatures of friends who have passed through. Later in court, you learn that the police were given false information that you were a well known graffiti artist by a snitch that was arrested for vandalism. They use pictures of stickers of famous graffiti artists and tags of your friends to convict you of being someone you are not. You now are facing months and possibly more in jail…

"Musket"

This story isn’t a hypothetical situation, it actually happened to a young Delhi man named Paul Lopez. Recently, Modesto Anarcho began corresponding with Paul, aka “PJ,” who this winter was found guilty of a felony and a misdemeanor count of vandalism, as well as violating his probation, for the crime most commonly referred to as graffiti. The crimes that Lopez is accused of committing took place sometime in late 2009 to early 2010. Lopez is accused of spray painting “MUSKET,” the handle for a prominent graffiti writer, across the wall of a Delhi Mexican restaurant. But while PJ is accused of these crimes by the police in the previously mentioned window of time, the Delhi Express reported that the restaurant was in-fact painted in July of 2009, almost half a year before PJ was accused of the graffiti. During his trial, Lopez was also accused by the DA’s office of being yet another graffiti writer, RESON.

This is not the first time that PJ has been arrested for graffiti. Several years ago he was found by police out at night with art supplies and pled guilty to vandalism charges. Despite this incident, PJ remains a creative and talented artist. However, it was his background and previous arrest that was used in part by the courts to help portray PJ as the vandal in question.

Whenever we hear about cases of graffiti artists being locked up by the state and the victims of police harassment and raids on their homes, our hearts go out to them. We understand the war on graffiti and the largely poor and working class people who engage in it to be part of an effort by the state to attack rebellious behavior and enforce property relations. As we wrote in Modesto Anarcho #14: “[G]raffiti…is a culture and an art form that comes from us. From the urban poor. The working class. The criminal element…despite every attempt to commercialize it, it stays illegal and autonomous from corporations and the rich. Graffiti does not ask for space. It takes space.

We live in environments policed by our enemies. Designed by upper class bosses, politicians, planners, and capitalists. We are bombarded with advertisements for everything from politics to skin cream. Graffiti is about rupture against this spectacle. It is about leaving something behind that we enjoy. It is about communication in a world that thrives on silence.” As the rapper Promoe sang, “You claim they not political, but to me, the whole art form questions private property.” As PJ himself wrote, “I can see how people [see] it [as]…an eyesore but I see rundown empty businesses and houses and old shacks more of an eyesore.”  

   

However, PJ’s case is much different than other graffiti writers that we have offered support to in the pages of Modesto Anarcho, because quite simply Mr. Lopez was in no way connected to the vandalism that he is accused of committing. His recent trial presented a mountain of evidence that showed clearly that he was not responsible for the graffiti. Unlike the shameful arrested graffiti artist that gave up Lopez’s name to the police in what we can assume was an attempt to get off on charges himself, Lopez refuses to cooperate with the state and will not give up anyone or name any names. It is this non-cooperation that angers the state most of all. If Lopez won’t cough up someone else for the crime, then the police and the state are all too happy to lay the blame and PJ’s feet.

But to make a jury believe this, the DA has to sell an image of Lopez as someone that he is not: namely a criminal and a dangerous person. Just as we have seen the media and the courts do over and over again in cases where police murder those they come into contact with, the courts and the media are always used to assassinate a person’s character. As PJ stated, “The DA made me look dangerous because they said I used the cover of dark to maliciously vandalize public property. They said graffiti writers are so disrespectful against society and the public. That is why they do this crime. I can’t speak for everybody but that’s not me.” Lopez also reports that his anti-government views as well as his interest in punk-rock and hip-hop was also used against him in court, helping to portray him against the jury’s favor. Thus, the state uses someone’s interests and beliefs, even tastes in music or clothing as a way of making them look not only guilty, but a threat to society, and worthy of punishment from the state. The state is the real monster; as it uses its police and courts to destroy the lives of everyday people while the rich and powerful wreck havoc without consequence.    

"Musket"

More telling is the actual ‘evidence’ that the state has compiled, which includes items from the raid conducted at PJ’s home in Delhi and the words of snitch. From the raid, police gathered such ‘evidence’ as stickers and tags of various artists in notebooks that belonged to PJ. One sticker image in particular stood out more than others, a sticker of “MU” in a graffiti style. The sticker represented the moniker of “MUSKET,” a well known graffiti artist in northern California and across the country. It is this sticker that police have used as evidence that PJ was responsible for writing “MUSKET” in Delhi. However, the sticker was not even handmade, such as those one sees across the world on postal stickers, it was mass-produced and printed from a machine; something that Lopez had gotten from mail-order. From the pictures of tags that police got from the raid, the DA went on to propose Lopez was the artist RESON, even though the style and lettering of RESON’s is clearly different from that of Lopez’s. Tags and graffiti stickers are found in many young people’s rooms and homes; which makes the attack against PJ even scarier. If someone can be locked up with this flimsy evidence, what’s to stop them from doing it to the rest of us?

PJ’s defense was able to bring forth two pieces of evidence that should have thrown out his case. Firstly, they attempted to show in court the graffiti movie “WAR,” which features various US artists doing their art. In the movie is none other than MUSKET themselves, and it clearly shows a larger stocky male shape. PJ however, has a light build and has never been stocky. PJ’s defense tried to argue that this clearly showed that PJ was not MUSKET, however the judge ruled that the video could not be substantiated and thus threw it out as possible evidence. Second, the defense brought to the stand the author of the book “Bay Area Graffiti,” Steve Rotman, which chronicles various artists in northern California, including MUSKET. On the stand the author clearly testified that they did not believe at all that Lopez was in fact MUSKET. Furthermore, he could not be. MUSKET pieces were popping up all over the bay area. How could Lopez be someone that keeps going out and doing their craft? 

It’s also important to realize the ways in which PJ made mistakes in his interactions with law enforcement. Namely, after the raid when he was taken in for questioning, Lopez talked with police for several hours before his lawyer arrived on the scene. Talking to the police without your lawyer present is never a good idea. It doesn’t matter how good you think your story is, everything that you tell a cop can be used against you. If you find yourself in a similar situation, just keep your mouth shut and say only that you are going to wait to talk to your lawyer before making any sort of statements.

The charges against Paul Lopez should be dropped at once. He should return to his family and his child. We see this assault on PJ to be an attempt by a police department to make a name for themselves by putting a face to a well known graffiti artist. Furthermore, this case shows clearly how the police use intimidation and threats of jail time to turn possible comrades against each other. A population divided against itself is one that does not revolt against those that oppress and control it. We admire PJ’s commitment to non-cooperation with the state and we encourage everyone to share his story and stand in solidarity with him as he fights these bogus charges.

We must also realize that very real power that the police, the courts, and the state has over our lives. They can not only turn friends and family against each other under threats of jail, but they also can raid homes and fabricate evidence. They can use the courts to portray us as violent and dangerous people who need to be removed from the community. We must recognize these systems of power and domination to be what they are: products of a colonial system of power and privilege that divides society into classes and the working and poor against each other by race.

Many that read this probably won’t be graffiti artists, but everyone that reads this lives under the threat of having their homes raided by police and facing trumped up charges based on their political ideas, their associations, and a multitude of other factors. Recently, with the passing of the National Defense Authorization Act, the state now has the power to detain without limit those who threaten the state without trial. Migrants also face similar attacks, as those in this country without papers (or believed to be without) can be taken off the streets and placed into detention facilities until they are deported. Millions more Americans are swallowed alive by the prison system, caught in an endless cycle of imprisonment, probation, and parole. Tens of millions more live in an open air prison, where the authorities are given extreme power of force, surveillance, and intelligence gathering as the state gathers more and more control over our daily lives. This all is designed to have one effect: to police the potential threats to capital and the state and secure the power structure against those that could find each other and attack it.

We must show solidarity with PJ if only because anyone of us could be in his situation, just as we would if he was “guilty” of the crime of changing the color of a surface. This means going to back him up in court, sending in financial donations, and spreading the word about his case. But solidarity also means that we must fight against common enemies and threats to our humanity and very lives. It means that we must get organized and resist the state and the police which operates these apparatuses of power and control. Solidarity if it means anything, means attack.   

   

We will leave you with a letter from Lopez himself, where he details his case:

“I was just recently accused of being a famous graffiti writer known as MUSKET/MUERTE/MU. If you are aware of graffiti you might know who [the person] is. As of last year, some kid was arrested here in Delhi. The cops said he said I was Musket and had a cousin named J. Cortez, which I don’t. That I wrote ‘RESON.’         Soon after, Lt. Luke Hukill of the Merced County Sheriff’s Department served a search warrant to my apartment in Turlock and found multiple mass produced graffiti stickers [including] some ‘MU’ stickers as well as others bearing the likeness of other graffiti writers. That was enough for them.
          I’m not MUSKET. I fought this case all year in court. I had evidence as well as scenes from the graffiti movie, “War 4,” which contains footage of Musket that shows (his body type is much bigger) that it was clearly not me, even though the face was blurred. But Judge Kirahara of the Merced County Superior Courts did not allow this evidence because it could not be ‘authenticated.’ The DA, Rita Patel, threw a fit and the evidence was unable to be used.
          The kid [who snitched to the cops] wasn’t even in court to testify, even though he said I was MUSKET. A friend of mine even gave me a newspaper that had the same graffiti I was accused of doing 8 months before the police wrote in their report that said I had vandalized La Rosita in Delhi between December 17^th 2009 and January 20^th 2010. The newspaper said the graffiti was there since before July of 2009. That made the cops’ evidence look real bad. But, as of October 6^th, after the jury was guaranteed to only be there till the fifth of the week prior, and the judge said if any longer it will be a mistrial, but the jury had to stay the extra day and only deliberated for an hour. When my public defender told me I could have got an infraction while they deliberated but no. The jury found me guilty of being two different taggers. I even had Steve Rotman, the guy who wrote the bay area graffiti book that contains some of Musket’s work [testify in court on my behalf].
          I had no chance from the start. The detective involved in the case Lt. Hukill and others, confirmed that they got my name from a database available only to police. It is used to share cases and pretty much frame people. This is just another battle on the war against the public.                 

        These cops are not here to protect and serve, they just want to move up in the corporate law ladder and they don’t care whose lives they destroy on their way up.”

Former Sheriff Kari Abbey Gets Murder Charges Dismissed

Ricardo Cordova, seated bottom right.

On Monday, December 19, Judge Ricardo Cordova dismissed murder charges against former Stanislaus County Sheriff, Kari Abbey. Abbey was originally charged with the September 2010 murder of Rita Elias, a resident of West-Side Modesto and the mother of three children. Abbey and Elias became involved in an argument when Abbey attempted to evict Rita from her home, which Abbey's parents owned and managed. During the altercation, Abbey shot Elias several times, killing her. According to the judge, the killing was in self-defense: witnesses testified that Elias stated that she was going to get a firearm to protect herself, and when she returned from her home with a realistic looking BB gun, Abbey shot her to death. After the killing, Abbey's home was raided by the FBI and numerous marijuana plants were found, as well as weapons, steroids, counterfeit cash, and items stolen from the Hayward Police Department. She is also charged with embezzlement of funds from the Sheriff's Department itself.

Kari Abbey

Less than a week after the murder of Rita Elias, protests broke out in West Modesto involving hundreds of people. They included family members of Craig Prescott, killed by Sheriffs in the county jail, and Francisco Moran, shot to death by Modesto police several weeks before Rita. Protests continued for the next several days, as people rallied outside of the Modesto Police station and marched through downtown and outside of the county jail. On October 22nd, over 50 people converged outside of the jail again to rally and march through the streets against police brutality in the Central Valley; a march which included many of Rita's family and friends.

As the facts came out in the case, and it soon became clear that Abbey and her cohorts were using their time in uniform to harass, beat, and threaten her parents' tenants. Witnesses and former tenants came forward to state how Abbey harassed them into leaving, and in some cases, physically attacked them. When those being targeted called the Modesto Police, the cops showed up with gave hugs and more backup for Abbey.

Protest after Rita's murder.

Many local pundits and commentators have used the recent dismissal of charges as a justification of the actions of Abbey. What is interesting is that while these idiots claim that Abbey had the right to defend herself they overlook the fact that Rita Elias was murdered for trying to do the exact same thing. It was Abbey that arrived at Rita's home and began to threaten her. It was Abbey who turned her lights off in an effort to evict her. It was Rita who was brave enough to stand up to a pig who was trying to evict her from her own home and it was Abbey who was the coward; hiding behind a badge and a gun, knowing that by pulling the trigger she ultimately had the power of the state on her side.

While our hearts go out to Rita's family, we are not surprised that the courts have once again let free another murderous cop. The only police officer ever to face murder charges was BART officer Johannes Mehserle, who shot Oscar Grant at the Fruitvale BART station on January 1st, 2009. Only after riots did the city begin to investigate the shooting and bring charges against Mehserle. Even still, Mehserle only ended up doing a small amount of his sentence in protective custody. Likewise, Abbey will probably end up getting only several months in jail which will be spent in protective custody, before being let off.

The message in all of this is clear: police that kill go free, because after all, it's their job. While Abbey faces charges for drugs, embezzlement, and weapons, they will all be slaps on the wrist compared to what normal everyday people go through when facing these same charges. Soon, Abbey will again walk the streets, while the corrupt systems that allowed her to evict, beat, and kill tenants for her parents will be stronger than ever.

Many that read this will ask, where then, can justice be found? If it can't be found in the courts or through the legal system, how can we get it? We must increase the consequences for the police when they beat, murder, and harass people. Communities and neighborhoods must come out of their homes and drive the police out and stop the brutality from happening. People must become hostile to the police in their areas and stop them from carrying out their business. If and when these incidents do happen, we must collectively direct our rage into open revolt. For example, in LA when a Guatemalan immigrant was killed by police, riots erupted that shut down the area where the killing took place and attacked the police station. Such targeted rioting is common practice in Guatemala, where people direct their outrage towards the authorities responsible for carrying out atrocities in their communities. We must also find ways of solving problems and resolving issues without police, cutting off possible contact with them in the first place. Talking to neighbors, settling problems face to face, having each other's backs, and forming neighborhood assemblies and groups to mediate conflicts and deal with anti-social crime all are needed. But ultimately, we must remember that the power of the police comes from the power of the state itself. Only by defending and expanding the power that we create autonomously among ourselves and holding onto it through open rebellion, will we be able to remove police from our lives.

New Videos from Local Struggles

Our friends at the Revolutionary Hip-Hop Report (RHHR) have created some new videos for your viewing pleasure. The firsts documents the recent 'Caravan of Resistance,' which brought together over a hundred people across the Central Valley including the friends and families of James Rivera in Stockton, Ernest Duenez Jr. in Manteca, and Rita Elias in Modesto. More info on the event can be read here.



Second, we have a video from the Chicano Unity Day, which took place in South-Side Modesto this year in late summer. It highlights many of the artists, speakers, and shows off some of the fine art. Enjoy and share with friends!



Lastly, we have a video from a recent march and occupation of a vacant lot in Oakland as part of the ongoing struggle of Occupy/Decolonize Oakland.

Rage Boils at Police in Central Valley

Demonstration outside of courthouse.

On Tuesday, December 6th, people demonstrated outside of the Stanislaus County courthouse in Downtown Modesto to rally against former Stanislaus County Sheriff Kari Abbey, who shot and killed Rita Elias in September of 2010. In Merced, also on December 6th, over 100 people expressed outrage outside of the police station at the most recent police murder of an unarmed man. According to the Modesto Bee:

Former Detective Kari Abbey, 34, is accused of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting death of Rita Elias, 31, who was living in one of the rental homes Abbey managed for her father.

Abbey's parents were landlords in the Modesto area and used the former Sheriff to evict and harass tenants that were renting from them. Abbey was known to show at tenants homes in uniform and demand late rent and physically assault them if they were not able. As the Modesto Bee wrote: 

The investigator testified Abbey and her husband, Bennie Taylor, harassed the tenants at a home in the 700 block of South Santa Cruz Avenue in Modesto’s airport neighborhood. Victor Quintana, who lived at the home from January to August 2010, told Hermosa he was behind on rent payments.

Abbey and her husband went to Quintana’s home to ask for the late rent. Hermosa testified that Quintana tried to avoid arguing with Abbey, but he was punched and knocked unconscious by Abbey’s husband.

A Modesto police officer, who knew Abbey from when they both worked at the Sheriff’s Department, responded to a 911 call from Quintana’s wife. Hermosa said the officer later admitted he knew Abbey and hugged her when he arrived at Quintana’s home. 

Quintana, with a swollen jaw and some of his teeth knocked out, asked the officer to arrest Taylor. Hermosa testified that the officer told Quintana that he could not arrest Taylor for assault, because the officer perceived it as “mutual combat.” 

Abbey also has been charged with criminal conspiracy, embezzlement, cultivating marijuana, receiving stolen property and child endangerment.

According to the Bee, Abbey's parents own 19 rental homes in the Central Valley as well as several in the bay area. Eye witnesses at the scene of Rita Elias' murder in 2010 as well as Elias' family claim that Abbey came to harass Elias and the argument ended in a physical altercation. At this point, Abbey took out her firearm and killed Rita. Abbey's defense claims that Rita brandished a 'realistic' looking BB gun and Abbey shot her in fear of her life, however eyewitnesses dispute this assertion. Shortly after the killing, FBI agents raided Abbey's home, finding guns, stolen police SWAT gear, marijuana plants, and steroids. Soon after, Abbey was fired from the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department, which only days before had stood completely behind Abbey's actions. 

Rita Elias.

Regardless of if Rita was unarmed, carrying a BB gun in order to scare Abbey away, or strapped with an AK-47 is besides the point - we fully support any and everyone who arms themselves and fights back against police terror. If someone comes into the homes and poor and working people representing and backed by the absolute power of the state and also to carry out the will of parasitic landlords, we can only applaud those that are willing to defend themselves against the pigs. In reality, it may be the only thing that allows people to stay alive in encounters with the police. 


What is clear in Rita Elias' case, is that the murder highlights a pattern of harassment and eviction of tenants. It shows that the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department as well as the Modesto Police turned a blind eye to the brutality and terror that is rained down on renters while Abbey and her cronies kept the money coming in for her slumlord parents. 


At a time when so many activists claim proudly that the police 'are part of the 99%,' (even while the police beat them), we can see very easily the role and function of the police in this world. It is not to preserve 'justice' or 'keep the peace,' but to enforce the very real inequalities and institutions of power that exist that immiserate and impoverish people across the world. 


At a time of massive evictions, deportations, and foreclosures, the police are the front lines that enable the elites to displace and make homeless millions of people. Without the power and violence of the police that is enforced and made reality by the government, the capitalists, landlords, and property holders would not be able to harass and remove people from their homes and shelter. The police are never a neutral force in society; they do not serve us, they serve to oppress us. 

Protest in Merced.

Just as people were rallying in Modesto, in Merced, 100 residents gathered outside the police station, furious after a young man, Vang Thao, 21, was shot and killed by Merced PD. According to the Merced Sun-Star: 

His friends and family say officers shot Thao without any provocation. Police maintain that another man, an 18-year-old gang member named Kong Xiong, was pointing a weapon at the responding officers -- and Thao was caught in the officers' line of fire. Thao was struck by one bullet and pronounced dead at the scene.

Police claim that they came to the residential area to find another man, Kong Xiong, who was brandishing a gun. According to the pigs, when they approached, they saw the man point the gun at police officers and fired upon him, hitting Vang in the process. According to residents in the apartment complex, police did not give warning before the attack nor did they announce to residents that they were approaching with guns drawn. As the Star wrote: 

Tuesday, eyewitnesses said Xiong didn't have a gun and police officers didn't announce themselves before shooting through a fence into a private residence where five or six people were drinking beer and socializing. 

Rally outside of Merced PD.

Fred Camacho, 21, lives at the house. He said he was less than 10 feet from Xiong when bullets ripped through the fence, behind which he, Xiong and other friends were standing."We didn't hear no cops say nothing about getting down, drop a gun, nothing like that," he said. "All we heard was gunshots fired. And after that, everybody just started running in the house because we didn't know what was going on. The guy that died, his cousin, she was telling everybody, 'Call 911.' " 

Camacho and his sister, Nancy, who was also present during the incident, said they had no idea the police were the ones shooting. They also said Xiong didn't have a gun.

Next-door neighbor Jacob Khaoone, 18, said he was cleaning his kitchen when the shots were fired. He said he didn't hear the police officers announce themselves. But after the shots were fired, he said he heard one of the officers say, "I can't believe I just shot someone right now."
"There wasn't no arguing or nothing," Khaoone said. "The cops, they're lying about the argument. They didn't even say Merced PD or nothing. My window right here, it was open. If they would have said 'Merced PD,' everyone there, they would have just stopped what they were doing. But the cops didn't do that. And plus they didn't have their spotlight on."

This recent atrocity shows the brutality of the police and their inability to do anything except to violently attack and suppress everyday people. Again, through the reports of the police that are given life by the media who reprints them, we are fed the same story of police officers afraid for their lives who bravely defended themselves against a non-white attacker. In reality, as multiple residents claim, there was no danger and no weapon was even at the scene. Police entered the apartment complex knowing that they were putting lives in danger and openly fired on a crowd of party goers. This is the logic of a armed force that sees an entire civilian population all as possible insurgents and thus all entirely worthy of execution. It is the same logic of an occupying military and we should treat it as such.  

When will enough be enough? Just when will this powder keg blow?  

Home Occupied in Riverbank Against Illegal Lockout

From Modesto Solidarity Network

Since Tuesday, November 22nd, James Dawes has occupied his home of five years in Riverbank, CA (north of Modesto) after being illegally locked out by his landlord, Brian Kelly, owner of the Denair Lumber Co. and several other rental properties. James has been battling cancer for years and must receive regular chemotherapy treatments. In recent months, his condition has severely worsened, and he has thus fallen several months behind on rent. In October, James offered to begin making up for unpaid rent but Kelly refused and said that he'd rather board the place up. Kelly is trying to sell the vacant building that his apartment is attached to - standing in his way is James.

A series of lock-outs began in October of this year, with Kelly locking James out and James re-entering his home six times. Over the course of these lock-outs, James has been denied access to shelter, his bathroom and his medicine. During the most recent lock-out, Kelly took all of James' things: furniture, electronics, personal items, food, bedding, toiletries, medicine, etc. Local sheriffs who arrived on the scene after James had re-entered the home told Kelly that, in fact, they could not remove James because Kelly had evicted him illegally.

James outside his home.

James is occupying his home to demand that the intimidation, illegal lockouts, and theft of his personal property by Brian Kelly stop at once. The day after James's most recent re-entry into his home, Kelly reportedly drove by and said, "Don't fuck with me, you have no idea how much money I have."  James wants his stolen property returned or to be compensated for it. He wants Kelly to remove the boards he put up in James' windows, and un-weld the windows he welded. If Kelly can in good faith meet these demands, James would be willing to enter into a regular tenant agreement once again.

On Friday, November 25th, members of Modesto Solidarity Network gathered at James' home, bringing supplies, making repairs, and sharing food.  A banner was raised above his door that reads "Stop Illegal Lockouts, Brian Kelly is a Slumlord."  Flyers were also distributed in the neighborhood, detailing the situation and asking for solidarity.

Flyer

Illegal lockouts are a rampant problem in this area; they occur when landlords forcibly lock tenants out of their homes and deny them access to their property. Under California law, landlords must provide a written notice of eviction which can be fought in court. Many landlords opt instead to use brute force, intimidation, or physical and verbal threats, kicking tenants out into the streets and taking their property from inside. For the elderly and those with medical needs, this can be deadly. Legal options for fighting illegal lockouts take time and money, and can be unsuccessful. By acting directly, we can meet our needs by fighting back. By occupying his home and taking a stand against what has been done to him, James' struggle is an inspiration for all those who have been, are, or could be in a similar situation.

Over 5,000 Students Strike at UC Davis

In Davis, over 5,000 people occupied the quad at the UC on Monday, in response to a police pepper-spray attack against student protesters last Friday as well as against fee increases in the UC system.

Tens of thousands of have called for the UC Davis Chancellor to resign, although Linda Katehi has refused. We find the liberal discourse of either "Katehi has failed and must resign" or "allow Katehi to lead in this moment of crisis" to miss the point. People like Katehi aren't 'leaders,' they simply manage the university to function as an essential part in the reproduction of capitalist society. They exist to keep the opposing forces and class interests within the university from tearing themselves apart. We are not against this, we want to hasten it. To push, as some friends said, "The university struggle to it's limits." For us, this is not a struggle for cheaper or even free education, but instead another battle ground in the war against capital. When Katehi sent the police to clear the grass of protesters camping in the UC Davis Quad, it wasn't a poorly thought out decision to attack "free speech," but an attempt to stop people from blocking (or attempting to block) the university from functioning as such. Police violence is nothing new and neither is police violence directed at students, even white middle class ones (Kent State anyone?) Anyone who comes in to take Katehi's place will do the same because that is the role of bureaucrats like her the world over. A new Chancellor will make new promises and perhaps a cop or two will even be fired but the system will remain the same and students that continue to struggle will continue to be attacked until we get rid of the police. It is simple as that.

It is interesting that during her two minutes in front of the GA of thousands at UC Davis, Katehi mentions how she remembers in her home country of Greece the brutal massacre of students in 1973. This attack forced the Greek state to make the university police free-zones. Many within the current student occupation movement have also pushed for police off of campus (at least, at the UCs). At the last Davis general assembly a resolution for a cop-free campus was defeated. But of course, if some students wish to see such a thing happen they're going to have to do it. 

Creating cop free zones will not come out of thin air, but the negation of what exists currently and the taking and holding of space. Just as Occupy Oakland was able to create a cop-free zone through their occupation, so must students through theirs. We do not support calls for Katehi to resign because that implies that we ever believed that she or her ilk should have been there in the first place. She should not step down, she should be overthrown. The administration should not change, it should be destroyed. The campus should not pass to "new management," but the facilities, the buildings, and the entire university should be taken over and used by the workers, the students, and those in the surrounding community as they see fit. But we do not wish to see the university to be run 'democratically' or be 'self-managed.' We are not looking for a more 'student controlled' version of a school in capitalist society, we are looking to take and use what the university has to offer for ourselves and those we care about. We want the apparatus of the school to be taken over and used by those that are there in that area, so that those subjects within it (workers, students, teachers), destroy the separations between themselves and begin to hold, use, and occupy the space in common; meeting their needs directly.

UC Davis is an artery of capitalism; creating future technocrats and managers of all facets of social life. Just think of everything that exists at the university now, from housing to green-houses. Do we really think that it should just sit there only for a select few with the funds or the desire to take on massive debt? We should refuse to recreate the human labor that gives life to it, to occupy the space, and to begin to destroy what is not needed and takeover all the rest.

The students at UC Davis have power now - but it is only because they have taken that power and refused to budge on the wishes of those that they struggle against. We must also state that we invite everyone to come and occupy the university in Davis as well. After all, since universities are places which are built, at least in part through all of our stolen wages (i.e. taxes) and they exist to produce the future social managers and bosses which will lord over us and help develop the next cancer causing chemicals or chemical weapons, why shouldn't we force the university to bend to our will? Set up communal kitchens, open up the quad for mass meetings, enjoy the heated pool - make the space yours for those that you associate and care about. Break down the walls of this ivory tower. But don't wait for a 'police investigation' or for someone to resign. We already know where that democratic deception will lead. The only power is the one that we create and the only freedom is the one we take.