MJC's First General Assembly!

Our futures are not for sale!

ORGANIZE to fight the budget cuts and defend public education!

From kindergarden to grad school, public education in California is being dismantled under the excuse of the budget deficit and the recession. Each year, our state’s government sends more people to prison and fewer to college. These backward priorities will only intensify the economic crisis and the difficulties we are all facing.

We can not and will not take this lying down! Resistance has been growing across the state, as students and workers in the public higher education system have organized collectively to strike, protest and occupy at their campuses. Only grassroots power will prevent the current crisis from becoming a complete social disaster. Please join us to discuss how students, staff and faculty at MJC can become part of this momentum, and specifically how we will participate in the March 4th Education Strike.

We are the Crisis!

General Assembly: Wednesday, February 17th
2:30pm in Student Lounge, East Campus

http://occupycentralvalley.blogspot.com/

Needle exchange charges draw protests in Modesto

From Modesto Bee

More than 30 activists from Fresno, the Bay Area and Stanislaus County converged outside the downtown Modesto courthouse Monday to protest criminal charges against two people accused of handing out clean syringes and collecting dirty ones from drug addicts in a Modesto park.

Kristy Tribuzio, 36, and Brian Robinson, 37, face up to a year in jail for breaking a law they consider to be immoral.

People held signs reading "Public Health Over Politics" and chanted in favor of dropping the charges. They excoriated local elected officials, pointing to a decision by the county Board of Supervisors in September 2008 to nix legalizing needle exchange over the recommendations of health officials.

"It should be a health issue, not a political issue," said Dallas Blanchard, 45, whose needle exchange program in Fresno was approved just over a year ago.

"By treating it as a political issue, we're just allowing people to die," he added.

Tribuzio and Robinson's defense team planned to argue Monday that the pair were acting out of medical necessity: that conducting a needle exchange program was a justified act aimed at saving lives and preventing diseases like HIV and hepatitis C among drug users. A judge pushed back the hearing until March 1.

Prosecutors see it differently. They say the two knew what they were doing was illegal.

"Simply put, the defendants are charged with violating the law," Assistant District Attorney Carol Shipley said.

Local critics, including District Attorney Birgit Fladager and Sheriff Adam Christianson, said a needle exchange program in Modesto would enable drug users to continue their addiction.

In California, there are more than 40 needle exchange programs, but the Central Valley has only three, according to the state Department of Public Health.

Bee staff writer Merrill Balassone can be reached at mbalassone@modbee.com or 578-2337.

Read more: http://www.modbee.com/breakingnews/story/1031700.html#ixzz0eLRJRSZP

Class Warfare in Modesto Continues - What Side Are You On?

Another inmate has died at the Stanislaus County jail, but our count, the 4th person in a matter of months at the facility. Others have died at the hands of the guards due to tasers.

Meanwhile, while police use of taser weapons kill inside and outside the jails, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is working with the police to put on a forum to allow the police the chance to explain why and how they use tasers. This benefits only the cops, as it gives them an opportunity to face criticism from the community but at the same time face no real consequences from it. It is in the streets, workplaces, and our communities, fighting back, that we gain power, not on our knees in front of those that would just as soon shoot us dead.

Meanwhile, as the carrot on Obama's stick starts to rot, the rich and elite in Stanislaus County are hoping to raise co-payments for the poorest among us. According to the Modesto Bee:

The Western Center on Law & Poverty is taking a dim view of the cuts to Stanislaus County's indigent health program, which has been a safety net for the poor and people who have lost jobs during the recession. "This is one of the worst examples we have heard of," said attorney Katie Murphy of the nonprofit center, which is involved in indigent health care lawsuits in San Diego, Fresno, San Francisco and Sacramento counties. The county has been reducing social services to keep pace with a slowdown in tax receipts and a drop in property values because of the recession and the region's foreclosure crisis. Patients whose co-pays were as low as $3 are now expected to pay up to $574 a month when they see a doctor, need medication or require other treatment.

They took your home. They took your job. They police you. Beat you. Taser you. Jail you. Now they pull the plug by your bedside.

Meanwhile, the schools such as those in the Modesto City District continue to be another battle ground, as workers and bosses square off. Those in charge find it hard to cut their own pay and jobs but so easy to cut ours. When we will stop talking with these people and asking them nicely to stop?

The rich will only be defeated when they are running for their lives.

California Valley Miwok Tribe Occupation Success - Eviction Called off for 30 Days

This just in, lawyers for the California Valley Miwok Tribe have just notified us that the bank has buckled and granted the tribe another 30 days to pay their bills - thus stalling the eviction. Local sheriffs have thus announced that they will not be evicting the house. Thus, large scale public resistance to the eviction of a foreclosed home in the center of the foreclosure crisis has been a success. The struggle is not yet over. In 30 days, we may need to occupy again, but for now, we have won.

SOLIDARITY WITH THE MIWOKS!
FREE THE LAND!
OCCUPY EVERYTHING!

m//a//c

from occupied miwok territory

From Like Lost Children blog

"We will not budge and are willing to die... Everything has been taken. This is the last."
-Silvia Burley, CVMT chairperson

"Don't talk about it, be about it."
-Mos Def

Anarchists and indigenous activists from the Bay, Central Valley, Santa Cruz and Canada have gathered at a foreclosed house in Stockton which is the only property belonging to the California Valley Miwok Tribe. It's an hour and a half into the second announced eviction date (the first was in June and sheriffs were held off by a lawsuit). The contest over the house is part of a struggle over the legal identity of the CVMT. It is also one of the first eviction resistances attempted in the U.S. since the housing market crashed, and it is happening in Stockton, CA which has been the #1 city in the U.S. for foreclosures the past 3 years running. (The Central Valley in general has been exceptionally hard hit by the foreclosure crisis.)

The CVMT has existed as a federally recognized tribe (i.e., technically a part of the federal government) since 1915. The tribe existed as a mere formality, without organization or land, until the late 1970s when Silvia Burley and a number of other young activists inspired by the burgeoning indigenous movement of those years began the process of building an actual tribal government organization which can obtain and disburse federal funds and other services. It has been a long slow process but the CVMT has managed to obtain food, housing, environmental protection and other aid for some of its members.

In the past few years, the tribe's funding stream has been frozen. A development corporation which owns a chain of casinos in Nevada and major housing development concerns in California has hired a front group of thugs and assorted scumbags to intimidate the existing tribal members and take control of the tribal government, with the goal of building a casino. Casinos represent the most crude monetization of the land rights and sovereignty that tribal governments represent. It's also worth noting that four major "gaming tribes" in southern California hog most of the federal funds available to the state's 108 recognized tribes (many of which are landless).

There is a very long story here about the BIA, the developer, and the various connections between businesses and government agencies involved. (see the CVMT website) The point that really resonates here though, is that a group of people are drawing a line and standing their ground against the forces of capital. Our homes, our futures, and our lives will not be taken away without resistance. We are not few enough to be easily pried apart. Today, anarchists resisting foreclosure will stand with indigenous people resisting disconnection from their territory. And tomorrow? The occupants of this house are prepared to keep out the sheriffs, the developers' thugs and anyone else that tries to fuck with us. If the house can be held until Feb. 9 there is a court date which may release funds to the tribe and save the house, so it would be concretely really helpful for more people to join the resisters here. It would also be awesome if more people started occupying foreclosed houses, resisting eviction, and occupying fucking everything.

We are starting again... CALI WHAT!

Eric McDavid in Prison for 4 Years

Dear friends,

Today marks the fourth year of Eric's incarceration. These are not the kind of milestones we would like to be writing about to you. While other people have been celebrating the New Year, we have been incredibly conscious of the passage of time in an entirely different way. For four years, New Years has served as a reminder to us – as it probably does to millions of others - of how long we have been separated from our loved one. While others are celebrating new beginnings, we are faced with the reality that, so far, there has been no new beginning as far as Eric's physical freedom is concerned. Some things remain painfully the same. Eric is still locked away by the state.

Please remember that this time of year can be particularly difficult for folks who are locked up. Take a minute to write Eric – or another political prisoner – and let them know that folks on the outside are still thinking of them and supporting them.

Appeal Update
------------------
Unfortunately, there's not a lot of news about the appeal. The government's response to Eric's opening brief is currently due on Feb. 1 (they've now asked for two extensions). We will let you know as soon as we hear anything more. Once the government files their response, Eric's lawyer will have two weeks to file his final response (more potential extensions notwithstanding ). Once everything is filed it could be more than a year before a decision is made.

How to Help
------------
We recently added a PayPal button to Eric's website (again). You can find it on the “Help” page: http://www.supporteric.org/howtohelp.htm Please consider making a donation to Eric's support fund. Currently the majority of these funds are being used to help his partner cover the costs of going to visit him. These visits are incredibly important to Eric and his partner and are imperative for maintaining everyone's sanity. They would not be possible without all of the support that Eric has received. Our sincerest thanks to everyone who has donated in the past. If you would like to donate but would prefer not to use PayPal, please let us know and we will send you the details about who to make the check out to and where to send it.

If you cannot donate money, there are other ways you can help. Eric is locked away from his loved ones and his communities and he doesn't have access to a lot of information. Receiving news from the outside helps him feel a little more connected to the issues he cares about. If you run across a good article from an independent media source that you think Eric might like, please send it his way. Just keep in mind that Eric is still in the appeals process, and everything he receives is read by the authorities. Even unsolicited mail can result in sanctions against prisoners. Be prudent with your choice of material.

Our thanks to everyone for all of your support these last 4 years.

Yours,
Eric's Support Crew

http://www.supporteric.org

Resist the Eviction! Solidarity with the Miwoks Friday Jan 15th!

On January 6th and 7th, indigenous peoples, anarchists, and local community members for a variety of struggles came together to protest outside of the BIA Office in Sacramento. They were protesting the upcoming eviction of the California Valley Miwok Tribe in Stockton California (about 20 minutes above Modesto).

On Friday January 15th, the police have stated that they can begin to evict the tribe from the house, which they have been occupying since summer. Members of the tribe have asked that supporters come out to the house and stand in solidarity with them and resist the eviction. The more people the more likely that the house will not be evicted. For more information, please call the tribes office phone listed bellow. Or, email Modesto Anarcho Crew at: anarcho209@yahoo.com.

WHERE:
California Valley Miwok Tribe - Tribal Land
10601 Escondido Pl., Stockton, CA 95212

WHEN:
Friday, January 15 2010

TIME:
Gathering at the Tribal property throughout the day followed with a
Candle light vigil to be held after sunset
1hour Press Conference starting at 3:00 pm
COME EARLY - STAY LATE

We humbly ask that everyone please bring your medicines, drums, candles, lighters,
wood, lawn chairs, and sleeping bags. Please dress warm. We are asking for singers,
dancers, storytellers and drummers. Also donations of water & non perishable foods,
flash lights, batteries, etc... (Need a portable generator with propane).

All Individuals, Media, Tribes, and/or Organizations are welcome
Our Tribe is facing the threat of a forced eviction.
Please join us! We need community/public support!
For more information contact the

California Valley Miwok Tribe at (209) 1931-4567