Upcoming Event: Kids' Night at Firehouse 51

This Saturday there will be a 'Kids' Night' at Firehouse 51! Bring a costume and a treat to share. Pumpkins will be available to carve up and decorate. Event starts at 7pm and is totally free!

Click on the flyer to the left for more information.

Across the Valley People Take the Streets Against Police Brutality and Prison

On Saturday, October 22nd, over a hundred people from across the Central Valley participated in the 'Caravan of Resistance' against police brutality both inside local jails and on the streets. Participants from Modesto, Stockton, Manteca, Davis, Sacramento, and Merced all converged to participate in a string of actions in a total of three cities. At around 11 AM, people first started rallying and marching around the Stockton Police Department. SPD was one of the law enforcement agencies that shot and killed James Rivera in 2010, after a high speed chase that caused James to crash into a residential neighborhood. Over 50 people marched around the building, chanting, "No Justice, No Peace!" Next, the Caravan traveled to Manteca, about 20 minutes away, to rally outside of the Manteca Police Department, which in 2011, was responsible for killing Ernest Duenez, who like Rivera, was unarmed.

Next the group headed to Modesto, where they rallied outside of the Stanislaus County Men's Jail. Banners read: "Day of Action Against Police Brutality," "Fire to the Prisons, Revolt on the Inside, Revolt on the Outside!," "Police, The Real Home Grown Terrorists," "We Didn't Cross the Borders, They Crossed Us!," and "Puppets of the Rich, If You'z a Cop, If You'z a Snitch!" Protesters also held signs reading, "Revolt!," "Solidarity with the Pelican Bay Hunger Strike," and "Fight for Rita Elias!" Rita Elias was shot to death by an off-duty Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department officer in September of 2010. The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department also runs the Downtown jail, a facility in which 6 people have died within the last year and a half. While outside protesters chanted, "Revolt on the Inside, Revolt on the Outside," and "Cops, Pigs, Murderers," prisoners banged against the glass inside of the jail. Many people are also angry over the recent talk by head Sheriff Adam Christianson, who would like to rent out empty beds in the county jail to the federal government in order to house those suspected of being undocumented immigrants. Many carried signs against the border patrol and chanted, "Pueblo Si! Migra no!"

Marching towards West-Side Modesto, people took to the street, chanting, "Who's Streets? Our Streets!" A CHP officer followed behind the march and told the crowd to get out of the street and onto the sidewalk, but after it became apparent that no one would comply, he left the scene. While marching, passersby were handed fliers about the ongoing hunger strike in Pelican Bay Prison as well as a time-line of Police Repression in the Central Valley. Upon reaching the park, members of different families affected by police violence talked about their struggles, and several speakers discussed the need to organize against police, attacks on migrant workers, and the overall assault on poor, working, and oppressed people.

The Caravan brought together over a hundred people: blacks, Chicanos, and working class whites joined with victims' families to protest murder and brutality at the hands of the police. We feel that this is important, as it shows that people throughout the Central Valley are coming together not only to support each other emotionally, but to reinforce their common struggles. Furthermore, we feel that we gained confidence by taking over the streets, and holding it in spite of orders from the police to return to the sidewalk.

Protests and demonstrations in the Central Valley are often contained to sidewalks, college campuses, public plazas, and other "free speech zones." We are scared to step out of line, we are scared to challenge the police, we are scared to fight back. We are afraid of being brutalized by the police. When we gather in large numbers, it is important to realize that we have the potential to be much more powerful than we are on our own, and we can begin to more easily step out of line: for example, we can take the streets.

Hopefully, people can walk away from the actions on October 22nd feeling more empowered, having made more friends and comrades, and feeling that the boundaries set by the police and the law can be resisted and destroyed.  Although we may be separated by where we live, or by the color of our skin, we have come together against common enemies, sharing a common desire for freedom and to fight for the people we love who have been brutalized by the cops. Inside the jails or on the streets, we are escaping, into rebellion - and finding each other, in the process.

This law enforcement agent thought he was sly, filming the rally outside of the Jail in Modesto.

"We'll be back!"

Demonstration Set for Saturday as Modesto Police Shoot Unarmed Howard Shaw

On Tuesday, October the 11th, Modesto Police responded to a disturbance call in Central Modesto close to Sunrise Ave. A 51 year-old man, Howard Shaw, called police after pieces of concrete and debris were thrown into his yard. According to the Modesto Bee:

Modesto police report that a man who was shot by an officer last week after claiming to have explosives and firearms was in possession of only a cane and flashlight.
Modesto resident Howard Shaw, 51, remains in stable condition at a local hospital after being shot by officer Mark Starr after an hour long standoff with police.
Shaw, who initially called 911 about a disturbance at his house, was shot when police thought he pointed a rifle at them. The object later turned out to be a walking cane.

Mr. Shaw remains in stable condition at a local hospital and has yet to tell his side of the story. This incident is the latest in a string of local police shootings in which officers shoot suspects and then it is later found that they had no weapon on them at all. In June of 2011, CHP shot and killed Eric Vigen, shooting him a total of 55 times, after he exited his car off of Crows Landing road. CHP were responding to a call from Vigen's mother who was concerned about him harming himself. In September of 2010, Francisco Moran was shot and killed by MPD for having a spatula in his waste-band. Police later would claim that they thought that it was a knife and that Moran was going to use it to attack them. In 2007 between Ceres and Modesto, a man fleeing from a high speed chase was shot in the back as he attempted to climb a fence, police later claimed that he was 'reaching for his waste-band.' In 2003, Modesto Police shot and killed Eustolio Aguilar, who was detained by the police and made the mistake of fishing for what police thought to be a gun, but turned out to only be a cell phone.


What these shootings reveal is the naked and raw power of the police to kill people and then manufacture a reason for why they killed them. The media is an accomplice in this, helping the police to assassinate the victim's character to the rest of the public; helping the police to justify their actions.  


On Saturday, October 22nd, a series of rallies will take place throughout the Central Valley and then converge in Modesto. Starting in Stockton, then heading to Manteca, people will protest against the recent police murders of James Riveria and Ernest Duenez. Then, people will head to Modesto to rally outside of the Stanislaus County Men's Jail. A march will then follow, as well as a public forum on state repression, featuring speakers from the local community. Bellow is a flyer with more information. Please download and print out! Bring, signs, banners, noise makers, and as many people as possible. See you in the streets! 
  

Occupy Movement Spreads to Central Valley

Modesto Anarcho will be reporting on the ongoing events in the Central Valley in more detail in the coming days, as well as releasing some analysis on the growing Occupy Movement, but we wanted to give some links to events happening in the Central Valley. Events are changing by the day and new groups are cropping up all the time so be sure to check back often.

Fresno park is occupied.

In Fresno, a park has been occupied by people. Occupiers have had several run-ins with the local police but no major problems have occurred and the park continues to be occupied.

In Stockton, people have protested and possibly camped out over night. Actions continue and there is more information here.

In Sacramento, people have been occupying Cesar Chavez park near the capitol, and have faced numerous arrests.

In Modesto, people are meeting to discuss a plan of action, but besides a few scattered protests, nothing has materialized yet.