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.
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.
On Tuesday, December 13th, Modesto Anarcho will host in Stockton at 7pm (food at 6pm), 421 Miner Street, author of ‘Our Enemies in Blue,’ Kristian Williams argues that policing in America has more to do with enforcing race and class inequalities than stopping crime or keeping people safe. An organizer with Portland Copwatch, Williams argues that those that organize against police brutality must harbor no illusions about the role of police within our society. The police grew out of slave catchers, border patrols, and strike breakers and that role remains the same today - only more powerful and with better weapons. Williams offers an analysis of the police and also an insight on how to organize and confront police violence - head on. Download flyer here.
On Tuesday, November 15th, hundreds of UC Davis (as well as CSU Sacramento) students flooded into Mrak Hall (which was occupied in 2009) and began on occupation which was evicted by police the next day. The actions came in the wake of continued fee hikes as well as attacks by UC Berkeley police on protesters attempting to occupy a public plaza on the campus.
The blog UCDavis Bike Barricade speaks on the occupation:
In an act of brazen political resistance, in which We meant us, UC Davis students stormed Mrak Hall—the nucleus of an administration that colludes in the looting of our university, earning more and growing larger on the backs of Us, as it smothers dissent with swift force of police violence. On Tuesday we fought back, emphatically and hoarsely shouting “Enough”! We did not demand anything, knowing that what we came for could be taken but not given, as we flooded into the space where the decisions concerning our collective present and future are made. These are decisions concerning our learning conditions, concerning how much more debt we will put up with, and even concerning the health and safety of our fellow students as we fight to change a system that has grown intolerable and untenable.
On November 17th, over 30+ officers evicted the occupation during normal student use hours. The next day, students again gathered in the quad. Again, from the UCDavis Bicycle Barricade:
Yesterday, after 90+ students and allies spent the night occupying Mrak Hall on the UC Davis campus following Tuesday’s huge walk-out/rally/march in solidarity with Occupy Cal and the system-wide higher education strike to protest police brutality on campus, the UCD administration called in 30 riot cops—in the middle of the afternoon– to clear the occupation, and close the building in fear of further protest. This use of unnecessary force against UC student protesters, who were well within their right to be inside of a university building, during working hours, is additional proof of the militarization of university campuses...
Davis pigs attack
On orders from the campus administration, campus police came to clear the students from the quad and to take down their tents. Several students sat down in a line and locked armed and police used direct application of pepper spray to students faces before hauling them away in plastic ties. Police were also clad in riot gear and had various chemical weapons on them. The video of the attack can be seen below.
And, just at the attack on UC Berkeley students caused the UC Berkeley administration to back pedal, the UC Davis Chancellor, Linda Katehi quickly called the police actions her responsibility but also claimed that an investigation is on the way and the incident would not happen again. On November 20th, students surrounded a building where Katehi was giving a news conference on the police attack and disrupted it. This action forced the chancellor to slink back to her car a full three hours later, admits many calls for her resignation. According to the Davis Enterprise:
The protesters formed lines leading away from the building, leaving a pathway to permit the chancellor’s exit, but the chancellor did not leave immediately following the conference.“It didn’t seem like we would be allowed to leave,” said Mitchell Benson, assistant vice chancellor for university communications. “There was quite a loud, and I would hazard to say, hostile crowd outside both of the doors of the building and it didn’t seem that she would be able to get out in a safe manner, so she stood put for a couple of hours.”While protesters chanted outside for, among other things, her resignation, Katehi stayed inside.
Roll out the red carpet?
For some strange reason, students, or more importantly those that seek to represent and manage them, went to great lengths to ensure Chancellor Linda's safety, although she apparently refuses to turn the favor. The sea of angry people was parted, allowing a safe passage for the Chancellor from the news conference to her nice, expensive car. In this way, activists kept anyone from coming into contact with the Chancellor and any possible mob action from happening. As the picture on the left illustrates, students allowed the Chancellor to leave whenever she wanted by making a walkway between them. Apparently she wasn't sold on their commitment to 'non-violence,' (perhaps that's because she herself isn't!), and decided to wait for three hours before leaving for her car. Members of the upper managerial class like Linda have the police to do their dirty work; we only have our own abilities and each other. We should not be afraid to express our rage and not let self-appointed leaders tell us otherwise.
Occupy Oakland
We must put the police attacks at UC Davis into perspective. Up until now, the media has portrayed the students as passive victims; simply kids who sit on the ground and wait to be sprayed in the face. We are supposed to feel pity for them while at the same time commending them for staying 'non-violent,' ie, not doing anything while being brutally attacked. If the students had fought back, as UC Berkeley protesters bravely did in September, or as those at Occupy Oakland have done, they would have been labeled by the media and much of the Left as "violent troublemakers," and thus deserving of any violence dished out by the state. Furthermore, whenever people have fought back against the police, the police have always claimed that the violence was started by protesters themselves and that their assaults are only in self-defense This of course is simply a way for the police to justify their actions and keep larger bodies of people from coming out and expanding a struggle which understands the police to be a repressive institution which must be confronted. Those that fight back against the police are courageous individuals which put their lives on the line for moments of dignity and bravery, boldly confronting the shock troops of the capitalist order.
We must also keep in mind that Davis is a city built around the university. It's a 'company town' and the school is the company. A large segment of the population either goes to school there, has a job there (whether as a custodian, professor, office worker, cafeteria worker, or tutor), or works for a business that exists because of the student population. Is it any wonder that we see the same naked brutality toward protesters at UC Davis that we do from police in any other department in any other city or town? The police: directed and controlled by the elites, and in this case the Chancellor of UC Davis. Occupy a building or start a protest camp in the middle of their business (in this case the university), and you'll receive the full brunt of the state's violence.
Luis Gutierrez
This violence, in Davis much less the Central Valley, is nothing new. In the Spring of 2008, DQ-University a indigenous/Chicano school which was occupied by students since 2005, was the scene of a police raid by Yolo County Sheriffs who stormed the school with guns drawn, arresting up to 20 students, supporters, and Native elders. DQ-University, which began as a takeover of an Air Force base by Native and Chicano activists, received only a small amount of the press when compared to that of the student occupation movement only a few years later. Likewise, Davis and nearby Woodland has been the scene of brutal police murders in recent years. In May of 2008, Woodland police tasered to death Ricardo Abrahams, a mentally disturbed man who 'failed to obey police orders.' In 2009, an undercover gang unit in Woodland shot and killed Luis Gutierrez, who ran from police after leaving the DMV when they started to chase him. Later autopsy reports showed that Gutierrez died unarmed - while shot in the back repeatedly trying to escape those who he thought to be gang members. Also in 2009, Davis police shot an Ethiopian woman whom they were trying to evict from her apartment. The message is clear, when poor non-white people die, it isn't news and it's always justified. When largely passive and privileged students which are expected to leave college and enter the halls of business and commerce are attacked, the eyes of the world are focused. This is not to downplay the struggle of UC Davis students or to write off the brutality that they have faced, only to put it's reality into a context of an ongoing social war between the state and it's combatants: us.
DQ-University
If the struggle in Davis is to move forward, we must keep this all in mind. Police violence is not isolated at the university, nor is it the 'accident' of Chancellor who made a wrong call, (as some professors have stated in a letter to the Davis newspaper - while still supporting the power of the police to 'peacefully remove protesters'), it is the natural expression of the power of the police. Police in the Davis/Woodland area have, and will continue to, until they are destroyed, kill people for the crime of being 'mentally unstable,' 'not following orders,' or for failing to be evicted. We must also remember that where current struggles are being waged, there are often generations of people who have already engaged in similar battles and who may still be fighting. Many UC Davis students that participated in the hundreds at the occupation of Mrak Hall, probably had no idea that literally miles away lies a university that was not only founded through forceful occupation of US Government property, but had been occupied for years by indigenous and Chicano students. As revolutionaries who document police murder and violence and who were also involved in the occupation of DQ-University, we remember, but we also realize that many UC Davis students (many coming from out of town or even out of state to study) do not or are not aware. Student insurgents, learn the history of your area. Realize the context of the social terrain. Know your enemies and find your friends.
In a society where everyone is seen as a potential insurgent, where all organic and self-organized expressions of social life are seen as potentially insurrectionary and always criminal, the actions of the police will always be violent. As the class antagonisms that democracy tries to hide and the lie of social peace becomes the facade that it is as more and more people are drawn into social struggles, the actions of the police will take on a much more militarized and aggressive nature. Thus, those that speak of non-violence speak of proudly marching to their deaths and also for the 'glorious' defeat of their struggles. We have no intention of losing and even less intention of allowing ourselves to be beaten, imprisoned, and brutalized by the dogs of the elites. And, we don't think that the students of UC Davis - or anyone, should have to either. As the UCDavis Bicycle Barricadewrote:
Friday’s punitive violence, as terrible as it was, is not an example of bad policing. It is an example of policing. We’ve seen this kind of violence used before on California campuses, and not just in response to the anti-privatization protests and occupations of the past two years. We’re seeing it used now to suppress dissent in cities across the world, from Oakland to Cairo. When UC Davis police chief Annette Spicuzza says she is “very proud” of her officers, who “did a great job,” she is convinced that this is true. It’s not simply a public relations strategy, it’s a reflection of the fact that her officers did what cops are expected to do: employ violence against those who challenge authority.
As of this writing, UC Davis students have called for a student strike to begin on campus at 12 Noon. Take the buildings! Drive the pigs out! More information here.
Inspired by the Occupy Movement, as well as recent police brutalization of UC (University of California) Berkeley students, people at UC Berekeley and UC Davis took action on Tuesday as part of the UC-Wide General Strike. In Berkeley, UC students were joined by thousands from the Occupy Oakland encampment and agreed to occupy a campus plaza with tents, in defiance of police orders.
At UC Davis, about 70 Central Valley students took things up a notch and occupied Mrak Hall, which was taken over during the student struggles of Fall, 2009. According to the student newspaper, the strike on the UC Davis campus was the largest in recent history, drawing several thousand. As the California Aggiewrote:
An estimated 2,000 people gathered on the Quad at noon on Tuesday to strike against tuition increases, police brutality and the privatization of the UC system. The protest was the largest strike at UC Davis in recent years and will continue with a Day of Action on the Quad today at noon.
The coordinated attacks that have occurred against UC Berkeley and UC Davis occupations, as well as against Occupy Oakland, have been organized in part by Homeland Security and the FBI. Fearing a larger rebellion against capitalism and it's states, the feds are hoping that repression scare people away from coming out, occupying space, and forming alliances. However as we have seen in the last several months, their repressive strategies have backfired- often bringing more people out into the streets, and to the occupations. In Oakland this was seen most beautifully: over 50,000 came out for a general strike on November 2, during which bank windows were broken, the port of Oakland was shut down, a foreclosed building was briefly occupied, and tens of thousands of people held Downtown Oakland from the police.
Not to be outdone by their UC counter parts, CSU (California State University) students attempted to disrupt the Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday in Longbeach, during which Board members voted to again raise fees by 9%. While in the past CSU students have been more docile and less confrontational and also 'better managed' by non-profits and Left/union groups, students this time clashed with police, and windows were broken. The intensity and combativeness that CSU students demonstrated are only signs of things to come. They signal the start of a militant struggle against our class enemies, across social terrain that will not be recuperated or regurgitated into hollow symbolism.
UC Trustees, fearing violence (citing "vandalism," and clashes with the cops) at their upcoming meeting, decided to cancel. While the intensity of the Occupy Movement in the Central Valley has yet to match that of the Bay Area, every day more people become less afraid and feel empowered to take action against those that benefit from the exploitation and alienation of modern life. More and more people in this area will begin to intensify the struggle.
In Fresno, those occupying the Downtown Courthouse Park have faced wave after wave of arrests. City officials and police have also continued to attack and destroy homeless encampments throughout the city. Hopefully Courthouse Park occupants and people form the homeless encampments can find each other and recognize common enemies, and also their common desire to take, and occupy space and buildings. And, with so much vacant property in Fresno and the greater Central Valley, there's no better place than here to begin occupying everything.
In Modesto and the surrounding area, conflicts are ripe for escalation. Students at Modesto Junior College and CSU Stanislaus have faced massive cuts. Foreclosure continues to make thousands homeless. Police brutalize and murder, again and again. We must hold mass- meetings and assemblies to talk about how capitalism is attacking us, and how we can organize ourselves. We must talk about how we can occupy and take over that which can be used to meet our needs. And, we must talk about how we can defend our struggles and spaces from the state and grow more and more powerful. These are processes which have already begun in the Central Valley: Homes have been taken and occupied; held off from the banks. Students have organized mass walkouts, and schools have been occupied and taken over. People have taken to the streets against the police and prisons. We must continue to find the threads that weave our struggles as one and bring ourselves together in the process.
Those involved with the occupation of Courthouse park in Fresno have been served with an eviction notice by the city that their permit for camping would expire on Monday night. However, as the numbers of the occupation swelled and the encampment grew larger, the city was forced to grant them a two day grace period in which to re-submit their permit. Since the occupation of the park began several weeks ago, occupiers have hosted numerous workshops, film showings, and discussions, ranging on a wide variety of radical topics. The group has also used the base camp as a means of gathering forces to march on banks in the local area.
On Thursday, October 27th, Occupy Fresno also reached out from beyond the park to aid in the defense of a homeless encampment nearby, as the city attempted to evict a large enclave of homeless people from their makeshift shelters. Over 100 people came out to protest the eviction of the camp, and while this helped to delay the eviction for several hours, ultimately proved to be unable to stop the bulldozers.
In the past several years, the city of Fresno has waged an ongoing war on the homeless, constantly taking and destroying their property, breaking up their encampments, and evicting entire families. Homeless people in Fresno have also been the constant target of a brutal police force. In 2009, the beating of a homeless man that was caught on tape created a huge controversy and was also hot on the tails of a successful lawsuit against the city for destroying homeless people's property. According to the Fresno Bee:
In 2006, homeless residents said they lost medicine, valuables and personal belongings such as photographs and birth certificates in a clean-up. The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of nine homeless residents. In 2008, U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger, since retired, ruled in favor of the homeless and approved a $2.3 million class-action lawsuit settlement between Fresno and more than 200 homeless residents.
Downtown Fresno is the epicenter of the growing homeless population which has only been compounded the current economic and housing crisis. As Counterpunch wrote, the ranks of the homeless are filling not only with those unable to meet proper health and mental care, but also newly laid off and recently foreclosed on:
In Fresno, California, a shantytown called “New Jack City” is host to newly poor, unemployed electricians and truck drivers, who share space with drug addicts and the mentally ill who have been homeless for years.
Again and again, the city and it's police departments have broken up and evicted homeless encampments, which only reorganize themselves in a new part of the city. Such evictions were also seen in Sacramento in 2009, when the city broke up a growing homeless encampment by the Sacramento river and an industrial district. Threatening arrest, hundreds of people were driven out of their tents and makeshift homes. Largely these evictions are conducted to simply drive out the homeless, but also to stop poor people from coming together, taking back the land and public space, and to stop them from possibly becoming an organized force.
While there has been resistance to these evictions at times, we are encouraged by the recent support of Occupy Fresno towards the homeless encampment in resisting the eviction. Occupy Fresno, after extending solidarity towards the homeless encampment, also asked people to join the occupation at Courthouse Park, which several people did. Hopefully this kind of solidarity among poor and working people only expands, as those engaged in occupations struggle in turn with homeless people facing eviction, who in turn fight with those resisting foreclosure.
Occupation of homeless
shelter in Atlanta.
Recently in Atlanta, anarchists involved with Occupy Atlanta helped to occupy a homeless shelter that was scheduled for closure, close to where their own occupation of a park was happening. As they wrote in a flyer after occupying the building:
The answer is now becoming clearer: if we want to really draw level with life, we must take over everything. The seizure of this building, by the people, is just the first step in what should be seen as a generalization of struggle. We live in the second-most vacant city in the country, with abandoned buildings on every corner - those buildings wait for us to delight in them! Our schools that bankrupt us, our workplaces that erode us, our houses that are taken from us: take them back! We held a park for two weeks - imagine what we can do in a building with doors and windows that can be barricaded. Imagine what we can do on our own turf with our friends, old and new. Our lives are the worst jails they have ever built, and now we occupy them too! All power to the communes!
The occupation of foreclosed homes also continues across the county, inspired by not only by the growing occupation movement but also the desperate need by so many people to keep their homes. Recently, a woman near the LA area with the help of those in the Occupy Movement, was able to occupy her foreclosed home and force the bank to readjust her payments, allowing her to stay in the house.
For more and more people, the logic of capitalism makes less and less sense. It makes more sense to take over the millions of vacant properties that dot our cities while people sleep on streets. It makes sense to simply take and occupy abandoned or closed down shelters, schools, and buildings due to budget cuts and run them ourselves. What seemed impossible yesterday now seems common sense today, we need to only get organized with others and take what we need and defend it from our enemies.
Modesto Anarcho produces a magazine and is based out of the Central Valley town of Modesto, California. Modesto Anarcho exists to create revolutionary literature from a combative working-class perspective. We engage and participate in struggles in our area. Modesto Anarcho is free to all and can be picked up around the Modesto area. We also operate a social center and event space in downtown Modesto, Firehouse 51.
Posts
