On June 11th, 2011, the South Central Farmers remember the aggressive eviction that took place 5 years prior. After having cultivated what was thought to be the largest urban farm in the United States, the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department carried out an eviction imposed by owner and developer of the plot, Ralph Horowitz. For nearly 14 years, the South Central Farmers worked the 14-acre plot that was located in the heart of the Alameda Corridor by the community of South Central Los Angeles, feeding hundreds of families in the community and providing a model for autonomous greenspace in urban areas. This is a brief update discussing where the South Central Farmers are currently in there struggle to get back their land.
On July 26th the Caravan Paso a Paso Hacia la paz “Step by Step toward Peace..departed from the Guatamala-Mexico Border and traveled northwards to the Mexican state of Veracruz and then up to Mexico City. The Caravans objective was to bring attention to and to document the horrific realities of migrants who are migrating from Guatemala and Mexico to the U.S. In our next segment we talk to Alejandro Reyes of Radio Zapatista who was able to take part in this caravan. In the first part of this extensive interview Alejandro explains the objective of the caravan and tells the stories of many individuals and families he met on the caravan. In that latter part of this interview we explore the economic and political contexts that the caravan is bringing attention to.
In this report, we joined the students and workers in Santiago de Chile in the massive march on July 14, 2011, to hear the voices of the protesters in their struggle against neoliberalism and for the democratization of public education. We also spoke with an activist in Santiago about the history of the privatization of education to better understand what is happening in the current struggle in Chile.
Just a few days ago, on Thursday August 4, 2011, the student movement in Chile was brutally attacked by the neoliberal government of Sebastián Piñera. After nearly six weeks of protests, marches, and occupations of schools, the students once again took to the streets in a massive, unauthorized protest. In response to the escalating protests, President Piñera chose to apply a law put in place by former dictator Augusto Pinochet, which makes popular assembly illegal if it is not authorized by the government. Threatening the student activists, the Minister of the Interior, Rodrigo Hinzpeter stated that “the students will be held responsible for any deaths that result from the protests.”
The massive mobilizations throughout the country were met with violent repression by the thousands of police officers deployed to attack the protesters, and by the end of the day there were dozens wounded and 874 people had been arrested. Reports from Santiago announced that the city was under a state of siege, and the smell of tear gas had permeated the barrios. That night, neighbors took to the streets with the practice known as the “cacerolazo,” banging on pots and pans late into the night to show their support for the students and to denounce the violence. This practice became quite common during the nearly two decades of military dictatorship under Pinochet.
The following day, protests were held across Latin America and around the world, as rallies were held in front of Chilean embassies and Consulates in dozens of countries. And in Santiago, outside of the Memory Museum—a space dedicated to the collective memory of the state terrorism of Pinochet’s dictatorship—student installed the “Museum of Repression” with displays of items they had gathered during Thursday’s protests. Images circulated of a display of tear gas canisters, accompanied by a sign that reads: “Each canister costs approximately $250 dollars, and on this block alone we gathered more than 370 discarded canisters. You can draw your own conclusions.”
What follows is a segment produced by Radio Zapatista a few weeks ago, reporting from the July 14 march in Santiago de Chile. While it is now somewhat outdated, we want to air it because it gives a sense of the events that led to Thursday’s historic march and repression, and allows us to hear some of the voices of those who have been, and continue to, organize in defense of public education.
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En este reportaje, salimos a la mega-marcha de estudiantes y trabajadores en Santiago de Chile el 14 de julio 2011, para escuchar las voces de los manifestantes en su lucha contra el neoliberalismo y por la democracia y la educación pública. También hablamos con un activista de Santiago sobre la historia de la privatización de la educación para entender mejor el cómo y porqué de la lucha actual en Chile.
On this month’s show we bring you three in-depth interviews: 1) Oakland librarian “Agnes” on public libraries in a time of austerity, when 14 of 18 libraries were threatened with closure; 2) reporter and author John Gibler on his new book, To Die in Mexico, which analyzes the so-called “drug war” in Mexico; and 3) two compañerxs from UA in the Bay announce the Anarchist General Assembly that will take place on July 16, along with an update on the continuing occupation of Glen Cove. (2 hrs, mp3)
Four audio files are available here: 1) the full show; 2) interview on libraries and austerity (28 min); 3) interview with John Gibler (42 min); 4) interview on Anarchist General Assembly (14 min).
Members of the Water Underground created the Aqualab…a series of activities, experiments, and artistic experiences in the Tenderloin National Forest in San Francisco. In this segment, “water agents”share how the Aqualab is a space to engage water beyond the faucet. Engaging with water by questioning and mapping where it comes from and where it is going (and in what condition) is part of making water in California a commons rather than just another resource to be consumed.
