Saturday, October 28, 2006

"Fair Trade" [new poem]


I see
Just how easily
The capitalist economy
Steals my time
And all that defines
My free thinking mind.

It is an utter crime
To let this transpire
For a second more
It is time to close this door
And create a new space
Where I answer
To my own authority alone
And seek out the unknown.

Your rules will never confine me
I will always find a way
To reroute my course
Twist and turn
Through
Society’s view
Of how a life should be...
The roles a woman should play...

I know you are living for the day
When I bow down and relinquish my role
As the defiant soul.
But don’t worry,
I’ll give you my life
Before I trade my autonomy
For metal coins
I’ll give you my body
Before I trade my spirit
For false beliefs
And I’ll give you my breath
Long before I trade my word
For State censored suppression
and a life of conscious death.

Friday, October 27, 2006

Miami Activists Take Back the Land!


Fed up with broken government promises and stolen money, activists and residents took over the vacant publicly owned land on 62nd St. and NW 17th Ave. in the Liberty City section of Miami. Miami police tried to evict us, but, having done our research in advance with lawyers, we had the law on our side.

We fed over 50 people and housed about 20. Today and through the week, we will continue to build our city. Our objective is not just to make a statement, it is to directly provide housing to poor Black people, to do for our community what the government and market are unwilling and uncapable of doing.

South Florida has suffered under a critical shortage of affordable housing. However, instead of creating more affordable housing, local government officials have been busy decreasing the number of affordable housing units, through bad public policy, such as the HOPE VI project, which destroyed 851 units of public housing, replacing it with 80 units; and the intentional vacancies in public housing. Following a series of media reports detailing practices of stealing from the poor to deliver to the rich, county officials have given virtually nothing to the community to compensate for the lost housing, stolen money or broken trust. The reality is this: far from providing a solution to the housing crisis, Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami officials are exacerbating the crisis.

Poor Black people in need of housing are suffering disproportionately and unnecessarily, just so that a few officials and developers can line their own pockets. Therefore, the Black community can no longer depend on the government to provide basic human services for us. Consequently, we must provide it ourselves. We must 'Take Back the Land' so that we can circumvent the problem and implement our own solution.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006














Zapatista corn grown at La Milpa Organica Farm joins “The Other Campaign”
Jessica Sanchez presents ears of red and black corn to Delegate Zero during the meetings of “The Other Campaign” with Mexicans from “the other side” on Oct. 19, 2006 in Tijuana, Baja California. This GMO- free, natural corn was grown from Zapatista corn seed at La Milpa Organica Farm in Escondido, CA as part of the international solidarity growing program of Mother Seeds in Resistance from the Lands of Chiapas. Ms. Sanchez, a long-term activist with Schools for Chiapas, symbolically presented these dramatic ears of corn to Sub commander Marcos with the goal of nurturing the resistance of the autonomous communities of Chiapas and of the central Mexican community of Atenco. Photo by Victor Camacho , La Jornada, Oct. 20, 2006

click here to order GMO-free Zapatista corn seeds!!!! http://www.schoolsforchiapas.org/english/get-involved/grow-zapatista-gmo-free-corn.html

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Habeas Corpus (or lack thereof)


On October 17th 2006, Bush officially has suspended our right to Habeas Corpus. While this new law was initially focused on Guantanamo Bay, the final version takes away immigrants/non-citizens' rights to have a judge hear their case. Furthermore, people have also lost the right to go free if the government can not show a legal basis for holding them.

Even more disturbingly, according to David G. Savage, "The new law also defines this term broadly to include not just terrorists and fighters, but also people -- including American citizens -- who have 'materially supported hostilities against the United States.'"

I don't know where to begin contesting this...so for now I will just share the poem I wrote, immediately after hearing this news:

Frigid Fear
Liquid nitrogen
Courses through my veins.
Civil Rights abolished;
Only Martial Law remains.

Quiet footsteps.
Silent voices.
Nauseous thoughts.
Cold skin.
Faded memories
Of protesting political din.

Has freedom come to pass?
Will this new law
Now be our last?