Category Archives: Politica

The Art of Art Activism

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I fell into my art genre, tearfully waiting for my head to explode from the pressure of making a major life decision. It’s true what they say about giving birth to new ideas, and deciding on possible roads to take, they are painful and sometimes regretful. Nervously, you dive into your choices, like a first time Acapulco cliff jumper, hoping you’ll hit the right timing of the waves.

As I mentally engage for another art activism workshop this week—I give into its course, not knowing what to expect. I trust that my genuine effort to create something meaningful has its place in the world and like kinetic energy creates a small droplet of human hope into the universe. I see myself far and removed from the distant tragedies in the world, my voice against injustice seems so small and ineffective way over here in East LA. Continue reading →

Southern California Anarchist Conference

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http://www.anarchistconference.org/

The Southern California Anarchist Conference– a weekend long conference centered on anarchist and its anti-authoritarian tendencies as uniquely manifested in the southern California. Collectively we hope to show past & present examples of anarchist ideas in practice, through speakers, panels, workshops, images, theater, music, film and non-coercive socializing as they intersect in the everyday struggles against coercive power, capitalism and the state.

Saturday, August 1st 2009 CONFERENCE
(workshops, strategizing and networking sessions)
12:00-8:00PM at the SoCal Library
6120 S. Vermont Ave. L.A. 90044
$5.00 suggested donation; no denied entry.

Sunday, August 2nd 2009 FERIA LIBERTARIA
(Art, music, theater, food, tabling, and more!)
12:00-8:00PM UCLA Downtown Labor Center
675 S. Park View St. L.A. 90057
FREE!

Continue reading →

Casa de Sousa getting evicted

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When I stop and think about days of future past and dealing with landlords evicting my family and I from our home/apartment, I remember what it felt like. To have to turn off everything in the house/apartment to make it seem like no one was home. Getting on all floors and looking through the crevace the bottom of the door waiting for the shadows to leave all the while hearing knocking on the door and the manager say, “when are you going to pay your rent ? I know you’re in there. You need to pay soon or else I’m going to have to kick you out of the house/apartment.” I felt that same feeling of uncertainty when I was talking to Conchita Sousa and Fernando Cruz about Cafe Casa de Sousa receiving an eviction notice from the manager in charge of the Placita Olvera merchants and stores.  However the circumstances and reasons for Casa de Sousa receiving that eviction notice last week still remain unclear because no one from the management has given them a proper reason for the notice, even after Sousa and Cruz tried talking to them to come to reasonable out come and work things out civily. No dice. Continue reading →

The last few years

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First they came for our taco trucks. Then they deported some family members, a few friends, and some other paisas that lived down the street. On the weekend they went to TJ and had some fun, it wasn’t so bad. Yeah, One Love. Then they paid us to mow the grass and wheel out their fucking trash cans. Sometime way before any of this they threw out some po-mo ramblings and tossed the Eastside moniker up in the air, up for grabby grabs, but I just remembered so this timeline might be off by a month or two. Afterwards they demanded we bring them the food already, cuz they’ve been sitting here for 10 minutes. Right around this time some asshole ran for mayor under the English Only/ Down with the Wetters platform. But the chittichangas were good with guacamole and they decided to forget that foray into the Old Ways. Then they decided that taco trucks were actually a good idea, maybe even kinda cool, and the proper people also liked them, so yeah, lets not enforce that arbitrary law. Then they wanted to do that whole 187 thing against children of immigrants again, you know, for old times sake. It’s part of that grab bag of ideas they put into rotation when things go bad; they’re just not that creative.

And now, dipping back into said bag, they want to ban roosters, again. This shit has got to stop. No pasaran. Stand for California. The buck is in the sand, the line stops near here, or something of the sort.

Let the chickens be.

Continue reading →

The Real Number of Unemployed Nationally: 16.5 %

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I'm glad we agree, this is not a job. Pic by Steve Schwartz

I'm glad we agree, this is not a job. Pic by Steve Schwartz

Often when my friends and I talk about issues of unemployment a question comes up. How do we know if this number that we read in the paper is including everyone?

What about your friend who hasn’t had a job in two years and has just stopped looking?
What about people who work temp jobs, so they sort of have a job, but not really?
What about people who got a job at the mall during the SUPER SUMMER SALE, but then got let go?

I found a table to answer those questions.

There is a table in the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. It’s table A12. It is the Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization.  (H/T to Jonathan Tasini of Working Life, I was actually going to work this number out the old fashioned way with pencil and paper, but you saved me time.) 

16.5% is the number of unemployed nationally if you take into the account all of things that we all wonder about in regards to true unemployment: Continue reading →

It is that bad.

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Maybe you can carry a rich lady's baby for money?

Maybe you can carry a rich lady's baby for money?

“Goldman posted the richest quarterly profit in its 140-year history and, to the envy of its rivals, announced it had earmarked $11.4 billion so far this year to compensate its workers.
At that rate, Goldman workers could, on average, earn roughly $770,000 each this year — or nearly what they did at the height of the boom.
Only three years ago, Goldman paid more than 50 employees above $20 million each. In 2007, CEO Lloyd Blankfein collected one of the biggest bonuses in corporate history.

The latest headline results — $3.44 billion in profit during its second quarter ”
Seattle Times.

Yes you just read that Goldman Sachs had a record earning quarter. What about you? How have you done this quarter? How have your friends done this quarter? How has your family done this quarter?  In the past two weeks I have known FIVE people who have been laid off from their jobs. This does not include people that I know who have been out of work for months.

According to some facts from the Fight Back Article, US in Longest Recessions Since the 1930s by Adam Price this is what it looks like out there for rest of  the quarter that Goldman Sachs had record earnings.

The economy has lost almost 6 million jobs (4.1% of total jobs) since 12/07, the worst downturn since the recession of 1948. Unemployment among African Americans hit a depression-level 15% in April, unemployment for Asian Americans has risen the fastest. 8.5 million people are on unemployment. 10.6% of the US is on food stamps. People on average are out of work five months. More than one-quarter of homeowners are ‘underwater’ with mortgages greater than the value of their home during the first three months of 2009. Apartment renters are being hit as former homeowners are competing for a place to live, keeping rents up (I know of three people who have had rent increases in the last few months, I probably know of more, but haven’t asked) even with the rising unemployment. During the first three months of 2009, 15% of houses were vacant, or more than 19 million homes. Continue reading →

Highland Park in the NY Times

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These residents don’t count when the New York Times is discussing Highland Park “culture.”

It’s been making the rounds, The New York Times did an article on the new “culture” of Highland Park and you can guess who and what culture they are referring to. The vast majority of Highland Park residents will never read this article nor would they care about it but I can imagine the boutiques and gastropubs featured and interviewed couldn’t be more thrilled about this kind of validation.

Funny though, Highland Park has always been a place of community activity and art. Back in the 90s, it was ground zero for the Chicano cultural renaissance due to spaces like (De)Center, The Popular Resource Center (bands playing here: Quetzal, Ozomatli and Rage Against the Machine), pirate radio station Radio Clandestina, community garden La Culebra and the wonderful Arroyo Bookstore. The area was buzzing with art shows, concerts, poetry, political events and other happenings.
Continue reading →

It Can’t Happen Here !

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Three people including a ten-year-old girl were shot in their Southern Arizona home by vigilante Minuteman racists. The little girl and her father died. If this happened to a black family in Alabama or a Jewish family anywhere in the USA what would be the consequences?
With the US economy in shambles and unemployment at record levels will the Mexican American population be the whipping boy for the countries ills? Will the FBI and Justice Dept now take a second look at these right wing militias and racist goons who seem to be turning more violent as their frustration with an African American President and a more multi-cultural society turns to rage and terrorism.

From the New York Times today:

New Border Fear: Militia Violence By JESSE McKINLEY and MALIA WOLLAN
“I had to take an oath, and part of the oath was that I couldn’t eat Mexican food,” he said. “That’s when red flags went up all over for me. That seemed like prejudice.”

Minutemen American Defense, a Washington State-based offshoot of the Minutemen movement, in which citizens roam the border looking for people crossing into the country illegally. Former members describe the group’s leader, Shawna Forde, 41, as having anti-immigrant sentiments that are extreme, at times frightening, even to people accustomed to hard-line views on border policing.”

D.R.E.A.M. Graduation at City Hall

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I have been helping put this together the last few weeks and on behalf of Dream Team Los Angeles, I want to invite everyone reading this post to come to city hall on Tuesday and be witness to an amazing event.    From the press release.

Students Participate in West Coast DREAM Act Rally Day

Urge President Obama and Congress to Pass DREAM Act this year, 2009!

WHAT: DREAM Graduation Ceremony held in Los Angeles, CA in solidarity with the United We Dream Coalition’s National Day of Action in Washington D.C., in support of the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act.

The DREAM Act is a bi-partisan legislation that if passed, would provide undocumented college students a path to legalize their status after meeting strict requirements. These requirements include that the student must have entered the country before the age of 16, graduate high school or obtain a GED,  have good moral character (no criminal record),  and have at least five years of continuous presence in the US. The students will then have six years within which they must obtain a two-year college degree or voluntarily complete two-years of military service, in order to have the chance to adjust their conditional permanent residency to U.S. citizenship.

WHEN: Tuesday, June 23, 2009

12:00 p.m. – 1:00p.m. – DREAM Graduation and Press Event

WHERE: Los Angeles City Hall Lawn

200 N. Main St. Los Angeles CA

WHO: UCLA student speakers will discuss the importance of the DREAM Act.

Undocumented students will provide testimonials of their journey as undocumented.

Wendy Carrillo, will be the Masters of Ceremonies

Kent Wong Director of the UCLA Labor Center will be the Key note speaker

Opportunity for interviews with members of the community, speakers, students and

allies.

WHY: Highlighting the achievements of our nation’s undocumented youth and the vast support for passage of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act.

Continue reading →