This is our first published workshop video from the 2012 Law and Disorder Conference in Portland, OR. We hope you enjoy this video, and the ones to come! For this video, Rose City Copwatch gives the workshop ‘Abolishing The Police’. Watch a wonderful, thought provoking workshop discussion around the reasons why people believe we need the police in our society, and community alternatives to the police and how to put them into practice.
What are your thoughts? What will need to change in the way our society functions if the police didn’t exist? What are the first steps in achieving this? We would like to see a discussion form in the comment section on this post. Thanks for watching!
Update: At least two others have been contacted by the FBI, one of them has been subpoenaed as well. Stay safe ya’ll.
Taken from our comrade Jose Palafox
I HAVE BEEN SUBPOENAED BEFORE A GRAND JURY
On Friday May 4th, I was approached by two FBI agents at the BART Station at 19th and Broadway in Oakland. They asked my name, identified themselves 
as Carrie and Matt from the FBI, and served me a subpoena to testify before a federal Grand Jury. They informed me that I had been served and left without asking me any other questions.
From the face of the Grand Jury Subpoena, it appears related to an animal rights action that took place in Santa Cruz in August of 2008. I believe this is a political repression and part of a government attempt to gather information on activists and the animal rights movement.
I will be getting a lawyer and plan to exercise my rights to the fullest extent. The National Lawyers Guild in San Francisco can help people subpoenaed before Grand Juries.
This is the second time I have come into contact with the FBI. A couple of years ago, I had to deal with the Oakland Police Department regarding a private 
criminal matter, unrelated to activism, and without my knowledge was interviewed by an FBI agent. He began to ask me questions about my activism and political affiliations. I asked what agency he was from and I immediately stopped answering any questions. Probably unrelated but you never know.
I feel that it is important to let folks know about this political repression and to let people know that I will be needing support. However, please don’t ask me to speculate about the FBI’s investigation. I can talk about the government’s accusations and what is happening with court appearances but I can’t answer questions about the facts, so please don’t ask. I will update the community if I learn anything further.
In solidarity, Jose Palafox 5/10/12
Have you ever been to the beautiful community of Flagstaff, AZ? If you have, you know something special is in the air. The people of Flagstaff are welcoming and friendly, you can see nature around you nearly wherever you are, and the air is fresh as can be. Even if you haven’t been, you have probably heard about the beautiful environment that surrounds the city.
When most people think of Flagstaff, they may think of college (NAU), or the wonderful hot cup of vegan hot chocolate at Macys. But when we think of Flagstaff, we think of the sacred San Francisco Peaks and the community of resistance to save the beautiful mountains. The campaign to save the San Francisco Peaks has been going on for years, but it has been increasingly active the past year. Right now, the legal campaign to save the peaks is all tied up in the courts, but that hasn’t stopped the passion of the community who decided to take action into their own hands and lock down in an act of civil disobedience. Acts of civil disobedience have successfully halted the daily clear-cutting and pipeline excavation plans on multiple occasions costing Snowbowl, the company at fault a 
substantial amount of money and resulting in nearly 30 arrests of activists in the past year alone.
After our trip to Flagstaff, and discussing the situation with Jeneda and Clayson, we knew we wanted to help. We decided that we wanted to put together a benefit shirt that do two things; Help with the legal fund of those who locked down, and spread the word about the desecration of the sacred San Francisco Peaks. Our friend Matt Gauck was able to create what we had in mind perfectly with this beautiful design! We are really excited to present the shirt to you all, and we hope you like it too! We hope it helps spread the message of the ‘Save The Peaks’ campaign and we hope you help as well! We hope you check the shirt out in our store. Thank you for your time, and we hope you help us raise money for a good cause! The shirts are %100 organic cotton / USA made/sweatshop free!
(Originally from Prison Culture.)
George Zimmerman does not exist in a vacuum. It seems important for me to restate this fact at this time.
As I predicted would happen, we have now entered the CSI or Law & Order phase of the Trayvon Martin killing. We are being subjected to a trial by media with reports by Nancy Grace about grand jury testimony, DNA evidence, and whether they will move the venue of any possible future trial. Unfortunately Law & Order Trayvon Martin won’t have a quick nor I predict satisfying ending for the public, the vast majority of whom will soon move on. After all, reality television can only hold the public’s attention (those who are even paying attention in the first place) for so long before people start to change the channel to watch something else.
Ultimately what will be lost in all of this is the memory of Trayvon Martin. However this episode will once again underscore the fact that most people do not actually care about antiblack violence in America. This is as it has always been; nothing new to see here. By virtue of our blackness, we are always perceived as disposable (even more so in the 21st century now that our labor is superfluous to the functioning of capitalism) and as “suspect.”
Larvester Gaither (2000) writes that the “adjective ‘suspicious’ expresses the historical and fundamental status of Africans in American society and partly explains American ambivalence toward the question of black victimization (p.192).” In other words, as Kanye West might say: “America does not care about black people.” It certainly does not care about black pain.
There is something more too. Our citizenship as black people is never taken for granted. It is consistently under assault. Black people are ina perpetual struggle in America not to be disenfranchised. For example, currently the right is pushing new voter ID laws across the country which are specifically intended to suppress black votes. People have called Arizona’s SB1070 the “papers please” law. It’s an apt characterization. However it should be pointed out that black people in America (including our current President) have been and continue to be asked to produce “our papers” regularly and usually there is no “please” attached to the demand.
In the 18th century, slave patterollers were empowered to demand documentation from any black person they came across as proof that they were actually “free.” W. Marvin Dulaney writes about slave patrols in his book Black Police in America (1996):
The 3rd Annual Law and Disorder Conference will take place April 6-8th, 2012 at Portland State University.
This conference calls for people, movements, organizations and collectives to present alternative accounts to the political dimensions of civic engagement, mutual aid and revolution as they relate to economics, politics, invention, technology, work, artistic and cultural production, the body, pedagogy and social change. The conference promises to create a provocative space for comparative critical dialogue between activists, revolutionaries, educators, artists, musicians, scholars, dancers, actors and writers. The conference invites panels and workshop on all aspects of social change from the revolutionary to the academic.
Check out this video promo for the conference this year!
