Indigenous Zapatista Supporters “Held Hostage” in Chiapas for Opposing Ecotourism
Written by Kristin Bricker
Tuesday, 29 March 2011 21:27
This past February 3, approximately 300 state police raided a meeting of indigenous Zapatista supporters in San Sebastian Bachajón, Chiapas, and arrested 117 people. The arrests sparked protests across Mexico and in front of Mexican consulates around the world, leading the Chiapas government to release the majority of the prisoners. However, five Tzeltal indigenous men, who are now known as the “Bachajón 5,” remain behind bars. One is accused of murder, another is accused of attempted murder, and all five are accused of crimes against the peace.
The Bachajón Zapatista supporters are adherents to the Other Campaign, which was initiated by the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) in order to form national and global alliances amongst leftist organizations and movements.
The arrests stem from a confrontation between rival indigenous groups that occurred the previous day in San Sebastian Bachajón, which is an ejido, or communally held lands. Marcos García Moreno, an ejido member who belonged to the faction that allied itself with the government, was shot and killed during the confrontation with ejido members who are Other Campaign adherents. The government accuses the Other Campaign adherents of murdering García Moreno and attempting to murder a second man who was shot during the confrontation. The Other Campaign adherents deny the charges. They say they were unarmed, and that the government-allied ejido members were shooting guns into the air during the confrontation.
The government has attempted to paint the conflict as a dispute between rival indigenous factions over control of a tollbooth that charges a fee to enter the Agua Azul waterfalls, one of Chiapas’ most popular tourist attractions. However, the Bachajón adherents and their lawyers at the Fray Bartolome de las Casas Human Rights Center (“Frayba”) say that they have proof that the tollbooth confrontation was designed to provoke government intervention and police occupation of the region. The Bachajón adherents argue that the government orchestrated the confrontation at the tollbooth “as a pretext to take over the Agua Azul Waterfalls Ecotourism Center for its transnational interests and projects.”
According to leaked government documents provided by Frayba, the government plans to have multinational corporations build a multi-million dollar ecotourism hotel on indigenous land. The leaked “Palenque-Agua Azul Waterfalls Development Strategy” Powerpoint, which was prepared by a United States consulting firm, argues:
"The state and local government need to ensure that tourists that visit Chiapas and Palenque feel safe and protected. The Zapatista movement is still strongly associated with Chiapas… Many of those unfamiliar with the region still consider Chiapas to be unsafe… The state needs to protect the developers and hotel operators against the perception of political instability… Before attracting investments, the state must resolve land acquisition and access problems. The acquisition of lands adjacent to the waterfalls is vital…”
Bolom Ajaw, a small community founded by Zapatistas after the 1994 uprising, is located directly across the river from the proposed hotel. The San Sebastian Bachajón ejido, home to a few hundred Other Campaign adherents and Zapatista supporters, is located just outside of Agua Azul. The highway that leads to the Agua Azul waterfalls cuts through the Bachajón ejido. A proposed freeway included in the Palenque-Agua Azul Waterfalls Development Strategy would cut through Bachajón and Bolom Ajaw.
History of the Agua Azul Conflict
Prior to 1994, the lands around the Agua Azul waterfalls were ranches owned by rich men and worked by underpaid and poorly treated indigenous peasants. When the Zapatistas rose up in arms in 1994, 96 of those indigenous peasants ran off the rich ranchers and took over the land they had worked for generations. As a result, Zapatistas and their supporters control much of the land in and around what is now the Agua Azul nature reserve.
In 2001, the Mexican government demonstrated that it would not honor its commitments under the San Andres Accords, which, if implemented, would have granted autonomy to Mexico’s indigenous peoples. In response, the EZLN began to unilaterally implement the San Andres Accords. It began to redistribute unoccupied recuperated lands to landless Zapatistas from other areas, such as the families who founded Bolom Ajaw—located next to the Agua Azul waterfalls.
In 2000, the Chiapas governor offered individual land titles to any peasant who occupied recuperated lands. The Zapatistas interpreted the offer as an attempt to divide the collectivized lands and bring recuperated territory back into the government’s sphere of control, and they rejected the land titles. However, many indigenous peasants who benefited from the uprising but were not Zapatistas did title their lands, causing divisions within the communities.
Around this time, non-Zapatista indigenous peasants, such as those who now belong to the Organization for the Defense of Indigenous and Peasant Rights (OPDDIC), took advantage of the diminished government repression of land takeovers, and they began to occupy lands close to the Agua Azul waterfalls. OPDDIC is a Chiapan paramilitary organization that the government officially granted non-profit status. “Little by little [OPDDIC] amplified [its territory] in a disproportionate manner until they began to border the Zapatistas’ parcels, and [then] they began to invade,” Frayba explains. “First [OPDDIC invaded] seven hectares of cultivated land, and later the Bolom Ajaw waterfalls reserve, with the intention of being beneficiaries of the tourism projects that are planned for that territory.”
Divisions in the indigenous communities worsened as the government began to offer “development” projects to peasants who allied themselves with the government, as is the case with the Agua Azul Tzeltal Indigenous Ecotourism Cooperative (Ecoturismo Indígena Tzeltal de Cascadas de Agua Azul S.C. de R.L.), which is affiliated with OPDDIC and operates the Agua Azul waterfalls tourist area with the help of generous government subsidies. OPDDIC, members of the Agua Azul Ecotourism Cooperative, and local indigenous peasants affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI, one of the most powerful political parties in Mexico) have carried out armed attacks on the Bolom Ajaw Zapatistas in attempts to drive them off their land. The most recent attack occurred in February 2010, when OPDDIC ambushed Zapatistas who were attempting to retake Bolom Ajaw farmland that OPDDIC occupied the month before. The confrontation resulted in one dead OPDDIC member, whom Zapatistas say was hit by friendly fire as the OPDDIC surrounded Bolom Ajaw and opened fire from various points in the community.
Divisions amongst residents of the Agua Azul area have led to disagreements over how tourism proceeds are spent. As a result, Other Campaign adherents and pro-government ejido members are engaged in a constant battle over the right to charge admission into the Agua Azul tourist area. The tollbooth has changed hands several times, and often, tourists must pay separate entrance fees to different peasant organizations in order to enter Agua Azul. In 2009, Chiapas state police raided the Other Campaign-controlled tollbooth and gave pro-government peasants the right to charge admission. Later that year, the Other Campaign re-took the tollbooth. This past February, in the events leading up to the February 3 mass arrest of Other Campaign adherents, local PRI members attempted to once again take control of the tollbooth.
Showdown in Agua Azul
On February 1, 2011, Bolom Ajaw residents noticed two helicopters flying low over their community. The helicopters were white with red and green stripes, although witnesses could not discern who the helicopters belonged to. The witnesses’ description matches the Air Force helicopter that President Felipe Calderón used that same day to visit Chiapan tourist destinations that are under development by the federal Secretary of Tourism (FONATUR). Calderón visited Palenque, where FONATUR wants to build an integrated tourist center (which includes the proposed hotel in Agua Azul) and a freeway that would cut straight through San Sebastián Bachajón and Bolom Ajaw.
On February 2—one day after the helicopter flyby in Bolom Ajaw—sixty local PRI members take over the Bachajón tollbooth in a surprise early morning raid. The PRI group was led by Carmen Aguilar Gómez, former leader of the Regional Organization Ocosingo Café Growers (ORCAO), one of the peasant organizations that broke its agreement with the EZLN and legalized recuperated lands.
Following the attack, the Bachajón adherents regroup, and at 2:30pm, 150 of them attempt to retake the tollbooth. “We were armed with sticks and machetes,” one of them told Frayba. “No one carried firearms.” According to Bachajón adherents who participated in the action, the PRI members began to fire their guns into the air. The adherents pushed forward, and when they arrived at the tollbooth, the PRI members fled. An hour and a half later, state police arrived on the scene, accompanied by Carmen Aguilar and several other leaders of the PRI group. The police told the adherents that a PRI member had been murdered and they took over the tollbooth. The zone is now heavily occupied by state police.
On February 3, state police interrupted a meeting of Bachajón adherents to the Other Campaign. A commander asked if they agreed to a three-way dialogue with the government and the PRI ejido members. When the adherents responded that they would not participate in the dialogue, the police arrested 117 people who were in attendance at the meeting.
On February 5, the government released 107 prisoners and filed charges against the remaining ten.
Manufactured Conflict
The Fray Bartolome de las Casas Human Rights Center, whose lawyers are defending the Bachajón 5, insists that the confrontation at the Agua Azul tollbooth is part of the government’s strategy to strip indigenous Chiapans of their territorial rights. “Territory as an essential element of a dignified life and the clear exercise of indigenous peoples’ collective rights run contrary to the business interests that the federal and state government have promised to private investors. Projects that benefit Mexican and foreign investors and cause poverty and death for residents,” argues Frayba. In Agua Azul, “the State did not intervene to prevent confrontations. Instead, it planned a strategy for territorial control in the zone.”
In addition to the previously mentioned leaked Powerpoint presentation in which a private consulting firm identifies the Zapatistas as problematic for Chiapas’ tourism industry and argues that the “acquisition” of their land next to the Agua Azul waterfalls is “vital,” Frayba says that an informant has told them about secret meetings between the government and PRI ejido members. According to Frayba, “Since March 2010, officials from the Chiapas General Government Secretariat—including Secretary Noé Castañón León—public officials, political operators, police officials, and pro-government ejido members have held a series of meetings in which they designed a plan for territorial control of Agua Azul.” Carmen Aguilar Gómez, who led the February 2 attack on the tollbooth, was present at the meetings.
According to Frayba’s informant, who was present during the meetings, participants agreed on a plan that would result in the government purchasing $20 million pesos ($1.7 million dollars) of land from the pro-government ejido members in order to build the Agua Azul hotel. The informant says that the government told the ejido members present “to look for people in the region who have land titles.”
The Bachajón Other Campaign adherents were specifically mentioned in the meetings. The government “mentioned that from this moment on they [the pro-government ejido members] would be safe,” reports the informant. “Because the Other Campaign adherents were being pursued for being criminals that the Fray Bartolomé [Human Rights Center] was protecting.” In a later meeting, the informant says, they agreed that “together they would find a way to take down the Other Campaign.”
The conspirators decided to use the contested tollbooth to set their plan in motion. “The plan was that the organizations would clash so that the government would intervene and take over the tollbooth.” The ejido members investigated how many people they had to carry out a raid on the tollbooth, and how many people the Other Campaign could possibly mobilize to defend it. Then the government and the ejido members agreed on a date when the pro-government ejido members would take over the tollbooth. According to the informant, “Noé Castañón asked [the ejido members] if the majority of their group was in agreement to take over the tollbooth, and they said yes, even if they had to give their lives.”
The government’s behavior following the February 2 incident at the tollbooth appears to corroborate the informant’s testimony. On February 6, the state government held an “Agua Azul Ecotourism Center Dialogue and Coordination,” which was billed as a negotiation to resolve the conflict. Representatives from the Agua Azul and San Sebastian Bachajón attended the Dialogue, creating the appearance of an actual dialogue between conflicting parties. However, the representatives were all pro-government ejido members because the Other Campaign adherents refused to participate. Amongst the “agreements” that came out of the Dialogue are the following:
*
“At the communities’ request, the police will have a permanent presence.”
*
“Frayba will not be permitted to participate [in negotiations], because it only exhorts violence and divides the communities.”
The second point of “agreement” is particularly troubling because the Dialogue purports to address territorial control over indigenous lands, but it explicitly excludes the Bachajón adherents’ lawyers.
According to the Bachajón 5, they are being held “hostage by the state government, as a way of forcing us to accept their ecotourism project and end the Other Campaign organization on the ejido.” They say they have received several visits from government officials who have pressured them to sign on to the Agua Azul Ecotourism Center Dialogue and Coordination “agreement.” Domingo Pérez Álvaro, accused of attempted murder, says that during the confrontation at the tollbooth, he was in a meeting with José Manuel Morales, a government official from Ocosingo, Chiapas, with whom he was attempting to negotiate an agreement over the tollbooth. Morales visited Pérez Álvaro in prison and reportedly told him, “If you sign the agreement, I will say that you were with me, and the charges will go away.”
Global Solidarity
Mobilizations have occurred around the globe in support of the Bachajón prisoners. Movement for Justice in El Barrio (MJB, a New York tenants rights organization and fellow Other Campaign adherent) declared this past March 7 to be a Worldwide Day of Action for the Liberation of the Political Prisoners of San Sebastian Bachajón. That day, protests occurred around Mexico and in ten other countries in support of Bachajón.
In an attempt to prevent the protests, the government freed five of the prisoners just before the Worldwide Day of Action. The government-funded Chiapas State Human Rights Commission (CEDH) says that it personally informed the Bachajón adherents that the men had been released in the hopes that it would prevent a highway blockade outside of Agua Azul. Because five of their comrades were still in jail, the Bachajón adherents went forward with the March 7 blockade. In response, the CEDH issued a statement criticizing the Bachajón adherents: “The incident that occurred today, in which the highway in front of the Agua Azul Waterfalls tourist center was blocked, worries this Council because these acts could provoke conflict amongst the region’s inhabitants and cause damage to third parties who are uninvolved in the conflict.”
The CEDH says that the five men now known as the “Bachajón 5” remain in prison because they tested positive on a gunpowder residue test. Its press release does not mention the fact that the men were detained the day after the confrontation at the tollbooth, and that the gunpowder residue test was performed two days later, on February 4. Furthermore, the men’s lawyers argue that they were not provided with adequate interpreters during their detention and interrogation. Instead of providing a qualified Tzeltal-Spanish interpreter, Palenque police officers interpreted during the interrogation.
MJB is keeping up the pressure to release the remaining five prisoners. The group has called for “5 Days of Worldwide Action for the Bachajón 5” on April 1-5 to demand the release of the remaining prisoners. MJB proposes that during the 5 Days of Worldwide Action for the Bachajón 5, “we unite our forces and organize actions–from our particular locations and respective forms of struggle–such as demonstrations, marches, informative street actions, flyering, public forums, theatre, teach-ins, and any other activity.”
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
In Solidarity: Indigenous Youth Delegation to Palestine
GRITtv: In Solidarity: Indigenous Youth Delegation to Palestine
There are lots of connections between the indigenous communities in the United States and the Palestinian community: both the corporations and governments that have oppressed them and the strategies of resistance that they've used to fight back. Organizers from across the U.S. put together The Indigenous Youth Delegation to Palestine, which connected Native and immigrant youth from the U.S. with youth in Palestine. Ora Wise of the Palestine Education Project, Ras K'Dee of SNAG Magazine, and hip-hop activists Invincible of Detroit and the Narcicyst join us in the studio to talk about their experiences organizing across borders, creating solidarity between communities of struggle, and being part of a new generation of activists forming their own connections. If you're in New York, Thursday evening, October 22, Ras K'Dee, Invincible and the Narcicyst will be performing at Public Assembly in Brooklyn. Check it out!
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
There are lots of connections between the indigenous communities in the United States and the Palestinian community: both the corporations and governments that have oppressed them and the strategies of resistance that they've used to fight back. Organizers from across the U.S. put together The Indigenous Youth Delegation to Palestine, which connected Native and immigrant youth from the U.S. with youth in Palestine. Ora Wise of the Palestine Education Project, Ras K'Dee of SNAG Magazine, and hip-hop activists Invincible of Detroit and the Narcicyst join us in the studio to talk about their experiences organizing across borders, creating solidarity between communities of struggle, and being part of a new generation of activists forming their own connections. If you're in New York, Thursday evening, October 22, Ras K'Dee, Invincible and the Narcicyst will be performing at Public Assembly in Brooklyn. Check it out!
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Wikileaks: GMO conspiracy reaches highest levels of US Government
GMO conspiracy reaches highest levels of US Government
Recent Wikileaks cables are typically associated with information leaks related to U.S. war strategy, and foreign policy, which has led some people to conclude that leaked information of this nature is a possible threat to national security.
But in this case, Wikileaks cables leaked information regarding global food policy as it relates to U.S. officials — in the highest levels of government — that involves a conspiracy with Monsanto to force the global sale and use of genetically-modified foods.
In 2007, then-U.S. ambassador to France Craig Stapleton conspired to retaliate against European countries for their anti-biotech policies. U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks reveal the Bush administration formulated battle plans to extract revenge against Europe for refusing to use genetically modified seeds.
In the leaked cable, Stapleton writes: “Europe is moving backwards not forwards on this issue with France playing a leading role, along with Austria, Italy and even the [European] Commission…Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voice.”
Ambassador Stapleton goes on to write: “Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits. The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory,” he wrote.
In an interview with Amy Goodman at Democracy Now, Jeffrey Smith, executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology notes how he’s been saying for years that the United States government is joined at the hip with Monsanto, pushing GMOs as part of Monsanto’s agenda on the rest of the world.
“This lays bare,” notes Smith, “the mechanics of that effort. We have Craig Stapleton, the former ambassador to France, specifically asking the U.S. government to retaliate and cause some harm throughout the European Union. And then, two years later, in 2009, we have a cable from the ambassador to Spain from the United States asking for intervention there, asking the government to help formulate a biotech strategy and support the government—members of the government in Spain that want to promote GMOs, as well. And here, they specifically indicate that they sat with the director of Monsanto for the region and got briefed by him about the politics of the region and created strategies with him to promote the GMO agenda.”
Although GM corn was the first seed that was approved for widespread planting in the European Union — specifically (GM) maize (NK 603, MON 810, MON 863) — individual countries stepped forward to ban these seeds. And so, in 2007, Smith claims Monsanto and the boitech industry, with the help of the U.S. Government, formulated a strategy to force these countries to accept the first of the genetically modified seeds.
Since then, there’s been more evidence — which we reported on in January of 2010 — showing that this genetically modified corn damages mice and rats, and can cause reductions of fertility, smaller litter sizes, smaller offspring, and immune responses. As Smith observes, these concerns have been ignored by both the European Food Safety Authority and the United States FDA.
Study Concludes Three Monsanto GM Corn Varieties Toxic to Mammals
The Committee for Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering participated in a study published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences which demonstrates the toxicity in mammals of three genetically modified corn varieties from Monsanto.
Researchers concluded that these three GMOs (GM maize NK 603, MON 810, and MON 863) are not safe enough to be distributed commercially because the kidneys and liver in rats displayed toxicity levels when exposed to all three GM corn varieties. Other effects were also noticed in the heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system.
Smith adds that with MON 810 corn, “they found that there was a gene that is normally silent that is switched on and now creates an allergen in corn. They found 43 different genes that were significantly up-regulated or down-regulated, meaning that there’s massive changes in these crops and they’re not being evaluated by the U.S.—by the FDA or any other regulatory authority around the world before being put onto the market.”
The Telegraph reports that in other newly released cables, US diplomats around the world are found to have pushed GM crops as a strategic government and commercial imperative.
US Embassy Lobbied Pope to Approve GM Crops
John Vidal, environment editor for the Telegraph writes: Cables from the US embassy in the Vatican show that the US believes the pope is broadly supportive of the crops after sustained lobbying of senior Holy See advisers…The US state department special adviser on biotechnology as well as government biotech advisers based in Kenya lobbied Vatican insiders to persuade the pope to declare his backing.
“A Martino deputy told us recently that the cardinal had co-operated with embassy Vatican on biotech over the past two years in part to compensate for his vocal disapproval of the Iraq war and its aftermath – to keep relations with the USG [US government] smooth. According to our source, Martino no longer feels the need to take this approach,” says the cable.
monsanto Wikileaks: GMO conspiracy reaches highest levels of US GovernmentCables Show US Diplomats Working Directly for Monsanto
Wikileaks cable reads: “In response to recent urgent requests by (Spanish rural affairs ministry) state secretary Josep Puxeu and Monsanto, post requests renewed US government support of Spain’s science-based agricultural biotechnology position through high-level US government intervention….”
As Smith points out, they’ve been — meaning US GOVT officials, Monsanto, and the biotech industry — working around the world to try and influence policy on every single continent.
Spain and the US have worked closely together to persuade the EU not to strengthen biotechnology laws. In one cable, the embassy in Madrid writes:
“Spain was the first EU country to grow genetically modified (GM) corn and now cultivates nearly 75 percent of the EU’s MON810 corn crop – nearly 200,000 acres. During a May 13 meeting with Monsanto’s Director for Biotechnology for Spain and Portugal, Embassy officials were told that Spain is increasingly becoming a target of anti-biotechnology forces within Europe and that Spain’s cultivation of MON810 corn was under serious threat. The sentiment echoed by supporters of agricultural biotechnology regarding a ban on MON810 cultivation in Spain is that “If Spain falls, the rest of Europe will follow.”
As The Telegraph notes, the cables show that not only did the Spanish government ask the US to keep pressure on Brussels but that the US knew in advance how Spain would vote, even before the Spanish biotech commission had reported.
Blackwater’s Black Ops For Monsanto
In a must read article written by Jeremy Scahill for The Nation, Scahill claims Blackwater, through Total Intelligence, sought to become the “intel arm” of Monsanto, offering to provide operatives to infiltrate activist groups organizing against the multinational biotech firm.
Scahill is an American investigative journalist and author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. Scahill says the coordinator of Blackwater’s covert CIA business, former CIA paramilitary officer Enrique “Ric” Prado, set up a global network of foreign operatives, offering their “deniability” as a “big plus” for potential Blackwater customers, according to company documents.
U.S. Food Safety Czar Wikileaks: GMO conspiracy reaches highest levels of US GovernmentOur U.S. Food Safety Czar is a Former Monsanto Executive
If after reading these incriminating Wikileaks cables conforming that US government officials at the highest levels are working directly with Monsanto, and the biotech industry to control the world’s food supply with genetically modified foods, ask yourself why our current Food Safety Czar, Michael Taylor, is the former Monsanto executive who crafted the FDA’s GMO friendly policy while serving as the FDA’s Deputy commissioner for policy.
Taylor also wrote the FDA’s guidelines on recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), banning dairies from labeling their milk “rBGH Free“.
Additionally, as Jeremy Smith points out in his interview with Amy Goodman, the person who was in charge of FDA policy in 1992, Monsanto’s former attorney, Michael Taylor, allowed GMOs on the market without any safety studies and without labeling, and the policy claimed that the agency was not aware of any information showing that GMOs were significantly different.
Seven years later, says Smith, because of a lawsuit, 44,000 secret internal FDA memos revealed that that policy was a lie. “Not only were the scientists at the FDA aware that GMOs were different, they had warned repeatedly that they might create allergies, toxins, new diseases and nutritional problems. But they were ignored, and their warnings were even denied, and the policy went forth allowing the deployment GMOs into the food supply with virtually no safety studies.”
Recent Wikileaks cables are typically associated with information leaks related to U.S. war strategy, and foreign policy, which has led some people to conclude that leaked information of this nature is a possible threat to national security.
But in this case, Wikileaks cables leaked information regarding global food policy as it relates to U.S. officials — in the highest levels of government — that involves a conspiracy with Monsanto to force the global sale and use of genetically-modified foods.
In 2007, then-U.S. ambassador to France Craig Stapleton conspired to retaliate against European countries for their anti-biotech policies. U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks reveal the Bush administration formulated battle plans to extract revenge against Europe for refusing to use genetically modified seeds.
In the leaked cable, Stapleton writes: “Europe is moving backwards not forwards on this issue with France playing a leading role, along with Austria, Italy and even the [European] Commission…Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voice.”
Ambassador Stapleton goes on to write: “Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits. The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory,” he wrote.
In an interview with Amy Goodman at Democracy Now, Jeffrey Smith, executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology notes how he’s been saying for years that the United States government is joined at the hip with Monsanto, pushing GMOs as part of Monsanto’s agenda on the rest of the world.
“This lays bare,” notes Smith, “the mechanics of that effort. We have Craig Stapleton, the former ambassador to France, specifically asking the U.S. government to retaliate and cause some harm throughout the European Union. And then, two years later, in 2009, we have a cable from the ambassador to Spain from the United States asking for intervention there, asking the government to help formulate a biotech strategy and support the government—members of the government in Spain that want to promote GMOs, as well. And here, they specifically indicate that they sat with the director of Monsanto for the region and got briefed by him about the politics of the region and created strategies with him to promote the GMO agenda.”
Although GM corn was the first seed that was approved for widespread planting in the European Union — specifically (GM) maize (NK 603, MON 810, MON 863) — individual countries stepped forward to ban these seeds. And so, in 2007, Smith claims Monsanto and the boitech industry, with the help of the U.S. Government, formulated a strategy to force these countries to accept the first of the genetically modified seeds.
Since then, there’s been more evidence — which we reported on in January of 2010 — showing that this genetically modified corn damages mice and rats, and can cause reductions of fertility, smaller litter sizes, smaller offspring, and immune responses. As Smith observes, these concerns have been ignored by both the European Food Safety Authority and the United States FDA.
Study Concludes Three Monsanto GM Corn Varieties Toxic to Mammals
The Committee for Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering participated in a study published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences which demonstrates the toxicity in mammals of three genetically modified corn varieties from Monsanto.
Researchers concluded that these three GMOs (GM maize NK 603, MON 810, and MON 863) are not safe enough to be distributed commercially because the kidneys and liver in rats displayed toxicity levels when exposed to all three GM corn varieties. Other effects were also noticed in the heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system.
Smith adds that with MON 810 corn, “they found that there was a gene that is normally silent that is switched on and now creates an allergen in corn. They found 43 different genes that were significantly up-regulated or down-regulated, meaning that there’s massive changes in these crops and they’re not being evaluated by the U.S.—by the FDA or any other regulatory authority around the world before being put onto the market.”
The Telegraph reports that in other newly released cables, US diplomats around the world are found to have pushed GM crops as a strategic government and commercial imperative.
US Embassy Lobbied Pope to Approve GM Crops
John Vidal, environment editor for the Telegraph writes: Cables from the US embassy in the Vatican show that the US believes the pope is broadly supportive of the crops after sustained lobbying of senior Holy See advisers…The US state department special adviser on biotechnology as well as government biotech advisers based in Kenya lobbied Vatican insiders to persuade the pope to declare his backing.
“A Martino deputy told us recently that the cardinal had co-operated with embassy Vatican on biotech over the past two years in part to compensate for his vocal disapproval of the Iraq war and its aftermath – to keep relations with the USG [US government] smooth. According to our source, Martino no longer feels the need to take this approach,” says the cable.
monsanto Wikileaks: GMO conspiracy reaches highest levels of US GovernmentCables Show US Diplomats Working Directly for Monsanto
Wikileaks cable reads: “In response to recent urgent requests by (Spanish rural affairs ministry) state secretary Josep Puxeu and Monsanto, post requests renewed US government support of Spain’s science-based agricultural biotechnology position through high-level US government intervention….”
As Smith points out, they’ve been — meaning US GOVT officials, Monsanto, and the biotech industry — working around the world to try and influence policy on every single continent.
Spain and the US have worked closely together to persuade the EU not to strengthen biotechnology laws. In one cable, the embassy in Madrid writes:
“Spain was the first EU country to grow genetically modified (GM) corn and now cultivates nearly 75 percent of the EU’s MON810 corn crop – nearly 200,000 acres. During a May 13 meeting with Monsanto’s Director for Biotechnology for Spain and Portugal, Embassy officials were told that Spain is increasingly becoming a target of anti-biotechnology forces within Europe and that Spain’s cultivation of MON810 corn was under serious threat. The sentiment echoed by supporters of agricultural biotechnology regarding a ban on MON810 cultivation in Spain is that “If Spain falls, the rest of Europe will follow.”
As The Telegraph notes, the cables show that not only did the Spanish government ask the US to keep pressure on Brussels but that the US knew in advance how Spain would vote, even before the Spanish biotech commission had reported.
Blackwater’s Black Ops For Monsanto
In a must read article written by Jeremy Scahill for The Nation, Scahill claims Blackwater, through Total Intelligence, sought to become the “intel arm” of Monsanto, offering to provide operatives to infiltrate activist groups organizing against the multinational biotech firm.
Scahill is an American investigative journalist and author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. Scahill says the coordinator of Blackwater’s covert CIA business, former CIA paramilitary officer Enrique “Ric” Prado, set up a global network of foreign operatives, offering their “deniability” as a “big plus” for potential Blackwater customers, according to company documents.
U.S. Food Safety Czar Wikileaks: GMO conspiracy reaches highest levels of US GovernmentOur U.S. Food Safety Czar is a Former Monsanto Executive
If after reading these incriminating Wikileaks cables conforming that US government officials at the highest levels are working directly with Monsanto, and the biotech industry to control the world’s food supply with genetically modified foods, ask yourself why our current Food Safety Czar, Michael Taylor, is the former Monsanto executive who crafted the FDA’s GMO friendly policy while serving as the FDA’s Deputy commissioner for policy.
Taylor also wrote the FDA’s guidelines on recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), banning dairies from labeling their milk “rBGH Free“.
Additionally, as Jeremy Smith points out in his interview with Amy Goodman, the person who was in charge of FDA policy in 1992, Monsanto’s former attorney, Michael Taylor, allowed GMOs on the market without any safety studies and without labeling, and the policy claimed that the agency was not aware of any information showing that GMOs were significantly different.
Seven years later, says Smith, because of a lawsuit, 44,000 secret internal FDA memos revealed that that policy was a lie. “Not only were the scientists at the FDA aware that GMOs were different, they had warned repeatedly that they might create allergies, toxins, new diseases and nutritional problems. But they were ignored, and their warnings were even denied, and the policy went forth allowing the deployment GMOs into the food supply with virtually no safety studies.”
MUST SEE MURALS MC ARTHUR PARK! L.A.
Hector Ponce Painter of The City of Angels
Hector Ponce was born in Villa Delgado, an extremely poor neighborhood in the suburbs of Salvador. Due to the environmental and economic conditions during his youth, he was not able to acquire a quality education. Throughout his youth, the only authority and guide Hector could ever trust was his mother, the late Socorro Ponce. It was because of her loving guidance that he aspired to break out of the poverty of his youth. He earnestly desired to live a better life for himself and his family. It was during the 1970's that Hector decided that to find his "El Dorado", he would have to go "North".
His travels first took him to Mexico, where he lived for six years. It was here that he began to paint commercial art and develop his unique style of painting with its vibrant colors and amusing depictions of everyday life. It was also in Mexico that Hector began to develop an important part of his personality, which is to share his heart with his fellow man. In the early 80's, after having lived in Mexico for 6 years, he decided to continue on his journey North. Hector entered the United States illegally, almost penniless and with few prospects. But he was armed with the ambition that was instilled in him by his desire to escape the poverty of his youth the wisdom imparted to him by his mother, and the life knowledge that he gained on his travels North.
youtube.com/laminatribetv
ADHD: It’s The Food, Stupid
civileats.com
March 25th, 2011 By Kristin Wartman
Over five million children ages four to 17 have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the United States and close to 3 million of those children take medication for their symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control. But a new study reported in The Lancet last month found that with a restricted diet alone, many children experienced a significant reduction in symptoms. The study’s lead author, Dr. Lidy Pelsser of the ADHD Research Centre in the Netherlands, said in an interview with NPR, “The teachers thought it was so strange that the diet would change the behavior of the child as thoroughly as they saw it. It was a miracle, the teachers said.”
Dr. Pessler’s study is the first to conclusively say that diet is implicated in ADHD. In the NPR interview, Dr. Pessler did not mince words, “Food is the main cause of ADHD,” she said adding, “After the diet, they were just normal children with normal behavior. They were no longer more easily distracted, they were no more forgetful, there were no more temper-tantrums.” The study found that in 64 percent of children with ADHD, the symptoms were caused by food. “It’s a hypersensitivity reaction to food,” Pessler said.
This is good news for parents and children who would like to avoid many of the adverse side effects associated with common stimulant drugs like Ritalin used to treat ADHD—and bad news for the pharmaceutical industry. The National Institute of Mental Health reports that common side effects from the drugs are sleeplessness (for which a doctor might also prescribe sleeping pills) headaches and stomachaches, decreased appetite, and a long list of much more frightening (yet rarer) side effects, including feeling helpless, hopeless, or worthless, and new or worsening depression. But Pessler’s study indicates that up to two-thirds or two of the three million children currently medicated for ADHD may not need medication at all. “With all children, we should start with diet research,” Pessler said.
There are also questions about the long-term effects of stimulant drugs and growth in children. After three years on Ritalin, children were about an inch shorter and 4.4 pounds lighter than their peers, according to a major study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in 2007. A 2010 study in the Journal of Pediatrics disputed these findings, but all the study’s authors had relationships with drug companies, some of which make stimulants. According to Reuters, “The lead author, Harvard University’s Dr. Joseph Biederman, was once called out by Iowa Senator Charles E. Grassley for the consulting fees he has received from such drug makers.”
This is just one example of how the powerful billion-dollar drug industry designs and interprets studies to suit their interests. Since the 1970s, researchers not tied to drug companies have been drawing connections between foods, food additives, and the symptoms associated with ADHD but many have been dismissed or overlooked by conventional medicine. One of the earliest researchers in this field was Dr. Benjamin Feingold who created a specific diet to address behavioral and developmental problems in children. The Feingold diet, as it is now called, recommends removing all food additives, dyes, and preservatives commonly found in the majority of industrial foods.
There are a multitude of credible scientific studies to indicate that diet plays a large role in the development of ADHD. One study found that the depletion of zinc and copper in children was more prevalent in children with ADHD. Another study found that one particular dye acts as a “central excitatory agent able to induce hyperkinetic behavior.” And yet another study suggests that the combination of various common food additives appears to have a neurotoxic effect—pointing to the important fact that while low levels of individual food additives may be regarded as safe for human consumption, we must also consider the combined effects of the vast array of food additives that are now prevalent in our food supply.
In Pessler’s study the children were placed on a restricted diet consisting of water, rice, turkey, lamb, lettuce, carrots, pears and other hypoallergenic foods—in other words, real, whole foods. This means that by default the diet contained very few, if any, food additives.
As I see it, there are two factors at work in this study: One being the allergic reaction to the actual foods themselves and the second being a possible reaction to food additives, or combinations of food additives, found in industrial foods. Both certainly could be at play in the results of this study, although the discussion of Dr. Pessler’s study thus far hasn’t addressed the latter issue.
One theme in the discussion of the story has been skepticism from mainstream media—the recent Los Angeles Times article (the only major daily newspaper to cover the study) was very skeptical, if not dismissive. The author writes, “Previous studies have found similar effects, but, like this one, they all had fundamental problems that made it easy for doctors to dismiss them.” NPR interviewer, Guy Raz asked a question invoking this tone as well, “Now, you’re not saying that some children with ADHD should not be given medication, right?” Pessler does say that there are some children and adults who might benefit from pharmaceuticals but her research indicates that far too many are being medicated unnecessarily—and this is the crux of the story.
The Los Angeles Times article ends on this note: “‘To be sure, the prospect of treating ADHD with diet instead of drugs would appeal to many parents,’ Dr. Jaswinder Ghuman, a child psychiatrist who treats ADHD says. ‘But parents who want to give it a try should be sure to consult their child’s physician first, she warned: ‘It’s not that simple to do appropriately.’”
Call me old-fashioned, but changing your child’s diet seems a lot “simpler” than altering his or her brain chemistry with a daily dose of pharmaceuticals. It does takes patience, trial and error, and commitment to complete an elimination diet—taking a pill to target symptoms certainly requires less effort on the part of the doctors, family and child. While no one is denying that ADHD is a complicated web of symptoms with potentially many contributing factors, why not start by examining the most basic and fundamental cornerstone of our health—the foods (and non-foods) we put into our bodies.
Kristin Wartman is a food writer living in Brooklyn. She has a Masters in Literature from UC Santa Cruz and is a Certified Nutrition Educator. She is interested in the intersections of food, health, politics, and culture. You can follow her on Twitter and read more of her writing at kristinwartman.wordpress.com.
March 25th, 2011 By Kristin Wartman
Over five million children ages four to 17 have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the United States and close to 3 million of those children take medication for their symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control. But a new study reported in The Lancet last month found that with a restricted diet alone, many children experienced a significant reduction in symptoms. The study’s lead author, Dr. Lidy Pelsser of the ADHD Research Centre in the Netherlands, said in an interview with NPR, “The teachers thought it was so strange that the diet would change the behavior of the child as thoroughly as they saw it. It was a miracle, the teachers said.”
Dr. Pessler’s study is the first to conclusively say that diet is implicated in ADHD. In the NPR interview, Dr. Pessler did not mince words, “Food is the main cause of ADHD,” she said adding, “After the diet, they were just normal children with normal behavior. They were no longer more easily distracted, they were no more forgetful, there were no more temper-tantrums.” The study found that in 64 percent of children with ADHD, the symptoms were caused by food. “It’s a hypersensitivity reaction to food,” Pessler said.
This is good news for parents and children who would like to avoid many of the adverse side effects associated with common stimulant drugs like Ritalin used to treat ADHD—and bad news for the pharmaceutical industry. The National Institute of Mental Health reports that common side effects from the drugs are sleeplessness (for which a doctor might also prescribe sleeping pills) headaches and stomachaches, decreased appetite, and a long list of much more frightening (yet rarer) side effects, including feeling helpless, hopeless, or worthless, and new or worsening depression. But Pessler’s study indicates that up to two-thirds or two of the three million children currently medicated for ADHD may not need medication at all. “With all children, we should start with diet research,” Pessler said.
There are also questions about the long-term effects of stimulant drugs and growth in children. After three years on Ritalin, children were about an inch shorter and 4.4 pounds lighter than their peers, according to a major study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in 2007. A 2010 study in the Journal of Pediatrics disputed these findings, but all the study’s authors had relationships with drug companies, some of which make stimulants. According to Reuters, “The lead author, Harvard University’s Dr. Joseph Biederman, was once called out by Iowa Senator Charles E. Grassley for the consulting fees he has received from such drug makers.”
This is just one example of how the powerful billion-dollar drug industry designs and interprets studies to suit their interests. Since the 1970s, researchers not tied to drug companies have been drawing connections between foods, food additives, and the symptoms associated with ADHD but many have been dismissed or overlooked by conventional medicine. One of the earliest researchers in this field was Dr. Benjamin Feingold who created a specific diet to address behavioral and developmental problems in children. The Feingold diet, as it is now called, recommends removing all food additives, dyes, and preservatives commonly found in the majority of industrial foods.
There are a multitude of credible scientific studies to indicate that diet plays a large role in the development of ADHD. One study found that the depletion of zinc and copper in children was more prevalent in children with ADHD. Another study found that one particular dye acts as a “central excitatory agent able to induce hyperkinetic behavior.” And yet another study suggests that the combination of various common food additives appears to have a neurotoxic effect—pointing to the important fact that while low levels of individual food additives may be regarded as safe for human consumption, we must also consider the combined effects of the vast array of food additives that are now prevalent in our food supply.
In Pessler’s study the children were placed on a restricted diet consisting of water, rice, turkey, lamb, lettuce, carrots, pears and other hypoallergenic foods—in other words, real, whole foods. This means that by default the diet contained very few, if any, food additives.
As I see it, there are two factors at work in this study: One being the allergic reaction to the actual foods themselves and the second being a possible reaction to food additives, or combinations of food additives, found in industrial foods. Both certainly could be at play in the results of this study, although the discussion of Dr. Pessler’s study thus far hasn’t addressed the latter issue.
One theme in the discussion of the story has been skepticism from mainstream media—the recent Los Angeles Times article (the only major daily newspaper to cover the study) was very skeptical, if not dismissive. The author writes, “Previous studies have found similar effects, but, like this one, they all had fundamental problems that made it easy for doctors to dismiss them.” NPR interviewer, Guy Raz asked a question invoking this tone as well, “Now, you’re not saying that some children with ADHD should not be given medication, right?” Pessler does say that there are some children and adults who might benefit from pharmaceuticals but her research indicates that far too many are being medicated unnecessarily—and this is the crux of the story.
The Los Angeles Times article ends on this note: “‘To be sure, the prospect of treating ADHD with diet instead of drugs would appeal to many parents,’ Dr. Jaswinder Ghuman, a child psychiatrist who treats ADHD says. ‘But parents who want to give it a try should be sure to consult their child’s physician first, she warned: ‘It’s not that simple to do appropriately.’”
Call me old-fashioned, but changing your child’s diet seems a lot “simpler” than altering his or her brain chemistry with a daily dose of pharmaceuticals. It does takes patience, trial and error, and commitment to complete an elimination diet—taking a pill to target symptoms certainly requires less effort on the part of the doctors, family and child. While no one is denying that ADHD is a complicated web of symptoms with potentially many contributing factors, why not start by examining the most basic and fundamental cornerstone of our health—the foods (and non-foods) we put into our bodies.
Kristin Wartman is a food writer living in Brooklyn. She has a Masters in Literature from UC Santa Cruz and is a Certified Nutrition Educator. She is interested in the intersections of food, health, politics, and culture. You can follow her on Twitter and read more of her writing at kristinwartman.wordpress.com.
Arts bloom anew in Leimert Park
The L.A. neighborhood of Leimert Park with a historical devotion to black culture is gaining new, diverse fans at its art walk.
By Erin Aubrey Kaplan, Special to the Los Angeles Times
March 22, 2011
Leimert Park Village, the historical enclave of black culture and arts, has been showing signs of new life lately, and not a moment too soon.
The nonprofit Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center, named for the veteran jazz and blues singer, opened last month. In December, the Eileen Harris Norton Foundation premiered the Leimert Project, a space for arts education that has so far mounted two solo shows for local artists. On Leimert Boulevard, native son and internationally renowned artist Mark Bradford works out of a studio that has piqued new interest in the neighborhood in fine art circles. And for the last two summers, a homegrown music and arts festival has been successfully staged in a city parking lot.
The only thing missing was foot traffic, a longstanding problem in Leimert. Enter another addition geared to the Internet generation: the Leimert Park Art Walk (www.leimertparkartwalk.com).
Organized by Ben Caldwell, proprietor of the new media education center Kaos Network and a Leimert Park mainstay, the art walk launched as an experiment last June and has quietly been gathering momentum ever since. Held on the last Sunday of every month in the lobby of the Vision Theater and three storefronts on 43rd Place facing Leimert Plaza Park, it showcases artists and features other attractions such as music performances, film screenings, crafts, food and a kid's pavilion.
The community festival vibe is hardly new to Leimert, which hosts similar events — Kwanzaa, Martin Luther King Day — throughout the year. What is new is that buzz about the art walk was created almost entirely online, chiefly through social networking sites like Facebook. And unlike the demographic that comes out each year for events like Kwanzaa, most of the roughly 1,000 people who showed up for the first art walk were young and not necessarily black.
The size and the diversity of the response amazed even Caldwell. "They were mostly college age, under 40, young families starting out," he recalls. "And they were a third white, a third black, a third Asian. That surprised people."
But Caldwell, whose Kaos became famous for its hip-hop scene, is more than encouraged. Already the art walk has enough of a reputation to stage events in conjunction with high-profile events such as the NAACP national convention coming to Staples Center this summer. "We're on the radar," Caldwell says. "The good thing about the art walk is that it's monthly, it's consistent. It keeps the neighborhood on people's minds."
The idea of an art walk came about a year ago not as a way to raise Leimert's profile, but to address a problem that had developed at another regular Sunday event in Leimert, the drum circle. The African-themed circle had been meeting in the park for more than 10 years, and had always drawn complaints from some residents and businesspeople about noise and vendors who parked illegally. Tensions escalated when police showed up one Sunday and told vendors to leave.
Caldwell, a property owner in the village and a board member of its business improvement district, persuaded the group to start a business incubator to come up with a way of dealing with the problem. That yielded the idea of a monthly art walk that could expand the context of the drum circle into a larger event, use the unrented storefronts to display art (and advertise the space itself) and encourage foot traffic.
At a recent Saturday meeting of the art walk committee held at Caldwell's space, younger attendees sat with laptops propped open as Caldwell led a discussion about the details of the next day's event. The committee is an eclectic bunch comprising interested artists, merchants and residents. Caldwell encourages everyone involved to use the art walk as a way of developing and showcasing their own ambitions, artistic or otherwise. "This is a new generation, with new resources," remarked committee member G Money. "Look at the role the Internet and Twitter [had] in the revolution in Egypt. If you're not with it, you're obsolete."
The art walk's website speaks clearly to a new tradition, but also to familiar goals of racial and social progress. The logo is a tweak on a mythological African image — a sankofa bird representing the past and the future, with paintbrushes for feathers. A four-minute film features a lively hip-hop soundtrack and interviews with young art walk patrons who wax passionately about the Leimert scene.
The docents are teens from local middle and high schools. and its critical role in keeping things in the 'hood "positive."In a recent addition, capoeira dancers have joined the procession of drummers and other performers that files into Leimert Park Plaza to kick off the art walk at 2 p.m. (The next art walk is Sunday.)
Longtime area merchant and jeweler Sika, who has an eponymous shop, founded the Leimert Park Village African Art & Music Festival in 2009. Picking up where the annual African Marketplace left off when it abruptly shut down that year, the new summer event has been well-received; Sika is looking for sponsorship in 2011. He lauds the new Leimert Project and the art walk as important parts of a collective effort among business owners to permanently establish Leimert Park as a black center of culture and a model of self-determination. "Merchants should be able to do for ourselves," Sika says. "We created this place, we should define and control it."
Bradford is a relatively new catalyst in the movement. The artist, a California Institute of the Arts alumnus who met Caldwell there, moved into his renovated Leimert Park studio three years ago; last year, his close friend and arts philanthropist Eileen Norton followed suit by opening the Leimert Project. Suddenly it looked as though Leimert Park, which has always been somewhat isolated, might finally connect with the established art scene on the Westside and beyond. Bradford acknowledges that's possible, though he emphasizes he's looking to build on Leimert's rich history, not replace it.
"I'm just trying to add a little something, not trying to detract from all the folks who have been holding it down since the '60s," he says. "The goal to bring in more and more young, contemporary artists has really been a goal in Leimert Park since the '70s." With that in mind, Bradford opened the doors of his studio for the first art walk, and continues to "whenever I'm around."
Leimert has always been tough going for merchants. Development that has transformed artsy districts like North Hollywood into hip destinations has passed it by. And disagreement among merchants over what direction the village should take is legion, even during the best of times. The constant fear among some is that an influx of outsiders — such as those who've discovered the art walk — will dilute, or at least distract from, the village's historical commitment to growing and preserving black culture in L.A.
Caldwell dismisses that view as self-defeating. "This is us learning as black businesspeople to be businesspeople, which means that we can't just rely on black folk to support ourselves," he says. "I've gotten pushback for [reaching out to other groups to patronize the village.] But the truth is, hip-hop, jazz and blues wouldn't make it were it not for people of other colors. We have to broker what we have to be successful."
Jackie Ryan, co-owner of Zambezi Bazaar, mostly agrees with Caldwell. She says that in the last year she's seen a new seriousness of purpose about preserving Leimert. and doing it by any means necessary. "People are aware that we have to be innovative to survive into the future," she says. "Electoral politics are not the answer. We have to have faith in our culture," Ryan says. "That's what's sustained us all along."
calendar@latimes.com
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
By Erin Aubrey Kaplan, Special to the Los Angeles Times
March 22, 2011
Leimert Park Village, the historical enclave of black culture and arts, has been showing signs of new life lately, and not a moment too soon.
The nonprofit Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center, named for the veteran jazz and blues singer, opened last month. In December, the Eileen Harris Norton Foundation premiered the Leimert Project, a space for arts education that has so far mounted two solo shows for local artists. On Leimert Boulevard, native son and internationally renowned artist Mark Bradford works out of a studio that has piqued new interest in the neighborhood in fine art circles. And for the last two summers, a homegrown music and arts festival has been successfully staged in a city parking lot.
The only thing missing was foot traffic, a longstanding problem in Leimert. Enter another addition geared to the Internet generation: the Leimert Park Art Walk (www.leimertparkartwalk.com).
Organized by Ben Caldwell, proprietor of the new media education center Kaos Network and a Leimert Park mainstay, the art walk launched as an experiment last June and has quietly been gathering momentum ever since. Held on the last Sunday of every month in the lobby of the Vision Theater and three storefronts on 43rd Place facing Leimert Plaza Park, it showcases artists and features other attractions such as music performances, film screenings, crafts, food and a kid's pavilion.
The community festival vibe is hardly new to Leimert, which hosts similar events — Kwanzaa, Martin Luther King Day — throughout the year. What is new is that buzz about the art walk was created almost entirely online, chiefly through social networking sites like Facebook. And unlike the demographic that comes out each year for events like Kwanzaa, most of the roughly 1,000 people who showed up for the first art walk were young and not necessarily black.
The size and the diversity of the response amazed even Caldwell. "They were mostly college age, under 40, young families starting out," he recalls. "And they were a third white, a third black, a third Asian. That surprised people."
But Caldwell, whose Kaos became famous for its hip-hop scene, is more than encouraged. Already the art walk has enough of a reputation to stage events in conjunction with high-profile events such as the NAACP national convention coming to Staples Center this summer. "We're on the radar," Caldwell says. "The good thing about the art walk is that it's monthly, it's consistent. It keeps the neighborhood on people's minds."
The idea of an art walk came about a year ago not as a way to raise Leimert's profile, but to address a problem that had developed at another regular Sunday event in Leimert, the drum circle. The African-themed circle had been meeting in the park for more than 10 years, and had always drawn complaints from some residents and businesspeople about noise and vendors who parked illegally. Tensions escalated when police showed up one Sunday and told vendors to leave.
Caldwell, a property owner in the village and a board member of its business improvement district, persuaded the group to start a business incubator to come up with a way of dealing with the problem. That yielded the idea of a monthly art walk that could expand the context of the drum circle into a larger event, use the unrented storefronts to display art (and advertise the space itself) and encourage foot traffic.
At a recent Saturday meeting of the art walk committee held at Caldwell's space, younger attendees sat with laptops propped open as Caldwell led a discussion about the details of the next day's event. The committee is an eclectic bunch comprising interested artists, merchants and residents. Caldwell encourages everyone involved to use the art walk as a way of developing and showcasing their own ambitions, artistic or otherwise. "This is a new generation, with new resources," remarked committee member G Money. "Look at the role the Internet and Twitter [had] in the revolution in Egypt. If you're not with it, you're obsolete."
The art walk's website speaks clearly to a new tradition, but also to familiar goals of racial and social progress. The logo is a tweak on a mythological African image — a sankofa bird representing the past and the future, with paintbrushes for feathers. A four-minute film features a lively hip-hop soundtrack and interviews with young art walk patrons who wax passionately about the Leimert scene.
The docents are teens from local middle and high schools. and its critical role in keeping things in the 'hood "positive."In a recent addition, capoeira dancers have joined the procession of drummers and other performers that files into Leimert Park Plaza to kick off the art walk at 2 p.m. (The next art walk is Sunday.)
Longtime area merchant and jeweler Sika, who has an eponymous shop, founded the Leimert Park Village African Art & Music Festival in 2009. Picking up where the annual African Marketplace left off when it abruptly shut down that year, the new summer event has been well-received; Sika is looking for sponsorship in 2011. He lauds the new Leimert Project and the art walk as important parts of a collective effort among business owners to permanently establish Leimert Park as a black center of culture and a model of self-determination. "Merchants should be able to do for ourselves," Sika says. "We created this place, we should define and control it."
Bradford is a relatively new catalyst in the movement. The artist, a California Institute of the Arts alumnus who met Caldwell there, moved into his renovated Leimert Park studio three years ago; last year, his close friend and arts philanthropist Eileen Norton followed suit by opening the Leimert Project. Suddenly it looked as though Leimert Park, which has always been somewhat isolated, might finally connect with the established art scene on the Westside and beyond. Bradford acknowledges that's possible, though he emphasizes he's looking to build on Leimert's rich history, not replace it.
"I'm just trying to add a little something, not trying to detract from all the folks who have been holding it down since the '60s," he says. "The goal to bring in more and more young, contemporary artists has really been a goal in Leimert Park since the '70s." With that in mind, Bradford opened the doors of his studio for the first art walk, and continues to "whenever I'm around."
Leimert has always been tough going for merchants. Development that has transformed artsy districts like North Hollywood into hip destinations has passed it by. And disagreement among merchants over what direction the village should take is legion, even during the best of times. The constant fear among some is that an influx of outsiders — such as those who've discovered the art walk — will dilute, or at least distract from, the village's historical commitment to growing and preserving black culture in L.A.
Caldwell dismisses that view as self-defeating. "This is us learning as black businesspeople to be businesspeople, which means that we can't just rely on black folk to support ourselves," he says. "I've gotten pushback for [reaching out to other groups to patronize the village.] But the truth is, hip-hop, jazz and blues wouldn't make it were it not for people of other colors. We have to broker what we have to be successful."
Jackie Ryan, co-owner of Zambezi Bazaar, mostly agrees with Caldwell. She says that in the last year she's seen a new seriousness of purpose about preserving Leimert. and doing it by any means necessary. "People are aware that we have to be innovative to survive into the future," she says. "Electoral politics are not the answer. We have to have faith in our culture," Ryan says. "That's what's sustained us all along."
calendar@latimes.com
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
'Year of the checkpoint' delivered thousands of impounds | California Watch
'Year of the checkpoint' delivered thousands of impounds | California Watch
California traffic safety officials declared 2010 the “year of the checkpoint,” and they delivered on that pledge.
Police agencies ran 1,050 of the state-funded roadway sobriety operations just during the holidays (which include Christmas, New Year’s, the Super Bowl, St. Patrick’s Day and Labor Day) last fiscal year. That is nearly twice as many holiday checkpoints as law enforcement ran the previous year. In all, the California Office of Traffic Safety planned to operate more than 2,500 such operations in 2010.
And while the checkpoints are ostensibly intended to snare drunken drivers, officers impounded six cars for every one DUI arrest made, according to data from the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center at UC Berkeley. The center operates a grant program funding the checkpoints for the California Office of Traffic Safety.
Vehicle seizures totaled 17,419 last fiscal year. An investigation by California Watch and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley found most of the motorists losing their cars at the operations were sober, unlicensed illegal immigrants.
Unlike in previous years, the most recent data documents how many unlicensed drivers police encountered during the operations. Under state law, motorists who don’t have a license or who have had their driving privileges suspended or revoked can have their cars impounded for 30 days. The fees and fines that car owners must pay to retrieve their vehicle often reach more than $1,500.
Police cited 12,867 unlicensed drivers during the 2010 fiscal year, according to the data. Not every one of those motorists lost their cars, but the numbers still indicate that illegal immigrants might have accounted for as much as 70 percent of vehicle seizures at DUI checkpoints
Impounds have become a revenue source for cities in recent years.
Local governments often charge unlicensed drivers a fine to get their vehicles released from impound – on average more than $150, finance records show. Cities, increasingly, also get a cut of the fees that tow operators charge vehicle owners, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
However, seven California police agencies have altered their checkpoint policies in recent months to try to reduce impounds.
Here is a breakdown of last fiscal year’s holiday checkpoint results for six of the seven cities aiming to shrink the disparity between DUI arrests and vehicle seizures.
Agency DUI arrests Unlicensed cited Impounds
Los Angeles Police Department 230 425 1,008
Oakland Police Department 24 28 50
San Jose Police Department 100 342 335
Baldwin Park Police Department 25 547 670
Berkeley Police Department 2 3 12
Coachella (Riverside County Sheriff) 24 33 18
Cathedral City also altered its policies to limit impoundment of unlicensed drivers at checkpoints but did not operate any holiday checkpoints in fiscal 2010.
California traffic safety officials declared 2010 the “year of the checkpoint,” and they delivered on that pledge.
Police agencies ran 1,050 of the state-funded roadway sobriety operations just during the holidays (which include Christmas, New Year’s, the Super Bowl, St. Patrick’s Day and Labor Day) last fiscal year. That is nearly twice as many holiday checkpoints as law enforcement ran the previous year. In all, the California Office of Traffic Safety planned to operate more than 2,500 such operations in 2010.
And while the checkpoints are ostensibly intended to snare drunken drivers, officers impounded six cars for every one DUI arrest made, according to data from the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center at UC Berkeley. The center operates a grant program funding the checkpoints for the California Office of Traffic Safety.
Vehicle seizures totaled 17,419 last fiscal year. An investigation by California Watch and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley found most of the motorists losing their cars at the operations were sober, unlicensed illegal immigrants.
Unlike in previous years, the most recent data documents how many unlicensed drivers police encountered during the operations. Under state law, motorists who don’t have a license or who have had their driving privileges suspended or revoked can have their cars impounded for 30 days. The fees and fines that car owners must pay to retrieve their vehicle often reach more than $1,500.
Police cited 12,867 unlicensed drivers during the 2010 fiscal year, according to the data. Not every one of those motorists lost their cars, but the numbers still indicate that illegal immigrants might have accounted for as much as 70 percent of vehicle seizures at DUI checkpoints
Impounds have become a revenue source for cities in recent years.
Local governments often charge unlicensed drivers a fine to get their vehicles released from impound – on average more than $150, finance records show. Cities, increasingly, also get a cut of the fees that tow operators charge vehicle owners, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
However, seven California police agencies have altered their checkpoint policies in recent months to try to reduce impounds.
Here is a breakdown of last fiscal year’s holiday checkpoint results for six of the seven cities aiming to shrink the disparity between DUI arrests and vehicle seizures.
Agency DUI arrests Unlicensed cited Impounds
Los Angeles Police Department 230 425 1,008
Oakland Police Department 24 28 50
San Jose Police Department 100 342 335
Baldwin Park Police Department 25 547 670
Berkeley Police Department 2 3 12
Coachella (Riverside County Sheriff) 24 33 18
Cathedral City also altered its policies to limit impoundment of unlicensed drivers at checkpoints but did not operate any holiday checkpoints in fiscal 2010.
Cops called it the "Year of the Checkpoint" in California.
DUI Checkpoints Net 17,419 Cars, Mostly From Illegal Immigrants, Last Year in Calif: LAPD Leads The State With 1,008 Impounds
By Dennis Romero, Mon., Mar. 28 2011
Cops called it the "Year of the Checkpoint" in California.
But it might as well have been called the Year of Taking Your Car. Because, while the number of DUI checkpoints in fiscal 2010 was double that of 2009, there were six cars impounded for every one DUI arrest, according to California Watch.
It also reports there were 1,050 of the state-funded checkpoints during the holidays alone (Christmas, New Year's, the Super Bowl, St. Patrick's Day and Labor Day), doubling the number in fiscal 2009.
Some have accused the LAPD of setting up checkpoints in immigrant-heavy areas where finding unlicensed drivers and taking their cars because they're not allowed to drive them home is like shooting fish in a barrel.
The department recently changed its policy, however, allowing accessible friends and family members with licenses to drive the cars of the unlicensed home.
The DUI checkpoint -- often conducted with federal funds as well -- has been a bonanza for other law agencies statewide. California Watch:
Vehicle seizures totaled 17,419 last fiscal year. An investigation by California Watch and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley found most of the motorists losing their cars at the operations were sober, unlicensed illegal immigrants.
The publication states that illegal immigrants likely accounted for more than two-thirds of those who had their cars taken at DUI checkpoints.
The LAPD led the state with 1,008 impounds.
Cities like Los Angeles often get $150 or more cut of the action when owners retrieve their cars after 30 days and end up paying as much as $1,500 in fines, storage and fees.
Many don't bother trying to get their vehicles back, though, leaving the cars to be auctioned off.
State Sen. Gil Cedillo of L.A. has tried repeatedly to thwart this system by introducing a bill that would allow -- as California has in the past -- illegals to get licenses. But Arnold Schwarzenegger wouldn't sign the legislation.
With a new governor in office, maybe Cedillo has another chance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can read a previous article here:
Welcome To America, Now Give Us Your Car: Do Los Angeles Area DUI Checkpoints Target Poorer Areas, Immigrants?
By Dennis Romero, Wed., Sep. 29 2010 @ 7:10AM
By Dennis Romero, Mon., Mar. 28 2011
Cops called it the "Year of the Checkpoint" in California.
But it might as well have been called the Year of Taking Your Car. Because, while the number of DUI checkpoints in fiscal 2010 was double that of 2009, there were six cars impounded for every one DUI arrest, according to California Watch.
It also reports there were 1,050 of the state-funded checkpoints during the holidays alone (Christmas, New Year's, the Super Bowl, St. Patrick's Day and Labor Day), doubling the number in fiscal 2009.
Some have accused the LAPD of setting up checkpoints in immigrant-heavy areas where finding unlicensed drivers and taking their cars because they're not allowed to drive them home is like shooting fish in a barrel.
The department recently changed its policy, however, allowing accessible friends and family members with licenses to drive the cars of the unlicensed home.
The DUI checkpoint -- often conducted with federal funds as well -- has been a bonanza for other law agencies statewide. California Watch:
Vehicle seizures totaled 17,419 last fiscal year. An investigation by California Watch and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley found most of the motorists losing their cars at the operations were sober, unlicensed illegal immigrants.
The publication states that illegal immigrants likely accounted for more than two-thirds of those who had their cars taken at DUI checkpoints.
The LAPD led the state with 1,008 impounds.
Cities like Los Angeles often get $150 or more cut of the action when owners retrieve their cars after 30 days and end up paying as much as $1,500 in fines, storage and fees.
Many don't bother trying to get their vehicles back, though, leaving the cars to be auctioned off.
State Sen. Gil Cedillo of L.A. has tried repeatedly to thwart this system by introducing a bill that would allow -- as California has in the past -- illegals to get licenses. But Arnold Schwarzenegger wouldn't sign the legislation.
With a new governor in office, maybe Cedillo has another chance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can read a previous article here:
Welcome To America, Now Give Us Your Car: Do Los Angeles Area DUI Checkpoints Target Poorer Areas, Immigrants?
By Dennis Romero, Wed., Sep. 29 2010 @ 7:10AM
Monday, March 28, 2011
Fence Painting Illegal in Los Angeles? FOX 11 News video report.
Fence Painting Illegal in Los Angeles?: MyFoxLA.com
Los Angeles - There's nothing all that controversial about painting a fence unless you happen to paint graphic images with bold colors. That could put you on the wrong side of Los Angeles' law against murals.
One Los Angeles homeowner's fence art is apparently illegal in the eyes of the City of Los Angeles.
FOX 11's Susan Hirasuna has the story in the video report.
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