Joel Dow, Artist, Activist, Anarchist, Musician, and Rochestarian Held in Jail with Bail set at $259,000; Maintains Inoocence
Portland, OR—On Tuesday, March 23, Joel Dow, artist, activist, anarchist, musician, and Rochestarian, was arrested for allegedly throwing a bicycle at a police officer who was driving his motorcycle into demonstrators at a police accountability march. Dow has been charged with assault II, a class B felony; assault of a police officer, a class C felony; recklass endangerment, a class A misdemeanor; and disorderly conduct 2, a class B misdemeanor. His bail is set at $259,000 and he is currently being held at the Multnomah County Inverness Jail. He was arraigned yesterday morning where he plead not guilty to all charges and was assigned Gary Gedrose from the Public Defender's Office. Supporters in Portland stated that Joel has been in contact with activist lawyers who may represent him pro bono. Dow is not receiving vegan meals and supporters are urged to call the jail and demand he be given things he can eat: 503-988-5060
Benefits are currently being planned to raise money for Joel's legal defense fund here in Rochester. Contact Harlow for more information: harlowcrandall (at) gmail.com. KC Tea and Noodles is hosting a benefit for Joel on April 3, 9PM.
Additional Information: Free Joel | Write Joel! | Contribute Monetarily to Joel's Legal Defense Fund | PDX IMC: Cops, Pigs, Murderers! (A Cascadia Convergence Network Communiqué) | Emergency Response to another Police Murder | Multi Media Report Back: News Conference On Killing of Aaron Campbell
Indy TV # 34: Rated F
Members of Rated F, a year old local Feminist organization, join us this week on Indy TV to talk about their work in Rochester and how you can get involved in organizing around feminist and queer issues.
The Rated F website explains the Herstory of the group: "There aren’t many opportunities for women to have honest, open conversations around feminist and queer issues. So we thought we’d begin to create those opportunities for ourselves and other women, by developing workshops and events that dissect sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, heterosexism, ageism, etc. in all of their forms from a sex-positive, feminist, affirming perspective.
We want to instill a sense of sisterhood and togetherness between women in this community, and organize around issues that matter to us. We focus on education and activism around feminist, gender and queer issues but are interested in being involved in any activities that empower and support women."
Community Asks Duffy, "Why Avoid Open Debate?"
While members of the Rochester Business Alliance ate breakfast for $45 a plate inside the Riverside Convention Center, students, parents, and community members gathered outside for a "People's Breakfast" to draw attention to the exclusionary nature of the event.
Myra Brown, a member of the Community Education Task Force discussed the event, "$45 to a person to be able to come and get in on the conversation. I think that it's wrong to put that kind of a price on people having a voice — particularly people who are directly impacted by this issue." Others added that the 7:30 starting time made the event next to impossible to attend for many parents and students.
One parent who made it out was Mary Adams. She said Duffy has a history of avoiding open debate. "He will carefully select his audiences and the format in which he speaks so that he does not need to face critical questions or address opposing viewpoints. [Duffy has repeatedly said] that he went to a school meeting and sat in with parents at school of the arts. I was at that meeting, that was not billed as a Duffy presentation. In fact, I did not know that he and his entourage were going to show up until he was there. He talked to us and talked to us and talked to us about pretty superficial things having to do with his ideas about education. Parents actually had to interrupt him in order to get any chance to say anything."
Some members of the breakfast decided to try to enter the building without paying the $45 price tag. They were immediately grabbed and pushed out of the building.
Video: Students "Escorted" Out of Convention Center During Mayoral Control Debate | Anti-Mayoral Control Action on March 23 at RJB "Power Breakfast" | Watch the full debate!
Vigil for Peace on 7th Anniversary of Iraq Invasion
Between 60 and 70 people gathered at noon on the corner of East Ave. and South Goodman St. to demand an end to the U.S. wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan. March 19 was the 7th anniversary of the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. While President Obama promised to end the war, he has not done so and many of the US troops withdrawn have been replaced by private "contractors"—also known as mercenaries.
Peace vigils at this location are held every Sunday at noon, sponsored by Peace Action & Education—a task force of Metro Justice. Usually 10 to 20 people attend. Today's gathering was considerably larger due to the war anniversary. People from Rochester also traveled to Washington DC to join a crowd of 12,000 in a similar action at the White House.
Additional Information: DC-SDS: Break Free from the Bad Romance: Student Power Dance Party Against Empire | Peace of the Action | Camp "Out Now" | Rochester Students for a Democratic Society | Rochester Against War | Rochester Students Take the Streets in DC | Rethink Afghanistan
Photos: 7th anniversary of Iraq invasion
Audio: March 21st Vigil for Peace (mp3 version) | March 21st Vigil for Peace (ogg version)
Students March Against Mayoral Control
On Thursday, March 4th, students, parents, teachers, and community members marched through downtown, chanting "Whose Schools? Our Schools!", demanding that Rochester keep it's current system of an elected school board. Click the image below to see Rochester Indymedia's video report.
While corporate mass-media narrowly focus on the views of Rochester's elite, Rochester Students for a Democratic Society and the Community Education Task Force have been busy making their thoughts and analysis known by visibly showing public opposition to mayoral control of the school district. After the SDS-led march, the students facilitated a public speak-out at the Downtown United Presbyterian Church for the community to discuss the issue. All "mainstream" corporate media outlets were notably absent from this meeting. After the meeting, Harry Davis Reports that forum-goers were met with at least 20 police officers.
Related: Initial video reportback | On Facebook: Stop Mayoral Control of Rochester City Schools! | Get involved! Community Education Task Force meetings are every Wednesday, 5:30PM, at the Freedom School, 630 N. Goodman
Rochester Free School: Interviews
The Rochester Free School is an all-volunteer, DIY, educational organization. We believe education is a right rather than a privilege. Rochester Free School works to de-commodify and de-institutionalize education with free classes open to all. The Free School currently has classes running on Crochet, Web Design, Anarchism, Feminism, Writing, and more. Visit the website at for a full and up-to-date list of all our classes.
The free school operates in a horizontal manner and tries to break down the boundaries between "teacher" and "student." We decided to conduct our interview in a similar way. Three members of the Free School, Caitlin Holcombe, Ronni Kobrosly, and Ben Dean-Kawamura, took turns being interviewer and interviewee. Below, we talk about what attracted us to the Free School, what we see as its strengths and shortcomings, and where we would like the Free School to go in 2010.
Ben:
What got you interested in the Free School? What motivates you to work on building it up?
Roni:
I first heard about the Free School through Caitlin and KT, two folks there were already involved with the Flying Squirrel community space. The idea really excited me because the people involved with the project seemed to have lots of diverse skills I wanted to develop (art, community organizing). Also, as someone who has spent a chunk of their life in higher education, I really appreciate how radical the concept of a Free School is. It seems to me that nowadays "education" and "knowledge" have become commodified. The Free School is 100% grassroots, which is great! The people in this community have so many skills and so much knowledge, it's such a great idea to create a space where everyone can freely share this!
What keeps my motivated about this project is its potential. In other big US cities, like Seattle, free schools have become community institutions!
How about you Caitlin, what got you interested in the free school? What purposes do you think it could serve in the community?
"No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!" A Rochester Indymedia Recap of the Anti-Olympic Protests in Vancouver
On February 9th, two Rochester Indymedia journalists started their journey to Vancouver, unceded and occupied Coast Salish Territory to cover the 2010 anti-Olympic resistance movement.
Anti-Olympic organizers called for a convergence of anti-colonial and anti-capitalist forces in Vancouver, February 10-15, 2010, to confront and disrupt the 2010 Olympic Games. These dates were chosen to coincide with the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics (Feb. 12, 2010). The entire Winter Games ran from Feb 12-28, 2010. The slogan under which the convergence coalesced was, "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!"
Read the full report back replete with video, photos, and links: Click here!
Highlights:
Feb. 10: Prime Minister of Canada Stephan Harper dissuaded from attending an event at the Chinese Cultural Center because of his party's reactionary and uneducated response to Insite, North America's only supervised-injection site. Photos: Wise Blood | Murray Bush; Video: Dawn Zuppelli | off2theairport | brentgranby
Feb. 10-11: The 2010 Peoples Summit; Audio: Indigenous Resistance Panel
Feb. 12: Torch relay blockages! Video: Cambie and Hastings | Torch bearer forced off Commercial Drive
"Take Back Our City" family-friendly march and rally Video: 1 | 2 | 3
Feb. 13: Members of Coast Salish Katzie First Nation, supporters block Golden Ears Bridge Video: watch the action
2010 Heart Attack: clog the arteries of capitalism Video: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5; Photos: insurgentphoto
British Columbia Civil Liberties Association Denounces Property Destruction
Larry Hildes of the National Lawyers Guild Severs Ties with BCCLA Video: Hildes Interview
Feb. 14: The 19th Annual Women's Memorial March video: 19th Annual Women's Memorial March; photos: Chris Bevacqua | Murray Bush | Fathima Cader
Feb. 15: Hundreds gather and march through downtown Vancouver to denounce Canada’s role in Afghanistan and Haiti, the occupation of Indigenous lands, and the militarization of Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics Photos: 1 | 2; Audio: Gord Hill: I am not Anti-War
Olympic Tent Village Direct Action Starts at 58 West Hastings Video: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5; Photos: Chris Bevacqua | zozi | Eve Harlow | Maya Rolbin-Ghanie; Read the Tent Village Voice: issue 1
Check out the Vancouver Media Cooperative for more coverage: Vancouver.Mediacoop.Ca
AARM Newsletter Hits the Streets
The latest edition of the Activists Against Racism Movement (AARM) newsletter has been published and is circulating around Rochester. The newsletter, which focuses on the issue of mayor control of the Rochester City Schools, includes articles from both members of AARM and the community discussing why we need to oppose the proposed takeover.
AARM has been active in releasing newsletters to the community, having already produced two since the start of 2010. I talked with Tim Adams, who works closely on the paper, to discuss the content of this edition, how they make the newsletter, why they do it, and more.
What the Frack?! Free Speech Shakedown on Paterson's Campaign Trail
Just yesterday, I heard about Governor Paterson coming to Rochester to announce his bid for reelection. A few concerned friends who are working to raise awareness of the dangers of hydrofracking in the Marcellus shale brought it up, and two of us were able to get over the union hall in time to get seats. We brought signs that simply had the word "FRACK" in a circle with a line through it, and we put them under our seats, waiting patiently for the public event to begin. Within minutes, an organizer asked us to bring our signs and speak with her, saying "you're not in trouble." She explained that this was a "happy event" and they wanted to make sure it stayed "peaceful," then offered us a couple of minutes with the governor after the speeches if we allowed her to take our signs away during the event. Surprised by the direct request, I wanted to take a few minutes to talk it over, but she said no, we had to relent right then, and she did not present us with other options. Another aide came over, saying "this isn't the time or place for you to bring up your issues." I disagreed, pointing out that clean water is a critical issue for as long as we exist, and this is an important time to take a stand for it. But we gave up the signs.
Additional Information: Shaleshock | Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force | Letter from an EPA whistleblower concerned about fracking contaminating underground aquifers | Congress Launches Investigation Into Gas Drilling Practices
How the Regional Zine/Craft Fair Came to Be
In October of 2008, Caitlin Holcombe, Ted Forsyth and KT Schwartz took a trip to Toronto, Ontario for Canzine. With self-published zines proudly gripped in their hands, they made their way through the crowded, bustling Gladstone Hotel to their assigned table upstairs. Tucked away in a corner, they quickly set up their booth and took turns meandering through the densely packed building.
They were impressed with the sheer volume of participants and guests.
They accumulated a pile of zines to take home with them, and at the end of the day, were glad to have been a part of the event.
Months later, Caitlin and Ted lamented the lack of a cohesive zine community in Rochester, and within upstate New York in general. While, they could both order and trade zines with relative ease through online distros (distributers who buy zines at wholesale prices and make them available through websites & print catalogues) they craved physical contact with their counterparts. At Canzine, they had been able to meet the authors of zines they loved and create more tangible connections. They knew that in cities like Portland, Toronto and Philadelphia there was a greater concentration of zine writers and readers and that these zinesters' enthusiasm for the medium fueled the organization of zine festivals and libraries.
Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22
