Black and Green Bloc Call to Action for BioDev 2004

You will make trouble. You will be arrested. You will cost the taxpayers money. You will accomplish nothing. When will you ever learn that the average working person in this town has ZERO interest in any of this shit? Do us all a favor: stay home. Write your congressman or whatever. Just give it a fucking rest.

"When will you ever learn that the average working person in this town has ZERO interest"

That's why you spend so much time trolling this site?

Who are you to claim that you represent working people in this community? Go play in your own sandbox, troll.

sfres, you are a tired, gavinite, hater. go away, go do something more sincere like campaign for bush, and leave these nice kids alone.

yawn indeed. you're the one choosing to hang out here.

diverse and decentralized direct action means random and unplanned street protests to me and the whole Temporary Autonomous Zone Free State = self-described feel good zone is code for an idea of a concept of anarchic governance that will never come for a host of valid reason that have nothing to do with "the man" not allowing it. All of this speaks to an in-crowd mentality and, like so many protests of the pat few years, brings out the faithful for the day, But fails to deliver an action plan that is relevant, understandable, or can move beyond the day-of event and to a wider audience.

In short, so many of our protests and gatherings are bitch sessions, rarely formulating a broad plan of action to achieve even limited goals. Factionalism of those who want communism, socialism, violence against Walgreens, or a host of other non-realistic ‘demands’ hold up what could be a powerful push to have rational voices heard beyond the fringes, and have them heard in the form of legislation and actual policy.

As for this GM protest in particular, I read this posting, but find no information to learn more about the issues, but do see random links of causality thrown out to add ‘flavor.’ Sure that link might give me some info, but I have a life and would like a concise paragraph as to the issues relevant to the conference being protested. Also, I don’t know of any source that links my (and your) daily life and the issues of GM. A shopping list or information source how it affects our current day-to-day lives on that front is missing here, and it seems to me a basic and fundamental step in educating the broader public (i.e. you and me) on the issues in a tangible manner.

If we insist on the shrill, no wonder the sensible never sees the light of day. We can only carry on with what we see as affective to meet our own goals.

hey this call is boring. But it is a start. Radicals and anarchists should come out to this action. This is a classic case of corporate executives and scientists who profit from destruction of the natural world and poisoning the world's food supply, showing their ugly faces in public and thinking that it is all ok. Hold them accountable, being out in the streets is standing up to say that it really isn't ok.
It is a shame that it takes a biotech conference to organize around these issues. These companies are already here, Genentech and Bayer both have big facilities here in the bay area. Bayer has a factory in Berkely, nice bayer who used concentration camp labor in Nazi germany.
GE and GMO are great issues that link the red, green, and black tendancies. GE crops are bieng used to "nourish" the third world, they are appearing in low cost consumer products, and all that disproportionately affects poor people around the world. It is the control of the seeds, that makes farming even more corporate controled.

If you don't like the organizing being done, get involved and make it work. Put up or shut up.

Don't even think about mounting any CEO heads on pikes and parading them down Market St.

In fact, you should never break the law at all at a protest. Especially don't throw tea into the harbor or drive the money changers from the temple with a whip. And when the redcoats come to grab your guns, hand them over while singing "God Save the King" at the top of your lungs.

If you want your rulers to listen to you, first fall on your knees, lick their boots and worship them like gods.

maybe we should just get passes and go into all their conferences and try to change-from-within. no?

These last couple comments are tongue and cheek, yes? That helps the discussion how, oh ok to counterbalance sfres dumb ass comments.
It this is a discussion about tactics or strategy as to how to take down corporations and remove their heads, then people should be alot more explicit. Strategy should be talked about, but this convergence is pretty much limited in the long term goals that it can take on. Sort of like the anti war "movement" that bops from demo to demo in response to the war and bush), instead of planning out strategic actions to take to disrupt the mechanisms of capitalism. Everything action seems pretty symbolic right now, but maybe they are laying the ground work for the future. Symbols of resistance are powerful too. Corporate heads on spears is not a bad symbol either, as long as there is a modern interpeitive dance routine that goes with it.

>instead of planning out strategic actions to take to disrupt the mechanisms of capitalism.

Only physical disruption will work. If people insist on making symbolic actions, perhaps they should consider concrete direct actions that are also symbolic. For example, a dramatic physical disruption of GM food production at a remote location, that was timed to coincide with the traditional weird costume/giant puppet parade, might have an impact. Another advantage of such timing is that that cops will be rather busy just then.

Aside from a direct action against the production itself, some people may also be considering the offices, especially the computers, of the corporations responsible. Then there are the cars and homes of the guilty executives. And let’s not forget the hotels where they are staying. Someone could get a job in the kitchen . . .

How about instead of putting their real heads on pikes, people put paper mache heads? They could be made very realistic. This could be very educational, and not just for the CEOs. Each protester could chose one CEO from the rogues gallery of attendees, research them completely, compile a dossier, and post it on Indymedia. It could include a picture as well as the home address, automobile license number, private plane tail number, height, weight, eye and hair color, a list of what other corporate boards he sits on, who his relatives are, what they own, what boards (if any) they sit on, who he went to school with, what they own, which boards (if any) they sit on, what country clubs, fraternities, and semi-secret societies he belongs to, whose political campaigns he has supported, and whatever else you can dig up. There is a tremendous wealth of public information about these guys, available to anyone who cares to do the research.

Then, working from the picture, people could make very realistic looking heads, mount each on a nice long pole, hang a placard with his name on it, and march down Market St. in a bloc.

What a striking image it would make. It would be sure to be flashed around the world in an instant, sending a very clear message to these guys that their opponents really mean business.

Also, we’d have all those dossiers to work from in the future.

I say, let’s go for it.

Good idea? y/n

Don't light up any torches though. I still have this great video of the torches made with rag strips wiped with sterno tied around the tip of piles at Berkeley mayday last year. It looked really cool, like a mix between a candlelight vigil, and villagers with pitchforks, and no damage was done but the police freaked out, and it is confirmed that the CATIC terrorism agency has Berkeley mayday on its list of events and they claim that the people want to burn down mcdonald's. But apparently there are laws against flames larger than 2 inches and heads on pikes, but who knows about puppets or pitchforks.

check this out:

http://www.sfimc.net/news/2004/04/1692620.php