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News from the North Bay!
The summer is heating up in more ways than one. Anti-capitalist activists in the Sonoma County are hard at work at a huge variety of projects primarily in Santa Rosa and Petaluma, aimed at police brutality, immigrants' rights, building a unified social movement, and more! Here is a little taste of what's going on in our neck of the woods.
There have been several exciting developments in recent weeks amongst Sonoma County's radical organizations; here is a basic run down of the current situation.
Several organizations in Santa Rosa have decided to combine efforts and work as one unified group, with each individual group/project retaining its' autonomy. These include Santa Rosa Food Not Bombs, Santa Rosa CopWatch, O22, and Free Mind Media infoshop. The first meeting of this new entity took place last Monday, was well attended, and productive. These groups all maintain a strong radical, anti-capitalist perspective in their organizing.
The group IMPACT! in Petaluma has gotten the approval of the Phoenix Theater (http://www.thephoenixtheater.com) to implement programs there such as legal support/advocacy, workplace organizing training for young people, leadership development for young radicals, tutoring, and a lending library/infoshop. The Phoenix Theater already has numerous programs such as a free teen health clinic, a school of music, graffiti art programs, skate ramps, and regular live shows. It has a capacity of up to 800 people. IMPACT! is extremely excited about being a part of this wonderful space, and we foresee a huge growth in our group and our projects as a result of this development.
The group O22, (separate from the national 'October 22nd Coalition'), which combines direct action and consciousness-raising to resist police violence in the North Bay, is beginning its organizing of a large, Bay Area-wide mobilization and direct action against police brutality for October 22nd. A nonviolent, direct action is planned for the afternoon of Thursday, October 22nd, at the Santa Rosa Police Department. Sonoma County has one of the highest rates per capita of police killings (nearly 20 people have been killed in the area by police or in jail in the last 3 years, and dozens more were killed in the late 90's). Discrimination against immigrants, the youth, and the homeless is fierce, frequent, and often brutal. The use of Tasers on unarmed people has led to 5 deaths recently. We are asking on all our allies around the Bay to help organize this important action, as Sonoma County is quite possibly the epicenter of police murders in the Bay. We are planning a speaking tour to promote the action in August. If you are interested in hosting us for an event, please contact us immediately.
IMPACT! has been organizing monthly gatherings of community organizations and activists. Roughly 35 organizations and over 60 individuals have participated. The goal behind these gatherings is to form a strong network of social justice organizations which can promote grassroots struggle, independent of any political party, and build solidarity and a strong community. The first joint project of this network was the "Spring Into Action! campaign, a month of activities in April. Next on the networks' plate is a tour of radical Sonoma County, including the Phoenix Theater, Free Mind Media Infoshop, the Peace and Justice Center, and more. keep your eyes open for that coming your way in the next six months.
Believe it or not, that is just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to all these exciting developments, Sonoma County has:
- two active CopWatch chapters,
-a large and strong Committee for Immigrants' Rights which is currently working to stop the racist collaboration between the Sheriff and I.C.E. as well as the routine impounding of the cars of immigrant workers and families.
-two Food Not Bombs chapters
-the Graton Day Labor Center
-an emerging project in Petaluma from IMPACT! to organize immigrant day workers.
-regular Critical Mass rides in Petaluma
-a new propaganda collective called "Take Back the Wealth" which spreads leaflets, explaining in simple language how the rich rob the workers.
-a relatively new organization called PACH (Police Accountability Clinic and Helpline) which takes complaints about police abuse and is forming an independent database. The President of PACH is founding Black Panther Elbert "Big Man" Howard
-a new student organization called the Petaluma Youth Pride Coalition
-a new radical animal rights group called People for Animal Liberation
-and so so so much more.
check out http://www.impactpetaluma.org or http://www.freemindmedia.org for more info.
In Solidarity,
Carl, IMPACT!
707-338-5318
impactpetaluma [at] gmail.com
Several organizations in Santa Rosa have decided to combine efforts and work as one unified group, with each individual group/project retaining its' autonomy. These include Santa Rosa Food Not Bombs, Santa Rosa CopWatch, O22, and Free Mind Media infoshop. The first meeting of this new entity took place last Monday, was well attended, and productive. These groups all maintain a strong radical, anti-capitalist perspective in their organizing.
The group IMPACT! in Petaluma has gotten the approval of the Phoenix Theater (http://www.thephoenixtheater.com) to implement programs there such as legal support/advocacy, workplace organizing training for young people, leadership development for young radicals, tutoring, and a lending library/infoshop. The Phoenix Theater already has numerous programs such as a free teen health clinic, a school of music, graffiti art programs, skate ramps, and regular live shows. It has a capacity of up to 800 people. IMPACT! is extremely excited about being a part of this wonderful space, and we foresee a huge growth in our group and our projects as a result of this development.
The group O22, (separate from the national 'October 22nd Coalition'), which combines direct action and consciousness-raising to resist police violence in the North Bay, is beginning its organizing of a large, Bay Area-wide mobilization and direct action against police brutality for October 22nd. A nonviolent, direct action is planned for the afternoon of Thursday, October 22nd, at the Santa Rosa Police Department. Sonoma County has one of the highest rates per capita of police killings (nearly 20 people have been killed in the area by police or in jail in the last 3 years, and dozens more were killed in the late 90's). Discrimination against immigrants, the youth, and the homeless is fierce, frequent, and often brutal. The use of Tasers on unarmed people has led to 5 deaths recently. We are asking on all our allies around the Bay to help organize this important action, as Sonoma County is quite possibly the epicenter of police murders in the Bay. We are planning a speaking tour to promote the action in August. If you are interested in hosting us for an event, please contact us immediately.
IMPACT! has been organizing monthly gatherings of community organizations and activists. Roughly 35 organizations and over 60 individuals have participated. The goal behind these gatherings is to form a strong network of social justice organizations which can promote grassroots struggle, independent of any political party, and build solidarity and a strong community. The first joint project of this network was the "Spring Into Action! campaign, a month of activities in April. Next on the networks' plate is a tour of radical Sonoma County, including the Phoenix Theater, Free Mind Media Infoshop, the Peace and Justice Center, and more. keep your eyes open for that coming your way in the next six months.
Believe it or not, that is just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to all these exciting developments, Sonoma County has:
- two active CopWatch chapters,
-a large and strong Committee for Immigrants' Rights which is currently working to stop the racist collaboration between the Sheriff and I.C.E. as well as the routine impounding of the cars of immigrant workers and families.
-two Food Not Bombs chapters
-the Graton Day Labor Center
-an emerging project in Petaluma from IMPACT! to organize immigrant day workers.
-regular Critical Mass rides in Petaluma
-a new propaganda collective called "Take Back the Wealth" which spreads leaflets, explaining in simple language how the rich rob the workers.
-a relatively new organization called PACH (Police Accountability Clinic and Helpline) which takes complaints about police abuse and is forming an independent database. The President of PACH is founding Black Panther Elbert "Big Man" Howard
-a new student organization called the Petaluma Youth Pride Coalition
-a new radical animal rights group called People for Animal Liberation
-and so so so much more.
check out http://www.impactpetaluma.org or http://www.freemindmedia.org for more info.
In Solidarity,
Carl, IMPACT!
707-338-5318
impactpetaluma [at] gmail.com
For more information:
http://www.impactpetaluma.org
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