Democracy Ateneo Announcement 11-17-12

Compañer@s,

The recent Bay Area Families March Against Police Brutality <http://occupyoakland.org/2012/11/bay-area-families-march-against-police-brutality-nov-10-12pm-14thbroadway-oakland/> and the Grand Jury panel discussion <http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/10/29/18724744.php> highlights the coordinated level of violence, often orchestrated through police misconduct, directed at our communities. The mobilizations also demonstrate the importance of convening spaces of encounter for mobilization, dialogue, and strategizing. While not necessarily intended or represented as spaces of “encounter,” community mobilization can host diverse political projects, foster critical dialogues, and regenerate community relations.

As the importance of community reverberated throughout critical spaces in Oakland we also note the strategies and practices that advance the decomposition of the community in the southern part of the Bay. Specifically, we are called upon to mobilize against Mi Pueblo's treatment of its largely ethnic Mexican workforce. The obligations to confront Mi Pueblo's unfair labor practices and collusion with the repressive anti-immigrant apparatus that organizes a "differential inclusion" expose further divisions. Not everyone recognizes the urgency nor does everyone agree on the strategies necessary to advance an opposition to the current levels of militarization and the repressive state apparatuses in the form of expanding border enforcement, S-Comm restrictions, I-9 raids, and detention centers.

The multiple forms of violence in our communities, both market forces and state repression, affects us all even if we invest in a variety of actions and strategies of opposition. However, it is increasingly clear that we agree that something needs to be done about the violence. Recognizing that folks are facing this on an everyday basis requires we engage it as a community. Yet, the repression begs the question: how do we reclaim our communities and break from the habits of dealing with issues such as these as, for example, individuals? How do we construct tools that we can utilize in service of community safety in the midst of state repression and state generated violence? As we reflect on our own struggles it is necessary that our efforts not to be mediated by fear but rather as an attempt to reweave the social fabric. But, how can our militant investigations of state processes and market forces expose the everyday violences of capital while at the same moment advance the creative collective capacities of our community in struggle?

We will convene the Universidad de la Tierra Califas' Democracy Ateneo, Saturday, November 17, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Casa de Vicky (792 E. Julian St., San Jose <http://www.casavicky.com/>) to continue our regularly scheduled reflection and action space in order to generate questions in relation to the mobilizations mentioned above as well as the challenges, opportunities, and obligations of participatory democracy and community regeneration.

South Bay Crew

NB: If you are not already signed-up and would like to stay connected with the emerging Universidad de la Tierra Califas community please feel free to subscribe to the Universidad de la Tierra Califas listserve at the following url <https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/unitierracalifas>. Also, if you would like to review previous Democracy Ateneo announcements and summaries, they can be accessed from <https://www.box.com/s/liojs7y9zv1fsf19atq1>. For more information on the ateneo more generally, please see <http://ccra.mitotedigital.org/ateneo>.