Democracy Ateneo Announcement 3-16-13

Compas,

A rebellion organized around "dignity", as John Holloway reminds us, is "the struggle against the denial of dignity, the struggle for the realisation of dignity" (See,https://www.box.com/s/x1f8h6jm8i8n9v1i6gka).The recent convergences around community defense/safety, community justice thinking through community assembly remind us about the complexity of both the shifting strategies around militarized policing and increased police violence but most importantly the political possibilities that emerge from the struggle to claim dignity. We agree with Against Hired Guns that: "While we support shedding light on corrupt police departments, we remember that the very nature of the role of law enforcement in our society can do nothing else but increase violence. We are reminded of this as often as people are harassed, contained, criminalized, or killed by cops" (See, <http://againsthiredguns.wordpress.com/>).

As we think through the complex dimensions of community regeneration and community safety/defense organized through consistent community assemblies, we see the possibility of creative innovations like the one recently shared by the Zapatistas to combat the military efforts of displacement and intimidation. In August of 1999, after continual attempts to push the military forces out, the Zapatistas creatively responded by deploying the Zapatista Aereal Forces (FAZLN). See, <http://youtu.be/BliFqcIgdqs>. Strategically deploying paper airplanes towards the heavily armed and shielded military forces, they not only demonstrate that they are no longer afraid, but also that as a collective subject they understand their contradictory nature and irrelevance. The construction of health centers, centers for learning, community governance, are organized around a process of community safety. Through assemblies and collective decision making they are able to collectively agree and claim their dignity by rejecting the indignities of a military presence (See, <http://cril.mitotedigital.org/zapatismo>)
We are prompted by the EZLN that, "this is the time to sharpen hope". We insist that hope is a crucial theme in the process of community  safety/defense. What, for example, does a social defense process look like in urban spaces? How do we advance practices of community safety/defense already underway in the Bay? Where, like the Zapatistas have shared, can we find our creative capacities to be against and beyond state and capital forces? As we continue to walk together,  learning from each others hope and dignity, we move ahead exploring the different forms of community regeneration and forging new political possibilities.

We will convene the Universidad de la Tierra Califas' Democracy Ateneo,Saturday, March 16, from 2 - 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 address these and other questions in relation to the struggles mentioned above.

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>. For more information on the ateneo more generally, if you would like to access the summaries from previous ateneo across the Bay Area please see <http://ccra.mitotedigital.org/ateneo>.