A gift of yellow (and blue) in response.

from a friend.

Sunset in the central valley. Yellow.

Photos and video I did not make in Pittsburgh, PA

A Triptych: Yellow

From afar we see blue and an arch of yellow, then beige and arch of yellow, and then beige speckled with light.  

one

an arch of pale yellow steal
punctuated by rivets of the same color stretches into the blue sky.
a bit of skin,
round in the lower left corner

perhaps it is a cheek, or shoulder
the same hue as the steal, warm and smooth
under the sun,
but this time beige, alive, scattered by freckles.

a wisp of hair, dark,
caught and extended out across the frame
into the blue.

two

an arch of a pale yellow insect body
its iridescent wings bi-sect the upper half of the frame.
the hue and tone of it’s small body perfectly match the yellow of the steal in the preceding image

fingertips, rosy where the thumb and forefinger gently meet.
the hand quickly disappears in the shallow depth of field,
lost in a blurry wash of a skin tone and beige concrete.
we are looking down at this hand, the edges of it’s short dirty nails are in focus forming white crescents that gently cradle the pale-yellow winged-body

it’s head is to the right
fine brick red legs extended
large brown eyes
catch sun
and flash green

three

a pale beige concrete walkway
it’s fine sandpaper texture fills the frame.

we are down with it, resting our chin on this human made stone.

a winged insect of the same variety as the preceding image lays on the solid sand,

dead (?) center

pale yellow wings, translucent, almost white
caught by a long shutter speed in a vibrating hum of wind.

behind and slightly to the right is another winged beauty

and another

and another

and another

and another

and

another

and

pale yellow dots
alive (?)

and humming
in the breeze

disappearing in the distance
scattering the sandy stone

A Video: Blue

pale blue
white membrane
dry and cracked
half shell
poised on the tan flesh of a finger tip
held up against the sky

cut

scraping a fragile sharp blue edge
against smooth grey stone

cut

sliding the smooth blue curve against freckles
held up to lips
finger with shell cap in foreground
lips and face behind and burry

cut

the blue and finger are gone

mouth opens and comes into focus
teeth
saliva
tongue

cut

red circle of lips with shell propped between
white underbelly of dry membrane turned outward

cut

sky

cut

red circle of lips
a tiny blue dome protruding
propped between

 cut

shoulder skin coming into focus
a hand
a fingertip with the half blue curve
slides over and rests

cut

round blue dome
little and light
balanced on shoulder skin

cut

closer now
a finger enters and presses down on the shell
releases

cut

skin
freckles
a faint red circular scratch where the blue dome used to be

 cut

moving the shell on fingertip across grey stone

cut

closer now
we can hear the scraping

cut

out of focus blue and grey and flesh
tap tap tap
the finger presses and rises
against and away

the blue dome of the shell comes into focus
tap tap tap

cut
loop back to beginning

Investigations at Indian Point Maine

I’m staying in a house with the Huckins on Indian Point in Maine overlooking the ocean.  There is a a grassy path that crawls down the rocky shore and ends at the beach.

We arrived for Mother’s Day and will stay until this afternoon.

I took a walk yesterday with Andrew’s iphone to take photos.  so great to have a camera in my hands, if only a little one.

when I was studying at GCC Karl Hluska taught a color theory class in which he had us collect things from nature and then work to match their colors with paint.  i remember him reading quotes from yoko ono and passages from theories and documents of contemporary art while we made these paintings.  that excersize has stayed with me.  often when walking i am thinking of color.

These are color notes:

i began to be interested in the iphone’s ability to switch between views of looking out to the world and back at myself. i made these diptychs, finding something i was interested in and then taking another photo of myself looking at the thing, mediated by the screen.  and in a couple of cases i made some little installations/compositions.

A Statement and Letter from Leah Henderson

This was forwarded to me by a friend about a month ago. I am moved by it.  There is such grace and intelligence in her words, all of which resonate with my experience of Occupy.

I just finished reading With the Weatherman, which isn’t very good, but I plowed through it like a trashy romance novel.  I was struck by what a mess the radical scene in the 60s seems through the words of Susan Stern.  The intensity of sexism, hierarchy, disrespect, and drug use that infuses her whole story of The Weatherman make the failure of the sixties appear both logical and unavoidable.  I found myself wondering how peoples’ misgivings about the direction of Occupy and it’s call for a diversity of tactics can’t help but be tied up in this historical context.

We are not the youth of the 60s and 70s, please do not conflate our actions with that of the past.

When at Occupy, particularly in the Direct Action working group, I am surrounded by people like Leah who have a clear and intelligent analysis of the state and systems of oppression; and who frame their analysis and proposals for a new world explicitly within a history of anarchist movements and philosophy.  They know so much more than I, there so much to glean from these experiences.  Occupy’s foundation in anarchistic philosophy is particularly divergent from the ways in which Stern writes about The Weatherman. Stern is explicitly not an anarchist and the Weatherman did not have an anarchistic analysis or mode of operation, yet I wonder how people’s ideas of black blocs and diversity of tactics are entangled with a history of white priviledged kids forming a drugged-up, top-down revolutionary militia in the 60s.

The easy response to this would be to whole heartedly reject anything that might appear to be this, to stay clear of those things that look like what lead to the demise of a potentially revolutionary moment in the 60s and 70s.  I can’t help but think that those who have lashed out so severely in response to black blocs as a tactic in the past weeks are doing just that; they are responding with a fear of failure.  They have also unjustly lashed these actions to the backs of “anarchists” and by doing so they naively conscribe to a history that has served to erase and/or make crazy/violent a discourse which offers more truth and possibility for equity and “peace” than anything I have previously encountered.

That said, reading the With the Weatherman and spending time at OWS has alerted me to how much more I have to learn about this historical context, so that I can be smart in the ways I align myself with the past and look toward the future.  I hope you would do the same, and be open to the reality that change requires a radical shift in the ways that we open to one another.  And a radical shift in the ways that we act.

I’m sending Leah a package this week. You can find her address at the bottom of this post if you would like to do the same.

_______________________________________________________________________

Defiant G20 protester jailed 10 monthsPublished On Tue Dec 20 2011
By Peter Small/Toronto Star

One of the most prominent anti-G20 Toronto anarchists remained defiant Tuesday while being sentenced to 10 months in jail for counselling mischief.

“I stand here guilty of breaking your laws, not the laws of justice,” Leah Henderson, 27, told provincial court Justice Lloyd Budzinsky.

“I submit to your jails because today you hold all the weapons,” she told a Finch Ave. W. courtroom packed with her supporters.

Henderson and her then-boyfriend, Alex Hundert, were arrested in their west Toronto apartment after police stormed in during the early hours of June 26, 2010, the second day of the G20 summit.

She did not participate in protests where some people smashed windows and set fire to police cruisers, but pleaded guilty Nov. 22 to counselling others to commit mischief.

It has not been proved that anyone she advised went on to commit crimes.

“This entire prosecution was borne of the politics of fear ­ fear of our ideas,” said the self-described anarchist.

She told the judge she responded to the G20 as a person of conscience and as part of a community that envisages a “future that is truly free.”

Defence lawyer Brydie Bethell said Henderson, who grew up in Alberta, is committed to social justice and the anarchist ideal of non-hierarchical, locally driven communities.

But Crown prosecutor Jason Miller said Henderson and others used the G20 “to exercise dissent in a criminal and violent fashion,” thus harming the freedom of expression of peaceful demonstrators.

Miller said she has shown a degree of maturity lacking in many fellow accused. “Ms Henderson knew better,” he said.

“It seems apparent to me that Ms Henderson realized at some point that this got away from her.”

During Miller’s comments, some spectators sniggered, drawing a warning from the judge.

The judge said Henderson’s politics and beliefs are not being punished, just her criminal behaviour. “Your approach was to put your beliefs above the safety … of others,” he said.

He accepted a joint sentencing submission from defence and Crown, sending her to jail for 10 months on top of the 24 days she spent in custody before making bail.

Henderson smiled as she was handcuffed to be led away, friends chanting: “Leah, Leah, Leah.”

On Nov. 22, in the middle of a preliminary hearing, she and five others pleaded guilty to counselling mischief.

Erik Lankin, 24; Peter Hopperton, 25; and Adam Lewis, 23, have all been sentenced for their roles.

Amanda Hiscocks, 37, and Hundert, 31, who both pleaded guilty to an additional charge of counselling to obstruct a peace officer, are yet to be sentenced.

___________________________________________________________________

details about the trial and updates on the 17 who were prosecuted can be found at http://conspiretoresist.wordpress.com/

Leah Henderson Statement Read in Court

Below you will find the statement that I read to the court, followed by a letter to my community.

*Statement read in court at sentencing hearing:
*All you need to know about me is that I am a person of conscience, I came to this situation from a place of morality within myself, and I am a member of a community that shares that morality and a powerful vision for a future
that is truly free.

I stand here guilty of breaking your laws, not the laws of justice.

The court has been told, “this prosecution is not political”, and that this has been done to protect society from danger.

The truth is this entire prosecution is born from the politics of fear. Fear of our ideas, fear of what we represent:

Freedom.

A Freedom that your jails will not confine.

I am not here for approval.

I am here because this is what stands for justice on this colonized land.

Though I stand here being judged by you, I am accountable to more, that is beyond these walls.

I am accountable to the indigenous communities whose lands we are on. To the earth who we’re daily assaulting with saws, and chemicals. To the elders in my life and to the generations yet to come.

The laws that govern our societies are not laws of community, or laws of consensus, they are laws of oppression. Laws that underpay and overwork mothers. That deport the poor and those of colour. Laws that rob Indigenous Nations of their traditions, their land, their childhoods. Laws that blame the unemployed and rewards those that get rich on their backs.

I have been deeply and profoundly affected by this process, but have not been changed by it. I have been moved by the incredible support that I have received, far beyond what I could have imagined. It has been made more clear to me through this process that this vision for the future is part of a groundswell.

I want to say thank you to everyone that has supported me, thank you to my friends, my family and my lawyer.

I submit to your jails because today you hold many of the weapons, and many people under your spell. A day is coming when that will not be so.

A day is coming where the distorted mirror that hides the lies of capitalism and colonialism will shatter.

Sometimes a cupcake, is just a cupcake.

*A Letter to my community:
*As most of you probably know by now, I have decided to plead guilty to the charge of counseling to commit mischief. Originally, I along with 20 others was charged with four counts of conspiracy in what was called the G20 main
conspiracy group.

I am writing because the past year and a half of facing these charges and living under bail conditions has meant that I have not been able to talk as openly as I would have liked. My voice has been muzzled by the state, which has served as a powerful reminder of the many voices that are muzzled by the daily colonialism, patriarchy, racism and violence of the world. While the silencing of my voice has an end date, the work to hear the chorus of our grandmothers and the Indigenous Peoples whose land we stand on is ongoing.

I never considered that the people in power would see me, my community and our values as anything other than a threat ­ because we are a threat. We are working to tear this system down and to make space for life-centered systems that make the 1% irrelevant. Those who benefit from the status quo have always tried to crush that.

I want to tell you that I was arrested because I am seen as a threat. I want to tell you that you might be too. I want to tell you that this is something we need to prepare for. I want to tell you that the risk of incarceration alone should not determine our organizing.

My skills and experience ­ as a facilitator, as a trainer, as a legal professional and as someone linking different communities and movements ­ were all targeted in this case, with the state trying to depict me as a “brainwasher” and as a mastermind of mayhem, violence and destruction. During the week of the G8 & G20 summits, the police targeted legal observers, street medics and independent media. It is clear that the skills that make us strong, the alternatives that reduce our reliance on their systems and prefigure a new world, are the very things that they are most
afraid of.

I organize openly as an anti-colonial, anti-capitalist anarchist. My organizing is focused on movement building, and this commitment to build skill sets and support other activists is another part of why the state has targeted me. However, this attempt to deter me has failed, just as it has failed to deter thousands of others similarly facing police brutality and jail. I am strengthened in my resolve to build communities of resistance. We are building the structures of a new kind of society in the midst of the old, and we cannot do that without a commitment to skill-sharing, mutual
aid and collective liberation.

Since the G8 & G20 protests, Toronto (and beyond) has witnessed a wave of repression that has seen the justice system trap people and their communities in its jaws, using all of their time and energy to survive the resource-intensive and soul-sucking legal process. The state hoped that there would be no energy left to fight against them as they cut funding to essential services, ignored self-determination, and further criminalized poor people, migrants and people of colour.

They were wrong.

The awe-inspiring and humbling surprise in all of this is that we have refused to be crushed and, in fact, we have grown in strategy, strength and numbers: in Toronto, I’ve seen the anti-austerity movements grow with campaigns like “Stop the Cuts”; in Grassy Narrows, one day of powerful mobilization forced the government to listen to the community’s demands; globally, there has been a continued, intensified uprising that is showing collective dissatisfaction with the capitalist system and austerity agenda that the G8 & G20 perpetuate.

I took this plea willingly. I consented today to confine myself to a cage, away from the people, work and struggles that I am connected to. I did this for a reason.

As a group of accused, we come to organizing with different access to power. When the 17 of us found ourselves around a table facing a trial, continued disruption of our lives and livelihoods, possible convictions, jail sentences and deportations, it became essential that some of us plead guilty to ensure that the rest walk free.

It was a decision that could not be and was not taken lightly. I was inspired, along with the rest of the 17, by a proud history of political trials, where people have chosen to plead guilty to end the legal process if it resulted in the best possible deal for all involved.

This plea is not a defeat. I am energized. I am hopeful knowing that we have each other’s back and will take care of each other, even if it means that some of us go to jail. I am proud. I hope you are too.

I am incredibly grateful for the people in my life who have been supporting me and who will continue to do so.

To the women who have carried me through this ­ you are my faeries with magick wands and combat boots; you’ve granted me wishes and kicked the crap out of anything I couldn’t handle. Your care and support is revolutionary. May it become less invisible to the world.

To my family ­ every day I am grateful for your unconditional love and support; that I chose you when I came into this world is perhaps the greatest gift I have given to myself.

To my community ­ you have grown and expanded with me since my arrest; this growth is a testament to our strength.

To my sureties ­ you took me out into the world when no one else could; you housed me, sat on absurdly uncomfortable court benches while pregnant and while waiting to see if your own child would be released from custody.

To the assistants, receptionists, lawyers, and legal workers that represented us ­ thank you for your dedication and commitment.

To my friends that stayed in to keep me company, moved me, brought me comfort and, most importantly, helped me to laugh and cry and rage-craft through this ­ I hope that I can give half as much to you as I have received.

To my co-evils (otherwise known as co-accused):

“While I can’t have you, I long for you… I spin worlds where we could be together. I dream you.” – Jeannette Winterson

I’ve missed you, friends. After all this time, my heart still beats as one with yours. But things have changed, we have grown, my heartbeat sounds different ­ I’m sure yours does too. Since we became wrapped up in this together, I have carried you with me everywhere I go. I’m excited to begin new relationships with you that don’t have the state stuck in between us. Thank you for all that you have been through this process: fierce,vulnerable, honest, inspiring, loving, strong, and deeply committed to working collectively, challenging oppression and building communities of resistance.

There is a complex combination of rage and inspiration that this experience has given me that cannot be summed up in one statement, let alone a lifetime of statements, but moving forward, I am energized and filled with hope that we will continue to struggle together in creative, supportive and inspiring ways. I would say see you in the streets, but if you know me, you know that I’m more excited to see you in a meeting.

With love, rage and solidarity,
Leah

Please write to me! If you don’t know what to write, send my a copy of your favourite poem(s), recipes, you really like or short stories.

Leah Henderson
c/o Vanier Centre for Women
655 Martin Street, Box 1040
Milton ON L9T 5E6

Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org <http://www.freedomarchives.org/>
Questions and comments may be sent to claude@freedomarchives.org

Spontaneous Full Body Cleaning of a Swiss Bank

some words about it.

Addressees For the Armed Garden Post

An open letter from a human being.

by Suzahn Ebrahimian on Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 12:43pm

For those who bash anarchists as outside violent agitators who are emotional reactionaries typically personified by privileged white males looking for a movement to destroy:

You are erasing a rich history of activism and resistance that is fundamentally comprised of a multitude of genders/races/classes/abilities.

You are misunderstanding a complex and beautiful theory of self-empowerment and self-determination, liberty, mutual aid, collectivity/community and individualism (and, let me just ask: are these things not worth fighting for?)

You are swallowing the propaganda of the state and ruling classes-which looks only to feed into your fears and use it to squash movements.

You have obviously never read a book on anarchism by anarchists, or cared to have a level discussion with the anarchists among you (yes, we are among you).

You fail to treat your comrades non violently – meaning without assumption and without the presumption that your framework for life and struggle is the best one or the one that is most valid and morally correct.

Chances are you have never sought out a book on Ghandi written by a Dalit (untouchable caste). You probably have no idea who Ambedkar is, and have little to no actual understanding of the revolution in India and how it actually affected Indians (http://www.countercurrents.org/dalit-mountain200306.htm). Your commitment to non violent philosophy is usually backed by the “success” of movements like Ghandian “truth force.” News flash. You are erasing entire histories of struggle by perpetuating your uniformed understanding of Ghandi and that moment in Indian history. Complicate your world view – it’s incredibly enlightening.

Chances are your lack of understanding – turned into active ignorance – will be the thing that makes movements fall. This isn’t about violence/nonviolence. It’s about taking an entire group of people and asserting every political prejudice you have onto them.

My only real identity is ‘human being.’ It is society – our oppressive social universe – that forces me to call myself anarchist. I cannot exist as a human being, I cannot exist freely in the world because I am forced to reckon with the chains wrapped around me at birth. Chains around my body, my art, my thoughts, my labor, my survival.

As an anarchist, I cannot inherently be  ‘violent’ because the only thing I can inherently be is human. No one is ‘inherently’ violent. It is impossible and violent in its own way to essentialize a human being; meaning I am a multitude comprised of dichotomies and contradictions and this is a fundamental part of my humanity. Calling myself an anarchist means nothing. It is a non identity.

I reject your predetermined understanding of humanity as violent and oppressive. I will resist this alienating presumption by any means necessary – I will not allow you to destroy what is left of the beautiful human within me.

Your simplified/uniformed/dehistoricized/uncontextualized arguments are inherently flawed:

you accuse “anarchist!” and you imply a containable something that acts in predictable ways with a certain agenda – the least anarchistic framework you could possibly be trying to shove me into. This shows both your lack of understanding of anarchism AND your lack of respect for the “whole” human being.

Keep trying to put me in a container. I will never fit into it. I am a lover, a fighter, I hurt and I heal, I embrace my humanity, I respect both order and chaos, I am violent, I desperately seek to live peacefully, I am a survivor, I am a victim, I am honest, I am dedicated to my own individuality, I am connected to and only survive because of my collective community, I am unafraid and because of this I am more fearful than ever.  

You are coercing me into a box and then are surprised, hurt, and angered when the only thing I can thing to do is to reject, resist, and break free from it (by destroying it or otherwise).

Talk to me honestly some day. Listen to me without assumption. Until then, enjoy your ignorance.

Love, Rage, and every multitude in the middle,

Suzahn

p.s. fuck off, chris hedges.

Pussy Riot

Occupy Western Mass

seen across from the River Valley Market, Northampton, Mass.

A mockupation for sale

The experience of last night on the set of Law and Order’s recreation of an occupy encampment is still sinking in…

I miss having an occupation.  In all it’s chaos there is such overwhelming beauty and potential.  It opens space unlike anything I have ever experienced before.  I’m still shaken by the experience of stepping into a mock version of it last night in the face of the reality that Liberty Plaza was ripped away from us.  I want this messy open space of possibility more than anything, it is the only thing I have ever felt which feels like it truly leans towards revolution.

When will we fucking wake up and rise to the occasion of true resistance?