Help Send Tsega’s Body Back to Ethiopia

Donate Here:  http://www.gofundme.com/RIP-Tsega

On July 31, our friend and comrade Tsega Tsegay was beaten to death by her husband. Tsega was a constant and unforgettable presence at the Occupy Oakland encampment – an unceasingly loving person, always laughing, smiling and dancing. She never missed an opportunity to tell someone she loved them, or to get up and dance on stage during GA. We are furious at the way she was taken from us, and heartbroken that she is no longer in our lives.

Her sister is currently trying to raise money to send her body back to Ethiopia, where their parents are living. Let’s help return the love Tsega gave us, and support them in their time of need.

Rest in Power, Tsega. You will always be in our hearts. May your memory give us strength as we continue the struggle you set out on to change this crazy, messed up world.

To Fallen Comrades

 

On Tuesday July 31st, two of our comrades were violently murdered, Tsega Tsegay and Alex Mahan.

On Tuesday night, Tsega was beaten to death by her husband. We remember Tsega as such a loving person, she was vibrant, enthusiastic, a constant and unforgettable presence in our camp at OG Plaza. When things were hard at the camp, Tsega would still be running up on the stage and dancing singing and laughing, and telling everyone she loved them. She called Occupy her Family and we will never forget her. Our bitterness, sorrow, grief, and rage run strong, we know Tsega’s murder is part of the way our society works – through terrorizing and murdering women everywhere. Tsega was not just the victim of a bad man, she was the victim of a violent, patriarchal society that destroys the lives of women, transpeople, queers, people of color, the poor, and everyone else who is not rich, white and a (cis) man. We call this system of gender violence ‘patriarchy’, but it doesn’t matter what you call it, what matters is if you are willling to get up every day and fight it.

Alex Mahan, a Stockton comrade, was killed in a driveby shooting the same evening. Everyone remembers Alex as very kind, energetic, and totally committed to the struggle we have all been building together. He never missed an opportunity to fight for the world he believed in. We all remember him coming up with the Stockton crew, to join us in Oakland, often with his Anonymous Mask. He and his comrades planned on how to bring the struggle to Stockton, which they did! He was an unwaivering comrade and friend and will be painfully missed. Like Tsega, Alex’s murder was not just the result of a few bad people. It was the result of a society structured on violence, a society where brown and black young men are murdered every day with no notice from society at large. It was the result of a violent economic system which forces whole communities in deprivation, with no options but to fight each other, and a violent political system that leaves us in constant fear of incarceration or death at the hands of the police and the state. These structural forms of violence are the foundation of the violence we experience every day, the violence that took Alex from us.

May the memories of our fallen comrades be fuel for our fire – fuel that helps us burn down this disgusting system that’s taken you from us and build a better one, together. You committed yourselves to this struggle and we will continue with you in our hearts always.

For 2-up flyer click here: Steadfast Comrades

OFFENSIVE FEMINIST BENEFIT/ STRAPPED DISTRO DANCE PARTY!

Phoolan Devi- revolutionary/ badass bandit of India who got revenge on a slew of men who assaulted her by killing them.

Offensive feminist is a weekly self defense/ strength training class for women, queer and trans people here in Oakland, CA that is free/ donation based. Help us keep it that way by coming to this event and having a gooood time.
For more information on Offensive Feminist visit the event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/231820500271307/

In conjunction with STRAPPED, this is a sure fire amazing event that you should totally come out to. Work hard and play hard for militant feminism.
What you can expect is:
– Dope DJ’s
-Dancing all night
-fun raucous games
-a certain comrades golden birthday
– Spin the bottle
-performances
– distro of the STRAPPED PEPPER SPRAY AND STUN GUNS FROM THE LAST STRAPPED EVENT!

come dressed as your favorite revolutionary and win a prize

NEW FREE SELF DEFENSE CLASS: OFFENSIVE FEMINIST

a weekly self defense and strength training class for trans people, queers and women.

It’s been a long time coming, but finally we put together a time, a place, and a group of people for a weekly class in which we can develop an offensive feminist position.

The point of this class is to learn how to fight; why we would need to do this is obvious: the queer bashers, the rapists, the cat callers, the stalker boyfriends, the transphobes, the police, and ultimately this whole society that claims we are physically weaker, and less capable of protecting ourselves and one another than the designated patriarchs. The grim reality of this systematic infantalization stares us in the face—we are murdered, raped and attacked on an astronomical level making it clear that the patriarchal “protectors” are not that at all. In the private realm of violation and abuse, we know that they are often times the same people we are supposedly being “protected” from: our enemies. In this society both public and private violence is erased from virtually any form of conversation and really any acknowledgement at all no matter how completely blatant it may be. The token state and non-profit intervention is simply for appearances sake- we are the only ones who can defend ourselves and one another.

We know that carrying pepper spray isn’t enough if we don’t know how to use it, we know that a 1 day workshop on how to fight off of an attacker cannot be wrought into the memory of all who take it without continued practice of those defensive methods.

So, we invite you to come to our self defense classes- work out- build up your muscles, learn how to fight and ultimately build an offensive feminism with a group of people who you will hopefully come to learn from and trust.

METHOD

running

strength training

stretching

punching, blocking, kicking with gloves, bags, etc.

collective scenarios of confrontation

practicing agressive verbal confrontation, and/or deescalation.

eventually…sparring. sparring will only be done with gloves and other protective gear, after attending the training a certain number of times. anyone interested in sparring must bring the person they would like to spar with (ideally someone you have affinity with), who also will need to attend a certain number of trainings.

IDEAS ON COLLECTIVE FORMAT

if you are a member of the collective, you will bottom-line trainings and classes for a month.

you will be respectful of everyone who attends the sessions, and structure the space in an anti-authoritarian format.

you will offer encouragement, and strive to make the space as accessible and safe as possible.

you will ask permission before you touch anyone

– who: women, queer, trans

POINTS OF UNITY

– zero tolerance for racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, ableism

– we will respect everyone who shows up to the space with good intentions

– we understand and respect that everyone has different skill sets and strengths

– we intentionally do not operate with the format of instructor and student, in order to foster self-awareness and self-discipline. we are all teachers, we are all students

– we remember that we are all here to fight a common oppression and while competition is somewhat inevitable that is not the focus of this group.Comraderie and collective self defense is far more pressing then any one individuals desire to seem better then others.

The Dojo it’s self has quite a bit of equipment. It is a very large space that we feel can accommodate quite a few folks.
That being said, some wheelchairs can get through the front door though there is construction going on outside. The bathroom is not ADA compliant and is hard for people in chairs to get into.

Things to Bring:
running shoes,
sun screen, hat,
5 dollars for donation if you can,
work out clothes,
snacks,
a water bottle
whatever else you feel you will need.

This event is donation based i.e free, but it does cost approximately 50 dollars each use. Whatever participants can donate will be greatly appreciated,but please don’t feel pressured to shell out money you need!

We hope to see you at this exciting event and bring a friend if you want!

Angry Queers Drop Banner at Pride

Once again, the corporate nonsense that San Francisco calls “Gay Pride” has come and gone. Once again the assimilation project attempted to sedate the masses of queers into believing that through their common love of gay cops, of “queer” themed floats sponsored by banks and all the absurdly rainbow themed merchandise that they have some sort of community.

And once again some angry queer kids would have nothing to do with that and wanted to make some noise- or an appearence rather. They dropped two banners that said “Capitalism is Fucking the Queer out of US” and “Assimilation = Death” from a building in the heart of downtown while the massive parade glided by. The group was briefly detained by the police but no one got arrested, haha. When everyone came down the cops, shocked, asked ” Why are there so many Women?” Fucking idiots. Later the angry queers shouted “were here were queer fuck the police” and “cops bash queers” at the SFPD as their gay cop brigade marched by.

They also distributed the fallowing text:
_______________________________________

We walk down the streets of San Francisco past the rainbow saturated businesses with that flag that supposedly represents us flying high. We are on our way to see a trick, our friends on their way to pick up hormones, on their way to stay at a “trans and lgbtq youth friendly” shelter. We are told that here, things are different and in our bones we certainly know that they can be- but only if you have money.

Soap shops with rainbows, bars with “gay” themed drinks, clothes shops with “local” queer designed 70 dollars tee shirts.

Upper class “lgbt” culture. There are billboards with drinks alluding to the type of sex we might have, there is so much industry surrounding “being queer” it’s hard to keep up with what market has been penetrated last.
Apparently, this is mecca. How empty it is.

Capitalization of queer culture is in the wake of the anxieties of rich queers to assimilate into straight, bourgeois society. The only celebrated culture of queer then, is that of the capitalist queer.
Once a position goes to market and is adapted as a marketable social phenomenon , it automatically loses all of its teeth and is no longer a threat.

This is what happens when rich queers continue to assimilate- believing that if they too can marry, have a business and express romance in public that then they will be “free” of the subjugation of straight society- by becoming just like them.

Assimilation is queers and all other members of the not-straight society- attempting to emulate heteronormative relationship structures which are vital to the reproduction of capitalist society. Assimilation is death as all of capital is a total dispossession of all that harbors something like living.

As we find refuge in our small networks of solidarity it is in spite of the agonizing alienation we feel on a daily basis in this society. The extent of our existent within this world as queers has nothing to do with the marketability of our lifestyles and sex lives but is due to our exploitation. We hear of another friend beat up, murdered, things we hear from our queer community that reaches our ears through the grape vine that consists of panic and crawling skin.

We are constantly forced to submit to the whims of whoever

we can get resources from- whether it be a sugar daddy, non-profits, the bourgeoisie who open their hearts to us for a moment- we have learned how to hold our tongues, we have examined the ways that we are spoken to like insolent fuck ups by older, richer queers who, even with their stares seem to be saying “ Don’t you know 6hings get better- so get with the fucking program kid.”

There are campaigns totally devoted to saving us- well-meaning college queers helping “homeless queer youth” get back on the right path. There is so much sympathy, pity and disdainful romanticization to go around it has become a market. This is our exposure- as the problems of the queer community or as the privately exploited. Beyond that we are petty annoyances or otherwise invisible. Aren’t we happy that we have so much exposure now?

Capitalist queers don’t see that in life under capital things cannot be better for some of us and never will be. Clearly there is a divide between the queers who have and the queers who have not.
To us they are not even queer- they too are our enemies.
What we are calling for is the total destruction of straight culture- the culture of capital and all the bourgeoisie queers who lap it up so pathetically.

We don’t want the dancing, the fucking, the partying to stop- lord knows we love a good dance party- but we want the dancing and partying and fucking and loving and bonding to be a top the grave of straight society, of the society that silences us.

What is destructive to straight society- we know can never be commodified and purged of rebellion. So we maintain our stance- as fierce fags, queers, dykes and trans girls and bois and gender queers and all the combination and in be tweens and those that negate it all at the same time.
We bid our time, striking here and there and fantasize of a world where all of the exploited of the world can come together and attack. We want to find you, comrade, if this too is what you want.

For the total destruction of Capital,
bad bitches who will fuck your shit up.

LIVELY PROTEST IN OAKLAND AGAINST PIG CONFERENCE

Today several dozen demonstrators protested and attempted to shut down an anti-prostitution conference organized by the Oakland Police Department and District Attorneys Office in conjunction with several nonprofit organizations.  Protesters wearing brightly colored face coverings rallied in from of the conference, which described itself as a conference “against child trafficking” but in reality was a conference to develop strategies and increase funding for the policing and repression of sex workers.

Demonstrators, including many sex workers, gave speeches against the police, as well as the broader economic and political systems that forces people to exploit themselves and each other.  Many pointed out that the police not only repress sex workers by arresting and imprisoning them, but create the conditions that allow prostitution and human trafficking to exist by upholding an unequal economic systems like capitalism, which force people to exploit each other, sexually and otherwise.  Many also pointed out that for over a decade the specter of “child trafficking” has been used as an excuse to crack down on sex workers, resulting in the increased repression, exploitation, incarceration and deportation of sex workers, especially poor women of color.  The speeches ended with a call for sex workers to build networks of solidarity and resistance that will allow them to defend themselves and each other and to resist the systems of exploitation that create and perpetuate prostitution and human trafficking.

After about 20 minutes of speeches, protesters rushed the doors of the conference, where they were met by a line of security guards who forced them out of the building.  The group then proceeded to march to Oscar Grant Plaza (Frank Ogawa Plaza), where they dispersed.

Several participants mentioned that the real purpose of the conference was to further criminalize and incarcerate sex workers through the advancement of the Californians Against Sexual Exploitation Ballot Initiative, coming up in November, which will increase funding for the policing of sex workers while doing little to address the root causes of sexual exploitation. “Increased funding for police will not help solve the problem of human trafficking, especially when the police the prison industrial complex are profiting off the incarceration of sex workers,” said Adelaide Norris, a participant in the demonstration.  “If we want to end human trafficking we must first dismantle our economic system, which forces people to exploit themselves and each other.”

SUPPORT FOR MELVIN

Our dear friend and comrade, Occupy Oakland’s  beloved Melivn from the TAC Team,  got arrested today, Wednesday June 13th at an Occupy Patriarchy action against the H.E.A.T pig conference. . His bail has been set at a ridiculous $110,000. Please help us by donating, coming to court, and spreading the word. We have to fight this racist bullshit!

https://www.wepay.com/donations/free-melvin

Arraignment to attend en masse:

Friday 2pm Dept. 12, Wiley Emmanuel, Oakland

 

Information

Our friend and comrade Melvin was arressted this afternoon at a demonstration against the HEAT conference. The OPD continues their daily criminalization of the black youth of Oakland through targeted arrests at political demonstrations.

Solidarity with Melvin! Please donate as little or as much as you can and we can get our comrades out of the hands of the pigs!

The HEAT Conference is a meeting between cops, city officials, and representatives of various NGOs to develop policing strategies for the sex work industry. This is the latest development in an ongoing crackdown on sex workers that operates with a rhetoric about “human trafficking” that obscures the true motivations and results of this campaign, an intensification of policing, imprisonment, harassment, and control of sex workers.

*If there is anything left over it will be donated to the Anti Repression fund.

Occupy Patriarchy disrupts Law Enforcement’s “Anti-Sex-Trafficking” Conference

The H.E.A.T. Conference is Just Another Excuse to Police Us!

 

The H.E.A.T conference organizers claim that their intention is to combat the sex trafficking of children and find “solutions” to “respond” to children coerced into sex work, in order to “Stop Human Exploitation and Trafficking.”  We are here to expose the blatant LIE in this claim. The official, police-sanctioned campaign to combat the commercial sex trafficking of children is nothing more than a patronizing, patriarchal guise that is being used to support intensified repression of sex workers and the further empowerment of police agencies at their expense.  This conference is actually a launching pad for measures that will increase policing, such as national coordination of police surveillance and the introduction of ballot initiatives to further criminalize prostitution in California.  This is yet another instance of police and the criminal justice system colluding for increased policing in places where sex work takes place, using the false pretense of “concern” for the most exploited people in society as a cover.

Ultimately, no form of work is truly consensual given the conditions of work under Capitalism. We all have to sell our labor to survive. But the conditions of sale are not equal for all of us. For some people, sex work is just a better choice, given the poverty of viable alternatives. It is only thanks to the power of religious institutions and their policing of morality that the spotlight gets shone onto those of us who labor physically in the bedroom.  We reject any moral policing of our bodies.

Clearly, human trafficking is a heinous practice, but the perpetual focus on sex is uncritically sensationalist, and its shock value is exploited by anti-sex-trafficking groups present at the HEAT conference in pursuit of their own moralizing, often religious, agendas. Forced labour and human trafficking is a problem not only in the sex industry, but in all forms of work. Many people are forced to migrate, to labour clandestinely, or to engage in forms of labour they might otherwise never agree to. Often this means performing dangerous or damaging physical labor. The problem of human trafficking includes people who work in construction, hospitality, or agriculture, who also find themselves at the mercy of rings of exploitation; but the organizers of the HEAT conference are silent about these forms of forced labour.

“When the vice squad does stings, the facade that they come in like white knights, capture the pimps and free the prostitutes is a cynical far cry from the truth, including with minors. Often times when the police do stings they will first engage in sexual activity with the workers to bait them in for the arrest. This shit is common knowledge between sex workers and is some of the grounds for hatred in the industry between sex workers and the police. The police, when a sex worker has faced violence by a pimp or john and files a report is often times told that their file will not be accepted.That they have the power to use and move our bodies in any way they please is the source of this patriarchal dynamic.”

–  anonymous sex worker

No doubt many participants in H.E.A.T have positive intentions, but this conference is about arrests, convictions, imprisonment, and deportation– in short, it is about refining the state’s techniques of repression, not healing victims of trafficking or empowering sex workers. H.E.A.T. will only lead to greater policing of communities; it will do little to address the conditions that cause people to engage in exploitative sex work, such as poverty, lack of access to education, no hope of a future outside of the black market, or the lack of public assistance. It will, in fact, cause harm to the very populations it targets.  Some nonprofit organizations represented at H.E.A.T. provide valuable resources that are otherwise unavailable to support sex workers, such as queer friendly healthcare, but by participating in conferences aimed at collaboration with policing efforts, nonprofits become collaborators with the violent arm of the state that robs government social programs of resources and funds that instead get funneled into already over-inflated police departments and DA offices, and which feeds the metastasizing cancer of the prison-industrial complex. In this way, nonprofits end up alienating the very populations they are supposed to serve. Policing of sex work is, in itself, an act of class, race, and gender oppression.

Who’s Who in the H.E.A.T. Conference

61 official speakers are law enforcement agents, DA workers, or politicians with anti sex-worker reputations.  39 speakers are individuals or representatives of non-profits. The vast majority of these work directly with law enforcement or politicians to criminalize sex workers.  Where is the voice of the sex workers?

– Linda Smith- anti-abortionist, anti-sex politician whose political history includes sponsoring a bill to illegalize sex between minors

– SAGE, which has opposed measures for sex workers’ decriminalization , and profits from sex-work-related arrests through running their “Johns Schools”

– Nancy O’Malley– Alameda County District Attorney

– Daphne Phung- Executive director of Californians against Slavery, the main proponents of an upcoming ballot measure (“CASE Act”) which criminalizes providing support to sex workers in the name of preventing sex trafficking.

SHUT DOWN THE PIG CONFERENCE, June 13th 1pm, Oakland Marriot (11th and Broadway

SOLIDARITY WITH SEX WORKERS

MEANS PUTTING THE HEAT ON THE H.E.A.T. CONFERENCE

This is What Patriarchy Looks Like:

The H.EAT. conference is a conference of pigs and their nonprofit lackeys to increase the harassment, imprisonment, marginalization and criminalization of sex workers.  Fronting as a conference against “child trafficking,” this conference brings pigs and nonprofits together to develop policing strategies that line their pockets while leaving sex workers exploited and disempowered.  Pigs and nonprofits  hide behind lies about “safety” and “protection” while they profit off the incarceration and “reformation” of sex workers.  These pigs and nonprofits neurotically plug their ears to the fact they themselves are exactly the reason sex work can exist.  Sex work, like all forms of work, can only exist within a society based on hierarchical economic systems like capitalism, which are protected by the police and patronizing reformist organizations that keep exploited people from revolting.  The pigs are the enemies of sex workers, and of all workers.

Let’s shut this fucker down!!!!!

Converge Wed. 6/13 at 1 PM at Oakland’s

downtown Marriott Convention Center

at Broadway and 11th.

Wear a bright colored face covering in solidarity

 

STRAPPED! This Wednesday @ Radio