[photo] Child with Heirloom seed stock
South-Central Farm 4000 S. Alameda Ave. L.A. - - - - sidewalk vigils nightly 7:00 p.m.
www.southcentralfarmers.com
[photo] Children See Their Food Source DestroyedBy Police Action/Political Inaction June 13, 2006
Tierra y Vida by Quetzalxilotl
Wednesday, Jun. 14, 2006 at 4:07 PM
Listen: She is the basis of life, our Mother, and she is true. Today, sunshine glints from her
leaves as the wind lifts them; the energy is transmuted; she gives birth. Coming home from the
action at the Farm today I noticed the world. It is green, even here, in LA.
It isn’t our anger, or our grief, or even, in the final analysis, our sense of justice that moves
us, that has kept us alive under a system of death for 5 hundred years. It is our knowledge of
beauty.
The seeds, the ancient seeds growing at the Farm were sent to us by our ancestors; they are
precious messages from a distant past, from those ancient ones who still watch over us, and who
are present in this moment and in this place; they have made us who we are. They will remain;
they are messages to our children and great-grandchildren, messages of sunlight and life, the
yellow corn and the white corn, the blue… They grow.
But this. This system of death has no option but to kill, and thus no option but to die. These
men, who as the Hopi Elders tell us, profit at the expense of all life, will come one day to pay
their debt. It will all fall down on them.
Our prophecies, the prophecies of our Elders and antepasados tell us so. Science, the science of
the earth, of living systems, of the atmosphere, of combustion and energy, of structure and chaos,
tell us so. There is not much time.
Some day soon we will all be farmers. Some day soon what the Destroyers have built on the
foundation of destruction will follow itself to its logical and inherent conclusion.
We’ve done the right thing. We’ve defended our Mother and life and balance. We’ve stood together
in an alliance for her survival. We’ve created beauty and community; we are here together. We are
pushing up, from beneath the concrete, from between the cracks of a collapsing system; we are
coming to know one another.
We have and we need only one answer: plant new seed. This was the course of our ancestors, the
path they took to preserve our past and plant anew the beauty that is life; they did so in the
face of genocide, of cultural collapse, and of a destruction so utter, so total, that we can
scarcely imagine it, even in the face of the bulldozers on the Farm.
We have not lost. The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to her. It is a bond that cannot be
severed. The Zapatistas remind us that only forgetting is defeat.
Remembering means life. What we have learned so far at the Farm cannot be forgotten. It has
changed us forever. We are a new people. Not even in death can we forget.
South Central Farm community model for when Peak Oil hits - www.southcentralfarmers.com
Linda Piera-Avila - What a sad day yesterday [June 13, 2006]… It is a sad day when people are
criminalized for growing their own food. 350 low income families will now be without access to
their crops. All the players’ excuses and disclaimers only serve to confirm the disease of our
dominant culture and the idolatry of private property rights to the exclusion of the commons and
human need. I wonder how Horowitz and the mayor and the councilwoman would feel if they could not
get fruits and vegetables. A court case will begin July 12. Let’s hope the truth will be
revealed then and that the farmers will be able to return to their plots.
What I saw yesterday looked more like a third world country with peasants being thrown off the
land for a corporation’s interests, rather than a scene from the US. We truly live in a fascist
government, esp. if one is a person of color or poor or both. The random destruction of the
plots also reminded me of the time when white buffalo hunters would kill the animals for their
tongues and hides and leave the carcasses to rot on the plains. No respect for life or the planet.
No heart. No soul. My heart is heavy this morning as I reflect on what has been lost and the
foolishness of the City of L.A. in not nuturing this gem, this oasis in the midst of urban grit
and greed.
In many ways, I think the community at the Farm was a model of what could be, and what might be
when peak oil hits and what should be, so that resources are avaiable to all and no one has to
starve. It was a spontaneous, organic, joyful, simple, peaceful group of very different folks who
came together for this cause along with the farmers. It was like being in a Mexican village. The
farmers kept us fed with good vegan food, a lot of which was from the farm. Often you could hear
someone playing music. We had a healing center where bodyworkers volunteered and where people
could get first aid or counseling or a nap. We had an art center where people could make banners,
posters, or whatever was needed for the daily press conferences and evening vigils. As you’ve
learned in your odysseys, we really don’t need all the stuff we’re told we need.
We had a media table, set up outside with internet and fax and powered by solar panels from Taran
Smith’s veggie van (he was the youngest son on “Home Improvement”). The farm organizers and tree
sitters had daily conferences in the peach orchard to plan strategy. We had nightly vigils,
attended by leaders from across religious backgrounds to these lead nightly inspirational moments,
followed by the Aztec blessing and then a candlelight procession around the perimeter of the Farm.
We had young people arranging security: anarchists, zapatistas, and others. All very respectful
of others. I was doing ground support for the tree sitters and trying to monitor Julia during her
prolonged fast (26 days). A heavy responsibility.
I was not at the Farm when the heavy hammer came down, but arrived shortly afterward. In time to
see hundreds of armed law enforcement types do their militaristic maneuvers. At one point they
were pointing tear gas guns in the direction of the crowd in which I was a part. They would not
let legal observers in to see what was happening to the arrestees. They would not let us give them
water. They did not give the warning period before commencing arrests inside the Farm as
negotiated by the legal observers and as the Sherrif is required to do by law. (No-Knock entry on
service of a warrant upheld, a serious degradation of existing federal criminal law, by the US
Sup.Ct. June 26, 2006).
They started cutting the walnut tree with John (Quigley) and Daryl (Hannah) still in the upper
limbs. (Daryl will be on Larry King tonight.) They sent bulldozers in not only to clear a path to
the tree, but also to wantonly and spitefully destroy random plots.
South Central Farm community model for when Peak Oil
hits -
www.southcentralfarmers.com
Linda Piera-Avila - What a sad day yesterday [June 13, 2006] It is a sad day
when people are criminalized for growing their own food. 350 low income families will now be without
access to their crops. All the players excuses and disclaimers only serve to
confirm the disease of our dominant culture and the idolatry of private
property rights to the exclusion of the commons and human need. I wonder how
Horowitz and the mayor and the councilwoman would feel if they could not get
fruits and vegetables. A court case
will begin July 12. Lets hope the truth will be revealed then and that the
farmers will be able to return to their plots.
What
I saw yesterday looked more like a third world country with peasants being
thrown off the land for a corporations interests, rather than a scene from the
US. We truly live in a fascist
government, esp. if one is a person of color or poor or both. The random destruction of the plots also
reminded me of the time when white buffalo hunters would kill the animals for
their tongues and hides and leave the carcasses to rot on the plains. No
respect for life or the planet. No heart. No soul. My heart is heavy this morning as I reflect on what has been lost
and the foolishness of the City of L.A. in not nuturing this gem, this oasis in
the midst of urban grit and greed.
In many ways, I
think the community at the Farm was a model of what could be, and what might be
when peak oil hits and what should be, so that resources are avaiable to all
and no one has to starve. It was a
spontaneous, organic, joyful, simple, peaceful group of very different folks
who came together for this cause along with the farmers. It was like being in a
Mexican village. The farmers kept us fed with good vegan food, a lot of which
was from the farm. Often you could hear someone playing music. We had a healing
center where bodyworkers volunteered and where people could get first aid or counseling
or a nap. We had an art center where people could make banners, posters, or
whatever was needed for the daily press conferences and evening vigils. As youve learned in your odysseys, we
really dont need all the stuff were told we need.
We
had a media table, set up outside with internet and fax and powered by solar
panels from Taran Smiths veggie van (he was the youngest son on Home
Improvement). The farm organizers and tree sitters had daily conferences in
the peach orchard to plan strategy. We had nightly vigils, attended by leaders from across religious
backgrounds to these lead nightly inspirational moments, followed by the Aztec
blessing and then a candlelight procession around the perimeter of the
Farm. We had young people arranging security:
anarchists, zapatistas, and others. All very respectful of others. I was doing
ground support for the tree sitters and trying to monitor Julia during her
prolonged fast (26 days). A heavy responsibility.
I was not at the
Farm when the heavy hammer came down, but arrived shortly afterward. In time to
see hundreds of armed law enforcement types do their militaristic
maneuvers. At one point they were
pointing tear gas guns in the direction of the crowd in which I was a part.
They would not let legal observers in to see what was happening to the
arrestees. They would not let us give them water. They did not give the warning
period before commencing arrests inside the Farm as negotiated by the legal
observers and as the Sherrif is required to do by law. (No-Knock entry on service of a warrant
upheld, a serious degradation of existing federal criminal law, by the US
Sup.Ct. June 26, 2006).
They started
cutting the walnut tree with John (Quigley) and Daryl (Hannah) still in the
upper limbs. (Daryl will be on Larry King tonight.) They sent bulldozers in not
only to clear a path to the tree, but also to wantonly and spitefully destroy
random plots.
Child
with Heirloom seed stock