Julia Butterfly Hill and Daryl Hannah Join the South Central Farmers To Take Back the Farm

***Breaking News***

Julia Butterfly Hill and Daryl Hannah Join the South Central Farmers To Take Back the Farm

Saturday, June 13, 6:00-11:30 p.m. Reunion at the Farm

Update to Press Release

SAVE THE FARM
SAVE THE WORKERS
SAVE THE NEIGHBORHOOD

LOS ANGELES--On Saturday, June 13, Julia Butterfly Hill and Daryl Hannah, both luminaries in the South Central Farm encampment and environmental activists, will join the South Central Farmers and Farm supporters at a reunion and recommitment to the Farm at 41st and Alameda

The women will add their voices to kick off a national "Take Back the Farm" campaign to return the South Central Farm to the residents and Farmers of South Central.

Hill is remembered in Los Angeles for instigating the tree-sit, invigorating the encampment at the South Central Farm, and leading a stream of celebrities to the Farm. Her seat high above the urban oasis was taken by Hannah, who was arrested with 43 others for their participation.

Hill came to international attention in 1997 for a 738-day, world-record tree sit to save ancient California redwoods. Recently, she has joined with green economist Van Jones and celebrated yoga teacher Seane Corn to form the Engage Network, committed to environmental renewal and social change by building an international network of civically engaged community groups.

Hannah is probably most widely known for her work in Splash, Kill Bill, and nearly 60 other films, but she's as well known in environmental circles for her activism, off-grid home, organic garden, and her website, dhlovelife.com, a weekly vlog on sustainable solutions. Hannah noted that, "Everyone seems to be starting to recognize the crucial role urban gardens play in the future of our species and the South Central Farm embodied that ideal model."

The South Central Farm was among the world's largest urban farms until the Los Angeles City government colluded with a local developer to hand the land over to clothing manufacturer and retailer Forever 21 for a megalithic trucking center, and destroyed more than a decade's worth of family labor. Three years ago, Farm supporters from around the world rallied to the Farmers' aid, camping on the land and sitting in a famous Black Walnut tree, until Los Angeles sheriffs and bulldozers arrived to forcibly evict and arrest the Farmers and their supporters.

The evening's activities will include assessing and planning future actions and activities for the Farm. Music, teatro, and films will be interspersed with discussions with the Farmers about the future of the Farmers' Collective, currently bringing tons of fresh, organically grown food to Los Angeles annually, and plans for restoring the original site. Since learning of the proposed distribution center, the South Central Farmers have been organizing a boycott of Forever 21 with community and national groups, which has elicited a counter-campaign from the industrial giant extolling warehouse labor over local food production. The Academy Award® nominated documentary The Garden, about the demolition of the Farm, has told the Farm story to hundreds of thousands of people across the United States.

One day before the reunion, on Friday, June 12, the South Central Farmers will return to City Hall to demand the Los Angeles City Council restore the famous South Central Farm in order to provide healthy food to South Central residents, using $137M collected by the City from development for open spaces and parks, and set aside in the City's Quimby account. South Central Los Angeles is an infamous "food desert," redlined by major grocery chains for poor quality food or no food distribution at all.

The City Planning Department notified the Farmers that developer Ralph Horowitz has been granted an unlimited period to file an Environmental Impact Report for constructing the distribution center on the Farm, after first requiring the EIR no later than June 1, 2009. In June of 2008, the South Central Farmers demanded and won the EIR before Horowitz could begin construction for Forever 21 on the land that is the South Central Farm. Mr. Horowitz has not met that deadline and the land remains vacant, but the City is determined to impose the Forever 21 warehouse on the land and the people, a megalith to the City's conquest of the people and the destruction of the planet. The proposed shipping center would bring 2500 truck trips daily through the neighborhood.

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