Radical Freeschool Radio Show

Freeschool and www.PeaceCommunities.org Twitter Updates

2009-03-04T22:13:08Z

Welcome! If you are looking for new broadcasts of Freeschool podcasts and online radio broadcasts from a freeschool volunteer please click here. If you are looking for the archive of the Radical Freeschool Radio Shows please click here.

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“…a political struggle that does not have women at the heart of it, above it, below it and within it is no struggle at all.”

-Arundhati Roy, Quoted from her speech: ‘2004 Sydney Peace Prize Lecture’ (The entire speech is available online, search for the title)

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If you are looking for the Peace Communities Social Networking Website and Online Community with Member Profiles, Discussion Forum, Event Listings, Photos and Slideshows, Custom Video Players, Real-time Activity Stream, Feminist Discussion Forums and much more please click here and click on ‘online community’: http://www.peacecommunities.org

Please also checkout our Freeschool Twitter Updates (You need Flash to see the below updates. If you are not able to see anything below, please click here)

follow the Freeschool on Twitter Love, Peace and Joy,

-The Freeschool Community Collective

To learn more about the Freeschool Community please visit: http://www.freeschoolunity.org
The Freeschool Community is a member of the PeaceCommunities Progressive Coalition.
http://www.PeaceCommunities.org

A PhotoJourney of Pain: Our World of Dreams Does Not Include Police Carrying Guns

2009-02-09T13:09:18Z

A PhotoJourney of Pain: Our World of Dreams Does Not Include Police Carrying Guns

Important: if you do not see the photos here please visit here: http://savethepoorbrownchildren.blogspot.com/2009/02/photojourney-of-pain-our-world-of.html

Or this title: Time to feel the Momentum of the Movement: We Must Unite to Stop Police From Carrying Guns

or The Breeze of Revolution... No More Cops With Guns

An Open Letter to the World Regarding the Worldwide Police Killings of Unarmed People

To print out the 10 page PDF version of this article please click here.

By T. Love

This article was posted for educational reasons courtesy of the Peace Communities Solidarity Blog found at www.SaveThePoorBrownChildren.or g or http://www.SaveThePoorBrownChildren.blogspot.com - and it is a public group blog with an emphasis on feminism, women's empowerment, financially disadvantaged children, marginalized people's voices and direct action worldwide. The Peace Communities Solidarity Blog is the Media Outreach Blog of the Peace Communities Online Community < www.PeaceCommunities.org > a not-for-profit project started by the Mutualist project, created at Z Media Institute (founders of Z Magazine). T. Love is a Black Feminist activist and writer whose social justice writings have been featured in Street Roots, featured on Womanist-Musings, featured in the current issue of Natural Learning and featured in the current issue of Slingshot and many more radical activist publications, websites and journals worldwide. T. Love's personal profile page and personal blog on the Peace Communities is found by clicking here.
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As I wrote this letter, I had difficulty breathing, I cried, and then I wiped my eyes and I pulled my self together to try to sound coherent, to write clearly and civilized... civilized.. so surreal... about the police officers shooting and killing Oscar Grant, a completely unarmed, handcuffed Black man who was down on the ground while other police officers held him down...and the entire event was captured on not one, but several different videos that i just saw, so there is no mistake of the events. At least two of the videos are now here:
http://aworldbeyondcapitalism.org/onlinevideo.htm or here
http://www.peacecommunities.org/onlinevideo.htm

These were Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Police but they still has guns and were every bit as lethal. Was this an isolated incident? No, because just a few hours before Oscar Grant was killed in California, another unarmed African-American, Bobby Tolan, was gunned down by police in Texas.

I feel the momentum, like a breeze of revolution, of people all over the world who are tired of police carrying guns! It is a breeze that cannot and should not be ignored. There is a storm coming. All over the world people are taking action as a result of Police killing unarmed people. In Greece there were riots for weeks, in Oakland the people took to the streets for many days and even here in Olympia, the heavily policed capital of Washington state, activists have dared to take to the street.

In January 2009 in Olympia, about 45 people came together and wanted to show solidarity with the actions with Greece and Oakland. At first, the torch lit march against the police killings was silent and full of quiet emotion and anger about the increase in killings; then after walking around downtown Olympia some folks joined in and began playing the banjo, singing action orientated songs and Woody Guthrie songs. Several people pulled out road flares, held them up and then threw them onto the street and flipped over dumpsters to block police cars that began tailing them. Some held signs that said "Fight Back", "Fire All Cops" and much more. Some of the marchers screamed "Beneath the Concrete Lies the World of Our Dreams" and "Destroy Misery" and instead of fading off into nothingness as many marches often do, after looping around the downtown Olympia area, picking up more people, the march then headed towards the police station on the Westside of Olympia! The police quickly dispersed them with 3 people arrested and over 9 people detained. These are actions people are taking to let the world know: people are fed up with police carrying guns.

It does not take great skill and resources to show your opposition to police carrying guns. Much like most of you reading this, I am of few resources as I am a severely disabled, financially disadvantaged, Black feminist living on the West coast who happily writes with lots of typos and a blatant disregard for the grammatical rules of the Colonized English language. I watched the video of several different angles available online and what I saw was far more chilling than watching Rodney King being beat by Police Officers, in which Rodney King was fortunate to live through his hellish ordeal.

Kendra James

I considered Rodney King "lucky", because I used to live in Portland, Oregon, where three completely unarmed African-Americans were actually killed... by Portland Police within 25 months; Byron Hammick in 2002, Kendra James in May 2003 and James Jahar Perez shortly afterwards. James Philip Chasse, Jr. was not African-American, but was a mentally challenged unarmed person who was literally beaten (not shot) to death and killed by Portland Police officers in September 2006.

Many of you will never know what it feels like to be a disabled, financially disadvantaged, African-American person and walk the streets of a city knowing at any time you might be the next unarmed African-American male to be killed by Police. It's like the Black man's lottery that none of us wants to win. The only way that we, people from all backgrounds win in this crisis is join together to solve this crisis that divides us and speak out together.

Long ago, I researched every aspect of the 1999 Amadou Bailo Diallo killing, in which an unarmed Black man was killed in a barrage of 41 bullets fired by Police officers while he stood on the doorstep to his own home, and yet I still can't makes sense of it and I still can only remember. But I told myself it couldn't get worse than that. After all, the police said it looked like Diallo drew a gun, but it turned out he pulled out his wallet to show them the Photo ID because they requested to see it even as their guns were drawn. Whenever police harass me with racial profiling and ask me for ID, I move slowly, carefully and remember Diallo. Learn more here:
http://www.dsame.com/remember.pdf ]

3000 mourners at Patrick Dorismonds Funeral

And then, less than a year later, came the murder of Patrick Moses Dorismond in March 2000, an unarmed man, also killed by Police in New York. Over three thousand mourners showed up for his funeral. And then on November 27th, 2006 Sean Bell, an unarmed New Yorker was killed just hours before his wedding. I thought to myself, surely it couldn't get worse that...it'll get better. The police said they thought a fellow police office yelled 'Gun' but it was just a mistake.

But it is not just an American issue of social class of our failed system. On Saturday December 6th at around 10 pm, two Greek policemen engaged in a verbal argument with a small group of teenagers in the center of Athens. During the argument, one of the cops pulled his gun and shot 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos (Greek: Αλέξανδρος - Ανδρέας Γρηγορόπουλος). Riots broke out across Greece and the world from the event. The police always cite mistakes being made.

15 year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos (Greek: Αλέξανδρος - Ανδρέας Γρηγορόπουλος) seen on a sign held up by a man in a protest.

Robbie Tolan

Bobby Tolan was a reserve outfielder during his years with the Cardinals, with whom he won a World Series title in 1967... and batted second behind Pete Rose in the Reds lineup. Bobby Tolan is married to Marian Trahan and they have a son Robert (Robbie) Tolan who plays professional baseball in the Washington Nationals organization. On December 31, 2008, Robbie was shot by a Bellaire, Texas policeman. Robbie Tolan was unarmed and driving his own vehicle. The bullet lodged in (Robbie) Tolan's liver; the injury may have ended his professional baseball career. An investigation into the shooting is on-going." I researched further and learned that according to Robbie Tolan's family members, Robbie Tolan and his cousin were returning to Tolan's home in the primarily white Houston suburb of Bellaire in the early hours of December 31, when they were approached by officers who
suspected the SUV they had just gotten out of was stolen. Tolan's parents, the owners of the SUV, came out of the house to explain everything to the police. An altercation occurred and Robbie's mother was slammed against the garage door by an officer. According to Tolan's uncle, "Her son was on his back at the time, and he raised up and asked, 'What are you doing to my mom?' and the officer shot him -- while he was on the ground." Tolan's uncle, Eddie Tolan, was a sprinter who won two Gold Medals in the 1932 Summer Olympics..

In October 1995. Jonny Gammage, a 31 year old African-American was driving in the mostly-white Pittsburgh suburbs of Brentwood, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The car that Gammage was driving, a Jaguar, belonged to National Football League (NFL) player Ray Seals, Gammage's cousin. After a routine traffic stop Sgt. Keith Henderson and Patterson asphyxiated Gammage, who was completely unarmed during the entire incident, while he begged for his life. Court reports state his last words were: "Keith, Keith, I'm only 31." Officer John Vojtas, one of the police involved in the traffic stop, was found not guilty by a jury with no minority members. He was permitted to return to work as a police officer in the Brentwood department and received a promotion.

In May 1997, Shiloe Johnson was walking his bicycle across a bridge late at night. He was unarmed and wearing a Walkman and could not hear what was going on around him. A police offer approached his friend and started yelling. The cop then jumped Shiloe from behind and several seconds later the cop shot Shiloe point blank in the head. The cop had been dismissed from the LAPD for brutality. At last record, he is still employed as an officer in Napa, CA.

Abner Louima

And then in August 1997 Abner Louima, a male, unarmed immigrant, was assaulted, brutalized and forcibly sodomized with a broken broomstick by a number of New York City police in a bathroom at the 70th Precinct police station house in Brooklyn. They did all this while Louima's hands were cuffed behind his back and they sodomized him with a broomstick in a manner that caused severe internal damage to his colon and bladder that required several operations to repair. Volpe, one of the police officers involved, then walked through the precinct yelling he had "broke a man down."

Yes, strangely enough, I agree that statement is correct, because from what we can see the police are slowly breaking us all down to the point where we blindly continue to allow them to carry guns despite their escalating and more frequent atrocities against unarmed citizens. Louima was tortured while handcuffed, and officers said he faught them, but Oscar Grant was seen on video and begged for his life by saying 'please, I have a 4 year old daughter' and was still murdered by the police. In every way, the problem is getting worse.

Salimata Sanfo, Ousmane Zongo's Widow. Zongo is survived by a widow and two children.

In May 2003, Ousmane Zongo a Burkinabè arts trader living in New York City, was completely unarmed and yet shot and killed by a New York City Police Department officer in a case of mistaken identity during a botched police sting. The shooter, officer Bryan Conroy, was disguised as a postal worker and shot Zongo four times, twice in the back but did not receive any jail time. Zongo is survived by a widow and two children.

Julian Alexander, killed by police at age 20, is pictured with his pregnant wife of a few weeks, Renee. Alexander was dead shot by Anaheim police in what is believed to be a case of mistaken identity.

In October 2008, the associated press ran a story with the title: “Newlywed Julian Alexander killed outside his California home by police in mistaken identity.”
“A newlywed killed by police after he stepped outside his home to confront suspected burglars was shot in a case of mistaken identity, police said. Julian Alexander died after being shot twice in the chest by a police officer who was chasing four burglary suspects early Tuesday morning. Police Chief John Welter said the officer ran into Alexander, mistook him for one of the four juvenile suspects and shot him."

"The last thing we ever want to do, No. 1, (is) take somebody's life," he said. "And we certainly don't want to take the life of someone who is mistakenly believed to be involved in some criminal activity." "He was a good kid, trying to protect his house," said Alexander's mother-in-law Michelle Mooney. "And the police, instead of asking questions, they just shot first. Somebody has to be held responsible for this." Welter would not release the officer's name, but said he was a 10-year veteran of the department. "It's mistaken identity, but that doesn't bring my son back," said Alexander's father Jerry. He said Alexander got married last weekend and his 19-year-old wife is expecting a baby in December.”

Alexander's wife and also her 15-year-old sister looked out the window during the incident and saw the police flip Julian’s limp and bleeding body over... and then handcuffed him. Julian's family then made an attempt to rush to Julian’s side, but the police yelled at them to get back…or else. Julian stayed out of trouble as a student and won the title of outstanding defensive linebacker in 2005 and 2006. He also was the defensive player of the year in 2007—before he graduated from Riverside's Notre Dame High School. Now a life of achievements, and staying out of trouble, has been cut short... by police with guns who shoot first and ask questions later. Julian's family saw the police flip Julian's limp and bleeding body over... and then handcuffed him while he bleeding, in the exact same manner that Oscar Grant was handcuffed after being shot by the Police.

Many people would like to tell you it is a race issue or a social class issue or some other issue. We not must not let gender, age, race, mental/physical disability, class, region, sexual orientation or any other characteristic divide on us the need to solve this crisis of armed police in our communities.

Perhaps I have been too busy paying rent, paying for food, paying for healthcare, trying to find a way to get two worsening, agonizing, excruciatingly painful cavities removed with a special, expensive surgery needed with no dental coverage because the AK arthritis in my neck doesn't permit my mouth to open wide enough for standard tooth repair... and simply existing is a full time job for me and it seems to gets harder everyday. Many of you face the same exact hurdles and much worse, I know.

Because with the Oscar Grant killing I must accuse myself just as I accuse the world... of being too quiet, because I must admit that the cop killings of unarmed people, all over the world, is getting much, much worse everyday and as we see Peak Oil and the worldwide economy collapse we must realize it will get far worse if we remain silent. Oscar Grant complied with all police commands and begged for his life saying: "Please, I have a 4 year old daughter," and what did he receive for it? A BART police officer bullet that reports state say entered his back and ricocheted to his lung area, and as he began to die...the police then placed handcuffs on him just as police did with Julian Alexander while he died.

Being unarmed and killed by police didn't just happen to Oscar Grant, Julian Alexander, Jonny Gamage, Diallo, Kendra James, James Philip Chasse, Jr., Alexandros Grigoropoulos or all the countless other unarmed people all over the world killed by police... it is happening to people as a whole, everyone of all backgrounds in our society, who are more frequently being placed into a position where we are being killed by police... even after begging for our lives.

It is time to stop begging for justice! It is time to rise to action!

I was born in Philadelphia and I know there is crime and I have been mugged many times and had a mugger put a gun to my head... but the police have tasers, pepper-spray, rubber bullets, dogs, riot gear, batons, asphyxiation and a few dozen other kinds of unethical forms of weapons that are even against the Geneva Convention like broken broomsticks at their disposal so why must they carry guns to continue killing unarmed people? If authorities can use tranquilizer guns to stop wild animals why are we as humans literally executed by police with guns and bullets?

Police killing unarmed people has become so routine that people ignore it and try not to think about it. I am hoping that you will not remain silent about police killing unarmed people anywhere in the world and you will take action and let people know that the system of armed police in our communities needs to end.

It is time to start feeling the momentum of action, the breeze of revolution, and start working on a new way of life for people worldwide.

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
-Martin Luther King (1929 – 1968)

“Non-violent Direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue."
Martin Luther King* (1929 – 1968)

It is time to start working on a new way of life for people worldwide.

You don't need courage to take action, you just need to care about human beings.

"The non-violent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage that they did not know they had."
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I love you all,

Love for the people!

-T. Love
Freeschool Community Collective Member and Board Member

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For many of you, all that I have written will be too much information, too unthinkable, for you to take action at all and you won't even write an open letter. If this is the case then with all my heart I recommend that you at least see the graphic documentary by PBS titled "The Murder of Emmit Till." For after you see that documentary, which has proven at great length that it was an unthinkable atrocity that helped to launch the Civil Rights movement, you will quickly realize that without solutions things will only get worse. We have the ability to solve this crisis. There is hope for a better world!

If you intend to circulate this open letter, but desire a short, less graphic version...you will find a 997 word version at either of the below websites. Even though many of you may feel this letter was too long or too graphic, what you really need to understand is that each and everyone of the victims I described were only the “fortunate” ones that made international, major media headlines and their crisis was not ignored so I do not offer apologies for the long or the graphic nature of this letter but rather, I offer my apologies to the mothers and fathers who have sons and daughters who fall into the most ignored and unheard categories: the undocumented immigrants, homeless, those forced into sex-trade and those who are victims in the Prison Industrial System around the world who are among the countless male and female that never make the news when they are completely unarmed and killed by police with guns. Your pain is no less important I assure you, Thank you to everyone. Please keep in mind this is copyleft and I give everyone permission to edit all of it or part of it, and use it, without permission from me and without credit to me needed. The important thing is to get the word out, speak out, and stop the police from shooting unarmed people and turning our world into a police state... a police world. We can change things, one movement at a time, one crisis at a time, with action, hope, unity and real love for all people and for a better world.

http://aworldbeyondcapitalism.org/onlinevideo.htm
http://www.peacecommunities.org/onlinevideo.htm

2008: The Oakland police killed Casper Banjo, 71 years old. Unarmed.
http://adriennecareyhurley.blogspot.com/2008/03/casper-banjo-71-yrs-old-killed-by.html

2008: Jose Luis Buenrostro, 15 years old. Unarmed.
http://newsroom.mtv.com/2009/01/12/mistah-fab-releases-song-inspired-by-bay-area-shooting

2008: Jody Woodfox, 27, unarmed. Killed by Police Office Hector Jiminez.
http://gunshot41.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/mister-policeman-kills-again

2007: Gary King Jr., 20 , unarmed.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/09/23/18449224.php

2007: Andrew Moppin, 20, unarmed. Killed by Police Office Hector Jiminez.

Photo Caption “These children, a racial cross-section of Oakland, standing with a sign during the protest regarding the Oscar Grant protests, seem determined to stop the police' open season on young men of color before it's their turn. The sign on the left reads, "Sunset 2008-09 RIP Oscar Grant III, Casper Banjo Jose Luis Buenrostro, Jody Woodfox, Gary King Jr., Andrew Moppin and others at the hands of Oakland police." - Photo: Demondre Ward
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"Day after day, a powerful, vociferous section of the Indian elite, goaded by marauding TV anchors who make Fox News look almost radical and left-wing, have taken to mindlessly... glorifying the police and the army, and virtually asking for a police state. It isn’t surprising that those who have grown plump on the pickings of democracy (such as it is) should now be calling for a police state. The era of “pickings” is long gone. We’re now in the era of Grabbing by Force, and democracy has a terrible habit of getting in the way."

-The quote is from 'Monster in the Mirror', written on December 30th, 2008 by Arundhati Roy

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This article was posted for educational reasons courtesy of the Peace Communities Solidarity Blog found at www.SaveThePoorBrownChildren.or g or http://www.SaveThePoorBrownChildren.blogspot.com - and it is a public group blog with an emphasis on feminism, women's empowerment, financially disadvantaged children, marginalized people's voices and direct action worldwide. The Peace Communities Solidarity Blog is the Media Outreach Blog of the Peace Communities Online Community < www.PeaceCommunities.org > a not-for-profit project started by the Mutualist project, created at Z Media Institute (founders of Z Magazine). T. Love is a Black Feminist activist and writer whose social justice writings have been featured in Street Roots, featured on Womanist-Musings, featured in the current issue of Natural Learning and featured in the current issue of Slingshot and many more radical activist publications, websites and journals worldwide. T. Love's personal profile page and personal blog on the Peace Communities is found by clicking here.

Creating a Housing and Community Space Use Collective in Olympia

2008-11-23T03:06:10Z

If you are looking for new broadcasts of the Radical Freeschool Radio Shows please click here.

Otherwise read below:

We are Looking for Partner Organizations to Share Space in Olympia.

Dear friends,

The Freeschool Community of Olympia, serving the Olympia, Washington area for over 7 years, has partnered with several progressive organizations to form the Peace Communities. Among the many progressive organizations that have joined the Peace Communities thus far are the Mutualist Project members of the Z Media Institute (ZMI) 2007 Alumni, the Olympia Ecovillage/We Invite You, The Beauty of Barter, Imagine Seven, the Organizers of the Fifth Annual A World Beyond Capitalism Conference and organizers of the Do-It-Yourself Multimedia Creation Center. We have also have had conversations with the Evergreen Infoshop about possibly sharing a space and we welcome more Campus and Student-run organizations. Peace Communities is looking for More Partner Organizations to work towards Sharing Space in Olympia. We would like to work with several other organizations or progressive businesses to share the cost of a house, or transform a downtown or West Side warehouse into a shared space (as was successfully accomplished by the Rhizome Collective http://www.rhizomecollective.org ).

In addition to rental space, we will offer the use of free-of-charge shared webhosting space, help designing a website for your group, free-of-charge announcement space in our newspaper, "Natural Learning" with a circulation of 5,000 issues, 24 hours access to a feminist library and a secure room with a women's empowerment audio/video studio equipment. To see a small list of some of the recording and audio equpment that the freeschool currently has please click here: PDF Flyer or Document Flyer.

The below quote is from the Rhizome Collective wikipedia page:

"The Rhizome Collective is a consensus-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based on Austin, Texas, USA. The collective was founded in 2000 and operates an Educational Center for Urban Sustainability and a Center for Community Organizing."

"The Rhizome Collective operates out of three warehouses on Allen Street in East Austin. These warehouses and the 1/3 acre (1,300 m²) on which they sit make up the Rhizosphere. In addition to housing the collective, the Rhizosphere is used as a space for the development of urban sustainability practices."

"The Rhizosphere hosts space for organizations such as Austin Indymedia, the Austin Zine Library, the Inside Books Project, which ships reading material to prison inmates, Bikes Across Borders, and Food Not Bombs."

The idea to create a housing and community space collective in Olympia, has been in the research, cost analysis and forming process for almost two years. It is our desire to now rent a space as early as Spring 2009. Our next public forum will be held at:

Traditions café

Forum Title: Creating a Housing and Community Space Use Collective in Olympia.
Location: Traditions Café and World Folk Art, 300 5th Avenue SW, Olympia, WA 98501
Date: Friday, January 30, 2009
Time: 7pm-9pm

Cost: Free. Snacks will be served.

We welcome all individuals, organizations and progressive businesses to participate in these conversations. We are grateful for help that we receive from all individuals and organizations, however, on order to maintain our education independence we are not accepting applications from government groups, religious groups or multinational corporations.

"If you are interested please send us an email by visiting the Freeschool Community's website at www.Freeschoolunity.org and click on 'contact.' Thank you. You can also call us from 11am-11pm, 7 days a week at (360) 539-8008 and we would love to talk with you.

Keep working for a better world everyone.

Love, Solidarity,

-Freeschool Members

-Peace Community Members

Love, Solidarity,

-Freeschool Members
www.FreeschoolUnity.org

-Peace Community Members
www.PeaceCommunities.org

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Did you go to this event? Did you miss this event? Do you want to talk about this event with others? Either way, you can talk about the event, learn more about it, or talk with others who attended it by joining the Freeschool Community's new Peace Communities Social Networking Website and Online Community with Member Profiles, Fully Customizable Themes for your page, Blogs, Discussion Forum, Event Listings, Photos & Slideshows, Custom Video Players, Real-time Activity Stream and much more! Its better than myspace and facebook combined, its free of charge and it has no multinational corporate advertisements. To join Peace Communities please go here: http://www.peacecommunities.ning.com

Move?

2008-07-04T01:44:43Z

By Cassandra Johnson

As if this year nad not brought enough changes to the Olympia Freeschool
Community, recent developments have brought on perhaps our biggest
transition yet.

The only thing that we know for certain fact, amongst all the
negotiations, plans, and propositions, is that we are indeed moving before
next Spring. We have enjoyed our time at 610 Columbia Street, and that
space has given us many beautiful things. However, the natural time have
come for the Freeschool and the Food Co-op to resume separate existances
in contrast to years of semi-symbiosis.

So office space with all off-site classes? Or ecovillage? And what
permutation of any option to choose, if one or the other...? We are hard
at work with problems and solutions, unwrapping the intense algebra of
pros, cons, technicalities, and possibilities.

As always, we are more than open to suggestions. Feel free to email us at
the address "volunteers@freeschoolunity.org."

End of Academic Year

2008-07-04T01:41:01Z

by Cassandra Johnson

On the evening of June 12th, the Olympia Freeschool Community celebrated
the end of the 2007-2008 academic year at Vic's Pizzeria in West Olympia.
Over soda pitchers and thin crust, our volunteers & facilitators enjoyed
an opportunity to kick back from their tireless work and reflect on a
record-breaking year of successes. The 700% increase in the number of
classes since Fall 2006 this past Winter quarter, the 300% increase in the
number of Community Kitchen Program classes, and the 500% increase in
Community Kitchen attendance numbers are ust a few of the facts and
figures to exceed our expectations and reward our efforts.

To see the renovation of the Freeschool space, touring facilitators and
speakers from California, Seattle, Canada, and Venezuela visit us, and at
least 3 certified permaculture instructors grace our organization was
nothing less than amazing. There were also many new offorts toward media
outreach this year, reflect in such projects as the Radical Freeschool
Radio Show, the short film "Patriarchy from a Shoe's Point of View," the
brand new Olympia Freeschool comic book, photographic slideshows, and the
now over 5000 copies of Natural Learning issued every quarter and
distributed city-wide. And it was an absolute honor to work with our two
Sring interns from the Evergreen State College on so many of the beautiful
progressions Spring 2008 brought to 610 Columbia Street.

Kimya Dawson, Ghost Mice, Heathers and June Madrona at the Freeschool Fundraiser!

2008-06-17T02:29:11Z

Kimya Dawson

Monday, July 7
Benefit for the Freeschool Community

Music by:
Kimya Dawson (Olympia)
Ghost Mice (Bloomington, IN/Gainesville, FL)
Heathers (Dublin, Ireland)
June Madrona (Olympia)

$5 - 10 suggested donation
at the Eagles Hall Basement, 805 4th Ave. E.
6:30 p.m. doors / 7 p.m. music

Ghost Mice (Bloomington, IN/Gainesville, FL)

June Madrona

Heathers (Dublin, Ireland)

Also, June Painting Party!

2008-05-30T03:20:08Z

If you are looking for new broadcasts of the Radical Freeschool Radio Shows please click here.

Otherwise read below:

Painting Party at the Freeschool Community

Special Event: Spring Cleaning! Help Paint the Freeschool!

Free Snacks and the feeling of helping a wonderful resource become more beautiful!

Saturday, June 7th, 2008. 4pm-9pm in the freeschool. Thanks!

Location: The Freeschool Community, 610 Columbia Street

Visit our website at: http://www.FreeschoolUnity.org or http://www.FreeschoolCommunity.org

Media Island International(MII) Pizza Party at Fertile Ground 2008

2008-05-30T03:12:51Z

If you are looking for new broadcasts of the Radical Freeschool Radio Shows please click here.

Otherwise read below:

Hand drawn sketch of the Hail Seizures.

Media Island International(MII) Pizza Party at Fertile Ground 2008

FEATURING: JILL FREIDBURG, activist/film producer of true RAD documentaries such as,`This is What Democracy Looks Like '...Indymedia's coverage of the 1999 WTO protest in Seattle,and her latest film,`Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad(Little bit of so much truth) ...Live footage of the summer 2006 people's uprising in the mexican state of Oaxaca.

MUSIC:Featuring two of MII's favorite activist folk-punk acts, Hail Seizures and Paris McClusky.

VENUE:Fertile Ground Guesthouse at 311 9th ave SE.

DATE&TIME:SATURDAY 31st of MAY, from 6pm-10pm.

$10-$20 Sliding-scale and negotiable. All ages are welcome and half price for minors under 12.

REMINDER:Media Island International(MII) is Olympia's very own Indymedia center.MII was founded in 1984 by a group of dedicated activists seeking to bringing attention to issues largely ignored by the commercial mainstream media.

The 816 Adams house is the home of Kowa 106.5 Low-powered Fm radio station, Olympia IMC, Food Not Bombs, library and meeting space. We also provide umbrella for several small non-profits. We need your support in order to keep this media tree growing. Please donate !!

Pizza Party Event with live music at Fertile Ground, 311 9th Ave, SE, on Saturday, May 17th, 2008.

2008-05-15T10:01:41Z

Special Fundraiser Event for the Freeschool Community! Pizza Party Event with live music, "Those Bottom Feeders" and "Paris"! At Fertile Ground, 311 9th Ave, SE, on Saturday, May 17th, 2008. 6pm-9pm. Join us!

for more information about the Freeschool Community classes and events, visit:

www.freeschoolunity.org

or visit our back website at
www.freeschoolcommunity.org

Below There is a PDF and Jpg Flyer for this event as a File Attachment titled "May17_2008_Freeschool_Party_at_Fertile_Ground"

On May 15, 16 and 17th Please show solidarity and print it out an share with others (and post our flyer)! Thanks!

PDF flyer found here: Click Here for PDF flyer.

JPG flyer found here:
Click Here for JPG flyer.

Love, Solidarty and Peace worldwide! :)

Women's Liberation Article Offers Incredibly Pertinent Advice for Modern Progressive Collectives

2008-04-11T11:37:33Z

1970 Women's Liberation Article Offers Incredibly Pertinent Advice for Modern Progressive Collectives

A Summary and Analysis of 'The Tyranny of Structurelessness.' written by Jo Freeman.

By Cassandra Johnson

Often, the best way to introduce almost any group of words (an essay, article, book, or writing based on any of these) is with a quote. I will now proceed to go even farther, and choose quotes from the very article we're about to delve into's original introduction:

"During the years in which the women's liberation movement has been taking shape, a great emphasis has been placed on what are called leaderless, structureless groups…the source of this idea was a natural reaction against the over-structured society in which most of us found ourselves…the idea of structurelessness, however, has moved from a healthy counter to these tendencies to becoming a goddess in its own right."

In 1970, the Women's Liberation movement found itself in the same potentially lethal conflict as has claimed countless nobly intentioned, non-hierarchal activistic collectives: how to make marriage of conviction and pragmatism in a way that best promotes the group's motives. No, we don't want traditional structure, and no, we don't want to be, in any way, all business and no heart; of course! But neither do we wish to be all discussion and no effective action, nor do would any group want to fall apart into a shrapnel landscape of disharmony, purposelessness, or eventual hypocrisy.

What is a healthy balance, and/or how can we get there?

Freeman begins by walking us through the first stages: how we must change our thinking; what internal and individual corrections and clarifications of understanding we must make before we can evoke the maximum possible change onto our immediate worlds.

Summary of Original Text

The issues/conflicts addressed in first phase of ''The Tyranny of Structurelessness'' are formal and informal structures, the true and false natures of ''elitism,'' how to cope with society's dependence on political figureheads, and the traps of political impotence.

Freeman's initial point is that ''structureless'' groups do not actually exist within human society. No variations can prevent this: form is inevitable. And individual variance itself does much to create this inevitability. She goes on to state that "hegemony can easily be established because the idea of ''structurelessness'' does not prevent formation of informal structures but only of formal ones." Laissez-faire policy does not prevent abuses from those within the jurisdiction of "let it be," only abuses from outside--from overarching clearly structured systems. She cites ''structurelessness (informal structure)'' as a potential ''smokescreen'' and ''way of masking power.'' Organizational deliberation separates formal (clear, allotted) and informal (covert) structure.

The next point is the demystification of another unquestioned and overabused term at the time: ''elitist.'' Individuals cannot be ''elite'' independently; this term is confined to group dynamics. Elites are small groups holding power over a larger group they are a part of. Elites are by nature covert. They are informal, have not been structured objectively, and are thereby a group of ''friends,'' rather than colleagues, who share the same aims. The healthiest elite situation is none in which two elites or ''friendship networks'' compete for formal power: this system is formally structured. Other members of the wider group may 'arbitrate between the two competitors for power,' and can thereby demand tings from their current elite of choice.

The risk with movement groups relying on ''friendship'' criteria (age, economic standing, outward trappings, personality characteristics) is pure stagnation. Human and otherwise (plant life, animal) rights movements must constantly aim to be principally transparent in order to be truly causative--meaning: if we do not respect the tangible abilities, degrees of dedication, potentials, and talents of each individual member based on what they may, can, or do contribute, how can we say that we are actually getting anything done? If we ourselves enact discriminatory processes while professing opposition to all forms of such a thing, can we affect change? The stumbling block of structural hypocrisy has created countless black holes where well-intentioned beginnings once existed.

In the section titled The Star System, Freeman discusses how society is conditioned to look for ''stars'' and spokespeople to express the nature of a movement to them. A ''star system'' is another inevitable informality, and groups should not shun who of their own may happen to reach some degree of notoriety (informally election). Instead, groups should do their best to assure a true reflection of their ideals is presented to the public. This can only be done through acceptance and solidarity.

The longest section, Political Impotence, explains in detail many possible negative conditions collectives can fall into. She even details differing degrees of safety within differing degrees of informality. I suggest the reader looks at this themselves as to harvest individually all they find of great importance, which may very easily be the entire section. A quote commenting on activists from informally structured groups becoming recruited by government interests, Jo Freeman writes: "Thus their members become the troops under the leadership of the structured organizations. They don't even have a way of deciding what the priorities are. The more unstructured a movement is, the less control it has over the directions in which it develops and the political actions in which it engages."

The second phase of the article, Principles of Democratic Structuring, discusses principals and processes non-hierarchal groups can use to allot power in fair measure to their members. In briefest form, these are:

-Delegation
-Responsibility/accountability
-Distribution
-Rotation (even the ancient Greek philosopher Plato recognized the dangers of positional permanence within democratic structure; smart fellow
-Allocation
-Diffusion
-Equal Access to Resources

Analysis and Conclusion

As was cited in the text of ''Tyranny'' earlier, if we do not learn from history, ignoring past in hot pursuit of progress, we will endure the reinstatement of its heresies to life on earth.

"A laissez faire group is about as realistic as a laissez faire society."
It could not stop its American originator (political idealist/slave and plantation owner Thomas Jefferson) from oppressive hypocrisy, and it will not necessarily ever stop any individual, individuals, or united group from oppressive hypocrisy.

Even the history that is written in American public school history texts shows us that many a despot has taken power in times of revolution, crucial change, all manner of unrest, and all forms of crisis. Stalin, Mao, Mussolini, Hitler, Napoleon, the genocides in India…the list is endless and goes back centuries. The masses who wanted better lives through new leadership saw their hopes dissolve into a scene of violation of human life and gallon upon gallon of murderously spilled blood. This effect of ''disillusionment'' of ideals can take place in portion. All resemble some form of unnatural death to a longing to fully live life. It is the duty of the activist to protect what we know is right in our hearts, to protect a passionate beliefs in our natural rights.

We must structure, from their very births, our activistic organizations with principals as building blocks, so that all of the organizations aims (respect to all natural rights; fairness to all individuals, their presences and voices) are protected internally. If we are going to change society, we have to create formationally sound vessels of action, change, and love.

April 2nd, 2008

Radical Feminist Art and Music Spring Artswalk Show!

2008-04-08T09:59:23Z

If you are looking for new broadcasts of the Radical Freeschool Radio Shows please click here.

Otherwise read below

Radical Feminist Art and Music Spring Artswalk Show

The Radical Freeschool Radio Show Presents: Radical Feminist Art and Music Spring Artswalk Show! This Show will include Brenna Sahatjian (pictured above ina photo by Jonny D) from the Nationwide travelling Riotfolk! < www.riotfolk.org > In addition, this show will also include the Activists who make up “Actor Slash Model”, Musicians Madsen Minax and Simon Strikeback (both pictured below) are Exploring Trans and Gender Variant Identity Musicianship and Performance! < see www.actorslashmodel.com. > This is a special Fundraiser for the Freeschool! No one turned away for lack of funds!

Time: 9:00 pm, Friday, April 25th, 2008

Location: Freeschool Community: 610 Columbia Street,

Organized by:
Radical Freeschool Radio Show http://www.RadicalFreeschoolRadioShow.org
and the Radical Feminist Distro found by clicking on RFD at http://www.FreeschoolUnity.org or http://www.FreeschoolCommunity.org

Madsen Minax

Filmmaker - Director/Co-Producer, Editor
Musician - Upright Bass, Vocals

Madsen Minax is a multi-media artist with a focus in time-based work, including sound and film/video, but also dabbles in web development, design and more traditional forms of art making. He was trained as a classical pianist from age 4, and has trained as a sound engineer at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and classical quartet composer at Hogeschool voor Muziek en Technologie in Utrectht, The Netherlands.

His hyper awareness of the concept of conclusion helps him latch onto the inherent intention and conceptual drive, while his need to be edgy, loud, and completely disintegrate boundaries keep him perpetually pushing between the realm of experimental art making and representational art making. His previous films have been screened in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berlin, Germany, Copenhagen, Denmark, Sydney and Perth, Australia.

In addition to his work in the art field, Madsen is also an advocate for alt-sex awareness and education and it’s relationship to gender identity and often assists in workshops addressing alternative practices.

With concern to music, Madsen has explored many different genres of writing and playing including rock, jazz, funk, and many in between, currently playing the upright bass, singing and writing songs in the “indie-grass” duet Actor Slash Model.

Simon Strikeback

Filmmaker - Producer
Musician - Vocals, Ukulele

Simon Strikeback is an activist and educator focusing in history, gender studies and performance and has been an organizer of various campaigns and gatherings, primarily related to queer and transgender issues for the past ten years. While pursuing a women’s studies degree at DePaul University, Simon became interested in justice organizing around workers’ rights and queer visibility projects. From 1999-2005, He was a lead organizer in Camp Trans, a a protest and community space fighting for the inclusion of transwomen at the annual Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival.

In this vein, he has given presentations at numerous universities throughout the US, addressing ideas of feminism as it relates to transgender issues.

Simon was born into a family of musicians and was trained from an early age. After playing in many groups throughout the years, it was while living at a queer arts commune in rural Tennessee that he began to play the ukulele and sing, while developing an appreciate for traditional bluegrass music. In the music duet Actor Slash Model Simon sings, plays ukulele and writes songs.

He is currently a graduate student at The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and works with ChiChiCo, a multi-racial child care collective. At this time Simon is also the editor of the self-produced zine Bound To Struggle: Where Kink and Radical Politics Meet, accepting open submissions for Volume 3.

All About Brenna Sahatjian

I am interested in music primarily as a sensory experience, but, increasingly, as a way to communicate ideas. In both of these ways, I value music for its social value, as a way to interact with others in a meaningful way.

I was born and grew up in Southern California (Thousand Oaks anyone?). I started playing guitar and writing songs at the age of 14. My first songs were about my flourescent dreams, seeing the people I loved and missed up in the sky, and general wonder. Music was a kind of salvation for me, a hole in the wall to a world of vivid feelings and beautiful sounds. I think those early days of imagination and frustration will always be a whisper in my music. I like slow, ardent music, currents of sound that mimic the currents of feeling that make up our experiences. More than anything, music is a place where I can be honest, which is why it took me so long to feel comfortable playing for people. Nowadays I love playing, but struggle with the social dynamics of being a performer. I feel really fortunate when people listen to me, and I want to avoid customs or expectations surrounding performer/audience relationships that might cheapen our delightful rendezvous' of sound.
I am into lots of sounds and instruments, folk is one of them. I like its potential for pointedly making statements, for its accessibility. I also play the cello in a group called "Flee the City!," an instrumental trio. I really like recording my own music, and I recorded Crude but Lucid and To Each Idle Arrow myself (couldn't you tell?)

New Volunteer Meeting

2008-03-22T17:33:01Z

Thanks for being so welcoming and kind. and giving me pizza : ). It's always a little scary walking into something new, but yall made me feel right at home so quickly. It was great to learn more about the freeschool and meet some of the people who keep such an awesome place going.

Brianna

RFR Show #5. - Open Mic. Raise Your Voices

2008-03-11T05:22:23Z

Dear friends,

You can listen to this broadcast of our radio show by clicking here.

Contents:

This is the Open Mic Event hosted by the Radical Freeschool Radio Show. The next Open Mic Event will take place on March 22nd from3pm-5pm at the Freeschool Community, 610 Columbia Street. Olympia, WA.

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
-- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Love, Peace. Solidarity,

-The Radical Freeschool Radio Show Collective
http://www.RadicalFreeschoolRadioShow.org

To learn more about free classes offered at the freeschool please visit:
http://www.FreeschoolCommunity.org

Kaylen Williams gives his first-hand perspective on the Evergreen Riot from the Beginning

2008-03-06T00:55:28Z

This below story was written by Owen Taylor
and Originally titled: The real story behind the Evergreen Riot

It first appeared in the Volcano Weekly.

Members of the Radical Freeschool Radio Show were at that Dead Prez Show and had a radio broadcast about the riot available online. To listen to that Radio Broadcast and to see photos and read an article written about it by a member of the Radical Freeschool radio Show Collective, please click here.

==========================Start of Story-======================================

On Valentine’s Day, Kaylen Williams, a 24-year-old chef, had a bad feeling in his gut all day. He had hoped it was just butterflies in the stomach. The handsome, single man was on his way to a much-anticipated V-Day concert, where plenty of eligible bachelorettes would be dancing to the revolutionary rhythms of Dead Prez, a popular and politically charged underground hip-hop duo that would be making a rare West Coast appearance.

Had Williams known what was to come, he might well have stayed home.

You see, later that night Williams found himself at the center of a riot at The Evergreen State College, staring out the windows of a police cruiser from the eye of a hurricane and watching it build momentum. Williams was arrested on the word of a volunteer security guard for something he says he had nothing to do with. His arrest triggered what would come to be known as the Evergreen Riot.

Unless you live under a rock or outside the blogosphere of Western Washington, you are no doubt aware that the Feb. 14 Dead Prez concert at The Evergreen State College ended with a Thurston County Sheriff’s patrol car flipped onto its roof with the windows smashed out and several witty slogans spray painted on it. Sheriff’s Lt. Christopher Mealy said four patrol cars were damaged at an estimated cost of $35,000 to $50,000. Since then, a storm of rhetoric has been issued by the Sheriff’s Department, the college, and every hippie and conservative with access to the Internet. Evergreen has banned concerts indefinitely, too. Most accounts, however, have suspiciously ignored the circumstance and events leading up to the riot.

Evergreen police have declined to comment about the case.

Luckily, Williams had the best seat in the house. This is the story from his perspective.
As long as there have been concerts, there have been surly, tattooed guys in black shirts, clearly emblazoned with the word “Security,” who are charged with informing reefer-smoking concertgoers to “put it out.” Williams found himself in just such a crowd, confronted by security officers who lacked any markings denoting them as such.

One of the members of the anonymous security staff had noticed the distinct smell or a telltale cloud of smoke coming from where Williams was standing. Williams recalls that one of the security personnel, along with an unidentified and aggressive associate, moved forcefully toward the group of people he was with, demanding that they extinguish the contraband immediately. Williams replied that he wasn’t smoking. He implied that it was coming from the crowd in front of them and raised his empty hands in a “see, it’s not me” gesture. Someone in the crowd near Williams made a boisterously pro-marijuana statement. That was when, according to several eyewitnesses, the unidentified associate of the security volunteer responded with his fists. Williams emphasizes that the person throwing fists appeared to be an average concertgoer. As the fight ensued, Williams stepped in to separate what appeared to be an average thug and his victim. After the fight was broken up, Williams, on the guest list as a VIP, sought out the concert promoter to make sure everything was cool and calm.

Williams then proceeded back into the gym to enjoy the rest of the show. A few minutes later, Evergreen police officer April Meyers responded to the disturbance call and conferred with someone who fingered Williams as the instigator. She then went into the venue and took him into custody, telling him that he was under arrest for suspicion of assault. It was at this time that the men onstage informed the crowd of the situation and encouraged them to organize and gather information, including names and badge numbers, to ensure that nothing unjust was being done to the man being arrested.

Williams, an African-American and well-respected B-Boy in the greater Puget Sound area, was handcuffed and placed in the back of the car while the officer took statements from the “security volunteer,” his unidentified associate, and another unidentified female, all Caucasian. The female allegedly fingered Williams for a separate assault during the ruckus, a charge Williams sternly denies.

“I was raised in a house full of women,” says Williams. “My mother would kill me if I hit a woman.”

While Meyers was gathering statements from the accusers, several attendees started congregating around the police cruiser demanding information. Many were calling for the release of Williams. As the concert ended, several hundred people flooded the exits only to see a swelling disturbance around a cop car. The Evergreen State College is renowned as an aggressively Socratic institution with learning processes heavily weighted toward self-reliance, pushing boundaries, gathering facts and breaking form. It is also not the kind of place where passive onlookers slowly shuffle past a disturbance. These principles, mixed with the restless idealism of youth and the powerful message in Dead Prez’s music, presented an opportunity to employ those ideals in a real setting, apparently.

As the crowd of concerned onlookers grew, Meyers did what any smart cop would do — She called for backup. As the tension mounted and the fervor of the crowd increased, the officers on the scene decided it would be in the best interest of public safety to gather Williams’ information, release him, and contact him for a statement at a later date. Struggling to mount her car, the officer announced amid the deafening chant of “Let Him Go!” that she was indeed releasing Williams. Watching all of this through the glass partition in the back of the squad car, Williams was trying to grasp the gravity of his at least temporary vindication. “I just kept thinking, ‘wow, this is so much love right now, Evergreen,’“ he recalls. “They’ve come to get me out.” As Williams was let out of the backseat and released from the handcuffs, a cadre of riot police made their move to disperse the crowd.

One eyewitness, who asked to remain anonymous, had been acting as a go-between, trying to calm the crowd enough to talk to the officers and get information. He recalls the beginning of the melee with a grimace. “They came in swinging nightsticks and macing everybody. I was lucky to be where I was,” he says. “I would have been crushed if I wasn’t on the opposite side of the car.”

For Williams, the joy of freedom was short-lived as panic took over and the scene disintegrated into screaming and chaos.

“I was halfway up the hill when I realized that the cops still had my wallet,” says Williams.

Venturing back toward the car, he was confronted by an officer in full riot gear who told him to leave immediately, threatening him with a mace cannon mere inches from his face. Stunned and speechless, Williams decided to return the next day and retrieve the wallet.

Six days later on Feb. 20, much to his bewilderment, Williams was charged with fourth degree misdemeanor assault and told to come and give his statement about the alleged assault.

He steadfastly maintains his innocence.

“I just don’t get it. I tried to break up a fight, and they’re charging me with assault. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Williams is due to be arraigned March 10 in Thurston County District Court.

==========================End of Story-======================================

This story was written by Owen Taylor
and titled: The real story behind the Evergreen Riot

It first appeared in the Volcano Weekly.

Members of the Radical Freeschool Radio Show were at that Dead Prez Show and had a radio broadcast about the riot available online. To listen to that Radio Broadcast and to see photos and read an article written about it by a member of the Radical Freeschool radio Show Collective, please click here.

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice."
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But, conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right."

-- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
-- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Love, Peace. Solidarity,

-The Radical Freeschool Radio Show Collective
http://www.RadicalFreeschoolRadioShow.org

To learn more about free classes offered at the freeschool please visit:
http://www.FreeschoolCommunity.org

Photo: Owen Taylor

EVERGREEN RIOT: Kaylen Williams reflects on his Valentine’s Day life massacre.

Benefit Show for the Freeschool! Tin Tree Factory (Seattle), Redbear and The Winning Lasses (Oly)!

2008-03-01T10:32:00Z

Join the Radical Freeschool Radio Show Collective for a Special Freeschool Fundraiser Show!

9pm, March 14th at the Freeschool
Location: The Freeschool Community, 610 Columbia Street

Tin Tree Factory (Seattle) - [In this photo, Tin Tree Factory (Johhny D) plays at the freeschool with Brenna from Riotfolk at the 2007, Third Annual A World Beyond Capitalism Conference held at the freeschool

and

The Winning Lasses (Olympia)
"pop music for weary hearts and livers"

The Winning lasses Band members are Kristyn Leach, Jason Marrero (facilitator of Study Hall at the freeschool on Monday and Fridays), Alex Maslansky, Warren Lee, Mona Tougas, Christopher Son, and friends.

and

Redbear (Olympia)

All Ages, $3 - $5. No one turned away for lack of funds.

RFR Show #4: Special Permaculture, Post-Patriarchy, and Community Kitchenn Broadcast!

2008-02-27T07:26:15Z

Photo by T. Copyleft and non-copyrighted of course :)

Dear friends,

You can listen to this broadcast of our radio show by clicking here.

Contents:

First 4 Minutes

The Amazing Song “Burn Down Town” by the Olympia, Washington based band, Liarbird.

Here are the Lyrics:

Liarbird - Burn Down Town

It started at the mill
Unwound was playing
in a garage across the Sound
(Puget Sound that is)
we heard Kai yell
"the mills burning down"
we all turned around
to see the flames flicker on the west side of town
the next thing you know
down burned those condos
right down the bay
*who's going around
burning down
all the abandoned
buildings in town
I don't know

some folks were happy
when the glass house burned down
during yo-yo (music festival)
they felt she was rotten
to the core
dope dealers and users
spent up her hope
long ago
Kai used to pick
plums from the trees
in that yard
he'd bring them to me
or whom ever he'd see
but now they're gone
****

Yard Birds was greater
than any other
building downtown
the ceilings were made
with thousands of beams
milled from the oldest
forest this town's
ever seen

Next 10 Minutes:of the broadcast

Interview with Chriset Palenshus

Examples of Police Harassment
Chriset talks about her upcoming
Intro to Using Greywater and Compost Toilets Freeschool Class

Information about the Upcoming the Anual A World Beyond Capitalism conference is also given,

Up Next…

Interview with Gail from Fertile Ground. She speaks about many things including the origin of the Community Kitchen Program.

Up Next…

Interview with Heron and Marguerite

They talk about many things including working personally with Starhawk (as seen in the above picture) who gave them their Permaculture Instructure Certificates. They also speak about Compost, their upcoming series of Community Kitchen classes, Titled:
Plant Allies and Botany Awareness.

They also speak about the future of Anarchy in a country dominated by Government that imports most of its food.

They also talk about Sensual experiences Nature and the Ecosystem.

Next Up…

Interview at the Freeschool after the Deconstructing Patriarchy class.

Networking with Freeschools Coast-to-Coast! Interview with Ryan from Ithaca, New York Freeskool!

This interview is conducted by T with Ryan while Oly Old Time Fiddle class plays in the background.
Ryan talks about some of the amazing classes that Ithaca Freeskool currently offers.

Freeschool Solidarity! No Grades, No Masters!

And Finally…

The Song ‘Girls’ from Olympia based band: ‘Flowers From The Man Who Your Cousin.’

A Very Exciting, Jam-Packed, Hour of Radio to be sure!

love for all,

-The Radical Freeschool Radio Show Collective

RFR Show #3: Sister Hailstorm Interview, Songs, Video of Riot and a Great Dead Prez Show

2008-02-18T03:02:45Z

Dear friends,

You can listen to the third broadcast of our radio show by clicking here or, if that podcast website doesn't work, click here.

The first 45 minutes take place at the Dead Prez show, on February 14^th, 2008 where we interviewed many, many different activist groups tabling outside. The last 20 minutes of the show you will hear an interview with Sister Hailstorm and then you will find out more information, with a first hand account about how the Police car was overturned (completely flipped upside down) and destroyed (but no one was very badly harmed), and how the non-violent activists were successful (even though the police clubbed them repeatedly and pepper-sprayed them) when they surrounded the police car and protested to have a wrongly arrested African-American immediately released directly following the Dead Prez show. You will hear two uninterrupted songs by hip-hop radical musician Sister Hailstorm.

And here is a YouTube video (that we did not film) of a portion of the Dead Prez show and (what is being called) the "Valentines Day Riot"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1-L1Xe__mp4

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice."
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But, conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right."

-- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
-- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Love for the people,

-The Radical Freeschool Radio Show Collective
http://www.RadicalFreeschoolRadioShow.org

To learn more about free classes offered at the freeschool please visit:
http://www.FreeschoolCommunity.org

For more information please see:

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20080215094111783

First hand account from someone involved:
http://olyblog.net/first-hand-accounts-evergreen-last-night

Below is 'The Article' unedited, by Cassie Johnson who was there.

The Article
by Cassie Johnson

One glance at the red block-numbering of the alarm clock told me it was
indeed February 14th, 2008. It was Valentine's Day, and I was going to see
Dead Prez this impending eve. Amen.

My day started slow; a wake-up, and a couple special hours spent in
downtown Olympia with my significant other before a whirlwind of exterior
activity came to claim me. Then I received a call from each of my co-hosts
on the Radical Free School Radio Show. T called me to confirm that Sara
and I would meet him at or around 7:30 outside Evergreen's CRC Center.
Sara called inviting me to help her to make some patches for the Free
School on the Evergreen campus before the show that evening. I dug up some
bus money from my immediate surroundings and began the 45-minute bus
journey from the Intercity Transit Center to the Evergreen State College,
and joined her in a room proximal to the library. That room was the
headquarters of an intensely politically and socially active group of
students who I had the experience of spending the next few hours in the
company of.

The room was covered, ceiling-to-floorboard, with posters and artworks,
nearly all of them requesting and advocating tangible change in current
unjust conditions (social, political, historical human rights
infringements, the effects of which are experienced daily on some large
scale), and also many images and words celebrating those who stepped up to
create tangible change in their world. In the center of the room,
surrounded by large silkscreen patterns, minute stencil cutting materials,
and small, sticky vats of ink was Sara Flaherty. Hello, Sara Flaherty:
teach me how to silkscreen print! Teach me the hallowed dichotomy of
stenciled artistry!

We passed the hours before the show performing the patch-making task at
hand, discussing and debating a wide range of subjects with others around
us, and one another (everything from the amount of ink one should spread
on a silkscreen, to the importance of Beethoven's deafness within his
creativity, to the effects of racial humor upon global society), and, of
course, preparatorily bumping some Dead Prez beats.

The sun had gone, the night had come: the patches were mostly complete.
There was a mad dash to return out borrowed materials and to get to the
CRC Center to set up the Free School's table inside the venue.

"Radicalism is love in action," was one of the first of many definitive
quotes I remember T uttering, when the Radical Free School Radio Show was
still in its fetal era. Olympia's finest examples were on display. Upon
walking into the CRC Center's first gymnasium chamber, I saw this sentence
take real form all around me. To my left were the Media Island and Co-Op
tables, and to my right, Camp Quixote's. Across the way, I remember
spotting the Birth Attendants and Planned Parenthood. However, there were
many, many more incredible causes in the concert's anteroom. I could feel
a strong awareness of the pursuit of a better world; not only as speaking
of all of our mere presences at the show, but moreso our individual and
solidaritous presences in the world. This feeling of unity and converged
purpose continued throughout the show, spreading into various arenas, and
burning down those human constructs of limitation that work only to
disunify, oppress, and despotize the holy naturalisms of freedom, spirit,
and common good.

The opening acts embodied this powerful force of unified life forms and
"love in action." Sister Hailstorm, DJ B-Girl, and A.P. worked in a
continuous stream, performing together, giving shout-outs and
encouragements to one another; shooting down and powerfully coming against
hate oppression, injustice, and conditioned forced helplessness--in United
States society and beyond! It was an empowered and informed atmosphere,
with no lack of dancing bodies anywhere one looked.

Dead Prez experienced some delays in reaching the venue, but in hindsight,
this suspense and momentary lull only made it more exciting as the group
took stage around 11:30 pm. This in-between time also made it possible to
get some interviews with all the awesome organizations represented at the
tables around us, and to just talk to people; to build contacts and
relationships; to express and establish solidarity, and to shake some
courteous hands.

And how was the Dead Prez experience? Spectacular! I don't know that any
amount of words could express the joy, individual or collective, of
spending Valentine's evening with these fellows. If a reader is wondering
"Did they do that [insert any given major title] one song that I really
love?", the answer is mostly likely yes (the setlist was virtually
impeccable). As always, the group was all about individual empowerment,
self-education, social equality, shared love, and the hope of a truly
healthy society in the present and future; as well as the dissembling of
any subversive causes that act to cripple these beautiful virtues.

At one point, about half-way into the set, it as announced from the stage
that someone in the audience had been arrested. The audience expressed
extreme disapproval and distaste at this prospect. It was consensus that
the concert's energy was a positive, free, and triumphal one. Dead Prez
encouraged the audience to organize and focus their discontent in smart
and effective ways, suggesting the method of taking down the badge numbers
of any police presence, and taking words of protest to the station the
next day. The common feeling was that a sacred space had been encroached
upon by correctional forces. No one was sure what the man was being
arrested for, but rumors flew around that it was either for slightly rough
behavior or for minor recreational drug use: two things both incredibly
common at concert events, and able to be sufficiently "dealt with" by the
dedicated students employed as Evergreen security. It was also known to
some that the man was African-American. Anyone present at the event could
report that, although the crowd represented a diverse racial make-up, a
cursory glance over the show's population would tell the average eye that
the majority of the attendees at least appeared to be of a majority
Caucasian decent.

All of this enragingly paired with the suspicion any citizen should feel
upon hearing the law has executed some action that's motives remain
unclear to the surrounding public merely fired a pre-existent righteous
collective anger toward harsh, unfair decisions made by the few in power,
who take away from the many they are truly supposed to serve.

My words to those who have chosen to attach a post-event negative or
threatening spin to the evening's events are:

There is no replacing the vital importance of context. Yes, that even
discounts the mock-objectivity of negative voices who had no part in the
evening's experiences. Pre-biased establishmentarians and non-present
sensationalists cannot readily be heeded as unarguably valid sources by
any means.
The crowd was a large cross-section of politically informed residents of
Olympia and surrounding areas.
All thought and feeling detectable within the environment was of lofty,
beautiful intent and message.

Upon packing up our tabling materials, T and I arranged rides to our homes
with our good friend Fabiola from the Co-Op. All of us walked out of the
CRC Center to find that the people had indeed organized, and quite
immediately. Of course, they'd also chosen their own method, and it came
in the form of a synchronized verbal protest. A strong chorus of "Let him
go!" wafted up from the circular base of the CRC courtyard, accompanied by
many raised fists and ringed around the singular police vehicle. On the
way to our own vehicle, Fabiola predicted that the gathering would turn
into a riot. T then spoke another quote, perfect for the occasion. "The
definition of a riot is the police harassing citizens. Always remember
that." On my ride downtown, I noticed police cars turning out of various
side streets and plunging up Fourth Avenue toward the college.

There was electricity in the air.

Radical Freeschool Radio Show #2:

2008-02-18T02:45:22Z

You can listen to the second broadcast of our radio show by clicking here or, if that podcast website doesn't work, click here.

The first 25 minutes are networking and more information. The last 35 minutes of the show you will find uninterrupted, continuous music by the amazing radical folk musician: Brenna Sahatjian from Riotfolk.

Brenna is the first artist in the Freeschool's Radical Feminist Distro (a not-for-profit fundraiser program for the freeschool where the artists receive a minimum of 50% of all proceeds). To learn how to purchase the box set with 3 of Brenna s' CD's and 2 of her zines, please contact us at the freeschool.

Love ya' all!

-The Radical Freeschool Radio Show Collective

The Radical Freeschool Radio Show is also heard every Thursday, from 4:30pm-5:30pm on 106.5 KOWA,
braodcasting out of Media Island in Olympia, Washington. The program is entirely non-copyrighted and people are permitted to circulate an portion or the entire broadcast anywhere without permission.
816 Adams Street
Olympia, Washington, Cascadia 98501
(Across the street from the Olympia Timberland library)

First Radical Radio Show today

2008-02-07T08:38:09Z

Our first radio show happened today. Thursday. Nice! I love the feeling of making a better world! :)

Update:

You can listen to our first radio show by clicking here or by clicking here.

The Radical Freeschool Radio Station is also heard every Thursday, from 4:30pm-5:30pm on 106.5 KOWA,
braodcasting out of Media Island.
816 Adams Street
Olympia, Washington, Cascadia 98501
(Across the street from the Olympia Timberland library)

================================================================================

Fore more information about our radio show please read below:

Radical Freeschool Radio Show, 2-7-2008

This is the first broadcast of the Radical Freeschool Radio Show, recorded live on February 2nd, 2008. It covers many awesome things including some free classes that take place at the freeschool community in Olympia, Washington. There is also an incredible interview with Simon Conrad from the Birth Attendants. < www.birthattendants.org >

Simon also brought her baby, Fulvia Malleck-Conrad and Paul Malleck [photos available at
www.RadicalFreeschoolRadioShow.org ].

The Birth Attendants is a non-profit organization working to restore health and justice into communities in western Washington State. They are a radical activist organization with their members organized in a collective. One of their members just returned from Oaxaca, Mexico. They have two projects that are their main focus points. The Prison Doula Project provides pregnancy, labor, and post-partum doula services and popular education style childbirth education classes to women incarcerated in Washington State. Their community education project links their ''vital work inside prisons to the greater issues surrounding incarceration and works toward creating pathways of knowledge for western Washington communities about incarceration and its effects.'' [Simon stated that as far as they know, they are currently the only Prison Doula project in the United States.]

What is a Doula? A doula is a woman who is knowledgeable about childbirth and assists a woman (and her partner) throughout the entire duration of labor, childbirth, and directly post-partum. This podcast show will also talk about the RadicalRoadTrip.
< www.radicalroadtrip.org > This show was aired live on Feb 7th, 2008 on KOWA radio station, 106.5 FM and airs every Thursday from 4:30pm-5:30pm.

In this broadcast we also discuss the incredible and highly recommended documentary known as “UN POQUITO DE TANTA VERDAD (a little bit of so much truth).” This film, that we saw the night before our live radio broadcast, was about the revolution in Oaxaca, Mexico and how the independent, non-corporate, radical radio stations played a major part in helping the people to become organized.

This radio broadcast is non-copyrighted and people are encouraged to circulate it and copy it. For more info please see:
www.RadicalFreeschoolRadioShow.org

For more info about free classes at the freeschool please see:
www.FreeschoolCommunity.org

Radical Freeschool Radio Show

Freeschool and www.PeaceCommunities.org Twitter Updates

Freeschool and www.PeaceCommunities.org Twitter Updates

A PhotoJourney of Pain: Our World of Dreams Does Not Include Police Carrying Guns

Creating a Housing and Community Space Use Collective in Olympia

Move?

End of Academic Year

Kimya Dawson, Ghost Mice, Heathers and June Madrona at the Freeschool Fundraiser!

Also, June Painting Party!

Media Island International(MII) Pizza Party at Fertile Ground 2008

Pizza Party Event with live music at Fertile Ground, 311 9th Ave, SE, on Saturday, May 17th, 2008.

Women's Liberation Article Offers Incredibly Pertinent Advice for Modern Progressive Collectives

Radical Feminist Art and Music Spring Artswalk Show!

Madsen Minax

Filmmaker - Director/Co-Producer, Editor Musician - Upright Bass, Vocals

Simon Strikeback

Filmmaker - Producer Musician - Vocals, Ukulele

All About Brenna Sahatjian

I am interested in music primarily as a sensory experience, but, increasingly, as a way to communicate ideas. In both of these ways, I value music for its social value, as a way to interact with others in a meaningful way.

New Volunteer Meeting

RFR Show #5. - Open Mic. Raise Your Voices

Kaylen Williams gives his first-hand perspective on the Evergreen Riot from the Beginning

Benefit Show for the Freeschool! Tin Tree Factory (Seattle), Redbear and The Winning Lasses (Oly)!

RFR Show #4: Special Permaculture, Post-Patriarchy, and Community Kitchenn Broadcast!

RFR Show #3: Sister Hailstorm Interview, Songs, Video of Riot and a Great Dead Prez Show

Radical Freeschool Radio Show #2:

First Radical Radio Show today

Filmmaker - Director/Co-Producer, Editor
Musician - Upright Bass, Vocals

Filmmaker - Producer
Musician - Vocals, Ukulele