Oakland Noise Demo Raises Ruckus Outside of Downtown Oakland Jail for Hunger Strikers in SHU

Anti-prison banner carried at noise demonstration in Oakland.

On Thursday, July 4th, a group of about 100 people marched from Oscar Grant Plaza to the Glen E. Dyer Detention Facility as riot police staged inside the Oakland Police Department Headquarters. Marchers were acting in solidarity with hunger strikers in the SHU (Special Housing Units), 'prisons within prisons,' where inmates are kept in solitary confinement. Hunger strikers in the SHU are calling for an end to hostilities between racial groups within prisons all the way down to county jails in order to call attention to inhuman and tortuous treatment of prisoners. This is the latest in a series of hunger strikes that have been started by SHU prisoners that have gone on to include thousands of inmates. Several have already died from previous hunger strikes. Prisoners within the SHU can only leave the isolation units after they inform on others, a policy called, 'debriefing,' even if they have no information to give to prison authorities. According to an article posted on truthout.org:

On July 1, 2011...thousands of other prisoners went on hunger strike to protest such draconian conditions. As reported in Truthout last year, for three weeks, at least 1,035 of the 1,111 inmates locked in the SHU refused food. In the SHU, which comprises half of California's Pelican Bay State Prison, prisoners are locked into their cells for at least 22 hours a day. Over 500 people have been confined in the SHU for over a decade, over 200 for more than 15 years and 78 for over 20 years. The only way that a person can be released from the SHU is to debrief, or provide information incriminating other prisoners. Even those who are eligible for parole have been informed that they will not be granted parole so long as they are in the SHU. "They are told they can debrief or die..." The Pelican Bay hunger strike spread to 13 other state prisons and, at its height, involved at least 6,600 people incarcerated throughout California.

Fireworks outside of Alameda jail.

Tonight, marchers played music, passed out informational flyers, wrote graffiti slogans and put up informational stickers, and upon reaching the jail on 7th and Clay streets, shot off fireworks for about 20 minutes. The fireworks lit up the night sky and prisoners responded by throwing up raised fists in the window and turning lights on and off to let those know outside that they could hear them. Someone spray painted in large letters across the front of the building, "Fire to the Prisons!" After the fireworks had been shot off, people returned to the plaza and held the intersection of 14th and Broadway for about 20 minutes before dispersing. 

For more information on the hunger strike, go to:

Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity

Mission Gears Up for 'Eviction Free-Summer': Marches, Graffiti and Meetings

Residents march through Mission on history tour of Ellis Act evicted properties.

Graffiti outside of Adobe Books

Tonight while on a walk in the Mission District, I came across this graffiti outside of Adobe Books on 16th Street which reads, 'Fuck Liz Claiborne.' The message is a direct reference to the landlords who pushed out Adobe Books, raising their rent from $4,500 to $8,000 before finally pulling the plug on the business, a mainstay in the Mission. The upscale clothing store, 'Jack Spade,' is slated to take the place of the used bookstore. Support for the Adobe Books Collective has been high, with it even raising up to $60,000 in funds to help pay it's rent. Esta Noche, a bar about a block away on the same street is also threatened with eviction as well. The graffiti comes after a recent march through the Mission which was a history tour visiting various businesses that had been closed and homes where Ellis Act evictions had gone through. View a march route with stops of interest here.

People gather in Adobe Books

Since the Anti-Gentrification Block Party in the Mission last month, talk about the start again of a movement against evictions and displacement has been simmering. The SF Bay Guardian recently published a map showing Ellis Act evictions that have taken place in the neighborhood over the past year - one that is at a record high. The numbers are clear. Rent in most cases have gone up, sometimes doubling. In working class areas, Ellis Act evictions have displaced those with rent control and entire neighborhoods have changed while thousands have been forced to leave the city. From the Guardian article:

Ellis Act Evictions in SF

In 2011, San Francisco rents were 34 percent higher than they had been 2003; by 2012, they had jumped to 53 percent higher, according to a market analysis prepared by The Concord Group. According to San Francisco Rent Board data, 1,757 eviction notices were filed from March of 2012 to February of 2013, reflecting a 12-year high. It's as if there's no longer any room for the working class — the people who, for example, keep the city's number one industry (that's hospitality and tourism, not tech) functioning. It's terrifying. Neighborhood after neighborhood is losing affordable rental housing as landlords cash in on soaring prices. And there's a huge human cost.

In another recent article about projected development and growth from local elites, the Guardian points out how much developers and city planners are already planning on the city growing, and us leaving. As the article states, "Regional planners want to put 280,000 more people into San Francisco — and they admit that many current residents will have to leave."

Someone used to live here.

With the gentrification pandemic reaching such a high point and more and more people starting to get involved again in thinking about resisting the current wave of evictions - a group is calling for a meeting to plan an 'Eviction Free-Summer' this Saturday at the historic Red Stone Building. In a sick Ironic way, the plot right behind the building is set to be turned into condos. Facebook event is here. The text reads:

MAKE 2013 AN EVICTION FREE SUMMER!

We invite you to come out and be a part of this critical first meeting of a citizen driven anti-eviction league, whose purpose is to directly confront the serial evictors taking us away from our homes.

During the meeting, we hope to bring out a lively and diverse crowd ready to take on some serious strategizing. The purpose of the group is anti-eviction home defense, which can mean a lot of different things (phone calls, direct action, petitioning). We can't wait to hear your ideas!

Join us in getting people reeved up for and excited for this new group! Bring your family and friends, and share this invitation widely. And, most importantly, come to the REDSTONE BUILDING
2926 16th STREET AT CAPP,
3rd FLOOR
from 1pm to 2:30pm
ON SATURDAY JUNE 8TH