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Candle light vigil at
the Federal Building in downtown Fresno. |
Leonard Peltier, an Anishinabe-Lakota political prisoner, has spent the last 24 years of his life in prison despite the fact that the government has admitted on numerous occasions that they do not know who is responsible for the crime he was convicted of. Because of the glaring Human and Constitutional violations that have been made in the overall targeting, prosecution, and continued imprisonment of Peltier, millions have come to know of his case and support his freedom. Some of whom are the late Mother Theresa, Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Amnesty International, the European Parliament, the Italian Parliament, the Belgium Parliament, the Green Party, 50 members of U.S. Congress, Robert Redford, the National Congress of American Indians, and Jesse Jackson among others.
Leonard Peltier is 54 years old and was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He came from a large family of 13 brothers and sisters. At the age of 8 years he was taken from his family and sent to a residential boarding school for Native people run by the US Government. This was his first experience with the intrusion of the United States Government into the lives of Native peoples.
As a teenager he returned to live with his father at the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota. It was one of three reservations which the United States Government had chosen as the testing ground for its new termination policy. The resulting protests and demonstrations against this policy which forced First Nations families off their reservations and into the cities, was his first experience with Native resistance to the United States Government's efforts at assimilation.
During one particularly difficult winter on the Turtle Mountain Reservation Leonard Peltier recollects protests by his people to the Bureau of Indian Affairs about the lack of food on the reservation. Following these protests, B.I.A. social workers came to the reservation to investigate the situation. Leonard and one of the organizers on the reservation went from household to household before the arrival of the investigating party to tell the local people to hide what little food they had. When he got to the first house, he found that there was no food to hide and the same story was repeated in each of the households that he went to. This experience awakened him to the desperate situation for people on his reservation. Because he worked with his father as a migrant farm worker, he often traveled from reservation to reservation. He came to learn that policies of relocation, poverty, and racism were affecting all Indigenous peoples in the U.S.
In 1965, Leonard Peltier moved to Seattle, Washington, where he worked for several years as part owner of an auto body shop which he used to employ Native people and to provide low-cost automobile repairs for those who needed it. During the same period, he was also active in the founding of a Native half-way house for ex-prisoners in Seattle. His community work involvement included Native Land Claim issues, alcohol counseling, and participation in protests concerning the preservation of Native owned land within the city of Seattle.
In the late 1960's and early 1970's Leonard Peltier lived in Washington and Wisconsin and was working as a welder, carpenter, and community counselor for Native people. In the course of his work he became involved with the American Indian Movement and eventually joined the Denver Colorado chapter. He worked as a community counselor confronting job issues, alcohol problems and better city housing.
Leonard Peltier's support for the American Indian Movement led to his involvement in the 1972 Trail of Broken Treaties which took him to Washington D.C., in the non-violent occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building. He became strongly involved in the spiritual and traditional programs of AIM.
Leonard Peltier's involvement in AIM is what brought him to Pine Ridge in 1975. During that time the reservation was rife with conflict between the conservative tribal chairman and his supporters and the traditional people who wanted to keep their land, language, culture, and spirituality. The tribal chairman and his hired vigilantes know as "GOONS" carried out a campaign of violence against those in opposition to his policies. In a period of three years over 60 traditional people were murdered on Pine Ridge and over 300 were severely beaten, several of whom were involved with AIM. During this period the reservation had the highest ratio of FBI agents to citizens than any other area in the US. Despite this, no murders or beatings were ever investigated. Furthermore, one GOON leader has since gone on record to say that, in fact, the FBI intentionally turned their heads to such behavior and, moreover, helped to arm those carrying out these crimes.
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President Clinton will decide whether or not to give Leonard Peltier clemency, before he leaves office. Call the White House comment line at 1-800-663-9566 or 202-456-1111. |
It was for this reason Leonard Peltier along with other AIM members were asked to come to Pine Ridge to help the people who were being targeted. It was in this climate of fear that a shoot out broke out on June 26, 1975 between two FBI agents in unmarked cars and local residents and members of AIM. The two agents and one Native man were killed. Three people went to trial for the deaths of the agents, one of whom was Leonard Peltier. No investigation of the Native man's death took place. Two of those who went to trial were found innocent on grounds of self defense. Leonard Peltier, who had fled to Canada, was tried later, in a different district by a different judge, after being illegally extradited from Canada. He was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to two consecutive lifes in one of the most controversial trials of the century. When faced with previously withheld evidence on appeal pointing to Leonard Peltier's innocence, the prosecution admitted, and later established that they in fact could not prove who actually shot the agents or what involvement Leonard Peltier may have had in their deaths. Despite this Mr. Peltier remains in prison. For this reason, there is an international outcry for his freedom and Leonard Peltier has become a notorious symbol of injustice against Native Peoples. Millions are asking President Clinton to grant him Executive Clemency.
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December 8 candle light vigil in support of |
From prison, Leonard Peltier has continued to advocate for the human rights of Indigenous peoples and in doing so has won numerous human rights awards. He was recently declared an official Human Rights Defender at the Human Rights Defenders Summit in Paris which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He has also established himself as a talented artist, using oils to paint portraits of his people which portray their cultures and histories. Leonard has been an integral part of the movement to establish access to the practice of Native religions in prison. He says that it is the sweat lodge, the love and support of so many people, and his relationship with his grandchildren that allows him to keep hope from what has been a long, dangerous and trying twenty-three years.
RALLY HELD IN FRESNO TO FREE LEONARD PELTIERA vigil was held in Fresno on December 8 to Free Leonard Peltier! The rally at the Fresno Federal Building coincided with vigils, marches and demonstrations taking place in other cities around the world. A window of opportunity exists now, before President Clinton leaves office, for clemency to be granted. To help, go to: http://www.leonardpeltier.com/ where you can send a fax (for free) to the White House. You can also call the White House comment line at 1-800-663-9566 or 202-456-1111. No mainstream media bothered to cover the December 8 vigil in Fresno. Local media has never given the progressive community adequate coverage, but as long as we have the Community Alliance newsletter, we have a voice. All the pictures on this page were taken at the Fresno vigil and the article is from the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee. FREE LEONARD PELTIER! FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS! |
Groups working to end the harassment, discrimination, and exploitation of immigrant workers plan to take part in Martin Luther King celebrations nationwide. As this publication goes to press President Clinton is still holding up next years budget in an effort to extend amnesty to as many immigrants as possible. However, there is no expectation that this effort will help more than a small fraction of the total immigrant population.
Immigrant activists and groups expect a long hard battle for general amnesty under the Bush administration and they plan to continue to build broad grassroots support for a national policy that respects workers rights and human rights. Locally here in the San Joaquin Valley, the Amnesty Coalition will recruit its members to join a delegation for Amnesty in the MLK march on Monday, January 15 at 11 AM. All community groups, unions, and individuals are encouraged to bring signs and banners to the march.
The march will begin at the Carter Memorial AME Church on Mariposa and U streets. For more information call Leonel Flores at 490-1087.
FOR A COMPLETE LISTING OF MLK ACTIVITIES SEE THE CALENDAR
By: Richard Stone
I heard Supervisor Deran Koligian in action on Dec. 12 at the Board's hearings on the Copper River development. He was cross-examining environmental expert Kevin Hall on Mr. Hall's assertion that the project developers were being unfair to those who'd be negatively impacted by the proposals "urban village". Mr. Koligian challenged Mr. Hall: "And isn't it all right to make a profit?"
What an ignorant question! When profit comes from inventiveness, craftsmanship, hard work, organizational acumen, foresight and other such virtues, it is indeed commendable. But when it comes through siphoning value from others' assets, taking undue advantage of scarcity, producing serious social and environmental costs (pollution, sewage, etc.) while leaving others to pay for them; when it comes through misrepresentation and other ploys typical of many profiteers, then "profit" is really a euphemism for theft.
And doesn't Mr. Koligian remember anything about the good old Christian notion of usury, the sin of making too much profit?
By Jeffrey Paris, Editorial Board
In a few short years, the Community Alliance Newsletter has grown and matured into the most important alternative source of news and information for the progressive community in Fresno County. We have kept Fresnans informed on important events that are either misrepresented or not even mentioned in the local corporate media, including the ongoing anti-sweatshop protests, the need for a Living Wage, massive demonstrations in Seattle and Los Angeles, the crisis at Pacifica and KFCF, the working conditions of immigrant workers, strikes and organizing drives throughout the Central Valley, the overuse of pesticides, and other issues critical to our collective health and future.
Yet it remains the case that the people of Fresno do not have a genuine alternative print media source to counter the corporate perspective of the mainstream media. We cannot expect that our constant pressure on the Fresno Bee or the local television channels will create any meaningful change in the community or in those media. They are simply not equipped to do more than run 250-word or 30-second highlights of important protests (like those at Fashion Fair), and they only send a reporter if they think there might be arrests.
Therefore, the time has surely come for the Community Alliance Newsletter to transform itself into a full-fledged independent source of news and commentary. All over the country, so-called "IndieMedia" organizations have been sprouting up to counter the corporate domination of the media. They are collectively run and committed to radical, objective, and passionate accountings of the truth. Rather than remaining limited, as we are in our current format, to maybe one article of substance to go with the important updates and briefs that we bring to our readers each month, we could devote ourselves to an insistent left analysis of issues of local, national, and even international importance, yet maintain an eye to the local importance of these issues.
For instance what is really happening with the proto-Vietnam in Colombia? How does the ongoing transformation of Latin American economies affect our population and working conditions here in the Central Valley? Why is the incarceration rate for non-whites in the U.S. higher than that of blacks in apartheid South Africa? And why is Fresno on the cutting edge of expensive new policing models that include helicopters and SWAT teams to patrol streets in poorer neighborhoods? We live by a politics of fear and ignorance promulgated by the weapons manufacturers and entertainment moguls who own our newspapers and television. Unless we develop a counter-politics of hope, criticism, and action, they will also own our minds.
As we have recently learned, the future of our nation, of all nations, does not rest on the indentations of 536 chads. Both Gore and Bush recently announced (Gore in his concession and Bush in his first speech as "pretender-elect") that the "time of politics is over," indicating that we should now settle down to 4 years of our self-appointed task as the foremost international bully. Readers of the L/CA already know this is not true. We must develop and maintain a political agenda for radical change that begins at home and spreads across the nation.
The proposal, then, is this: let us transform the Community Alliance Newsletter into a monthly newspaper of politics and culture. This new medium will allow for substantially more column inches without a corresponding increase in price. It will enable the development of a truly involved editorial staff, a "stable" of writers, letters and responses from readers, art, poetry, and movie reviews, along with the continuing coverage of the growing activist movement in Fresno.
In my two years in Fresno, I have often heard caustic but telling remarks from comrades and colleagues, suggesting that Fresno is "years behind the rest of the country" in terms of a developed progressive political force to counter the regressive development frenzies and the total-surveillance model of policing. Many gaze with a certain longing at the radical communities we hear about regularly on KPFA. There is no need to tolerate these circumstances. Let's develop a local independent source of news and views to support our constant struggle to bring power to the people.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2001
FRESNO STATE UNIVERSITY FRESNO, CALIFORNIA
10 a.m.- 6 p.m.
Fresno State Student Union, Conference Rooms 312-314
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Wasco State Prison (WSP) |
Critical Resistance, the California Prison Moratorium Project, the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice, The Center on Race Poverty and the Environment, Fresno State MECHA and the West County Toxics Coalition invite you to a groundbreaking conference examining the connection between environmental racism, environmental injustice and the prison industrial complex; the use of environmental strategies to stop new prisons; and economic development alternatives to prisons.
THE DELANO CAMPAIGN
On July 10, 2000, Critical Resistance, in coalition, filed a lawsuit under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to stop California from building yet another prison. The suit has generated unprecedented coverage of the irrationality of prison construction, including major stories in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner and local newspapers across the state.
We have built an unprecedented and powerful coalition of organizations across the state that will sign onto amicus briefs in support of the litigation. The coalition includes the Los Angeles, Fresno and Santa Cruz chapters of the NAACP, the Rainforest Action Network, the National Lawyers Guild, the Ecology Center, the Committee on Women, Population and the Environment, the Fresno County Green Party, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and La Raza Centro Legal.
THE CONFERENCE
While much has been written about how unwanted land uses such as toxic waste dumps constitute environmental racism and injustice, we believe that the siting of prisons in economically depressed communities shares much in common with this prior thinking, but has yet to be explored.
Across the country, prisons are sited in economically depressed, rural communities with the promise of jobs and economic prosperity. The uncontroverted evidence, however, is that prisons don't help these communities.
Delano is a prime example. Delano already has one 5000-bed maximum-security prison. In 1990, prior to the opening of that prison, the unemployment rate in Delano was 26%. Today, the unemployment rate in Delano is 26%. The State itself projects that of the 1600 new jobs which will purportedly be created by the new prison, less than 100 will go to the residents of Delano. It is hard to imagine any other $335 million investment in a town the size of Delano (35,000) producing less than 100 new jobs for its residents.
Moreover, the negative economic, social, and environmental impact of prisons on rural towns and counties seems to be so great that other industries and businesses shy away from those locations. Farmland comes out of production. Water capacities are overtapped. At the same time, towns and counties spend their own scarce funds for roads, schools, sewers, environmental protection, and other necessities in order to support prisons that do not return enough to communities to help them grow and prosper.
The conference promises to be a unique look at these issues that will change the way we think about the prison industrial complex, environmental racism and economic justice. And through the excitement generated by the conference we hope to consolidate already-existing activism around the environment, the prison industrial complex and local economic development alternatives.
We envision that participants in the conference would include:
grassroots activists, policy makers and academics who wish to examine the connection between environmental racism, environmental injustice and the PIC;
grassroots activists and lawyers who have used environmental strategies to stop prisons and other locally unwanted land uses (such as toxic waste dumps & incinerators); and
Community members interested in learning about these issues and the possibilities of using such strategies.
We envision a day long conference broken into three sessions:
How do prisons constitute new forms of environmental racism and injustice both in the communities in which they are sited and in the communities from which the majority of prisoners come;
How might environmental strategies be used to stop new prisons, looking at the struggle around Delano II as a case study; and
What types of economic development alternatives might we look to both for rural communities which house most prisons and urban communities where most prisoners come from.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
CRITICAL RESISTANCE
1212 Broadway, Suite 1400 Oakland, CA 94612
Phone 510-444-0484 or critresist@aol.com or Fax 510-444-2177
by Graciela Martínez
El Primo Pablo Espinoza, a very popular programmer at Radio Bilingüe in the late 1980s and early 1990s, lost his show, along with several other local programmers when the station converted its emphasis to feeding national programming via satellite. At the time, El Primo's program, La voz del pueblo, was the only program consistently and specifically serving the needs of farm workers and their families. The program was made popular in part by the particular type of music that El Primo would play, mainly Tejano (Texan), music popular in the major Río Grande Valley where he was born. His "Grito", a distinctive yell, is well known in the San Joaquín Valley. The loss of El Primo's program was met with disappointment throughout the farm worker community and many people still remember him from those earlier days.
About a year and a half after the end of the program, El Primo, with the help of Gunnar Jensen, began looking for ways to get the program back on the air. Jensen, producer and studio engineer for Radio Bilingüe at the time, met and became friends with El Primo during the time La voz del pueblo was on the air at 91.5FM. Dedicated to again fulfilling the needs that La voz del pueblo had served, El Primo and Jensen set out to get the show back on the air. Little did either of them know that it would be a long road fraught with obstacles and disappointments. With no money, they had a dream which kept them going.
During its run on Radio Bilingüe, La voz del pueblo was sponsored in part by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), with which El Primo continues to work through Proyecto Campesino. With the help of Mark Miller in AFSC's San Francisco office, a funding source (The James Irvine Foundation) was found to build a radio production studio in the offices of Proyecto Campesino in Visalia. Working as a volunteer for Proyecto Campesino, Jensen designed and built the studio. After the studio was completed, El Primo, Jensen and Proyecto Campesino staff went on the road to find a new radio home for RADIO GRITO and La voz del pueblo. Jensen also began a training program with Proyecto Campesino staff on how to operate the new, state-of-the-art studio, and the intricacies that go along with broadcasting. How to produce and conduct radio programming has been an important and ongoing part of staff training. (Today, Cindy Brito and the author are ready to begin programming La voz del pueblo on a regular basis.)
Beginning in 1996, RADIO GRITO approached the only community radio station left in the Valley, KFCF, to find out if they would provide access to La voz del pueblo. Though several attempts were made, no response was ever received. In September of 1999, the Fresno Free College Foundation board of directors adopted a new programming proposal process. Although RADIO GRITO was one of the first to respond with a very detailed proposal, carefully responding to the numerous questions that were part of the process, and although the programming committee of the board approved the proposal, it was bypassed by the newly constituted board, elected by proxy votes in November of that year.
With only a few remaining options, RADIO GRITO continued its search for different avenues to access the airwaves. Finally, one was found at radio station KBIF 900AM. An unusual station on valley radio, KBIF sells block time to a variety of ethnic and linguistically diverse groups. Currently RADIO GRITO is paying for two hours of programming (on Fridays from 1 to 3 p.m.) by selling commercial time, and by seeking grants and donations from listeners and supporters.
La voz del pueblo is presently the only radio program in the Valley that consistently provides basic, but very important information to immigrant farm workers and their families. Every week the program provides information in five topic areas: health, education, housing, labor and immigration. El Primo hopes that La voz del pueblo will be able to attract funding to extend its programming hours and its reach throughout the Valley. "There is great need to get information out to immigrant farm workers and their families," says El Primo, adding, "The lack of information has converted many farm workers into modern day slaves, and permits the continuing violations of workers who are seriously lacking the most basic human needs."
RADIO GRITO is very unique in that it is the only Valley radio program where farm workers have real access to the airwaves. La voz del pueblo frequently gives immigrant farm workers access to the program, where they discuss their experiences, difficulties, hopes and dreams.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE MEETINGS
The Central California Criminal Justice Committee and The City of Fresno's Human Relations Commission are sponsoring a series of speakers from various California Civilian Oversight Committees at the City Hall Council Chambers. We invite people to attend the series scheduled on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
January 29, 2001 Blake Jackson from Oakland Citizen Oversight Committee
February 17, 2001 Fred Persily from California Association of Human Relations Organizations
March 24, 2001 Teresa Guerrero-Daly from the San Jose Civilia Review Board.
The next meeting for the Central California Criminal Justice Committee is scheduled for Jan. 2 at 6:00 PM in the Sarah McCradle Room at the main library at Tulare and N street.
Please call M. Gloria Hernandez more information: (559) 268-2261
The
Fresno/Telpaneca Sister City Association is seeking contributions for its
scholarship project for high school students in Nicaragua. The assistance from
this fund is what makes the difference between dropping out and receiving
continuing education for many of the students who live in rural Northern
Nicaragua. Many students walk over 10 miles each day to attend classes.
The sister city group received a very detailed accounting of the moneys sent last year. In addition to receipts from the recipients there were letters from each scholarship student from El Pericon and Amucayan, and the majority of the students from Santo Domingo.
Several of the students mentioned that the financial help was especially needed this year because a drought has made economic conditions even worse than usual. In addition to the supplies purchased for the Telpaneca grade school, a total of 39 students received scholarships to help pay for their tuition and other expenses - paper, pencils, backpacks, and uniforms. Several mentioned that they were able to buy shoes - which wear out quickly when you are walking long distances to school. Two sisters from Amucayan wrote that each week they walk 15 kilometers, carrying their school supplies, clothes, and food for the week, stay in Telpaneca during the week, and then walk home for the weekend, another 15 kilometers. Since all the scholarship students come from the outlying areas, all must either walk long distances daily or board in town.
One measure of the project's success is the fact that 10 of the 39 are in their fifth, (last) year. This is a much higher rate of school completion than in earlier years, and several of these fifth year students mentioned how our continuing help had enabled them to complete their secondary studies. Each of the them asked if we would help them continue study beyond their graduation in December. Though this is not practical (logistically as well as financially) perhaps we could give them a graduation present - a certificate and some cash.
Seven of the ten completing secondary school are girls, which is another change from earlier classes and speaks well for our efforts to make sure that young women have the preparation they need for independence.
If you would like to contribute to the Scholarship Project please send your donation to the Fresno/Telpaneca Sister City Association, P.O. Box 4496, Fresno CA 93744. All donations received for this project will be sent to Telpaneca in January 2001.
By: Jeremy Hoffer
Two years ago a bike workshop for youth was opened out of a garage behind the Gaia House in the Tower District, south of Olive near Palm. Churches and individuals were asked to donate used bicycles to the Bike Shop to be repaired or used for parts. Thus far it has been primarily kids-bikes that have been repaired by volunteer youth-mechanics and given to children who live in the John Muir School Neighborhood. The children are always involved in the repairing of the bicycles that they receive. Some of the youth that help repair bicycles were taught by their fathers at a very early age, others are just learning but are able to change tubes, clean dirt and rust, and remove and replace parts, tasks that are time consuming but important. The key is to have each child feel like he or she can make a contribution in the shop and learn something at the same time.
The goal of the Bike Shop is to be a youth-led, recycle-your-bicycle center, where local youth would fix donated used bicycles, manage the inventory, teach other mechanics, and supervise general operations of the shop.
The mechanics at the Bike Shop earn credits - called time dollars - towards a bike. They must put in at least 8 hours at the Shop in order to get a bike. Jobs around the shop include clean up, inventory, tube repair, dismantling of unusable frames, and training of other mechanics. The ethic of the Shop is if you don't know how to do something, ask another mechanic for help.
Bikes that are fixed are traded to members in the community in exchange for time dollars. The Time Dollar Program involves the exchange of services among participants. One time dollar is equivalent to one hour of service. Some examples of services that participants of the Time Dollar Exchange are offering are babysitting, transportation, photography, errands, computer tutoring, and friendly visiting. Upon receiving a bicycle, the recipient is asked what services he or she is willing to donate back to the Time Dollar Exchange. Recipients of bikes have helped other members do mailings, transport donated bikes, and help supervise and clean the Shop. The Irvine Foundation has funded youth operations at the Bike Shop through the next year. This means a monthly budget for tubes, tires, bike-grease, spare parts, and monthly activities with the mechanics.
There has been an overwhelming positive response to requests for donated bicycles; however, kids bikes are in short supply. The Bike Shop still lacks the proper tools and space to have three or four volunteers working at the same time. A storage shed is needed to keep donated bicycles. Other needs include:
A small air compressor
A wheel truing stand
Pedal wrenches
Allen wrenches
Crescent wrench sets
Tools for the headset/bottom bracket
A space heater for the winter months
Adult Volunteers to supervise and teach youth mechanics
To help out, please contact the Time Dollar Collaborative at 445-4166 and ask for Jeremy. The John Muir Bike Shop is a project of the Harm Reduction Task Force and the Latino Civil Rights Network.
By Kevin Hall
December was a banner month for local sprawl-mongers. By Christmas morning, developers and land speculators found that Santa had delivered everything on their wish list: a major amendment to the new Fresno County General Plan, a breakthrough in stalled negotiations to greatly expand the Fresno-Clovis spheres of influence by a whopping 25,000 acres and early approval by the Clovis City Council for the freeway-ization of Herndon Avenue -- no small stocking stuffer.
Cry Me a (Copper) River. The 762-acre Copper River Ranch project was granted a 15-year development guarantee by the County Board of Supervisors and the acceptance of its deeply flawed environmental impact report. Despite demonstrated facts of the area's falling water table, rising air pollution and growing traffic congestion, the "supes" thought it was in the best social and economic interest of the county to set this dunce's cap-shaped development on top of Fresno.
The only votes cast against any portion of this bundle of an EIR, general plan amendment, new zoning ordinance and development agreement was Judy Case's lone dissent on the amendment and ordinance. The rest of the board agreed to eviscerate the 10-week-old General Plan's land use policies that directed growth "away from valuable agricultural lands" to "within cities." Both those phrases have been deleted. In their place, we now have Specific Plan Areas and Planned Urban Villages (a PUV for your SUV). The result, of course, will be the same old Arbitrary Suburban Sprawl (ASS).
'Spears' of Influence. Supervisor Koligian's apparent inability or unwillingness to say the word "sphere" results in repeated mentions by him of cities' "spears of influence." Well, some very large spears are being thrust into the countryside by the county and Fresno-Clovis. Our esteemed elected officials have reached tentative agreement on an additional 20,000 acres for Fresno, with 5,000 of that reaching all the way to Friant and the other 15,000 wrapping around southeast Fresno in a 2-mile-wide swath of PUVs and SPAs. Clovis, meanwhile, is slated to sprawl into another 5,000 acres up Auberry Road and out Freeway 168.
In essence, we have an urban invasion of the foothills to our north and prime farmland to the east. All of this ground shares a common trait: the Fresno eddy. This is an airflow pattern that creates a large pocket of stagnation with the worst air pollution in the entire San Joaquin Valley, stretching from Parlier to Friant. Those spears are being thrust directly into the lungs of every person in the metro area.
Herndon Avenue: Highway to 'L'. The sprawl machine runs on roads, and a key leg of this northeast development plan is the freeway-ization of Herndon Avenue. The Council of Fresno County Governments (COG) is accepting public comment through January 25 on its plan to spend $172 million on "improvements." Little has been said about the seven "quadrant" intersections in the plan, the first two of which would go in where Herndon crosses Peach and Willow. Want to take a guess where a prominent local developer plans to build the next big box store haven?
At a quadrant intersection there are no left turns allowed at the major cross-streets. Instead, an "L" of four-lane roads is added to one corner of the intersection (i.e., a quadrant) and everyone coming from every direction wishing to turn left onto either major cross-street must use the "L".
For example, if you were headed east on Herndon and wanted to turn north on Willow, you would go past Willow for at least 1,000 feet and get in the left turn lane for the quadrant streets. After making your left, you would go at least another 1,000 feet north before turning left again to double back for the return trip of at least another 1,000 feet to Willow. You could, of course, have to make three 1,000-foot rights to turn left. The total land area within the quadrant is at least 22 acres. Five more of these mega-intersections are planned: at Brawley (the only one west of Blackstone), Millbrook, Cedar, Chestnut, and Clovis. When retail and office development occurs within those areas, people will be working inside carbon monoxide hotspots because these quadrant streets provide what transportation types call vehicle "storage." And it's obvious these streets will serve as the demarcation line between commercial space and adjacent residential neighborhoods, which will be subjected to incredible amounts of both noise and air pollution.
Theoretically, the proposal for these quadrants, plus the $150 million for two miles of submerged freeway from First to Palm, is supposed to be acted on first by COG at its Jan. 25 meeting and then forwarded to the cities of Fresno and Clovis for incorporation into their transportation plans. Well, Clovis just couldn't wait that long. It pre-approved this sprawl subsidy in early December.
Lumps of Coal. This Christmas, gifts for the general citizenry consisted of lumps of coal. These will be ground up into fine particles and dispersed throughout the atmosphere for everyone to inhale.
(Kevin Hall works on the issues of transportation, air pollution and global warming for the Sierra Club-Tehipite Chapter. He also hosts "Clearing the Air: Transportation, Land Use and Air Quality in the San Joaquin Valley," a monthly radio show airing on the fourth Friday of each month from 3:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on KFCF 88.1 FM. His email address is Hallmos@aol.com.)
ANNUAL RETREAT: Anyone interested in helping shape the Center's priorities and agenda for 2001 is welcome to join our annual all-day retreat on Sat. Jan 6. We will be car pooling at 9:00 a.m. for a 9:30 start. For more information, call Richard at 266-2559.
PROJECT REPORTS: The Center is acting as fiscal agent for an Irvine Foundation grant to the LCA. The money is earmarked for a pilot "Workers Counseling Program", hopefully a prelude to a full-fledged Workers' Center. The Center continues to act as fiscal agent for Patrick Young's Wheelchair Project; and as of Dec. 1, we are providing office space and logistical support for a pilot Gay/Straight Alliance program to create Gay/Straight Clubs on high school campuses. Diana Bohn is staffing the program.
Our PEACE CHALLENGE FOR YOUTH is still accepting applications (till Jan. 12) for groups of 3 or more youth with a project to "Make It Right". Applications are available at the Center, or by leaving a message at 237-3223. Mini-grants of up to $200 will be awarded to several of the applicants.
The Central Valley Institute (headed by Vincent Lavery and Jacqueline Elliot) expects to have its brochure ready by mid-January, listing its "stable" of selected experts prepared to address peace-and-justice issues from a progressive perspective for the media.
MEDIA OUTREACH: The Center is involved in planning an "alternative media conference" in March. Meanwhile we have agreed to pay for at least 2 programs on Vince Lavery's projected cable series. Money for these programs ($370 per half-hour installment) is coming from a fund of targeted pledges solicited for this specific purpose (i.e. not from general funds) as we had not budgeted for it. The program should start airing mid-January on Ch. 14. Watch it, and if you'd like to support the show, you can send tax-deductible checks to the Center earmarked for "the Cable Project".
PHONE-A-THON: Thanks to all who answered our annual appeal with generous donations. As checks are still coming in, we will give a full report next month.
OFFICERS: After hotly uncontested elections, the Center's
officers for '01 remain as follows:
President, Arthur Siegel; VP, Maria Telesco; Secretary, Valta Pointer;
Treasurer, David James. Gerry Bill is Center Director; Richard Stone, Program
Director; Maria Telesco, Media Liaison.
Dec. 13, 2000
Jack H. Welch, M.D.
Light the Lamp of Peace
"The UN has called for a Decade of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World to begin in January 2001." It happens that at the end of December 2000, Islamic, Christian and Jewish observances of "peace" will coincide in a manner that happens only once in a generation." The December 25th Christmas holiday will fall within the last 10 days of Ramadan. So Christians and Muslims will both be observing a holy and peaceful night in which their scriptures say that the "Word of God" was born... Jews will be observing an eight-day Festival of Lights (Hanukkah) at that time to commemorate the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem (the city of peace) after the city was conquered and defiled.
"Imagine what would happen if the followers of these three great faiths... would light lamps and candles for a great Festival of Lights throughout this period of Christmas, Hanukkah and the Islamic Night of Perfect Measure... Imagine scrubbing the temple walls in Jerusalem and all over the world to remove the bloody stains of religious and secular justification for warfare, genocide and slavery." Imagine the result if each participant in such a ceremony in December 2000 decided to make a difference -- to maintain the light in the temple of peace -- in whatever way he or she could for the next generation! "The first step in creation is imagination." (San Jose Peace Center) "Peace Times" Oct. 2000)
US Weapons: Adding Fuel to the Fire
As the peace talks between Israel and Palestine have faltered, the US commitment to selling weapons in the Middle East has remained constant. "At this time it is fundamentally important that the US send a clear message to all negotiating parties: the violence must stop." However, "the US cannot legitimately send that message and simultaneously provide the tools of violence."
By far most of the casualties in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict have been Palestinian. "The UN Security Council has condemned Israel's use of "excessive force" against the Palestinian population"; e.g., "a recent Amnesty International delegation found that Israeli security forces have breached their own regulations for crowd dispersal, choosing to rely on rubber-coated metal bullets, often lethal, when other non-lethal weapons are at their disposal."
According to Jane's Defense Weekly Oct. '00 there has been Israeli deployment of Apache attack helicopters in clashes with Palestinian demonstrators. Meanwhile, the Israeli military is awaiting shipment of new attack helicopters from the US. Israel has received a total of $4.1b from the US this year (2000), $3.12b of that being military grants. We are the primary supplier to Israel's military. (California Peace Action 21 Nov. '00)
Peace Action has joined with 18 other arms control organizations in calling for 1) suspension of the pending (as of late Nov.) $500m sale to Israel of Apache attack helicopters and 2) an impartial investigation of the use of US-supplied helicopters by Israeli forces in attacks upon Palestinians.
By: Mario Brito
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Rank and File Valley Sweet workers hold
vigil for better wages & benefits. |
Hundreds of union members and supporters came together Wednesday night December 13, 2000, in a candle light vigil at Valley Sweet in Tulare. Valley Sweet is one of the largest Apple/ Stone Fruit packinghouse in the San Joaquin Valley. According to Lexis Nexus Business info.net Valley Sweet had sales in the hundreds of millions last year alone. In spite of impressive growth of sales and reinvestment in the plant, Valley Sweet employees earn below the federal poverty level. Valley Sweet is the only Apple/Stone Fruit packinghouse organized in the San Joaquin Valley.
Valley Sweet employees are involved in a sometimes-bitter struggle to increase wages and to fight for a union pension fund. Leading up to candle light vigil the employees held demonstrations of solidarity in front up the company office and by signing petitions supporting their union negotiating committee.
At the rally members heard from their union rank and file negotiating committee who told them of the company responses to the union proposal for the wage re-opener. The employer has told the union negotiating committee that they do not accept the premise that there will be a minimum wage increase mandated by the state. The company negotiator went as far as to say that he wants a new BMW and that we are going to help him get it. United Packing and Food Processing Laborers' Union Local 550 members continue their struggle and stand ready to fight and secure the improvement that they need and stand ready to organize the rest of the Apple/Stone Fruit Packing house. For more information contact Mario Brito 559-891-7412 <mkbrito@excite.com>.
PEACE COMMUNITY CRAFTS FAIRE
---A COOPERATIVE SUCCESS---
The
Branch's major fundraiser of the year, the December 2 Crafts Faire, was well
attended, bustling with good will and lucrative for Fresno WILPF and the
approximately 17 vendors. While this event involved the efforts of many, some
should receive special thanks for their over-the-top contributions: Ellie
Bluestein for contacting people to participate in various ways; Desi Cortez,
Julie Young Andrews, Denise Carmen, Angie Stuart and Vickie Fouts for their hard
work with the food services; Janet Capella for taking on the white elephant
table; Catherine Campbell for running the silent auction; Laura and Allie Fultz,
for their work on the raffle; Laura Lee Crain Carbone for keeping track of the
finances and lining up the vendors; Gerry Bill and Pasquale Carbone for helping
set up and take down the tables; Zay and Gerry for the wonderful peace crane
tree; Carol Bequette for doing the tedious paperwork that comes with an event
like this; all members who contributed delicious soups, breads and desserts;
and, of course, to all the vendors who make our event so special. Good show,
everyone!
NEW MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY
Most of you who came to the Crafts Faire received a copy of the most recent membership directory. The remainder will either be mailed (mainly for out-of-town members) or delivered to you in some other way. When you get the directory, please let us know of changes so we can correct those for the next publication. We are already aware that some of the work and fax numbers were inadvertently cut off because of copy problems. That will be remedied with the next printing. Call Desi Cortez (224-2976) or Carol Bequette (229-9661) with your changes. Betsy Temple and Desi Cortez are to be commended for their work on this project.
CORRECTION: Rebecca Slaton's e-mail address: RSlaton222@aol.com
SLOUCHING TOWARDS THE BRINK: CAN ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS SURVIVE?
January 16, Tuesday, 7:00 p.m. Unitarian Church of Fresno 4144 N. Millbrook. Call Ellie for more info at 229-9807.
January 17, Wednesday at Fresno City College. Call Gerry Bill for info at 442-4600, ext 8348.
WILPF is bringing Alan Solomonow from San Francisco where he has been Director of the Middle East Peace Program of the American Friends Service Committee for 20 years. In the 70s he arranged the first U.S. speaking tours for joint teams of Palestinians and Israelis. He initiated a number of dialogues and projects between Jews and Arabs in the U.S. and the Middle East when conventional wisdom dictated that it was not possible. Allan is also Director of the Peace Education Program for the regional office of AFSC and teaches "Peacemaking in the Middle East" at UC Berkeley. He has edited four books, three on the Middle East.
Solomonow says he is probably one of the few people around who still believes that peace in the Middle East is possible. Come hear what he has to say, and bring your friends.
NEW SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT IS WILPF MEMBER
Congratulations to longtime WILPF member, Sari Hedgpeth-Harris on becoming president of the Fresno County School Board. Good luck Sari!
MEET DENISE CARMEN, PUBLICITY CHAIR
"I decided to join WILPF because I like the issues WILPF gets involved in and thought it would be marvelously cool to rub elbows with a bunch of hip ladies in the area." So says Denise Carmen our new Publicity Chair. She is a self-described thirty-five year old Native American bisexual pagan mother of one son (Phoenix, 8).
Denise is an interpreter for deaf and long-time advocate for people with disabilities. She is a returning student at CSUF in Social Work and Women's Studies and is also active in La Leche League International, LGBTA, United Students against Sweatshops,Women's Resource Center.
SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO WILPF IN 2000
Our branch has lost two much-loved members recently. In their passing we have been graciously bequeathed monetary gifts. We would like to thank the Leas family for forwarding the remaining $6,000 of Ernestine’s $10,000 bequest and the members who sent contributions in Ernestine's memory. A special Peace fund has been set up for us through the Jane Addams Peace Association.
We also thank those who made contributions in Louise¹s memory and to her niece Opal for the $500 check with the following note: "Among her final wishes was to make the enclosed donation to her beloved WILPF. She truly believed in the group's ideals. Thanks to all who remembered her and carry her inspiration in their hearts and minds." Fresno WILPF has made a $1,000 contribution to International WILPF in Louise's name.
And we would like to thank Bette Peterson for her annual substantial contribution to WILPF through the Jane Addams Peace Association.
TO PUBLISH INFO IN THE CATALYST . . .
Please contact Zay by the 10th of the month (prior to any event you want announced) either by phone: 227-2133 or by email: zaygb@earthlink.net and we'll work very hard to fit it onto one page.
by Gloria M. Sandoval (Merced, CA)
Sponsored by the Oakland-based Women's Economic Agenda Project, the Freedom Bus Tour 2000 rolled through the Central Valley on November 16 with 30 people aboard, spreading the word about the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign. The 30 day statewide tour left Oakland on November 8 and was organized to promote freedom from hunger, homelessness, and to educate people about the elimination of urban and rural poverty by people who themselves have suffered these violations. With stops in Turlock, Livingston, Merced, Fresno and Visalia, Valley residents were inspired to support the campaign to eliminate poverty by forming monitoring committees that will document violations of economic human rights. Committee members will teach others about their rights under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Drafted over 50 years ago, the UDHR states that food, clothing, housing, medical care and education are human rights not to be denied by any government. The Freedom Riders posted daily updates on the website (weap.org) so that people anywhere in the world could follow along with the happenings of the tour. Testimonies will be collected and will be sent to the United Nations to show how the United States abuses the poor. To contact one of these committees, contact the website, call WEAP (510) 451-7379, e-mail: weap@ccnet.com or leave a message at (800) 580-4160 to connect with a local committee.
The Community Radio Coalition is hoping, and believing, that there are people out there who agree that community radio can be for the community, and not for the few.
CRC is fund-raising to educate and inform members of the Fresno Free College Foundation, which owns KFCF, so they can cast an informed vote at the next election in November 2002. At that time, the entire board will stand.
Our plan is to purchase one page of the Community Alliance Newsletter, beginning February 1, 2001. Each month we will write about the Fresno Free College Foundation Board's actions in governing our radio station, KFCF. We will be critical of that Board, as always, when it engages in undemocratic and exclusionary policies. We will announce the candidacy of candidates for the Board as they emerge, and will let them speak with you directly. With your help, we can change the composition of the Board to reflect the needs and will of a broader Valley community.
We have come to the conclusion that having one page in the Community Alliance Newsletter is our best bet for achieving the goal of a democratic, inclusive and diverse Board. The plan is to send the newsletter to all members of the Foundation, thereby reaching every voter in the upcoming election once each month with our ideas for the future of the station and news about the actions of the current board.
We are seeking contributions to achieve this goal for the first year. We will then conduct a second fund-raiser, just like this one, for the second year. During the upcoming two years, we will also have parties and fund-raising events to supplement for our other activities. We know there must be many Valley residents who believe community radio can be for the community, and not for the few.
We hope to have gathered the first year's funding by February 1, 2001, so please contribute as much as you can now. We will acknowledge all donors in the February 1, 2001 salvo article, unless you indicate on the return card that you would prefer no acknowledgment.
Please send your check to The Community Radio Coalition, PO Box 4555, Fresno, CA 93744.
By: Nancy Marsh
With the receipt of a small grant from the James Irvine Foundation, the Community Alliance begins its exploration of the possibility of establishing a Workers' Rights Center in Fresno. Such a center would bring together workers, unions, and worker advocates to focus on the needs of working people in the Valley. Unlike organizations which seek only individual solutions to individual problems, a Workers' Rights Center will serve to unite workers with each other and existing labor, immigrant, and community organizations to solve common problems through collective action.
Initially the project will be limited to immigrants (documented and undocumented). In order to assess the need for a center, there will be a review of the resources already available to workers and of the effectiveness of agencies responsible for righting injustices suffered by immigrants in the work place. We will be talking with groups that work with immigrants to see what work place issues they feel most need to be addressed, to enlist their support and advice, and to let them know that they can refer people with employment problems to us.
Daniel Garcia, an intern with the Community Alliance, (who is working for his master's degree in Social Work at CSUF) will interview those referred, analyze the problems, and help work out solutions. He will be aided by an Advisory Board of individuals with backgrounds as worker advocates, in media, in union organizing and representation, as legal workers, and in immigrant rights. Because such busy individuals already have too many meetings, the Advisory Board work primarily through e-mail.
This is a long-range project which will need broad support in order to be effective and viable. It is now very much in the planning stage and we need help in developing the concept of a Workers' Rights Center in Fresno and in working out the practical details of how it might become a reality. If you are interested in serving on the advisory board and/or would like to join in planning future work, please call Daniel or project director Mike Rhodes at the Labor/Community number, (559) 233-3978.
Luis Jovel, a Fresno master boot maker originally from war torn El Salvador, has been awarded a grant to teach western cowboy boot making to his apprentice Armando Torres of Clovis. The grant comes from the California Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program and supports a period of intensive learning for a specific artistic tradition.
Jovel immigrated to L.A. in 1982 seeking refuge from the right wing death squads in El Salvador, and continues to be active in the current struggle for amnesty and workers rights for all immigrants.
By: Bob Fischer and Joan Poss
On December 1st, the Gap 20 protesters were back in court over our arrest during the May 6th demonstration at Fashion Fair. The bad news was that the District Attorney refiled the trespass charge against us. The DA had dropped the trespass charge in favor of the more serious charge of "intimidating merchants and shoppers and interfering with commercial activity." So now we are facing both charges. The good news was that Judge Allan Simpson ordered Larry Donaldson, the Fresno City Police Department's attorney to bring the police department's confidential informant in for a private meeting in the judge's chambers to determine whether the CI's identity would be revealed to the defendants. As it turned out, the CI's identity was revealed the following week, and she is Melinda Guerra, a CSUF Police officer. She told the judge that she had contacted "the leader" of Students Against Sweatshops at Fresno State, and asked to be added to the group's e-mail list. She said she had never attended a meeting of the group. She reported to Sgt. Andy Mercado of the Northeast District Problem Oriented Policing Team. We are wondering what she said that would make him think that it was going to take 100 cops in riot gear and a police helicopter to protect Fashion Fair from a handful of nonviolent demonstrators. We intend to find out.
After the Dec. 1 court appearance, Mike Rhodes and Bob Fischer paid a visit to Greg Delfous, the head of security for Fashion Fair. We wanted to get a copy of the Macerich Company's annual report. We were quite surprised when he told us he had known for a week that the District Attorney was going to refile the trespass charge that we had learned about only that morning. He knew about it, he said, because Larry Donaldson is working closely with the lawyers from the Macerich Company, the owners of Fashion Fair. Yikes! Not only did the Macerich Company arrest us, but they are prosecuting us, too! Obviously, the Fresno Police, the City Attorney and the DA all take their orders from Macerich Company headquarters in Santa Monica. Lucky for us Macerich doesn't have the judge in its deep pockets, too!
The reason Rhodes and Fischer wanted the Macerich annual report is that in the section titled "Macerich and the Community" the company brags "Our malls become the town centers of their communities." Some town centers! Just ask Bryan Apper and his daughter Meghan. Both were arrested for standing in the parking lot of the so-called "town center" and talking with their fellow citizens about the GAP's practice of using involuntary servitude to manufacture its pricey line of clothing. The Appers are active members of St. Benedict Catholic Worker, and they were arrested by the Macerich Company for speaking out against a practice that is expressly forbidden by both Catholic doctrine and Article XIII of the Bill of Rights.
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"An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and willingly accepts the penalty...to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is...expressing the very highest respect for law." -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. |
The excellent attorneys for the GAP 20, Patience Milrod, Jacob Weisberg, Robert Hirth and Douglas Gordon have filed a tort claim against the city. A tort claim is a legal notice that a wrong has been committed or injury has been done to the plaintiffs (that's us) by the defendant (the city and its police) and that the plaintiffs intend to take civil action if the defendant doesn't undo the injury and make things right. Tacking on the trespass charge was the city's response to our tort claim. On December 6th, we sent an application to Fashion Fair by certified mail requesting permission for 20 to 30 people to hold placards and pass out flyers. As the "Applicant," we listed sixteen community groups that signed on to be included in our next action there. The response from the Macerich Company has been a long silence. The company is in a double-bind. If it says yes, it will have to drop the criminal charges against us. If it says no, it will be defending against our request for a court injunction filed by sixteen credible and respected community organizations. Either way, January 6th is the next anti-GAP demonstration at Fashion Fair, so put it on your calendar. If more than 30 people show up... Well, that could happen, too!
The Macerich Company can see the handwriting on the mall. It has hired Marvin Baxter, the property rights lawyer who prosecuted the teenagers who were arrested for passing out campaign literature in the Pruneyard v Robins (1980) case. Pruneyard is a shopping center in the town of Campbell (near San Jose.) That case went all the way to the California Supreme Court. The Supremes granted shopping centers the right to establish the time, place, and manner for the exercise of free speech, but said they cannot prohibit the exercise of free speech even on their own private property. The Macerich Company sees what we see: This case is going all the way to the California Supreme Court, and some new law is going to come out of it. Of course, that will be a bit expensive, in spite of the fact that our lawyers, bless their stout hearts, are working for free. Which brings us to the need for support from the community (that's you.)
Our war chest is growing, thanks to the generosity of people who are outraged by the way that the Macerich Company and the City of Fresno have blatantly attempted to crush free speech, trample on our rights, silence our protests against modern day slavery, and chill our efforts to achieve some little bit of justice for the young women who are in peonage on the U.S. Protectorate of Saipan. If you feel like raging against the injustices being committed in the sweatshops of Saipan and the shopping malls of Fresno, then write a check in proportion to your outrage, and send it to the Community Alliance. Indicate on it that it's for fighting oppression and injustice all the way to the California Supreme Court if that's what it takes.
By Mary Bull
When the Fisher family of San Francisco purchased 235,000 acres of cutover redwood forestland in July 1998 and continued to log it, environmentalists launched an international consumer-pressure campaign targeting the family business, Gap, Inc. In January 1999, human rights and labor groups filed a class-action suit against Gap, Inc, and 16 other clothing retailers for labor abuses on the Pacific island of Saipan; since then, the environmental and human rights campaigns have joined forces, staging joint-issue demos at Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy stores across the country.
The announcement on 11/16/00 that the Fishers' logging venture now has a "green label" has not lessened their critics' insistence that the Fishers, who are worth a reported 12.5 billion dollars, turn their redwood holdings into a wildlife refuge, while taking a handsome tax deduction.
Mary Pjerrou, President of the Redwood Coast Watersheds Alliance, explained why, "The green-label is just another P.R. gimmick-paid for by the Fishers. The P.R. doesn't work with us: Our group reads their timber harvest plans, the actual documents that permit logging. They can't hide these numbers-over 200 logging plans, 80% of them containing some form of clearcutting; twelve Fisher logging plans in one creek where the number of endangered Coho salmon has plummetted from ten to zero. It is a hard fact that the Fishers are extinguishing endangered species."
"We're escalating our campaign for the redwoods and workers' rights this holiday season and on into the new year," said Mary Bull, Coordinator of the Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap Campaign in a mid-December press release. "There have already been more than 20 holiday demonstrations at Gap stores around the country, including Winnipeg! And we are expecting to see at least 50 Gap protest actions before the end of the season-quite possibly more-we can't keep up with all the email! Our youngest Gaptivist is 10-year-old Liam of the Isle of Arran, Scotland, and we just got our first French activist-we'll be seeing a 'Boycott the Gap' banner hanging from the Eiffel Tower yet!" Bull quipped.
This could be bad news for the Fishers and Gap, Inc, with the ailing corporation's third-quarter profits already down 41%.
The Union of Concerned Santas joined the Campaign on 12/23/99, when nine were arrested for locking down in front of the Old Navy flagship store in San Francisco. (All charges were dropped due to public outcry at the prospect of Santa being jailed over Christmas.) This past holiday season, Santas and elves handed out alternative shopping guides while singing carols that educated shoppers about Gap sweatshops and Fisher deforestation. Bull stated, "It's always great when the Santas join us-they have very good hearts, you know, and they're great judges of character-**they** know who's been naughty or nice."
"Santas and elves turned out in force over the holidays to urge shoppers to boycott Gap, citing Fisher deforestation and Gap sweatshops"
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LABOR/COMMUNITY The Community Alliance newsletter is an independent voice for workers and progressive groups in Fresno and the Central San Joaquin Valley. We support the struggle for social and economic justice and believe that all workers should be paid a living wage. The Community Alliance is affiliated nationally with Jobs with Justice. Meetings are held on the last Monday of each month at The Fresno Center for Nonviolence, 985 N Van Ness at 6:30 PM. This newsletter is published monthly. Editor: Mike Rhodes Editorial Board Members: Community Alliance (559) 233-3978 / 226-3962 (fax) E-mail: AllianceEditor@comcast.net http://www.fresnoalliance.com/home/ For advertising rates see: This project is funded in part by the Unitarian Universalist Fund For a Just Society |
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