American Zapatistas

New York, Jan. 8—The noisy, bustling streets of upper Manhattan known as “El Barrio” bear scant resemblance to the farmlands of Chiapas, Mexico’s poorest, southernmost state. But three decades of Mexican immigration to New York have subtly transformed the neighborhood, establishing ties between the two communities and injecting new, sometimes controversial, ideas into the fight against gentrification in El Barrio.

No group demonstrates these ties or this controversy as strikingly as Movement for Justice in El Barrio (MJB). Founded in December 2004 by tenants fighting eviction from their East Harlem apartment building, MJB now considers itself a “Zapatista” organization—a name normally reserved for armed revolutionaries fighting for their indigenous Mayan lands in Chiapas. But to the extent that the affiliation has brought new methods of grassroots democracy and community organization to East Harlem, MJB’s brand of Zapatismo holds promise for a neighborhood undergoing rapid gentrification.

Gentrification affects many of New York’s poorer neighborhoods, not just El Barrio. Loosely defined as an influx of money and development, gentrification causes the displacement of low-income families by wealthier ones, its critics argue. As New York crime rates have fallen over the past 15 years, parts of the city once shunned by young, wealthy professionals have become targets for development. In neighborhoods like El Barrio, where many poor families have only recently arrived in the U.S., the potential for rapid change—and displacement of the poor—is even greater. Across New York, rising rents have led to confrontations between landlords and tenant organizations, between the tenants’ need for affordable housing and the owners’ property rights. In this clash of philosophies, New Yorkers’ homes are at stake.

“Gentrification is a fact of life,” argues East Harlem landlord Scott Zwilling.

“People look at me and say ‘the big, bad owner kicked me out,’” Zwilling said. “But if it wasn’t me buying the property and raising the rent, there would have been 10 others ready to do the same thing.”

But gentrification is neither inevitable nor desirable, according to Movement for Justice in El Barrio.

“What initiated the organization was the housing crisis,” said MJB founder Juan Haro. Fearful of eviction, tenants in five East Harlem buildings approached Haro for help. “People were trying to figure out how to combat the effects of gentrification,” he said.

Since 2004, MJB has grown to more than 380 members in 25 buildings around El Barrio. One key to this growth has been MJB’s link to the Zapatistas—a connection that, while intuitive for some members, may surprise Americans who remember 1990s images of masked Zapatista peasants clutching rifles.

MJB’s embrace of Zapatismo began in summer 2005. Far from a publicity stunt, the move was “organic,” Haro said.

“What happened early on was we began an internal discussion to learn about different social movements based in the U.S. and abroad,” explained Haro. “Zapatismo made sense because most of our members are Mexican.” One of the group’s first meetings coincided with the “Sixth Declaration of the Lacondan Jungle,” a Zapatista call for an international campaign against neoliberalism and repression. “Our members read the declaration and got very excited,” Haro said.

El Barrio has had a large Hispanic population since the 1950s. But today’s neighborhood reflects recent national immigration trends. Just as Hispanics are now the largest minority in the U.S.—growing from 9 to 12.5 percent of the population from 1990 to 2000—they have risen from 32 to 55 percent of the population in El Barrio since 1970, according to U.S. Census and city government statistics. Meanwhile, the makeup of Hispanics in El Barrio has also changed. While Puerto Rican flags can still be seen on neighborhood murals and in shop windows, El Barrio’s cultural and political movements increasingly reflect its growing Mexican population.

But MJB’s affiliation with the Zapatistas goes beyond mere cultural connections, instead relying upon the perception of a common enemy and a shared solution.

Like the Zapatistas in Chiapas, MJB sees neoliberalism—the combination of free trade and unregulated international businesses—as the underlying problem. In New York, MJB members argue, the gradual weakening of rent control laws fits this neoliberal pattern and has led to gentrification.

After MJB’s early campaigning against local landlord Steve Kessner, he sold all 47 of his buildings to a London-based investment bank, Dawnay, Day. It was an important but Pyrrhic victory for MJB. Unlike Kessner, “Dawnay, Day has from the outset been very explicit about what they are trying to do,” Haro said.

“It’s not our goal to kick people out of their homes,” said Michael Kessner, Director of Operations for Dawnay, Day in New York and a relative of former owner Steve Kessner. “But obviously we’re out to make a profit, too.”

“Movement for Justice is out to serve their own interests,” Kessner said, describing MJB as “very confrontational” and only representing a small percentage of Dawnay, Day’s tenants.

At the heart of the disagreement are Dawnay, Day’s business practices since buying the apartments in March.

Dawnay, Day has aggressively tried to replace tenants in rent-controlled apartments with those willing to pay higher amounts, Haro said. “Dawnay’s other new tactic is offering money to the tenants to vacate.” The company has introduced a “buy out program,” he said, in which longer-term tenants have been offered $10,000 to leave their apartments. “Because of rent control, they’re targeting longer term tenants, some of whom have lived in El Barrio for 30-40 years.”

A lawsuit filed in October by 17 MJB members accused Dawnay, Day of making “false, deceptive and misleading representations to [tenants] in verbal and written communications, including rent bills and other correspondence,” in an attempt to force them out of their apartments. If true, these charges would violate a number of New York Consumer Protection Laws.

“Billing and accounting was an issue at first,” Kessner said, referring to rents allegedly owed to the previous owner. “I think [the lawsuit] has been resolved because we’ve credited their accounts.”

But neither the lawsuit against Dawnay, Day nor the broader fight against gentrification is over, according to MJB.

The influx of multinational companies such as Dawnay, Day is both “an international problem” and a consequence of neoliberalism, Haro said. “To combat this, we have to have an international plan. It can’t be local, can’t be regional: it has to be international.”

MJB’s response to both Kessner and Dawnay, Day has been to rely on Zapatista strategies of community consultation and cooperation. MJB’s “Consultas del Barrio” is a grassroots initiative for popular democracy within the neighborhood. MJB canvassed over 800 people—of all ages and races—from around the community, asking them to identify the issues that most affected their lives.

“Our goal is to create space and opportunity for the broader community to engage in the democratic process,” Haro said. “We can’t say we represent every single member of the community unless we consult with all of them.”

“People feel discouraged or disillusioned with the forms of discourse in civil society,” he said. “For example, when it comes to voting, they feel that the powerful always win out,” but the “consultas” represent another form of politics, independent from the government.

Though time-consuming, these “consultas” have allowed MJB to stay abreast of evolving relationships between El Barrio’s tenants and landlords—relationships which, in the case of Dawnay, Day, are volatile.

“We consider ourselves to be on ‘red alert’ because of what Dawnay, Day has been doing,” Haro said.

But an equally important side to MJB’s success has been its cooperation with other anti-gentrification and social justice groups, both in New York and around the world. On October 21, MJB hosted its first “NYC Encuentro for Humanity and Against Gentrification.”

“The encuentro is a tool very helpful in getting people from different communities to share stories … that are usually left out or silenced,” said Helena Wong, coordinator for the Chinatown Justice Project and for Right to the City New York. Attending the “encuentro” made sense, she said, because MJB and Right to the City both face gentrification in their respective communities.

“Gentrification is something that’s been happening in Chinatown for 10 years,” she said, “but you don’t know it’s happening until storefronts start changing.” Companies are buying up entire blocks, “kicking people out” so that they can build luxury condos, she said. Wong sees the same erosion of New York’s once-strong rent protection laws at work in Chinatown as in El Barrio.

“It seems like our struggles are the same … the causes of the conditions in our communities are the same,” Wong said. “We’re never going to win anything by ourselves in Chinatown so it’s important to work with other communities … that are marginalized.”

Although tenant groups like Right to the City and MJB see gentrification as the enemy, landlords consider it their livelihood.

According to Zwilling, gentrification is as old as the neighborhoods themselves. It isn’t just business, he argues, it’s part and parcel of the American promise of upward mobility.

Zwilling says he understands peoples’ anger towards landlords, and has offered to help former tenants find new apartments. But landlords aren’t to blame for gentrification, he argues.

“Whose fault is it? I have a family to feed, too,” Zwilling said. “Is it the former owner’s fault? Is it no one’s fault? Is it the city’s fault for not having programs in place to help these people?”

The gentrification of East Harlem isn’t likely to slow down any time soon, Zwilling acknowledged. He bought an apartment building in East Harlem one year ago for $6 million. While honoring pre-existing leases, Zwilling said he has raised rents to market value whenever possible. But most long-time tenants cannot afford market prices, meaning they lose out to wealthier newcomers.

“Since we bought [it], most of the building now houses young professionals,” said Zwilling. Unlike the apartments in which MJB’s members live, these buildings are not rent-controlled, Zwilling said.

For MJB, January marks the beginning of both the New Year and a new campaign against Dawnay, Day.

“For the first time, we have an international campaign or plan to target Dawnay, Day,” Haro said, adding that MJB’s small staff had been working seven days a week to map out where the company owns property, both in the U.S. and abroad.

MJB’s international campaign also includes cooperation with anti-gentrification groups in London, where Dawnay, Day has its headquarters. Haro met several of these groups at a conference on participatory democracy in Barcelona last April.

MJB plans to give presentations and workshops on its Zapatista-inspired “consultas del barrio” across Britain next year, Haro said, hoping to make more allies in the fight against gentrification and for affordable housing for the poor.

Thomas Trantino

In Need of a Headline

Hola communeros,

I was hoping to pitch this to Pavement Pieces as well-would be very grateful for your input!

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Against the cold concrete rests the prisoner’s hooded head. His body, dressed in orange jumpsuit, is prostrated on the pavement. He is awaiting execution. Or a pardon. Or a double-take of a passerby who may pause to find out what is going on this Tuesday morning in Foley Square, just outside the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City.

By “bringing home” these distressing images, students and activists gathered here are hoping to raise awareness about the pending Supreme Court hearing of the two cases of Guantanamo Bay detainees, who are petitioning for the right of habeas corpus that would allow them to challenge their detention in American courts.

Under the current Military Commissions Act as “enemy combatants” or “awaiting determination,” these men can be held indefinitely without any charges being brought against them. According to Center for Constitutional Rights statistics, out of 786 men and boys detained since January 2002, so far only 10 have been charged with any crime. US government lawyers argue that since Guantanmo Bay is not owned by US, prisoners there are “aliens outside of the sovereign territory of the United States” reports the BBC and as such “do not enjoy any rights [under the habeas corpus clause of US Constitution].”

These people, says Ms. Elena Landriscina, an NYU student and one of the organizers of today’s event “are made to disappear. These are 21st century disappearances carefully crafted so that people don’t have access to courts, media or public ear.”

Or to the public eye. Demonstrations such as this one are trying to get American people to visualize that this “is an issue that really affects them as well,” says Ms. Katie Savin, an NYU student. “Our constitution is being stripped away.”

Co-sponsored by Center for Constitutional Rights (the organization representing the detainees), the National Lawyers Guild and Witness Against Torture, the event drew out some thirty activists. Amongst the demonstrators were members of Granny Peace Brigade, an organization started in 2005 when 18 grandmothers-ages 59 to 91- tried to enlist to go to Iraq instead of the young recruits. They were arrested, charged with disorderly conduct and acquitted after a six-day trial. The experience led them to organize.

For Ms. Carol Husten, one of the activists, this time “is a complete change from what we have grown up with. And we are in our seventies, some of us in our eighties, some in nineties...watching the deterioration of the civil rights in this country.” The issue seems to lend strength and mobilize even those least mobile: armed with earmuffs against the increasingly fierce wind, one member leaned against her walker for support.

While the Supreme Court will not reach a decision until June 2008, these women will continue to protest because-in part- “justice is made in the street.” “The point is that it is almost besides the point. I have to be doing this-for the future of my children, and everybody’s children” says Ms. Husten.

Should the decision of the Supreme Court defy their hopes, for Ms. Husten it would mean “a time for the revolution.”

New Yorkers on Rudy Giuliani

Greetings Colleagues,
gonna submit this to Pavement Pieces, any feedback is appreciated.
--lance
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Watch New Yorkers give their take on their former mayor and current Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani.

Flower power’s gone, but we have so much more:

Tom Hayden tells New Yorkers to forget the 60s and recognize today’s growing antiwar movement

New York, Dec. 5—The ghost of the Vietnam War was everywhere Monday night, rattling the windows and bookcases in The Strand bookstore, where longtime antiwar activist Tom Hayden addressed a small crowd. Hayden was speaking on his new book, Ending the War in Iraq, but kept returning to the war he devoted his youth to fighting in order to make one, all important point: today’s antiwar movement may not be what it was in the 60s, but it is alive and well.

“There’s been a systemic neglect of the existence of an antiwar movement in the media but also I find there’s been a systemic neglect in our own minds of the existence of this movement, and I think that’s because, in this case we know something but we’re governed by what we know and what we know is the sixties,” he told a gathering of approximately 50 people. Hayden helped found the Students for a Democratic Society while a student at the University of Michigan. He was also one of the “Chicago Eight,” a group of antiwar protesters arrested during the 1968 Democratic Presidential Convention, as the war in Vietnam escalated.

But recognizing today’s antiwar movement means forgetting the protests of the past, he argued.

“We have an image of the antiwar movement that’s outside the system, blood on our faces, gassed, being dragged off to jail, that’s what a movement is. But in this case, the movement has crossed so many boundaries that you can’t define it in sixties terms,” Hayden said.

Hayden’s remarks seemed to catch the audience off guard, as if most of them were expecting a gloomy speech on an uphill battle, not an encouragement to recognize the work already being done. After Hayden’s 30-minute speech, one man solemnly asked if anything could be done about the control the military-industrial complex has in the U.S. and if only a collapse of the economy could make people wake up. Others said they felt powerless.

“It’s almost like, in this so called free society and democracy we’ve imprisoned ourselves as ignorant victims of a war we can’t do anything about,” Hayden said at the beginning of the talk. “It’s got to be very depressing for people and very difficult to oppose.”

But there is good news, he said, people are just missing it. Despite what many Americans think, the antiwar movement is not only alive, but it’s arguably more powerful than ever. He cited 11 demonstrations of more than 100,000 people since the war began, and mentioned how Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11—a scathing critique of President Bush’s decision to invade Iraq—broke all records for documentaries.

Another powerful example a flourishing antiwar movement that has been overlooked is MoveOn.org, Hayden argued. From ‘03 to ’04, members of the progressive and antiwar website MoveOn.org raised $180 million for peace candidates, he said.

“That’s probably ten times the budget of all antiwar groups in the entire history of the United States,” Hayden said. “You know you’re operating on different turf here, you’re operating in an environment in which antiwar opinion is libel to spring up almost everywhere, outside politics [or] inside politics.”

But the lynchpin in Hayden’s argument that Americans should be encouraged, not discouraged, to protest the war in Iraq was the 2006 Election. The results were a sign that a shift in public opinion has already occurred and is making a difference.

“It should be no accident to realize that the 2006 election turned on antiwar opinion and resulted in the dumping of the Republican majority,” Hayden said. “People didn’t see that coming which is a sign that students of social movements, as well as media consultants, as well as political party consultants are not necessarily aware of what’s mushrooming up in terms of public opinion.”

Hayden also laid out his plan for ending the war. Exerting constant pressure on “the big three” Democratic candidates—Clinton, Obama, and Edwards—is the only way to ensure that American troops won’t be in Iraq for decades, he said, encouraging the audience to become more active in the antiwar movement.

After the event, Hayden signed books with his name and a single word: “Peace.”

Voices from Burma: Monks and Peace Activists Describe Junta’s Bloody Response

New York, October 5—Despite the faltering signal on the satellite phone and the emotion in his voice, Nay Tin Myint’s message came across clearly: Burma is not free.

Myint, a pro-democracy activist and former political prisoner of the current Burmese junta, was one of seven voices heard at Friday’s emergency press conference, “Monks, Media and the Military: the Saffron Revolution.” Myint spoke from Mae Sot, Thailand, near the Burma-Thailand border.

The meeting was called in response to reports that Burma’s ruling military junta has killed dozens, possibly hundreds, of students, monks, and other peaceful protesters over the past week. Protests began on August 19 after the government raised fuel prices; they gathered momentum when large numbers of Buddhist monks joined the marches.

The panel also included two Burmese monks, two activists for human rights and democracy in Burma, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Paulo Sergio Pinhiero.

Speaking first, Pinhiero seemed out of touch with the purpose and atmosphere of the meeting. He did not comment on that morning’s meeting between the UN special Envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari—just back from the country—and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. More surprisingly, he barely touched on the current situation in Burma, focusing instead on a statement adopted three days earlier at the UN Human Rights Council session on Myanmar (Burma) in Geneva. Pinhiero called the statement “a powerful message,” citing its strong language and adoption by consensus—including by India and China, backers of the Burmese junta—as a sign of progress on the issue.

According to the statement, the council “strongly deplores the continued violent repression of peaceful demonstrations in Myanmar, including through beatings, killings, arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances,” and “urges the Government of Myanmar to ensure full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms….”

The rest of the speakers were quick to describe Burma as a country under fierce military lockdown. Aung Din, a pro-democracy activist and former political prisoner, stated that despite the Burmese government’s claim that only nine people have died so far, in reality “more than 200 protesters have been killed by the military junta in a matter of days.” Over 3,000 monks and other protestors have been detained in the city of Rangoon alone, he said. Despite the bleak situation, Din remained defiant.

“The people in Burma have already proved with their skin and blood that they want democracy,” he said.

Ashin Nayaka, one of the maroon-robed Buddhist monks, stunned the audience by saying that, to his knowledge, at least 138 monks had already been killed. Eighty senior monks were still being kept in government prisons, he said.

All of the speakers stressed the need for international support and reporting on the junta’s crimes. Aside from Mr. Pinhiero, however, the panelists did not seem convinced that the UN’s efforts had been good enough so far. Din argued that previous resolutions had simply been “abandoned and ignored by the regime.”

The evening ended with words of hope.

“The Saffron Revolution will not turn back,” Nayaka said. “The military junta can control the monasteries but it’s difficult to control our hearts, our souls, our determination.”

Red Hook Photo Project

(10/11/07)
Art education: the first thing jettisoned from U.S. public schools in their struggle to stay afloat. Private art classes in the United States can cost as much as $500 a session; an indulgence deemed by many Americans as impractical. For families with parents working two jobs, barely getting by, it’s often not possible. Red Hook, Brooklyn, a town where 8000 out of the 1100 inhabitants live in public housing, has proven otherwise.

The Red Hook Community Photography Project, initiated by the Red Hook Community Justice Center, gives up to 20 kids, between the ages of 15-18, an opportunity to learn digital photography. The project, which began in 2006 thanks to a grant from the Edith Glick Schoolman Children’s Foundation, specifically targets kids who were involved in minor crimes and are finishing their court mandates. James Brodick, director of the Red Hook Community Center, said that a lot the young people that are arrested for minor crimes, have family or mental health issues. “We saw the photography project as a way for them to engage with the community and as a positive way towards reform,” said Brodick. The Community also accepts young individuals who want to learn the art of picture taking.

A professional photographer teaches the students the mechanics of manipulating photographs along with basic photo composition. Kids are given a stipend and a digital camera that they keep at the end of the 8 week course that meets three days a week for six ours a day.

Photographs from the first session are currently on display at the Brooklyn Waterfront Art Coalition. The collection, entitled “Through Our Eyes” showcases images from the kid’s neighborhoods and the stories behind each photo. What is apparent is how the experience changed the kid’s perspective of their own neighborhood. One young man wrote how he intended to show how bad Brooklyn was, but changed his mind after he saw how many beautiful pictures of the neighborhood he had. Another girl made pollution the theme of her photo collection after she noticed that trash was the constant in all of her pictures.

Ronda Vatel titled her project, “Today is a Good Day,” inspired by her mother who is always taught her to live each day to the fullest. Asked if she was still doing photography after the programs completion Ronda said, “I am a photographer.” Of the other kids who finish the program, “A lot of them tell me they’re the official family photographer,” said Brodick.

As Red Hook is swept up in the tide of gentrification, projects such as this one are essential to preserving the voices of those who grew up there.

(Photos from the project: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhcjcphotographyproject/)